#5SmartReads - September 6, 2022
Hitha on special masters, She-Hulk, and skateboarding
What a special master does, as told by a special master (NPR)
What exactly is a special master? And why did the former president request one in the investigation of the documents under investigation?
Let’s hear from a former special master - David Cohen, who’s held the role in a number of federal cases.
“…the primary qualification is somebody who can remain neutral, which isn't easy. It's kind of hard to refresh your neutrality every day. You can't come in and be a judge or a special master with an agenda or really kind of wanting one side to win, you need to look at all the facts and the evidence and what the parties are arguing, and apply the law to the facts and come out to what the right result is regardless of who is appearing before you.”
Impartiality will be a difficult quality to find, as Trump and his team and the Department of Justice will submit their list of special master candidates to Judge Cannon by Friday.
For more context on what this all means, check out this thread:
Native Skateboarders Are Getting Out the Vote With Ride to the Polls Campaign (Teen Vogue)
The youth? They’re all right.
They’re actually amazing and inspiring, especially Allie Young, who writes this:
“If the 535 representatives in Congress truly reflected the American people, 294 would identify as female (as compared to the 146 women elected to Congress in 2020). Seventy-three would be Black or African American (instead of 59); over 100 Hispanic or Latino (versus 50). Seventy would come from families and communities living below the federal poverty level. Twenty-four would identify as LGBTQ+.”
She’s backing up these words with decisive action. Ride to the Polls is a campaign she’s spearheading to drive voter turnout in actual - and creative - ways.
Remembering When Texas Was Run by Women (Texas Monthly)
To have lived in Texas in 1991 - WHAT A TIME.
“All of a sudden, here comes this ragtag group of women,” she said. “It was both exciting and extremely challenging.” Though women are no longer the curiosities they once were in Texas politics, the Richards years marked a high-water point for women in Texas’s most prominent public offices. “Prince Philip said he thought women were running Texas,” Rogers said. “Every major city had a female mayor. Dallas had Mayor Annette Strauss, Lila Cockrell was mayor of San Antonio, Kathy Whitmire was mayor of Houston, Ann was the governor. We haven’t really reached that level since that time.”
Until a streamer or network greenlights a docuseries or scripted series about the women running Texas in the 90’s, I at least have Hope and Hard Truth, the memoir written by Mary Beth Rogers (the campaign manager and chief of staff to Governor Richards). And as you wait for your copy to arrive or be downloaded, I invite you to read this really smart interview.
Every Mom Knows Exactly What It Means To Be A She-Hulk (Romper)
I thought I was seen and represented by Ms. Marvel (actually, her great-grandmother more than anyone).
She-Hulk literally said “hold my lukewarm coffee” and gave us Marvel fan moms the best representation we’ve had in the entire Marvel universe, and I especially feel every single word of this piece as we jump into back-to-school this week (phase-in process, new school for Rhaki, clubs and activities, and my own life ramping up after a chill summer).
“Moms only have time to become She-Hulk, to control our anger in a way that makes it useful. “Mommy loves you very much, but you need to clean up these toys right now before I throw them all away,” says the Mom-Hulk. We remain who we are even as anger and frustration and stress fill our every cell. We can’t let the rage at children being shot in schools turn us into Hulks — we can only let it make us advocates, fuel our protests, spur us on to call our senators once again. We can’t become unhinged when schools are the first to close down and the last to open up; when there are more families on the waiting list for day care than there are spots in the program; when there’s money in the budget for everything except paid maternity leave; when our fundamental rights to control if and when we will become mothers are stripped by people who will never, ever know what it takes to be one.”
Amen, Samantha. Amen.
Liz Truss wins Tory leadership race to become Britain’s next PM (The Guardian)
What I found really interesting about this piece is how Britain elects its prime ministers, and I wonder if the USA might have its first woman president if we had a different electoral system (or to simply do away with the electoral college and prioritize ranked choice voting in all elections).
I digress. This is not about what literally keeps me up at night, but about Britain’s new prime minister, Liz Truss.
After five rounds of voting by the members of the British Parliament, Truss emerged victorious and has wasted no time in assembling her new cabinet. Nor should she, with her work cut out for her (record high inflation and cost-of-living amidst stagnant wages).