The Wednesday Blogaround

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, November 29, 2017
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This blogaround brought to you by spearmint.

Recommended Reading:

Bernice Yeung: [Content Note: Sexual harassment and assault] The People #MeToo Leaves Behind

Regina Mahone: [CN: War on agency; white supremacy; ciscentrism] The Future Is 'Radical Reproductive Justice'

Alessandra Potenza: Prehistoric Women Worked So Much Their Arms Were Stronger Than Today's Female Rowers

Kristen V. Brown: Biotin, a Popular Vitamin for Women, Is Skewing Medical Tests

Abraham Riesman: [CN: Appropriation] Marvel's New Editor-in-Chief Admits Writing Under Japanese Pseudonym 'Akira Yoshida'

Tia Vasiliou: Jim Henson's Labyrinth 2017 Special #1 Will Leave You Excited for More

Tori Preston: Here It Is: The 'Avengers: Infinity War' Trailer

Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!

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More Lauer: An Execrable Abuser — and NBC Knew

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, November 29, 2017
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[Content Note: Rape culture; descriptions of sexual harassment and assault.]

So, it turns out that Variety was working on a months-long investigation of Matt Lauer, so NBC didn't exactly fire him because of a complaint as much as they did to get out ahead of a report that makes it pretty goddamn clear that management — and probably the legal department — knew about Lauer's pattern of sexual harassment and assault for a very long time, but did nothing about it until they got wind of Variety's investigation.

The piece by Ramin Setoodeh and Elizabeth Wagmeister is headlined "Matt Lauer Accused of Sexual Harassment by Multiple Women." As I noted on Twitter, the headline is incorrect, because the story details, among Lauer's many acts of gross misconduct, his exposing himself to female colleagues without their consent. That is not merely "sexual harassment" just because it happened in a workplace. Flashing is criminal.


That's hardly the only problem with the story: There are a number of curious phrases that reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of the most basic principle that abusers aren't all skulking creeps who live under rocks.

"Despite being married, Lauer was fixated on women, especially their bodies and looks," the authors write, as though wives magically fix harmful men. "In front of the camera, for more than two decades, Lauer had positioned himself as America's squeaky-clean dad. But behind the scenes, Lauer was a different person," they tell us, as though "squeaky-clean dad" and "abuser" are inherently incompatible and thus mutually exclusive. They are not.

But between the problematic writing there is informative reporting on Lauer's history of abuse, as disclosed by some of his former female colleagues. Among those revelations is this:
His office was in a secluded space, and he had a button under his desk that allowed him to lock his door from the inside without getting up. This afforded him the assurance of privacy. It allowed him to welcome female employees and initiate inappropriate contact while knowing nobody could walk in on him, according to two women who were sexually harassed by Lauer.
There is no way that Matt Lauer requested that button, that it was approved and installed, without NBC management being aware of it and understanding its purpose.

And then there is this: "Several women told Variety they complained to executives at the network about Lauer's behavior, which fell on deaf ears given the lucrative advertising surrounding 'Today.' NBC declined to comment." I'm sure they did.

Especially since that flies in the face of NBC News Chair Andy Lack's contention that the recent complaint which supposedly prompted Lauer's firing was "the first complaint about his behavior in the over twenty years he's been at NBC News."

NBC knew. And they chose to abet Lauer's harassment and assault of his female colleagues. Right up until another news organization decided to expose him.

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I Have Questions

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, November 29, 2017
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I don't know the precise answer to any of these questions, but I know that the answer to all of them is >0.

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Daily Dose of Cute

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, November 29, 2017
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image of Deeky stretched out on my couch with a pillow over his face; Sophie the Torbie Cat is sitting atop the pillow

On Thanksgiving, which was also Deeky's birthday this year, Deeks was stretched out on the sofa after our marathon cooking session followed by our marathon eating session. He put a pillow over his face and, within approximately 3 nanoseconds, Sophie had hopped up on the pillow. "Your face is mine now, peasant!"

image of Deeks' hand reaching up to pet Sophie while she sits on the pillow on his face
LOL!

As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.

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We Resist: Day 314

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, November 29, 2017
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a black bar with the word RESIST in white text

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 in the news today:

Earlier today by me: Matt Lauer Fired for "Inappropriate Sexual Behavior".

Donald Trump's morning tweetshitz were really something today. He engaged in a little more press intimidation by tweeting this horseshit at Joe Scarborough:


[Content Note: Islamophobia] Trump also retweeted Islamophobic hate messages from the deputy leader of white nationalist group Britain First, one of which purported to show a Muslim man abusing a white child but was actually a white man abusing a white child.

When asked to address Trump's retweet of the mendacious, inflammatory video, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said it doesn't even matter if it's real, because he's only using it as propaganda to fearmonger on behalf of his agenda, anyway.


That is just extraordinary. We are so far through the looking glass that literally nothing matters anymore. Terrifying.

* * *

[CN: Sexual harassment and/or assault] Garrison Keillor has also been sacked for "sexual misconduct," just a day after defending Al Franken in an op-ed for the Washington Post.


Perhaps one day our reprehensibly irresponsible press — and everyone else in this consent-forsaken society — will finally learn that defending sexual abusers is a big red flag.

* * *

Philip Bump at the Washington Post: Deeply Unpopular Congress Aims to Pass Deeply Unpopular Bill for Deeply Unpopular President to Sign. "It's not odd that Republicans are pushing for a tax bill that's tilted toward business and the wealthy. ...Republicans control the House, they control the Senate, they control the White House. This tax bill is the Republican agenda, and advancing political priorities when you have the majority is how representative democracy works. It's just that everything about it is so unpopular." Yes. The Republicans continue to govern like a party that believes they never have to worry about winning fair elections ever again. I wonder why that might be. Cough.

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Toluse Olorunnipa at Bloomberg: Trump's Tax Promises Undercut by CEO Plans to Reward Investors. "Major companies including Cisco Systems Inc., Pfizer Inc., and Coca-Cola Co. say they'll turn over most gains from proposed corporate tax cuts to their shareholders, undercutting [Donald] Trump's promise that his plan will create jobs and boost wages for the middle class." They're just outright admitting it. The money from tax cuts is going straight to the top. Like I keep saying: This is class warfare. This is a wealth redistribution upwards plan.


* * *

Zoe Tillman at BuzzFeed: A Judge Won't Stop Trump from Installing His Own Pick to Lead the CFPB. "A federal judge on Tuesday handed a win to the Trump administration in the latest fight over the scope of [Donald] Trump's authority, denying a request for an emergency order to block Trump from appointing Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, as the acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. US District Judge Timothy Kelly, announcing his decision from the bench on Tuesday afternoon, said that Leandra English — the CFPB official suing Trump and Mulvaney and claiming to be the rightful acting director — had failed to show that she was likely to succeed in her lawsuit at this stage of the case. ...The fact that Trump nominated Kelly hasn't been raised as an issue in the case." This is what authoritarianism looks like.

And this is what warmongering looks like:


Remember: Lindsey Graham is supposed to be the last moderate Republican. Welp.

Steve LeVine at Axios: McKinsey: Automation May Wipe Out 1/3 of America's Workforce by 2030. "In a new study that is optimistic about automation yet stark in its appraisal of the challenge ahead, McKinsey says massive government intervention will be required to hold societies together against the ravages of labor disruption over the next 13 years. Up to 800 million people — including a third of the work force in the U.S. and Germany — will be made jobless by 2030, the study says. The bottom line: The economy of most countries will eventually replace the lost jobs, the study says, but many of the unemployed will need considerable help to shift to new work, and salaries could continue to flatline. 'It's a Marshall Plan size of task,' Michael Chui, lead author of the McKinsey report, tells Axios." Trump is not up to the task. And the GOP has no interest in a universal basic income. We are so fucked.

And finally: Please take time today to make your calls about Net Neutrality!


What have you been reading that we need to resist today?

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The What Happened Book Club

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, November 29, 2017
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image of Hillary Clinton's book 'What Happened' sitting on my dining room table, with my Hillary action figure standing on top of the book, her arms raised over her head

This is the eighth installment of the What Happened Book Club, where we are doing a chapter a week.

That pace will hopefully allow people who need time to procure the book a better chance to catch up, and let us deal with the book in manageable pieces: I figured we will have a lot to talk about, and one thread for the entire book would quickly get overwhelming.

So! Let us continue our discussion with Chapter Eight: Turning Mourning into a Movement.

* * *

This was a tough chapter to read, because it is always hard to read the stories of young Black people killed by gun violence and/or police brutality, and the stories of children and educators and police killed by gun violence.

It was also a hard chapter because it was the most "political" chapter so far. It's an indication of how truly politicized gun laws are in the United States that, in a book where Hillary Clinton is extremely personal, and in a chapter where she speaks so frankly about being moved and compelled by the Mothers of the Movement and gun violence survivors and parents of children killed in school shootings, here is where her words are most stilted and careful.

There are times, however, when she does not — or cannot — conceal her thoughts about the importance of gun restrictions and racial justice. This passage in particular stood out to me, for its contempt directed at Bernie Sanders and Democrats who would follow his dangerous lead:
I'm sure that some of my fellow Democrats will look at this high-priced onslaught and conclude, as many have in the past, that standing up to the NRA just isn't worth it. Some may put gun safety on the chopping block alongside reproductive rights as "negotiable," so as not to distract from populist economics. Who knows — the same might happen to criminal justice reform and racial justice more broadly. That would be a terrible mistake. Democrats should not respond to my defeat by retreating from our strong commitments on these life-or-death issues. The vast majority of Americans agree that we need to do more on gun safety. This is a debate we can win if we keep at it.
Her greatest contempt, of course, was reserved for the Republican Party — and its president.

She briefly but pointedly addressed the time Donald Trump suggested that the "Second Amendment people" find a way to stop her before she appointed liberal (anti-gun) justices to the Supreme Court. And of course her response was classic Hillary: "I was particularly concerned that if a 'Second Amendment person' came after me, he'd be coming after my security detail of Secret Service agents."

If that doesn't tell you what kind of person Hillary Clinton is, I don't know what could. Trump calls for her assassination, and her particular concern is that it put in danger the people tasked with protecting her.

That alone makes her more qualified to be president than Donald Trump ever could be.

Decency is aggressively underrated.

Especially in politics.

* * *


Although it's from the next chapter of What Happened, which we'll discuss in its entirety next week, I also want to take a moment to highlight the section on Matt Lauer and the Commander in Chief Forum, which I noted earlier as an example of Lauer's unequal treatment of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during the campaign.

Here are (some of) Hillary's words on that event, which take on even greater meaning in light of today's news about Lauer's history of sexual harassment and/or assault:
"The decisions a Commander in Chief makes can have a profound and lasting impact on all Americans, but none more so than the brave men and women who serve, fight, and die for our country." That was Matt Lauer introducing NBC's "Commander in Chief Forum" from the deck of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Intrepid on September 7, 2016. I was standing just offstage listening to his introduction, nodding my head.

Lauer promised the forum would be an opportunity to "talk about national security and the complex global issues that face our nation." That's exactly what I wanted. With Election Day just two months away, it was time to have a serious discussion about each candidate's qualifications to be President and how he or she would lead the country. This wouldn't be a formal debate with me and Donald Trump onstage at the same time. Instead, we'd each do our own thirty-minute session answering questions from Lauer and the audience. I was confident that with a real focus on substance and a clear contrast of our records, Americans would see that I was ready to be Commander in Chief, and Donald Trump was dangerously unprepared.

[...]

Lauer and NBC were promoting this forum as a chance to finally get serious about foreign policy and national security. [...] He began with a broad question about the most important characteristic that a Commander in Chief can possess. I used my answer to talk about steadiness, a quality that nobody ever associates with Donald Trump. Lauer cut in to say, "You're talking about judgment." That wasn't what I was talking about, exactly, but it was close enough. "Temperament and judgment, yes," I replied.

I've been around the block enough times to know that something bad was coming. Lauer had the look of someone proud of himself for having laid a clever trap.

"The word judgment has been used a lot around you, Secretary Clinton, over the last year and a half, and in particular concerning your use of your personal email and server to communicate while you were Secretary of State," Lauer said. "You've said it's a mistake. You said you made not the best choice. You were communicating on highly sensitive topics. Why wasn't it more than a mistake? Why wasn't it disqualifying, if you want to be Commander in Chief?"

It was disappointing but predictable that he had so quickly steered the supposedly high-minded "Commander in Chief Forum" to the subject of emails, months after the director of the FBI had announced there was no case and closed the investigation. I understood that every political reporter wanted his or her pound of flesh. But Lauer had already grilled me about emails in an interview back in April. I figured this must be about "balance."

[...]

Here I was, facing the blurring in real time, with a charlatan waiting in the wings. But what could I do? I launched into my standard answer on the emails, the one I'd given a thousand times before. [...] Instead of moving to any of a hundred urgent national security issues, from the civil war in Syria, to the Iranian nuclear agreement, to the threat from North Korea — the issues this forum was supposed to be about — Lauer stayed on emails. He asked four follow-ups. Meanwhile, the clock was ticking, and my thirty minutes to discuss serious foreign policy challenges were slipping away.

Finally, after learning absolutely nothing new or interesting, Lauer turned to a question from one of the veterans NBC had picked to be in the audience. He was a self-described Republican, a former Navy lieutenant who had served in the first Gulf War, and he promptly repeated the right-wing talking point about how my email use would have landed anyone else in prison. Then he asked how could he trust me as President "when you clearly corrupted our national security?"

Now I was ticked off. NBC knew exactly what it was doing here. The network was treating this like an episode of The Apprentice, in which Trump stars and ratings soar. Lauer had turned what should have been a serious discussion into a pointless ambush. What a waste of time.
Lauer was hunting her: He laid a trap and then he pounced. It was an ambush.

At the time, many feminist political commentators noted that Lauer's behavior was profoundly misogynist, only to be (as per usual) shouted down and accused of seeing sexism where none exists.

Let me be perfectly blunt: What we saw was Lauer behaving like a misogynist predator in ways that are familiar to women who study and document these patterns.

At some point, it might be both wise and valuable to start listening to women.

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Update from Shakes Manor

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, November 29, 2017
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As promised, here's a quick update for those who want one on Olivia and Matilda...

Livs continues to recover nicely from her surgery to remove a mammary tumor. She has had surgery two other times in her life, when she was much younger, and both times she came out of anaesthesia roaring and ready to go and immediately resumed her normal schedule of high-velocity naughtiness. This time has been no different, even though she's now 13 years old. She is a tank!

And our adventures with the cone continued to delight last night and this morning, lol.


Meanwhile, the vet called me about this sassy old rag late yesterday.

image of Matilda the Fuzzy Sealpoint Cat stretched out on the carpet

Her blood work shows she does indeed have hyperthyroidism, which was the best possible outcome of the likely issues. Yay! So we just have to pick up her meds and get her started on them, and she should be feeling better in no time.

Iain and I are, as you can imagine, very relieved to have both of our girls on the mend. ♥

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Matt Lauer Fired for "Inappropriate Sexual Behavior"

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, November 29, 2017
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[Content Note: Sexual harassment and/or assault. Video may autoplay at first link.]

Today host Matt Lauer has been fired by NBC after an allegation that he sexually assaulted a colleague, whom his bosses had reason to believe may have been only one of many victims.

NBC News Chair Andy Lack issued a statement to employees reading in its entirety:

Dear Colleagues,

On Monday night, we received a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by Matt Lauer. It represented, after serious review, a clear violation of our company's standards. As a result, we've decided to terminate his employment. While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over twenty years he's been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident.

Our highest priority is to create a workplace environment where everyone feels safe and protected, and to ensure that any actions that run counter to our core values are met with consequences, no matter who the offender.

We are deeply saddened by this turn of events. But we will face it together as a news organization — and do it in as transparent a manner as we can. To that end, Noah and I will be meeting with as many of you as possible throughout the day today to answer your questions.

Andy
Let's just be real clear: If Lauer has indeed sexually harassed and/or assaulted multiple colleagues over 20 years, none of whom have come forward until now, NBC has utterly failed to "create a workplace environment where everyone feels safe and protected." And that isn't going to change by magic. They have a hell of a lot of work to do.

That starts with acknowledging their failure to heed any of the many red flags about Lauer's rank misogyny over the years.


Just the tip of an enormous iceberg. Of what we could all see. Because we was doing it right on live television.

Yet we're meant to believe he was subtle and surreptitious about his treatment of women behind the scenes? Somehow I doubt that.

When Lauer's former co-host, Ann Curry, was ousted from Today, there was all sorts of speculation as to why. But I will never forget this quote: "Curry felt that the boys' club atmosphere behind the scenes at Today undermined her from the start, and she told friends that her final months were a form of professional torture."

A form of professional torture.

And Lack purports that this is all a big shock to NBC management. Welp.

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Open Thread

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, November 29, 2017
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image of a red couch

Hosted by a red sofa. Have a seat and chat.

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Question of the Day

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, November 28, 2017
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Suggested by Shaker catvoncat: "I saw this one on Twitter recently and thought the responses were really interesting: Best ever use of a song in a television episode?"

I realize that this question is intended to mean the best use of an existing song, but honestly my answer to this question has to be Andy Dwyer's tribute song to Li'l Sebastian on Parks and Recreation — a song fully five thousand times greater than "Candle in the Wind," thus titled "Five Thousand Candles in the Wind."


That will never not make me laugh and cry.

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Discussion Thread: Self-Care

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, November 28, 2017
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What are you doing to do to take care of yourself today, or in the near future, as soon as you can?

If you are someone who has a hard time engaging in self-care, or figuring out easy, fast, and/or inexpensive ways to treat yourself, and you would like to solicit suggestions, please feel welcome. And, as always, no one should offer advice unless it is solicited.

* * *

I am going to carve out two hours to watch a beloved movie. I don't know when I'm going to find the time, and I don't know what movie it's going to be, but SOON and PROBABLY DIRTY DANCING because NOBODY PUTS BABY IN A CORNER.

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North Korea's Provocation Continues

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, November 28, 2017
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Earlier today, North Korea launched another missile, continuing their provocation of their neighbors and the global community.


Yeah. That all sounds about right.

I wish I had something insightful to say about this latest missile launch. I don't. It's simultaneously frightening and incredibly fucking stupid.

And I desperately wish we had another president. Now and every other moment.

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Obviously the Trumps Were Going to Ruin Christmas

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, November 28, 2017
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And they've already started, in quite spectacular fashion! The White House Christmas decorations are really something.


If you can't view the image embedded in the tweet, it's a picture of a long hall at the White House, both sides of which are lined with darkly lit potted stick configurations, casting eerie shadows on the ceiling, leading to a tiny and dim Christmas tree at the end of the hall. It basically looks like a stage from Pan's Labyrinth.

Here comes Santa Claus...to drag you into the Upside Down!

MERRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS!

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Daily Dose of Cute

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, November 28, 2017
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image of Zelda the Black and Tan Mutt sitting in the living room, looking adorable
Zelly Belly, in one of her many impossibly adorable postures.

As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.

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We Resist: Day 313

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, November 28, 2017
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a black bar with the word RESIST in white text

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 in the news today:

Earlier today by me: On That NYT Profile of a Nazi, The President Prominently Reminds Us He Is a White Supremacist, and This Is Class Warfare.

Elana Schor at Politico: Schumer, Pelosi Cancel Meeting with Trump. "Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi said they will not attend a meeting at the White House Tuesday after [Donald] Trump slammed them in a tweet. 'Given that the President doesn't see a deal between Democrats and the White House, we believe the best path forward is to continue negotiating with our Republican counterparts in Congress instead,' the Senate and House minority leaders said in a statement." So everything is going great, as usual.

Caitlin MacNeal at TPM: Top State Department Staffer Leaves Post After 3 Months. "A senior official at the State Department tasked with reorganizing the agency has left the position just three months after she was appointed to the position. Bloomberg News was first to report Maliz Beams' departure from her role as counselor on Monday night, and several outlets later confirmed that she has resigned. Deputy chief of staff Christine Ciccone will take over Beams' efforts to restructure the agency, per Bloomberg News. Beams' resignation follows acknowledgement from the State Department that the plans to restructure the agency have caused morale to plummet." Well, it's not like we need a functioning State Department, anyway, right?


Oh. Speaking of Russia...

Sarah Kendzior with Lindsay Beyerstein at Rewire: On the 'Oligarch Envy' Haunting [Donald] Trump. An excerpt from the podcast (the transcript for which is available in PDF):
I think that, especially in the second half of the Obama administration, they were not on the ball in terms of how they dealt with Russia generally. …I think they underestimated the capacity of Russia to intervene in foreign countries to the degree that they have. And the other thing, of course, that they did was to not go public with all of this earlier. Like the intelligence agencies were aware of the situation by mid-2016. Harry Reid had written about it publicly and asked people like Comey to go public, and I think that some of the skepticism that's been expressed towards this is that it was talked about much more after the election than before. So that made it seem partisan, like 'oh, people are just angry and they want to blame Russia, and they're upset that Trump is in, and this is a way to get it out.' It's like, no, this is a nonpartisan, national security problem. And the sooner people grasp that, the better, because it really does affect everybody. And so I do wish that the Obama administration had handled things differently.

…And I mean, in one sense I understand, because of course the Republicans would have attacked Obama, and of course they would have framed it as partisan, and of course the media would've framed it as partisan. But just because they're going to do that doesn't make it true. And there would have been no good time. They should've just gone forward, because it's their obligation as elected officials who serve the public to inform the public of a national security threat. That's the reason. And they would've had to fend off people like Mitch McConnell, who has expressed out loud that that was his intent, was to try to reframe this as some sort of partisan plot, and that itself is very disturbing. That's not really the way he should be thinking about a threat like this. But, you know, it's what they needed to do, and they didn't do it.
Yup.

Katie Zavadski at the Daily Beast: Feds Flip Turkish Crook; Did He Rat on Michael Flynn? "Reza Zarrab, a Turkish businessman accused of violating U.S. sanctions on Iran, pleaded guilty and will testify against his co-defendant, a federal court heard Tuesday. Zarrab's cooperation with federal prosecutors could have implications for Michael Flynn, who allegedly plotted on behalf of Turkish interests to help free Zarrab. Zarrab, a 34-year-old Turkish-Iranian gold trader, is at the center of an Iran sanctions-busting case in which he used his companies and Turkish state-run banks to trade cash for gold in order to secretly buy oil from Iran. A former deputy general manager of one of those banks, Mehmet Atilla, is charged as part of that same conspiracy. ...Zarrab's apparent cooperation with federal prosecutors raised speculation that he was also cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry into Flynn, because it seemed unlikely prosecutors would offer a plea deal to Zarrab in exchange for his cooperation for the comparatively lower-profile trial of Atilla."

Steve Dorsey at CBS News: Uzbekistan Incident Raises Suspicions of Russian Involvement in Cuba Attacks. "A newly revealed incident reported by a USAID officer who is based at the American embassy in Uzbekistan is raising suspicions Russia may have been involved and could have had a hand in bizarre attacks targeting U.S. diplomats in Cuba, according to American sources. In September, the officer and his wife reported, according to one source familiar with the incident, what may have been at least one acoustic attack similar to those experienced by the diplomats in Havana. ...The State Department declined to describe in detail the incident in Tashkent." Um.

* * *

[Content Note: Rape culture; sexual harassment and assault. Covers entire section.]

Shawn Boburg, Aaron C. Davis, and Alice Crites at the Washington Post: A Woman Approached The Post with Dramatic — and False — Tale about Roy Moore: She Appears to Be Part of Undercover Sting Operation.
A woman who falsely claimed to The Washington Post that Roy Moore, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Alabama, impregnated her as a teenager appears to work with an organization that uses deceptive tactics to secretly record conversations in an effort to embarrass its targets.

In a series of interviews over two weeks, the woman shared a dramatic story about an alleged sexual relationship with Moore in 1992 that led to an abortion when she was 15. During the interviews, she repeatedly pressed Post reporters to give their opinions on the effects that her claims could have on Moore's candidacy if she went public.

The Post did not publish an article based on her unsubstantiated account. When Post reporters confronted her with inconsistencies in her story and an Internet posting that raised doubts about her motivations, she insisted that she was not working with any organization that targets journalists.

But on Monday morning, Post reporters saw her walking into the New York offices of Project Veritas, an organization that targets the mainstream news media and left-leaning groups. The organization sets up undercover "stings" that involve using false cover stories and covert video recordings meant to expose what the group says is media bias.
One of the most important takeaways from this incident is that false stories are, contrary to popular opinion, not widely believed and reported. Here is a perfect example of how a false story did not pass even cursory scrutiny and was thus not published.


And Trump, of course, has endorsed Roy Moore. Cough.

Nicole Lafond at TPM: Top Minnesota Newspaper: Franken Apology Falls Short on Sincerity. "Saying it may not be possible to 'regain Minnesotans' trust,' the editorial staff at the Minneapolis Star Tribune said Sen. Al Franken's (D-MN) apology for the allegations of sexual misconduct that have come out against him in recent weeks doesn't go far enough. ...'With a Senate ethics investigation looming, Franken remains on politically shaky ground,' they wrote. 'It's debatable whether he is, as he said, 'holding myself accountable.' Without saying he didn't do it, he nevertheless has countered every allegation except the one that carries indisputable proof — the infamous photo of him appearing to grab at (Leeann) Tweeden while she slept. Under such circumstances, Franken's apology is less a statement of accountability and more akin to 'I'm sorry for what you think I did.''"

As Ana Mardoll has observed in an important thread, "the Senate ethics committee exists to protect senators." It's not to hold them accountable. Quite the opposite, unfortunately.

George Hunter at the Detroit News: Second Ex-Staffer Accuses Conyers of Sexual Harassment. "A former staffer of U.S. Rep. John Conyers said the veteran lawmaker made unwanted sexual advances toward her, including inappropriate touching, adding to allegations by other unnamed former employees that have prompted a congressional investigation. Deanna Maher, who worked for him from 1997 to 2005, told The Detroit News that the Detroit Democrat made unwanted advances toward her three times. Maher is the second former Conyers staffer to go public with accusations about the veteran lawmaker. Conyers on Sunday stepped aside as the the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee amid a congressional ethics probe of sexual harassment allegations involving former staffers."


And in case you hadn't had yet enough rape apologia lately...


Maude save me. I just about can't take any more.

* * *

[CN: War on agency] Jessica Mason Pieklo at Rewire: Second-Trimester Abortion Ban Could Hit the Supreme Court. "Last week a federal district court ruled unconstitutional a Texas provision that bans the most common form of second-trimester abortions. The decision was an important win in what is emerging as the next big fight over abortion rights: criminalizing abortion procedures and providers in the name of promoting 'fetal life.' But it's not the end of the road. With the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sitting in the middle of this fight, there is a good chance it will make its way all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. If and when that happens, abortion rights advocates have to hope Justice Anthony Kennedy is on their side — and it's not so clear he will be." Goddammit.

[CN: Homophobia; bullying; self-harm] Andy Towle at Towleroad: San Diego Teen Was Taunted with Anti-Gay Slurs on Social Media Before Killing Himself. "A San Diego teen was bullied with homophobic slurs on Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook and his mother went to the school to complain. Hours after an 'incident' at school which his mother was told about, 14-year-old German Aramburo-Guzman killed himself. ...If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgment-free place to talk, call the TrevorLifeline now at 866-488-7386." My condolences to German's family, friends, kind classmates, and community.

[CN: Homophobia; abduction; rape; torture] Katharine Swindells at Pink News: Lesbian Couple Raped, Beaten, and Held Prisoner for Days Without Food or Water. "A married lesbian couple in Indiana have reported being held prisoner for days, being beaten, and denied food or water. Three men and one woman, aged in their 20s and 30s, face a swathe of charges for the crime, including kidnapping, criminal confinement, battery, and rape." Goddammit. They are so lucky to have survived, and thankfully it seems as though law enforcement are taking this very seriously.

[CN: Racism; violence] Auditi Guha at Rewire: Asian Americans See Spike in Hate-Based Violence in Trump Era. "[Numerous attacks have been] reported by Asians, as documented by Asian Americans Advancing Justice, a national group advocating for the civil and human rights of Asian Americans and other underserved communities. The stories collected via a new website, often anonymously, and the toll-free number 1-844-9-NOHATE, indicates that Asians in the United States have not been spared amid the documented rise in hate crime and anti-immigrant sentiment that defines the Trump era. 'It's been very intense. We've seen houses of worship denigrated, people attacked, even killed,' said Aarti Kohli, executive director of the Asian Law Caucus of Asian Americans Advancing Justice." Fucking hell.

[CN: Gun violence; revictimization] Sam Levin and Lois Beckett at the Guardian: U.S. Gun Violence Spawns a New Epidemic: Conspiracy Theorists Harassing Victims. "As record-breaking mass shootings have become a ritual of life in the US, survivors and victims' families across the country have increasingly faced an onslaught of social media abuse and viral slander. Bullying from the ugliest corners of the internet overwhelms the grief-stricken as they struggle to cope with the greatest horror they've ever experienced. The cycles of hoaxer harassment are now as predictable as mass shootings. And yet those with the most power to stop the spread of conspiracy theories have done little to address victims' cries for help." Seethe.

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Jennifer Jacobs and Justin Sink at Bloomberg: White House Weighs Personal Mobile Phone Ban for Staff. "The White House may ban its employees from using personal mobile phones while at work, raising concerns among some staffers including that they'll be cut off from family and friends, according to seven administration officials. ...The White House already takes precautions with personal wireless devices, including by requiring officials to leave phones in cubbies outside of meeting rooms where sensitive or classified information is discussed. Top officials haven't yet decided whether or when to impose the ban, and if it would apply to all staff in the executive office of the president. While some lower-level officials support a ban, others worry it could result in a series of disruptive unintended consequences."

Alex Hern at the Guardian: Three-Quarters of Android Apps Track Users with Third Party Tools. "More than three in four Android apps contain at least one third-party 'tracker,' according to a new analysis of hundreds of apps. The study by French research organisation Exodus Privacy and Yale University's Privacy Lab analysed the mobile apps for the signatures of 25 known trackers, which use various techniques to glean personal information about users to better target them for advertisements and services. Among the apps found to be using some sort of tracking plugin were some of the most popular apps on the Google Play Store, including Tinder, Spotify, Uber, and OKCupid. All four apps use a service owned by Google, called Crashlytics, that primarily tracks app crash reports, but can also provide the ability to 'get insight into your users, what they're doing, and inject live social content to delight them.'"

Craig Silverman at BuzzFeed: Social Platforms Promised a Level Playing Field for All; the Russian Trolls Showed That Was Never True.
The Russian effort exploited one of the great promises of social platforms — a level playing field — to blend in with other content being pushed out during and after the election. Russian propaganda mixed with an avalanche of hyperpartisan political content, which itself inspired fabricated news stories from fake news publishers, which were in turn copied and pushed out by hundreds of young Macedonian spammers. These messages, stories, and memes traveled in the very same containers and pathways as their legitimate counterparts, across platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

These platforms blur the lines between people, entities, and types of content. Accounts can be people or companies or governments. Multiple Facebook pages or Twitter accounts can be run by the same people, but you'd never know to look at them. A tweet or Facebook post can be turned into an ad, which can then accrue additional reach thanks to people engaging with it in a genuine way. Everyone is here and anyone can be anything!
Until nothing matters. Which is, perhaps, the most important thing we need to #resist.

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?

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This Is Class Warfare

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, November 28, 2017
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One of the most common rhetorical fallacies in U.S. politics is that raising taxes on wealthy people to help fund social programs for people in need is "class warfare." That is not class warfare. That is a basic economic necessity to maintain anything resembling a functional capitalist society.

We hear an awful lot about how taxation of the wealthy constitutes "a war on the rich" and is part of a "wealth redistribution" scheme to give away rich folks' hard-earned money to layabouts who refuse to provide for themselves with an honest day's work.

That is a lie. It is also a perfect projection of the reality of conservative economic policy — which is entirely dedicated to giving working people as little compensation as possible and then taking even more in taxation, to subsidize and reward the lazy lifestyles of a class comprised of investors, heirs, and people who themselves might have worked very hard once upon a time but now spend their days guarding piles of gold coins like insatiable dragons.

"Class warfare" is economic policy that is designed to plunder wealth from the lower classes and redistribute it upwards to create ever higher concentrates among the already-wealthy.

The Republicans' tax plan is class warfare. It isn't going to help anyone but people who already have more than they could ever need and whose only objective is collecting even more.

Here are a few things to read about their execrable scam today:

Catherine Rampell at the Washington Post: Why Are Republicans in Such a Rush to Pass Tax Reform? To Outrun the Truth. "[Republican Senators' priority is] jamming through their plutocratic, sloppy tax overhaul as quickly as possible. By 'as quickly as possible,' I mean as soon as this week, which would be a mere month after the first draft of the GOP tax bill was introduced in the House. For comparison, the last time such a major overhaul happened — during the Reagan administration — the process took more than two years. And it included dozens of hearings and consultations with voters, tax practitioners, and experts."

Paul Krugman at the New York Times: The Biggest Tax Scam in History. "The bill Republican leaders are trying to ram through this week without hearings, without time for even a basic analysis of its likely economic impact, is the biggest tax scam in history. It's such a big scam that it's not even clear who's being scammed — middle-class taxpayers, people who care about budget deficits, or both. One thing is clear, however: One way or another, the bill would hurt most Americans. The only big winners would be the wealthy — especially those who mainly collect income from their assets rather than working for a living — plus tax lawyers and accountants who would have a field day exploiting the many loopholes the legislation creates."

Caitlin Owens at Axios: Report: Tax Reform Might Not Produce That Much Growth. "The GOP tax bill will not produce enough economic growth to pay for itself, which will add to the federal deficit, according to a report by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. The report analyzes a series of estimates by both right- and left-leaning groups." #NoShit

Perry Bacon Jr. at FiveThirtyEight: 10 Senate Republicans Who Could Tank the Tax Bill. "The vote count in the Senate seems fairly simple at this point. Fourteen Republicans already voted for the legislation when it was considered by the Senate Finance Committee, and 28 other members have either praised the bill or not yet publicly indicated any kind of serious disagreement. That leaves 10 Republicans to watch, with Republicans needing to get support from at least eight of them."

Damian Paletta at the Washington Post: Trump Could Personally Benefit from Last-Minute Change to Senate Tax Bill.

Last-minute changes to the Senate tax bill could personally benefit [Donald] Trump, who has investment stakes in roughly 500 entities that could be affected by the planned adjustments.

Republicans are seriously considering expanding a new tax credit that these types of entities use to lower their taxable income in a way that benefits most people tied to these firms. Trump and other senior administration officials have been in personal contact with lawmakers about the changes.

The changes focus on "pass-through" entities, companies that direct income through the individual income tax code and not the corporate tax code. There are millions of these entities, and they are most often sole proprietorships, limited liability companies or partnerships. Trump's stakes in these entities include many large and small ventures, including the Trump Organization.

Trump's 2005 tax return showed that he had more than $109 million in income from businesses, partnerships, and pass-through entities, although he has not released updated figures, so the precise impact is not known.
Of course.

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The President Prominently Reminds Us He Is a White Supremacist

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, November 28, 2017
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[Content Note: Racism; racist and misogynist slur.]

Ali Vitali at NBC News: Trump Calls Warren 'Pocahontas' at Event Honoring Native Americans.

Donald Trump revived his derogatory nickname for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on Monday, referring to her as "Pocahontas" during an event honoring Native American veterans at the White House.

Trump told the veterans: "You were here long before any of us were here. Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas."

After making the crack, Trump turned to one of the Navajo code talkers, who served in World War II, and said: "But you know what? I like you. Because you are special. You are special people, you are really incredible people."

He spoke under the watchful eye of a portrait of President Andrew Jackson, known for his forceful removals of Native Americans from their ancestral lands.
Just a clusterfuck of white supremacist, patriarchal hatred. Also just another day in Donald Trump's White House.

Naturally, many Native Americans were profoundly upset (if entirely unsurprised) by Trump's behavior. Jefferson Keel, the president of the National Congress of American Indians and also a combat veteran, said in a statement: "We regret that the president's use of the name Pocahontas as a slur to insult a political adversary is overshadowing the true purpose of today's White House ceremony. Today was about recognizing the remarkable courage and invaluable contributions of our Native code talkers."

It was supposed to be, anyway. But every day in Donald Trump's White House is about Donald Trump. First, foremost, and forever.

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On That NYT Profile of a Nazi

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, November 28, 2017
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[Content Note: Nazism; white supremacy; normalization of eliminationism.]

Over the weekend, the New York Times published a profile of a white supremacist, originally titled "In America's Heartland, the Nazi Sympathizer Next Door," and currently retitled "A Voice of Hate in America's Heartland" after an enormous amount of blowback.


It's also a case study in what I mean when I talk about the perfidy of civility: Writing about a Nazi's "manners" and his "politeness" is just about the most dishonest and pointless trash I can imagine. Like I give a fuck if someone is wearing a top hat and a monocle as they wage an eliminationist campaign against brown people and curb-stomp me for being a race traitor.

Anyway, here are two very good rebuttals to the piece that you should definitely read:

1. killermartinis at Wonkette: New York Times's Nazi Profile Was Better in Original German.

2. Anna Merlan and Brendan O'Connor at Splinter: Here Are Some Facts and Questions About That Nazi the New York Times Failed to Note.

I will just end with this thought: It simply isn't necessary to "humanize" Nazis. We are well aware they are human. What is critical to convey and report is not their humanity, but their diligently cultivated refusal to acknowledge the humanity of the people who are targets of their vile hatred.

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Update from Shakes Manor

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, November 28, 2017
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As I mentioned last week, Olivia had to have surgery yesterday. The surgery went well, and she's now home, beginning her recovery with some headgear about which she's really not pleased.

image of Olivia the White Farm Cat in a plastic collar tied on with a purple ribbon

By 3am last night, she'd wriggled out of it. So I'm guessing that keeping it on is going to be a struggle. Ms. Olivia Twist doesn't like anything that impedes her ability to eat even slightly.

It's going to become increasingly important to win that battle, though, because as her sutures start getting itchy as the incision heals, she'll definitely want to mess with it. And it needs a full two weeks to heal before we take her back to get the stitches out.

In other news, when we picked up Olivia from surgery, we had to take in Matilda for tests, because she's been feeling poorly, too.

image of Matilda the Fuzzy Sealpoint Cat in her crate at the vet's office

Like her sister, Matilda is so, so good at the vet. And she was being so tremendously silly (as usual) that the vet tech could not stop laughing at her antics.

We haven't gotten the results of Tilsy's tests yet, but we're hoping it's just hyperthyroidism, which is treatable, and should help with a significant heart murmur that the vet discovered yesterday.

It's been a rough few days for the old lady cats of Shakes Manor — and Iain and I are feeling a bit ragged, too. It's tough to see our girls in distress.

My deepest thanks to everyone who has sent good wishes. I'll keep y'all posted. ♥

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Open Thread

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, November 28, 2017
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Hosted by a turquoise sofa. Have a seat and chat.

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