Lazy Saturday Reads
Posted: July 16, 2016 Filed under: just because 37 Comments
Good Afternoon!!
This post is extra late, because my internet has been down all morning. I can’t believe how isolated I feel without it! Thank goodness it’s working again.
This morning Donald Trump finally announced that Mike Pence will be his running mate. NBC News:
Extolling Donald Trump as a “good man who will make a great president,” Indiana Gov. Mike Pence took the stage Saturday at a New York City hotel to accept the real estate mogul’s invitation to be his vice presidential running mate on the Republican ticket.
Pence, speaking in a plaintive and almost folksy language, said of Trump that he was “grateful to this builder, this fighter, this patriotic American who has set aside his legendary career in business to build a stronger America.” ….
Just before formally unveiling Pence as his pick Saturday following an earlier announcement on Twitter on Friday, Trump spent much of his introduction pivoting from topic to topic about religious freedom, ISIS, Hillary Clinton’s email scandal and manufacturing jobs — while occasionally mentioning the Indiana governor.
Pence will help “fix our rigged system,” Trump said, adding, “He’ll fight for the people, and he’ll also fight for you.”
I wonder who “you” is? He’ll fight for “the people” and also “you?” Trump also said that Pence was his “first choice from the start,” even though everyone knows that he spend 2 days waffling about it.
Philip Rucker at The Washington Post: Trump picks Pence after late hesitation, hoping for a steadying influence.
Donald Trump’s selection of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, a strait-laced and seasoned conservative, as his running mate Friday was designed to be a soothing overture that could repair the fractured Republican Party and signal a newfound discipline in the celebrity billionaire’s bid for the White House.
But Trump’s apparent 11th-hour indecision and private hesitation about Pence, coupled with a delayed and fitful introduction, threatened to undercut part of the rationale for Pence joining the ticket: steadying a turbulent general-election campaign.
Trump announced Friday on Twitter that he had chosen Pence and that they would make their first joint appearance at a news conference Saturday in New York. The social-media proclamation capped a period of extraordinary uncertainty and mixed signals about the selection, just days before the Republican National Convention is set to open here in Cleveland.
Rucker suggests that Pence’s far right wing stances on social issues could shift the focus of Trump’s campaign.
In Pence, Trump has a classically credentialed if generic campaign partner. Trump, 70, will rely on the 57-year-old Midwesterner to shore up support where Pence has nurtured deep relationships, such as on the Christian right and with the conservative movement’s moneyed establishment. A former chairman of the House Republican Conference, the ideological purist was embraced by many corners of the Republican coalition Friday that had been cool to Trump’s candidacy.
But there were also immediate signs that Pence could shift the focus of the overall debate in ways Trump may not intend. Pence brings a visceral ideological edge to what has been a populist campaign centered on economic grievances and strident nationalism.
While Trump mostly avoids social issues on the campaign trail and his positions have evolved over the years, Pence has a history of vocally promoting a hard-line conservative agenda — from opposing same-sex marriage and abortion rights to defunding Planned Parenthood.
We’ll see. Meanwhile liberals are having a field day digging up dirt on Pence’s many horrible actions as governor of Indiana like defunding Planned Parenthood, signing draconian anti-abortion laws, trying to block Syrian immigrants from settling in the state, and, of course, signing a “religious freedom” law to allow businesses to discriminate against gays.
Elizabeth Warren weighed in on Twitter:
Read more of her tweets from this morning here.
The coup in Turkey is apparently over, according to CNN:
Turkey’s government said Saturday it was firmly in control after a coup attempt the night before sparked violence and chaos, leaving 161 people dead.
The BBC has a feel-good story following the terrible attack in Nice, France: Attack in Nice: Missing baby boy reunited with his family.
A baby boy who went missing during the lorry attack in Nice on Thursday has been reunited with his family after a Facebook appeal went viral.
The child and his parents had become separated during the Bastille Day incident.
Yohlaine Ramasitera, a friend of the boy’s parents, posted a picture of herself with the missing baby on Facebook, and included her phone number in the post.
Yohlaine’s appeal was spotted by her friend Rebecca Boulanger a pastor at Nice’s Victory Christian Church. She was at home with her husband Phillipe and their 18-month-old daughter.
Boulanger wrote a Facebook post in English appealing for help to find the child….
Within two hours Yohlaine was contacted by a local woman who had seen her Facebook post. She said she had taken the baby to her home and he was safe and well.
“It was a miracle.” Boulanger said. “A picture of the child was requested from the woman to ensure that it was him, and then finally the baby was reunited with his worried parents.”
I’m so glad this one little boy was found safe after all the horror stories we’ve heard.
I want to share a couple of articles that demonstrate what a long way we still have to go to deal with the misogyny and sexism in our society.
Natalie Kon-yu of Victoria University
From Literary Hub: On Sexism in Literary Prize Culture: Men’s Writing is Just Writing and Everything Else is a Sub-Classification, by Natalie Kon-yu. It’s a very long piece; so if you’re interested, please go read the whole thing. An excerpt:
For more than a decade, I’ve been researching women’s writing—the assumptions about it and its reception. Lately, I’ve been focusing my academic research on literary prize culture, as I think that prizes show us, quite clearly, whose work we value and whose we don’t. Part of this was the result of reading Evie Wyld’s All the Birds, Singing. I was unsettled that the novel won the Miles Franklin, not because the writing isn’t beautiful or the story isn’t urgent, but because the book features a female protagonist who, for most of the novel, could have been a male character.
When a woman wins a national writing prize, we, as a culture, are prompted to see that as a major achievement for women, an indication that we are living in a meritocracy. So it is troubling when a female-authored book occupies hard-worn male territory, and when it is rewarded for precisely that reason. The novel’s protagonist, Jake, is moody and insular and lives on her own with her pet, Dog, for company. Praised for her physical skills, Jake—already masculinized through her name, short hair and manly clothing—is told by one of the shearers she works with that she is “a good bloody bloke.” In his review, Geordie Williamson writes that “wearing a self-cut fringe and habitually clothed in grimy dungarees, Jake has so successfully erased her gender that the reader is driven to confused re-reading.”
Even more troubling to me, though, is the praise that Wyld’s book elicited from the Miles Franklin judges, who begin their citation by characterizing the book as a “road-movie-in-reverse.” This reading of masculine tropes within the text continues: the novel is also labeled an “upside-down pastoral elegy” and as being “replete with adrenaline-fuelled escapades;” all characteristics that have historically been used to describe men’s, rather than women’s, fiction. This is echoed in the reviews for the book: the Sydney Morning Herald praises Wyld for her skilled use of the “aesthetics of omission” à la Ernest Hemingway, ending the review by stating that “Evie Wyld can look forward to a career as successful and distinguished as that of old Papa himself.” To proclaim this as a victory for women, or for women’s writing, seems highly problematic.
Compare this to Olive Kitteridge, the novel that won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2009 (unfortunately the Pulitzer doesn’t publish detailed judges’ reports). The New York Times opined that Olive wasn’t a nice person, citing passages from the book—”Olive had a way about her that was absolutely without apology”—yet the review also noted that as the novel progressed “a more complicated portrait of the woman emerges.” Olive is a complex woman, emotional yet acidic, large and yet fragile. She has a husband and son; she lives an ordinary, yet completely intriguing, life in small-town USA. That Elizabeth Strout won the Pulitzer for this novel-in-stories about the eponymous Olive can, I think, be seen more clearly as that rare and tricky thing: a win for women writers.
But more often than not, when a woman wins a major literary award, she wins for writing like a male writer, for writing about men, or for setting her work in an unmistakenly masculine environment.
That should give you a sense of what the article is about. It’s both fascinating and discouraging.
Then there’s this from Fansided: #EMMYSNUBS ‘Full Frontal’: The Variety Talk Series Category Still A Boys’ Club.
TBS’ Full Frontal With Samantha Bee is more than anyone could have hoped for of the Daily Show alum. When Trevor Noah took up Jon Stewart’s mantle, it was clear that the only way there would ever be a woman in Late Night was if someone took it upon themselves to break that barrier. And the venture has been a successful one, gaining the show at least an Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series nod.
Which is why this snub is not as severe as it could have been but that doesn’t diminish that she was still left out of the top prize. And it’s not just calling into question the fact that the only female late night host was excluded but why?
The real question is not why she wasn’t nominated for an Emmy but what exactly does she have to do to get nominated?
The author suggests that Samantha Bee’s problem is her “lack of a penis.” You can watch some great bits from Full Frontal at the link.
What else is happening? Let us know in the comment thread and have a terrific weekend!
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Sorry this isn’t much of a post. I’m a bit overwhelmed because I’m hoping to leave for Indiana tomorrow to stay with my mom for awhile.
Thanks BB…….Have a good visit with your mom and I hope she is doing well. Be safe on your journey.
Thanks, Mouse.
It’s an excellent post, BB. The article on literary prizes is well worth the read.
I hope you have a wonderful visit with your mother. Take care.
Thank you. I’m looking forward to being back there for awhile.
You’re a great daughter.
Drive safe.
It’s perfect BB……have a safe trip back to Indiana, and enjoy your family. Can’t wait to hear what your Mom has to say about current VP for Trump.
Thanks. My mom hates his guts. He used to be her Rep when he was in the House.
It’s a great post, bb. I hope you have a safe and happy trip visiting your mom. The Natalie Kon-Yu piece is very interesting and frustrating. I guess we should be happy that someone has recognized and written about it. I’m not at all surprised that female writers find more success when they use a male pseudonym.
I so much want to see Elizabeth Warren debate Mike Pence in the Veep debate. I want that desperately.
Thanks, Janice.
People are totally trying to figure out how bizarre and troublesome the Pence roll out was!
I’ll try to grab some links. The convention is a dumpster fire and it’s not even technically started.
Glad you got wired again!!!
Me too. I wish I knew what happened, but I’ll probably never find out.
http://bluenationreview.com/twitter-goes-off-donalds-bizarre-introduction-mike-pence/
http://www.vox.com/2016/7/16/12205878/donald-trump-mike-pence-vp-speech
It was odd when compared to normal campaigns/candidates but it was exactly what one would expect from Trump. He was reading off of a scripted speech without a teleprompter, he was literally reading off sheets of paper, and then he would periodically drift away from the printed text and begin Trumpeting. Me this, I’m great, I built a building once and here’s what happened, we’re going to build a wall because I know how to build, blah blah blah. Pence was off camera the whole time, 28 minutes according to Dana Bash. Then, once he intro’d Pence, he walked off the stage. Didn’t stay for a second.
To be honest, I wasn’t surprised at all. I would have been shocked if he had acted like a mature, serious candidate.
I saw it!!! That was the most amazing roll-out of a VP candidate I’ve ever seen. Trump keep from talking about himself long enough to talk about Pence. Didn’t anyone tell him that he’s just supposed to talk up his choice, introduce him then allow the VP candidate to talk up the Presidential candidate? I’d love to know what Trump’s IQ is. I believe that if he hadn’t been born with a silver spoon in his mouth he likely would have spent his life under a bridge.
Pence could take a four month vacation to Alaska, and Trump wouldn’t care of know.
Sanders loses Secret Service protection
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/12/politics/bernie-sanders-secret-service/index.html
More than way past time.
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I saw that on twitter. WTF?
The GOP and even their sign makers are completely tone deaf. Just like the T screwing the P campaign sign. How could someone not notice and stop these ridiculous things?
Is that an invitation to die?
The Trump/Pence campaign has changed its logo to something “less suggestive”. I saw a picture of the new logo on Twitter but don’t know how to post it.
If this is the one it’s about as stupid as the first one, just not suggestive
Or maybe it was this one?
At least the T isn’t screwing the P.
Or maybe the P is screwing the E in this one!
Trump Needs to Accept that this will be the conclusion of his campaign
Highest turnout evah in American History, for Hillary Clinton.
I love this!
I detest Mike Pence. The only positive thing about Pence being named as Trump’s VP choice is that it guarantees he will not be Indiana’s governor again next year.
Shakesville’s Melissa McEwan, a fellow Hoosier, gives examples of how Pence has acted as governor and shows why he is so unpopular in Indiana:
“Glenda Ritz, a Democrat, was elected in 2012 to be Indiana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction. She was a huge underdog–but defeated the incumbent because a majority of Hoosiers, both progressive and conservative, supported her willingness to challenge Republican proposals that would destroy public education in Indiana.
Ritz was the first Democrat to serve as Superintendent in 40 years.
Governor Mike Pence was elected during the same election. One of his first acts as governor was to remove Ritz from the union-centered Educational Employment Relations Board. The Republican-controlled House Education Committee then proposed a bill to “strip the superintendent’s position as chair of the State Board of Education. …The bill would allow Republican Gov. Mike Pence’s 10 appointees to the 11-member board to elect their own chair.”
In other words, as soon as a Democrat was elected to an influential state position (with 53% of the vote, higher than Pence received), the Republican governor and legislature set to rendering her office utterly without power and empowering themselves to oust her and prevent the reforms she was elected to champion.
The Republicans claimed their power grab, with Pence leading the charge, was merely intended to “clarify control of education policy.”
Which is quite an extraordinary euphemism for “seize unilateral control of education policy, in direct contravention of the will of the voters.”
This is how Pence does business. The much-derided “religious freedom” bill Pence signed into law–in a private ceremony, shut away from any criticism or dissent–was enacted despite the fact there was already a state law restricting same-sex marriage and in flagrant disregard for the will of the people, a majority of whom did not support the proposed legislation and actually wanted the existing ban repealed.
At the time Pence signed the anti-LGBTx law, only 28 percent of Hoosiers believed there should be no legal recognition or rights accorded to same-sex couples in Indiana. He was nonetheless content to do the bidding of less than one-third of the entire state, because meaningful democracy is of no interest to him.”
http://bluenationreview.com/mike-pence-brazenly-stripped-power-from-an-elected-dem/
View at Medium.com
This is a great article, rather long, but spot on.
Yea. It really captured all the examples which is it is both long and great.
Excellent article, and well worth the read.
Bad news.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/17/baton-rouge-police-shooting-alton-sterling
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-36805117