The Baseballs: "Umbrella"
This week's TMNS has been brought to you by male covers of hits originated by female singers.
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
The Baseballs: "Umbrella"
This week's TMNS has been brought to you by male covers of hits originated by female singers.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Misogynist terrorism] Fucking hell: "Eight of the 10 men reportedly jailed for the attempted assassination of Pakistani schoolgirl [and Nobel Peace Prize winner] Malala Yousafzai were acquitted, it has emerged. In April, officials in Pakistan said that 10 Taliban fighters had been found guilty and received 25-year jail terms. But sources have now confirmed to the BBC that only two of the men who stood trial were convicted. The secrecy surrounding the trial, which was held behind closed doors, raised suspicions over its validity."
[CN: War; humanitarian crisis] What are we even doing: "Twenty million Yemenis, nearly 80% of the population, are in urgent need of food, water and medical aid, in a humanitarian disaster that aid agencies say has been dramatically worsened by a naval blockade imposed by an Arab coalition with US and British backing. Washington and London have quietly tried to persuade the Saudis, who are leading the coalition, to moderate its tactics, and in particular to ease the naval embargo, but to little effect. A small number of aid ships is being allowed to unload but the bulk of commercial shipping, on which the desperately poor country depends, are being blocked. Despite western and UN entreaties, Riyadh has also failed to disburse any of the $274m it promised in funding for humanitarian relief."
[CN: War; arms] I'm sure this won't lead to any regrettable consequences: "The United States has quietly started delivering promised arms for Iraqi soldiers from a $1.6 billion fund approved by Congress last year, officials said, following mounting Iraqi frustration over the pace of coalition assistance. The Pentagon said long-awaited equipment from the Iraq Train and Equip Fund (ITEF) started being fielded about two weeks ago and was moving as fast as possible. Officials noted extensive, previous arms transfers under different U.S. authorities." Iraq needs weapons to fight IS, but will almost certainly lose some or most or all of those weapons to IS. We have been down this road before, and here we go again.
[CN: Unemployment; worker exploitation] The US added 280,000 jobs in May and everyone is celebrating huzzah. Except, again, there is very little information about the quality of those jobs and whether the people who take them will actually be able to support themselves, no less support themselves and start to build savings.
[CN: Misogyny] So, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders did an interview with Playboy. (No, I'm not linking to it; you can find it easily enough if you're so inclined.) Now, everyone can save the lectures about how (male) presidential candidates doing interviews with Playboy is tradition, because oh I know, I am well aware of that tradition. But I have a question: Has Bernie Sanders made himself available for extensive interviews with any feminist magazines? Ms? Bitch? Bust? Even a pseudo-feminist magazine like Cosmo? Any women's magazine at all? Not that I could find. (LOL.) I know I'm a feminist harpy bitchcunt etc. etc. but I question the priorities of a progressive male candidate doing an interview with Playboy before he committed to doing a single interview with a feminist women's magazine. Maybe I'm being unfair; maybe he's just waiting for them to invite him to write something.
[CN: Environmental concerns] Um okay: "Today, the Environmental Protection Agency released a draft assessment of its long-awaited study on the impact of hydraulic fracturing—also known as fracking—on drinking water resources in the United States. The report found that although fracking has, to date, been carried out in a way that has not led to widespread and systematic impacts on the country's drinking water, the process creates several key vulnerabilities that could potentially undermine the health of drinking water in the United States." How widespread does this have to be to be a major concern, though?
Miss Piggy explains why she is a feminist pig LOL.
Gleep glorp! Facebook Lite! (This actually sounds like a pretty decent alternative for people who don't have reliably robust connectivity but still want to engage with social media.)
I know there are a bunch of Victoria Beckham fans around here, so here is an article where she's talking about how she's still friends with all the Spice Girls, and how her husband is awesome, and how "I really value friendships between other girls."
What is this movie LOLOLOLOLOL?
And finally! Moose Family Jumps for Joy When a Woman Saves Them from Alaskan Heatwave. Aww lol! LOVE.
Personal Info of 4 Million Federal Workers Compromised by Cyber Attack
[Content Note: Privacy violations.]
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck:
Hackers breached the computers of the U.S. government agency that collects personnel information for federal workers in a massive cyber attack that compromised the data of about 4 million current and former employees, U.S. officials said on Thursday.Both current and former federal employees, whose information may still have been stored on the breached systems, could be affected.
A U.S. law enforcement source told Reuters a foreign entity or government was believed to be behind the cyber intrusion against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and media reports said authorities suspected it originated in China.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it had launched a probe and would hold the culprits accountable.
OPM detected new malicious activity affecting its information systems in April and the Department of Homeland Security said it concluded at the beginning of May that the agency's data had been compromised.
...There was no immediate comment from the White House on the latest cyber attack.
Since the intrusion, OPM said it had implemented additional security precautions for its networks. It said it would notify the 4 million people affected and offer credit monitoring and identity theft services to the people affected.
The New York Times reports that the hack appeared to target Social Security numbers and other "personal identifying information," a sweep of information so broad that its purpose isn't immediately clear. That is, it seems too sweeping for espionage. And, although there is a belief that the hack originated in China, the Obama administration "did not publicly identify Chinese hackers as the culprits because it is difficult to definitively attribute the source of cyberattacks and to back up such an attribution without divulging classified data."
Also:
The announcement of the intrusion came on the same day The New York Times reported that the National Security Agency had expanded warrantless surveillance of foreign hackers, an effort that could sweep up the information of innocent Americans.That's an interesting little piece of information. I'm not sure if that's an ass-covering measure, or the use of a security breach to simply usher in some shiny new surveillance expansion without much scrutiny, or both.
Either way: Not good.
YES, MA'AM!
Hillary Clinton ain't messing around:
Saying there is a sweeping effort underway across the country to disenfranchise people of color from voting, Hillary Clinton called for universal, automatic voter registration for every citizen when they turn 18, at a speech at Texas Southern University in Houston, one of the largest historically black colleges in the nation.Damn. And in case that wasn't enough for you, she explicitly called out the Republican conspiracy to disenfranchise voters and named names:
"I think this would have a profound impact on our elections and our democracy," she said.
People would be able to opt out of being automatically registered under the proposal, Clinton said. She also called for the adoption of an early voting standard of at least 20 days before an election across the country, along with increased availability to online voter registration and reduced waiting times on election day.
...Clinton also sought to connect the life of Barbara Jordan, who was the first woman and first African American woman ever elected to represent Texas in the House of Representatives, and her fight for the Voting Rights Act, to the current climate, where she said the law has had its "heart ripped out."
Clinton called out some of her likely Republican opponents by name, accusing them of launching a "crusade against voting rights" and for "fearmongering about a phantom epidemic of election fraud"...She also "denounced the Supreme Court's 2013 ruling" on voting rights.
[S]he condemned laws that she said suppress voting, particularly among minorities and young people and called out GOP lawmakers for "systemically and deliberately trying to stop millions of American citizens from voting."
"What is happening is a sweeping effort to disempower and disenfranchise people of color, poor people and young people, from one end of our country to another," Clinton said...
"Here in Texas, former governor Rick Perry signed a law that a federal court said was actually written with a purpose of discriminating against minority voters," Clinton said. "He applauded when the Voting Rights Act was gutted. And said the lost protections were outdated and unnecessary."
"But Governor Perry is hardly alone in his crusade against voting rights," Clinton added. "In Wisconsin, Governor Scott Walker cut back early voting and signed legislation that would make it harder for college students to vote. In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie vetoed legislation to extend early voting. And in Florida, when Jeb Bush was governor, state authorities conducted a deeply flawed purge of voters before the presidential election in 2000."
Well HELLO, Madam Candidate!
I forgot how much I loved when Hillary Clinton goes medieval on the Republicans. "Fearmongering about a phantom epidemic of election fraud." Beautiful.
I really like this proposal, too, by the way. I'm generally not a fan of "opt-out" measures, but, the thing is, voting is a right. It isn't something to which we should be having to opt in.
Also: Adoption of a national early voting standard: A+. Increased online voter registration: A+. Reduced waiting times on election day (presumably including longer voting hours): A+. Rolling back provisions that make it harder for people to vote: A+.
Someone pass Clinton a note that we should make Election Day a national holiday, too!
"To show beauty in a different way really lights me up inside."
So, Orange Is the New Black is a show that I like, even despite its problems, for a few reasons, the primary one being that THERE ARE SO MANY WOMEN. I didn't particularly like the plot or central characters in the very first episode, but I kept watching because I was held in rapt thrall by the sheer number of women in the show! (And, as the show went on, the focus stretched to include more of them more meaningfully.) There were just all these incredible women! All of them talking! To each other! And they didn't all look alike!
After a lifetime of television, with some notable exceptions, in which shows "about women" often tend to have a single, white, straight, cis, thin, able-bodied woman at their center, who is surrounded by men and maybe one other female character whose only purpose is to be a foil or a lesser contrast to the female star (the Murphy Brown model), to see a show "about women" actually be about an abundance of diverse women was pretty amazing.
And there's been a lot of digital ink spilled about the diversity of the show: The racial diversity, the prominence of lesbian and bi characters, the trans character who is played a trans actress.
Less has been written about the incredible body diversity of the cast, so I am majorly appreciative of this month's issue of Essence, which is their annual "body issue," featuring six of the black cast members from OITNB in all their stunning body diversity. (Although it's not lost on me that the fat girls are in the back, ahem.)
In the issue, the actresses discuss not only their body shape/size, but also their unique physical features—and learning to love and appreciate oneself:
Two-time ESSENCE cover star Laverne Cox describes her ritual of learning to love herself, no matter what: "This is intense, and it's hard. What I've been doing is looking in the mirror and listing all the things I have an issue with and then saying, 'This is beautiful.' I just go down the list and tell myself, 'You have to accept that this is you today.' I make time to do this."Blub.
"Being [my size] in this industry is so rare," says 25-year-old stunner, Danielle Brooks, "but regular people look more like me than runway models. To show beauty in a different way really lights me up inside. That's so cheesy, but it does."
Emmy-winner Uzo Aduba admits it took her time to fully embrace her signature smile. "For the majority of my first 18 years, I hated my gap. My mom would tell me that in Nigeria, it's a sign of beauty. I was like, 'We're in Massachusetts.'" She continues, "Today there's not a selfie or personal photo I take where I'm not smiling wide. It sometimes feels as if I'm making up for lost smiles."
Open Thread
Hosted by marble rye.
This week's Open Threads have been brought to you by the letter M.
Question of the Day
By always-popular request: What are you reading right now? Or what you have you recently read that you'd recommend?
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!
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This is my easy-peasy 5-minute look: Juice Beauty's CC Cream in Natural Glow (which I got as a sample in a Birch Box, and have now gotten many uses out of!); Too Faced's Perfect Flush Blush in Something About Berry; Almay's Intense iColor Mascara in Black Steel; and ColourPop's lipliner and lipstick in Bound.
No eyeshadow. Just a little wax through air-dried hair. This is a really quick look for when I just want to even out my skin, which is naturally quite blotchy, with areas of redness and dark melasmas on my cheeks.
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.
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Police brutality; racism.]
"Matt has withstood scrutiny and is entitled to pursue his passion and his passion is to be a police officer serving the Madison community. I am not going to strong-arm someone to resign, retire or relocate, particularly when there has been no fault found. He is his own master of his own universe."—Madison, Wisconsin, Police Chief Mike Koval, during a press conference yesterday afternoon regarding the announcement that "Officer Matt Kenny has been exonerated, after an internal investigation found he followed proper procedure when he used 'deadly force' against" black teenager Tony Robinson.
I don't even know where to fucking begin. The master of his own universe. Do these guys even have the faintest idea how they sound to people who don't share their contemptible view of the world and the people in it?
My condolences to Tony Robinson's family, for this man's utter lack of compassion.
Daily Dose of Cute
You know how Sophie likes to hang out in the inbox on my desk? Well, sometimes it becomes a grooming station for Olivia—who constantly wants to groom everyone in the house (including me, especially after I've just washed my hair)—to groom to her heart's content on a captive audience.
Video Description: Sophie the Torbie Cat sits curled up in a metal box atop my desk, while Olivia the White and Tabby Farm Cat licks the back of her head and neck. She licks her so hard that Sophie gently bounces back and forth, but she is content to be groomed by her big sister. Eventually (this had been going on for a long while before I started filming it), Olivia decides Sophie has been sufficiently groomed, stops licking her, licks her lips, and walks away (taking a shortcut directly across my laptop keyboard, which I always love, ahem). Sophie, freshly groomed, watches her go.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
Primarily Speaking
Rick Perry running for president again
kinda leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Welp, former governor of Texas Rick Perry has joined the ranks of the Bozo Brigade occupying the most crowded clown car of all time! That brings the total number of Republican candidates officially running to double digits. TEN TERRIFIC OPTIONS! What an amazing time to be alive!
And it will get EVEN MORE AMAZING on June 15, because that is when former governor of Florida Jeb Bush will reportedly announce that he, too, is running for president!
Come on, Scott Walker and Bobby Jindal—let's make it a baker's dozen!
I'm sure all of the many GOP candidates are up to tons of good stuff today, but here are the highlights:
Corporate power-failure Carly Fiorina has disclosed that she and her husband have a net worth of $59 million. Is that all?! That's only 0.236 Romneys! (1 Romney=$250 million.) DISAPPOINTING.
Senator Lindsey Graham says that Hillary Clinton's "refusal" to talk to the press makes her worse than North Korean leader Kim Jong-un: "'There's more spontaneity in North Korea than there is with her campaign,' Graham told the New Hampshire Union Leader on Tuesday, re-upping the comments again on Fox News on Thursday morning. 'I mean, it's easier to talk to Kim Jong-un than it is to her. At the end of the day, you're not going to be president of the United States with this model.'" He seems nice. And very fair. I guess the model with which he hopes to win the presidency is "Hugest of Unwashed Assholes."
And today's WORST CLOWN IN THE CLOWN CAR AWARD goes to Senator Ted Cruz, who had to apologize after making a joke about Vice President Joe Biden mere days after his son died. And here is the full text of his awesome apology posted to his Facebook page: "It was a mistake to use an old joke about Joe Biden during his time of grief, and I sincerely apologize. The loss of his son is heartbreaking and tragic, and our prayers are very much with the Vice President and his family." You know, the claim that you're praying about someone's devastating loss kinda rings hollow when it appears that you totally forgot about it while making snide jokes about them.
This fucking guy. All these fucking guys. And one gal.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle: Lincoln Chafee is officially in, and he wants the US to switch to the metric system. Okay! That is quite a platform! It looks to me to be about five feet or 1.524 meters!
Some Democrats are already advocating for Clinton to choose former San Antonio mayor and current housing secretary Julián Castro as her running mate if she wins the nomination. Sure! He seems fine! I can already 100% guarantee you that Fauxgressive Concern Trolls will have ALL THE THINGS TO SAY about there not being a white man on the ticket! Not because they're misogynist and racist, ho ho no, of course not, never. Just because they are so keenly aware that other people are. Bros, let me go ahead and propose now that we give it a chance, 'k?
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: War] This is not good news: "[Ukrainian] President Petro Poroshenko has told MPs the military must prepare to defend against a possible 'full-scale invasion' from Russia, amid a surge of violence in eastern Ukraine. Russia has denied that its military is involved in Ukraine, but Mr Poroshenko said 9,000 of its troops were deployed. Clashes involving tanks took place in two areas west of Donetsk on Wednesday. There was a 'colossal threat' that large-scale fighting would resume, the president told parliament in Kiev. The outbreak of violence, in the government-held towns of Maryinka and Krasnohorivka, was among the worst in eastern Ukraine since a ceasefire was signed in Minsk in February."
[CN: Police brutality] An update from Baltimore on the case against the officers who killed Freddie Gray: "Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby plans to seek a protective order that would block the release of Freddie Gray's autopsy report and other 'sensitive' documents as she prosecutes the six police officers involved in his arrest. Mosby told The Baltimore Sun that prosecutors 'have a duty to ensure a fair and impartial process for all parties involved' and 'will not be baited into litigating this case through the media.'" Naturally, defense attorneys for the officers are claiming that Mosby's actions prove "there is something in that autopsy report that they are trying to hide." Of course. Funny how there aren't similar complaints when documents are leaked by prosecutors in other jurisdictions who are defending the police via the media.
[CN: Murder] In other news from Baltimore: "Baltimore police are seeking federal assistance to combat a surging crime rate as the city deals with the aftermath of the death of Freddie Gray in police custody, an incident that sparked days of intense protests. Police commissioner Anthony Batts said on Wednesday that the department had requested more federal agents and prosecutors to be dispatched to Baltimore after the city recorded 43 murders in May, the highest murder rate in the city since 1972. 'We understand fully the concern over the recent violence,' Batts said. 'Nothing is more important than the sanctity of human life within this city.'" A+ for connecting crime to protesters who are are trying to make sure that human life actually does matter, and isn't just empty words said unironically by cynical men.
[CN: Fat bias; bullying; self-harm] New research has confirmed (again) what fat people have been saying for years: "Negative stereotypes towards heavier individuals starts to affect long-term life opportunities from a young age. A number of studies in recent years have suggested that bigger children fare less well in school than their slimmer peers. ...[N]umerous other studies have now reported negative weight-related stereotypes and anti-fat attitudes being held by teachers at every stage of the school system, from kindergarten upwards. ...These early disadvantages have serious implications. First, there is the direct psychological cost of this hostile environment, including greater rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide among heavier young people. A recent study even suggested that bullying may be more harmful than child abuse in the long-term. But there is also a cost in terms of more limited life opportunities. In general, heavier individuals tend to have fewer years of education overall, are less likely to go on to higher education, and are less likely to get into graduate school. In all cases, the effects seem stronger for women and girls and negatively impact them at every stage in their careers. In fact, the research in this area tells us that heavier individuals, and in women in particular, are less likely to be hired, more likely to be disciplined or fired, receive poorer performance appraisals, and earn less money for the same work."
[CN: Sexual assault; rape culture] A Navy sailor who pleaded guilty to "secretly videotaping female trainees as they undressed for showers aboard a submarine" faces a maximum of six years in prison. Prosecutors have asked the judge for a three-year sentence, and his defense attorney has asked for "no more than six months," because he has a wife and children and because: "You don't have a predator on your hands. You have a young man who made terrible decisions." Fuck. Off.
[CN: Worker exploitation] Democratic US Senators Chris Murphy (Connecticut) and Al Franken (Minnesota) have introduced legislation banning noncompete contracts for low-wage workers. The bill "would ban noncompete clauses for workers making less than $15 an hour or $31,200 annually, or the minimum wage in the employee's municipality. The move follows reports the Jimmy John's sandwich shops requires some of its low-wage workers to sign two-year noncompete agreements prohibiting them from working at retail stores that make at least 10 percent of their sales from sandwiches. The legislation is dubbed the 'Mobility and Opportunity for Vulnerable Employees (MOVE) Act' and is also supported by the National Employment Law Project." GOOD. Let's hope the Republican majority is willing to let it come up for a vote and then supports it. (I bet they won't! For no legitimate reason!)
[CN: Worker exploitation] At Think Progress, Bryce Covert has an excellent piece on the increasingly common employment structure at salons, in which stylists are considered self-employed yet are still subjected to rules and regulations as though they are employees.
[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Whoa! "An Australian scientist has discovered that giant, invisible, moving plasma tubes fill the skies above Earth. It's a finding that was initially met with a considerable degree of scepticism within the field of astrophysics, but a University of Sydney undergraduate student Cleo Loi, 23, has proven that the phenomenon exists. By using a radio telescope in the West Australian outback to see space in 3D, Ms Loi has proven that the Earth's atmosphere is embedded with these strangely shaped, tubular plasma structures. The complex, multilayered ducts are created by the atmosphere being ionised by sunlight." AMAZING.
YES, PLEASE! Actress Gabourey Sidibe is working on a memoir scheduled for publication in 2017, which she says will contain "stories 'too long, shady, and impolite' for interviews." LOL love her!
OMGOMGOMG! Mad Max: Fury Road My Little Pony. I repeat: Mad Max: Fury Road My Little Pony!!!
Are you even kidding me with this cuteness?! "Seven new species of miniature frogs discovered (and they’re adorable)."
And finally! Connor was a deaf shelter dog who was having trouble finding a forever home, even though he was a quick study at learning sign language. That is, until he was featured on the local news: "[I]t was enough to have someone notice him, and come into the shelter. The man inquiring about Connor was also deaf, and thought he would be able to give Connor a great home. He had seen the news coverage, and came in as soon as he could. By the end of the day, Connor had a new home." ♥ ♥ ♥
On the Duggars' Fox News Interview
[Content Note: Sexual assault; rape apologia; misogyny; Christian Supremacy.]
Last night, Fox News aired Megyn Kelly's one-hour interview with Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar about their son's sexual assault of four of their daughters and a babysitter. I am not linking to any video; it's easy enough to find if you are so inclined.
The interview was exactly as horrendous as you'd imagine, its entire purpose to minimize Josh's crimes, to defend Jim Bob's and Michelle's reprehensible shielding of Josh as parenting choices made in deference to god, and to try to redirect the conversation by suggesting the records were improperly released (which is manifestly false).
Two of their daughters, Jessa and Jill, also appeared, identifying themselves as two of the girls Josh assaulted.
Kelly asked Jessa and Jill whether they consider themselves victims, and Jessa said that what her brother did was "very wrong," but said she wanted to speak up in his defense against people who are calling him a child molester, pedophile, or rapist. "I'm like, that is so overboard and a lie really; I mean, people get mad at me for saying that but I can say this because I was one of the victims."Survivors absolutely must have control of their own narratives, and many survivors of childhood incest have extremely complicated feelings about the abuse. It's not just within families like the Duggars that one might hear similar defenses of predatory siblings. But there are real questions in this case about how much agency Jessa and Jill actually have, given their religious beliefs about female deference and submission, and how much they even understand what actually happened or how "normal" it was.
During the interview, their father insisted, for example, that Josh is not a pedophile:
Jim Bob Duggar: I think you actually said pedophile, and a pedophile is an adult that preys on children. Josh was actually 14 and just turned 15 when he did what he did, and I think the legal definition was 16 and up for being an adult preying on a child. So he was a child preying on a child.So the male head of the family says that his son is not a pedophile, and the female members of the family, who are taught it is sinful to disagree with the male head of the family, parrot the exact same line.
Megyn Kelly: You do not view Josh as a pedophile?
Jim Bob Duggar: No.
Additionally, Jim Bob Duggar made reference to discussing other cases of sexual abuse in other families:
Megyn Kelly: I'm asking you more as the father of your girls than as the father of Josh. You know, it must have been very hard to look at your little one and know the behavior had been ongoing, as difficult as your position was.A minimization buried within an admission that sexual abuse has been a conversation topic with our families in their community, which may have normalized abuse for the victims within his own family, especially within a framework of "abuse in other families is even worse."
Jim Bob Duggar: Right. I was so thankful, though, that Josh came and told us. And our girls, even though this was a very bad situation, as we've talked to other families who have had, you know, other things happen, a lot of their stories were even worse.
Further, Jim Bob Duggar repeatedly insisted that Josh's victims didn't even know what was happening to them:
Megyn Kelly: Did he explain why? I mean, was that a question that you asked?Over and over—the girls weren't aware of what was happening. (So they claim.) And the girls "didn't probably even understand that it was an improper touch." First of all, if children five and older don't know that having their genitals fondled is "an improper touch," that is a significant parenting failure.
Jim Bob Duggar: He said he was just curious about girls, and he had gone in and just basically touched them over their clothes while they were sleeping. They didn't even know he had done it.
...Megyn Kelly: And just to clarify, it was four daughters and there was a babysitter outside the family.
Jim Bob Duggar: Yes.
Megyn Kelly: Okay. And you notified her about the incident.
Jim Bob Duggar: Yes. He called her up and asked her forgiveness, and she didn't know that he had done anything, either. So, it was more just like a—
Megyn Kelly: A fondling.
J. B. DUGGAR: —a touch while they were asleep for most of them. Then there was two other incidents that when they were awake, and it was just a bad thing. It was something we would like to forget.
...Megyn Kelly: The subsequent incident after the first one involved daughters who were awake, at least a couple of them?
Jim Bob Duggar: There was a couple, yes. And they didn't really understand, though, what happened.
Megyn Kelly: Yes. What—
Michelle Duggar: It was more his heart, his intent. He knew that it was wrong. But they weren't even aware. They were like, you know, it wasn't—to them they didn't probably even understand that it was an improper touch.
Secondly, pretending to be asleep/unaware is a very common survival strategy for victims of sexual abuse who feel unable to stop it. I have zero faith that the Duggars made any meaningful attempt to assess whether Josh's victims who asserted to be unaware of what happened were genuinely unaware of it or simply saying that as a coping mechanism and/or to avoid the shame associated with being assaulted. Especially because their ability to claim their son's victims weren't even aware of it is a convenient way of minimizing the gravity and impact of his crimes.
Which is the entire raison d'être for this interview.
There was a lot of Jesus talk, and gross euphemistic language like "improper touching" and "bad choices," and a lot of emphasis on how Josh confessed which proves that "his heart was still soft," and defending their decisions not to report Josh's crimes to the police: "You know, what? As parents you're not mandatory reporters. The law allows for parents to do what they think is best for their child."
It always came back to what was best for Josh.
Kelly even gave the Duggars a chance to contradict the widespread impression among people with a functional sense of decency that they protected their son at the expense of their daughters. And even the most obvious softball opportunity for them to at least pretend like that wasn't the case was ignored:
Megyn Kelly: Did it feel at all like a "Sophie's Choice," you know, I have to protect my daughters at the expense of my son or vice versa?Welp.
Jim Bob Duggar: You know, I think it was a situation where we felt like our son's heart had gone astray. I think Jesus shared a story about he had a hundred sheep and one went astray, and there he was. He took care of the 99 but he also went after the one that went astray. And so, as parents we still loved Josh and we love our other ones, but we're going to protect those that are in our hands, but also we're going to make sure Josh doesn't make any wrong choices.
They also made sure that Josh was not there to face questions about his own actions, while asking his sisters and victims to participate in his defense.
Somehow, I don't feel confident about the Duggars' capacity to make sure their son "doesn't make any wrong choices," when all of their choices are utterly contemptible.
Meagan Martin, Y'all
Last year, we celebrated when Kacy Catanzaro, a former division-one gymnast who is only five feet tall, became the first woman to complete a qualifying course in the American Ninja Warrior obstacle course competition, and again when Meagan Martin, a rock climber and record-holding university pole-valter, became the first woman to complete the Jumping Spider obstacle. She later went onto the Las Vegas finals as a wildcard.
A new season of ANW just started, and Martin became the first woman of this season to complete a city qualifying course, and again made history by becoming the first woman to qualify in two seasons back-to-back! WOOT!
Here was her amazing run in the Kansas City qualifier:
Video Description: Two other competitors, Kacy Catanzaro and her boyfriend Brett Steffensen, stand at the sidelines cheering. Announcer Matt Iseman says: "They'll both be competing next week in Houston." Cut to four white male competitors standing on the sidelines cheering. Iseman says: "And the Wolf Pack's Noah, Ian, and Brian are ready to watch Meagan rock this course!" Cut to Meagan, a young black woman, standing on the starting platform, intensely concentrating. The starting beeper goes off, and Meagan takes off!
[I'm not going to transcribe the commentators, Iseman and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, because they are annoying. Just pretend they said, "She is a girl! But also tough and so strong! Our minds are blown that these things can coexist!" a million times in a row, which is basically what happened.]
Meagan leaps her way across the Quintuple Steps, which are staggered steps hovering over a pool of water. After completing that, she moves on to a new obstacle called the Big Dipper, on which she has to slide over curving rails on a bar, then LEAP! at the end to grab a cargo net. Which she does with aplomb!
She crawls from the cargo net onto the platform for the next obstacle, the Floating Tiles, which is comprised of four suspended tiles that she has to leap across while maintaining her balance. She hops! hops! hops! and she's through! CHEERS! She waves to the audience; from the sidelines, Kacy cheers! "Yeah!"
Next is the Modified Ring Toss, in which she has to suspend herself from rings and move them from peg to peg across an inclining then declining then inclining again track. She swings forward and back, gaining momentum as she moves from peg to peg. But then: OH NO! On the transition back to the final incline, she starts moving side to side! This is where so many competitors fail, their arms giving out as they try to figure out what to do to right themselves. But not Meagan! She smiles and laughs as she slows herself down calmly, then begins to swing again, in the right direction. One more ring on one more peg and then BOOM! She's completed the Ring Toss! WOOOOO!
She lands on the platform and turns to the audience and raises her arms in the air. The crowd is going wild. From the sidelines, Kacy cheers and applauds.
Meagan takes a moment to give her arms and hands a rest, because the next obstacle is really going to test them. It's Stretch Hold, aka Bungee Road, in which competitors have to leap from a trampoline and grip two rows of hanging bungee cords, and then navigate across four sets of the dangling cords before jumping onto a downward angled tube, which they must wriggle down to reach the next platform. The thing about the bungee cords is that they will streeeeeeeetch if you grip them too low or hold them too long, so you have to be super accurate and super quick and super strong to get through this obstacle.
Meagan, of course, is ALL OF THESE THINGS, so she hops from the trampoline onto the first set of cords, then quickly moves her way through the next three sets and grabs ahold of the tube with the most unbelievable strength and agility.
She squirms down the tube and OMG SHE'S DONE IT! She's the first woman to complete Bungee Road!!! Meagan gestures to the cheering crowd. The Wolf Pack dudes are going wild! They have huge grins on their faces and they high-five each other in celebration! And now all that is left is the Warped Wall!
The Wolf Pack, who have followed her down the course on the sidelines, cheer encouragement at Meagan as she stands and looks at the Warped Wall, a towering curved wall competitors have to run up partway and then JUMP! to reach its top and pull themselves up. It's the final obstacle, and Meagan has done this before. She has three tries to get it.
She takes a deep breath, as the crowd cheers her on. "Let's go, Meagan!" shouts the Wolf Pack. Little girls in the audience watch her with fixed intensity. "BEAT THAT WALL! BEAT THAT WALL!" the crows chants.
She shakes out her tired arms, then lowers her head and runs for the wall. She runs at it, runs up it, and LEAPS! And she has reached the top! She scrambles up and does a triumphant leap and then hits the finish buzzer! Her time: Four minutes and 34 hundredths of a second! SHE HAS DONE IT!
"You did it, girl! You did it!" Gbaja-Biamila shouts at her from the announcers' platform. Meagan grins.
"Meagan, what do you want to tell the girls out there?" Iseman asks her.
She claps with a huge grin on her face, pumps her arms in the air and says, "Come on, girls! You can do it! WOO!"
More Good News from Ireland
Shaker Insomniax emails, which I am sharing with his permission:
So today Ireland had another massive breakthrough in terms of LGBT rights and I can't help but feel the success and momentum of the marriage equality referendum has helped enormously. This has been a long uphill battle for trans* folks with the struggle for gender recognition being largely ignored and unseen in comparison to the referendum.Yayayayay! I think we need to see that picture of a double rainbow over Dublin again.
In fact, on the day of the marriage equality referendum in Ireland I got messages of support from my family congratulating me, asking when I would now finally set the date with my partner and I had to tell them that I, as the man I am and have fought to be recognized as, still couldn't get married until the state changed my birth certificate. It was a weirdly crushing microagression on what was otherwise a massive celebration for me on May 23rd. (We won't get into the weirdness of the assumption I would of course totes be getting married.)
But today the government announced that Gender Recognition legislation will be put into law as soon as July and most importantly that the medical criteria would be removed and that trans* people will be granted the right to self determine their gender on their birth certificates. While the legislation still fails to cater to people under 16 and doesn't make explicit provisions for non-binary people, this is a huge huge step. We've also secured a review process in two years and are hopeful we can push for these additional provisions then.
Photo by Karl.
The Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by wind chimes.
Recommended Reading:
Darnell: [Content Note: Police harassment; racism; surveillance] Why Some Black Activists Believe They're Being Watched by the Government
Maddy: [CN: Bullying; homo/biphobia] Bullying and the Enforcement of "Normal"
TLC: Great New OSHA Guidelines
Chris: [CN: White/cis/male supremacy] Internal Report: Major Diversity, Organizational Problems at Human Rights Campaign
Jill: [CN: Sexual violence] George R.R. Martin Disappoints by Discussing Dragons vs. Sexual Violence Against Women in Fantasy Debate
Jess: Flat-Track Racing's Debut at the X Games Is Downright Familial
Kristy: Review: With Spy Melissa McCarthy Delivers the Best Comedy of the Year
And finally! Here is just a great collection of photos of Tom Hardy with dogs!
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
