Liss and Ana Talk About Elementary

His socks match her dress. HIS SOCKS MATCH HER DRESS!
So, I mentioned that contributor Ana Mardoll and I can talk about Elementary pretty much nonstop. In both our homes, it's Friday night viewing—a delicious reward to celebrate the end of the week.

After each episode, we end up emailing and/or texting back and forth about the episode, so we decided to share our comments here, and invite you to join in our excited conversation.

[Spoilers are deducting the fuck outta shit herein.]

Liss: I am so in love with Elementary, I don't even know what to do with myself. Consent, boundaries, gaslighting, feminism?! WHO IS WRITING THIS SHOW? MY BRAIN IN SECRET?!

Ana: OMG THAT WAS SO GOOD!! THEY SAID GASLIGHTING! THEY SAID GASLIGHTING! #MostFeministCrimeDramaEver?? I clapped my hands. I cannot tell you how happy I was to see that. Between all this talk about boundaries and consent and now gaslighting, this is like OMG FEMINIST TERMS IN MY MEDIA HOORAY.

Liss: IT WAS THE BESTEST! I LOVED THIS EPISODE!

Ana: I literally squealed when Alfredo was in the opening scene. Yay, Alfredo! I didn't want to hope too hard, because I was so afraid they wouldn't bring him back, and yet here he was! How much do I love that he's mentoring Joan as well? SO MUCH. Also because I think it takes the ultra-focus off of Joan and Sherlock as a duo, and I think that's important. There's a lot of intensity there, and having friends/co-workers like Alfredo and the Captain and Dect. Bell is so awesome.

Liss: ALFREDO! I also love that Alfredo is still acting as Sherlock's sponsor, which is a way of highlighting that Joan isn't expected to be filling that role in Sherlock's life anymore, and that they haven't just written off his addiction like, "Oh he's fine now!"

Ana: How much do I love the line Sherlock walks between supporting Joan and still guiding her? He believed her instincts when she insisted the guy was the murderer. He didn't use the scene in the jail to mock her for being on the other side. He didn't browbeat her for choosing to apologize. He shook her out of her self-doubt, but he wasn't cruel. It's SO HARD to do abrasive characters who aren’t irredeemable assholes, and they have done such an admirable job. LOVE.

Liss: It is SO GREAT. And I love how he is capable of challenging her without condescending to her. THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST.

Ana: TEAMWORK! And! And! I loved how they had to work together to solve both cases. Really underlined the whole "better together" thing. She's not mini-Sherlock; they actually need each other in order to collaborate. I love it. He never would have solved the pusher murder without her.

Liss: I am also very pleased by how the show does not rely on some tired trope about how they complement each other because of their different genders. It's not that Joan sees something "only a woman" could see. They complement each other because they're different complex humans with a different set of lived experiences (some of which might come down to gender-related socialization, but womanhood is not her only axis of contribution to the team).

Ana: The intervention scene WRECKED MY SHIT. I hated that. I appreciated that the show was trying to make them out to be her friends and not MEAN BITCHEZ (yay, there was a guy there, too!), but I still would have been SO uncomfortable. Like, crying uncontrollably after because WTF. And it was SO IRONIC because on our TV, they juxtaposed that scene with an AARP commercial about famous people who didn't find their niche until they were in their 50s. TELL JULIA CHILD SHE CAN'T JOIN THE MARINES!! Anyway. I thought they resolved that well, and I was so proud of Joan for keeping her shit together and telling them, um, no, this is an intervention. I'VE STAGED SOME. BOOM! I was so proud of her. You go, Joan.

Liss: I hated that scene, too—not because I thought it was poorly done or unrealistic, but because I was totally identifying with Joan and TURTLING! It was like she was totally afraid of being judged, so she was keeping shtum, and then her worst fears came true. When she changed her occupation field on the social media site at the end of the episode, I was all OH NOES HERE COME THE BLUBS!

Ana: How happy am I that these crimes CONTINUE to seriously address domestic violence and men who hate women? I feel like the show is seriously focused on actually dealing with domestic violence statistics (HUGE) while still doing the weird/rare/interesting cases. Also: Not super-triggery like your dime-store crime drama that has to send out for MOAR SEXY CORPSES. There's none of that "let's lingeringly gaze at the beautiful dead white woman while we opine that she had so much to live for and it's such a tragedy." NONE OF THAT. Thank you for not sexualizing your women victims, Elementary!

Liss: YES YES YES. And no craptastic twists, either. If this had been a case on an episode of Law & Order: SVU, it would have totally turned out that the sister did it, so the show could sneer at us about what man-hating assholes we are for assuming it was the husband, when SURPRISE! it's actually the women who are the REAL disproportionate perpetrators of gendered abuse! BARF. And how fucking awesome was it when Joan was all, "But, hey, don't listen to me—I'm just a crazy woman." BOOM. You just got served a plate full of WATSON, son!

Ana: Joan solved the case! JOAN SOLVED THE CASE! I was so happy for her!! Like, literally, happy tears! Liu did a fantastic job of mixing vulnerability and triumph in that interrogation scene. And Sherlock was SO proud of her, gave her all the credit, let it be her moment to shine. And I continue to LOVE how awesome the Captain and Bell are—so supportive!! This is how a crime drama SHOULD be.

Liss: JOAN SOLVED THE CASE! Amazing. I loved it. The look she and Sherlock exchanged in the interrogation, when he gave her just a slight reassuring grin. AMAZING.

Ana: I blubbed when Sherlock gave her That Face. I love how they've really managed to shut up ALL THOSE PEOPLE who claim that men and women can't be friends. Because That. Was. Friendship.

Liss: Can we also talk about the moment when Sherlock was all, "Do you want to wallow or do you want to celebrate?" And she was all, "I want to solve this case!" And he was all, "OH!" And then immediately went back to the case. LOL. Jonny Lee Miller is a genius.

Ana: MOMENT! I was so proud of her. And him. Him for trying to reassure her in his blunt way, but still. And her for being honest about her doubts, but also redirecting the conversation before it got hostile. And him for accepting the redirect. They work together so beautifully!

Liss: This show is everything. The end.

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Rand Paul: Champion of "Freedom"

Fauxgressives' favorite libertarian champion of freedom [sic], Senator Rand Paul, has introduced "fetal personhood" [sic] legislation that would completely outlaw abortion in the United States:

The Life at Conception Act would declare that human life began at conception, providing fertilized eggs with the same legal status as born persons.

"The Life at Conception Act legislatively declares what most Americans believe and what science has long known – that human life begins at the moment of conception, and therefore is entitled to legal protection from that point forward," Paul said in a statement. "The right to life is guaranteed to all Americans in the Declaration of Independence and ensuring this is upheld is the Constitutional duty of all Members of Congress."

This fucking guy.

Let me just repeat myself: For shits and grimaces, I will, for a moment, entertain Paul's ostensible premise that a fetus has the equivalent value of the born uterus-having person carrying it. Great. So what? My life, right now, is not so precious that any other human being could be compelled to use their body to support mine for the next nine months (at least). No other human being is obliged to give up an organ for me, even if it would save my life. Nor bone marrow, nor blood, nor skin. People who are forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term are being asked to do something no other people are asked to do for another person, which exposes the truth of the anti-choice position: Fetuses are valued more highly than the people who carry them.

This legislation does not more highly value the potential life of a fetus. It devalues the life of women and other people with uteri.

I have gotten into epic fights in comments here with ostensible liberals *cough* Glenn Greenwald *cough* over celebrating as a champion of civil rights an anti-choice garbage nightmare like Rand Paul. (Much like him, in fact: Ron Paul, his father, who gets the same fawning love from the same reproductive justice-indifferent dirtbags.) Actively pursuing making women's et. al. bodies property of the state is not compatible with "freedom," or "civil rights," if the words are to have any meaning at all.

[Recommended Reading: The Endless Drone of Sirota and Greenwald. CN: Disablism. "[I]t goes without saying that any criticism fired at him will merely bounce off the adamantium hull of his monumental ego." LOL FOREVER.]

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Steubenville Trial: Two Found Guilty

[Content Note: Sexual violence; descriptions of rape; rape culture.]

The trial is over in the Steubenville, Ohio rape case, in which a teenage girl who was exploited and sexually assaulted by members of a high school football team, who dragged her unconscious body to multiple parties where multiple people saw her being assaulted, took pictures of her, and failed to intervene in any way.

Two young men have been found guilty.

Two high school football stars were found guilty on Sunday of raping a 16-year-old girl last summer in a case that drew national attention for the way social media spurred the initial prosecution and later helped galvanize national outrage.

One of the football players, Trent Mays, 17, who had been a quarterback, was sentenced to serve at least two years in the state juvenile system. The other, Ma'lik Richmond, 16, who had played wide receiver, was sentenced to serve at least one year. Both could end up in juvenile jail until they are 21, at the discretion of the State Department of Youth Services.

Mr. Mays's minimum sentence is twice as long as Mr. Richmond's because he was found to be delinquent beyond a reasonable doubt — the juvenile equivalent of guilty — not just of rape but also of distributing a nude image of a minor.

After Judge Thomas Lipps read his decision in Juvenile Court, both boys sobbed. Mr. Richmond told his lawyer, Walter Madison, "My life is over."

Mr. Mays apologized to the victim by name, as well as to her family and the community. "No pictures should have been sent around, let alone ever taken," he said.

Mr. Richmond then walked toward the family and said: "I had not intended to do anything like this. I'm sorry to put you through this." After that he broke down, unable to speak, and embraced a court officer.

If the "football stars" had any words of regret for the young woman they raped, those words have not found their way into the media.

Judge Lipps described much of the evidence as "profane and ugly." In sentencing the boys, he said rape was among the gravest of crimes and noted that they could have been tried as adults with far harsher punishments. He also said the case was a cautionary lesson in how teenagers conduct themselves when alcohol is present and in "how you record things on social media that are so prevalent today."

I'm guessing Judge Lipps' intent was not to warn two convicted rapists (and other potential rapists) to make sure they don't record it if they're going to rape someone, but it nonetheless seems like that's somehow the bigger takeaway from this case. Not: Don't rape. But: Don't be so stupid as to record it if you do.

Meanwhile, over at CNN, Candy Crowley, Poppy Harlow, and Paul Callan reported the breaking news of the verdict last night by expressing their condolences for the rapists.

CNN's Candy Crowley began her breaking news report by showing Lipps handing down the sentence and telling CNN reporter Poppy Harlow that she "cannot imagine" how emotional the sentencing must have been.

Harlow explained that it had been "incredibly difficult" to watch "as these two young men — who had such promising futures, star football players, very good students — literally watched as they believed their life fell apart."

"One of the young men, Ma'lik Richmond, as that sentence came down, he collapsed," the CNN reporter recalled, adding that the convicted rapist told his attorney that "my life is over, no one is going to want me now."

At that point, CNN played video of Richmond crying and hugging his lawyer in the courtroom.

"I was sitting about three feet from Ma'lik when he gave that statement," Harlow said. "It was very difficult to watch."

Candy then asked CNN legal contributor Paul Callan what the verdict meant for "a 16 year old, sobbing in court, regardless of what big football players they are, they still sound like 16 year olds."

"What's the lasting effect though on two young men being found guilty juvenile court of rape essentially?" Crowley wondered.

"There's always that moment of just — lives are destroyed," Callan remarked. "But in terms of what happens now, the most severe thing with these young men is being labeled as registered sex offenders. That label is now placed on them by Ohio law."

"That will haunt them for the rest of their lives."

Rage. Seethe. Boil.

One of the reasons I have not written more about this case, though I have been following it, is because its familiarity makes it a difficult story for me. I was raped in high school by a popular student athlete and great student, and I was asked over and over, as I was passed from police to the school social worker to the school counselors, down the ladder of power, do I really want to ruin his life over this? There wasn't a whole lot of concern about the trajectory of my life, or how it might have changed.

Deep breath.

I'm not going to spend any more of my energy on anger. I've got nothing for contempt for anyone who would center concern for rapists over a victim.

Instead, I want to say to the survivor of these multiple acts of rape, in case she ever wanders by this space, and to any other survivors who might need to hear these words: I care about you. I wish for you the support and love that you need, and the access to healthcare services that might be of use following trauma. I hope you will find peace, and, if you can't, I want you to know that there is at least one person in the world who thinks that's okay. You aren't obliged to be peaceful for me, or anyone else. I will think of you. I will survive alongside you. Restless and relentless.

* * *

[Note: I shouldn't have to say this in this space, but I'm going to anyway: Comments that allude, obliquely or overtly, to the convicted young men being sexually assaulted in prison—"I hope they enjoy their time in prison"; "I hope they get a taste of their own medicine"; etc.—are categorically not allowed in this space. The solution to rape culture is not more rape.]

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Open Thread

Hosted by Herb Tarlek.

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Sunday Shuffle

The Pogues; Thousands Are Sailing
And you?

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Open Thread

Hosted by the Woggle Bug.

This week's open threads have been brought to you by the supporting cast of the Oz books.

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Open Thread

Hosted by Tik-Tok, Dorothy, and Billina.

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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!

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Quote of the Day

"I did what I did. It's all on the public record, and I feel very good about it. If I had to do it over again, I'd do it in a minute."—Former Vice-President and eternal dark lord Dick Cheney, in The World According to Dick Cheney, a biography airing on Showtime this month.

CNN filed this item under the terrific headline: "Cheney unapologetic in new documentary." [CN: Gun violence.] HA HA I'm so surprised that the vice-president who shot a man in the face and then got an apology from the man he shot while his face was still pebbled with buckshot holes is unapologetic about ALL THE THINGS!

This fucking guy.

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More Proving the Point

A response to my piece offering advice on how to be more inclusive to atheist men genuinely seeking it:

Note that I was offering advice specifically because PZ Myers asked, in response to my post, "What can I do better?" and noted I was offering advice "to atheist men who genuinely want an answer to that question."

It doesn't matter how polite you are, or how carefully you endeavor to engage with good faith.

In return: "Go fuck yourself."

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The Parks and Rec Open Thread

"Time after time!"
(Spoilers are getting bailed out herein.)

Parks and Rec is back! And it's TOO BIG TO NAIL! And these vegetables won't be necessary. Lights, Camera, Perd! Hi, Jason Schwartzman! Jerry's awesome pep talk! And capitalism wins? Boo. But Ann and Chris are having a baby! Yay! And April is totes gonna be a vet! I credit Champion for this amazing development! GOOD DOG! Other things!

"These kids are renting my old clothes like they're going out of style. Which they never will."

"She's my sister! My twin sister from the same mister! Thank you so much for hiring Mona Lisa. It means so much to me—even though honestly she is THE WOOOOOOOORST! She is the worst person in the world."

"I'm watching Iron Man 2 on my phone right now."

"Ann Perkins asked me if I would like to donate sperm, so she can have a baby. It's a battle—between my primal desire to bring a child into this world, and my paralyzing fear of negatively affecting any living thing."

"I heard sack of flour and high school. Are you ding-dongs making fake drugs for sophomores? Because, if true, THIS GUY wants in!"

"I know this is gonna hurt, but maybe some Michael Bay."

"Ron, what are you doing at a City Council meeting? Are you lost? Are you hurt?"

"I, for one, refuse to let her turn this town into a socialist hellscape."

"I'm kinda just fracking for friendship."

"Uh, you can just buy tools online."

"Wilson Gromling, of the Liberty or Die Party. These government handouts are deplorable! You're just handing out blank checks! I was on food stamps! I was on welfare! And nobody ever helped me!"

"You have made us porn peddlers!"

"Everyone knows this song. It's amazing."

"I guess your uter-you and my uter-me are now a uterUS!"

And finally: Donna's face when Leslie announces the film they'll be watching at the inaugural community film night is The Sound of Music...


HA HA HA! Retta! So amazing.

Discuss!

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Friday Blogaround

This blogaround brought to you by buttons.

Recommended Reading:

Jorge: Kimani Gray's Mother Speaks: "He Was Slaughtered" [Content Note: Gun violence; racism. Also note that a video begins to play automatically after a delay at the link.]

Mychal, Darnell, Kiese, and Kai: Black Men Writing to Live: Brothers' Letters [Content Note: Disablism; mentions of self-harm; abuse; racism.]

Libby Anne: "You are worthy of nothing but disdain." [Content Note: Hostility to agency; harassment.]

Trudy: Race, Gender and Connecting with Other Atheists

Becky: Why the Fearful Hero Is a Good Thing for Video Games

Samantha: No Excuses: It's Time for More Female Protagonists

Ragen: Weight Loss So-Called Success [Content Note: Fat bias; diet talk; medical malfeasance.]

Algernon: Infrastructure Investments and Latino and African American Job Creation

FMF News: McCaskill Responds to Military Sexual Assault Hearings

Leave your links and recommendations in comments...

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Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Parliament: "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)"

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My Advice to Atheist Men

[Content Note: Misogyny.]

Yesterday, I wrote a piece on being a female atheist who had been alienated from movement atheism by systemic misogyny. (And, naturally, we had to close the thread because it got inundated with dudes keen to prove the point. See also: My inbox.) It got a bit of attention, including from PZ Myers, who wondered: "What can I do better?"

On Twitter today, I shared my advice to atheist men who genuinely want an answer to that question...

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In The News

[Content note: Homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, domestic abuse]

Friday I'm In Love:

This is super sweet.

Do no harm (unless it's to fags): University students training to be counselors could be allowed to legally refuse care to people in same-sex relationships.

A new department memo requires NYPD officers to run warrant and criminal background checks on any domestic violence accuser brave enough to call the police.

A Maryland state Senate committee has struck down a bill that would have banned anti-transgender discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodation.

Colin Trevorrow will direct Jurassic Park 4. Good luck, Colin Trevorrow!

Xi Jinping has been elected president of China. Good luck, Xi Jinping!

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Daily Dose of Cute

Sophie, professional cute thing.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.

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NOM Continues to be Supergross

[Content Note: Family and reproductive policing; homophobia; abuse.]

As if we needed any additional evidence that the virulently anti-gay National Organization for Marriage is just fully the worst, here is John Eastman, NOM's chair, talking about the Supreme Court justices who will soon be ruling on same-sex marriage—specifically about the families of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas, both of whom have adopted children:

"You're looking at what is the best course societywide to get you the optimal result in the widest variety of cases. That often is not open to people in individual cases. Certainly adoption in families headed, like Chief Roberts' family is, by a heterosexual couple, is by far the second-best option," said John Eastman, chairman of the National Organization for Marriage. Eastman also teaches law at Chapman University law school in Orange, Calif.

Different-sex two-(cis)parent families with adopted children are "second-best." Obviously, different-sex two-(cis)parent white Christian families with babies created in magic vaginas under Jesus' watchful eye are the bestest-best. But otherwise acceptable straight white Christian cis people with adopted kids are okay, I GUESS.

I don't even know where to start with this garbage.

There's the implicit assertion that adopted children are less than. There's the implicit assertion that adoptive parents are axiomatically inferior to birth parents. There's the casual eliding of the millions of people who are abused by their birth parents, and the millions of people who are not abused by adoptive parents. There's the implicit demeaning of single- and same-sex parent and blended households. There's the implicit assertion that biologically defined families are inherently superior to families of choice. There's the implicit assertion that families are defined by parenting. There's the gross judgment and ranking of family structures, as if the best family structure isn't the one that best works for everyone in that family, rather than conformity to an externally-defined ideal.

And then there's the hilarious irony that the same conservative nightmare thugs who insist that adoption is a viable alternative to abortion then turn around and demean adoption when it suits their homophobic policies.

Unreal. This would be fucking hilarious, if it weren't so unfathomably cruel.

[Via Andy.]

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Congressional Libs Unimpressed by Grand Bargain

I guess these political noobs just don't understand how politics works:

Multiple reports out today suggest that Dem leaders in the House and Senate are edging towards supporting Chained CPI for Social Security as part of the "grand bargain" Obama wants to replace the sequester with — and that's already sparking sharp pushback from Congressional liberals.

"Why are we doing this?" Dem Rep. Keith Ellison, a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said to me in an interview today. Asked which is worse, continued sequestration or a grand bargain that cuts entitlement benefits, Ellison said: "It's like saying, 'Which of your kids do you want to sacrifice to the monster?' Neither one."

Ellison is backed up by over 100 other House Dems who have pledged to fight any cuts to retirement benefits, including Chained CPI, a way of indexing Social Security benefits to inflation that amounts to a real benefits cut.

..."Leader Pelosi has always encouraged members to offer their own sincerely held views," Ellison told me. "My sincerely held view is that Chained CPI is a benefit cut for people who have very little. An overwhelming number of people who are on Social Security have fixed incomes. We have a lot of people across America who agree. Most of our caucus is opposed to this."

When it comes down to it, isn't the choice just between extended sequestration and some kind of deal to replace it, and if so, which is worse? Is this the choice liberals face? I put the question to Ellison, and he rejected the framing, arguing that being drawn into it is to already cede ground to Republicans.

"Once we do that we're already in the territory of bargaining away Chained CPI," Ellison said. "We're already saying we're open to negotiating on Chained CPI. And we're not." Senator Bernie Sanders has similarly insisted that liberals must not allow the choice to be framed this way, and has instead called on the White House and Dem leaders to try to leverage public opinion to force Republicans to accept a long term deal that includes increased revenues and cuts spending judiciously without targeting entitlement benefits.

Ellison pointed out that Republicans aren't as quick as Dems to signal a willingness to trade away core priorities at the outset. "Republicans don't do that," he said.

What is this guy—some kind of LIBERAL BLOGGER?! Looks like someone's not a member of the Congressional 12-dimensional chess club!

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Whoooooops Your Stance on Same-Sex Marriage

[Content Note: Homophobia.]

Republican Senator Rob Portman, who was Mitt Romney's BFF during the 2012 election, has reversed his stance on same-sex marriage, after his son told him he is gay.

"I'm announcing today a change of heart on an issue that a lot of people feel strongly about that has to do with gay couples' opportunity to marry," Portman told CNN.

It has to do with another revelation, one deeply personal. His 21-year-old son, Will, is gay.

"I've come to the conclusion that for me, personally, I think this is something that we should allow people to do, to get married, and to have the joy and stability of marriage that I've had for over 26 years. That I want all of my children to have, including our son, who is gay," said Portman.

I am happy for Will that his father decided to publicly support him. No qualifications. It's great.

That said, Senator Portman, you are a real asshole of a public servant. It is colossally contemptible that you didn't care about anyone else's sons' (or daughters' or parents' or friends' or colleagues' or perfect fucking strangers') right to "get married, and to have the joy and stability of marriage," and only finding out you had to look your own kid in the face and tell him sorry, son, fuck you, it's politically expedient for me to deny your basic humanity, gave you reason enough to support what is a decent and just position, totally in line with the ostensibly conservative principle of keeping the government's nose the fuck out of people's pants.

How utterly loathsome to be a person who only supports policies that personally benefit their own families. I'm looking at you, ENTIRE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

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Open Thread

Hosted by the Hungry Tiger.

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