Hosted by peas.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker bandit_queen: "What's the worst piece of advice you've received?"
Any variation on "don't even try."
All Day Every Day
[Content Note: Misogyny; fat hatred; harassment.]
You know what? I'm getting real fucking tired of being told I don't know how politics works by people who don't even understand the most basic premise of democracy: That I get to cast my vote for the person I prefer.
The Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by chips.
Recommended Reading:
Winona: [Content Note: War on agency] These Are the Rights That Women Built
Shohana: [CN: Islamophobia; choice policing; misogyny] If Muslim Women's Clothing Makes Them Consenting Slaves, Who Are Their Slave Masters?
Susan: [CN: Illness] I'm with Hillary Because Obamacare Saved My Life
Fannie: [CN: Misogyny; racism] Losing to Girls
TLC: San Francisco Passes Legislation Requiring All-Gender Restrooms in City Buildings and Businesses
Ragen: [CN: Fat hatred] Woman Fired for Describing Herself as Fat
Travis: Esperanza Spalding Is Back After Three Years
Andrew: [CN: Moving GIF at link] A Flamethrower in Slow Motion Looks Like a Flying Dragon Made of Fire
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
Quote of the Day
"I mean, it's just ludicrous on the face of it. You know, I have been campaigning for Democrats, fundraising for Democrats, recruiting Democrats to run and win for a really long time. I think about 40 years. Senator Sanders, by his own admission, has never even been a Democrat. I understand they are getting anxious. I get that. But they need to be thoughtful about what they do say because at the end of the day we need a Democratic president."—Hillary Clinton, pushing back hard and effectively on Jeff Weaver's bullshit about how her ambition to be president risks destroying the Democratic Party.
Right the fuck on.
I've got more on this at Blue Nation Review: "Hillary has been a Democratic Party rockstar for four decades—a fact that is consistently used against her by the Sanders campaign, as they rail against her as 'the establishment candidate.' Now, Weaver wants to simultaneously accuse her of being a tool of the establishment and the harbinger of its apocalypse. Weaver's failing isn't even logically consistent, never mind that it is patently obnoxious."
Daily Dose of Cute
Life is hard. Lots of naps required.
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 on agency] Welp! "Officials from the California Attorney General Kamala Harris' office reportedly executed a search of anti-choice activist David Daleiden's apartment late Tuesday. The search appears to be connected to an ongoing investigation by Harris' office into videos produced and released by Daleiden and associates that claim to show Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of fetal tissue for profit. Federal law prohibits the sale or purchase of fetal tissue, but it does permit reimbursement for costs associated with donating it for medical research. Daleiden first released the videos in question in July 2015 under the banner of the Center for Medical Progress, an organization Daleiden created with the help of Troy Newman, head of the radical anti-choice group Operation Rescue. Last year, Harris wrote that her office would review whether the Center for Medical Progress violated any California laws while obtaining the footage." Couldn't happen to a worse guy!
[CN: White supremacy; whitewashing] "Historians at the University of Mississippi are objecting to language inscribed on a recently installed campus plaque that accompanies a statue of a Confederate soldier. In a written statement, 33 faculty members in the department of history have called on the chancellor, Jeffrey S. Vitter, to revise the plaque to recognize slavery as a central cause of the Civil War, The Clarion-Ledger reports. Their proposed language also contextualizes the statue as one of thousands erected across the South to promote the 'Lost Cause' ideology during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This idea sought to glorify the Confederacy, and, for many, the statues stood as oppressive symbols of white supremacy. The current plaque, installed in mid-March, does not refer to slavery, nor to the broader context of how the statues are connected to segregation." Fucking hell. If you want to support the historians' efforts to push back on this garbage, they've launched a petition.
[CN: Rape culture] Oh my god: "A Virginia judge has ruled that 'Jackie,' the central figure in a retracted Rolling Stone article about her allegations of gang rape on the University of Virginia campus, must submit to a deposition in an ongoing defamation lawsuit against the publication. Tuesday's decision overruled objections from Jackie's lawyers that probing questions would be traumatizing for a survivor of sexual assault." This is so heinous.
Dolores Huerta is awesome: "Mexican-American civil rights activist Dolores Huerta said she holds no ill feelings toward actress Rosario Dawson over her 'open letter' criticizing Huerta for supporting Hillary Clinton for president. ...'I think that our campaign for Hillary Clinton in the Latino community is being effective and that's why (the Sanders campaign) is asking people like Rosario Dawson to come out and attack me,' Huerta said. 'I guess they think they can silence my voice by doing that.' ...Huerta said she understood why some activists might be disappointed in her for not supporting Sanders since they agree on many issues. But Huerta said she feels Clinton will get more things done as president. 'When the dust settles...we are going to be together,' Huerta said. 'And we need to be together to defeat Donald Trump or Ted Cruz.'"
Awesome: "Representative Alma Adams (D-N.C.) introduced legislation last week that, if passed, would offer historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) access to millions of dollars in competitive grants. 'HBCUs provide opportunities for many low-income, first generation, and often minority students to get a quality education,' Adams explained in a press release. 'However, they have been historically underfunded and lack many of the resources needed to address some of their most extreme challenges.' The HBCU Innovation Fund Act seeks to create a fund with $250 million in competitive grants that would assist HBCUs with planning and implementing programs 'that improve student achievement, increase recruitment, increase graduation rates, and increase enrollment and completion of science, technology, engineering and mathematics degrees.'"
Uh, okay: "During a Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control hearing Tuesday about how the Department of Justice is monitoring the effects of marijuana legalization in states like Colorado and Washington, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) bemoaned that years of work 'trying to send that message with clarity that good people don't smoke marijuana' hasn't resonated." LOL! No good people have ever smoked weed! LOL!
Whooooooooooops! "It must have seemed a straightforward way to honor a U.S. Supreme Court justice who was famous for, among other things, prizing straightforwardness. But then people began to titter about the unintended acronym of the Antonin Scalia School of Law—and now George Mason University has tweaked the name. The new name for the institution in Arlington, Va., will be the Antonin Scalia Law School, says law school dean Henry N. Butler, citing 'some acronym controversy on social media' as the reason for the change."
[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Neat! "This may be one of the coolest photos NASA's Mars Opportunity rover has ever sent back to Earth. Perched on a high ridge, Opportunity snapped a stunning photo showing a dust devil whirling in the distance. The rover's tracks are visible from its climb up a steep ridge."
And finally! Baby rhino enjoying his bath! Oh em gee!
An Observation
I am deeply exhausted with any article the entire premise of which is "so-and-so industry donated to Hillary Clinton at this-or-that time blah blah fart," with ZERO cognizance of the reality that, yes, lots of corporations do lots of things in an attempt to curry favor and earn influence, but just because they try doesn't mean they actually succeed.
I mean, as all of us have seen happen in comments here numerous times, there are readers who get enraged when I actually expect them to follow the commenting guidelines and start screaming about how they've donated to Shakesville eeeeeee screech wingflap, and it's like, okay, but that doesn't mean the rules don't apply to you anymore. Lots of human beings think that money entitles them to special treatment, and make offerings with expectations of special treatment even when there has been no promise of special treatment.
Sometimes the people to whom they make them simply can't be bought. Shrug.
I guess this possibility doesn't occur to people who themselves either could totally be bought and/or don't give anything without conditions.
Insinuation isn't fact. Not being able to imagine someone who can't be bought doesn't mean those people don't exist. Just because there are people who make financial contributions with an aggressive sense of entitlement doesn't mean they actually get what they want.
Receipts or GTFO.
Primarily Speaking
[Photo by Barbara Kinney for Hillary for America]
Let's start with the Democratic side of the aisle!
Hillary Clinton did a long interview with Politico's Glenn Thrush, and I can't even encourage you enough to read the whole thing. There are so many really fascinating parts: I loved reading about her reaction to Rick Lazio's infamous debate bullshit, and also about how difficult she found it to start saying "I" when she became the candidate. There's also some really nice stuff in there about President Obama, if you're totally into their friendship like I am. But seriously—it's all so good! Just read the whole thing!
Last night, Bernie Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver, who is quickly becoming one of my least favorite people in US politics, said: "Don't destroy the Democratic Party to satisfy the Secretary's ambition to become President of the United States." The utter cheek of suggesting the candidate who's funding down-ballot races is destroying the party!
Meanwhile, Weaver is also angling for a contested convention on the Democratic side of the aisle, because the clusterfucktastrophe the Republicans have going on apparently looks like so much fun: "I think what this campaign is looking for and what the senator is looking for is going into the convention and coming out with the nomination. When we arrive at the convention, it will be an open convention, likely with neither candidate having a majority of pledged delegates."
(For the record, that is very unlikely. But even if Clinton ends up with the 2,383 pledged delegates necessary to automatically earn the nomination, Sanders is under no obligation to concede, and Weaver's implication is that Team Sanders may try to force a contested convetion, anyway. This is such a bad idea.)
On the other side of the aisle...
[Content Note: Sexual objectification of a child] Donald Trump is the absolute fucking grossest: "A 1994 clip of Republican frontrunner Donald Trump describing his 1-year-old daughter left Daily Show host Trevor Noah speechless Tuesday night. The clip is from an episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and is not available online, according to Noah. 'Donald, what does Tiffany have of yours and what does she have of Marla's?' the show's host, Robin Leach, asked, referring to Trump's second wife Marla Maples. Trump's answer to the 'innocent question' left Noah speechless. 'I think she's got a lot of Marla, she's a beautiful baby. She's got beautiful legs. We don't know if she's got this part yet,' Trump said, as he cupped his hands under his chest to signify breasts, 'But time will tell.'" He is disgusting, and that is, in my estimation, and incredibly abusive and concerning thing for a father to say about his daughter.
[CN: Video may autoplay at link] After winning Wisconsin, Ted Cruz is now supposedly favored to win the nomination. I'm not yet convinced that's going to happen, given how many people just desperately want there to be a GOP horserace, despite the fact that Trump is still very likely going to win both New York and Pennsylvania. Could just be wishful thinking. We'll see.
And, naturally, I have no idea why anyone would be wishing for Cruz, especially if they don't like Trump, because he is fucking terrible! Amber Phillips explains "Why GOP nominee Ted Cruz should worry 2016 Republicans, too." Yup.
John Kasich is still definitely running for president.
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
Cheers!
[Content Note: Videos autoplay at links on "her laugh," "dancing," and "singing."]
I've got a new essay up at Blue Nation Review about why I like Hillary Clinton, and how she's the first presidential candidate who, in a twist on that old canard, might like to have a beer with me.
I like her for being such a nerd! She's such an A-student. She knows everything about everything (or so it often seems), and I will never stop being delighted that she's totally the kind of irrepressible nerd who knows the difference between a yurt and a ger.Click on through to read the whole thing. Which, yes, I totally cried my face off while writing, because that's the kind of nerd I am.
I like her laugh. It is a big, loud, cascading laugh. I have a laugh like that, too. A friend of mine once told me it's the kind of laugh that, when he overhears it at a restaurant, it makes him wish he was sitting at that table. I know what he means. When I hear Hillary's laugh, I don't hear a "cackle," or any of the other ways it has been disparagingly described. I hear a laugh that makes me want to be sitting at her table.
I like her expressive face. I once wrote: "I always find the charge that she is inauthentic to be completely hilarious, because Hillary Clinton has about the farthest thing from a poker face as exists in US politics." I like her for wearing her emotions all over her expressive face, whether she's conveying disdain at Congressmen with a transparently partisan agenda, or undiluted joy at meeting a child on the campaign trail.
I like her for dancing and singing and being silly, even when she knows darn well that it will be mocked and ridiculed by people who seize on any chance to demean her. I like pictures of her partying and having a drink. She looks like some damn fun.
I like women who are some damn fun.
One of the most over-done frames in US politics is the old "the candidate with whom you'd most like to have a beer" chestnut. It's never Hillary who tops the list. George W. Bush? Sure. (Never mind that he was a teetotaler.) Trump? Of course! He seems like fun. But Hillary? Hard pass.
I would certainly accept an invitation to have a beer with Hillary (and I trust she wouldn't mind if I imbibed a tipple of Scotch instead). But the fact that I want to have a drink with Hillary, because I find her so eminently likeable in spite of the narratives that she isn't, is rather less interesting to me than this: I'm fairly certain that Hillary is the first presidential candidate in my lifetime who might enjoy having a drink with me.
Wisconsin Primary Wrap-Up
Congratulations to Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Ted Cruz for winning their parties' respective primaries in Wisconsin yesterday!
In keeping with their curious indifference to the history-making aspects of this election, most media outlets failed to acknowledge that Sanders is the first Jewish presidential candidate in the nation's history to win Wisconsin, and Cruz is the first Latino presidential candidate in the nation's history to win Wisconsin. That is no small thing. In fact, it is a big thing! A historical thing! Congratulations not only on your wins, but also on making history, Senators.
On the Republican side, it was a winner-take-all contest, so Cruz was awarded all 24 available delegates.
On the Democratic side, it was a proportional contest, so Sanders was awarded 47 pledged delegates, and Hillary Clinton was awarded 36 pledged delegates.
Cruz's win has made it that much more likely that none of the Republican candidates will reach the magical number of 1,237 delegates needed to outright win the nomination before the convention, but he still trails Donald Trump significantly. He's going to have to keep winning big in order to cause the brokered convention of everyone's nightmares.
Sanders' win was not significant enough that it upends the delegate math going forward. He'll still need to win by huge margins going forward in order to catch and surpass Clinton.
So, no cataclysmic changes out of Wisconsin.
Next up: The Democrats have a caucus in Wyoming on April 9, and then everyone heads to New York on April 19!
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
[Content Note: There a strobing light effect in this video.]
Katrina & The Waves: "Love Shine a Light"
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: War on agency; misogyny.]
"A lot of people thought my answer was excellent, by the way. There were a lot of people who thought that was a very good answer."—Republican front runner Donald Trump, bragging about how many people loved his comment to MSNBC's Chris Matthews that women should be punished for getting abortions if legal abortion were overturned.
By way of reminder: "Trump, who was once adamantly pro-choice, said on Wednesday that 'there has to be some form of punishment' for women who have abortions, only to claim later that day that he has never supported such a policy. Then, on Sunday, Trump declared that 'we have to leave' current abortion laws in place, only to be again contradicted by his own campaign."
NB: Not only women need access to abortion. Trump will, however, continue to talk exclusively about women, not only because he is only marginally aware, at best, about the existence of trans and genderqueer people, but also because I'm pretty sure talking about "punishing women" is absolutely irresistible to him, since he clearly hates and fears women.
Clinton on Choice
[Content Note: War on agency.]
I expect that this is going to be subjected to a lot of mendacious misrepresentation, so I figured I'd do a quick post on it. Hillary Clinton appeared on The View and said that being personally pro-life isn't incompatible with feminism. You can already imagine how this is being spun.
Anyway, the clip is viewable here, and here is the transcript: "I respect the opinions and beliefs of every woman. The reason why being pro-choice is the right way to go is because it is a choice. And hopefully a choice that is rooted in the thoughtfulness and the care that women bring to this decision. So, of course you can be a feminist and be pro-life."
It's pretty clear to me, given that she straight-up says "being pro-choice is the right way to go," that she means it's eminently possible for feminists to be personally pro-life.
There are, naturally, legions of women, including many feminists, who are personally pro-life—meaning they could not envision getting an abortion themselves—and politically pro-choice—meaning they want abortion legal and accessible for any people who do need and/or want abortions.
Basically, Clinton is right: There's no reproductive choice any woman makes for herself that is inherently incompatible with feminism. It's when anyone starts trying to legislate or coerce other people's choices that it becomes incompatible with feminism. And decency.
Which is indeed why bring pro-choice is the right way to go.
Oof
Bernie Sanders' interview with the Editorial Board of the New York Daily News, about which I wrote here, isn't going over too well.
Jonathan Capehart at the Washington Post: "9 Things Bernie Sanders Should've Known About but Didn't in That Daily News Interview."
Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post: "This New York Daily News Interview Was Pretty Close to a Disaster for Bernie Sanders."
David A. Graham at The Atlantic: "How Much Does Bernie Sanders Know About Policy?"
Caitlin Cruz at Talking Points Memo: "Bernie Sanders Struggles to Explain How He Would Break up the Banks."
Nancy LeTourneau at Washington Monthly: "Sanders Talks to the Daily News About Wall Street." She notes: "I have to admit that I was rather stunned by this whole interview."
That is just a small sampling. It really was a colossal fumble.
Daily Dose of Cute
Who's such a good girl? ZELLY BELLY IS!
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...
Some fallout after the disclosure of the Panama Papers: Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson "is to step down after leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm showed his wife owned an offshore company with big claims on collapsed Icelandic banks, his party said. Gunnlaugsson became the first prominent casualty from the revelations in the so-called Panama Papers, which have cast light on the financial arrangements of an array of politicians and public figures across the globe and the companies and financial institutions they use."
Meanwhile: President Obama has called for international tax reform: "'There is no doubt that the problem of global tax avoidance generally is a huge problem,' he told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. 'The problem is that a lot of this stuff is legal, not illegal.' The US president said the leak from Panama illustrated the scale of tax avoidance involving Fortune 500 companies and running into trillions of dollars worldwide. 'We shouldn't make it legal to engage in transactions just to avoid taxes,' he added, praising instead 'the basic principle of making sure everyone pays their fair share.' Obama spoke in favour of his administration's new rules to close corporate inversions, by which companies move overseas to avoid taxes. He described the practice as 'one of the most insidious tax loopholes out there.'"
Today, Wisconsin is holding its primary, and there are valid concerns that the state's voter ID law, which is the strictest in the nation and, like all other voter ID laws, disproportionately disenfranchises poor, black, disabled, trans, and/or elderly voters, will cause chaos and result in lots of people otherwise eligible to vote not being able to. "Advocates for and against the law agree that approximately 300,000 eligible voters lack eligible photo IDs—in part because, as a staffer for the voter ID bill's lead sponsor, state representative Jeff Stone, told the Racine Journal Times in 2012: 'When the bill was being drafted, we were trying to limit the number [of eligible forms of identification], not expand it.' The list of eligible identification is, as a result, short. If the cards were valid as of the 2014 general election, voters can show: a Wisconsin driver's license; a non-driver's ID issued by the state department of transportation; a military ID card issued by a US uniformed service; a US passport; or an identification card issued by a federally recognized Native American tribe with land in Wisconsin. Those rules mean, for example, that tribal IDs from tribes without land in Wisconsin are ineligible; expired driver's licenses or passports are ineligible; and out-of-state licenses, even if valid, are ineligible, among other commonly used forms of ID." For fuck's sake.
[CN: Police brutality; racism] Last Thursday, I mentioned the police killing of Loreal Juana Barnell-Tsingine, a Navajo woman was shot after allegedly threatening an officer with a weapon, later identified as a pair of scissors. Over the weekend, a crowd of more than 350 people gathered for a vigil in front of the police station in Winslow, Arizona, and raise awareness about the circumstances of her death: "Ty Yazzie, a spokesperson for Tsingine's family, said police left Tsingine's lifeless body on the street until 6 a.m. the next morning while they cordoned off the scene to conduct the investigation. Many community members claim police ignored crucial eyewitness accounts of the shooting that put the officer at fault. They said police did not administer any life-saving measures to Tsingine such as CPR and they prevented eyewitnesses at the scene from administering aid. They also said the way Tsingine's body was treated was disrespectful to Navajo customs. The Arizona Department of Public Safety is investigating the killing and the officer involved was placed on mandatory paid leave. Neither the city nor the police department has apologized or offered any support to Tsingine's family."
[CN: Racism; misogyny; violence] In related news, Mary Pember has a great piece on the "Sing Our Rivers Red" project, dedicated to signal-boosting the crisis of missing and murdered Native women in the United States and Canada and demanding resources for meaningful investigations.
In news from garbage state governments: Arkansas Will Start Drug-Testing Poor People. Tennessee Lawmakers Vote for Bible as State's Official Book. Missouri Senate Moves to Hold Planned Parenthood President in Contempt. Just a few of the nightmare legislation happening around the nation.
On the campaign trail: Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver said earlier today: "All these young people who are coming out for Bernie Sanders—are they going to come out for Hillary Clinton? I'm not so confident about that, given how many times she's dissed them recently." Hillary Clinton has not been "dissing" young voters, and it's virtually unprecedented for one Democratic campaign to assert that their voters won't support another candidate, were they to win the nomination.
Meanwhile, Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook writes a note to her supporters: "To Hillary Clinton supporters: The facts on where the race stands."
Yayayayayayay! "Gay Olympic Legend Greg Louganis to Finally Appear on His Own Wheaties Box." I met Greg Louganis once and had a chance to speak with him for a bit. He is such a super nice guy.
Why do I find this so cuuuuuuuute?! "Tiny ancient creature carried its babies like kites."
And finally! Everyone loves capybaras. Deservedly so!
