The + Friday + Five: 08.23.24

Today: Politics, Student Activism, and Imane Khelif

The Friday + Five* is a brief list of things I have found meaningful, challenging, joyful, soothing, or quirky from the week. Some weeks will have themes, while others will feel like they were gathered by a raccoon hyped up on six shots of espresso. You’ve been warned

Your Friday Five: 08.23.24

  1. I'm not sure if you know, but we are in election season. :-) As many of us feared during this presidential race, the “Cop versus Criminal” narrative is going strong. However, as argued in The Prosecutor vs. Felons, we really should be careful how we use pejoratives about felons and criminals. The “prosecutor vs. felon” line isn’t the slam dunk Team Harris thinks it is.
  2. And speaking of the election, Alix and Antero from penned an Op-Ed in the San Francisco Chronicle that reminds us that both parties have harmed and will probably continue to harm immigrants, migrants, and asylum seekers: Trump or Harris? Whoever wins in November, immigrants will lose.
  3. Nothing says welcome back to school and learn how to change the world like ramped-up protest enforcement and mask-banning, UC president vows to enforce rules banning encampments in the wake of Gaza protests. This should be an interesting first few months as administrations will no doubt have to deal with super-organized student actions.
  4. Speaking of school and on a more personal note, some of you know that our final college student was arrested for protesting the genocide in Gaza. A few weeks ago, we got word that the District Attorney files criminal charges against 19 students who Pomona President called riot police on. This is on top of the disciplinary actions they are facing, which are outrageous and disproportionate.
  5. And finally, while I am not a huge Olympics fan, I think this is awesome and I hope the transphobes out there take note: JK Rowling and Elon Musk named in Imane Khelif cyberbullying lawsuit.

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Photo/s of the Week: Taken by one of my kids with one of them there film cameras. This was during the glamping trip just before my hospital adventure.

*The Original Friday Five was a weekly-ish post from my 2010s SF Gate’s City Brights blog. If you stumble across anything that you think would fit, please feel free to drop me a note.

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