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Good morning,
Welcome to MS NOW’s Sunday Spotlight, where you can find a selection of the week’s most interesting and important stories. A sexual assault case on a college campus is raising uncomfortable questions about the rest of the country. Meanwhile, a Republican senator was warned before he made a viral mistake, Tennessee had another botched execution and a Trump Cabinet member should not be ignored, even if his rhetoric is over the top. Plus, Gen Z is rewriting the classic rock canon.
Don’t forget to check out more top columns and videos from the week below.
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John Greim / LightRocket via Getty Images
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In 2024, a student at Cornell University sent a lewd note to his friends and fraternity brothers that profoundly changed many lives. That message is now a key part of the legal case against the seven men in the chat, Cornell, the local district attorney’s office and the bar accused of serving alcohol to the underage woman at the center of the case. Beyond Cornell, there is a cultural crisis around the pervasive pornography, misogynist online messaging and social media that has encouraged this kind of objectification, argues Jill Filipovic. Read more.
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On Tuesday, Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt suggested that former special prosecutor Jack Smith might have lied under oath about attending a basketball game. That blew up when it turned out that Schmitt’s entire theory was based on a mistaken assumption about the meaning of text messages sent by Smith’s staffers. But Schmitt was warned by Republican staffers on the Senate Judiciary Committee ahead of time that the texts they had obtained from the Justice Department were “unvetted,” write Mychael Schnell, Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian. Read more.
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On Wednesday evening, the state of Tennessee attempted to execute Christa Pike for a brutal murder she committed with two accomplices. But in what one death penalty expert called “unlike any other botched execution in the modern era,” officials failed to execute Pike despite administering the execution drug, pentobarbital, twice. The drug is banned in federal executions, domestic and foreign manufacturers refuse to export it for use in executions and it’s been linked to multiple botched executions. Its continued use seems, at best, to reflect indifference to the risk of prolonged pain, argues law professor John Pfaff. Read more.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s typical right-wing manosphere-infused culture warrior rhetoric was on full display during a Wednesday address to midlevel enlisted service members and officers at Quantico. But while his rhetoric has drawn attention for being over the top, it should be taken seriously, argues Lt. Col. Rachel E. VanLandingham (Ret.). Hegseth exercises tremendous influence in the Trump administration and has worked hard to turn his past rhetoric into reality. He’s also been floated as Trump’s heir apparent in the White House, so he shouldn’t be ignored. Read more.
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For 40 years, the classic rock canon consisted of heavily male, guitar-centered music from the 1960s and 1970s, apart from some minor changes by Generation X and millennials. Now, Gen Z has thrown it out entirely in favor of an ahistorical approach to the genre based on songs they’ve heard in the background of TikTok videos, online memes and appearances in TV and movies — especially needle drops in superhero pics, Ryan Teague Beckwith argues. The new playlist may offend rock purists but it’s more eclectic, with more women and gay artists, and more about vibes than album-oriented rock. Read more.
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Anna Lefkowitz / MS NOW; Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images; Sam Hodde for The Washington Post via Getty Images
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In a speech before the Texas Federation of Republican Women, state Sen. Angela Paxton made a joke alluding to a desire to drown her soon-to-be ex-husband. But it came in service of a call for Republican women in the state to vote for him anyway. The speech is remarkable, argues Lyz Lenz, author of the newsletter “Men Yell at Me.” Senate nominee Ken Paxton was filmed traveling with another woman in Europe this summer. During his impeachment trial, an aide detailed an affair with a different woman. But Angela Paxton, who is also a state lawmaker, says it’s better to have a Republican in the seat, even if it’s someone they’re disappointed in. That Paxton had to make the speech at all was further evidence of how much the Republican Party is “willing to grind up women,” Lenz writes. Read the column here.
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Tonight, at 8 p.m. Eastern, Nicolle Wallace sits down with former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci as part of a new special series, “Nicolle Wallace Presents: The Ninety-Second Street Y on MS NOW.” Then at 9 p.m., keep watching to catch Rachel Maddow in conversation with Hollywood agent and dealmaker Ari Emanuel. Tune in tonight beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern on MS NOW.
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Tuesday, with only weeks to go until the midterms, "The Briefing" hits the road as Jen Psaki anchors live from Portland, Maine. Watch "The Briefing with Jen Psaki" on Tuesday at 9 p.m. Eastern on MS NOW.
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