Dogs and cats! Napping together!
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
Daily Dose of Cute
Dogs and cats! Napping together!
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
In The News
Here are some things in the news today!
[CN: misogyny] ABC news has discovered that women face a lot of misogynistic hate online! In other breaking news, how to use the < blink > tag in HTML and how to format your floppy disks.
[CN: slavery] The first-ever global slavery index reveals that 30 million people live in slavery worldwide; of those, 14 million live in India.
[CN: religious oppression, misogyny] Women in Saudia Arabia are gearing up for another important day to defy the driving ban on October 26.
[CN: disablism, racism, classism] In case you had any doubts, Stephen Harper's Conservatives are still garbage nightmares, as evidenced in yesterday's throne speech. I really am not sure what is my least favourite part, but this is way down there: "The government also says it will close loopholes that allow for the feeding of addiction under the guise of treatment,' a measure that is sure to be controversial. The Conservatives continue to oppose Vancouver's In-Site clinic, despite a wealth of scientific research showing it's effective in reducing harm." WHO NEEDS EVIDENCE, AMIRITE?
[CN: sexism] And if you are one of those people to whom evidence really does matter, it turns out there is a study confirming what most of my straight friends with kids already know: fathers average more leisure time than mothers! And mothers find that their leisure activities leave them more stressed. Huh. Which leaves me wondering: is there a similar gap for same-sex couples and others who do not evenly split along a gender binary? What about couples without kids? In short, SCIENCE.
[CN: violence] General Keith Alexander is is stepping down as head of the NSA. Also, it turns out the NSA's surveillance of emails and other information is playing a huge role in the U.S's drone strike program, according to material in the leaks from Edward Snowden. "I'm sure those two stories have nothing to do with one another, ahem."--Liss, in an email that I share with her permission. Me too, Liss! Sounds like 100% wacky random happenstance!
[CN: racism] Speaking of not-coincidences: a teenaged boy in Florida who is an orphan makes a heartfelt plea for someone to adopt him. This shit doesn't happen in a void. There are many barriers to adoption in the U.S. today, but the facts that he is Black and male are not incidental to his story.
[CN: cis-centric language] Last week, Luana, a six-year old Argentinian girl, became the first known trans* child to correct her gender on her birth certificate without a court order.
Do you live in California? Do you want a Snoopy license plate? You are in luck! Insert beagle dance of joy.
TV Corner: Agents of SHIELD
[Content Note: Discussions of violence; hostility to consent. Spoilers for the most recent episode of Agents of SHIELD.]
We rejoin the story in Sweden, where a bunch of dudes in matching suits and red face masks, each with a metal briefcase handcuffed to his wrist, get into a subway car. A young black woman sizes them up, then closes her eyes, and the train lights go out. Struggle struggle struggle. When the lights come back on, she's gone and they're dead. One of them has had his hand detached from his arm, and the briefcase once attached via handcuff is missing.
(It is at this point that Iain observes someone with a cuffed briefcase just lost his hand in an episode of The Blacklist, and we both resolve not to cuff briefcases to our wrists. Just in case.)
The woman exchanges the contents of the briefcase—a shit-ton of diamonds—with some sketchy dude in exchange for an access card which he assures her will get her where she needs to go.
Meanwhile, at SHIELD HQ, the team is reviewing footage of the robbery, in which Coulson has taken an interest because he believes the culprit may be a SHIELD agent. Ha ha jokes about how everything is on social media now and people are surveilling themselves. They find images of the robbery on Instagram, and Coulson recognizes the woman as a former SHIELD agent thought to have died in a mission gone bad. She is his former protégé, Akela Amador. Coulson says he may have pushed Amador too hard, to try to turn her into a team player.
Something something they go after Amador. Something something she gets away, but doesn't kill them. Something something they realize she is being controlled from an implant in her head. This last bit would have been a pretty neat reveal if the show hadn't already revealed it to us last week in scenes from the upcoming episode. When shows spoil themselves, it makes me grumpy. I'm looking at you, The Walking Dead.
Anyway. The thing in Amador's eye socket allows her unknown captors to see what she sees, gives her backscatter x-ray vision, transmits her mission info straight to her brainpan, and also obliges her compliance, because it contains a kill switch that will end her life if she tries to escape or deviate from their directives.
The team hacks into her vision feed so they can try to find out where she is. Melinda May takes the first watch—and while everyone else is asleep, she discovers where Amador is hiding and takes off to confront her. Fight fight fight. Coulson busts in and shoots Amador with a non-lethal weapon on which Fitz and Simmons have been working. When Amador wakes up at SHIELD HQ, she asks how it's possible she's still alive since she's off-mission, and they tell her that her captors believe she's still on-mission, thanks to TECHNOLOGY that has put on Chiseled White Hero's face. He is acting as her stand-in, and doing her mission, with Skye's tech help.
Luckily, the person who has been watching Amador is very stupid, and doesn't notice that her feed is suddenly about a foot taller, nor that her hands are now white and male. Also! He has revealed himself to be an Englishman, because he uses words like "lift" and "flat" and "cheerio" and "crumpet" and "wicked googly."
While CWH subs on Amador's latest mission, Amador goes under the knife back at SHIELD HQ so Fitz and Simmons can remove the implant. Simmons is reluctant to jab a needle to deliver local anesthetic directly into Amador's eyeball, so Amador grabs it and does it herself, because she is a BAMF, and I really hope that she is going to join the team!
Everything's going great for CWH, until he is directed to "seduce" a guard in the facility he's infiltrating. He does not seduce the guard, but instead knocks him the fuck out. He gets into the room he needs to access and takes a picture of a bunch of alien-looking maths on the wall. MISSION COMPLETE. But, on the way out, the guard's computer is gleep-glorping a warning, and CWH realizes he was supposed to seduce him to get his password. How Amador would have discerned this is a mystery, as is how she would have magically seduced a guard into giving over his password in like thirty seconds.
So CWH has to make a run for it and whooooooooops he just looked in a mirror, so he tells Fitz and Simmons to cut the wiring on Amador's implant ASAP, which they do. Phew. Skye shows up to rescue CWH, and they drive off. Phew. Coulson locates the Englishman who's been controlling Amador, who, upon seeing Coulson, is brain-bombed and dies. THE CONTROLLER WAS BEING CONTROLLED.
We are left with two mysteries: Who's the Big Boss controlling this whole operation, and what is that weirdo formula?
In the end, my hopes that Amador will join the team are dashed, as she is being held in a cell and Coulson is explaining to her that she'll get a fair trial. Um, WHUT. Who is taking her to trial after there's mountainous irrefutable evidence that she was being coerced under threat of death? Fuck that.
Skye uses the backscatter function on the special Amador-eyeball-feed-replicator glasses to check out CHW's naked bits under his clothes. This is, of course, played for a giggle. For real, Joss Whedon? Gross.
Shutdown Deal Thread
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate reached a compromise package regarding the shutdown which the House voted to accept, and Obama signed. So, the government is going back to work, until January 15 at least, and the government will be able to borrow, until February 7, at least. (As Liss noted yesterday, while this leaves the ACA basically intact, there were still some “compromises” that went along with the deal.) So, um, yay for the world’s economy not collapsing, even if the U.S. Republicans are still the Terrible Asshole Party?
A few items that caught my eye:
[CN: gender essentialism] It turns out that women Senators played a key role in getting this compromise worked out. John McCain even had nice things to say about them. Golly gee willikers, maybe we should get some more of those ladeeeez in government! (HAHAHAHAHA who am I kidding?)
Meanwhile, Chris Cilizza examines the idea that the Republicans are basically Batman villians now, as seen in Christopher Nolan’s movies. Perhaps they might consider going back to the Burgess Meredith and Caesar Romero days, instead, because at least those dudes were funny and horribly ineffectual and easy for Batman to thwart.
Speaking of supervillainy, have the GOP’s biggest shutdown fans learned a lesson from all of this? They certainly have! Only it is not the lesson that I would like them to have learned!
[CN: ableism] A House stenographer took to the microphone to shout about God and Freemasons during yesterday’s vote, and was taken away for psychiatric evaluation. This is being bandied about the news about with the usually hefty dose of ableism. If she is suffering from the effects of mental illness, I extend her my sympathy and wishes for improved health. I note, however, that the content of her reported remarks sounds pretty similar to things we might hear from conservative “commentators” on Fox News and right-wing radio, not to mention at Tea Party rallies, GOP "town meetings," from right-wing ministers and community leaders, etc. As if we needed any other reminder that “crazy” is a not a synonym for “right wing ideas” or “conservative assholery.”
Feel free to share your own links and thoughts in the comments below.
Cory Booker Wins NJ Senate Special Election
Democratic Newark Mayor Cory Booker has won the special election in the state of New Jersey held to fill the seat vacated by the death of Senator Frank Lautenberg earlier this year.
The famous mayor, who has touted his ability to bring people together while growing his own social media presence and popularity, will head to a polarized Washington where he’s certain to be a rising star within the Democratic Party and another outsized presence in D.C.Senator-elect Booker is only the fourth black USian elected to the US Senate; five other black USians have served via appointment. Booker will bring the grand total of currently serving black Senators to two.
In his victory speech late on Wednesday, Booker thanked New Jersey voters, his campaign staff and the volunteers "who knocked on doors." The senator-elect also promised to be dogged and determined in Washington, where he said he will not get involved in "shallow politics," but would instead engage "in the kind of hard, humble service that reaches out to others."
"If you voted for me, I will make your proud. If you didn't vote for me, I will work every single day to earn your trust," Booker said.
Congratulations to Senator-elect Booker, and congratulations to New Jersey.
Question of the Day
Originally posted September 2012: What did you once think to be true about yourself, which you have discovered is not really true after all?
Blog Note
Just wanted to let you know I'm taking the rest of the day off. I'm on day five of some kind of cold or flu, which has triggered the weird symptoms of my (still unidentified) autoimmune disorder: Numbness, pain, dizziness, and twitching digits. (Twitching Digits! New band name! Called it!) So I need to go get some rest. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.
Although I am always appreciative of well-wishing, there is no need at all to feel obliged; I just wanted to post something informational for the Shakers who tend to worry when I deviate from my routine.
Shutdown Update: The Deal Has Been Struck
The US Senate has reportedly struck a deal which will end the shutdown and temporarily raise the debt limit. Via the Guardian:
Here's a summary of the deal announced on the Senate floor. The bill would:There's no bill yet to be signed, so the government is still in shutdown at the moment. The next step:
• Reopen government and fund it through 15 January 2014.
• Push the debt ceiling deadline back to 7 February 2014 (but NOT abolish "emergency measures" the Treasury could use to protect against default past that date).
• Appoint members of a budget conference committee to join the House in trying to pass a budget and end the cycle of standoffs.
• Institute an anti-fraud provision in Obamacare requiring government to confirm financial need of the recipients of health subsidies.
Congress will now attempt to quickly advance the legislation through both the House and Senate throughout the day in hopes of avoiding default on the national debt and reopening the government, although the exact order of that process remains unclear.Gee, thanks.
Crucially, stalwart conservatives in the Senate – particularly Texas Sen. Ted Cruz – said they would not use procedural tactics to slow a vote on the legislation, brightening the prospects for a quick solution.
Daily Dose of Cute
Sophie on top of her world.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
The Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by sleepiness.
Recommended Reading:
Alan: The Perpetual Budget Crises Have Already Cost 900,000 Jobs
BYP: [Content Note: Voter suppression] Indiana Judge Regrets Upholding Nation's First Voter ID Law
Lori: [CN: Sexual violence; rape apologia; victim-blaming] "Dear Prudence" Columnist Publishes Rape Denialism Manifesto Advising Women to "Stop Getting Drunk"
Foz: [CN: Misogyny; sexual objectification; dehumanization; harassment] This, Right Here, Is the Problem
TheGrio: [CN: Racism] Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Is Awful
Kristal: [CN: Sexual violence; exploitation; discussion of rape revenge films] Woman Seeks Revenge: What's the Purpose of the Rape/Revenge Horror Film?
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Comments
It's not just you. Comments are failing to load altogether or hanging for a really long time before loading. I've contacted Disqus, but have not heard back yet. My apologies. Hopefully it will be resolved soon.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today! (Your daily shutdown thread is here.)
The Freedom of the Press Foundation has launched an open-source submission platform for whistleblowers called SecureDrop, which will allow media organizations to "securely accept documents from whistleblowers, while better protecting their sources' anonymity."
The NSA is legally harvesting Facebook and Gmail data from offshore data centers: "The NSA takes advantage of offshore data centers to harvest from companies like Facebook and Google, who use those offshore centers to help distribute their traffic and data loads... These actions haven't been authorized by Congress...and don't need to be."
[Content Note: Harassment; sexual assault] Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner has pleaded guilty to charges of false imprisonment and battery: "Filner was charged with felony false imprisonment and two misdemeanor counts of battery for placing one woman in a headlock and kissing or groping two others, prosecutors said. Filner will serve three months of home confinement." Insufficient.
[CN: Misogyny] Longtime Saturday Night Live cast member Kenan Thompson says there are currently no black women on SNL because there aren't enough funny black women who are well-prepared for auditions. Yikes. Whoops. Nope.
[CN: Classism] A new report by the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education and the University of Illinois' Department of Urban and Regional Planning confirms what anyone paying the slightest bit of attention already knew: "A substantial number of workers who serve up your fast food aren’t making enough to get by. ...On average, 20 percent of front-line fast-food workers were living in households with incomes below the poverty line over the years that the researchers studied." This is why fast-food and retail workers have been striking across the country and demanding a livable wage.
Three seventh graders from Oakland hash out the Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, and Francis Crick DNA science beef via rap battle. And it's awesome.
[CN: Domestic violence] California Governor Jerry Brown has signed a bill into law "that will ban employment discrimination against victims of domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault." I am angry that a law preventing discrimination against survivors even needs to be a thing in the world, but, as long as it does, thanks to Governor Brown for making it so.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are going to host the Golden Globes for two more years. That is so many years. Who even knows where we'll all be in two years? No one can predict the future, but there's a strong likelihood I will still not be watching the Golden Globes, no matter who's hosting!
Whoops Your Movie
As you may recall—or may not, since I wrote about it fully one hundred years ago—Darren Aronofsky has been making a big-screen version of the Biblical story of Noah and the Ark, starring Russell Crowe. (I know it sounds like I made that up, but I did not make that up.) There have been so many years of movie-making and the epic metaphor is almost complete, but now Aronofsky is fighting with the studio over the final edit, because of course he is. ("Too much water!"—Mr. Dreamworks T. Paramount. "Not enough water!"—Darren Aronofsky.) And previews have, ahh, not gone well, lol.
In recent weeks, the studio has held test screenings for key groups that might take a strong interest in the subject matter: in New York (for a largely Jewish audience), in Arizona (Christians) and in Orange County, Calif. (general public). All are said to have generated troubling reactions.Ha ha! Oh boy. I can't even believe that anyone could not LOVE this film, because it sounds terrific:
The use of visual effects has been so extensive that in some scenes, only an actor's face is in the final image. The film relies on effects to create the flood, of course, but in addition, Noah doesn't feature any real animals. Aronofsky said the creatures in the film are "slightly tweaked" versions of those that exist in nature, and there also are fantastical beings in the mix.I mean, really: Who is getting angry about a film that basically sounds like it's Russell Crowe with a major beard surveying flood damage from the back of a golden pegasus? If I'm angry about anything, it's that somehow Nicolas Cage is not also in this film. Boo.
Shutdown, Continued
Republicans still terrible. Government still shut down.
Senate leaders are reportedly close to a deal. We've heard that before! But as the default deadline looms, there's increasing pressure to just get this shit done already. So they're scrambling to put together a deal that would kick the can down the road to early next year, so we can go through this all over again.
Of course, that is no deterrent to the fuckery of House Republicans—who, if you can believe this (you can definitely believe this!), were trying to include in their DOA deal yesterday "a so-called 'conscience clause' that would exempt employers (citing religious objections) from having to provide coverage for birth control as part of the health care plans they offer employees. This idea has been on the Republican wish list for years—Obamacare already has this sort of exemption for churches, mosques, and other places of worship—and with Washington in full-on crisis mode, GOPers are looking to exploit current circumstances to win this long-running fight."
I say once again: My contempt for this shit cannot be measured on a scale fathomable by human intellect.
Mobile Commenting
A lot of people are emailing me about not being able to access comments via mobile devices. As I mentioned last night, we're working on trying to reestablish mobile access and comment integration. Please understand that much of this coding is beyond my capabilities, and Shakesville does not have a full-time tech person; Space Cowboy generously offers his time and expertise as he can—and, besides having a life with its own demands, sometimes he has to wait to hear back from Disqus before he can do anything. My thanks to Space Cowboy for his help.
I am genuinely sorry for the inconvenience. I appreciate your patience, and we'll get through what we can on our end as quickly as is possible.
Question of the Day
What's the last thing you reluctantly got rid of, because it was old or you didn't have room for it or you weren't using it and wanted to donate it to someone who could make use of it or whatever, even though you still loved it, but you knew getting rid of it was the best thing to do?
