Spotify released its annual Wrapped feature today, and the girls, the gays, and the theys ran the table this year, as evidenced by Spotify deeming much of its user base “Pink Pilates Princesses.”
Beyond the usual comparisons of tops songs and artists, users called out that this year’s Wrapped was missing a certain je ne se quoi.
And because everything is politics these days:
And perhaps that list explains this announcement. 🙃
Early this morning, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson was fatally shot by a masked gunman in New York City’s Midtown neighborhood. The motive of the shooter is unknown… but people sure have some guesses! Now feels like as good a time as any to remind readers that TOTI does not necessarily endorse the perspectives of the tweets included and has a general policy that murder is bad.
Representative Ritchie Torres meanwhile is clearly trying to use this to boost his inevitable run for New York Governor.
And some incredible timing from Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Fox News host Pete Hegseth’s campaign for worst Trump nominee continues apace. The potential future leader of the Department of Defense is doing damage control for the countless allegations of sexual abuse, alcohol-fueled racism, and a pretty horrific management record. Most damning was a leaked email his mom sent him in 2018 claiming it’s the “sad, sad truth” that he’s a “man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego.” Brutal.
For this last segment, I’m doing something a little bit different. The following is a brief and quite likely incomplete recent history of delivery culture discourse, which crops up from time to time in different shades.
In late July, food delivery prices became the main topic of the day when Twitter user @jules_su posted a series of since deleted screenshots of his recent DoorDash order, culminating in the assertion that corporate price gouging has driven up the cost of food delivery.
The tweets generated pushback, but none as memorable as one tweet from a now protected account calling out the original poster for wanting a “private taxi” for his burrito. With that, a new phrase entered the lexicon.
Months later, it was cited once again in post-election discourse:
Unfortunately, not all food delivery discourse is pithy jokes about the economics of gig work; some is straight up racism.
This week, food delivery was once again on the agenda with this tweet that sparked online debate about delivery and women’s safety, or lack thereof.
This tweet coincides with (or was perhaps inspired by) a forthcoming law in California aimed at preventing just that.
Now, customers will have access to a bit more info about the person coming to their home, in order to bolster safety. AB375 by Assembly Member Laurie Davies, R-Laguna Niguel, requires third-party food delivery platforms to provide the customer with the first name of their driver, as well as a photo of that person. It goes into effect on March 1, 2025.
As an aside, if anybody knows how we can rebuild a high-trust society, please run for office.
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