Babylon Bee Takes Pot Shots At Asian American Drivers For "Laughs"

Yay! More racist "fun" jokes at the expense of Asian Americans. 

I know I know--I'm just being sensitive....

From the googles when searching up "racist stereotype asian american driving+effects on lawsuits and traffic tickets":

Effects on Traffic Tickets

Despite having no discernable difference in driving habits or speeding behaviors compared to white motorists, minority groups face strict punitive enforcement due to racial profiling. For Asian Americans, the disparities are notably sharp: [1]

Disproportionate Citations: Large-scale traffic data demonstrates a severe ticketing bias. A landmark multi-year study of over 11 million traffic stops published in Research Square revealed that while all nonwhite drivers were more likely to be cited, the disparity was largest for Asian drivers. [1]
The "Rural" Penalty: In Texas and New Jersey highway patrol studies, Asian American drivers consistently faced 1.5 to 2.5 times higher odds of receiving a citation rather than a warning compared to white drivers caught traveling at the exact same speeds. This gap peaks dramatically in rural jurisdictions where the drivers are less demographically represented. [1, 2]
Increased Fine Amounts: According to data from the University of Michigan/Science Journal using high-frequency GPS tracking, minority motorists are charged 34% more expensive fines for identical infractions. [1]

⚖️ Effects on Lawsuits & Civil Cases

In personal injury lawsuits and car accident litigation, stereotypes function as invisible but heavily weighted factors in determining fault, liability, and financial damages.

Weaponizing Implicit Bias: Jurors and insurance adjusters carry societal tropes into the courtroom. When an Asian American is involved in a car accident, opposing counsel can subtly leverage the "bad driver" stereotype via confirmation bias. An ordinary, minor error that might be forgiven as a simple accident for a white driver is more easily framed as chronic incompetence or reckless driving when the defendant is Asian.
Inflated Civil Liability: Because civil lawsuits operate on the "preponderance of evidence" standard (determining who is more likely at fault), a jury impacted by implicit bias may unevenly distribute fault. This leads to higher comparative negligence percentages assigned to Asian drivers, drastically reducing their payout if they are injured, or inflating the damages they are forced to pay out.
Civil Rights Retaliation: The intersection of traffic enforcement and systemic racism has also triggered major civil rights lawsuits. For example, a major federal civil rights lawsuit was filed against Siskiyou County, California, where local police were caught disproportionately targeting Asian American drivers in traffic stops, using minor infractions to cut off water access and place liens on property in predominantly Asian neighborhoods. [1]

📊 The Reality vs. The Myth

Data compiled by organizations like Goldsea shows that Asian Americans have the lowest traffic fatality rate in the United States (2.53 deaths per 100,000 people). While making up roughly 6% of the U.S. population, they contribute to only 1% of total traffic deaths. Furthermore, international studies from the Association for Psychological Science (APS) show that Asian-born drivers actually carry half the accident risk of their Western-born peers, proving that the stereotype is rooted entirely in cultural xenophobia rather than data. [1, 2]

---

Here's a link to their shitty joke article: https://babylonbee.com/news/tiger-woods-license-suspended-after-court-determines-he-is-half-asian

I like Ben. It's His Story. And Those Czech Viets...They're Okay Too

 

Ben Quach fled the Vietnam War, started a business in Oregon and now runs a thriving fabrication company at age 75. Read the full story here: https://www.kgw.com/article/money/bus... Subscribe:    / kgwnews8   Watch the latest KGW newscast: https://www.kgw.com/watch Get the KGW app: https://kgw.com/appredirect

The 83,000-strong Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic represents the third largest ethnic-minority in the country. The first generation of Vietnamese were sent here as indentured workers, as a form of payment for the country’s help in the war. Following the fall of communism, these Vietnamese began establishing their own businesses. They made their children learn Czech and gave them new opportunities. A whole new generation of Czech-Vietnamese is breaking new ground, veering away from the traditional jobs, embracing their heritage and showcasing the best of diversity and integration. 0:00 Introduction 1:17 The Animal Lover 3:35 The Czech-Vietnamese artist 6:40 A touch of Vietnam in Prague 9:21 Creating content for Vietnamese community 12:26 Asian ideas, European life 15:00 Shining a light on Vietnamese culture 17:09 Exploring Vietnamese history in Prague 20:49 Home for Oliver ========= ABOUT THE SHOW: The New Locals brings us stories of the different ethnic communities who’ve made their home in foreign lands around the world - people who migrated and over time, become one of the locals.

For more, SUBSCRIBE to CNA INSIDER! https://cna.asia/insideryoutubesub Follow CNA INSIDER on: Instagram:   / cnainsider   Facebook:   / cnainsider   Website: https://cna.asia/cnainsider

Anna Sawai + Marie Claire + Getting Small To Go Large

From the article:

"She spent years being trained to control herself—to live up to what she calls the stoicism of her family, the rigors of ballet training that she never quite mastered, and Japanese culture itself, where Sawai always felt like she wasn’t doing things the way people wanted her to, no matter how strong her drive was to be a “people pleaser.” But sitting here on this roof, unrehearsed, as Sawai succumbs to the emotions that go off like fireworks at any spark of stimuli, it feels obvious why she’s poised to become a movie star, with forthcoming roles as a grieving heist member in David Leitch’s How to Rob a Bank and Yoko Ono in Sam Mendes’s quartet of Beatles biopics. Maybe the quality filmmakers keep responding to isn’t just how Sawai disappears into a character, but how she has learned to let herself be seen."

I still have yet to see Shogun.

I will.

But please don't Shogun shame me.

I'll get there.

Can AI Help Tell The Stories Of Asian Adoptees? New Book "HeavyWith Joy: From an AI adoptee, prompted and edited by a real adoptee" Asks That Question.

From the Press Release:

Can AI help tell the stories of adoptees? Heavy With Joy is an extraordinary experiment in storytelling and a bold new way to give voice to adoptee experiences

ST. PAUL, MN, UNITED STATES, August 12, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — CQT Media and Publishing today announced the release of “Heavy With Joy: From An AI Adoptee, Prompted and Edited By A Real Adoptee“, a contemporary poetry collection by Emeritus Brown that explores identity, love, relationships, memory, and belonging through the lens of transracial and international adoption, blurring the boundaries between technology and humanity

Created through an extended collaboration between artificial intelligence and human editorial direction, “Heavy With Joy” challenges conventional ideas about authorship while remaining firmly rooted in lived experience. The collection asks not whether artificial intelligence can replace human creativity, but whether it can become another medium for expressing it.

Drawing upon themes familiar to many in the adoptee community, as well as other marginalized communities, the poems invite readers into Brown’s own reflections on the search for identity, weaving together a collection that is both intimate and universal.

“Every poem was measured against one standard,” said Emeritus Brown. “Did it reveal something emotionally true? Technology generated possibilities, but the human voice determined what remained.”

“Heavy With Joy: From An AI Adoptee, Prompted and Edited By A Real Adoptee” is now available in paperback through Amazon.

To view more about the book please see https://www.heavywithjoy.com

From https://www.heavywithjoy.com/

Heavy With Joy, From An AI Adoptee, Prompted And Edited By A Real Adoptee blurs the boundaries between technology and humanity to explore the deeply personal subject of adoption. Through the lens of a transracial and international adoptee, Brown’s thoughts on love, connections, familial relationships, and our search for identity, weave together poetry that is at once intimate and innovative, reflecting on the joys, spaces, and complexities of identity and belonging.

What happens when artificial intelligence is guided by the lived experience of an adoptee? Can AI help tell the stories of the adoptee community if its words are prompted, shaped, and refined by someone within it? These poems—crafted by AI but profoundly molded by Brown’s voice and experience—ask readers to reflect on validity, authenticity, and the intersection of machine-generated creativity with deeply human emotion.

Emeritus Brown believes these words carry weight, not because they are “perfect,” but because they are real—rooted in an adoptee’s truth and the collaboration of technology as a tool for expression. Heavy With Joy is an extraordinary experiment in storytelling, a poetic act of self-determination, and a bold new way to give voice to the adoptee experience.

Francesca Hong And Hao Nguyen--Making Waves, But Did Not Move On

 
I don't feel like parsing out why both might have lost, which will also take some more time and information, but I am glad both ran, shook up the establishment and paved a path for different ways to move forward.

Like it or not--we must change and adapt.

Hao Nguyen For Hennepin County Attorney

Hao's Story from https://hao4hennepin.com/:

I’ve dedicated my career to public service because I want everyone to have the same kind of opportunity that I did.

My mom fled war in Vietnam seeking safety for her family.  When she and my brothers and I finally landed in Minnesota, we had nothing but each other. But we were given so much, and I was able to become a police officer and later a lawyer. Now I lead one of the largest prosecutor units in the state.

I’m running for Hennepin County Attorney because my experience as a prosecutor and in law enforcement has taught me that we can do better, we can work together to create both safety and fairness. We can hold people accountable, and provide support. We can protect people’s rights, and hear victims. We can partner with law enforcement, and also hold them accountable. I know we can because I’ve done it.

My background helps me understand what people go through. 

My Mom and my brothers and I spent two years in a refugee camp in the Philippines before being sponsored to settle in Saint Cloud, Minnesota. Life here was a lifeline, but it wasn’t easy. My mom worked at a chicken processing plant, we lived in a trailer park, and we depended on public and nonprofit assistance. I was one of the few Asian kids in school and heard racial slurs more than once. I got into trouble, was often truant, and graduated high school near the bottom of my class. My teachers and others who believed in me helped me build the skills and confidence to succeed and because of them, St. Cloud State gave me a chance.

My life has also given me personal reasons to fight for dignity and fair treatment. I have a transgender child, and I stood with Governor Walz, Attorney General Ellison, and legislators protecting the rights of trans people when those rights were attacked. I also have a close family member with severe mental illness, and I’ve advocated for them within the mental health and criminal justice systems. Those experiences deepen my empathy and understanding of how systems can help — or harm — vulnerable people and their families.

My gratitude drives me to serve.

Gratitude for what others have done for me is why I chose public service. I worked my way through college by working night shifts as a correctional officer at the Stearns County jail. After college I became a police officer, went to law school, and eventually became a prosecutor. Those years taught me to see the humanity in everyone — victims, defendants, people behind bars — and impressed on me that seeking justice is more than retribution. It requires empathy, fairness, and judgment about when to prosecute, when to dismiss, and when to pursue alternatives.

My experience will guide what I do.  

Professionally, I bring more than two decades in criminal justice: five years as a deputy, correctional officer, and police officer, and over 16 years as a prosecutor. For the last seven years I’ve led the Adult Criminal Trials and Appellate Division at the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, supervising prosecutors, managing budgets, hiring attorneys, and advising on case strategy. This experience gives me credibility with law enforcement and the depth of knowledge to understand what needs to change and how to make those changes. I’ve helped shift policies by working collaboratively with police chiefs, defense attorneys, judges, labor, and community.

My work extends beyond my day job. I’ve served as board chair of Asian Women United of Minnesota, helping provide safe refuge for women and children. I’m on the board of the Minnesota Crisis Intervention Team, supporting training for first responders and others to safely and compassionately handle mental health crises. In 2024 I was honored with the Carnegie Medal for Heroism for intervening to stop someone from jumping to their death — an experience that reflects how I try to show up in the hardest moments.

If elected County Attorney, I will bring empathy, humility, and the practical experience needed to run the office effectively, lead on the critical issues our county faces, and serve victims and ensure fairness for those charged.

I hope you will vote for me in the August 11th primary. To get involved in our campaign please use the links above. Thank you.

Hao

====================

Here's a link to another story as well where Nguyen touches on a lot of subjects including ICE: https://twincities.citycast.fm/guides/meet-your-candidates-hao-nguyen-for-hennepin-county-attorney"For me, I'm the only refugee and immigrant in the race – period. If you look at the slate of candidates, nobody else has that experience. I was born in Vietnam, raised by a single mother. We fled Vietnam with nothing but the clothes on our backs and lived in refugee camps in the Philippines for about two years. I believe, by the grace of God, we won the lottery when we were sponsored to come to the U.S. Catholic Charities sponsored my mom, my brothers, and me to come to St. Cloud, Minnesota. There, I learned what it's like to grow up poor in a trailer park – English as a second language, EBT, food stamps, translating for my mom – clawing my way through school, becoming a police officer, and then a lawyer.But to get back to your question – and that's a long way of answering it – I've lived every aspect of what the county attorney's office touches. It reaches a lot of poor folks. It reaches immigrants and refugees who have language barriers. It reaches people who, especially with the ICE situation, don't know if they should report a crime because they might be undocumented – though just because someone's undocumented doesn't make them illegal. They could be totally legal, but their papers have expired and all they need to do is renew them. But there's a language barrier that scares them away from doing that.So I've lived all of those parts of society, and if I get elected, it would be an honor to give voice to those experiences personally, not just academically. I'm also the only candidate right now actively investigating ICE and looking at potential prosecution. There's a case involving the man who was taken from his home in his underwear in the middle of winter – a U.S. citizen. I'm leading that investigation as the head prosecutor, working with law enforcement to investigate that case, among others. So while other candidates are talking about what they'll do once they get there, I'm actually doing the work right now.And I say that with a heavy heart, because it's very important work – and it informs what will need to be done with Alex Pretti murder and Renee Good's murder, prosecutions the current county attorney won't be able to continue because she's stepping down. The new county attorney needs to hit the ground running. Right now, I'm the only one doing the actual work of ICE investigation and prosecution. That's one of my biggest priorities."

Voting for Hennepin County Attorney is this Aug 11.

Khantrast: The Poster Child - Album Trailer

From the video desc.:

"Pre-save link - https://orcd.co/khantrast-posterchild Big thank you to   / bryant_hyun   for blessing with the visuals August 21st release date Excited to share this project with y'all"

Kensho Kuma x Far Beats: Immigrant Anthem

From Kensho Kuma about the track:

"Immigrant Anthem" is a protest-centered hip-hop piece responding directly to the current conflicts between immigrants and ICE agents, as well as the ongoing demonstrations across our country. The song documents the emotional, political, and lived realities of communities navigating surveillance, detention threats, and state violence. It is both a personal narrative and a broader commentary on the conditions shaping immigrant life in 2026.

At a moment when POC communities nationwide are mobilizing against ICE raids, detention centers, and deportation pipelines, this track aims to contribute to the cultural record of resistance. Far Beats’ production blends cinematic tension with boom‑bap grit, while my verses draw from diasporic identity, community defense, and the long protest lineage of Oakland, Berkeley, and Richmond.

Check more out at https://kenshokuma.com/

So The Police Can't Take An Asian Woman Talking About Weiner Wednesday? I Bet This GOES NOWHERE For a White Man.

Before anything here's the information on the text/joke from the Star Tribune, which should be held more accountable for their journalism and calling things "innaporpriate" when that should be left up to people reading it, or a jury if needed, because it's not even close to being cut and dry.

"At the heart of an April 1 letter sent by Madel notifying the city that Henry had filed a formal complaint is a screenshot of a text message allegedly sent by Her to a city employee that reads, “Happy Weiner Wednesday!” and a note expressing regret that she can’t be with the employee to eat a hot dog that day.

Beneath the message is a partially redacted image showing an internet meme that was posted by a comedian earlier this year. The meme shows a swaddled baby with an adult’s head. Above the photo, a caption reads, “When she wraps you up in a blanket after you gave her a good weinering,” with two laughing emojis. The term “wienering” is often used as sexual innuendo on the internet."

Are you kidding me? This is the sexual harassment?

Wienering is a sexual innuendo? 

People are pining that on Her?

Aren't the symbol PI and the infinity symbol signs for TikTok polyamory pages (I thought it was unicorn too, but maybe not)?

So if she sent a message about math and a joke with PI to math teachers, is that sexual harassment too?

Please.

And let's give it up to the Star Tribune again for talking about sexuality in regard to Her--because it shows exactly the double stanrdard for women and men. And yes, while it does revolve around a restraining order about Her--which was denied by a judge and saying there was a clash between friends and not harassment--they are doing a hit job on Mayor Her--trying to paint this picture of her as this hypersexualized Asian woman.

At least to me, that's what it feels like.

But I do give them credit in also talk about the St. Paul Police and overspending overtime budgets and how that's been a key point of tension during budget negotiations. 

Because that is interesting.

Coincidence?

Perhaps.

OMG. St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her Is Getting Investigated For Sexual Harassment? Filed By White Police Chief Axel Henry? Feels Like A Hit Job? Was There A Thumb Involved?

I don't know--feels like a hit job to me to be honest.

The first woman mayor of Saint Paul?

And she's Asian American?

And there are not a lot of details in the records (at least according to The NY Times and other news outlets)?

What did she do that warrants this versus a littany of things we can look at the St. Paul police for (tear gas anyone lately)?

I'm not saying we should not take sexual harassment seriously.

Nor am I saying this can't be true.

I'm just saying the optics look a little interesting.

And I do have to wonder how Mayor Her sexually harassed police officers...

Did she give them a thumbs up and a wink?

Did the thumb go someplace else?

We just want to know.

No One Wants A $1 Coin With Trump's Face On It AKA WTH Is Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Thinking AKA ICE KILLS AGAIN...AND AGAIN #DeportPresidentTrump

You can go to the Guardian site to see the actual coins (as I don't want to subject people the actual image with this face on it). One of the pieces of information I found interesting:

"Among the changes, the coin has a gold finish rather than being made of solid gold."

So it just looks like it, you can tell people it's gold, but it's really not.

Sounds like our President. I hate having to type that sentence.

And then there is this quote from Scott Bessent:

"Featuring President Trump, it celebrates the strength of American values, and the promise of a nation dedicated to preserving freedom for all."

You mean all the White People right?

Because let's face it - it's all about getting the Brown and Black People out of this country now.

The Immigrants. 

Who ICE Keeps Killing BTW....in case you haven't heard....

From the NY Times:

"In Houston last week, an ICE agent killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant who had lived in the country for more than three decades, during a traffic stop while he was driving to work with three passengers. He was not the intended target of the ICE operation, federal officials acknowledged after initially saying he was.

In Maine early on Monday, an ICE agent shot and killed a Colombian man, who was also in his vehicle. He was identified as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, according to a spokesman for Senator Angus King of Maine. A statement from the Homeland Security Department was unclear about whether Mr. Guerrero was the person agents had been seeking."

Wasn't Horman supposed to be stopping all this?

Wait that's right...he's cut from the same cloth isn't he.

Apparently now with TWO MORE MURDERS ON THEIR WATCH they have been ordered to halt vehicle stops.

Who thought that was a good idea to start with anyway?

Thank you President Trump for your Xenophobia, Racism, and Violent tendencies.

I hope one day it gets you what you deserve.

Deported.

4x Music: Retro Jennie Rehearsal, Olivia Rodrigo x BBC x The Cure, Retro Harimu Choreography x Tate McRae x Greedy, Kyle Hanagami x LISA (ft. DOJA CAT & RAYE) x Born Again

 

MV Rehearsal for “Mantra” by JENNIE.

Olivia Rodrigo performs 'the cure' from her new album 'you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love', in the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge.

Choreographer / Harimu Song / Tate McRae - greedy

BORN AGAIN - Lisa (from BLACKPINK) featuring Doja Cat & Raye | Dance Choreography by Kyle Hanagami Also this music video is fire. ___________________________________ CHOREOGRAPHY | Kyle Hanagami WEBSITE: https://www.kylehanagami.com ___________________________________ DANCERS | GROUP 1: Sean Lew (California) Dario Schirone (Italy) Alekz Samone (Texas) GROUP 2: Charlize Glass (California) Kaycee Rice (California) Madison Alvarado (Nevada) GROUP 3: Amanda LaCount (Colorado) Chloe Barbera (Louisiana) Blake Rhodes (Oregon) Brandt Czerniski (Arizona) Ky Jones (Ohio) GROUP 4: Ryan (????) Jayna Hughes (Nevada) GROUP 5: Haley Fitzgerald (Wisconsin) __________________ FILMED BY | Donovan Okimura ___________________ SONG: Born Again ALBUM: SINGLE ARTIST: Lisa (ft. Doja Cat & Raye)

From Roswell Encina

Great commentary article from Roswell Encina, whose image had gone viral after a Getty Images photographer photographed him surrounded by White supremacist group the Patriot Front.

"On the Fourth of July, while I was on my way to a party, I found myself riding a Washington Metro train surrounded by hundreds of masked white supremacists. A subway car is supposed to be one of society’s great equalizers. But it was the last place I expected to reflect on what it means to be an American.

A Getty Images photographer captured the moment. As far as I could see, I was the only unmasked person in the sea of Patriot Front members. I had my AirPods in, and my gingham shirt and bandana signaled I was ready to celebrate Independence Day. But my face and body language told a different story. 

Within hours, the photographs had spread across social media and news outlets. Friends began texting. Reporters called. Many asked whether I had been frightened.

The honest answer is yes.

But after the initial shock faded, I realized the moment offered something else: an opportunity to talk about the country I love, the work still left to do, and why history and civics education matter now more than ever.

I came to this country as an infant because my father served in the U.S. Navy. During my childhood, our family moved back and forth between the United States and the Philippines before eventually settling here. America became home not simply because we lived here, but because my parents believed deeply in the responsibilities that came with citizenship [...]

Today, I have the privilege of serving as president and CEO of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, where our mission is to preserve history, elevate civics and help Americans better understand Congress and the Capitol. Every day we welcome students into the Capitol, train teachers from across the country, host conversations with historians and public servants, and encourage visitors to see themselves as part of the American story."

Read the full article: https://www.salon.com/2026/07/10/what-a-subway-ride-with-white-supremacists-taught-me-about-america/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Good Wiki: Hiro Narita

"An avid movie fan since childhood, Narita decided to go into filmmaking rather than go back into graphic design upon his return to San Francisco in the mid-sixties. He was a still photographer on Michelangelo Antonioni's Zabriskie Point (1970).^[1] After an internship with John Korty and Victor J. Kemper on the Michael Ritchie movie The Candidate in 1971, he photographed the television movie Farewell to Manzanar in 1975, for which he received an Emmy Award nomination.

In 1976, he was one of the camera operators on Martin Scorsese's documentary The Last Waltz about the last concert of The Band. Later, he worked on projects like Apocalypse Now, More American Graffiti, and the Neil Young documentary Rust Never Sleeps. For his cinematography on the movie Never Cry Wolf he won the Boston Society of Film Critics Award and the National Society of Film Critics Award in 1983. In 1989, he photographed the Visual Effects in the Steven Spielberg film Always. In the following years, he was the Director of Photography on successful films like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Dirty Pictures, The Rocketeer, and James and the Giant Peach.

Narita served as director of photography on the 1997 Live Action Short Film Academy Award winning Visas and Virtue. He also directed the 1997 hour-long documentary film, Isamu Noguchi: Stones and Paper, for PBS' American Masters series.

He has taught at San Francisco Art Institute, lectured, and given master classes at many institutions including Golden Eye in the Republic of Georgia.

He is a member of American Society of Cinematographers (ASC)^[1] and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences."

Go down the rabbit hole a little more at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiro_Narita

Asian Americans In The News: Wong Fu, Michigan's Mai Xiong, Simu Liu+Shang-Chi, Ted Lieu x2, And Katseye's Lara Raj

Some news from across the way.

The Asian American Foundation and Wong Fu Productions Launch 'The United States of Asian+America' to Uncover the AAPI Trailblazers and Stories that Changed America

"Today, The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) is unveiling The United States of Asian+America, a digital series produced in partnership with Wong Fu Productions that tells the untold stories of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) firsts, inventors, and industry pioneers behind America's biggest industries and cultural shifts (watch the trailer here and the premiere episode here).

From the music topping the charts to technologies powering our daily lives to the food enjoyed in every corner of the country, AAPIs have played an outsized role in the experiences that define America today. Yet as the country prepares to mark its 250th anniversary, much of the public still has limited knowledge of AAPI history and influence. According to TAAF's 2026 STAATUS Index, more than half (53%) of U.S. adults cannot name a single major moment in Asian American history, and just 7% believe AAPI communities have "a great deal" of influence on U.S. culture.

The United States of Asian+America will take viewers on a journey to meet the AAPI trailblazers who have shaped modern American life, through a series of original and intimate interviews featuring guests like.."

Xiong, Rogers Introduce Legislation to Make Childcare More Affordable

"State Reps. Mai Xiong (D-Warren) and Julie M. Rogers (D-Kalamazoo) hosted a press conference today announcing House Bills 6034-35, which codify and appropriate $10 million to MI Tri-Share and Care-Share. The legislation would invest in some of the fastest-growing workplace childcare benefit programs in the state, expanding access to childcare for workers in every corner of Michigan."

“We are in an affordability crisis. Families are paying more at the gas pump, in the grocery store, on housing and on energy costs. I am committed to providing Michigan families relief now,” Rep. Xiong said. “My legislation codifies and expands Tri-Share and Care-Share, lowering costs for families, workers and businesses. Childcare is a workforce and economic issue. If parents can’t afford childcare, they can’t earn a living, businesses lose out on workers and our state’s economy suffers. Childcare costs are keeping parents out of the workforce and making it harder for employers to recruit and retain workers. As a working parent of four young children, I know the struggle every parent faces as they balance raising a family and working. This package helps address both issues and brings relief to Michigan families and ensures a robust workforce.” 

Will we see a changed Shang-Chi in Avengers: Doomsday?

While we will have to wait for Shang-Chi 2, albeit it is in the works we hear, we can still get a taste of what we've been missing in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday:

"Since quite a few years have passed, Simu Liu has teased that audiences will meet a more experienced and confident version of Shang-Chi in the upcoming ensemble film [...]

"In Doomsday, Liu will share credits with Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Vanessa Kirby, Pedro Pascal and Tom Hiddleston, as well as actors from the original X-Men movie franchise, including Ian McKellen, James Marsden, Patrick Stewart, Alan Cumming and Rebecca Romijn. Doomsday will release on 18 December 2026."

Ted Lieu Face Off...And Rubio

"Democratic incumbent Ted Lieu and Republican challenger Houston Brignano will face off in November for California’s 36th congressional district, which includes UCLA and surrounding areas.

Lieu and Brignano received the most votes in the June 2 primary, earning 61.1% and 15.3% of the vote, respectively, according to the Associated Press.

Lieu, who has served in the United States House of Representatives since 2015, sits on the House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees and serves as vice chair of the Democratic Caucus. 

Lieu’s campaign centers on protecting Californians’ civil rights, creating more humane immigration policies and regulating artificial intelligence, according to his campaign website.

Lieu funded his campaign primarily through the Ted Lieu Victory Fund, his own quarterly political action committee. The PAC’s biggest donors include unaffiliated individual donors, corporate executives and unions such as the Writers Guild of America West and the International Union of Operating Engineers."

In other news, Lieu also went head to head with Rubio on whether or not Trump has fallen asleep in public appearances:

"Secretary Rubio, have you been at more than one meeting where President Trump has fallen asleep?" the Democratic lawmaker asked during Wednesday's House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.

Rubio said that was false.

"I've never seen him fall asleep," he said. "On the contrary, the guy doesn't sleep, which is a big problem," adding that Trump has called him in the early morning hours.

"Secretary Rubio, I'm going to show you in a moment a video that shows you just lied to Congress."

A video of last month's Cabinet meeting then plays. Trump is again shown sleeping, while Rubio is speaking about wartime matters.

"You are literally talking about issues of war and peace and Donald Trump is sleeping right next to you," Lieu said, repeating that Rubio was lying to Congress.

Rubio again said Trump wasn't asleep, saying that the videos being shown in the hearing aren't showing the president is dozing off.

"The president's inability to stay awake on the job has caused other countries to perceive him differently," Lieu said. "They mock him."

Katseye’s Lara and Megan Shut Down Fans Who Say Dating Men Negates Bisexuality

"Lara Raj and Megan Skiendiel, known to queer fans as the bisexual baddies of international girl group KATSEYE, are setting the record straight this Pride — but not literally. In an interview for Allure's June cover, the pair spoke about the impact of discussing their queerness publicly as members of one of the most famous pop groups on the planet.

With that massive success has come hypervisibility and, at times, intense scrutiny. When Raj publicly came out as queer while chatting with fans on South Korean social media platform Weverse in March 2025, fans rejoiced. Skiendiel followed suit in June of last year, coming out as bisexual after Raj prompted her during a Live on Weverse [...]

"I like everyone, I will date anyone," Raj said.⁠ "I think people really try to invalidate that because of who we currently or have publicly dated. But I've dated so many girls, and it's such a beautiful experience to be with women, and it's something that is a very core and important part of me that will always be with me for the rest of my life."⁠

There's no doubt that the group has broken barriers in both the K-pop and global music industries, both in terms of queer representation within Katseye and not being afraid to openly support LGBTQ+ rights."