June 2011
this ain't livin': Attack of the Fanpeople! →
This phenomenon is documented and widely discussed; I’m assuming that if you’re reading this, you are familiar with the issue. What I’m more interested in is the gendering that happens here, because the dynamic is unmistakably gendered, and it’s also heavily racialised. The creators who tend to attract this kind of intense following tend to be white and male. Almost overwhelmingly so, although...
Global Comment: True Blood returns to HBO:... →
Spoilers for this episode and Dead to the World!
Ball claims to have been so captivated by Dead Until Dark that he simply had to turn Charlaine Harris’ novels into a television series, but True Blood has strayed further and further from the books with each season, and not always with good results. This is not surprising or new for television adaptations; the question isn’t whether he’s going to...
Jessica Wapner at Scientific American: Poor Man's... →
When the AIDS epidemic first surfaced in the U.S. 30 years ago, the illness was primarily an urban problem, centered in cities such as New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Today New York State and California still rank among the highest in the number of cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with more than 150,000 people living with AIDS (the later stages of HIV...
Tiger Beatdown: Austerity in the U.S.A. →
This is a budget with very serious implications for some of the most vulnerable people in California. Women in need of reproductive health services. Immigrants attempting to access an education. Prisoners in dangerous, overcrowded, environments. The Los Angeles Times lays it out starkly for readers:
Without [the four billion dollar shortfall], even deeper cuts would be triggered automatically....
Tony Barboza at LA Times: Number of beach closures... →
In California, where heavier than normal rainfall greatly increased the amount of water and pollutants being flushed into the ocean, closures and advisories nearly doubled, and the number of beach water tests that exceeded state health standards rose to 11% from 9% the year before. On the Gulf Coast, oil washed up on about 1,000 miles of shoreline. Since the spill, there have been so many...
ARE PEOPLE SERIOUSLY SUGGESTING THAT THE OXFORD...
I’ll slap a bitch with a dead fish, a lemon meringue pie, and a tofutti cutie, not even kidding.
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this ain't livin': More on the Institutional and... →
Because beliefs about the origins of oppression play directly into the way that people confront, combat, and attempt to dismantle oppression. People who view oppression as a personal problem often actively work against those of us who view it as a social one, although they claim to be working in solidarity with us on common causes. I do not view someone who thinks oppression is a personal problem...
Nancy Folbre: Born to Lose: Health Inequality at... →
abbyjean:
today’s edition of “poverty is a self-reinforcing and perpetuating cycle” information
Laura Emiko Soltis at Creative Loafing: Gov.... →
Gov. Deal’s proposal to send unemployed probationers to work in Georgia’s fields as a solution to a perceived labor shortage is unconscionable. The proposal shows willful ignorance of the shameful legacy of convict leasing in the South and directs attention away from systemic human rights violations in the agricultural industry.
There are many people in need of work. If there is a...
Daphne Eviatar interviewing Helen Redmond at... →
YOU WRITE that detainees in the U.S. prison at Bagram air base have far fewer rights than those at Guantánamo Bay. How is that possible?
IT’S BECAUSE of a Supreme Court decision. In 2008, a majority of the justices said that detainees at Guantánamo had the right to habeas corpus, which is the right to challenge their detention in federal court. The Supreme Court has never ruled on whether...
“…the HUGE relief I get from wearing heels in public and prancing around is...”
– Sex, Art, and Politics. Oooooh yes. I wanted to heart all your commentary on this subject but because I’d already hearted the original post it wouldn’t let me do it again.
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rhymeswithnothing:
to 100 followers and I promise you about 10-15 of them are spam gone wild, BUT
if you bring me 3 more legit followers I promise I’ll sacrifice you all head first.
You heard the woman! Consider this a late evening Tumblr Tuesday
“I think the trans movement is the last front of the gender war, and will be the...”
– Aatom Bomb. Hey Aatom, this is brilliant and I love it. Way to deconstruct the gender binary. (via thepoliticalnotebook)
I was thinking about this as I was writing the last post…
Rhb above sap below
I have more than a few issues with this. I’m in class but I wanted a reminder to elaborate...
Simone Wilson and Dennis Romero at LA Weekly:... →
Former Los Angeles Times investigative reporter Chuck Philips, whose career was ruined when the Times published a rare front-page retraction of his March 17, 2008, article about the infamous 1994 shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur, is demanding that the newspaper apologize and take back its retraction of his story, “An Attack on Tupac Shakur Launched a Hip-Hop War.”
Philips’ demand comes several...
this ain't livin': Social Justice Matters:... →
Protecting the rights of people in jail and prison is critical. The justice system has rules in place for a reason. These protect the interests of all people, not just those currently navigating the justice system. It is important for me to know that when I am interacting with the justice system, I have the right to meet confidentially with my attorney to discuss the situation. To develop...
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Ohio Inmate Denied Medical Care Commits Suicide →
On June 1, Greg Stamper hanged himself at Ohio’s Allen Correctional Institution. Here’s an excerpt from the press release I received from the Ohio Justice and Policy Center:
He was suffering excruciating pain as a result of a nerve condition, and Dr. Myron Shank had refused to give him pain medications multiple times for non-medical reasons.
“We were preparing to file suit when we learned...
Mike Boehm at Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court... →
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday decided not to take up an appeal from Marei Von Saher, who is trying to wrest a prized, 480-year-old “Adam and Eve” diptych by Lucas Cranach the Elder from the Norton Simon Museum, where the paintings have hung since the 1970s. “We will continue to fight … until justice is achieved,” Von Saher said in a statement issued Monday by her attorney, Lawrence Kaye. The...
Jess Bravin at Wall Street Journal: Court... →
Justice Anthony Kennedy, appointed by Ronald Reagan, played the crucial role this term, joining the conservative block to shield businesses like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and AT&T Mobility from class-action suits, and siding with liberals in such areas as individual liberties. Sixteen cases this year, about one-fifth of the total, were decided by a 5-4 vote, with Justice Kennedy joining the...
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Sarah Laskow at Grist: Replace your lawnmower with... →
But make sure they don’t eat your lentil patch!
Chet Hardin at Colorado Springs Independent: ... →
“Tea party” doesn’t work as shorthand anymore for the radicalized conservative grassroots movement that erupted in the wake of America electing Barack Hussein Obama president.
The banner gave various disgruntled Republicans a rallying point and an identity, so it sufficed for a while. It also was easily digested by the media, and the GOP.
That, however, meant it was also...
definatalie's bits: Since apparently this is a... →
tashafierce:
meloukhia:
Here is how to behave around a service animal:
Ignore it. Seriously, pretend the animal just doesn’t exist, beyond exercising due caution to avoid distracting/injuring the animal.
Do not attempt to talk to, touch, or otherwise interact with service animals.
Unless you know…
This is awesome because I’m the type of oblivious animal lover that like reflexively goes...
this ain't livin': Exploring Queer Relationship... →
The balancing act between Keith being out and David preferring the closet often fed the flames in this case; I often got the sense that Keith, although loving David, was also impatient and angry and frustrated with his partner. As a man taking considerable risks, he wanted his partner to take those risks with him, to signify that he valued the relationship by being open about it, talking to...
Jordan Smith at Austin Chronicle: Proof of Nothing →
The officers have a different version of events that night, as described in a police report, but their version nonetheless fails to confirm that there was ever enough evidence that Luna was intoxicated, let alone dangerous.
A PI charge – a class C misdemeanor, punishable only by a fine of up to $500, though most often including at least several hours in the Downtown lockup – is one of the...
Since apparently this is a reminder that people...
Here is how to behave around a service animal:
Ignore it. Seriously, pretend the animal just doesn’t exist, beyond exercising due caution to avoid distracting/injuring the animal.
Do not attempt to talk to, touch, or otherwise interact with service animals.
Unless you know and are friends with their handlers? Don’t attempt to interact with them either.
Don’t stare at...
Ian Shapira at Washington Post: Decades after duty... →
To most other residents of the retirement community in Northern Virginia, these two elegant, well-coiffed widows, Betty and Doris to everyone, are just part of the anonymous parade of aged men and women who play mixed bridge, talk about the brand-new heart and vascular center down the road, the day’s menu at the dining hall, and their pets.
What a curious resolution to it all: that although...
Sarah Feldberg at Las Vegas Weekly: Las Vegas has... →
“The biggest thing in my gut was I felt like this is America’s time for dance music,” Kaskade explains. “People are really getting it now. When I saw the plans [for Encore Beach Club] I was really convinced that this was the right time and the right place to do it and kind of blow it out.”
In the wake of Kaskade’s success, Encore Beach Club and Surrender have signed on new residents like...
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Dave Devine and Molly McKasson at Tucson Weekly:... →
The epidemic of poverty doesn’t seem to be a priority for either city or county government. We often hear about the proposed Rosemont Mine and the Rio Nuevo redevelopment district, but rarely do officials talk about the fact that 200,000 Pima County residents, or one in five, get by (or try to get by) on incomes below the federal poverty rate. For an individual, that translates to less than...
this aint livin': Beyond the Binary: What to Wear,... →
Fashion guides for us are inevitably limiting because they are often focused on telling us how to look more masculine. Now, some nonbinary people are masculine leaning or want to cultivate a masculine look. Which means they fit in well and feel comfortable with these guides. But for those of us who do not, or for those of us who may move fluidly through several different kinds of presentations,...
Melanie Mason and Matea Gold at LA Times:... →
But the Minnesota Republican and her family have benefited personally from government aid, an examination of her record and finances shows. A counseling clinic run by her husband has received nearly $30,000 from the state of Minnesota in the last five years, money that in part came from the federal government. A family farm in Wisconsin, in which the congresswoman is a partner, received nearly...
Mars Melnicoff at LA Weekly: L.A. County's Private... →
L.A. Weekly found in a six-week investigation that county inspectors and armed DA investigators also are pursuing victimless misdemeanors and code violations, with sometimes tragic results. The government can define land on which residents have lived for years as “vacant” if their cabins, homes and mobile homes are on parcels where the land use hasn’t been legally established....
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Zoë Corbyn at Nature: Migration tracking reveals... →
The combined data from the tagged species, which carefully removes any bias introduced from where the animals had been tagged, shows two ‘hotspot’ regions where the predators’ migration routes concentrate in the north Pacific. These are the south-flowing California Current off the United States, and the North Pacific transition zone (NPTZ), which runs east–west between Hawaii and...
Carmela Ciuraru at Guernica: The Story of the... →
Whips and chains and masks! Oh, my. When Histoire d’O appeared in France in the summer of 1954, it was so scandalous that obscenity charges (later dropped) were brought against its mysterious author. Even in the mid-twentieth century, in a European country decidedly less prudish than the United States, the book struck like a meteor. That the writer had evidently used a pen name provoked endless...
Pants mode disengaged
Begin ice cream sequence.
Hole is dug
Next step: Fill it in. I think there might be a step between, but I am fuzzy on the details.
