A Subdate ⚓️

+ An update on the migrant boat disaster in Greece, & Biden called Xi Jinping a dictator 🗽

My angels!! Hi!! So cute to be here in your inbox this morning and SOOO cute to have some new pen pals with us!!! I’ve just come off a very technical difficulty-filled podcast recording with Squish, but ya know, the things we do for the beloved Shit Show eh?

Last night I spent HOURS creating playlists that represented different eras of my life and I’m feeling maybe the most nostalgic I ever have (but I love this feeling.) Do you ever do this? Go through and listen to your 2012 tumblr era playlists, or your 2016 just-started-uni playlists? I highly recommend if you want to feel something 𓆩♡𓆪

Ugh love you the most & see u tomorrow my friends,

Luce xxxx

• Greece boat disaster: Up to 500 people still missing says UN

• A Subdate

• Joe Biden called Chinese President Xi Jinping a dictator

• I’m so excited for the Zoey 102 movie you have NO idea

• Today’s mundane poll: Would you be able to point 'north' if someone asked you at any given moment?

Greece boat disaster: Up to 500 people still missing says UN

Starting the newsy of today with an update on the maritime tragedy in Greece. For those who missed it, up to 500 people are still missing after a migrant boat carrying up to 750 people went down 50 nautical miles off Pylos in southern Greece.

The boat was travelling from Libya to Italy and Greek authorities say the dead were from Egypt, Syria, Pakistan and Palestine.

I wanted to include this excerpt from a New York Times article, specifically about men from a small village in Pakistan who were aboard this ship in the hopes of a brighter future:

“In recent years, the fervor to migrate has only grown, they say. Pakistan’s yearslong economic crisis has sent the price of basic goods soaring. Decent jobs have all but disappeared. And stories of men who made it to Europe have splashed across social media, encouraging others already eager to go.

People feel “there is no future and certainty in Pakistan anymore,” said Toqeer Gilani, a political leader in the Pakistani-administered part of Kashmir. “That has been gradually taking hold among the youth.”

Smugglers have preyed on that sense of instability. They roam the villages, Mr. Gilani said, promising young men a prosperous future in Europe in exchange for a lump sum of $7,000 to $14,000. In recent days, the Pakistani authorities have made arrests and accused over a dozen people in the trafficking related to the capsized boat.”

As of now right now the official story of what happened seems to be changing daily - the Greek coastguard is criticised for not doing more or acting fast enough to help the people on the boat, but the bigger story is about the West’s failure to face up to our responsibilities and recognises our part in causing a crisis for refugees.

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A Subdate

And now for a Submarine update (who knew how much of a maritime expert I’d have to become this week while writing the newsy!) The latest on this situation is that:

• Banging noises have been heard in the area where the sub went missing (US Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick says they cannot confirm what the noises are but they ‘remain optimistic’)

  • Via CNN: “The underwater sounds were detected by sonar devices deployed to find the 21-foot vessel that lost contact Sunday while descending 13,000 feet to the bottom of the ocean on a tour of the Titanic’s wreckage. The banging on Tuesday first came every 30 minutes and was heard again four hours later, according to an internal government memo update on the search.”

• The crew are thought to have less than 20 hours of oxygen left, based on a previous estimate

• The search is being expanded

  • Via BBC: “the surface search is now twice the size of the US state of Connecticut, and the sub-surface search 2.5 miles deep”

Live updates here!

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Joe Biden called Chinese President Xi Jinping a dictator

And in the words of Ice Spice, “facts.”

At a fundraising event in California (just one day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Mr Xi for talks in Beijing to ‘ease tensions’) Biden said this:

"The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset, in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment in it, was he didn't know it was there," Mr Biden said at the event on Tuesday.

"That's a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn't know what happened," he added.

I mean speak your truth I guess??

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I’m so excited for the Zoey 102 movie you have NO idea

Just dropping this in here bc this show was my entire childhood and I CANNOT WAIT.

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Today’s mundane poll:

Based on this TikTok I made I have a question:

@shityoushouldcareaboutHOW DO THEY DO IT?

Tiktok failed to load.

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