PicoBlog

The former House speaker after whom the Hastert Rule is named, Dennis Hastert, served a year in the pen for making illegal bank payments to silence a man he’d abused sexually when he was a high school wrestling coach. The Washington Post and the New York Times both say the debt-ceiling compromise can’t be brought to the floor without support from a majority of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s Republican caucus. The question may be moot because McCarthy says he’s got a “majority of the majority.

My husband’s face said it all as he unwrapped the present from Jaffs, 6. Inside was a wooden carving of two figures embracing — kissing? — a heart blooming in the negative space between their spines. "Wow," said Noodles, processing the gift, "I love it!"  Jaffs had been let loose in a HomeGoods to choose presents and, like the red-and-white Christmas lingerie Buddy buys his father in Elf ("for someone special"

The Vienna Briefing is about to take its summer break, but before it does, I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you all for subscribing to this newsletter. In particular, I’d like to extend my appreciation to those of you who have either shared the newsletter with friends and colleagues—which has helped no end to expand this community of readers—or chosen to support the newsletter with a one-time financial contribution.

I just submitted written testimony in support of a bill that would (finally) make it a crime for teachers and other school staff to have sexual relationships with students. I know. That sounds crazy, right? I was doing some research in 2017 and stumbled upon a staggering truth about my state: It is not a crime for school personnel to engage in sexual activity with students. The details, while grotesque, are important so stick with me if you can:

This column is “It’s new to me,” in which I’ll play a game I’ve never played before — of which there are still many despite my habits — and then write up my thoughts on the title, hopefully while doing existing fans justice. Previous entries in this series can be found through this link. We’re used to the idea of Japan getting video games that North America does not. So many video games are made in Japan, for consoles released by companies based there, that it’s just become something of a norm to eventually end up going, “aw, I wish that’d release here, too.

This column is “It’s new to me,” in which I’ll play a game I’ve never played before — of which there are still many despite my habits — and then write up my thoughts on the title, hopefully while doing existing fans justice. Previous entries in this series can be found through this link. Cave Noire is a roguelike, but that’s something we know now. “Roguelike” wasn’t a thing yet back in 1991 when the game released, in the same way “Metroidvania” didn’t exist as a term until the time at which both Metroid and Castlevania games were Like That, but we can still retroactively notice elements of this kind of pathfinder game in titles that released before we had a name for them.

Today I write to you from the Delta Sky Club at Laguardia Airport, something I mention not to brag but simply to mock my would-be captors and assailants, who know all too well by now that by the time they read this I will be long gone. Actually, my flight doesn’t leave for nearly three hours, so there is a good chance I will still be here. But I am ready for them, assuming they are Delta SkyMiles members or have an American Express platinum card, the only two ways they can get in.

In her 1980 essay “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,” Adrienne Rich outlined a theory of “compulsory heterosexuality” — often shortened to “comphet” — arguing that, in effect, many people cannot understand their own queerness due to the ways that society trains all of us to see heterosexuality as normal, to understand it as a default that we are all initially expected to adhere to. If you exist in a certain corner of the queer community — and especially if you spend a fair amount of time on Tumblr — you’ve likely heard “comphet” tossed around here and there, sometimes in a way that feels edifying and helpful but… usually not.

In today’s issue: A look at the media’s shift in tone around Taylor Swift. Why the criticism of her new album, The Tortured Poets Department, is fair and fine. Loose Threads, including a review of Taylor Swift’s style, Zendaya on the “terrifying” Met Gala, and more For the better part of the last year, the media has ceaselessly told us how incredible Taylor Swift is. She’s currently on the Eras tour, the highest-grossing of all time.