To infinity and beyond

There are few things that unite Americans like our space achievements. This week marks the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, which launched on this day in 1969 and became the first manned mission to land on the surface of the moon on July 20.
To mark the occasion, the mission’s Saturn V rocket will be projected on the Washington Monument tonight as part of a
commission
by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. I’ll be down on the National Mall, so say hi if you’re around! If not, check my posts of the projections on the @yello_zine social media accounts.
Speaking of social media, Trump held a White House social media summit last week. I wrote how Trump considers himself something of an influencer and how he’s redefining influencer politics.
Yours,
The week in politics and culture
A record 64% of Americans say the U.S. space program’s costs are justifiable, per a Gallup poll. And for the first time ever, a majority of Americans — 53% — support the idea of the U.S. setting aside money for a mission to land astronauts on Mars. To infinity and beyond. 🚀
Twitter said President Trump’s racist “go back” tweet from Sunday directed at Democratic Congresswomen of color doesn’t violate their rules against attacks on people because of their race, ethnicity, or national origin.
The list of Republicans who’ve condemned Trump’s tweet is … not long. The Washington Post has a running list here. As of press time, 13 Republicans have condemned and 192 have dodged the question, put out vague statements, or not commented. Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) called the tweet “racist and xenophobic.”
Politico magazine chief Tim Alberta’s book “American Carnage,” which details how once Trump-hostile Republicans fell in line after Trump was elected, is out today. The Post review is wow. 📖
As part of a week-long mural festival at Dr. Maya Angelou Community High School in Los Angeles, artist Shepard Fairey painted this mural. You can see more murals from the festival here.
Credit: Impermanent Art
Monica Lewinsky is good at Twitter. In response to a tweet calling for “the worst career advice you’ve ever received,” the anti-cyber bullying advocate tweeted the following:
Nicki Minaj cancelled a concert she was scheduled to perform Thursday in Saudi Arabia. “While I want nothing more than to bring my show to fans in Saudi Arabia, after better educating myself on the issues, I believe it is important for me to make clear my support for the rights of women, the LGBTQ community and freedom of expression,” she said in a statement to the Associated Press. 🎤
The Mueller report, illustrated

Robert Mueller is scheduled to testify before lawmakers on July 24, and just in time, Insider released a narrative version of his report, complete with pictures.
The site tapped author Mark Bowden (“Black Hawk Down”) and illustrator Chad Hurd (“Archer”) to create a more readable adaptation of the 448-page document.
“As a narrative, the document is a disaster,” Insider wrote in an introductory editor’s note. “For long stretches, it reads less like a story and more like a terms-of-service agreement. The instinct to click ‘next’ is strong. And yet, buried within the Mueller report, there is a narrative that reads in parts like a thriller, like a comedy, like a tragedy — and, most important — like an indictment. The facts are compelling, all the more so because they come not from President Donald Trump's critics or ‘fake news’ reports, but from Trump's own handpicked colleagues and associates. The story just needed to be rearranged in a better form.”
Insider is also selling framed copies of Hurd’s illustrations for $40. Amazing.
A CNN poll conducted in April found just 24% of respondents said they had personally read any of the report and if I’m being completely honest, I don’t know that I would have read it if it wasn’t for my job, so I think making it more accessible is great.
Insider isn’t the only publisher trying to make the report easier to read. Earlier this summer, PolitiFact launched a book club for the report that comes in newsletter form.
How Trump is redefining influencer politics

Credit: @realDonaldTrump
Trump considers himself something of an influencer, which might have something to do with how he’s handling online personalities differently than his predecessor.
While former President Obama sat for interviews with YouTubers like GloZell and Bethany Mota and promoted Obamacare enrollment with BuzzFeed and “Between Two Ferns” videos, Trump held a social media summit last week that the Southern Poverty Law Center called “essentially … a hate summit.”
The most interesting thing to me while listening to Trump was hearing him talk about his own accounts. He said he doesn’t buy followers, and like any good influencer, he has a feel for how his content performs based on how fast the likes roll in. Lately, he said, they’ve slowed down.
The dopamine feedback loop social media users experience is real, with likes, favs, and retweets rewarding us for posting content. One can only imagine what that’s like for Trump, who can reprogram a cable news show with the push of a button.
Read my story on how Trump is redefining influencer politics here.
Here’s the artist uninvited from Trump’s social media summit

One person who didn’t make it to the summit was Ben Garrison, a Montana-based conservative cartoonist. Garrison, who posts online as @grrrgraphics, is popular among the online right for his political cartoons depicting Trump as super buff and Washington as super swampy. He’s also been accused of anti-Semitism in his work and sometimes illustrates conspiracy theories.
Two weeks ago Garrison posted his official invitation, but tweeted last Wednesday that he had decided not to go after discussing his attendance with the White House and determining it would be a “media distraction.” Garrison has been accused of anti-Semitism because of cartoons like this one, showing George Soros and the Rothschilds family as puppet masters. In his post, Garrison denied being anti-Semitic.
Garrison has depicted other figures in insensitive ways before too. He’s consistently shows Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in a Native America headdress. And some of his depictions of South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg make me go ‘ummmm… how about let’s not draw an openly gay candidate like that.’
Yello Field Guide
How design fueled our NASA nostalgia

NASA nostalgia has come in part because of its logos. They’ve been splashed across fashion and in just a few seasons, they spread from the runway to mall fashion chains. NASA benefits from having multiple logos, giving designers double the options. And like free Smithsonian museums or Public Sans, the free, open-source font by the Government Services Administration, NASA makes its logos free for public use. You just have to ask. Read my story here.
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