The Sorensen Monologues
Sun’s Out, Guns Out
It seems we have crossed some sort of threshold — a critical mass of gun ownership, paranoia, and anger that is spilling over into ordinary life at every turn. For all the rhetoric around the Second Amendment invoking “liberty,” guns are limiting our freedom. So many situations now involve a small but plausible risk that someone could lose their temper and start firing at you.
Help keep this work sustainable by joining the Sorensen Subscription Service! Also on Patreon.
The Perks of Child Labor
According to this well-reported piece in the Washington Post, a right-wing think tank based in Florida called the Foundation for Government Accountability has been pushing to dismantle regulations that protect kids from working long hours and dangerous jobs. The FGA is funded by some of the biggest Republican donors.
Via Daily Kos, the bill that just passed the Iowa Senate is nothing short of appalling:
The new would-be law “allows 14-year-olds to work six-hour night shifts, allows 15-year-olds to work in plants on assembly lines moving items up to 50 pounds, and allows 16 and 17-year-olds to serve alcohol,” reported Iowa’s Who13 …
Help keep this work sustainable by joining the Sorensen Subscription Service! Also on Patreon.
The Unimaginable Lives of Earlier Generations
I know the postwar years weren’t easy for everybody, but lower housing and education costs seemed to create more opportunities to build a stable middle-class life, or at least pursue artistic dreams on a lean budget. I don’t envy kids starting out today.
A few weeks ago I saw a toot on Mastodon linking to an article about the life of Philip Glass, marveling at how he supported himself working various jobs in NYC while he established his music career, and noting how difficult that would be in today’s Manhattan. Hence the second panel of the cartoon, although that character is not supposed to be anyone in particular.
Help keep this work sustainable by joining the Sorensen Subscription Service! Also on Patreon.
Tips for Dems to Avoid Expulsion
Justin Jones was fortunately reinstated by the Nashville Metro council as I was drawing this cartoon. It looks like Justin Pearson will also be reinstated this week. Their expulsion from the Tennessee legislature was a radically antidemocratic move from Republicans, yet you might not know it given some headlines that appeared last week. According to this excellent TPM article by Kate Riga, the AP went with the laughably anodyne “Amid polarization, minority party lawmakers face penalties.”
Help keep this work sustainable by joining the Sorensen Subscription Service! Also on Patreon.
Dirty Fuel, Clean Conscience
A few recent stories got me thinking about the oil industry this week, leading me to actually wonder how fossil fuel CEOs can stand to live with themselves given that the world is burning up in front of their faces, much as their own scientists predicted decades ago. Perhaps the most notable news was the “final warning” from climate scientists in the IPCC report that said we are on track to use up our carbon budget by 2030.
Help keep this work sustainable by joining the Sorensen Subscription Service! Also on Patreon.
You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby!
I’ve been thinking for a while about how certain tech moguls who believe they’re on the cutting edge of human “progress” have absolutely retrograde ideas when it comes to gender (and race, for that matter). One aspect of this phenomenon is the “pronatalist” movement, embraced by billionaires and other wealthy weirdos who are trying to have as many babies as possible in an effort to repopulate the human race with their superior genes. Politicians like JD Vance — backed by Thiel — have openly called for a return to extremely traditional gender roles. Meanwhile, the tradwife movement is booming on TikTok.
Help keep this work sustainable by joining the Sorensen Subscription Service! Also on Patreon.
Big Grocer is Watching
I recently read an article about Kroger’s lucrative data business, which noted that the company had collected “35+ petabytes of first-party customer data.” This is 66 percent larger than the Library of Congress’s entire digital collection. The data is sold to third-party brands and advertisers seeking highly detailed information on customer behavior. Kroger has admitted that facial recognition cameras are also used in “select locations.” Albertsons has also been known to use facial recognition technology, along with many other major retailers. What they are doing with this biometric information remains unclear. We do know that using them for security can lead to false positives exacerbated by built-in biases (an NYU student famously sued Apple a few years ago for wrongly identifying him as a thief).
Help keep this work sustainable by joining the Sorensen Subscription Service! Also on Patreon.
Iraq War Memories
March of 2003 was a terrible time to be politically aware in the US. To anyone paying close attention to the Bush administration and the neocons’ agenda (spelled out by the Project for the New American Century), it was obvious from the beginning that the invasion of Iraq was a war of choice that had nothing to do with 9/11. It was also obvious that the Bush-Cheney-Rove White House was not exactly trustworthy, and should not have been given the benefit of the doubt. But in those days, much of American media fell into lockstep behind them, not wanting to be seen as unpatriotic in a time of WAR!
Help keep this work sustainable by joining the Sorensen Subscription Service! Also on Patreon.
Framing Funnies: “Culture Wars”
The term “culture wars” is used by many well-meaning people, including many progressive writers and activists I admire. It’s a convenient way to refer to a number of issues. But in this current political moment, I think it’s a highly misleading euphemism. What we are experiencing in America right now is an asymmetrical attack on basic freedoms — a fascist movement that thrives on targeting certain groups, erasing history, and spreading dangerous falsehoods through a vast media apparatus. To call this a “culture war” is to legitimize the contemporary GOP and its extremist counterparts as a coherent and authentic “culture” worthy of respect. This is a misuse of the concept of culture, creating a false equivalence between marginalized groups and those who would harm or eliminate them in a quest for ever more power.
Help keep this work sustainable by joining the Sorensen Subscription Service! Also on Patreon.
Train Wreck
This is about the right’s race-baiting response to the East Palestine train disaster, which you can read more about here. It’s clear that one party was trying to prevent such disasters, and the other was doing the industry’s bidding without concern for human health or safety. The narrative being put forth on the right, however, is that because East Palestine residents are mostly white and conservative, they have been “forgotten” by the Biden administration, unlike the “favored” (read Black) populations of Detroit and other cities that supposedly garner more sympathy. Given the high levels of environmental pollution many minority communities are exposed to, this assertion is asinine. It’s also incredibly dangerous.
Help keep this work sustainable by joining the Sorensen Subscription Service! Also on Patreon.
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.
Help keep this work sustainable by joining the Sorensen Subscription Service! Also on Patreon.
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.
Help keep this work sustainable by joining the Sorensen Subscription Service! Also on Patreon.
