Well, trying to come back on Friday was definitely premature. I am still sick as hell, and I spent literally almost the entire weekend asleep. I don't know what this thing is, but it is definitely the wooooooorst.
Open Thread
This week's open threads have been brought to you by things on my desk.
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
Quote of the Day
"The greatest commonly shared story in this country is economic insecurity. If you think poor people don't deserve to have children, the problem is not SNAP or the people that rely on it to survive. The problem is you."—Mijin Cha. [Content Note for disablist language at link. Via Imani.]
Once more, I will observe that the Social Darwinist heapshits who believe that people aren't entitled to food and say things like "People who are poor do not deserve to have children" are the same assholes who seek to curb access to affordable contraception and abortion. Which is deeply relevant, given that, according to this Guttmacher study (pdf), "Can't afford a baby now" was cited by 73% of women who terminated pregnancies as a reason for seeking an abortion.
In the qualitative sample, of women who stated that they could not afford to have a child now, the majority had children already. Financial difficulties included the absence of support from the father of either the current pregnancy or the woman's other children, anticipating not being able to continue working or to find work while pregnant or caring for a newborn, not having the resources to support a child whose conception was not planned and lacking health insurance.And that study was done in 2004, several years before the beginning of the Great Recession.
So, on the one hand, they're yelling at poor
Pushed to justify these totally incoherent positions, they will inevitably argue that poor
But, of course, these are the also the same lot who most passionately defend a patriarchal system that primarily defines women as a sex class in which an individual women's value is largely if not exclusively determined by her sexual deference to straight cisgender men. A system in which a women who refuses such deference may be at real risk of harm, a risk that increases exponentially with her every axis of marginalization—including (and perhaps especially) by lower class status.
So the conservative solution is basically this: Poor women should agree with them that poor women's lives are worthless. And all the rest of us should agree with that, too.
I do not agree with that. I never will.
Shooting at LAX
[Content Note: Guns; violence.]
A suspect is reportedly in custody after a shooting at Los Angeles International Airport, killing one person and wounding at least three other people.
CBS News' John Miller said the unidentified suspect entered the terminal wearing camouflage and opened fire around 9:30 a.m., wounding at least three people.NBC is reporting that the shooter is, according to federal officials, a US citizen in his early 20s.
Preliminary indications show that he was targeting TSA employees and that one may have been killed, according to Miller.
...Terminal 3 was evacuated and cordoned off and arrival and departure roads to the airport, in addition to Century Boulevard, were closed. All airport exits from the 105 and 405 freeways were also shut down.
A large box of ammunition has been recovered on LAX property, Miller said. An LAPD bomb squad and tactical team were sweeping the terminal and evaluating baggage.
..."I was waiting for my flight and heard a rumble of people, which I thought was an earthquake, but then I saw people running and heard gun shots, immediately dove under the benches at my gate, and then gunshots stopped and I got up and called my wife," [witness] Billy Bey said. "Then I saw a man walking towards the gate, when I saw him I thought he was just a passenger looking for his gate, but when he kept walking, I saw he had something looked like an assault rifle, a huge gun strapped over his shoulder, hanging down on the right side of his waist."
Passenger Rodrigo Jara told KNX1070 NEWSRADIO he was waiting in line to go through the security line in Terminal 3 when he heard a loud sound.
"I heard 'pop, pop, pop,' and then we fell down, and little did I know, I looked to the side, and this guy's going up the stairs with the rifle," Jara said.
Jara described the shooter he saw as a white male with blonde/dirty blonde hair possibly wearing khakis, clean-cut, and "walking like he was going to buy tea."
My sincerest condolences to the families, friends, and colleagues of the victims. My sympathy and best wishes to those sitting vigil over the wounded. I hope everyone, including the people in the vicinity who were merely terrified but not harmed, gets the support and help that they may need.
Please feel welcome and encouraged to share updates in comments, although I will ask that this remain an image-free thread. Thank you.
The Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by tides.
Recommended Reading:
Resistance: [Content Note: Racism; violence] Just Don't
Christian: [CN: Homophobia] Partner of Slain Missouri Trooper Denied Survivor's Benefits
Von: [CN: Racism; violence] Feds to Investigate Kendrick Johnson's Death
Maria: [CN: Misogyny] 13 Myths Hollywood Uses to Hide Discrimination Against Women Directors
BYP: [CN: Class warfare] Study Shows That Poverty Damages the Brain
This Is Thin Privilege: [CN: Fat hatred; violence; self-harm] In Case You Were Still Under the Misapprehension That Fat Hatred Isn't Eliminationist
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Daily Dose of Cute
Titchy wee cat, looking out the window.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
Iggy Pop with Kate Pierson: "Candy"
This week's TMNS brought to you by candy-related songs.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today!
[Content Note: Racism; violence] Marissa Alexander will find out next week if she'll be allowed out on bail during her second trial.
[CN: Hostility to reproductive rights] This is what a "pro-life" state looks like.
[CN: Sexual violence; rape culture] Protests are happening in Kenya and elsewhere in support of "Liz," a 16-year-old Kenyan girl who was gang-raped and left for dead in June, but survived and reported the names of her attackers, who were ordered by police "to cut grass as their only punishment; the men were then let go—even though under Kenya's Sexual Offences Act they should receive no less than 15 years in prison. ...[T]he global campaigning network Avaaz launched an online petition calling for immediate arrest and prosecution of the rapists and disciplinary action for the police officers."
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered states to provide couples benefits to national guard members in same-sex couples, irrespective of whether the state recognizes same-sex marriage. Right on.
Ha ha here's a neat headline: "US surveillance has gone too far, John Kerry admits." Naw, ya think?
[CN: Misogynoir] More on SNL's lack of black female performers: "When Kerry Washington hosts this week, the show will have someone who can credibly play Beyoncé for the first time this season. There hasn't been a cast member to portray Michelle Obama for her husband's entire presidency. That matters."
Republicans Think People Aren't Entitled to Food
[Content Note: Food insecurity; class warfare.]
Earlier this year, a recession-era boost in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) benefits was allowed to expire, because the economy is perfect and everyone is doing great. Just ask any Romney. They'll tell you. I mean, if we were still in a recession, who could afford a fifth mansion with a secret room? Case closed, your honor.
Granted, millions of USians, many of whom are working full-time in foodservice or retail jobs for corporations that refuse to pay their staff liveable wages and are allowed to get away with that bullshit because the federal minimum wage is a cruel joke, are dependent on food stamps in order to survive, but members of the Republican Congressional Caucus just literally pretend that this reality does not exist while they talk endless shit about "makers and takers" and "producers and parasites" and people who will never "take personal responsibility and care for their lives," while themselves living extremely well off the taxpayer dime and governing on behalf of the insatiably avaricious tycoons who shamelessly exploit an unfettered capitalist system to create the permanent underclass that toils in their service, the very existence of which the Republican Party insistently denies.
Every single thing conservatives (generally) believe about privilege, opportunity, hard work, compensation, and the social safety net is wrong. They govern from a place of wrongness that acts in service to plutocrats and denies the lived experiences and needs of the most economically vulnerable citizens and residents of the nation, from a place of wrongness that is unfathomably cruel.
And, as a result, today, food stamp benefits will be cut by $5 billion (= 20 Romneys), leaving millions of families with a reduction in benefits.
Enrollment in food stamps, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, has soared.The bitter irony is listening to Republicans hollering about the Affordable Care Act and the cost of healthcare. Not for nothing, assholes, but first item on the Keep Healthcare Costs Down checklist is making sure that your populace has enough nutritional food to fucking eat to stay healthy.
Some 47.6 million people, or nearly 15% of the population, get them, according to September federal data. That compares to 26.3 million, or 8.7% of the population, in 2007. The average benefit per person is $133.19 a month.
Needless to say, many of the millions of people who are suffering from "food insecurity," the euphemistically named catch-all that includes everything from the occasional missed meal to constant hunger to malnutrition to outright starvation, are children. Members of the United States Congress are okay with letting children starve. Members of the United States Congress think children aren't entitled to food.
(Many of them children born into the world only because those same members of Congress also believe women and other people with uteri aren't entitled to bodily agency and access to abortion, especially on the government dime.)
There aren't words to convey the depth of my contempt for a party whose official position on hungry children is essentially: "Sucks to be you, kid. You shoulda been born a Romney."
So Broken
In case you somehow managed to forget for two seconds that the US government is profoundly broken and utterly dysfunctional, Republicans have reignited the nomination wars:
Just minutes after the swearing-in of New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker, the Senate dove headfirst back into a standoff over executive and judicial branch nominations.How rare? Nancy Zirkin, Executive Vice President of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, says: "The Senate has not filibustered a sitting member of Congress since before the Civil War."
...Republicans blocked President Barack Obama's pick of Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C., to become the top housing finance regulator, and Patricia Ann Millett's nomination to fill one of three vacant seats on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals. Watt was blocked on a 56-42 vote for cloture, while Millett failed on a 55-38 vote. Sixty votes are needed to avoid a filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid voted "no" to preserve his right to reconsider the vote.
...The votes drew a quick rebuke from the White House and revived talk of using the "nuclear option" to get around filibusters.
"We really hope there's an opportunity for these nominees to move forward," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said, calling both nominees highly qualified and dismissing the opposition as "politics."
...As a sitting member of the House, the filibuster of Watt is extremely rare.
Still Ill
Morning, everyone. I'm still really under the weather, as the flu seems to be causing complications with my autoimmune disorder. So I'm out for at least another day. I'm really sorry. I'll be back as soon as I can.
Out Today
I have some kind of horrendous flu that came on very suddenly yesterday afternoon, so I'm taking at least today off. Hopefully I'll feel better by tomorrow, but, if not, I'll let you know.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Harriet_The_Spy: "What's something you have made lately (with photos if appropriate)? I want to see the wonderful baking/art/building/craft/knitting projects that people keep mentioning!"
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