Here is some stuff in the news today.
[Content Note: Guns; violence] The teacher who died in yesterday's school shooting in Nevada, math instructor Mike Landsberry, died trying to nonviolently disarm the student shooter. Blub.
Here are two headlines I just read back-to-back: 1. US CEOs break pay record as top 10 earners take home at least $100m each. 2. US unemployment little changed at 7.2% as recovery remains sluggish. Corporations constantly say they don't have the funds to create new jobs, while they overwork current employees and pay CEOs salaries in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Two Americas.
[CN: Drones] Two new reports on the US drone program—one from Amnesty International detailing drone strikes in Pakistan, and one from Human Rights Watch collating civilian drone casualties in Yemen—"call into question the legality of the US drone program and raise the specter of American war crimes."
[CN: Homophobia] The DOMA dominoes begin to fall: "Four legally married same-sex couples who live in Tennessee filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Nashville, challenging Tennessee laws that prevent the state from recognizing their marriages and treating them the same as all other legally married couples in Tennessee."
NBC has "quietly put Parks and Recreation on hiatus for most of the rest of the year." When Jess gave me the news yesterday, I said: "Boo. Although, if I'm honest, I'm so tired of hearing how fat/gross everyone in Pawnee is, that I kind of don't even care anymore. :(" So I am sad for multiple reasons!
Ha ha! The Fifth Estate is a huge flop!
A pit bull named Elle is the 2013 Hero Dog of the Year.
A US soldier has been reunited with the cat who befriended him while he served in Afghanistan: "She gave companionship no human could understand and now I want to take her home to America."
This guy passed maths and his dad is SO PROUD OF HIM!
In the News
Next Crisis: Obamacare
So, now that the shutdown is over and a global financial crisis has been barely averted, for now, Republicans have turned their attentions to trying to destroy the Affordable Healthcare Act, aka Obamacare, in some other way. Any other way. As long as it gets destroyed.
Now, there are problems with the roll-out. Lots of enrollment sites are not working properly. That needs to get fixed. And there are some legitimate criticisms of how the tech contracts were made and how the budget was overseen. But none of these things remotely translates into the ACA being a disaster, nor do any of them remotely justify the suggestion that the ACA should be repealed.
Millions of people will, eventually, have health insurance care of the ACA. Their right to access healthcare should not be obliterated because shit is broken or something's been mismanaged. It's no more complicated than that.
But the Republicans prioritize winning ideological battles, even ones that make no sense, over fairness and decency, and our garbage media is always happy to lend its hand to turn Republican partisan outrage into a real political crisis that will harm average people, so here we go.
Think Progress—Days after Shutdown Ends, Rubio Introduces Legislation to Delay Obamacare.
Washington Post—Health insurance exchange launched despite signs of serious problems.
USA Today—HealthCare.gov feeds doubts about rollout.
NY Post—[CN: Zombie imagery] Healthcare.gov is walking dead.
Slate—Error Message: President Obama is a gifted politician and knows how to win an election. But his spin on Healthcare.gov may only make things worse.
The Atlantic—Barack Obama, Insurance Salesman in Chief.
I don't know what it up lately, but, once again, the New York Times Editors have the most reasonable and measured take: The Health Site's Chaotic Debut.
Meanwhile: "Embattled Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will testify before Congress next week about the botched rollout of ObamaCare's insurance exchanges after rejecting GOP demands to appear this week. The House Energy and Commerce Committee confirmed Monday night that Sebelius would meet with the committee next Wednesday."
Well, that's a perfect use of resources.
Yesterday, President Obama gave an address on the Affordable Care Act implementation, which includes a phone number for call centers (1-800-318-2596) in case you can't get through on a website. And this:
Our goal [is] to free families from the pervasive fear that one illness or one injury might cost you everything that you dedicated a lifetime to build. Our goal has always been to declare that in this country the security of health care is not a privilege for a fortunate few. It's a right for all to enjoy. That's what the Affordable Care Act is all about. That's its promise. And I intend to deliver on that promise.You can watch his address here. A full transcript is available here.
Look, I am not a huge fan of the Affordable Care Act. And I am not an irrepressible Obama cheerleader. (#understatements) But I have had it with this bullshit. People's lives are at stake. President Obama is trying to do something about that. It's a major undertaking, and there are problems, and he is acknowledging them and trying to get them fixed. Can we give him and his team, oh, I dunno, a couple of months or so to try to insure millions of people before we declare the project a failure and start impeachment proceedings? Jesus Jones.
Let's have a little fucking perspective. Goddammit.
Update on Aboriginal People's Rights and Anti-Fracking in New Brunswick
[CN: racism, colonialism, police violence. Video link in first para includes brief images of armed police, and of a woman showing bruises received from police.]
A judge refused an indefinite injunction against protestors at Rexton, NB Monday, dashing the hopes of SWN and the government of New Brunswick that the demonstrations could be permanently blocked. It is a significant victory:
“We were crying in the courtroom,” said Susan Levi-Peters, former chief of Elsipogtog. “It’s been a long fight.”She said that although the injunction has been lifted and SWN has removed their equipment, the encampment will leave when seismic testing stops.
“Everybody said, as long as there’s no testing done, we’re not going to protest,” said Levi-Peters. “If the testing continues and there’s no dialogue or anything like that then we’ll probably be standing at the picket line again.”
Sacred Fire New Brunswick has a first-person account of Monday’s courtroom here. An excerpt:
While waiting in court for the proceedings to begin, we chatted with the sheriff. He seemed like a really nice guy, so we asked if we could sing. He said sure, as long as it wasn’t too loud, as to bother the other court sessions going on on the same floor. We sang the Mother Earth Song. The sheriff said we should take it on the road and sooth some of the uprising in prisons, because it was such a soothing song. Once that proceeding was over (held over) we quickly headed to the swn court room.The swn court room was packed. The same sheriff came in, and said “if you guys want to sing in this room too, it’s okay with me” and we sang the Strong Woman Song. It was beautiful.
The swn lawyer looked defeated. Judge Rideout didn’t read his entire decision, but quickly said the injunction was denied, and people could read his entire decision later. Copies were made available.
The swn lawyer rode the elevator with two women who were talking about the love in the room. He asked “do you still love me?” and they gave him a hug, and told him he still had time to come over to our side. Priceless!
@Stimulator has more from the courtroom on Twitter.
SWN has removed their equipment from the site. Meanwhile, 9 of those arrested are still in jail, awaiting bail hearings today and tomorrow.
The Assembly of First Nations Chiefs called for New Brunswick to suspend the permits granted to SWN. A petition against further RCMP violence has reached 20,000 signatures as of this morning. Solidarity protests have continued across Canada. A very few: in Nova Scotia at the102; in Corner Brook, Newfoundland; in Montreal. If you are looking for a way to show support, Idle No More has suggestions.
Although he’s only Tweeting infrequently, it may be of interest that actor Tahmoh Penikett (Continuum, Man of Steel, Bomb Girls, Dollhouse, Battlestar Galactica, etc) (@tahmohPenikett), whose mother is from the White River First Nation, has tweeted his support. (If anyone knows of other internationally-known First Nations actors/performers/figures who are supporting this cause, feel free to leave that information in comments.)
The CBC has some legal background here. The key point: although the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet nations signed treaties with the British in 1760 and 1761, they did so as sovereign nations who did not surrender their land, but rather granted permission for the British to settle it. A variety of hard-fought court decisions have confirmed this principle and its implications:
Rulings by the Supreme Court of Canada and lower courts have established a duty to consult and accommodate aboriginal people when development is considered on their land, even non-reserve traditional lands. Since the mid-'80s, aboriginal groups have recorded 186 victories in lawsuits over resource development, a 90 per cent success rate.
Over at the Guardian, Martin Lukacs reminds us that the images of burning cars were always a distraction from the real motives behind last week’s raid:
There is only one reason the police were unleashed. Not because of the New Brunswick Premier's claims about the dangers of an "armed encampment"; protestors had been unswervingly non-violent for months. Ever since 2010, when New Brunswick handed out 1.4 million hectares of land – one-seventh of the province – to shale gas exploration, opposition had been mounting. Petitions, town hall meetings, marches on legislature had slowly transformed to civil disobedience, and in October, to the blockade of equipment that Texan SNW Resources was using for seismic testing. The company was losing $60,000 daily, and the non-violent defiance had put a wrinkle in the Premier's plans for a resource boom. The blockade had to go.
By the way, those “violent” Native people? Voluntarily removed the burned-out cars using shovels and a tow truck. “ ‘I took it on my own personally, just being a good neighbour to the people of Rexton, NB.,’ said [Chief Arron] Sock.”
Please feel free to leave your own news, links, and teaspooning opportunities in the comments. This is an ongoing situation. As always, make sure to include the appropriate content notes and respect the safe space; wishes of violence against any person are never welcomed here.
Welp
Carlo Key, a judge in Bexar County, Texas, elected on a Republican ticket, announced yesterday in a campaign ad that he is leaving the Republican Party and will run for re-election as a Democrat.
Piano music. Blue gavel graphic. Text Onscreen: "Vote for Judge Carlo Key: County Court at Law Eleven."May you be the first of many, Your Honor. Good luck with your reelection!
Onscreen, Judge Carlo Key, a young Latino man, speaks directly into the camera: I have tried to live a life of principles. These principles have been shaped by mi familia, my community, and my country. In fact, it is my dedication to these principles which has led me to the law in the first place, and has guided me to becoming a judge.
Video montage of industry, scientific research, roads, POC, a gay couple. Key says in voiceover: These values are simple. I believe that justice demands fairness. It requires careful and intelligent probing of evidence. And, above all else, justice can only be served without prejudice toward race, color, creed, or whom you choose to love.
Onscreen, in front of shelves of lawbooks: These principles have served as the bedrock upon which my rulings have been made. They are also my driving force. That is why I can no longer be a member of the Republican Party.
Video montage of news articles about Ted Cruz, Tea Party protests, Republican members of Congress on the news. Key says in voiceover: For too long, the Republican Party has been at war with itself. Rational Republican beliefs [sic] have given way to ideological character assassination. Pragmatism and principle have been overtaken by pettiness and bigotry.
Onscreen, in front of shelves of lawbooks: Make no mistake—I have not left the Republican Party. It left me. I cannot tolerate a political party that demeans Texans based on their sexual orientation, the color of their skin, or their economic status.
Image of an article headlined "San Antonio City Councilwoman Elisa Chan Describes LGBT Community as 'Disgusting'" followed by an article headlined "Eliza Chan to Challenge Donna Campbell in Texas Senate District 25." In voiceover, Key says: I will not be a member of a party in which hate speech elevates candidates for higher office, rather than disqualifying them.
Image of a sign announcing national parks are closed due to the Shutdown, followed by video of Republican members of Congress speaking to the media during the shutdown. Key says in voiceover: I cannot place my name on the ballot for a political party that is proud to destroy the lives of hundreds of thousands of federal workers over the vain attempt to repeal a law that would provide healthcare to millions of people throughout the country.
Oncreen: That is why I am announcing that I am now running for reelection as a Democratic candidate for County Court at Law Eleven in the 2014 elections. My principles have led me to the Democratic Party. I can only hope that more people of principle will follow me.
Over video of people marching, in voiceover: If you believe these values are your values, then I respectfully ask you to join me, and let's work together to keep dignity, fairness, and respect for rule of law in our Bear County Courts.
Over blue gavel graphic: Follow me on Twitter at @judge_key and join my team at www.judgecarlokey.com.
Question of the Day
It's that time again: What would you like to see asked as a future Question of the Day? Either something that's never been asked, or something that I haven't asked for awhile and you really enjoyed the first time around.
On the Telly, Part 2
[Content Note: Misogyny. Part One is here.]
Here are two tropes I notice constantly in television sitcoms, especially but not limited to shows centering around straight male characters who are nerds and/or Nice Guys:
1. Women's interests are totally stupid. And, naturally, in this context, "women's interests" are thoroughly stereotypical: Shopping, rom-coms, babies, gossiping, blah blah fart yawn. (Not a commentary on the value of those pastimes, but their invocation as the only things women like.) And they are mutually exclusive from men's interests (which are themselves equally stereotypical). But women's interests are frivolous dreck, participation in which is beneath men, while men's interests are Important Pursuits, which would be demeaned by women's participation.
2. Women being in men's spaces is totes yucky. The height of hilarity on virtually any US sitcom is a woman infiltrating her male partner's male space, by which he is totally humiliated just by virtue of her very presence. UH-OH THE WIFE IS IN THE MAN CAVE DURING THE SUPERBOWL! LET THE ZANY HIJINKS COMMENCE!
The constant juxtaposition of these tropes, often in the same show (see, for example, The Big Bang Theory), results in plotline after plotline in which men hate having to spend time doing the things their female partners like doing, or in which men are fighting to be left alone with their male friends to do whatever thing they want to do free of women (which is inevitably represented as a juvenile pursuit).
Meanwhile, every dude on every sitcom is trying to get totally laid. But also spend no time with anyone willing to fuck him.
The intersection of all of these tropes reinforces the idea of women as a sex class, who have absolutely no value to men beyond our willingness to provide sexual interaction on demand.
And that idea—that women are for fucking and men are for friendship—underwrites the shit we see in real life, off the telly, all the time. Cis straight men try to keep women out of "men's spheres," whether it's straight-up denials of access or creating environments dangerously hostile to women (and anyone else who isn't a cis straight man), and lose their shit when a woman shows up on the sidelines of a football game or when a woman criticizes a video game, fiercely defending their pastimes as the exclusive property of men.
Then they complain that women's interests are stupid and they have so little in common with women that they hate spending time with us.
Here's a tip, guys: If you want to have common interests with women, you could start by letting women into your playhouse. I mean, not for nothing, but if you want to still have loads of time to play video games while you're dating someone, then choose someone who wants loads of time playing video games herself. Just a thought.
School Shooting in Nevada
[Content Note: Guns; violence; self-harm.]
There's been another school shooting, this time at a middle school in Nevada, which has left one teacher dead and two students injured, one in serious condition. The shooter, who was reportedly wearing a school uniform, is also dead, although it is not yet clear whether he took his own life or was shot by police.
The Reno Gazette-Journal is publishing updates here.
My heart hurts for the kids at that school. My condolences to the lost teacher's friends, family, and colleagues. I hope the kids who were hurt have access to all the medical care they will need.
Besides that, I don't even know what to say anymore.
UPDATE 1: The New York Times reports that the shooter took his own life.
The Walking Thread
[Content Note: Violence. Spoilers are lurching around undeadly herein.]
So, here's the thing I hate about The Walking Dead. Well, one thing. Among many things. I hate that the show routinely uses metaphors so clunky that they could easily be used to crush the skull of a zombie (e.g. the zombiepocalypse has turned them into prisoners! and they live in a jail!), and yet simultaneously provides virtually no expository context for the contradictory decisions the writers lazily substitute for organic and logical character growth (e.g. Grimes takes away Carl the Hat's gun! Grimes gives back Carl the Hat's gun!). It is not evident to me why many of the characters make the strange and erratic decisions that they do, especially since the dangers to which they are reacting are constant.
The writers seemingly expect me to be reading characters' minds to discern their complex motivations and extrapolate Meaningful Commentary on vaguely drawn thematic topics (mortality? situational ethics? the effects of sustained trauma? white dude blues?), but I strongly suspect there just isn't any complex motivation for anything any of these bozos do, and the Meaningful Commentary is approximately as insightful as sticking the characters in a jail is subtle.
Anyway.
The episode opens with Karen and Tyreese getting all romantic-like, and Tyreese wanting the two of them to spend the night together. Karen says, "Not yet," and, as she wanders off into the jail by herself with a dodgy flashlight, we know that she will suffer the consequences of refusing a man's desire, because this is The Walking Dead, and, if you can't get with the patriarchy program, prepare to meet your fate, LADIES.
Karen goes to the showers, where she doesn't notice Zombie Patrick lying on the floor. When she leaves, Zombie Patrick shuffles after her, but he ends up in the cell of some random dude instead, because the harm that comes to Karen will be used as a plot-point to motivate her man-owner later in the episode. Obviously.
At this point, pretty much everything goes all to hell. There are zombies in the living quarters! Michonne almost gets eaten by two zombies! Carl the Hat has to use a gun to help save her, contrary to his father's inscrutable wishes! The zombies are piling up and collapsing the fence! Daryl and Carol STILL aren't making out! Everything is so terrible!
But they pretty much manage to remedy everything pretty fast—the old Grimes Gang runs through the residential cell block smashing skulls; Michonne is rescued and just has a twisted ankle; Carl the Hat gets his gun back as his dad decides, again, for an indeterminate number of seconds until the writers need Grimes to behave in precisely the opposite way once more, that he can't treat his tween son like a child who hasn't been through a viciously intense living hell whose innocence can be reclaimed if only he never touches a weapon; and Daryl and Carol look at each other longingly, I think?—except of course for the part where there's a highly contagious killer flu inside the jail. Oh shit! Cover your faces, secondary characters!
The council meets and decides that people who are sick need to be quarantined. As if on cue (!), Karen walks by coughing her guts out. She is told she has to go to Grimes Jail Sick Bay, and she says, "Rick from Accounting is coughing, too!" (Or something.) So Tyreese takes his lady-property off to Grimes Jail Sick Bay to get settled in, while someone else runs off to get Rick from Accounting. Or whoever.
Meanwhile, Daryl and Grimes are digging graves for the dead bodies of extras (RIP Nameless Unpleasantvillagers) that piled up during the zombie attack earlier, and Daryl tells Grimes he should get in on the decision-making again, and Grimes says, "Uh, Daryl, maybe you haven't noticed, but I am like a full-tilt bad decision-making machine. No one should let me near a decision ever. WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT?" But Daryl says that Grimes is always lending a hand in tough situations, which is true, although being a person who Shows Up and being a person who Leads Well are actually two separate talents altogether, so Daryl isn't really making a good point. Still: It's enough to convince Grimes!
Bad Decision Making: Exhibit A.
So the two of them execute his plan to use the pigs as bait to lure the zombies away from the fence while Glenn and Maggie reinforce the weak spot. It's a perfect idea in that: 1. It breaks Grimes' brain a little bit more, which is definitely what everyone needs. 2. The zombies immediately go find another spot in the fence at which to congregate. Oh well. At least we all got to feel An Emotion watching Grimes kill his pigs.
In other news, Hershel's beard is looking particularly lush this week.
In other other news, Michonne apparently lost a child at some point, because she is upset by listening to Baby Zombie Whistle Grimes cry, and even more upset at being obliged to hold her. And I yawn dramatically at the lazy storytelling that incorporates every garbage trope possible into the background story of this strong, tough, smart woman: The childless mother trope; the rape survivor turned superhero trope; the Strong Black Woman trope. Michonne is not a human being. She is a pile of tired tropes with a sword glued on.
In other other other news, Carol is still secretly teaching kids how to defend themselves with weaponry, and she has this incredibly weird conversation with Carl the Hat about it, in which she says she doesn't want their parents to know because they might not understand. Speaking of NOT UNDERSTANDING: Why in zombie hell is learning how to defend yourself with weaponry not a REQUIREMENT of residency at Grimes Jail?! Not only should every child know how to defend hirself; every adult should know, too. If they had, maybe Daryl and Grimes would have less digging to do! It doesn't make any sense to have designated zombie slayers who are ALSO the night watch and the supply runners and everything else. SPREAD THE WORK AROUND.
Let us all note that "concentrate responsibility for everything into as few hands as possible" is one of the EXCELLENT DECISIONS that Grimes made as leader of this ragtag group of control freaks.
The episode ends when Tyreese goes to check on Karen, but instead of finding Karen, he finds a bloody trail leading out to the jailyard where there are two burned bodies. Karen and Rick from accounting are literally toast. Tyreese is pissed. Shit's about to go down at Grimes Jail!
If not next week, then definitely in one three-minute action sequence that is guaranteed to imperceptibly raise your pulse!
Daily Dose of Cute
Little pink kitty tongue!
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
The Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by soy milk.
Recommended Reading:
Pam: [Content Note: Sexual violence] Small Town Values and Unlocked Doors
Flavia: [CN: Kyriarchal oppressions; racism; transphobia] Neoliberal Feminism, Take 2: "The Personal as a Tool of Subjugation"
Elle: [CN: Racism] On the Grambling State University football Team Protest
Rachel: [CN: Sexual violence] New Study on Youth and Sexual Violence Considers Spectrum of Rape Scenarios
BYP: [CN: Racism] Study: People More Empathetic Towards Whites Than Blacks
Trudy: [CN: Violence; rape culture; racism; Scandal spoilers] The Serious Politics of Scandal
And finally! Check this out because it is THE BEST: Colorlines Exclusive: Jay Smooth's Autumn Mixtape!
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Blog Note: Viewing Shakesville on Mobile Devices
As Liss mentioned recently, we were forced to upgrade to Disqus' most recent version of their commenting platform. Along with that upgrade came a myriad of issues that we've been working on trying to resolve, and it has been challenging to say the least.
One of those issues was the inability to see any comments when viewing Shakesville on a mobile device due to some conflict between Disqus and Blogger's mobile templates. To resolve this, I had to disable the blog's use of mobile templates. Consequently, the blog will now look the same way it does when viewed on a desktop browser on a PC, and the Disqus comments are live and visible. As many of you discovered, you were able to leave comments from a mobile device, but they were not integrated with the rest of the comments. Everything is now fully integrated.
Important Note: If you had previously bookmarked Shakesville on your mobile device, it's possible the link was saved as "http://www.shakesville.com/?m=0". The site will not work properly with that link, i.e. you won't see comments. I would remove the link and re-bookmark to www.shakesville.com. That will redirect to the right location and everything should work fine on your mobile device at that point.
Thanks, everyone, for your patience and understanding while we work out the rest of the issues.
Liss and Ana Talk About Elementary
[Content Note: Fat hatred; violence; rape culture. Spoilers from the most recent episode of Elementary.]
Liss: Okay, so this was definitely the best episode so far this season, and felt the closest to what I loved about season one. All the stuff about bullying and the need to process, and Sherlock making himself available to another survivor of abuse, was brilliant.
Except for Joan's "you said before you'd been bullied, but I wasn't sure if that was true." Whut? Why would Joan disbelieve that? And THUMBS DOWN for playing into the "lying about surviving abuse" trope. Jesus Jones.
But. BUT. I barely made it to any of the good stuff, because Iain and I nearly turned off the episode after the first five minutes, since it contained (in an episode about bullying and abuse, without a trace of irony) MORE FAT HATRED.
The dead guy is fat and therefore he couldn't have put on a vinyl (or latex?) bodysuit by himself WHAT WHAT WHAT?! No. I am familiar with the fact that vinyl clothing is more difficult than average clothing to put on, but BEING FAT DOES NOT RENDER SOMEONE INCAPABLE OF DRESSING THEMSELVES EVEN IN TOUGHER-THAN-AVERAGE-TO-PUT-ON CLOTHES. Nope. No. Uh-uh.
This is, inconceivably, even stupider than Agents of SHIELD's bad typist=fat fingers claptrap!
And then IT GOT EVEN WORSE when it turned out that the "no larger than medium" suspect was the one who actually put the vinyl suit on the guy after he was already dead. Really?! REALLY?! Are you shitting me right now, Elementary?! Because it would be UNFATHOMABLY more difficult to get a skintight vinyl suit on a DEAD BODY than it would be to get on yourself!
So, a fat man can't get his own live fat self into a vinyl suit and would totes need help because of his "girth," but a man several sizes smaller than he is can, TOTALLY ON HIS OWN, get the same fat body into a vinyl suit, even despite the difficulty of moving around deadweight of any size and the impossibility of sliding a vinyl suit over limp limbs. Sure.
Basically: According to Elementary, thin people are fucking superheroes, and fat people are weak, incapable, helpless lumps. Awesome.
Fuck you, writers of Elementary. Fuck you.
Ana: Lady, I wish you could have seen my face during this episode. I was full-on SCARY FACE. What did I just watch?! WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST WATCH?!
OK, let me get the good stuff out of the way. I liked the middle. THE MIDDLE. The bits with Joan talking to Sherlock about letter-writing and bullying and how he became a detective were nice. I did get the line about "I wasn't sure if that was true" (though I wouldn't have if my neurons had been even a LITTLE under-caffeinated), because it was a reference to a time when he bonded with a suspect (I believe the one where the abused kid turned abuser… the Balloon Man episode, IIRC) and then Joan said something to compliment him for his great bonding skillz and Sherlock intimated that she was a goofus because it was All A Lie. BUT, if you didn't recall that (and really, WHY WOULD YOU), it sounded suuuuuuuuper weird in that context and like people lie about bullying all the time. She should have, you know, referenced that better in her dialogue. Lazy, bad writing.
Liss: Yeah, I didn't remember that at all (and neither did Iain), and HA HA I generally tend to remember little details about things. (Cue Deeky calling me a lint trap.) Anyway.
Ana: Right. But the beginning. HOLY. SHIT. WHAT THE FUCK WAS ALL THAT. Lady, I didn't know that people like us can't get our clothes on. Did you know that? I certainly have NO EXPERIENCE WHATSOEVER wearing clothes that are too tight or don't fit my body well. I definitely need a team of helper gnomes every morning to load my fat ass into my skinny jeans. THANK GOD FOR MY HELPER GNOMES. And I guess my girthier relatives who REGULARLY WEAR WET SUITS FOR SCUBA DIVING, and yes sometimes the wetsuits are GASP ALREADY WET, just magic themselves into the wet suits with the gravitational power of FAT because apparently FAT PEOPLE CANNOT DRESS THEMSELVES.
But, you know, a thin guy can dress us. While we're dead. Into a wet suit, I mean LATEX SUIT, that is impossibly hard to get on without talcum powder and baby oil and the helper gnomes.
In short: WHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT. Seriously, I was just told that fat people who play S&M cannot wear their clothes without help. And apparently no one orders S&M gear online. (I mean, I understand why the opportunist CEO didn't, but they didn't START with that. They just assumed that this guy walked to a local store? Really? Oh, but if he'd ordered online then they couldn't use FAAAAAAAAAT to narrow down suspects. So our FAAAAAAAAAT is literally a plot device for the writers now. That's not dehumanizing AT ALL. Fuuuuuuuuuuck.)
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today!
Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie admits defeat by withdrawing the state's appeal of the ruling allowing same-sex marriage.
[Content Note: Classism] The Koch Brothers, who are billionaire conservative garbage funders, are spending millions of dollars to try to deny healthcare to low-income USians. They are terrible, cruel, anti-democratic scoundrels, and I am sick to the teeth of people who have more than they could ever need using their wealth to dismantle the tattered remnants of our national social safety net. Fuck off.
[CN: Food insecurity; classism] In related news: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, aka food stamps), will "scale back benefits for all recipients" starting November 1 because "a recession-era boost in benefits is expiring. The cut comes as lawmakers also are considering billions of dollars of reductions to the overall SNAP program, which has grown substantially in recent years amid the weak economy and high unemployment." THE REPUBLICAN PARTY THINKS PEOPLE ARE NOT ENTITLED TO FOOD.
President Obama is set to "declare the glitches in a new healthcare website 'unacceptable' on Monday and outline ways for consumers to sign up for insurance while his team scrambles to fix problems that have tainted the rollout of his signature healthcare law." Meanwhile: Here's Why Healthcare.gov Broke Down. (FYI: A friend of mine who is in this field says that, as usual, some conservatives are overstating their case. Like, the report about 5 million lines of code needing fixed? "Stretching the bounds of credulity," she says.)
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, of the Conservative Nightmare Bushes, says that the Republican Party should "have a little bit of self-restraint" in trying to destroy Obamacare. Ha ha terrific advice! I am continuing to enjoy all the old school Republicans lecture the new school Tea Partiers on how they need to stop being so nakedly honest about their destructive ideology. "Tone it down, noobs! That shit don't play in Peoria! We've got to sneak in our class warfare and social Darwinism beneath populist rhetoric and thinly-veiled racism delivered with a smile! Haven't you ever heard of RONALD REAGAN?!"
[CN: War] Sure: Killer robots with automatic rifles could be on the battlefield in 5 years. Drones + robot armies. What could possibly go wrong?
White House photographer Pete Souza, who has taken so many amazing pictures of President Obama's campaign and presidency, as well as private(ish) moments in the First Family's life in the White House, wed his partner Patti Lease in the Rose Garden this weekend. But who was the wedding photographer?!
Melissa McCarthy's Bridesmaids co-star Rose Byrne may join the cast of Susan Cooper. Neat!
Michelle Obama's Guest Appearance on The Biggest Loser
[Content Note: Fat Hatred]
So this landed in my inbox this week:
First Lady Michelle Obama is set to make her second appearance on NBC’s weight-loss reality show The Biggest Loser.The campaign (and possibly the guest appearance itself; I'm not clear on the nuances involved) is backed by Brita, a company which specializes in water filtration products which probably wouldn't be nearly so popular in the United States if our government were actually enforcing the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Act that it is theoretically supposed to enforce in order to protect its citizens.
Obama, who has spent much of her husband’s presidency promoting exercise and healthy eating, will be promoting her “Drink Up” campaign, which encourages Americans to drink more water, in an episode that will air in November.
[O]ne in ten Americans have been exposed to drinking water that contains dangerous chemicals, [...] [T]he laws intended to protect our water supplies, the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, are not being enforced. In fact, researchers found, barely 3 percent of violations resulted in fines or other significant penalties by state officials responsible for enforcing the law.And it's especially delicious irony that the television show which First Lady Michelle Obama has chosen to appear on in order to promote her campaign of drinking more water is a television show where the contestants are encouraged to dangerously dehydrate themselves in order to lose weight long enough to stay on the show.
An example of this comes from contestant Kai Hibbard who lost 118 pounds on the show. She later blogged that she ate only asparagus, endured colonics and went through 6-hour stretches in a sauna to dehydrate herself enough to lose 19 pounds for the season finale.Everything about this seems perfect.
But my favorite part of having a representative of the government go on a show which encourages fat people to dehydrate themselves in order to conform to social prejudice and which encourages thin people to hate fat people, all in order to promote buying expensive water filters because our government has chosen not to do its job of protecting citizens in favor of corporate interests, is that this will be Michelle Obama's second appearance on The Biggest Loser. Because one endorsement of a show that tells its viewers to hate fat people if they refuse to engage in self-harming behaviors at the behest of social prejudice just wasn't enough.
And I sincerely hope that this appearance will be just as awesome as when Michelle Obama's Senior Policy Advisor For Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass appeared as a guest judge on Chopped so that he could criticize "lunch ladies" for their too-too-big portion sizes (because we don't want FAT CHILDREN, do we?) after the women had shared heart-breaking stories about needing to make Monday meals bigger because many-if-not-most of their students were too impoverished to eat outside of school and were starving over the weekends. It was really delightful seeing it so starkly portrayed that our national initiative right now is not about Feeding Hungry Children (Because It's The Right Thing To Do) and is instead about Depriving Fat Children (Because They're Ugly).
Which is why the choice of The Biggest Loser for Michelle Obama to appear on in order to promote her campaign is an even better choice than you might have previously thought, because they've semi-recently decided to add fat hatred of children into the mix by including fat kids as contestants! And the fact that fat children are likely to be bullied by their peers isn't a reason for Michelle Obama and other people who care about children to, say, de-stigmatize fatness! NO! It's a reason to bully fat children even more so that they'll finally get it through their fat heads that they need to stop being fat! It's just a shame that it's taking so long to get the message out.
*lolsob*
The thing that wounds me the deepest about all this is that I genuinely like Michelle Obama. I voted for her husband, and I think they seem like absolutely wonderful people. I'd love to attend a dinner party with them; I think we'd have a lot to talk about. I'm certain I would like them, and I like to think they'd find my company not intolerable.
Nor do I believe Michelle Obama hates fat people; I do believe she genuinely thinks she is helping fat people and advocating for fat children. I honestly, completely, 100% think that she's coming from a good place on this. I think her intentions are good.
But... the thing is, intentions don't magically prevent harm. There is a very real, very serious problem in trying to "help" a stigmatized group by "encouraging" (and in many cases, strongly pressuring) the people in that group to change in response to the stigma. Telling me that you want to help me avoid fat shaming by making me Not Fat Anymore is hugely problematic. It is, very literally, an eliminationist approach: an approach which seeks to erase fat hatred by erasing all the fat people.
I am fat. I deserve to not be hated for it, in much the same way that I deserve to not be hated for the color of my eyes, or the curl of my hair, or the tilt of my nose, or any of the other facets of my body. The answer to fat hatred as a social problem is to demand that those with prejudice change their prejudices; not to demand that the victims of prejudice just stop being fat. That doesn't work, and it wouldn't be a moral solution even if it did.
And, more to the point, a very great lot of fat people have explained this very patiently over and over again. The people running these "health initiative" campaigns have refused to listen. And that hurts me, too; the fact that the people claiming to want to help me care so little about me that they won't listen when I say that their "help" is causing me harm. It hurts a lot.
There is a petition here asking Michelle Obama to please not endorse The Biggest Loser with a second appearance. And this is me begging her to please listen to fat advocates and please stop advocating for the elimination of a very real part of myself.
Same-Sex Couples Marry in New Jersey
Seven same-sex couples were married en masse in Newark on Monday morning, minutes after New Jersey officially became the 14th state in the US to allow gay marriage.And from Reuters, care of Shaker KJC:
Newark mayor [and senator-elect] Cory Booker officiated at the ceremonies, describing it as "one of the greatest privileges" of his life in one of his last acts in office.
..."Do you wish to join in marriage?" Booker asked Joseph Panessidi and Orville Bell, both 65, who were first in line to be married. Both Panessidi and Bell answered in the affirmative.
"And I wish to join you," Booker said. "Not in the marriage," he added quickly, as laughter flowed up toward the ornate ceiling.
...Gabriela Celeiro, 34, and Liz Salerno, 38, were the fourth couple to be married by the soon-to-be ex-mayor and praised him for his support. The couple met in New York five years ago, they said.
"It was love the minute we got this close to each other," Salerno said, using her hands to approximate a distance of about six inches. "We could not separate at that point. We just had to be together."
Salerno said it felt different to be married. "I feel like I'm an actual human being, and I'm respected to the same level as others are. There's still going to be challenges. Not everyone wants to see us together and let us be together, but at least when you have the leaders of a state, that trickles down and makes it more acceptable."
"Tonight we have crossed a barrier," Booker told the newly-weds and their families and friends. "While you all have fallen into love, the truth is the state of New Jersey has risen to love."Emphases mine.
Jenelle Torres, 42, and her long-time partner, Lydia Torres, 44, were among the first to marry. They had previously obtained a license in New York but were eager to wed in their home state.
"It's monumental. I'm so thankful and humbled," said Torres. "I'm just so proud to be a part of this. A part of history," she said.
... "This has been a long time coming," said Hoboken resident Allen Kratz, who plans to marry his partner of 28 years, Paul Somerville, at a private ceremony on Thursday.
The couple was legally wed in Oregon in 2004, but the Oregon Supreme Court nullified gay marriage a year later.
"We are very excited that now, finally, we get to marry," Kratz said. "I know some political leaders think it's too soon. But civil rights always come too soon for those in a position of power and never soon enough for those who have been denied life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Congratulations to all the happy couples. ♥ ♥ ♥
[Note: Marriage equality is part of an ongoing process of changing a systemically homophobic culture. It does not mark the endpoint of discrimination against people with same-sex partners. It is important to lots and lots of LGB people, and not particularly important to others, and there is room for multiple viewpoints in this space. However, this particular thread is for celebrating. Yay!]
Open Thread
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This week's open threads have been brought to you by autumn leaves.
