What is the first thing you remember buying with your own money? Saved-up allowance, money from your first paying job, education purchased with a scholarship, whatever.
The very first thing I remember buying with my own money was Wham! Make It Big. On cassette. Because obviously.
Question of the Day
Listen to Women
[Content Note: Misogynist terrorism; misogyny; transphobia; privilege; reference to child sex abuse.]
On Sunday night, John Oliver aired one of his long-form segments on the subject of online harassment of women. (The segment is available for viewing on YouTube, if you want to see it, and please note the video autoplays at the link.) Now, I am generally a fan of Oliver's show, even though I don't think he gets everything right, but this segment was a pretty major letdown, for a few reasons.
It was white-centric, it erased trans* women, it included a Photoshopped graphic of an infant girl getting her genitals tattooed which served as the punchline of a joke about owning women's bodies, it focused on legislation to criminalize revenge porn with no exploration of how such laws are only as useful as they are likely to be enforced, it never addressed male harassers' personal accountability, and, unlike most of Oliver's long-form segments, it did not culminate in any sort of call to action. No hashtag, no pledges to refrain from harassment, no admonishment to contact legislators to support the aforementioned legislation, nothing.
Which is a difference in tone that is easy to dispute, when cited as evidence of inequality, but stood out very starkly to me.
Knowing I would immediately get emails and tweets about how TOTES AWESOME it was, I did a little preemptive tweeting on Sunday night immediately following the airing of the episode to register my disappointment with it.
Then, yesterday, I tweeted about it some more, with Andrea Grimes and Parker Molloy, which then led to further discussion of another problematic element of the segment, not unique to this piece nor even John Oliver's show, which is men who use linking to pieces such as this one as the sum total of their Feminist Ally Activism, and how fucked up it is that there are so many progressive men who exclusively get their news about women from men.
And just presume that those men have gotten it right.
Anyway. In case you're not on Twitter, or in case you missed any of the above, here is a Storify of those tweets. Andrea's and Parker's tweets have been included with their permission.
Oliver's segment, misogynist terrorism broadly, and the habit of getting news about women's lives filtered through men are all on-topic for this thread.
"These practices have no legitimate secular purpose."
[Content Note: War on agency. NB: Not only women need access to abortion.]
The Satanic Temple (here's their FAQ, if you're not familiar with them) are at it again in the best way, this time filing a federal lawsuit against abortion restrictions. From their press release:
NEW YORK, NY. — June 23, 2015 — The Satanic Temple (TST) has filed a lawsuit in Missouri federal court to combat superfluous and harmful abortion restrictions imposed on its members. In particular, TST objects to "informed consent" laws, which mandate that women seeking abortions be required to receive a booklet that is factually inaccurate and designed to dissuade women from getting an abortion. These laws also impose a mandatory waiting period. TST argues that these practices have no legitimate secular purpose and violate their First Amendment guarantee of religious free exercise.Emphases mine.
TST spokesperson, Lucien Greaves, summarizes the suit: "The Informed Consent materials explicitly communicate items of religious opinion that directly contradict the deeply-held beliefs of women within The Satanic Temple. Specifically, the state materials declare fetal tissue — in utero not viable, and starting at conception — to constitute a 'unique human being with a life of its own, separate and apart from the woman whose uterus it occupies.' The question of when life begins is absolutely a religious opinion, and the state has no business proselytizing religious beliefs. Women of The Satanic Temple, deciding to terminate a pregnancy, and informed in their decision to do so by their adherence to Satanic tenets, are having their religious freedoms violated when subjected to state-mandated 'informed consent' propaganda. The mandatory abortion waiting-period is imposed with the rationale that women need that time in which to absorb and comprehend the informed consent materials. As we reject the informed consent materials entirely, the waiting period justification is moot, acting as nothing more than an obstacle against acting upon a decision made with deference to deeply-held religious beliefs. In this way, abortion waiting-periods, too, violate our rights to free exercise."
...Greaves sees TST as the new frontline against increasing anti-abortion legislation: "With new restrictions being imposed by theocratically-inclined legislatures across the nation, our lawsuit couldn't be any more urgent or crucial. We anticipate that our efforts will set a precedent in the favor of reproductive rights for generations to come, and bring a sudden halt to the current horrific trend of sanctimonious superstitious assaults on women's freedom of choice," he says.
I hope they are successful in their campaign, which they aim to take nationwide. (If you want to help fund their efforts, go here.) There are people who dismiss the Satanic Temple as a joke, but what they're doing is no joke—and their argument is no joke, either. There are millions and millions of USians who do not share the religious views underlying these abortion restrictions, and there is indeed no legitimate secular purpose for them.
Someone who doesn't personally believe in abortion for religious freedoms can practice their freedom of religion by not getting an abortion. To limit access to abortion is, among many other problems, restricting the freedom to practice religion and the freedom to not practice religion for everyone who doesn't share the limited religious views being legislated.
This is, of course, not a new idea. But the Satanic Temple's approach to that idea is new, and it's terrific.
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: White supremacy; racism; misogynoir; eliminationist violence; sexual trauma; disordered eating; disablism.]
I told her that loving white supremacists in the face of white supremacy is a hallmark of American evil, and a really a fundamental part of the black American experience in this country.—Kiese Laymon, writing in the Guardian (under a headline he did not choose) about a conversation he had with his grandmother about how he learned at church that "loving white folks in spite of their investment in our terror was our only chance of not becoming them morally."
It's what we're supposed to do, I said.
Many of us have made a life of hoping to get chosen for jobs, chosen for awards, chosen for acceptance from people, structures and corporations bred on white supremacy. We're hoping to get chosen by people who can not see us. Knowing that they hate and terrorize us doesn't stop us from wanting to get chosen. That's the crazy thing. Everything about this country told Grandma, a black woman born in Central Mississippi in 1920s, to love, honor, and forgive white folks. And this country still tells me, a black boy born in Mississippi in the 1970s, to titillate and tend to the emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs of white people in my work.
...Like good Americans, I told Grandma, we will remember to drink ourselves drunk on the antiquated poison of progress. We will long for "shall's" and "will be's" and "hopes" for tomorrow. We will heavy-handedly help in our own deception and moral obliteration. We will forget how much easier it is to talk about gun control, mental illness, and riots than it is to talk about the moral and material consequences of manufactured white American innocence.
I hope you will read the entirety of this powerful piece and really hear what he is saying about his own lived experience, and further what he is saying about how white supremacy, and attendant systems of oppression like the rape culture, oblige their victims' silence for survival and invite compliance with empty promises of a better future, while never delivering meaningful accountability. "What I do know is that love reckons with the past and evil reminds us to look to the future. Evil loves tomorrow because peddling in possibility is what abusers do."
I hope white readers will hear that, and will understand that is why there is no neutral in white supremacy. If we're not actively challenging and working to dismantle white supremacist structures, we are upholding them. And we are abetting the profound and sustained abuse that is central to their very existence, that underwrites white privilege.
White privilege is not something of which we must merely be aware, something to be examined and nothing more. It's something that needs to be utterly destroyed.
Daily Dose of Cute
Sophie thinks she can get away with being naughty just because she's cute and tiny.
"Are you supposed to be on the counter?"
"What?"
"In all of your seven years, when have you ever been allowed to be on the counter?"
"This counter?"
"Get down."
"Come again?"
"Get down. Now."
"I'm sorry; I don't speak your language."
"Get down, or I'll get the sink sprayer."
"Oh DOWN? Off the COUNTER? Pardon me, apologies apologies, I thought you said something else. Yes, getting down off the counter right away. My mistake."
* * *
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: White supremacy] In other Confederate flag news, Democratic Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe has ordered that the Confederate flag "no longer be an option on Virginia specialty license plates." Good.
[CN: War] Holy fuck: "The U.S. military will be sending dozens of tanks, Bradley armored fighting vehicles, and self-propelled howitzers to allied countries in the Baltics and Eastern Europe in response to Russian actions in the Ukraine, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Tuesday. The equipment, enough to arm one combat brigade, will be positioned in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland, Carter announced at a press conference with U.S. allies in Estonia. Carter said the equipment will be moved around Europe for training and exercises." For "training and exercises" based on the fact that Putin is an unpredictable nightmare. Yikes.
[CN: Heat wave; death] Nearly 700 people have died in an extreme heat wave in Pakistan: "On Tuesday, Sindh province Health Secretary Saeed Mangnejo said that 612 people had died in the main government-run hospitals in the city of Karachi during the past four days. Another 80 are reported to have died in private hospitals. Many of the victims are elderly people from low-income families. Thousands more people are being treated, and some of them are in serious condition. Hot weather is not unusual during summer months in Pakistan, but prolonged power cuts [which have restricted the use of air-conditioning units and fans] seem to have made matters worse." Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered the National Disaster Management Authority "to take immediate action."
[CN: Worker exploitation] Welp: "President Barack Obama's Pacific Rim trade pact moved closer to a final U.S. Congress vote, with lawmakers agreeing on Tuesday to limit debate on legislation that would grant Obama authority to speed trade deals through Congress. A Senate vote on the legislation, known as fast-track negotiating power, was expected on Wednesday. ...Obama needs fast-track authority to complete the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, central to his signature foreign policy push to strengthen U.S. ties with Asia."
[CN: Climate change; food insecurity] This may be the most terrifying sentence you'll read all day: "New research supported by the United Kingdom's Foreign Office and insurer Lloyd's of London finds that, absent major changes, humanity risks a catastrophic collapse in its ability to feed itself by mid-century, due in significant part to human-caused climate change."
[CN: Cancer] In good news: "A study released Monday in Pediatrics found that Gardasil 9, the newest version of the vaccine protecting against the human papilloma virus (HPV), remains effective for years after it's given to pre-teen and teen girls and boys. ...'We have four cancers we know this vaccine is going to prevent and one cancer we know it should prevent. You're preventing five cancers for your child,' [Dr. Stanley Block, co-author of the study said]. 'Do I need to say anything more?'" Nope!
Heads-up if you purchase bottled water: "A California bottling firm is voluntarily recalling several brands of bottled water out of 'an abundance of caution' after one of its sources was contaminated with E. coli. ...'The overwhelming likelihood is that all the bottled water is fine,' [Niagara spokesman Stan Bratskeir said]. 'The water we got from that source was clean. We test it all.' ...The recalled water was sold under the brand names of Acadia, Acme, Big Y, Best Yet, 7-11, Niagara, Nature's Place, Pricerite, Superchill, Morning Fresh, Shaws, Shoprite, Western Beef Blue, and Wegmans."
[CN: Misogyny] This is a cool article about a 16-year-old French girl named Melissa Mayeux who "made history this weekend when she apparently became the first woman ever to be added to MLB's international registration list. As a result, she can be signed by a Major League Baseball team as soon as July 2. You know, NO BIG DEAL OR ANYTHING." It's cool except for the first line, which is: "Move over, Mo'ne Davis." Because Maude forbid there be enough room for two female people in the same male-dominated sport. For fuck's sake.
RIP Dick Van Patten. Not only was Van Patten a successful actor, but he also "co-founded Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Pet Foods in 1989. He founded National Guide Dog Month which began in 2008 to raise awareness and money for non-profit guide dog schools in the United States accredited by the International Guide Dog Federation."
RIP James Horner, a film score composer and songwriter whose vast body of work probably contains at least one melody that will be familiar to anyone who sees movies even infrequently. "His Titanic soundtrack–with its hit Celine Dion song, 'My Heart Will Go On,' written with Will Jennings–became the biggest-selling movie-score album of all time, selling an estimated 30 million units worldwide." Among his other credits are: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Krull, The Journey of Natty Gann, An American Tail, Willow, Field of Dreams, Glory, Patriot Games, Legends of the Fall, Braveheart, Apollo 13, Deep Impact, Troy, Avatar, and The Amazing Spider-Man.
[CN: Privacy] The fuck? "Privacy campaigners and open source developers are up in arms over the secret installing of Google software which is capable of listening in on conversations held in front of a computer. First spotted by open source developers, the Chromium browser—the open source basis for Google's Chrome—began remotely installing audio-snooping code that was capable of listening to users. It was designed to support Chrome's new 'OK, Google' hotword detection—which makes the computer respond when you talk to it—but was installed, and, some users have claimed, it is activated on computers without their permission. ...Google responded to complaints via its developer boards. It said: 'While we do download the hotword module on startup, we do not activate it unless you opt in to hotwording.' However, reports from developers indicate otherwise." Shit.
All right all right all right: "The film Interstellar should be shown in school science lessons, a scientific journal has urged." Sounds good to 12-year-old me!
And finally! "Orphaned Lion Cub Is Adopted by Dog." Well, that's just totally freaking adorable!
Shaker Gourmet
Whatcha been cooking up in your kitchen lately, Shakers?
Share your favorite recipes, solicit good recipes, share recipes you've recently tried, want to try, are trying to perfect, whatever! Whether they're your own creation, or something you found elsewhere, share away.
Also welcome: Recipes you've seen recently that you'd love to try, but haven't yet!
Primarily Speaking
Goat|Paperclip was a popular ticket in 2012 (with nearly everyone), and I'm happy to announce that my top secret sources have informed me they are fixing to announce another run at the White House. Reportedly, they will announce their announcement to announce their official announcement to run later this week. You heard it here first!
In other primary news, here's what happening on the Democratic side of the aisle:
Former Governor of Maryland Martin O'Malley is fixing to mark a path to the White House straight through the NRA: "How many acts of violence do we have to endure as a people before we stand up to the congressional lobbyists of the National Rifle Association? How many more Americans have to die?" He also, to be clear, spoke about white supremacy. And while I'm not on board framing the AME Shooting as a gun control issue, I am pretty excited to see a Democratic candidate who is willing to shit all over the NRA!
Senator Bernie Sanders, who's now been given permission to use "Rockin' in the Free World" and presumably understands its meaning unlike some dipshits, drew a crowd of 5,000 to an event in Denver. That's 5,000 times the number of attendees pulled by some other dipshits!
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has just hired Betsaida Alcantara, a senior advisor to Julian Castro at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Alcantara, who will serve as Clinton's director of media planning, is "the fourth high-profile Latina hire by the Clinton campaign, joining national political director Amanda Renteria, Nevada director Emmy Ruiz, and director of coalitions press Xochitl Hinojosa." She's also leading literally everyone in pointlessly early polling.
Former Republican Lincoln Chafee attended a Flag Day picnic on June 14 at the Sandwich, New Hampshire, home of Richard and Ruth Stuart on the banks of Squam Lake. That sounds fun!
* * *
On the Republican side of the aisle, I will just reiterate that there are now TWELVE PEOPLE RUNNING. Twelve. And the election is still a year and a half away. Which means more people will run. More than the TWELVE already running.
Anyway. Here's the baker's dozen of bozos, in alphabetical order, and what they're up to lately, besides the constant non-news of their all being comprehensively terrible at all fucking times:
Former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush published a piece on Medium about how President Obama isn't taking cybersecurity seriously and proposes we be more like Estonia. Sure.
Dr. Ben Carson, as mentioned, thinks his GOP rivals are racist cowards, basically. Which is accurate.
[CN: Homophobia] Senator Ted Cruz vows to keep fighting against same-sex marriage even if the Supreme Court legalizes it, because he is terrific, and also may torch the President's trade deal at the last minute by switching his vote, because he loves seeing his name in the press more than anything.
[CN: Misogyny] Corporate power-failure Carly Fiorina still can't stop talking about Hillary Clinton, making her case that she deserves to be included in the GOP debates because, as the only woman in the GOP field, she "is in a unique position to attack the likely Democrat nominee, Hillary Clinton." Note that the argument is about attacking Clinton, not Clinton's policies. Because of course it is.
Senator Lindsey Graham has changed his mind about the Confederate flag, because PRINCIPLES!, and this headline definitely says SHIFTS.
[CN: Homophobia; racism; appropriation] Professor of Bible Bigotry Mike Huckabee just continues to fucking outdo himself in the WORST CLOWN IN THE CLOWN CAR department: "Yesterday, Mike Huckabee sent a letter to Religious Right leaders warning that a ruling in favor of marriage equality from the Supreme Court would be just as 'backwards' and 'broken' as rulings which 'rationalized the destruction of human life, defined African Americans as property and justified Japanese-American internment camps.' 'I refuse to sit silently as politically driven interest groups threaten the foundation of religious liberty, criminalize Christianity, and demand that Americans abandon Biblical principles of natural marriage,' Huckabee continued. 'I will fight to defend religious liberty at all costs.'" This fucking guy.
Former Governor of New York George Pataki presumably continues to be a human being who is running for President of the United States, but I am not sure since this appears to be the only thing written about him in about a month. Cool campaign, George Pataki! You're doing GREAT!
Senator Rand Paul something something flat tax omg shut up.
Former Governor of Texas Rick Perry just continues to say the most incredibly stupid things: Fox News host Chris Wallace asks him, "More than 1 in 5 Texans didn't have health coverage, and yet you refused to set up a state exchange under Obamacare; you refused to expand Medicaid. I mean, is that looking out for the little guy when 21 percent of Texans didn't have health insurance?" And Perry responds, "That's not how we keep score. I think it's a fallacy to say access to health care is all about insurance." YOU ARE A WRECK RICK PERRY GO TAKE A NAP.
Senator Marco Rubio is apparently regarded as the only meaningful challenger to Jeb Bush. (At least as long as Scott Walker isn't in the race.) I mean, I guess. His policies are pretty much the same as every other one of these bozos', but he does manage to seem less offensive about it most of the time.
[CN: Homophobia] Sweatervest aficionado Rick Santorum, along with his BFF Huckabee, has signed a pledge authored by Texas pastor Rick Scarborough that describes same-sex parenting as "unconscionable and destructive" and a threat to children's "security, stability, and future." Fuck fuck fuck off.
[CN: Racism; cartoon violence] Billionaire buffoon Donald Trump is being sold in piñata form after his shitty comments about Mexican people in his campaign announcement speech. Something something free market, right Trump?
Phew! That's everyone! I did it! *takes victory lap*
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go take a nap for one thousand years.
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
More Confederate Flags to Fall
[Content Note: White supremacy.]
Yesterday, Republican South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley promised to call for the removal of the Confederate flag from the state capitol.
In Mississippi, where the Confederate emblem is part of the actual state flag, Democratic state senator and chair of the legislature's Black Caucus Kenny Jones says he will propose legislation to remove it: "I just think it's time to change it: It's an insult, it's very offensive to all African Americans everywhere."
And Wal-Mart and Sears have announced they will no longer be selling Confederate flag merchandise. It's likely that other retailers will follow.
I'm not under the misapprehension that removing the Confederate flag from government buildings and stores will rid its image altogether. Unless it's federally criminalized, it's still going to be emblazoned on pick-up truck rear window decals, bumper stickers, t-shirts, hats, coats, belt buckles, beer koozies, and everything else conceivably emblazonable.
I'm further not under the misapprehension that removing the Confederate flag, even if from every possible public space by federal mandate, will magically eradicate the white supremacy and violent anti-blackness of which it's a symbol.
But symbols matter. Symbols convey messages, and whether those symbols are tolerated or not matters. How a culture regards those symbols communicates something about how acceptable the symbols' underlying beliefs are.
And it's not nothing to reject a symbol of racial hatred. It's not nothing for the people who are the primary targets of that hatred to not have to see that symbol over their state capitol, or embedded right in their state flag.
It's something.
And it's something for which many black Southern activists, and their allies, have been working for a very long time.
I understand the sudden political expediency, and I understand that it's not a comprehensive solution to racism, but I am happy to see this flag fall. Good riddance.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker masculine_lady: What was your first paying job?
My first paying job, probably like lots of people, was babysitting. The first job I had where I was getting a real, regular paycheck was as a weekend receptionist at a real estate company, which I started when I was 15 and did until I left for college.
The Dunes
I had the good fortune of being visited by a friend this weekend, with whom I got to share excellent conversation, garbage television, lots of laughter, ice cream cones that made us feel like kids, and a visit to the Indiana Dunes. It was beautiful and breezy weather after a lovely dinner on Saturday night, as the sun set and a storm slowly rolled in.
I have seen spectacular places in other parts of the world, though not nearly as many as I'd like, and the Indiana Dunes are among the best. Just a short drive from my home is one of my favorite places I've ever been, which I realize not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to say.
They feel like home, and there are few things that center and rejuvenate me like putting my feet in the waves of Lake Michigan, with the lake stretching out to the horizon before me and the dunes reaching up to the sky behind me.
The Indiana Dunes are to the Midwest what the Grand Canyon is to Arizona and Yosemite is to California.—Poet Carl Sandburg.
We strolled across the cool sand to the edge of the water, where the three of us waded in with rolled-up jeans. We talked, we took pictures, and we went still and silent with our thoughts.
[Above photo by Iain.]
Me, with my signature slouch, my saggy-assed jeans, my tattooed leg, looking out across the water, thinking about how much I love this complicated place.
There is something particularly special about being in this place I love, lost in my thoughts alongside people I love, who are lost in theirs. Alone together, on an ancient part of the world, carved by time.
Okay
[Content Note: Racism.]
Republican South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has called on lawmakers in the state legislature to remove the Confederate flag that still flies over the state capitol.
"It's time to move the flag from the capitol grounds," Haley, a Republican, told reporters. The flag was a symbol of the pro-slavery South during the U.S. Civil War. "This is a moment in which we can say that the flag, while an integral part of our past, does not represent the future of our great state."She couldn't even be bothered to say that the thing is a racist symbol. Which has nonetheless not stopped members of her party from celebrating her courage.
The thing is, it's not really "brave" to take down a flag that never should have been flying in the first place.
I see what Haley is doing as approximately as "brave" as when I clean up cat vomit. You're supposed to clean up gross messes in your home.
I'm glad the fucking thing is coming down, provided a majority in the South Carolina legislature vote to take it down. But let's not pretend that it's a Great Leadership moment, when it took 150 years of fluttering insult, and nine deaths in the last week at the hands of one of the many white people to embrace that contemptible symbol of white supremacy, to pull it off the flagpole.
The Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by the color fuschia.
Recommended Reading:
Sofia: [Content Note: Descriptions of sexual assault] Investigative Report: How Victim-Blaming Led to the Rape Kit Backlog
Kashmir: [CN: Privacy] Hotels Now Have the Right to Protect Guests' Privacy—But Only If They Want To
Ian: [CN: Privacy; reproductive rights] Justice Sotomayor Hides Good News for Abortion Clinics in an Obscure Case About Hotels
Mia: [CN: AME Shooting; racism; white privilege] For Black Folks Who Feel Numb: On Charleston, Racism, and Not Knowing What There Is Left to Say
Jenn: [CN: AME Shooting; racism; harassment] The #GoHomeDeray Hashtag Proves Hate For Black Activism Runs Deep
Kenrya: Black Latino Miles Morales Is Officially the New Spider-Man
Andy: Janet Jackson's First Single in 7 Years "No Sleeep" Has Arrived
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
Rage Seethe Boil
[Content Note: Eliminationist violence; white supremacy and privilege.]
Sure:
At least five Shelby police officers, guns drawn, surrounded the black Hyundai sedan that had pulled off the highway on Thursday morning.Roof was on the run for 16 hours, and yet is routinely said to have not resisted arrest, simply because he went quietly into custody once he was caught. And then that lie about his not resisting is used to justify all the subsequent police treatment of Roof, rife with double standards.
...Shelby police Chief Jeff Ledford told the Observer on Friday that authorities found a .45-caliber handgun in Roof's car.
Citing anonymous sources, the Washington Post said Roof showed no remorse and expressed racist views even as he confessed to the crimes.
...In Shelby, the FBI handled Roof's initial questioning, Ledford said. Shelby police's lone conversation with the mass-murder suspect was about food. Earlier in the day, Roof had bought water and chips at a south Charlotte gas station. Now he was hungry. Police bought him food from a nearby Burger King, Ledford said.
Not only was Roof taken into custody alive, despite having killed nine people and despite being found in possession of the weapon he used to kill them, he was given a bullet-proof vest and a warm meal. He wasn't given a "rough ride."
To be clear, I'm not suggesting that people in police custody should be denied protection and food and subjected to abuse. I'm suggesting that everyone in police custody should be given protection and food and no one in police custody should be subjected to abuse.
If police can deliver to jail an armed white supremacist mass murdering piece of shit in one piece and with a full belly, surely they can do the same for the average black person suspected or accused of a crime.
[Via The Source.]
Daily Dose of Cute
Happy Dog is happy! "It's a day!"
But let's be honest: The thing on all of our minds today is DID DANTE SURVIVE HIS BATH? By which I mean: Did Amarie survive Dante's bath? *bites nails; checks comments*
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: Disablism; entitlement.]
"I would recommend anybody running for the presidency make sure you're healthy. I'd had major back surgery, and I didn't prepare properly, and I think the real issue there was I thought being governor of the state of Texas for twelve years was enough preparation to run for presidency and the fact of the matter is, there's nothing like it, and until you've done it, you don't even realize what a challenge it is. These broad array of issues that you have to have more than just passing knowledge of. ...Number one, you gotta be healthy, and secondly, you gotta prepare, and it takes years of preparation, I would suggest to you."—Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, explaining to Fox News' Chris Wallace why he was a terrible candidate in 2012.
This quote is getting some attention because it's so perfectly indicative of Perry's entitlement and ignorance. I've got news for you, Rick Perry: I have never even considered running for president of the United States, and I am nonetheless eminently aware of how immensely prepared someone who does want to run for that office has to be on a vast number of domestic and foreign policy issues.
But I also want to highlight how profoundly disablist this pathetic excuse for his incompetence is. While it may well be true that he, personally, was not in top form after having had back surgery, this idea that only "healthy" people are capable of running for president and/or effective governance is hogwash.
I'm guessing if he were asked directly whether he believes people with disabilities and/or chronic medical issues are inherently unqualified for the presidency, he would say no. (Or maybe he wouldn't!) But that's certainly what he's saying here: That health is a prerequisite for the presidency.
And he's marginalized people with disabilities and/or chronic medical issues all because he is too cowardly to own his mistakes outright.
Disability is not a disqualifying characteristic for the US presidency, but cowardice certainly us.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Terrorism; violence] Recommended reading at the Southern Poverty Law Center: A special report examining the "Rise of the Lone Wolf."
[CN: Video may autoplay at link] The Supreme Court is expected to imminently issue a decision in King v. Burwell, the case dealing with subsidies for individuals who purchase health insurance on the federal exchange. SCOTUSblog has a live feed discussing whatever decisions may come out of the Court today. Reportedly, their same-sex marriage decision will be delayed until at least next week, but King v. Burwell may come as soon as today.
[CN: Terrorism; violence; self-harm] Fuck: "A Taliban suicide bomber and six gunmen attacked the Afghan parliament on Monday as lawmakers met to consider a new defense minister, and another district in the volatile north fell to the militants as they intensified a summer offensive. The brazen assault on the symbolic center of power, along with territorial gains elsewhere, highlight how NATO-trained Afghan security forces are struggling to cope with worsening militant violence. Fighting has spiraled since the departure of most foreign forces from Afghanistan at the end of last year. The insurgents are pushing to take territory more than 13 years after U.S.-led military intervention toppled them from power."
[CN: Racism; guns] On Sunday's Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd, who is the worst, aired a video on gun violence that featured exclusively black convicted murderers who expressed regret for their crimes. He introduced the video by saying: "The circumstances you are about to see are very different from the racist violence in Charleston. In this case, in the inmates are African-American that you're going to hear from. But their lessons remain important. And we simply ask you to look at this as a color-blind issue that's about just simply gun violence." Fuck off. Following criticism, Todd then defended the decision to air the video with a bunch of shit which culminated in this swill: "As I say to all audiences, Meet the Press should make all viewers uncomfortable at some point or we are not doing our job." Fuck. Off.
[CN: Transmisogyny; violence] RIP Mercedes Williamson, who is the ninth (known) trans woman to be murdered in the US so far this year. Her alleged killer was charged after confessing to his father, who turned him in to police. My condolences to those who knew and loved Mercedes, and to members of the trans community.
[CN: Police misconduct; sexual assault] Fucking hell: "A Florida sergeant pulled over a young lesbian couple for making an illegal U-turn. Then he allegedly forced one to strip while he masturbated, threatening to arrest her if she didn't comply." I hope the victim of this assault is provided the support she needs, both legally and psychologically. This is yet another example of why admonishing survivors they must report their assaults to police is ignorant and hostile.
The Rev. Billy Graham's grandson, Tullian Tchividjian, has resigned from his pastorship at Coral Ridge Presbyterian, a South Florida megachurch, after disclosing that he had an extramarital affair. That would hardly merit mention here, except I love (ahem) his explanation for why he had the affair: "As many of you know, I returned from a trip a few months back and discovered that my wife was having an affair. Heartbroken and devastated, I informed our church leadership and requested a sabbatical to focus exclusively on my marriage and family. As her affair continued, we separated. Sadly and embarrassingly, I subsequently sought comfort in a friend and developed an inappropriate relationship myself." I bet she totes made him eat that apple, too.
Cool: "Back in April, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft sent home the first-ever image of Pluto in near-true color. It was pixelated and tiny, but for the first time humans got a glimpse of what the dwarf planet might really look like. Now NASA has released the first moving color images, showing that Pluto and its largest moon Charon have very different colors—even though they're locked in a close orbital dance."
[CN: Image of bat at link] As you may recall, I am a lover of bats and this is amazing: "Researchers studying 16-million-year-old sediment in New Zealand have discovered a new extinct bat species that walked on all four limbs. And it would have been at least three times larger than today’s average bat." I want to hang out with a giant walking bat! Not you.
And finally! This video of a dog and her owner being reunited after she was lost might be the cutest thing you see all day. ♥
