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Out of power in Washington, Republicans pursue hard-right agenda across the country - "In Florida, Oklahoma and Iowa, Republican legislators passed bills granting immunity to drivers who hit protesters, part of a wave of Republican-led legislation aimed at cracking down on public protests of the kind that followed the police killing of George Floyd. Across the country, a bevy of states have passed bills preventing transgender athletes from playing high school sports." (previously) [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 11:54 PM PST - 67 comments

I don't know if there's really any rules and I'm pretty sure there's not really a point, but apparently every year at Rockford Speedway they have a figure 8 trailer race. That was 2018; here's 2019, and (complete with shouted COVID seating instructions) 2020. Heck, I'll even throw in 2017. Not into trailers? You drive a hard bargain. Here's some schoolbuses.
posted by cortex at 9:28 PM PST - 25 comments

In 1959, at a dentist’s home in Seattle, a housekeeper was told to leave early. Her employers were hosting a neighborhood meeting that evening. As she left, she overheard their discussion: They were plotting ways to prevent a young Black doctor and his family from moving into the new Modernist house across the street. They had a secret weapon: real estate titan John L. Scott.
posted by ShooBoo at 8:44 PM PST - 7 comments

2021 census includes music playlists In 2015, the Canadian conservative government tried to undermine the census by making it optional. But Canadians fought back and won. Since then, gleeful social medial posts announce "I got the long form!" and Stats Canada has now provided a CanCon music playlists to enjoy while you enumerate. [more inside]
posted by chapps at 7:42 PM PST - 8 comments

Heather Lanier explores the pressure to perform happiness | Happiness is an encouraged performance in America whether you’re disabled or not. But the stakes of that performance are higher for disabled people and their caregivers. Heather Lanier's memoir about being a caregiver to a child with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, "Raising a Rare Girl," was a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice. [more inside]
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 5:25 PM PST - 29 comments

This week in humanity's exploration of the solar system. Let's start at the center. The Parker Solar Probe set two new records as the fastest object ever made by humanity (330,000 miles per hour, 532,000 km/h) and the closest any spacecraft has gotten to the sun (6.5 million miles, 10.4 million km). Back on Earth, scholars published research into Venusian data Parker caught when it last hurtled past that planet (previously). [more inside]
posted by doctornemo at 3:44 PM PST - 11 comments

1943: “The unsolved color problem is gnawing deeper and deeper like a slow venom into the unstable, social structure of the U.S.A. The color riots this summer are in all probability only the forerunners of even more serious disturbances.”

The Enemy as Sociologist: American exceptionalism as diagnosed by the Nazi propaganda magazine Signal, by Sara Krolewski .
posted by Rumple at 2:17 PM PST - 16 comments

"In 2017, I created Women Street Photographers, an Instagram account that highlights and celebrates the work of women who work in what has historically been a male space." Staring is rude, but photographs allow us to gaze endlessly at what we find compelling.
posted by mecran01 at 1:05 PM PST - 8 comments

Actress and self-proclaimed 'vid vix' Tawny Kitaen is dead (sltmz). [more inside]
posted by kfholy at 9:29 AM PST - 30 comments

It's the 4th anniversary of Tom Holland doing Rihanna's Umbrella. By now, of course, there is an oral history of how it happened. (Previously.)
posted by toastyk at 8:27 AM PST - 14 comments