The Independent Variable (Page 10)

SB 244, which Republican supermajorities in the Kansas Legislature voted last week to enact into law over Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto, will go into effect on Thursday upon the publication of the Kansas Register. The legislation provides no funding to help people who need to replace their licenses. Kansas driver’s licenses typically cost around $30.

This is incredibly fucked up—it’s also why we need to pay more attention to local elections. The people of Kansas voted overwhelmingly against an abortion ban and I have to think (hope) those same people wouldn’t want their

🏒 U.S. Men’s hockey team honored at State of the Union, Trump says women’s team coming to White House

sports

The Athletic

Imagine going from winning a gold medal to having to listen to this imbecile ramble like an incoherent madman do 2+ hours. Even if most of these guys are Trump supporters, I guarantee you none of them were planning on watching the SotU.

Glimmering fragments Featured Post Paid Post

wayward wonderings

by Grigory Lukin

🫠 Ai Weiwei on China, the West and shrinking space for dissent

international

Reuters

In China, censorship relates to red lines. You cannot cross some red lines. It’s about state policy and discussions (about) state power. It’s also related to what they would call minority or religious issues, which can be very sensitive, so people would not touch those topics. If touched, it could cause you different levels of damage. But in the West, especially now, you also see censorship everywhere— not necessarily just from the state but from companies, from institutions, from schools or museums.

Anything by or about Ai Weiwei (艾未未) is worth a read. He’s dynamic and