You knew this was coming after yesterday's QOTD, right? What's your favorite hot beverage?
Hot cocoa with soy milk.
Question of the Day
Throwback Thursdays
My third grade school picture, 1983.
What is even that expression lol? I have no idea. "I've got a silly secret!" And that secret is that my two front teeth have come in and they're too big for my mouth!
[Please share your own throwback pix in comments. Just make sure the pix are just of you and/or you have consent to post from other living people in the pic. And please note that they don't have to be pictures from childhood, especially since childhood pix might be difficult for people who come from abusive backgrounds or have transitioned or lots of other reasons. It can be a picture from last week, if that's what works for you. And of course no one should feel obliged to share a picture at all! Only if it's fun!]
Clinton: "I Shouldn't Have Used Those Words"
[Content Note: Racism.]
Earlier today, I mentioned that Hillary Clinton had been confronted at an event by activist Ashley Williams (originally identified incorrectly as being affiliated with Black Lives Matter). At the time, Clinton didn't respond to Williams' request that she account for her 1996 "superpredators" comment, but this afternoon told the Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart: "Looking back, I shouldn't have used those words, and I wouldn't use them today."
Here's what she told me in full.Capehart correctly identifies the nuance in Clinton's original statement, but Clinton is also right that she "shouldn't have used those words," because, as I'm sure we're all aware, there are plenty of white people who couldn't be bothered to appreciate the nuance in her words—and indeed heard, irrespective of what she actually said, that black kids are superpredators.
In that speech, I was talking about the impact violent crime and vicious drug cartels were having on communities across the country and the particular danger they posed to children and families. Looking back, I shouldn’t have used those words, and I wouldn’t use them today."That speech" was a 1996 address at New Hampshire's Keene State College in support of the 1994 Violent Crime Control Act, otherwise known as the crime bill. In her remarks, then-first lady Clinton said, "They are not just gangs of kids anymore. They are often the kinds of kids that are called 'superpredators.' No conscience, no empathy. We can talk about why they ended up that way, but first we have to bring them to heel."
My life's work has been about lifting up children and young people who've been let down by the system or by society. Kids who never got the chance they deserved. And unfortunately today, there are way too many of those kids, especially in African-American communities. We haven't done right by them. We need to. We need to end the school to prison pipeline and replace it with a cradle-to-college pipeline.
As an advocate, as First Lady, as Senator, I was a champion for children. And my campaign for president is about breaking down the barriers that stand in the way of all kids, so every one of them can live up to their God-given potential.
This isn't the broad brush Clinton's critics today are accusing her of using 20 years ago. Despite Williams's assertion that "I know you called black youth 'superpredators,'" Clinton was clearly talking about a narrow band of young people who would not have included the admirably assertive Williams or the vast majority of African American youths then and now. And in light of the overarching fear of crime across the United States back in the 1990s, Clinton's going out of her way to define "superpredator" as a kid with "no conscience, no empathy" is noteworthy.
So I'm very glad she recognizes that she shouldn't have said that then, as well as acknowledging she wouldn't say that now.
I do want to note here that not everyone will find her response sufficient. And that's okay. There are people who legitimately feel she has not yet been fully accountable on past issues, who are not trying to score political points but to meaningfully hold a presidential candidate accountable because they are exploring whether they can trust her.
That's different from the people for whom it just wouldn't matter no what Clinton said. Who, in fact, are using her expression of regret over 20-year old comments (and policies) to suggest that we can't know who she really is.
She has changed positions on a number of issues, in a positive direction, over the last two decades. Which is what progressive critics say that we want. For the people representing us to progress.
The fact that a politician has learned and grown over two decades is a good thing. It's indicative of an open mind and a willingness to listen.
At a certain point, saying that if someone was wrong once means they can never be trusted, especially if they change their position, sets an impossibly high standard of historical perfection.
I don't know about y'all, but I certainly can't meet that standard. So I'm not going to hold anyone else to it, either.
That doesn't mean I'm just not going to care if Hillary Clinton got shit wrong. I do care. I'm sure she'll get shit wrong in the future, too. And I will expect her to be accountable for it. I will expect better. I will expect more.
I always do.
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Racism; police brutality; injustice. Additional content note for references to sexual violence at link.]
"My [young black male] client's family is out what they paid me. Client himself is traumatized. And basis for police mistrust gets a fresh exhibit. While the officer who (wrongfully) charged him—and pretty clearly lied on official court documents—will face [zero] repercussions. This is what police brutality looks like. It's not just people having their rights violated and the shit kicked out of them. It's an innocent 17yo black kid trying to be a good human being and not running over a cat getting thrown headlong into our court system...based solely on the word of a law enforcement officer who swore an oath to serve and protect who then lied to the court with impunity."—T. Greg Doucette, a criminal defense lawyer in North Carolina, in a 43-part tweetstorm earlier this week, detailing a case in which bullshit charges were "thankfully" dropped against his client.
If you can't view the images at the above link, you can also find the thread on Twitter.
Daily Dose of Cute
Dudley was chilly.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
I Write Letters
[Content Note: Bigotry; privilege.]
Dear Important White Dudes:
I really love all your hot takes on how Donald Trump isn't entertaining anymore. Just terrific stuff. Totally trenchant.
You know, some of us People Who Don't Matter never thought he was entertaining in the first place.
If you're contemplating a thinkpiece on Trump not being fun anymore, how about instead a reflectpiece on why you ever thought he was.
Here's your thesis: Finding Trump entertaining is a luxury of the privilege the people he targets with his rhetoric don't have.
I figured I'd make it easy on y'all, since you plagiarize me constantly anyway then claim you've never heard of me. Enjoy the freebie!
But if you'd prefer to just plagiarize me as usual, here you go.
No Love,
Liss
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Racism] Last night, Black Lives Matter activists disrupted a private Hillary Clinton event in South Carolina. To be abundantly clear, the activists "contributed $500 to attend the Clinton event." They then held up signs and asked for accountability for Clinton's positions and statements on criminal justice from the '90s, before they were removed by the Secret Service. Naturally, they are receiving a lot of criticism for that, some of it incredibly unfair and some of it straight-up racist. A couple thoughts: 1. Clinton said during her Harlem address: "Hold me accountable. Hold every candidate accountable." 2. She also said during the same address: "Some of what we tried [in the '90s] didn't solve problems; some created even more problems." Some people find that satisfactory; some people don't. 3. People may disagree on methods to hold politicians accountable, but just because your strategy is different doesn't mean another is bad faith. (That doesn't mean all strategies are good faith, but Black Lives Matter disruptions are.) 4. Clinton is running for President of the United States. She can handle being challenged. 5. I am a Clinton supporter and I want her to repudiate those statements and policies, too. To pretend that BLM activists are in cahoots with Sanders is garbage. Desire for accountability comes from many places.
[CN: Police misconduct] Good: "Civil rights lawyers said Wednesday that they intend to appeal a federal court ruling in Philadelphia that citizens do not necessarily have a right protected by the First Amendment to record police activity. In an opinion issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Mark A. Kearney wrote that unless a videographer announces the recording as an act of protest or a challenge to officers, police are free to stop it. 'While we instinctively understand the citizens' argument, particularly with rapidly developing instant image sharing technology, we find no basis to craft a new First Amendment right based solely on 'observing and recording' without expressive conduct,' Kearney wrote. ...The ruling also appears to pit Kearney against stances by former Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, who in 2011 issued a memo to all Philadelphia officers saying they 'should reasonably anticipate and expect to be photographed, videotaped and/or audibly recorded by members of the general public.' Since then, the ACLU of Pennsylvania has led a group of civil rights lawyers in bringing cases involving civilians who were challenged or arrested while recording police carrying out their work."
[CN: Rape culture] Kesha writes a note on the outpouring of support she's gotten, while also noting: "Unfortunately I don't think that my case is giving people who have been abused confidence that they can speak out, and that's a problem." I take up space in solidarity with Kesha.
[CN: Homophobia; transphobia; sexual violence; descriptions of assaults; abuse; carcerality] "Peterson's story, which lies at the intersections of race, sexuality, gender, poverty, and incarceration, occupies a central place in a report released Tuesday examining the ways in which stigma, biased law enforcement, and discriminatory policing pushes LGBTQ people into disproportionate contact with the criminal justice system. Two national think tanks, the Center for American Progress and the Movement Advancement Project, in collaboration with several civil rights groups, penned the report. Unjust: How the Broken Criminal Justice System Fails LGBT People builds on years of work by grassroots advocates to lay bare the scale of criminalization of LGBTQ communities, particularly low-income LGBTQ people of color, and the impact of incarceration on an already marginalized population. Today, 3.8 percent of American adults identify as LGBTQ, a number that more than doubles for incarcerated adults: according to the report, 7.9 percent of people in state and federal prisons, and 7.1 percent of those in city and county jails, identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, [and/or] transgender."
[CN: Rape culture; sexual assault] "A former Tennessee football player has confirmed in court documents he assisted a woman who said she had been raped by two other players and that later he was attacked by team-mates and told by coach Butch Jones that he had 'betrayed the team.' [The complaint] states a woman called 911 from former Volunteers receiver Drae Bowles' car to report a rape in the early morning hours of 16 November 2014. The complaint also states that Bowles suffered a bloody lip when teammate Curt Maggitt punched him in the mouth later that day and that he was confronted by teammates Geraldo Orta and Marlin Lane the following day. Bowles called Jones to tell him about being punched, and Jones said he was very disappointed in Bowles and that the receiver had 'betrayed the team,' causing the player to break down and cry, according to the complaint." So, a football player helps a woman raped by his teammates, and he's violently assaulted and berated for it by his coach. Sounds about right. Naturally, the coach denies the allegations.
Mitt Romney says that Donald Trump "has a 'bombshell' hidden in his tax returns." Well, Romney also thought he was going to win the presidency, so. For his part, Trump says Romney is "'one of the dumbest and worst candidates' in Republican history." What a terrific party full of terrific people.
Yay! "Obama Nominates First Black Librarian of Congress: In yet another event that is making this Black History Month the best one ever, President Obama announced yesterday (February 24) that he will nominate Carla D. Hayden to run the largest library in the world. Hayden currently serves as CEO of Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Free Library system. If confirmed by Senate, she will be both the first woman and the first African American to fill this role in the national library's 216-year history."
Damn! "Your next phone might pack a whopping 256GB of onboard storage thanks to Samsung. The Korea-based electronics maker announced on Thursday that it's now mass producing 256GB embedded flash memory chips for smartphones and other devices. The new memory chips are smaller than a microSD card and can pack up to 256GB thanks to Samsung's cutting-edge V-Nand technology. Based on the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 2.0 specification, the new memory is almost twice as fast as SATA-based solid state storage drives on PCS, Samsung says. The new memory uses two lanes of data transfer to reach speeds of up to 850 megabytes per second (MB/s). Samsung says you'll be able to transfer a full HD movie in about 12 seconds over a USB 3.0 cable at those speeds—assuming a 90-minute movie with an average file size around 5 gigabytes."
[CN: Moving gif at link] A couple built a tiny wheelchair for a paralyzed baby bunny "out of a finger skateboard, a sock, and a bra strap, all from the local dollar store." The bunny's name is Wheelz, because OBVIOUSLY.
And finally! Another fantastic human rescues dog; dog rescues human story. Love!
Stop Trump
[Content Note: Bigotry. Video may autoplay at link.]
CNN reports that two major editorial boards have condemned Donald Trump and urged Republican Party leadership and voters to stop him:
The editorial boards of the Washington Post and the Boston Globe both penned condemnations of Donald Trump this week, urging the Republican Party to reject him.Sure. Accurate. But as I've said over and over, Trump isn't an outlier of the modern Republican Party: He simply refuses to wear the mask GOP candidates typically use to conceal the depth of indecency inherent to their policies.
On Tuesday, the Boston Globe published a scathing editorial titled "Massachusetts voters must stop Donald Trump." The authors wrote that "stopping Donald Trump is imperative—and not just for his fellow Republicans."
And on Thursday, after Trump's resounding victory in the Nevada caucuses, the editors of the Washington Post followed suit. Under the headline "GOP leaders, you must do everything in your power to stop Trump," the paper's editors exhorted the Republican Party to repudiate the man who is increasingly likely to be their nominee in November.
"GOP leaders, you must do everything in your power to stop Trump," the editors warned, cautioning party leadership against warming to Trump for the chance at the White House.
"History will not look kindly on GOP leaders who fail to do everything in their power to prevent a bullying demagogue from becoming their standard-bearer," they wrote. "The unthinkable is starting to look like the inevitable."
The singular emphasis on how terrible Trump is elides that all the other candidates are just as bad, when it comes right down to their policy positions.
In the last week, Ted Cruz said he's deport 11 million undocumented immigrants and refugees, and John Kasich signed legislation to defund Planned Parenthood in Ohio.
The problem isn't Trump: He's just the most obnoxious face of an entire party that's rotten to the core.
The problem is the whole damn Republican Party—and they don't need to stop Trump; they need to be stopped by the rest of us, because they refuse to stop themselves.
NOPE
Yesterday came the report that President Obama was vetting Republican Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval as a potential Supreme Court nominee. I'm guessing this was a trial balloon, to see how the public would react, and, if so, it's a lead trial balloon. Thunk.
Liberal activists have condemned reports that Barack Obama is considering a Republican politician to fill the contentious vacancy on the supreme court, saying such a move would be "downright absurd."Oy. I can't believe that Obama would seriously opt to take this route. I hope it's not even a trial balloon, but a piece of misdirection to throw the GOP off balance and/or merely give the appearance that Obama is considering a broad range of candidates.
Brian Sandoval, the governor of Nevada and a former district court judge, is being vetted by the White House as a potential nominee to succeed the late Antonin Scalia, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
Naming Sandoval could be seen as a canny manoeuvre to call the bluff of Republicans who have vowed to neither confirm nor even hold hearings for Obama's nominee, contending that the decision should rest with the next president.
But Democracy for America, a grassroots political organisation founded by prominent Democrat Howard Dean, said Sandoval's rightwing record might oblige it to call on Senate Democrats to block his appointment.
Charles Chamberlain, executive director of Democracy for America, said: "It's downright absurd that President Obama would risk his legacy by appointing another anti-labour Republican like Governor Brian Sandoval to an already overwhelmingly pro-big business supreme court. Nominating Sandoval to the supreme court would not only prevent grassroots organisations like Democracy for America from supporting the president in this nomination fight, it could lead us to actively encouraging Senate Democrats to oppose his appointment."
Chamberlain added: "The American people re-elected President Obama because we wanted a leader who would ensure our courts are filled with judges who understand that our constitution is rooted in progressive values that clearly protect things like abortion rights and sit at odds with rulings like Citizens United, not country club Republicans like Brian Sandoval."
Because, at this point, selecting a nominee who the Democrats might have to oppose would just be a fucking circus. And surely the President knows by now that appeasing Republican obstructionism never has a good outcome for progressives. Or decency.
In the waning months of his presidency, Obama's mantra should be: Go big and go home.
#SayHerName: Joyce Curnell
[Content Note: Misogynoir; police brutality; death.]
In a deadly incident reminiscent of Sandra Bland's death, 50-year old Charleston resident Joyce Curnell, a black woman, died in her cell at the Charleston County jail, after allegedly being denied water.
Curnell was at the hospital for gastroenteritis in July of last year when she was arrested on a bench warrant issued in August of 2014 after she stopped making payments on fines issued on a 2011 shoplifting case. Her family does not know, and the police aren't saying, how they became aware that she was at the hospital.
Curnell was hydrated at the hospital, given medications and told to seek prompt medical attention if she continued to experience pain and vomiting. On top of her illness, she had a history of sickle cell disease, high blood pressure and alcoholism.She spent the last 27 hours of her life in the jail, because of five-year-old fines totaling $1,148.90.
Doctors discharged her from the hospital with instructions. The deputies then took her to the jail around 2:30 p.m. It was her only arrest in South Carolina, according to a SLED background check.
A nurse at the jail who examined Curnell when she got there later told SLED that she was complaining only of a headache, this week's court filings stated. A doctor prescribed medication for the headache and nausea, but the documents alleged that the staffers didn't follow the Roper doctor's recommendations.
Instead of staying in the jail's medical facility, Curnell was taken to a housing unit. Jail officers reported later that she vomited "through the night" and "couldn't make it to the bathroom," the documents stated. They gave her a trash bag.
The jailers said they informed the medical staff of Curnell's condition, but the experts "refused to provide any medical attention to (her) whatsoever," the court documents stated.
She couldn't eat breakfast the next morning. No records indicated that she was given water or intravenous fluids to prevent dehydration, the filings added.
A sheriff's incident report stated that the medical staff checked her around 2 p.m., but within three hours, she was dead.
And she died because the people in charge of her care neglected her and refused to give her water.
The staff of the jail where Curnell was detained did not just have an ethical obligation to take care of her; they had a legal obligation to do so, too.
The family attorney, James Moore III, said in a statement that her death resulted from a "deliberate failure." While a suit in state court is planned, Moore said one in federal court could follow.Leaving a woman who is slowly dying from dehydration to sit in a cell with a garbage bag is tantamount to torture. And all because of a fucking fine that was less than the cost of a pair of designer shoes.
"Providing access to reasonable medical care to those under police custody is a necessity, not a privilege," he said. "It is a constitutional right. We are committed to seeking justice for Joyce and for her family."
...State law requires officials to render medical care when inmates need it, said Shaundra Scott, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina. The Bill of Rights, she said, also demands humane treatment of those incarcerated.
The ACLU plans to monitor the case closely, Scott said.
"It is very unfortunate to hear of another death of an African-American while in police custody," she said. "If Ms. Curnell was denied medical treatment, then it is our position that her constitutional rights were violated."
This is the Two Americas: Some people are so wealthy that shoes have to be priced at $1,000+ just to make them feel like they're actually spending money. More than half of people in the US have less than $1,000 in their checking and savings accounts combined. Which can cost them their lives.
But it isn't just classism that killed Curnell. The people who assumed charge of her care when they arrested her at the hospital clearly saw an older black woman and substituted all the racist, misogynist, and agist stereotypes for her actual humanity. Almost certainly, she was treated like a hysteric, a "drama queen," attention-seeking, and disposable—instead of an ill human being who desperately needed help.
My sincerest condolences to Curnell's family, friends, and community. I am so sorry and so angry.
Question of the Day
What's your favorite cold beverage?
Honestly, my favorite cold thing to drink is a glass of ice water. I also love me some guava juice. Yum.
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
[Content Note: There are strobe light effects in this video.]
The Black Eyed Peas: "Don't Stop the Party"
The Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by granola.
Recommended Reading:
Monica: [Content Note: Transmisogynoir; violence] Mya Young Makes Three Trans Murders in 2016
Travis: Harvard Promotes Michelle Williams as First African-American Faculty Dean
Fannie: Quote of the Day
Ragen: [CN: Fat hatred; body policing] Apparently Our Necks Are Too Fat Now
Angry Asian Man: Chloe Kim Wins Two Gold Medals at Youth Winter Olympics
George: Dogs and Certain Primates May Be Able to See Magnetic Fields
Squinky: Guybrush Learns to Climb a Ladder!
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
This Is Absurd
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
On Twitter, @GraciousKY sent me the link to this unfathomable article by Nathan J. Robinson: "Unless the Democrats Run Sanders, a Trump Nomination Means a Trump Presidency."
Robinson's basic thesis is that Hillary Clinton would be destroyed by Donald Trump in a general election because Trump's personal attack style of campaigning makes her his "dream opponent," given the long history of controversies, scandals, conspiracy theories, accusations, and lies Clinton has weathered, even though most of it is garbage.
Naturally, Robinson generously recounts all of the "fodder" Trump would have to use against Clinton—as well as explaining that she "is neither the best campaigner nor even a skilled one. In fact, she is a dreadful campaigner."
Basically, the argument is: Decades of misogyny means Trump will use misogyny against Clinton, so she should move aside.
That seems fair.
Meanwhile, Robinson argues: "There's only one real way to attack Bernie Sanders, and we all know it: he's a socialist fantasist out of touch with the Realities of Economics."
This is flatly inaccurate.
Seven months ago, Aphra_Behn wrote an incredible, thoroughly researched, four-part series on Sanders background: "Looking for Bernie." I have oft referred to the series as the vetting on Sanders the media has refused to do.
When she was working on the series, she uncovered a number of things about Sanders' personal life, and his family's personal and professional lives, that are of a similar nature to things which have been used to discredit presidential candidates in the past.
We talked about those things. And we did not publish them in this space, because we don't believe they are relevant or fair game.
But the notion that they don't exist is utterly foolish. And even if they have not become mainstream media fodder, that doesn't mean Donald Trump can't and won't find them and use them.
He will.
And it will not be the the eleventieth time that people are hearing about them, unlike whatever Trump lobs at Clinton. It will be the first time. And the first time that Sanders is obliged to respond to them, without the ready-made deflection of "same old tired partisan attacks" that Clinton has deservedly earned the right to use.
I don't think one can say with certainty who would definitely fare better against Trump's attacks in a general election. We can have opinions, but we should not pretend to be oracles.
What I do know, however, for an absolute fact is that it is contemptible in the extreme to suggest that Clinton's having been subjected to a decades-long campaign of rank misogyny and personal attacks should serve as a disqualifying factor for the presidential nomination, just because the likely Republican nominee will carry on the tradition.
If never having been obliged to navigate repeated discrediting attacks cloaked in vicious misogyny is the standard by which a female candidate's fitness is judged, we will never have a female president.
Ever.
Fuck that.
Daily Dose of Cute
Sophie, lying on me while I was trying to work last night.
She had other ideas for what I should be doing, lol.
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: War] "The UN says it has carried out its first air drop of aid in Syria to help civilians in an eastern city besieged by Islamic State (IS) militants. UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien told the Security Council that the plane dropped 21 tonnes of humanitarian items on a government-held part of Deir al-Zour. Initial reports indicated that the aid had successfully reached the target area, Mr O'Brien said. The UN says 200,000 civilians are living under siege in Deir al-Zour. In a recent report, the UN said those trapped in the besieged areas were facing 'sharply deteriorating conditions' with reports of 'severe cases of malnutrition and deaths due to starvation.' Last week, more than 100 lorries carrying food and other basic goods reached 80,000 people in five other besieged areas of Syria. Two more convoys were sent to two towns besieged by government forces on Tuesday."
[CN: Domestic violence; autonomy] "Tribal leaders and advocates gathered in Washington, D.C., Tuesday to brief Congress on implementation of a provision in the 2013 Violence Against Women Act, which affirmed tribes' ability to exercise special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction over non-Natives who commit domestic assault, or engage in dating violence, on tribal lands. Recognizing that the Department of Justice's 2014 decision to grant special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction under VAWA was a 'historic' step toward upholding tribal sovereignty, advocates and tribal leaders say that the law should be expanded upon to grant greater protections to tribal citizens at risk of assaults by non-Natives, and that Nations should receive adequate resources to implement the law." Yup.
[CN: Racism; police brutality] Rock the fuck on: "Young activists in Chicago are waging a campaign against Cook County's state's attorney, Anita Alvarez, the prosecutor who took more than a year to press charges against Chicago Police Department officer Jason Van Dyke for fatally shooting Laquan McDonald. The latest blow in the #ByeAnita battle came this morning (February 24), when members of BYP100, Assata's Daughters, and Black Lives Matter Chicago came together to disrupt an event meant to raise funds for Alvarez's reelection. The coalition released a statement about this morning's action, which reads, in part: 'We will not be silent while the Chicago business and political elite continue to support Alvarez, who has presided over the 'false confession capital' while protecting murderous CPD officers, agents of one of the most violent police forces in the world.'"
[CN: Homophobia] Shit: "A proposed amendment that would constitutionally carve out religious exemptions for those objecting to same-sex marriage in Missouri got its first hearing before a Senate panel yesterday, the AP reports. The measure, SJR39, 'Prohibits the state from imposing penalties on individuals and religious entities who refuse to participate in same sex marriage ceremonies due to sincerely held religious beliefs.'" Never wonder why I call Indiana the Conservative Legislation Lab.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says "there isn't 'a snowball's chance in hell' that he will back down from his opposition to confirming a Supreme Court justice before a new president is elected." He seems neat.
Donald Trump has gotten his first congressional endorsements: "Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) told Politico on Wednesday that he will support Trump for the Republican nomination, making him one of the first members of Congress to express public support for the Manhattan businessman who is the prohibitive front-runner after his victory in Tuesday's Nevada caucuses. Also on Wednesday, Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) told The Buffalo News that he is backing Trump, saying he has the 'guts and fortitude' to get jobs back from China and to take on foreign threats such as the Islamic State and North Korea." Gross.
In other endorsement news: "Top Senate Democrat Harry Reid said on Wednesday he would support Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for the party's nomination in the November election. In an interview with CNN, Reid said he thought the middle class would be better served by Clinton than by her rival Bernie Sanders, an Independent Senator from Vermont."
[CN: Police brutality] Bernie Sanders made a very good statement on police brutality and neglect: "Asked by the Guardian whether he thought police departments should be mandated to report all officer-involved deaths, the leftwing Democratic presidential candidate said he would also support legislation to that end. 'Yes,' he said. 'Let's rephrase it. You made a judgment: 'They kill.' When individuals die under police apprehension or police custody, should that be mandatory? Yes.'" A+
Ben Carson is so strange: "As Ben Carson slid down the polls after cresting around Halloween, firms closely connected with his campaign advisors and consultants hauled in millions of dollars in Carson's campaign funds. That state of affairs raised eyebrows and may have contributed to a major top-level staff shakeup at the end of last year. Now even Carson himself admits his moribund campaign has had the appearance of a big scam. During an appearance on 'CNN Newsroom' yesterday, Carson, referring to the propensity of his staffers to raise and spend huge sums of money, laughed and said, 'We had people who didn't really seem to understand finances… or maybe they did—maybe they were doing it on purpose.'" WHAT?!
Okay: "Jean-Claude Van Johnson would see [Jean-Claude Van Damme] playing a version of himself—a famous actor/martial-arts pro who also happens to be a secret black ops private contractor." Sure.
Dirty Dancing remake? Nah. Don't care who's cast. Nah.
And finally! "Children Read to Shelter Dogs in the Heartwarming 'Shelter Buddies' Program: Reading to the dogs helps to bring comfort to and reduce the anxiety of shelter pets. When children tell stories to the dogs, it also helps them develop their own reading skills." Awwwwwwww. ♥
On the Breaking Down Barriers Moms
[Content Note: Racist violence; misogynoir.]
I noted earlier that I am trying to be very thoughtful about how I report on the Breaking Down Barriers tour that mothers of black women and men lost to racist violence are on with Hillary Clinton. And part of the reason, in addition to not wanting to appropriate black women's lives and pain to solicit support for a candidate I'm supporting, is that it's difficult to find coverage of the tour that doesn't center Clinton.
Even though she is leveraging her enormous privilege to do exactly what people with visible platforms should do—literally turning over the microphone—the news coverage focuses almost exclusively on what their support means for Clinton's campaign. They are quoted talking about her authenticity and her compassion.
And their perceptions and experiences are important. But Clinton did not reach out to these women in order that they would shore up her credentials as a decent human being.
That's the charge, naturally. There is an enormous amount of criticism being levied at Clinton for cynically exploiting these women.
Which is only underlined by the coverage of their Breaking Down Barriers events. As the media centers Clinton in their reporting, it only serves to reinforce the notion that Clinton wants them to be props.
This is a neat trick by the media. They created the narratives that Hillary Clinton is a cold, opportunistic, narcissistic monster who will stop at nothing to get elected, and then the selectively cover events where she meets with black mothers of dead children in a way that disappears those women's lives and suggests Clinton only reached out to them to contradict the narratives the media created about her, thus somehow proving those narratives.
This is more can't fucking win for Clinton.
But worse than that, it's profoundly insulting to Sybrina Fulton, Geneva Reed-Veal, Gwen Carr, Maria Hamilton, and Lucy McBath.
Because they are saying things that need to be heard at these events. They are telling the stories of their children's murders. They are talking about the need for institutional reform. They are asking for help for their communities. They are seeking justice.
They are not props for Hillary Clinton. She merely gave them a place on the stage so they could be advocates for themselves and for their needs.
It isn't Clinton's fault—and it certainly isn't theirs—that the media insists on failing to meaningfully represent what they are doing and saying, in order to play its usual contemptible game of destroying Clinton.
Buried at the very end of this piece on one appearance, headlined "Clinton just got the five most powerful endorsements of her campaign," reducing their participation to nothing but an endorsement, are these two paragraphs:
Of course, it might be easy for Clinton critics to dismiss this latest campaign flourish as a cynical ploy to use the wrenching stories of the five women's losses to win votes. The speakers bristled at this suggestion. "We are very strong women," said Fulton. "I don't think they could have made us [endorse her]."Attacking Clinton as an opportunist necessarily includes the implication that these women are too stupid to know they are being used and obliges them to defend their own integrity and considered assessments of the candidates.
As Gwen Carr pointed out, their decision is ultimately focused on the best interests of the community. "We all collectively want to help each other. So we feel like if we endorse Secretary Clinton, that we can get the job done, because she is with us," said Carr. "We're endorsing her because she endorsed us."
What racist, misogynist, dehumanizing garbage—care of people who purport to give a shit about the Breaking Down Barriers Moms.
Ostensibly, the attack on Clinton is meant to be justified by their concern for these women, concern that Clinton is using them. But it isn't Clinton who is ignoring their agency and treating them like fools.
I deeply respect what they're doing, even as I hate the circumstances that necessitated their doing it. I hope desperately that people will stop using their participation in the Democratic process, however they see fit, to score points, and instead listen to what they have to say.
To the Breaking Down Barriers Moms: I see you. I hear you. And I believe you.
[For the record: I feel exactly the same about the relatives of victims of racist violence who support Bernie Sanders, and I will abide no criticism of their choices in this space.]
Abortion Access Dwindling
[Content Note: War on agency. NB: Not only women need access to abortion.]
This, of course, will not come as a surprise to anyone who has been paying a modicum of attention, but just because it isn't surprising doesn't mean that it's not gutwrenchingly infuriating:
Abortion access in the U.S. has been vanishing at the fastest annual pace on record, propelled by Republican state lawmakers' push to legislate the industry out of existence. Since 2011, at least 162 abortion providers have shut or stopped offering the procedure, while just 21 opened.The closing of clinics is the new anti-choice strategy to chip away at Roe. Instead of overturning it, they seek to simply render it an empty statute, by eroding access, challenging the boundaries of Casey's "undue burden" rule.
At no time since before 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion, has a woman's ability to terminate a pregnancy been more dependent on her zip code or financial resources to travel. The drop-off in providers—more than one every two weeks—occurred in 35 states, in both small towns and big cities that are home to more than 30 million women of reproductive age.
...Bloomberg's reporting shows that the downward trend has accelerated to the fastest annual pace on record since 2011, with 31 having closed or stopped performing the procedure each year on average.
State regulations that make it too expensive or logistically impossible for facilities to remain in business drove more than a quarter of the closings. Industry consolidation, changing demographics, and declining demand were also behind the drop, along with doctor retirements and crackdowns on unfit providers.
...That just 21 new clinics opened in five years underscores the difficulty the industry has faced in replenishing the ranks of health-care providers willing and financially able to operate in such a fraught field. The impact of that challenge is likely to be long-lived: Even rarer than the building of a new clinic is the reopening of one that has shut.
All of this has happened while a pro-choice president sits in office.
There isn't much a president can do, with these restrictions being enacted in state legislatures. But there is one thing: The president can use the most prominent bully pulpit in the nation to change the conversation on abortion and to highlight the erosion of abortion access.
I desperately hope that if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders get the nomination, and eventually the presidency, that they will leverage the unrivaled platform the office provides in order to speak out against this heinous assault on reproductive justice and abortion access.
Frankly, I hope both of them start doing that now.
I can't even tell you what it would mean to me to see Clinton, for example, tweet a link to this piece with a comment like: "If elected president, I will not keep silent about the attacks on abortion access across the country."
This is a promise I desperately want—and need—to hear.
And I still hope that President Obama will use some of his remaining time in office to give a dedicated national address to this issue.
