We Resist: Day 467

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, May 01, 2018
View Comments

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 (plus the occasional non-Republican who obliges us to resist their nonsense, too, like we don't have enough to worry about) 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.

* * *

Earlier today by me: Mueller Has Questions for Trump, as Republicans Prepare Impeachment Papers for Rosenstein and People Are Lonely. You Can Be Visible Here. and Remember Puerto Rico.

Here are some more things in the news today...

[Content Note: Misogyny.]


Meanwhile, at the New York Times...


So the political press is doing great, as ever. Seethe.

* * *

Ben Brimelow at Business Insider: Benjamin Netanyahu Gives Bizarre Presentation Saying Iran Is Cheating on Nuclear Deal. "Standing in front of a massive screen, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday gave a PowerPoint presentation on Iran's nuclear program. He reached one conclusion: Iran had lied about its nuclear ambitions. 'Iran is brazenly lying,' Netanyahu said. 'The nuclear deal is based on lies.'"

And then, hours after that... Melanie Schmitz at ThinkProgress: White House Quietly Corrects Statement on Iran's Nuclear Capabilities, Hopes Nobody Will Notice.
On Monday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a press conference during which he laid out a trove of documents he claimed proved Iran was running a secret nuclear weapons program, in violation of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. "Iran lied, big time," he said.

In response to that presentation, the White House issued its own statement to reporters at around 7:30 p.m., according to CNN, condemning the "new" findings.

"The United States is aware of the information just released by Israel and continues to examine it carefully," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote in an official statement. "These facts are consistent with what the United States has long known: Iran has a robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program that it has tried and failed to hide from the world and from its own people."

As the day wore on, however, it became obvious that the information Netanyahu had presented to the public was actually outdated — most of it from the period between 1993 and 2003, The Atlantic notes — and likely part of a broader scheme to convince Trump to withdraw the United States from the Iran agreement. An assessment by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Thursday, as well as one he gave in October, also contradicted Netanyahu's claim that the nuclear deal was ineffective.

The White House, perhaps hoping to avoid an incident, subsequently took stock of its situation and quietly issued a minor, but drastic correction to its initial statement at around 9:30 p.m. Monday night, posting the amended version to the WhiteHouse.gov website.

"These facts are consistent with what the United States has long known," the new statement read. "Iran had a robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program that it has tried and failed to hide from the world and from its own people."

The subtle swap from "has" to "had" shifted the tone of the statement substantially, pushing the administration's accusation from the present to the past tense.

The White House, unsurprisingly, did not issue a formal correction or publicize the change.
If anything mattered anymore, this would be a major scandal.

[CN: Video autoplays at link] By the way, if you haven't seen John Oliver's segment on Trump blowing up the Iran deal, I highly recommend watching it, if you are able.

* * *


Not just vulnerable. The Republicans are essentially publicly advertising that they will use stolen materials if any malicious actors offer them up. The collusion is right out in the open.

* * *

[CN: Misogyny; disablist language] John Kelly is a real turd, and I'm really exhausted with the expectation that we pretend otherwise. Moderating influence, my fat ass.


Traitors, for a start.

* * *

[CN: Misuse of "rape"] Anna R. Schecter at NBC News: Trump Doc Says Trump Bodyguard, Lawyer 'Raided' His Office, Took Medical Files.
In February 2017, a top White House aide who was Trump's longtime personal bodyguard, along with the top lawyer at the Trump Organization and a third man, showed up at the office of Trump's New York doctor without notice and took all the president's medical records.

The incident, which Dr. Harold Bornstein described as a "raid," took place two days after Bornstein told a newspaper that he had prescribed a hair growth medicine for the president for years.

In an exclusive interview in his Park Avenue office, Bornstein told NBC News that he felt "raped, frightened, and sad" when Keith Schiller and another "large man" came to his office to collect the president's records on the morning of Feb. 3, 2017. At the time, Schiller, who had long worked as Trump's bodyguard, was serving as director of Oval Office operations at the White House.

"They must have been here for 25 or 30 minutes. It created a lot of chaos," Bornstein said, who described the incident as frightening.

A framed 8x10 photo of Bornstein and Trump that had been hanging on the wall in the waiting room now lies flat under a stack of papers on the top shelf of Bornstein's bookshelf. Bornstein said the men asked him to take it off the wall.

Bornstein said he was not given a form authorizing the release of the records and signed by the president — known as a HIPAA release — which is a violation of patient privacy law. A person familiar with the matter said there was a letter to Bornstein from then-White House doctor Ronny Jackson, but didn't know if there was a release form attached.

Bornstein said the original and only copy of Trump's charts, including lab reports under Trump's name as well as under the pseudonyms his office used for Trump, were taken.

Another man, Trump Organization Chief Legal Officer Alan Garten, joined Schiller's team at Bornstein's office, and Bornstein's wife Melissa photocopied his business card. Garten declined to comment on this story.

Schiller, who left the White House in September 2017, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bornstein said that Trump cut ties with him after he told the New York Times that Trump takes Propecia, a drug for enlarged prostates that is often prescribed to stimulate hair growth in men.
What a truly weird fucking story. I'm sure we haven't heard the last of this, since it's pretty obvious this entire operation was to cover up something.

* * *

[CN: Nativism; abuse]


[CN: White supremacy; video may autoplay at link] Kia Morgan-Smith at the Grio: #MovingWhileBlack: How Ex-Obama Staffer Got Fingered as a Burglary Suspect by Six Cops. "Darren Martin, fresh off of working on Capitol Hill and in the White House under Obama's administration, had a jarring experience when the Bronx native made a move back to NYC. A neighbor called the cops on Martin who was unloading his belongings into his Upper West Side apartment when the police responded to a burglary call, reports New York's WPIX. Unfortunately it was Martin who was cited as the burglary suspect."

[CN: White supremacy] Leyland Cecco at the Guardian: #DiningWhileBlack: Toronto Restaurant Fined After Charging Customers Up Front. "When Emile Wickham and three friends arrived at a popular Chinese restaurant in Toronto, they were eager to unwind from a busy day at the university and celebrate Wickham's birthday. But after ordering their meal, the group was informed by staff at Hong Shing that they would be required to pay before they ate — a policy they were told applied to all patrons. Wickham and his friends soon discovered they were the only ones that had been asked to provide money up front. They were also the only black diners at the restaurant. 'I don't think I could adequately describe leaving that restaurant …We were so dejected,' Wickham told the Guardian."

[CN: Misogyny; stalking] Staff at the Daily Beast: Facebook Investigating Claim Employee Used Access to Stalk Women. "Facebook has confirmed it's investigating a claim that one of its employees used access to company data to stalk women online. 'Although we can't comment on any individual personnel matters, we are aware of the situation and investigating,' a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement to Motherboard. A spokesman told CBS News that it maintains 'strict technical controls' and 'policies to restrict employee access to user data.'" Sure. I trust that. (I don't trust that. At all.)

[CN: Misogyny; violence] Ashifa Kassam at the Guardian: Violence Against Women in Canada Is 'Pervasive and Systemic'. "Dubravka Šimonović, the UN's special rapporteur on violence against women, applauded the Canadian government, led by Justin Trudeau, for its commitment to championing the rights of women and girls — but she urged officials in the country to do more. 'Violence against women in Canada is still a serious, pervasive, and systemic problem: an unfinished business that requires urgent actions,' said Šimonović recently after 13 days spent travelling the country last month." Canada and literally everywhere else. Sob.

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

Open Wide...
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Remember Puerto Rico

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, May 01, 2018
View Comments

Hurricane season is right around the corner, and Puerto Rico is still reeling from the devastation of last year's hurricanes and the subsequent official neglect from the U.S. mainland as they've struggled to survive and rebuild.


Here are a few things you can do to support Puerto Rico:

1. Contact your Senators and representatives and urge them to stop neglecting Puerto Rico. Remind them that Puerto Ricans are Americans.

2. Share stories about Puerto Rico's progress and continuing need. Talk about Puerto Rico. Don't let the people around you forget that Puerto Rico has been abandoned in their time of need.

3. Donate, if you can, to one of the many organizations still doing work in Puerto Rico: The Hispanic Federation, Habitat for Humanity of Puerto Rico, ConPRmetidos, or UNICEF. That is not a comprehensive list; please feel welcome to link in comments additional organizations working on recovery in Puerto Rico.

4. Ariana Rosas Cárdenas at the Nation has more ideas about how you can help.

I take up space in solidarity with Puerto Rico.

Open Wide...
Labels: ,

People Are Lonely. You Can Be Visible Here.

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, May 01, 2018
View Comments

A new nationwide survey by Cigna has found that nearly half of U.S. Americans are lonely. Rhitu Chatterjee at NPR reports:

Using one of the best-known tools for measuring loneliness — the UCLA Loneliness Scale — Cigna surveyed 20,000 adults online across the country. The University of California, Los Angeles tool uses a series of statements and a formula to calculate a loneliness score based on responses. People scoring between 20 and 80 on the UCLA scale are considered lonely, with a higher score suggesting a greater level of loneliness and social isolation.

More than half of survey respondents — 54 percent — said they always or sometimes feel that no one knows them well. Fifty-six percent reported they sometimes or always felt like the people around them "are not necessarily with them." And 2 in 5 felt like "they lack companionship," that their "relationships aren't meaningful," and that they "are isolated from others."

The survey found that the average loneliness score in America is 44, which suggests that "most Americans are considered lonely," according to the report released Tuesday by the health insurer.
Loneliness is a major health issue — affecting both physical and mental health. It affects people of all ages, although this study found that younger people in the U.S. are currently more likely to feel lonely than older people. And, of course, this phenomenon is hardly unique to the United States, with loneliness being a concern in many other places around the world, too.

Previously, I have written about loneliness — my own and my desire to try to build a space that might alleviate others' loneliness.
I feel deeply for people who are lonely in a sustained way, and don't want to be.

There is community in this space, like many spaces, but it isn't always easy to get what you need to alleviate loneliness, even in a non-virtual room filled with people. Because sometimes it isn't company we need; it's to be seen. To matter.
And I'm keenly aware that it isn't always easy to feel like a part of an online community, when you can't find something to say. I have been thinking a lot lately about how the current state of politics changes the nature of commenting, too: Not everyone who wants to connect in this space wants to say something about the shitshow that is the relentless onslaught of bad news.

I've been trying to create a balance there, by offering more, and more frequent, threads on non-newsy subjects, and by opening lots of threads where we can just talk about how things are going.

Which definitely offers a way to connect for lots of Shakers, but still leaves out a lot of people who are shy or don't feel safe sharing more personal details. It also doesn't solve the problem for people who want to "show up" in political threads without something to say (besides, perhaps, FUCK!!! OMG NO YIKES FUCK).

So, to that end, I want to introduce Visibilibunny.

(\_/)
( •,•)   Hi!
(")_(")

Copy and paste Visibilibunny for use in any thread where you want to be present — or want to be seen, or want to show your support for me, or another contributor, or another commenter, but can't find the words.

(You can, of course, delete the "Hi!" and/or replace it with other text.)

This is not an obligation. I realize there are plenty of folks who are perfectly content to be lurkers, and that's okay! This is for people who want to be visible, and haven't found a way to do it, or do it consistently.

When you're feeling the urge to connect, but can't find the words, just drop Visibilibunny into comments. ♥

One of the terribly common consequences of Donald Trump's divisive presidency — and the bigotry, rape apologia, and general malice it has empowered — is the fissures in relationships, which can leave us feeling very alone as the result of a profound betrayal of trust, or quite literally alone as the result of irreparable damage. The sustained anxiety and stress of national politics, of the threat of war or looming catastrophe of inaction on climate change or the vile harm of conservative policies, can leave us with fewer resources to navigate difficult relationships, resulting in strains that become breaks.

A lot of people are struggling with alienation and loneliness at the moment, for the above reasons and/or different reasons altogether. I want to do whatever I can to try to alleviate that for the members of this community who are hurting. Love is the center of my resistance, and I will see you, if you want to be seen.

Open Wide...
Labels: , ,

Mueller Has Questions for Trump, as Republicans Prepare Impeachment Papers for Rosenstein

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, May 01, 2018
View Comments

While Donald Trump, Mike Pence, their deplorable administration, and the Republican Congressional majority hurriedly dismantle the federal government, obliterate democratic institutions and norms, and empower bigotry and corruption on a vast scale, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation continues.

I do not know when we can expect the investigation to wrap up, nor what the outcome will be. I do know that the length of the investigation has effectively, even if not intentionally, created loads of time and space for Republicans to so thoroughly consolidate power that they likely won't have any reason at all to regard his conclusions with any more seriousness than they regard their duty to check and balance the executive branch — and we won't have any power to persuade them otherwise.

It has always been a race to a fuzzy finish line.

Here's where we are at the moment: "A person outside Mr. Trump's legal team" provided the New York Times with a list of dozens of questions Mueller wants to ask Trump. So, once again, for no evident good reason, the Times is concealing an anonymous source, which is very likely to be Trump himself.

(In which case the reason for the concealment is a very bad one.)

Following the anonymous leaking of the questions, Trump naturally took to Twitter to blatantly lie about them.


There are, in fact, a number of questions about collusion — and Benjamin Wittes tweeted them one-by-one.

Despite Trump's previous contention that he would totally definitely for sure sit down for an interview with Mueller (while leaving himself a clear "out" with a caveat about his attorneys), he's now backpedaling, as anyone with sense always expected he surely would.

Not only is he trying to discredit the questions themselves, but again is attempting to discredit the entire investigation.


That doesn't even make any sense, but let's all take a moment to appreciate the irony that the tweet itself could reasonably be viewed itself as another attempt to obstruct justice.

So Trump is being Trump, with the typical amount of projection and dishonesty as he tries to wriggle away even from proximity to something that might resemble the possibility of accountability someday — and Congressional Republicans are doing the most, as usual, to have their authoritarian's back, by drafting articles of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
The document, which was obtained by The Washington Post, underscores the growing chasm between congressional Republican leaders, who have maintained for months that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III should be allowed to proceed, and rank-and-file GOP lawmakers who have repeatedly battled the Justice Department during the past year.

The draft articles, which one of its authors called a "last resort," would be unlikely to garner significant support in Congress. But the document could serve as a provocative political weapon for conservatives in their standoff with Mueller and the Justice Department.

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus — led by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a Trump confidant — finalized the draft in recent days. It came after weeks of disputes with Rosenstein over the Justice Department's response to congressional requests for documents about the decisions and behavior of federal law enforcement officials working on the Russia investigation and other federal probes, including the investigation into 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's email server.
Yep, that sounds about right.

Something I and others, including and especially my friend Sarah Kendzior, have noted is that Jared Kushner is a litmus test both for how effectively the nation's checks and balances are keeping kleptocracy at bay and also for the urgency and efficacy of Mueller's investigation. As long as Kushner, who has demonstrably broken federal law by lying on disclosure forms, retains a job in the White House, we should all be very concerned about the potential for meaningful accountability, from any source.

As of today, despite the fact that Mueller's questions seem to presume Kushner's guilt and that he appears to be a target of the investigation, Kushner remains employed by his father-in-law, the president.

Open Wide...
Labels: , , , , , ,

Open Thread

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, May 01, 2018
View Comments

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

Open Wide...

Question of the Day

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, April 30, 2018
View Comments

Suggested by Shaker Bellist: "Favorite story about an ancestor? Doesn't have to be one you witnessed."

I don't know many stories about my ancestors, but I have always loved that my great-grandfather was a Vaudevillian, who made his living as an acrobatic contortionist. He's the tiny clown on the right, naturally.

image of a promotional image for my great-grandfather's act; he is pictured next to a dark-skinned man in an acrobat's costume; my grand-father is wearing clown make-up and a clown costume

Open Wide...

Monday Links!

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, April 30, 2018
View Comments

This list o' links brought to you by rain.

Recommended Reading:

Nadine Friedman-Roberts at Dame: [Content Note: Disablism] Protecting My Son from the Ableist Public

Taz Ahmed at 18 Million Rising: [CN: Nativism; othering; white supremacy; internment; Islamophobia] Stepping into Echoes of the Past

Meera Atkinson at the Guardian: [CN: Patriarchy] Patriarchy Perpetuates Trauma: It's Time to Face the Fact

Ragen Chastain at Dances with Fat: [CN: Fat hatred] Fat People and Well-Meaning Paternalism

Maggie Ryan Sandford at Nautilus: What Is It Like to Be a Dolphin?

Maya Lewis at Everyday Feminism: [CN: White supremacy] As a Black Woman, I Wish I Could Stop Code-Switching

Monica Roberts at TransGriot: A Black Trans Man Is Running for the Nevada State Assembly!

Briana Mawby and Anna Applebaum at Ms.: How Women Are Rebuilding Nepal

Yessenia Funes at Earther: [CN: Racism] The Earth Sciences Are White AF

Dustin Rowles at Pajiba: [CN: Racism] Oh Matt Groening, No

Heather Wood Rudúlph at Dame: With the Release of Dirty Computer, Janelle Monáe Is Free AF

Hannah Keyser at Deadspin: This Is the Biggest Wave Ever Surfed

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

Open Wide...

Discussion Thread: How Are You?

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, April 30, 2018
View Comments

It was extremely valuable to have some time off, which I needed desperately, but of course coming back to this particular daily grind is very hard.

I've never been someone who can completely tune out, and I didn't — not to U.S. politics, and not to the injustices I saw around me every day, even when I wasn't writing about them — but I am nonetheless filled with gratitude to have had some time of meaningfully decreased anxiety.

I know some of y'all are having a rough time at the moment, either with politics or personal stuff, or both, so here is a space to confess and commiserate, if you need it. I wish there were more that I could do than provide this space. ♥

How are you?

Open Wide...
Labels: ,

#365feministselfie: Week 17

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, April 30, 2018
View Comments

I am again participating in the #365feministselfie project, now in its fifth year, and promised a thread for others to share selfies and/or talk about the project, visibility generally, self-apprecation, and related topics. So here is a thread for Week 17!

A few of my selfies over the last two weeks:

image of me from mid-chest upwards, wearing a grey t-shirt and grey glasses frames, holding a Manchester United mug
A gift from friends who know me well!
(Iain called this my mugshot, lol.)

image of me from the shoulders up in 3/4 profile, wearing a grey t-shirt and grey glasses frames, smiling as I listen to someone out of frame speaking
A lady on her holiday.

image of me with wet hair from mid-torso up, wearing a Golden Girls t-shirt, taking a picture of myself in a mirror
Me and the Golden Girls, post-swim. #StayGolden

image of me from mid-chest up, wearing a flowy white top and aviator sunglasses, looking relaxed AF
Fuck yeah vacation.

image of Iain and me, standing in front of the sea, looking at each other; his arm is around my shoulders
With my favorite person on the planet, in a beautiful place.

Please feel welcome and encouraged to share your own selfies in comments, or share your thoughts on the project, or solicit encouragement or advice, or do whatever else feels best for you to participate, if you are inclined to do so!

Open Wide...
Labels: , , ,

Daily Dose of Cute

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, April 30, 2018
View Comments

image of Sophie the Torbie Cat nuzzling my hand with her paw wrapped around my arm
"Oh godddd please don't ever go anywhere again."

Apparently Sophie believes that my dear friend who was house-sitting for us, whom I've known for two decades and thus has known Sophie her entire life, wouldn't mention to me that Sophie got eighty zillion cuddles and plenty of human-kitty naptime snuggling while we were away, lol. She's not fooling me!

In all seriousness, I am pleased to report that all the animals enjoyed time with their auntie while Iain and I were away. They were very happy to see us when we returned, but, as I have said before, I never want them to be miserable without us, and they weren't. Which made our holiday all the better! ♥

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

Open Wide...
Labels: ,

We Resist: Day 466

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, April 30, 2018
View Comments

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 (plus the occasional non-Republican who obliges us to resist their nonsense, too, like we don't have enough to worry about) 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.

* * *

Earlier today by me: Well, I'm Back and Trump Will Attend NRA Convention and American Conservative Union Chair Says Journalists Shouldn't Report When President or His Staff Are Lying.

Here are some more things in the news today...

[Content Note: War; bombing] Ali M. Latifi at ThinkProgress: Attacks in Afghanistan Kill 29 People, Including 10 Journalists.
A series of coordinated back-to-back bombings in Kabul and a targeted killing in Khost province have contributed to the deadliest day for Afghan journalists in 16 years, with at least 29 people — including 10 journalists — killed in the attacks.

Early Monday morning, a suicide bomber belonging to the so-called Islamic State group traveling on a motorcycle detonated his explosives near the headquarters of the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence agency. Within minutes of the first attack, as Afghan journalists for international and local media, gathered at the attack site, another bomber struck.

According to security officials, the second bomber, reported to be carrying a camera in his hand, detonated his explosives as journalists from several outlets gathered to document the scene of the initial explosion.

Knowing that journalists often convene at the site of an attack, the bomber purposely carried a camera with him, likely to give his claim of being a journalist more credence. The move could lead to more troubles for the nation's press, as cameras are often seen as a sign of legitimacy for journalists by the Afghan National Security Forces, who often ask print and online journalists who arrive at press scenes, "Where's your camera?"
Awful. My condolences to the families, friends, colleagues, and neighbors of the people who were killed, and my sympathies to those who were injured in the attacks. Fucking hell. I'm so angry and so sad.

[CN: Reference to self-harm] Andy Towle at Towleroad: South Korean President: Trump Should Get Nobel Prize. Lindsey Graham: Liberals Would 'Kill Themselves.'
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has told reporters in Seoul that Donald Trump should get the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts brokering peace between North and South Korea, Reuters reports.

Said Moon: "[Donald] Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize. What we need is only peace."

Senator Lindsey Graham agreed, speaking with FOX News anchor Maria Bartiromo on Sunday: "[Donald] Trump, if he can lead us to ending the Korean War after 70 years and getting North Korea to give up their nuclear program in a verifiable way, deserves the Nobel Peace Prize and then some… I want to be there. It may be the first time the Nobel Peace Prize was given and there was mass casualties because I think a lot of liberals would kill themselves if they did that… But the bottom line is, by any objective measure what [Donald] Trump has done is historic."
First of all, fuck off, Lindsey Graham. I'm not going to "kill myself" if Trump gets a prize he doesn't deserve. He already has a presidency he doesn't deserve, and that's a lot more important. Secondly, fuck off twice, Lindsey Graham, because this is definitely "historic" all right, but not because Trump is some kind of foreign policy genius:


All of that said, even if Trump were secretly a reverse-psychology foreign policy savant who brought us to the brink of nuclear war to forge a lasting peace (sounds legit), maybe he doesn't need a prize for peace while shit like this is also happening on his watch: [CN: Sexual violence; genocide] Beth Schlachter at Rewire: While Rohingya Refugees Are Being Raped, the U.S. Has Pulled Needed Funding.
Since August 2017, almost 700,000 Rohingya refugees have fled from Myanmar (also known as Burma) into Bangladesh. The government of Myanmar — which views the Rohingya as foreigners and refuses to recognize them as citizens — has engaged in a campaign of terror defined as ethnic cleansing by both the United Nations and the U.S. State Department. The United States historically has been a world leader in responding to humanitarian situations. But the Trump Administration has decided not to fund UNFPA, the agency most prepared to help.

Most of the Rohingya refugees now in Bangladesh are women and children. Again and again they tell the same horror story: Myanmar soldiers arrived in their villages, guns bristling. Houses were torched. Men were beaten and killed. Women and girls were gang-raped and tortured. Babies were ripped from their mothers' arms and clubbed to death, or hurled onto fires. Shattered survivors grabbed what they could and fled, staggering through miles of forests and rice paddies to cross the border into Bangladesh.

...The Rohingya crisis, arguably among the greatest human tragedies of our lifetime, is a gendered disaster. Many of the woman and girls are pregnant — and many of those pregnancies are unwanted.

...The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is the United Nation's lead agency for maternal and reproductive health and provides an essential lifeline for women and girls in humanitarian situations. In the Rohingya camps, as in refugee camps around the world, UNFPA is on the ground with desperately needed essentials.

[But in] March 2017, the administration withdrew funding to UNFPA — approximately $70 million to $80 million annually — citing a spurious and long-disproved claim that UNFPA supports coercive abortion and forced sterilization in China.
And that's just the tip of the horrendous iceberg of U.S. foreign policy failures under Trump in just over a year.

Peace prize, my fat ass.

* * *

More on Michelle Wolf and the White House Correspondents' Dinner...


* * *

Zoe Tillman at BuzzFeed: The Justice Department Deleted Language About Press Freedom and Racial Gerrymandering From Its Internal Manual. "Since the fall, the U.S. Department of Justice has been overhauling its manual for federal prosecutors. In: Attorney General Jeff Sessions' tough-on-crime policies. Out: A section titled 'Need for Free Press and Public Trial.' References to the department's work on racial gerrymandering are gone. Language about limits on prosecutorial power has been edited down. The changes include new sections that underscore Sessions' focus on religious liberty and the Trump administration's efforts to crack down on government leaks." Authoritarianism-a-go-go.

[CN: Disablism] Katherine Riga at TPM: Paralympic Games Fired Back After Trump Called Them 'Tough to Watch'. "At a photo-op for Olympic and Paralympic athletes Friday evening, Trump seemingly deviated from his prepared remarks. 'What happened with the Paralympics was so incredible and so inspiring to me,' he said. 'And I watched—it's a little tough to watch too much, but I watched as much as I could.' Some are criticizing the president for his remarks, while others have rushed to his defense, claiming that he meant that he lacks time to watch television." LOL sure. The president who does nothing but golf and watch Fox News and has famously mocked disabled people meant that he doesn't have the time to catch the Paralympics. Talk about Occam's Big Paisley Tie! JFC.

E.A. Crunden at ThinkProgress: Pruitt Is Facing at Least 10 Ethics Investigations as EPA Watchdog Announces New Probe. "Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt is now the subject of at least 10 federal investigations. The agency's internal watchdog said Friday that it had opened yet another line of inquiry into Pruitt's spending habits. In a letter shared with ThinkProgress and other news outlets, EPA Inspector General Arthur A. Elkins Jr. told Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA) and Ted Lieu (D-CA) that an investigation is being opened into Pruitt's $50-a-night rental of a Capitol Hill condo owned by a lobbyist couple."

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Jarrett Renshaw and Chris Prentice at Reuters: EPA Grants Biofuels Waiver to Billionaire Icahn's Oil Refinery. "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has granted a financial hardship waiver to an oil refinery owned by billionaire Carl Icahn, a former adviser to [Donald] Trump, exempting the Oklahoma facility from requirements under a federal biofuels law, according to two industry sources briefed on the matter. The waiver enables Icahn's CVR Energy Inc to avoid tens of millions of dollars in costs related to the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard program. The regulation is meant to cut air pollution, reduce petroleum imports, and support corn farmers by requiring refiners to mix billions of gallons of biofuels into the nation's gasoline and diesel each year."

[CN: Class warfare] Bryce Covert at Rewire: As Republicans Attach Work Requirements to, Well, Everything, They're Driving People Deeper into Poverty. "When HUD Secretary Ben Carson unveiled a proposal on Wednesday to allow housing authorities to implement work requirements, he claimed the current system 'discourages these families from earning more income and becoming self-sufficient.' This comes after the 2017 House Republican-authored budget claimed putting work requirements in programs that don't have them will 'promote work and self-sufficiency.' But the truth is that we've tried this experiment in TANF, and it's instead proven that these requirements utterly fail to help people secure jobs and financial independence. Much of the decline in people who are enrolled in TANF since it was reformed has been because they were kicked off, not because they found better jobs."

E.J. Dionne Jr. at the Washington Post: The Steep Price of the Trumpian Circus. "Nothing is significant for long, everything is episodic, and old scandals are regularly knocked out of the headlines by new ones. It's a truly novel approach to damage control. And governing? It seems almost beside the point. Thus does the unraveling of regulatory protections for workers, the environment, and the users of financial services rush forward with little notice. This is where the Trumpian circus benefits the Trumpian project. If there are too many scandals for any one of them to seize our attention for long, all of them taken together allow what are potentially very unpopular policies to take root without much scrutiny."


In addition to the obvious concerns about individual suffering here, surely it's not a good idea, to put it mildly, to send soldiers with brain damage to war, for a whole host of reasons.

[CN: Anti-Semitism] Matt Shuham at TPM: Army Probes Dismissal of Jewish Lay Leaders at Fort Campbell. "Jewish lay leaders serving the Army's 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky were reportedly dismissed without cause, leading to an investigation of what the dismissed leaders allege is religious discrimination, Army Times reported over the weekend. 'There was no explanation why I was fired,' said Jeanette Mize, who, along with her husband and son, had organized Shabbat and high holiday services for Jewish soldiers at Fort Campbell since 1999. Those services have now been effectively discontinued, Army Times reported."


And finally... [CN: Sexual harassment] Sarah Ellison at the Washington Post: NBC News Faces Skepticism in Remedying In-House Sexual Harassment. "Matt Lauer is not the only prominent anchor at NBC who allegedly sought inappropriate relationships with younger women. Linda Vester, a former NBC correspondent, told The Post that legendary anchor Tom Brokaw made unwanted advances toward her on two occasions in the 1990s, including a forcible attempt to kiss her. Vester was in her 20s and did not file a complaint. ...Another woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, also told The Post that Brokaw acted inappropriately toward her in the '90s, when she was a young production assistant and he was an anchor. ...NBC acted quickly to dismiss Lauer, but it is facing a wave of internal and outside skepticism that it can reform a workplace in which powerful men such as Lauer were known to pursue sexual relationships with more junior women." Fucking hell.

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

Open Wide...
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

American Conservative Union Chair Says Journalists Shouldn't Report When President or His Staff Are Lying

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, April 30, 2018
View Comments

This is absolutely incredible, in every sense of the word: This morning on CNN, while talking with anchor Alisyn Camerota, American Conservative Union Chair Matt Schlapp asserted that journalists shouldn't say that Donald Trump, or any member of his administration, are lying.

—has always been, sometimes an obvious and sometimes a subtle, reference to Sarah's appearance, and I felt like that was beyond the pale. I also think when it just says, "She lies, she lies, she lies," now look: We have big political disagreements in this country, and I think it's wrong for journalists to take that next step. And, granted, she's a comedian, but plenty of journalists do it as well, is they take the next step.

Just present the facts; let the American people decide if they think someone's lying. The journalists shouldn't be the one to say that the president or that his spokesperson is lying, because what that does to 50 percent of the country is it makes them feel they're not credible to listen to anymore.
Schlapp doubled-down in a tweet later, writing: "I stand by that statement. Lying implies motive. Just cover the facts no matter how ugly and let the voters decide motives and intent."

Except: It's impossible to "just cover the facts" when the lies being told by the president and his people are designed specifically to obfuscate the facts and replace them with "alternative facts."

Schlapp knows this, of course. That's the precise reason he's making this argument.

Conservatives can't win on the facts. So they have to lie. And they bully the press into not calling those lies what they are.

If 50 percent of the country has hurt fee-fees that the demonstrable horseshit they've invented isn't accepted as "credible," too fucking bad. This is bothsideserism taken to absurd — and dangerous — extremes, all to protect the feelings of people who conjure a manifestly false reality in order to defend their unearned privilege.

And if the press agrees with Schlapp that they have no role other than to transmit, without commentary or context, the words of an authoritarian liar and his gang of lying reprobates, then they should make way for professional stenographers, who are bound by ethics not to participate in the dissemination of lies by pretending the president is a source whose anonymity must be protected for safety.

If the role of the press is not to authenticate information they convey, then they no longer have any meaningful role at all.

Open Wide...
Labels: , , , ,

Trump Will Attend NRA Convention

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, April 30, 2018
View Comments

[Content Note: Gun violence; racism; misogyny; video may autoplay at second link.]

With three of the nation's deadliest mass shootings in modern history happening on Donald Trump's watch, one might imagine he would support gun control measures, but, since the central governing premise of his presidency is malice and he is a vile, empathy-free nightmare monster, instead he will be attending the NRA convention in Dallas this week: "A White House official said Monday that Trump will attend the group's annual meeting [on Friday]. Trump has been a strong supporter of the NRA and enjoyed their backing in his 2016 campaign."

It's sickening that a sitting president would attend the convention of an organization that lobbies for legislation that values gun ownership over human lives, no less at a time of relentless mass shootings and the constant exposure of racist and misogynist double standards in gun rights and self-defense laws.

Further, although this surely will get hardly a mention in the political press, it's potentially further evidence of collusion, given the NRA's documented ties to the Kremlin and the distinct possibility that the NRA illegally filtered dark money from Russia to the Trump campaign.

More dots that need connecting, which our execrable press will fail utterly to connect.

Open Wide...
Labels: , , , ,

Well, I'm Back

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, April 30, 2018
View Comments

I really tried not to look at the political news for the past week and a half, and I was mostly successful, and it was pretty great. A few things managed to penetrate my ridigly defended Sphere of Avoidance, virtually all of which were terrible (with one notable exception!), and of course I've returned to see feminist comedian Michelle Wolf being viciously attacked for mocking White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders' appearance, which she did not even do.


Not only did the press fail utterly to get lathered in defense of Michelle Obama when the stakes were far higher, but let's be honest that a male comedian would never be criticized the way Wolf has, especially for the reasons she's being criticized.


It's really just perfect that Wolf is being vilified in profoundly misogynist ways, while being accused of engaging in misogyny when she didn't.

Welcome the fuck home to me. And off we go.

Open Wide...
Labels: ,

Open Thread

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, April 30, 2018
View Comments

image of a purple sofa

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

Open Wide...

The Virtual Pub + Programming Note

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, April 18, 2018
View Comments

image of a pub Photoshopped to be named 'The Beloved Community Pub'
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]

Belly up to the bar,
and be in this space together.

I've got a friend coming in to visit tomorrow, and I am going to be taking the remainder of this week and all of next week off.

Because I know myself, lol, I will be very inclined to show up if something major happens, but I'm really going to try not to do that. I'm getting lax about self-care again, and I've got the tremors and twitchy fingers again to prove it.

I know this is an inconvenience for people who depend on this space for their news, so I'm sorry about that, but I'll be back on Monday, April 30.

See you then!

Open Wide...
Labels:

Wednesday Links!

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, April 18, 2018
View Comments

This list o' links brought to you by chlorophyll.

Recommended Reading:

Abby J. Leibman at Ms.: [Content Note: Class warfare; food insecurity] The 2018 Farm Bill Will Disproportionately Harm Single Mothers

Daniel Johnson at Black Youth Project: Mignon Clyburn, Hailed as the "Conscience" of the FCC, Resigns

Zack Whittaker at ZDNet: [CN: Video may autoplay at link] Data Firm Leaks 48 Million User Profiles It Scraped from Facebook, LinkedIn, Others

Blue Telusma at the Grio: [CN: Police misconduct; death; misogynoir] Say Her Name: Sandra Bland Documentary to Debut at Tribeca

Vivian Kane at the Mary Sue: [CN: Misogyny; objectification] Lola Kirke Responds to The New Yorker's "Glib" and Sexist Review of Her Movie Gemini

Kristy Puchko at Pajiba: [CN: Fat hatred] Review: Amy Schumer's I Feel Pretty Is Even Worse Than You're Expecting

Brian Kahn at Earther: Bull Sharks Are Heading North Thanks to Climate Change

Sarah Sloat at Inverse: 100-Strong Cluster of Unknown Octopus Species and Eggs Baffles Scientists

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

Open Wide...

Let the Rehabilitations Begin (Actually, Don't)

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, April 18, 2018
View Comments

[Content Note: Rape culture.]

In January, I wrote:

So, I have been less optimistic about the lasting impact of the current spate of exposures of sexual predators than many other people have been — and the reason is because I have written about the rape culture for 13 years now, and among the many things I have learned is that our culture loves to rehabilitate abusive men.

Yes, some men have lost their jobs and suffered a bit of public humiliation. Men who are millionaires; men who will be just fine.

At the same time, in the middle of what is frequently called "the #MeToo moment," its very moniker suggesting an inherent transience, Mel Gibson made a comeback in a mainstream holiday franchise, despite infamously having sexually harassed a police officer, having been recorded verbally abusing his girlfriend, and having pleaded "no contest" to domestic violence charges.

Roman Polanski is still making movies. Woody Allen is still making movies. Johnny Depp is still making movies. Michael Fassbender, Christian Bale, the Affleck brothers, Terrence Howard, Gary Oldman, Jared Leto, and dozens of other men are still A-level celebrities after being accused of domestic violence and/or sexual assault.

Some of them have never even faced much public scrutiny for their abuse. Some of them have been vociferously defended and their accusers vilified.

Plenty of men, from Charlie Sheen to Mike Tyson, have benefited from second and third and fourth chances, even after they have confessed to or been convicted of violent crimes against women.

I am not remotely convinced that this dynamic has changed. Regretfully, I expect that following these recent disclosures, after some "reasonable" period of time, then the rehabilitations will begin.
About three months, as it turns out.


Every time I write about this, I get pushback along the lines of: Doesn't everyone deserve a second chance? And, honestly, I don't even know what that is supposed to mean, when Louis CK, for example, was not arrested, not tried, not convicted, not jailed, not held civilly liable, not forced to pay restitution, not compelled to abide by anything resembling a meting out of justice after confessing to what are criminal acts of sexual abuse.

He is a multimillionaire who has maybe lost some opportunity to make even more money.

So, really, all we're talking about is a "second chance" to be famous. To have power and influence. To have access to women whom he may harm by leveraging his fame, power, and influence.

If there is any chance for a man like Louis CK to be truly rehabilitated, restoring his power, and the attendant entitlement and privilege, isn't part of that equation.

It's his humanity that needs rehabilitation, not his career.

And we have plenty of evidence that abusive men handed more power and additional chances will exploit it all to do more harm.

Open Wide...
Labels: , , , ,

The Makeup Thread

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, April 18, 2018
View Comments

Here is your semi-regular makeup thread, to discuss all things makeup and makeup adjacent.

Do you have a makeup product you'd recommend? Are you looking for the perfect foundation which has remained frustratingly elusive? Need or want to offer makeup tips? Searching for hypoallergenic products? Want to grouse about how you hate makeup? Want to gush about how you love it?

Whatever you like — have at it!

* * *

Today, I want to recommend a make-up adjacent product: Bumble and Bumble's Hairdresser's Invisible Oil.

image of me in my living room, wearing a black and white striped top, with my hair down

So, first of all, listen: I have terrible hair. It's getting super thin; it doesn't have any body but isn't pin-straight, either; and it grows far too fast for reasonable maintenance of any dye or style.

Second of all, your girl needs a haircut!

All of which is preface to this: My ends are the worst at the moment. Dry and split and generally in need of chopping off.

But until I can find the time and wherewithal to drag my butt to a salon, Bumble and Bumble is keeping my hair from being a total disaster. Compared to what they actually look like without the Hairdresser's Invisible Oil, my raggedy ends look AMAZING in that photo, lol!

And even when my hair is freshly cut, it just works wonders, to give a little body and bounce around my shoulders.

Although it's a spray, I usually spray it into my palms first, and then work it through the ends of my hair. My scalp tends toward oily, and I don't want to get the oil on my face as it would undoubtedly cause me to break out, so I like to target exactly where it's going.

This is a product I never would have tried on my own, but I got a free sample when I bought a Bumble and Bumble shampoo, and I'm so glad I did!

Anyway! What's up with you?

(As always, I'm not affiliated in any way with any of the companies whose products I mention, nor am I getting anything in exchange for my recommendations. I just like the products!)

* * *

Please note, as always, that advice should be not be offered to an individual person unless they solicit it. Further: This thread is open to everyone — women, men, genderqueer folks. People who are makeup experts, and people who are makeup newbies. Also, because there is a lot of racist language used in discussions of makeup, and in makeup names, please be aware to avoid turns of phrase that are alienating to women of color, like "nude" or "flesh tone" when referring to a peachy or beige color. I realize some recommended products may have names that use these words, so please be considerate about content noting for white supremacist (and/or Orientalist) product naming.

Open Wide...
Labels:

Daily Dose of Cute

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, April 18, 2018
View Comments

image of Dudley the Greyhound, lying on his chaise asleep in a patch of sunshine
Yes, Dudley has his own chaise next to a window so
he can spent his retirement napping in the sunshine.

(I mean, it didn't start out as his chaise, but you know the old saying: Once you drool on something enough with your stinky dumpster mouth, it's yours.)

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

Open Wide...
Labels: ,