Suggested by Shaker BigDots: "What are some traits that you prefer/admire/desire in bosses or supervisors? (I'm asking because I have a lousy supervisor but have a hard time articulating what exactly I dislike!)"
One of the things I always valued the most when I was working for someone else was a boss who trusted me. Who didn't feel obliged to hang over me all the time. That seems to embody lots of other related traits I valued: Not micromanaging, empowering me, treating me like I am intelligent and responsible, not getting totally bent out of shape if I needed to leave early or come in late, because they knew I'd get the job done, etc.
A boss who trusts their workers goes a hell of a long way with me.
Question of the Day
Of Course
The now Republican-controlled Senate, with help from nine Democrats, has passed the Keystone XL oil pipeline bill, despite the fact that President Obama has pledged to veto it:
Senators voted 62-36 on the bill to bypass the Obama administration's review of Keystone, five short of the number needed to overturn a potential rejection by the president. All Republicans present voted for the bill as did nine Democrats.Which is not quite accurate. Keystone would pump billions (?) of dollars into the pockets of TransCanada Corp., and would create fewer than 40 permanent jobs, according to a State Department report.
Approving Keystone has been the top priority of Republicans in the new Congress after they won control of the Senate in November.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Keystone would be good for the middle class and "pump billions" of dollars into the economy.
Way to get things done, Republicans. As usual.
What Is This
[Content Note: Police misconduct; police brutality; racism; misogyny.]
A couple of videos, care of @elonjames:
1. San Francisco Public Defender Jami Tillotson, a thin middle-aged white woman, is arrested at the San Francisco Hall of Justice on Tuesday, January 27, 2015 by officers of the San Francisco Police Department, after she tells them not to unlawfully take pictures of two young black men.
Video Description: Two young black men are standing against a wall inside a municipal building. Tillotson stands between them; as far as I can tell, she represents one of them but not the other. Offscreen, the police inspector, a white man, says: "I just want to take some pictures, okay. Then he will be free to go." He steps into the frame and raises a camera. Tillotson moves to block the young man. "No, he's—" she starts. "Counsel," the inspector interrupts. She begins to explain she doesn't represent him, and the inspector asks to speak to her for a minute. He tries to move her away, but she stays in place, in between the two men, and the inspector moves back, blocking the camera with his back. "Look," he tells her, "you can either step aside, let us take pictures, two minutes, or we can make this—" She tells him: "We're okay here. We don't need pictures taken, thank you." The inspector then tells her, "If you continue with this, I'll arrest you for resisting arrest." She smiles at him and says, "Please do." So they fucking arrest her. He instructs her to put her hands behind her back, and she is handcuffed, and she is turned over to uniformed officers. Tillotson says she's still representing her client, who stands by, not knowing what to do. "There is no 148," she says. "I am not resisting arrest. There is no 148." They lead her away, and the police inspector proceeds to take pictures of the two young men.
2. Seattle Police Officer Cynthia Whitlatch, a white woman, is recorded by her dash cam arresting William Wingate, an elderly black man, for using a golf club as a walking stick:
Video Description (starting at 1:45): Whitlatch pulls up in her vehicle alongside a curb where Wingate is standing, minding his own business. "Can you put that down, please?" she tells him. "What?" he says. "Your golf club," she says. "What about my golf club?" he asks. "Can you please set it down?" she instructs him. "What's going on?" he asks. "Set it down, please," she tells him. "I don't know what's going on," he says, clearly and understandably confused. "PUT IT DOWN!" she shouts. "It's MY golf club," he replies. "I'm not gonna take it from you, but it's a weapon. Set it down," she says. "I've had this golf club for 20 years," he exclaims. "I'm not gonna ask you again; set it down," she says. He tells her he's been using the golf club as a walking stick for 20 years, and she tells him he's being recorded, and he says call somebody, and she says she is calling somebody, and then she ACCUSES HIM OF HAVING SWUNG IT AT HER WHEN HE HAS DONE NO SUCH THING AT ALL. Naturally, Wingate vehemently denies that, and he says he wants a witness. Whitlatch continues to scream at him to put down the club, as Wingate tries to talk to a passer-by about what's happening. She tells him he's not free to leave. "If you do not put the golf club down, you will be subject to arrest for obstruction!" Wingate tries to leave, and Whitlatch rushes around the car to grab him. Another officer, a white man, arrives, and they tell him to put his hands on the car. She then alleges he swung the club at her at another location, which Wingate denies. (AND WHO FUCKING CARES IF HE DID WAVE A GOLF CLUB IN THE AIR AT A PASSING COP CAR JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.) Whitlatch and the other officer arrest Wingate.
3. Seattle Police Officers randomly spray pepper spray at people, including high school history teacher Jesse Hagopian, peacefully leaving a rally on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day:
A white female uniformed officer, flanked by other officers, is screaming at a quietly dispersing crowd of people to "GET BACK!" Without warning, she sprays a huge canister of pepper spray, hitting Hagopian, a black man who is walking by talking on his phone, right in the face. "Seattle Police Department!" she screams, as she continues to spray. "GET BACK!"
I don't even know, y'all. You know, maybe if the police want people to stop accusing them of being totally out of control, they should stop acting totally out of fucking control. Because, yeah, not all cops, but enough of them to be a major goddamn problem.
Ain't Afraid of Ghosts. Terrified of Women.
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
All credit to @Doubting_Tom for the headline of this piece.
There has been a predictable and tiresome backlash ever since Paul Feig announced the cast of the all-female Ghostbusters remake. You know, the one we've been talking about for months, but apparently just wasn't real to shitlord misogynists until it was cast. Or something.
Anyway.
Among the mountainous trash heap of nightmare reactions from ideological dinosaurs, this was my absolute favorite bit of contemptible detritus:
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL alllllllllll the mirthless laughter in the multiverse!!!
I mean, where to even begin with this shit?
First of all, this isn't even a remake of the original. Even if it were, it wouldn't mean that the original would cease to exist, for fuck's sake, but that's not even what's happening. Your precious childhood memories will not be DESTROYED BY ESTROGEN.
Secondly: Yeah, it's about women.
Third: Yeah, it's about misogyny.
Finally: Guess what, garbagebrains? Ghostbusters was part of my childhood, too! I know it's tough to remember that women exist and have lives independent from being your fuckholes, but it turns out that lots of women, many of whom are feminists, watched and loved Ghostbusters when we were kids, too.
You don't own nerd culture.
I have said it regarding video games and regarding comics, and now I will say it regarding films: It is truly pathetic that people who love a medium which can imagine the future, conjure the past, and create new worlds and their inhabitants to indulge the wildest of imaginations, can be so aggressively unimainative when it comes to human women.
If you are a person who can get on board with paranormal activity and proton packs and Gozer the Gozerian, but can't get on board with women playing Ghostbusters, you should be deeply embarrassed.
Stop making memes, get off the internet, and reexamine your fucking life.
Daily Dose of Cute
I'm basically just a chaise lounge for the tiniest cat in the world.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Environmental harm.]
"It's hard to deny that in certain geographic locations with certain geologic circumstances, we've had some problems with some wastewater wells [but] to make a blanket assertion that wastewater wells are always the cause, I don't know that I can agree with that."—A.J. Ferate, vice president of regulatory affairs for the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association, acknowledging, sure, the oil and gas industry's "deep wastewater disposal wells that have been linked to a dramatic increase in seismic activity across the central United States," including nearly daily quakes in parts of Oklahoma, cause a few quakes here and there, but, come on, they're not causing all the quakes. Probably. Geez.
Runner-up quote, from the same story, care of Glen Brown, a Continental Resources geologist: "There's a hysteria that needs to be brought back to reality that these [quakes] are light and will not cause any harm."
Around 11 p.m. on Nov. 5, 2011, a magnitude 5.6 quake — the biggest in state history — hit the small town of Prague, east of Oklahoma City. Sandra Ladra, a business manager for a state job training center, was sitting in a recliner watching television when the quake toppled her two-story stone fireplace. Big rocks rained down on her legs, gashing her knees.What a hysteric.
"I nearly went into shock," said Ladra, 63. "You just really don't think you're going to live through it."
[H/T to Jamison Foser.]
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
[Content Note: There is a strobe-light effect in this video.]
Kool & the Gang: "Celebration"
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
Let's begin with what is, of course, the most important news item of the day:
The more you know. Insert your favorite fishmonger jokes here.
* * *
Yesterday, Newsweek debuted a cover image for a story on sexism in tech that has been criticized by a lot of women (and men). I'm not going to link to it or repost the image, because fuck them for choosing a cover likely to piss off feminist-minded people to get those people talking about their shitty rag, instead of writing content worth talking about.
* * *
[Content Note: Explosion; death; video may autoplay at link] A natural gas explosion at a maternity hospital on the outskirts of Mexico City killed at least seven people and injured dozens more. Rescue teams are rushing to try to find and extract survivors who are trapped before the building collapses. So, so awful.
[CN: Racism; misogyny; police brutality; image of injury at link] A 21-year-old black woman named London Colvin was detained by police after a fight broke out at a party she was attending. She knew nothing about and was not involved in the fight, but was "being loud," so police detained her, for disorderly conduct. Norfolk Police spokesman Daniel Hudson "claims that Colvin became combative while being placed in custody. 'There was an officer that was attempting to place the woman in custody for disorderly conduct. When [the officer] tried to place her in custody, she became combative against the officer. Another officer attempted to restrain her, but again, there were multiple people around, so the canine officer deployed the dog to restrain the woman so nobody would get hurt,' stated Hudson." Deployed the dog. While being held down by police, the police dog attacked Colvin and left her with horrendous injuries on her leg. So much for nobody getting hurt. What the absolute fuck.
[CN: Transmisogynoir; violence; death] Three black trans women have been murdered already this year in the US. Where is the mainstream media coverage of these hate crimes? Where are the mainstream LGBT orgs?
[CN: Transmisogyny] Shut the fuck up, Germaine Greer.
[CN: Extreme weather] How's everyone doing in Boston after the storm? And before the next storm hits? Are you doing okay?
[CN: Airline disaster] "Malaysia's government formally declared still-missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 an accident on Thursday and said all those on board were presumed dead, paving the way for compensation claims but angering victims' families still waiting for evidence of the plane's fate. ...The declaration will help facilitate financial claims by families, and Malaysia Airlines is ready to proceed with the compensation process, [civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman] said."
I don't even know what is going on with Jupiter Ascending. I love the Wachowskis, but even I have to admit this looks like a pile of crap.
And finally! Why wet dogs smell like wet dogs. With cute doggeh pictures, natch!
Important Clown Car Nooz
Of course they're unfazed by Hillary Clinton. Why should they be fazed by Hillary Clinton when they're not fazed by the imminent global catastrophe of unchecked climate change, or the prospect of running a government when they hate government, or the gruesome realities of the nightmare disaster that is their economic policy, or the heinous consequences of the garbage typhoon that is their foreign policy?
To be fazed requires thoughtful contemplation. That ain't part of the Republican playbook.
I mean, just look at the picture of Clinton. She's got her hand on her chin and her lips pursed and her head tilted, AS IF IN THOUGHT. Hahaha what a jerk, amirite?! Thinking. Snort.
WE AREN'T FAZED BY YOUR THINKING, HILLARY CLINTON!
I Write Letters
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
Dear Dudes:
You're not entitled to women's affection.
I know that's not what the Patriarchy tells you, and I know it's definitely not what MRA and PUA and other antifeminist men's movements tell you. But the voices and narratives from those places are lying.
You are not entitled to women's affection. Nor our attention, nor our bodies.
If that makes you hate and resent women, well, here's the thing: We notice that. Women are eminently capable of detecting men who do not like women. Who think that we are objects to be owned or consumed or fucked, but not individual human beings to be liked and loved.
You are not entitled to be liked by anyone, and especially by someone whom you will never like back.
Putting us on a pedestal is just as dehumanizing as treating us like worthless garbage. And women are keenly aware that men who put us on pedestals will flip like a lightswitch at the first sign of "imperfection" (i.e. humanity) and treat us like worthless garbage.
You are not entitled to be regarded as someone who likes and respects women if you put some of us on pedestals.
It's easier to put someone on a pedestal than it is to love someone wholly, in a very human way, which means loving them warts and all. But pedestals aren't safe, not for the people balancing precariously atop them. If you want a woman to like you, try offering her a chair.
The reality is this: If you fancy yourself a "Nice Guy," but you have the bitter taste of resentment in your mouth because you still can't find a woman to date you, stop blaming that on women and feminism and a culture that supports women's independence and all the other shit you are so certain is what's preventing you from owning the beautiful woman to which you're sure you're entitled.
If you want someone to want to date you, then make yourself a person someone would want to date.
In case it's escaped you: There aren't a lot of women looking to date a seething flesh-sack of hostile contempt for women.
Try liking women. See if your fortunes don't improve.
Best regards,
Liss
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Kathy_A: "Do you like chatting with strangers? If so, what was your favorite conversation with one? ('No, I really don't like talking to people I don't know' is a perfectly cromulent response.)"
When I am in the right mood and or situation (spontaneous small talk vs. compelled small talk), and the stranger is someone who is not being totally inappropriate in some way, e.g. telling me to smile or asking me about my reproductive choices, I love chatting with strangers!
Always a favorite topic: Pets. I love hearing about people's pets, and I will happily stand and look at pictures of pets on mobile phones while I hear stories about what makes them the BEST PETS EVER all day.
Rapists Lie
[Content Note: Rape culture.]
You know how I keep banging on about how rapists are also liars? Yeah, well: "Rapists use social media to cover their tracks, police warned."
Rapists are increasingly exploiting social media to cover their tracks and mislead investigators, a joint conference by police and prosecutors on rape was told on Wednesday .Note that this, too, is evidence of the projection that underwrites narratives used to discredit survivors: We are all familiar with the trope of the woman who "changes her mind" or "feels guilty" after a consensual sexual encounter so (inexplicably) decides to accuse a man of rape.
At the police and the Crown Prosecution Service’s first joint initiative on rape, prosecutors said they had established an emerging pattern of behaviour where rapists constructed "false narratives" after the crime. One technique described involved rapists contacting victims the next day, sometimes by text or social media, thanking them for a sexual encounter. Defendants can try to rely on such messages should there be a trial.
Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, told the event of the potential for social media to be used to "set up the scene" and warned that false messages could be used to set up a defence.
The reality is that it is rapists who will try anything they can to rewrite what really happened.
This Is What Dehumanization Looks Like
[Content Note: Racism; silencing; dehumanization.]
I don't know shit about sports, and I don't follow sports. What falls onto my radar about sports tends to be athletes doing cool things, athletes doing terrible things, and athletes who have said something controversial.
I don't pay a lot of attention to all the rest of it—which teams are vying for whatever title, deflated ball scandals, etc.
Which is, perhaps, why the juxtaposition of two of the most recent sports stories that have penetrated my awareness in more than the most peripheral way is so stark.
Last month: LeBron James and other NBA players wearing "I Can't Breathe" shirts [video may autoplay at link], for which they were scolded by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for not adhering to "on-court attire rules," though they were ultimately not fined.
This month: Marshawn Lynch has been fined and threatened by the NFL for not participating in press conferences on command.
People who care about the human beings who play professional sports, especially the people of color who play professional sports, have long written about the exploitation of athletes—the way they are used and abused and thrown away, the way their long-term health is devastatingly compromised for short-term performance, the way opportunistic money managers take advantage of them and often straight-up steal from them.
The way they are treated like owned property, rather than people—which is further complicated by the racial disparities among the players of the biggest money-making sports (basketball, football, and baseball) and among the coaches and owners.
And here, in the juxtaposition of these two stories, we see keenly how this sense of ownership plays out: Players are coerced to speak on demand, and punished if they don't, and they are silenced if the words they speak are not what the team owners and league administrators want them to say.
Naturally, I am meant to understand, as legions of fans are eager to 'splain at me, that players sign contracts promising to abide certain rules and guarantee some level of media participation.
But maybe those contracts are garbage. Employment contracts that dehumanize people are not good contracts—whether they are for work that pays minimum wage or work that pays millions of dollars a year.
And let us be clear: Asserting the right of control over an employee's speech, over when zie talks and what zie says, is dehumanizing in the most literal sense. It asks a person, a player, to set aside parts of hir humanity in deference to a brand.
All of which is a red herring, anyway: No one was fining white NFL prayer-posturer Tim Tebow for public demonstrations of his Christianity—which, in a nation whose politics are so inextricably tied to religion, is as sure a political statement as "I Can't Breathe."
If Tim Tebow is allowed to use his playing field to petition for his life in the hereafter, surely LeBron James should be allowed to use his to petition for his life in the here and now.
Sometimes I hear people talking about how professional athletes in the Big Sports are wildly overpaid. They do make a hell of a lot of money, and it's certainly tempting to fault athletes with multimillion dollar contracts for making such exorbitant sums while many public school teachers are scraping to get by.
But it isn't athletes' fault that our cultural priorities are fucked up. And, frankly, when I think about all that money they make, I think it still ain't enough to be treated like the wholly owned property of rich white men who don't give a fuck about their humanity, beyond what their human bodies can do to entertain the rest of us.
Finish This Sentence
The last thing I bought for myself that made me sooooo happy was...
...a meat tenderizer.
Such a cheap, simple thing, which I'd just neglected to buy for years. And now I don't have to tenderize meat with whatever's in reach—the rolling pin, the bottom of my large canister of pepper, etc.
Your answer can be anything: Something you needed, something utterly and delightfully frivolous, something you wanted, something simple, something extravagant, whatever!
Daily Dose of Cute
Dudley, napping last night after a hard day of sleeping.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
The Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by fairy lights.
Recommended Reading:
Adolfo: [Content Note: Police brutality; racism] Latina Teen Shot and Killed by Denver Cops Leads to Questions, Anger
Digby: [CN: Police brutality; disablism] Another Casualty in the War on People with Mental Illness
Jamilah: [CN: Racism; classism; coercion] Marshawn Lynch's Quiet Riot
Anne: [CN: Privilege] Jonathan Chait's "Not a Very P.C. Thing to Say" in a Nutshell
Ragen: [CN: Fat hatred] Evidence, Who Needs It: Doctors Gone Wild Part 2
Emily: [CN: War on agency] Study: Evidence-Based Protocols for Medication Abortion Are Safe, Effective
Caitie: [CN: Misgendering; intent arguments] I Hate My Voice
Andy: Actor Joel Grey Comes Out Publicly: 'I'm a Gay Man'
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Rape culture; sexual assault] The two former Vanderbilt University football players accused of raping a female classmate were found guilty on all counts yesterday, after the jury deliberated for fewer than four hours. An amazing result, which I hope will bring the woman who survived this horror some measure of peace. Two more former teammates are awaiting trial.
[CN: Racism; carcerality. Video may autoplay at link.] "More than a half-century after they were arrested and sentenced to hard labor for sitting at a whites-only lunch counter in South Carolina, a group of African-American student protesters known as the 'Friendship Nine' had their convictions overturned and sentences vacated Wednesday. The moment was met with applause and a standing ovation in the court room." Long, loooooong overdue.
[CN: Anti-choice terrorism] Fucking hell: Threats against abortion providers have nearly doubled just since 2010. Wow do I wish we had some pro-choice legislators with spines in this country, who would talk about this campaign of domestic terrorism; who would say anything about it at all.
[CN: Misogyny; religion; anti-choicery] First Lady Michelle Obama has caused a SCANDAL! by choosing not to wear a headscarf during a visit to Saudi Arabia. On the one hand, she's being yelled at for being disrespectful, and, on the other, she's being praised for showing that headscarves are stupid and terrible blah blah. But neither is accurate. Ideally, women everywhere should have unilateral choice on what they want to wear, and the First Lady made the perfect commentary on that by choosing to forego a headscarf, without making an explicit political statement about it. A+
Heads-up if you drive a Nissan: "Nissan Motor Co is recalling about 768,000 vehicles, including its popular Rogue crossover and Pathfinder SUV, for separate problems, the company and U.S. regulators said on Wednesday. Some 552,135 Rogues from model years 2008 and 2013 will be recalled because moisture could seep through the driver side floor and cause an electrical short to wiring that could lead to a fire... Also, 215,789 Pathfinder SUVs from the 2013 and 2014 model years and 2013 Infiniti JX35 vehicles will be recalled for problems related to a secondary hood latch."
[CN: Christian Supremacy; guns] Mike Huckabee continues to run his mouth, asserting that school shootings would be prevented by inserting Christianity back into public schools: "Because we were bringing Bibles to school people weren't bringing guns to school, except for the deer hunters who left them in their trucks. What has happened to our culture? What's happened is we have lost our landmarks. When we reject the Bible as the objective word of truth, when we say that the Bible is no longer the standard by which we live and we make it whatever we feel, what we think, what we believe, then we have no landmark at all because that landmark is always being moved to accommodate our lifestyle rather than make our lifestyle accommodate the word of the living God and the power of the Holy Spirit." This fucking guy.
[CN: Class warfare] Here are two interesting charts: One shows how much someone has to earn in each US state to be part of their state's 1%, and the other shows the ratio of each state's average 1percenter's income to the bottom 99%. Wow.
[CN: Misogyny] Yesterday, the new all-female Ghostbusters cast was announced! WOOOOOOOOT! Guess how misogynists reacted? If you guessed that they aren't afraid of no ghosts, but are terrified of women, give yourself a thousand points!
And finally! "Learning from Animal Friendships." ♥
Marissa Alexander Update
[Content Note: Domestic violence; misogynoir; carcerality.
Marissa Alexander was, at long last, released yesterday, after "nearly three years in jail for firing a warning shot to fend off an attack from her abusive estranged husband."
She faced upwards of 60 years in prison, despite the fact that the shot harmed no one and was issued in defense of her life. But Marissa's early release isn't true justice.Additionally, Marissa Alexander will be forced to wear a surveillance ankle monitor, for which she will have to pay.
...Marissa is now a convicted felon—a label she'll carry with her through every job application and rent application, and robs her of her right to vote in Florida. Not to mention her 'release' is conditioned on two more years of house arrest. All because she tried to fend off a man who sent her to the hospital bloodied and threatened to kill her in front of his children.
For this reason, and others, her release is not the end of the campaign for her freedom. Sumayya Coleman, co-lead of the Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign, said in a press release:
We are thrilled that Marissa will finally be reunited with her children, her family, and her community. Today's hearing revealed that Alexander intends to attend school to become a paralegal and she is a wonderful mother to her children who urgently need her. Amazingly, the State continued their campaign of punishment by trying to add two more years of probation. Fortunately, they failed, and Marissa will be released today!To continue following Marissa Alexander's case, visit freemarissanow.org for updates.
Marissa and her family will need time to begin recovering from this arduous and traumatic experience. It's been a long and painful journey and, though her release from jail is definitely a win—no 60 years—the journey of seeking ultimate freedom is not over. Marissa will be forced to be on strict home detention while being under surveillance for two years. This is by no means freedom in the sense we feel she deserves.
Our next agenda is to seek full restoration for Marissa and her family, including the expunging of her so-called criminal record, and a systemic transformation that prevents black women and all survivors of domestic violence from experiencing the hostile and brutal treatment from policing, prosecution, and prison systems that Marissa has endured. We will push for improved legislation and monitoring of systems that penalize victims of domestic violence who choose to save their lives by force. This is by no means a conclusion.
Also from the press release: "Free Marissa Now notes that Alexander has asked supporters to use her case to bring more attention to women in similar circumstances, such as Tondalo Hall and Charmaine Pfender."
I am elated that Marissa Alexander will finally be home with her family, without a potential 60-year sentence hanging over her head. And I am angry that a black woman who legally exercised her Stand Your Ground right granted by her state is now a convicted felon being tracked for two years. That isn't freedom, and it isn't justice.
