[Content Note: Misogyny.]
Just now on CNN: A cool "debate" about whether Donald Trump is a misogynist. A woman from Emily's List points out that Trump has used aggressively awful language to describe women he doesn't like. A woman who is a Trump supporter/surrogate responds: "But he insults men, too! It's not just women!"
The BEST argument against charges of misogyny. Obviously.
Perfect
The Walking Thread
[Content Note: Spoilers are lurching around undeadly herein. Descriptions of violence.]
Cookies, anyone?
When last we left our merry band of zombie slayers and human murderers, Grimes Gang had struck a deal with the Hilltoppers to form a trade allegiance, contingent on Grimes Gang killing the fuck out of The Saviors, who, under the leadership of a sociopath named Negan, has been taking half the Hilltoppers' shit.
We start this episode with Carol, who is still masquerading as Stepford Carol, baking cookies for everyone in town from a bunch of garbage ingredients. She passes out her cookies and leaves one on the Littlest Blinney's grave. RIP kid.
Grimes Gang: Hilltop Delegation returns in the RV, with Houdini Jesus and Hilltop Andy in tow. Optimus Grimes calls a meeting at the church where he informs everyone of the neat-o deal they've struck. Everyone is totes on board with wanton murder, except for Morgan OF COURSE. What a drag! Always being a super bummer about Optimus Grimes' cool murder plans!
Morgan is overruled. The meeting recesses so everyone can go get their shit together.
For Carol, this means making out with Tobin, after he tells her she's a tough mom. For Tara, this means telling Doctor Zoey that she loves her; Doctor Zoey says she'll tell Tara back after she gets home safely. (Uh-oh.) For Maggie, this means insisting on going along, despite Glenn's protestations, because she struck the deal. In other words, something bad is definitely going to happen to Maggie!
For Sgt. Redbull, this means breaking up with Rosita Espinoza, so he can bang Sasha instead. As he packs his bags, Rosita Espinoza demands to know why. AND I SWEAR TO YOU I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP AND THIS IS THE ACTUAL DIALOGUE WHICH FOLLOWS:
Sgt. Redbull: Why are dingleberries brown?! That's just the way shit is!This fucking show.
Rosita Espinoza: You're not leaving until you tell me why!
Sgt. Redbull: When I met you, I thought you were the only woman left on earth. You're not.
[He storms out; Rosita Espinoza weeps. Doctor Mulletsworth appears in the door of their bedroom wearing a "Virginia is for lovers" t-shirt and eating a cookie.]
Doctor Mulletsworth: You try one of these? They're chewy.
Meanwhile, Optimus Grimes and his generals confab with Hilltop Andy, who draws some TERRIFIC maps of Negan's compound. They formulate a plan. Hilltop Andy wonders how they're gonna get in, when there are guards standing watch at all times. Optimus Grimes recalls that The Saviors are expecting evidence of Gregory Creepfuck's demise. "They want Gregory's head, right? We're gonna give it to them."
Oh goddddddd.
Naturally, this means the hunt is on for a zombie with a face that vaguely resembles Gregory Creepfuck. It has been approximately two thousand years since any of Grimes Gang stumbled across a fresh zombie in the woods, but, miraculously, Glenn and Heath manage to find three whose unzombified faces bear an uncanny resemblance to Gregory Creepfuck.
They present three sawed-off heads ("THREE SAWED-OFF HEADS" IS A THING I JUST WROTE BECAUSE THIS FUCKING SHOW) to Optimus Grimes, Houdini Jesus, and Hilltop Andy. Houdini Jesus picks the best one, but says the nose is different. Optimus Grimes grabs the head by the hair and punches it in the face. He gesticulates to Hilltop Andy's injured hand and says that he can tell The Saviors he broke his hand punching Gregory Creepfuck's face in the struggle.
Hilltop Andy, having watched Optimus Grimes casually pummel a decapitated head like it's just another day at the office, regards Optimus Grimes with awe and revulsion. He tells him that The Saviors are bunch of nightmare fuckers, but they haven't got anything on Optimus Grimes. HAHA! Bet everyone at the Hilltop will be super glad they made this deal!
Later that night, Hilltop Andy approaches The Saviors' compound with the Gregory Creepfuck impersonator head in a bag. It fools the guards. One of them goes inside to retrieve the Hilltopper they've been holding captive until delivered proof of Gregory Creepfuck's murder.
Daryl ambushes the remaining guard and kills him. When the other guard returns, he's killed, too. Grimes Gang rushes into the compound and start murdering the fuck out of everyone they see.
Some of them seem to have pangs of conscience about stabbing people through the eyesockets while they're sleeping. Huh!
Eventually, some of The Saviors actually wake up, and one of them manages to sound an alarm. All bets are off now! It's total mayhem in murdertown.
Outside, guarding the perimeter, Carol and Maggie hear the alarm. Naturally, Maggie insists on going to help, because her husband is in there. Carol tells her should stay there and be a different person. Cool advice! But Maggie ain't taking it.
Back inside, Glenn and Heath have to kill a whole lot of people and they feel pretty bad about it. Optimus Grimes and Daryl and Michonne also have to kill a whole lot of people and they don't seem to feel all that bad about it. OLD MURDER HAT.
Gabriel, who has learned how to fire a weapon, quotes some Bibley stuff at some dude and then kills him.
After it's all (SEEMINGLY!) over, Tara and Heath immediately leave for their two-week scavenging mission. But then! One of The Saviors comes roaring out the compound on Daryl's stolen motorcycle. OH HELL NO! Optimus Grimes shoots him and Daryl tackles him.
They're just about to
It's always something!
Glenn looks like he's going to throw up. Optimus Grimes looks like a dad on vacation in a place he doesn't want to be with a bunch of ungrateful kids. The end.
Next week: More of this garbage.
Daily Dose of Cute
EAR. Plus Zelly's tail a blur of wagging.
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...
Today is International Women's Day. I don't know any better way I can mark this day besides resolving to keep treating every day like International Women's Day in this space.
[Content Note: Disablism] My oldest blogging friend, and one of the great liberal bloggers, Pam Spaulding, who for many years ran Pam's House Blend, could use some help, if you can. Shared with her permission.
Janell Ross on Hillary Clinton and female voters: "In September, a shocking poll showed that Clinton's support among women had dropped off about 30 points in two months. That's serious by just about any standard. But it turns out that Clinton's real problem wasn't with all women, it was with white women—despite political analysts expecting white, progressive women, in particular, to gravitate toward her campaign and key themes. At that point, less than half supported Clinton in the Democratic primary campaign—down from 63 percent in July. Of course, that was a long time ago—long before voting began. Now we have several states where we have gathered enough data from different groups of female voters with sample sizes large enough to tell us more... In fact, Clinton has lost the female vote in just two primary states—New Hampshire and Sanders's home state of Vermont. (She does worse overall in caucus states, but most don't have entrance poll data.) That has a lot to do with her performances among black women, but she also has been very strong among white women. ...Her biggest leads are with women of color. In fact, she's winning nearly 9 in 10 black female voters, and she won more than 7 in 10 Texas Latinas."
[CN: White supremacy; Nazi imagery] Rebecca Shabad: "Donald Trump says he's 'not happy' with comparisons to Hitler." I bet he isn't! If he's unhappy with the comparison, perhaps he should stop doing things that invite it. "'I don't know about the Hitler comparison. I haven't heard that. But it's a terrible comparison, I'm not happy about that certainly. I don't want that comparison,' Trump said on ABC's Good Morning America. Trump has recently started to ask voters at his campaign rallies to raise their right hands and pledge to vote for him—a sight that people have compared to the Nazi salute 'Heil Hitler.' ...On MSNBC's Morning Joe, Trump was asked whether he is trying to emulate Hitler. 'Boy, is that a stretch,' he said. '...They're raising their hands in the form of a vote, not in the form of a salute.' Asked if he would stop calling on voters to make that pledge, Trump told NBC's The Today Show, 'I mean I'd like to find out that that's true, but I would certainly look into it, because I don't want to offend anybody.'"
[CN: Surveillance; privacy violations] Welp: "The FBI has quietly revised its privacy rules for searching data involving Americans' international communications that was collected by the National Security Agency, US officials have confirmed to the Guardian. The classified revisions were accepted by the secret US court that governs surveillance, during its annual recertification of the agencies' broad surveillance powers. The new rules affect a set of powers colloquially known as Section 702, the portion of the law that authorizes the NSA's sweeping 'Prism' program to collect internet data. ...FBI officials can search through the data, using Americans' identifying information, for what PCLOB called 'routine' queries unrelated to national security. The oversight group recommended more safeguards around 'the FBI's use and dissemination of Section 702 data in connection with non-foreign intelligence criminal matters.'"
[CN: Climate change] A new study has found that climate change will result in an "intensification of the hydrological cycle," meaning more total precipitation and more extreme precipitation events. "This intensification has implications for the risk of flooding as the climate warms, particularly for the world's dry regions."
Relatedly: "[United States President] Barack Obama and [Canadian Prime Minister] Justin Trudeau will commit to work together to fight climate change and protect an Arctic experiencing the mildest winter ever recorded, sources familiar with the initiatives said. The two leaders were expected to announce a number of common climate measures at a meeting at the White House this week, from a 45% cut in methane emissions from the oil and gas industry to protections for a rapidly warming Arctic."
[CN: Homophobia] "Tuesday morning, Democrats in the Missouri Senate are still chatting about the many businesses that support their LGBT customers and the importance of not discriminating. They have been filibustering since 4:00 PM Monday afternoon to try to block legislation codifying anti-gay discrimination into state law. What they've been fighting all night is Senate Joint Resolution 39, which would advance a constitutional amendment that would protect religious organizations and individuals who oppose same-sex marriage. Mirroring the 'First Amendment Defense Act' introduced in Congress and other states, the amendment would protect those who wish to discriminate from any government 'penalty.' ...Around 8:00 AM Central Time, Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal (D) said that she believes that they could go at least 24 hours, noting that they were already two-thirds of the way there. 'I can do this all day,' she said. 'This is my prime time.' At that point, she and Sen. Jill Schupp (D) had been debating the measure by themselves for three hours." ROCK ON.
[CN: Misogyny] "Sexist attitudes are 'rife' in school textbooks used in developing countries, according to Unesco. The United Nations agency, marking International Women's Day, says negative stereotyping undermines the education of girls. It says too often female figures are represented in textbooks as 'nurturing drudges' in domestic roles. This is a 'hidden obstacle' to gender equality, says Unesco's Manos Antoninis. ...'Ensuring all boys and girls go to school is only part of the battle,' says Antoninis, from Unesco's global education monitoring report. 'What they are being taught is equally, if not more, important. Persistent gender bias in textbooks is sapping girls' motivation, self-esteem, and participation in school.'" I haven't looked at any school textbooks lately, but I'm guessing that it's still a problem everywhere, to varying degrees. Also? It's important what boys see girls doing in their textbooks, too.
[CN: Guns] Fuck the gun lobby: "The U.S. gun industry is trying to shake off the Hollywood hitman image of the gun silencer and rebrand it as a hearing-protection device in a campaign to roll back regulations that date to the 1930s. Industry lobbying has led to more than a dozen states legalizing silencers for hunting since 2011. Now gun advocates are pressing Congress to repeal a Depression-era law that requires a months-long screening process for silencer buyers—far more scrutiny than gun buyers face." We should be moving in the opposite direction.
And finally! Another heartwarming story about a children's reading program working with shelter pets: "'We let [the kids] read aloud to a cat, and it just does something really special,' Liz Ford of the Iowa City Animal Care Center told KFOR TV. 'These cats aren't going to correct their pronunciation.' ...Ford said the center's Read to the Paw program is helping both children and pets. 'It's a win-win situation,' she said. 'The cats are soothed and socialized by the young reader's voice, and students are able to strengthen their reading skills and build confidence by reading out loud in front of a non-judgmental audience,' shelter officials said in a news release." ♥
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Fat hatred.]
"In that way, air travel is sadly familiar, a microcosm of what happens so often as a fat person. I am watched—and judged harshly—as I try—and fail—to fit into a space that was made for someone else. I am always too big, always too much, always unacceptable. I must make myself smaller and smaller, reducing and reducing endlessly, my stubborn body resisting at every turn. Still, I am never quite small enough to make anyone else comfortable."—Your Fat Friend, in a powerful essay which resonates strongly with me: "What it's like to be that fat person sitting next to you on the plane."
[H/T to Elle. Related Reading: A Life of Having.]
Today in Anti-Choice Terrorism
[Content Note: Anti-choice terrorism; war on agency.]
Here is what I want: I want one, or ideally both, of the Democratic candidates to give a dedicated address on the erosion of abortion access, and I want them to talk explicitly about stuff like this:
A Planned Parenthood clinic was vandalized in Columbus [this week]. Red paint covered part of the building and was also splashed on the front doors.
...The message of the vandals was clear. Their message said, "Satan Den of Baby Killers God See All, Mark 9:42."
Planned Parenthood did release a statement saying in part, "The individuals responsible for this act hope to send a signal that using acts of violence will intimidate healthcare professionals and the women we serve. They are wrong. At Planned Parenthood, our doors will stay open… No matter what."This is terrorism. It is also an "undue burden," if that phrase is to have any meaning at all. People seeking abortions not only have to run a gauntlet of protesters, but have to pass a guard who stands at a door that is covered in evidence of threats against the clinic, its staff, and its patients. The door will be cleaned and repainted, but the memory of this act will linger.
...Planned Parenthood also said security measures will remain in place to make sure women can access the healthcare they need.
Volunteers started painting over the signs of vandalism Monday night.
Speaking of those protesters, who have been picketing outside the clinic for months, they claim they had nothing to do with the
Protestor Dave Daubenmire said, "We know everybody is going to point the finger at us that we've done it. But, we've been out here everyday since mid-August and we've had no incidents at all."Fuck you.
...[T]he protesters continued what they call their daily vigil, pleading for lives of babies that will be aborted.
Daubenmire added, "We're more concerned about the red blood that's inside the building than the red paint that is on the outside of it. To us, it is just a distraction of what's really going on inside that place."
I'm willing to believe that the daily protesters didn't do this horrible thing, but that doesn't absolve them. They stand there yelling all day every day that what's happening inside the clinic is "murder" and then they want to wash their hands of responsibility when someone decides they can't sit idly by while "babies" are being "murdered."
Abortion is not murder. Abortion is healthcare. Abortionists are healthcare providers. Abortion-seeking people are their patients.
Those are the facts, but one doesn't even have to accept them in order to not engage in inflammatory rhetoric that gets people harassed and gets people hurt and gets people killed.
This is not vandalism that exists in a vacuum. It's terrorism that exists in a culture of vicious anti-choice rhetoric, legislation, and violence.
And I want the Democratic candidates to talk about it. Loudly and clearly and often.
Primarily Speaking
Today: The Republicans hold contests in Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan, and Mississippi. The Democrats hold contests in Michigan and Mississippi.
Here are some cool headlines:
Michael Bloomberg: "The Risk I Will Not Take." He isn't running for president.
Washington Post: "Seeing Trump as Vulnerable, GOP Elites Now Eye a Contested Convention." In an ironic twist, now they want to disenfranchise their own voters!
New York Times: "Money Pours in as Move to Stop Donald Trump Expands." At what point, exactly, did these anti-Trump funders decide they had to get involved? Because it wasn't immediately after his disgusting announcement speech last summer. And yet that should have provided plenty reason to oppose him and halt his candidacy in its tracks. Point is: They don't care what he's saying; all they care about it is that they can't control him.
Politico: "Lindsey Graham: We Should Have Kicked Trump out of the Party." I mean, Donald Trump should be kicked out of everywhere always, but haha Senator Graham, let's not pretend that Trump's policies aren't squarely within the Republican mainstream.
HuffPo: "At Secretive Meeting, Tech CEOs and Top Republicans Commiserate, Plot to Stop Trump." My top secret sources tell me that they munched on "give us credit for pretending like we care" sandwiches and "too little too late" cookies.
Question of the Day
It's that time again: What would you like to see asked as a future Question of the Day? Either something that's never been asked, or something that I haven't asked for awhile and you really enjoyed the first time around.
BRING ALL YOUR QUESTIONS! ALL OF THEM! :)
The Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by corn.
Recommended Reading:
Jos: [Content Note: Transphobia; transphobic violence and harassment] Transgender People Are More Visible Than Ever. So Why Is There More Anti-Trans Legislation Than Ever, Too?
Shane: [CN: Police brutality; racism] The Police Have Their Own Crimes to Answer For
Angry Asian Man: [CN: Xenophobia; Islamophobia] Man Faces Hate Crime Charges for Vandalizing Sikh Temple
Tressie: On Sanders and HBCUs
Ragen: [CN: Fat hatred] What to Call Fat People—Person First Language and Fat People
(For the record, in case anyone is curious, I prefer to just be called fat. I consider it a neutral and accurate descriptor, just as if you described me as brunette or blue-eyed or short.)
Carly: [NB: Not only women need access to menstruation products] Five Women Are Suing New York State Over Its "Tampon Tax"
Maddie: We Finally Know Why Mercury Is So Dark
Sameer: [CN: White supremacy] Saturday Night Live Political Ad Parody Exposes Racist Trump Supporters (But is it enough to atone for letting Trump host last fall?)
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
This Isn't Actually a Clarification
[Content Note: Racism.]
Earlier, I mentioned that, during the Democratic debate last night, Senator Bernie Sanders said: "When you're white, you don't know what it's like to be living in a ghetto."
Asked today to clarify his comment, he responded: "What I meant to say is when you talk about ghettos traditionally, what you talk about is African-American communities."
Well, yeah. We knew that's what he meant. That's the problem.
That, and the fact that he was asked about his own "racial blind spots," and, instead of meaningfully reflecting on his own limitations, he said that "white people" don't know what it's like to live in a ghetto. Or "to be poor" or "to be hassled when you walk down the street."
Which, at best, means that he was taking his own experiences as a middle-class straight white cis man and universalizing that experience as all white people's experiences; that he assumed he was talking about himself while talking about "white people."
That's a problem, too.
[H/T to @eclecticbrotha.]
Film Corner: Legend
[Content Note: Violence; self-harm; homophobia; domestic violence. There are spoilers in this review.]
As you may recall, I was very excited about the film Legend, a biopic of the Kray twins, two gangsters whose organized crime network terrorized the East End of London in the '50s and '60s, because it stars two Tom Hardys.
The film came out in very limited release earlier this year, and now it's available for rental, so I thought I'd give it a quick review, for any other Hardy Heads who are wondering if it's something they'd want to watch.
The Krays were terrible people. Really just a couple of brutal dudes. And this film does not sugarcoat that. There are multiple scenes of graphic violence, so if you can't stomach that sort of thing, I can't say this any more plainly: Skip this film.
If you're like me, and whether you're willing to watch violence depends on the context, I'll give you my impression: Whether violence is gratuitous is so subjective, but, in my opinion, the violence was not gratuitous, even though it was at times graphic. It is, after all, a story about gangsters renowned for their violence.
I didn't come away with the feeling that the harm they did to other people—and each other—was being glorified, partly because director Brian Helgeland took care to center the horrified reactions of both victims and witnesses.
The film spans the length of Reggie Kray's relationship and short marriage to Frances Shea. She is the narrator, and [big spoiler warning here] continues her narration even beyond her death. Shea took her own life to escape her marriage, and her suicide is featured in the film.
There is a scene of domestic violence, but—and here's part of the reason I did not feel the depicted violence was gratuitous—it is not shown onscreen. We know it's happening; we hear it. We later see the attack marked on Frances' face. But we do not see Reggie Kray harming his wife. It is enough to know that he did it.
One of the things I found most compelling about Legend, which I'm not sure was an explicit objective of the filmmakers, is that, in part because of the timeline centering on Frances' marriage to Reggie, it serves to function as an allegory for domestic violence. The cycle of charming and abuse. The gangsters ingratiate themselves with charm, but are ever more dangerous the more intimately involved one gets with them.
How could it be that the community would ignore their menace, would patronize their clubs and casino, would be dazzled by their style? Well, in much the same way Frances was taken by Reggie's charms, and became imperiled when she didn't want to bend unilaterally to his will.
Domestic abusers don't always just deceive and hurt their partners; they often deceive and hurt their whole communities. Their abuse is aided by authorities who are keen to look the other way, or who are disempowered by the influence of the extremely wealthy—who, as Frances observes, have a lot in common with criminals, and who are fascinated with proximity to danger to spice up their lives, rendered boring and secure by virtue of their privilege. Often their victims realize too late there is no way out, and trying to get out can become even more dangerous than staying.
This is part of the story of the Krays.
Legend does not pass the Bechdel Test—but it also exposes the limitation of the Bechdel Test, in that Frances is the narrator and one of the key players, and has some of the most important dialogue in the film.
After she has left Reggie, he comes looking for her at her brother's flat. He is still hopeful, after attacking her, that they will get back together. "I thought we'd have a couple of kids," he says. "Why?" she asks him. "So you could use them against me?"
It is a powerful scene. [big spoiler warning here] Reggie continues to cajole her, and he tells her he will take her on a trip, anywhere she wants to go. "Ibiza," she tells him. We think she is conceding to him, giving into his charms, but she is instead realizing there is no way out for her. He will never let her leave. Only when we see her sitting at her vanity, taking enough pills to end her life, do we understand that she agreed just so he would go. She is resigned to never being free from him again, except in death.
[Spoiler warning continues] And even in death, Reggie would not let her go. Lying on a slab in the morgue, she is without her wedding ring. Reggie puts the ring back on her finger. It is chilling.
[End spoilers] I don't know if Legend is a great film, but it is a good one. It is beautifully shot and I liked a lot of the dialogue and the structure of the film. Tom Hardy is terrific in developing two fully realized characters. I have read that people who knew the Kray twins found his performances uncanny.
Other notes: Ronnie Kray was bisexual, and this features in the film, as does some homophobia related to his bisexuality, including anti-gay slurs. Ronnie was also mentally ill, and there is some apologia by his family that his harmfulness is strictly attributable to his mental illness.
If there's anything I've left out, it's not deliberate. I've tried to remember and include anything that I thought might be concerning.
And because I don't have a good ending for this review, I will just end it thus: TWO TOM HARDYS.
The end.
Daily Dose of Cute
Matilda, being maximum Matilda.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
The Republican Garbage Show
Republican former Speaker Newt Gingrich, one of the most horrendo dirtbags ever to serve as Speaker of the House, is not holding back (not that he's known for holding back!) in his criticism of Mitt Romney's decision to put Donald Trump on blast in a speech last week:
[Gingrich called the speech] a sure indicator that the 2012 Republican nominee would never be accepted as a consensus party choice at a hypothetical contested convention this summer in Cleveland.I would really love to sit back and munch on some popcorn while this contemptible party full of awful people who espouse harmful policy just destroys itself. But one of these guys is going to be the Republican nominee and have a legitimate shot at the presidency.
"I think if Mitt had really wanted to maneuver for the nomination, he wouldn't have given the speech he gave last week," the former speaker of the House told Fox and Friends. "Because that speech was so harsh and so intense that it virtually guaranteed that I think both for the Trump people but also for a lot of the Cruz people, that Romney would just plain be unacceptable."
The speech "may have been courageous on his part — it's certainly what he, I think, believes," said Gingrich, who has made a series of recent complimentary remarks (and tweets) about Trump. "But it was such a vitriolic and nasty speech that it guaranteed that they guy who currently has the most votes and most momentum would never accept Romney as sort of the draft at the convention."
And then there's this: The Republican Party never implodes. It just regroups, and comes back even worse than before.
An Observation
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
It sure is amazing how people who are obsessed with Hillary Clinton's tone—who can tell you that she's lying, that she's conniving, that she's "soulless," that she's sinister, that she's a manipulative bitch, all on the basis of her tone—are suddenly feigning mystification at the fact that it wasn't the exact words Bernie Sanders used to shush her—"Excuse me, I'm talking"—but his tone that was the fucking problem.
And, yes, it matters that it was a man talking to a woman that way, because of how identity-based power differentials work.
But it also matters that it was a Senator talking to a former Secretary of State. His disrespectful tone also showed zero respect for the office she's held.
And if you think that also isn't related to her gender, welp.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
RIP former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who died at age 94 over the weekend. My condolences to her family, friends, and admirers.
Do you want to see US gymnast Gabrielle Douglas' amazing floor routine at the American Cup? Well, here it is! She is terrific and that routine is outstanding! Yayayayay!
[Content Note: War; terrorism; death] "Tunisia's government said Monday that 45 people have been killed after extremists attacked a town near the border with Libya. The Interior and Defense ministries said in a statement that the Tunisian government has closed its two border crossings with Libya because of the attack. ...The gunmen targeted a police station and military facilities at dawn in the border town of Ben Guerdane in eastern Tunisia, Interior Ministry spokesman Yasser Mosbah told the Associated Press. ...The Tunisian military sent reinforcements and helicopters to the area around Ben Guerdane, and authorities were hunting several attackers still at large. Authorities urged residents to stay indoors. The violence comes amid increasing international concern about Islamic State extremists in Libya."
[CN: Terrorism] Relatedly: "The UK is facing the threat of 'enormous and spectacular attacks' by Islamic State as the extremist group attempts to wage war on western lifestyles, the national head of counter-terrorism has warned. The Metropolitan police assistant commissioner, Mark Rowley, said in a briefing to journalists on the UK terror threat that while in recent years Isis had urged would-be jihadis to attack the police and military, its mission had since widened. ...Rowley said Isis was encouraging supporters who had received military training in Syria to enter northern Europe to stage attacks."
[CN: Refugee crisis] Meanwhile: "European Union leaders are holding a crucial summit with Turkey on ways of dealing with Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War Two. The EU is pressing Turkey, through which many migrants transit, to take some back in return for $3.3bn in aid. ...Turkey is currently sheltering more than 2.5 million refugees from the civil war in neighbouring Syria. The EU wants it to take back thousands of migrants who do not qualify for asylum. In return Turkey is seeking full access for its citizens across the EU's visa-free zone and accelerated talks on EU membership."
[CN: War on agency] In domestic news: "The Supreme Court on Friday blocked a law that would have left Louisiana with only one doctor to perform abortions in the state. The law at issue, Act 620, was signed by former Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) in June 2014. It mandates doctors who provide abortion care must obtain admitting privileges at a local hospital. The law was scheduled to begin on September 1, 2014" but the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) sued in August 2014 to keep the doors open. Finally, after more back-and-forth legal wrangling: "CRR sought emergency relief from the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that because of the Fifth Circuit's ruling, all but two doctors in the state have been forced to stop providing abortions and have been turning away women with scheduled appointments. ...In a brief order, the Court nullified the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling that permitted the law to go into effect, providing a last-minute reprieve for patients in Louisiana seeking abortion care." A huge relief, but goddammit this fight for basic reproductive healthcare. FUCK.
[CN: Homophobia] In other SCOTUS news: "The U.S. Supreme Court overturned an Alabama court order that had prohibited a lesbian from having contact with the three children she adopted and helped raise in neighboring Georgia while in a long-term relationship with their biological mother. The ruling, without published dissent, reinforces gay rights less than a year after the court legalized same-sex marriage across the country. The justices didn't hear arguments in the case, instead summarily reversing the Alabama Supreme Court."
[CN: Animal endangerment] This is very good news, but only so long as the population is protected: "An international team of researchers has discovered 8,000 Sumatran orangutans which were as yet uncounted. The huge number of this critically endangered species of large apes was found living in mountains, as well as in areas west of Lake Toba. With this discovery, the population of the Sumatran orangutan is now estimated at about 14,600. ...'It was very exciting to find out that there are more Sumatran orangutans than we thought, but this does not mean that we can be complacent,' says Serge Wich of Liverpool John Moores University. 'Numerous development projects are planned in the area that—if they are not stopped—could sharply reduce the number of orangutans over the coming years.'"
Why hello there! "In the ocean near Hawaii, more than 2 1/2 miles underwater, scientists have discovered a small, delicate-looking and ghostlike little octopod—possibly a new species. The animal was discovered by Deep Discoverer, a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV—picture a small, unmanned submarine equipped with cameras and a robotic arm—that was working to collect geological samples. Michael Vecchione, of the National Marine Fisheries Service, described the Feb. 27 discovery on the NOAA website: 'As the ROV was traversing a flat area of rock interspersed with sediment at 4,290 meters, it came across a remarkable little octopod sitting on a flat rock dusted with a light coat of sediment. The appearance of this animal was unlike any published records and was the deepest observation ever for this type of cephalopod.'"
And finally! "Dog from Australia Makes Adorable Real Estate Agent." Awwwww lol!
Primarily Speaking: Primaries & Dem Debate
[Content Note: Racism; misogyny; disablism.]
Over the weekend, the Democrats held primary contests in Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, and Maine. Hillary Clinton won Louisiana; Bernie Sanders won Kansas, Nebraska, and Maine.
The Republicans held primary contests in Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, and Puerto Rico. Ted Cruz won Kansas and Maine; Donald Trump won Kentucky and Louisiana; Marco Rubio won Puerto Rico.
Next on the schedule: The Republicans hold contests in Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan, and Mississippi tomorrow. The Democrats hold contests in Michigan and Mississippi tomorrow.
So, after the latest round, nothing has changed substantially. Clinton is still leading the Democratic nomination, and Trump is still leading the Republican nomination.
* * *
Last night, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders met in Flint, Michigan, for another debate. Time has a complete transcript. I live-tweeted the debate and have Storified those tweets.
One of the major topics of the debate was the water crisis in Flint, Michigan—and because the crisis is largely a result of environmental racism (which neither of the candidates successfully identified), systemic racism was another major topic. They were asked, among other questions, given their policy histories and their white privilege, "why should black people trust you to get it right this time?"
It's kind of a bullshit question, because it treats trust like an on-off switch, when trust is something that has to be earned every day. But neither of them gave a particularly great answer.
This was an opportunity for Clinton to give a full-throated repudiation of the language she's used, and the associated policies, which engendered mistrust, and she did not do that. What I think she should have done is acknowledged that history, apologized for it, and turned the question on its head with something like, "I don't think the question is whether black people should trust me, but whether I earn their trust. And that is something I will have to do every day, during this primary, during the general election, and during my presidency."
Sanders also failed on the topic of race, on several occasions, but perhaps none more so than on the question of "what racial blind spots do you have?" He first told a story about a black man being unable to get a cab, and then a story about a Black Lives Matter activist telling him he doesn't understand the terror in black communities, and then he said:
So to answer your question, I would say, and I think it's similar to what the secretary said, when you're white, you don't know what it's like to be living in a ghetto. You don't know what it's like to be poor. You don't know what it's like to be hassled when you walk down the street or you get dragged out of a car.There are a lot of problems there, starting with the implication that all black people are poor and live in ghettos, and that no white people know what it's like to be poor—even though, as Propane Jane noted, "the majority of Americans receiving government assistance are White," and erasing them serves to uphold racist narratives about who is poor in this country.
And I believe that as a nation in the year 2016, we must be firm in making it clear. We will end institutional racism and reform a broken criminal justice system.
And, of course, there are a lot of white people who know what it's like "to be hassled when you walk down the street," like women, like trans people, like LGB people, like fat people, like people with visible disabilities. Even if he meant "hassled by cops," lots of those people get hassled by cops, too. And it's important not to engage in erasure of those identities for a lot of reasons, not least of which because black people share those identities. A black trans woman, for example, may not only be harassed on the street because she's black.
Sanders also had a bad night on the subject of mental health, twice referring to mass shooters as "lunatics"—even though most mass shooters are not, in fact, mentally ill—and making this reprehensible joke: "You know, we are, if elected president, going to invest a lot of money into mental health. And when you watch these Republican debates, you know why we need to invest in that."
The Republican candidates are not mentally ill. They are indecent. And this "joke," such as it was, suggests that white supremacy, patriarchy, heterocentrism, warmongering, nationalism, etc. are the result of mental illness, when they are absolutely not. Naturally, it also harms all of us with mental illness by catching us in the rhetorical buckshot.
Finally, this was the perhaps the most talked-about moment after the debate last night:
Clinton: —I voted to save the auto industry; he voted against the money that ended up saving the auto industry!When I saw that exchange, with Sanders using a tone that suggested he was reprimanding a naughty child, my heart started pounding in my chest. It was only the first of several times he used that tone with Clinton, and I was furious watching it.
Sanders: Whoooooooa.
Clinton: I think that is a pretty big difference.
Sanders: Well, I— [chuckles] If you are talking about the Wall Street bailout, where some of your friends destroyed this economy—
Clinton: You know—
Sanders: Excuse me, I'm talking. [applause]
Anderson Cooper [offscreen]: Let him [inaudible]
Clinton: If you're gonna talk, tell the whole story, Senator Sanders.
Sanders: Well, let me tell my story; you tell yours.
Clinton: I will.
I tweeted: "Even if you've been a First Lady, Senator, Secretary of State, and presidential candidate, you're still Just a Woman when a man is speaking."
Naturally, my mentions are a shitshow as a result. Because Clinton is a bitch. Because Sanders said "excuse me," which is obviously polite. Because Clinton isn't even a woman. Because it's demeaning to women to suggest she can't take it. Etc.
Of course she can take it. The point is that she shouldn't have to.
* * *
I don't think the debate was a homerun for either candidate. Clinton's biggest failure was another missed opportunity to be more fully accountable for her '90s record. It's apparent that she's tired of relitigating the '90s, but part of the reason these questions keep coming up is because she hasn't provided responses that feel like sufficient accountability.
Sanders' biggest failures were his tunnel vision and temperament. He is a one-issue candidate, and he gets visibly annoyed when people disagree with him, especially on the subject of that one issue being the solution to all problems. But Sanders is himself a case study in the bankruptcy of the idea that economic equality solves oppression. Wealth doesn't magically make you not racist or misogynist or ableist. Clearly.
I'll say once again: The more I see of Bernie Sanders, the less I like him.
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
