➡️ Top news today: A mass shooting at the Chief’s Super Bowl victory parade left one person dead, and 24 injured—including 9 children shot . Your daily reminder that there are literally more guns than people in the “greatest country in the world.”

In today’s newsletter:

⏱️ Estimated read time: 5.5 minutes.

File this under “sh*t you can’t make up.” After a relentless campaign by right-wing media figures, a new poll released yesterday from Monmouth University found that a full one-third of all Republicans believe Taylor Swift is involved in a covert government effort to help Joe Biden win the 2024 presidential election. For what it’s worth, nearly three-quarters (73%) of those also believe the 2020 election was stolen (it wasn’t).

In the run-up to the Super Bowl, several fascist-supporting propagandists spread unhinged attacks that Swift is secretly a Democratic operative, CIA agent, or part of a “psyop,” according to the media watchdog Media Matters. The lie was put front and center by Jesse Watters from Fox News, where spreading lies and conspiracy theories is a billion dollar business. In response, the United States Defense Department actually had to put out a statement in Taylor’s defense. 

But but but: Fascists have reason to be worried—in the 24 hours after a single Instagram post by Taylor Swift last year, Vote.org says nearly 65,000 Americans ages 18-29 registered to vote. No wonder the hysterical lies.

What’s not a lie though: Taylor’s seeming preferred method of travel is quite possibly the worst for the earth’s rapidly warming climate. The singer—along with 882 others—flew in a private jet to see her boyfriend play in last Sunday’s Super Bowl. Flying in a private jet is the most carbon-polluting way to travel; it produces five to 14 times more emissions per passenger than commercial planes. As one progressive commentator noted: We love your music Taylor, but park the f*cking jet.

Over ten years ago, Susie Balfour was told by a doctor that then-benign microcalcifications on both her breasts should be monitored closely. Only—that never happened. Despite the pain, tenderness and lumps in her breasts, Susie only got sporadic care because of one fatal flaw: she was incarcerated in a Mississippi prison. 

It was not until January 2022, after a judge overturned her homicide conviction and ordered her release, that Susie, now 62, learned the full, devastating truth. She had terminal, stage four breast cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes, spine, bones and liver. But Susie has made a vow:

In her remaining days, she’s taken the state to court, alleging that the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with its revolving door of contracted medical providers, subjected her to cruel and unusual punishment. She alleges the state deliberately delayed life-saving healthcare—for years.

Critics say Susie’s case highlights the utter horror that is the United States’ under-funded, over-crowded carceral system. Over two million people are behind bars in the United States at this very moment—more than any other country in the world—most also locked in an endless cycle of poverty. And despite growing bipartisan support for criminal justice reform, the private prison industry continues to block meaningful proposals for reform.

Read Susie’s whole story here.

Given the deadly mass shooting that erupted at the Chief’s Super Bowl victory parade, do you think we’ll ever see meaningful gun control legislation in our lifetimes?

Yesterday’s results: We asked is Joe Biden’s age a big deal following that report from the special prosecutor last week. You said:

Denis voted no: Biden “is old yes, but his abilities far exceed his opponent.”

Cecelia also voted no: “Unfortunately the media seems not to focus on problems with the cognitively impaired, lying, psychotic, dictatorial one since he used to be a reality TV star or for whatever other reason you can think of.”

While Jeffrey wrote in: “BOTH OF THEM ARE TOO OLD AND COULD DROP DEAD ANY DAY I HOPE THIS IS THE LAST ROUND OF OLD WHITE GUY VS OLD WHITE GUY!!!”

Us too Jeffrey. Us f*cking too. 😂

Here’s what’s making news—plus some stories the algorithms may have kept out of your feed this week.

On Gaza…

On Russia…

On politics…

On corporate greed…

Also…

It’s about damn time. Forty years ago, Alyce Clarke made history by becoming the first Black woman elected to the Mississippi Legislature. She retired last year after serving 39 years in the House. On Tuesday, she made history again—by becoming the first Black person—and first woman—to have their picture displayed in the state capitol. “I'd like to help everybody who's helped me to get here,” Clarke said at the unveiling ceremony, “because I did nothing by myself.”

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