Clinton
is
still
awesome.
This Is Rape Culture
[Content Note: Sexual assault; serial predation; child abuse; rape apologia.]
I hardly know where to begin with this story: Idaho Judge Randy J. Stoker has decided that a 20-year-old man who raped a 14-year-old girl, as well as other children (though he has not been prosecuted for those crimes) should be released on probation, as long as he completes a treatment program run by the Idaho prison system and "agrees not to have sex outside of wedlock," compliance with which will be assessed by polygraph.
The maximum sentence was life in prison.
The judge, in delivering his ruling after the man pleaded guilty to one felony count of rape, questioned the man's "level of remorse and noted the young man's proclivities—a taste for pornography, an astounding number of partners, and fantasies of sex with a 13-year-old girl." He then proceeded to offer a monologue about how the real fault lies with the internet and "hook-up culture."
"I have seen dozens, if not hundreds of sex cases since I've been on this bench," the jurist said. "Our society has come to a point of, I don't even know how to explain it, you know? I am 66 years of age. When I was 19 years of age, the sexual proclivities of young people wasn't anything, anything like I see today."WHERE THE FUCK DO I EVEN BEGIN.
"I think it is a direct consequence of the social media system that we have in this country," Stoker continued. "I can't tell you how many times I have seen these cases: 'How did this happen?' 'Well, I met somebody on social media.'"
Stoker conceded that Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, and other sites might not be the direct cause of all the sexual assault cases he has presided over in the deeply conservative Gem State. But he said "the vast majority" of such cases originate online.
"I can't change that," he said. "If I had my way, I would eliminate the internet, and we'd all have better lives. But I can't do that either. It also says something about, I guess, the level of morality in this country. I can't change morality. People are going to do what they're going to do."
1. Rape cases are not "sex cases."
2. Rape cases do not have anything to do with "the sexual proclivities of young people," because sex and sexual predation and abuse are not the same thing.
3. If Stoker is more aware of the ubiquity of rape as a 66-year-old judge than he was as a 19-year-old man, that is probably not because "the sexual proclivities of young people" have changed dramatically, but because our cultural willingness to discuss and prosecute rape has. (Which is a sad commentary, given such willingness is still better described as a profound reluctance.)
4. Where you meet someone has fuck-all to do with your chances of being raped. However: If you meet someone online and they rape you, you may be more likely to report it, because police and prosecutors are generally more likely to believe you, because of narratives about where rapists and victims meet, than if you are raped by a partner, friend, or relative.
5. People were raped before the internet. I was raped before the internet.
6. Eliminating the internet would not, in fact, ensure that "we'd all have better lives." To the absolute contrary, many survivors of sexual violence find their way through the trauma via the internet. By finding community. By finding validation. By finding resources. Sometimes, quite literally, by finding reasons to live.
7. "I can't change morality. People are going to do what they're going to do." Especially if you let them off with no meaningful consequences.
This case, like all rape cases, challenges my principles as both an anti-rape advocate and a prison abolitionist—something about which I wrote extensively following the Daniel Holtzclaw verdict.
I don't know what the best course of action is for someone who commits such heinous crimes, but I do know with absolute certainty that sending him on his merry way with nary but the requirement of a shitty rehab program, probation, and the order to refrain from consensual sex is absolutely wrong.
Judge Stoker should be removed from the bench immediately. He is unfit to oversee cases of sexual violence.
I take up space in solidarity with the victims of this rapist.
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.
We Resist: Day 20
One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.
So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.
Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.
* * *
Here are some things I've read today:
[Content Note: War; death] David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt at the New York Times: Yemen Withdraws Permission for U.S. Antiterror Ground Missions. "Angry at the civilian casualties incurred last month in the first commando raid authorized by President Trump, Yemen has withdrawn permission for the United States to run Special Operations ground missions against suspected terrorist groups in the country, according to American officials." More on that raid. This is massive commentary on Trump's failure in foreign policy already. And it's hardly in the news.
[CN: Islamophobia; violence; video may autoplay at link] Chris Edelson at the Baltimore Sun: Ordinary Americans Carried Out Inhumane Acts for Trump. "The men and women who [under orders pursuant to the administration's executive order on immigration] reportedly handcuffed small children and the elderly, separated a child from his mother, and held others without food for 20 hours, are undoubtedly 'ordinary' people. What I mean by that, is that these are, in normal circumstances, people who likely treat their neighbors and co-workers with kindness and do not intentionally seek to harm others. That is chilling, as it is a reminder that authoritarians have no trouble finding the people they need to carry out their acts of cruelty. They do not need special monsters; they can issue orders to otherwise unexceptional people who will carry them out dutifully."
[CN: Islamophobia; violence] Mark Joseph Stern at Slate: Just Following Orders. "Horror stories about the lawlessness of Customs and Border Protection agents in the aftermath of Trump's immigration ban."
We are three weeks into Donald Trump's presidency, and already people are "just following orders" to do heinous, unconstitutional things to fellow humans.
Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy at Rewire: Gavel Drop: Trump's Immigration Order Unleashes Onslaught of Legal Motions and Questions. "After Trump's executive order on immigration created pandemonium in airports worldwide, the courts and local law enforcement are racing to keep up."
[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Ryan Browne at CNN: U.S. Military to Rent Space in Trump Tower. "Military support for a president, including the military staff assigned to keeping the "nuclear football" nearby, requires close proximity to the commander in chief, which is why the Pentagon needs to rent a more expensive space closer to the penthouse where Trump resides when he's in New York. After Trump's election, the US Secret Service investigated renting a floor in the same facility, a midtown Manhattan building that sits on one of the busiest streets in the country." The cost is "about $1.5 million a year" per floor.
Earlier today, Trump tweeted: "My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person — always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!" 1. It is wildly inappropriate for a sitting president to shame a business for severing ties with a person who holds a position in the administration, which has created an illegal conflict of interest. 2. If Ivanka is indeed "always pushing [him] to do the right thing," she's doing a shitty job.
Ryan Lizza at The New Yorker: How Trump Could Seize More Power After a Terrorist Attack. "'[T]he only question is not what powers Trump might 'ask for,'' [Jack Goldsmith, a former senior Justice Department official in the George W. Bush Administration, who helped design the post-9/11 anti-terror legal architecture] said, 'but also what powers he might assert or assume or grab, and what he can get away with.'"
CNBC's Steve Kopack on Twitter: "Sheriff tells Trump that state senator is doing something he doesn't like. Trump: 'Do you want to give his name? We'll destroy his career.'" There is video at the link.
Tom Jackman at the Washington Post: Trump Makes False Statement About U.S. Murder Rate to Sheriffs' Group. In other words: Trump LIED. "Trump told the sheriffs, 'the murder rate in our country is the highest it's been in 47 years.' He blamed the news media for not publicizing this development, then added, 'But the murder rate is the highest it's been in, I guess, 45 to 47 years.' The country's murder rate is not the highest it's been in 47 years. It is almost at its lowest point, actually, according to the FBI, which gathers statistics every year from police departments around the country."
Margaret Hartmann at New York Magazine: Trump Called National Security Adviser for Late-Night Economics Lesson. "'President Donald Trump was confused about the dollar: Was it a strong one that's good for the economy? Or a weak one? So he made a call―except not to any of the business leaders Trump brought into his administration or even to an old friend from his days in real estate. Instead, he called his national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, according to two sources familiar with Flynn's accounts of the incident. Flynn has a long record in counterintelligence but not in macroeconomics. And he told Trump he didn't know, that it wasn't his area of expertise, that, perhaps, Trump should ask an economist instead.' ...Is it possible the crackdown [on leaks] is already under way? The idea that the president is pestering aides for late-night tutorials in subjects they know nothing about as part of an elaborate scheme to root out leakers is certainly preferable to the alternative."
[CN: Disablism] S.V. Date and Christina Wilkie at The Huffington Post: Leaks Suggest Trump's Own Team Is Alarmed by His Conduct. "[W]hile leaks typically involve staffers sabotaging each other to improve their own standing or trying to scuttle policy ideas they find genuinely problematic, Trump's 2-week-old administration has a third category: Leaks from White House and agency officials alarmed by the president's conduct. 'I've been in this town for 26 years. I have never seen anything like this,' said Eliot Cohen, a senior State Department official under President George W. Bush and a member of his National Security Council."
Patricia Murphy at The Daily Beast: Sean Spicer Makes Up Atlanta Islamist Terror Attack. "White House press secretary Sean Spicer has repeatedly pointed to Atlanta, along with San Bernardino and Boston, as one of three U.S. cities that have been attacked by Islamist terrorists to argue that the Trump administration needed to act quickly to prevent another attack in the future. While the Boston bombing and shootings in San Bernadino were both carried out by Islamist terrorists, neither involved foreign nationals from the seven countries in Trump's executive order. There has never been an Islamist terror attack in Atlanta."
Ari Berman at The Nation: House Republicans Just Voted to Eliminate the Only Federal Agency That Makes Sure Voting Machines Can't Be Hacked. "In a little-noticed 6-3 vote today, the House Administration Committee voted along party lines to eliminate the Election Assistance Commission, which helps states run elections and is the only federal agency charged with making sure voting machines can't be hacked. The EAC was created after the disastrous 2000 election in Florida as part of the Help America Vote Act to rectify problems like butterfly ballots and hanging chads. (Republicans have tried to kill the agency for years.) The Committee also voted to eliminate the public-financing system for presidential elections dating back to the 1970s."
[CN: Disablism] Andy Towle at Towleroad: Ted Cruz Congratulated a Woman Suffering from MS at Last Night's Health Care Debate. "Thank you for sharing your story and congratulations on dealing with MS," Cruz said. "It's a terrible disease and congratulations on your struggles dealing with it."
Yessenia Funes at Colorlines: Army Files Court Papers to Greenlight Dakota Access Pipeline. "In an unexpected move, the Army Corps of Engineers filed court papers yesterday (February 7) to push the Dakota Access Pipeline through, as ordered by Donald Trump’s presidential memorandum January 24. The Department of Justice attorney Matthew Marinelli, who represents the Army, said in a procedural meeting yesterday (February 6) that the department was finalizing its decision and would announce it Friday (February 10) at the earliest. Instead, the Army filed a memorandum today to issue the easement within 24 hours and immediately terminate the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process for the Lake Oahe crossing of the Missouri River."
Kyle Dropp and Brendan Nyhan at the New York Times: One-Third Don't Know Obamacare and Affordable Care Act Are the Same. "This finding, from a poll by Morning Consult, illustrates the extent of public confusion over a health law that President Trump and Republicans in Congress hope to repeal. In the survey, 35 percent of respondents said either they thought Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act were different policies (17 percent) or didn't know if they were the same or different (18 percent)." This is probably no surprise to anyone who's seen any number of those FB screenshots floating around, which demonstrate precisely this phenomenon.
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
Discussion Thread: Good Things
With the relentless onslaught of bad political news, I thought it would be good to open up a thread for everyone to talk about good things in their lives. Because, even though it feels very much (and rightly so) like we are losing so many things we value, there are still daily moments of joy or achievement or love or empowering ferocity or other kinds of fulfillment.
Maybe you've experienced something big worth celebrating; maybe you've just had a precious moment of contentment; maybe getting out of bed this morning was a success worthy of mention.
Whatever you have to share that's good, here's a place to do it.
This Is Incredible
[Content Note: White supremacy; eliminationist violence.]
Something about which I've written many, many times is conservatives' insistence that every incident of public violence committed by a Muslim is reflective of jihadism and every incident of public violence committed by a Black person is reflective of an innate propensity for violence and corrupt communities with immoral beliefs, but every incident of public violence committed by a white man is a singular act that exists in a vacuum: Their bootstraps made them do it.
This contemptible exceptionalism was taken to extraordinary new lengths yesterday by Rep. Sean Duffy, during an interview on CNN with host Alisyn Camerota.
Camerota began by grilling Duffy on Trump's Muslim ban, which Duffy naturally defended, eventually whining impassionedly: "Let him protect us! Give him a shot!" And then this happened:
Camerota: Why isn't the president talking about white terrorism?
— Eugene Scott (@Eugene_Scott) February 7, 2017
Duffy: There's a difference. https://t.co/YEgSitUsdS
DUFFY: Let him protect us. Give him a shot.Now, everything about this is incredibly despicable. Duffy's frantic, spinning desperation to draw a nonexistent difference between eliminationist violence motivated by religious extremism and eliminationist violence motivated by political extremism (or religious extremism, in the case of anti-choice terrorists, though they were not mentioned here); his utterly filthy admonishment to "look at the good things that came from" the slaughter at Charleston; his straight-up lies about U.S. refugees; his implication that it is leftist violence which has unleashed terror across this nation.
CAMEROTA: Congressman— Congressman, why isn't the president talking about the white terrorists who mowed down six Muslims who were praying at their mosque?
DUFFY: Yeah, I don't know. But I would just tell you, there's a difference— Again, death and murder on both sides is wrong. But if you want to take the dozens of scenarios where ISIS-inspired attacks have taken innocents, and you give me one example of what happened, I think that was in Canada—
CAMEROTA: Yeah.
DUFFY: —I'm going to condemn them all. But again, you don't have a group like ISIS or Al Qaeda that's inspiring people around the world to take up arms and kill innocents. That was a one-off. That was a one-off, Alisyn. And you have a movement on the other side—
CAMEROTA: Hold on a second. Hold on a second, Congressman.
DUFFY: Bring it on, Alisyn. [laughs]
CAMEROTA: You don't think there are white extremists? You don't remember Oklahoma City? You don't think that this guy who was involved in the mosque shootings said that he was inspired by things that he read online?
DUFFY: So, you give me two examples, right? And in recent time, we would talk about the one example. And there is [sic] radicals all over the world and here in America that will take up arms and do bad things. But if you want to compare this one person in the last ten years that you can give me an example of—Oklahoma was, what, 20 years ago, the Oklahoma City bombing—that's different than this whole movement that's taken place through ISIS, that's inspired attacks. I mean, are you going to compare the one attack up in Canada to all the death and destruction in Europe from refugees, or the attacks in the United States—
CAMEROTA: How about Charleston, Congressman? How about Charleston? How about the Charleston church shooting, Congressman? He was an extremist. He was a white extremist?
DUFFY: Yes, he was. Okay?
CAMEROTA: How about that? That doesn't matter?
DUFFY: No, it does matter. It does matter. Look at the good things that came from it. Nikki Haley took down the Confederate flag; that was great!
But you want to say: I can give you a couple examples. There's no constant threat that goes through these attacks. And you have radical Islamic terrorists and ISIS that are driving the attacks, and if you want to compare those two, maybe you can throw another one—
CAMEROTA: You can.
DUFFY: Look at Gabby Giffords. Look at Gabby Giffords. The Marxist—the Marxist, who took her life, a leftist guy, and now you see violence and terror in the streets all across America, burning and beating people with Donald Trump hats. The violence you have to look at, you're trying to use examples on the right. So, where do you go, the left—
CAMEROTA: Congressman, just to be clear—
DUFFY: —the left has to say violence is wrong, whether we look, love and peace, as you brought up in San Bernardino, why don't we look at Berkeley?
CAMEROTA: Orlando.
DUFFY: Thank you. People get beat up for wearing a Donald Trump hat, "Make America great again" hat, again, or they get kicked, and stores get vandalized and they burn and they beat— Where does the left, and CNN and MSNBC, stand up and go "this is wrong"? If we're going to have peace in our hearts—
CAMEROTA: Yes, it's wrong when Muslims are attacks as well, and when swastikas are spray-painted on buildings. We've been talking about—
DUFFY: Alisyn, come on.
CAMEROTA: Why are you using isolated— Why do you think that when it's a white terrorist, it's an isolated incident?
DUFFY: What I am saying is: You have a cell, a heart, a beat of ISIS that's inspiring people around the world. And do you deny that? That's going to Europe and come to America—
CAMEROTA: Right...?
DUFFY: —whether it's lone wolves. So what is the heartbeat of the attack that you referenced in the mosque? Or what happened in Charleston? Is there a common theme?
CAMEROTA: Extremism. Hatred. White supremacy.
DUFFY: Can we vet that? How should we vet that to keep ourselves safe? I will join you in that effort, what do we do?
CAMEROTA: Do you not think it was white supremacy? This is what the shooter said it was.
DUFFY: Yes, it's horrible. So, what should we do? I mean, I'll join you— What do we do on the white supremacy front to make sure we don't have another attack like Charleston? I am with you on that, Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Speak out about it, and crack down on it, talk about it as extreme violence much as we about—
DUFFY: Yes, yes!
[crosstalk]
CAMEROTA: —terrorism that you call radical Islamic terrorism.
DUFFY: So let's crack down on ISIS. Let's crack down on the seven terror countries that are riddled with terrorists and give Donald Trump 90 days to 120 days, give him a pause, to make sure he can keep us safe. Because you know what? If we could have vetted that guy who went into the mosque in Canada or the guy that went into the church in Charleston and kept them from those deaths, wouldn't we do that? Wouldn't we take that step together? So, if we would try to prevent those attacks in America from two examples you gave me, why couldn't we, if we can protect America from people who might come in to do us harm, why wouldn't we do that? The argument is the same on both sides.
CAMEROTA: Yeah, the only problem with your argument is that there is no terror attack that a refugee—no deadly terror attack that a refugee has been responsible for.
DUFFY: But there have been in Europe. Many in Europe.
CAMEROTA: Right. But not here.
DUFFY: And this, but again, this is a pause, Alisyn. So, why not take a pause? Why not learn from Europe and say we can take a pause, we can review, we can analyze, and then we can bring those people in who are truly victims, and want to come in and need a refugee status. They need a new home. I am with you on that front.
CAMEROTA: Okay. Congressman Sean Duffy, thank you very much for the debate. Nice to talk to you, as always. [said in a tone that clearly indicated it was not, in fact, nice to talk to him]
But note the number of things this Republican "expert" on terrorism just gets flatly wrong.
1. He isn't sure where Alexandre Bissonnette's white supremacist murder of Muslims took place: "I think that was in Canada."
2. He imagines that the examples provided by Camerota are the only examples of white supremacist acts of mass violence in recent years, which they are absolutely not. Nor are they the only examples of movement-inspired mass violence committed by white men (see, as mentioned, anti-choice terrorism).
3. He believes Gabby Giffords is dead. "Look at Gabby Giffords. The Marxist—the Marxist, who took her life..."
4. He confuses the San Bernardino and Orlando shootings.
5. He unaccountably asserts that a Muslim ban will somehow prevent white supremacist terrorism, despite the fact that all of the white men who have perpetrated these acts were American.
He has no idea—none—what he is talking about. All he knows is his own garbage ideas about jihadism being a movement, but white supremacy being something we can't "vet" and thus can't prevent.
Even by the rock bottom standards of conservative racism and ignorance of anything resembling facts, this is remarkably offensive.
This is where we are: White supremacists in Congress spinning their gross fever dreams about killer refugees, being sent out as experts, when they don't even know that Gabby Giffords is very much alive.
The Warren Omission
So, last night, on the floor of the Senate, Senator Elizabeth Warren was silenced by Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, when she was reading the words of Coretta Scott King in opposition to Senator Jeff Sessions' nomination as U.S. Attorney General. The words came from a 1986 letter Coretta Scott King wrote during Sessions' failed nomination for a federal judgeship 30 years ago.
Flagging— Elizabeth Warren was silenced by McConnell tonight for reading the words of Coretta Scott King while speaking out against Sessions pic.twitter.com/ctXrge5Si0
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 8, 2017
As Warren is speaking, she is interrupted by McConnell, and looks up, shocked.Rule 19 of the Senate stipulates that senators are not allowed to "directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator." Which, in this case, simply consisted of reading a factual recounting of Sessions' own record. A record, I will add, that was considered so egregiously racist 30 years ago that he was denied a federal judgeship.
McConnell: Mr. President. Mr. President.
Presiding Senator: The Majority Leader.
McConnell: The Senators impugn the motives and conduct of our colleague from Alabama; is warned by the chair. Senator Warren said, quote, "Senator Sessions has used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by Black citizens." I call the Senator to order under the provisions of Rule 19.
Warren: Mr. President.
Presiding Senator: The Senator from Massachusetts.
Warren: Mr. President, I am surprised that the words of Coretta Scott King are not suitable for debate in the United States Senate. I ask leave of the Senate to continue my remarks.
Presiding Senator: Is there objection?
McConnell: Object.
Warren: I appeal the ruling—
Presiding Senator: Objection is heard. The Senator will take her seat.
Warren: Mr. President, I appeal the ruling of the chair, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
Presiding Senator: The clerk will call the role.
The GOP says Warren was "impugning Sessions' character." Pretty sure he impugned his own character by being an unapologetic bigot.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 8, 2017
After being silenced on the Senate Floor, Warren read the letter on a Facebook livestream. It has, as of this writing, been viewed 5.4 million times.
Meanwhile, the Senate voted on an extraordinary call to rebuke her, and the vote fell along partisan lines, 49-43, because not a single Republican Senator had the decency to defend her right to read the words of a Black woman about their white colleague's racism during Black History Month.
McConnell later defended the vote to rebuke her: "Senator Warren was giving a lengthy speech. She had appeared to violate the rule. She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted."
"Nevertheless she persisted" is the contemptible lament of every old white man who has tried and failed to silence an indomitable woman.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 8, 2017
The way Warren was treated is absolutely appalling—and it deeply alarming that Republicans treated the words of Coretta Scott King with such contempt. Coretta Scott King was a civil rights activist and voting rights advocate of historical, national importance. That her witness of Sessions' racism was treated like inflammatory defamation, instead of the factual recounting of her own lived experience and that of her community, is a chilling indication of the white supremacy that has permeated every level of Republican governance.
Question of the Day
If someone paid off all your bills and gave you an additional million dollars, tax-free, and you had to spend it on yourself, on what would you spend it?
Quote of the Day
"I found myself explaining that, in addition to the Constitution, the United States is bound by international treaties. I explained that there are fundamental human rights that belong to everyone and apply in all countries in the world, including the United States, and that my work covers both."—Hina Shamsi, Director of the ACLU National Security Project, in an essay about how distressingly different her travel abroad has been since Trump's executive order banning Muslims from seven countries.
The person to whom she found herself explaining these facts was a Customs and Border Protection officer.
I strongly encourage you to read the whole thing.
Inspiring Acts of Resistance
Share things you have seen that moved you, or actions you are taking. Please also feel welcome and encouraged to share links to Twitter users and/or news sites engaged in resistance that you recommend following.
I want to share this video, "Don't Be A Bystander: 6 Tips for Responding to Racist Attacks," by Project NIA and the Barnard Center for Research on Women, narrated by Aaryn Lang—who was interviewed about the process by Black Youth Project. [Hat tip to @prisonculture.] It's such a great guide for how to intervene in ways that center the safety of the person being targeted and the person intervening, with an emphasis on consent. I value this so, so much.
Aaryn Lang, a young, thin, Black woman, appears onscreen. Throughout the video, sometimes she is onscreen, talking directly to camera; other times, she speaks in voiceover, over relevant photographs.
Text onscreen: Don't Be A Bystander: 6 Tips for Responding to Racist Attacks.
LANG: The United States has a long history of violence against people of color, disabled people, Muslims, immigrants, and LGBTQ people. In our current political moment, white supremacists and white nationalists have been emboldened—and, as a result, public attacks are on the rise. Many people aren't sure what to do if they witness a racist or transphobic attack. Here are some ideas.
Text onscreen: 1. Be more than a bystander.
LANG: It might be tempting to look away out of fear, or because you aren't sure what to do. But not getting involved communicates approval and leaves the victim high and dry. If you can, talk with the victim. This is about supporting them: Look them in the eye; check in with them. Try not to escalate or provoke the perpetrator.
An illustration shows a Muslim woman being berated on public transportation by a white man, and a white woman sits down beside the Muslim woman and begins chatting to her about the weather, which frustrates the white man, who walks away.
LANG: Simply sitting or standing next to someone is better than nothing at all. It's difficult to witness any kind of violence, so try to breathe—and stay present.
Text onscreen: 2. Document the incident.
LANG: Many assume others will document an incident going on. If it's safe to do so, and the victim doesn't object, film or record an incident. This helps to keep track of the rise of incidents like this, and it also ensures that the victims' versions of events can be confirmed.
Text onscreen: 3. Support the victim by sticking around.
LANG: Check in with the victim. Ask them what they need. Get their consent and offer concrete ways to support them. Get them water. Help them get composed. Help them call a friend, or even get to a safer place.
Text onscreen: 4. Avoid the police.
LANG: Armed police presence often escalates rather than reduces the risk of violence in a situation. Because police have been trained to see people of color, gender-nonconforming folks, and Muslims as criminals, they often treat victims as perpetrators of violence. So, if the victim hasn't asked you to call the police, DO NOT. I repeat: DO NOT call the police.
Text onscreen: 5. Call out the everyday culture of white supremacy.
LANG: The culture of white supremacy and anti-Blackness is perpetuated by our media, political systems, and social media. You can contribute to making these attitudes unacceptable by challenging white supremacy even when you're not in a crisis. If you're white yourself, talk to your white family and friends about anti-Blackness and white supremacy. Do it every day, especially when you're in an all-white space. By doing this, you confront the culture without putting anyone else in danger of an immediate backlash.
Text onscreen: 6. Organize and protest for justice.
LANG: Now is the time for all of us who believe in justice to come together. It doesn't have to look one way. You can canvass, you can phone bank, you can write letters, or you can even create art for the movement. Taking it to the streets is always nice, but, if you don't have time for that, you could always support the marginalized populations, who are on the frontlines of this work, financially. White supremacy and anti-Blackness affects all of us—and fighting against it affirms all of our humanity.
I Don't Care
[Content Note: Lookism; fat hatred; disablism; white supremacy.]
I don't care that Donald Trump has unusual hair. I don't care that his skin is an unusual color. I don't care that he's fat. I don't care that he has a double chin. I don't care he's old. I don't care that he's been married three times. I don't care what he eats. I don't care about anyone's armchair diagnostics of his mental health, especially when said diagnosing is clearly just in service of disablist narratives.
I don't care that Steve Bannon is fat or scruffy or dresses like "a slob." I don't care that Kellyanne Conway is blonde, and I really don't care to hear misogyny spat in her direction.
I do care, very much, that Trump polices the way other people look. That he engages in fat hatred. That he audits women's femininity. That he slut-shames. That he ranks women and reportedly demeans men in his employ if they aren't good-looking and fashionable enough. That he mocks disabled people.
I care that Bannon values human beings based on their external characteristics and choices. I care that Conway engages in misogyny against other women, and bigotry of every sort.
All of Trump's bullying is inextricably associated with his authoritarianism. All of his administration's expressed and legislated bigotry is indelibly tied to its white supremacy and to the kyriarchal ideals that attend white supremacy.
I don't believe that engaging in the same garbage behavior that they do will mitigate or eradicate that behavior. To the contrary, it stands to legitimize it.
That is not an argument for not fighting hard, or even dirty.
You may have noticed that I am eminently capable of fighting hard, and sometimes dirty, against the Trump administration without ever mentioning any of the above.
To the contrary, it is an argument that we must fight in a way that does not simply replicate the very harm we're resisting.
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.
We Resist: Day 19
One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.
So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.
Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.
* * *
Here are some things I've read today:
Elle Hunt at the Guardian: Images of Donald Trump in a Bathrobe Flood Twitter After Spicer Says He 'Doesn't Own One'. "An article published in the New York Times on Sunday painted an unsettling picture of life in the White House, with aides unable to locate light switches being forced to meet in the dark, visitors being left to find their own way out of the building after meetings and a 'darkened, mostly empty West Wing.' The president, it was reported, spent considerable time 'watching television in his bathrobe' and marking up negative news reports with a black Sharpie. ...Spicer took particular issue with the bathrobe report, which he said was 'literally the epitome of fake news.' 'I don't think the president owns a bathrobe,' he said. 'He definitely doesn’t wear one.'" Then people found a million pictures of Trump in a bathrobe. But here's the thing:
Love that Spicer thinks the bathrobe ITSELF is the point & not that Mr. Big League Stamina is a lazy shit who knocks off at 6:30.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 6, 2017
This administration will: 1. Lie about anything. 2. Continually get wrapped up in details that don't matter, because the president himself is fixated on them. Not good. Not good at all.
Chris Massie at CNN: WH Official: We'll Say 'Fake News' Until Media Realizes Attitude of Attacking the President Is Wrong. "'There is a monumental desire on behalf of the majority of the media, not just the pollsters, the majority of the media to attack a duly elected President in the second week of his term," [Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to President Donald Trump], a former Breitbart editor who also holds a PhD in political science, told syndicated conservative radio host Michael Medved. 'That's how unhealthy the situation is and until the media understands how wrong that attitude is, and how it hurts their credibility, we are going to continue to say, 'fake news.' I'm sorry, Michael. That's the reality,' he added." Chilling.
Meanwhile, they will continue to promulgate actual fake news: The White House Is Using a Fake News Lie to Baselessly Discredit Anti-Trump Protests. They continue to insist that protesters are being paid, which is absurd for a dozen different reasons, but also? So what if they were? I thought Trump was going to a "jobs president."
John Wagner at the Washington Post: Trump: I'll Take 'Common Sense' Travel Ban to the Supreme Court, if Necessary. "President Trump said Tuesday that he is prepared to take the case for his now-frozen travel ban to the Supreme Court—but added that he hopes it doesn't come to that." Well, if it does, the "so-called" justices of the U.S. Supreme Court can tell you it's unconstitutional, too.
Seung Min Kim at Politico: Cotton and Trump Plot Crackdown on Legal Immigration. "Overlooked in Donald Trump's campaign crusade against illegal immigration was his vow to crack down on legal immigration, too. Now, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a reliable Trump ally, is taking steps to execute that part of the president's immigration vision... Cotton's new legislation, being formally proposed Tuesday with Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and detailed exclusively with POLITICO in advance of its release, swings an axe at the nation's green-card system by eliminating several avenues for U.S. citizens and permanent residents to sponsor family members for green cards. ...The bill also dumps the diversity visa lottery, which allots about 50,000 visas per year for citizens of countries that traditionally have low rates of immigration to the United States. And it would limit refugees to 50,000 annually."
Aaron Rupar at Think Progress: President Trump Baselessly Accuses the Media of Covering up Terrorist Attacks. Meanwhile, David Smith at the Guardian: White House's 'Under-Reported' Terror List Includes Many Well-Known Attacks.
Tom Hamburger at the Washington Post: Melania Trump Missed out on 'Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity' to Make Millions, Lawsuit Says. "Richard Painter, a White House ethics counsel under President George W. Bush and a critic of Trump's decision to retain ownership of his real estate and branding empire while in office, said Monday that he was troubled by the suggestion in the new suit that Melania Trump intended to profit from her public role. 'There has never been a first lady of the United States who insinuated that she intended to make a lot of money because of the 'once-in-a-lifetime' opportunity of being first lady,' said Painter." This whole family.
During an interview with Bill O'Reilly, Trump was (again) talking about how the U.S. should have (illegally) seized Iraq's oils, and actually said the words "to the victor belong the spoils." JFC.
Paul Kane at the Washington Post: Mike Pence, a Man of the House, Becomes Trump's Eyes and Ears in the Senate. Every day, it keeps getting cooler to see dudes at major papers writing things I was predicting seven months ago!
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
Donald Trump: Easily Manipulated into Failed Raid
[Content Note: Terrorism; death.]
With Donald Trump's onslaught of authoritarianism domestically, his first military operation, the bungled raid in Yemen, during which a reported 30 civilians and one Navy SEAL were killed, has gotten comparatively little attention.
But there are two very important stories about that raid today, which I want to highlight.
1. Cynthia McFadden, William M. Arkin, and Tracy Connor at NBC News: Yemen Raid Had Secret Target: Al Qaeda Leader Qassim Al-Rimi. The ostensible reason for the raid, we've been hearing from the administration, was intelligence gathering. But it turns out that was not the case.
The Navy SEAL raid in Yemen last week had a secret objective — the head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who survived and is now taunting President Donald Trump in an audio message.He is alive and mocking Donald Trump in an audio recording: "The fool of the White House got slapped at the beginning of his road in your lands." That is troubling for a number of reasons, not least of which is that Trump will be piqued by such provocative taunting, which is precisely the point. That will make him even more reckless and dangerous.
Military and intelligence officials told NBC News the goal of the massive operation was to capture or kill Qassim al-Rimi, considered the third most dangerous terrorist in the world and a master recruiter.
But while one SEAL, 14 al Qaeda fighters and some civilians, including an 8-year-old girl, were killed during a firefight, al-Rimi is still alive and in Yemen, multiple military officials said.
How easily manipulated into bad decision-making Trump is cannot be in question, given the very manner in which he was talked into launching the raid in the first place. Which brings us to...
2. Caroline Mortimer at The Independent: Donald Trump's Staff Get Him to Agree to Policies by Saying 'Obama Wouldn't Have Done It'. And, yes, that includes the Yemen raid.
Defence Secretary, General James "Mad Dog" Mattis, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, reportedly convinced Mr Trump to go ahead with the raid by suggesting Mr Obama would never have been so bold as to actually go through with it.It was not. And despite the fact that the White House declared the raid "a successful operation by all standards," NBC News notes that the White House and Pentagon had no comment on the latest revelation of their intended target and failure to kill him.
They suggested that the death of al Rimi would be a "game changer" in the fight against al-Qaeda, according to a senior White House official.
At this point, it should be abundantly clear even to the most diehard Trump supporters that he has no idea what he is doing. And he is seeking input from people with their own conflicting agendas, who are eminently willing to manipulate him to get what they want, irrespective of whether it's good for the country.
We are in real trouble.
If Trump were the patriot he claims to be, he would admit he is profoundly out of his depth and resign his position immediately.
Today in Toxic Masculinity
[Content Note: Misogyny; toxic masculinity.]
Donald Trump was deeply unhappy about Melissa McCarthy's send-up of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer—although not for the reason one might expect.
More than being lampooned as a press secretary who makes up facts, it was Spicer's portrayal by a woman that was most problematic in the president's eyes, according to sources close to him. And the unflattering send-up by a female comedian was not considered helpful for Spicer's longevity in the grueling, high-profile job in which he has struggled to strike the right balance between representing an administration that considers the media the "opposition party," and developing a functional relationship with the press.This is, of course, unsurprising for anyone who has been paying attention to Trump's aggressive contempt for women, but it is nonetheless reprehensible all the same.
"Trump doesn't like his people to look weak," added a top Trump donor.
Again, I will note that it's remarkable we're supposedly the snowflakes, but apparently the entire Trump administration will implode if women play the men.
To that end! Rosie O'Donnell, Trump's longtime nemesis, has offered to play Steve Bannon. LOL. And I have a suggestion for who should take over Trump:
Sorry, Alec Baldwin, but the nation needs @Lesdoggg to play Trump from now on. https://t.co/HIxy7XGJ7V
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 7, 2017
And, while we're at it, Kate McKinnon should play Mike Pence. The Ghostbusters have got this.
"The Future Is Female."
Hillary Clinton recorded a message for the Makers Conference, and she looked pretty damn happy as she said, "The future is female."
Though she didn't attend, Hillary Clinton praises the "amazing energy" of the #WomensMarch pic.twitter.com/dVRIgmbleu
— Monica Alba (@albamonica) February 7, 2017
Hillary Clinton, sitting and facing the camera: Hello, Makers. I know you have an incredible three days ahead, and I can't wait to see the exciting work you produce.By way of reminder, "women's vital roles" is something that has been at the center of Clinton's work for many years, and she has repeatedly spoken about how empowering women is the key to peacekeeping around the globe.
I'm proud to be a Maker, and to support Maker's mission: To share women's stories and celebrate women's vital roles in the past, present, and future of our country.
Despite all the challenges we face, I remain convinced that, yes, the future is female!
Just look at the amazing energy we saw last month, as women organized to march, that galvanized millions of people all over our country and across the world.
September 2009: "I have advocated for many years that women are the key to progress and prosperity around the world. I believe that. ...There are people who say, well, women's issues is an important issue, but it doesn't rank up there with the Middle East or Iran's nuclear threat or Afghanistan and Pakistan. I could not disagree more. I think women are key to our being able to resolve all of those difficult conflicts, as well as provide for a better future."
November 2009: "The most extraordinary day of the entire trip was a testament to this very idea, what Clinton calls 'smart power,' and it is something she is very passionate about: that the micro-economies of the poor are deeply important, and when the so-called soft issues—violence against women, food safety and agriculture, sustainable development—are not tended to, the result is chaos, instability, conflict, and war."
October 2010: "Women's participation in [peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peace building] is not a 'nice thing to do.' It's not as though we are doing a favor for ourselves and them by including women in the work of peace. This is a necessary global security imperative. Including women in the work of peace advances our national security interests, promotes political stability, economic growth, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Just as in the economic sphere, we cannot exclude the talents of half the population, neither when it comes to matters of life and death can we afford to ignore, marginalize, and dismiss the very direct contributions that women can and have made."
Just a few examples of her longheld belief in women's empowerment. No other U.S. politician has so passionately and eloquently tried to address women's oppression as a source of instability and warfare, nor women's empowerment as the key to stability and peace. None.
Thank you, Hillary Clinton, for believing in women.
Senate Democrats Hold the Floor Against Betsy DeVos
All night, Senate Democrats have been holding the floor in protest of Betsy DeVos' nomination for Secretary of Education. If you want to check in on the proceedings, here is C-SPAN's live feed.
At Cosmo, Gina Mei reports:
In a final, last ditch effort to derail the confirmation of President Donald Trump's nominee for education secretary Betsy DeVos, Democrats are currently holding the Senate floor for 24 hours and collectively speaking out in opposition to her.If you'd like to see some video clips from the all-nighter, there are a number at the link.
The all-night session comes after immense disapproval to DeVos' nomination from citizens across the country due to her lack of education experience, disdain for public schools, and previous investments in public and charter schools. Senate Democrats hope their arguments will convince just one more Republican to cross party lines and oppose the Michigan billionaire's confirmation — alongside Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who announced they would vote against her last week.
"I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to follow the courageous example of the senators from Maine and Alaska," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, according to NBC. "We have an obligation as Senators — not as Republicans, not as Democrats, but as Senators — to evaluate these nominees and their fitness for office, because these nominees are going to wield immense power over the lives of Americans for possibly the next four years."
As The Washington Post goes on to point out, because all 48 Senate Democrats have pledged to oppose DeVos, all they need is one more Republican to vote against her for her not to be confirmed. If they are unable to convince any of their colleagues to change their mind, however, Vice President Mike Pence will be called upon to cast the tie-breaking vote — which he's already confirmed will be in DeVos' favor.
I am grateful to the Democrats for taking this stand, even if it is ultimately futile. But it's not futile yet! If you can, keep making calls to Republican Senators and ask them to vote no on DeVos, because she is manifestly unqualified for the position and will ruin the Department of Education and destroy public education across the country.
(Which, of course, was the entire point of her nomination.)
It will be a bitter irony if Mike Pence, who once stripped Indiana's Superintendent of Public Instruction of power because she was trying to save the state from the very "reforms" that DeVos wants to enact, gets the deciding vote.
I hope one more Republican will stand up on behalf of the nation's children. I fear that no one will.
But, in the meantime, I'm not giving up. I will expect more and keep making calls.
UPDATE: And DeVos has been confirmed, with Pence's unprecedented, tie-breaking vote. Fuck.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Brenda A.: "What is your theme song? A song that when you hear it come on, makes you say 'That's me!'"
This is always and forever my answer to this question, lol:
Joan Jett: "Bad Reputation"
