Has someone ever recommended something to you, or said they just know you'll love something (a movie, or a song, or a book, or whatever), and once you actually get a look at it, you're slightly offended that they thought you'd like it?
I know this has happened to me a number of times, but I can't think of any specific examples off the top of my head. "What would make you think I'd like this AHHHH?" lol. Very occasionally, it's happened with people, too; I'm introduced to someone I've been told I'll just love, and then I'm either baffled or miffed by the certainty that I was going to love someone who I really, really don't like at all.
And it's always pretty evident the other person feels precisely the same way!
Question of the Day
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Racism; police brutality; violence.]
"Baltimore, not at all uniquely, has experienced a century of public policy designed, consciously so, to segregate and impoverish its black population. ...Certainly, African American citizens of Baltimore were provoked by aggressive, hostile, even murderous policing, but Spiro Agnew had it right. Without suburban integration, something barely on today's public policy agenda, ghetto conditions will persist, giving rise to aggressive policing and the riots that inevitably ensue."—Richard Rothstein, in a must-read essay, "From Ferguson to Baltimore: The Fruits of Government-Sponsored Segregation."
[H/T to Mary D.]
The Make-Up Thread
Here is your semi-regular make-up thread, to discuss all things make-up.
Do you have a make-up product you'd recommend? Are you looking for the perfect foundation which has remained frustratingly elusive? Need or want to offer make-up tips? Searching for hypoallergenic products? Want to grouse about how you hate make-up? Want to gush about how you love it?
Whatever you like—have at it!
* * *
Pink look in a purple room. *wink!*
I decided to play with bright pink, and I like how this turned out, especially given that I was wearing a superhero t-shirt, which lends itself to a vibrantly colorful look.
I paired ColourPop's (unfortunately named) Slave2Pink eyeshadow with their Scandy lip liner and lipstick and Too Faced's Perfect Flush Blush. Fun!
What's up with you?
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Please note, as always, that advice should be not be offered to an individual person unless they solicit it. Further: This thread is open to everyone—women, men, genderqueer folks. People who are make-up experts, and people who are make-up newbies. Also, because there is a lot of racist language used in discussions of make-up, and in make-up names, please be aware to avoid turns of phrase that are alienating to women of color, like "nude" or "flesh tone" when referring to a peachy or beige color. I realize some recommended products may have names that use these words, so please be considerate about content noting for white supremacist (and/or Orientalist) product naming.
Daily Dose of Cute
Ms. Snugglehead.
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 buttons.
Recommended Reading:
Pilot: [Content Note: Racism; eliminationist violence] Black Exhaustion
Prison Culture: [CN: Police brutality; misogynoir] On Showing Up, Erasing Myself, and Lifting Up the Choir
Jamilah: [CN: Racism; violence; class warfare] Baltimore Been Burning
Mannion: The Problem with Journalism Is Journalism
Jill: [CN: Misogynist terrorism] Listening to Women in the World: Discussion of Fighting Online Threats
Scott: When You Don't Have the Law or the Facts, Pound Theories of Judicial Restraint You Don't Believe
driftglass: The Church of Lyin'tology
Andy: [CN: Homophobia] New York Inches Closer to Banning "Conversion Therapy" for Minors
Korin: [CN: Misogyny; racism] Gender, Race, and Stereotypes in Scorpion, Silicon Valley, and Big Bang Theory
Sarah: Unmasking the Secrets of Mercury
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: Earthquake; death; injury] As the death toll in Nepal from the devastating earthquake that hit over the weekend passed 5,000, aid is finally beginning to reach remote regions, where "many survivors are in desperate need of food and water." Among the grim reports, there are some bits of good news: Rishi Khanal was rescued alive after spending more than 80 hours buried in rubble, and a 4-month-old baby was rescued after nearly a day trapped in a collapsed building. The rescue effort continues, even though hope for survivors dims the more time passes and the focus increasingly changes to getting food, water, and healthcare to survivors.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited with President Obama yesterday, during which Obama said: "Today is also a chance for Americans, especially our young people, to say thank you for all the things we love from Japan. Like karate and karaoke. Manga and anime. And, of course, emojis." To which I can only presume Abe replied: "And we'd like to thank you for Beyoncé and bourbon and McDonald's." I feel that this vaguely inappropriate nod to the US' infatuation with Japanese pop culture was a real missed opportunity to thank Japan for Ninja Warrior.
[CN: Worker exploitation] Here is a complete transcript of their shared remarks, the most notable part of which is their enthusiasm for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Which Senator Bernie Sanders explains in the Guardian is a continuation of trade policies that hurt workers, both in the US and abroad. It'll be great for corporations, though!
[CN: War on agency] Chip, chip, chipping away at Roe in Virginia: "The Manassas, Virginia, city council on Monday approved an ordinance that abortion access advocates say would threaten to close the city's lone abortion clinic. The measure would reclassify women's health centers, among other medium-sized clinics—larger than dentist offices but smaller than hospitals—as medical care facilities. That change would require those clinics have special use permits, granted only after a public comment period and city council approval. Opponents of the measure contend that requiring abortion clinics to get the backing of the city council, currently controlled by Republicans, will be virtually impossible, effectively prohibiting any clinics from opening or relocating within the city limits." Rage. Seethe. Boil.
[CN: Death penalty; torture; video may autoplay at link] Today, the US Supreme Court is hearing a death penalty case "filled by several death-row prisoners in Oklahoma ... exactly one year after the botched execution of an inmate there reignited debate over capital punishment and triggered a federal review of protocols nationwide. The specific issue is the sedative midazolam and the question of whether it puts condemned inmates into a coma-like state before two other drugs are given and protects them from the kind of pain that would violate the Eighth Amendment restriction on cruel and unusual punishment." I wish I had any hope at all that the Court will outlaw the death penalty, but I don't. I desperately hope I'm wrong.
[CN: Homophobia; misogyny] Speaking of the Supreme Court... In case you missed it, here is Justice Ginsburg eviscerating the case against marriage equality in six sentences yesterday: "[Same-sex couples] wouldn't be asking for this relief if the law of marriage was what it was a millennium ago. I mean, it wasn't possible. Same-sex unions would not have opted into the pattern of marriage, which was a relationship, a dominant and a subordinate relationship. Yes, it was marriage between a man and a woman, but the man decided where the couple would be domiciled; it was her obligation to follow him. There was a change in the institution of marriage to make it egalitarian when it wasn't egalitarian. And same-sex unions wouldn't—wouldn't fit into what marriage was once."
[CN: Misogyny] Without a trace of irony: "Speaking during his weekly general audience, Pope Francis asked that Christians 'become more demanding' about achieving gender equality, according to the National Catholic Reporter. 'Why is it expected that women must earn less than men?' he asked the crowd at St. Peter's Square. 'No! They have the same rights. The disparity is a pure scandal.'" Says a man whose job literally cannot even be held by a woman.
[CN: Class warfare; financial insecurity] A new study conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of Northwestern Mutual found that one-third of USian respondents have no financial plan for our futures. Which is the same finding as a different survey done last year. And I'll say the same thing I did then: It's not like most of these people could be saving for retirement (or a rainy day, or whatever) and are just choosing to be capricious. It's impossible to save if you need every penny you've got just to survive in the here and now.
This is a really nice story about a young man with autism whose life was changed by a rescued dog. (I just want to note that Autism Speaks is quoted in this article, and that there is some implication that people with autism should be "fixed." I'm sharing the story because of the young man talking about how much happier he is because of his puppeh BFF. And no doubt his furry friend is happier now, too!)
[CN: Fire] This hero cat alerted his owner to a fire in their apartment building, which in turn led to all the residents getting out safely. Good kitty!
And finally! A homeless dog rescues a member of his foster family from a rattlesnake and secures himself a forever home. Blub.
Hillary Sexism Watch, Part Wev in an Endless Series
[Content Note: Misogyny; ageism; cissexism; violence.]
Aphra_Behn just passed along this Washington Post article to me, and everything about it is fucking amazing (and that was sarcsm): "This is how GOP hopefuls want to take on Hillary Clinton."
Spoiler Alert: They want to use misogyny and ageism!
And, naturally, reporters Philip Rucker and Robert Costa are happy to help: "Rubio—who at 43 is young enough to be Clinton's son—called the 67-year-old Democrat "a leader from yesterday ... promising to take us back to yesterday."
Oh thank you, gentlemen, for pointing out that Clinton is old enough to be another candidate's mother, reminding us that she is a woman and that womanhood is defined by one's reproduction.
(Something you will never see in an equivalent article: "Rand Paul, who is young enough to be the actual son of a dipshit who just retired from never winning the Republican nomination...")
And speaking of reproduction, I was particularly fond of this gem:
"Some guys will take a sledgehammer towards her; others will use a stiletto," said David Carney, a veteran Republican consultant. "There will be lots of strategies in the back alleys as they figure out how to do it."Back alleys, huh? I hope they don't run into any abortionists they've legislated into those back alleys during their strategy sessions!
I'll also never stop loving the use of violent rhetoric and imagery directed at Hillary Clinton, whether it's a Republican operative talking about using a sledgehammer (or a stiletto) to take her out, or Keith Olbermann and Howard Fineman discussing the need for a superdelegate to "take [Clinton] into a room and only he comes out."
The refrain is always the same: Clinton mustn't just lose; she must be annihilated to her very death.
The article goes on to inform us that Mike Huckabee, always a rebel, has a pretty unique plan to destroy Hillary Clinton:
"Who can effectively attack Hillary Clinton without coming across as a jerk?" asked Hogan Gidley, a Huckabee adviser. "Mike Huckabee has that ability; he has that winsomeness."Okay, first of all, did the Koch Bros. order up a big plate of winsomeness this election or what? Because Santorum was just promising to be "winsome" a few weeks ago. The hell?
Secondly, this is obviously a terrific strategy, because nothing says "winsome" like forcible pregnancy and rank homophobia.
Anyway.
The election is fully a year and a half away, and I am already exhausted.
Primarily Speaking
[Content Note: Racism; carcerality.]
Senator Rand Paul, who is the worst, gave just a terrific interview about the rebellion in Baltimore in which he first said "that talking about 'root causes' was not appropriate in the middle of a riot," then immediately pivoted to dog whistle some execrable racist garbage about black absentee fathers and the inferiority of black families: "There are so many things we can talk about: The breakdown of the family structure, the lack of fathers, the lack of a moral code in our society." And then tried to cover his ass with: "This isn't just a racial thing." This is, however, a FUCK YOU thing, Senator.
In other Baltimore-related news, Democratic wannabe candidate Martin O'Malley, who was mayor of Baltimore before he served as Maryland's governor, did a walking tour in West Baltimore yesterday, and was not universally well-received (ahem): "He was confronted by two men on motorcycles who shouted expletives and blamed the recent violence in the city on O'Malley's tough-on-crime policies from 1999 to 2007."
Speaking of tough-on-crime policies, former President Bill Clinton said yesterday that "changes in penal policy that happened largely under his watch put 'too many people in prison and for too long' and 'overshot the mark.'"
In 1994 Clinton championed a crime bill that laid down several of the foundations of the country's current mass incarceration malaise. Vowing to be "tough on crime"—a quality that had previously been more closely associated with the Republicans and which Clinton adopted under his "triangulation" ploy—he created incentives to individual states to build more prisons, to put more people behind bars and to keep them there for longer. His also presided over the introduction of a federal three-strikes law that brought in long sentences for habitual offenders.No shit. And, not for nothing, but there were plenty of progressive advisors who predicted at the time that precisely these things would happen, but Clinton chose to ignore them.
Under "truth in sentencing", states which sentenced people to long terms in prison with no chance of parole were rewarded with increased federal funds. The crime bill also enshrined a Clinton program known as COPS—Community Oriented Policing Services—in which federal money was provided to states to allow them vastly to increase the number of police officers on the streets—in turn generating more arrests and more convictions.
In a foreword to a new book of essays compiled by the Brennan Center for Justice, Clinton stops short of giving a full mea culpa for the vast increase in prison numbers. He writes that by 1994 crime had become a major problem across the country and that "we acted to address a genuine national crisis".
But he goes on to say that "it's time to take a clear-eyed look at what worked, what didn't, and what produced unintended, long-lasting consequences …Too many laws were overly broad instead of appropriately tailored. Some are in prison who shouldn't be, others are in for too long, and without a plan to educate, train, and reintegrate them into our communities, we all suffer."
So what does this have to do with the primary? Well, as soon as I read this, I thought: So, Hillary Clinton is going to propose something to address mass incarceration. Because I am a genius! Ha ha just kidding! I am just a supernerd who has been paying attention to politics since I wrote a letter to President Reagan asking him to please work with Mr. Gorbachev so no bombs would be dropped on my head!
Anyway: "Hillary Clinton to Outline Pitch for Criminal Justice Reform." Whaddaya know!
Clinton will reportedly outline a sweeping criminal justice reform plan that includes: The end of mass incarceration, police body cameras, and "a changed approach to punishment and prison, including making changes to probation practices, finding alternative punishments for low-level offenders, and increasing support for mental health and drug treatment."
I mean, sure, that sounds fine. But here I bump up against the same issue as always, which is that no Democratic candidate who even has a reasonable chance of being elected is nearly as progressive as I am. We don't need to reform the system; we need to obliterate it and replace it with something where justice is actually possible. We need to disband the police force and abolish prisons, and replace them with community mediators, rehabilitation and treatment centers, and a robustly funded social safety net that includes a basic minimum income for everyone.
That sounds radical, I know—but a serious look at what underwrites most criminality, and what solutions are actually effective, makes such a radical suggestion also the only reasonable one. That is, if you're interested in justice and not the profits of privatized prisons.
But I digress!
Look at me, all talking about serious policy solutions in a post about presidential politics. HA HA HA I AM SUCH A FUNNY JOKE CLOWN!
In other Hillary Clinton news: It turns out Hillary's logo is kinda cool! And speaking of her logo, if you are a Hillary fan and want a free bumper sticker, here is where you can get one! (In exchange for your address and email.) (Which might not be a bad exchange, especially if you want campaign updates.) (You decide!)
In polls that don't matter and won't for at least a year: Clinton leads the Democratic candidates in Iowa, and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker leads the Republicans, even though he isn't running (yet).
I love these early polls, especially on the Republican side, because it's always some guy who ain't running who wins the day, until he starts running and voters get a look at him, and then some other guy who ain't running takes the lead. No one is more likeable to Republican voters than someone whose most odious views haven't yet been dissected by the national media!
And finally! Senator Bernie Sanders, the only socialist (♥ ♥ ♥) in Congress will reportedly announce tomorrow that he is seeking the Democratic nomination, too. Good on ya, Bernie. I don't think you can win, but I think you can bring some important progressive ideas to the Democratic primary! Please say the word abortion a lot thank you!
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
Baltimore Updates
[Content Note: Police brutality; racism; victim-blaming.]
Last night was quieter in Baltimore, after a city-wide curfew was imposed and 2,000 National Guard troops were activated and fanned out across the city.
But "quiet" is a deceptive word, which comforts people who only want peace but no justice.
There was less rebellion, because of aggressive policing. That's what "quieter" means. No one with a vested interest in meaningful justice supports this kind of quiet—the kind of quiet that includes the blackbag kidnapping of protesters.
Joseph Kent, a 21-year-old student at Morgan State University who rose to local prominence during the Michael Brown protests, was seen on live television standing with his hands in the air alongside a line of riot gear-clad police officers just before 11 p.m. Moments later, a National Guard humvee rolled up, and a swarm of officers swallowed Kent. The vehicle blocked the camera's view of the arrest.It was another day filled with dehumanizing language and victim-blaming, even as residents of the affected areas of Baltimore spent their day cleaning up the streets. Some of the people cleaning up were also the people who rioted. The first thing to get lost when people are dehumanized en masse is that human beings are complicated. No one is all "thug" or all "saint."
..."They drove the vehicle up and when it got close enough to create a wedge they ran out an grabbed him, pinned him against that and arrested him," CNN anchor Chris Cuomo said. He also told viewers Tuesday night that police had earlier shot pepper spray at the young protester as he approached their line in the street.
...A local attorney, Stephen Beatty, who said he would offer Kent his services pro bono, tweeted early Wednesday morning that Kent was safe and at Baltimore Central Booking.
"As a service to the community I can confirm that Mr. Kent is at CBIF awaiting processing. Report is he is ok and safe," he said. "Due to large numbers of arrests, processing is slow. He is not even in system yet. More will be known in about five hours. I do not yet rep him although I will gladly if he wants me to. But everyone breathe. No longer in [Baltimore Police Department] hands. [Correctional officers] have him. Safer," he said.
Journalist Brooke Obie said she called the Baltimore Police Department and was told Joseph Kent was "arrested for breaking the law and is in jail."
Even during the clean-up, police stood guard.
White people continued to invoke and misappropriate the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. The President called rioters "criminals." Freddie Gray's family asked for nonviolence, and their words were used to shame protesters and rebels, even though the family of a man who has been killed might have different needs and priorities than the men and women who are desperate not to be the next person killed.
An avocado says wisely: "maybe violence is sometimes the answer to questions you don't need to ask but others do anyway this is just an avocado tweeting nvm."
* * *
Here are a few pieces of highly recommended reading:
Mychal Denzel Smith: "Toward a New 'Broken Windows' Theory."
Stacia L. Brown: "Dispatch From Baltimore: Praying for Peace, Living Another Reality."
Jesse Williams: "There is nothing 'black' about rioting."
Sam Brodey and Jenna McLaughlin: "Eyewitnesses: The Baltimore Riots Didn't Start the Way You Think."
David Edwards: "Activist Deray McKesson Schools Wolf Blitzer: 'You are suggesting broken windows are worse than broken spines.'"
Question of the Day
Suggested via email by Shaker Bill Boulden: "What communication methods do you let notifications pile up for and which ones do you rigorously check?"
Says Bill: "I got a really good discussion going on Twitter [about this subject last week]. It was very interesting hearing about people who let emails pile to to over 70K unread but check every instagram notification the second it arrives, or people who check twitter for @mentions continually after they tweet but never go back to reread facebook threads once they have commented on them. Learned a lot!"
I am pretty good about keeping up with online communications, because, if I don't stay on top of them, I get wildly behind, but I'm terrible about checking voicemail. As basically all of my friends have discovered, lol. (I'm sorry!)
Quote of the Day
"If you're going to have relentlessly negative coverage from the media, it's going to affect your poll numbers."—Republican Governor of New Jersey, wannabe presidential candidate, and odious bully Chris Christie, offering a terrific explanation for why his approval ratings are in the toilet.
Obviously, his approval ratings would be a lot higher if the media covered all his good works. And maybe they will, if he ever does any.
Today in Rape Culture
[Content Note: Rape culture.]
Via Lucy Leiderman, here is a picture of a bottle of Bud Light emblazoned with its hot new ad campaign:
"The perfect beer for removing 'no' from your vocabulary for the night. #UpForWhatever. The perfect beer for whatever happens."
How about go fuck yourself? Are you up for that, Bud Light?
Apparently, Bud Light is claiming they were unaware of the rape culture connotations of this language.
They are lying.
There is literally no way that nary a single person involved with the development and execution of this campaign was aware of the messages implicit in an alcoholic beverage advertising its magical ability to "remove 'no' from your vocabulary." It defies belief.
And so I do not believe it.
I utterly refuse to credit as ignorance what is manifest dishonesty. Bud Light is not unaware of the rape culture connotations. They just don't care.
Except, perhaps, insomuch as appealing to rapists was entirely the point.
Meanwhile, here's the totally convincing statement of regret from Anheuser-Busch Vice President Alexander Lambrecht:
The Bud Light Up for Whatever campaign, now in its second year, has inspired millions of consumers to engage with our brand in a positive and light-hearted way. In this spirit, we created more than 140 different scroll messages intended to encourage spontaneous fun. It's clear that this message missed the mark, and we regret it. We would never condone disrespectful or irresponsible behavior.They begrudgingly admit "missing the mark," but only because a bunch of hysterical scolds refused to engage "light-heartedly" with their rape joke.
I mean, they would never condone disrespectful behavior. Don't let their decades of misogynist advertising featuring sexually objectified women tell you otherwise!
Nor their long advertising history of images of women being plied with beer by men.
Forgive them. They had no idea that people might interpret their fun message as a suggestion to engage in irresponsible behavior.
[H/T to Andrea Grimes.]
Daily Dose of Cute
Oh, pardon me, Lord Yawnington. Am I boring you?
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
This is a real thing in the world.
You know that dipshit Peter Schweizer who wrote Clinton Cash, the book that alleges the Clintons conspired with foreign governments to something something money something something foreign policy—allegations which, thus far, have not passed basic scrutiny?
Well, I knew he was a Republican operative who had published other flimsy conservative tomes, but I only just saw that this is the actual cover of one of his actual books which was actually published with this actual title:
Makers and Takers: Why Conservatives Work Harder, Feel Happier, Have Closer Families, Take Fewer Drugs, Give More Generously, Value Honesty More, Are Less Materialistic and Envious, Whine Less...and Even Hug Their Children More Than Liberals.
Yes, it's real.
It seems to me that Makers and Takers: Why Liberals Are Garbage People Who Belong in a Dumpster would have been more catchy, but what do I know?
I guess I'll have to wait for Schweizer's follow-up Why Liberals Are Totally Definitely Certainly Absolutely Without a Doubt Catastrophically Wrong About How Super Cool and Terrific and Amazing and Wonderful and Fantastic and Awesome Really, Really, Really Long Book Titles Are.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Earthquake; death; injury] As Nepal's people continue to search for survivors from the massive earthquake over the weekend, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala says the death toll may reach as many as 10,000 people. "International aid has finally begun arriving in the Himalayan nation of 28 million people, three days after Saturday's 7.9 magnitude quake, but disbursement is slow. According to the home (interior) ministry, the confirmed death toll stands at 4,349, with more than 7,000 injured. 'The death toll could go up to 10,000 because information from remote villages hit by the earthquake is yet to come in,' Koirala said."
Again, please feel welcome and encouraged to drop into comments suggestions for how we may help individually, if we are able.
[CN: Terrorism; death] Boko Haram has made another attack, this time in the northeast Nigerian town of Damasak, and hundreds of people have been killed: "The discovery of hundreds of bodies, including women and children, and the latest attacks underline both the brutality of the conflict and the continuing threat posed by the extremists."
Stanley Greenberg persuasively argues that Democrats must embrace populist progressive policy: "Those who advocate such 'centrism' could not be more wrong. The key to both winning today's white working-class voters and building overwhelming majorities with the Rising American Electorate is a robust agenda of progressive reform and government activism."
[CN: Police brutality; racism; disablism] Daniel Covarrubias, 37, was killed by police after suffering from hallucinations and being hospitalized. Following his release: "Two officers found Covarrubias hiding atop a 25-foot-tall stack of lumber. They fired after Covarrubias allegedly reached into his pocket. It's unclear how many times Covarrubias was shot. He later died at the hospital. ...[Police] have not yet said whether Covarrubias had a weapon."
[CN: Transphobia] An important read by Marti Abernathy: "Media Supports Demonizing of Trans Children, Silent on Trans Reparative Therapy: [T]he safest track for transgender children is to let them find their own way without guilt or shame. But that doesn't make for a good debate, does it?"
In good news: "Tyson Foods Inc., which is the country's biggest poultry supplier, announced this week that it plans to eliminate the use of human antibiotics in its chicken flocks by 2017. The impending deadline is being described as 'one of the most aggressive timelines yet set by an American poultry company.'"
[CN: Misogyny; sexual assault] Comedian Tamale Rocks discovered a two-way mirror in the women's restroom at a Chicagoland bar, and the owner of the establishment responded with this pile of horseshit: "I will burn this fucking place to the ground before I get rid of that mirror. Do you know how much joy that mirror has brought to us? We're synonymous with Halloween. We do a freaky family fun day, and all the kids look in the mirror. This is a fun house, honey, and if you don’t like the two-way mirror, go fuck yourself." Um, okay.
In more good news: Viola Davis "will star in, produce, and exec produce a biopic on the life of Harriet Tubman, for HBO. ...Davis' Tubman film will be based on the 2004 book, Bound for the Promised Land—Harriet Tubman Portrait: of an American Hero, by historian Kate Clifford Larson, which draws from a trove of new documents and sources, as well as extensive genealogical research, to paint a portrait of a complex woman and her passionate pursuit of freedom."
RIP Jayne Meadows: "Jayne Meadows, a longtime television actress who was the widow of TV legend Steve Allen and the elder sister of actress Audrey Meadows, died of natural causes at her home in Encino, Calif., on Sunday night. She was 95." A three-time Emmy nominee, Meadows "received the Susan B. Anthony Award for her continued positive portrayals of women in her acting."
This is really fascinating: "Automatic cameras in the Ukrainian side of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone have provided an insight into the previously unseen secret lives of wildlife that have made the contaminated landscape their home. ...In the first four months since the cameras were deployed, the team has 'trapped' more than 10,000 images of animals, suggesting the 30km zone, established shortly after the April 1986 disaster when a nuclear reactor exploded, ejecting radioactive material across the surrounding terrain and high into the atmosphere, is now home to a rich diversity of wildlife."
Cool: "Fossil hunters in Chile have unearthed the remains of a bizarre Jurassic dinosaur that combined a curious mixture of features from different prehistoric animals. The evolutionary muddle of a beast grew to the size of a small horse and was the most abundant animal to be found 145 million years ago, in what is now the Aysén region of Patagonia. The discovery ranks as one of the most remarkable dinosaur finds of the past 20 years, and promises to cause plenty of headaches for paleontologists hoping to place the animal in the dinosaur family tree."
And finally! Teeny Tiny Kitten Meets Big Dog. *melts*
Discussion Thread: Grocery Costs
[Content Note: Class warfare; food insecurity.]
Although the "food price outlook by the USDA states that, as of this year, the consumer price index for grocery or supermarket food items was down .5 percent in March," it's still "1.9 percent higher than last year around the same time."
I've had a bunch of conversations with local friends lately about the increasing cost of groceries, and the increasing reliance (in our state and in others) on food programs and pantries even among working people, so I thought I'd open a thread to discuss cost-saving ideas and recommendations.
Do you use a coupon program that you'd recommend? A food delivery service that is cost-effective for people who can't shop for themselves? Are you a member of a warehouse retailer like Costco or Sam's Club, with recommendations about particularly cost-effective items? Got secrets for stretching pantry items that you'd love to pass on?
Whatever tips or tricks you've got, share 'em in comments.
SCOTUS to Hear Marriage Arguments Today
[Content Note: Homophobia.]
Today, the US Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Obergefell v. Hodges, one of several same-sex marriage cases brought to the Court.
Obergefell v. Hodges requires the Court to answer: "1) Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex? 2) Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-state?"
The Washington Post has information on the lawyers who will be making the arguments.
SCOTUSblog will be liveblogging the oral arguments.
I don't have a lot to say right now, except to reiterate my unreserved support for the legalization of same-sex marriage.
I desperately hope that SCOTUS gets this right.
