The Weekly Sift

I went kind of wild this week: Three short notes got out of hand a demanded to be featured posts. (I must be feeling better. I can even talk a little.)

The first spins out of a WaPo article by Monica Hess about the “tradwife” trend — the online influencers who post about their idealized 1950s-housewife lives. What I love about this article is that Hess doesn’t do the obvious (and dull) thing: take tradwives seriously and give a lecture about everything that was wrong with the actual 1950s and the few opportunities the decade offered women.

Instead, Hess looks at tradwifery as a fantasy, and asks why it’s attractive. What’s wrong with women’s lives today that might motivate this kind of escapism?

She got me thinking about how we might approach all kinds of conservative retro fantasies: not as workable options we need to knock down, but as symptoms of modern problems that need real (and liberal) solutions. That’s the theme of “A Different Take on Conservative Retro Fantasy”, which should be out shortly.

The other two featured posts have something to do with abortion, but didn’t combine easily into a single post. The first takes an unpopular position on the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling that reinstated the state’s draconian 1864 law: I think they got it right. It’s a horrible outcome, but that’s because the legislature created a horrible legal situation. It’s not up to the courts to invent better laws. “The Arizona Abortion Ruling” should post around 10 EDT.

The final featured post looks at the political gyrations Trump and other Republicans are performing as they try to come up with a viable political position on abortion. Trump’s leave-it-to-the-states statement looked smart last Monday, but the next day Arizona turned the clock back to 1864, pointing out what’s wrong with leaving the issue to the states. “Republicans Scramble to Contain Their Abortion Disaster” should post by 11.

Then we get to the weekly summary, which still has to cover Trump’s Manhattan trial, which starts today. There’s also the Israel/Iran attack and counterattack, OJ, and a few other things. I’ll try to get that out by noon.