Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Violence; sexual assault; child abuse; guns; anti-immigration sentiment; racism] This is a difficult but necessary piece on reframing the "immigration crisis" as a refugee crisis: "To permanently stem this flow of children, we must address the complex root causes of violence in Honduras, as well as the demand for illegal drugs in the United States that is fueling that violence. In the meantime, however, we must recognize this as a refugee crisis, as the United Nations just recommended. These children are facing threats similar to the forceful conscription of child soldiers by warlords in Sudan or during the civil war in Bosnia. Being forced to sell drugs by narcos is no different from being forced into military service. ...By sending these children away, 'you are handing them a death sentence,' says José Arnulfo Ochoa Ochoa, an expert in Honduras with World Vision International, a Christian humanitarian aid group." (Note: I don't agree with all the suggested policy prescriptions, and I believe we should extend the same sympathies to adult refugees.)
[CN: Abuse; neglect; anti-immigrationism; racism] Relatedly: "After she arrived at an immigrant detention facility, a Guatemalan woman who sought out medical care for an ear injury and extreme pain was given a cotton ball, ear drops, and a mild painkiller. Her son, who had a severe cough which persisted for eight days, had a fever that went untreated. One six-year-old girl vomited blood for several days and was given emergency medical care only after she lost consciousness. Another eight-year-old girl regressed to breastfeeding after she stayed in detention for eight months. These are just some of the details that five migrant women and their children are alleging in a $10 million tort claim, a precursor to a federal lawsuit seeking damages for the 'abuse, neglect, and trauma' that they say they suffered at the hands of the Department of Homeland Security officials." Rage. Seethe. Boil.
[CN: Transmisogynoir; violence; death] RIP Shade Schuler: "A 22-year-old woman found dead last month in Dallas is the 13th transgender person murdered in the US this year, eclipsing the total from all of 2014. ...On Tuesday, after I forwarded her an article about Schuler, Trans Pride Initiative's Nell Gaither confirmed the victim was transgender. 'Several of us spent time verifying she was trans and trying to learn more this afternoon and evening,' Gaither wrote on Facebook Tuesday night. 'Her name was Ms. Shade, and she was only 22 years old. … Our hearts and thoughts are with her family and friends who now must confront this unfortunate taking of life. May we find space in our hearts to celebrate her time with us and the lives she touched. May we find inspiration in this loss to work together, trans and cis alike, to end the violence that has taken so many of our trans siblings from us far too soon.'" My condolences to Shade's family and friends and community.
The latest in the Hillary Clinton Email Thing: "Hillary Clinton has directed her aides to hand over to the Justice Department a private e-mail server that she used during her tenure as secretary of state, her presidential campaign said Tuesday. Spokesman Nick Merrill confirmed Clinton's request and said the Democratic front-runner has also asked that the department be given a thumb drive that contains copies of her e-mails. Clinton has 'pledged to cooperate with the government's security inquiry, and if there are more questions, we will continue to address them,' Merrill said."
[CN: Police brutality; racism; death] The white Arlington, Texas, police officer who shot and killed 19-year-old Christian Taylor, who was black, has been fired from his job: "Brad Miller, 49, could also face criminal charges once police complete their investigation, Police Chief Will Johnson said. ...Instead of helping to set up a perimeter around the [location which Taylor was suspected of damaging and robbing], Miller confronted Taylor and ordered him to get down on the ground, Johnson said. Taylor did not comply. Instead, he began 'actively advancing toward Officer Miller,' Johnson said. ...'This is an extraordinarily difficult case,' Johnson said. 'Decisions were made that have catastrophic outcomes.'" Decisions were made. How contemptibly passive.
[CN: Racism; misogyny; harassment] Another good read from Imani Gandy: "#BlackLivesMatter More Than the Hurt Feelings of White ProgressivesTM."
Good news: "Mexico's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that banning same-sex couples from adopting children violates the nation's constitution." Yay! Obviously one court ruling doesn't translate to immediate change for families headed by same-sex couples, but this is a crucial start.
Neat: "A British archaeologist says he may have discovered where ancient Egyptians buried Nefertiti, the Egyptian queen and wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. ...Nicholas Reeves of the University of Arizona says that he has identified the location of her hidden tomb behind a wall in the Valley of Kings. In a research paper, Reeves suggests that Nefertiti may be connected to Tut's tomb through a portal."
And finally! A kitten goes for a walk with her husky pack. SO CUTE!
[Content Note: War on agency; anti-choice extremism.]
This isn't so much chipping away at Roe as taking a bulldozer to it:
Donald Trump has been the center of attention since the first Republican presidential debate last week. But perhaps the most significant policy moment in the debates came when two other GOP frontrunners, Florida senator Marco Rubio and Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, announced their opposition to abortion without any exceptions.Let's be clear: Even the anti-choice Republicans who support exceptions are intolerable shitlords with a reprehensible policy position. The fact that the GOP has moved so far rightward on abortion that "I guess a person who will die if forced to carry their pregnancy to term can get an abortion" is now considered the reasonable position is utterly appalling.
During the Cleveland debate, moderator Megyn Kelly asked Rubio to clarify whether he supports exceptions on abortion, including for rape or incest. "I have never said that. And I have never advocated that," the Florida senator responded. He reiterated his opposition to abortion exceptions over the weekend.
Not to be outdone, Walker declared in the debate that he, too, does not support any exceptions to abortion. "Would you really let a mother die, rather than have an abortion?" Kelly asked. Walked responded that he's "always been pro-life" and has "said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother." (When a Republican congressman made a similar claim in 2012, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists put out a statement that "abortions are necessary in a number of circumstances to save the life of a woman or to preserve her health.")
For decades, Republicans have been the pro-life party on abortion. But for the party's presidential nominee, that pro-life position has included exceptions.
What makes these statements from Rubio and Walker notable is that, if either man wins the primary, he could be the first Republican presidential nominee in history to openly oppose abortion in all cases.
Breaking News: God is using Donald Trump "as a Trumpet to expose darkness and bring truth because of His moral background and political views." So sayeth prophetic minister Jeremiah Johnson.
I, like many of you, was shocked by the word I received regarding Donald Trump. Trust me when I say it was given with fear and trembling. Again, I am not called to prophesy what I think or what my opinion is. I simply deliver the word of the Lord and encourage the saints to test and judge what has been spoken.Y'all know that I'm already an avowed atheist, but if I were on the fence about it, the mere possibility of an all-powerful being who chooses Donald Trump as a holy vessel would definitely push me right into Camp Heathen.
[Content Note: White supremacy.]
Yesterday, activists from #BlackLivesMatter Boston showed up at a Hillary Clinton campaign event with the intent of disruption, but they arrived at the venue too late to get through security and gain access to the main room, so Clinton held a private meeting with them afterwards:
The group – affiliated with Black Lives Matter organizations in the Boston area — told reporters afterwards that they asked Clinton about "her and her family's history with the war on drugs both at home and abroad, and how she felt about her involvement in that violence that has been perpetuated, especially against communities of color and against black folks," said Daunasia Yancey. "We wanted to know her reflections on her involvement as first lady, as senator, and as secretary of state."#BlackLivesMatter Boston tweeted the first question they asked Clinton, about her role in perpetuating violence associated with the War on Drugs and how she plans to reverse it, with a promise to release video of the entire exchange as soon as they are able. They also published a couple of pictures of their meeting with Clinton.
Clinton's response, which they declined to detail, was not a reflection on "her part in perpetuating white supremacist violence," Yancey said. "I heard a reflection on failed policy."
"She did acknowledge that there have been policies that she has been part of promoting that have not worked," Yancey added, without detailing which policies specifically she meant.
While the group was initially not let into the event — a community forum on substance abuse at Keene Middle School — the campaign let them into an overflow room, where they watched on live stream.
Reporters were not allowed into the group's meeting with Clinton, but the activists said they had recorded the exchange and plan to publish it.
"What we got was a Hillary Clinton who was willing to delve into the issues given her platform constraints, but she was not willing to take responsibility for or give much voice to the anti-blackness current. She validated some of the points that we offered, but she didn't offer many of her own," said Julius Jones of Worcester, Mass. "She was intentional about meeting us. She got something out of the meeting, that much is certain. What I feel like I got out of the meeting was to press her in a very real way and probably in a way that she hasn't been pressed in a long time."
...The activists said Clinton understood their problems, but that her answers were similar to what they've heard from other candidates.
"It rings similar in that it is a political response, right? They're politicians, and that it's a conversation about, again, policy and about drafting new legislation and those things, without, I think, the deep underlying conversation around how those policies were drafted in a way that supports white supremacist violence," Yancey said, before clarifying later that she felt good about having had the exchange.
...The group had initially told The New Republic that they had planned to interrupt Clinton's event and ask her about her drug platform, and campaign staffers inside the room were aware of those intentions due to the magazine's publication.
Because the former secretary of state and first lady has Secret Service protection, her events are typically sealed once she enters the building — and the group of activists apparently did not make it to the event by that time. They were standing under a tent outside the school doors as the event began, but eventually made it into the building to watch in the side room.
[Content Note: Trans-erasure; whitewashing; misogynoir; police brutality.]
I was going to try to pull out a single quote from this interview for Autostraddle that Mey did with Miss Major, on the new whitewashed Stonewall film, but I can't pick just one. Everything she says is terrific, so just go read the whole thing!
[H/T to Eastsidekate.]
[Content Note: Racism; stalking. Spoilers for last night's episode.]
Woooooooooof it was a rough night last night on SYTYCD. Before we get to the stuff I didn't like (which was basically all of it), let me get to my favorite routine of the night—which was the opening number aaaaaaaaand then it pretty much went downhill from there.
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
Fox News chair and CEO Roger Ailes, yesterday: "Donald Trump and I spoke today. We discussed our concerns, and I again expressed my confidence in Megyn Kelly. She is a brilliant journalist and I support her 100 percent."
And on Fox News today: "Business mogul Donald Trump went on a media blitz Tuesday morning, making back-to-back appearances on Fox and CNN as he sought to tamp down the controversy over his spat with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly. ...'We are friends, Steve. We've always been friends,' he said on Fox News. Megyn Kelly did not come up."
Megyn Kelly did not come up.
If I were Megyn Kelly, I would quit that shit so hard right about now.
[Content Note: Fat hatred; violence; misogyny; heterocentrism.]
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Environmental harm] I don't even have words: "Six days after a burst plug shot 3m gallons of toxic mining waste from Gold King Mine into Colorado's Animas River, communities in three states are increasingly frustrated that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hasn't explained the environmental and health impacts of the spill. 'For whatever reason, their communications continue to be insufficient,' said Durango-based San Juan Citizens Alliance executive director Dan Olson. 'They're sowing more confusion in the community than they are resolving it.' A slurry of mercury, arsenic, and lead that continues to flow from the disused mine at 550 gallons per minute is expected to keep communities in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah from accessing water until at least 17 August, when the EPA says it hopes to have more information about what exactly is in it."
[CN: Sexual assault; police brutality; misogynoir] This is so fucked-up and I am so angry I can barely breathe: "A Houston deputy who pulled over Charnesia Corley, a 21-year-old black woman on her way to the store to pick up medicine for her sick mother, thought he smelled weed in Corley's car. He searched the car and couldn't find any. He called for a female officer to come to the gas station where Corley was being held so she could have her vagina searched. They arrested Corley because she objected to having her vagina examined in a gas station parking lot. ...The Harris County Sheriff's Office said its deputies acted appropriately." NOPE. Rage. Seethe. Boil.
[CN: Airline crash; war] This is, unfortunately, not a surprise: "Fragments of a suspected Russian missile system have been found at the Flight MH17 crash site in Ukraine, investigators in the Netherlands say. They say the parts, possibly from a Buk surface-to-air system, are 'of particular interest' and could help show who was behind the crash. But they say they have not proved their 'causal connection' with the crash. MH17 crashed on land held by Russian-backed rebels in July 2014, killing all 298 on board."
[CN: War on agency; misogyny; racism] Andrea Grimes continues her terrific coverage of the anti-choice fuckery in Texas: "During the 2015 legislative session, Texas lawmakers enacted policies that will 'disproportionately harm' low-income Texas Latinas and those living in rural and underserved areas, according to a legislative report released jointly by the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and the Center for Reproductive Rights."
[CN: Disablist language] Google's founders are creating a new company called Alphabet: "What is Alphabet? Alphabet is mostly a collection of companies. The largest of which, of course, is Google. This newer Google is a bit slimmed down, with the companies that are pretty far afield of our main Internet products contained in Alphabet instead." Okay then!
All righty: "Harvard professor and Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig will explore campaigning for the presidency as a Democrat, the New York Times reported. 'The reason I've been driven to this is the constant 'emperor wears no clothes' feeling about this election,' he said. 'We need a plan for unrigging the system first, and none of them have given us that plan.' Lessig said he would enter the campaign if he could raise $1 million by Sept. 7. He also said in his campaign announcement video that he would run as a 'referendum candidate' in the Democratic primaries if the party's leading candidates did not commit to making campaign financing reform their top priority if elected president. ...The 'referendum president,' Lessig said, would remain in office just long enough to enact financing reform before stepping aside in favor of the vice-president." His announcement video is here.
In other presidential news: "Rick Perry, who has struggled to gain traction in his second presidential run, has stopped paying his staff at the national headquarters in Austin as well as in the early caucus and primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, according to a Republican familiar with the Perry campaign who demanded anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. Perry campaign manager Jeff Miller told staff last Friday, the day after the first Republican presidential debate, that they would no longer be paid and are free to look for other jobs." Sad trombone!
[CN: Homophobia] "A state judicial conduct board in Ohio has said state judges cannot refuse to marry same-sex couples because of personally held religious or moral beliefs. Moreover, the board found that refusing to marry all couples, an often thinly veiled display of anti-gay animus intended to thwart LGBT couples from being wed, could be interpreted as a biased move that would disqualify a judge from any case in which sexual orientation is an issue." GOOD.
If you love celebrity political news, then you may be excited to hear that Melissa Gilbert (the actress best known for playing Laura Ingalls Wilder on Little House on the Prairie) is running for Congress in Michigan's 8th Congressional District. As a Democrat. Good luck, Melissa Gilbert!
More cool space news: "NASA discovers a new exoplanet that orbits two stars instead of one: Just like Tatooine of Star Wars fame, this newly found exoplanet orbits two stars instead of one. This marks the 10th so-called circumbinary planet found by NASA's Kepler Mission. These planets are proving to be more common than we'd ever thought possible, and the new discovery indicates that even more might be hiding out of sight. The planet has been dubbed Kepler-453b, and it's in the habitable or 'Goldilocks' zone of its stars. That means it's the right distance from its host stars to potentially hold liquid water. Scientists love finding planets in the zone, because it means there's at least a faint hope that the worlds could be receptive to life."
Good news for pets in Illinois: "Senate Bill 125, signed by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner on Friday, makes it a Class A misdemeanor if a pet is injured or dies from being left outside. This goes for both the extreme heat or cold. The new law says you could also be fined up to $2,500 or spend up to a year in jail." Only a misdemeanor, but it's a start!
Whoa! "Stunningly Detailed Sculptures Carved from Pencil Tips by Bosnian Artist." Those are amazing.
And finally! OMG BABY MEERKATS SQUEEEEEEE!
[Content Note: Racism.]
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has published his comprehensive racial justice plan: "We must pursue policies that transform this country into a nation that affirms the value of its people of color. That starts with addressing the four central types of violence waged against black and brown Americans: physical, political, legal, and economic."
It doesn't lay out specific policy proposals, at least not in most cases, but details what Sanders thinks needs to happen, e.g. "We must demilitarize our police forces so they don't look and act like invading armies."
I don't think this plan is perfect, but it's a decent start at beginning to acknowledge and name many of the issues that continue to underwrite racial injustice in the US.
Also: I strongly believe that the existence of this document is evidence that advocacy for racial justice is both necessary and effective.
Contrary to arguments that radical advocacy is unnecessary, because Sanders (or whichever candidate) is already terrific on racial issues and here is THE PROOF, I don't believe that any of the Democratic candidates would have centered race in their campaigns, or even brought it to the observable margins, without the intense pressure brought by activists who expect more.
This is what Sanders should be doing. Our gratitude should be directed at the activists who created the expectation that anything less was intolerable.
Relatedly: Marissa Jenae Johnson, who disrupted the Sanders event, was on This Week in Blackness with Imani Gandy and Elon James White yesterday, and, if you are able to listen to it, I highly recommend it.
[H/T to Aphra_Behn.]
[Content Note: White supremacy; guns.]
Last night, after a state of emergency was declared, protests continued in Ferguson, Missouri, marking the anniversary of the police killing of Michael Brown, advocating for civil rights, and continuing to push back on police brutality, over-policing, and police militarization in Ferguson and elsewhere. Nearly 150 people were arrested. (Note: The following excerpts are from a piece written by Jon Swain, who is on the ground in Ferguson, and whose coverage has continually challenged police accounts of "unrest" used to justify escalation of force.)
Officers in riot gear from St Louis County police and the Missouri highway patrol snatched several demonstrators from the crowds and made 23 arrests through a hot August evening on Monday. Projectiles such as stones and plastic bottles filled with ice were repeatedly thrown at police lines during a standoff on a main street.This is what protests have become in Ferguson: It's a good night when no one is shot by police and no teargas is deployed. The police only pepper-sprayed people in the eyes.
"Safety, our top priority, is now compromised," a St Louis County police spokesman said on Twitter soon after 10pm. "This is no longer a peaceful protest. Participants are now unlawfully assembled."
At least three men were pinned down and arrested in one abrupt mass swoop on the front of a row of shops by police, which took a large group of protesters by surprise. "They had weapons on them," one county police officer said to the Guardian about the men arrested, declining to elaborate.
In other confrontations, officers liberally sprayed pepper spray or mace in the eyes of protesters while driving them from the road on to the pavement. But by 2am, as the final protesters dispersed, no teargas or smoke canisters had been used as on several previous nights.
St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar condemned their appearance in Ferguson.And, to acknowledge the obvious, it hardly matters if what the white "Oath Keepers" were doing was legal, because if black men had shown up to patrol the streets displaying that sort of weaponry, the police would not have merely let them stroll about town and shruggingly suggest they'll check out "if the men had broken any laws." It would have been: Arrest first and establish legality (or not) later.
"Their presence was both unnecessary and inflammatory," he said, adding that police would work with county prosecutors to see if the men had broken any laws.
Led by a man who gave his name only as John, the group, whose members wore bulletproof vests and carried sidearms in addition to combat-style rifles, said they had come to protect a journalist from the conservative "Infowars.com" Web site.
"There were problems here, there were people who got hurt. We needed to be prepared for that," said the man, who noted that Missouri state laws generally allow the open carrying of heavy weapons of the kind that his group were brandishing.
...[M]any in the crowd questioned the wisdom of openly carrying such heavy weapons into an emotionally charged situation.
"You're going to bring some uncommissioned citizens, white citizens, into a black community like this? It's disrespectful," said Talal Ahmad, 30, who is black and has been a fixture of the last year's protests, which prompted a Justice Department review that found Ferguson's police department routinely violated city residents' civil rights.
"Here, in a black neighborhood, we're already living in a state of terror," Ahmad said.
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
Looks like someone else has noticed that Donald Trump is not, in fact, an outlier of his reprehensible party, but instead just its uncensored id:
Donald Trump's remarks about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly are offensive, but the rest of the Republican field is equally offensive, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday.Emphasis mine.
"What Donald Trump said about Megyn Kelly is outrageous, but what the rest of the Republicans are saying about all women is also outrageous," Clinton said. "They brag about slashing health-care funding, they say they would force women who have been raped to carry their rapist's child," and fail to put forward proposals that would help women earn equal pay.
..."I think the guy went way overboard. Offensive, outrageous, pick your adjective," Clinton told reporters following a campaign event here focused on making college more affordable.
"But what Marco Rubio said has as much of an impact in terms of where the Republican Party is today as anybody else on that stage, and it is deeply troubling."
Clinton repeatedly pointed to the Florida senator's remark during the debate appearing to oppose all abortions, including those performed in cases where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.
"When one of their major candidates, a much younger man, the senator from Florida, says there should be no exceptions for rape and incest, that is as offensive and as troubling a comment as you can hear from a major candidate running for the presidency," Clinton said. "The language may be more colorful and more offensive, but the thinking, the attitude, toward women is very much the same. It just is delivered in a different package."
...Trump deserves the backlash he is getting, Clinton said.
"But if we focus on that, we're making a mistake. What a lot of men on that stage said in that debate was offensive, and I want people to understand that if you just focus on the biggest showman on the stage, you lose the thread here."
Suggested by Shaker Artemisia Absinthium: "Who is your favorite well-developed (not necessarily Strong) female character and what is she from?"
This blogaround brought to you by chocolate.
Recommended Reading:
Kenrya: [Content Note: Racism] President Obama 'Feels Great Urgency’ to Tackle Race Issues While in Office
Kyler: [CN: Transphobia] Scott Walker Says He 'Wouldn't Change' Military's Transgender Service Ban as President
TLC: [CN: Transphobia; carcerality] Q&A with Shiloh Quine about Her Historic Victory
Nicole: Why Do Ice Breakers Suck So Much? (And How to Bypass the Awkwardness)
Squinky (via Dylan): Stonewall Riots + 5 Names To Know
George: An Ancient Monolith Has Been Discovered in the Mediterranean Sea
Margaret: How Cats Became Rulers of the Interwebs
THV: [CN: Moving GIFs at link] Tom Hardy Falling Out of a Hammock
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
