Hosted by Chef Aarti Sequeira.
In The News
[Content note: Homophobia, violence]
Friday News:
Rep. Tina Kotek of Oregon will become the first out lesbian to lead a state legislative chamber after being elected House Speaker by her Democratic colleagues yesterday.
Ian McKellen has narrated a new video highlighting the plight of kids bullied because of their sexuality.
Hostess, the makers of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread, would rather go out of business than settle with striking workers. Douchebags.
Speaking of douchebags: IKEA used forced prison labor in communist East Germany two decades ago.
Two people were killed, two were missing and four were airlifted to a nearby hospital after an explosion at an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico.
Four people died and 17 others were taken to a hospital when a train crashed into a parade float honoring veterans in Midland, Texas, yesterday.
Out Magazine's annual Out 100 issue is here. TruFact™: I was number 101.
This commercial inspired me to buy some Fresca. Then I mixed it with vodka. It was gross.
Blog Note
I was ill last night (the same garbage nonsense that's been going on for ages) and it kept me up all night. It's starting to subside again now, but I didn't sleep at all, so I'm shattered. I'm going to take the day off and try to get some rest.
My apologies for the inconvenience. I'll see you Monday.
(And I will do the Parks & Rec Thread then!)
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Bellspice: "What habit did you pick up as a kid that you now realize is ridiculous, but maintain into adulthood anyway? For example, as kids, my sister and I always saved the white Smarties for last (because they were somehow more awesome). To this day, if I'm eating Smarties, I eat the white ones last!"
Photo of the Day
From the Telegraph's Pictures of the Day for 13 November 2012: Tank the tiny tortoise is dwarfed by a computer mouse at Paradise Wildlife Park, in Broxbourne, England. The Hermann's tortoise is six months old, and will not be fully grown until the age of six, when he should weigh about 3kg. [Alex Smale / Barcroft Media]Teeny tiny tortie!
My grandfather kept two box turtles as pets—Tommy and Matthew. They lived in my grandparents' backyard in Queens until my granddad died, and then we brought them back to Indiana to live out their days.
My granddad was so fond of those turtles. And they were great wee beasties, each with his own distinct personality.
I am a fan of tortoise-and-turtlekind.
Another Star in the Republican Party
[Content Note: Consent issues; reproductive coercion.]
Meet Republican Congressional Representative from the great state of Tennessee Scott DesJarlais:
A decade before calling himself "a consistent supporter of pro-life values," Tennessee physician and Republican U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais supported his ex-wife's decision to get two abortions before their marriage, according to the congressman's sworn testimony during his divorce trial.Now, it was at this point in the linked story that I thought: Mutual decision, my ass. Reproductive coercion red flags all the fuck over the joint. And then, later in the story, this:
Obtained by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the couple's 2001 trial transcript also confirms DesJarlais had sexual relationships with at least two patients, three coworkers and a drug representative while he was chief of staff at Grandview Medical Center in Jasper, Tenn.
...DesJarlais, a family-values conservative who rode 2010's tea party wave to Washington, testified his ex-wife's earlier abortion stemmed from medical concerns.
"...[She] was on an experimental drug called Lupron and was not supposed to have gotten pregnant. There were potential risks. It was a therapeutic," he said.
DesJarlais backed a second abortion after she returned from a military stint in Saudi Arabia a few years before they married in 1995.
"[It] was after she had gotten back from Desert Storm and things were not going well between us and it was a mutual decision," he said.
The 679-page transcript reveals new details about DesJarlais' interactions with a 24-year-old-patient, who claimed she became pregnant with DesJarlais' child during a short fling in 2000 and that the doctor later pressed her to have an abortion.Sexual contact with patients is not merely seriously unethical; it suggests a pretty distant relationship with meaningful consent. Sexual coercion red flags all the fuck over the joint. And then, later in the story, this:
In further proceedings, DesJarlais acknowledged that the woman was not the only patient he had a sexual relationship with that year.Wow. Suffice it to say I think it's problematic for a doctor to be engaging in sexual contact with a patient to whom he has prescribed an opioid drug.
DesJarlais stated in testimony that he carried on a four-month sexual affair with another patient, a woman he prescribed pills for during their relationship. He stressed that there was "nothing wrong" with the prescriptions he wrote, which included the painkiller Darvocet, and was indignant when asked about claims he had handled medication improperly.
"I don't feel real obligated to respond to that. I think it's ludicrous," he said. "I've never been challenged or questioned in terms of my integrity before."
This story will almost certainly play out as just another "Moral Values Hypocrite" tale, but this guy is a predator who at the very least has engaged in emotional abuse. Will the Republican Party close ranks around this misogynist nightmare? They certainly did during the election.
DesJarlais "cruised to re-election past Democratic challenger Eric Stewart, persevering through October media reports of sleeping with patients and urging one to get an abortion. The Tennessee Democratic Party had attempted to obtain the transcript before the Nov. 6 election, but the court delayed the process because the document was not typed up in its complete form."
Huh.
This guy is currently sitting in the US Congress making reproductive decisions for women and other people with uteri. He shouldn't be.
Contact the Republican National Committee and politely inquire if they will continue to let a man who preys on, exploits, and abuses women to be a part of their caucus. Send them a message here. Leave them a message on their Facebook page here. Tweet at them here.[H/T to my pal Richard.]
Number of the Day
[Content Note: Christian Supremacy; homophobia.]
$2 million: The amount of money spent by the Roman Catholic Church and its affiliate, the Knights of Columbus, during the last election cycle funding anti-marriage equality efforts.
Just like Jesus would do.
It's a good thing there are no more people going without food or shelter or healthcare in the world, so the Catholic Church can spend metric fucktons of its tax-exempt collections on hatred.
The Problem with the Republican Party, for the Foreseeable Future
[Content Note: Racism.]
Politico—Bobby Jindal Rejects Mitt Romney's 'Gifts' Theory: "Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal [who is Indian American] forcefully rejected Mitt Romney's claim that he lost because of President Barack Obama's 'gifts' to minorities and young voters. Asked about the failed GOP nominee's reported comments on a conference call with donors earlier Wednesday, the incoming chairman of the Republican Governors Association became visibly agitated. 'No, I think that's absolutely wrong,' he said at a press conference that opened the RGA's post-election meeting."
Portland Press Herald—Maine Republican Chairman Questions Black Voters: "Maine Republican Party Chairman Charlie Webster is once again alleging possible voting irregularities, this time claiming that groups of unknown black people showed up in some rural towns to vote on Election Day. ... 'In some parts of rural Maine, there were dozens, dozens of black people who came in and voted on Election Day,' he said. 'Everybody has a right to vote, but nobody in (these) towns knows anyone who's black. How did that happen? I don't know. We're going to find out.' When Carrigan pressed Webster on where it happened, Webster provided no specifics or proof of his claims, but said the party would investigate further."
Think Progress—Fox News Captions Footage of Illegal Border Crossings with 'The Hispanic Vote': "Since Mitt Romney lost the Hispanic vote in record numbers on Election Day, some Republican lawmakers and conservative pundits have openly conceded that the party has a 'rhetoric' problem when it comes to the Latino vote and have begun advocating for comprehensive immigration reform. However, the GOP's new-found eagerness to appeal to Latinos took a hit on Thursday afternoon when Fox News ran a segment about 'The Hispanic Vote in 2012' and proceeded to show stock footage of people crossing the border illegally."
Mother Jones—Top Georgia GOP Lawmakers Host Briefing on Secret Obama Mind-Control Plot: "President Obama is using a Cold War-era mind-control technique known as 'Delphi' to coerce Americans into accepting his plan for a United Nations-run communist dictatorship in which suburbanites will be forcibly relocated to cities. That's according to a four-hour briefing delivered to Republican state senators at the Georgia state Capitol last month."
Think Progress—McCain Skipped a Briefing on Benghazi to Hold a Press Conference: "Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is demanding a special select committee to investigate the events leading up to the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya and has held around-the-clock television appearances pressing for a complete review of the incident. But all of the senator's media interviews and press availabilities may be interfering with his ability to gather information about the event. On Thursday morning, CNN's Dana Bash reported that McCain chose to hold a joint press conference with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) rather than attend a closed-door briefing about the attacks."
If you think that state Republicans accusing President Obama of insidious mind control and Republican US Senators shirking their duties to try to frame as a cover-up what good money says was a pretty typical intelligence clusterfuck after a terrorist attack on the other side of the globe don't belong on a list of racist shenanigans, I will just briefly observe that Republicans didn't seem too concerned about propaganda and bad intel when a white guy was in charge. And I'm thinking that's not just because he played for their team.
Here We Go
Yesterday, I said: "I am trying to imagine Bill Clinton's second term in the age of the internet, and I am suddenly overcome with involuntarily shudders of grim dread."
Welp, the "Impeach Obama" robocalls have begun.
A man picks up the phone and says, "Hello?" and then the following recorded messages begins...Nine! Nine! Nine!
This is an urgent update from the Conservative Majority Fund. If the thought of Obama's next four years makes you cringe, you need to hear this! We just learned that Obama's immediate plans are to close Guantanamo, give full amnesty to illegal aliens, and give the United Nations the authority to tax Americans. And this is just in the short-term!
Our only recourse now is to move forward with the full impeachment of President Obama. We suspect that Obama is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors and that there may be grounds for impeachment as is laid out in the Constitution. Further, he may not even be a US citizen—because nobody, I mean no one, has seen an actual physical copy of his birth certificate! Impeachment is our only option. And Republicans are already considering Obama investigations.
As the nation's most effective conservative group, we are launching the official Impeach Obama campaign. So please, press one now to donate to Impeach Obama! For your generous support, we'll send you a a free "Don't Tread on Me" flag as a way of saying thank you for your support.
Again, press one to donate to Impeach Obama now, or press nine to be removed.
In The News
[Content note: Homophobia, transphobia, violence]
News From Beyond:
"I find it difficult to believe that Lincoln was banging anybody." — Tony Kushner, Pulitzer Prize winner and screenwriter for the new film Lincoln.
The Family Research Council is still a bunch of shitbags. Surprise.
New figures from Trans Murder Monitoring show 265 trans people were murdered across the world in the last 12 months, higher than previous years.
Anti-gay activist and former Navy chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt says growing support of marriage equality is a sign of the End Times. Neat!
Welp.
One thing I've learned this election: American businessmen are total douchebags.
BP will pay a record U.S. fine of $4.5 billion to settle criminal claims arising from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
A Kansas City man has proof of Bigfoot's existence.
Hey nerds: Listen to the entire soundtrack of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey!
Star Wars action figures have been inducted into National Toy Hall of Fame.
Today in Mitt Romney Is Still Terrible
Mitt Romney lost fair and square because he is terrible and his policies are garbage. But he has other ideas about why he lost the election to President Barack Obama, and—spoiler alert!—they do not include his being terrible and hawking garbage policies:
Mitt Romney on Wednesday attributed his defeat in part to what he called big policy "gifts" that the president had bestowed on loyal Democratic constituencies, including young voters, African-Americans and Hispanics.None of this, of course, is remotely surprising from the guy who thinks people aren't entitled to food, and whose running mate was blaming "urban voters" for their loss two days ago. These are highly entitled, titanically privileged, and voraciously greedy bigots who wouldn't accept personal accountability if it were dipped in gold and hand-delivered by Jesus.
In a conference call with fund-raisers and donors to his campaign, Mr. Romney said Wednesday afternoon that the president had followed the "old playbook" of using targeted initiatives to woo specific interest groups — "especially the African-American community, the Hispanic community and young people."
"In each case, they were very generous in what they gave to those groups," Mr. Romney said...
"With regards to the young people, for instance, a forgiveness of college loan interest was a big gift," Mr. Romney said. "Free contraceptives were very big with young, college-aged women. And then, finally, Obamacare also made a difference for them, because as you know, anybody now 26 years of age and younger was now going to be part of their parents' plan, and that was a big gift to young people."
..."You can imagine for somebody making $25,000 or $30,000 or $35,000 a year, being told you're now going to get free health care, particularly if you don't have it, getting free health care worth, what, $10,000 per family, in perpetuity — I mean, this is huge," Mr. Romney said. "Likewise with Hispanic voters, free health care was a big plus. But in addition with regards to Hispanic voters, the amnesty for children of illegals, the so-called Dream Act kids, was a huge plus for that voting group."
And they manifestly refuse to learn. This sneering contempt for people who do not share their privileges is why they are losing. And instead of stepping back to reassess whether maybe "Bootstraps, losers!" isn't a winning strategy, they obdurately reject empathy and bridge-building in favor of doubling down on rank hostility and scapegoating.
It's just the worst bunch of sour grapes being smashed into bitter red whine.
And it would be awful to watch, if only I weren't so pleased by the evidence of their increasing inability to effectively conceal the personal cruelty that underwrites their reprehensible policies.
Perhaps Reagan's rosy-cheeked mask of affability has finally and forever fallen from the ugly face of modern conservatism.
