Here is some stuff in the news today...
Please read this beautiful piece by my Shareblue colleague Matthew Chapman: "As a man on the spectrum, Clinton's support of autism rights means so much to me."
"The Paris agreement to combat climate change became international law Friday. The landmark deal aims to tackle global warming amid growing fears that the world is becoming hotter even faster than scientists expected. ...United Nations Secretary General Ban-Ki moon commemorated the event, talking with nongovernmental groups at U.N. headquarters in New York to hear their concerns and visions for the future. 'This is an emotional moment for me. It is a credit to all of you. And it is historic for the world,' Ban said in his opening remarks."
[Content Note: Misogyny; body policing] Damn, this piece in the NYT: "Nearly half the girls say Mr. Trump's comments about women have affected the way they think about their bodies." Seethe.
Welp: "Jury Finds Bridgegate Defendants Guilty on All Counts." This does not bode well for Chris Christie! (Good.)
Uhhhhh: "Giuliani says he was leaked information about emails days in advance of Comey letter: 'You're darn right I heard about it.'"
It's a pretty alarming commentary on the state of political punditry that this policy-for-policy analysis of the issues by "Hamilton" star Daveed Diggs is better than anything I've seen by the optics-centered garbage media this entire cycle.
[CN: Rape culture] This is unsurprising but deeply infuriating: "Data Suggests D.C. Prosecutors Pursue Cases That Conform to Rape Myths."
[CN: Misogyny] Wow: "Harvard University has suspended its men's soccer team for the remainder of the season because of sexual comments made about members of the women's soccer team. University president Drew Faust said in a statement on Thursday night that an investigation into the 2012 team found their 'appalling' actions were not isolated to one year or the actions of a few, but appeared to be more widespread across the team and continued through the current season."
If you'd like to hear a song to celebrate Hillary Clinton, here you go!
What have you been reading?
In the News
"I’m with her, and I’m categorically not with him."
[Content Note: Misogyny; abuse.]
I've got a new essay at Shareblue about how I, and lots of other women, will be casting a vote for Hillary Clinton and everything she stands for, and against Donald Trump and everything he stands for.
Each vote is an opportunity to vote for Clinton, the first female, feminist presidential candidate, who has spent her career advocating for women's equality; who said that "human rights are women's rights, and women's rights are human rights, once and for all."There is, as always, more at the link!
Each vote is also an opportunity to vote against Trump, an unrepentant misogynist who has admitted groping women; who represents a toxic masculinity against which every woman must struggle in her life.
Yes, it is a vote against his policies, his fearmongering, his bigotry, his incompetence, his unfitness for the office. It can also be — and will be, for millions of women — a vote against a man who has become an avatar for every man who has unleashed prejudice and/or harm against us.
The strangers who groped us on the subway. The bosses who passed us over for promotion. The salesmen who answered our questions by speaking to our husbands. The coworkers who leered at us. The teachers who would not listen to us. The men who shouted at us from passing cars. The boyfriends who raped us.
Every man who has endeavored in big and small ways to deny us equality and esteem, whose retrograde views on women's ability and worth are embedded in and amplified by Trump's every sneering comment and gross behavior toward women.
When I cast my vote on Tuesday, I will be casting my vote for Hillary Clinton, because she is the most qualified candidate. I will also be casting a vote for women's equality; for my own equal rights, autonomy, agency, and right of consent. For my own value.
The truth is, I've been with her for this reason ever since a boy first pulled my pigtails. And I don't believe I'm alone on that.
Daily Dose of Cute
(He was actually yawning, lol.)
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
Please Take to Your Fainting Couches
Because this is some news that will SHOCK you! The New York Times reports: "Donald Trump's Income Isn't Always What He Says It Is, Records Suggest."
OH MY STARS AND GARTERS! Trump has been less than forthcoming about his finances?! Someone get me a mint julep before I develop a debilitating case of the vapors!
Call me when Donald Trump has been honest about something. That will be news.
Two Things
1. This piece in the Atlantic by Chimamanda Adichie is so, so good: "Why Is Hillary Clinton So Widely Loved?"
We do not see, often enough, the people who love Hillary Clinton, who support her because of her qualifications rather than because of her unqualified opponent, who empathize with her. Yet millions of Americans, women and men, love her intelligence, her industriousness, her grit; they feel loyal to her, they will vote with enthusiasm for her.I want to wrap my arms around this piece and give it a big squeezy hug.
...There are millions of Americans who do not have the self-indulgent expectation that a politician be perfect. They are frustrated that Hillary Clinton is allowed no complexity. And they love her.
On the other end of the spectrum, however...
2. This piece in the Guardian by Spencer Ackerman is chilling: "'The FBI Is Trumpland': Anti-Clinton Atmosphere Spurred Leaks, Sources Say."
Deep antipathy to Hillary Clinton exists within the FBI, multiple bureau sources have told the Guardian, spurring a rapid series of leaks damaging to her campaign just days before the election.There is a lot of deeply worrying shit in that piece, but this struck me as particularly concerning: "Justice department officials — another current target of FBI dissatisfaction..." I'm sorry, what? The Justice Department is a "target of FBI dissatisfaction"? That is...not good. Shiver.
Current and former FBI officials, none of whom were willing or cleared to speak on the record, have described a chaotic internal climate that resulted from outrage over director James Comey's July decision not to recommend an indictment over Clinton's maintenance of a private email server on which classified information transited.
"The FBI is Trumpland," said one current agent. ...The currently serving FBI agent said Clinton is "the antichrist personified to a large swath of FBI personnel," and that "the reason why they're leaking is they're pro-Trump."
...At the same time, other sources dispute the depth of support for Trump within the bureau, though they uniformly stated that Clinton is viewed highly unfavorably.
There is just a huge part of our federal government comprised of people who are deeply illiberal and willing to force a Constitutional crisis over their refusal to abide the democratic choice of a majority in filling the Executive Branch. It has long been a problem to one extent or another, but has intensified exponentially with the election of our first Black president, and looks like it will do the same once more if we elect our first female president.
If Hillary Clinton is elected, she is going to facing a hell of a fight. And so are we. She's ready for it, and I hope all of us who support her are ready for it, too.
Monumental. And Perfectly Normal.
When I consider the possibility of the first woman presidency, drawing closer with every day, it is unfathomably exciting, and I can barely contain my joy at the thought of that two-century old glass ceiling being shattered. But when I hear expressions of anxiety about whether a woman is capable of doing the job, I feel none—zero—of that worry.
Of course she can. Just because we have never had a woman president doesn't mean that women are not capable of being president.
Not now, and not since the earliest days of the nation.
Women's capabilities have always exceeded cultural expectations of what we can do. Lack of our representation in any arena is not evidence of our lack of ability, as it is so often misconstrued, but evidence of our exclusion by gatekeepers.
And, frequently, evidence of our exclusion by the records and tellers of history—who, for a very long time, were almost exclusively men.
Because, the truth is, women have always been doing things.
We have been hunters and warriors and healers and priests. We have been blacksmiths and fishers and farmers and shopkeepers. We have been inventors and educators and researchers and spies. We have been poets and artists and builders and destroyers. We have been leaders of empires, though for most of history it was by virtue of birth rather than popular vote.
We have even been United States presidential candidates—since 1872.
Whatever things there were to do, women have always done them.
That we were denied the right to do things does not mean some of us were not doing them. That we have not always been paid to do them does not mean we were not. That we have not been recognized and rewarded and celebrated for doing them does not mean we were not doing them all along.
A dearth of documentation of women having done something is frequently held out as "evidence" that women simply never did those things—or that women who did were exceptions, who somehow managed to "overcome" their womanhood and its supposed inherent limitations in order to succeed.
They may well have overcome the external limitations levied by systemic bias. But where there has been a mountain to climb or a depth of ocean to explore, women have gone there. Breaking the rules; rewriting new rules for ourselves; ignoring the people who tried to stop us.
When you know that women's history is filled with women—of all races, national origins, ages, sizes, abilities, sexualities—doing things, you do not imagine there is a job that cannot be filled by a woman, including the U.S. presidency.
So I have no doubt that Clinton can be our president. She is the most qualified candidate ever to run. Not just the most qualified female candidate, but the most qualified candidate full-stop. (And it is certainly no coincidence that the first female candidate is also the most qualified.)
Of course she can do it. It is a question with an answer so obvious that it does not even register to me as one worth asking.
It is normal. Women have always been doing things.
But is also monumental, because a woman has never done this thing before. And I am beyond ready. I'm ready for Hillary Clinton. And the (progressive) women who will come after.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Drazil: "What are the most comforting and effective things you do for self-care?"
$2.4 Million Fine for Penn State
[Content Note: Sexual abuse; description of assault.]
The five-year federal investigation into Penn State's (mis)handling of allegations against Jerry Sandusky has resulted in a record $2.4 million fine for the university, with the Department of Education confluding that Penn State "violated requirements about reporting campus crimes and warning people if their safety was threatened." Forty-five people have come forward with reports of being abused by Sandusky, who was convicted of abusing 10 boys.
The U.S. Department of Education concluded that Penn State largely ignored many of its duties under the 1990 Clery Act.The Education Department was not persuaded by Penn State's claim that "a 1998 report involving Sandusky and a boy in a team shower...wasn't clear that a crime had occurred [thus] there was no need to record it on the crime log."
Ted Mitchell, undersecretary at the Education Department, said transparency about what happens on campus helps ensure that colleges and universities are safe.
"When we determine that an institution is not upholding this obligation, then there must be consequences," Mitchell said.
The Education Department found the school violated regulations when it didn't warn students and employees of the forthcoming charges against Sandusky, who was convicted in 2012 and is due in court Friday as he seeks to have the conviction thrown out or get a new trial.
"In short, a man who was about to be charged with violent crimes against defenseless minors was free to roam the Penn State campus, as he pleased," the report said.
[T]he Education Department noted that campus police recorded far less serious matters on their log, including a man sleeping in a stairwell and a slip-and-fall in a public shower.At least someone in authority involved in this entire reprehensible situation finally had some common sense and basic decency.
"In light of these entries, Penn State's contention that the reported incident of a middle-aged man inappropriately touching an 11-year-old boy, while naked and showering with him, didn't rise to the level for inclusion in the daily crime log strains credulity," the Education Department wrote in its report.
I don't know that this will feel like justice or closure to Sandusky's victims, but I hope it brings them some measure of satisfaction or peace. I take up space in solidarity with them.
Photo of the Day
I have no idea what they're laughing about, but I wish I had been there laughing with them!
P.S. Why is Hillary so cold and robotic and unlikable and also why doesn't she smile more and her laugh is stupid. Etc.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
Oh my heart: "I got to vote for a woman for president!"
I've got two new pieces at Shareblue: "The worst leaks about Clinton are better than the best tweets by Trump" and "Hillary Clinton's new ad about children is why she should be president."
What is even going on? "The FBI has launched an internal investigation into one of its own Twitter accounts. The account at issue, @FBIRecordsVault, had been dormant for more than a year. Then on October 30 at 4 a.m., the account released a flood of documents, including one describing Donald Trump's father Fred Trump as a 'philanthropist.' But it wasn't until two days later, when the account tweeted documents regarding President Clinton's controversial pardon of Marc Rich that the account began to attract significant attention. The account has not been active since that tweet. ThinkProgress has learned that the FBI's Inspection Division will undertake an investigation of the account."
[Content Note: Refugee crisis; death] Oh dear: "At least 240 people are feared to have drowned in the southern Mediterranean, bringing the annual total to 4,220—the highest in the Mediterranean on record. About 100 people drowned when an inflatable dinghy capsized shortly after leaving the Libyan coast on Wednesday, some of the 29 survivors told the UN refugee agency. A further 140 are thought to have drowned in a second incident in another rubber boat early on Thursday morning. Only two people appear to have survived the second tragedy." Heartbreaking. We have to do better than this for refugees. We must.
[CN: White supremacy; antisemitism; violent rhetoric] David Duke, currently running for the US Senate in Louisiana, spent a debate there last night railing against Jewish people and engaging in violent rhetoric against Hillary Clinton: "In defending some unsavory remarks about Jews, Duke said 'I'm not opposed to all Jews... There is a problem in America with a very strong, powerful, tribal group that dominates our media and dominates our international banking.' He also accused such groups of controlling the reins of American foreign policy, citing the civil war in Syria while attempting to draw parallels between those groups and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. 'The lady should be getting the electric chair, being charged with treason,' Duke said." Good lord.
Meanwhile: Six people were arrested protesting Duke's appearance.
Mysterious! Who could it be? "[A leaked casting notice obtained by Fox News] says that it's looking to hire people for an 'up-and-coming conservative media network currently in development,' although it doesn't specify who is doing the developing. More specifically, the casting notice says that it wants on-air hosts and reporters who are 'knowledgeable about conservative viewpoints, current events and the presidential election,' and who also look 'upscale and intelligent' and are 'outspoken and energetic.' The audition also specifies that the network's content will be streamed over the web, which suggests it might not be a traditional cable news network."
Hello, ma'am! "Wonder Woman Is Here to Save the World in New Trailer."
Blub: "Senior Dog Shows Up to Family's Home and REFUSES to Leave Until She's Adopted."
What have you been reading?
Daily Dose of Cute
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
Quote of the Day
"In my experience, whenever you take a stand for what you believe, there will always be people who disagree with you. That's especially true, I think, for women. So please know that you're in good company. Believe me, every strong woman you admire who has worked to make our world a fairer place has faced opposition along the way."—Hillary Clinton, responding to a question from a teenage girl who is "being harassed by male classmates for being a feminist," during a terrific interview with Rookie magazine.
I highly recommend reading the whole thing. It's so good.
And I defy anyone to read this interview and tell me that electing a woman president doesn't matter.
[H/T to Alison Rose.]
This Photo ♥
[Content Note: Gun violence.]
I love this photo of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, Hillary Clinton, and Giffords' husband Mark Kelly taking a selfie together. It just makes my heart happy, to see Giffords thriving, after surviving an assassination attempt in January 2011.
It's also a meaningful photo in the sense that it's a reminder that gun reform is on the ballot. Not that anyone could be blamed for forgetting, since the media have abandoned even any pretense that policy is an important metric by which to assess presidential candidates.
THE CUBS, Y'ALL
First of all, let me just offer my condolences to any Cleveland fans. That was a hard-fought game—hell, a hard-fought series—and your team left it all on the field.
Secondly, in case you haven't heard, the Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years!!! And there were so many hugs!
After an epic Game 7, the Cubs hugged it out like champions https://t.co/iBuiykCmzQ
— New York Magazine (@NYMag) November 3, 2016
The happiest photo of the Chicago Cubs celebrating their historic World Series win https://t.co/dssLLF8eda
— TIME (@TIME) November 3, 2016
AIR HUG!
I'll give the final word to another lifelong Cubs fan.
They did it! 108 years later and the drought is finally over. Way to make history, @Cubs. #FlyTheW -H
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 3, 2016
ELECTION UPDATE!!!
1. Hillary Clinton believes that women's rights are human rights and gay rights are human rights and trans kids are lovable and Black lives matter and disabled people are valuable. She sent and received some emails.
2. Donald Trump doesn't care about anyone but himself. Never has. Never will. And, frankly, I'm not even sure he's too keen on himself when he looks in the mirror, which is why he relentlessly projects his flaws onto other people. He has assaulted multiple women. But, you know, both sides.
3. Our national media is garbage.
4. Tim Kaine continues to be very delightful and also makes good and serious points about how Donald Trump is a terrible candidate. I hope he's never sent or received any emails or started a foundation that has saved millions of lives or coughed or sat on a stool or felt faint from a combination of heat and pneumonia or rested against a pillow or SUSPICIOUSLY wore his purse on a different shoulder than usual one day or changed his hairstyle or worn something unflattering or told a joke about Pokémon Go or carried hot sauce in his bag or misremembered something. Although it probably doesn't matter, because he's a dude.
5. Mike Pence continues to be the absolute fucking worst.
Five more days of this shit.
That about sums it up! Discuss.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker amtheelder: "What is your favorite movie/television show by a woman writer?"
