Good Morning! Or Whatever!

This is just a terrific campaign reminding all of us that Republicans are people, too. Sure, they are people who don't think (other) people are entitled to food, but they're people otherwise just like you and me! PROOF:

Wacky music. Text onscreen: "Did you know?"

Image of thin white middle-aged man in glasses standing next to a Prius. Text onscreen: "Republicans drive Priuses. #ImARepublican" (Most of the subsequent images, aside from the ones about race and a few others, include this hashtag.)

Image of a blue recycling bin. Text onscreen: "Republicans recycle."

Image of a thin young white (or possible Latino) man wearing sunglasses and listening to music on large headphones. Text onscreen: "Republicans listen to Spotify."

Image of a different thin white middle-aged man putting together some furniture. Text onscreen: "Republicans put together Ikea furniture."

Image of a thin white middle-aged woman with short brown hair and glasses. Text onscreen: "Republicans are white."

Image of a thin black woman with short hair and glasses. Text onscreen: "Republicans are black."

Image of a thin Latina with long dark hair. Text onscreen: "Republicans are Hispanic."

Image of an in-betweenie older Asian woman with short graying hair. Text onscreen: "Republicans are Asian."

At this point, you get the drift. It's some totally obvious image with some text next to it. The rest of it (mostly with images of thin white people) is: "Republicans read the New York Times. In public. Republicans use Macs. Republicans are grandmas, daughters, moms. Republicans are left-handed. Republicans are doctors. Welders. Teachers. Republicans donate to charity. Republicans enjoy gourmet cooking. Republicans shop at Trader Joe's. Republicans like dogs. And cats. But probably dogs a little more than cats. Republicans have tattoos. And beards. Republicans have feelings. Republicans are people who care. Republicans are people, too. RepublicansArePeopleToo.com. Tell us your story."

Case closed, your honor! Republicans are definitely people!

You know, for people whose party spends an awful lot of time pursuing policy and using rhetoric that dehumanizes people, they sure are sensitive about having their own humanity recognized. "Republicans are hypocrites!"

The genius behind this campaign, Vinny Minchillo, whose background includes making stupendous ads for Mitt Romney's last campaign, says he launched Republicans Are People, Too because:

It's become socially acceptable to talk about Republicans in the most evil terms possible and that doesn't seem right. We wanted to do this to really remind people that Republicans are friends, neighbors and do things that maybe you wouldn't expect them to do.

People, I'm afraid, think that Republicans spend their days huddling over a boiling cauldron throwing in locks of Ronald Reagan's hair. ...We thought, let's get out there and show who Republicans really are: regular folks interested in making the world a better place.

I am reminded of the time my Uncle Bill, who was a man of few words, was obliged to behold a precocious two-year-old child recite the names of elements from the Periodic Table, prompted by his parents shouting random atomic numbers. After a good five minutes of this interminable party trick, my uncle removed himself from the room, muttering under his breath: "I'd be more impressed if he could feed himself and stop shitting his pants."

This campaign is the equivalent of a toddler being forced to be an obnoxious dancing monkey by his terrible parents, when all we really want, Republicans, is for you to use a fork and the toilet.

Like people do.

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Open Thread

Hosted by Tetris.

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Question of the Day

We've done variations on this one before, but not for awhile: What did you want to do for a living when you were a kid? Did it change throughout your childhood, or was it always the same thing? Are you doing that thing now?

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Perfect

[Content Note: War; terrorism. Video may begin playing automatically at link.]

Cristina Alesci and Kate Trafecante at CNN Money: "One cost of war: U.S. blowing up its own Humvees."

The United States is spending millions of dollars to destroy U.S. equipment in Iraq and Syria — gear the U.S. gave the Iraqi military that was later captured by IS forces.

The U.S has hit 41 Humvees since attacks began in August, according to data from United States Central Command.

The U.S. is sending $30,000-bombs to eliminate these armored vehicles, which cost about a quarter of a million dollars each depending what it is equipped with, according to Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

The U.S. Defense Department confirmed the targets to CNN. "In some cases, we have seen instances of ISIL capturing and employing U.S.-made equipment," said a spokesperson. "When we've seen these terrorists employing this equipment, we've sought to eliminate that threat."

Once the U.S. destroys the equipment, it might have to re-supply the Iraqi military.

"If we want them [the Iraqi military] to be able to secure their own borders in the long run, we're going to have to re-equip them," said Harrison. "So we'll be buying another Humvee and sending it back to the Iraqi military."

What a fortuitous loop of total fuckery for war profiteers.

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Quote of the Day

[Content Note: Racism.]

"He ran the DOJ much like the Black Panthers would. That is a fact."—Fox News host Andrea Tantaros, on the air today, discussing the legacy of departing Attorney General Eric Holder.

Conservatives sure do love invoking the Black Panthers these days.

Btw, here is the Black Panthers' Ten Point Program, in case you've never read it. It's obviously terrifying.

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O RLY?

[Content Note: Fat bias.]

Here's just a swell story about an experiment in which a thin actress wore a fat suit to test whether (thin?) people eat more when dining with a fat person. And of course the answer is YES!

To understand how people influenced each other's eating habits, Cornell University Food and Brand Lab researchers asked 82 undergraduate students to eat lunch, which included spaghetti and a salad, with an actress. The researchers randomly assigned the students to one of four conditions:

* In one situation, the actress wore a fat suit but served herself more salad than pasta.
* In the second, she wore a fat suit and served herself more pasta than salad.
* In the third, she appeared without the fat suit and served herself more salad than pasta.
* In the fourth, she appeared without the fat suit and served herself more pasta than salad.

Then the researchers looked at how much the students ate. It wasn't a case of "I'll have what she's having." Even when the overweight person ate salad, her meal companions loaded up.

"When they are eating with overweight eating companions, regardless of what she serves herself, participants ate more pasta," [said Mitsuru Shimizu, one of the authors of the paper], who is now an assistant professor of psychology at Southern Illinois University. "They ate less salad even if the overweight person ate more [salad]."

A video at the link shows that, despite what this description of the experiment might suggest, participants did not sit down to dine with a fat person person in a fat suit, but followed her through a buffet line. The actress leads the line, and asks the "buffet line monitor" if she should take a second plate to separate her pasta and salad, to which the monitor replies yes, then instructs everyone else to do the same.

As I don't have access to the finished paper, I have no idea whether there were any controls to ensure it was not the instruction to fill two separate plates that might have encouraged greater consumption, rather than the mere presence of a fat person, with whom no one else is even interacting.

For some reason, I'm just dubious about the findings of MAGICAL FAT.

Naturally, the conclusion is not that fat is magical, ha ha no: "No matter how the actress served herself, people ate more pasta and less salad if she were wearing the fat suit. The reason? The researchers posit that when people are with someone who is overweight, they feel less motivated to be healthy."

Of course the researchers posit that. OF COURSE THEY DO.

"We have kind of healthy eating standards," says Shimizu. "That goal is unconsciously … less activated when we are eating with an overweight person."

The research isn't intended to fat-shame or pass the blame for our overeating. Instead, by understanding how environment and the people around us affects our eating habits, we can be more mindful of how much we're consuming.

"If we are eating with an overweight person, we are eating more," says Shimizu.

Ha ha heavens no! The research isn't intended to fat-shame or blame fat people! It's just to suggest that fat people are axiomatically unhealthy pigs whose grotesque disregard for their own bodies is HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS. We just need to get this information out there so thin people can make good choices—like avoiding fat people!

If it is true that people eat more at the mere sight of a fatty, because of narratives that fat people are unhealthy gluttons, then, once again, I will note that the problem is not fat people. The problem is fat hatred.

That is not an insignificant distinction.

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Recommended Reading

[Content Note: Gun violence; stalking; disablist language.]

Brian Beutler: "Gabby Giffords' Gun-Control Ads Are Being Criticized Because They're Working."

I'm not even going to excerpt it. Just go read the whole thing.

And then let's talk about how aggressively contemptible her critics are. Because OMG.

[H/T to Jess.]

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Daily Dose of Cute

Wee Sophs.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.

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Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Janis Ian: "At Seventeen"

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In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

United States Attorney General Eric Holder will announce his resignation today: "Holder, 63, intends to leave the Justice Department as soon as his successor is confirmed, a process that could run through 2014 and even into next year. A former U.S. government official says Holder has been increasingly 'adamant' about his desire to leave soon for fear that he otherwise could be locked in to stay for much of the rest of President Obama's second term. Holder already is one of the longest-serving members of the Obama Cabinet and ranks as the fourth-longest tenured AG in history."

[Content Note: Police brutality; death; racism] Louisiana State Police are investigating after a Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's deputy fatally shot a 14-year-old boy named Cameron Tillman. Police will not confirm the number of times he was shot, but his family says he was shot "four or five times in the back." Police also say a weapon was found "in close proximity" to Tillman's body, but his brother says he was not holding a weapon. Are you angry yet at the repetitiveness with which these stories follow the same goddamn pattern?

[CN: Police brutality; injury; racism; description of shooting] Meanwhile, in South Carolina: "South Carolina state trooper Sean Groubert was arrested on Wednesday and charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature after a video emerged of him shooting a driver named Levar Jones that he pulled over for a seat belt violation. In the video, Groubert's vehicle is seen pulling up to a black man exiting a white SUV, and Groubert is heard telling Jones 'can I see your license please?' When Jones turns around to recover his license from the vehicle, however, Groubert immediately begins screaming 'get out of the car! get out of the car!' and firing his gun at the unarmed man. ...Mr. Jones, the man that Groubert shot, was struck in the hip at least once. He is now out of the hospital and is recuperating." Fucking hell.

[CN: Police brutality; death; racism] Meanwhile, in Missouri: "An Instagram photo posted by MediaBlackOutUSA appears to show a 'I Am Darren Wilson' bracelet worn by police at a demonstration for Michael Brown on Tuesday night in Ferguson, Missouri. Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson acknowledged the bracelets during a press conference on Wednesday. 'I think that was not a statement of law enforcement. I think wearing that was an individual statement,' Johnson said." For fuck's sake.

[CN: Terrorism] A woman named Isis Martinez has asked media to change the way they ID the terrorist organization the Islamic State, which has until now been known as ISIS. The group itself now identifies as simply the Islamic State, and I don't give two shits about them, but I can respect not wanting to further associate the name ISIS with these fuckos, so I will hereafter refer to them as IS. (And this will be the last time I use the ISIS tag, so this note is included in that archive.)

[CN: Terrorism; war; death] Speaking of IS: "US air strikes target Islamic State oil infrastructure: A third night of US air strikes against Islamic State (IS) targets inside Syria focused on oil infrastructure controlled by the militant group, observer groups say, in an apparent attempt to cut off its funding supply. The attacks on a series of oil installations around the town of Mayadeen, in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, reportedly killed 19 people, including five civilians, believed to be women and children related to the 14 militants who died, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and local activist groups." Civilians are being killed in the "precision strikes" but the headline is about oil infrastructure. That about sums it up.

[CN: War; surveillance; war profiteering] Relatedly: "Who profits from our new war?" Spoiler alert! It's private contractors.

[CN: Misogyny; sexual abuse and harassment] Female firefighters employed by the US Forest Service have filed a lawsuit alleging "alleging they faced sexual abuse, harassment, and job discrimination from their male coworkers. The complaint, filed with the Department of Agriculture on behalf of hundreds of women in the Forest Service's Region 5 in California, claims officials did not do enough to stop harassment and abuse. Seven women are heading the complaint." One of the complainants describes the Forest Service as a "frat boy atmosphere" where the remote work often leaves women imperiled. Among her allegations is that her supervisor put her in a chokehold and tried to rape her, and that she once found fliers on the floor of the fire station calling her a whore. It is utterly appalling that in the year of our lord Jesus Jones two thousand and fourteen women are being treated like this on the job and that their only recourse to literally make a federal case out of it. Christ.

Good: "The Obama administration has agreed to pay the Navajo Nation a record $554m to settle longstanding claims by the largest native American tribe that its funds and natural resources were mishandled for decades by the US government. The accord, resolving claims that date back as far as 50 years and marking the biggest US legal settlement with a single tribe, will be formally signed at a ceremony on Friday in Window Rock, Arizona, the capital of the sprawling Navajo reservation."

Actress Chloe Grace Moretz is a feminist. So there.

And finally! Here is just a really nice story about a senior living home where shelter pets get a second chance. Not only do I love that this company rescues shelter pets for the residents, but also that they allow residents to bring their pets with them to the facility. I wish more senior living homes would do that.

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TV Corner: Sleepy Hollow Recap S2E1

Sleepy Hollow Season 2 Episode 1: “This is War”

[CN: gun violence, kidnapping. Please note that this post contains spoilers.]

Were you excited about the season premiere of Sleepy Hollow? I know I was! So let’s get the important stuff out of the way:

John Cho was in this episode.

And now, let’s roll on downhill from there…

SLO-MO VOICEOVER RECAP. “My name is Ichabod Crane. Other than that, I bear almost no resemblance to anything Washington Irving ever wrote. But if you think of me as a time-displaced Benton Fraser/Buffy Summers hybrid who just happened to wander onto the set of the X-Files, we will get along fine. Also: I am trapped in a coffin. Let me bellow my trademark British pronunciation: LEFTENANT!!!!”

New scene! It is Lt. Abbie Mills of the Sleepy Hollow PD. HI ABBIE! She has a cupcake with a candle! She is wishing Ichabod a copyright-free happy birthday. Awwwwww!

Ichabod: [obligatory faux-complaint about modernity]

Abbie: [obligatory affectionate complaint about his stuffy attitude]

Ichabod blows out the candle and the then tunes the dialogue to station K-PLOT, so that he and Abbie can rehash he last season. She lost her sister, he lost his wife, it’s super awful, and the phone rings. It’s the historical society! A HISTORY PROFESSOR HAS BEEN KILLED. NATIONAL EMERGENCY!

… hahaha just kidding! The only response will be from one cop and her 200+ year old quirky sidekick! (Oh well. You know how this show feels about history professors!) They load up on +2 supernatural weapons and head into the historical society where a bust of Ben Franklin presides over a murder scene. The professor was an expert on Franklin! Ichabod is also an expert on Franklin! He was forced to be Franklin’s apprentice by his boss, George Washington! So he totally assisted with Franklin’s famous electrical experiments!

(….in the 1750s? Wait a fucking minute. So Ichabod was studying with Franklin 20 + years before the American Revolution? When he was like 10, but is portrayed as an adult? WHAT KIND OF SENSE DOES THAT MAKE URGHURGHARRRRRRRRGHLEBARGLE ……. this show is trying to kill off another history professor, but I RESIST. Turning brain off now.)

ANYWAY! Thank goodness for gunshots and shit! It’s a headless dude! Ichabod calls for the *consecrated* rounds of ammo! (I am trying to imagine the scene where they interrupted kindly Father Whatsit at the fish fry and got him to bless their ammunition, in case of freak horseman attack.) They shoot!

Then they are back at their archive, which is much better decorated than last season. It’s also lit by candles, which is super bad for old documents, but I digress. Harvard still exists! Ichabod finds that funny! Something something Ben Franklin was in the hellfire club, and Ichy has a flashback to Nekkid Ben Franklin ™ . NBF tells Ichy to stop being a prude and start studying The Key Which Cannot Be Destroyed! Um, yeah.

OH MY GOD FRANKLIN’S EXPERIMENT WASN’T ABOUT ELECTRICITY! It was about Moloch the Evil Horseman and his wacky 4 horsemen/ backup singers! The key cannot be destroyed! And it can get people out of purgatory! Time for Ichabod to say LEFTENANT! Moloch must not get this key!

(Honestly, I kind of zoned out here. So, for reference, take anything you ever learned about Purgatory and put it in a blender with your favourite 90s show, and I think you’ll get The One Where Ross and Rachel Buy Indulgences the gist of this dialogue.)

Anyway, Ichy and Abbie decide to visit Ichabod’s son Henry, aka The Guy From Fringe, aka the Horseman of War/Sin-Eater. He is very busy with his jobs! EVIL jobs, but at least he is employed!

Fringe Guy: Did you bring me precious plants? Precioussss….

Abbie: Ichabod, I have to talk to you.

Ichy: That key we’ve been talking about exists and it super important. Also, I have no memory of the last year.

Abbie: Me neither, but I thought it was the writing.

Ichy: Yeah it is the writing but also….well shit, man. There are plot holes and then there are PLOT HOLES, Leftenant! And oh my god I AM STILL BURIED IN A PLOT HOLE!!!! I’m not really here with you!!!!

Fringe Guy: Muah-hah-haaaaa! You have confirmed the key! MUAH HA HA HAAAAA! *tears off piece of scenery, eats it.*

Whooooooops your expectations, audience! It is not just that this show is confusing! This has all been an illusion to trick Abbie and Ichy into confirming the existence of Nekkid Ben Franklin’s Key! Which sounds way dirtier than I intended. In reality, Ichy’s still buried in his coffin, Abbie’s still in Purgatory and Fringe Guy is torturing Jenny in a warehouse by reciting more of last season’s plot to her!

So, in his coffin, Ichy decides to go all Uma Thurman and tries to punch a hole in the lid of the coffin. Then he tastes his fingers, like ya do. "Sulfur!" he says. Okay! I am sure that will be important!

Oh and his wife Katrina is still around, too. She is being held captive by a headless horseman/backup singer. But never mind, because the moment you’ve been waiting for is here…

It's JOHN CHO! He’s trying to help Abbie!

JC: This is Purgatory, not Hell. That means you can get out, but only if you listen to me. I mean, I have a role on a totally different show now! So there is hope for you.

Abbie: Awesome! Show me how!

But before that, let’s go back to Ichabod, still in the damn coffin. He is on the phone recording a heartfelt speech to Abbie but of course it doesn’t record, because unfulfilled sexual tension. Speaking of which, Ichy then MacGyvers up some gunpowder out of that sulfur (okay!) and lights a match and BOOM! A Very Big Explosion! Conveniently, this blows open a hole in the ground and not in Ichy. Good job, Ichy! Obligatory hand bursting out of grave shot.

Meanwhile, Jenny kicks some major ass while the bad guys are distracted by their phones. SILENCE YOUR PHONES, BAD GUYS. She is trapped on Route 9! Abbie’s trapped in Purgatory! I am trapped watching this show! I JUST DON'T KNOW HOW TO QUIT YOU, SLEEPY HOLLOW!

John Cho: In lieu of a Highway to Hell, we have a Path out of Purgatory. It is in this mirror.

Every Catholic school religion teacher ever: Whut.

Meanwhile Ichy steals an ambulance to rescue Jenny. Ichy is a shitty driver. *laugh track* He and Jenny go to the archives to find Nekkid Ben Franklin’s sketchbook, which contains a clue to the whereabouts of the Key and a lot of unicorn doodles. And code, lots of code. Which Ichy can read because Nekkid Ben Franklin forced him to learn it! Now they just have to find Nekkid Ben’s key! *laugh track*

Abbie is still in Purgatory. Or perhaps a Batman origin story, because bats! So many bats! Also, upside down star and candles. Now we switch to Ichabod, in the car with Jenny, looking in the rear view mirror. Cue Abbie looking back at him. They can see each other in the car mirror!

Abbie: (through mirror)I am in Moloch’s lair! Or maybe a Meatloaf video! The one with the car mirror and demon armies and Michael Bay!

Ichy (through mirror) No! You are in that movie where Daniel Day Lewis says he WILL FIND YOU! Leftenant, I DO NOT ACCEPT GOODBYE!

Ichy and Jennie find the key. Katrina is talking to the now-shirtless headless dude, who apparently snagged a sweet deal modeling for romance covers. Turns out he’s Katrina’s old boyfriend. And the horseman of Death! He gives her a locket, which gives him his head back, and I am so not going there.

Meanwhile Ichy and Jenny are in the woods preparing to go into Purgatory. She reminds him not to eat or drink anything, because apparently Purgatory functions like that Greek myth about Persephone? (Catholic school religion teachers are just crying and crying and crying now.)

Ichabod says ritual words. Abbie sees him! She sobs like a Catholic school religion teacher. Ichy says “Drink this!” But then ANOTHER Ichy says “LEFTENANT! Don’t drink that! We just had exposition on that topic!”

Real Ichy and Fake Ichy fight. Which is which? OH THE DILEMMA!

Whichever Ichy: (to Abbie): Go! Quickly we have to go! We have to return to your sister, LOOOOOOOOOOOOOTENANT!

(Oh my god. Ichabod’s persistent Canadian British pronunciation has finally served An Actual Purpose: identifying Fake Ichabod! ) Abbie kills Fake Ichabod! Real Ichabod and Abbie share quips as a Horseman shows up on the horizon! It’s Moloch! Fortunately there is a fort constructed out of Lincoln Logs nearby, which offers them some zero protection against all of the ZOMBIES rising in Purgatory! And I do not feel so lonely now, because this show hates Catholic school religion teachers almost as much as history professors!

Anyway, Abbie and Ichy come flying out of Purgatory. Moloch missed the gate. MIND THE GAP, Moloch! Abbie, Ichy, and Jenny have a reunion. SRS BIZNESS AHEAD. Fringe Guy worships Moloch. EVIL BIZNESS AHEAD. This is war. Bible quotes. Melty lava. The end, the merciful end!

So what did you think? The season opener did a decent job tying up the super-convoluted plot from last season, but I can’t say any particular point really grabbed me. I sure do love seeing Abbie and Jenny working together, though! And John Noble seems to be having so much fun with this, lol. Hope the show picks up the pace some next week, without killing any more history professors in the process.

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Your Liberal Media

[Content Note: Misogyny.]

Chris Cillizza has written a piece for the Washington Post entitled: "The Clinton team is following reporters to the bathroom. Here's why that matters."

The piece starts with an anecdote about a reporter being accompanied to the restroom by a press aide at the Clinton Global Initiative, about which Cillizza writes: "Yes, this may be an extreme example." Indeed. It is also a single example. Which makes the headline implying that reporters being followed into bathrooms in multiple contexts deeply dishonest.

But it doesn't matter, anyway. Because Cillizza's piece is not about concern for a reporter whose privacy or freedom to report may have been compromised. It's about concern trolling Clinton over her distrust of the media, that faux concern masking what is a preemptive justification for the press' appalling treatment of potential candidate Hillary Clinton.

[T]he press strictures at the Clinton Global Initiative are the stuff of legend. But, the episode also reflects the dark and, frankly, paranoid view the Clintons have toward the national media. Put simply: Neither Hillary nor Bill Clinton likes the media or, increasingly, sees any positive use for them.

(Gee, I wonder why that might be.)

"If a policymaker is a political leader and is covered primarily by the political press, there is a craving that borders on addictive to have a storyline," Bill Clinton said in a speech at Georgetown University back in April. "And then once people settle on the storyline, there is a craving that borders on blindness to shoehorn every fact, every development, every thing that happens into the story line, even if it's not the story."

That view, according to a terrific story by Politico's Glenn Thrush and Maggie Haberman over the summer, informs and impacts the Clintons' thinking on a 2016 bid. Write the duo: "As much as anything else, her ambivalence about the race, [Clinton sources] told us, reflects her distaste for and apprehension of a rapacious, shallow and sometimes outright sexist national political press corps acting as enablers for her enemies on the right."

It also colors how the media is treated during the long runup to Clinton's now-expected bid. While Chozick's experience may be on the extreme end of the spectrum, reporters who have spent any amount of time on the trail with the Clintons -- including during their recent trip to Sen. Tom Harkin's Steak Fry -- describe a candidate and an operation that always assumes the worst of the press horde and acts accordingly.

Pout. They aren't nice to the media. And thus we get to the real point of this story: The Clintons had better start being nicer to the press, if they don't want the press to tank Hillary Clinton's candidacy before it even begins.

In theory, Clinton is, of course, a candidate -- assuming she is a candidate -- who needs the political press as little as any person seeking the presidency in modern memory. ...And yet, any objective analysis of the 2008 primary campaign would conclude that the remarkably adversarial relationship between the Clinton campaign and the media hurt her chances.

...Regardless of who was to blame, by the end of the campaign, reporters -- including me -- and the Clinton operation were at each others' throats daily and often more than daily.

...Clintonworld promised a different approach to the press in 2016. ...They understood, they insisted, that while Clinton was very well defined to most voters, there was an entire generation of younger people -- who, not for nothing, were a pillar of Obama's electoral success -- who knew little about the former Secretary of State other than her famous name and would use the media coverage of her to form their opinions. The early returns on those pledges don't look promising.

...[T]he Clintons have as dim a view of the political press as any modern politicians. So you can imagine what a Clinton 2016 campaign will think of those tasked with covering it.

There are a lot of reasons why US political and news media is garbage, but chief among them is that a number of Beltway journalists think it's okay to jettison accurate and fair journalism if a candidate doesn't sufficiently pander to them.

This story should be utterly appalling to all of us, in what it reveals about the people tasked with covering our elections. Cillizza openly acknowledges that a contentious relationship with the media—never mind if there are decades of justifiable reasons for that contention—will result in shitty coverage. "The remarkably adversarial relationship between the Clinton campaign and the media hurt her chances." Which might merely be a commentary on the flow of information, if it hadn't been preceded by asides about "how the media is treated" by people who assume "the worst of the press horde."

One of the perfect, bitter ironies of this piece is that is was penned by a man who once joked, in a professional capacity, that, if you were having a beer with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, she'd be drinking "Mad Bitch" beer.

After complaints, the video series was axed, and Cillizza shared the lessons he'd learned:

What did I learn from doing Mouthpiece? That I am not funny on camera (this will not be a revelation to many of you), that name-calling is never the stuff of good comedy, and that the sort of straight, inside dope reporting I pride myself on made for a somewhat discordant marriage with the sort of satire Mouthpiece aimed to create.

Apparently, not engaging in rank misogyny against the Secretary of State of the United States was not among the wisdom he'd gleaned from the experience.

So I suppose we can expect more of that, when comes time for the revenge after Hillary Clinton fails to demonstrate sufficient deference to people who routinely treat her like a piece of shit.

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No Justice

[Content Note: Police brutality; racism; death.]

There will be no indictments in the August shooting of John Crawford, the 22-year-old black man who was killed by police in an Ohio Walmart, after another customer called 911 to report a man waving an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle at customers, though it was actually a BB/pellet rifle which is sold at the store. The grand jury considered charges of murder, reckless homicide, and negligent homicide, and failed to indict any officer of any of those charges.

A special prosecutor says a grand jury found officers' actions were justified in the fatal shooting of a man at an Ohio Wal-Mart.

Special Prosecutor Mark Piepmeier said Wednesday the Greene County grand jury in Xenia opted not to issue any indictments in the Aug. 5 death of 22-year-old John Crawford III.

...Crawford's family says the shooting was not justified and wants federal authorities to investigate whether race was a factor. Crawford was black, the officers are white.

Late yesterday, it was announced that the Justice Department's civil rights division and the FBI "will carry out a 'thorough and independent review of the evidence' relating to the death of John Crawford III."

I'm glad the feds are stepping in, but I'm angry that they have to.

Video of the shooting has been released, and it looks just as it was described by Crawford's family. The video clearly shows that Crawford was not aiming or loading the weapon when he was shot. [CN: Description of shooting.]

The video, which tracks Crawford as he made his way throughout the store, first shows him walking around while talking on his cell phone and picking up the toy gun from the sporting goods aisle. The video then shows Crawford standing calmly at the end of an aisle, holding the toy gun — pointed at the floor — in his right hand. Occasionally, he swings the gun gently back and forth, but there's no point at which the gun's pointed at anything — let alone at any person.

About one minute and a half into the video, Crawford suddenly moves out of the aisle as police officers enter the store with their guns drawn and pointed. Crawford drops the pellet gun, then trip over it into the rear aisle of the store. The audio in the video, which is taken from a 911 call, suggests police fired almost immediately after they placed their sights on Crawford, but it's unconfirmed whether the audio is accurately synced to the video footage. (The prosecutor in the case said Crawford was shot before he dropped the gun.)

Crawford then moves back into the aisle toward them, then turns away again — at which point he drops to his knees as the cops continue to advance. He falls to his back and his legs splay out (the rest of his body is hidden from view).

The video doesn't show any of the behavior described in the 911 call that sent cops to the scene. The 911 call, placed by a man named Ronald Ritchie (who is white), said that Crawford was "pointing it at people" and "like loading [the gun] right now." The video shows Crawford wasn't doing anything like that when police shot him.

John Crawford is dead for no reason, and no one is being held accountable. That isn't justice.

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Open Thread

Hosted by a totem pole.

(The pictured totem is a Kwakwaka'wakw thunderbird totem located in Vancouver.)

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Open Thread (+ Programming Note)

Hosted by tea tree oil.
I've got another doctor's appointment this morning, and another appointment this afternoon, so I'll be taking today off, and I will see you tomorrow. It's not an emergency—just part of my ongoing health stuff—so if you're someone inclined toward worry, there's no need. :)

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Question of the Day

What classic activity of idealized childhood did you never do, whether because you never got a chance, or weren't allowed, or just simply never had any interest?

I don't think I ever flew a kite. If I did, it obviously wasn't very memorable, lol.

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Recommended Reading

[Content Note: War on agency; misogyny; homophobia; Christian Supremacy; classism.]

Sharona Coutts: "Sean Fieler, the Little-Known ATM of the Fundamentalist Christian, Anti-Choice Movement."

This is what deciding money is "free speech" looks like. One guy with a lot of, um, speech can buy the institutional oppression of his fellow citizens.

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Shaker Gourmet: Cookbook Edition

Normally, Shaker Gourmet is a recipe-sharing thread, but I thought, for a change, we'd do a cookbook recommendation variation.

So: What is your favorite cookbook(s)? It doesn't at all have to be a published book, if your favorite "cookbook" is actually a recipe collection from your church/civil group/favorite charity that was compiled as a fundraiser, or a collection of notecards handed down from your grandmother.

Also: If you're seeking recommendations for a good cookbook on a specific type of dish, or cooking style (e.g. I have a cookbook that's exclusively recipes for a steamer), solicit away!

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Important Unicorn News

Do you love the animated children's classic The Last Unicorn? Did you watch your shitty VHS copy that you taped off of HBO so may times that you'd memorized virtually every line of dialogue, but not so many times that the Red Bull didn't still scare the everloving shit out of you every time he appeared? Does the sound of Jeff Bridges' voice still sometimes make you think of Prince Lír?

Well, maybe that's just me, but if you did love The Last Unicorn when you were a kid, and/or love it now, you might be interested to read about (and check the dates for) the screening tour, with special guest Peter S. Beagle, aka the guy who wrote the book on which it was based, and also wrote the screenplay for the movie.

Scrolling down the page, you'll also find some fun tidbits like this:


Anyway! If you love the movie, or if you've never seen it but would love to see it on the big screen, I hope a screening will be coming to a theater near you!

[H/T to Shaker RedSonja.]

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Stand Your Ground. Unless You're Black.

[Content Note: Guns; death; racism; death penalty.]

At 5:30 in the morning on May 9 of this year, four men attempted to come through the windows in Marvin Louis Guy's home in Killeen, Texas. Thinking he was protecting himself and his wife from intruders, Guy opened fire, killing one of the men and injuring the other three.

Despite the fact that Texas has a Stand Your Ground law, as well as a Castle Doctrine law that includes one's home, vehicle, and place of business or employment, Guy has been indicted by a grand jury, charged with one count of capital murder and three counts of attempted capital murder, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case.

Why? Because:

1. The men breaching Guy's home were officers with the Killeen Police Department's Tactical Response Unit and the Bell County Organized Crime Unit, who were attempting to serve a "no-knock" narcotics search warrant.

2. Guy is black.

One might believe that anyone who shot police officers entering their residence—even on a "no-knock" warrant, where police officers are not required to alert a resident to their presence or announce themselves as police officers—would be indicted, but let me introduce you to Henry Goedrich Magee, a white Texan who shot and killed an officer who entered his home on a no-knock marijuana raid, and who was not indicted by a grand jury.

Huh.

At the Free Thought Project, Cassandra Rules notes the marked difference between the photos of Magee and Guy used in the press:

On the left: The unindicted Magee. On the right: The indicted Guy.
I have said many, many, many, many, many times that Stand Your Ground laws are dangerous for marginalized people because they are not equally applied; because they are used to allow white men to kill marginalized people with impunity and to allow prosecutors to ignore the law to prosecute marginalized people who defend themselves. And I'm hardly the only person making that point, over and over and over.

This is the problem, right here: The same law that one grand jury used to justify a white man's killing of a police officer serving a "no-knock" warrant has been ignored by another grand jury to criminalized a black man's killing of a police officer serving a "no-knock" warrant.

Both men were equally justified under the law. But only one of them was indicted. Only one of them faces trial, and possibly the death penalty.

Meanwhile, two police officers are dead because we live in a country in which people have a right to kill someone trying to enter their homes, and in which police have a right to enter people's homes without knocking or identifying themselves. Does this combination not seem like a bad idea to anyone else?

[Sources: KHD News; The Free Thought Project; Black Youth Project. H/T to Shaker JS.]

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