Keeping Up With Emily For President
Plus: your 2022 E4P Wrapped
One pro and con about Emily For President is that I can’t predict the future. Sure, I suppose that keeps life exciting but then how am I supposed to know which conversations we have here will continue developing?? As someone who is nosy and proud of it, I want to know what’s going to happen as soon as it happens—the who’s, where’s, what’s, and why’s—which is nearly impossible upfront when talking about the news.
So, seeing that Google released their Year in Search 2022 this week, I thought that now is as good of a time as any to look back on some of the stories we talked about this year on E4P that have continued to develop and add a few updates.
Завдяки Duolingo я справді добре володію українською
The war in Ukraine that followed Russia’s invasion of the country has been going on for at least 244 days now which I know because that is the length of my Duolingo streak where I am learning Ukrainian.
Back in February, we talked with Laura Cooper about her thoughts on the conflict as someone who is Russian with strong familial roots in Ukraine, as well as the historical context for the violence. Since then, the war has continued on with a net Ukrainian advancement: Ukrainian forces have reclaimed control of major cities and regions like Kherson and Lyman in recent months, and Russian President Vladimir Putin did not deliver his traditional end-of-the-year address this year which has been leading the girlies to gossip about his health and mental state.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with the United Nations G7 leaders today to ask for more weapons as Russia still has the upper hand with artillery and other military technologies (although a new report out from Reuters claims that Russian forces have resorted to using old ammunition as they burn through their weapons supply). Additionally, Viktor Bout, the arms dealer the US gave back to Russia in exchange for WNBA player Brittney Griner who is also lovingly known as the Merchant of Death, “has joined the pro-Kremlin ultranationalist party Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR)” since returning home. No further updates on this story yet but something about a merciless black-market arms dealer siding with ultranationalist forces just feels ripe for future drama.
All of this is to say that the world fearfully (and Putin gleefully) expected Russia to easily trounce Ukraine and that simply has not happened in the slightest. It has been both inspiring and heartbreaking to watch the war in Ukraine unfold and continue this year, especially after everything Americans put Zelensky through during the quid pro quo impeachment. While I have continued to turn to Laura’s wisdom and her cousin’s gorgeous poem for brief bursts of hope when reading news from Ukraine, I also still get chills every time I read Laura’s line: “A win means less and less the more destruction happens before you win.”
Stories about Russian forces refusing to fight and mass graves being uncovered and Putin falling down the stairs and shitting himself are deeply unsettling and serve as a constant reminder that while this war may not be receiving the 24/7 coverage it did back in March, the wide-spanning impact it will have on our global history is only just starting.
Covid… In This Economy???
As of this week, health officials in New York City, Los Angeles, and a handful of other counties are once again recommending mask-wearing with the rise of Covid, flu, and RSV cases and hospitalizations regardless of vaccination status.
Obviously, this isn’t great news but it also isn’t shocking if you read either piece from the dynamic duo Arthur Menezes and Eleni Kokolakis. As Arthur told us back in March:
There was some talk about eliminating COVID once the vaccines were developed but that did not track given the global response to other vaccine-preventable diseases. We have only been able to eliminate one human disease (smallpox) thanks to vaccination and unfortunately, many vaccine-preventable diseases are a big public health concern in many countries.
Given all of this, one would believe that COVID is here for a long time—unless we can get our act together.
As someone who has run the gambit on reactions to Covid news—from living in paralyzing fear during the first Omicron wave last December to willingly and regularly getting on the 6 train without a mask—I’ll admit that I’m a little freaked out by this update and a little guilty that I have tried, like so many others, to forget about Covid’s existence for a while.
Maybe it’s a trauma response to, you know, being alive these past few years but it is incredibly easy to feel a little nervous about the new mask recommendations and what the immediate future could hold for our health. But, as Eleni told us, these feelings are normal:
Emily: What have you learned during your time surveying individuals on various public health matters?
Eleni: People are just scared really. No one is just a blank slate when you tell them to do something or listen to you, however, most people are willing to learn when their own health is on the line.
Most of this stuff is gibberish to many people, and fortunately I’ve been blessed enough with an education that allows me to understand and navigate this information when many cannot. As public health professionals, the best we can do is inform them and ease their fears the best we can by providing clear and effective communication.
With that in mind, there are two main things we can do moving forward: the number one thing is to remember that while the pandemic may have felt less serious for some of us recently, it remains a daily threat to many people around the world who are immunocompromised. While normal has become a relative term, there are individuals who have not had any semblance of their pre-Covid lives and that is not something we should continue glossing over so easily.
The second thing we can do is not be Elon Musk, by which I mean we should continue to follow the advice of the medical community (get our boosters and flu shots, mask when told so, and keep washing your hands which should not have been a new instruction but I digress) and also not be transphobic assholes.
Oh, So It Can Get Worse From Here
Back in October, I spoke with a brilliant anonymous guest about the anti-government movement that began in Iran in September. Since then, the good parts that we covered in our conversation have remained good—young Iranians around the world are putting their lives on the line to fight for the freedom of their people from an oppressive regime—but the bad parts have unfortunately gotten much worse.
Last week, news outlets reported that the Islamic Republic has disbanded the morality police that arrested and murdered Mahsa Amini. As the New York Times explained,
It was unclear whether the statement amounted to a final decision by the theocratic government, which has neither announced the abolition of the morality police nor denied it. But if the force is abolished, the change will be unlikely to appease protesters who are still clashing with other security forces and have become so emboldened that some are calling for an end of the Islamic Republic.
What the Islamic Republic has definitively done is start publicly executing protestors following sham trials and cruel mistreatment of the protestors’ families. This morning, a 23-year-old protestor named Majidreza Rahnavard was executed after a trial in which the BBC reports he “was denied a lawyer of his choice…The lawyer he was given did not put up a [defense].” The BBC also reported that Rahnavard’s mother met with him recently and was led to believe her son would soon be released. She was not informed of his execution until after it occurred.
Back in October, we discussed how at least 266 had been killed since the protests started on September 16—the BBC now reports that “at least 488 protesters have been killed by security forces and 18,259 others have been detained, according to the Human Rights Activists' News Agency (HRANA).”
The situation in Iran is horrifying and will likely not be improving anytime soon. Between the executions, the false promises, and the conniving (see below), the Iranian government is clearly trying to fearmonger its own people out of fighting for their freedom while manipulating the image it puts forth on the world stage so that we all stop caring so much.
But remember:
Emily: Is the current political structure what the people of Iran actually want from their government?
Anon: No, absolutely not. The people of Iran are fighting for democracy. To live the way you and I do, similar to the way Iranians lived before the Islamic Revolution. I don’t know a single Iranian who doesn’t want this change.
There have been multiple pro-government demonstrations in Tehran but given the magnitude of the situation and corruption of the government, everyone knows that these have been set up by the government. Any media telling you otherwise is wrong. The brave youth and Iranian people protesting and fighting are nothing but sheer patriots, who love their country so much that they’d be willing to die for change.
Not to be aggressively myself right now (read: dramatic), but keeping up to date on what is happening in Iran with information from reputable sources is quite literally a life-or-death situation. Please stay informed and take action on behalf of the Iranian people. As my guest suggested,
Since Iranians are being stripped of their voice through internet cuts throughout the country, the main way everyone can help, no matter how minuscule it may sound, is to share on their social media accounts. Destroy whatever opinion you have on performative activism because this is all we really can do in this situation. Be the voice for the people who are no longer allowed to have a voice.
Live In Your Unhinged Truth, Queen!!!
Finally, in lighter news, Kari Lake is “desperate and delusional” according to an Arizona newspaper which I absolutely love for her.
As we’ll recall, we were supposed to keep an eye on four major races in last month’s midterm elections: the Wisconsin gubernatorial race (which the Democrats won), the Nevada Senate race (which the Democrats also won), the Georgia Senate race (which the Democrats won in this month’s run-off election), and the Arizona gubernatorial race (which the Democrats won…unless you’re Kari Lake).
That’s right, Arizona is doing too much right now: between Lake filing a lawsuit challenging her loss to Katie Hobbs for the state’s governorship, “requesting an order ‘declaring that Kari Lake is the winner of the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election,’ or as separate option tossing the gubernatorial results in [Maricopa County] and mandating that officials there conduct a new vote,” and Senator Krysten Sinema leaving the Democratic Party after the recent success in Georgia, the girlbosses are girlbossing a bit to close to the sun.
Both actions are unnecessary and attention-grabbing with little regard for the will of the people of their state….you know, the ones who they’re supposed to be representing (or, in Lake’s case, very desperately trying to). In any case, the nuclear option of this year’s midterms—election deniers winning enormous amounts of power—has been staved off at least until 2024.
As Promised…Emily For President Wrapped!!!
As I prepare to leave behind what could go down as the weirdest year of my life, I am overwhelmed with the amount of gratitude I have for all of the guests listed above, everyone else who took the time each week to take me on a tour through at least one part of their lives, and all of you reading this, other humans who think this is worth any number of minutes in your day.
I love this silly goofy newsletter and I’m grateful to have made it through another year with it fully intact.
Without further ado…
