Don Johnson: "Heartbeat"
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!
* * *
My "Just Eyes and Lips" look: No foundation or cover-up of any sort. Red lips care of Stila's Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in "Beso" (which I got as a free sample in my Birch Box), and daytime smoky eyes care of Urban Decay's Naked Palette—"Darkhorse" on the lids, "Half Baked" in the crease of my eyelids, and "Sin" on the top, just under my brows. A little black mascara and clear brow gel to finish.
(Plus some hawt tan lines, lol. Whooooooooops!)
This is my go-to when my skin is feeling sensitive and doesn't want anything to do with cover-up. Which is often!
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.
Daily Dose of Cute
Zelly keeps an eye on things.
(Am I the only one who finds dog butts inexplicably hilarious?)
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: Terrorism; religious extremism; displacement; drowning; death] I honestly can't even begin to fathom what it is like to live as a target of Boko Haram: "The number of villagers massacred by Boko Haram jihadists in a remote village in northeastern Nigeria rose to 160 on Wednesday, according to locals, amid official denials over the attack. Residents of Kukuwa-Gari in Yobe State described how more than 150 of their relatives and neighbours drowned in a river fleeing militants who opened fire on the village on Thursday last week, while another eight were shot dead." Director of Defence Information Colonel Rabe Abubakar says locals' account is "untrue," possibly because: "The villagers' count of the dead in Kukuwa-Gari would constitute the largest loss of life in any single Boko Haram attack since President Muhammadu Buhari swept to power on May 29, vowing to crush the insurgency."
[CN: Rape culture; child sex abuse] The Duggars are absolutely shameless: "The Duggar family is reportedly pitching a new show to the TLC Network about providing Christian counseling to victims of childhood sexual abuse. ...A source close to the Duggars told Star magazine that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are desperate to keep some form of reality TV revenue coming in to support their outsized brood. 'The family can't afford to not have the show—it is their main source of income, and with a family of that size, without it they're in enormous trouble,' said the family friend. 'They know they have to at least pretend to be sorry about what happened, and now they want a spin-off where Jim Bob and Michelle would give advice to abuse victims—even though they're in denial about their culpability in Josh's crimes.'" Obviously a "family friend" who would admit the Duggars are "in denial" about their accountability probably isn't much of a friend, but I frankly have little doubt about the veracity of this tale, given that the Duggars are already participating in TLC's garbage special on childhood sexual abuse.
[CN: Rape culture; child exploitation] Former Subway spokesperson Jared Fogle "has agreed to plead guilty to allegations that he paid for sex acts with minors and received child abuse images that he knew had been secretly produced by the former director of his charitable foundation, federal prosecutors said in court documents released on Wednesday." This fucking guy. And Subway never heard a whisper about this until a month ago when agents raided his home? Bullshit.
[CN: Misogynoir; abuse; descriptions of violence] Dee Barnes, the journalist of whom Dr. Dre was convicted of assaulting in 1991, pens a terrific piece after viewing Straight Outta Compton: "Here's What's Missing from Straight Outta Compton: Me and the Other Women Dr. Dre Beat Up." Powerful stuff.
RIP Yvonne Craig: "Yvonne Craig began her theatrical career as the youngest member of The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and toured for three years when she was accidentally discovered by John Ford's son Patrick and cast for the lead in the movie The Young Land. This was quickly followed by many years of film and television including two movies with Elvis Presley (It Happened at the World's Fair and Kissin Cousins). However, she is probably best known for originating the role as Batgirl in the 1966 TV series of Batman."
So sweet: "Hailey Dawson was born without a fully formed right hand due to a genetic condition called Poland syndrome... But the die-hard Orioles fan was able to get a special treat to throw out the first pitch after students from the University of Nevada Las Vegas created a specially designed prosthetic hand for Hailey. The hand was printed on a 3-D printer and custom made in orange and black to reflect Hailey's love for all things Orioles." Hailey got to throw "to her favorite All-Star player Manny Machado across the plate."
Lolsob forever: "Fox News wants to know if Hillary Clinton is her own 'worst enemy.' Fox News. Fox. News."
Um. "US health officials have closed a portion of Yosemite National Park after it emerged that a second tourist might have contracted plague. Authorities believe the disease, which is treatable with antibiotics, was spread by squirrels and fleas. The tourist's camp site—the Tuolumne Meadows Campground—will be closed until Friday as workers treat the area with insecticide." Blech.
Neat! "Until now, the general consensus was that hummingbirds used capillary action to sip tiny bursts of nectar. Capillary action is a force you can observe by putting a long, thin tube in a glass of water: The water will travel up through the narrow space without any suction. Scientists thought that the long, narrow grooves they saw on hummingbird tongues accomplished the same feat. In a study published Wednesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, researchers uncovered the truth: Their tongues work like tiny mechanical pumps."
And finally! "Endangered Wallaby Joeys Emerge at Taronga Zoo." Oh mah gawd. THE CUTE!!!
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Surveillance; intimidation; police misconduct; racism.]
"I think its just another example of how anyone who is practicing their constitutional rights and speaking against the government is going to be considered a domestic problem. It's sad because all we're doing is speaking because we feel there is no justice for people being brutalized by the system. It's sad we have to be targets of surveillance when we're not committing crimes."—Jose LaSalle, founder of New York police watchdog group Copwatch Patrol Unit, who is among the social justice activists surveilled, tracked, and documented by "a coalition of MTA counterterrorism agents and undercover police in conjunction with NYPD intelligence officers."
The documents were released to activists after several requests under New York's Freedom of Information Law, which asked for records from the MTA, MTA Metro-North, the New York State Police, and the NYPD pertaining to Black Lives Matter protests at Grand Central Terminal between November 2014 and January 2015.I'll bet they didn't.
In the 118 pages released by the MTA, the names of undercover police officers are redacted at least 58 times in five December 2014 protests, 124 times at five protests in January 2015, and 10 times at one protest in February 2015. The Intercept has been unable to contact any of the undercover police reporting on protests because the MTA said it redacted the "names of undercover police officers," citing the New York Public Officers Law stipulating that certain records, which "if disclosed could endanger the life or safety of any person," may be withheld. Metro-North also redacted the names of undercover officers. Both entities also said they redacted location and contact information for regular MTA police named in the documents.
Together the 118 MTA and 161 Metro-North documents also showed monitoring of an additional protest in November 2014, 11 protests in December 2014, nine protests in January 2015, and two protests in February 2015 by MTA officials and undercover police working at times in conjunction with NYPD officers.
...The NYPD has not released documents in response to the request, but documents released by the MTA and Metro-North show that NYPD officials have also been involved in the surveillance of Black Lives Matter protests in Grand Central and beyond. The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.
Prove activists' point more, why don'tcha?
Chelsea Manning Follow-Up
[Content Note: Transmisogyny; carcerality.]
Last week, I mentioned that Chelsea Manning was facing "indefinite solitary confinement" after being charged with possessing contraband, including magazines, a novel, and a tube of expired toothpaste.
Manning has now been found guilty on "four disciplinary charges and given 21 days of recreational restrictions for breaking military prison rules."
Compared to indefinite solitary confinement, 21 days of recreational restrictions seems like a win. But that's not the whole story.
Manning was convicted "during a four-hour, closed-door disciplinary hearing without legal representation," following a reported denial of access to the prison law library. She had no representation and no ability to sufficiently represent herself. And now the landscape of her incarceration looks fundamentally different.
"When I spoke to Chelsea earlier today she wanted to convey the message to supporters that she is so thankful for the thousands of people from around the world who let the government know we are watching and scrutinizing what happens to her behind prison walls," [Manning's attorney, Chase Strangio of the ACLU] said in a statement to Vanity Fair. "It was no doubt this support that kept her out of solitary confinement.The military refuses to release information on the closed-door disciplinary hearing, citing the Privacy Act of 1976. They're hoping that headlines about her "21 days of recreational restrictions" will make the attention on their profound mistreatment of Manning go away, because people won't understand that the conviction itself, and the vast repercussions attached to it, are the real punishment.
"But the fact that Chelsea had to face today's four-hour Disciplinary Board without counsel and will now be punished for daring to share her voice sets a concerning precedent for the remaining decades of her incarceration."
A punishment that does not fit the crime of possessing contraband, but certainly does fit a government bent on harming a transgender women refusing to be silent about how the military is treating her during her incarceration.
On the Ashley Madison Hack
[Content Note: Privacy violations.]
Ashley Madison, with the tagline "Life is short. Have an affair.", is a site that facilitates "discreet cheating" between married people. The site has reportedly been hacked, and 37 million users' information has been leaked online, including dating profiles with names, addresses, phone numbers, encrypted passwords, and credit card info. Ashley Madison disputes that the information is real, but experts say otherwise:
Several security researchers have been analysing the data and are suggesting that the database is real and contains the personal details of real Ashley Madison members.Irrespective of one's feelings about Ashley Madison's business or cheating spouses, there is no justification for this breathtaking breach of privacy. Lots of people may agree that cheating spouses are engaging in odious behavior, but if that's a rationale for stealing their private information and publicly posting it, then precious few of us are safe—because there are lots of people who object to lots of life choices on moral grounds. If that's the threshold—"I don't like your choices!"—then we're all in a world of trouble.
"I've now spoken with three vouched sources who all have reported finding their information and last four digits of their credit card numbers in the leaked database," said Brian Krebs, who broke the news of the original hack.
Rob Graham, researcher from Errata security, said he was still analysing the leaked data but agreed that "it appears legit. I asked my Twitter followers for those who had created accounts. I have verified multiple users of the site, one of which was a throwaway account used only on the site. Assuming my followers aren't lying, this means the dump is confirmed."
...The 10 gigabyte database file was released on BitTorrent and the dark web on Tuesday night and includes email and postal addresses, user descriptions, weight and height, encrypted passwords, partial credit card numbers and transaction details.
The Guardian confirmed that the email address and details of a Guardian journalist who had used Ashley Madison as part of an investigation is in the database released on Tuesday night.
The hackers, who called themselves Impact Team and stole the user database in an attack in July, demanded that Ashley Madison and its sister site Established Men, both owned by Toronto-based Avid Life Media, be taken offline, threatening to release the personal information in 30 days if their conditions were not met.
"Avid Life Media has failed to take down Ashley Madison and Established Men. We have explained the fraud, deceit and stupidity of ALM and their members. Now everyone gets to see their data," said Impact Team in a statement released with the Ashley Madison data.
Ashley Madison said: "This event is not an act of hacktivism, it is an act of criminality. It is an illegal action against the individual members of AshleyMadison.com, as well as any freethinking people who choose to engage in fully lawful online activities."
The hackers argue that they were motivated by Ashley Madison's shady business practices, and that their clientele was not the primary target but is just collateral damage. Which, frankly, is even more frightening, given that lots of banks and insurance companies and hospitals have objectionable business practices. If "expose for-profit monster corporations" is sufficient justification for grave breaches of privacy, we're all fucked.
Reading comments on articles about this hack has been quite, uh, interesting. It's pretty remarkable (and totally unsurprising) how many brave warriors of tech privacy apparently have principles that only go so far as "this amuses me and they deserve it."
Also fascinating? How many men believe that all women have no idea how the internet works. "Married women haven't even heard of the dark web" was a common refrain. O RLY? Well, I guess a bunch of dudes are about to find out.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker particolored: "What is your superhero name and what are your powers?"
Obviously, my superhero name is "Ludicrous" and my superpower is undiluted contempt!
Good Grief: Jeb Bush Is a Disaster
It seems as though perhaps Jeb Bush's strategery skills have been misunderestimated:
Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush declined to say on Tuesday whether GOP front-runner Donald Trump is qualified to be commander in chief, but he urged his rival to speak more substantively about national security.Whut. WHUT.
..."I'm going to focus on my candidacy and my experience and my views and let others – I hope that 'Secretary Trump' takes advantage of APPS to have a sit-down conversation and have a detailed conversation about things of substance," he said. "That's what Americans want in the end, that's what I'm going to focus on. I'll let others judge people's qualifications." It was not immediately clear why Bush referred to the real estate mogul as "Secretary Trump."
A Bush aide later denied that the reference had been a dig at Trump, saying that the former Florida governor had just answered a question about former secretary of state and current presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and accidentally conflated the two in his next response.
Bush also clarified comments he made to The Washington Post on Monday evening, when he said, "There are like 10 things I would change in the Constitution with a magic wand."Is there?
In fact, he said, he doesn't have 10 specific things he'd like to change about the Constitution.
...Irked that reporters would suggest that he wants to make 10 changes to the Constitution, he added: "I mean, is there any way to actually have a conversation with people where the context of the words are clear?"
I don't know about these Bush brothers, y'all. [CN: video autoplays at link] As the old saying goes: Fool me once, shame on...shame on you; fool me can't get fooled again! Heh heh heh.
Honestly, it seems like every article I read about Jeb Bush, there's something about how he needs to clarify some stupid crap that was quoted in a previous article. I figured he'd be more polished than his dipshit brother, but nope!
Good News
Raffi Freedman-Gurspan has been hired by the White House as its outreach and recruitment director for presidential personnel in the Office of Personnel, making her the first out transgender official hired by this administration or any other.
Her background is impressive: "Freedman-Gurspan previously worked as the policy adviser for the racial and justice initiative at the National Center for Transgender Equality. She also served as the legislative director to state Rep. Carl M. Sciortino Jr. in Boston, the LGBT liaison for the city of Somerville, Massachusetts, and as a legislative and policy staffer at the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition."
[Content Note: Trans silencing] It wasn't so long ago that the President was interrupted during an LGBTQ event at the White House by trans immigration activist Jennicet Gutiérrez, who was shushed by the room and dismissed by the President.
The (justifiably) cynical view will be that the White House was looking for some good PR after that event, but I'm going to remain optimistic and hope that hiring the evidently talented Freedman-Gurspan in a key role signals a new willingness on the part of the White House to listen to trans voices.
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Class warfare.]
"On my first day as President, I will send legislation to the Congress that will repeal Obamacare entirely and replace it in a way that puts patients and their families back in charge of their health care—not the federal government."—Republican presidential candidate and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, in the first major policy speech of his presidential campaign, during which he proposed replacing the Affordable Care Act with a program that "would provide a fixed amount [via tax credit] for all Americans without insurance to buy a health insurance plan. The amount would go up by age. So you would get $1200 per year if you were between ages 18 and 34, but the tax credit is $3000 for those between ages 50 and 64."
Naturally, lots of people currently insured under the ACA would lose their insurance under this plan, and health insurance would become a whole lot more expensive for many people.
So, yeah. Walker's plan is garbage.
But the reason I pulled out this quote is because it's entirely typical of something the Republicans say all the time, this shit about "putting patients and their families back in charge of their healthcare."
On what planet are we in charge of our healthcare? For-profit insurance companies are in charge of our healthcare. And that is always going to be true as long as we run healthcare through a private, for-profit insurance system.
Daily Dose of Cute
Ms. Megafluffz
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
Here's the Thing
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
When Hillary Clinton ran for president in 2008, a curious thing happened when I started routinely blogging about the misogyny she was facing in the campaign: Every defense of her was axiomatically interpreted by lots of people as unilateral support of her. Not just that I was supporting her as a candidate (despite the fact that she was not my first choice and I actually worked—briefly—for another candidate), but that I felt she was above criticism on anything and everything else.
Now the same thing is happening again.
For the record, I haven't endorsed a candidate and I won't endorse a candidate. I also live in a state where there is a vanishingly slim chance I'll even get the opportunity to cast a primary vote.
I strongly believe that everyone has the right to vote however they want and that there is no one right way to vote. My choice for this election (as it has been every election thus far in my voting life, though that may change someday) is to get behind whomever the Democratic nominee is, barring some unexpected fuckery, because even if I have major policy disagreements with them (and I will), I prefer all of the major Democratic candidates to any Republican nightmare clown.
That's my choice. Doesn't have to be yours.
When I criticize Democratic candidates, it isn't because I want any of them to fail. (Except Jim Webb.) It's because I want them to do better. I want them to do better out of basic decency, and I want them to do better so they get elected, and I want them to do better so we get better policy.
And when I praise Democratic candidates for things I think they do well, it isn't implicit condemnation of the other candidates. I believe that part of the role a progressive base has to play is to communicate what we like, too. So that we get more of it.
And when I defend Hillary Clinton from misogyny, it isn't because I'm "in the bag" for her. It isn't even because I imagine she needs my defense; I'm quite certain Hillary Clinton has figured out how to take care of herself.
It's because it's useful to deconstruct and examine how systems of misogyny work, in order that we may begin to dismantle them.
It's because there are little girls and young women who might want to run for office someday, many of them without the many privileges that Hillary Clinton has, and they are watching. They watch what happens to a female candidate as privileged as Hillary Clinton, and they weigh the costs of following a path not dissimilar from hers.
Feminists will disagree with me, in good faith, about the value of defending Hillary Clinton, and even more about the value of defending rightwing women like Sarah Palin, from misogynist attacks. But the one thing on which I think we all agree is that we don't want to see the next generation of female leaders deterred from politics, or any kind of visible work in the public sphere, because it is simply too hostile a space for their participation.
And surely we don't want to see the attacks levied against Clinton go without censure, thus tacitly condoning those sorts of attacks on all women, most of whom will suffer them in less public spaces, with fewer people willing and ready to step to our defense.
No woman should have to weather this garbage in order to seek elected office. Or in any other context. And the only way I know how I can contribute to changing that is to resist it with everything I can muster.
Important Fundraiser
This is, for those who have requested it, your bi-monthly reminder to donate to Shakesville and an important fundraiser to keep Shakesville going.
I also want to be very blunt with y'all: To keep doing this job, and to keep Shakesville a safe ad-free space, I need to be making enough through donations to support myself, independently. Although Iain and I combine resources, like many couples, I don't want to find myself in a place where I couldn't support myself on my own if I needed and/or wanted to. And donations have dipped below that level.
So, if you value Shakesville, please consider setting up a subscription or making a one-time contribution.
I don't mean for that to sound like an ultimatum: I'm just trying to be as straightforward as possible. It takes an enormous amount of time, more than a full-time job, to manage the community, write and edit content, moderate comments alongside the other mods, and engage with readers via email and social media. I can't do this and hold down another job. So this has to pay me a livable wage for my time, and enough to pay contributors for their work, or I need to find another way to make a living.
And just to be abundantly clear: I'm not looking to get rich off this work. I simply want to make enough money that I am able to support myself, in exchange for my full-time labor.
I would certainly be grateful for your support, if you are able to chip in. The donation link is in the sidebar to the right. Or click here.
Please note that I don't want anyone to feel obliged to contribute financially, especially if money is tight. There is a big enough readership that no one needs to donate if it would be a hardship, and no one should ever feel bad about that.
Thank you to each of you who donates or has donated, whether monthly or as a one-off, financially or otherwise. I am deeply appreciative.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Terrorism; death] An update on the possible Bangkok bomber, and, as always, I will caution that this information is preliminary, in the sense that this man is wanted for questioning only at this point: "Video footage has emerged of a key suspect police want to question in connection with the deadly bomb blast in the Thai capital, Bangkok. The footage, from a CCTV camera, shows a man in a yellow shirt leaving a backpack in the Erawan Hindu shrine. At least 20 people died in Monday's blast, about half of them foreigners, and more than 120 were injured. ...In the new footage, he is shown carefully and deliberately removing his backpack inside the shrine, getting up without it and immediately leaving the scene. The spot where he was sitting is precisely where the bomb went off a few minutes later, says the BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok."
[CN: Misogyny] The US Army Ranger School will graduate its first-ever female students this week: "Two female soldiers will graduate from the Army's grueling Ranger School on Friday, becoming the first women to ever complete one of the U.S. military's premier courses to develop elite fighters and leaders, Army officials said Monday night. The accomplishment marks a major breakthrough for women in the armed services..." Which naturally was immediately met with this bullshit: "Some skeptics, especially in the military, have questioned whether the women were given an easier path to graduation." Ah, yes. The famously easy path for women in the military! Fuck. Off.
[CN: Anti-choice terrorism] This should be at least as newsworthy as the Planned Parenthood videos, but it won't even get a mention by most news outlets: "A 19-year-old from Wichita is in custody after authorities said he brought a small homemade explosive device into a women's health care clinic that provides abortions in south-central Kansas. Officers responded to the South Wind Women's Center in Wichita around 3:30 p.m. Monday after an on-site security officer inspected the backpack the man brought in and found knives and the explosive device, Wichita Police Department Capt. Doug Nolte said. ...The clinic is one of three in Kansas that provide abortions. It opened in 2013 in the same building where Dr. George Tiller provided abortions until an anti-abortion opponent shot and killed him in 2009 in his church. That building has long been the site of anti-abortion violence. Tiller was also shot and wounded in both arms there in 1993 by an abortion opponent, and his clinic was bombed in 1996." Any chance any of the millions of people running for president might mention this act of domestic terrorism? *crickets*
[CN: War on agency] Relatedly: "As state-level investigations into Planned Parenthood continue to find that the health-care provider has not broken any laws by donating fetal tissue for medical research, the Obama administration is now saying that it has found no evidence of wrongdoing among either government researchers who work with fetal tissue or companies that supply it." No shit.
[CN: Police brutality; racism; death] This is a sickeningly familiar story: "When Radazz Hearns was shot seven times by police in Trenton, New Jersey earlier this month, police claimed the 14-year-old pulled out a gun and attempted to shoot them while running. Now, the attorney general's office says those allegations are unsupported, and an eyewitness says Hearns was actually unarmed and trying to pull up his pants as he ran."
[CN: Police brutality; racism; disablism; death] And in New York: "Samuel Harrell, 30, died of a homicide at the hands of 20 correctional officers and none of them have faced any punishment. The New York Times reported that inmates at Fishkill Correctional Facility in New York who witness the death said that Harrell was acting erratically on the evening of April 21 because he had bipolar disorder. A confrontation with officers led to Harrell being thrown to the ground, a witness said. About 20 officers—some of them from what was known as the 'Beat Up Squad'—reportedly kicked and beat the inmate. According to written accounts from inmates, they heard officers shouting racial slurs at Harrell, who was black. ...Four months after Harrell was pronounced dead, corrections officials have refused to provide details about the death, citing an ongoing investigation." No disciplinary action has been taken against any of the officers involved.
[CN: Police brutality; death] Meanwhile: "A former Fairfax County police officer was charged with second-degree murder Monday, nearly two years after he shot and killed an unarmed Springfield man who stood with his hands raised in the doorway of his home. The indictment of Adam D. Torres in the killing of 46-year-old John Geer, who had a holstered gun at his feet when he was shot, marks the first time in the 75-year history of the Fairfax County Police Department that an officer has faced criminal prosecution in connection with an on-duty shooting." The victim in this case, John Geer, was white.
[CN: Transphobic violence; death] "A transgender woman is dead after being run over repeatedly by the driver of an SUV in Kansas City early Saturday in a possible hate crime. Tamara Dominguez, 36, is the latest victim in an epidemic of anti-trans violence that's claimed the lives of 17 women this year, 15 of whom were black or Hispanic." I am so sad and so fucking angry. My condolences to her family and friends and community.
Of course: Donald Trump "has won his party's trust on top issues more than any other Republican presidential candidate, and now stands as the clear leader in the race for the GOP nomination, according to a new CNN/ORC poll. The survey finds Trump with the support of 24% of Republican registered voters. His nearest competitor, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, stands 11 points behind at 13%." What a terrific party Republicans are!
LeBron James is sending over 1,000 kids to college: "Through a partnership between the school and his LeBron James Family Foundation, the 1,100 children currently in his 'I Promise' program will receive a fully sponsored scholarship. 'I think it's probably one of the best things I've ever been a part of,' James said. He continued, 'This is very special to me. As a kid growing up in the inner city and as an African-American kid, you don't really think past high school because it's not possible or your family can't support you.'" James made the announcement on Twitter in THE BEST way: "Every single kid who finish my program will go to college for FREE!" Yay!
Neat: "Space enthusiasts and sci-fi fans, rejoice: The space elevator may be one step closer to reality. A Canadian space company was recently awarded a patent for a space elevator that would reach about 12 miles (20 kilometers) above the Earth's surface. Although space elevators have been considered a theoretical technology, they have been billed as a cheaper alternative to rocket launches, especially when it comes to sending heavy objects or people into space. According to Thoth Technology Inc., the company that was awarded the patent, the U.S. patent allows for an elevator that would be 30 percent cheaper than the fuel required by a conventional rocket. Also, the system would be fully reusable, further reducing costs, the company said. 'Astronauts would ascend to 20 km by electrical elevator,' inventor Brendan Quine said in a statement. 'From the top of the tower, space planes will launch in a single stage to orbit, returning to the top of the tower for refueling and reflight.'" Space elevator!!!
This close-up video of a hummingbird's iridescent feathers is extraordinary!
And finally! "August 15, 2015, was a historical day for animal lovers and shelter pets across the United States. This, thanks to the nationwide adoption drive sponsored by 11 NBC owned television stations, the New England regional news network necn, 17 Telemundo owned stations, and Overstock.com. More than 400 shelters participated and a total of 18,860 pets found forever homes. ...The public's response was unexpected on the day of the event that many places had long lines—even before doors opened. Once pets were officially adopted, social media feeds exploded with images of happy adopters and pets." Blub.
Hillary Clinton and #BlackLivesMatter: The Videos
[Content Note: White supremacy; racism.]
Last week, activists from #BlackLivesMatter Boston negotiated a meeting with Hillary Clinton at a campaign event, and, at the time, they promised to release video of the meeting as soon as they were able. That video has now been made public, and I want to reiterate what I wrote previously as context through which to view the footage of this meeting:
It sounds to me as though the activists had hoped primarily for two things from Clinton: 1. Personal accountability for the policies she's championed that have resulted in disproportionate state violence against black people; 2. To be heard.Having now seen the videos, I also want to observe that this interaction exposes the inherent tension between pursuing social justice through activism and advocacy and pursuing social justice through policy and politics.
They got the latter, but the former not so much. Politicians reflexively substitute policy for personal accountability, partly because it's a deflection for uncomfortable questions, but also because they're genuinely not used to being asked for personal accountability. The media fails utterly to hold politicians to personal account for failed and harmful policy. Even when politicians are asked about failed foreign policy votes, they aren't usually asked how they feel about it, even when their support resulted in people dying; they're just asked if they can admit they were wrong.
I hope Hillary Clinton gets that they were asking for personal reflection and accountability, and I hope she's thinking about how to talk about that, outside of and wholly separate from policy.
This is something every one of the white Democratic candidates should be doing: Talking about their own white privilege, about what it means to govern in a white supremacist culture, and how they feel and what they will do about dismantling that culture.
Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley et. al. need to understand that their personal accountability is important, because what people are asking for when they ask for it isn't self-flagellation; it's evidence of meaningful reflection and personal investment in expecting more. They are being asked if they can be trusted.
Changing minds and changing the law can and do act in concert, and often toward the same objective. (Frequently at radically different speeds.) But sometimes there is just unresolvable tension between the people who are seeking to change minds and people who are seeking to change laws, especially when policy is used by the latter as substitute for personal accountability.
Again, it's an issue of trust. And it's an issue of communicating (or not) that there is meaningful understanding of the underlying history in order to make sure that policy doesn't simply replicate the same oppression in a shiny new way.
The video was broken into two parts. Here is part one:
Video Transcript: Text onscreen: "A GOOD Exclusive. On Tuesday, August 11th, Hillary Clinton met with five #BlackLivesMatter activists behind closed doors after a campaign event in New Hampshire. In this candid video, the candidate is asked about her support for controversial laws that have led to mass incarceration in the United States."
Cut to Hillary Clinton, in a blue suit, standing in front of a blue curtain. Standing in a circle with her are Daunasia Yancey, a black woman who is the founder of #BlackLivesMatter Boston, a black man whose name I don't know, and Julius Jones, founder of #BlackLivesMatter Worcester. Jones, a tall, thin black man with a beard, stands directly opposite Clinton, and he is the one who addresses her. Throughout, Clinton nods her head and says, "Mm-hmm" as he speaks.
Jones: It's a pleasure and an honor to be in this dialogue with you. But I think that a huge part of what you haven't said is—you've offered a recognition that mass incarceration has not worked, and that is an unfortunate consequence of government practices that just didn't work. But, the truth is, that there's an extremely long history of unfortunate government practices that don't work that particularly affect black people and black families. And until we as a country, and the person who's in the seat that you seek, actually addresses the anti-blackness current that is America's first drug—we're in a meeting about drugs, right? America's first drug is free black labor, and turning black bodies into profit. And the mass incarceration system mirrors an awful lot—like the prison, the plantation system. It's the same—it's a similar thread, right? And until someone takes that message and speaks that truth to white people in this country, so that we can actually take on anti-blackness as a founding problem in this country, I don't believe that there's gonna be a solution. Because what the conversations that are happening now, and why there's so much, uh, cohesion across the—across the divide, of the red side and the blue side, is because of money. And we spend a lot of money on prisons! We spend more money on prisons than we are on schools, right? But if we look at it from a lens of, "Let's solve this financial problem," and we don't look at the greater bottom line, that African-Americans who are Americans are suffering at greater rates than most other people, every other people, for the length of this country, then it's not gonna go away—it's just gonna morph into something new and evolved. And I genuinely want to know: You and your family have been, in no uncertain way, partially responsible for, more than most—
Text Onscreen: "Hillary Clinton lobbied lawmakers to back the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. Bill Clinton signed the act into law in 1994. The largest crime bill in history, it provided $9.7 billion in prison funding. From 1992 to 2000, the amount of prisoners in the U.S. increased almost 60%."
Jones: —now, there may have been unintended consequences, but now that you understand the consequences, what in your heart has changed that's gonna change the direction of this country? What in you—not your platform; not, not what you're supposed to say—how do you actually feel that's different than you did before? Like, what were the mistakes, and how can those mistakes that you made be lessons for all of America—for a moment of reflection on how we treat black people in this country?
Clinton: Well—
A white man who is part of Clinton's team interrupts from offscreen, and they all turn and look at him. Jones interrupts him to say he really wants Clinton to answer the question, because they've worked hard and driven a long way to be there, and the man says he doesn't want to stop Clinton answering but wants to warn them about the time, because there are more people in the overflow room waiting to speak with her.
Clinton: Well, obviously it's a very thoughtful question and it deserves a thoughtful answer. And I can only tell you that I feel, uh, very committed to and responsible for doing whatever I can. I spent most of my adult life focused on kids, ah, through the Children's Defense Fund and other efforts to try to give kids—particularly poor kids, particularly, you know, black kids and Hispanic kids—the same chance to live up to their own god-given potential as any other kid. Ah, that's where I've been focused, um, and I think that there has to be a reckoning. I agree with that. Ah, but I also think there has to be some, uh, positive vision and plan that you can move people toward. I mean, once you say, "You know, this country has still not recovered from its original sin," which is true, once you say that, then the next question, by people who are on the sidelines—which is the vast majority of Americans—the next question is, "So whaddaya want me to do about it? What am I supposed to do about it?" That's what I'm trying to, ah, put together in a way that I can explain it and I can sell it. Um, because, in politics, if you can't explain it and you can't sell it, it stays on the shelf.
Here, Clinton starts to get animated, as she describes the momentum that she has seen other social justice movements taking, as they move from advocacy to political action.
And this is now a time, a moment in time, just like the Civil Rights Movement, or the Women's Movement, or the Gay Rights Movement, or a lot of other movements, reached a point in time—the people behind that consciousness-raising and advocacy, they had a plan ready to go. So that when you turned to, you know, the Women's Movement—"We wanna pass this and we wanna pass that and we wanna do this..." Problems are not all taken care of; we know that. Obviously I know more about the Civil Rights Movement in the old days, because I had a lot of involvement in working with people, so they had a plan—this piece of legislation, this court case we're gonna make, et cetera et cetera. Same with the Gay Rights Movement, you know, we're sick of homophobia, we're stick of being discriminated against, we want marriage equality, we're starting in the states and we're gonna keep going 'til we get it in the highest court of the land.
Clinton focuses steadily back to Jones, pointing at him.
So, all I'm saying is: Your analysis is fair. It's historically fair, it's psychologically fair, it's economically fair. But you're gonna have to come together as a movement and say, "Here's what we want done about it." Because you can get lipservice from as many white people as you can pack into Yankee Stadium, and a million more like it, who are gonna say, "Oh, we get it, we get it. We're gonna be nicer!" Okay? That's not enough, at least in my book.
Yancey: Mm-hmm. Right.
Clinton: That's not how I see politics. So, the consciousness-raising, the advocacy, the passion, the youth of your movement is so critical, but now, all I'm suggesting is, even for us sinners, find some common ground on agendas that can make a difference right here and now in people's lives. And that's what I would love to know, you know, have your thoughts about, ah, because that's what I'm trying to figure out how to do. So, yeah, deal with mass incarceration— It's not just an economic issue, although, I grant you, some people see it like that. But it's more than that. I think there is a sense like, "You know, low-level offenders, disparity in treatment, we gotta do something about that." Um, I think that a lot of the issues about housing, and about, uh, you know, job opportunities, Ban the Box, a lot of these things, let's get an agenda that addresses as much of the problem as we can. Because then you can be for something, in addition to getting people to have to admit that they're part of a long history in our country of, you know, either proposing, supporting, condoning discrimination, segregation, et cetera... Now what do we do next? And that's, that's what I'm trying to figure out in my campaign. So, that's what I'm doing.
* * *
And here is part two:
Video Transcript: Text onscreen: "A GOOD Exclusive. On Tuesday, August 11th, Hillary Clinton met with five #BlackLivesMatter activists behind closed doors after a campaign event in New Hampshire. In this candid video, the presidential candidate is asked to address the question of countering racial injustice in America."
There is crosstalk as Clinton's handlers try to wrap up the meeting, but Clinton stays put as Jones begins to speak again.
Jones: The piece that's most important—and I, I stand here in your space, and I say this as respectfully as I can—like, if you don't tell black people what we came to do, then we won't tell you all what you need to do.
Clinton: Oh, I'm not telling you—I'm telling you to tell me!
Jones: What I mean to say is that this is and has always been a white problem of violence. It's not—there's not much that we can do to stop the violence against us.
Clinton: Well, if that—
Jones: That's the conversation—I want to push back [crosstalk] respectfully
Clinton: Okay, I understand. I understand what you're saying [crosstalk] Well, respectfully, if that is your position, then I will talk only to white people about how we are going to deal with the very real problems—
Jones: That's not what I mean. That's not what I mean. That's not what I mean. But what I'm saying is like you, what you just said was a form of victim-blaming, right? You were saying what the #BlackLivesMatter movement needs to do to change white hearts is to come up with a policy position—
Clinton: No, I'm not talking about— Look, I don't believe you change hearts. I believe you change laws, you change allocation of resources, you change the way systems operate. You're not gonna change every heart. You're not. But. At the end of the day? We can do a whole lot to change some hearts and change some systems and create more opportunities for people who deserve to have them, to live up to their own god-given potential, to live safely, without fear of violence in their own communities, to have a decent school, to have a decent house, to have a decent future. So, we can do it one of many ways, you know. You can keep the movement going, which you have started, and through it, you may actually change some hearts. But if that's all that happens, we'll be back here in ten years having the same conversation. Because we will not have all of the changes that you deserve to see happen in your lifetime, because of your willingness to get out there and talk about this.
[crosstalk as the meeting is wrapped up]
Clinton: Well, I'm ready! I'm ready to do my part in any way that I can.
* * *
What this exchange reminds me of is Martin Luther King, Jr. trying to work with President Lyndon Johnson. Which was both a fraught and productive relationship.
People go into politics because they believe that policy is part (or all) of the solution to social issues. I genuinely don't think Clinton was telling Yancey, Jones, and the other activists that they need to come up with policy to rescue themselves from white supremacy (although I understand why Jones interpreted it that way, and I almost certainly would have done the same in the moment); I think she was saying, "Design the policy you want to see, because my role is a policymaker."
Which is right. But what the activists were asking her is to self-reflect on her role in white supremacist policies of the past, both in order to avoid replicating them, and also so she can use her bully pulpit to talk about her own change of heart (if there has indeed been one) in a way that might reach people, in ways and in numbers, that they never could. They were asking her to amplify their message.
And that can, and must, be the role of a president, too.
Clinton gets that. Because she said flatly that she needs to be able to explain and sell policy. But I'm not sure she got that's what she was being asked for more than policy. To get engaged with the theory, and to reach into herself and connect with it on a personal level.
Jones, Yancey, et. al. are making the point that policy never really changes anything without reflection and accountability for the biases it is meant to address. And it doesn't have to be every single mind that's changed, but it certainly does have to be the policymaker's mind that has changed.
That's what they were looking for. And they didn't get it.
@BLM_Boston has more information about and impressions of their meeting with Clinton on their Twitter feed.
I hope very fervently that Hillary Clinton sees this meeting as the beginning of a conversation, not the end of it.
Good Morning! Or Whatever Time It Is Wherever You Are!
I am working on a post that necessitates a video transcript that's taking foreverrrrrr, so, in the meantime, please talk amongst yourselves about THE BEST BREAKFAST FOODS.
And go!
