If ever there were a day that I was glad not to be looking at Facebook, this would be it:

I can only imagine what a horror show the various town pages and groups are going to turn into over this story.

In general, I find it frustrating and depressing that so much local political conversation takes place on Facebook. I understand why it happens. When we struggle to pay for basic municipal services like public education, water and sewer infrastructure, and garbage removal, it is hard to argue that the town should also be on the hook for hosting and managing an online forum for civic debates. And even if they did, everyone would be on Facebook anyway.

I have been listening to From Dreams To Dust this morning and I have come to the conclusion that while I like most of their songs, listening to a bunch of them in a row is a bit much to take.

Don’t worry, I am assured by Alito and his defenders, the overturning of Roe will not put at risk the decisions legalizing same-sex marriage, contraception, and other basic human rights. This decision is just about abortion, they tell me, and then insist that it is entirely about pushing the decision to the states, and there is of course no reason to worry about potential attempts at a nationwide ban on abortion.

Even if I took these claims seriously (and I do not take them seriously), they entirely ignore the electoral pressure on Republicans.

For decades, Republicans have harnessed the Christian right’s hatred of Roe to get votes. Now they are on the cusp of getting that done. A bunch of people have talked about how the GOP is the dog that finally caught the car, with the implication that they have now somehow gotten themselves into a sticky situation and are in trouble as a result. I don’t find this analysis comforting.

Assuming the Court does overturn Roe this summer, Republicans need to find the next issue to demagogue in order to keep the Christian Right angry, activated, and reliably voting Republican. That’s why none of their assurances that contraception, LGTBQ+ rights, and interracial marriage are safe following the Roe decision. They will pick one of these and go after that just like they have gone after abortion access, and they won’t stop there as long as it keeps their voters scared and angry.

I bought this album on CD when it came out, and I still pull it out to listen to every now and then. It is definitely a product of its time, but it is still quite good. It was really hard to find for most of the early 2000s, but now seems to be available on pretty much all of the streaming services, so hooray for the Long Tail, I guess.

It’s true, Johnny. No one likes jokes about beatniks.

Yesterday, I finally got around to getting my kids’ library cards set up in Hoopla on their iPads, and now they are reading old Captain America and Spiderman comics.

While checking out Hoopla’s comics selection—it’s actually quite good—I noticed that they have a collection of the original run of Fantastic Four. I have read maybe two Fantastic Four issues in my entire life, so I checked it out for myself and have been reading it for the last day.

I kind of love how dysfunctional they are in the early issues. Maybe this continues throughout the series, but every few pages so far, one of them is pissed off at one or all of the others. Johnny Storm seems like an immature jerk (he’s supposed to be a teenager, I think, so that makes sense), and Ben Grimm is constantly resentful at having been turned into the Thing and has some serious anger-management issues.

Some other random observations so far:

• Considering how big a deal the Skrulls end up becoming in the Marvel universe, they are pretty pathetic in their initial introduction.
• I know he has a long history in Marvel comics and its precursors, but I will never, ever be able to take Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner seriously. Dude with funny eyebrows and a receding hairline running around in his briefs, with a pretty random assortment of powers that make no sense. Also, why does he have wings on his ankles?
• Reed Richards seems like a know-it-all.
• Dr. Doom is pretty great. I guess all the Latveria stuff comes later? So far, he just seems like a mad-scientist type who is also into the magic. Even with his shark-painted helicopter, he still manages to be an impressively menacing villain.

Between reading this stuff myself and the kids getting into comics, I am considering re-upping the Marvel Unlimited subscription that I let lapse a few years ago.

“Popcorn? WHY?!”

“Because they’re clowns, that’s why!”

OMG how have I never watched this movie before?