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Question of the Day
Whatcha got in your pockets right now?
"Nothing" and "I don't have pockets" are, of course, perfectly cromulent answers.
It's Like Women Think We're More Than Half the Population or Something
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
Via stavvers, The Poke compiled some Mad Max: Fury Road posters reimagined to include comments from Daily Mail commenters who are SO MAD about women and feminism in movies. This one was my absolute favorite:
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!! Welp, that about sums it up! Damn women and our uppity demands to be included IN LIFE.
The Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by wheat.
Recommended Reading:
Christine: Vanity Fair Cover Says It All: "Call Me Caitlyn"
Anthony: ESPN to Award Caitlyn Jenner the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at 2015 Espys
Shannon: [Content Note: Racism; misogyny; homophobia; parenting policing] Disciplining Black Queer Motherhood
Maya: [CN: White supremacy; male supremacy; violent rhetoric] Safe Spaces Are for White Men
Diamond: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Please Make Feminism a Big, Raucous, Inclusive Party
George: [CN: Animal death; images of dead animals at link] Over 120,000 Saiga Antelopes Have Inexplicably Died Since Mid-May
Sam: Lionel Messi's Stunning Weekend Strike, as Called in 16 Countries
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
Primarily Speaking
The Democrats now have their third candidate—which is only 33% the number of Republican candidates—as former governor of Maryland Martin O'Malley officially announced his candidacy this weekend. And he did it with quite a flourish! He side-swiped Hillary Clinton using the old dynasty chestnut [CN: video may autoplay at link], embedding it in an ostensible populist message—"Recently, the CEO of Goldman Sachs let his employees know that he'd be just fine with either Bush or Clinton. Well, I've got news for the bullies of Wall Street—the presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth by you between two royal families."—and went after Bernie Sanders by answering why progressive voters should pick him over Sanders with this: "Because I have a track record of actually getting things done, not just talking about things."
Wowwwwwwee. O'Malley's assertion that Sanders hasn't done anything and is just a lot of talk is complete bullshit. Here is Senator Sanders highly accomplished progressive record. The fact that Sanders is such a credible progressive legislator is exactly why I want and expect more from him.
I am keenly aware that O'Malley is playing on the whole "executives (governors) are doers and legislators (senators) are talkers" garbage that Republican presidential candidates seem to think is super genius (but isn't), but considering that our last two presidents have been a governor (Bush) and a senator (Obama), and I'm guessing O'Malley has an opinion on which one was better, maybe he could just throw that whole line of nonsense into the bin where it belongs.
And, honestly, if O'Malley can't differentiate himself any better than "vote for me because Hillary Clinton is entitled and Bernie Sanders is all talk," he might as well not bother wasting his donors' money.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle, let's see what all the Official Candidates in the Bozo Brigade are up to today!
Senator Rand Paul says that detractors who don't support his fight against government surveillance "secretly want there to be an attack on the United States so they can blame it on me." That sounds reasonable.
Senator Marco Rubio might not be praying for a terror attack just to make Rand Paul look bad, but he's definitely willing to preemptively blame Paul as passive-aggressively as possible: "The national security laws and programs implemented after the 9/11 terrorist attacks have been the cornerstone of our country's protection since that infamous day. ...Our country is now poised to be less safe and Americans at greater risk from growing terrorist threats." That sounds reasonable.
Senator Lindsey Graham is the toughest toughy who ever toughed or something: "I want to be president to defeat the enemies trying to kill us, not just penalize them or criticize them or contain them, but defeat them." That sounds reasonable.
Senator Ted Cruz makes funny ha-ha joke about how Hillary Clinton is really to blame for DeflateGate, then does an unfathomably terrible impression of JFK, before declaring that JFK would have been a Republican WHUT WHUT WHUT. That all sounds very reasonable.
Former Senator Rick Santorum says that if the US Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage, he'll fight the decision: "Of course I'd fight it. Roe vs. Wade was decided 30 some years ago, and I continue to fight that, because I think the court got it wrong." He seems nice and that sounds reasonable.
Former New York Governor George "Who?" Pataki also blames Rand Paul and his Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Pseudobuster for making America less safe: "This is probably the most dangerous time for Americans here since September 11th, and to now have this void where the NSA cannot track lone wolves, they cannot use roving wiretaps against people they understand, probably are looking to engage in terrorist acts is completely wrong. It's dangerous and I fear for our safety." That certainly sounds just as reasonable as when Marco Rubio said it.
Professor of Bible Bigotry Mike Huckabee has built his campaign strategy around exploiting feelings of victimhood among conservative Christians, and, as such, continues to say shit like: "I think it's fair to say that Christian convictions are under attack as never before, not just in our lifetime, but never before in the history of this great republic." That sounds reasonable.
Dr. Ben Carson says about his chances for winning the Republican primary and then the general election: "I certainly believe that that is a possibility." That sounds reasonable.
[CN: Racism] Corporate power-failure Carly Fiorina said these actual words out loud: "I have been doing business in China for decades, and I will tell you that, yeah, the Chinese can take a test, but what they can't do is innovate. They are not terribly imaginative. They're not entrepreneurial; they don't innovate—that is why they are stealing our intellectual property." That sounds like a totally reasonable thing that a decent person would definitely say.
In case I wasn't laying it on think enough, that was sarcasm. None of this is reasonable. All of it is terrible. The Republican primary is like a reality television show where rich people compete to see who can be the ABSOLUTE FUCKING WORST.
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
Daily Dose of Cute
Just look at this wee glaikit face, lol. Such an adorkable goofball.
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: Police brutality; death; racism; disablism; classism. Descriptions of police shootings at link.]
"These shootings are grossly underreported. We are never going to reduce the number of police shootings if we don’t begin to accurately track this information."—Jim Bueermann, a former police chief and president of the Washington-based Police Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving law enforcement, quoted in a Washington Post article reporting that there have already been nearly 400 fatal police shootings nationwide in 2015.
Among the Post's findings:
● About half the victims were white, half minority. But the demographics shifted sharply among the unarmed victims, two-thirds of whom were black or Hispanic. Overall, blacks were killed at three times the rate of whites or other minorities when adjusting by the population of the census tracts where the shootings occurred.I'll note that we need to regard with skepticism the contention that more than 80% of victims "were armed with potentially lethal objects" when they were shot.
● The vast majority of victims — more than 80 percent — were armed with potentially lethal objects, primarily guns, but also knives, machetes, revving vehicles and, in one case, a nail gun.
● Forty-nine people had no weapon, while the guns wielded by 13 others turned out to be toys. In all, 16 percent were either carrying a toy or were unarmed.
● The dead ranged in age from 16 to 83. Eight were children younger than 18, including Jessie Hernandez, 17, who was shot three times by Denver police officers as she and a carload of friends allegedly tried to run them down.
The Post analysis also sheds light on the situations that most commonly gave rise to fatal shootings. About half of the time, police were responding to people seeking help with domestic disturbances and other complex social situations: A homeless person behaving erratically. A boyfriend threatening violence. A son trying to kill himself.
Ninety-two victims — nearly a quarter of those killed — were identified by police or family members as mentally ill.
First, because the definition of "potentially lethal objects" frequently defies credulity. Freddie Gray, whose death would not be included in this compilation because the Post "looked exclusively at shootings, not killings by other means, such as stun guns and deaths in police custody," was said to have been carrying a potentially lethal weapon because he was carrying a small pocketknife.
Secondly, because some police officers plant weapons on their victims. The police officer who killed Walter Scott, whose death was included in this report, was caught on video dropping his Taser near Scott's body. We cannot trust police accounts to be the sole source of information about whether victims were carrying weapons.
Also, at the Guardian: "The Counted: People killed by police in the US." Their number, which includes shooting deaths, Taser deaths, and deaths in custody, currently stands at 464.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Violent threats] The US Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Anthony Elonis, who claimed that the threatening language he posted on Facebook, directed at his ex-wife, was just his artistic way of expressing himself through rap lyrics. "The central legal question was what determines whether a statement is a true threat that can be prosecuted. One potential test is whether a reasonable speaker would foresee that the statement would be interpreted as a threat. An alternative, harder-to-reach test would require proving a subjective intent to threaten. The high court's much-anticipated decision Monday sided with the latter, tougher standard." So, basically, any dipshit can claim he wasn't intending to threaten someone and, unless their target can prove otherwise, it's all totally legal because free speech. This decision particularly does not bode well for women online.
[CN: Racism] And because SCOTUS just continues to be awesome, they're also fixing to issue a terrible decision in a housing discrimination case, too.
[CN: Islamophobia] In one amazing break from their onslaught of awful, SCOTUS did, however, rule in favor of Samantha Elauf, who was "denied a job at an Abercrombie & Fitch clothing store in Oklahoma because she wore a head scarf for religious reasons."
[CN: Surveillance] Welp: "Sweeping US surveillance powers, enjoyed by the National Security Agency since the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks, shut down at midnight after a dramatic Senate showdown in which even the NSA's biggest supporters conceded that substantial reforms were inevitable. Almost two years after the whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed to the Guardian that the Patriot Act was secretly being used to justify the collection of phone records from millions of Americans, critics of bulk surveillance went further than expected and forced the end of a range of other legal authorities covered by the Bush-era Patriot Act as well. The expired provisions...are likely to be replaced later this week with new legislation—the USA Freedom Act—that permanently bans the NSA from collecting telephone records in bulk and introduces new transparency rules for other surveillance activities."
(Although the USA Freedom Act is a step in the right direction, we still have a long way to go.)
[CN: War on agency] My pal Andrea Grimes on the latest anti-choice fuckery in Texas: "The Texas legislature approved two measures on Friday that will make it harder for some of the most marginalized Texans to access cancer treatment and legal abortion care."
[CN: War on agency] Meanwhile, in Alabama: "Dalton Johnson, the owner of the Alabama Women's Center, the only abortion clinic in northern Alabama, ...who has faced steadfast opposition from activists, legislators, and lawyers since opening his clinic 14 years ago, now faces a proposal that could force his practice to once again relocate—or close for good. In one of the Alabama General Assembly's final days in session, the House of Representatives on 26 May voted 79-15 to prohibit abortion clinics from operating near many public schools. If the law is passed, the Alabama department of public health will no longer be allowed to issue or renew a health center license to an abortion clinic located within 2,000ft of a K-12 school's campus or property."
[CN: Earthquake] Japan was hit by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake over the weekend, causing buildings in Tokyo to sway "for almost a minute as the quake built in intensity. There are no reports of serious damage. No tsunami alert was issued. ...Naoki Hirata, of the University of Tokyo's earthquake research centre, said: 'This was a very big quake...the shaking was felt over a broad area...fortunately, because it was deep, there is little danger of a tsunami.'" There were some reports of injuries, but luckily it seems like no one was seriously injured or killed.
[CN: Sex abuse] The Duggars have announced that they will do a sit-down on Fox News "to share our hearts with you about the pain that we walked through as a family twelve years ago, the tears we all shed, and the forgiveness that was given." Sounds gross and terrible. Meanwhile, their pastor felt it was important to say: "Everyone does wrong, and what was wrong was very wrong as to what was testified to and it's completely unacceptable. "But I'm thankful, whether it's him or any other one, that I serve a God who can forgive everything."
[CN: Sex abuse] And the church elder who witnessed Josh Duggar's confession to the Arkansas trooper, who claimed Jim Bob Duggar had lied about the extent of the abuse, says it's the trooper who's lying: "I definitely remember telling him before we went that he needed to come clean, and I definitely remember being satisfied that he did that when it was over." This is just a bunch of men blaming each other for not doing enough with no accountability for not doing enough themselves. Meanwhile: FORGIVENESS. Fuck all of this.
[CN: Fat bias; use of "overweight"] On the theme of not being an Inspirational Fatty, Allison McCarthy writes: "I'm a plus-sized woman. I never want to hear 'I'm proud of you' for exercising." Yup.
Balloon artist Masayoshi Matsumoto makes some of the most incredible balloon art animals that I've ever seen. Extraordinary.
And finally! "Pig Craps Inside a Police Car and Looks Unbelievably Pleased with Herself." Exactly as advertised, lol!
Sanders Addresses 1972 Essay
[Content Note: Sexual violence.]
Democratic candidate for president Senator Bernie Sanders appeared on Meet the Press this weekend, and host Chuck Todd asked him about his prolematic 1972 essay, which a campaign spokesperson had dismissed as "dark satire" and "stupid." Here's what Sanders had to say:
Todd: —found out what it's like to become a nationally, uh, recognized candidate for president and potentially a threat to somebody—a leaking of an essay you wrote in the '70s [Sanders chuckles] for an alternative weekly. Ah, your campaign described it as satire. I'll be honest with you, Senator Sanders, it's uncomfortable to read. The only excerpt I'm gonna put up is—you wrote this in February of '72; it was sort of a fantasy of men and women; you said: "A woman enjoys intercourse with her man—as she fantasizes being raped by three men simultaneously." Ah, your campaign described it as satire; can you explain this essay?So, it's either poorly-written satire or it was poorly-written fiction like Fifty Shades of Grey, just whatever description makes people STFU and move on to REAL ISSUES. Like including Republican candidates in Democratic debates, apparently.
Sanders: Sure. Look, this is a piece of fiction that I wrote in nineteen seventy-two, I think. That was forty-three years ago. It was very poorly written, and, if you read it, what it was dealing with [was] gender stereotypes—why some men like to oppress women; why other women like to be submissive. You know, something like "Fifty Shades of Grey." Very poorly written, forty-three years ago. What I am focusing on right now are the issues impacting the American people today, and that's what I will continue to focus on, and what I think the American people want to hear—and, by the way, on broader issues, what I think when we talk about issues— Chuck, we need a lot more debates.
Todd: Right.
Sanders: In this campaign, I hope very much that we can begin with the Democratic candidates' debates as early as July, and have some Republicans in those debates as well.
Todd: All right!
I've seen some progressive supporters of Sanders praise his response as being rightly defiant of even being questioned about the essay. Here, for example, Sanders is described as "unapologetically strong" and his response "perfect." And I understand this interpretation, if you genuinely believe this is just a piece of shitty muckraking that doesn't matter.
But one of the things about shitty muckraking in political campaigns is that how candidates respond to it matters, even if one believes that the underlying issue doesn't.
And this was an opportunity for Sanders to respond in a way that conveys his current position on gender equality. He could have answered with the same strategy—pivoting to a more important issue—by saying something like: "Chuck, this essay was a poorly conceived attempt at addressing gender stereotypes that was terribly executed, but gender equality is still a relevant issue today. I wrote that essay forty-three years ago, and it's a pretty good example of how men often fail to speak sensitively and competently on women's issues. I've learned a lot in those intervening forty-three years, and my hope is that I'm a better advocate for women and gender equality now than I was then. If there's any takeaway from this, let it be that we needed then and need still for men to support women's equality with seriousness and thoughtfulness. There are real issues facing women today that we need to talk about, like..."
But, instead, Sanders chose to greet the question with nothing but contempt. His campaign has evidently calculated that it's better to dismiss feminist critics as oversensitive hysterics who don't understand how politics works and are taking the muckraking bait to distract from "real issues" than it would to be to alienate bros by being meaningfully accountable.
Or to disappear us altogether to suggest it's simply rightwingers who are objecting to the essay, pretending to care about women's issues in order to smear Sanders.
Which is precisely why I'm more angry about Sanders' response than I was about the essay. His response tells us something about his current priorities and sensitivities, and I don't like what we're being told.
I want to hear that Sanders understands his essay was problematic, not merely "poorly written." I want to hear that Sanders understands it was problematic even at the time, that the fact it was forty-three years ago doesn't situate it in a context in which there weren't women (and men) who were writing then, and long before, on gender inequality safely and sensitively. I want to hear that Sanders has learned something about how to advocate for women, not just behave as though it's taken as read that every man learns that with age (because they don't). I want to hear that Sanders understands the language and imagery used to discuss women's issues matters right now, and that it is a "real issue."
And the reason I want to hear these things is because the President of the United States will be contending with a Republican caucus, currently the majority in both houses of Congress, who are deeply hostile to women's issues. Who have tried to block the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Who have tried to pass a dangerous abortion ban. Whose every economic policy, from indifference to the pay gap to the defunding of social services, will disproportionately affect poor women of color and their children. And ditto their social policies, from ENDA to immigration.
I want to know I can trust a progressive presidential candidate to take women's issues seriously. And women's concerns.
The fact that it is still controversial to ask a man to acknowledge that it's indecent, not just bad writing, to use sexual violence against women in a flippant and insensitive way is indicative of the fact that this shit does matter. That this is a real issue, today.
I expect more from progressive men. Asking them not to be wildly insensitive about sexual violence isn't some sort of unfair attack. It isn't an unfair expectation. It's the bare minimum of what we should want from male politicians.
I know, and I am glad, that Sanders has been solid on policy around women's issues during his tenure in the Senate. That is, as far as I'm concerned, the argument for why he should be accountable on this, rather than the argument for why he doesn't need to be.
There are times during campaigns when old garbage is dredged up, and I absolutely want candidates to respond with nothing but the contempt it deserves. This is not one of those times.
RIP Beau Biden
[Content Note: Death.]
Beau Biden, the son of Vice President Joe Biden, who had served as Delaware's Attorney General, was an officer in the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps, and was an Iraq War veteran, died Saturday from brain cancer.
Vice President Biden released this statement on behalf of their family:
It is with broken hearts that Hallie, Hunter, Ashley, Jill and I announce the passing of our husband, brother and son, Beau, after he battled brain cancer with the same integrity, courage and strength he demonstrated every day of his life.I am so profoundly sad for the Biden family. Beau was one of Joe Biden's two children who survived a terrible auto accident in which his first wife and daughter Naomi were killed in 1972. To lose him now, I can't even imagine.
The entire Biden family is saddened beyond words. We know that Beau's spirit will live on in all of us—especially through his brave wife, Hallie, and two remarkable children, Natalie and Hunter.
Beau's life was defined by service to others. As a young lawyer, he worked to establish the rule of law in war-torn Kosovo. A major in the Delaware National Guard, he was an Iraq War veteran and was awarded the Bronze Star. As Delaware's Attorney General, he fought for the powerless and made it his mission to protect children from abuse.
More than his professional accomplishments, Beau measured himself as a husband, father, son and brother. His absolute honor made him a role model for our family. Beau embodied my father's saying that a parent knows success when his child turns out better than he did.
In the words of the Biden family: Beau Biden was, quite simply, the finest man any of us have ever known.
My condolences to Beau Biden's family, friends, colleagues, and constituents. He seemed like a very decent man.
Good Morning! Or Whatever!
Let's all watch and/or read the transcript for this video of Max the Cockatoo being very adorable and very smart!
Video Description: Max the Cockatoo, a white bird with black eyes and a grey beak and grey feet, is chilling in his playroom with his BFF, a black cat named Angel. He looks at his guardian, a white man, who's filming him. "Hi," Max says. He goes to his toybox and pulls out a (clean) toilet brush, carrying it in his beak to his guardian. He climbs up on the arm of the chair in which the man is sitting. "What are we doing with that?" the man asks. "You gonna clean your perches?"
Max drops the brush and then reaches out with his foot and strokes the bristles. "You gonna clean your perches, hmm?" Max stares at the man plaintively, then again strokes the bristles with his foot. The man holds up the brush, and Max leans his head toward it. "Really? You want me to pet you with it?" the man asks. Max leans down, and the man begins stroking him gently with the brush. Angel sits in the background, disinterested in this entire exchange. Max contentedly grooms his feet while he gets pet with the toilet brush.
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
The Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by eggrolls.
Recommended Reading:
Happy Blogiversary to Trudy at Gradient Lair! Woot!
Jessica: [Content Note: War on agency] Federal Court Permanently Blocks Arkansas' 12-Week Abortion Ban
Aura: [CN: Violence; racism; police misconduct] This Is How Some NYPD Cops Talked about the Execution of a 14-Year-Old Latino
Edwin: [CN: Worker exploitation; death] This Chart Shows the Staggering Human Cost of Staging a World Cup in Qatar
Rob: Will In-Car HUDs Make the Roads Hell?
Kyler: Meet the LGBT Characters in the Wachowskis' Upcoming Netflix Sci-Fi Series Sense8
THV: [CN: Moving gifs] Tom Hardy Kissing a Puppy
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
Daily Dose of Cute
"If you want, I can stretch out and take up even more space!"
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
Oh, Okay Then
[Content Note: Silencing, rape fantasies, misogyny.]
Via Katie McDonough at Salon I've now learned that apparently Bernie Sanders has said and done some very good things on women's issues (true!). Also: his critics include professional butt berets Erick Erickson and Bill Kristol (also true!). Okay.
Then I learned that his 1972 piece recently reproduced in Mother Jones was "an attempted critique of heteronormativity — a clumsy and weird-as-hell attempted critique of heteronormativity," and apparently no big deal. Uh, okay?
Because, you know, if you're going to characterize it as such, maybe the best way to support your thesis is NOT to then directly quote three graphic passages referring to a man's fantasy of violently abusing a woman, of a woman's alleged fantasies about rape, and the rape of 12 year olds (both of the latter by multiple offenders).
That is not just some "clumsy" and "weird" shit. That's some horrific rape culture. Also: Sanders' critics are not made up solely of right wing concern trolls. (Ahem.) Nor does saying and doing good things for women magically erase the harm of those attitudes and that language.
But pretending these things are in fact true is certainly a great way to tell those hysterical, humorless feminists to just STFU! Because Sanders' campaign and, apparently, progressive media supporters don't have time for pesky shit like "male politicians seeking higher office who have loathsome ideas about women, gender roles, and sexual violence." Who does?
Okay then! Duly noted. Humorless feminists, over and out.
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!
* * *
I was feeling purply today (what a shocker, I know), so I paried ColourPop's Feminst lip liner with Yves Saint Laurent's Rouge Volupté Shine No 3 Violet Incognito.
And that's all the make-up I'm wearing in the photo. My hair: Obviously not done, lol. So no make-up adjacent hair product to report, either!
What's up with you?
* * *
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.
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
Bauhaus: "Bela Lugosi's Dead"
This week's TMNS has been brought to you by 80's goth.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
This guy again: "J. Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican speaker in the history of the U.S. House, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges that he violated banking laws in a bid to pay $3.5 million to an unnamed person to cover up 'past misconduct.' Hastert, who has been a high-paid lobbyist in Washington since his 2007 retirement from Congress, schemed to mask more than $950,000 in withdrawals from various accounts in violation of federal banking laws that require the disclosure of large cash transactions, according to a seven-page indictment delivered by a grand jury in Chicago." I'll just quote my pal Jamison Foser: "That time nine years ago I told you maybe Denny Hastert was corrupt, and maybe the media should pay attention."
UPDATE: [CN: Sexual abuse] The "past misconduct" Hastert is alleged to have paid to cover up is sexual abuse dating back to his time as a high school wrestling coach and teacher. I suspected this was the case, because there have been rumors about this in Illinois for many, many years. And I'm angry and sad that those rumors appear to be true.
From Gallup's latest polling: "Half of Americans consider themselves 'pro-choice' on abortion, surpassing the 44% who identify as 'pro-life.' This is the first time since 2008 that the pro-choice position has had a statistically significant lead in Americans' abortion views."
More normalization of relations with Cuba: "The United States has taken Cuba off the list of state sponsors of terrorism, a step that authorities in Havana had insisted upon in advance of the reopening of embassies. ...Removing the terror designation lifts some trade barriers against Cuba, but an overall embargo remains in effect and requires a congressional vote to reverse it. President Obama has said he hopes to work with Congress to get the embargo lifted."
[Content Note: Misogyny; reproductive coercion] What the everloving fuck: "United Bible Fellowship Ministries, Inc., which provides housing and care to people with disabilities, will have to pay a former employee $75,000 for firing her after she became pregnant to settle a lawsuit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The organization has had a 'no pregnancy in the workplace' policy in place that meant it fired anyone who became pregnant and refused to hire anyone applying for a position while pregnant. It admitted that the former employee, Sharmira Johnson, performed her job as a resource technician providing care to residents well and didn't have any medical restrictions that would keep her from carrying out her duties. Yet it fired her, arguing it was justifiable in order to ensure her safety, that of her unborn baby, and the safety of its clients."
[CN: Transphobia] Here is a list of US insurers who offer some transgender healthcare coverage. That doesn't do a fuck of a lot of good for trans* people who don't have insurance, or have insurance but no provider choice. In a decent country, in which trans*-related healthcare was considered basic, routine healthcare, as it should be, it wouldn't be legal to refuse to provide it. Of course, in a decent country, we wouldn't be talking about accessing healthcare through for-profit insurance companies at all.
[CN: Image of injury at link] This is a really moving story about a man who received a full face transplant meeting the sister of the man whose face he received. "She touched his face and said: 'This is the face I grew up with.' Her brother, Joshua Aversano, had been killed in a road traffic accident, at the age of 21. The decision to donate his face had been difficult, but would have been what he wanted, said his mother Gwen Aversano."
[CN: Death] No, you're crying YOUR face off at this PSA!
[CN: Descriptions of animal cruelty] This is a good article about how Waukegan, Illinois, has been transformed into a "de facto no-kill shelter" by "an organic and compassionate coalition of city officials, volunteers, donors, veterinarians, cops, and dedicated animal control officers" who came together to address animal cruelty and create an informal "mandate to save, protect, and heal lost and abused animals in the city."
[CN: Images/discussion of violence] Joe Morse talks about his beautiful artwork from the first illustrated version of Toni Morrison's novel Beloved.
"Husband, wife sink rare back-to-back aces at same hole: 'I had a feeling. But, you know, everybody gets a feeling that this one's going in,' Janet Blundy said about her second career ace. 'We have a competitive edge between each other. It was just like, 'Hee hee, you're not gonna get one up on me.''" Adorbz.
Jessica Alba's The Honest Company is worth $1 billion?! Holy shit!
Here's a little more Tom Hardy awesomeness for ya: "It's Mel Gibson that you expect [when you see Fury Road]. What you don't get, here, is what you expect. And that's what's wonderful. The lead of this movie is a female amputee. It's a total empowerment of women. It's actually about fucking time."
And finally! The flooding in Texas displaced shelter pets at Austin Pets Alive!, a no-kill shelter in Austin, and people lined up to foster and/or adopt the animals. Blub.
