Liza Minnelli: "New York New York"
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
A federal judge has struck down Wisconsin's voter ID law, "saying it violated the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution." GOOD.
[Content Note: Reproductive coercion; hostility to consent] A county sheriff in Michigan denied a pregnant inmate access to an abortion, and he is being hailed as a hero in an editorial in local press headlined: "Sheriff's refusal to allow abortion results in a new family." Rage. Seethe. Boil.
Fox News is all a-twitter with the news that "Benghazi emails suggest White House aide involved in prepping Rice for 'video' explanation." OH MY GOD! CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE?! A PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION COORDINATING A RESPONSE?! HOLY SHIT! #impeachObummer
[CN: Drones; death] Ha ha transparency schmansparency: "The official number of civilians killed each year by U.S. drone strikes will remain unknown, after senators dropped a demand for a public declaration, congressional aides said, after the U.S. intelligence chief expressed concerns the disclosure might reveal classified information." Ah, national security is at stake. That old canard.
At Think Progress, Jessica Goldstein has an interesting interview with Janet Vertesi, a woman who tried to hide her pregnancy from Google. What I found most compelling about her experiment was how she discovered that trying to live in a way where your information isn't being constantly mined looks suspicious: "[I]t was disconcerting because the kinds of things you're doing are, if it were taken in the aggregate, it looks like we're up to no good. Who else is on Tor every day and pulling out cash all over the city and taking out enormous gift cards to buy a stroller? It's the kind of thing, taken in the aggregate, that flags you in law enforcement systems. Fortunately, we never had the FBI show up at our door. But you start noticing the lengths, the extremes you have to go to to try to not be tracked. They put you in a very, very discomfiting position."
Have you heard about this neat kid who was accepted by all eight Ivy League universities? "Kwasi Enin will announce his decision at William Floyd High School at a news conference, the type of event usually reserved for college football and basketball recruits." LOL. Awesome. I love that.
RIP Bob Hoskins. I know that you will probably be remembered most for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but you'll always be Spoor from Brazil to me.
All you've got to do is blow your nose and it's fixed, innit?
Shaker Garden Thread: April Edition
Heya, Shakers! What's growing? It's (finally) spring in this part of the world, so it seems like a good time to ask about everyone's growing projects. How are they going? What have you planted? What's sprouting or blooming? If it's not spring yet, what are your plans? If you're a Southern Hemisphere Shaker, how is your autumn garden? Whether it's a windowsill of herbs or outdoor vegetable beds, houseplants or patio plants or flowerpots or whatever, feel free to share your green thumb-ery here!
For me, last fall's bulb-planting paid off in a big way! Lots of early crocuses popped up, the random daffodil mix I bought looked great, and I even managed some tulips--always a feat in this Southern clime. One of my favourites was this multi-flowered daffodill.
Other perennials are off to a slow start, but I don't expect very much from their first year. Iris, peony, and perennial poppies have all made an appearance, even though they haven't bloomed, so that's a good sign. I'm also really happy with the progress of the herbs (wormwood, pennyroyal, tansy, rosemary) I planted in some particularly difficult perennial beds. They seem to be healthy and will provide some green when other plants struggle. Or at least that's the idea!
The veggie garden is showing signs of life, too! I planted some crops last fall and in February for early spring harvest; the radishes are flourishing really well. There's also lettuce, onions, and even some peas(below) from those plantings. Despite some late frosts, the many kinds of squash/pumpkin seeds I planted this spring have made their appearance. I've also gotten sprouts from the gourd, cantaloupe, watermelon, and cucumber seeds. Unfortunately the "live" tomato and pepper plants I ordered from Gurney's were delivered dead, so I just bought some tomato, pepper, and eggplants from Lowe's to set out. Fortunately, the live tomato and groundcherry plants I ordered from Seed Savers' Exchange arrived healthy and in good order! Except for re-sowing some annual flowers (zinnias, sunflower), I think my planting is done.
How about you? Any buds, flowers, or veggies yet? Or anything else of note? Feel free to share pictures and stories about your garden (or patio, or windowsill, or houseplant) projects in this thread. Non-growing projects are welcome too; if you want to share something you're building, a pot you're painting, or the like, feel free. Happy gardening, Shakers!
[Commenting reminder: Please respect that different gardeners have different needs and goals, and refrain from auditing others' choices on issues such as organic gardening, water usage, soil development, plant supply venues, and the like.]
End the Death Penalty Now
[Content Note: Death penalty; torture.]
As you may recall, in January, Ohio death row inmate Dennis McGuire was executed using "a new cocktail of drugs that took nearly a half hour to kill the gasping McGuire." The new drugs were used because pentobarbital, which has long been used in lethal injection executions, is no longer available as manufacturers now refuse to sell it for that purpose.
States continue to search for new alternatives, despite the fact that eradicating executions is the best alternative. And searching for new alternatives means using death row inmates as guinea pigs during executions, even if that means torturing them until they're dead.
Yesterday, in Oklahoma, it happened again:
The state of Oklahoma botched one execution and was forced to call off another on Tuesday when a disputed cocktail of drugs failed to kill a condemned prisoner who was left writhing on the gurney.Neither McGuire nor Lockett—nor Warner, who's been spared the same fate, at least temporarily—are good men. They are men who did horrible things. (Unless they are among the 4% of wrongly convicted inmates sitting on death row.) And there are people who argue it doesn't matter if men who did horrible things die horrible deaths.
After the failure of a 20-minute attempt to execute him, Clayton Lockett was left to die of a heart attack in the execution chamber at the Oklahoma state penitentiary in McAlester. A lawyer said Lockett had effectively been "tortured to death".
For three minutes after the first drugs were delivered Lockett struggled violently, groaned and writhed, lifting his shoulders and head from the gurney.
Some 16 minutes after the execution began, and without Lockett being declared dead, the blinds separating the chamber from the viewing room were closed. The process was called off shortly afterwards. Lockett died 43 minutes after the first executions drugs were adminsitered.
The execution of Charles Warner, scheduled for 8pm local time, was then postponed. Both were due to have been carried out with a drug cocktail using dosages never before tried in American executions.
But if we are really conceding that we don't care if we're any better than them, we are truly lost.
Buh-Bye
[Content Note: Racism.]
LA Clippers coach Donald Sterling, who was recorded making racist comments and has been the focus of widespread criticism since the audio was made public, has been sanctioned by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver:
Silver said the Clippers owner was fined $2.5 million and was banned from any association with the team for life. Silver added that he would urge other owners to force a sale of the team.Wow. I have all the thoughts about this, but mostly I'm just really pleased to see rank racism addressed with the seriousness it deserves.
Silver said the lifetime ban would stand regardless of whether Sterling was ultimately forced to sell the team he's owned for 33 years. The commissioner said the NBA constitution allowed owners to eject Sterling if three-quarters of the owners voted in favor of such a move, and that he would commence the process of expulsion immediately.
"I fully expect to get the support I need from the other NBA owners to remove him," said Silver, who appeared visibly agitated throughout his remarks.
...Under the terms of Silver's punishment, the 80-year-old Sterling cannot attend any NBA games or practices and is not allowed to inhabit any Clippers facility or participate in any business or player personnel decision involving the team. Sterling is also barred from the NBA's Board of Governors meetings and other league activities, Silver said.
The commissioner said the $2.5-million fine was the maximum allowed under the league constitution and would be donated to organizations dedicated to anti-discrimination and tolerance efforts. The NBA and the National Basketball Players Assn. will jointly select those organizations.
I hope the NBA will use this as an opportunity to examine less visible acts and practices of racism throughout the league, rather than instead using one attention-getting incident to pretend they're addressing racism comprehensively.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Merkohl: "What's the story about a second chance you got? Maybe the first time around, you made a choice and weren't satisfied with the way it turned out; wishing you'd chosen differently. Then, somehow, you had another opportunity, and this time you acted on the wished-for choice; how did it turn out? As you imagined? Even better?"
An Observation
I will never, ever, stop loving (ahem) arrogant dipshits who expect personal education on demand, then angrily scold me when I direct them to work I've previously done.
Because their expecting me to stop everything else I'm doing to provide them with personal education is reasonable, but my expecting them to read materials I've already written makes me a fucking bitch.
It's not even worth it to politely direct them to existing resources. I might as well just respond how I really want to demands for personal education: "FUCK OFF."
(This is why tone arguments that admonish Strident Feminists to be "nicer" are bullshit. Yeah, we've tried being nice. We know the end result is the same either way.)
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: War on agency.]
"There's nothing inherently burdensome about crossing state lines."—Paul E. Barnes, the attorney for Mississippi state, defending the law requiring abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital, which, if upheld, could put the last remaining abortion clinic in the state out of business.
By law, abortion restrictions must not create an undue burden, which is why we get these absurd arguments about how having to cross state lines or drive 150 miles each way to access abortion aren't "inherently burdensome."
Star Wars Casting News. And Exceptional Girls.
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
J.J. Abrams and the Lucasfilm team have announced the cast of Star Wars: Episode Wev:
The full list of announced actors is as follows:That's a really weird announcement list, since it gives the character names of returning cast and the names of previous works of new cast, but whatever.
Mark Hamill — "Luke Skywalker"
Carrie Fisher — "Princess Leia"
Harrison Ford — "Han Solo"
Peter Mayhew — "Chewbacca"
Anthony Daniels — "C-3PO"
Kenny Baker — "R2-D2"
Adam Driver — Girls
John Boyega — Attack the Block
Daisy Ridley — Toast of London
Oscar Isaac — Inside Llewyn Davis
Andy Serkis — The Lord of the Rings
Domhnall Gleeson — About Time
Max von Sydow — The Exorcist
The thing that's most notable to me is that the much-criticized token female dynamic of the original films (Princess Leia) seems to be replicated here in the newly added cast, 37 years later, in the "post-feminist" year of our lord Jesus Jones two thousand and fourteen.
Now there will be two whose women in the cast. Maybe they'll even have a scene together!
My objection is not just about filling a quota—although I'd be lying if I said that a cast which is 15% female when women are 52% of the population doesn't annoy the fuck out of me.
More than that, however, is the fact that the habit of putting token girls into sci-fi and fantasy works informs narratives about strong, powerful, smart, and/or otherwise cool women being exceptions.
Is it any wonder so many budding feminist nerd girls go through a stage of Exceptional Womanhood, in which we define ourselves as "not like other women," for the benefit of male friends?
Me as a kid, sound asleep with Princess Leia buns.
It was lucky I was the only girl who loved Star Wars in my elementary school class; there was only one role for a girl, anyway. And I can't even begin to explain the joy of The Lord of the Rings' Eowyn telling the Witch King, "I am no man," as she delivers his death blow. Empowered with such heroism because she was a girl—my god, it was revolutionary.
But even though Leia and Eowyn were both great heroines, it seemed to me as though girls who were smart and tough were always segregated away from other women. Images of women who are smart and tough and the only female in a group of men are, in fact, so common, that it serves to teach smart and tough little girls that girliness is bad. Only silly girls hang out together in their giggling little gaggles; smart girls hang out with boys—a sentiment reinforced over and over as I played girl-less video games and watched films and read books with a token girl. A second girl only meant a rivalry, never a friendship.
Or, in rare cases, a token girl of another generation. A mother or auntie who might dispense wisdom, but doesn't kick ass herself anymore. Which is what I fear is going to be the dynamic in Star Wars, with its two whole women.
The problem isn't that individual female characters can't convey to girls (and boys) that women can be awesome. The problem is their solitary circumstances, and how that lonesomeness communicates that there simply aren't as many awesome women as men. While simultaneously tasking the token with being representative of the monolith. Tokens are at once lionized as above average, and diminished as interchangeable with the rest of their kind.
There should have been other girls for me, and there should be other girls now. Good girls, bad girls, smart girls, funny girls, conniving girls, heroic girls. The presence of all sorts of girls in the Star Wars universe would be affirming to the girls who love those films.
But there was only one kind of a girl for a girl like me, who happened to prefer Star Wars to Facts of Life, and I find it utterly depressing that basically nothing has changed.
"Not Alone"
[Content Note: Rape culture; sexual assault on college campuses; carcerality.]
This morning, the White House released a fact sheet titled "Not Alone—Protecting Students from Sexual Assault," which details the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault's proposed series of actions to:
(1) identify the scope of the problem on college campuses, (2) help prevent campus sexual assault, (3) help schools respond effectively when a student is assaulted, and (4) improve, and make more transparent, the federal government's enforcement efforts. We will continue to pursue additional executive or legislative actions in the future.I'm glad the Obama administration is concerned with sexual assault on college campuses. That said, I have some real concerns about some of the approaches in this fact sheet, particularly around confidentiality and bystander intervention.
Confidentiality: Under the section heading "Helping Schools Respond Effectively When a Student Is Sexually Assaulted: Confidentiality, Training, Better Investigations, and Community Partnerships," the first two bullet-points read:
* Many survivors need someone to talk to in confidence. While many survivors of sexual assault are ready to press forward with a formal complaint right away, others aren't so sure. For some, having a confidential place to go can mean the difference between getting help and staying silent. Today, the Department of Education is releasing new guidance clarifying that on-campus counselors and advocates can talk to a survivor in confidence. This support can help victims come forward, get help, and make a formal report if they choose to.There are two major problems here.
* We are providing a sample confidentiality and reporting policy. Even victims who make a formal report may still request that the information be held in confidence, and that the school not investigate or take action against the perpetrator. Schools, however, also have an obligation to keep the larger community safe. To help them strike this balance, we are providing schools with a sample reporting and confidentiality policy, which recommends factors a school should consider in making this decision.
One: "For some, having a confidential place to go can mean the difference between getting help and staying silent." First of all, note that "staying silent" is implicitly defined as filing a formal complaint. That is not the only way that survivors can and do raise their voices. Secondly, there is an embedded implication that the only barrier to justice is survivors "breaking their silence" by filing a formal report, which is categorical bullshit. Countless numbers of survivors have tried to file formal complaints, with university administrators and/or police, only to be turned away. The burden that is implicitly being put on survivors here is profoundly objectionable.
Two: Victims may request "that the school not investigate or take action against the perpetrator," but schools "have an obligation to keep the larger community safe" and are empowered with the "decision" as to whether to take action. These two things cannot coexist. This sounds an awful lot like schools are being empowered to compel victims to participate in prosecutions, which is incompatible with providing a safe and confidential resource to survivors.
Bystander Intervention: An emphasis on bystander intervention is problematic for a whole lot of reasons, not least of which is that not everyone has the same capacity to safely intervene.
And, much like the increasing tendency to prosecute survivors who are unwilling to participate in prosecutions, bystander intervention initiatives are headed in a "criminalize bystanders who fail to intervene" direction.
This is something about which Lauren Chief Elk has written a lot on Twitter, and I highly recommend this Storify (shared with Lauren's permission and compiled by @mizblossom) detailing some of the ways in which bystander intervention initiatives can cause more problems than they solve.
Tasking potential victims with prevention, tasking bystanders with intervention, tasking survivors with formally reporting, and prosecuting survivors and bystanders who don't engage with law enforcement on law enforcement's terms is not effective rape prevention.
Which is to say nothing of the fact that these initiatives presume that "the system" is already working fine for survivors when they do try to pursue justice through formal channels.
To be clear: I'm not saying it's wrong to provide a(n ostensibly) safe space for victims to report, nor am I saying it's wrong to encourage people to intervene if they can safely do so. What I'm saying is that the emphasis on these things, coupled with increasing tendencies to criminalize survivors' and bystanders' failure to act, is actively harmful to meaningful and effective rape prevention.
Where we're headed is a culture of carcerality to compel compliance with ineffective law enforcement where there are more survivors and bystanders being prosecuted than rapists.
Daily Dose of Cute
The sweetest. Just the absolute sweetest.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
On Game of Thrones, Part Two
[Content Note: Sexual violence. Discussion of Game of Thrones' last two episodes which includes spoilers.]
Part One is here.
In comments here, and in other spaces, I've seen people express surprise that the rape scene at Caster's in the most recent episode did not get nearly the amount of attention that the scene of Jamie raping Cercei in the previous episode did.
And I wanted to take a moment to tease out why I think that is, because it's an important reflection of the rape culture—and which incidents of sexual violence we collectively care about, and why.
I've read an absolute fuckton of commentary on the scene in which Jamie rapes Cercei, and one of the narratives that quickly became evident was that the primary concern of most critics of the scene was not that Cercei was raped, but that Jamie had been turned into a rapist. At first blush, that might sound like a bit of semantics, but it's not: There was not an outpouring of grief for Cercei being victimized; there was, however, an awful lot of grief that Jamie's redemption arc had been ruined by turning him into a rapist.
To be clear, I absolute sympathize with (and share) that complaint. There's no way I'm going to watch a man rape his sister in one episode, and then enjoy his friendship with another female character I adore (Brienne) in the next. Turning Jamie into a revenge-raping monster absolutely fucked up the story.
But I was also concerned and upset that Cercei had been raped. That is not a concern that was widely shared.
The overall tone of the criticism of the scene was not about what Jamie had done to Cercei; it was about what the writers of the show had done to Jamie.
* * *
In contrast, the scene at Caster's, in which multiple women are being raped, did not get nearly as much criticism, or even online discussion. In many recaps of the episode I read, the sexual violence wasn't even explicitly mentioned.
This, despite the fact that the scene at Caster's is inarguably more graphic; there are more victims; there was no defense of the scene as anything other than rape from the writers, the director, the author, the actors.
So why was there so comparatively little criticism of this scene?
Well, we're not meant to like the male characters who are doing the raping in that scene. We're meant to hate them. The depicted rape is there specifically to invite our contempt.
Returning to my piece from yesterday:
It is a violent show altogether, but the way that sexual violence was used took on a particular tone that suggested sexual violence is uniquely despicable, but also fair game for casual use as shorthand for character development.These men are supposed to be rapists. But Jamie Lannister isn't.
...Which brings me to last night's episode, featuring a scene that opened to the sound of a woman weeping while being raped and showing multiple women being raped as background, while a male character directed his men to "fuck them 'til they're dead."
This scene was invented for the show.
The women being raped are not major characters; they were props being used to establish that this new male character is not a nice guy.
* * *
Why one scene was met with a torrent of opprobrium and the other wasn't doesn't have anything to do with rape at all. Not really. It certainly has nothing to do with any of the female victims, including Cercei. It has to do with rape only insomuch as being a rapist reflects on male characters and upholds or subverts our opinions of them.
The truth is, virtually no one cared about female characters being raped, even when one of them was a major female character. Virtually none of the mainstream criticism has been centered around the concern for female characters being victimized.
It's been centered around Jamie Lannister, beloved male character, being victimized by the show.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Terrorism; abduction; violence; misogyny; exploitation] Last week, I wrote about the 234 Nigerian girls who had been abducted from their school by members of the jihadist organization Boko Haram. At the time, there was no information about where the girls had been taken. Now, there is a deeply upsetting report that most of the girls "have been ferried abroad to Chad and Cameroon after they were married off to sect members on N2,000 bride price each. ...Dr. Pogu Chibok, who is the leader of the Chibok Elders Forum, told Daily Trust yesterday that latest information available to them indicates that most of the girls have been taken to the neighboring Cameroon and Chad by their captors. He said before they were ferried in canoes across the Lake Chad, a wedding ceremony was conducted at a town on the border with Cameroon where they were married off to Boko Haram militants." And still very little action has been taken to rescue them. My heart is breaking into a million pieces.
[CN: War on agency] The Florida state senate has voted to approve a "fetal homicide bill" which now goes to the Republican governor for signature: "The Florida Senate voted 25-14 last week to pass a bill making it a separate crime to kill or harm a fetus while committing a crime against a pregnant woman. Under current Florida law, a person can already be charged with manslaughter or murder if he or she kills a viable fetus. But this new bill, HB 59, expands the penalties to include causing injury or death to a fetus at any stage of development, starting with conception."
[CN: Misogynoir; domestic violence; sexual assault] Speaking of Florida: "Standing Our Ground: Reproductive Justice for Marissa Alexander."
Well, this is good news: "Google is removing Web search ads for some 'crisis pregnancy centers,' after an investigation by NARAL Pro-Choice America found evidence that the ads violate Google's policy against deceptive advertising."
[CN: Racism] The fallout continues for LA Clippers' owner Donald Sterling, who was caught on tape making racist comments: "Two sponsors have suspended ties with the Los Angeles Clippers, amid mounting pressure on the team and basketball authorities to banish owner Donald Sterling from the sport over alleged racist comments. ...The National Basketball Association was expected on Tuesday to announce sanctions against Sterling, including a possible fine and a ban from playoff games for the rest of this season. ...An outcry led by President Barack Obama, athletes and other public figures has piled pressure on the NBA to oust Sterling from the sport. That would be a fraught and unprecedented step, since the 80-year-old tycoon cannot be fired or compelled to sell the team. ...The National Basketball Players Association has asked the NBA to ban Sterling from attending playoff games and to impose the league's maximum penalties if the comments are verified to be his."
[CN: Disaster; death] The active search through the debris following the Washington landslide has been suspended. Two people remain missing. An active search may be resumed "if conditions change, allowing crews into areas that were previously inaccessible due to large amounts of debris." So sad.
And finally: Here is just a terrific story about a rescued baby squirrel and the gentle dogs who accepted him into their pack.
More Severe Weather
[Content Note: Tornadoes; injury and death.]
Following the storms over the weekend in which at least 17 people died, tornadoes raced across the southeastern US last night, killing at least 11 more people.
The storm front killed at least 11 people on Monday when it slammed into parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee and produced more than 50 tornado reports in 24 hours.And the severe weather isn't done yet.
On Tuesday, the areas hit hardest by severe weather "are going to get a repeat performance," according to The Weather Channel's chief meteorologist, Kevin Roth. He said the severe storm that kicked off the chain of deadly tornadoes was so slow-moving that it's "almost stationary."Tornadoes are terrifying, especially because they're so unpredictable. If you've never been in one, it's hard to understand how fast and devastating they can be. Be as safe as you can, everyone.
Roth warned that eastern Mississippi, eastern Tennessee and "all of Alabama" could be in line for a second hit — putting millions of people at risk.
"It is almost identical areas that are under the gun, two days in a row," Roth said. "That's not normally the case."
Shooting at FedEx Warehouse in Georgia
[Content Note: Guns; injury.]
An as-yet unidentified man, for whom police are still searching, shot six people at a FedEx facility in Kennesaw, Georgia, early this morning. The six victims were taken to a local hospital, one in critical condition. Several were taken into surgery.
The scene has been shut down while police investigate. The shooter reportedly fled the scene after the shooting, and there has so far been no indication from police that anyone has been taken into custody.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is providing updates here, including information on the investigation and areas designated to connect with family members and friends who were at the warehouse this morning.
I just don't even know what to say anymore.
UPDATE 1: Cobb County police Sgt. Dana Pierce has said that the suspect is dead. At the moment, there's no further information on whether he was killed by police or took his own life.
UPDATE 2: Police believe the still unidentified shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They are not currently looking for any other suspects at this point.
UPDATE 3: The town in which this happened, Kennesaw, is "unique in the U.S. for mandating every household own at least one gun. The law is not enforced, so the Kennesaw gun ownership rate hovers around 50 percent, according to its police chief. That's still higher than the average rate of gun ownership in the U.S., estimated to be about 34 percent." So much for arguments about how more guns prevents mass shootings.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Kathy_A: "What is your favorite piece of furniture (current, in your past, or one you would love to get someday)?"
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Racism.]
"Tuscaloosa's schools today are not as starkly segregated as they were in 1954, the year the Supreme Court declared an end to separate and unequal education in America. No all-white schools exist anymore—the city's white students generally attend schools with significant numbers of black students. But while segregation as it is practiced today may be different than it was 60 years ago, it is no less pernicious: In Tuscaloosa and elsewhere, it involves the removal and isolation of poor black and Latino students, in particular, from everyone else. In Tuscaloosa today, nearly one in three black students attends a school that looks as if Brown v. Board of Education never happened."—Nikole Hannah-Jones, in her extraordinary piece for ProPublica, "Segregation Now."
The above link goes to a text article. You can view ProPublica's entire multimedia report on school resegregation here.
