[Content Note: Racism; classism; environmental toxicity.]
Yesterday, at the National Action Network Convention in New York, Hillary Clinton "announced a new plan to fight for environmental and climate justice. While she didn't dive into details during the speech, which was given to a largely African-American crowd at a Midtown hotel, her campaign released a fact sheet outlining the specifics of how to reduce many of the environmental burdens often felt within low income communities of color."
That fact sheet, "Hillary Clinton's Plan to Fight for Environmental and Climate Justice," is remarkable for a number of reasons, not least of which because, after explaining how "the burdens of air pollution, water pollution, and toxic hazards are borne disproportionately by low-income communities and communities of color," it reads: "Simply put, this is environmental racism."
I honestly didn't expect I'd ever hear a presidential candidate say those words.
She also plainly notes: "And the impacts of climate change, from more severe storms to longer heat waves to rising sea levels, will disproportionately affect low-income and minority communities, which suffer the worst losses during extreme weather and have the fewest resources to prepare."
Her detailed plan includes these goals:
* Eliminate lead as a major public health threat within five years.
* Protect public health and safety by modernizing drinking and wastewater systems.
* Prosecute criminal and civil violations that expose communities to environmental harm and work with Congress to strengthen public health protections in our existing laws.
* Create new economic opportunity through brownfield clean-up and redevelopment.
* Reduce urban air pollution by investing in clean power and transportation.
* Broaden the clean energy economy, build career opportunities, and combat energy poverty by expanding solar and energy efficiency in low-income communities and communities of color.
* Protect communities from the impacts of climate change by investing in resilient infrastructure.
* Establish an Environmental and Climate Justice Task Force to make environmental and climate justice, including cumulative impacts, an integral part of federal decision-making.
There is so, so much more at the link.
I frankly just feel really grateful for this. It represents a serious commitment to environmental justice, and, in an election where whoever the eventual Democratic nominee is will face a Republican opponent who thinks the jury is still out on climate change and/or doesn't give a single fuck about entire communities being endangered by contaminated water, environmental pollutants, and climate change, I am relieved that there is someone serious running for the job who's determined to bring real sensitivity and real plans to the Oval office.
"Simply put, this is environmental racism."
Meanwhile...
[Content Note: Rape culture; sex abuse of children. Video may autoplay at link.]
Last night at a rally in Pittsburgh, Donald Trump said this fucking garbage: "I know a lot about Pennsylvania, and it's great. How's Joe Paterno? We're gonna bring that back? Right? ...How 'bout that whole deal?"
In case you've forgotten, Joe Paterno was the head football coach at Penn State, who covered up coach Jerry Sandusky's sexual assault of ten boys. Sandusky was sentenced to 30-60 years in prison, and Paterno was forced out of his position and died two months later.
Trump, according to his campaign, was not talking about bringing back Joe Paterno, but the statue of him which was removed after his disgrace.
Which, you know, makes what Trump said marginally less stupid, but doesn't really make it better, since the statue still honors a dude who abetted the systematic sex abuse of children.
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[CN: Video may autoplay at link] In other news: "The state attorney's office in Palm Beach County, Florida, will not prosecute Donald Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski for battery, according to sources familiar with the case." You may recall Trump defending Lewandowski using every move from the Rape Apologia 101 playbook.
Welp
[Content Note: Misogyny; using "whore" as a slur. Video autoplays at first link.]
Last night, Bernie Sanders held a rally at Washington Square Park in New York City. There were several speakers before Sanders came onstage, one of whom was Dr. Paul Song, who spoke about the need for universal healthcare. As part of his remarks, he said (which I personally transcribed from video of the event):
Now Secretary Clinton has said that Medicare for All will never happen. [boos] Well, I agree with Secretary Clinton that Medicare for All will never happen if we have a president who never aspires for something greater than the status quo. [cheers] Medicare for All will never happen if we continue to elect corporate Democratic whores [cheers] who are beholden to Big Pharma and the private insurance industry instead of us.Later, when Sanders took the stage, he listed all the speakers by name, including Dr. Song, and then said: "I want to thank all of them for being here tonight, and for the great introductions I've received."
I was possibly the first person to tweet a full transcription of the quote (RIP my mentions), so Dr. Song tweeted at me: "I have spent my adult life fighting 4 healthcare for all. I have said this about congress for years Never HRC."
(As an aside: Can anyone else think of someone who's been fighting for healthcare for all for her adult life?)
To which I replied: "Are you honestly trying to tell me you were excluding Hillary Clinton when you JUST referenced her in the previous sentence?"
To which he replied: "yes. I have never said anything personal about her. Am deeply sorry for my poor choice of words. It was truly about congress."
To which I replied: "1. It's indecent no matter to whom it was referring. 2. The person to whom you owe an apology is @HillaryClinton." And: "Would you like to specify which of these members of Congress you called corporate whores? All of them?"
(And I'll just note that Dr. Song's broad construction means he called our sitting President a "corporate Democratic whore," too. Unless you take him at his word that he only meant Congress. Which I don't.)
Song later tweeted a general (in the sense that it wasn't just tweeted at me) apology: "I am very sorry for using the term 'whore' to refer to some in congress who are beholden to corporations and not us. It was insensitive."
Anyway.
Song said what he said. To be honest, I'm even more annoyed that Sanders didn't say anything about it when he took the stage. (Except that it was a "great introduction.") Obviously, it's possible Sanders didn't himself hear it, but did none of his staff hear it and think it was worth mentioning to him?
I find it very upsetting that either no one from his campaign heard it and cared enough about it that he addressed it as soon as he came onstage.
And here's why: In 2008, I went to see Hillary Clinton speak at a local union hall, and the man who introduced her said she had "testicular fortitude." When she took the mic, she said that both women and men could have fortitude of their own—and she has it! That got lots of applause, especially from women. Because Clinton wasn't just defending herself against misogyny masquerading as a compliment, but every woman in the room who was hit with the rhetorical buckshot. I will never forget having to see a female president start her campaign event by addressing misogyny, intended as a "compliment."
That she's obliged to defend herself at her own campaign events means, to me, that Sanders is obliged to defend her at his.
In any case, Sanders tweeted this morning: "Dr. Song's comment was inappropriate and insensitive. There's no room for language like that in our political discourse."
Any disavowal of his supporters who have relentlessly harassing me for the last 12 hours, including calling me a whore, just for reporting it, or nah?
For someone who promised to not run a negative campaign, this is getting really ugly.
Question of the Day
What's for dinner? Or whatever the next meal of the day is in your part of the world.
I am so darn exhausted, I think Chinese take-out might be in order tonight. Plus, I could really go for an eggroll right about now!
The Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by soccer.
Recommended Reading:
Sayaka: [Content Note: Misogyny] I Talked with One of America's Only Female Sushi Chefs
Matilda: [CN: Burn injuries; terrorism] The Plastic Surgeon Treating Severe Burn Victims with Spray-On Skin
Qasima: [CN: Transphobia; white supremacy; police brutality] Y'All White Queers Better Quiet Down in North Carolina
Mary Emily: [CN: Transphobia] North Carolina Governor Tweaks Anti-LGBT Law But Leaves Controversial Parts Intact
Andy: [CN: Transphobia; homophobia] Louisiana Governor Issues Executive Order Protecting LGBT State Workers; Rescinds Bobby Jindal's Anti-Gay Order
Veronica: Review: Confirmation
Cheryl: We Asked the Hosts of Finding Bigfoot Why It's Taking So Damn Long
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
[Content Note: There is some flickery editing in this video.]
Fine Young Cannibals: "Good Thing"
Fat Fashion
This is your semi-regular thread in which fat women can share pix, make recommendations for clothes they love, ask questions of other fat women about where to locate certain plus-size items, share info about sales, talk about what jeans cut at what retailer best fits their body shapes, discuss how to accessorize neutral colored suits, share stories of going bare-armed for the first time, brag about a cool fashion moment, whatever.
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I haven't bought anything new in a really long time, except for this grey scoop-neck top from Old Navy, which of course I had to buy online since they don't want fatties in their brick-and-mortar stores anymore:
Even though I look like I just smelled a fart in that picture, I was just squinting into the morning sunshine, lol. I really like the shirt, especially because it was so affordable, and I'm wearing one of my favorite necklaces, which was gifted to me by some dear friends.
On the subject of fat fashion, here's a terrific article that I love with one million hearts [H/T to Elle] in which Pepper M. Martin posts amazing pictures of herself gorgeously breaking 11 Plus-Size fashiong "rules." A+
Anyway! As always, all subjects related to fat fashion are on topic, but if you want a topic for discussion: What are your favorite fashion rules to break?
Have at it in comments! Please remember to make fat women of all sizes, especially women who find themselves regularly sizing out of standard plus-size lines, welcome in this conversation, and pass no judgment on fat women who want to and/or feel obliged, for any reason, to conform to beauty standards. And please make sure if you're soliciting advice, you make it clear you're seeking suggestions—and please be considerate not to offer unsolicited advice. Sometimes people just need to complain and want solidarity, not solutions.
Enthusiasm Gap
[Content Note: Harassment.]
The alleged "enthusiasm gap" between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders supporters is actually totally false, but it nonetheless persists as one of the media's favorite narratives.
This piece in Time today about millennial Clinton supporters, who say "they are often afraid to voice their thoughts" online in fear of backlash from peers who are Sanders supporters, suggests a key reason why this zombie narrative won't die.
There isn't as much visible support for Clinton, because people get bullied when they show it. Of course there are going to be fewer visible Clinton supporters when showing public support for her is an invitation to harassment.
This has long been an identifiable problem with a number of Sanders supporters. On a recent day when I tweeted something critical of their candidate, I had to block over 200 accounts. On a single day.
But Sanders said something about it once and never again. Which frankly makes me feel as though he said just enough so he couldn't be accused of not addressing it, but has stayed silent thereafter because he knows this harassment is benefitting him, as it makes Clinton supporters think twice before publicly supporting her.
And I find that pretty upsetting. If there is another reason he is keeping silent about the widespread harassment being done by a segment of his supporters, I'd love to hear what it is.
Even more, I'd love to hear him just tell them to knock it the fuck off. As many times as it needs to be said.
Daily Dose of Cute
Zelda.
Everything about this picture is ending me, lol. Her pose, her expression, her silly ears. I love her.
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: Drought; food insecurity] "Food shortage fears over a drought in southern Africa have prompted Malawi to declare a state of national disaster and Mozambique to issue a 'red alert.' The President of Malawi, Peter Mutharika, warned in a statement some people needed aid for all of this year. Mozambique raised alert levels for southern and central regions. Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and Zambia are also suffering food shortages, while South Africa says its drought is the worst in a century. Over 10 million people across the region will need food aid in the coming year, according to the World Food Programme." This is exactly what was feared would happen because of the most powerful El Niño in 100 years, which was strengthened by climate change. Just devastating. Too much rain in many places; too little rain in others.
If you are able and would like to make a donation to the World Food Program (90% of whose donations go directly toward feeding people), you can make a donation here.
[CN: Transphobia; homophobia] Jordan Scruggs on how anti-trans "bathroom bills" are about much more than just access to bathrooms: "Anti-LGBTQ legislation did not start with having access to a bathroom, and it will not end with fighting for bathroom access either. This is about lives, and the discrimination that I still fear will prevent me and others from the pursuit of happiness, outlined in the Constitution, we are told about during our time in school."
[CN: Worker rights] Nearly 40,000 Verizon employees on the East Coast have gone on strike, following almost a year of failed negotiations: "The strike was called by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which complain that Verizon is seeking to move jobs offshore, outsource work to low-wage contractors, close call centers, and force technicians to go on months-long assignments away from home." Verizon, for its part, is sending in nonunion employees to do the unionized workers' jobs. But there will almost certainly be a deterioration in service for its customers in the region. And any ire about that should be directed at Verizon, not at the striking workers.
In presidential news today: "Hillary Clinton is set to announce plans to create a national Office of Immigrant Affairs that would coordinate government policy on the issue if she is elected president, a Clinton aide said. The announcement will be made on Wednesday in conjunction with an endorsement for Mrs. Clinton by the New York State Immigrant Action Fund, an immigrant rights group, the aide said. ...The Clinton aide said that the new federal office would work to coordinate programs and policies across federal, state, and local governments and would work to help integrate immigrants, refugees, and their children into their communities. The aide said the office would help undocumented immigrants as well as those here legally."
[CN: Islamophobia; anti-immigrationism] Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle: "In a lengthy interview with the NY Daily News released this week, Ohio Governor and presidential hopeful John Kasich said he's staying in the 2016 race because 'somebody's got to be the adult.' Yet the GOP candidate repeated to the editorial board a disproved myth floated by his rivals that there are neighborhoods in European cities where non-Muslims cannot enter. 'Europe, they need to get over all their hangups over there, which is all the political correctness,' Kasich said. 'I can't go into a neighborhood, because it's three o'clock in the afternoon, or these things that you read about and hear. And obviously, Europe has a big problem with integration…which they are gonna have to deal with.' When Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal—who has since dropped out of the 2016 race—made a similar claim last year, he was widely derided by European officials, who called it 'complete nonsense.' After Fox News made the same assertion, they were forced to admit their 'serious factual error' in multiple on-air apologies."
[CN: Violent white supremacy] Some of Donald Trump's supporters are among the most terrifying white supremacists in the nation. Not all of Trump's supporters are this extreme, of course, but the fact that these folks find his campaign to be largely in ideological alignment with their beliefs is truly chilling.
[CN: Death; exploitation] Meanwhile, Trump's BFF Roger Stone "is writing a book based on his conspiracy theory that the Clintons murdered John F. Kennedy, Jr." Sounds legit. If you imagine this guy is some fringe weirdo: Nope! He is a major conservative political player who appeared on CNN and MSNBC, until he was recently banned.
And in Cruz Nooz, here's a cool tweet from his college roommate: "Ted Cruz thinks people don't have a right to 'stimulate their genitals.' I was his college roommate. This would be a new belief of his." I AM SORRY but if I had to see it, you had to see it! In all seriousness, how much are we going to talk about Republican candidates' junk this election? This is truly a new low in presidential politics.
Well, this is probably the strangest story about Congress that you'll read today: "Bono was speaking in front of a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday 12 April, during a wide-ranging discussion on the Middle East and the refugee crisis. He said: 'Don't laugh. I think comedy should be deployed. It's like, you speak violence, you speak their language. But you laugh at them, when they're goose-stepping down the street, and it takes away their power. So, I'm suggesting that the Senate send in Amy Schumer, and Chris Rock, and Sacha Baron Cohen, thank you.' The 55-year-old had to reassure the crowd at the Dirksen Senate Office Building that he was 'actually being serious' and in response he received a serious reply. 'Actually, that's not the first time I've heard experts on how do we counter violent extremism talk about that,' said senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat for New Hampshire. 'It's one of the things that we're looking at.'" And I haven't even gotten to the strange part! "The U2 singer had been invited to speak by Lindsey Graham, chairman of the subcommittee, Republican senator, and former 2016 presidential candidate." Okay.
I welcome our future alien overlords or whatever: "Yesterday, Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner made the mind-blowing announcement that they want to build a fleet of interstellar spacecraft that can travel at relativistic speeds—up to 20 percent the speed of light. But it's not just about reaching our nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, although that is the new Breakthrough project's moonshot. The technology Hawking and Milner are proposing could revolutionize the search for alien life within our solar system. 'This basically opens the door to missions that are much less expensive and cumbersome, that will allow us to get information currently not retrievable,' Avi Loeb, chair of the Harvard astronomy department and a collaborator on Breakthrough Starshot, told Gizmodo. That 'currently unretrievable' information could include the first solid evidence of extraterrestrial life."
And finally! Dogs eating peanut butter. Obviously.
Whoa
The Obama administration plans to forgive $7.7 billion in federal student loans held by nearly 400,000 permanently disabled Americans.In the article, Persis Yu, the National Consumer Law Center's student loan borrower assistance project director, is quoted saying that the matching program "is a great first step, but the administration needs to go further to ensure that no borrower who has a right to student loan relief has their benefits taken."
By law, anyone with a severe disability is eligible to have the government discharge their federal student loans. The administration took steps four years ago to make the process easier by letting people who are totally and permanently disabled use their Social Security designation to apply for a discharge, but few took advantage. The Department of Education is now taking it upon itself to identify eligible borrowers and guide them through the steps to discharge their loans.
"Too many eligible borrowers were falling through the cracks, unaware they were eligible for relief," said Education Under Secretary Ted Mitchell in a statement. "Americans with disabilities have a right to student loan relief. And we need to make it easier, not harder, for them to receive the benefits they are due."
Working with the Social Security Administration, the department has been identifying borrowers receiving disability payments and have the specific designation of "Medical Improvement Not Expected," which indicates they are eligible for the discharge. The agencies found 387,000 matches in its first review. About 179,000 of those people are currently in default on their loans, putting them at risk of losing their tax refunds and having their Social Security benefits garnished.
What Yu is referring to, as @centeredmama generously explained to me on Twitter (which I'm sharing with her permission) is that, because the "forgiven debt counts as income on that year's tax returns," it can "mess up eligibility for aid/services." That is, the forgiven debt is not broken out from income, so it looks as though someone has earned more than they have, which can then trigger a reduction in benefits.
The letters that the government will be sending to eligible debt-holders will inform them "of the tax implication of the discharge, since the government has the right to tax the amount of money forgiven," but it may not be entirely clear that it could affect their disability benefits. And, based on Yu's comment, it seems as though the mechanism to safeguard against a reduction in benefits hasn't yet been put in place.
I'm having trouble finding out further specifics, but I wanted to provide the heads-up, and anyone with expertise in this area that I lack is both welcome and encouraged to drop additional information in comments.
This F#@king Guy
Donald Trump will not be attending this year's White House Correspondents' Association dinner, because he is a big baby he is brittle and insecure he throws a tantrum when he is faced with any opinion that isn't sycophantic asskissing he thinks the press will be unfair to him:
Trump attended the annual dinner in 2011, only to have President Obama poke fun at him repeatedly in his comedy routine. The resulting press coverage did not sit well with the GOP front-runner.Oh. Okay. Well, the president can definitely just refuse to deal with anything where the press might not give her or him perfectly fair coverage, so vote for this guy. He seems well-prepared for the rigors and realities of the presidency.
"I was asked by every single group of media available to mankind [to attend this year]. But I've decided not to go. Do you know why? I would have a good time and the press would say I look like I wasn't having a good time."
...The businessman claims he enjoyed the 2011 dinner despite Obama's zingers.
"I had a great time. I was very honored by all of the attention. The president told joke after joke and it was good. They were all very nice and delivered nicely and I had a great time and told the press. For four years, I've read what a miserable time I had."
He added, "The press is dishonest. If the press would be honest, I'd go because I'd have a good time. ... But no matter how good a time I had, the press would say, 'Donald Trump was miserable.' What would I need that for?"
Endorsements
As I noted on Monday, when I mentioned Rep. Elijah E. Cummings' endorsement of Hillary Clinton, I haven't been routinely reporting endorsements of the Democratic candidates, for a few reasons, chiefly that I don't feel like most of them are inherently newsworthy. Which is not to say they don't matter, but reporting them without larger purpose feels like a sort of scorekeeping that I generally try to stay away from in my election coverage.
But as we get closer to the convention, there will be some endorsements that are newsworthy for reasons other than just the fact of the endorsement, so I will share those as I encounter them.
First up: Bernie Sanders has been endorsed by Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley. This is notable because Merkley is the first Senatorial endorsement that Sanders has gotten. All the other Senators who have endorsed anyone have endorsed Hillary Clinton.
Second: Hillary Clinton has been endorsed by longtime progressive activist and writer Tom Hayden. This is notable because Hayden used to support Sanders, but has changed his mind, because of Clinton's stronger support in communities of color.
And finally: The New York Daily News, whose dueling interviews with the candidates have received a lot of well-deserved attention, has endorsed Clinton. And they did not hold back: "On April 19, New York Democrats will have unusual say over the party's nominee. They have in Clinton a superprepared warrior realist. They have in opponent Bernie Sanders a fantasist who's at passionate war with reality."
Yowza.
I highly recommend reading the whole thing.
There will certainly be people (there already are) who are calling the New York Daily News a garbage rag in the bag for Clinton blah blah fart, but they have not shied away from criticizing Clinton. The day before their endorsement made the cover, their cover was lambasting Clinton for that skit with Mayor Bill de Blasio. And they feature columnists (Shaun King, for example) who are passionate Sanders supporters.
Frankly, I'm really impressed with the New York Daily News' approach. The editors did in-depth, substantive interviews with both candidates, posted video and transcript of those interviews online, and then made an endorsement based, in no small part, on those interviews, which are available for all the public to explore and assess for ourselves. It was a pretty impressive act of solid journalism and transparency.
More of that, please.
History of a Smear
[Content Note: Classism; racism; misogyny.]
I've got a new essay up at Blue Nation Review, detailing the history of classism that underwrites many of the narratives that are used against Hillary Clinton:
We can trace a direct line back to the media's aggressive contempt for the "low-class" Clintons—with their fast food palates and Bill's hillbilly brother—as the genesis of the narratives being wielded against Hillary today.Click through to read the whole thing.
It is understandable that, two decades and millions of dollars hence, people don't imagine that the Clintons could ever have been victimized by classism. Especially because they were never the country bumpkins the media perceived and purported them to be in the first place.
But it is a particular cruelty that, in an election where her chief primary opponent is ostensibly concerned with class warfare, media narratives born of the most rank classism are now being used to try to discredit her.
And it is a breathtaking deflection of responsibility that the media which created those narratives to keep her out of the establishment now regurgitate them without a trace of irony as they report on how she is emblematic of the establishment.
That they've now been thoroughly divorced from their classist origins does not make them any truer. The concealment abets the appearance of their legitimacy.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Amarie: "What are, if at all, your favorite accessories for your outfits?"
I am a fan of hats!
Your Best Photograph
If you're a photographer, even if a very amateur one (like myself), and you've got a photo or photos you'd like to share, here's your thread for that!
It doesn't really have to be your best photograph—just one you like!
Please be sure if your photo contains people other than yourself, that you have the explicit consent of the people in the photos before posting them.
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Here's one I took recently on a trip to Baltimore to visit Deeky:
It was a perfect spring day, and I love how much this photo captured the precise feeling of the day.
Discussion Thread: Favorite TV Shows
By request of a couple of Shakers who are looking for new shows to dive into: What's your current favorite TV show?
It doesn't have to be currently running, of course. Just your current favorite, even if the show has already run its entire course. And "TV show" is a bit of a misnomer these days, since lots of people don't even watch series on televisions anymore, and many series don't even air on television.
But you know what I mean. Anything airing on TV, as well as original streaming programming, counts.
My current favorite is Better Call Saul, about which I was doing a little tweeting last night. Rhea Seehorn, who plays Kim, is perfection, and Kim has to be one of my favorite characters of all time. And although I'm singling her out, literally everyone is great. The whole show is great.
The acting, the writing, the direction, the cinematography, the costuming, the set design. All of it. Exquisite.
Breaking Bad and now Better Call Saul absorb me in a way no other shows ever have. There are times I don't realize I'm holding my breath until I exhale at the commercial break.
I even have Saul to keep me company on my desk! (He isn't typically standing on the keyboard of my laptop, lol, but he's always on my desk.)
Anyway! What's your current fave?
