DeafBlind Communities May Be Creating a New Language of Touch - Protactile began as a movement for autonomy and a system of tactile communication. Now, some linguists argue, it is becoming a language of its own. - link
What the “Life of the Mother” Might Mean in a Post-Roe America - “We are going to see more deaths and more injuries,” Ghazaleh Moayedi, an ob-gyn in Dallas, said. “I don’t have to speculate about that at all.” - link
Is Anti-Zionism Anti-Semitism? - In a recent speech, the head of the Anti-Defamation League unequivocally equated the two. - link
The Style and Swagger of Charrería, Mexico’s National Sport - The photographer Carlos Jaramillo produces painterly portraits with an idiosyncratic flair. - link
The Country That Doesn’t Call You Home - The short film “Beity,” written and directed by Isabelle Mecattaf, explores the dynamics of Lebanese families spread thin around the world. - link
From Vox
Hacks and the subversive fantasy of letting your job consume you -
Jean Smart as Deborah Vance in Hacks, a show I very much enjoy! | Hacks/HBO Max
Maybe Deborah Vance is built different.
Hacks is a show about comedy, but its best bits aren’t funny at all.
Its stellar first season is both an introduction to and canny portrait of Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), an aging Vegas headliner maneuvering the terms of her employment while simultaneously reflecting on her fears of obsolescence and her ambition to be loved. All of Deborah’s desires and fears overlap, bleeding through any possible personal and professional boundaries. Somehow, this force of nature finds clarity in an annoying bisexual millennial named Ava (Hannah Einbinder), a comedy writer who is allegedly somewhat amusing on Twitter.
The wake-up call Ava brings isn’t pleasant. Ava thinks Deborah is on cruise control, playing it safe with her comedy because Vegas crowds don’t care to be dared. Ava’s right and Deborah knows it, but acknowledging that is humiliating. It’s embarrassing not just because Ava is entitled and insufferable and admitting she’s correct would only exacerbate those qualities, but because it also means that Deborah Vance has lost touch of who she is.
For Ava, writing for Deborah is humbling in its own way. She’s alienating to others and she hasn’t made her own name; she doesn’t have any other options.
Deborah and Ava’s symbiotic relationship, the weird bits and volatile moments especially, bring each one closer to a better sense of who they are — a gift, especially in the lonely landscape that is comedy.
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Deborah and Ava take a road trip in season two of Hacks.
The fantastic second season builds on that initial chapter. Hacks hits the ground running, with Deborah and Ava flying back from Ava’s father’s funeral in preparation for Deborah’s North American tour. Having bombed her final performance at the Palmetto, her residency on the Strip, Deborah knows her material isn’t good yet. They both need a challenge. So they do the logical thing: Deb and Ava get on a bus. (A luxury tour bus, but still.)
Journeys of self-discovery are an obsession in American art. Worn down by life, protagonist after protagonist swaps the comfort of their lives for the woods, or the canyons, or places where they can learn anew to eat and pray and love. These uncomfortable treks become opportunities for crystallizing self-examination that nourish the soul and reignite the spark of life. Maybe they even find love.
Deborah Vance wouldn’t mind any of that, but she just wants better jokes.
So she swaps out cosmopolitan Las Vegas (not to be confused with the Cosmopolitan hotel in Las Vegas) for more bucolic America, like Memphis, a lesbian cruise, and a state fair in one of the Springfields — rigorous, punishing places. Deborah hopes to sharpen her barbs, slim down her transitions, and find the crackle in her sputtering punchlines.
The road trip makes Deborah’s interior struggles real. She’s been having trouble connecting with her audience, and these uncomfortable venues have their owndefensive challenges, like culture gaps or an audience that isn’t quite Deborah’s demographic. Each one is more alien to Deborah than the last. She bombs at some. She does better at others. Aside from a couple of pure slapstick moments, we don’t actually see her perform — a deliberate choice.
Hacks hasn’t ever been concerned with convincing you that Deborah is the funniest woman alive. It’s always been a show about a woman realizing who she is, and being honest to that person, whoever that may be. One night of laughs with an audience isn’t going to solve that.
Jean Smart’s performance has been (correctly) heaped with praise, but I’m still continually impressed at how she imbues Deborah Vance with delicate dignity. It might manifest in something as small as an unguarded glance in a mirror.
Or it unfurls so powerfully that it’s all you think about long after the episode ends.
In the Springfield state fair episode, Deborah meets a former rival who gave up comedy. Her friend is now a grandmother with an uninteresting life, drawing pity from Deborah. But after their brief meeting, when Deborah realizes that her former compatriot is actually happy with her choices, you can see Smart dim the pride in Deborah’s eyes and fill her face with doubt.
In those tiny moments, you can see flashes of the life Deborah Vance has lived and almost relate to this mean, fancy woman who you’re absolutely not supposed to.
Deborah is wistful, but she doesn’t for a second wish that she could live a full life without comedy. Instead, her regret is not living a full life of comedy without the distraction of family, friends, and marriages.
The way Deborah interprets the world around her — its ills, its tragedy, its happiness — is through comedy, a notoriously fickle artform. If Deborah’s life flashed before her eyes, it would consist of standup, her late-night show, her missed opportunities, her Vegas residency. The montage wouldn’t include her husband, her child, her sister’s betrayal, or her husband’s death. To Deborah, nothing really matters if it isn’t related to comedy.
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
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Kaitlin Olson and Jean Smart in Hacks, a show that is, despite its name, not about cybersecurity.
Hacks works this season because you slowly realize that this road trip is a total gamble for Deborah. There is no backup plan. Who she is, the way she needs the world to see her, her understanding of joy and pain — it’s all on the line. This comedy tour is a matter of her own survival.
But is that all too ghoulish, too narcissistic to admit?
It makes sense then that Deborah has surrounded herself with people like her devoted CEO Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) and Ava, her hard-headed protege. These two people — by choice or because they have no other options — are exactly like Deborah: completely consumed and defined by the job. Marcus uses Deborah’s dependency on him running her business as an anchor; it prevents him from spinning out. Ava’s gig with Deborah is more of a life preserver. Writing for Deb is the only thing happening in her life, as Ava is indecently good at burning opportunities.
Like attracts like, I guess. Ava and Marcus might not agree, though. They just have enough distance (for now) that they may or may not see themselves in Deborah. They’re slowly inching toward a point of no return, or if they’re lucky, a “stop before it’s too late” moment.
But Hacks doesn’t quite fall into that mode. It’s more of a question of: Are Marcus and Ava built like Deborah or not? Could they have a life just devoted to work and be happy? Wouldn’t it be nice to be that in love with your job and know that’s what you want to do? That, in its own way, is a subversive little fantasy.
The first two episodes of Hacks are available to stream on HBO Max.
John Fetterman is redefining how swing-state Democrats campaign -
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman poses for a photo while campaigning for the US Senate in Lemont Furnace, Pennsylvania. | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
How the Pennsylvania Senate primary became a fight for the future of the Democratic Party.
Who will win Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday, May 17, isn’t much of a mystery. John Fetterman, the state’s lieutenant governor, has been leading in polls for months in one of Democrats’ most important races for keeping control of the Senate.
Recent polls show him ahead of his closest challenger, Rep. Conor Lamb — the sort of moderate Democrats typically put forward in Pennsylvania Senate races — by 30 points.
His dominance may seem surprising. But behind it is his success in addressing two pressing problems Democrats have struggled with nationally. That their primary voters tend to favor progressive policies more than general election voters, and their party seems unable to clearly define what it believes and who it’s for: It wants to advance progressive ideas without being branded as leftist, and to strike a balance between elite priorities and blue-collar concerns.
The quirks of his candidacy mean that Fetterman is able to find a balance between extremes. A longtime politician, he’s promoted progressive causes in the state while also bending to practical, populist concerns. And he’s done much of that while wearing Carhartt hoodies and basketball shorts.
That’s not to say Fetterman has a lock on the general election. But if Fetterman wins, he and Democratic voters will be making a bet: An unconventional, but authentic candidate who is progressive enough to win a Democratic primary won’t doom the party in a general election.
Who is John Fetterman?
Fetterman’s parents were conservative Republicans, who went from being “extremely poor” to affluent because of his dad’s small business. He became interested in public service after a close friend’s death reordered his life and career goals. He worked in mentoring organizations before getting a masters degree at Harvard’s Kennedy School and eventually led a GED program in Braddock, a working-class, majority-Black industrial town east of Pittsburgh.
In 2005, he won his first race for Braddock’s mayor by one vote, and led the town for a decade before running his first statewide race in the 2016 Democratic Senate primary to challenge Republican Sen. Pat Toomey (whose seat he is now trying to flip). Though he lost that contest, he was successful in running for lieutenant governor in 2018.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (whom he supported in 2016) endorsed him in that race, solidifying Fetterman’s progressive credentials. A mostly powerless office, it’s nevertheless given him broad name recognition, and he’s used the post to advocate for marijuana legalization, gay and trans rights (he was in the news for hanging a pride flag from his office in Harrisburg), and prison reform.
That last area was one where he could actually make a difference as the head of the board of pardons. Under his leadership, the board waived the application fee for those seeking clemency, encouraged more people to apply, and significantly increased the number of recommendations for pardons and commutations.
Democratic primary voters aren’t the same as general election voters
Solidly a progressive, though hesitant to use the “progressive” label, Fetterman occupies an unusual position in the Democratic contest.
He’s not as left-leaning as his closest ideological rival, Malcolm Kenyatta, the Black, gay state representative from North Philadelphia, or an avowed centrist, like Lamb, the DC-born, retired Marine. But the blue-collar progressivism Fetterman represents strings together different elements: old-school centrist concerns for working-class people — often focused on the white working class — and the activist-minded priorities of a younger, more diverse electorate.
At first glance, Lamb, who won a Republican-leaning seat in a 2018 special election by just a thousand votes and managed to hold the seat in 2020, would seem like the ideal candidate to win statewide. Frequently described as being “straight from central casting,” he is more of a moderate than either Fetterman or Kenyatta, and on the campaign trail has been willing to criticize big spending proposals that might worsen inflation. His support from moderates and centrists hasn’t been enough to rival Fetterman yet in the primary, even though these voters will be crucial to winning statewide.
Lamb “doesn’t scare Republicans. He’s not over the top, he’s not controversial, he’s a Marine. In a general, he’s the guy,” Mustafa Rashed, a Philadelphia-based strategist, told me. “But it’s hard to get through primaries being anywhere near the middle anymore.”
Fetterman’s rise and Lamb’s decline show a tension in the state’s Democratic electorate that is also being replicated around the country. The party has moved left, and has pulled candidates away from the old political center.
At the same time, Democrats need to improve their support among working-class, non-college educated voters of all races who might be turned off from too radical a message. Just 23 percent of Pennsylvania Democratic primary voters describe themselves as very liberal; 44 percent call themselves moderates. And they are nearly evenly split between wanting moderates or progressives to be in control in Washington, according to recent Monmouth University polling. These internal struggles are happening while more Democrats in the state are flipping their party affiliation to the Republican Party, and as Republicans close the voter registration gap that had given Democrats an advantage in past elections.
“Democrats’ fate in Pennsylvania in 2022 depends heavily on holding their modest gains among white working class voters and stopping the bleeding among nonwhite working class voters,” the longtime Democratic analyst Ruy Teixeira writes. “So how are they doing? Not well, not well at all.”
A pro-Lamb super PAC seemed to stress this point when it aired an ad calling the lieutenant governor a “self-described democratic socialist” (though Fetterman doesn’t call himself that). And that attack, along with questions from Kenyatta about a moment in 2013 when the then-mayor confronted a Black jogger with a shotgun after thinking he heard gunshots, get at a central question of Fetterman’s candidacy: whether he’s progressive enough to win a Democratic primary but too progressive and unconventional to win a general election.
Fetterman’s campaign argues that he’s been successful in part because of his ability to transcend this ideological dichotomy.
“John’s going to some of the reddest counties. He’s talking to the people in the reddest counties and the bluest counties. He’s going everywhere,” Joe Calvello, the campaign’s communications director told me. “John is a different type of Democrat, who can appeal to people in these forgotten towns — places that used to vote Democrat, but that Democrats don’t even visit anymore. He can appeal to these people, because he shows up, and he listens.”
The polls suggest that primary voters also believe Fetterman won’t have a problem with a more moderate general electorate, since he’s drawing more support from them than either of his rivals. He has deep roots in the state, feels like an outsider even though he’s been in political office for 16 years, may benefit from his outspoken advocacy for abortion rights, and is an example of a populist progressive: someone who has stuck to his beliefs for years, even if some of them, like support for fracking and suspending the gas tax, prioritize the economy over larger left-leaning climate goals.
Pennsylvania’s changing landscape will test Democrats’ struggle for identity
This Pennsylvania contest is ramping up as Democrats struggle with an identity crisis nationally. They just barely control Washington, and have fumbled their signature legislative plan. They don’t know if they should push for climate- change mitigation, whether to expand the social safety net for families, or how to talk about inflation. Americans are frustrated, and they mostly blame one party: the one in power.
That presents a major challenge for Democrats, including in Pennsylvania, wherepolling over the last few months shows the economy as voters’ first concern. A growing plurality of voters say they are worse off than they were a year ago, and only a quarter think the country is on the right track. Looking at Democratic voters specifically, the general trend remains the same: Democrats are mixed on whether the country is heading in the right direction. In Washington, Democrats aren’t unified on how to best address this issue — and it’s possible, if not likely, that no legislation addressing economic concerns will be passed before November.
Fetterman doesn’t have any federal legislative power. But he has shown a messaging discipline that suggests to voters that he hears their concerns and has a plan to follow in Congress if Democrats hold their majority.He’s talked often about creating more jobs, raising the minimum wage, and abolishing the filibuster to do that if needed.
Voters also seem to trust Fetterman on other issues that polling suggests are of interest to Democrats, like the Russia-Ukraine war, health care costs, and voting rights. And after a draft Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade leaked, he’s brought abortion rights to the front of his campaign, too. Pennsylvania allows abortion up to the 24th week of pregnancy by law, and a Republican-run state government could pass tighter restrictions, or a ban, even as Pennsylvanians grow more supportive of abortion.
His authenticity also shows in his pragmatism, something mainstream progressive and national Democrats tend to put second to ideological purity. He’s not in line with many on the left flank of his party on climate issues, for example, where he defends fracking as a source for jobs and revitalization of industrial communities.
Based on his campaigning, Fetterman seems to have been successful so far due to understanding Pennsylvania’s landscape; he’s staked out a path between the political left and the center, and has developed a strong personal brand as a pragmatic outsider. His primary election win will test whether this brand of populist progressivism is enough to hold the Biden-Obama coalition of moderate suburban and progressive urban voters together, while cutting into moderate and conservative support for the eventual Republican nominee in November.
Is this another tech bubble bursting? -
A cliff diver in Mayo, Ireland. | Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images
And should you, a normal person, care?
That screaming sound you hear? That’s the stock market tumbling, led by a collapse in tech stocks: The overall market is down 18 percent this year, and tech shares are down about 30 percent.
That sound is also a chorus of “I told you so” from people who’ve been comparing the bull market investors have enjoyed for many years to the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s — and who say things are going to get worse. In the dot-com bust that kicked off in March 2000, tech stocks eventually dropped nearly 80 percent. That’s the kind of collapse that could affect everyone, even if they don’t work in tech and don’t bet on stocks (or, more accurately, they don’t think they bet on stocks).
And there are certainly lots of parallels: Like the dot-com era, the stock boom, which began in 2009 and then super-sized during the pandemic, has been fueled in large part by very low to nonexistent interest rates, which made investors more interested in companies that promised to deliver outsized returns. And like the dot-com era, we’ve seen plenty of companies promise products and results they can’t deliver, like hydrogen-powered trucks.
But there are significant differences between 2022 and 2000. The main one: Unlike the dot-com era, many of the most valuable publicly traded tech companies today are actual companies — they make and sell things people value, and usually make a profit doing so. So while companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon have all seen their shares tumble this year, it doesn’t mean their businesses are disappearing — just that investors no longer think their growth prospects are as compelling as they once were.
It’s also worth pointing out that while the tech industry employs a lot of people — an estimated 5.8 million in 2021, according to the Computing Technology Industry Association — that represents only about 4 percent of total US employment.
One wild card in this compare-and-contrast is the deflation of the crypto bubble, which is separate but very much related to the overall tech and stock bubble. On the one hand, the price of bitcoin and other crypto-related currencies and products seems to be evaporating very quickly: Last fall, a single bitcoin was worth $67,000; now it’s worth around $28,000. On the other hand, if you bought a bitcoin back in 2014, when it cost around $700, you’re still well off today.
The main questions for crypto-watchers: Is this a complete collapse or one of the many up-and-down swings the tech world has seen for the last decade? The question for everyone else: If crypto does collapse, will that only affect people who’ve bought or used dogecoin, Bored Ape NFTs, or some other kind of crypto — a group that supposedly represents 16 percent of Americans — or could it create a “contagion” that could wreck the global economy? If we knew, we’d tell you.
In the meantime, here are three charts that lay out some of the reasons it feels a lot like 2000 right now — and some of the reasons it doesn’t.
Even though you may have heard a lot about stocks and stock trading in the last couple of years — in large part because of the explosion of trading egged on by mobile apps like Robinhood — Americans aren’t significantly more exposed to the stock market than they’ve been in the past: About 58 percent of the country owns some kind of shares, whether they are individual stocks or bundles of them via 401(k)s and other retirement accounts. That’s not significantly different from the bubble era, but it’s also not a peak.
In the dot-com era, if you wanted to invest in a tech stock, you had to go find a tech stock — and lots of people did. But now you’re likely invested in tech even if you don’t want to be. That’s because many of the biggest tech companies — like Google, Facebook, and Apple, with a combined market cap of more than $4 trillion —now make up significant chunks of the big stock indexes. Which means that relatively conservative investment vehicles, such as index funds run by Vanguard and Fidelity, own big chunks of tech companies. So even if your only exposure to the stock market is via your 401(k) or IRA, you’re probably exposed to tech stocks.
One way to measure the relative riskiness of a stock is by measuring its ratio of price to earnings (P/E) — how much does a share of a company cost compared to its profit? In the dot-com era, when it was entirely possible to create a public company with little revenue and no profit at all, P/E ratios were off the charts. Today, big tech companies routinely throw off billions in profit, which makes for much more conservative ratios, and stock prices that should be more durable. One important outlier: Tesla shares, which have made Elon Musk the richest man in the world, with the ability to finance a $44 billion bid for Twitter, still trade at a nosebleed P/E ratio of 100. If they come back to earth, Musk will still be rich — but not nearly as much.
From The Hindu: Sports
Bellator, Aldgate, Siege Perilous, Sofiya, Place Vendome and Ascoval impress -
Formula One | Vettel says climate change makes him question his job - Sebastian Vettel said he often thinks of Formula One: ‘Is this something we should do, travel the world, wasting resources?’
Data | Can teenager Carlos Alcaraz challenge the ageing champions in 2022 French Open? - The last time an under-21 player reached the French Open final was Nadal in 2007. Between 2009 and 2018, no such player reached the round of 16
Chess | FIDE president nominates Viswanathan Anand in team to fight elections - At the FIDE elections in July-August, Viswanathan Anand will be part of the Arkady Dvorkovich’s team, giving him a chance to become deputy president of the world chess body
Foot injury resurfaces for Nadal in Italian Open defeat to Shapovalov - Rafael Nadal dominated the opening set of the Italian Open clash against Denis Shapovalov before a foot injury derailed him
From The Hindu: National News
₹5-lakh prize money for Kerala football team - Cabinet decides to compensate four fishermen who lost boat in Ockhi cyclone
Railways to confine term Divyangjan to Hindi communications - After Tamil Nadu MP flags issue, term to be replaced with ‘Persons with disabilities’
Grandchild or ₹5 crore: couple sues son - The parents also forked out ₹50 lakhs to get their son trained as a pilot in the United States only for him to return to India unemployed.
Stalin inaugurates godowns and buildings - He also handed over financial aid of ₹25,000 to 21 writers to encourage their literary talents
Research suggests regulation to improve energy efficiency in manufacturing sector - IIT Madras team comes up with suggestions after studying data of 15 years
From BBC: Europe
Ukraine conflict: Russian soldiers seen shooting dead unarmed civilians - The incident, captured on video seen by the BBC, is being investigated as a suspected war crime.
Finland Nato: Russia threatens to retaliate over membership move - Finland’s leaders say they want the country to apply for membership of the alliance “without delay”.
Spain plans menstrual leave in new law for those with severe pain - Spain could become the first European country with menstrual pain leave under a proposed law.
Eurovision 2022: Ireland’s Brooke fails to qualify for the final - Ireland go home after Thursday’s semi-final, despite a warm reception for Derry girl Brooke Scullion.
Ukraine war: Russia pushed back from Kharkiv - report from front line - Correspondent Quentin Sommerville and cameraman Darren Conway are with Ukrainian troops as they advance.
From Ars Technica
Lenovo’s Yoga 9i Gen 7 is a 2-in-1 statement piece - Convertible comes with Intel’s latest chips and lavish considerations throughout. - link
Orville: New Horizons trailer takes intrepid crew into unexplored space… and time - “Exploration always carries risk. I say we risk it.” - link
Google’s new Android Auto interface works with any screen size - Say goodbye to pillar boxes and other weird screen-fit solutions in your car. - link
Bitcoin plunges to lowest price since 2020 amid broader sell-off - The “stablecoin” tether briefly lost its peg to the dollar on Thursday morning. - link
Unvaccinated North Korea reports omicron outbreak, raising fears of new variants - State media reported that people in the capital tested positive for BA.2 subvariant. - link
From Jokes Subreddit
Guy takes his best mate home to meet his wife: -
His wife screams,“You fucking dickhead, my hair and make-up are a mess, the house is a tip, the dishes aren’t done, I’m still in my night clothes, I can’t be bothered to cook and it’s my time of the month!. Why the fuck did you bring him home?. The husband replies”Because he is thinking of getting married"…
