Hosted by Norway.
Israel Launches Ground Offensive in Gaza
[Content Note: War; death.]
Following a five-hour "humanitarian truce" requested by the UN and other international organisations to provide emergency relief, medical supplies, water, food, and hygiene kits to the people of Gaza, and after four children, ages 9 to 11, were hit directly by a rocket fired from an Israeli battleship off the Gaza coast, Israel has now launched a ground offensive in Gaza.
In a statement, the [Israel Defense Forces] said: "Following 10 days of Hamas attacks by land, air and sea, and after repeated rejections of offers to de-escalate the situation, the IDF has initiated a ground operation within the Gaza Strip."Without even getting into a discussion about the long history leading to this conflict, nor a debate about whether the Hamas military leadership are leaders of an occupied resistance, or terrorists, or both, my primary concern at this point is the utter disproportion of a conflict that has consequences far beyond merely "striking a significant blow" to Hamas' military arm:
It said the goal was to "establish a reality in which Israeli residents can live in safety and security without continuous indiscriminate terror, while striking a significant blow to Hamas' terror infrastructure."
Some 230 Palestinians and one Israeli have died during the Operation Protective Edge period.The reason for the disparity in casualties is because of the disproportion in military capabilities. And that lack of proportion is so casually elided by reports of the numbers of rockets fired, without any further context, in order to draw a false equivalence to make this seem like a balanced conflict.
...Israel says it has carried out more than 1,960 attacks on Gaza since 8 July, while militants have fired some 1,380 rockets at Israel.
The UN says at least 1,370 homes have been destroyed in Gaza and more than 18,000 people displaced in recent hostilities.
It says most of those killed in Gaza have been civilians.
Dorothy Zellner, a member of the advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace, notes here: "[T]he Palestinians have no army, no air force, no navy, not even an airfield. The Israelis, on the other hand, have super high-tech weaponry."
Israel got $3 billion in aid, much of which went toward its defense, from the United States in the last year alone.
That is an awful lot of might, behind which is rhetoric like: "When there is no ceasefire, our answer is fire." Which suggests a parity that does not exist.
Or like: "[Israel] is continuing to pound Hamas and its infrastructure," without regard for the fact that the population of Gaza is not, in fact, synonymous with "Hamas and its infrastructure." Children are not Hamas and its infrastructure.
At a certain point, being right becomes less important than doing the right thing.
Or, at least not doubling down on the wrong thing.
[Please note: We have always managed to have thoughtful and civil threads in this space on previous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, and I trust that can happen again. If the thread gets ugly, it will just be closed. Please comment thoughtfully—and bear in mind that neither Israelis nor Palestinians are monolithic groups; among Israelis are people who agree with the Netanyahu administration's actions and people who condemn those actions; among Palestinians are people who agree with Hamas' leadership's actions and people who condemn those actions. There is not consensus among diaspora populations, either.]
Judge Rules Florida's Ban on Same-Sex Marriage Unconstitutional
The dominoes! They are a-falling!
A judge in the Florida Keys has overturned the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage after a legal challenge by six gay couples said it effectively made them second-class citizens.It appears the ruling does not legalize marriage in the entire state, but just in Monroe County. The judge also stayed his ruling "until Tuesday, July 22, at which point same-sex couples in Monroe County can begin obtaining marriage licenses, unless a stay is requested by the state attorney general and granted by the state court of appeals or Florida Supreme Court."
The ruling was issued Thursday by Circuit Judge Luis M. Garcia and applies only to Monroe County, which covers the Keys. The lawsuit contended that the same-sex marriage ban approved by voters in 2008 violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law. The judge says licenses could be issued starting Tuesday.
So, like what has happened in other states, the ruling may quickly come to a halt if the state legislature requests a stay.
We need a federal law already. This patchwork bullshit and legal limbo caused by stays is absolutely untenable.
Daily Dose of Cute
Queen Matilda
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
Malaysian Flight Down Over Ukraine
[Content Note: Death; images of wreckage at link.]
A Malaysia Airlines flight with 295 passengers and crew on board appears to have been shot down over Ukraine. There are no survivors.
At this point, there is very little information about who shot down the commercial airliner or why, or whether it was even deliberate.
I will update this post as new info becomes available.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to drop info into comments, though I request that this remain an image-free thread.
UPDATE 1: This incident appears to be unrelated to the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 four months ago. This terrible coincidence, however, will naturally exacerbate the trauma experienced by many Malaysians following the disappearance of Flight 370.
Even for people who haven't personally lost anyone on either flight, the doubling up of major incidents like this can be extremely upsetting. (Not to mention this will provoke a lot of anxiety about flying, and people still have to fly for work, etc.) National trauma doesn't get talked about a whole lot, but it's hard to weather for a lot of folks. My thoughts are not only with the family, friends, and colleagues of those lost, but with all the people of Malaysia.
UPDATE 2: The United States was already advising US flights to avoid this airspace before today. Now other countries, as well as many airlines, are following suit.
UPDATE 3: "Ukraine's state security chief has accused two Russian military intelligence officers of being involved in the MH17 crash" based on intercepted telephone calls, the authenticity of which has not been confirmed.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
Michael Sam, the first out gay NFL player, received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award last night at the ESPYs and gave a terrific acceptance speech: "The way I see it, my responsibility at this moment in history is to stand up for everybody out there who wants nothing more than to be themselves openly." [Please note there are references to self-harm in his address.]
[Content Note: Human rights violation] A major demonstration is scheduled for tomorrow in downtown Detroit to protest the water shutoffs, which the UN has declared a human rights violation: "Protesters will assemble at Cobo Hall at 12:30 p.m. before marching to Hart Plaza for a rally. During the rally, registered nurses plan to call for a 'public health emergency' as the city continues to shut off water to delinquent residents. ...About 15,000 of the roughly 17,000 active residential accounts have been shut off."
[CN: Environmental hazard] "In relative obscurity, a nuclear waste dump takes shape beside Great Lakes." Um. "With surprisingly little press coverage or public debate, a Canadian nuclear-plant operator is moving forward with plans to build an underground vault for radioactive waste within a mile of the Great Lakes—specifically Lake Huron, near the Ontario tourist community of Kincardine. Ontario Power Generation does not propose to store spent fuel in the repository. But everything below that highest grade of waste—from discarded reactor-core parts, at the hotter end of the scale, to ash from incinerated cleaning materials at the other, all of it accumulating aboveground since the 1960s—would be buried in what appears to be the first deep-storage dump for nonmilitary nuke waste in North America." NO THANK YOU. There has to be a better place for this than immediately beside the largest surface freshwater system on the planet.
[CN: Appropriation] Who needs evolution in public high schools when you can teach Koch Bros. ideology instead? "Billionaire activists Charles and David Koch have financed and participated in the making of programs designed to steer high-school students in Georgia, Kansas, and Missouri toward embracing conservative business principles... [T]he program was conceived in 1989 as a way to lead participants toward becoming 'liberty-advancing agents' while still in high school, before they could learn 'harmful' progressive concepts after enrolling in college." Again, if you want to know what conservatives are doing, just look at what they're accusing progressives of doing. Indoctrinating children? Check!
[CN: Fat bias; body shaming; sexual policing] Samm Newman is a fat teenage girl who posted a pic of herself in her underwear to Instagram. Instagram removed the photo. When she contacted Instagram to point out similar images of thin women had not been removed, Instagram deactivated her account. Newman made noise about it, and Instagram was shamed into apologizing, as if this is the first time this has happened. Fuck Instagram.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) "updated its pregnancy discrimination guidelines this week for the first time in over 30 years. The new...guidelines make it clear that an employer cannot discriminate against a worker based on pregnancy, childbirth or any related medical condition. They also disallow discrimination against someone based on whether or not they have been pregnant in the past, or want to get pregnant in the future." Good.
A giant hole, 262 feet in diameter, has opened up in Siberia, and no one can figure out why. I'm just going to go ahead and propose a theory that a ghost sasquatch dug its way from Siberia to Indiana. SCIENCE.
[CN: Self-harm; fire] This is a terribly sad story about a minister and social justice advocate who immolated himself in the hopes of inspiring change as a final act. But his radical action barely made the news, and his family has been left in grief. I don't know what else to say but this: I'll remember you, Rev. Charles Moore. I will remember your passion for social justice, and I will remember that the resistance of this world to change drove you to a place many people can't or won't understand. Rest in peace.
[CN: Fire; video may begin playing automatically at link] And finally! An adorable dog named Ace saved the life of his 13-year-old deaf guardian who was asleep when a fire broke out in the home. Ace licked Nick's face until he woke up and was able to escape. In other good news: A firefighter was able to rescue the family cat from the blaze. Yay!
The Problem With Science
[Content Note: Transphobia; misogyny; objectification; dehumanization of sex workers; exploitation.]
The current issue of Science features a special section on Australia's successful* approach to combating the spread of HIV/AIDS. To highlight the topic, Science plastered the cover with a photo of the disembodied legs of several women of color. When several people took to Twitter to complain about the dehumanizing photo, Jim Austin, the editor of Science Careers replied:
Okay, sure. In response to an observation about the male gaze, the same editor opined:
Eventually followed by:
So, the editors of one of the world's leading scientific journals used a dehumanizing picture** of trans sex workers of color to advertise a special section on HIV/AIDS, and the editor of its careers journal—whose mission "supports the American Association for the Advancement of Science's (AAAS) commitment to furthering careers in science and technology, with an emphasis on fostering greater diversity among the scientific community"—made a joke about how dudes would feel after learning they lusted after trans women.
Neat.
I have thoughts on this. I'm probably going to come across as bitter, so first let me give some background.
My so-called career
I had no problems getting into academic science. As an undergraduate, I got a full scholarship to a major research university. When I applied to graduate programs, I snagged yet a prestigious National Science Foundation graduate fellowship. During this whole time, I was in the closet about being trans.
A year or two into graduate school, I found myself in a serious relationship, and began really seriously confronting my lifelong struggle to present to society as a man. In 2005, the fourth year of my graduate program, I finally came out.
By an unhappy coincidence, this was also about the time that I went on the job market. I’m not going to dish too much about my graduate career or my job search (although I do have a book chapter out on the latter), but:
• I endured painfully awkward job interviews.
• I dealt with the bizarrely abrupt termination of at least one proposed collaboration.
• I certainly felt like I had a much, much harder time finding work than any of my colleagues.
I had tons of great colleagues (and even a few genuinely enjoyable job interviews). I'm not going to make anyone specific feel uncomfortable with my praise or criticism (after all, this is about s/Science). But I will say this: If you haven't been a PhD student or come out as trans, they're both pretty impossible when tackled on their own. And I did both at the same time.
While I don't want call out individuals or institutions, there is one exception. The administration of my school (the University of Wisconsin-Madison) offered me very little support. At the time, the LGBT center had no resources (I understand they've improved). Despite having the largest, most prestigious medical school in the state, all UW-Madison could offer me was the assistance (for a fee) of one (awesome!) speech pathology graduate student.
In addition to weekly electrolysis appointments in Madison, I had a weekly therapy appointment in Milwaukee. I found doctors in Chicago, and made regular 150 mile (each way) weekday trips to the city. All of this was at my expense (while, I might add, on a graduate student's salary). This meant that in addition to all of the time I spent researching for and traveling to my medical appointments, I took a second job to pay my medical bills. It didn't take long for my employer to fire me. I don't have conclusive evidence that he let me go because he didn't like the idea of a queer interacting with his customers, but that's most definitely what I think happened.
Still, I managed to complete my thesis. There were plenty of things I would have done differently if I hadn't spent two years curled up on a futon in my apartment, but it was pretty fucking decent, regardless of the circumstances,
I eventually landed a tenure track job. It wasn't necessarily what I was looking for, but it was what was available. And while I worked with some rock star colleagues (and administrators), it was quickly pretty obvious that I wasn't "a good fit" for the institution. I started looking for a new job by the end of my first year. It took me close to two years to receive a job offer in the private sector (I had zero job interviews within the academy during that time, despite primarily applying for academic jobs).
This was also the time that I finished a particularly scarring review process. It was clear to me that if I wanted to keep my job, I'd need to fight for it. This was also the the time that the faculty recommended a (cis male) colleague for tenure on a voice vote without being asked a single question. (He did a ton of paperwork, but it was actually me who had to deal with tough questions from the senior faculty). I took the job offer.
Am I bitter? Absolutely. I am so. fucking. bitter.
I miss teaching, but I've realized that it's not a profession that's valued (neither in K-12 nor in the academy).
I miss research, but I also realize that there's no real support for the kind of research I'm interested in (theories of evolution that question the primacy of heterosexuality, among other things). I realize there are people who studies those things, but there's no way I could build a career on such studies. I'd be biased.
There are really great things about no longer being in the academy (although most of these are grounded in not having to deal with the academy). I get to spend time with my kid, for example. Actually, after my kid was born, I spent a lot of my time in grad school with hir—my university didn't provide affordable child care. I used to do this thing where I'd drive hir to my speech therapy appointments, then nestle hir in the car, crank the heat all the way up, and drive around campus until ze was asleep. That way ze napped in the projection room for the duration of my class. Then I went home to work.
It's entirely possible that part of the reason my career sputtered was that I was missing all of the awesome networking opportunities at my school while I was busily working overtime to make up for UW's lack of support. Maybe those opportunities just didn't exist for people like me. I don't know. It doesn't matter—certainly not now.
Am I bitter? Yes, we've covered that.
Do I think that my career would have gone better had I waited until tenure to come out? Absolutely, if I would have survived, I could have probably had a career of some sort.
If I had it to do over again, would I have done things differently? Probably not.
But really, what's my point?
My point is that trans women have good reasons to be suspicious of colleagues
If you're not acting as my ally, my vocal ally, I have nothing to gain by trusting you. My experience just doesn't bear that out. I'm sure you're probably a good person and that you have great intentions, but that doesn't do me a bit of good.
Are you going to fight for my ability to take care of myself to the point that I can focus on doing my job?
Are you going to make it clear that I'm welcome, or are you going to make bigoted jokes?
Are you going to "play it safe" by staying silent and assuring yourself that nothing was meant by so-and-so's off the cuff remark?
Are you going to base your science on hackneyed, sexist, heterosexist, and cissexist stereotypes and then get defensive when folks question your assumptions?
It's a serious wonder that there's anybody in the academy who isn't a cis white guy. I know plenty of white cis women in the academy, and as far as I can tell, a lot of them spend second unpaid careers just navigating the structural bullshit that generations of good people have put into place to keep them from having careers in the first place. I know a lot fewer people of color in the academy. (Imagine that.) Trans women? There are a few. I think I can name one who got tenure despite being openly trans. She must be the most exhausted person on the planet. I think her publications should count double (she's also not a scientist, but still: her publications count double, assholes).
That Science cover isn't ambiguous. As soon as I saw it, I thought "wow, somebody definitely wants me to think that these are exotic sluts." When I saw that the special issue was about HIV/AIDS, I thought it was a pretty good guess that they were trans women in the sex trade.
If I were interested in talking about the very serious issue of HIV/AIDS among trans sex workers of color, I might actually bother to get a picture that included the women's faces. There are trans women who do sex work and know about HIV/AIDS. There are activists, even. I probably would have talked to them. Oh, and I definitely would have listened to them. It's possible that members of the population with one of the highest rates of HIV infection would even be able to teach scientists a thing or two. (It's not inconceivable to be a scientist and sex worker at the same time, BTW.) But what do I know? I'm not an academic.
What I do know is that more than one person reviews a cover before it goes to press. It's not like some guy really fucked up and decided to run with this picture while everybody else was on the can. Nobody realized there might have been a problem with that cover, hmmm?
This doesn't speak well of one of the industry's leading publications. It also doesn't inspire a lot of confidence (which, as I've already explained, I'm short on) that the folks making or breaking careers by deciding which papers are "sexy" enough to publish are going to have the professionalism to ground their decisions in something other than a creepy desire to excite their presumed readership of straight white cis guys.
And for the record, I don't give a fuck what some cis dude might think when he finds out the woman he's ogling is trans. I'm more concerned about what he might do to the trans woman. I'm also more than a little concerned that the editor of one of the world's preeminent journals on how to build a career in science thinks that jokes about trans women are, well… that he thinks about these jokes at all.
I'm not saying that transphobia forced me out of the academia or that I deserved a specific job or any job at all, to be quite blunt. However, I will say, and I'll say it until it doesn't need saying: I don't regret leaving. I regret feeling the need to make that decision, but I simply don't think academy is a safe place for people like me. It certainly isn't a respectful place (if you're wondering on what I'm using as a baseline, I work in IT these days), and there isn't a week that goes by that I'm not reminded how hard folks are fighting just do be able to do the jobs that they're more than qualified to fucking do.
I remember the exact moment when I decided to go into biology (and not some other scientific discipline). I was fourteen, and I was sitting in my parents' living room reading the Washington Post weekly edition when I read that there were far more women in biology than in fields like chemistry and physics. I knew what that meant for my future. At fourteen, I was used to paying attention and making calculated decisions about my future. After all, it's a survival strategy.
People are watching you, science. They're not just keeping track of who's doing the dehumanizing shit, but also who (and it's a lot of you) is sitting on their hands while it goes down. Remember this the next time some administrator wonders aloud about why efforts to summon diversity out of thin air just aren't working.
If science (and the academy writ large) is serious about improving the quality and diversity of research, teaching, service, and faculty (and I have no real reason to believe this is the case), folks have got to dismantle the systems that allow this shit to keep happening. It's not just one publication or one guy with a Twitter account. Hostility to the bulk of society is endemic in the academy, and irrespective of whether or not the place is filled with nice people, I need to see consistent evidence of progress before I'll believe it.
-------------------
*Supposedly. Due to issues with the Science website, I haven't actually been able to read the findings.
**I'm not reposting the cover here because it's not clear to me that the women consented to being photographed, but it's easy enough to find.
Go, Marvel!
Not only is Thor being relaunched as a woman, but Captain America is being relaunched as a black man:
Also in November comes All-New Captain America #1. As has been hinted elsewhere, Steve Rogers will find himself unable to take up the mantle of Captain America, leaving someone else to put on the stars and stripes in his place. Because the new Cap appears to be African-American, most experts think it will be Sam Wilson, a.k.a. the Falcon, Cap's friend and longtime partner.It was later confirmed that Sam Wilson will be the new Captain America. WOOT!
[Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso] doesn't confirm or deny, though he does note that the character in [this image] has "what appears to be something that allows him the gift of flight." He also says that All-New #1—written by Rick Remender and with art by Stuart Immonen—will be "very much a jumping-on point [for people] who both like the Captain America [comic] and really enjoyed the second Captain America movie." (Which featured Anthony Mackie as the Falcon.)
I am a major Falcon-head, and nearly jumped out of my chair for joy when Falcon showed up in Cap 2, so, on the one hand, more Sam Wilson yayayayayay, but, on the other hand, it would have been even better to introduce a whole other character, so that Falcon and the new Cap could hang out together, but I guess two black male superheroes in the same place at the same time would just be TOO radical.
(Spoiler: It would not be too radical.)
Anyway! Good for Marvel for figuratively exploding some more bigoted heads. Thumbs-up.
The Slope, It Is So Slippery
[Content Note: Union-busting; war on agency.]
See, the thing is, some closely held corporations claim religious beliefs against unionization:
A little-known religious exemption to United States labor law may have just become extremely important, thanks to the Supreme Court's ruling in Hobby Lobby.At the link, there are further examples of religious educational institutions which have rejected collective bargaining on the basis of religious beliefs.
By declaring that "closely held" corporations may hold religious beliefs, the court may have provided businesses with a new tool for crushing workplace unionization drives. In addition to declaring themselves exempt from contraception mandates and non-discrimination laws, religious employers may soon be able to argue for an exemption from collective bargaining laws.
"All you need is one employer saying, 'My religious beliefs tell me I shouldn't collectively bargain,'" said Alex Luchenitser, associate legal director for Americans United for Separation of Church and State. If an employer takes the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to court and uses that argument, it could set the table for a major court battle over the future of union rights in nominally religious workplaces.
Religious primary and secondary schools are already exempt from collective bargaining rules, thanks to the 1979 Supreme Court case NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago. In a 6-3 decision, the court ruled that the NLRB does not have jurisdiction over schools "operated by a church to teach both religious and secular subjects." As a result, schools operated by the Catholic Bishop of Chicago were under no obligation to recognize employee unions, no matter the circumstances. Putting religious schools under the jurisdiction of the NLRB, the court reasoned, would present "a significant risk of infringement of Religion Clauses of the First Amendment."
And, to be abundantly clear, in the precedent establishing case NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, the Catholic Church did not have to establish a religious belief against unionization. To the contrary:
The Catholic Church first addressed the rights of workers during the Industrial Revolution. Pope Leo XIII wrote the first great labor encyclical in 1891, Rerum Novarum, On the Condition of the Working Class. This landmark encyclical recognized the primacy of human labor as ends over the means of capital. Pope Leo demanded that the human, civil, and labor rights of workers and their families be protected, including the right to unionize, and the right to just wages and safe working conditions. Virtually every Pope since Leo XIII has reiterated and reaffirmed these rights, perhaps most eloquently Pope John Paul II. In 1981, he commemorated the ninetieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum with his encyclical Laborem Exercens, On Human Work. He insisted on the fundamental dignity and rights of workers, and the subordination of the means of capital to the proper ends of human needs. Pope John Paul also acknowledged the importance of unions and the effectiveness of the strike mechanism in labor disputes. In the pastoral letter on Catholic social teaching and the American economy in 1986, Economic Justice for All, the U.S. Conference of Bishops demanded that all church institutions fully recognize the rights of employees to organize and bargain collectively. Thus, the labor rights for all workers were advocated with specificity by the bishops to protect those working in Church-related institutions.The Church asserted instead that it had a religious belief against the National Labor Relations Board having jurisdiction over its labor practices.
In light of the Church's unequivocal and powerful pro-labor social teaching, the Chicago Bishop case is particularly pernicious for the cause of human, civil, and labor rights. The Church hierarchy in Chicago took advantage of First Amendment constitutional law in order to avoid collective bargaining with its lay faculty school teachers, blatantly contrary to the Church's century of social and labor teachings.
The combination of these two decisions essentially means there has been precedent set for closely held corporations to mount a legal challenge to any federal law with which they don't want to comply.
Whooooooops.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker masculine_lady, who notes she borrowed it from morning radio: "Other than the TV, internet/computers, and mobile technology (including smartphones and tablets), what is the greatest invention of the last 100 years? Why?"
Judge Rules California's Death Penalty Unconstitutional
[Content Note: Death penalty.]
Wowwwwwww:
A federal judge in Orange County ruled Wednesday that California's death penalty violates the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.That? Is amazing.
U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney, ruled on a petition by death row inmate Ernest Dewayne Jones, who was sentenced to die nearly two decades ago.
Carney said the state's death penalty has created long delays and uncertainty for inmates, most of whom will never be executed [and] the delays have created a "system in which arbitrary factors, rather than legitimate ones like the nature of the crime or the date of the death sentence, determine whether an individual will actually be executed," Carney said.
In overturning Jones' death sentence, Carney noted that the inmate faced "complete uncertainty as to when, or even whether" he will be executed.
The "random few" who will be executed "will have languished for so long on Death Row that their execution will serve no retributive or deterrent purpose and will be arbitrary," Carney said.
Who is this RADICAL LIBERAL ACTIVIST JUDGE, anyway?!
Carney [is] an appointee of former President George W. Bush.Welp.
Whut LOL
[Content Note: Reference to guns.]
Despite reports that driverless cars could exponentially increase road safety, the FBI is worried about autonomous cars' affect on crime:
In a section called Multitasking, the report notes that "bad actors will be able to conduct tasks that require use of both hands or taking one's eyes off the road which would be impossible today."Yes, that would be impossible today. Unless that bad actor has one friend.
One nightmare scenario could be suspects shooting at pursuers from getaway cars that are driving themselves.
I don't know about you, but I'm definitely willing to risk the potential SKYROCKETING CRIME RATES caused by robot accomplices in exchange for fewer serious car accidents.
Senate GOP Blocks Healthcare Access Act
[Content Note: War on agency; misogyny; Christian Supremacy.]
Last week, Congressional Democrats announced they were planning to fight back legislatively against the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision by amending the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to stipulate that it does not include a justification to employers to deny employees access to health services guaranteed by federal law.
Democratic Senators Patty Murray (Washington) and Mark Udall (Colorado) quickly introduced the Protect Women's Health from Corporate Interference Act in the Senate, and companion legislation was introduced in the House by Democratic Representatives Louise Slaughter (New York), Diana DeGette (Colorado), and Jerry Nadler (New York).
This afternoon, the Protect Women's Health from Corporate Interference Act came up for a vote in the Senate—and failed to get the requisite 60 votes it needed to move forward. "Democratic Senators failed to garner Republican support for the legislation, and it was blocked."
Because of course it was.
Let's speak of this plainly: There is no justification, none even being offered, for the denial of contraceptive access via employer-sponsored healthcare plans besides religious belief.
And there is no religious belief being cited besides a very particular strain of conservative Christianity.
This is Christian Supremacy, plain and simple. The government doesn't even need to officially establish a national religion, in order to uphold the preferences of one religious iteration and impose those preferences on all the rest of us.
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Anti-immigrationism; abuse; racism.]
"I really don't care. I'm far more concerned about children being penned up and cooped up in conditions that look a lot more like kennels than they look like the way a humane country should be treating refugee kids."—Democratic Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, in response to a question about whether he was upset that a private conversation with the Obama administration, following his criticizing their immediate deportation policy, was made public.
O'Malley spoke at length to reporters last Friday about the need for compassion for [the influx of immigrant children who have crossed the border into this country unaccompanied]. And he said that the government should not "summarily send children to death" by forcing them to return home, a reference to the administration's effort to speed deportations, add immigration judges and beef up border security. Within hours, O'Malley said he received a phone call from a White House official.But O'Malley's objection was not based on not wanting to shelter undocumented immigrant children in his own state. According to O'Malley, during the conversation, he raised concerns about the location of a disused military center which had been proposed for renovation into a shelter. The town, which is "a deeply conservative stronghold" in an otherwise mostly Democratic state, voted last year "to make English their official language, despite protests that such an action was unwelcoming to immigrants."
..."Through all of the great world religions, we are told that hospitality to strangers is an essential human dignity, it is a belief that unites all of us,” O'Malley said [at a National Governors Association press conference in Nashville, according to a transcript of his remarks. "These children who have fled this violence are entitled to due process...they should have their ability to make their case for protection and asylum in the United States."
Hours later, White House Domestic Policy Director Cecilia Muñoz called O'Malley to discuss his remarks, which greatly frustrated her, according to O'Malley aides. The governor would not comment Wednesday on her tone.
...By Tuesday, details of that private conversation leaked to political reporters via a "Democratic source" — and not one in Annapolis, according to O'Malley aides. The comments painted O'Malley as a hypocrite: the governor didn't want these immigrant children returned to their home countries, the source said, but he refused to shelter them in his own state, opposing a proposed site in Carroll County...
"I suggested to them that the location still under consideration in Westminster might not be the most inviting environment for the kids," O'Malley said.Instead, O'Malley has proposed that the children should live with relatives already residing in the US, and, failing such available accommodation, should be placed in foster care or temporary housing. He called large facilities, like the one proposed, "a last resort."
O'Malley said that his concerns were confirmed over the weekend when graffiti appeared on the empty military center: "No illeagles here. No undocumented Democrats." The Maryland State Police are investigating the message as a hate crime.
I'm firmly with O'Malley on this one.
True Facts
[Background.]
Last night, I was talking to Iain about the mental gymnastics a lot of fanboys were performing in order to undermine the new Thor as the one and only Thor. She just picked up the hammer... The real Thor still exists... She's not actually Thor... She's a different Thor...
To which Iain replied, in his inimitable way: "If she's got Mjölnir, she's Thor. The only Thor. Without the hammer, the Thor we knew is just some dude."
Daily Dose of Cute
Zelda
Three years ago today—I cannot believe it has been that long!—Iain and I walked into the local humane society and fell in love with a little black-and-tan mutt who didn't even have a name. We brought her home and gave her the name Zelda, which is either a variation on the German name Griselda, meaning "dark battle," a forever reminder of where we found her, or a Yiddish name meaning "happiness," a forever reminder of what we've promised her.
Plus: She's just such a Zelda. A Zelly! A Zelly Belly! The zelliest of all the bellies!
I don't need to tell you what a happy and joyful little creature she is, because you've seen the pictures. (Or read the descriptions.) She is a major snuggle-head, a clown, and a loyal companion.
And she reminds me, every day, especially the difficult ones, that "It's a day!"
Yay!
I am forever grateful we happened to go to the shelter that day, and found this amazing little mutt just waiting for us to make her part of our family.
Me and my BFF Zelly.
