[Content Note: Police brutality; racism; dehumanization.]
Freddie Gray was arrested after Baltimore police saw him "[flee] unprovoked upon noticing police presence," according to court documents. He took off running when he saw police, so they gave chase, detained him, and searched him. Witnesses say they heard a Taser being used, but police say a Taser was never used. During the search, police found a small pocketknife of legal size. Nonetheless, Gray was arrested on a weapon charge, pressed into the sidewalk as he told police he needed his asthma inhaler, and was then thrown into the back of a police van.
Video shows Gray looking weak as he's loaded into the van, but he is conscious and talking. By the time he was removed from the van, within an hour of his arrest, his larynx was crushed, his spine was 80% severed at the neck, and he was in a coma. A week later, he died.
Six Baltimore police officers have been suspended with pay, following the announcement of an investigation into Gray's death. But 10 days after Gray died, we still have no idea why he was arrested. Baltimore Police Department spokesperson Captain Eric Kowalczyk dodged questions over the weekend: "Pressed on why police initially stopped Gray, Kowalczyk said the department hadn't released that information because investigators are still conducting interviews."
We also still have no idea what happened to Gray in that van. But there is speculation, based on the nature of his injuries and previous suits against the city, that he was given a "rough ride" by police—that is, shackled but not seatbelted in the van, so he was left to tumble about the back of the van as officers made quick starts and stops.
You can imagine what sort of injuries, especially around the head and neck, you'd get sliding around the back of a vehicle with your arms and legs constricted, no way to hold yourself steady, no way to break the tumbling.
So this is the immediate background to what is happening in Baltimore now. The larger background, of course, is that Freddie Gray is just one of many black men and women who have been harassed by police without cause, arrested and detained unfairly, been subjected to "rough rides," been hurt and killed by police.
In Baltimore. And everywhere across the country.
And it's the same pattern as always: Police lie about what happened. Video surfaces. Police close ranks. The city government says words about investigations, but no information is forthcoming. Accountability is elusive. Justice is elusive.
People protest. Peacefully, in large numbers. A few people engage in criminal behavior. The media focuses their cameras on them. Police show up in riot gear. "Police clash with protesters." The situation escalates as the city starts to look like a war zone with police filling the role of an occupying force. Tensions rise. The media asks questions about whether black people should really be allowed their constitutional right to protest. Dehumanizing language permeates public discussion: The protesters are "thugs" and "animals."
There is very little conversation about how police were throwing rocks at protesters yesterday.
There is very little discussion about how the police shut down public transportation hub for the part of town in which protests were happening, stranding kids who were trying to get home from school, then declared all the kids stuck there a mob.
There is very little concern about how Ravens fans rioting to celebrate their ballsports team winning a big game did more damage to the city than people protesting for their very lives.
There is very little willingness among white people to try to understand that their lives are not policed like black people's lives are policed; to try to empathize with the anger and frustration and fear that underwrites people destroying property in their own communities; to see that the media images we get are filtered through institutional racism; to stop fucking policing how black people respond to being killed by people who are meant to protect them; to look at our history and see that revolutions always start with riots; to listen and offer support instead of condemnation and dehumanization.
Every time this happens, I point out that dehumanizing language is part of the problem. That there is something wrong with looking at images of people desperate to be heard and for their lives to matter and seeing nothing but "thugs" and "animals."
And every time, every fucking time, I get pushback in the form of rank racism and red herrings. I get stupid quotes about the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., from white people who think they own him but only care about his message insofar as they twist it and use it to condemn civil action. I get lectured about how I wouldn't feel that way if I were a small business owner in Baltimore whose life's work was being destroyed. As if small business owners in that community and the protesters are mutually exclusive groups. (They are not.)
One of the buildings destroyed by fire last night was a community senior center. Dr. Donté Hickman, pastor of the Southern Baptist Church, who with his community built that center, appeared on MSNBC last night. He expressed his disappointment and grief at the profound loss of the center, without ever using dehumanizing language. He is someone who lost so much, and yet he still centered the humanity of all the protesters.
Dr. Hickman practices inclusive social justice at his church. If you have the desire and the means to donate to Southern Baptist Church, in order to support their rebuilding, you can donate here.
That seems rather more important than trying to appropriate the lived experiences of men like Dr. Hickman in order to justify using dehumanizing language to describe people who are fighting for their very lives.
Today, the public schools in Baltimore are closed, and the National Guard is rolling in. A curfew has been imposed. And there are still no answers about what happened, what really happened, to Freddie Gray.
The protests will continue. And we must listen.
#BlackLivesMatter in Baltimore
Question of the Day
Borrowed from Ria Misra at io9: What science fiction technology do "you never expect to make the jump into the real world [and] why? (Too complex? Too dangerous? Too expensive to get right?)"
Well, I have to say, I've pretty much given up on flying cars at this point!
In all seriousness, I think we're much more likely to have automated grounded vehicles ("driverless cars") than we are to have personal airships ("flying cars"), because I suspect the lower altitude in which flying cars would inhabit will be filled by surveillance and delivery drones instead.
The Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by buds.
Recommended Reading:
Ragen: [Content Note: Fat hatred; eliminationism; child abuse] When They Say "War on Obesity" I Hear "Casualties"
Kimberly: [CN: Police brutality; racism; misogyny] No One Showed Up to March for Rekia Boyd
Andrew: [CN: Environmental destruction] What Happens When We Punch a Hole in the Seafloor?
Arturo: [CN: Racism; misogyny] Native American Actors and Activists Protest New Adam Sandler Project
TLC: [CN: Transphobia; racism; anti-immigrationism; violence] End the Detention and Deportation of the LGBTQ Migrant Community
Nadia: Hubble Still Wows at 25, But Wait 'Til You See What's Next
Sam: Meryl Streep Has Funded a Screenwriting Workshop for Women over 40
Diamond: The New Ava DuVernay Doll Is Peak Carefree Black Girl
Katharine: An Art Project Turns Cracks in Cities into Geodes
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
Money Talks Votes
[Content Note: Class warfare.]
Something you probably know about me by now is that voting is about the closest thing there is to a sacrament in my secular little world. Even when my vote doesn't matter to the outcome of an election, for one reason or another, my vote matters to me.
That's why I get angry about gerrymandering, about disenfranchisement, about the decimation of the Voting Rights Act, about financial influence in politics, about Citizens fucking United.
That's why I get angry when I read shit like this:
Never have so many candidates entered a White House contest boosted by such huge sums.One person with more money than zie could ever spend in a lifetime now has the ability to meaningfully affect the nation's presidential election.
...Some party operatives say that 2016 could be the first race in the modern era in which a candidate does not need to win Iowa or New Hampshire to prevail. Strong showings in those early states historically translated into much-needed financial momentum. But this time, wealthy patrons might keep their favorite picks aloft through independent spending.
...The 2016 primary contest could resemble the fracas in 2012, when super PAC benefactors kept alive the bids of former House speaker Newt Gingrich and former U.S. senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, forcing Mitt Romney into an extended fight for the nomination.
Adelson and his family poured $15 million into a super PAC backing Gingrich, then an unthinkably large amount. This time, with more big spenders in the mix, such sums could be commonplace, the former House speaker said.
"What seems like really big money is less than a yacht," Gingrich said in an interview. Wealthy donors could decide that "this year, instead of buying a new yacht, I'm going to spend $70 million on a candidate," he said.
That isn't a democracy. Not a functional, meaningful one.
What that is, despite conservative caterwauling about "wealth redistribution" in response to any attempt to robustly fund an effective social safety net, is class warfare.
Class warfare is not, as we are meant to believe, taxing people who have way more than they need so that people who don't even have the basics to survive can have a little more.
Class warfare is obliterating a democracy by rendering irrelevant the votes of any and all human beings who aren't grotesquely wealthy, and calling it "free speech."
Class warfare is believing that money is "free speech," but one's constitutional right to cast a vote that means something is not.
Daily Dose of Cute
"Time for walk now?"
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
"We are all just here for a time—whether in this building or even on this earth. But the values we hold dear will live on long after we have left this stage. Our responsibility, while we are here, is to breathe life into them; to imbue them with the strength of our convictions and the weight of our efforts."—Loretta Lynch, who was sworn in today (at long last) as Attorney General of the United States, becoming the first black woman to hold the position.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Earthquake; death; images of death and destruction at link] A major earthquake hit Nepal over the weekend, which has caused widespread destruction, injury, and death—and is now "stretching medical services in the impoverished and unprepared Himalayan nation to breaking point." The primary quake was followed by an aftershock "stronger than many earthquakes hit Nepal, collapsing more buildings and triggering new panic in a country trying to recover from the most powerful quake to hit it in 80 years." Nearly 4,000 are known to have died, and rescue and recovery operations continue. An international aid effort is being organized to help Nepal.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to drop into comments suggestions for how we may help individually. I will, as always, recommend donating to Doctors Without Borders, who are already sending teams to help.
[CN: Police brutality; racism] Hundreds of people gathered for Freddie Gray's funeral in Baltimore: "Many of the hundreds of mourners who came to the church Monday morning said they did not know Gray personally, but felt compelled to attend the funeral to demonstrate their outrage about the circumstances surrounding his death. 'I don't understand how these things keep happening,' said Ken Carolina, 54, a retired corrections officer, after viewing Gray's body. 'It's another life gone.'"
[CN: Transphobic violence] On Friday night, ABC aired its much-anticipated and/or dreaded interview with Bruce Jenner about hir transition. ABC has made available their full coverage, including video of the episode. We watched the entire thing, and there were parts of it that were just infuriating, mostly along the lines of the stupidity of some of the questions which treated fear and loathing of trans* people as a given, but overall it was not as bad as I'd feared it would be. Jenner was very patient and indulgent and, despite saying zie's not a spokesperson for the trans* community, highlighted many important issues, including the number of trans* women of color who are murdered. (Hir kids seem pretty amazing, too.)
[CN: Transphobia; racism; violence] That said, this piece is definitely recommended reading: "What trans people of color fear after the Bruce Jenner media circus."
[CN: Climate change; wildfires] Fuck: "'Explosive' Wildfires Are Already out of Control Months Before Fire Season: 'Wildfire season' seems to be a thing of the past for drought-stricken California, with fires now raging throughout the year. There have already been nearly 850 wildfires this year—70 percent above the average, according to CAL FIRE data. High temperatures and low precipitation, both related to climate change, have dried out forests and scrublands across the western United States, allowing fires to spread faster and farther than usual, any time during the year."
Something something Brian Williams has probably lied a lot.
[CN: War on agency] This piece by Imani Gandy on the mendacity of anti-choicers is a must-read: "When Does an Error Become a Lie? The Case of the Missing Decimal Point."
[CN: Homophobia] Care of Ari Ezra Waldman, here's what you can expect during oral arguments at the Supreme Court this week on one marriage equality case.
OMG!!! "NASA May Have Accidentally Created a Warp Field: Meanwhile, in the lab, NASA and other space programs were working on prototypes of the EmDrive or RF resonant cavity thruster invented by British aerospace engineer Roger J. Shawyer. This propulsion device uses a magnetron to produce microwaves for thrust, has no moving parts and needs no reaction mass for fuel. In 2014, Johnson Space Center claimed to have developed its own low-power EmDrive. ...When lasers were fired through the EmDrive's resonance chamber, it measured significant variances and, more importantly, found that some of the beams appeared to travel faster than the speed of light. If that's true, it would mean that the EmDrive is producing a warp field or bubble."
Meanwhile: "At first glance, there is not the slightest doubt: to us, the universe looks three dimensional. But one of the most fruitful theories of theoretical physics in the last two decades is challenging this assumption. The 'holographic principle' asserts that a mathematical description of the universe actually requires one fewer dimension than it seems. What we perceive as three dimensional may just be the image of two dimensional processes on a huge cosmic horizon."
And finally! Dogs and cats hiding in plain sight. Aww lol!
Oh for F#@k's Sake
[Content Note: Fat hatred; eliminationism.]
A new study has found that there are "six different 'types' of obese people in existence."
Yes. That is a real thing in the world.
A study that tells us that all fat people aren't the same after all! There are SIX WHOLE DIFFERENT TYPES OF FAT PEOPLE! Can you even believe it?! Extraordinary!
Ha ha don't worry, though—we still all definitely need to be "fixed." I mean, the whole reason to spend money on such an insightful and groundbreaking study is to help doctors determine, based on which "type" we are, how to turn us into thin people.
Because, of course, the ideal number of "types" of fat people will always and forever be zero.
This is fat hatred. This is dehumanization. This is eliminationism.
Primarily Speaking
[Content Note: Christian Supremacy; homophobia.]
Oh, Senator Ted Cruz. You continue to delight and amaze me with your totally trenchant insights like: "Today's Democratic Party has decided there is no room for Christians in today's Democratic Party. There is a liberal fascism that is going after Christian believers."
Hahahahaha yes! If there's one thing I say about the Democratic Party, it's that they're just TOO SECULAR. I'm definitely going to talk to President Obama about it at next year's National Prayer Breakfast. Or maybe at the White House Easter Egg Roll. Or perhaps at the White House Christmas Tree lighting. Or at any one of a number of explicitly Christian events hosted by our Democratic president every year.
Anyway!
I'm sure you'll be SHOCKED to hear that this was not the only pearl of conservative wisdom to emanate from the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition summit. SO MANY PEARLS OF WISDOM!
Senator Rand Paul said he's "tired of us retreating on" abortion. EXCELLENT POINT, SENATOR. Y'all have been TOO SHY about saying that you believe women (and other people who can become pregnant, whose existence you never acknowledge unless perhaps you're trying to keep them out of bathrooms) should be wholly-owned subsidiaries of the state. BE MORE LOUD ABOUT HOW TERRIBLE YOU ARE IF THAT IS EVEN POSSIBLE.
Senator Marco Rubio defended his opposition to same-sex marriage by saying: "The institution of marriage as one man and one woman existed even before our laws existed." ANOTHER GOOD POINT! We should definitely ban anything that didn't exist (*cough*) before the US Constitution.
Like bottled water, microphones, cars, and white polo shirts. Oh, and US flags.
Corporate power-failure Carly Fiorina continued her "I'm not Hillary and Hillary is stupid also" campaign by slamming Hillary Clinton for eating at Chipotle and pandering in a supersmooth way to the Iowans by invoking a local convenience chain: "I have to tell you, I will take Casey's pizza in a car to Chipotle's takeout any time. My favorite is sausage, and I prefer to order and eat without my sunglasses on." OOH SICK BURN.
The Washington Post reports under the incredible headline "Lots of prayer but not many specifics at GOP summit in Iowa" (LOLOLOL) that Mike Huckabee dropped some pearls of wisdom from his Greatest Hits collection: "The single greatest threat to all of our freedoms is the threat to your religious liberty. Let me be clear tonight: I'm not backing off because what I'm saying is true. We are criminalizing Christianity in this country." That is not true, and you are an ass.
And here are two great stories that you can read back-to-back or not at all! "GOP Struggling with Shifts on Gay Marriage" in the New York Times and "Republicans Make Their Pitches to Social Conservatives in Iowa, Emphasizing Marriage" at Bloomberg.
Good luck navigating the cavernous divide between your profoundly homophobic base and the general electorate who is increasingly supportive of same-sex marriage! And by "good luck" I mean I hope you fall into that yawning gap and get eaten by a symbolic monster conjured by your own hatred!
In other news, Jeb Bush skipped the We're Dishonest Bigots Summit and instead met with wealthy people to try to convince them to give him all the monies by being just aggressively mendacious in an attack on Hillary Clinton: Speaking on enforcing women's rights and access to healthcare, Clinton said: "Rights have to exist in practice, not just on paper. Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will, and deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs, and structural biases have to be changed." And Bush went after that with this horseshit: "This week Hillary Clinton said that people's deep-seated religious beliefs need to be changed in order to advance her own personal political agenda. Wow. America was founded on religious freedom, and that freedom is woven into the Bill of Rights as the first guarantee."
SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP YOU ARE THE WOOOOOOOORST.
Rick Perry, meanwhile, was busy with being a criminal and shit. Throw the book at him! By which I mean a science textbook that explains why creationism is not science!
On the other side of the aisle, Senator Bernie Sanders says he's prolly running for president. Okay!
And I'm sure Martin O'Malley and Lincoln Chafee are up to things, too! Go Democracy!
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
This. Is. Amazing.
[Content Note: Disablist language.]
This weekend was the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner, a dreadful affair in which major media players and politicians get together and all have a good laugh about how most of them never accomplish anything meaningful because mainstream journalism and Beltway politics are joke careers for clown people who don't care about anything but money and their own egos.
With rare exceptions (*cough*StephenColbert*cough*), the Correspondents' Dinner features "comedy" that we're all meant to pretend challenges and indicts power, but really just more deeply entrenches it.
This weekend was another rare exception, as President Obama invited Keegan-Michael Key to bring his Key & Peele sketch character Luther, President Obama's Anger Translator, to the event to do his thing.
And it was fucking amazing.
President Obama, standing at a podium wearing a tux: I often joke about tensions between me and the press, but, honestly, what they say doesn't bother me. I understand we've got an adversarial system. I'm a mellow sort of guy. And that's why I invited Luther, my anger translator, to join me here tonight.Where in the hell do I even begin with how fucking awesome this is?! It's so brilliant and so subversive. I can't even imagine how cathartic this must have been for the President.
[Laughter and applause. Luther enters and stands behind the President, looking angry.]
Luther: Hold on to your lily-white butts! [Laughter.]
Obama: In our fast-changing world, traditions like the White House Correspondents' Dinner are important.
Luther: I mean, really, what is this dinner?! [Laughter.] And why am I required to come to it?! [Laughter.] Jeb Bush, do you really want to do this? [Laughter.]
Obama: Because, despite our differences, we count on the press to shed light on the most important issues of the day.
Luther: And we can count on Fox News to terrify old white people with some nonsense! [Laughter.] "Sharia law is coming to Cleveland! Run for the damn hills!" [Laughter.] Y'all, it's ridiculous. [Laughter.]
Obama: We won't always see eye to eye.
Luther: Oh, and CNN, thank you so much for the wall-to-wall Ebola coverage. For two whole weeks, we were one step away from the Walking Dead. [Laughter.] And then you all got up and just moved on to the next day. That was awesome. Oh, and by the way, just if you haven't noticed, you don't have Ebola!!! [Laughter.]
Obama: But I still deeply appreciate the work that you do.
Luther: Ya'll remember when I had that big, old hole in the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and then I plugged it?! Remember that? Which "Obama's Katrina" was that one? Was that 19? Or was it 20? Because I can't remember! [Laughter.]
Obama: Protecting our democracy is more important than ever. For example, the Supreme Court ruled that the donor who gave Ted Cruz six million dollars was just exercising free speech.
Luther: Yeah, that's the kind of speech like this: "I just wasted six million dollars." [Laughter and applause.]
Obama: And it's not just Republicans. Hillary will have to raise huge sums of money, too.
Luther: Ohhhhhhh yeah. [Pacing and looking super excited.] She's gonna get that money! She's gonna get allllllll the money. KHALEESI IS COMING TO WESTEROS! [Laughter and applause.] So watch out! [Kicks leg in air.] WOOOOOO!
Obama: The nonstop focus on billionaire donors creates real problems for our democracy.
Luther: And that's why we're running for a third term! [Laughter.]
Obama: No, we're not.
Luther: We're not?
Obama: No.
Luther: Who the hell said that?! [Laughter.]
Obama: But we do need to stay focused on some big challenges, like climate change.
Luther: Hey, listen, ya'll, if you haven't noticed, California is bone dry! [Laughter.] It looks like a trailer for the new "Mad Max" movie up in there! [Laughter.] Ya'll think that Bradley Cooper came here 'cause he wants to talk to Chuck Todd?! [Laughter.] HE NEEDED A GLASS OF WATER! Come on! [Laughter and applause.]
Obama: The science is clear. The science is clear: Nine of the ten hottest years ever came in the last decade.
Luther: Now, I'm not a scientist, but I do know how to count to 10. [Laughter.]
Obama: Rising seas, more violent storms.
Luther: We've got mosquitos. Sweaty people on the train, stinking it up. It's just nasty! [Laughter.]
Obama: I mean, look at what's happening right now. Every serious scientist says we need to act. The Pentagon says it's a national security risk. Miami floods on a sunny day, and, instead of doing anything about it [starting to sound angry], we've got elected officials throwing snowballs in the Senate!
Luther: Okay, Mr. President. Okay, I think they've got it, bro. [looking uncomfortable as the President gets angrier]
Obama: It is crazy! [really angry now] What about our kids? What kind of stupid, shortsighted, irresponsible bull— [Laughter and applause.]
Luther: Whoa whoa whoa! Hey! [Applause.]
Obama: What?!
Luther: Hey! [Cheers as Luther backs away]
Obama: WHAT?!
Luther: All due respect, sir, you don't need an anger translator. You need counseling. [Laughter.] So I'm out of here, man. I ain't trying to get into all this. [Laughter.]
Obama: Go. [Applause.]
Luther: He crazy. [Laughter and applause.]
Obama: Luther, my anger translator, ladies and gentlemen. [Applause.]
Iain and I were commenting how amazed we were by his ability to keep a straight face—but, upon consideration, the Republicans have given him a lot of practice keeping a straight face at jokes.
Anyway! Here is the transcript of the entirety of the President's remarks. Lots of good stuff there. Great job, Mr. President!
The Virtual Pub Is Open (+ Programming Note)
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
We've got a friend visiting for a couple days, who is due to arrive shortly, so I'm going to wrap up a little early this week, and I will see you back here on Monday! ♥
Daily Dose of Cute
Matilda in the sunshine. With Olivia photobombing, obviously.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
Shaker Gourmet
Whatcha been cooking up in your kitchen lately, Shakers?
Share your favorite recipes, solicit good recipes, share recipes you've recently tried, want to try, are trying to perfect, whatever! Whether they're your own creation, or something you found elsewhere, share away.
Also welcome: Recipes you've seen recently that you'd love to try, but haven't yet!
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Domestic violence] Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy has been suspended for 10 games following an investigation after Hardy's domestic violence case was dismissed in North Carolina state court. I like (ahem) how he was suspended because his "conduct [was] detrimental to the league." THE LEAGUE. "Detrimental to the league" essentially translates to: He wasn't suspended for committing domestic violence, but because it made the papers.
[CN: Police brutality; stalking; racism] The Baltimore police officer who chased Freddie Gray, who later died in police custody, has a history of violence and intimidation. "Lieutenant Brian Rice was ordered to stay away from the man [who sought a restraining order] after a series of alleged confrontations, including one armed standoff that led to a 911 call and officers from two police departments spending 90 minutes defusing the situation, according to court filings. 'I am seeking protection immediately,' the man wrote to a court in Carroll County, Maryland, in January 2013. He alleged Rice's behaviour had caused him 'to have constant fear for my personal safety' and a 'fear of imminent harm or death from Brian Rice.'" Whyyyyyy was this asshole still on the job?! (That question is, of course, rhetorical.)
[CN: Police brutality; racism] Michael Brown's family is suing the city of Ferguson: "The family of Michael Brown plans to file a civil lawsuit against the city of Ferguson, Mo., for his death last summer. Members of Brown's family will announce the filing of a wrongful death lawsuit on Thursday at the St. Louis County courthouse, attorneys for the Brown family said Wednesday night." There will be people who make all kinds of gross accusations against this family about attention- and money-seeking, without a single shred of regard that they were denied accountability by the criminal courts.
Clinton charities will have to refile tax returns: "Hillary Clinton's family's charities are refiling at least five annual tax returns after a Reuters review found errors in how they reported donations from governments, and said they may audit other Clinton Foundation returns in case of other errors. ...The charities' errors generally take the form of under-reporting or over-reporting, by millions of dollars, donations from foreign governments, or in other instances omitting to break out government donations entirely when reporting revenue, the charities confirmed to Reuters. ...The unsettled numbers on the tax returns are not evidence of wrongdoing but tend to undermine the 990s role as a form of public accountability, experts in charity law and transparency advocates interview told Reuters."
A vaccination bill in California may, if passed, influence vaccination laws across the nation: "Vaccine laws across the nation may be toughened, observers say, if California passes a fervently debated bill that would strip parents' rights to exempt kids from immunizations based on personal beliefs. A potential end to California's opt-out provision gained ground Wednesday when the state senate's education committee voted 7-2 to require full vaccinations for almost all public school students. ...'Other states will be looking carefully at the California experience if this goes through,' said Dr. Eric Kodish, director of the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Ethics, Humanities and Spiritual Care. 'If they become a place where, as I would predict, fewer children get sick and die, it's something other states would want to look at.'"
[CN: Class warfare; environmental contamination] Every person in this country should have the right to safe drinking water: "Sherry Gobble has been wary of drinking the tap water in her neighborhood for more than a year. 'I feel like I've become very suspicious of all water,' she told ThinkProgress in November. 'When I go to a friend's house, and they offer coffee or tea, I don't drink it because I don't know where it came from.' On Monday, her fears were confirmed. Nineteen households and a church in her community of Dukeville, North Carolina were sent letters by the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) warning them not to drink or cook with well water due to elevated levels of toxic heavy metals, the Associated Press reported. Like Gobble's home, each is located within a quarter mile of a coal ash pond owned by Duke Energy."
[CN: Fat hatred; death] Fat hatred kills: "A 21-year-old woman died recently after she ingested diet pills made with an 'extremely dangerous' industrial chemical. On April 12, Eloise Aimee Parry of Shrewsbury, England, took eight diet pills containing dinitrophenol or DNP, according to a statement from her mom, Fiona Parry, released Monday by the West Mercia Police. The pills were purchased online. 'She had taken even more of these 'slimming tablets' than recommended on the pack and had no idea just how dangerous they really were,' Fiona Parry said." My condolences to Eloise's family and friends.
[CN: Anti-feminism; misogyny] Soraya Chemaly with "50 Reasons Everyone Is Now an 'Offensive' Feminist," in response to an eighth-grade girl having her t-shirt reading "feminist" censored in the class photo.
Stunning: "The Hubble Space Telescope has celebrated its silver anniversary with a picture featuring a spectacular vista of young stars blazing across a dense cloud of gas and dust. The 'Westerlund 2' cluster of stars is located about 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina." Happy Birthday, Hubble!
Mattel has announced a new line of female action figures: "The toymaker announced today that it is partnering with DC Comics and Warner Bros. to launch a new franchise centered on teenage female superheroes. The initial lineup will include heroes such as Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Batgirl, as well as prominent female villains, including Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn (both of Batman fame)." Also in the line-up: Bumble Bee and Katana!
And finally! This is one the cutest rescue/adoption stories ever: A kitten left in a mailbox is rescued and eventually adopted by—wait for it!—a retired mail carrier. "Dan Shaw says, 'I took one look at her and I knew right away that I wanted her.'" Blub!
What In the F#@k Is This?
[Content Note: Misogyny; whorephobia; disablism.]
Marvel Avengers Jeremy Renner, who plays Hawkeye, and Chris Evans, who plays Captain America, sat down for an interview to promote the upcoming Age of Ultron, and this shit happened:
Video Transcript (of first part of video only): A white female reporter for Digital Spy sits across from Renner and Evans. She says: "I have a very serious question to start with about shipping. Because I know a lot of fans were actually pretty invested in the idea of Natasha [Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson) with either or both of you guys, and now obviously she's with, she's with Bruce [Bruce Banner/The Hulk, played by Mark Ruffalo]. What do you guys think about that?"So, a fictional character—who is a token woman among men in the Avengers franchise—is not dating either one of their fictional characters, which makes her a "slut" and a "whore" who flirts with everyone and leads people on, and who the fuck wants her, anyway, because she's got a prosthetic leg and thus is not even deserving of their FICTIONAL CHARACTERS' attentions.
Renner: "She's a slut."
Evans: [throws his head back and laughs out loud] "I was gonna say something along that line! She's a complete whore."
[They both laugh uproariously.]
Renner: "A trick, man."
[They laugh and laugh.]
Evans: "She's a slut!"
Reporter: "Whatever movie it is, she'll just be the sidekick? She'll be flirting away—"
Renner: "That's right."
Evans: "Yeah, man, just flirting with everybody."
Renner: "She has a prosthetic leg, anyway."
Evans: [laughs out loud] "Leading everybody on."
Renner: "That's right."
I know, I know—I'm the Most Humorless Feminist in all of Nofunnington, and don't I get that they were just joking geeeez?
Yeah, I get it. I get it big time.
Forgive me (or don't) if I don't find the humor in "jokingly" invoking narratives of toxic masculinity which slut-shames women for having the audacity to believe we are not the wholly owned property of any man who tries to stick his flag in us; to believe we have the right to choose our partners.
What say you, Marvel?
Primarily Speaking
Corporate power-failure Carly Fiorina, whose entire raison d'être for running is apparently to fill the crucial "point out that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has flown on a lot of airplanes" and "absurdly claim Clinton has never accomplished anything" role in the Republican primary, will reportedly launch her presidential campaign on May 4.
I love the new trend of pre-announcement announcements. "Get ready for Carly Fiorina to tell you she's going to run for president!" OKAY! I am doing all the things I need to do to prepare myself! 1. Sit here. 2. Not care. ALL SYSTEMS GOOOOOOOOOOO!
Fiorina is about as qualified to be president as I am. (Possibly even less so, since I'm at least familiar enough with US politics to know that Hillary Clinton has accomplished a few things.) But that never stops Republicans. Why bother learning about government when you just want to destroy it, anyway?
I suspect the GOP leadership is hoping to turn Fiorina into, at minimum, a solid vice-presidential candidate by encouraging her to run the gauntlet of a primary, in the hope of avoiding a repeat of this fucking mess:
Video Description: Scene from Game Change, a movie about Sarah Palin's vice-presidential candidacy. Palin (played by Julianne Moore) sits on the McCain campaign bus with Republican operative Steve Schmidt (played by Woody Harrelson), practicing interview questions. Schmidt: "Umm, let's start with something simple. Uh, how do you plan on maintaining our alliance with Great Britain on Iraq, even though support for the war there is at an all-time low?" Palin: "I think the United States has always maintained a great relationship with the Queen, and John McCain will continue to have an open dialogue with her." Schmidt: "Ahh, Governor, the Queen is not the head of government in England; she's the head of state." Palin: "Well, then who's the head of government?" Schmidt: "The Prime Minister." Laughs uncomfortably; gulps his tea.
Good times!
Meanwhile, here are a few fun reminders about how Citizens United is obliterating the last vestiges of a functional democracy:
1. Marco Rubio Takes Lead in Sheldon Adelson Primary: "Before Iowa and New Hampshire, GOP candidates are competing in the Sheldon Adelson primary, and some will travel to his posh Venetian hotel in Las Vegas this in hopes of winning it. But one candidate—Marco Rubio—has emerged as the clear front-runner, according to nearly a half-dozen sources close to the multibillionaire casino mogul. In recent weeks, Adelson, who spent $100 million on the 2012 campaign and could easily match that figure in 2016, has told friends that he views the Florida senator, whose hawkish defense views and unwavering support for Israel align with his own, as a fresh face who is 'the future of the Republican Party.' He has also said that Rubio's Cuban heritage and youth would give the party a strong opportunity to expand its brand and win the White House. ...In 2012, Adelson's financial support allowed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to stay in the presidential race long after other donors gave up on him."
2. Secret Koch Memo Outlines Plans for 2016: "The Koch brothers' political machine is expanding into new states and recruiting new donors as it seeks to shape the Republican Party—and its presidential field—headed into 2016, according to interviews with multiple sources, as well as confidential donor briefing documents obtained by Politico. The documents detail plans to beef up the network's state-of-the-art data system, and pay hundreds of staff embedded in local communities across the country in preparation for get-out-the-vote efforts that are unprecedented from a third-party group. The plan comes with a $125 million 2015 budget for Americans for Prosperity, the most robust arm in the network of small-government advocacy groups helmed by the billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch. That's the most the group has ever spent in a non-election year and the documents call the plan 'beyond the biggest, boldest, broadest effort AFP has ever undertaken.'"
3. Jeb Bush Is Tearing Down What Little Campaign Finance Law We Have Left: "In February, the Campaign Legal Center, a group which works on campaign finance reform issues, released a 'white paper' contending that many of the leading potential presidential candidates were likely breaking federal law by not declaring their candidacy or setting up a 'testing the waters' committee for a presidential election run. Such a declaration, among other things, limits donors to giving only $2,700 to the (would-be) candidate for the presidential primary season. It was an excellent report, but many shrugged off its findings as just one more way in which the campaign finance system has begun to unravel since the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. But news this week that Republican (pseudo-non)candidate Jeb Bush intends to outsource much of his campaign to an allied super PAC reveals that Bush's decision to delay declaring his candidacy has allowed him to undermine one of the last rules in campaign finance law. Worse, his approach will be the new model of presidential funding in future elections and greatly increases the threat that large donors will have even greater influence over electoral and policy outcomes than they already have."
Welcome to your oligarchy!
In other news:
Republican Senator Marco Rubio is courting gay Republicans. Lucky them!
Republican Senator Rand Paul says fuck you—YOU'RE the REAL sexists!
Republican Senator Ted Cruz has a cool history of making creepy misogynist jokes. [Note: Video autoplays at second link.]
Democratic former governor of Maryland Martin O'Malley finally says something I really like! "It is not true that regulation holds poor people down or regulation keeps middle class from advancing. That's kind of patently bullshit." HAHA YES IT IS! HIGH FIVE, O'MALLEY!
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
