"Phbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbt!"
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
"Phbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbt!"
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 knit caps.
Recommended Reading:
Prison Culture: [Content Note: Death penalty; terrorism; drunk driving] "Who Cares?": Killing Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Robert: [CN: Racism; "first-world" bias; harassment and threats] An Alternate History of Flappy Bird: "We Must Cultivate Our Garden."
Julianne: [CN: Racism; individual solutions to systemic inequality] How Amy Chua Gets Race Wrong
Trudy: [CN: Racism; cishet-centrism] Black Characters on Television: Envisioning New Relationships
BYP: [CN: Gun violence; racism; Stand Your Ground fuckery] Justice for Jordan Davis Trial: "Jordan Had No Gun"
Amanda: Call for Photos
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
[Content Note: There is a strobe-light effect in this video.]
Garbage: "Only Happy When It Rains"
(Btw, since I missed Friday: Last week's TMNS were brought to you by bands who are named after fictional characters.)
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today!
[Content Note: War on agency] Over the weekend, thousands of people rallied outside Spain's parliament "to protest a potential new law that would severely restrict women's right to have an abortion. The law, which was passed by Spain's cabinet in December 2013, would allow abortion only in cases of rape or if the physical or psychological health of the mother is threatened, effectively banning it in all other circumstances. It would toughen conditions for aborting a deformed fetus, and it would require girls under 18 to obtain parental consent to have the procedure. 'I would never have imagined we would find ourselves back here, fighting for something we thought we had won,' protestor Maria Pilar Sanchez told Agence France-Presse." I feel that.
Meanwhile, in the States: "15 Photos from the Massive Progressive Protest You Didn't Hear about This Weekend."
Andy and Matt have your Gay Marriage News Watch and all the goings-on in Virginia, Utah, Wisconsin, and Indiana.
[CN: Drones] Everything wrong with our drone policy, right here: "An American citizen who is a member of al-Qaida is actively planning attacks against Americans overseas, US officials say, and the Obama administration is wrestling with whether to kill him with a drone strike and how to do so legally under its new stricter targeting policy issued last year. The CIA drones watching him cannot strike, because he's a US citizen and the Justice Department must build a case against him, a task it hasn't completed."
[CN: Surveillance] Speaking of drones, since there are domestic laws against them, sort of, manned aircraft are being used in persistent aerial surveillance. Terrific!
Paul Krugman takes on, again, the bullshit idea that unemployment benefits discourage people from seeking work, and underlines, again, that Republican policy is based in aversion to reality.
New research seeks to begin teasing out the relationship between pet ownership and empathy.
Michael Sam May Be NFL's First Out Gay Player
[Content Note: Homophobia.]
This weekend, Missouri All-American and NFL prospect Michael Sam disclosed publicly what the people close to him, including his teammates and coaches, already knew: He is gay.
"I am an openly proud gay man," Sam, 24, was quoted as saying in reports posted Sunday by ESPN and the New York Times.Right on, Michael Sam.
Sam, a 6-foot-2, 255-pound all-American, made his announcement two weeks before the annual NFL scouting combine, and early reaction Sunday evening suggested his decision was meant in part to answer questions he'll face anyway in Indianapolis.
"I am proud to tell my story to the world!" was among several messages posted on Sam's Twitter account late Sunday.
...Now much of the draft's attention will center on whether Sam's announcement affects his draft stock. Sam, projected to be chosen as high as the third round in May's draft, can point to his résumé and that of his overachieving team. He had 111/2 sacks, 19 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles alongside teammates who, Sam said, already knew his secret. He told the ESPN and Times reporters that he came out before the 2013 season when, during a team gathering, each player was asked to reveal something about himself that no one knew.
"I looked in their eyes, and they just started shaking their heads — like, finally, he came out," the Times quoted Sam as saying.
Teammates and coaches did not out Sam, even during a high-profile season and the increased attention that came with being a national title contender.
"We're really happy for Michael that he's made the decision to announce this, and we're proud of him and how he represents Mizzou," Tigers Coach Gary Pinkel said in a statement released Sunday by the school.
...Sam said, according to the reports, his announcement was prompted in part by circulating rumors two weeks ago at the Senior Bowl, where NFL team representatives gather to scout players entering the draft. It hastened his original plan, he said, to come out after the draft.
"I didn't realize how many people actually knew, and I was afraid that someone would tell or leak something out about me," he said, according to ESPN. "I want to own my truth. ...No one else should tell my story but me."
Already, a bunch of NFL dirtbags are anonymously talking to the media saying the league "isn't ready" for an out gay player, because there's still so much homophobia in locker rooms. Welp, time to make a rule against expressed homophobia in locker rooms, I guess! PUT A DOLLAR IN THE HOMOPHOBE JAR.
It's interesting these concern trolls are definitely totally absolutely sure that the NFL is too homophobic for an out gay player, but aren't willing to go on record saying that. Maybe the NFL isn't actually as homophobic as they think. Maybe that's just the perception of bigots who imagine that potential divisiveness is the fault of an out gay player, and not the teammates who would allegedly create a hostile environment for him.
Maybe there are lots of players, of all sexual orientations, who would be relieved if the NFL corporate leadership prioritized abolishing demeaning, bigoted, bullying language in locker rooms.
New York Times Publishes Woody Allen Rebuttal
[Content Note: Rape apologia; victim-blaming; abuse.]
Late Friday evening, the New York Times published, as the public editor had suggested might happen, an op-ed penned by Woody Allen denying his daughter Dylan Farrow's first-person account of childhood sex abuse.
Virtually everything I have to say about this reprehensible column, and the contemptible decision to publish it, I have already said here.
Allen responded in precisely the way I predicted, because abusers predictably respond with more abuse.
I do want to additionally note, however, note that Woody Allen's piece does not have a complementary into to Dylan Farrow's piece. While Nicholas Krisof felt obliged to note in the intro to Farrow's piece that Allen "deserves the presumption of innocence," there was no similar obligation on the part of the Times' editors to note in an intro to Allen's piece that Farrow "deserves the presumption of integrity."
So, for the record: A woman making the allegation gets a subversive intro. A man defending himself against allegation does not.
I also want to note that Allen's piece is accompanied by a 1988 photo of Woody Allen with Mia, Dylan, and Ronan Farrow, in which Dylan Farrow, then a toddler, is sitting on Allen's lap.
I don't want to speak for Dylan Farrow, and I don't want to presume what her feelings are about that image, but that is the sort of image which would be extremely triggering for lots of survivors—an image where one is pictured in close proximity to one's abuser. There is a real possibility that Dylan Farrow had to navigate past a profoundly triggering image just to access the Allen's apologia. That is an incredibly unfair and indecent thing to do to a survivor whose story they agreed to tell.
All of this—the subversive intro to Dylan's piece, the agreement to publish a rebuttal and give her abuse the last word, the picture at the top of Allen's piece—all of it is a shitty way to treat survivors and shitty journalism.
You can contact the New York Times Public Editor here.
-------------------
UPDATE: Dylan Farrow responds here: "Distortions and Outright Lies."
Also worth reading: Maureen Orth's "10 Undeniable Facts About the Woody Allen Sexual-Abuse Allegation."
Open Thread
This week's open threads have been brought to you by
musical instruments I've played (and some I still play).
The Virtual Pub (+ Blog Note)
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
I am taking tomorrow off, because my garbage back is fubared from a combination of a DIY project we did last weekend and shoveling out the back door so the dogs can access the back yard. (And we've got more snow rolling in this weekend wheeeeee!) I was hoping to make it through the week, but I'm really at the point where I can't sit upright anymore without extraordinary pain, so I'm going to take a long weekend to recover.
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.
See you Monday!
Legions of Lazy Strawpeople
So, as I mentioned yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Affordable Care Act could, over the next decade, reduce the number of full-time workers by as many as 2.5 million. This has been wildly misrepresented by conservatives as proof that "Obamacare is a job killer." Which is not accurate.
The point of the CBO's report, as noted by the New York Times editors, is that, "thanks to an increase in insurance coverage under the act and the availability of subsidies to help pay the premiums, many workers who felt obliged to stay in a job that provided health benefits would now be able to leave those jobs or choose to work fewer hours than they otherwise would have. In other words, the report is about the choices workers can make when they are no longer tethered to an employer because of health benefits."
By any reasonable calculation, this is a good thing—especially given the high unemployment rate. Detaching healthcare access from full-time employment makes more room for more employees, and also encourages entrepreneurship.
But ha ha reasonable doesn't find a place in much of our national discourse anymore.
In today's Chicago Tribune, there is this incredible passage, even following a similar clarification about what the CBO report actually said:
But, and here's where the impact is likely pernicious, some will quit or work less precisely because they'll now qualify for Medicaid or for subsidies under the law. In effect, they'll have a government incentive to be less productive. ...Government subsidies that persuade people to be less productive are not healthy for the nation.First of all, most of the people who make enough money and/or have enough accumulated wealth that they can continue to support themselves and any dependents making half of their current salary, or on no salary at all, aren't going to qualify for Medicaid if they cut back or stop working. This idea that people on the cusp of Medicaid qualification are going to quit working so they make little enough money to earn subsidized healthcare is patently absurd! They still need to make enough money to survive—despite narratives about generous hand-outs from The Government.
Secondly, we need to be honest about the fact that, while there are many jobs at which people are overworked as a result of profit-prioritizing chronic understaffing, there are also lots of jobs at which people are obliged to spend at least 40 hours a week, even though the job itself doesn't require 40 hours of work. Or: May require 60 hours one week, and only 20 the next.
It really would not be the worst thing in the world if people were allowed to work the number of hours they need to work to fulfill their job requirements.
I mean, not that we all don't love the incredibly stupid game of Staring Intently at Minesweeper on a Monitor Like We're Seriously Working on a Difficult Problem (or whatever variation one's job may require), but we have some truly asinine conceptions about productivity that make hand-wringing about people working fewer hours pretty pointless. For a lot of people, "working fewer hours" might realistically translate into "spending fewer hours being visible at the office," not actually being less productive.
There's a very weird work culture in lots of US workplaces where the thought of letting employees work as much as they need to get their jobs done, and then letting them use the rest of their time outside the office to have the best quality of life possible, is somehow letting workers "take advantage." So, instead, we designate a fixed work week, and then whinge about "productivity" at the mere suggestion that people might have the freedom to work fewer hours and own more of their time.
Quote of the Day
"The answer is no, I'm not running for president in 2016. ...I appreciate the compliment; it's better than a kick in the teeth. At the same time I'm absolutely convinced that there are other people who would have a better chance of becoming the nominee and becoming the next president of the United States."—Former Republican presidential nominee and proficient stander-in-front-of-things Mitt Romney, on whether he will run for president again in 2016.
Awwwww.
I am really going to miss you, Mitt Romney.
An Observation
[Content Note: Sexual abuse.]
As more and more (and more and more and more) garbage articles continue to be written on the subject of "trying Woody Allen in the court of public opinion," I want to make the point (again) that Dylan Farrow's piece in the New York Times was essentially a request to the people who celebrate Woody Allen to not disappear her; to remember her.
It was not a request for further investigation of crimes for which the statute of limitations has already passed anyway. It was not a request for compensation or some other extrajudicial nod toward accountability. It was not even a request to deny Woody Allen work.
It was a request for acknowledgment that what happened to her matters.
It was a request to care about her, not a demand to hate Woody Allen. And all the noise about "trying Woody Allen in the court of public opinion" is trying to mask that, to drown it out. It's a clattering obfuscation to make sure we don't actually listen to what Dylan Farrow was really saying.
Woody Allen is 78 year old. He is fine. He has been fine, and he will always be fine. He doesn't need anyone to defend him against some fantasy that Dylan Farrow telling her story is going to ruin him.
Dylan Farrow, on the other hand, needs to be heard. She needs listeners.
And if all you have to say is some tired bullshit about the court of public opinion, you aren't listening.
UPDATE: Related and recommended reading: Jessica Luther's "The Court of Public Opinion."
Daily Dose of Cute
Tils, almost certainly thinking about Tony again.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
You Really Got Me
[Content Note: Harassment; war on agency.]
There are a bunch of things that harassing emailers and Twitterers and sometimes commenters like to say that they imagine are the greatest GOTCHAS that ever GOT.
There's the stuff about my appearance—"You're fat!" (yup) or "You're ugly!" (okay) or whatever, which ranges from statements of fact to matters of opinion—and there's the stuff that accuses me of having an agenda—which: yes I do, and I'm hardly circumspect about it—and some other broad categories, but the one I love the most is this: "You're pro-abortion."
I imagine they expect that I would vehemently deny being "pro-abortion." Or that it bothers me, really just gets under my skin, even if I don't reply.
Nope. Because I am pro-abortion.
I want every single person who wants and/or needs an abortion to be able to get one, easily and safely. And that makes me pro-abortion.
No caveats about how abortion is a terrible thing, but. No qualifications about how abortion should be rare, but. No lies about how no one wants an abortion, but.
I am pro-abortion.
And, yes, I am also pro- lots of other stuff that incidentally reduces the number of abortions. I am pro-comprehensive sex education. I am pro-contraceptive access and affordability. I am pro-employment policies that support expectant parents, including a livable wage, healthcare benefits, and paid family leave. I am pro-government assistance for poor families. I am pro-lunch programs for children. I am pro-comprehensive support for parents raising children with disabilities. I am pro-dismantling the rape culture. For a start.
And I am very much pro-acknowledging that, even in some more perfect world where unwanted pregnancies were more widely preventable and pregnant people weren't obliged to terminate wanted pregnancies for financial reasons and and and, there would still be a need for access to abortion.
So I am pro-abortion.
The people who levy this label like an accusation like to imply (even though even they know it is patently absurd) that being pro-abortion means some sort of agenda in which people who don't want abortions are coerced or forced into getting them. That's bullshit.
It's bullshit—and it's projection. It's a projection of the anti-abortion position which really and practically wants to deny abortions to everyone, to people who want them.
I am invested in providing meaningful choice. I am pro-choice.
And, yes, I am pro-abortion.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today!
Two US warships are taking up residence in the Black Sea to keep an eye on the Sochi Olympics—one a communications ship and one a guided missile frigate. "Pentagon officials told NBC the ships would act as support vehicles for American security operations there."
The threat of terrorism is not the only issue with the Sochi Olympics, as you may have heard. Josh Kurp has a comprehensive guide to all the problems here (it's a great round-up, but I direct you there with the note there's an unnecessary swipe at Detroit and one use of disablist language, in addition to stories about homophobia and animal abuse).
[Content Note: War on agency] An Alaska judge has "approved a temporary restraining order on new state rules that would drastically narrow the definition of a medically necessary abortion for purposes of Medicaid coverage. ...The six-page order is not a decision on the merits, but rather blocks the rules from going into effect while the court further considers the arguments made by attorneys on behalf of the plaintiff, Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest. The court scheduled a status hearing for February 7, during which it will consider issuing a more lasting preliminary injunction, which would remain in place while the challenge to the constitutionality of the rules moves forward."
[CN: Rape culture; clergy abuse] Shockingly, the Vatican is unhappy about the UN's report that uncompromisingly criticized the Holy See's handling of endemic sex abuse. A top Vatican official said the report is "out of date, unfair, and ideological." Welp.
No major clean-up is planned for a 12,000-gallon spill of crude oil in Minnesota because "of its relatively small size" and "the way that it happened: the tanker carrying the oil didn't derail and leak all in one place, rather oil gradually splattered out of the car between the rails onto the track bed as the train was moving." Whoops!
In other Fuck the Environment news: "Fracking is depleting water supplies in America's driest areas, report show." Terrific.
[CN: Driving under the influence; death] Remember Ethan Couch, the 16-year-old wealthy white Texas teenager who received probation after killing four people while drunk driving, because he suffers from "affluenza," i.e. being a privileged shit who's never held accountable for his actions? After prosecutors petitioned for prison time, yesterday a judge ordered that he "will attend a drug treatment facility instead of serving time behind bars."
Oh, science, you are so neat: "Scientists have created a bionic hand which allows [someone who has had their hand amputated] to feel lifelike sensations from their fingers. A Danish man received the hand, which was connected to nerves in his upper arm, following surgery in Italy. Dennis Aabo, who lost his left hand in a firework accident nearly a decade ago, said the hand was 'amazing.' In laboratory tests he was able to tell the shape and stiffness of objects he picked up, even when blindfolded."
Evangeline Lilly is "in talks" to play the female lead in Ant-Man. Hey, filmmakers? Just FYI, she is awesome and could play a superhero. She doesn't need to be a sidekick. I'm just saying. Rinse and repeat as needed for fully one gazaillion other actresses.
A police dog in Birmingham, England, helped save a missing woman's life: "Around 12:40 am on February 4th police received a call that the woman was missing and possibly in danger. Evidence that the woman had been injured was found and PC Keith Bennett and his police dog Ska were called to the scene and quickly went to work. Ska picked up a scent in the back yard of the house and led PC Bennett and other officers to the woman who was injured. The woman was treated by paramedics and taken to the hospital where she is recovering." Yayayayay! GOOD DOG.
