Shakesville

Important Breaking Bad News

[Spoilers and content note for violence for links in post. There are no show spoilers in the actual post.]

I know we're all still trying to recover emotionally from last week's episode of Breaking Bad, and some of us—I'M NOT SAYING WHO MELISSA MCEWAN AND JESSICA LUTHER—are processing the lingering !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! by reading ALL THE THINGS about the episode, like this thing and this thing and this thing and that thing and that other thing and this thing over here and listening to this, so before I share this Important News, here is a terrific picture of Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul smiling and hugging each other, to remind us that, in real life, they love each other so much:

image of actors Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul hugging each other with their heads snuggled together at the last season premiere of Breaking Bad

Now for the news: The first thing is that Peter Gould, who is a writer on the show, tweeted that the final episode will be 75 minutes long. !!! Oh Maude. I can barely handle 60 minutes. So get ready for an additional fifteen minutes! Which are probably not going to be of Flynn cuddling Holly and looking adorable while singing something sweet to her. I BET. But maybe! Probably not, though. It's more likely to be an additional fifteen minutes of material so intense you have to remind yourself to breathe.

The second thing is that Aaron Paul was on Jimmy Kimmel's show last night, and he said that the final two episodes are "so much messier" (I think he might have said "so much more messier," if we're being exact) than the last episode. WHAT?! MY HEART CAN'T TAKE IT!

So basically what I'm telling you is imagine the last episode, only MORE SO, and for seventy-five minutes. Let us all pray to our lord and savior Jesus Jones that we survive.

Here is another picture of Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul smiling and hugging each other. You're welcome.

image of actors Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul standing in front of the RV and hugging each other at the last season premiere of Breaking Bad

image of actors Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul standing in front of the RV and hugging each other at the last season premiere of Breaking Bad

I Got Your Compassionate Conservatism Right Here

Speaking of class warfare and who, exactly, is waging it: House Republicans pushing for major food stamp cuts.

After watching the cost of food stamp assistance soar during the recession, the Republican-led House of Representatives on Thursday plans to vote on a bill to cut the food stamp program by a whopping $40 billion over 10 years.

Welp, that logic is almost TOO perfect. More people need help, so let's cut funding to help people.

The major cuts were designed to satisfy House conservatives who rejected more moderate reductions to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) earlier this year, but with millions of Americans still struggling to recover from the recession, Democrats are balking at the GOP bill.

"What the House Republicans are saying is this: get a good paying job or your family will just have to go hungry," Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said on the Senate floor Wednesday. "But there aren't enough good paying jobs, as you can see... The Republican approach is like saying we're tired of spending so much on wildfires, so we'll just cut the budget of the fire service. That isn't going to work."

It isn't going to work if one's objective is actually making sure that everyone in the wealthiest nation on the planet has enough to eat. If, however, one's objective is "reducing dependence on government," i.e. vile social Darwinism justified by bullshit beliefs about bootstraps and fairy tales about how people earn what they deserve; if one's objective is making sure that the wealthiest fuckers in the wealthiest nation don't have to pay a penny more in taxes so that the workers they exploit to become billionaires have enough food to stay alive and drag their exhausted, malnourished asses to jobs that won't pay them a livable wage; if one's objective is staging a political coup to turn corporations into the only "people" of, by, and for whom the government is made; if one's objective is modern conservatism in all its contemptible, grotesque, empathy-free avarice, then this plan is going to work just fine.

The Republican Party thinks people are not entitled to food. THE REPUBLICAN PARTY THINKS PEOPLE ARE NOT ENTITLED TO FOOD.

They think people are not entitled to jobs. They think people are not entitled to healthcare. They think people are not entitled to homes. They think people are not entitled to education. They think people are not entitled to safety. They think people are not entitled to equality. They think people are not entitled to vote. They think people are not entitled to agency. They think people are not entitled to any of what the baseline security of being a citizen in a wealthy democracy should guarantee.

They think people are entitled to guns and bootstraps, and that's about it.

Unless those people are corporations, robber barons, military contractors, or members of the Republican Congressional Caucus. And then they are entitled to everything for which they could ever ask, no matter the cost to the rest of us.

Whut.

Well, here's a real blast from the past: Republican Tom DeLay, former House Majority Leader who was convicted of money laundering in 2010 and sentenced to three years in prison, has had his conviction overturned while ~~no one was looking~~ everyone was busily forgetting he even existed:

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's conviction on money laundering charges was overturned Thursday by a court in Texas.

DeLay, who was once one of the most powerful men on Capitol Hill, was convicted in 2010 for allegedly trying to influence Texas elections by trying to channel nearly $200,000 in corporate donations to Republicans running for the state legislature, which is prohibited by Lone Star state law. Delay, who served more than two decades in the House before resigning in 2006, was sentenced to three years in prison.

"Because we conclude that the evidence was legally insufficient to sustain DeLay's convictions, we reverse the judgments of the trial court and render judgments of acquittal," said an opinion from the District Court of Travis County, Texas.

The U.S. Department of Justice ended its own investigation of Delay in 2010 without filing any criminal charges against the former congressman.

I would say he's been sprung from the pokey, but, of course, DeLay has never served a day. He's been "free on bail pending appeal of his conviction."

Two Americas, folks.

Daily Dose of Cute

image of Zelda the Black and Tan Mutt sleeping on the chaise on her back, with her front legs in the air

Zelda would like it to be known that Dudley does not have the market cornered on silly sleeping positions.

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

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Suede: "Pantomime Horse"

In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today!

The US Department of Labor issued new guidelines stipulating that LGB people in same-sex relationships "can now participate with their spouses in employee health care and pension benefits even if same-sex marriage is not recognized in their state." Right on.

Senator John McCain, who is definitely the worst, went off on Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Pravda editorial. That seems helpful. It's not that Putin isn't a despicable dirtbag, but I'm not sure that "you said something I didn't like in one of our newspapers, so I call you a tyrant in one of yours" is a wise diplomatic strategy. But, hey, McCain's a maverick. What do I know.

[Content Note: Violence; guns] Naval Yard shooter Aaron Alexis had carved messages into his shotgun, reading: "Better Off This Way" and "My ELF Weapon." In other news, Alexis had sought treatment for mental health issues, but told doctors as recently as last month that "he was not depressed and was not thinking of harming others." So, you know, maybe better access to mental healthcare isn't the entire answer.

Lenders are now scrutinizing social media to determine if applicants qualify for a loan: "It's already well known that Facebook and other social media networks harvest user data and sell it to companies that use that info to peddle their products to consumers. But some lenders have begun to find a new use for this information, scrutinizing Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn data to determine the credit-worthiness of loan applicants. ...Big banks have not yet jumped on board with this controversial credit-vetting method, but consumer advocates and financial industry experts say it's probably only a matter of time." Terrific.

There are still 200 people unaccounted for in Colorado due to the widespread flooding, but the number of missing "has fallen dramatically as rescuers reach stranded victims, and electricity and phone services are restored to ravaged areas, allowing residents to contact family, friends or authorities." There are still areas, however, where essential services may not be restored for awhile.

MSNBC's Chuck Todd says it's not the media's job to educate the public on healthcare. Specifically, it is not his job to point out when the GOP is lying. And that's your liberal media, folks!

A bunch of jerk kids broke into former NFL lineman Brian Holloway's (second) home and had a party, then tweeted pictures of the revelry and destruction. "Holloway helplessly watched the scene unfold from Florida, where he lives. By the time police arrived at his property, thousands of miles away in upstate New York, there was more than $20,000 in damage." But: Holloway "easily gathered the names of about 200 of the suspected home invaders, based on their Twitter handles."

RIP: "Former Nintendo Co Ltd President Hiroshi Yamauchi, who built the company into a video game giant from a maker of playing cards during more than half a century at the helm, died on Thursday of pneumonia, the company said. He was 85."

All Right Then

[Content Note: Hostility to agency; homophobia.]

The Pope says that the Roman Catholic church has become "obsessed" with abortion, same-sex marriage, and contraception. Well observed, Padre! We finally agree on something!

But lest you think he's calling for the Church to can it with the misogynist and homophobic crap, ha ha no. It is merely a matter of quantity: "It is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time." Just remind people SOMETIMES that they are going to hell if they try to control their own reproduction or do it with someone of the same sex!

Said the Pope: "We have to find a new balance, otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel."

I'm not even touching that.

This Is Exhausting

[Content Note: Guns; violence; emotional auditing.]

Like clockwork, here come the articles that now is not the time for gun reform, in the wake of yet another mass shooting. Care of Nick Gillespie at The Daily Beast: Now Is Not the Time for New Gun Laws. There is a lot I dislike about this piece, but nothing so much as this:

Monday's horrific mass shooting at the Washington, D.C. Navy Yard left 12 victims (plus the shooter) dead and more than a dozen people wounded. It has raised immediate, impassioned, and understandable—if ultimately misguided—calls for increased levels of gun control now.

...Whether it's truly awful drug laws pushed in the wake of high-profile celebrity deaths, national-security measures rushed unread through Congress after the 9/11 attacks, or transformative bailouts to the banking and auto industries essentially cobbled together over a long weekend, laws should be the product of serious and dispassionate deliberation. We feel with our hearts, yes, but we should govern with our minds.

The false dichotomy between "heart" and "mind," used to imply that emotion can never be rational, is always specious garbage. But I have a special sort of contempt for people who use it to emotionally audit responses to violence and trauma. Don't get all emotional about it. Fuck off. Humans are built to have emotional responses to such things.

Many emotional responses (what our "heart feels") are deeply rational (what our "brain does") responses. Anger is a perfectly rational emotional response to a mass shooting. Fear is a perfectly rational emotional response to a mass shooting. Anger and fear can be useful motivators to people pursuing meaningful progress, especially when it is the anger, the fear, of people who know how to sit with both.

I'm not talking about the anger and fear of people who have just walked away from a man with a gun killing their coworkers. No one is asking them to make immediate legislative decisions. I'm talking about the anger and fear or people who don't want mass shootings to keep happening, who don't believe that the solution is MORE GUNS! I'm not talking about visceral emotions, but sustained ones, despite Gillespie's best attempt to conflate the two.

A huge proportion of this country is part of a no-gun culture: A lot of us (and not a few people who identify strongly with the gun culture) have rational, reasoned, considered emotions about gun reform that do not change in the wake of another mass shooting. We sit with them. And we wait. While snide public commentators and gun advocates only acknowledge us to dismiss us on the basis that we could not possibly be rational if we have feelings about mass shootings.

(Meanwhile, the same people who lecture us about not getting all feely about people dying at the end of a gun, are totes cool with the lizard-brain fear that underwrites lashing out at a shooter's religion, or race, or mental health, or fondness for video games.)

It is no coincidence that an unsubtle variation on "don't get all hysterical, ladies" is wielded against people who have emotions about gun violence. The gun culture is juxtaposed against the no-gun culture as Traditional Masculinity vs. Effete Peaceniks, in the very same way emotionless reason is called the purview of men, while reasonless emotion is called the purview of women. The damnable lie that reason without emotion is the only reasoning worth shit is one of the most pernicious myths of the Patriarchy, inextricably tied to the woman- and man-hating presumption that women are emotional and men are reasonable (and thus is reason superior to emotion).

At base, this is the real quality of the "let's not legislate emotionally" argument: "Shut up! You're all a bunch of sissies!"

We know, because study after study has shown it, that more guns do no make us more safe. Ultimately, no one is served by this mess, by this pernicious narrative that emotion and reason are mutually exclusive things; that emotion has no business in legislation.

Except, of course, the men who walk through buildings coolly shooting people.

Open Thread

Hosted by the Tilt-A-Whirl. Best. Ride. Evaaaaarrrr

Question of the Day

Is there any beloved object from your childhood that you kept/were able to keep that you display somewhere in your home? If not, is there anything you wish you still had?

This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.

Actual title of an actual thing published in Forbes: "Give Back? Yes, It's Time for the 99% to Give Back to the 1%."

Actual paragraph from this monstrosity:

For their enormous contributions to our standard of living, the high-earners should be thanked and publicly honored. We are in their debt.

And a few more:

Imagine the effect on our culture, particularly on the young, if the kind of fame and adulation bathing Lady Gaga attached to the more notable achievements of say, Warren Buffett. Or if the moral praise showered on Mother Teresa went to someone like Lloyd Blankfein, who, in guiding Goldman Sachs toward billions in profits, has done infinitely more for mankind. (Since profit is the market value of the product minus the market value of factors used, profit represents the value created.)

Instead, we live in a culture where Goldman Sachs is smeared as "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity." That's for the sin of successful investing, channeling savings to their most productive uses, instead of wasting them on government boondoggles like Solyndra and bridges to nowhere.

There is indeed a vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity: the Internal Revenue Service. And, at a deeper level, it is the monstrous perversion of justice that makes the IRS possible: an envy-ridden moral code that damns success, profit, and earning money in voluntary exchange.

An end must be put to the inhuman practice of draining the productive to subsidize the unproductive. An end must be put to the primordial notion that one's life belongs to the tribe, to "the community," and that the superlative wealth-creators must do penance for the sin of creating value.

By way of reminder, it's the dirty socialists who advocate for the wealthiest nation in the history of the planet to provide to its every citizen access to basic human necessities and a livable wage who are waging class warfare. Not these reprehensible heapshits of undiluted privilege who feel oppressed by our resistance to basking in the shimmering, golden glow of their gloriously gilded bootstraps.

See also: Digby.

Gun Reform Now

[Content Note: Guns; domestic violence; violence against women.]

Andrea Grimes has a great (well-written) and terrible (difficult content) piece at RH Reality Check about "Abusers, Guns, and the Women They Kill." I really encourage you to read the entire thing, if you've got the spoons, because it is a perfect distillation of one argument among many while we need gun reform in the United States—an argument no decent person would even attempt to refute.

Here is just a brief excerpt about the realities of guns and domestic violence:

What hard evidence does show is that while the "why" may never be satisfactorily answered in every situation, we know, definitively, how most U.S. women killed by abusive partners meet their end: They are shot to death.

According to a 2003 study published in the American Journal of Public Health, the risk of homicide against women increases 500 percent when a gun is present in domestic violence situations, and the FBI estimates that in 2010, 64 percent of women murdered with guns were killed by a current or former intimate partner. The Violence Policy Center reports that in 2010, the number of women shot and killed by partners was six times higher than the number killed by strangers using all other weapons combined.

In Texas, the numbers echo national estimates: the Texas Council on Family Violence reports that, in 2011, firearms were used in 64 percent of 102 cases where women were murdered by current or former intimate partners. The FBI also estimates that, in states where a background check is required for every handgun sale, 38 percent fewer women are shot and killed by abusive partners. Texas is not one of those states.

When it comes to the should-haves and could-haves of domestic violence murders, one "should" appears to be clear: Domestic abusers should not have access to firearms. But abusers can easily sidestep background checks by purchasing from private sellers, or shopping for weapons at a gun show, and efforts to close those loopholes have been thwarted.

Earlier this year, pressure from the national gun lobby overshadowed the overwhelming evidence connecting domestic violence homicides to guns when the U.S. Senate rejected tougher gun laws that would have expanded those background checks and banned some semi-automatic weapons.

And I also want to note, once again, that women who use guns, as gun advocates routinely recommend, to protect themselves from domestic violence, are typically charged, tried, and convicted, especially women of color like Marissa Alexander.

I Don't Even

I long ago stopped writing about Maureen Dowd and her terribly stupid columns, because life is short and there are Flula videos to be transcribed. But I feel obliged to share this execrable passage from her latest word-heap of unfathomable insipidity:

Top Democrats who used to consider Obama one cool cat now muse that he's "one weird cat," as one big shot put it.

This is what passes for serious commentary on the op-ed pages of the paper of record: A snarky plagiarist who reports the hipster racist musings of an anonymous dipshit about the President of the United States.

And it's still better than anything David Brooks has ever written.

Quote of the Day

"Climate change is here. We are doing nothing about it. They are spending all of our time, the American taxpayers' time, trying to repeal a law that has been in effect for 4 years."—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, on Senate Republicans' latest attempt to undermine Obamacare, while continuing to refuse to do a damn thing about climate change.

Wednesday Blogaround

This blogaround brought to you by autumn.

Recommended reading:

Chauncey: The White Gaze Quite Literally Shot and Killed Jonathan Ferrell [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of racism and violence.]

Jess: Where *Exactly* Does It Say That? The NCAA's Prohibition of Sex in Recruiting. [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of objectification and rape culture.]

Sikivu: The War Against Black Children [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of racism.]

Bao Phi: War Before Memory: A Vietnamese American Protest Organizer's History with Miss Saigon [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of war, violence, racism, and misogyny.]

Amanda: Thin Shaming vs. Fat Shaming Quiz [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of fat bias and both fat and thin bullying. There is also a use of disablist language in the opening.]

Flavia: "Rebranding Feminism" Contest. Part Two on the same subject is here.

The F-Word has a regular round-up that is full of interesting reading, and here is the latest. Please note that there may be triggering material included.

And last but not least: Borys the Bengal Cat and Walter the Greyhound Are the Cutest Best Friends Ever. "They say that adopted greyhounds can't get along with small animals. Oh, were they wrong." Which, of course, we already knew. :)

Leave your links and recommendations in comments...

Daily Dose of Cute

image of Dudley the Greyhound lying on the couch on his back, with his legs twisted in the air one direction and his head twisted and hanging off the couch in another direction

What is this position, lol?!
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

The Jimi Hendrix Experience: "All Along the Watchtower"

In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today!

When the next phase of Obamacare goes into effect, about 6.4 million Americans will be able to purchase insurance for less than $100 each month. Which is definitely not as good as socialized healthcare, especially for people who can't even afford $100 a month, but is better than having done nothing. Susie hopes that there is an option for people to pay what they're already paying for a better plan.

In related news, Walgreens is pushing its employees into a private health exchange. Which might be terrible for them? Or not? Also: Walgreens has partnered with Blue Cross to promote Obamacare, and will be distributing brochures that "guide patients through basic questions about the Affordable Care Act—what the law does, when it takes effect, and who is eligible for benefits. Details are provided in simple, concise language." So pick one up at Walgreens! Or visit the website.

[Content Note: Guns] Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has written an open letter asking gun owners to keep their guns out of Starbucks: "For these reasons, today we are respectfully requesting that customers no longer bring firearms into our stores or outdoor seating areas—even in states where 'open carry' is permitted—unless they are authorized law enforcement personnel." Amazing.

[CN: Guns] In related news, the American Journal of Medicine reports that a study has found that countries with high gun ownership are less safe than countries with low gun ownership, contrary to the assertion of gun advocates that gun ownership makes people more safe. "On the contrary, the US, with the most guns per head in the world, has the highest rate of deaths from firearms, while Japan, which has the lowest rate of gun ownership, has the least."

The Department of Labor announced yesterday that "it will extend minimum wage and overtime protections to home care workers, the majority of whom are women and people of color. Almost two million home care workers—such as home health aides, personal care aides, and certified nursing assistants—will now be covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act when the regulations go into effect on January 1, 2015." Awesome.

[CN: Illustrated gore in some images] Check out Jody Steel's leg drawings! They are neat!

Finally: I love Jeff Bridges. That is all.

Indiana AG's Office Backpedals on Mandatory Drug Testing of Pregnant Hoosiers

[Content Note: Hostility to agency; coercion. NB: Not only women get pregnant.]

Earlier this month, Shaker Harmony wrote a guest post about Indiana's Attorney General Greg Zoeller's proposal to drug test every pregnant person in the state. Subsequently, MoveOn and RH Reality Check launched a petition asking Zoeller to: "Apologize for calling on the Indiana state legislature to enact mandatory drug testing of expectant mothers and stop inciting disrespect for civil liberties during pregnancy."

The AG has started backpedaling, and has taken to trying to discredit the people who raised the flags on this reprehensible proposal. Bryan Corbin, Public Information Officer for the Office of the Indiana Attorney General, sent the following email to MoveOn and RH Reality Check, which was passed on to me and which I am sharing with permission:

Greetings. I am with the Indiana Attorney General's Office. Please be advised that the Petition Statement and Petition Background that you have posted on MoveOn.org are highly inaccurate and misleading. Your petition cites as it sole source a blog posting that is inaccurate, as it was based on an incorrect broadcast on an Indiana radio station that has since been corrected elsewhere.

Please allow us to set the record straight. As co-chair of the state's Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Task Force, Attorney General Greg Zoeller spoke on Sept. 9 to the Indiana Commission on Mental Health and Addiction about Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS).

The attorney general's comments should not be interpreted to imply that he supports mandatory opioid testing of any kind for pregnant women – he does not. The attorney general has not called upon the Legislature to do anything, contrary to your statement. The task force is currently working on viable solutions to address the spike in NAS cases in Indiana and plans to put forth a series of recommendations in the next few months for the Indiana Legislature to consider, but mandatory testing has not been part of any recommendation.

When Attorney General Zoeller addressed possible ways to combat the problem of NAS, he highlighted that physicians, who are responsible for the health of mother and child, should provide appropriate medical care for all pregnant women, including those with opioid dependency and/or addiction.

It is regrettable that an inaccurate story in one radio broadcast circulated by one blogger has led to an incorrect assumption in your online petition. Unfortunately, persons reading the online petition are currently being misled by the Petition Statement and Petition Background which both contain inaccuracies and non-sequiturs. We respectfully request that you correct the inaccurate statement and background. We are happy to receive the comments of constituents via social media and we encourage the public to visit the Indiana web site, www.BitterPill.in.gov which explains in detail the dangers of prescription drug addiction in Indiana. Constituents can also email inquiries to Constituent@atg.in.gov if they have questions.

Thank you for your time and attention in this matter. Kind regards,

Bryan Corbin
Public Information Officer
Office of the Indiana Attorney General

Whoooooooooooops. As Harmony noted via email, which I am also sharing with permission: "I just rechecked the original story that we linked to in that post, Melissa. There are no corrections. When he was on TV last week, he plainly talked about how there was nothing unconstitutional in what he was proposing because it was just adding an additional test to the tests being run on blood the doctor would draw from the pregnant person anyway. HE mentioned blood screens. Lol at his CYA attempt."

Indeed, when Zoeller appeared on P-I Live, he clearly endorsed mandatory screening. This is the exact transcript (care of @catvoncat) starting at approximate 54:00:

Sure

[Content Note: Transphobia; homophobia.]

In order to prove that they're not harassing, spiteful assholes, the TERFs (Trans-Exclusive Radical Feminists) over at Gender Identity Watch have posted a neat piece about me after I signed my name to and promoted the Statement of Trans-Inclusive Feminism and Womanism.

screen cap of post at Gender Identity Watch featuring my image and text reading: 'Melissa McEwan (USA) | September 18, 2013 | Melissa McEwan, who runs a Liberal Feminist blog called Shakesville, has publicly come out as an anti-lesbian bigot, stating her support for 'overrunning' lesbian feminists who are aware of female biology.'

1. I do not identify as a liberal feminist.

2. I did not give my consent for my image to be used.

I'm so surprised (I am not the least bit surprised) that TERFs would refuse to respect my self-identity and publicly post personal materials without my consent!

This is the pushback I'm getting for just standing in solidarity with trans*, intersex, non-binary, and/or genderqueer people. Now amplify that exponentially to begin to define the pushback, harassment, bullying, and exposure that gets directed at trans*, intersex, non-binary, and/or genderqueer people, just from feminists alone. In case anyone was wondering why the fuck that statement had to be written in the first place.

[Commenting Note: Should anyone have the urge to argue that TERFs are not "real feminists," or that they are merely a "small but vocal group," don't.]