WaPo’s Dana Milbank wrote a column praising Hillary Clinton’s debate performance. Here’s how he summed up her success:
Sweet babby Jeebus, I just cannot…
Open thread!
This post is in: Election 2016, Open Threads, DC Press Corpse, Our Failed Media Experiment, WTF?
WaPo’s Dana Milbank wrote a column praising Hillary Clinton’s debate performance. Here’s how he summed up her success:
Sweet babby Jeebus, I just cannot…
Open thread!
by Betty Cracker| 239 Comments
This post is in: Movies, Post-racial America, Vagina Outrage, Get off my grass you damned kids, I Reject Your Reality and Substitute My Own, Rare Sincerity, Self-Hating Liberal, WTF?
Just read this Vox article by Alex Abad-Santos about a controversy involving Meryl Streep, who apparently sparked a Twitter outrage fest by wearing, along with fellow cast-members of a film about the British Suffragette movement, a t-shirt with the slogan “I’d rather be a rebel than a slave.”
The Vox article links to a Cosmo(!) essay by Gugu Mhlungu that’s critical of Streep because of the shirt (as well as other comments Streep made about feminism; she prefers to be called a “humanist,” apparently). Here’s an excerpt from Mhlungu’s essay:
The slogan comes from the famous speech by Pankhurst and the part from which the tee slogan is taken from is as follows:
‘Know that women, once convinced that they are doing what is right, that their rebellion is just, will go on, no matter what the difficulties, no matter what the dangers, so long as there is a woman alive to hold up the flag of rebellion. I would rather be a rebel than a slave.’
But taken out of context, it’s deeply problematic. Especially in the American context where during the American Civil War, the Confederates, who referred to themselves as ‘rebels’, came from the Southern slave states and fought for their right to own slaves. So Meryl appears to be wearing an item of clothing that says ‘I’d rather own a slave than be one’.
Emphasis mine. I roll my eyes along with Mhlungu at people who equivocate about the label “feminist,” which should be embraced by every person who believes women are fully human. But back to the shirt: Why isn’t the onus on the people who view the image sans context to find out the context before proceeding directly to outrage? It’s a fairly famous quote.
Abad-Santos also seems to assume that readers will share his view that wearing the shirt was an affront, or at least a PR debacle that Streep should have avoided:
Streep hasn’t commented on the shirt. She probably won’t, since Time Out has taken responsibility with its apology. But like the context of the quote, that apology pales in comparison with the image of the most recognizable and respected American actress of the past 30 years wearing a T-shirt her publicist shouldn’t have cleared.
And Mhlungu ends with this:
Although probably well intentioned, this Suffragettes movie campaign shows why intersectionality is so important if our feminism will mean anything.
I thought I understood what intersectionality means, but I guess I don’t, or at least not in the way Mhlungu and Abad-Santos understand it. I get that oppression around race and gender can’t be fully understood as separate experiences because their combined effect is greater than the individual components. I also get that our feminist forebears weren’t inclusive and that too many still aren’t and that we should be.
But I don’t understand why it’s considered insulting or wrong or tone deaf for people in the UK — which is a whole other country, after all — to use words like “rebel” and “slave” without considering the context of the American Civil War, particularly when the use is related to a famous quote by a non-American historical figure (whom Streep was portraying in the movie, doubtlessly with an absolutely flawless British accent).
My initial take is that the outrage is a stupid example of the social media “call-out culture” that I find annoying as hell as I settle into my dotage. But! I sometimes find when I’m rolling my eyes at kids today with their stupid tweeting and misplaced outrage, etc., I’m actually missing something important — particularly when it’s an issue involving race — because middle-aged white lady.
So, I’m asking with all sincerity: What am I missing here?
This post is in: Because of wow., Open Threads, Pet Rescue, Sweet Fancy Moses!, WTF?
The above chicken was appreHENded by police in Oakland, CA at the Bay Bridge toll plaza. She is currently at an animal shelter:
Animal Services Director Rebecca Katz says people claiming ownership of the chicken, named Chip in a nod to the CHP, need to come to the facility with proof, such as previous photos of the famous foul. [sic]
On Thursday, Chip laid an egg. But the shelter will likely swap in a substitute egg for her to sit on, because it doesn’t want any more chickens.
I trust Animal Services realizes hens lay eggs regardless of whether or not they’ve ever clapped eyes on a rooster. We replaced our hens’ initial eggs with golf balls so they wouldn’t get the idea that eggs are edible. I don’t know if it was necessary, but they’ve always left the eggs to us.
by Zandar| 92 Comments
This post is in: Austerity Bombing, Republican Venality, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, Assholes, I Can't Believe We're Losing to These People, Our Awesome Meritocracy, WTF?
Of all the problems of his own making that plague Kansas GOP Gov. Sam Brownback (like a state economy disintegrating under tax cuts for the rich, vice tax for the poor, and basic government services like public school districts that can’t pay their bills to keep the lights on and can’t pay teachers enough to keep them working) the most interesting problem may be his asshole brother Jim.
Undulating fields of crops and livestock-dotted pastures are the domain of a trigger-happy bully who brags about a political cloak of invincibility keeping him beyond reach of the law in faithfully conservative Linn County.
Adversaries say he has woven a liquor-infused tapestry of fear colored by intimidation, abuse and lies. The saga features stalking, death threats, trespassing, drive-by gunfire, massive explosions, cattle theft, loan defaults, hit-and-run driving and marital strife. Linn County Sheriff’s Department files bulge with complaints about him.
There is trepidation among acquaintances to speak freely, a point accentuated by the number expressing nervousness about reprisal if they were candid. There is genuine fear.
Descriptions of events offered by those willing to speak out converge to reveal a potentially lethal menace. Neighbors allege some in law enforcement responded to cries for help with degrees of indifference or favoritism.
Locals aware of the dynamics shake their head in dismay. In a place where people honor the Second Amendment and revere the self-defense castle doctrine, there is astonishment no one has been gunned down.
Folks in direct path of this prairie hellion pray for an end to what some coined “neighborhood terrorism.”
So far, their nemesis has found no reason to relent.
Not when your name is Jim Brownback and you are a brother to Sam, the most powerful politician in Kansas.
I swear, this story reads like a Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child or an episode of Longmire. Farm pigs mauled by dogs, a keg of nails scattered on the driveway, drunken shotgun drive-bys, blowing up stuff in the middle of the night to wake the neighbors, cattle unleashed to devour crop fields, frightened insurance adjusters, and good ol’ boy shitkicker cops that won’t touch the governor’s brother.
Jim Brownback is possibly the second biggest asshole in the entire state, next to his brother. It’s terrorism by a cartoon bully and nobody can put a leash on this guy.
Least of all the governor of the great state of Kansas. What Jim is doing to his neighbors on the Kansas plains, Sam is doing to the entire state.
Bullies all around, doing what they do best, has always been the way.
by John Cole| 50 Comments
This post is in: Post-racial America, Shitty Cops, Serenity Now!, Seriously, WTF?
I got nothing:
A police officer in Alabama proposed murdering a black resident and creating bogus evidence to suggest the killing was in self-defence, the Guardian has learned.
Officer Troy Middlebrooks kept his job and continues to patrol Alexander City after authorities there paid the man $35,000 to avoid being publicly sued over the incident. Middlebrooks, a veteran of the US marines, said the man “needs a god damn bullet” and allegedly referred to him as “that nigger”, after becoming frustrated that the man was not punished more harshly over a prior run-in.
The payment was made to the black resident, Vincent Bias, after a secret recording of Middlebrooks’s remarks was played to the city’s police chiefs and the mayor. Elected city councillors said they were not consulted. A copy of the recording was obtained by the Guardian.
“This town is ridiculous,” Bias, 49, said in an interview. “The police here feel they can do what they want, and often they do.” Alexander City police chief Willie Robinson defended Middlebrooks. “He was just talking. He didn’t really mean that,” he said in an interview.
Bloody fucking hell.
by Zandar| 191 Comments
This post is in: America, Bring on the Brawndo!, Decline and Fall, Flash Mob of Hate, WTF?
So the road leading to my apartment complex here in the NKY has a joint recruitment center on it (Army, Navy, Air Force) situated between two strip mall centers. It’s a pretty accessible location and at a busy intersection. I pass the center daily on the way to and from work.
For the last week plus, there’s been armed folks ostensibly guarding it from attack.
Yesterday in particular there was a fellow standing in the grass outside the center, very visible from cars, wearing shorts and packing a semi-automatic rifle. Some folks were honking at him in support, most were ignoring him and going about their commute or shopping or whatever.
But it’s very odd to have an armed man, not in any uniform (military or police) in public with a military rifle just standing on a street corner. I didn’t see any police around, nor any of the recruiters (I assume they were inside doing their job, because yesterday it was about 88-90 degrees out at 5:30 PM).
However, everyone was treating it as a perfectly normal occurrence.
I don’t find it normal at all, in fact I thought it was disturbing and outright insane to see this, but arguing with a guy with a rather large rifle is generally not a smart move, car or not.
One day last week there were 4 or 5 people out there at the center, two of them armed with rifles in a very public display, and what looked like their wives or girlfriends with them in folding chairs. One had a cooler with water, so at least they were staying hydrated, I guess.
And yeah, this America in 2015, where citizens on street corners with rifles is the New Goddamn Normal.
That took a grand total of a couple of weeks to happen.
I fully expect to see somebody out there again today when I come home even though it’s supposed to get up to 92 or so this afternoon. They’ll most likely be there again tomorrow. And the next day. And so on.
And we’ll get used to that, too.
Something Something Paved Good IntentionsPost + Comments (191)
by David Anderson| 89 Comments
This post is in: Activist Judges!, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, WTF?
Building on John’s post from last night, I have to ask what harm does the lead plaintiff have in the King case given what he just said in a newspaper:
Mr. King, 64……
Mr. King and three other Virginia residents are challenging the payment of subsidies in states like Virginia that depend on the federal insurance marketplace. They contend that the 2010 health care law allows subsidies only in states that establish their own marketplaces.
But Mr. King said that he was not really worried about the outcome of the case, King v. Burwell, because as a Vietnam veteran, he has access to medical care through the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The plaintiff’s theory of harm is as follows:
They don’t want to spend money on insurance nor on the mandate penalty. The presence of what they contend is illegal subsidies makes insurance affordable and therefore puts them under the obligation to either buy insurance that they don’t want or to pay the individual mandate tax. Their asked-for solution is to have the subsidies declared illegal which then makes the insurance unaffordable which means he would now qualify for a hardship exemption to the individual mandate.
However, assuming that what the New York Times is reporting is true, namely that Mr. King is eligible for affordable healthcare via the VA, the mandate still applies to him even if the subsidies get wiped out as he can afford VA care.
IANAL, but how the fuck does he have standing? Is there a betting pool that the case gets DIGed/Denied for Improvidently Granted? I would like to take 10:1 odds on that outcome.