[Content Note: There is a strobe-light effect in this video.]
Cutting Crew: "One for the Mockingbird"
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
Cutting Crew: "One for the Mockingbird"
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Misogyny; racism; appropriation; exploitation] An online collective of Black Women, AfroIndigenous Women, and women of color have written a statement about their social media strike in response to being treated as "unwaged labor in our little corner of the internet that feeds a movement." In the same space, you will also find individual personal statements, and I highly encourage you to check out the #ThisTweetCalledMyBack hashtag on Twitter.
[CN: Police brutality; racism] An update surrounding the death of John Crawford, the 22-year-old Ohio black man who was killed by police after another customer called 911 to report a man waving an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle at Walmart, though it was actually a BB/pellet rifle which is sold at the store: "Police aggressively questioned [Tasha Thomas, John Crawford's girlfriend]—accusing her of lying, threatening her with jail, and suggesting that she was high on drugs." Video shows police forcing Thomas to swear on her family's lives that Crawford "had not been carrying a firearm when they entered the Walmart in Beavercreek, near Dayton, to buy crackers, marshmallows and chocolate bars on the evening of 5 August. 'You lie to me and you might be on your way to jail,' detective Rodney Curd told Thomas, as she wept and repeatedly offered to take a lie-detector test. After more than an hour and a half of questioning and statement-taking, Curd finally told Thomas that Crawford, 22, had died. 'As a result of his actions, he is gone,' said the detective, as she slumped in her chair and cried." Fucking hell.
[CN: Police brutality; racism] Local (to me) activists rallied for racial justice this weekend, and one of the central points of their protest was jaywalking, which is really interesting not only because it's an important local issue at the juxtaposition of police harassment, racism, and classism, but also because of the history of jaywalking being used to redistribute ownership of the streets.
[CN: Transmisogynist violence; death] A US Marine has been charged with murdering a Filipina trans woman. And, naturally, the US military is being as resistant as possible, without causing a major international incident, to his being held accountable by a foreign government.
[CN: Gender essentialism] What in the shit is this? "The Vanishing Male Worker: How America Fell Behind." There is SO MUCH to unpack in this article, I hardly know where to begin, but this is really breaking my brain: "Men today may feel less pressure to find jobs because they are less likely than previous generations to be providing for others. Only 28 percent of men without jobs—compared with 58 percent of women—said a child under 18 lived with them. A study published in October by scholars at the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for Family Studies estimated that 37 percent of the decline in male employment since 1979 could be explained by this retreat from marriage and fatherhood." The AEI is, of course, a conservative think [sic] tank. But even provided their numbers are right, what the fuck does that even mean? Don't men still have to work to provide for themselves even if they're not providing for wives and children? How does not providing "for others" subvert the "pressure to find jobs"? I also find it interesting that if a man doesn't have "a child under 18" living with him, then that means no responsibility for providing for anyone else. Uh, okay. But the rest of the article is talking about young men who can't leave home because they can't find work (so aren't there lots of dads still supporting kids older than 18), and isn't the disparity in the number of unemployed women with kids under 18 and men without kids under 18 attributable to kids living with mom, which doesn't mean that dad doesn't pay child support? (Or should be paying it anyway?) This shit so glaringly questionable with even the most basic scrutiny that there's no way it belongs in an article in the New York Times, but there you go.
[CN: Homophobia] So, a bunch of homophobic dipshits who call themselves Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gay (PFOX), because homophobes are as uncreative as they are indecent, put up a billboard in Richmond, Virginia, featuring the image of twin white men and text reading: "Identical twins: One Gay. One Not. We believe twins research studies show NOBODY IS BORN GAY." Well, leaving aside the fact that if identical twins are nurtured in the same environment and only one is gay, that doesn't actually seem to suggest what they think it does (science is hard), it turns out their billboard models are actually just one dude, twice, who is not a twin and is also openly gay. Whoooooooops!
Senator Elizabeth Warren is still saying she's not running for president: "I am not running for president. You want me to put an exclamation point at the end?"
Meanwhile, here's a cool headline from HuffPo: "The Speech That Could Make Elizabeth Warren the Next President of the United States."
[CN: Animal endangerment] 44-year-old Angalifu the White Rhino died this weekend of old age at the San Diego Zoo. "Following his death, there are just five northern white rhinos left worldwide, all in captivity. ...Like other rhinoceros species, the northern white rhino population was decimated by poachers, who take and sell the animal's horns." And it's never just one thing: Human encroachments on the white rhinos' territory also contributed to their demise. So fucking sad.
This Saturday Night Live mash-up of The Hobbit and The Office (UK) is absolutely perfect.
And finally! A wee bulldog puppy shows the stairs who's boss. Aww lol!
Today in Rape Culture
[Content Note: Description of sexual violence at link; victim-blaming.]
My friend Jessica Luther (@scATX) has written a very difficult but very important piece about Molly Morris, a former student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, who was raped by a wrestler at the school and went through a harrowing experience with the university's system for addressing sexual assault on campus. It is one woman's story, but it is also emblematic of many of the problems, from rank victim-blaming to male campus institutions closing ranks to possible Title IX violations, faced by women who try to report their sexual assaults.
I urge you to read the whole thing, if you can.
Also: Because, as we have seen lately (and always), that articles about survivors of rape on college campuses (and everywhere) often become about the reporting process itself, I want to say something, with Jess' permission but not at her request, about what I saw of the process in writing this story.
Jess worked on this piece for almost three months. We talked about it a lot while she was working on it, and she was incredibly thoughtful about her approach and about gathering information. Most importantly: She never forgot that she was telling Molly's story. And she felt a huge responsibility to do that well, to be sensitive and considerate of what Molly needs first and foremost, to not reduce Molly to a symbol.
Before she ever spoke to Molly, she called me and asked me how she should interview a survivor, to avoid triggering her or coercing her or making her feel unsafe.
That is how you write about sexual assault. You center survivors; you do everything you can to make sure that the cost of telling their stories is not being harmed again.
I believe Molly Morris.
I trust Jessica Luther.
Standoff and Hostages at Sydney Cafe
[Content Note: Hostage-taking; terrorism; religious extremism.]
Yesterday, a presumed Muslim extremist carrying a black flag with white Arabic script took hostages at a popular Sydney cafe, and, although some hostages have escaped (or were released), the situation continues:
The assailant walked into the Lindt Chocolate Café, at the top of Sydney's Martin Place in the city center, at around 9:45 a.m., the police said, locking the door and capturing an unknown number of cafe workers and customers. The cafe is as much a regular coffee stop for local office workers as it is a tourist draw.This is obviously a horrible situation, which is eliciting the usual anti-Muslim rhetoric, and many non-Muslim Australians are already taking action, using the hashtag #illridewithyou, to try to make sure there are no violent reprisals against the nation's Muslim population, because of one person's (or one group's) actions.
Helicopters hovered over the city, the train network was temporarily stopped and strategic buildings — including the nearby Sydney Opera House, the New South Wales Parliament, the state library, law courts and the Reserve Bank — were evacuated or shut down. Traffic on part of Sydney's iconic Harbor Bridge was stopped.
Five people, including two cafe employees, had fled by 7 p.m., but it was not clear whether the assailant had allowed them to leave or they had escaped.
The police released very little information about the scene inside the cafe or the suspect's motives, though they were treating the siege as they would an act of terrorism.
...Soon after the siege began, a commercial television network, Channel Seven, which has a nearby studio, showed footage of people, one wearing the Lindt Café uniform, pressed against the cafe window, holding up the black flag with white script.
The message, though not entirely visible, appeared to be the shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith.
The New South Wales deputy police commissioner, Catherine Burn, said that the police had made contact with the armed person inside the cafe, and that they were working to resolve the standoff "peacefully."
"Nobody has been harmed or injured at the moment," she said. "We have been working through our negotiations to try to make sure that people inside" have "what they need so that they don't become ill or injured."
Instead Australian Twitter users offered to accompany Muslims wearing religious clothes on public transport as a gesture of solidarity under the hashtag #illridewithyou.Australia's 9 News has live coverage of the hostage situation here. My thoughts are with you, Australia.
The campaign started with a tweet from @sirtessa, a TV content editor and writer from Sydney whose real name is Tessa Kum. "If you reg take #373 bus b/w Cogee/Martin Pl, wear religious attire, & don't feel safe alone: I'll ride with you. @ me for schedule," she wrote.
Kum told BuzzFeed News that "her heart broke" after reading a story tweeted by Rachael Jacobs as news of the hostage siege broke.
Jacobs had tweeted that "....and the (presumably) Muslim woman sitting next to me on the train silently removes her hijab ... I ran after her at the train station. I said 'put it back on. I'll walk with u'. She started to cry and hugged me for about a minute - then walked off alone."
Kum added: "It is hard to feel hope when you feel helpless. #illwalkwithyou is a small act, but might be important for someone one day ... For those of us watching; we live in this world. We aren't bystanders. We aren't helpless."
UPDATE: Police have entered the site, and there have been reports of gunfire. Several people have been taken from the scene on stretchers.
UPDATE 2: Reports are that the hostage-taker has been identified. I will withhold publishing the name until it is confirmed by officials. However, if he is indeed who he is currently believed to be, he has been charged with being an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife as well as more than 50 allegations of sexual assault.
UPDATE 3: Police have confirmed the assailants' name to the Guardian, and said there's no reason not to release it. His name is Man Haron Monis, and he has a history of violence.
UPDATE 4: Australian police have confirmed that the assailant is dead, along with two of his hostages. "New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said that the decision to enter the premises came after they heard gunshots coming from inside. Scipione also confirmed that, in total, Monis had been holding 17 people hostage, though up to 12 of those individuals had been able to get out of the store before police began their assault. Scipione and New South Wales Premier Mike Baird said that Monis was a 'lone gunman' and no explosives had been found in the area surrounding the Lindt Chocolat Cafe."
Open Thread
Hosted by a book sculpture of a unicorn.
This week's Open Threads have been brought to you by book sculptures.
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
On Silencing Survivors with "Get Over It"
[Content Note: Rape culture; bullying.]
"Get over it."
That's what survivors of sexual assault who do anti-rape advocacy are routinely told. Over the past few weeks, I have been told to get over it, and I have seen other women who identify as survivors told to get over it.
Sometimes, we are offered this variation: "Get over yourself."
The clear implication is that our pain is not special—and no one knows better that our pain is not special than a survivor of sexual assault who does work with other survivors. The fact that our pain is heartbreakingly common is why most of us do the work that we do.
The other clear implication is that we don't matter. We know this, too. We know we don't matter to rape apologists and privileged power brokers and defenders of the status quo. But we matter to one another. One objective of speaking out is certainly to educate and change minds, but perhaps its most valuable achievement is validating each other's experiences; communicating to each other that we are not alone.
Particularly when someone who is doing anti-rape advocacy discloses being a survivor, "Get over it" also serves to imply that our objections are inextricably linked to having been raped ourselves, and thus we are being told to get over being raped.
I don't think anyone ever "gets over" being raped. The best we humans do with any traumatic event is find a way to process our feelings about it, and integrate into our lives moving forward whatever changes with which trauma leaves us.
Getting over it, in the way it is used by rape apologists and silencing bullies of various stripes, is really an exhortation to pretend it never happened. To stop having and expressing feelings about rape. Which is about other people's comfort, not about a survivor's needs.
"Get over it" means shut the fuck up, already.
"Get over it" means stop publicly reacting to sex abuse and rape culture. Don't acknowledge it. Don't process your feelings about it. Don't say out loud, definitely not out loud, that it's wrong. That makes people uncomfortable.
Better that I alone, that any survivor alone, should be uncomfortable instead.
Of course, that discomfort is naturally my fault. For my persistent refusal to "get over it."
Embedded in the admonishment to "get over it" is the implication—an accusation—that there's something wrong with me if I fail to "get over it." That this is something I should be able to do.
It is a thing said, an accusation made, by people who do not understand what they are suggesting.
Ignore all of the psychological and physical trauma of surviving rape, including the post-traumatic stress disorder with which I have lived now for far longer than I was allowed to live without it—a mental health issue that I can manage, but can not "get over."
Ignore that I never saw anything resembling justice.
Ignore that it caused deep faults in relationships with people who are important to me.
Ignore the rape threats I get. The people who tell me no one wants to rape me because I'm so ugly. The people who tell me who I should be raped because I am so ugly.
Ignore everything that is evocative of rape: The other survivors I know and love, who sometimes need to talk about what they survived; journalists who contact me to talk about rape; rape plots in movies and TV shows I watch, often that I'm entirely not expecting; rape jokes just fucking everywhere; rape casually used to mean beating someone at a video game or being charged an exorbitant ATM fee; the news; the warm regard for celebrity rapists; advertisements that use rape-related imagery; viral videos of pranks the alleged humor of which centers on sexualized breaches of consent; all the narratives, the imagery, the idioms, the punchlines, and every other piece of detritus that facilitates the rape culture; the store where he worked; the musician on the t-shirt he was wearing; the smell of gin; the music that was playing when it happened.
Ignore all of these things, and all of the things I haven't put into words.
Tell me, I say to the person urging me to just "get over it." What would it take for you to "get over" something of which you stand to be reminded virtually every moment of your every day?
I don't think about any one moment of my past, not even the worst ones, all the time. There are long stretches were I don't consciously think about this thing that was done to me at all.
I think that's true for lots of survivors. It's always there, but it's not always present.
My point is not that every single reference to rape is triggering for me, either significantly or even mildly. My point is that being a survivor who moves through the world without encountering some aspect of the rape culture is truly impossible. There are potential triggers everywhere. That reality can make "getting over it" difficult.
If people uttering these foolish words were actually interested in survivors' ability to heal, they would understand this. They would be just as passionate about challenging the rape culture as we are. To reduce triggers for survivors; to meaningfully address a culture that abets rapists in creating more survivors.
But they aren't interested in that. Because "get over it" just means "shut the fuck up."
No. I will not.
And if you are a person reading this, and already prepping your derisive snort about how people so sensitive even exist in the world, I will tell you this: The truth is, for some survivors, existing in this world is actually very difficult.
If you are someone who has survived abuse, or neglect, or poverty, or illness, or systemic oppression, or any one or more of the number of things that can leave someone with lingering consequences of trauma, but you've managed to survive without any triggers, or you've managed to find the resources and support and safety and space you needed to move beyond them, then good for you. You are very lucky.
I am very lucky. I am still occasionally triggered, but nothing like I was 20 years ago, when I was felt like a raw nerve walking through the world every day. Part of that was my determination to process what had happened to me, and part of it was the hard work of doing that processing, and part of it was the sheer stupid luck of having the resources and support and safety and space I have needed, which sometimes just meant having a friend in the right place at the right time.
What if I'd not had this friend or that friend in the right place at the right time? During a rough month, or a single terrible afternoon? I dunno.
All I know is that if nothing ever happened to you that was bad enough to leave you traumatized, lucky you. And if something bad happened but you have survived it and/or processed it trigger-free, lucky you. And anyone who didn't isn't weak or damaged or oversensitive or too goddamn fragile for the world. They're unlucky.
If you understand why telling people without boots to pull up their bootstraps is indecent garbage, then it shouldn't be too difficult for you to understand why sneering at someone with triggers "I got over it" is indecent garbage, too.
I will never get over that sexual abuse is something that happens to anyone, anywhere, ever. That includes my own past.
You are free to not give a shit about what happened to me, but don't ask me to agree.
Daily Dose of Cute
"Now we'll both look the same way!"
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
The Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by almonds.
Recommended Reading:
Suzanne: [Content Note: Domestic violence] For Women, the Greatest Threat of Violence Is at Home
Guttmacher: Use of Highly Effective Contraceptives in the U.S. Continues to Rise, with Likely Implications for Declines in Unintended Pregnancy and Abortion
Miriam: Meet the 24-Year-Old Filipina-American Who Raised $650K on Kickstarter
Nicole: The Importance of Self-Care
Dominic: [CN: Racism] Lessons Learned While Working to Build Black Tech Community
Ragen: [CN: Fat hatred] Thin Is NOT the X Factor
Veronica: RIP Judy Baar Topinka
Leave your links in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
Queen: "Don't Stop Me Now"
This week's TMNS have been brought to you by Freddie Mercury.
NY Governor Cuomo Says Insurers Must Cover Trans* Healthcare
[Content Note: Transphobia; class warfare.]
This is good news (with caveats): Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has told insurance companies "that they will no longer be allowed to deny gender reassignment surgery or other treatment to change a person's gender, like hormone therapy, if a doctor has deemed that treatment medically necessary."
In a letter being sent to insurance companies this week, the governor said that because state law requires insurance coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders, people who are found to have a mismatch between their birth sex and their internal sense of gender are entitled to insurance coverage for treatments related to that condition, called gender dysphoria.And now the caveats: Because access to healthcare in the US is still primarily through insurance, and because access to insurance in the US is still primarily through employers, and typically only to full-time employees, and because trans* people still face a lot of employment discrimination and disproportionate levels of poverty, and because of a critical shortage of doctors with expertise in treating trans* patients, it's not a simple thing for many trans* people to get access to a doctor who will say their treatment is medically necessary.
"An issuer of a policy that includes coverage for mental health conditions may not exclude coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of gender dysphoria," the governor's letter says.
...The rule makes New York the ninth state to require the coverage, the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, an advocacy group, said on Wednesday. The others are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, according to the group. Washington, D.C., also mandates it.
The group said that most insurance policies currently exclude coverage for transgender treatment, and at best include it as a more expensive rider to a standard plan.
"This is an absolute sea change in the way that insurance for transgender people will cover their health care needs," Michael Silverman, executive director of the fund, said. "This essentially opens up an entire world of treatment for transgender people that was closed to them previously."
Even a trans* person with health insurance and access to a doctor who is versed in trans* care and willing to stipulate gender/sex reassignment surgery is a medical necessity might find that, because so few doctors perform GRS/SRS (or even hormone therapy), they don't have any in-network coverage anyway.
In the best case scenario, you still have to have insurance; doctors are still acting as gatekeepers; and the trans* community is still colossally underserved by the medical community—and how underserved is hugely dependent on where you live, what your state's guidelines are, and how close you live to knowledgeable medical practitioners who abide those guidelines.
Guidelines which, by the way, don't standardize what's "medically necessary." Most (or all) insurance plans refuse to cover facial hair removal for trans women, for example. So a doctor can agree that it's medically necessary for a trans patient's health and well-being, but that can't force insurance companies to cover it.
So, this is very good progress, and is still wholly insufficient.
Two other quick things: Note that this guideline is still predicated on a mental health diagnosis of gender dysphoria. (Which itself is a whole other post.) That means that trans* patients still have to get access to a mental healthcare provider with trans* expertise as well as a physician with trans* expertise.
Also: I'm wondering how much the focus on "sex changes" will undermine trans* activism around dismantling the binary and/or not having to have GRS/SRS in order to make changes to official documents, access gender-specific resources and venues, etc. Giving people access to surgical options should not mean that people are required to have surgery. But, to many cis gatekeepers with rudimentary understandings of trans* diversity, access often translates into expectation. Clearly the objective is to create more options, not fewer.
[My thanks to Eastsidekate for contributing her thoughts to this piece.]
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Abuse grooming; drugging] Beverly Johnson tells her story about being drugged by Bill Cosby. Johnson escaped without being assaulted, but her account of how he groomed her and developed her trust before drugging her is incredibly upsetting to read. It's definitely worth your time, if you can, because of the calculations she describes having to make around her decision to tell her story.
[CN: Extreme weather; video may autoplay at first link] California is getting hammered by a terrible storm, which has left people without power, caused mudslides, and shut down airports. How's everyone doing on the West Coast?
[CN: Police brutality] This is promising: "This week as all eyes were on budget deal wrangling, with little attention and fanfare, Congress actually got something done to reform the police. It passed a bill that could result in complete, national data on police shootings and other deaths in law enforcement custody. ...Under the bill awaiting Obama's signature, states receiving federal funds would be required to report every quarter on deaths in law enforcement custody. This includes not just those who are killed by police during a stop, arrest, or other interaction. It also includes those who die in jail or prison. And it requires details about these shootings including gender, race, as well as at least some circumstances surrounding the death."
[CN: Homophobia] A federal judge has refused to lift his stay on same-sex marriages in Texas. "The decision from Judge Orlando L. Garcia means same-sex marriages won't be allowed pending an appeal of the decision to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court." Just fuck.
Something something Mitt Romney 2016. Least worst 4eva!
Something something Mike Pence 2016. Nope. No. Absolutely not. No no no. Nein. Nyet. Nuh-uh.
Neat! "Star Wars: The Force Awakens character names revealed in coolest way possible."
Hey, watchers of the heavens: "One of the best meteor showers of the year is coming this weekend: This Saturday and Sunday night, head outside to see one of the year's best meteor showers: the Geminids. ...The shower will peak early Saturday morning, but experts say that both nights should feature a good number of meteors — somewhere around 50 to 60 per hour." Cool.
Oooooh: "Mysterious X-Ray Signal Could Reveal Dark Matter: Astronomers may finally have detected a signal of dark matter, the mysterious and elusive stuff thought to make up most of the material universe. While poring over data collected by the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton spacecraft, a team of researchers spotted an odd spike in X-ray emissions coming from two different celestial objects—the Andromeda galaxy and the Perseus galaxy cluster. The signal corresponds to no known particle or atom and thus may have been produced by dark matter, researchers said."
And finally! This dog is so happy to have been rescued that she can't stop dancing! Awww.
All Dogs Do Go to Heaven
[Content Note: Anti-atheism.]
Everybody's favorite Pope, Pope Francis, has said that dogs can go to heaven:
Trying to console a distraught little boy whose dog had died, Francis told him in a recent public appearance on St. Peter's Square, "Paradise is open to all of God's creatures." While it is unclear whether the pope's remarks helped soothe the child, they were welcomed by groups like the Humane Society and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who saw them as a repudiation of conservative Roman Catholic theology that says animals cannot go to heaven because they have no souls.Paradise is open to all creatures. Except atheists. Obviously. We're still definitely going straight to hell!
...The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and editor at large of America, the Catholic magazine, said he believed that Francis was at least asserting that "God loves and Christ redeems all of creation," even though conservative theologians have said paradise is not for animals.
"He said paradise is open to all creatures," Father Martin said. "That sounds pretty clear to me."
Spending Bill Passes House
Well, after a tense afternoon, the House narrowly passed a $1.1. trillion spending package which will keep the government out of shutdown until September of next year: "The accord was reached just hours before the midnight deadline, in a 219-206 vote... The legislation now heads to the Senate, which is expected to pass it in the coming days."
The bill passed, despite strong opposition from a coalition of Democrats, led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and House Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters, and supported by Senator Elizabeth Warren:
The split in the Democratic Party dramatically burst into view when Representative Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader and one of President Obama's most loyal supporters, broke with the administration over a provision in the bill that would roll back regulation of the Dodd-Frank Act, which Ms. Pelosi said was a giveaway to big banks whose practices helped fuel the Great Recession. She spoke on the House floor in the early afternoon, expressing her strong opposition to the bill.In response, President Obama and Vice-President Biden made "a furious round of phone calls to try to persuade wavering Democrats." And Rep. Waters reports that JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was making calls to lawmakers last night, telling them to support the bill.
"I think [our opposition] got hurt when Jamie Dimon and the president started to whip," Waters told reporters after the vote. "That's when I think we lost some votes."That's a very polite way of putting it. An odd combination. The President and the CEO of JPMorgan Chase whipping votes together, for a bill that progressives worry will give outsize influence to banks. Welp.
...Waters and progressives opposed the budget due to changes to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Law that were supported by Dimon and other big banks.
"What does it say? It just seems very odd," Waters said. "It is just very strange that the two of them would be working for the support of this bill."
When asked if she thought that Obama had sold out to Wall Street, Waters replied: "That's not for me to determine. I know that the president was whipping. I know that Jamie Dimon was whipping and calling directly into members' offices. And that's odd. That's an odd combination."
The good news is that government workers will continue to get their paychecks, and that is no small thing. The bad news is that the threat of shutdown has been used, again, to usher in legislation that is not in the best interests of the people who most need those paychecks. Or anyone else in the 99%.
It's up to the Senate now. But the President wants it, and he's almost certainly going to get it. Happy Holidays, Jamie Dimon. Hope you like your shiny new present.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Brenda A.: "What TV show or movie will you always stop to watch?"
Dirty Dancing.
[Got a suggestion for a QotD? Leave it here!]
Smiley Faces
Kaelin Tully at Buzzfeed: "31 Animal Smiles from 2014 That Will Make You Too Happy." Yes, I know it's clickbait but I DON'T CARE. Just look at those happy faces!
Let's all just use this thread to post pictures of our pets smiling, because who can't use AS MANY ADORABLE PICTURES OF SMILEY ANIMALS AS POSSIBLE?
Below, my favorite smiley pictures of each of the furry residents of Shakes Manor, in ascending age order:
Zelda: "I dream of treats."
Dudley: "Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese!"
Sophie: "Oh, yeah. That's the spot."
Olivia: "Life is amazing."
Matilda: "Tony."
The Spending Bill
Leadership in both parties are scrambling to try to get their members in line behind a spending bill hours ahead of the midnight deadline at which time the government will head for another shutdown:
House Republican leaders are skating on thin ice with the government funding bill, facing stiff opposition from the left and the right that threatens passage just hours before a midnight deadline to avert a shutdown.I love the New York Times' lede on their coverage: "The 113th Congress—one of the least productive on record—found itself scrambling Thursday to pass a $1.1 trillion spending bill amid last-minute brinkmanship and bickering that has come to mark one of the capital's most polarized eras."
...Republicans long expected some opposition from their right flank due to the fact that the $1.1 trillion spending bill doesn't block President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration. What has thrown the plan into chaos is that numerous House Democrats are defecting over extraneous policy provisions that would weaken derivative trading rules on big banks and loosen campaign finance laws. The bill likely will need significant Democratic support to pass.
The Democratic opposition is being led by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (MD) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA), who call the bank provision a giveaway to Wall Street.
...The White House came out for the bill after it cleared a test vote in the House by a narrow 214-212 margin earlier on Thursday. It said it objects to the weakening of Wall Street reform but signaled Obama would sign the bill anyway.
A fallback plan Republican leaders are considering is to pass a short-term spending bill for two or three months to maintain the status quo and kick the task to the next Congress.
"Brinkmanship and bickering." What Senator Warren and her progressive allies are doing is ostensibly exactly what we elect our Congressional representatives to do. Warren is objecting to a provision that she believes would change the Dodd-Frank financial reform law in a way that allows "Wall Street gamble with taxpayer money," potentially causing a repeat of the 2008 catastrophic financial disaster.
The Democratic detractors are siding with the people instead of the banks.
Which is only partisan in the sense that most of our elected representatives, whether they've got an R or a D behind their names, are one giant party for the corporations, and Warren et. al. are attempting to be a party for We the People.
But it's fun to pretend it's just a bunch of pointless partisan posturing, I guess.
(It is not fun.)
