Happy hiking faces....and one of me repping Sun Valley at Vail.
This avalanche of selfies on this blog was a mistake, but the internet I'm using is slow as hell and I am just going to use this error as a way to let y'all know I'm currently on a 3-month sabbatical, driving around the inland West for the next month and a half (I'm a month and a half in). If you want to catch up and follow along, check out sabs-story.tumblr.com.
Most of this is Lit Crit 101 but the thing about having a searchable appendix of notes (that I guess you just carry around with you for your whole life) really appeals to my obsessive Virgo mind.
Marvelous wonders don't have to happen of a sudden...They can also take a long time, like crystals growing, or minds changing, or leaves turning. The trick is to keep an eye peeled, so they don't slip by unappreciated.
Medical waste is a HUGE source of environmental anxiety for me, but the last couple of paragraphs indicating the possibility of reusable masks and other PPE are hopeful. Now to find a way to help that happen.. .
From the article:
"We know that Justice Clarence Thomas has explicitly called for the court to reconsider qualified immunity, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a recent dissent joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, called the doctrine an 'absolute shield for law enforcement officers' that has 'gutt[ed] the deterrent effect of the Fourth Amendment.'”
And from The Economist’s article about this
“A diverse range of supporters—not just the usual suspects, such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the libertarian Cato Institute, but also conservative Christian groups, such as the Alliance Defending Freedom—is urging the justices to take another look at the doctrine. Effective policing requires community support, and police officers who place themselves above the law will never get it.”
How the Supreme Court could change policing in an instant
Now, in a timely coincidence with the protests of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis officers, the Supreme Court has been asked to review a slate of qualified immunity cases, including several questioning the doctrine in its entirety. A SCOTUS decision ending this shield for abusive policing would be an enormous win, but the court has repeatedly put off deciding whether to accept the petitions. While justices deliberated on the matter yet again on Thursday, I spoke with Cato Institute lawyer and criminal justice policy analyst Jay Schweikert about the Supreme Court’s likely next move as well as other options for eliminating qualified immunity if the court delays again.
WHOA tumblr (or maybe spotify) also made it so I can play these tracks without an account?? (HOORAY).
I went to a music festival with Scott last weekend and I have been on a huge new music jag. I got to hear a lot of really fun music, (which I’ll probably slap up here pretty soon so I can find it later). A particular higlight was getting to see these v. talented musicians perform live again. I also got to meet two of them, and they were very polite and gracious, despite that weird dynamic where I knew them and how talented they are and where they’ve been traveling (thanks, Instagram) but I am basically a stranger to them.
Give ‘em a listen -- they’re excellent.