As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
Daily Dose of Cute
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
We Resist: Day 622
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.
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Earlier today by me: Trump Mocks Christine Blasey Ford at Rally to Uproarious Laughter from Deplorable Crowd and Gross Human Rights Violations at Immigration Jail and Trump Regime Terminates Iran Treaty.
Here are some more things in the news today...
I have really been trying to be selective in terms of the news regarding the Kavanaugh nomination that I share, for both my own well-being and yours. This item, however, is something of which we all need to be aware. [Content Note: Rape culture; victim-blaming; slut-shaming] Elise Viebeck at the Washington Post: Republicans on Senate Panel Release Explicit Statement about Kavanaugh Accuser's Sex Life.
In an unprecedented move, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday released an explicit statement that purports to describe the sexual preferences of a woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh of misconduct.It is absolutely outrageous that Republicans would release a letter like this from anyone with whom Swetnick had a relationship, as though every woman who has survived sexual assault tells every man with whom she's subsequently involved, but the fact that they released this horseshit based on the experiences of a man who claims to have dated her for a "couple of weeks" is enraging.
The statement, which was circulated to the hundreds of journalists on the Judiciary Committee's press list, was from Dennis Ketterer, a former Democratic congressional candidate and television meteorologist who said he was involved in a brief relationship with Kavanaugh accuser Julie Swetnick in 1993.
Swetnick said last week in an affidavit that Kavanaugh was present at a house party in 1982 where she alleges she was the victim of a gang rape, a claim he vehemently denies.
In his statement, Ketterer said Swetnick once told him that she sometimes enjoyed group sex with multiple men and had first engaged in it during high school. Ketterer said the remark "derailed" their relationship, which he described as involving "physical contact" but no intercourse.
Ketterer said Swetnick "never said anything about being sexually assaulted, raped, gang-raped, or having sex against her will" and "never mentioned Brett Kavanaugh in any capacity." He described their relationship as lasting for a "couple of weeks."
Remember this shit, too, when dipshits demand to know why it is that women don't report. FUCK EVERYTHING.
And while we're on the subject of Senate Republicans being rape apologist, victim-blaming shitwheels...
Remember when people were pinning hopes on Lindsey Graham that he was going to "stop Trump" w/ John McCain, and I was like: Uh, I guess you're new here, but Lindsey Graham is trash. And then people shouted at me that I was a dumb cunt who didn't appreciate allies when I saw them? https://t.co/LqrgL2Cg9L
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 3, 2018
Breathtaking. Meanwhile...
Leigh Ann Caldwell and Heidi Przybyla at NBC News: FBI Has Not Contacted Dozens of Potential Sources in Kavanaugh Investigation. "More than 40 people with potential information into the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh have not been contacted by the FBI, according to multiple sources that include friends of both the nominee and his accusers. The bureau is expected to wrap up its expanded background investigation as early as Wednesday into two allegations against Kavanaugh — one from Christine Blasey Ford and the other from Deborah Ramirez. But sources close to the investigation, as well as a number of people who know those involved, say the FBI has not contacted dozens of potential corroborators or character witnesses."
A sham investigation. And it should have been obvious that it would be, from the moment that asshole Jeff Flake called for it.
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[CN: Rape culture; trauma; misogyny] Mara Gordon at NPR: Sexual Assault and Harassment May Have Lasting Health Repercussions for Women.
The trauma of sexual assault or harassment is not only hard to forget; it may also leave lasting effects on a woman's health. This finding of a study published Wednesday adds support to a growing body of evidence suggesting the link.Right now, the way that we're addressing this issue is by tasking (predominantly) women who are themselves frequently survivors of sexual assault and/or harassment with trying to solve the problem, exposing themselves to more abuse, and thus making ourselves sicker and sicker as we try to encourage our culture to get well. That isn't working. It's also aggressively cruel.
In the study of roughly 300 middle-aged women, an experience of sexual assault was associated with anxiety, depression, and poor sleep. A history of workplace sexual harassment was also associated with poor sleep, and with an increased risk of developing high blood pressure.
"These are experiences that [a woman] could have had long ago ... and it can have this long arm of influence throughout a woman's life," says Rebecca Thurston, lead author of the study, and a research psychologist and director of the Women's Behavioral Health Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh.
..."These [traumatic experiences] are clearly critical things that happen to people early on, that have these really long lasting effects," says Susan Mason, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota who studies the effects of trauma. "These really shape people's life trajectories."
..."Sexual assault and sexual abuse are much more common than people think," Thurston says. These are "key toxic stressors for women."
While researchers weren't surprised that sexual assault and harassment seemed to be related to the development of mood disorders and poor sleep, they were impressed by the strength of the association.
"These should be urgent public health priorities," Mason says. "How do we address the fundamental ways that our social structure affects health?"
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[CN: War on agency] Summer Ballentine at the AP: Missouri Down to 1 Abortion Clinic Amid Legal Battle. "Missouri is down to one clinic providing abortions Wednesday, after the only other clinic in the state that performs the procedure failed to adhere to new state requirements. Federal appeals court judges ruled last month that Missouri can enforce a requirement that doctors must have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals before they can perform abortions. The judges issued a mandate Monday for that rule to officially take effect. ...Women seeking abortions [must now] go to Planned Parenthood's St. Louis clinic — which is now the only facility in Missouri where abortions can be performed — or travel to neighboring states." That is the very definition of an undue burden.
"The family applied for FEMA assistance but were denied. Like many families in Puerto Rico, they couldn’t find the necessary papers needed to prove the home was theirs: It was passed down through the family through generations." https://t.co/GFn0f6l2Wi
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 3, 2018
[CN: Class warfare] Tami Luhby at CNN Money: Getting Health Insurance Through Work Now Costs Nearly $20,000. "Employers and workers together are spending close to $20,000 for family health insurance coverage in 2018, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation report. Although premiums have increased fairly modestly in recent years, the growth has far outpaced workers' raises over time. The average family premium has increased 55% since 2008, twice as fast as workers' wages and three times as fast as inflation, Kaiser's Employer Health Benefits Survey found. Companies pick up most of the tab, shelling out $14,100 a year, on average. Still, workers have to pay an average of $5,550, up 65% from a decade ago. For single coverage, total premiums have reached $6,900, on average, up 47% from 2008. Workers contribute roughly $1,200 a year. Deductibles also continue to burn a deeper hole in workers' pockets. The average deductible now stands at $1,350, up 212% since 2008. That's eight times faster than wage growth."
[CN: Toxic water] Kat Lonsdorf at NPR: 'You Just Don't Touch That Tap Water Unless Absolutely Necessary'. "Aleigha Sloan can't remember ever drinking a glass of water from the tap at her home. That is 'absolutely dangerous,' the 17-year-old says, wrinkling her nose and making a face at the thought. 'You just don't touch that tap water unless absolutely necessary. I mean, like showers and things — you have to do what you have to do. But other than that, no,' she says. 'I don't know anybody that does.' ...Americans across the country, from Maynard's home in rural Appalachia to urban areas like Flint, Mich., or Compton, Calif., are facing a lack of clean, reliable drinking water. At the heart of the problem is a water system in crisis: aging, crumbling infrastructure and a lack of funds to pay for upgrading it."
If Trump really wanted to "Make America Great Again," he could start with a plan to make sure every resident of this nation had reliable access to clean drinking water. That he never even mentions this subject is a pretty good indicator that he has no interest in improving anything for the lives of average Americans, in case literally everything else he does hadn't already tipped his hand.
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
Trump Regime Terminates Iran Treaty
The AP reports:
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced that the U.S. is canceling a 1955 treaty with Iran establishing economic relations and consular rights between the two nations.So, to recap: The U.N. orders the U.S. to lift sanctions on Iran just on the import of humanitarian goods, and the U.S. retaliates by terminating a treaty that normalized relations — precisely the sort of treaty that underwrites good diplomacy, in the hope of avoiding shit like sanctions, especially on humanitarian goods, because that punishes the people of a nation who may profoundly disagree with their government's actions.
The move follows a ruling by the United Nations' highest court ordering the United States to lift sanctions on Iran that affect imports of humanitarian goods.
Iran alleges that the sanctions imposed by the Trump administration after its withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran violated the so-called Treaty of Amity.
Pompeo told reporters Wednesday that the termination of the treaty was decades overdue. He said that Iran was abusing the International Court of Justice for political and propaganda purposes.
Here is yet another place in which there was such a vast divide separating Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton that one's eye would see the horizon before the opposite border of the cavern between them.
Sob.
The Republicans are really scrambling to break as much shit as possible before November. Just in case Uncle Vlad doesn't come through, I guess.
Gross Human Rights Violations at Immigration Jail
[Content Note: Neglect; abuse; carcerality; disablism; nativism; self-harm; sexual assault.]
At the Washington Post, Nick Miroff has a horrifying report about the wretched conditions at a California immigration jail, where inmates are being subjected to what can only be described as gross human rights violations:
The infernal conditions are described in a report issued Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security's office of inspector general, which audited the facility, overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in Adelanto, Calif.The facility in question, though overseen by ICE, is a private, for-profit detention facility run by GEO Group. GEO Group is one of the biggest for-profit prison operators in the country, owning 71 federal prisons and detention centers with more than 75,000 beds.
...The report details numerous alleged instances of substandard care and neglect by jailers who "prematurely and inappropriately" locked detainees in segregation cells without proper review, the report found, actions that posed "a significant threat" to detainees' rights and their mental and physical health.
The auditors found gross violations of health and safety standards, including detainees forced to wait weeks or months to see a doctor, the report says. Basic dental care was nonexistent, it notes. With only two dentists on staff, services at the facility were so poor that inspectors could not find records of detainees receiving cleanings or fillings in the past four years.
One dentist told inspectors that there was no time for cleanings or fillings, and that it was up to inmates to take care of their own oral hygiene despite a lack of supplies. "The dentist dismissed the necessity of fillings if patients commit to brushing and flossing," the report said. "Floss is only available through detainee commissary accounts, but the dentist suggested detainees could use string from their socks to floss if they were dedicated to dental hygiene."
DHS inspectors reviewed all requests for dental fillings since 2014 and found that although the jail's two dentists identified cavities and placed detainees on a waiting list for fillings, no detainees received them. "One detainee we interviewed reported having multiple teeth fall out while waiting more than 2 years for cavities to be filled," the report said.
...DHS inspectors arrived in May to find nooses fashioned from twisted bedsheets hanging from air vents in 15 of 20 cells they visited.
"According to the guard escorting us, the nooses are a daily issue and very widespread," the auditors wrote. "When we asked two contract guards who oversaw the housing units why they did not remove the bed sheets, they echoed it was not a high priority."
...One of the worst alleged violations noted by inspectors involved a detainee in a wheelchair who had asked to be placed in a cell by himself but was instead locked in a disciplinary cell for nine days, the report says.
"Based on our file review, in those 9 days, the detainee never left his wheelchair to sleep in a bed or brush his teeth," the report reads.
GEO Group's abuses of immigrants has been long documented: Earlier this year, for instance, one of their facilities in Washington came under scrutiny for being located "within a toxic sludge field and EPA Superfund site where residential construction has been barred." That facility "has been the target of more than a dozen hunger strikes in recent years, each involving from a dozen to hundreds of detainees, over complaints of inadequate food and medical care," and has "faced one of the highest number of complaints about alleged physical and sexual assaults against detainees of any facility of its kind in the nation."
In 2014, one of the GEO Group's immigration detention centers in Texas was immediately turned into a rape house by the hired staff. After only two months in operation, a complaint was filed with the Department of Homeland Security alleging that guards were "removing mothers from their cells at night to engage in sexual acts, promising immigration help in exchange for sexual favors, and groping women in front of children."
As far back as 2010, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported on endemic abuse at facilities run by GEO Group, which has allowed "a cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts and conditions to germinate" in its prisons, per a court order written by U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves regarding abuses at a youth facility.
Violence by youths and guards wasn't the only problem. Neither were the gang affiliations of some guards. Or the grossly inadequate medical and mental health care. Or the proliferation of drugs and other contraband. Or the lack of educational and rehabilitative programs. Or the wild overuse of pepper spray on passive youths.These heinous abuses and the abject neglect at GEO Group facilities has been known and documented for a decade, and yet the U.S. government continues to subcontract to this reprehensible carcerality profiteer.
Indeed, the DOJ found that sexual abuse — including brutal youth-on-youth rapes and "brazen" sexual misconduct by prison staffers who coerced youths — was "among the worst that we have seen in any facility anywhere in the nation."
They wouldn't have, had Hillary Clinton won, as she promised to end federal contracts with private prisons.
Under the Trump Regime, however, it a pretty straightforward pay-for-play. In May of 2017, Mirren Gidda at Newsweek reported:
Running on a platform of getting tough on illegal immigration, [Donald Trump] promised to end catch-and-release — under which undocumented migrants are detained and then freed pending a court hearing — by keeping these people in detention centers. This, coupled with his self-described position as the "law and order candidate" vowing to get tough on crime, convinced the GEO Group that with Trump in charge, its fortunes could soon change.And, when Trump was inaugurated, it was a windfall for GEO Group. Instead of losing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal contracts, they got an influx of federal cash. In July of this year, Alex Kotch and Josefa Velasquez at Sludge reported that the first year of Trump's presidency "saw the largest sum of monetary obligations from ICE to contractors since 2008: $1.7 billion, according to usaspending.gov." And GEO Group was the biggest beneficiary.
On August 19, 2016, the day after [then Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates announced that the Obama administration would begin phasing out private prisons], GEO Corrections Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of the GEO Group, donated $100,000 to the pro-Trump PAC Rebuilding America Now. Then, on November 1 — seven days before the presidential election — it gave another $125,000 to the organization.
In addition, GEO Corrections Holding Inc. had donated $200,000 to the Senate Leadership Fund, a Republican PAC, on September 27, 2016, and $100,000 to the Conservative Solutions PAC on April 17, 2015.
Way out ahead of the pack is private prison company and prodigious political donor GEO Group, based in Boca Raton, Florida, which had more than $470 million worth of ongoing contracts as of July 5. Just after Trump won the 2016 election, stocks in GEO Group and in private prison company, CoreCivic, soared in anticipation of tougher immigration policies.So, for an investment of about half a million dollars in donations, the GEO Group protected and expanded its half-billion dollar business with the United States government.
Again, I want to underline that the Trump Regime's obscene immigration agenda is based on outright lies. There is no urgent crisis threatening the United States because of undocumented immigration — not an employment crisis, not a crime and violence crisis, not a health crisis.
Their vile nativism is for no reason other than malice, which lies at the center of Trump's entire agenda. It is malice of the highest order to subject migrants and refugees to gross abuses of their basic human rights so that a private corporation and its shareholders can line their pockets with taxpayers' dollars.
We are funding the neglect, abuse, rape, and despair of people who crossed our border in search of safety; in pursuit of a better life. We are funding their suffering, so that wealthy scum can hoard more gold.
Trump Mocks Christine Blasey Ford at Rally to Uproarious Laughter from Deplorable Crowd
[Content Note: Rape culture.]
Last night, at yet another Make America Clap for Me Again rally in Mississippi, Donald Trump went on an extended riff mocking Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. After ridiculing her, he went on to accuse all of the women who have alleged abuse by Kavanaugh of leaving his life "in tatters," calling them "evil people."
During this protracted attack on a survivor, the crowd roared with laughter.
Below, a video of the the President of the United States, himself a confessed sexual assaulter, publicly mocking a survivor of sexual assault and mischaracterizing her testimony while his deplorable cultists laugh.
WATCH: President Trump mocks Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Trump's Supreme Court pick Judge Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, during rally in Mississippi. https://t.co/pZfWN8IFMV pic.twitter.com/81YEs8oXr5
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 3, 2018
Trump, standing at a podium in front of a crowd, says: What he's going through— [mocks Ford] "Thirty-six years ago, this happened. I had one beer." Right? "I had one beer." Well, you think it was— "Nope! It was one beer." Oh good. How did you get home? "I don't remember." How'd you get there? "I don't remember." Where is the place? "I don't remember." [crowd begins laughing] How many years ago was it? "I don't know. I don't know." [crowd cheers and applauds] "I don't know. I don't know!" What neighborhood was it in? "I don't know." Where's the house? "I don't know." Upstairs? Downstairs? Where was it? "I don't know. But I had one beer! That's the only thing I remember." [laughter and cheers] And a man's life is in tatters. A man's life is shattered. His wife is shattered. His daughters, who are beautiful and incredible young kids— They destroy people; they wanna destroy people. These are really evil people.Ford does recall when the incident happened, and that it was in an upstairs room. He is deliberately misrepresenting her testimony in order to bolster his narrative that she is a liar who made up the entire thing, rather than a credible witness who understandably remembers some details and not others from an attack made on her three decades earlier.
And, despite the fact that his party could still confirm Kavanaugh at any time, and, even if they don't, he will still be an extremely powerful judge, Trump framed Kavanaugh as a man whose life has been ruined by evil, lying bitches. This, too, is a misrepresentation. But it's one Trump needs to make in order to convince his cultists to not listen to survivors. To distrust women and protect men.
He warned the crowd that men will be fired from their jobs and bellowed, "Think of your husbands! Think of your sons!"
And laugh at Christine Blasey Ford.
Question of the Day
It's that time again: What would you like to see asked as a future Question of the Day? Either something that's never been asked, or something that I haven't asked for awhile and you really enjoyed the first time around.
BRING ALL YOUR QUESTIONS! ALL OF THEM! :)
Fat Fashion
This is your semi-regular thread in which fat women can share pix, make recommendations for clothes they love, ask questions of other fat women about where to locate certain plus-size items, share info about sales, talk about what jeans cut at what retailer best fits their body shapes, discuss how to accessorize neutral colored suits, share stories of going bare-armed for the first time, brag about a cool fashion moment, whatever.
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A weekend outfit: Stripey retro top, burgundy ankle boots, and giant old lady glasses. Because why not!
The blouse is a newer purchase, which I got at Maurices: Multi Stripe Peasant Top. The jeans are Torrid's Classic Ankle Skinny Jeans (which they don't appear to be selling with the rough hem anymore, but here's a similar pair). And the boots are the Rieker ankle boots I mentioned back in May, and promised to post a picture of someday, so here I am making good, lol.
It's a fun and easy running-around outfit, that easily transitions from errands to the movies to a stylish-casual restaurant, which is exactly what I did in that get-up over the weekend. I was comfortable for long hours and felt good wearing it. Score!
Anyway! What's up with you?
Have at it in comments! Please remember to make fat women of all sizes, especially women who find themselves regularly sizing out of standard plus-size lines, welcome in this conversation, and pass no judgment on fat women who want to and/or feel obliged, for any reason, to conform to beauty standards. And please make sure if you're soliciting advice, you make it clear you're seeking suggestions—and please be considerate not to offer unsolicited advice. Sometimes people just need to complain and want solidarity, not solutions.
[Note: I am not receiving anything in return for my recommendations here, nor am I affiliated in any way with any of the companies mentioned herein. Any endorsements made are on products I purchased myself, just because I like them!]
Quote of the Day
"Mr. Trump won the presidency proclaiming himself a self-made billionaire, and he has long insisted that his father, the legendary New York City builder Fred C. Trump, provided almost no financial help. But The Times's investigation, based on a vast trove of confidential tax returns and financial records, reveals that Mr. Trump received the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father's real estate empire, starting when he was a toddler and continuing to this day." — David Barstow, Susanne Craig, and Russ Buettner in a remarkable special investigation for the New York Times, bluntly headlined: "Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes as He Reaped Riches from His Father."
It's remarkable because their investigation "of the Trump family's finances is unprecedented in scope and precision, offering the first comprehensive look at the inherited fortune and tax dodges that guaranteed Donald J. Trump a gilded life."
And it's remarkable because we're only learning all of this now, two years into his fucking presidency.
I would say better late than never, but frankly I fear the time during which this information would have mattered is long past.
Anyway.
Trump's entire life has been one of ill-begotten wealth, a cavernous void of ethics, and vast corruption. And here is the documentation, tracing the life of a spoiled child who became one of the most powerful men on the planet, courtesy of the immense privilege he has always enjoyed.
And enjoys still.
I Write Letters
[Content Note: Rape culture.]
Dear Men Who Are Incessantly Whining That Holding Men Accountable for Sexual Harassment and Assault Is Making Life Too Difficult and Scary for Men:
I will make a deal with you.
I will start giving a single tiny fuck about your trembling fear of being falsely accused at any moment by a hysterical lying woman, who inexplicably wants to shove herself into the meat grinder of making a rape allegation, when you start caring, even a little, that women spend our lives vacillatingly suspended somewhere between conscious and subterranean terror by the ever-present threat of actually being sexually assaulted — and, further, that we are tasked with the aggressively unfair and genuinely impossible role of preventing said threat by obsessively following ever-changing and often contradictory rules we have no input in conceiving or enforcing, which are structured to govern and control every aspect of our existence, including what we wear; how we wear it; how we carry ourselves; where we walk; when we walk there; with whom we walk; whom we trust; what we do; where we do it; with whom we do it; what we drink; how much we drink; if we take drugs; what kind of drugs we take; making sure to monitor our drinks so no one can slip us drugs; whether we make eye contact; whether we smile; whether we respond to overtures; whether we rebuff overtures; the tone in which we reject advances; the facial expressions we use; being alone; being with a stranger; being in a group; being in a group of strangers; being out after dark; being in unfamiliar areas; whether we're carrying something; how we carry it; what kind of shoes we're wearing in case we have to run; what kind of purse we carry; what we carry in that purse; what jewelry we wear; what time it is; what street it is; what environment it is; whether we cross the street when we are being followed by a man we don't know; making sure we cross the street without suggesting we're "profiling" him and thus grievously insulting him with our inability to magically discern whether he's a danger to us; not taking any shit from our teachers, bosses, boyfriends, husbands, upstairs neighbors, mail carriers, police we called for help, judges determining our future, senators, president, random dudes on the bus, but also not doing anything that threatens the manhood of our teachers, bosses, boyfriends, husbands, upstairs neighbors, mail carriers, police we called for help, judges determining our future, senators, president, random dudes on the bus; how many people we sleep with; what kind of people we sleep with; who our friends are; to whom we give our number; what we post on social media; to whom we send private images; who's around when the delivery guy comes; getting an apartment where we can see who's at the door before they can see us; checking before we open the door to the delivery guy; owning a dog or a dog-sound-making machine; getting a roommate; taking self-defense; always being alert always paying attention always watching our back always being aware of our surroundings and never letting our guards down for a moment lest we be sexually assaulted and if we are and didn't follow all the rules it's our own fault.
And, on top of all of that (which is, regrettably, hardly a comprehensive compendium), we are meant to understand that it's an immense and unreasonable imposition on men to ask them to engage in sexual assault prevention by not sexually assaulting people.
Once you start caring about all that, then I'll care about your fee-fees.
J/k. I won't. I will never give an infinitesimal fuck that you feel squirmy because men who have done terrible things to women are being publicly exposed as the abusive sadists that they are, even in the event that you profess to care about the oppressive lives women are obliged to lead because of shitwheels like you.
I guess I'm the cunt you always said I was after all.
I'm good with that.
Contemptuously,
Liss
Daily Dose of Cute
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
We Resist: Day 621
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: Trump Regime Will Deny Visas to Same-Sex Partners of Diplomats and Making America Great Again with Dairy Concessions. ICYMI late yesterday: U.S. Destroyer and Chinese Warship Have "Unsafe" Encounter in the South China Sea.
Here are some more things in the news today...
[Content Note: Natural disasters; injury, death, and displacement] Yesterday, I wrote about the devastating 7.5 magnitude earthquake which hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, followed by an unexpected tsunami, which had left countless people displaced, injured, or dead. Below is some follow-up news. Please note that there may be upsetting images of the aftermath at the links.
Timothy McLaughlin, Stanley Widianto, and Shibani Mahtani at the Washington Post: Toll from Indonesia Quake-Tsunami Tops 1,234 as Desperation Mounts Among Survivors.
Hannah Ellis-Petersen at the Guardian: Palu Tsunami: Food and Water Run Out as Death Toll Tops 1,200.
Tamara Wilson at CNN: Aid Indonesia Earthquake and Tsunami Victims.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share other suggestions for how to help in comments.
* * *
[CN: Fascism; xenophobia; Islamophobia; nativism; racism. Covers entire section.]
One of the things I (and others) have repeatedly observed about the rise of Donald Trump, and associated anti-democratic and nativist sentiments, is that it's all situated within a larger global context, where fascism, in various incarnations, is on the rise around the world. Which is part of what's going to make restoring our democracy so incredibly difficult — much more so than just getting rid of Trump himself.
On that subject, here a few things I've seen today that I've found very concerning...
René Bruemmer at the Montreal Gazette: Quebec Election, the Day After: Here's What the CAQ Promises to Do. "Fuelled by a desire for change, the Coalition Avenir Québec heaved the governing Liberals out of office Monday with enough seats to form a majority government. CAQ Leader François Legault will be Quebec's 32nd premier, promising Monday evening to make Quebec 'strong and proud' again. ...Reduce number of immigrants by 20 per cent a year, starting in 2019. Negotiate with Ottawa for full control of immigration. Establish values and language test to qualify for immigration. Those who can't pass French test after three years flagged to Ottawa for expulsion. ...Religious symbols would be prohibited for all persons in a position of authority. Limit immigration, in part to protect French language."
Guardian News: Theresa May Promises 'an End to Free Movement Once and for All'.
Well, the policy on immigration that we're announcing today delivers on the vote of the [Brexit] referendum and takes back control of our borders. It ensures that we bring an end to free movement once and for all — and, for the first time in decades, it will be the UK government determining how many people and who can come to the United Kingdom.She can dress this bullshit up in whatever language of self-determination she wants to try to make it sound reasonable, but what she really means is that Britain doesn't want Muslim war refugees. If the EU was dictating Britain's immigration policy and they were getting nothing but white Christian immigrants, this wouldn't even be an issue. The conservatives are framing it as a problem with their own manifest destiny or whatever, but what they really hate is that the EU expects them to not be racists.
And, yes, this system will be based on skills. It will be based not on where somebody comes from, but on how they can contribute to our economy. And I think that's a — that's important.
We do still want to bring that migration down to those sustainable levels, as we've promised in the past. What this does, it enables us — leaving the European Union enables us to be able to make decisions about who can come, and the numbers who can come, from the European Union, which of course we previously haven't been able to do.
Mark Frauenfelder at BoingBoing: Travelers to New Zealand Who Refuse a Digital Strip Search Will Be Fined $5000. "New Zealand's Customs and Excise Act 2018 went into effect today. That means travelers who refuse to give their phone or laptop password to customs officials will be fined NZ$5000. In addition, their devices will be confiscated and forensically searched. Customs Minister Kris Faafoi said these digital strip searches are necessary because: 'A lot of the organised crime groups are becoming a lot more sophisticated in the ways they're trying to get things across the border. And if we do think they're up to that kind of business, then getting intelligence from smartphones and computers can be useful for a prosecution.' But Thomas Beagle of Council for Civil Liberties pointed out that organized criminals are smart enough not to keep incriminating files on their devices."
Over and over, this is a demonstrable strategy of increasingly fascist governments, including the U.S. government: Oppression justified by some absurd poppycock about protecting people, who are the ultimate victims of fascist crackdowns.
Meanwhile...
"Russia has a new type of missile that threatens Europe — in violation of a signature arms treaty — and NATO wants an immediate explanation, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday." https://t.co/myGeUMrvUe
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 2, 2018
Everything is fine. (Everything is not fine.)
* * *
Oliver Holmes at the Guardian: Global Image of U.S. Is Historically Bad Under Trump, Says Poll. "The global image of the U.S. has sunk to historic lows since Donald Trump took office, a survey of 25 countries has found, with only Israelis, Russians, and Kenyans showing an increase in positive attitudes. In the Pew Research Center poll, respondents generally had less confidence in Trump's ability to lead than they did in Vladimir Putin's and Xi Jinping's."
Related Reading: What Could Have Been, and What Is.
* * *
Nicole Lafond at TPM: Trump Directed Son Eric to Oversee Restraining Order Against Stormy. "Donald Trump was personally involved in efforts to enforce a hush agreement with porn actress Stormy Daniels and directed that his son, Eric Trump, be involved in the legal response, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. According to people familiar with the matter who spoke to the WSJ, Trump asked his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to get a restraining order against Daniels to keep her from discussing the details of her alleged affair with Trump, after he had learned that she planned to outline the alleged sexual encounter in a media interview. Trump asked Cohen to work with Eric Trump and another lawyer, who had previously worked with the president, to handle the legal work. Eric Trump then directed a Trump Organization lawyer to authorize the paperwork." Wow.
Staff at the Daily Beast: White House Edits Trump Insult to Reporter Out of Official Transcript. "After [Donald] Trump was caught on camera telling a reporter she 'never' thinks, the White House moved to retroactively alter the president's attack at a Monday afternoon press conference by changing a word in the official transcript. While the president told ABC News reporter Cecilia Vega, 'I know you're not thinking. You never do,' the White House transcript reads, 'I know you're not thanking. You never do.'" Wow.
Demetri Sevastopulo and Tom Mitchell at the Financial Times: U.S. Considered Ban on Student Visas for Chinese Nationals. "As the administration debated ways to tackle Chinese espionage, Stephen Miller, a White House aide who has been pivotal in developing the administration's hardline immigration policies, pushed the president and other officials to make it impossible for Chinese citizens to study in the U.S., according to three people familiar with internal discussions. ...While the debate was largely focused on spying, Mr Miller argued his plan would also hurt elite universities whose staff and students have been highly critical of Mr Trump, according to the three people with knowledge of the debate." Wow.
* * *
[CN: War on agency] Robin Marty at Dame: Real Male Allies May Not Exist.
There is almost no scenario in which abortion rights will not be decimated within the next three to five years, if not sooner. A number of progressive states have acknowledged that likelihood by removing antiquated pre-Roe abortion bans from their penal codes, codifying abortion rights into their state constitutions or finding other ways to ensure that access to abortion not only remain secure, but that it is expanded to assist the flood of potential patients who may be forced to travel to the state when it is made illegal in their own.[CN: Rape culture]
California, as one of the most progressive states in the nation, is leading the way in ensuring abortion was accessible for everyone. A groundbreaking bill overwhelmingly passed in the state legislature that would allow University of California and California State University to offer medication abortions in their student health centers. The expansion makes complete sense — medication abortion requires no special instruments or additional physician effort, since pills are simply provided to the patient, students who may be unable to leave campus due to class time, work schedules, and lack of transportation would have immediate nearby care, and because medication abortion is extremely safe, there is a very limited likelihood of complications that would require emergency follow up that would need more extensive medical care.
Then Democratic Governor Jerry Brown vetoed it because he believes there are already enough abortion providers in the state as it is, and adding more to the mix will do little to improve access. "Because the services required by this bill are widely available off-campus, this bill is not necessary," Brown said in his veto statement, arguing that "the average distance to abortion providers in campus communities varies from five to seven miles, not an unreasonable distance."
Of course, we've seen this sort of posturing before, every time we are told we are frantic shrills demanding from Democratic candidates a "litmus test" simply because we want the right to our own bodily autonomy if not prioritized, at least upheld. Or when we were told by the Bernie bros that there was no difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, despite the fact that our last two Supreme Court nominees make it very, very clear there is. But to be told by yet another alleged ally in an allegedly progressive state that we don't need to worry, that the abortion access issue is all in our heads? That one really hurts.
As someone who works daily in covering lack of abortion access, it is difficult to understand exactly how "too much availability" can be a problem.
It really tells you everything you need to know about what a piece of shit Louis CK is that he decided to do a "surprise" appearance at the end of a week in which women were reeling from Kavanaugh dominating the news. https://t.co/w9IgWw24Iy
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 2, 2018
Honestly, anyone who reads that and doesn't connect it to what Louis CK admitted doing to women is making an effort to not connect it at this point.
[CN: Toxic masculinity] Philip Rucker and Robert Costa at the Washington Post: 'The Trauma for a Man': Male Fury and Fear Rises in GOP in Defense of Kavanaugh. "The sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh have sparked a wave of unbridled anger and anxiety from many Republican men, who say they are in danger of being swept up by false accusers who are biased against them." FUCK YOU. Any man who is shaking is his boots because he thinks #MeToo has "gone too far" is a man who has done something which he knows is abuse. I see you.
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
Tom Hardy + Kids Questions = WIN
Fully 76% of the people in the multiverse have sent this to me (and a hearty thanks to each and every one of you), so I thought it was time I shared it to make sure we have all seen it, enjoyed it, and thoroughly appreciated it for the slice of joyful perfection in a grim world that it is.
Behold: Kids Ask Tom Hardy Difficult Questions.
[A complete transcript is below.]
Making America Great Again with Dairy Concessions
Yesterday, Donald Trump spent the day, including another ludicrous press conference, crowing about his "historic" trade deal that replaced NAFTA, which was basically just NAFTA plus some renegotiations on dairy trade.
It's a truly remarkable encapsulation of Trump's presidency: He invented a crisis, centered it within a network of lies, screamed endlessly about it, made impossible promises to his base, threw international agreements into chaos, risked our global alliances, struck a deal that was barely significant except that it's worse, rebranded the policy, then bragged that it was the greatest thing that's ever happened.
Rinse and repeat.
At the Washington Post, Catherine Rampell strikes precisely the right tone in her coverage of this garbage:
Well, that was unnecessarily painful.Whoop de doo is right.
After spending a year and a half alienating our friends, punishing our farmers and manufacturers with devastating tariffs and counter-tariffs, and fracturing the hard-won alliance we had built to isolate and pressure China, we finally got a new trade deal — and a "new" trade strategy.
Yet somehow, they look an awful lot like the old ones.
On Sunday evening, news broke that Canada agreed to the terms of a renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement. Not merely renegotiated: rebranded! What was once the easily pronounceable "NAFTA" will hereafter be the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or "USMCA."
Why the name change was needed is a little unclear. Our marketer in chief clearly loves rebranding things, and USMCA, while it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does have the virtue of literally putting America first.
...So, you know, whoop de doo.
There are some new protectionist measures, such as complicated new requirements for auto rules of origin, which could potentially backfire. That is, they may end up being so costly to adhere to that they'll encourage manufacturers to move more of their operations and jobs outside of North America.
Other stuff, such as a "sunset" provision requiring members to regularly reaffirm their desire to continue the three-party deal, is probably also not an improvement. There are better ways to encourage ongoing modernization of the deal that would involve less policy uncertainty for businesses. But, again, this section is not as bad as many businesses and trade experts feared.
Trump also won some modest concessions in tiny industries he's weirdly obsessed with, such as Canadian dairy. He has conveniently played down the concessions he made in exchange: In return for greater American access to the Canadian dairy, poultry, and egg markets, we gave Canada greater access to U.S. markets for dairy, peanuts, processed peanut products, sugar, and sugar-containing products.
But for the most part, despite Trump's assertion that "it's not NAFTA redone, it's a brand-new deal," the president mostly kept NAFTA intact.
But all Trump cares about is that he got his headlines after boasting that the deal was "historic." And his cult of deplorables will cheer for his "historic" deal-making that really stuck it to those Canadians and Mexicans, because that's the talking point they've been given and that's good enough for them.
Trump Regime Will Deny Visas to Same-Sex Partners of Diplomats
[Content Note: Homophobia.]
In 2009, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton instituted a policy making same-sex partners of U.S. and foreign diplomats eligible for the same benefits as any spouse. The policy "extended to all unmarried domestic partners," both same-sex and different-sex, thus not requiring that anyone be legally married to access family services.
In 2016, Donald Trump stole the election from the architect of that eminently decent and fair policy, and now his administration is reversing that policy, reports Colum Lynch at Foreign Policy — and justifying the decision by mendaciously implying that same-sex diplomats were getting special rights.
"Same-sex spouses of U.S. diplomats now enjoy the same rights and benefits as opposite-sex spouses," the U.S. mission wrote in a July 12 note to U.N.-based delegations. "Consistent with [State] Department policy, partners accompanying members of permanent missions or seeking to join the same must generally be married in order to be eligible" for a diplomatic visa.In other words: Now that same-sex marriage is legal in the United States, same-sex partners don't get any special treatment. But they weren't getting special treatment in the first place. Clinton's inclusive policy made sure of that.
The Trump Regime now insists that same-sex partners must be married, and has begun "denying visas to same-sex domestic partners of foreign diplomats and United Nations employees, and requiring those already in the United States to get married by the end of the year or leave the country."
This, despite the fact that same-sex marriage — or even homosexuality itself — may not be legal in foreign diplomats' home countries. It is an absurd standard, which either exposes or forces back into a closet the people who are most vulnerable to state-sanctioned retribution for being in same-sex relationships.
Which is almost certainly the entire point. As I keep saying: Malice is the central governing principle of the Trump Regime.
Samantha Power, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, denounced the new policy on Twitter as "needlessly cruel & bigoted."This, I will note, is one of the many intricacies of federal policy about which Donald Trump is utterly clueless because he is utterly disinterested. It is, however, precisely the sort of thing around which Mike Pence has built his whole sickening career. This has Pence's filthy, homophobic fingerprints all over it.
"State Dept. will no longer let same-sex domestic partners of UN employees get visas unless they are married," she tweeted, noting that "only 12% of UN member states allow same-sex marriage."
Trump must go. And so must everyone else in his entire contemptible administration.
Question of the Day
What do you bring with you everywhere you go?
The only thing of which I can think that I bring with me everywhere I go is a pair of glasses (or contacts). Occasionally I will leave the house without my phone and/or wallet, but I never step foot outside the house without being able to see!
Monday Links!
This list o' links brought to you by glass.
Recommended Reading:
Hanna Neuschwander at Longreads: [Content Note: End of wanted pregnancy] A Birth Plan for Dying
Christopher Stroop at Dame: [CN: Child abuse; racism; colonialism; nativism] Are Evangelical Adoption Agencies Stealing Children?
Hannah Wiley at the Texas Tribune: [CN: Nativism] Critics Say New Barriers on Border Bridge Are Meant to Deter Asylum-Seekers
Anna Castro at Transgender Law Center: [CN: Sexual assault] Kavanaugh Confirmation Would "Destroy Any Credibility of the Supreme Court"
Jessica Prois at the Cut: [CN: Misogygny; racism; abuse] Senator Mazie Hirono's Identity As a Woman, Asian-American, and Immigrant Matters
Dustin Rowles at Pajiba: [CN: Sexual assault] In Aziz Ansari's Stand-Up Act, He Ignores the Elephant in the Room and Engages in Gross Bothsiderism
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
U.S. Destroyer and Chinese Warship Have "Unsafe" Encounter in the South China Sea
Perhaps you've not even heard this news, because the President of the United States is too busy publicly lamenting the "trauma" his abusive Supreme Court nominee is being put through by the women he victimized and making vague pronouncements about a senator who has a serious drinking problem that "compromises" him, and in various other reprehensible ways is sending the political press on endless tilt-a-whirls of demented codswallop, but a U.S. destroyer had an "unsafe" encounter with a Chinese warship in the South China Sea over the weekend.
Barbara Starr and Ryan Browne at CNN report:
A U.S. Navy ship had an "unsafe" interaction with a Chinese warship Sunday while the U.S. vessel was conducting a freedom of navigation operation near the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, causing the U.S. ship to maneuver "to prevent a collision," according to U.S. defense officials.Just to be clear, the "freedom of navigation" exercises in that disputed area are considered provocative by the Chinese government, and, as the trade war has escalated, any and every provocation is heightened against that backdrop. This latest incident isn't going to diffuse that situation.
"A (People's Republic of China) Luyang destroyer approached USS Decatur in an unsafe and unprofessional maneuver in the vicinity of Gaven Reef in the South China Sea," Capt. Charles Brown, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Fleet, told CNN in a statement confirming the incident.
Brown said the Chinese warship "conducted a series of increasingly aggressive maneuvers accompanied by warnings for the Decatur to depart the area."
He added that the Chinese destroyer "approached within 45 yards" of the front of the U.S. ship, adding that the Decatur "maneuvered to prevent a collision."
"Our forces will continue to fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows," he said.
That said, I honestly don't even know how I can trust whether this happened at all, no less whether it happened as reported by a spokesperson working for a military whose commander-in-chief is a known liar who obliges his underlings to routinely lie on his behalf.
United States citizens can't trust our own government anymore. Not that it was ever the most trustworthy institution in the first place, but this is a whole new level of absent integrity.
It scares the shit out of me that I can't know if this is something that really happened as reported, and whether that's a foreboding harbinger, or whether it's something the Trump Regime invented (or merely exaggerated) in order to justify their own intended malice in the region.
Fuck.
#365feministselfie: Week 40
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 40!
A few of my selfies over the last two weeks:
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!
