Twins!

David Bowie and his wife married in 1992 and have one daughter. Just like LSH and I. We have SO MUCH in common!!

RIP, Mr. Jones. You will be missed.

Yes, it is about race

Last night a grand jury announced the decision NOT to indict two police officers in the execution death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice citing that in the bizarroworld in which they live, it is "reasonable" that a couple of ostensibly trained, purportedly mature police officers were "justified" in driving a police car into a park, leaping from the vehicle, and shooting a boy sitting and playing with a toy.
The "justification" comes from the fact that the toy was a gun that appeared to be real from a distance. And that a 12-year-old black boy appears to be an adult to white cops.
The "reasonable" choice in a situation in which an unknown black male of undetermined (young) age appears to have a gun in a public place in a state where it is legal to carry a gun, is to shoot first. And render no first aid once the black male is incapacitated.

The shame and horror I have in being a Clevelander right now is reasonable and justified.

Just stop

I'm disheartened and ashamed of the hatred I see everywhere for the poor refugees who are fleeing all they have ever known with only what they can carry to escape the evils of the IS terrorists only to come headfirst into our bigotry.

Stop. Stop letting irrational fear dictate your responses. Stop letting the terror induced by these despicable individuals color your impressions of all. Stop the hate. No religion preaches hate. Stop.

Women in power

Last week Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took office and announced that his cabinet would be 50% female "because it's 2015."

1. This is awesome.
2. Sadly the United States is far behind at just about 25%.
3. Iceland, Cape Verde and Sweden have a higher percentage of women on their cabinets.
4. But still, this is awesome. And I don't even care that he stole it from the Onion.

He did what?

Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have become the first Jewish Holocaust-denier.
Today, Germany set the record straight.

“All Germans know the history of the murderous race mania of the Nazis that led to the break with civilization that was the Holocaust. [...] We know that responsibility for this crime against humanity is German and very much our own.”

For a more nuanced fact-check, see the Washington Post.

It's like a car wreck

It is a sad state of affairs that headlines like this are NOT from the Onion:

Ben Carson would skip meeting families of Oregon mass shooting but ‘would probably go to the next one’

I suppose at least he's planning ahead...

As stupidly insensitive as that is, at least it isn't downright insulting and false. Marco Rubio wins the prize for that one by suggesting no, SAYING OUTRIGHT that women "look forward" to having abortions so they can get rich off selling the fetal tissue. Yes, he did.

The staff at the Onion is panicking because they can't come up with more ridiculous fake news that could top these two. 

I don't tell you what doctors to see

The posturing of old white males and their undying quest to deny women the right to make our own medical decisions is so infuriating that I can't even try to be witty about it. Do these neanderthals think that they are valiantly leading the charge to defund a vital health service provider in order to protect us? From what? It's the TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, guys! Let us decide what to do with our lady-parts!!! Goddammit!

WWJD

I'm not a fan of religion. I will not try to talk you out of your personal beliefs, but I will fight your imposition of those beliefs on others. For this reason, I've never been a big fan of the Catholic Church which thinks that because they believe that Catholic women should be baby machines, every woman should be denied birth control and safe, legal abortions.
I give them credit for avoiding the hypocrisy of the Religious Right protestants (who used to be called Evangelicals) in that Catholics do not support killing any human being, while the Christian Conservatives have no problem killing adults who they feel "deserve" it.
But, I do have to say, aside from women's issues, I really like this new Pope. He seems to be trying to drag the Catholic Church back into the time when it was the catholic church and represented Jesus's teachings.
Rejecting a dinner invitation from Congress to dine with the homeless, is so Matthew 25:30-40.

Oh, Ben!

Blogging is becoming as irrelevant as Ben Carson's interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.

Tree hugger

After a violent storm ripped through the Irish town of Collooney, locals were shocked to discover the remains of a 1,000-year-old skeleton hanging from the roots of a fallen tree.

The body, which belonged to a young man who appears to have died a violent death, was found beneath a 200-year-old beech tree. In a scene that must have been quite macabre, the upper part of the skeleton was found raised in the air within the tree’s root system, while the legs remained in the ground. 

Is it wrong that I read this story and my first thought was, "Oh, no! Poor tree!"?

What's in a name?

Ohio Rep. Mike Turner (R) is "furious." And it's all Obama's fault.

...President Obama will restore the native name of America's highest mountain. Since 1917, the peak known to Athabascans as "Denali," or "the Great One," has been named for the assassinated President William McKinley, an Ohio native whose visage also graces the $500 bill. Since 1975, Alaskan politicians have attempted to restore the Denali name, the one Alaskans typically use anyway.
[...]
"This is an issue that was resolved in 1917," [Turner] said. "Mount McKinley was named for an assassinated Republican president by a bipartisan action of Congress. It was signed by Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat. It was accomplished by a group of President McKinley's contemporaries, to dedicate something to his service. President Obama’s actions toss aside the sacrifice of President McKinley. Imagine the outrage if in 100 years, a Republican would undo John F. Kennedy’s name from landmarks?"

1. In case you didn't know, McKinley was assassinated. In fact, to hear these politicians talk, that is his single greatest claim to fame. Aside from the annexing of the Philippines and Guam which they frequently forget to mention...
2. This issue is clearly NOT resolved. Nor was it resolved in 1917. In fact, had Mr. Turner (or Mr. McKinley for that matter) ever visited Alaska, they would have noticed that no one in Alaska calls the mountain "McKinley." 
3. Turner's comparison to JFK is specious, since no natural formations (including mountains) are named after Kennedy. In fact, to throw the McKinley descendants a bone, why not rename an airport for McKinley? Or a school? Something to get them to stop whining that we are returning the name of this mountain to the original in place of what began as a campaign slogan concocted by a Republican prospector.

We must have our toys and bedding segregated

So, the same group of people that thinks that all blacks who die at the hands of police somehow must've brought it on themselves, and that the Confederate battle flag is totally not racist, are now completely outraged that Target is no longer labeling Matchbox cars as "boy" toys and Barbie dolls as "girl" toys, but instead labeling the entire lot as "toys."

I'm beginning to think that allowing these people access to the Internet is not a good idea.

Not-so-idle musing

Why are we taking Donald Trump seriously as a candidate for President of the United States?

He can't even run an effing beauty pageant and a majority of likely GOP voters think he can run the country?
God help us.

New York Magazine's 35 Women

One of the biggest reasons the 35 women who have now publicly spoken out against Bill Cosby were marginalize and ignored for so long is that we have a predisposition in this country to assume that a "nobody" accusing a celebrity of something heinous is just out for herself. She wants money or fame or both and has made up a terrible story for attention.
So many people dismissed these women at first, not because of how much they like Cliff Huxtable (although that played a significant part) but because we attributed petty motives to these brave women. They had to know what the reaction to their accounts would be. Yet they persevered and did not waiver.
Now we see 35 women who all have similar stories spanning back over 45 years.

Now don't we all feel belittled for blaming the victim? We should.

Clown #16

John Kasich announced his candidacy for President today. Most of the people I know in Ohio are hoping that this distracts him enough that he stops completely destroying our State.

Two things

Took a couple days off. Because.
Now I'm back. Two things:
1. Changing my avatar on Facebook to a rainbowed thing, is not an insult to LGBT people. Some hard-core activists are throwing shade at the rainbow avatars because they feel all the allies who are posting them aren't "invested" enough and don't deserve the right to rainbow. These whiners fail to understand that most of us are just celebrating the recognition that gay and lesbian people have *gasp* the same fundamental rights as every other American. As a hard-core feminist, I celebrate whenever human rights are validated. Yes, I am not gay. Yes, I have not ever filed an amicus brief with the court on behalf of LGBT rights. Yes, I recognize that we have a way to go. But for some to call the celebration "slacktivism" misses the whole point of the rainbows.
2. When the media spends nearly no time reporting on the arsons of historic black churches in the South, the point of whether there were 5 churches burned down by arsonists or 3 churches burned down by arsonists loses the thread. Outrage that there is ONE black church destroyed by arson is appropriate. Reporting that focuses on the two that were "likely" electrical or lightning, is just a palliative to our white guilt. We will cling to the two church fires that weren't arson, so we don't have to confront the truth of systemic racism and work to counter its effects.
That's it for now. Thanks.

SCOTUS

The Supreme Court did well today. Let's hope the same goes for tomorrow.


update: IT DID! Equality wins.

it's a start

We knew they weren't going to do anything about the guns.
South Carolina
Mississppi
even Walmart

#BlackLivesMatter

RIP:
Rev. Clementa Pinckney, 41
Cynthia Hurd, 54
Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45
Tywanza Sanders, 26
Myra Thompson, 59
Susie Jackson, 87
Ethel Lee Lance, 70
Daniel L. Simmons, 74
Depayne Middleton Doctor, 49

 

 

Who would have believed that in this day and age, --50 years after civil rights legislation, 6 years into a black presidency, 150 years after the Civil War-- there are still Americans so full of hate.
Sad. Let's stop striving for "post-racial" and admit we see race. And once we admit that, maybe we can try to see the privileges and depredations. And once we see those, perhaps we can do something to bring about true equality.

 

 

 

 

MTF

Everyone welcomed Caitlyn Jenner to the world yesterday. Here are some tips for understanding transgender people. I especially like this one (since we are so hideously nosy and at once fascinated and horrified by anything relating to naughty bits in this country):

DON'T speculate about medical procedures transgender people may or may not choose to undertake as part of their transition. This is private medical information, and a transgender identity is not dependent on medical procedures. Overemphasizing the medical aspects of a person's transition objectifies transgender people, and prevents the public from seeing the transgender person as a whole person.