Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Terrorism] The latest from Malheur: "Federal authorities are planning to cut off the power of the wildlife refuge in Oregon that has been taken over by militia, exposing the armed occupiers to sub-zero temperatures in an effort to flush them out. Armed militants will begin their third day at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, a remote federal outpost in eastern Oregon, on Tuesday, and have vowed to remain for months in protest over the treatment of two local cattle ranchers. A federal government official told the Guardian that authorities were planning on Monday to cut the power at the refuge. 'It's in the middle of nowhere,' said the official, who is based in Washington, DC, and has knowledge of the planned response to the militia. 'And it's flat-ass cold up there.' ...'After they shut off the power, they'll kill the phone service,' the government official added. 'Then they'll block all the roads so that all those guys have a long, lonely winter to think about what they've done.'"
[CN: Guns; threats; misogynist terrorism] Two female Brooklyn state legislators, Democratic State Senator Roxanne Persaud and Democratic Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon, support gun control, so "the National Rifle Association targeted the two female lawmakers with an image of bullets next to their pictures." And tweeted the image. Because they don't fear any meaningful consequences for threatening female legislators. "Twitter has a new abuse policy but representatives for the social media site haven't yet responded as to whether the tweet violates the company's terms of service." For fuck's sake.
[CN: War on agency] YES! "The Obama administration on Monday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a Texas abortion law that has shuttered nearly half the clinics in the state, saying the Republican-backed regulations would harm rather than protect women's health. Intervening in the Supreme Court's first abortion case since 2007, the administration said the new Texas rules for clinics and physicians who perform abortions are far more restrictive than other regulations upheld by the justices over the years. If allowed to take full effect, U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli wrote, the law would close many more of the state's clinics and force hundreds of thousands of Texas women to travel great distances if they seek to terminate pregnancies. 'Those requirements are unnecessary to protect—indeed, would harm—women's health, and they would result in closure of three quarters of the abortion clinics in the state,' Verrilli wrote." Thank you, Mr. President!
Wow: "Within hours of being sworn in, [newly elected Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney] signed an executive order rescinding Philadelphia's participation in Immigration and Customs Enforcement's PEP-Comm program... Similar to cities that rejected the DHS program Secure Communities, Philadelphia is thus far ensuring its residents' safety by maintaining a bright line between local law enforcement and federal deportation efforts, something that advocates say is especially necessary as recent ICE raids spread unprecedented fear throughout immigrant communities."
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has detailed her plan "to Support Children, Youth, and Adults Living with Autism and their Families." I'm not an expert in this area by a long shot, so I'm not qualified to assess this plan; I hope those of you who know more than I do about the subject, particularly readers who are themselves on the spectrum, will give your impressions of the plan in comments.
Whooooooooooops! "A spokesman for Jeb Bush's campaign told BuzzFeed News on Monday that Bush had 'mistaken and conflated' his story about receiving the National Rifle Association's 'statesman of the year' award. The former Florida governor has told the story on several occasions, saying he received a rifle from then-NRA president Charlton Heston and was the recipient of the group's 'statesman of the year' honor in 2003. While the NRA rates the records of politicians on gun issues, the group does not hand out a statesman of the year award. In 2003, the NRA held its annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, with Bush as the keynote speaker. The NRA's meeting page from that year makes no mention of Bush receiving any award."
[CN: Video autoplays at link; discussion of disablism] Jess Thom talks about having Tourette's, about discomfort with visible disability, and why she wants us to laugh with her.
[CN: Misogyny] Rey is missing from the new Star Wars Monopoly game, and Hasbro has (exhaustingly) responded by saying it's because they didn't want to spoil the movie. Well, here's an idea: If you can't release the game with the film's star without spoiling the film, then maybe wait to release the game until later!
"Twitter may soon go beyond 140 characters. The company has been exploring extending the length permitted in a tweet on the service for months. Now Re/code reports the character limit for tweets could grow to 10,000, the same limit on direct messages on its service. And the new character limit could take effect early this year, the technology news service says, citing anonymous sources." The reason Twitter is Twitter is because of the character limit. If you want to write something longer, start a blog! Never have I seen a technology company so determined to ruin what people like about it.
And finally! "Birds Taking Care of Their Babies." Oh birds. How I adore you.
In the News
Today in Manclaiming
For mansized boogers.
From Kleenex UK's website: "Extra large, extra strong and yet still so soft and gentle, Kleenex® Mansize tissues are ready for anything life can throw at you. They're Britain's best-loved tissues, big enough for the whole family."
Wait just a darn minute! If these MAN TISSUES are sanctioned for use by the whole family, that totally defeats the purpose! I certainly hope that Kleenex will come out with Mansize Tissues for Men tout de suite!
GOP Elite Worried Trump Is Ruining Their Brand
[Content Note: Bigotry.]
Trumpsterfire 2016.
Oh no! Donald Trump is ruining our beautiful dumpster fire with his tacky logo!
One growing worry about Trump or Cruz, top party officials, donors, and operatives across the country say, is that nominating either man would imperil lawmakers in down-ballot races, especially those residing in moderate states and districts.I wish I shared their pessimism. I'm sure there is some number of people who will find Trump (or Cruz) too extreme for which to vote and will instead cast a vote for a Democrat or sit out the election altogether. But I'm also sure there is some number of people who don't typically vote because Republicans aren't extreme enough, who will show up at the polls if a nightmare reactionary is on the ballot.
"At some point, we have to deal with the fact that there are at least two candidates who could utterly destroy the Republican bench for a generation if they became the nominee," said Josh Holmes, a former chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. "We'd be hard-pressed to elect a Republican dogcatcher north of the Mason-Dixon or west of the Mississippi."
So I'm not feeling gleeful at the prospect of Trump tanking GOP chances down-ballot. What I am feeling, again, is profound contempt for Republican elites who have the unmitigated temerity to act surprised about the quality of their base, after they've spent decades expressly cultivating a base that would respond with enthusiasm to a candidate that engages in overt racism, Islamophobia, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, disablism, and/or Christian Supremacy.
The Republican elite can't possibly be angry that Trump is saying the things that he's saying, when he's merely the uncensored id of their reprehensible party.
What they're angry about is that Trump has traded in the dogwhistle for a bullhorn.
Less handwringing and more laying hay in the coop, because the chickens have come home to roost.
The President Takes Executive Action on Guns
[Content Note: Gun violence; domestic violence; disablism.]
Yesterday, President Obama unveiled a series of new executive actions designed to decrease gun violence. They largely focus on expanding background checks and tightening enforcement. Here is the Fact Sheet that details the new executive actions.
What you will not find: A proposal to get rid of guns, in any way, at all.
The four goals of the executive actions are: 1. Keep guns out of the wrong hands through background checks. 2. Make our communities safer from gun violence via "smart and effective enforcement of our gun laws. The President's FY2017 budget will include funding for 200 new ATF agents and investigators to help enforce our gun laws." 3. Increase mental health treatment and reporting to the background check system. 4. Shape the future of gun safety technology by "review[ing] the availability of smart gun technology on a regular basis, and [exploring] potential ways to further its use and development to more broadly improve gun safety."
Does anyone believe that adding 200 more law enforcement officers is going to reduce gun violence? Of course, the numbers of people killed by police officers with guns is not of concern here:
Gun violence has taken a heartbreaking toll on too many communities across the country. Over the past decade in America, more than 100,000 people have been killed as a result of gun violence—and millions more have been the victim of assaults, robberies, and other crimes involving a gun. Many of these crimes were committed by people who never should have been able to purchase a gun in the first place. Over the same period, hundreds of thousands of other people in our communities committed suicide with a gun and nearly half a million people suffered other gun injuries. Hundreds of law enforcement officers have been shot to death protecting their communities. And too many children are killed or injured by firearms every year, often by accident. The vast majority of Americans—including the vast majority of gun owners—believe we must take sensible steps to address these horrible tragedies.Only the officers killed warrant a mention, but not the people killed by officers.
Agents of the state with a hair trigger are never among the people who we say "never should have been able to [have] a gun in the first place."
Anyway. Back to the "bad guys" with guns.
So we're going to tighten background checks, make sure people can't buy illegal weapons or purchase guns through anonymous trusts, and invest federal tax dollars into "smart gun technology."
And we're going to make domestic violence a disqualifying crime for gun ownership, which is a good idea in the abstract, except that it necessitates reporting, which victims of domestic abusers may not do if they know their abusers' guns will be taken away, thus enraging them and putting their victims at further risk for harm. The only way to reconcile that is to reduce access to guns altogether.
Which isn't on the table.
What is on the table: "Increase Mental Health Treatment and Reporting to the Background Check System."
We must continue to remove the stigma around mental illness and its treatment—and make sure that these individuals and their families know they are not alone. While individuals with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators, incidents of violence continue to highlight a crisis in America's mental health system. In addition to helping people get the treatment they need, we must make sure we keep guns out of the hands of those who are prohibited by law from having them.We have to reduce stigma around mental illness, but we definitely need to reflexively see every shooter as mentally ill and also track mentally ill people.
I mean.
I have written a lot about how problematic the focus on "keeping the hands out of people with mental illness" is:
December 2012: "In Pursuit of Doing Something Meaningful."
December 2012: "An Observation About Mental Illness."
January 2013: "Today in Terrible Ideas."
November 2013: "The Right Thing for the Wrong Reasons."
December 2013: "And What Is the Cost of Demonization?"
May 2014: "Welp."
December 2015: "Not Enough."
There's nothing I can say now that I haven't already said about the number of issues with focusing on mental illness as a means of preventing gun violence.
But I will note once again: The problem with restrictions designed to keep guns out of the "wrong" hands is that most of the people who decide to use a gun to harm someone else are, per these definitions, the "right" hands until they're not anymore.
The only meaningful thing that is going to curb gun violence is fewer guns.
But that isn't on the table.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Lostshadows: "What talent/knack/ability do you seem to possess that you really wish you didn't?"
The knack for stubbing my baby toe on every piece of furniture in the universe.
The Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by lamps.
Recommended reading:
karnythia: [Content Note: Misogynoir; white supremacy; carcerality] White Feminism & The School to Prison Pipeline
Victoria: [CN: Police brutality] California Bill Banning Grand Juries for Officer-Involved Shootings Officially in Effect
Ragen: [CN: Fat hatred] Speak for Yourself, Oprah
Jess: Sports Writing and Reporting by Women in 2015
Lyndsay: [CN: Misogyny; spoilers] Sherlock (Still) Has a Woman Problem
Andy: [CN: Islamophobia; racism] Donald Trump Releases First Official Ad of 2016 Campaign
Veronica: #365FeministSelfie 2016
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
What Is Bernie Sanders Even Doing?
I happened to read an article in Politico, by Gabriel Debenedetti, that compares the fundraising of the Sanders and Clinton campaigns [h/t to Shaker Lysis for the link]. In it, I read that both campaigns have raised an impressive amount of cash: Clitnon raised $38 million in the fourth quarter, and Sanders raised $33 million. Wow!
Each campaign also released the amount of funds they had separately raised for the Democratic Party, money that will be used to help elect Democrats on downticket ballots. Clinton: $18 million. Sanders: zero.
Zuh?
To be clear, raising the money for downticket races is important because presidential candidates have a lot of clout and visibility. Lending that to the party overall helps ensure competitive races in the House and Senate, something very much needed for a Democratic president hoping to enact a progressive agenda. As gerrymandered as many districts are, it's going to be a real challenge.
So I find the Sanders campaign's explanation of this more than a little bizarre:
...while the independent who caucuses with Democrats in the Senate could be raising money for the party by making calls to major potential contributors, he refuses to do so on principle.Sanders' campaign hopes such stands are precisely why his "political revolution" won’t need the Democratic infrastructure’s help — top aides believe the sheer breadth of energy from Sanders backers should be more than enough to elect fellow Democrats on his coattails come November 2016.
“Bernie is the only candidate generating the kind of broad-based enthusiasm and excitement that Democrats must have in order to raise funds for a general election campaign and keep the White House and make gains in Congress,” said campaign manager Jeff Weaver in his campaign’s fundraising announcement.
As I understand this, Weaver is saying that only Bernie can raise enough funds for other races. But apparently, he's not going to do so through the Democratic Party. So, when exactly is he going to start his own pool of funds for electing other Democrats? Or does Weaver really believe that the sheer force of Sanders' coattails is going to elect people to Congress, no cash required? (In that case, sorry Jeff Weaver! I am having trouble visualizing Bernie Sanders as a magical unicorn!)
I get that Sanders doesn't like working within a party structure. He's managed to carve out a very successful niche for himself in Vermont outside of it, with a special truce between himself and the Vermont Democrats. And I get that there are some really big problems with the Democratic Party.
But at some point, if you're going to run for the Democratic Party's nomination, you probably need to think about cooperating with them more closely. And using their infrastructure for debates and exposure while refusing to fundraise for them doesn't strike me as smart politics. Nor, frankly, does it seem very ethical, particularly considering his campaign explcitly agreed to fundraise with them.
As Liss put it in a private communication to me (that I am sharing with her permission): "He is happy to make use of the Democratic infrastructure to give him visibility and access he wouldn't get as a 3rd party candidate, but then refuses to contribute to the funding of that infrastructure 'on principle.'
"That's some hot garbage, right there."
Bernie Sanders has a hard-earned reputation for integrity. Refusing to support the Democratic party while accepting their support (and in in fact suing the party over his own campaign's wrongdoing, and then fundraising off the incident) is eventually going to tarnish that reputation. And that's a bad thing, not only for Sanders personally, but for his cause, for his supporters, and for the people who really were hoping for something different from him.
What are you even doing, Bernie Sanders?
An Observation About Ageism and Visibility
[Content Note: Misogyny; ageism; body policing.]
Over the weekend, I saw a meme, generated in association with the recent ageism and body policing of Carrie Fisher, which read: "Men don't age better than women; they are just allowed to age."
Accurate.
And naturally that narrative coexists with lots of other misogynist ageist garbage, like our fucked-up expectations of what aging women should look like, and our warped view of what aging women actually do look like, thanks to Photoshop and fillers etc.
I also think there's something else at play: Carrie Fisher, like many other actresses who start their careers at a very young age, largely disappeared from the big screen for many years. Some actresses take hiatuses to raise families, and some aren't able to work because of addiction and/or other personal troubles, and some simply can't find work because of the persistent ageism in the entertainment industry.
There are a lot of reasons that a lot of actresses have big gaps on their IMDb pages around the time they hit their 30s, and it occurs to me that it's the actresses who, through some combination of talent and luck and ambition, continually work through the decade(s) when lots of other aging actresses disappear, that tend to be the ones to whom we attribute compliments about how they are aging.
We haven't seen Carrie Fisher in a movie, or multiple movies, or a TV show, each year of her long career. So we remember this iconic role she played in her 20s, and we weren't looking at her while she was offscreen being a playwright and novelist and generally awesome human being, and then she returns in a very public way in her 50s, and a bunch of d-bags are all, "OH MY SHE LOOKS AWFUL."
But, with requisite caveats about how every individual human ages differently, owing to a number of variables from genetics to lifestyle, Carrie Fisher looks perfectly consistent with other women of her cohort:
Meryl Streep, age 66.
Carrie Fisher, age 59.
Julianne Moore, age 55.
I chose Streep and Moore for a very specific reason: Because they are both women who are routinely cited as having aged extraordinarily well. And, to my previous point, they are also women who have continually worked and been onscreen in major motion pictures throughout most of their professional lives, without the major gaps we see on the filmographies of many actresses in their cohort.
Maybe, just maybe, the ageism that disappears so many Women of a Certain Age serves to reinforce ageist expectations, while uninterrupted exposure to aging women actually creates a more generous and less judgmental impression of those women.
Gee, it's almost like visibility matters, in virtually every imaginable way. Huh.
(And, just for the record, I wouldn't give an infinitesimal shit if Carrie Fisher looked like Nosferatu. She is a goddamn national treasure, and if a few wrinkles prevent someone from appreciating that, they deserve a life devoid of her awesomeness.)
Daily Dose of Cute
Zelly's first order of business for 2016: Be super cute with very silly little ears.
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...
RIP Natalie Cole, who has died at age 65. Cole was probably most well-known for her 1991 single "Unforgettable," on which she dueted with the voice of her late father, Nat King Cole, "and the track gave her a top 20 pop hit in both Britain and the US. The single won her Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Performance, while the Unforgettable album, a chart-topper in the US, won Album of the Year. It also sold 7m copies in the US alone, and doubled that figure through international sales." My condolences to her family, friends, colleagues, and fans.
[Content Note: War on agency] Reproaction's Erin Matson and Pamela Merritt write: "2015 was a terrible year for abortion rights. 2016 does not have to be 2015." And Imani Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo write: "Here's Why 2016 Could Be the Biggest Year for Reproductive Rights and the Courts in Decades." Two must-reads for today.
[CN: Violence; religious extremism] Oh fuck: "Saudi Arabia rallied Sunni allies to its side in a growing diplomatic row with Iran on Monday, deepening a sectarian split across the Middle East following the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric. Bahrain and Sudan cut all ties with Iran, following Riyadh's example the previous day. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters Riyadh would also halt air traffic and commercial relations between the rival powers. He blamed Iran's 'aggressive policies' for the diplomatic action, alluding to years of tension that spilled over on Saturday night when Iranian protesters stormed the kingdom's embassy in Tehran. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), home to hundreds of thousands of Iranians, partially downgraded its relations but the other Gulf Arab countries—Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman—stayed above the fray."
[CN: Misogyny; assassination] How utterly horrible: "The newly installed mayor of the Mexican city of Temixco was killed on Saturday, according to a tweet from Morelos state Governor Graco Ramirez. Gisela Mota, 33, formally took office with the new year on Friday. Mexico City newspaper El Universal said she was attacked at her home by four armed gunmen. Around 7:30 a.m., the assassins entered Mota's home, beat her, and then shot her in the head, according to El Economista. Paramedics arrived at 7:50 a.m. and confirmed she was dead. Afterward, the suspects tried to flee in a van, but police followed in hot pursuit and exchanged fire with the suspects before killing two of them. The other two were taken into custody, according to Telesur. Ramirez referred to Mota as a 'young and beloved companion,' but said he would not be intimidated by her death. 'We will not relent,' he wrote." Killed one day after she took office. I don't even have words.
Welp! "The furor over recent Chicago police shootings has legislators considering whether voters should be allowed to recall Mayor Rahm Emanuel or future officials who hold his post. Illinois state law currently addresses only the recall of a governor, a provision voters approved in 2010 after former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested and impeached. Now, state Rep. La Shawn Ford, a Chicago Democrat, wants voters to also have the power to remove the mayor of the country's third-largest city." Get rid of him. One way or another. Rahm needs to go.
[CN: Privacy violations; profiling] Goddammit: "The Transportation Security Administration's new rules for screening passengers with its controversial full-body scanners—which were quietly changed just before the busy holiday travel season—represent a significant policy reversal that could affect your next flight. Getting checked by the TSA's advanced-imaging technology used to be entirely optional, allowing those who refused a scan to be subjected to a pat-down. ...But on a Friday in late December, the TSA revised its rules, saying an 'opt out' is no longer an option for certain passengers. ...'Most people will be able to opt out,' says Bruce Anderson, a TSA spokesman. 'Some passengers will be required to undergo advanced-imaging screening if their boarding pass indicates that they have been selected for enhanced screening, in accordance with TSA regulations, prior to their arrival at the security checkpoint. This will occur in a very limited number of circumstances.'" The fuck.
Time to update your Periodic Table tattoos, nerds! "Four new elements have been added to the periodic table, finally completing the table's seventh row and rendering science textbooks around the world instantly out of date. The elements, discovered by scientists in Japan, Russia, and America, are the first to be added to the table since 2011, when elements 114 and 116 were added. ...The four new elements, all of which are synthetic, were discovered by slamming lighter nuclei into each other and tracking the following decay of the radioactive superheavy elements. Like other superheavy elements that populate the end of the periodic table, they only exist for fractions of a second before decaying into other elements." The elements will be officially named later this year.
[CN: Disablism; abuse] This Indianapolis bar's response to an unfathomably rude patron, who was annoyed at being inconvenienced by another patron almost dying, is tremendous.
[CN: Images may be NSFW] Beautiful: "The Body Shapes of Dancers by the Outstanding Photographer Howard Schatz."
[CN: Video autoplays at link] And finally! Won't somebody PLEASE play with this French bulldog?!
Primarily Speaking
Goat|Paperclip 2016: Because the actual Republican candidates are a waking nightmare.
We are now a mere TEN MONTHS away from the presidential election, and we know two things for certain: 1. All of the Republican candidates are garbage nightmares; and 2. None of them should be allowed anywhere near the Oval Office.
Let's see what the Dirtbag Dozen are up to today!
Front runner and gold toilet aficionado Donald Trump continues to be suuuuuper terrible! And his daughter and surrogate spokesperson Ivanka appears on the cover of Town & Country (because obviously) to tell us all that he is not a misogynist and is, in fact, "one of the great advocates for women." Sure. "I think my dad is highly gender-neutral. ...He 100 percent believes in equality of gender." Case closed, Your Honor!
Joe McCarthy impersonator Ted Cruz is raffling off an engraved shotgun, because of course he is.
Thirsty jerk Marco Rubio continues to say many smart and decent things, like "President Barack Obama 'has deliberately weakened America' by making an effort to 'humble' the nation on the world stage" and "Not only is Hillary Clinton incompetent, she’s also a liar." He seems neat!
Meanwhile, pugilist Chris Christie, mixing Cruz's gun fetishization with Rubio's condescending commentary about the President, "called President Barack Obama 'a petulant child' for using executive action to curb gun violence." This fucking guy.
Something something Rand Paul liberty isolationism Jesus.
Shyamalanian surprise less smart brother Jeb Bush has a terrific plan to rescue his candidacy from swirling around the bottom of the bowl. Spoiler Alert! It's very basic politics and it's definitely not going to work!
Sweater vest supermodel Rick Santorum is taking aim at Cruz by mocking him for having read Green Eggs and Ham on the Senate floor during a filibuster in 2013. Good one, Santorum. A compelling argument.
Professor of Bible bigotry Mike Huckabee is also going after Cruz, with ads that essentially say he's not homophobic enough to be president. Cool argument, bro!
Reverse surging oddball Ben Carson has unveiled his flat tax plan. Terrific. "The plan, which Carson announced during an interview on Fox News, would tax individuals and corporations alike at 14.9 percent and would eliminate tax deductions and loopholes." Sounds amazing. A+ venue.
Corporate power-failure Carly Fiorina is being criticized for tweeting that, although she loves her alma mater Stanford, she was "rooting for a Hawkeyes win today." Whooooooops! "It earned her criticism for what many saw as an attempt to pander to voters in Iowa, the influential first-caucus state. But an interview with Dana Bash on CNN on Sunday, Fiorina said her tweet was clearly 'tongue in cheek.' 'Can't a girl ever have a little bit of fun?' Fiorina said." THAT'S ALL THEY REALLY WANT TO HAVE! Fiorina doesn't get that people understand it's a joke; they just think it's a shitty one that reveals something about her opportunistic nature. Add that to the list of things Fiorina doesn't understand about politics and policy, which currently includes literally everything.
"Moderate" John Kasich "is airing his first television advertisement in New Hampshire this week, hoping to break through in the chaotic Republican presidential race with a debut spot that highlights his rough upbringing, personal resilience and governing achievements. The intended takeaway from the 30-second ad, which uses arresting imagery and is heavy on biography: 'John Kasich never gives up.'" Hahahaha even when he definitely should! Give up and go home, John Kasich!
Jim Gilmore is still a real person who is running for president.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle...
Martin O'Malley has not dropped out!
Hillary Clinton [CN: sexual assault; video may autoplay at link] responded to a heckler with: "You are very rude and I'm not going to ever call on you." Haha! The heckler was Republican New Hampshire State Representative Katherine Prudhomme O'Brien, and she later "told reporters she was trying to ask Clinton about Juanita Broaddrick a woman who in 1999 made rape allegations against Bill Clinton." This, after Trump has taken to using Bill Clinton's history of sexual misconduct against Clinton, tweeting: "If Hillary thinks she can unleash her husband, with his terrible record of women abuse, while playing the women's card on me, she's wrong!" Clinton's got to come up with a good response to this line of attack, and I frankly think it should be something like: "Mr. Trump, if you think I've never had words for my husband about his misogyny, then you obviously don't know me very well. But my husband isn't running for president: You are. And I will continue to have words for you about your misogyny."
Y'all are well familiar by now with my disdain for Bernie Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver, and buried deep in this piece on Weaver comes this tidbit:
The blowback outside the campaign [after Weaver made shitty misogynist comments in an October interview with Bloomberg Politics] was fierce. But there was also blowback within the Sanders campaign as well, as some aides said the language crossed a line. Mr. Sanders said on MSNBC that the comment "was inappropriate," although it is not clear whether he suggested that Mr. Weaver apologize.So, a female state campaign director asks Weaver to apologize for misogynistic comments about Clinton, and not only does Weaver not apologize, but instead just demonizes Clinton.
However, others in the campaign did. The Sanders campaign's New Hampshire state director, Julia Barnes, asked Mr. Weaver to apologize for the comments, and voiced her displeasure to him in clear terms. He never did, telling unhappy staffers on a conference call after the report aired that their team needed to be mindful that the Clinton campaign was about to unleash attacks on Mr. Sanders, according to three people with direct knowledge of the episode.
I really dislike this guy. And I really find it difficult to trust Sanders when he puts so much stock in someone who is such an asshole.
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
Militia in Malheur
[Content Note: Terrorism; guns; white supremacy.]
You may have heard that, over the weekend, armed militants, including relatives of anti-government rancher Cliven Bundy, took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters in Oregon. If you haven't heard about it, however, I wouldn't be terribly surprised—the media seems far less interested in covering a story about a bunch of armed white supremacist dirtbags taking over a government property than they do investigating the social media accounts of black people killed by police to find "evidence" of thuggery.
And what coverage there has been is exactly as odious as you'd imagine: ABC reported it as "Peaceful protest followed by Oregon wildlife refuge action," while a CNN analyst explained away the double standard for how the white militia was being treated by law enforcement by arguing: "This is a very rural area. It is out in the middle of nowhere. What are they actually doing? They're not destroying property; they're not looting anything."
Here is some important background reading on the situation:
Alan Pyke for Think Progress: "What You Need to Know About the Current Militia Standoff in Oregon."
Colin Daileda for Mashable: "Oregon Militant Leader: 'The people have been abused long enough'."
Matt Novak for Gizmodo: "Oregon Was Founded as a Racist Utopia."
At the moment, I don't have any additional commentary beyond what I said on Twitter yesterday: If it's possible for law enforcement to exercise restraint with these terrorists, then no more excuses for why a 12-year-old with a toy gun is dead.
Bundy & Co, Dylann Roof, Robert Dear... If you don't see the double standard, then you don't want to see it. And fuck you.
To be clear: I'm not arguing I want these assholes killed. I want the same restraint white privilege grants them to be extended to everyone. I'm saying that not reflexively being murdered by law enforcement shouldn't be a privilege.
As if on cue: "FBI seeks peaceful end to occupation at Oregon wildlife refuge." Of course they do. And so they should.
Would that every law enforcement agency prioritized a "peaceful end."
But of course there are differences between the militia in Malheur and the average black person killed by police. Namely: The white militia has certainly broken the law and is certainly armed with real guns and has plainly stated a willingness to use them.
Behold whiteness at work.
Happy New Year!
Well, 2015 was a helluva year, wasn't it? I can't say I'm sad to see the back of it. But you know what I always say: When our teaspooning arms start to hurt, it's just the muscles gettin' bigger!
I enter 2016 with my usual unlimited optimism shot through with a cold streak of cynicism. Let's do this thing!
How are you feeling? Do you have any feelings about the changing of the calendar? Did you make any New Year's resolutions? If so, what were they and how are you doing so far?
I never make New Year's resolutions, because when I decide to do something, I just do it, and if I'm putting something off, no arbitrary day is going to end my stubborn procrastination, lol.
Onward.
Happy New Year's Eve!
The Cats of Shakes Manor have graciously offered to host Shakesville's New Year's Eve party, so let's get this party started!
Thank you for another great year, Shakers.
We will be taking tomorrow off, and I'll see you back here on Monday.
And when we return, it will soon be time for the PRIMARIES TO BEGIN! Are you so excited?! I BET YOU ARE SO EXCITED YOU CAN'T WAIT YOU ARE ALL HURRY UP AND GET HERE I AM SO EXCITED FOR THE SHEER TERROR OF DONALD TRUMP WINNING A PRIMARY!
Please indicate your excitement by checking this box: □
I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year! If nothing else, at least this dumpster fire of a year is over! Seeya, 2015! Ya jerk!
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Misogyny; spoilers for The Force Awakens at the link.]
"I'm delighted that [Rey] isn't just another version of the plucky heroine whose major obstacle is everyone else's limited view of what girls can do."—Sally Honeycutt, in "Why Rey from The Force Awakens Makes Me Cry."
YES.
Daily Dose of Cute
"Your coats are my bed now."
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...
President Obama appeared on Jerry Seinfeld's web series "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee," and if you would like to see it, here you go!
Chief Official White House Photographer Pete Souza compiled his annual Year in Photographs, and there are a whole lotta great photos there. I am really going to miss President Obama when he leaves office. Damn.
[Content Note: Police brutality] The latest in the Guardian's "The Counted" series, examining how the "fate of police officers who kill often rests in the hands of the prosecutors they typically work alongside," is really terrific. The whole series is just great. Difficult but great.
[CN: Transphobia] Fucking hell, this is so cruel and disgusting and abusive: "A new bill [introduced in Indiana] would actually criminalize transgender people for using the restroom. Sen. Jim Tomes (R) calls his legislation 'a simple bill,' and he' not wrong. SB 35 does two things. First, it would prohibit schools from ever allowing transgender students from using restrooms that match their gender identity. Students would only be identified by the sex assigned to them at birth as determined by their anatomy and chromosomes, and that sex would determine which facility they can and cannot use. This would force schools to violate Title IX and discriminate against transgender students. The Department of Education has repeatedly found that schools can not refuse access to transgender students on the basis of their gender identity. Then, the bill mandates that any transgender person who uses a public sex-specific restroom, locker room, or shower room that matches their gender identity has committed a 'single sex public facility trespass,' which it deems a Class A misdemeanor. A Class A misdemeanor is the highest non-felony charge in Indiana, punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000 dollars." Rage. Seethe. Boil.
[CN: Guns; death] In Florida, a woman who is a 911 dispatcher with the Osceola County Sheriff's Office and who is married to a St. Cloud Police Corporal shot and killed her own daughter after mistaking her for an intruder. "Her death is being characterized by St. Cloud Police as an 'accidental shooting.'" I guess. But it wasn't really an "accident," despite the fact that it's a terrible tragedy. The woman intended to kill someone she thought was an intruder. (Which also would have been legal.) Calling it an accident suggests the lesson here is "make sure you know who you're killing," but maybe it should be "don't fucking kill people." I don't know. I'm so sorry for this family, and I'm so angry at our culture.
Okay: "When Marco Rubio was majority whip of the Florida House of Representatives, he used his official position to urge state regulators to grant a real estate license to his brother-in-law, a convicted cocaine trafficker who had been released from prison 20 months earlier, according to records obtained by The Washington Post." He seems neat.
[CN: Stalking; harassment; murder; spoilers for the series Making a Murderer] If anyone has watched the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer, which I recommend, this article contains some important details about the case that didn't make it, for reasons I cannot understand, into the series. I share the author's opinion about both this series and Serial. (I also have the same concerns regarding consent of the victim's family that I had about Serial.)
[CN: Toxic masculinity; Star Wars spoilers] "Geek male identity has been reduced to Kylo Ren thrashing a computer with his sword; this needs to change."
"Hairstylist Ursula Goff Shares Selfie Photos to Show No One Is Perfect: We should keep in mind that behind every pretty face or perfect lifestyle is a regular person and that there's really no point in comparing amongst ourselves because this is all cultivated." A+
[CN: Moving gifs at link] "This Raccoon Who Stole a Doughnut in Toronto Is Your Inspiration for 2016." LOL! When Deeky tweeted this video last night, he said: "Raccoons don't give a fuck." To which I replied: "They have tiny hands and the laws of humankind cannot hold them. WHY WOULD THEY."
And finally! I love this sooooo much: In 2009, Patti Page rewrote her 1952 classic song "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?" and recorded a new version called "Do You See That Doggie in the Shelter?" Blub.
