The Sorensen Monologues

Missing the Story

A few relevant links:

Jessica Valenti on the proposed SC abortion bill

DeSantis takeover of high school athletics board and other official boards

New Idaho bill would criminalize administering mRNA vaccines

Nieman Reports on the open letter to the NYT on trans issues

The sheer volume of hand-wringing about trans kids would suggest this is a national emergency on par with climate change. It seems the mainstream pundit class has fallen for the GOP strategy of making transgender care a political wedge issue while largely ignoring the growing extremism of red state governments.

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Mail Fail

For more tales of postal dysfunction, I recommend this article in the Colorado Sun, which describes a breakdown of the system in several small towns around the Rockies. Part of the problem is high housing costs leading to a worker shortage, as we are seeing in other industries. But a huge factor is the “Amazon effect” — of post offices being absolutely overwhelmed with packages they are forced to deliver the last mile. Things have gotten so bad in Crested Butte that the town is looking into taking legal action to stop the post office from prioritizing Amazon over regular mail.

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E-commerce Chaos

I’m not necessarily opposed to online shopping — I find it necessary for certain items, although I shop locally when I can. Reviews seem especially inconsistent these days, with different people apparently receiving different products in some cases. 

There have been a few articles recently on the deteriorating quality and overall weirdness of Amazon’s website — this one delves into the highly competitive third-party seller market, increasingly dominated by factory-direct products from China.

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Beaten Down

To be clear, I am not saying protest and activism are worthless — they are more necessary than ever. Like many people, I’m frustrated by the inertia of our institutions, and profoundly alarmed about what DeSantis is doing in Florida (such as blocking AP African American studies classes, subjecting teacher to felonies for disallowed books, and installing right-wing extremists on the board of the progressive New College).

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