[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
DOJ to Review Grant Verdict
[Trigger warning for violence.]
As I mentioned this morning, former police officer Johannes Mehserle was found guilty of involuntarily manslaughter for shooting and killing Oscar Grant. Today, the US Department of Justice has said it "will conduct an independent review of the Johannes Mehserle case in order to determine whether or not the shooting merits federal prosecution."
"The Justice Department has been closely monitoring the state's investigation and prosecution," the department said in a statement.I find it amazing that the linked story did not even mention Oscar Grant's name once in its entirety.
"The Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney's Office, and the FBI have an open investigation into the fatal shooting and, at the conclusion of the state's prosecution, will conduct an independent review of the facts and circumstances to determine whether the evidence warrants federal prosecution."
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, said she has been in touch with the justice department.
"I remain in close contact with the Department of Justice and will continue to work with them, the family and the community in the days ahead," she said in a statement.
Today's Edition of "Conniving and Sinister"
See Deeky's archive of all previous Conniving & Sinister strips here.
[In which Liss reimagines the long-running comic "Frank & Ernest," about two old straight white guys "telling it like it is," as a fat feminist white woman (Liss) and a biracial queerbait (Deeky) telling it like it actually is from their perspectives. Hilarity ensues.]
Photo of the Day
I love absolutely everything about this picture, but mostly her expression, which slays me.
This photograph is the Mona Lisa of our time. That is all.
[Commenting Reminder: The usual rules apply. No misogyny. No negative commentary about her ethnicity or state of residence. No body policing. Not liking someone isn't a license to throw out the rules. Etc.]
Spain Will Win World Cup
How do I know? Because Paul the Psychic Octopus says so!
Paul, from Oberhausen, Deutschland, has accurately predicted winning matches in this year's World Cup by choosing mussels branded with competing nations' flags. Whichever of the tasty tasty molluscs Paul gobbled has gone on to win. (That's the same method Criswell used in his heydey, by the way.)
Next week Paul is scheduled to decide who will win in the Prince vs. Kenny G Internet-Dead-or-Maybe-Not showdown.
More sports news tomorrow, Shakers!
Why I need to find a better source for US News
Last night the NYT posted an online "Room for Debate" round-up on the topic of benefits for veterans with PTSD.
Of course, they invited someone from the American Enterprise Institute. (Spoiler: her views on PTSD were pro-business).
Maybe Brooks was right after all. The Internet is broken.
Puncturing Our Balloon of Self-Love
...I'm speaking to my fellow Canadians, here. While the Harpertron* visits flood-ravaged areas of Saskatchewan for the usual photo-opps, and promises assistance, strangely, other flooded areas don't seem to get the same amount of attention.
Now, a cynic would suggest that the secret ingredient of this foul brew is an oldie but a goodie, racism. I'm sure you all know I'm much too nice for that.
I'm sure it's completely coincidence that the Harpertron is visiting areas where white Canadians are the majority, and ignoring the areas where, say, First Nations people** are the majority. Totes coincidental.
Totes post-racial, ain't we, Canada?
Contact your MP (ou ici, en français) to suggest that the PM might show we give a damn about our First Nations citizens too.
* AKA Stephen Harper, our Prime Minister, a white, apparently cisgender and hetero man.
** "People" instead of "Canadians" in this line because not all First Nations people identify as Canadian citizens, rather than because of any doubt on my part: my Canada includes the First Nations.
Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, proud distributors of Deeky Brand Sensible Trousers. Now with lasers!
Recommended Reading:
I highly recommended reading back-to-back this post by Echidne and this post by Renee, both on the nature of celebrity. The juxtaposition is rather wonderful. A trigger warning applies to Renee's post, for discussion of violence/sexual assault.
Charlotte: Fat Art and Fetish Objects
[TW] Cara: Illinois Passes Law Requiring That All Rape Kits Be Tested
Historiann: The value of college: great for me, not so much for thee!
Well-Rounded Mama: Will I Feel My Baby Move If I'm Fat?
Quadmoniker: The Sims Just Did This Totally Racist Thing
Leave your links in comments...
Quote of the Day
[Trigger warning for sexual assault.]
"The teen was not hurt in the incident."—The final line of a news story on ABC's Boston affiliate, about a man charged with assault after approaching a 16-year-old girl on a train, reaching out and pulling her shirt down, exposing her breast, before running from the train.
What they mean to convey, of course, is that the girl was not physically injured. But saying she "was not hurt" is a piss-poor way of saying that, especially since two of the key narratives of the rape culture are: 1. Sexual violence isn't real violence; and 2. Sexual assault only counts as a serious trauma if a survivor is left with physical injury.
Neither of those are true.
Which is not to suggest that every woman who was assaulted in the manner described above would be traumatized or have lingering effects. But that's just the point: Every survivor of sexual assault reacts differently. "Hurt" is an emotional description as well; I daresay the survivor hasn't even quite processed yet whether she is hurt, or hurt how, yet.
It's not the media's job to decide that for her.
[H/T to Shaker Phlebotnum.]
Denizens of the internet*, I give you David Brooks
I'd really love to ignore Brooks, but today he's talking smack about us, so...
Brooks:
A citizen of the Internet has a very different experience. The Internet smashes hierarchy and is not marked by deference. Maybe it would be different if it had been invented in Victorian England, but Internet culture is set in contemporary America. Internet culture is egalitarian. The young are more accomplished than the old. The new media is supposedly savvier than the old media. The dominant activity is free-wheeling, disrespectful, antiauthority disputation.Regardless of whether Brooks is correct about the egalitarian nature of the 'net (hint: he's not, see also: Liss moments ago), the important thing to note is that Brooks is arguing that this is a bad thing.
I don't advocate playing by Mr. Brooks' rules, but if you'll indulge me: Mr. Brooks, I, and not you, have completed a Ph.D., and suggest that you should defer to me. Do STFU. On a similar note, Dr. Paul Krugman is still a Noble laureate.
--
*Look at me, I'm on the internet* intentionally not capitalizing words that the American Heritage Dictionary says I should. Anarchy, wheeeeeee! Run for the hills!
WoW Fail Follow-Up
[TW for stalking/violation of privacy. Original post here. Related discussion thread here.]
Blizzard's decision to implement the RealID system in their public forums, making it impossible to comment in a public forum without your real name being viewable, continues to be met with serious objections, particularly from marginalized populations—especially women, who are disproportionately victimized by stalking and harassment in online communities. This epic comment in a MetaFilter thread on the decision (h/t to Shaker SImon) is a great read on that subject.
Shaker Catulla emails a heads-up about this post over at the WoW Ladies community on LiveJournal, the author of which will be reading every comment and has the ability to, and promises to, bring the concerns of the WoW community directly to those who have access to Blizzard company execs. Catulla notes there's also a post on her personal journal here, as posting in WoW Ladies is moderated for members-only.
Work those teaspoons.
Feel the Homomentum!
Ireland's Seanad (English: Senate) approved 48 to 4 civil partnership legislation yesterday.
The Bill will now be sent to President Mary McAleese for approval. The President can sign it into law or refer it to the Supreme Court after consultation with the Council of State, if she has concerns about its Constitutionality.McAleese is expected to sign the legislation.
The bill will extends benefits to gay and lesbian couples "in the areas of property, social welfare, succession, maintenance, pensions and tax."
The first civil registrations are expected to take place January 1st.
[Via Joe My God.]
Verdict in Oscar Grant Murder Case
[Trigger warning for violence.]
Oh, excuse me. There has been a verdict in the Oscar Grant involuntary manslaughter case.
Rage. Seethe. Boil.
In case the name Oscar Grant is unfamiliar to you, he was the victim of a police shooting in the Bay Area, sometimes known as the BART shooting. The shooter, former officer Johannes Mehserle, was arrested on suspicion of murder, which was a reasonable charge to anyone with an internet access and a functional sense of decency. Kevin has video of the incident here, to which I direct you with a strong trigger warning. It is very upsetting to watch.
In the subsequent trial, the jury could have found Mehserle guilty of second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, or involuntary manslaughter. After six and a half hours of deliberation, they convicted him of the least serious charge.
A jury found former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle guilty Thursday of involuntary manslaughter, concluding that he did not intend to kill train rider Oscar Grant when he shot him in the back on New Year's Day 2009 but acted so recklessly that he showed a disregard for Grant's life.The whole taser-gun switcheroo is on what the verdict rests. It was Mehserle's contention that he had accidentally pulled out his gun (located on his right hip) instead of his taser (located on his left hip) and fired a round into Oscar Grant before realizing he'd "grabbed the wrong weapon."
...The jury also found that Mehserle, 28, had used a gun during the crime. In all, he could be sentenced to five to 14 years in prison.
The jury took 6 1/2 hours over two days to decide that Mehserle was guilty of a crime, but not guilty of the other options it had been given - second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.
Their verdict suggests they believed Mehserle when he testified that he had mistaken his pistol for his Taser as he sought to subdue the 22-year-old Grant at Fruitvale Station in Oakland following a fight on a BART train, a shooting that was captured on video by five other riders as well as a platform camera.
Which, in my estimation, is all a red herring even irrespective of its alleged veracity (which is a whole other issue). The fact is, Mehserle could not have justifiably used his taser in that situation, either. Grant clearly hadn't come close to resisting, and thus Mehserle's intent was to hurt him, plain and simple. That he hurt him until he was dead doesn't make it involuntary. Fuck.
This is just rage-makingly heartbreaking.
Eastsidekate and I were just talking about this by email, and she noted (which I'm including with her permission:
What's really bothering me is captured in this awful, condescending editorial from the San Jose Mercury News. They've obviously learned nothing.Indeed so.
The thought running over-and-over in my mind at 3 am last night was that there will undoubtedly be calls for communities to come together and have dialogue and fix things together, which is bullshit, because the Grant family and communities of color don't have the power to end racism or convince people that there's a reason not to trust all law enforcement personnel at all times (in that, yes, there are in fact some bad cops). Also the whole police not murdering people thing isn't going to be solved by dialogue, but rather by police not murdering people.
And yet another round of "you don't even KNOW what it's like to be a police officer!" is already in full swing—a reliable bit of apologia from privileged people (who would never find themselves in Oscar Grant's position), behind which the police are willing to stand every single time something like this happens.
It's true; I don't know what it's like to be a police officer. But I am the granddaughter of an NYPD cop who retired from a lifetime career working in New York City without ever having discharged his weapon or hurt a suspect in his charge. My grandfather was a small man, 5'8" and slender, not a cop who muscled suspects. He just did the job without fear or entitlement, and he did it without the expectation that he could do whatever the fuck he wanted and be protected by his badge.
I daresay if I had asked him while he was still alive if he'd have used a weapon (any weapon) against a young man detained for a fight on a train, even if there was a chance that not using the weapon might mean he got away (which are not the facts of the Oscar Grant case, but let's pretend), my granddad would have told me that letting go a kid who got into a scuffle on the train was an okay exchange for not killing him.
Because protecting the life of any suspect in a minor crime has to be more important than detaining hir at any cost. Anything else is an unreasonable priority in a healthy community.
And I don't need to know what it's like to be a police officer to know that.
My condolences, again, to Oscar Grant's family and friends. I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm so sorry that real justice eluded you.
[Related Reading: luthersrock's got two posts on the media coverage of the verdict, here and here.]
Scissor Sisters North American Tour Dates
Tickets for the North American leg of the Scissor Sisters' Night Work tour go on sale today. Here are the dates:
August 21, Buckhead Theatre, Atlanta, GA
August 23, Dar Constitution Hall, Washington, DC
August 24, Terminal 5, New York, NY
August 27, The Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
August 28, House of Blues, Boston, MA
August 29, Metropolis, Montreal, QC
August 31, Sound Academy, Toronto, ON
September 2, Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL
September 3, The Rave, Milwaukee, WI
September 4, Epic, Minneapolis, MN
September 6, Ogden Theatre, Denver, CO
September 10, Pearl Concert Theater, Las Vegas, NV
September 11, Hollywood Palladium, Hollywood, CA
September 12, Fox Theater, Oakland, CA
September 14, Roseland Theater, Portland, OR
September 15, Showbox SoDo, Seattle, WA
September 16, Malkin Bowl, Vancouver, BC
Worldwide tour dates and ticketing info here.
[Cross-posted.]
Question of the Day
Suggested by Deeky (who's too fuckin' lazy to post it himself): What's your favorite song to have sex to?
Mine is "Moving," by Suede. I like the ebb and flow, the crescendos. It's a song that feels like sex to me—at least a certain kind of sex (and one I happen to like).
I have it on good authority that Deeky's favorite song to fuck to is Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You," not just because he enjoys the tender humping, but because parenthetical song titles make him horny.
Sharron Angle Doubles Down
[Trigger warning for sexual assault.]
You may recall that Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle recently explained she holds the position that abortion should be illegal even even in cases of rape and/or incest because "God has a plan and a purpose for each one of our lives."
Given the opportunity by a conservative radio show to, well, presumably backpedal from the assertion that God subcontracts rapists to facilitate parts of his "plan," Angle instead doubled-down:
Question: What do you say then to a young girl...when a young girl is raped by her father, let's say, and she is pregnant. How do you explain this to her in terms of wanting her to go through the process of having the baby?Being raped and impregnated by your father = Lemon.
Angle: I think that two wrongs don't make a right. And I have been in the situation of counseling young girls, not 13 but 15, who have had very at-risk, difficult pregnancies. And my counsel was to look for some alternatives, which they did. And they found that they had made what was really a lemon situation into lemonade.
Carrying that pregnancy to term and birthing your own half-sibling at age 15 = Lemonade.
Got it.
