Pass the Mind Bleach

Welcome, incredulous reader. For much of this week, I had planned to write some entertaining little commentaries on the quite unbelievable decision by the US Supreme Court to effectively relax gun control legislation. Yes, honestly, apparently the uniquely American answer to gun violence is, well, more guns.

Then the Supreme Court went and one-upped themselves by putting women's rights back 50 years. But more on that later.

Now, once upon a time, probably in the early 90s when I got my first Walkman and used to wander around laden down with cassette tapes so I could call up an appropriately varied set of tunes, I sometimes used to feel like I was living in a movie and the songs I chose were the soundtrack. Over the last 2 years it's become increasingly apparent that the movie's taken a distinctly dystopian tone here in the US, and much as I love dystopian fiction, I'd rather not be starring in it.

But it can't be a movie, or indeed a simulation, because if the amazing Marjorie Taylor Greene was a work of fiction, you simply wouldn't believe it. This is a nationally elected official who has argued that school shootings are false flag operations designed to introduce gun controls by the back door. Read that again. Yes, folks, really.

This week, MTG excelled herself in an exchange with British journalist Siobhan Kennedy: when the journalist pointed out that the UK had a significantly lower murder rate than the US, and almost no gun violence to speak of, MTG's proud response was "Well, you can go back to your country and worry about your no guns. We like ours here".

Let me say it again: this is a person elected to a national-level position of power.

You might imagine that this is the craziest thing you're going to hear all year, but then not two days later the Supreme Court did something even more bonkers. I'm not entirely sure what year it is here, but I imagine if someone popped up and said that Buddy Holly had died it'd be a surprise in some states.

Anyway, we cleanse ourselves of all this madness by reflecting on simple pleasures. It's very obviously summer here in California, and that means all sorts of things are in bloom. Something that's very obviously in season right now appears to be the Jacaranda trees, which are shedding beautiful lilac petals across the pavements throughout the town. Colours here are vivid and vibrant (not to mention missing the odd letter).

Keep it real, readers.