Patriot Games & Potterhead protests

Harry Potter fans banded together in an act of protest. Not against author J.K. Rowling’s rampant transphobia, which recently drew criticism from a star of the latest series adaptation. Rather, fans organized to stop a pipeline.

For me, the word “pipeline” evokes things like Keystone XL, which former President Joe Biden canceled. That decision came amid activists’ concerns that the oil the pipeline would have carried would emit lots of greenhouse gases, and additional concerns that it would violate Native Americans’ tribal sovereignty. Environmental activists in Montana are now successfully organizing against a similar project.

So, did these fans protest against climate catastrophe and for Indigenous sovereignty? Not exactly. This pipeline would have actually moved energy generated by wind and solar power. And Potterheads were upset because the pipeline would’ve run through the beach where the death of Dobby the House Elf was filmed, and where fans have paid tribute to the character. After the backlash, the CEO in charge of the project has said he’s rethinking the pipeline’s route.

My two cents: Back when Dave and I worked together at The Washington Post, I did a lot of reporting on how fan culture shapes politics and vice versa. This story feels like a validation of that thesis, and a reminder of how pop culture can shape our everyday lives. When a fan group bands together to quite literally alter the course of how we combat the climate crisis, what does that mean for all of us?

President Donald Trump reportedly escaped Turkey in a catering truck to evade a possible assassination threat from Iran. (The Washington Post also learned that the CIA didn’t think the threat was that serious.) If you, like me, read headlines about this and pictured Trump crammed inside of something like this, the reality is unfortunately much less “Suite Life of Zack & Cody” coded. The “catering cart” that some headlines refer to is actually a catering truck. After Trump was seen boarding Air Force One, the president reportedly then snuck into a truck typically used to transport food and other supplies, then boarded another smaller airplane from there.

Why does it matter? There’s the question of what this escape tells us about the Iran War. Analysts and critics have pointed out that if the president or the people around him feel the need to take such elaborate measures to evade a threat from Iran, it’s probably a sign that things aren’t going great. Iranian sources have told Reuters that there haven’t been talks around extending the current ceasefire agreement.

Also, the White House press corps wasn’t told about the switch. So, journalists and some White House aides were left to fly on a plane that was deemed too unsafe for the president to fly on. In other words, had this threat materialized, those are the people who would have suffered and possibly lost their lives. And by lying to these journalists, the very people in charge of telling us all what the president is up to were effectively blocked from doing their jobs, which has serious repercussions for press freedom.

This also wasn’t the first time an operation like this happened. (See: Bill Clinton’s airplane swap in 2000.) That brings us to this week’s media literacy tip from our friends at MediaWise!

Trump signed an executive order this week that called for revising childhood vaccine recommendations to push for spacing out shots instead of getting multiple in one go. Public health experts have pointed out the obvious: if you space out these vaccines, it becomes easier for kids to get these diseases because it’ll take longer for them to get immunized against them.

The executive order doesn’t change which shots are available right now. Your kids can still get all of the shots on the child vaccine schedule. The order also doesn’t make any changes to insurance coverage — even if you’re uninsured, you can probably still get these vaccines without paying a copay.

In the press conference where Trump signed the executive order, he repeatedly lied about autism being linked to vaccines. There is no link between autism and vaccines.

Remember when the Trump administration set up a controversial nonprofit called Freedom 250 to celebrate America’s 250th birthday? It wasn’t subject to congressional oversight and Trump himself was in charge. That group put on a dodgeball game that kicked off a larger sporting event.

If that doesn’t sound enough like the subject of a nightmare where you’re stuck back in middle school with the worst people you know, get this: this sporting event, called the Patriot Games, picks two teenagers from every state to come together and compete for $125,000 each, and I’m being so big and brave by avoiding the obvious “Hunger Games” joke there.

The Patriot Games are over now. ABC and ESPN aired them while their parent company remains under investigation by the Trump administration. One crew member told The Washington Post that it’s “difficult to not think ESPN is doing this in response to the investigation.” The games are just kinda too weird to air otherwise, they said.