Suggested by Shaker sidewriter: "What's the most elaborate gesture of love you've ever made? Could be romantic or platonic."
LOL
[Content Note: Fat hatred.]
A New York appeals court has ruled Mayor Bloomberg's soda ban unconstitutional.
It's not because of the objective of the ban or anything; the court just said that the city's health department "had stepped beyond its power to regulate public health and usurped the policy-making role of the legislature."
But still. I can't stop laughing. I just find it irresistibly delightful that an appeals court told Mayor Bloomberg that his big stupid drinks ban is unconstitutional. Ha ha.
"But I REALLY WANT TO CURE ALL THE OBESITY by banning some sizes of some sugary drinks in some places!" *pouts*
"Nope." *drops gavel*
CASE CLOSED.
Grand Bargain
Obama Offers to Cut Corporate Tax Rate as Part of Jobs Deal:
President Obama, seeking to break a stalemate with Republicans, announced [in Chattanooga, Tennessee] Tuesday that he would cut corporate tax rates in return for a pledge from Republicans to invest in more programs to generate middle-class jobs.How about we not cut taxes at all when we need lots of revenue to generate lots of jobs? Oh, right. Because the Republican Party is holding the entire nation hostage on behalf of corporations who don't want to fund infrastructure and social safety in the nation whose people they're exploiting.
Using a sea of cardboard boxes in a cavernous Amazon distribution center as a backdrop, Mr. Obama described a "grand bargain" for the middle class that he said would stimulate the economy while giving businesses the lower tax rates they have long sought.
"If folks in Washington really want a 'grand bargain,' how about a grand bargain for middle-class jobs?" Mr. Obama said to a crowd of 2,000. "If we're going to give businesses a better deal," he added later, "we're going to give workers a better deal, too."
Also: As Susie observes over at C&L: "It's great that Obama continues to call for jobs, but why is he speaking about middle-class jobs at a facility that uses mostly temps, and is known for bad working conditions?"
Whoops.
Bonus Cute: Bear Scritchin' Party!
So, Alberta Parks released this video, from a time-stop camera set up by Park Ranger Glenn Naylor. It shows what happens in the woods when humans aren't around... and apparently, this camera just happened to be set up at the BEST bear-scritchin' spot. Several animals wander by, but only the bears stop for back scritches. There's even a scritchin' party! (Note: There is no violence or growling in the video, but if bears bother you, then you'll probably want to skip this one.)
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Emotional policing.]
"If you're not happy, you can become happy. Happiness is a choice. That's the thing I really feel. Like with friends who refuse to get happy, who refuse to rise above the discomfort of where they're at."—Jennifer Aniston, in a new interview for Glamour.
Neat advice, Jennifer Aniston! You're the COOLEST therapist since Gwyneth Paltrow.
I imagine if I had a chance to ask Jennifer Aniston about this quote, our conversation would go a little something like this:
MM: Hi, Jennifer Aniston!
JA: Hi. You look like you need a cleanse.
MM: Ha ha I totally do. My liver is totally ensconced in preservatives. But what I want to talk to you about today is your aggressively ugly quote in Glamour about how happiness is a choice.
JA: Okay! Wait—what?
MM: First, I just want to confirm that you do not suffer from chronic chemical depression?
JA: No. Hey, I see what you're doing—
MM: And also that you are still a multimillionaire?
JA: Now wait just a second—
MM: Oh, don't worry—there will be plenty of time for you to try to defend being an almost undilutedly privileged person who indefensibly asserts that happiness is a choice at the end of the interview, after I walk away. Do you not find it at all troublesome for someone with your extreme privilege to assert, particularly at a time when fully 80% of adults populating the nation you call home are unemployed, near-poverty, and/or dependent on welfare to survive, that happiness is a choice, and that people who unhappy are just refusing to be happy, just refusing to rise above the discomfort of their lives?
JA: That's not what I meant!
MM: Oh, I'm sorry. What did you mean then?
JA: I meant that people who have the choice—
MM: Whooooooooooops let me read your quote back to you. You said: "If you're not happy, you can become happy. Happiness is a choice." You did not qualify that you meant people with your privileges only.
JA: You're twisting my words!
MM: Am I?
JA: You're taking them out of context!
MM: Am I?
JA: I bet you write for one of those terrible internet blogs, don't you?
MM: Yes, one of the worst, in fact.
JA: I knew it! I don't have to take this!
MM: Is being held accountable for your careless words that contribute to the marginalization of people whose psychological disabilities and/or situational anxiety make them unable to magically conform to an unrealistic and oppressive social standard of extreme emotional dishonesty designed to assuage privileged people's feelings of guilt that their happiness comes at the cost of others' misery making you unhappy?
JA: Yes!
MM: Oh. Well, that can't be right. Happiness is a choice, is it not?
JA: I hate you.
MM: Have a nice day, Dame Happypants!
Daily Dose of Cute
Sophs.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
OMG, I Think I Just Agreed With Cardinal Dolan
[CN: homophobia, sexism, religious oppression.]
Hey, remember that time (yesterday) when your social media feed was full of people celebrating that Pope Francis seems slightly less barfy than his predecessors regarding women and gay people?
Well don't worry folks! Shakesville fave, New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan, explains that the Pope remains committed to homophobic doctrines. Whew! Thanks for clearing that up, Card!
And in a sure sign of the Apocalypse, I find myself in semi-agreement with Cardinal Dolan. Not the OH NOES GAYZ! part. The part about Francis' remarks not really changing anything about church teaching.
For the record, I am genuinely glad for anyone who feels encouraged or is made happy by Francis' remarks. It is not for me to police or define other people's reactions.
My own reaction was disappointment. He hasn't really changed anything. Sex outside marriage is still a sin. Same-sex marriage is still "impossible." So same-sex lovin' is still a highway to hell.
Also, yay women! But ix-nay on the ordination-ay, ladeeeez. (He can't even discuss women's role in the church without reducing it to reproductive terms: "the church would be 'sterile' without [them]." Okay, Infallible Player.)
Now, if Francis actually acts on these words and, say, appoints out gay (and presumably celibate) priests to prominent positions of Catholic leadership, or gives female religious and laywomen significant roles in the Vatican's decision-making, why then I will happily eat my lacy black mantilla.
But! Let us not lose sight of Francis I's first bona fide MIRACLE: I agree with Cardinal Dolan! Praise God Cthulhu Care bears Wev! Dear Your Holiness, can you try the water-into-a-nice-moscato next?
This May Be the Most Incredible Interview You Will Ever See, on Fox News or Anywhere. Ever.
Prominent religious scholar Reza Aslan (who, as an aside, is someone whose work I enjoy reading very much) went on Fox News' "Spirited Debate" to talk about his new book, Zealot: The Life and Time of Jesus of Nazareth, in which he concludes (CONTROVERSIALLY!) that Jesus was basically a radical hippie. (I'm paraphrasing.) Anyway. This is what happened when Aslan, who is Muslim, stopped by Fox News.
Fox News Anchor Lauren Green, a thin black woman: Reza Aslan was a Christian but converted back to the faith of his forefathers—that's Islam. He has now written a book about Jesus. The book has become controversial, as it calls into question some of the core tenets of Christianity. And the book is called Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. And Reza joins me now from Los Angeles—welcome!Holy shit. (Literally.) That is one of the most embarrassing displays of "journalism" I have ever beheld, and I spend A LOT OF TIME watching total garbage masquerade as journalism on cable news.
Religious scholar and writer Reza Aslan, a thin Iranian-American man: Thank you for having me.
Green: Well, this is an interesting book; now I want to be clear about—you're a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?
Aslan: Well, to be clear, I am a scholar of religions, with four degrees, including one in the New Testament, and fluency in biblical Greek, who has been studying the origins of Christianity for two decades, who also just happens to be a Muslim. So it's not that I'm just some Muslim writing about Jesus. I am an expert with a PhD in the history of religions. Uh, but, I've been obsessed with Jesus—
Green: But that still begs the question, though, it still begs the question why would you be interested in the founder of Christianity?
Aslan: Because it's my job as an academic. I am a professor of religion, including the New Testament. Uh, that's what I do for a living, actually. So, I mean, it would be like asking a Christian why would they write a book about, y'know, Islam. I mean, I'm not sure about that. But, honestly, I've been obsessed with Jesus for, really, twenty years. I've been studying his life and his work and the origins of Christianity, both in an academic environment and on a personal level for about two decades. And, just to be clear, this is not some attack on Christianity. My mother is a Christian; my wife is a Christian; my brother-in-law is an evangelical pastor. Anyone who thinks that this book is an attack on Christianity has not read it yet.
Green: I, uh, but, I wanna, uh, I want to read you some quotes from, uh, some people who are criticizing you—one from John Dickerson who has written a, uh, an op-ed piece on FoxNews.com, and he says, um: "This is not an historian's report on Jesus. This is an educated Muslim's opinion about Jesus." He says: "His conclusions are long-held Islamic claims, namely that Jesus was a zealous prophet type, who didn't claim to be god." Um—that—
Aslan: Well, that's actually not what Islam claims about Jesus. My, my book about Jesus overturns pretty much everything that Islam also thinks about Jesus, as well. And, to be clear, I just wanna emphasize this one more time: I am a historian. I am a PhD in the history of religions. This isn't a Muslim opinion. This is an academic work of history. Not about the Christ, or about Christianity for that matter. It's about a historical man who walked the earth two thousand years ago in the land that the Romans called Palestine.
Green: How, how are your findings different from what Islam actually believes about Jesus?
Aslan: Well, Islam doesn't believe that Jesus was crucified, first of all. Islam believes in the virgin birth. Uh, I mean, Jesus was most definitely crucified, and my book does question the historicity of the virgin birth. So, again, I mean, I know that we've mentioned this three times now. Uh, I'm not sure what my faith happens to do with my twenty years of academic study of the New Testament.
Green: I'm just trying to bring out, um, what some others are claiming at this point, and I want you to answer to those claims, which is—
Aslan: Well, it's pretty clear that there are those who actually do not like the book, who are, y'know, unhappy with its general arguments. That's perfectly fine. I'm more than willing to talk about the arguments of the book itself. But I do think it's perhaps a little bit strange that rather than debating the arguments of the book, we are debating the right of the scholar to actually write it.
Green: Well, let me, let me give you some, uh, let me give you some other quotes from, uh, Dr. William Lane Craig, um, who is a, uh, Christian philosopher and theologian. He's written a lot of books, and, um, done a lot of debates about science and religion. Um, he said: "Reza Aslan merely repeats bygone claims about the historical Jesus that have since been abandoned and refuted." What do you say to that?
Aslan: Well, I would disagree; I have one hundred pages of notes [in the book] and about a thousand books that I use in my discussions. And, of course, in any scholarly discussion of Jesus, as with any scholarly discussion of any ancient figure, there are gonna be widespread differences. But my hundred pages of end notes cites every scholar who disagrees with me, and every scholar who agrees with me. And I would suggest that anyone who wants to actually comment on the argument of the book read not just the book, but the end notes, to figure out where my scholarly argument about Jesus comes from. And I'm sure you're gonna find people who disagree with me.
Green: Right, exactly, what're your—um, we're not talking about just people who disagree with you; scholars, many scholars, disagree with you as well. But I want to get to the heart of—
Aslan: Absolutely, and many scholars do agree with me—
Green: [crosstalk] —what do, what are your conclusions about Jesus?
Aslan: Well, my conclusions about Jesus start by placing him in the world in which he lived. So I start with one fundamental truth that everyone agrees on with Jesus, and that was that he was crucified. You have to understand that crucifixion in first century Palestine was a punishment that Rome reserved exclusively for crimes against the state, like sedition or rebellion, treason or insurrection. The thieves who were crucified alongside Jesus were not thieves. The Greek word "listis" [ph] means "bandit," and bandit was the most common term in Jesus' time for an insurrectionist. What I say is that if you know nothing else about Jesus except that he was crucified, you know enough to understand what a troublemaker this guy must have been. The movement that he started was such a threat to the political stability of the empire that they actually had him arrested, tortured, and killed for it. So I start with that fundamental fact, and then I take the claims of the gospels, as every single biblical scholar for two hundred years has done, and look at them in light of the history of this world that we know. And what's interesting about Jesus' world is that we know a lot about it, thanks to the Romans, who were very good at documentation. And the picture that arises from this, is of a real political revolutionary, who took on the religious and political powers of his time on behalf of the poor and the meek, the dispossessed, the marginalized—who sacrificed himself in his cause, for those who couldn't stand up for themselves. And whose death ultimately launched the greatest religion in the world.
Green: B-b-but my question— [crosstalk] Yeah I want you to ask— Actually there's another chat (?) coming in, and I wanna get this on before we, uh, end this interview. Taylor, uh, Taylor Cain [ph], um, just says: "So your book is written with clear bias and you're trying to say it's academic. That's like having a Democrat writing a book about why Reagan wasn't a good Republican. It just doesn't work." What do you say to that?
Aslan: Well, it would be like—it would be like a Democrat with a PhD in Reagan who has been studying his life and history for two decades writing a book about Reagan.
Green: But then why—why would you—
Aslan: Again, I think that it is unfair—
Green: But then why would a Democrat want to promote democracy by writing about a Republican? I mean, I, uh, I see that the point is—
Aslan: You're assuming— Ma'am, may I just finish my sentence for a moment, please? I think that the fundamental problem here is that you're assuming that I have some sort of faith-based bias in this work that I write. I write about Judaism, I write about Hinduism, I write about Christianity, I write about Islam. My job as a scholar of religions with a PhD in the subject is to write about religions. And one of the religions that I have written about is the religion that was launched by Jesus.
Green: But Reza, you're not just writing about a religion from a point of view from an, uh, observer. I mean, the thing about this is that you're—
Aslan: Why would you say that?
Green: You're putting yourself as a scholar, and I've interviewed scholars who have written books on the resurrection, on, y'know, the real Jesus, and, um, who are looking at the same information that you're saying—to say that your information is somehow different from theirs is really not being honest here!
Aslan: Ma'am, my information is not different from theirs at all. I'm afraid that it sounds like you haven't actually read my book or seen what I've said about the resurrection, or about Jesus, or about his claims. I think you might be surprised in what I say. And there have been thousands of scholars who have written about this very same topic, many who disagree with me, many who agree with me. That's the thing about scholarship, is that it's a debate over ancient history, and I am one of those people making that debate. I think it is unfair to just simply assume, because of my particular faith background, that there is some agenda on this book. That would be like saying that a Christian who writes about Mohamed is by definition not able to do so because he has some bias against it.
Green: No, he can do so, he can do so, but—
Aslan: And frankly almost every book that's out there is by, is by Christians.
Green: No, he can do so, he can do so, but I believe that you've been on several programs and have never disclosed that you were a Muslim, and I think that's in the interest of full disclosure.
Aslan: Ma'am, the second page of my book—the second page of my book says I'm a Muslim. Every single interview I have ever done, on TV or on print, says I'm a Muslim. You may not be familiar with me, but I'm actually quite a prominent Muslim thinker in the United States. I've written a number of books about Islam. It's just simply incorrect to say that media isn't saying that I'm a Muslim. I would actually encourage you to actually try to find media that doesn't mention my biography, which, by the way, again, is on the second page of the book.
Green: All right, Reza, I want to thank you very much for coming on. The book is called Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. I wanna thank you for coming on Spirited Debate—thank you.
Naturally, Dr. Aslan was typically awesome and hilarious (as he always is in interviews, even and especially ones where he isn't being questioned by a dogmatic clown being paid to engage in religious harassment under the guise of FAIRNESS and BALANCE), but no one should have to subject themselves to this sort of (feigned) aggressively ignorant prejudice in order to address the mendacious discrediting strategies of professional shit-stirring fucklords.
Any conservative with a modicum of decency or a shred of integrity should be deeply ashamed to be affiliated with this kind of anti-intellectual nincompoopery.
On another note: Just wait until I drop in to promote my upcoming book Jesus Jones: In Maude We Trust. Grab the popcorn and wait for the fireworks!
(Full Disclosure: That was a joke. I have not written a book and would rather eat glass than appear on Fox News.)
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
Lesley Gore: "You Don't Own Me"
(Filling in for deeky while he taps a cask of Amontillado.)
Transcripts! One Month Later!
It's probably time to update everyone on the on-going transcript project! So let's do this thing!
I was going through my filibuster tweets the other day in order to make a Storify of the whole thing, and was amused by my panic when looking for the full filibuster video and my announcement to spend The Rest Of My Life transcribing the filibuster. Was that really only one month ago? Did I really know so little about Texas legislative politics back then? I feel like I've aged a decade in a matter of weeks. It's a amusing-yet-sobering feeling, and the fact that so many of you are here with me is worth more to me than words can convey. It's a tingling in my heart that makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time, only the tears are joyful ones mostly untinted by sadness. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
We have had quite a few volunteers forced to drop out of the project because of various life events. (I wish them/you all the best, they/you will still be listed as supporters of the project unless they/you prefer not to be, and they/you are all encouraged to write me for emotional support and solidarihugs because I love them/you all and worry about them/you all. Seriously.) If you've not yet volunteered for the project but would like to but assumed that you weren't needed because of the 100+ number, let me assure you that you are absolutely needed. Every helper is invaluable.
Here are some links and Ways You Can Help (WYCH):
1. My email address is AnaMardoll@gmail.com, and I generally respond to emails within 72 hours of receipt. WYCH: I run on sunlight and solidarity emails, so don't hesitate to email me for any reason. I also love receiving typo-reports by email (see links below) and general readability feedback on the transcript formatting.
2. My YouTube channel is here, where you can access the video segments as they go up. WYCH: I've received warning that our project may be targeted by anti-choice groups who may try to abuse the YouTube report buttons to try to take down the public domain video. I don't know if higher "like" stats on a video help YouTube to look at reports manually instead of via automation, but I'm encouraging people to "like" the videos if they like them, as a potential buffer against fake challenges.
3. The transcripts sheet are posted below. WYCH: The transcripts can use eyes on them. Everything is proofed at least twice before it goes up, but things get missed nonetheless. Things to check for: (1) do links go where they claim to go? (2) is there confusing material that needs an editor's note or a link? (3) is material being quoted (for instance from the bill itself) but not marked as a quote? (4) are there places with too much "word noise" (ums, uhs, ahs, stutters) such that the material is difficult to read? (5) does the uploaded material sound correct/complete all the way through? (I'm not re-listening to everything on YouTube to verify the upload.) Etc.
a. Texas Senate Filibuster of SB5 (06-25-2013) Transcript
b. Texas House Amendments of HB2 (07-09-2013) Transcript
c. Texas Senate Amendments of SB1 (07-13-2013) Transcript
d. Texas Senate Committee Hearing of Citizen Testimony (07-08-2013) Transcript
4. Progress report! The transcript work assignment sheet is here: Transcript Work Assignments. Posted transcripts are marked with a yes. Transcripts which have been uploaded and sent out are marked with a sent. Transcripts which have come back and are being proofed are marked with a proofing. We are about 50% through posting the filibuster transcript (a). I am about 80% through in splicing and sending out the House amendments (b). If we don't run out of volunteers and willpower, I would like to add a fifth video to the above: the citizen testimony prior to the filibuster which was cut off early by the committee leaders. WYCH: If you can volunteer to have your name added to the list, that would be great! If you have already volunteered and are waiting for a video, THANK YOU.
5. Signal Boosting! If you can make Wendy Davis or Kirk Watson or Royce West or Rodney Ellis or Gene Wu or Planned Parenthood or The Texas Democratic Party or President Obama or Hillary Clinton or anyone else aware of these transcripts, please do so! I would very much ideally like this stuff to start going out on campaign posters; there's a lot of good quotes here for reasons why this bill will hurt people with uteri and reasons why this really is a misogynistic vendetta and not just a wub-of-baybees. The thing is, I'm not politically connected, so if YOU are, you can totes help by bringing all this up at your next dinner party with Cecile Richards. (And tell her I said 'hi'.)
I think that's it. Thank you all so, so much for your help and support. Someday I hope to sleep again, lol.
Texting Tweeting with Liss & Deeky
Here is a picture of Josh Holloway from the CBS Upfronts Party. You're welcome.
Liss: FYI we are watching Josh Holloway's new show and I don't care how terrible it is so GET READY.
Deeks: INTELLIGENCE? Should be called AWESOMENCE!
Liss: Obviously. I predict we will love it and it will be immediately canceled.
Deeks: No doy.
In The News
Here is some stuff in the news today!
[Content Note: Injury; explosion.] At least eight people were injured and several buildings destroyed when a Philadelphia row house exploded. The blast was caused by natural gas while a contractor was rehabbing the vacant property.
Judge C. Darnell Jones II, a George W. Bush appointee, rules that Jennifer Tobits is entitled to the survivor benefits of her late wife Sarah Ellyn Farley.
The Supreme Court may soon strike down campaign finance limits altogether. Neat! That will definitely destroy any semblance of a remaining democracy completely!
General Mills, who owns the Betty Crocker brand, will donate custom cakes for the weddings of the first same-sex couples who will marry in Minnesota. Loooooooooove!
[CN: Hostility to agency; death.] Ireland's President Michael D. Higgins signs into law a bill legalizing abortion "in exceptional cases where doctors deem a woman's life at risk." RIP Savita Halappanavar. And all the other women whose names aren't as widely known, who died because this basic bit of decency was not legal fact.
Nine-year-old chess badass Carissa Yip is awesome.
[CN: Animal cruelty.] New Hampshire paves the way for achieving a(n almost) zero kill status for unwanted animals. Let's make this happen, America!
Sam Simon, a co-creator of The Simpsons, is dying, and intends to leave the tens of millions he earns every year in royalties to charity. I'm not a fan of all his favorite charitable organizations, but that is some pretty remarkable generosity, which will help a lot of people and animals.
"Scientists grow human tooth using stem cells taken from urine." Sure.
Whoops
As everyone knows, I am Queen Typo of Typovia, but that mistake has been there (in a professional media publication, which presumably employs copyeditors) since yesterday afternoon, and it's a pretty unfortunate typo, to say the least, about the female politician who is perhaps the most publicly subjected to violent rhetoric and imagery by ideological opponents of all time. Fix that shit, Politico. Jesus Jones.
Neat Crime Prevention Strategy, Austin PD
[Content Note: Gun violence; police malfeasance; racism.]
Last Friday in Austin, APD Detective Charles Kleinert shot and killed Larry Eugene Jackson, Jr., a 32-year-old black man with whom Kleinert, an investigator with the department's robbery unit, had an interaction following a bank robbery that Jackson did not commit.
Jackson misidentified himself when he was questioned by the bank manager that afternoon outside the bank on West 35th Street. Jackson had previously tried to enter the bank, police said, but the door was locked because of the ongoing robbery investigation. Jackson briefly left, police say, then returned and tried again to enter the bank before he was confronted by the manager, who in turn told Kleinert, who was inside the bank conducting a follow-up investigation of the morning robbery, about the exchange. Kleinert went outside to talk with Jackson and after a two- or three-minute conversation – captured by surveillance cameras – Jackson fled, police say.Wow. That is some pretty shameless victim-blaming, right there. And there's yet more.
...Police said that Kleinert, dressed in plain clothes and displaying his APD credentials on his shirt collar, took off on foot after Jackson – why, exactly, Kleinert felt the need to initiate the pursuit remains unclear. (With video of Jackson and info about his "fictitious" ID in hand it would seem Jackson could be found later.) [Austin Police Assistant Chief Brian Manley] said that Kleinert's reasons for taking immediate action would be explored during the department's criminal and administrative inquiries into the shooting. The department will "have a better idea [of] what his intentions were" and "what was his mindset" as the investigation proceeds, Manley said. And although it's not illegal to do so, it's "really not a good idea to run from police," he said.
Manley said police are "confident" that Jackson – shot and killed by APD Detective Charles Kleinert on Friday afternoon – had come to the Benchmark Bank where the detective was investigating an earlier (unrelated) robbery to "commit a fraud" and was not there to conduct any legitimate business.That's quite a crime prevention strategy, eh? As long as someone is "up to no good," police are justified in killing them. Cool.
...Although police say they've ruled out any connection between Jackson and the robber who struck the facility that morning (a robber who police believe is connected to at least three other bank robberies, including two in Austin and one in San Antonio), Manley told reporters at a Monday press briefing that they are nonetheless certain that Jackson was up to no good.
You know, it's really interesting how men who shoot and kill black men and teenagers, and the people who publicly defend the men who do that, are super keen to put those black men and teenagers on trial only once they're already dead.
[H/T to Jess.]
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Teaspoon: "Have you ever had a dream in which you were someone or something other than yourself? 'I don't dream/remember my dreams' is a totally valid answer."
Film Corner: MONEYBAGZ
Moneybagz is not the name of a new film—although, obviously, it should be, because what a great name, right? It's just the name of this post, because there is not one but are TWO new movies coming soon to a theater near you (if you live in a major metropolitan area; otherwise, that is just a turn of phrase which may not literally apply!) about white people who find bags of money only for trouble to ensue!
This is the trailer for A Single Shot, starring Sam Rockwell getting into trouble and William H. Macy being weird and Melissa Leo being crusty. (Give this casting director all the Oscars.) Also starring ONE BAG OF MONEY belonging to a dead lady in which Bad Guys are very interested. Worse guys than the main guy who only came across the money after shooting someone, it looks like? Morality is relative! Whoooooops that is probably the Totally Trenchant moral of this movie, so: Spoiler Alert.
And this is the trailer for Cold Comes the Night, starring Bryan Cranston as Walter White after (I think?) he's gone into hiding as a vision-impaired Russian, and Alice Eve, who is allowed to be fully clothed, at least in the trailer, because J.J. Abrams is not directing this movie. Also starring ONE BAG OF MONEY belonging to a dead lady and lots of emotional manipulation of a single mom who's just trying to do right by her kid. Morality is ambiguous sometimes, y'all.
I was just thinking how weird it is that neither Bill Paxton nor Billy Bob Thornton was in either of these movies, because they really seem like movies that would star Bill Paxton or Billy Bob Thornton, but then I remembered those two already made A Simple Plan 15 years ago.
Anyway! I will soon be launching a Kickstarter for my exciting new film project, Moneybagz, which will star some really big names from the silver screen.
I hope you'll help make my dream a reality!
Quote of the Day
"Actually, I didn't say that [there are 47% of Americans who won't take personal responsibility]. That's how it began to be perceived, and so I had to ultimately respond to the perception, because perception is reality."—Mitt Romney, liar.
That video will exist forever. And it will forever show Mitt Romney, a multimillionaire of undiluted privilege who does not believe people are entitled to food, saying: "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right—there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. ...And so my job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."
Mitt Romney, you are a liar and a terrible person.
[Via David Corn.]
Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by the longest greyhound tail in the world.
Recommended Reading:
Trudy: Someone White Suggested That an "Honest Conversation" on Race Can't Include Racism [Content Note: Discussion of racism, including the denial of lived experiences and use of slurs.]
Anthea: Women of Color and Feminism: A History Lesson and Way Forward [CN: Discussion of racism and white privilege.]
Rachel: North Carolina to Be First to Compensate Forced Sterilization Victims [CN: Hostility to agency and consent.]
Fat Discrimination: Quoted: "Let's be clear on something. The fat kid's problem isn't being fat. It's being HATED for being fat." [CN: Fat bias.]
BYP: Congressional Black Caucus Holds Emergency Summit on Chicago Violence [CN: Racism; violence.]
Atrios: Accountability
Jamilah: Fruitvale Station Cracks the Top Ten in Weekend Box Office Numbers
RJ: Pat Robertson Says He Doesn't Believe Being Trans Is a Sin and Tells People Not to Judge
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Daily Dose of Cute
Last Night: Matilda sitting on my lap insistently nudging my boob with her head and yowling at me every time I stop paying attention to her for two seconds.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
