Here is some stuff in the news today...
There was an earthquake in the Los Angeles area this morning of a 4.4 magnitude followed by at least six aftershocks. Thankfully, there are no reports of injuries or serious damage.
[Content Note: Violence; guns] Joseph Andrew Felton, Jr. is now in custody after a nearly nine-hour standoff with Chicago police yesterday. Felton is suspected of having killed his wife.
The Crimean parliament voted this morning to declare independence from Ukraine, "a first step toward the goal backed by 96% of voters during a weekend referendum: becoming part of Russia." This is the beginning of...something.
[CN: Death; homophobia; war on agency] The founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, Fred Phelps, is reportedly on the verge of death. Westboro, of course, is the outfit known for picketing the funerals of soldiers and picketing or harassing queer activists and abortionists. They are a harmful, contemptible lot, and, because I don't subscribe to the Fred Phelps Doctrine of Reprehensible Fuckery, I will not celebrate that he is dying. Instead I will wish on him the enlightenment of compassion, in the hope he will apologize to the people he has harmed with his last breaths. It's never too late for decency as long as you're not yet dead, Fred.
[CN: Violence; guns] A witness at the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius testified that Pistorius once went into "combat mode" and searched his house with a gun because he was startled by the sound of a washing machine. "Pistorius tweeted about the incident in November 2012: 'Nothing like getting home to hear the washing machine on and thinking its (sic) an intruder to go into full combat recon mode into the pantry!'" This guy.
[CN: Rape apologia] Scarlett Johansson, who has starred in three Woody Allen films, says that Dylan Farrow was "irresponsible" in naming her, among others, in her New York Times piece about having survived sex abuse at the hands of her adoptive father. "I think it's irresponsible to take a bunch of actors that will have a Google alert on and to suddenly throw their name into a situation that none of us could possibly knowingly comment on. That just feels irresponsible to me." And further: "I think [Allen will] continue to know what he knows about the situation, and I'm sure the other people involved have their own experience with it. It's not like this is somebody that's been prosecuted and found guilty of something, and you can then go, 'I don't support this lifestyle or whatever.' I mean, it's all guesswork. I don't know anything about it. It would be ridiculous for me to make any kind of assumption one way or the other." Welp.
Former Republican Congressman and current MSNBC host Joe Scarborough is maybe (?) considering a presidential run. Well, he's definitely signing books, anyway! Joe Scarborough is terrible, and also he would probably be the best candidate the Republicans could muster.
Here is some fun stuff from a 10th (!) anniversary panel of Lost. For some value of "fun," which may be "totally fucking infuriating," depending on your view of the finale.
In the News
Gah
So, I had a doctor's appointment this morning, and it was a student nurse tech training day, so there were five kids in the exam room every time a nurse came in.
The doctor is already not a fun place for me for reasons, and because I didn't want to make the kids feel awkward, I felt obliged to project TOTES COOL with everything, even though I was really like HOLY SHIT GET ME OUT OF HERE.
"Ha ha um you are jabbing the underside of my tongue with the digital thermometer because you're trying to take my blood pressure at the same time whooooops I will just hold this and you might want to tighten that blood pressure cuff which is sliding down my arm and WHY THE FUCK AM I SUPERVISING THIS INSTEAD OF A NURSE?"
It was a regular check-up. I'm glad was not there for something serious.
I know the clinic is busy. And I know they need to learn. And I am, really, happy to accommodate that if I'm given meaningful consent (which "You don't mind if the students come in with me, right, OKAY GOOD WE'RE ALL COMING IN NOW BEFORE YOU EVEN HAD A CHANCE TO ANSWER!" does not constitute) and if students are properly supervised. But yikes.
Anyway. I'm fine. Wevs. Here is a thread to complain about wacky healthcare experiences. Have at it!
Open Thread
This week's open threads have been brought to you by vintage cookbooks.
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
I Love (the end of) This Story
[Content Note: Animal attack.]
Well, I don't love the first part of the story, which is a tale of an elephant in India destroying a house. That's a thing that happens sometimes, not just with elephants, when humans and animals' habitats bump up against each other in ways that animals can't understand, even in spaces where humans have tried to be sensitive to territorial encroachments. It's not animals' fault, really, which is not to minimize the very real human grief of losing a pet to a coyote or a house to an elephant or whatever.
So. The thing is, this male elephant destroyed part of a family's house, at least the 17th house it has seen fit to damage. But then this happened:
Dipak Mahato and his wife Lalita say a male elephant attacked their house in a village in West Bengal's Purulia district...It's remarkable how many animals are intuitively sensitive to babies of other species.
Mr Mahato told The Times of India his family were eating at about 8pm when they suddenly heard a "cracking sound" and crashing noises coming from the bedroom.
"We ran over and were shocked to see the wall in pieces and a tusker standing over our baby," he said. "She was crying and there were huge chunks of the wall lying all around and on the cot. The tusker started moving away but when our child started crying again, it returned and used its trunk to remove the debris."
Ms Mahato said they watched in amazement as the animal gently removed pieces of brick and stone that had fallen on her daughter.
"I can't believe that the tusker saved my daughter after breaking down the door and smashing a wall."
The child was taken to Deben Mahato Sadar Hospital and treated for external injuries, according to the newspaper. She is expected to make a full recovery.
I'm not one to anthropomorphize non-human animals, but I am constantly fascinated (as you might have noticed) by the things we share in common.
Welp
[Content Note: Fat hatred.]
Two studies have come across my desk (so to speak) about anti-fat bias that don't think they're about anti-fat bias.
1. BBC: "A new study suggests obesity in adolescent girls is associated with lower academic results during their teenage years. Researchers from four universities including Strathclyde and Dundee looked at data from 6,000 adolescent girls. They found that those classed as obese at the age of 11 achieved lower results over the next five years than peers of a healthy [sic] weight. The team said more research was needed to establish why this was the case." Yes, I wonder what it could be!
Shaker Crys T, who sent me the heads-up on this one, highlighted this quote from an NHS article on the study: "They also suggest that obese children's academic attainment may suffer because they tend to be stigmatised by other children or teachers, or because excess fat might affect brain function."
LOL FOREVER. Sure. It's probably excess fat affecting brain function. (We've heard this before.) It's definitely not the incessant barrage of dehumanizing hatred, bullying, and eliminationism to which fat people are subjected every waking moment of every fucking day. Good grief.
2. Via Marilyn Wann, this study from the Journal of Obesity which found: "Adults with Greater Weight Satisfaction Report More Positive Health Behaviors and Have Better Health Status Regardless of BMI." Its objective was: "To gain a better understanding of complex relationships between weight satisfaction, weight-related health behaviors, and health outcomes."
But, while the researchers took eating habits and exercise and measurable health and BMI and other things into consideration, what they did not explore at all was what influences "weight satisfaction," particularly in regard to the influence of anti-fat bias. So we get stuff like this:
Our results indicate that men and women who are more satisfied with their weight tend to engage in more physical activity. Individuals who are fit, or become and stay fit, may be evincing motivation that is different in important ways than the motivation of those who are dieting primarily to lose weight, though image also may matter as a motivational issue associated with efforts aimed primarily toward fitness (rather than weight control). It is also possible that these individuals may use physical activity as a means to control weight. Physical activity has been shown to increase self-esteem and body image. Perhaps people who are active, regardless of actual weight category, have a more positive outlook on their weight (i.e., they are satisfied). Active individuals may look beyond weight to focus on what their body can accomplish (e.g., participation in sports activities) and actual weight may not be as important to them.Yes, perhaps indeed people who are active have a more positive outlook on their weight, and not necessarily because "physical activity has been shown to increase self-esteem and body image," but because there is very little incentive to take care of a body you hate.
Daily Dose of Cute
"Ha-cha-cha-cha!"
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
The Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by chickens.
Recommended Reading:
If you can afford to donate, former Shakerville contributor and longtime Shaker CaitieCat could use some help bridging the four-month (!) disability application process.
[Content Note: Body shaming; hostility to consent] Recently, some asshole went to a Magic the Gathering tournament and took pictures of himself next to players' exposed asscracks. Here are two responses to that fuckery: Dan's "The Crack Seen Round the World" and Kate's "About those Magic Buttcracks."
BYP: Attorney General Eric Holder Pushes for Lower Sentences for Drug Offenses
Bina: [CN: Misogyny; rape culture] A Few Words on "Child Marriage"
David: [CN: Homophobia; domestic violence; racism] There's a Reason We Protect Teachers
Trudy: [CN: Sexual entitlement; rape culture] There Is No "Friend Zone"
sheridf: [CN: Class warfare; racism; misogyny] Angels and Ghosts
Sean: Happy Pi Day!
Heads-up, Game of Thronesies! Via Dan Solomon and Jessica Luther, this track by Dominik Omega, "Arya's Prayer," inspired by the character of Arya from Game of Thrones and sung from her perspective, is quite genuinely one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. All the tears forever. I love it so much.
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Anti-choice terrorism; vandalism and violence; disablism.]
"This person took meticulous time destroying EVERYTHING that was important to me; everything that I have worked very hard for all my life. He destroyed the plumbing and heating system in the building. He then completely destroyed all my medical equipment, ripping apart, breaking every glass object, bending, stabbing knives into or punching hammer holes into, and then methodically cutting and sticking knife holes into the faces of my friends and family, including pictures of my baby grandson. In my opinion, this is NOT the act of someone who was 'high' and didn't know what he was doing, but rather someone who knew EXACTLY what he was doing."—Dr. Susan Cahill, the owner and operator of the All Families Healthcare in Kalispell, Montana, the clinic which was vandalized last week by Zachary Jordan Klundt, the 24-year-old son of Twyla Klundt, a board member of Hope Pregnancy Ministries, whose mission is "to honor Christ by providing an alternative to abortion through life affirming education and intervention, offering help and hope to women in need."
There are all kinds of "crazy lone gunman vandal" narratives being invoked either in Klundt's defense or as a way of distancing him from the anti-choice movement.
Yeah. Well. You know what I think about that. And I'm glad that Dr. Cahill is calling it out, even though I profoundly regret the circumstances that obliged her to do so.
[H/T to Shaker Rosenleaf.]
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Airline disaster] Another day, another theory of what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: "Military radar data suggests a Malaysia Airlines jetliner missing for nearly a week was deliberately flown hundreds of miles off course, heightening suspicions of foul play among investigators, sources told Reuters on Friday. Analysis of the Malaysia data suggests the plane, with 239 people on board, diverted from its intended northeast route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and flew west instead, using airline flight corridors normally employed for routes to the Middle East and Europe, said sources familiar with investigations into the Boeing 777's disappearance. Two sources said an unidentified aircraft that investigators believe was Flight MH370 was following a route between navigational waypoints when it was last plotted on military radar off the country's northwest coast. This indicates that it was either being flown by the pilots or someone with knowledge of those waypoints, the sources said. ...A third source familiar with the investigation said inquiries were focusing increasingly on the theory that someone who knew how to fly a plane deliberately diverted the flight. 'What we can say is we are looking at sabotage, with hijack still on the cards,' said that source, a senior Malaysian police official."
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll has found "that a majority of Americans agree with the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) contraception mandate... 53& of the 1,000 adults surveyed by telephone said that they believe employers should be required to include contraception coverage in workers' health plans even if the employers oppose its use." So can we put this issue to bed now? No? We've still got to have more bullshit "debate" about it? Terrific.
[CN: Homophobia; religious supremacy. Video may autoplay at link.] A bakery in Indianapolis has refused to make a cake for a gay couple's commitment ceremony, because: "As artists, we have to find inspiration to create something special for our clients. When asked to do a cake for an occasion or with a theme that's in opposition with our faith? It's just hard for us. We struggle with that... There is zero hate here. This causes us to do a lot of soul searching. Why are we doing what we do? We want to show the love of Christ. We want to be right with our God, but we also want to show kindness and respect to other people." Faily fail fail la la la faaaaaaailllllll.
[CN: Rape culture; sexual assault] I don't even have words: "Tens of thousands of Americans are pressuring Dartmouth College to strengthen its sexual assault policies, citing the fact that a student was sexually assaulted on campus after her name appeared in a 'rape guide' published on a student-run website. Nearly 50,000 people have signed onto a petition spearheaded by the women's advocacy group UltraViolet asking the prestigious school to 'take action immediately to curb the sexual assault crisis' on campus."
The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Jillian York has your "Short Guide to the Internet's Biggest Enemies," on which the US appears for the first time as a result of "the National Security Agency's unapologetic dragnet surveillance and the government's treatment of whistleblowers."
[CN: Rape culture; sexual assault] I'm really glad that photographer Terry Richardson's predation on his models is finally getting some real attention, after years of little-noticed reports and rumors. This guy is a fucking serial rapist, and no reputable magazine should ever hire him again. Nor should anyone who gives a fuck about sexual violence agree to sit for him.
Congratulations to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on winning the National Book Critics Circle award for her novel Americanah. I haven't read it yet, but it's on my list.
Do you want to see some ridiculously adorable pictures of a baby polar bear? Well, here you go!
Fat Fashion
This is your semi-regular thread in which fat women can share pix, make recommendations for clothes they love, ask questions of other fat women about where to locate certain plus-size items, share info about sales, talk about what jeans cut at what retailer best fits their body shapes, discuss how to accessorize neutral colored suits, share stories of going bare-armed for the first time, brag about a cool fashion moment, whatever.
Suggested (though not required!) topic: What clothes make you feel great when you wear them?
Burgundy brocade jeans by Torrid; black heeled MaryJanes by Kenneth Cole.
(I'd provide a link to the shoes, except I've had those for so long that I don't think they're available for purchase any longer. I got them on clearance for like $19. It was an amazing day!)
I have a pair of black brocade jeans that I bought at Lane Bryant about 13 years ago, which I still wear. The cuffs are starting to get worn, though, even though I've taken extraordinary care of them because I love them so much. So I was really excited to find this pair at Torrid.
I don't even know what it is about brocade jeans that I find so terrific, but I always feel great wearing them.
And these shoes. OMG THESE SHOES. They are definitely not all-day shoes; they are go to dinner at a place where there's parking and not a lot of walking shoes, lol. But I love them. I am such a shorty-pants, and it always makes me feel good to be "tall." (All of 5'6" in these shoes.)
Anyway.
Have at it in comments! Please remember to make fat women of all sizes, especially women who find themselves regularly sizing out of standard plus-size lines, welcome in this conversation, and pass no judgment on fat women who want to and/or feel obliged, for any reason, to conform to beauty standards. And please make sure if you're soliciting advice, you make it clear you're seeking suggestions—and please be considerate not to offer unsolicited advice. Sometimes people just need to complain and want solidarity, not solutions.
What a Neat Event
[Content Note: War on agency; anti-choice rhetoric; hostility to consent; descriptions of a perineum tear.]
Yesterday, I mentioned some typically terrific comments Republican Mike Huckabee made at an anti-choice fundraiser sponsored by Susan B. Anthony List. Via the AP, some of the other Republican attendees also had great things to say:
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said those who support abortion rights favor a "culture of death" and engage in "savagery."Ha ha Huckabee, you are definitely getting all the other issues wrong.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who is a favorite of the tea party, reminded the crowd of activists that supporters of abortion rights chanted "Hail, Satan" to silence their enemies during a heated protest at the Texas Capitol. ...He was referencing protests in Austin, Texas, last year over an abortion bill. While anti-abortion activists were giving speeches and singing "Amazing Grace," others tried to drown them out with chants.
..."Whether it's politically expedient or not is of no consequence to me," Huckabee said. "If we get this issue wrong, we will get all the other issues wrong."
During a separate appearance, Sen. Deb Fischer, a first-term Republican from Nebraska, told the activists: "Abortion is not a women's issue. It is not a men's issue. It is not a health care issue. It is a violence issue."Well, Fischer is right about that, although not for the reasons she imagines.
As I've said before (and will almost certainly have occasion to say many times again, until everyone is yawning about what a goddamn broken record I am), if anyone not seeking cover under the auspices of a "difference of opinion on abortion" suggested that I should be forced to submit my body against my will to nine months of potential discomfort and pain, followed by an act that might include the skin and muscle between my vagina and anus being torn open, I don't think we'd mince words about whether they were using violent rhetoric.
And yet all these anti-choice dipshits talk about is the supposed "violence" done to a fetus during an abortion. There is no discussion of the actual violence of forced pregnancy and birth.
The anti-choice position is inherently violent. Their assertion that the pro-choice position is violence is nothing but sheer projection.
And it is precisely this sort of hyperbolic rhetoric—"culture of death," "savagery," "save babies"—that underwrites a decades-long campaign of intimidation, harassment, and violence directed at abortion providers and abortion seekers, which is the most brazen, unapologetic terrorist campaign in the US, its co-ordination and orchestration done right out in the open, where no one in the media or politics will call it what it is.
Elected Republicans are not ignorant of the existence of anti-choice terrorism. They are not ignorant of the how their inflammatory language encourages violent anti-choice activism. And they continue to engage in it, anyway, because they don't give a fuck about violence done to women (and others) seeking abortions, nor to the doctors who perform them.
In case it weren't already evident that fetuses are valued more highly than the people who carry them, here is further proof. Anti-choicers are more concerned with the rhetoric of "saving babies" than they are about actual people's safety, about actual people's lives.
Question of the Day
What's for dinner? (Or: Whatever the next meal of the day is, in your part of the world.)
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Class warfare.]
"Changing the rules for overtime eligibility will, just like increasing the minimum wage, make employees more expensive and will force employers to look for ways to cover these increased costs."—Marc Freedman, executive director of labor law policy at the US Chamber of Commerce, on President Obama's proposal to increase the number of people who qualify for overtime.
Sure. Or: Employers could simply prioritize people over profits and flatten wages so that executives don't make hundreds of times as much as average workers in the same company.
Certainly there are cases, especially in very small businesses, where it's not feasible to significantly raise wages and/or pay additional overtime wages without raising prices on goods or services, but there are a lot of businesses where it would be totally feasible to raise wages and/or pay additional overtime wages while maintaining the same price of goods or services, if only corporate executives and/or shareholders were willing to give a little.
By which I mean: Accept slightly less profit in exchange for not continuing to viciously exploit workers.
And it's a sharp commentary on our national priorities that this isn't even considered a solution that's worthy of public discussion, so thoroughly certain are we all that it's never going to happen.
I'm Not Lovin' It
[Content Note: Worker exploitation.]
McDonald's employees in New York, Michigan, and California have filed class-action lawsuits alleging that their employer has engaged in wage theft:
The suits allege that McDonald's has forced employees to work off the clock, not paid them overtime and struck hours off their time cards.If your lived experience is anything like mine, you have heard Bootstraps Bullshitters say fully one billion times some variation on "those lazy bums should get off their butts and get a job at McDonald's" given any opportunity to comment on people who are unemployed, poor, on welfare, on disability, or in any other circumstance that people who will never have to work at McDonald's view as a contemptible refusal to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and stop being moochers blah blah fart.
The suits were announced in a conference call led by the workers' lawyers and organizers of the union-backed campaign to raise fast food wages across the country.
"We've uncovered several unlawful schemes, but they all share a common purpose -- to drive labor costs down by stealing wages from McDonald's workers," said Michael Rubin of Altshuler Berzon LLP, an attorney who represents California workers.
Workers in California claim that McDonald's and its franchisees did not pay them for all of the hours they worked, and did not give them timely breaks.
The employees in Michigan allege that they would start getting paid only when customers walked into the restaurants, even if they showed up to work hours earlier.
New York McDonald's workers, who filed their case in federal court, claim the fast food chain did not reimburse them for the cost of cleaning uniforms. They say it drives some workers' real wages below the minimum wage, which is a violation of federal labor law.
These claims violate the federal Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which sets minimum wage, overtime pay, record-keeping and other standards for workers across the country.
...Since 1985, the Labor Department has found that McDonald's and its franchises have had to pay back wages more than 300 times for FSLA violations.
McDonald's is always, always, the go-to job for this sort of rhetoric. "Well, if it were me, I'd LOWER MYSELF to work at McDonald's before I'd ACCEPT HANDOUTS FROM THE GOVERNMENT," bellow undilutedly privileged dipshits as they buy shiny new Cadillac ELRs with their seven-figure bonuses made possible by a taxpayer-funded bailout.
Anyway.
That fairy tale is some rancid garbage even without knowing what it's like to be employed at McDonald's—but it's extra vile on a sesame seed bun when people invoke McDonald's even despite the fact that working there full-time is no guarantee that you'll get paid for full-time work, which is to say nothing about the fact that they don't even pay a livable wage in the first place.
Sure. Go work on McDonald's, American Dreamers. Good luck with all that.
