I apologize for my failure to immediately condemn anyone who would say something as outrageous as they like raping women. (1/3)
Sunday Reads: New Years Wish
Posted: December 30, 2018 Filed under: 2016 elections, 2020 Elections, children, Congress, Discrimination against women, Donald Trump, House of Representatives, ICE Immigration and Customs Enforcement, morning reads, open thread, physical abuse, PLUB Pro-Life-Until-Birth, the GOP, tRump crimes against humanity, U.S. Politics, Vagina 18 Comments^My New Year’s Wish ^
Now for some interesting tweets:
Regarding the Kelly interview this morning:
And I want to end with this:
Fuck Yes!
And what is with all this Beto shit! Stacy Abrams ran a hell of a campaign…and came damn close to winning, even with all the possible illegal voter suppression that Kemp succeeded in achieving while acting as Secretary of State and running for Governor. She has a future ahead of her, but like Harris…she is a black woman.
This is an open thread…
Sunday Reads: You’re not like other girls…
Posted: April 2, 2017 Filed under: Discrimination against women, Feminists, History, Human Rights, misogyny, morning reads, open thread, Planned Parenthood, PLUB Pro-Life-Until-Birth, Rape Culture, Reproductive Health, Reproductive Rights, Republican politics, the GOP, Vagina, Violence against women, War on Women, We are so F'd, WE TOLD THEM SO, Women's Healthcare, Women's Rights 31 Comments
This will be a quick post, and it won’t mention a tRump at all.
Well, except for this little tidbit…
Democratic women senators not allowed to meet with Trump’s pick for stolen SCOTUS seat – Shareblue
Republicans are demanding Democratic support for Donald Trump’s nominee to the stolen Supreme Court seat, but the White House is denying some Democratic women the opportunity to even meet with him for questioning.
Not surprising when his VP won’t even have dinner with any woman other than his wife.
The vice-presidentâs rule is insulting for men and limiting for women. But letâs not let Penceâs sexism distract us from his whole partyâs sexist agenda
Also, on that note…Mike Pence strips women of healthcare with tie-breaking Senate vote
Vice President Mike Pence just used his powers in the Senate to be the lone decider in whether or not women will have access to crucial healthcare coverage.
In a 51-50 vote, Senate Republicans â with a few members defecting to side with Democrats â just repealed an Obama-era regulation that puts states âon noticeâ with respect to funding Planned Parenthood health centers. The initial regulation stipulated that states that sought to deny Title X funding â which goes to groups like Planned Parenthood that provide low-income Americans with affordable family planning services â would be in violation of federal law.
The National Womenâs Law Center broke down the harm that the latest decision by Vice President Pence and Senate Republicans would cause to low-income women in a recent blog post:
Breast examsâwhich were provided to over 1 million women nationally at Title X sites in 2015;
Other important confidential preventive care, including screenings for sexually transmitted infections (STIs)/HIV, and health education; and
Contraceptive care and counseling that helped women avoid 904,000 unintended pregnancies, which would have resulted in 439,000 unplanned births in 2014.
The move to relieve states attempting to cut Title X grants to dry up Planned Parenthoodâs funding comes on the heels of the Republicansâ embarrassing Trumpcare defeat last week, when President Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryanâs proposed healthcare overhaul didnât even receive a vote in the heavily Republican House of Representatives. With Penceâs latest tiebreaker, Republicans will now no longer be 0-1 in fulfilling campaign promises related to taking away healthcare for low-income people.
What a way to end out the month that was supposed to celebrate women…
Fucking hell.
It is constantly amazing to me how the right can continue to put forth life threatening laws like this:
Lawmaker: Miscarrying women must carry dead fetuses to term – SFGate
An Iowa state representative is under fire after saying women who miscarry after 20 weeks of pregnancy should be forced to carry their dead fetuses to term.
During a hearing Wednesday of Senate File 471, which would clear the way for a state ban on abortions after the 20-week mark, Republican Rep. Shannon Lundgren â the manager of 471 â faced a question from fellow Rep. John Forbes, a Democrat.
Noting that he has a daughter who is 20 weeks pregnant, Forbes asked that under the bill, would his daughter have to carry her child to term even if a doctor told her there was no longer a heartbeat.
“Is that good medicine?” Forbes wondered.
Lundgren’s response:
“This bill wasn’t written for the intent to protect or govern on the side of the woman. It was written to save babies’ lives, giving the choice and being the voice of those babies…that don’t have one. I understand what you’re sayingâthis fetus, this baby, is not alive. I would concur that in that instance, if your daughter’s life is not in danger, that yes, she would have to carry that baby.”
Sepsis anyone?
And this isn’t all that we have seen from the GOP this week…Georgia lawmakers cruelly mocked rape survivor lobbying against harmful bill
If you REALLY want to rage, watch this clip of Ehrhart saying being âfalsely accusedâ is just as traumatizing as being sexually assaulted.
The year is 2017 and that video above still shows the dangerous repercussions of rape culture that is perpetuated by the patriarchy attitudes that show no signs of calming down. Take this incident, which is not in this country…but illustrates the point:Â Wealthy Man in Mexico Acquitted of Rape Because He ‘Didn’t Enjoy It’
A judge in Mexico has acquitted one of three men accused of raping a 17-year-old girl on the grounds that, as one activist described it, he âdidnât enjoy it.â
Diego Cruz, who was 19 at the time, and three of his friends, all sons of wealthy businessmen and politicians, allegedly abducted their former high school classmate and forced her into the back of a car as she was leaving a party in Boca del Rio, Veracruz, in 2015. The girl said Cruz and another man, Jorge Coahuila, grabbed under her shirt and shorts. A third man, Enrique Capitaine, raped her, while the fourth sat there.
Though Judge Anuar GonzĂĄlez acknowledged that Cruz touched the girlâs breasts and genitals, he found that Cruzâs action was âincidental rubbingâ that lacked âcarnal intent,â and was therefore not assault.
And you know, the fight…is a world wide assault. Over in Britain:Â Anger as tampon tax is used to help fund anti-abortion group | Politics | The Guardian
Seriously…no wonder so many women over the world took the Woman’s March to heart.
But let’s hear it for the women and girls who are standing up to the right.
‘They Don’t Care About Any Poor People’: Little Miss Flint Talks About Her City’s Water Crisis
Amariyanna âMariâ Copeny is Little Miss Flint. She is 9 years old and lives in Flint, MI. She told me that in her free time she likes to âgo on Twitter or just play with my toys or just lay down in bed, read, and play with my dollhouse, and color and draw and cheer.â She hasnât been able to drink the water from the sink in her house for 1,071 days, because, as she put it, âyou might die.â
Copenyâs story has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
The water smelled bad. It gave me a bad rash. It smelled like bleach. We couldnât use it no more. [We used] bottled water: 36 gallons for a bubble bath and so we could brush our teeth.
More stories of women and girls standing up below…
Want to follow some body positive folks:Â 6 Body Positive Illustrators You Need To Know About
Self-love is for everybody! Â For those days then you feel like “ugh,” you need bright, cheerful reminders of how you are just perfect, just the way you are! Â Here are 6 of my favorite body-positive illustrators to watch for everyday inspiration to love yourself and be kind to your body!
How about this:Â This Twitter Account Highlights Inspiring Central American Women Who Broke Barriers
With history mostly focusing on the achievements of men, itâs necessary to elevate the stories of women. As British historian and author Bettany Hughes states, âItâs the inconvenient truth that women have always been 50 percent of the population, but only occupy around 0.5 percent of recorded history. Physically the stories of women have been written out of history, rather than written in.â
Thatâs why the work of 24-year-old Zaira Funes is so important. During this yearâs Womenâs History Month, she fought this erasure by tweeting about inspirational Latin American women. Because the Salvadoran-American student chose to solely highlight Central America â an isthmus thatâs also very familiar with erasure â she gave many a chance to learn and feel pride about barrier-breaking women from Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, and Belize.
Funes included a range of athletes, activists, singers, and everything in between. To wrap up March, check out these Central American women who made history, as curated by Funes:
Go to the link to read more and check those women out.
And since I am packing this post with links on women, why not post a story on…The Real Story of Elizabeth BĂĄthory: History’s Most Prolific Female Serial Killer
Whenever you hear this story, youâll find plenty more questions than answers. Was Elizabeth BĂĄthory really the most prolific female killer of all time? Was she framed, a victim of being a powerful woman in a time when that alone was enough to ruin her reputation?
Or was she as bad as they say, a woman who had her henchmen gather virgins (up to 650!) from neighboring villages in order to bathe in their blood, a practice she believed would keep her young?
As with the majority of history (especially history about women and other underrepresented categories of people), youâll just have to read what we know and make up your own mind, because there will never be a black-and-white truth.
Cool, innit.
Well, y’all know what I mean.
Now a quick video, because it makes me laugh every time I see it.
If you are on Facebook, then follow the next couple of groups. They always have interesting post.
And if anything is said of feminism…this must be: IntersectionalityÂ
Let’s keep the women post going….
For some reason that Instagram of Alan Cumming is not showing up…this is the image btw:
We celebrated Transgender Day recently, and one story that went around the web caught my eye:
Transgender WWII veteran comes out as a woman at 90 | New York Post
WWII Veteran Comes Out As Transgender At The Age Of 90 | The Huffington Post
90-Year-Old World War II Vet Comes Out As Transgender | GOOD
I put up three different links there…each has the same story but they all have little various details and quotes.
Up next…16 Lesbian Power Couples From History Who Got Shit Done, Together | Autostraddle
Lesbians are well-known for our unique ability to find a girlfriend and then turn that romantic relationship into an all-consuming life partnership â starting businesses, pursuing activism, revolutionizing social services, erecting schools, liberating marginalized groups. This is true today but has also been true since the beginning of time. Back in the day, many women were held back from activism and entrepreneurship by the demands of marriage and motherhood, making some women-loving-women uniquely able to pursue civilization-shifting ventures. (Although many managed to do both!) Weâre gonna talk about some of those relationships here today.
For the purposes of this list, I defined âpower coupleâ as a relationship through which both women were able to achieve greater professional, artistic or service-related success because of their relationship with each other. I leaned towards couples that actually made or did things together â whether that be starting a school, hosting a nightclub, creating social services for disadvantaged humans or making films. Also, as usual, the word âlesbianâ is used as an adjective to describe a same-sex relationship, not the sexual orientation of the women in the relationship.
And for many of us, this next article may come as no surprise: What states have the best and worst quality of life for women.
Hawaii has best quality of life for women | Daily Mail Online
Ladies love Hawaii! The island state is declared to have the best quality of life for women – while Utah, Louisiana, and Oklahoma have the worst
A new in-depth study by MoveHub ranked US states based on the quality of life for women who live there
The site looked at factors like gender pay gap, political representation in the state legislature, equality in education, and accessibility to health insurance
It also examined reproductive rights and the number of incidents of violence against women
States in the Northeast and West mostly fared best, while Utah and a cluster of Southern states performed worst
I also thought this was a good story to share, âPenis Seatâ Causes Double Takes on Mexico City Subway – The New York Times
A seat in a subway car in Mexico Cityâs metro system caused a stir earlier this year. There were awkward glances. Visible discomfort. Baffled looks. Some laughs. And of course, the inevitable pictures from passengersâ camera phones.
It was meant to be provocative, and it was. A seat was changed to look like the lower half of a maleâs body, including the penis, part of a campaign by UN Women and the Mexico City government to raise awareness about sexual harassment on subways.
On the floor beneath the seat, there was a sign reading, âIt is annoying to travel this way, but not compared to the sexual violence women suffer in their daily commutes.â
Video and more at the link.
And finally….this last story:
Itâs a place where women rule, marriage doesnât exist and everything follows the maternal bloodline. But is it as good for women as it sounds â and how long can it last?
A Mosuo woman weaves with a loom at her shop in Lijiang, China. Photograph: Chien-min Chung/Getty Images
Imagine a society without fathers; without marriage (or divorce); one in which nuclear families donât exist. Grandmother sits at the head of the table; her sons and daughters live with her, along with the children of those daughters, following the maternal bloodline. Men are little more than studs, sperm donors who inseminate women but have, more often than not, little involvement in their childrenâs upbringing.
This progressive, feminist world â or anachronistic matriarchy, as skewed as any patriarchal society, depending on your viewpoint â exists in a lush valley in Yunnan, south-west China, in the far eastern foothills of the Himalayas. An ancient tribal community of Tibetan Buddhists called the Mosuo, they live in a surprisingly modern way: women are treated as equal, if not superior, to men; both have as many, or as few, sexual partners as they like, free from judgment; and extended families bring up the children and care for the elderly. But is it as utopian as it seems? And how much longer can it survive?
Go to the link and read the rest. It is fascinating.
Well, that is all I have for you today…this is an open thread..have at it.
Sunday Reads: Knock Em Out!
Posted: December 11, 2016 Filed under: just because, misogyny, Planned Parenthood, PLUB Pro-Life-Until-Birth, Rape Culture, Reproductive Health, Reproductive Rights, Vagina, War on Women, We are so F'd, Women's Healthcare, Women's Rights 17 Comments
Hello, I’ve used photos of woman boxers, or women boxing, before…it seemed appropriate with the latest assault in women’s rights out of Ohio and Texas, that images of women in boxing gear (vintage ones at that) should be the perfect accompaniment to this thread.
So focusing on women in this evening thread…
As you may already know:Â Empowered by Trump, Ohio legislature passes âheartbeatâ bill that would ban most abortions – The Washington Post
Ohio lawmakers passed a bill late Tuesday that would prohibit abortion as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be detected â at around six weeks, before many women realize they are pregnant.
If Gov. John Kasich (R) signs the bill, it would pose a direct challenge to Supreme Court decisions that have found that women have a constitutional right to abortion until the point of viability, which is typically pegged around 24 weeks. Similar bills have been blocked by the courts. Because of this, even many antiabortion advocates have opposed such measures.
But some Ohio Republicans said they were empowered to support the bill because of President-elect Donald Trumpâs pledge to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 high court decision that legalized abortion nationally.
âNew president, new Supreme Court justice appointees, change the dynamic,â state Senate President Keith Faber (R) told WHIO-TV after the vote. Asked if he believed it could withstand a constitutional challenge, he replied he felt âit has a better chance than it did before.â
There is one vacancy on the Supreme Court, left by Antonin Scalia, a conservative justice who died this year. Another conservative justice in his place would not likely change the dynamics of the court enough to alter the chances for such a bill. But that could change if Trump gets the opportunity during his term to appoint a replacement for one of the more liberal justices.
The vote is the latest sign that Trumpâs election has energized conservatives on cultural matters, even as his campaign was built around an economic message. Social conservatives were heartened by his choice for vice president, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R), who shepherded some of the nationâs strictest laws in his state. They have watched approvingly as his cabinet picks have almost uniformly been outspoken against abortion rights.
Read the rest at the link.
Sign the petition here:Â Governor Kasich, you can’t just ban abortion | American Civil Liberties Union
More…on Ohio:Â Ohio Lawmaker âNever Thought Aboutâ Why Women Get Abortions
On Tuesday, Ohio lawmakers approved a bill that would ban abortion at six weeks, or when a fetusâs heartbeat became audible. The so-called âheartbeat billâ is one of the strictest in the nation and has the potential to prevent women from getting abortions before they even know theyâre pregnant, and it makes no exception for cases of rape or incest.
Republican Representative Jim Buchy was a strong proponent for the bill, which he said would âencourage personal responsibility.â âWhat we have here is really the need to give people the incentive to be more responsible so we reduce unwanted pregnancies, and by the way, the vast majority of abortions are performed on women who were not raped,â he told Ohio Public Radio.
Buchy is a longtime proponent of restricting womenâs access to abortion â in 2012, he told Al Jazeera that his ultimate goal is to ban abortion completely in the State of Ohio. Then, the reporter asked him an interesting question: âWhat do you think makes a woman want to have an abortion?â
He pauses. Then he says, âWell, thereâs probably a lot of reasâ Iâm not a woman.â He laughs. âIâm thinking now if Iâm a woman why would I want to get ⌠Some of it has to do with economics. A lot of it has to do with economics. I donât know. Itâs a question Iâve never even thought about.â
Destroying Roe v. Wade: Ohioâs âunconscionableâ Heartbeat Bill is âdesigned to punish womenâ – Salon.com
President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly promised on the campaign trail that he would help criminalize abortion. In his postelection interview with Lesley Stahl of â60 Minutes,â Trump doubled down, promising to appoint Supreme Court judges who will vote against abortion rights.
Well, Ohio Republicans clearly believe him and are downright excited about it â so much so that state legislators in both houses used the last few days of the lame duck session to pass a bill banning abortion after the embryo begins pumping blood, at about six weeks of pregnancy. Itâs called the âHeartbeat Bill,â but thatâs a bit of misnomer, since the circulatory system of an embryo that early in a pregnancy hasnât really developed what most of us recognize as a proper heart.
Now the abortion ban is headed to the desk of John Kasich, Ohioâs governor and former Republican presidential candidate. Kasich is a hard-line opponent of abortion rights and takes a dim view of womenâs health care generally. Since 2011, he has waged all-out war on abortion access, using backdoor regulatory schemes to shut down half of the stateâs abortion clinics.
The only hope Ohio has, Ohio House Approves Fetal Heartbeat Bill | Mother Jones….
If the measure becomes law, it will likely fail in court.
However, in Texas…this is going on…Texas Governor Can Expect Mailbox Full Of Used Tampons After Passing Abortion Burial Law
After months of fierce opposition from pro-choice activists and the medical community, state health officials in Texas who have had their sights set on punishing women that didn’t carry their pregnancies to term after failing to make abortions more costly, as well as physically and mentally draining earlier this year, have finally succeeded.
Starting December 19th, all miscarried and aborted fetuses will need to be cremated or buried in accordance with the new law, whether the woman wanted to carry the pregnancy to term or not, and regardless of the reasons behind the termination.
Ele Chupik, a resident of Fort Worth, Texas, shared an idea that many people have taken a liking to:
It is fucking 2016…and we are still dealing with shit like this?
It is looking a lot like women are totally fucked…remember this article from November 15th? What abortion could look like in America under Donald Trump – The Washington Post
If Donald Trumpâs Supreme Court of the future moves to overturn Roe v. Wade, access to legal abortion in the United States wouldnât vanish. But it would likely become staggeringly unequal â an option only for women who happen to live in a liberal state or have the money to travel to one.
For a glimpse of this possible fate, look to the recent past. In 1970, New York became the first state to allow any woman to end a pregnancy without proving sheâd been raped or that her health would fail if gestation continued.
âWomen flocked there,â said Katha Pollitt, author of Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights. âBut low-income women, disproportionately women of color, were trapped in anti-abortion states.â
Before the Supreme Court decided to guarantee a womanâs right to seek a legal abortion in 1973, making Roe the law of the land, the procedure was banned in 30 states. At the time New York struck down its abortion limitations, allowing women to terminate a pregnancy up to 24 weeks, only Hawaii offered similar access â but solely to residents.
New York, however, upheld no residency requirement. In the two years after the law changed, 60 percent of women who had abortions there came from another state. By 1972, roughly women 100,000 had left their state to get a legal procedure in New York City, according the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research organization. An estimated 50,000 traveled more than 500 miles to reach an abortion provider in the metropolis, and nearly 7,000 trekked double that distance.
This article here brings this home…at least for the folks in Iowa.
If Gov. Terry Branstad is confirmed as ambassador, Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds will replace him as Iowa governor. Reynolds has said if abortion is criminalized, the punishment “would be equivalent to murder.”
President-elect Trump on Wednesday announced a slew of cabinet picks, including three anti-choice nomineesâone of whom will clear the way in Iowa for a new governor who has said abortion patients, if such care were to be criminalized, should be punished like people who commit âmurder.â
Trump intends to nominate Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) as U.S. ambassador to China, climate-change denier Scott Pruitt to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and professional wrestling executive Linda McMahon to the Small Business Association.
While governor, Branstadâs administration pushed through restrictions on reproductive health care, including an unconstitutional ban on telemedicine abortions. In 2015, he moved to restrictfunding for Planned Parenthood affiliates after speaking at an anti-choice rally and proclaiming that âno Medicaid-funded abortions have occurred in the stateâ in the previous two years.
Branstad in 2013 signed a state budget that allowed him to decide on a case-by-case basis whether a person seeking Medicaid funding for abortion in cases of rape, incest, fetal abnormalities, or life endangerment could be reimbursed.
If Branstadâs appointment is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds will replace him as Iowa governor. In an interview with the Carol Daily Herald Timesin July 2010, Reynolds was asked how doctors who provide abortions and women who have them should be punished if the medical procedure were criminalized.
âWell, I think it would be equivalent to murder,â Reynolds said. âI would want to research that before I would lay specifically out what the penalties would be.â When pressed for an answer, Reynolds said, âI donât know if it needs to be the death penalty.â
Reynoldsâ office did not respond to Rewireâs requests for comment.
Just a few more articles…on abortion.
Men Should Join Abortion Rights Fight Under Donald Trump – Motto
Yes, My Abortion Decision Was Pro-Life – The Daily Beast
My pregnancy was going to be high-risk already. And given what Iâd already been through, I made a choice. I do not bow to shrunken gods.
Now for some Anti-Woman tRump articles…
A Warning for Americans From a Member of Pussy Riot – NYTimes.com
MIAMI BEACH â On Tuesday, Donald J. Trump wrote on Twitter that people who burn the flag should be punished with âperhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!â
Two days later, I went to a little cafe here to meet with Nadya Tolokonnikova of the Russian punk band and activist art collective Pussy Riot. The groupâs 2012 guerrilla performance at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, which viciously mocked Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church, resulted in a two-year prison sentence for Ms. Tolokonnikova and another of its members.
I had been in South Florida for family reasons and when I saw that Ms. Tolokonnikova was swinging through Miami for Art Basel, I immediately reached out to her. Iâd come to view her as an emissary from a dystopian political-media environment that seemed to be heading our way, with governmental threats against dissent, disinformation from the presidential level and increasingly assertive propagandists who stoke the perception that there can be no honest arbiter of truth.
Itâs what Ms. Tolokonnikova was protesting, and itâs what led to her brutal internment, which lasted more than 20 months and ended in 2013.
Leading up to Ms. Tolokonnikovaâs trial, Russian news reports carried suggestions that she and her bandmates were pawns of Hillary Clintonâs State Department or witches working with a global satanic conspiracy â perhaps linked to the one that was behind the Sept. 11 attacks, as lawyers for one of their offended accusers put it. This is what we now call âfake news.â
Pussy Riot became an international symbol of Mr. Putinâs crackdown on free speech; of how his regime uses falsehood and deflection to sow confusion and undermine critics.
Now that the political-media environment that we smugly thought to be âover thereâ seems to be arriving over here, Ms. Tolokonnikova has a message: âItâs important not to say to yourself, âOh, itâs O.K.,ââ she told me. âItâs important to remember that, for example, in Russia, for the first year of when Vladimir Putin came to power, everybody was thinking that it will be O.K.â
She pointed to Russian oligarchs who helped engineer Mr. Putinâs rise to power at the end of 1999 but didnât appreciate the threat he posed to them until they found themselves under arrest, forced into exile or forced into giving up their businesses â especially if those businesses included independent media critical of Mr. Putin (see Berezovsky, Boris; Gusinsky, Vladimir).
This article was published before the CIA reports effectively stating what we knew to be true…that Putin had a hand in the Trump election. So read the rest of that article with this new information in mind.
Of course, the United States has checks, balances and traditions that presumably preclude anything like that from happening, she acknowledged as we sat comfortably in sunny Miami Beach while it played host to a celebration of free expression (Art Basel).
âIt is a common phrase right now that âAmerica has institutions,ââ Ms. Tolokonnikova said. âIt does. But a president has power to change institutions and a president moreover has power to change public perception of what is normal, which could lead to changing institutions.â
Teen Vogue editor pulls fire alarm on Trump gaslighting: He spun âaccusations of his falsehoodsâ as bias -The important part of that link is…Teen Vogue y’all.
How white womenâs fear helped elect Donald Trump | Fusion
Trumpâs Harassment of a Teenage Girl Led to Rape Threats
Donald Trumpâs Harassment of a Teenage Girl on Twitter Led to Death and Rape Threats
In October 2015, then-18-year-old Lauren Batchelder asked Trump a question at a political forum in New Hampshire. âSo, maybe Iâm wrong, maybe you can prove me wrong, but I donât think youâre a friend to women,â she said. Trump defended himself, and Batchelder took the mic again, asking if sheâd get equal pay and access to abortion with Trump as president. Trump answered: âYouâre going to make the same if you do as good of a job, and I happen to be pro-life, okay?â
Batchelder thought that was the end of it, but when she woke up the next day, she realized that the current president-elect had sent out a series of tweets about her. âThe arrogant young woman who questioned me in such a nasty fashion at No Labels yesterday was a Jeb staffer!â he tweeted. (Batchelder is not, and has never been, a staffer for Jeb Bush, though she did volunteer for his campaign.) His followers replied with screenshots of Batchelder and posted her phone number and other personal information online.
Within hours, her phone began to ring, and her email inbox and Facebook account filled with threatening messages. âI didnât really know what anyone was going to do,â Batchelder, now 19, told the Washington Post. âHe was only going to tweet about it and that was it, but I didnât really know what his supporters were going to do, and that to me was the scariest part.â
She said the abuse has continued, prompting one Trump supporter to send her a Facebook message five days before the election that read, âWishing I could fâing punch you in the face. id then proceed to stomp your head on the curb and urinate in your bloodied mouth and i know where you live, so watch your fâing back punk.â
Batchelderâs case illustrates what happens when Trump, who has more than 17 million Twitter followers, goes after a private citizen online. And far from showing restraint as his following has grown, Trump has continued the pattern. On Wednesday he attacked Chuck Jones, a union leader, who wrote in the Washington Post Thursday that his office is now receiving threats, too.
Unacceptable.
But wait, there is more…Women’s March on Washington barred from Lincoln Memorial | US news | The Guardian
For the thousands hoping to echo the civil rights and anti-Vietnam rallies at Lincoln Memorial by joining the womenâs march on Washington the day after Donald Trumpâs inauguration: time to readjust your expectations.
The Womenâs March wonât be held at the Lincoln Memorial.
Thatâs because the National Park Service, on behalf of the Presidential Inauguration Committee, filed documents securing large swaths of the national mall and Pennsylvania Avenue, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial for the inauguration festivities. None of these spots will be open for protesters.
The NPS filed a âmassive omnibus blocking permitâ for many of Washington DCâs most famous political locations for days and weeks before and after the inauguration on 20 January, said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a constitutional rights litigator and the executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund.
Previously, Verheyden-Hilliard has led court battles for protest access on inauguration day itself.
But banning access to public land for protesters days after the inauguration is âextremely uniqueâ, she said in a press conference held by the Answer [Act Now to Stop War and End Racism] Coalition.
âIt hasnât come up in any way previously, where youâve had a groundswell of people trying to have access on the Saturday, January 21, and thousands of people want to come, and the government is saying we wonât give you a permit,â she said.
âWhat theyâve done is take all of these spaces out of action,â she said, many of which, the Answer Coalition noted in its press release, are âhistoric spaces for dissentâ.
She became the nationâs first Somali American lawmaker. A month later, she was harassed in a D.C. cab for being Muslim. – The Washington Post
After Ilhan Omar moved to the United States in the mid-1990s â fleeing war in her native Somalia and a childhood spent in a refugee camp â she went to high school in Minneapolis, and was occasionally bullied for wearing a hijab, her father wrote.
Through decades of community activism and civic leadership, Omar fought back against such forms of intolerance. And on Election Day, proudly wearing her headscarf, she made historyâ winning a Minnesota statehouse race to become the nationâs first Somali American lawmaker.
But less than one month later, as she visited the nationâs capital for policy training at the White House, her historic role didnât stop a cab driver from targeting her for her religion. Riding in a taxi en route to her hotel Tuesday, after having spent the afternoon at the White House, she âbecame subjected to the most hateful, derogatory, islamophobic, sexist taunts and threatsâ she had ever experienced, she wrote in a post on social media.
âThe cab driver called me ISIS and threatened to remove my hijab,â she wrote. âI wasnât really sure how this encounter would end as I attempted to rush out of his cab and retrieve my belongs.â
Is Donald Trumpâs Cabinet Anti-Woman? – The New York Times
You can read that article if you want to…at the link.
I will end this post with a few videos from Facebook.
Pulp International – 1931 promo photo of actress Elsie Connor
This photo of Elsie Connor looked to us as if it had been Photoshopped in a very interesting way but it wasnâtâwe found a version on Getty Images and it was identical to what you see above. The image and the fact that sheâs identified as an Irish boxing champion on various websites made us curious about her career, but after a bit of digging we discovered that she was actually a dancer and chorus girl, and appeared in the 1930 musical Earl Carroll’s Sketch Book, the 1929 shows Fioretta and Earl Carrollâs Vanities, and the 1928 production Hereâs Howe. Thatâs a pretty short career, and one that lacked any starring roles, but thanks to the internet sheâs famous again, looking like a real world beater. The only thing is, we doubt she was ever a boxer. We canât be 100% sure, but with no evidence that she ever stepped into a ring, as well as a very clear understanding of how often the world wide web is world wide wrong, we suspect this is just a very, er, striking publicity photo. It dates from 1931.
I don’t know about y’all, but when I read the fuckwad shitheads Bertolucci and Brando schemed together to commit a rape for their film, it made me physically ill….Bertolucciâs justification for the Last Tango rape scene is bogus. Itâs called âactingâ for a reason | Jessica Tovey | Film | The Guardian
That is probably why this next link really struck a nerve for me?
The 17th Century Painter and Rape Victim Who Specialized in Revenge Fantasy | Broadly
Artemisia Gentileschi was raped when she was 19. In her career as one of Italy’s greatest painters, she resurrected and exorcized that trauma again and again.
Give this article a full read…but here is an bit to get you going:
Once, there was a man called Holofernes. He was a general, several thousand years ago, in what is now modern-day Syria. Holofernes was doing what generals often did back thenâlaying siege. His target was the city of Bethulia, which was almost at the point of starvation and surrender when one occupant, a woman named Judith, formulated a plan. She seduced Holofernes through charm and the promise of information. While he slept in his bed, dead drunk, she decapitated him with two slices of a blade and brought his head back to the city in a bag.
The tale of Judith and Holofernes is an ancient and sacred one, but you won’t read it in a modern Bible. It’s not historical. It’s inaccurate. And it may have been written by a woman.
The story struck a chord with Artemisia Gentileschi, one of Italy’s greatest artists during the 17th century. As a teenager, she had been raped. The trial was public and protracted, and Gentileschi was tortured during her testimony. Like Judith, she was portrayed as a slut instead of a hero. And also like Judith, Gentileschi wrote for herself a heroic narrative that would only ever be truly appreciated long after she had died.
That is all folks, sorry for the tardiness.
Wednesday Reads: Trumptovirus, you don’t want to catch it…
Posted: October 12, 2016 Filed under: 2016 elections, Congress, Discrimination against women, Domestic terrorism, Donald Trump, fundamentalist Christians, House of Representatives, Main Stream Media, misogyny, morning reads, open thread, Rape Culture, the GOP, U.S. Politics, Vagina, War on Women, Women's Rights 27 CommentsTrumptovirus, it is my own concoction of Trump maladies that pervade the population…it is a strange and powerful illness. Depending on your genetic makeup, certain geographic settings, early childhood nurturing experiences, you may be predisposed to developing a particular strain of the virus. I like to classify this as Trumptovirus Complex 10. Symptoms to look for are, rabid thoughts and acts of racism, misogyny and being a flat out jackass bigot, performing stalking and fascist threats, runny nose, flush skin, extreme sexual “assaultic” behavior…as in grabbing anything pussy related, such as beaver, bush, gash, poontang, coochie…oh you can get a full round up of pussy alternatives coming up. As you can see, Trumptovirus Complex 10 is a serious condition, and is incurable in some cases.
Texas Congressman Blake Farentholdâs support for Donald Trump appears to be infinite. Does a lurid video of his prefered candidate for the presidency talking about grabbing women âby the pussyâ faze Rep. Farenthold? Nope. Why? As the Republicanexplained on MSNBCâs All InWith Chris Hayes Tuesday night: âUntil [Trump] does something so bad to make him worse than Hillary, Iâm still in.â In sum: Heâs with him.
âI think this was locker room talk that happened 10 years ago⌠it was a private conversation that was off the record that happened to be caught on tape,â Farenthold explained. Joking about sexual assault is NBD for Farenthold. Noted. But what would cause the Texas congressman to rethink his support? Hayes came up with this hypothetical to test that boundary: âIf a tape came out with Donald Trump saying âI really like to rape womenâ you would continue to endorse him?â
There is but one answer to that question for the non-criminal population of the United States. âThat would be bad. And I would have to consider⌠And Iâd consider it,â Farenthold stammered. That wasnât it.
On Twitter, Farenthold issued this apology for ⌠not condemning ⌠Hayes.
During an interview on MSNBC with Chris Hayes tonight, I was thrown off by the anchorâs use of a hypothetical question. (2/3)
I do not, and have not ever condoned rape or violence against women. That is not the kind of man I believe Donald Trump to be. (3/3)
Are you fucking kidding me? Now this is the kind of shit that makes me physically ill. Like, it makes me feel disgusted but it brings up this anger in me that I can tell you, is beyond anything I have experienced. Like I want to hurt someone. Maybe it is because I am a rape victim…I mean survivor.
But the emotional brutality that is deep within me, if  I could release it, (well I mean if it turned into physical brutality) to assholes like this fuck face who is making excuses for Trump’s sexual assault brag…it frightens me what damage I could do.
Which brings me to the second strain of the Trumptovirus…I will classify this one as Trumptovirus Beset Complex, because this strain of the disease is forced upon it’s sufferers…in such a way…that even those with the strongest of will, have problems fighting it off.
Is Trump a âTriggerâ? According to Many Womenâs Reactions to Last Nightâs Debate, the Answer is “Yes
He stalked. He scowled. He stood too close. He towered over her, threatening her while she sat on a chair. He entered her space over, and over, and over again. He interrupted her; spoke over her. He lied while telling her that she was the one who was lying.
The behavior that Donald Trump showed toward Hillary Clinton at last nightâs debate was reprehensible. But for many women, it was more than that. It was a sickening example of the type of domineering, dismissive, abusive, and threatening male behavior that so many of us have dealt with in our lives. As a result, many of us had strong physical and emotional reactions to watching this familiar behavior unfold on television.
Reviewing the nightâs Tweets, itâs remarkable how many female viewers mentioned feeling physically ill, being emotionally exhausted, crying.
Go to the link to read those tweets, I know that Boston Boomer touched on this yesterday…
Watch this Washington University in St. Louis student and abuse survivor’s emotional confrontation with Trump supporter Omarosa after Sunday’s debate. http://bloom.bg/2d5chCy
Link to embedded video here.
Here’s a few other links on this and a few other Trump developments:
TRUMP: Women have ‘heard a lot worse’ than my lewd ‘locker room’ tape – Business Insider
“The Apprentice” Microphone Guy Says Trump Repeatedly Called Him A “Fucking Monkey” – BuzzFeed News
Donald Trump fired Illinois native Maria Kanellis for ‘locker room’ talk – Chicago Tribune
Pence halts Trump supporter who called for ‘revolution’ if Clinton wins – LA Times
Trump tells supporters to go vote on ‘November 28th’ | TheHill
“Make sure you get out and vote,â Trump told supporters on Tuesday at rally in Florida. “November 28th.â
Election Day is Nov. 8, 2016.
[…]
Nov. 28 is the start date of a longstanding class action suit against Trump University, the now-defunct get-rich-on-real-estate seminar program started by Trump, CNN Money notes.
There were audible gasps in the room when Evans made this prediction, should Democrat Hillary Clinton wins the White House: âHillary will do for gender relations what Obama did for race relations.â
Oh, this from Ben Carson…I have no words:
Ben Carson: Your Virgin Ears Are The Problem, Not Donald Trump | Huffington Post
That leaked audio wouldnât be such a big deal if more Americans were exposed to bragging about sexual assault.
Video at the link, you have to see the way this dickhead says this shit.
The reason Americans are so angry about Donald Trumpâs leaked audio is that they probably havenât heard enough similar language, Ben Carson said Tuesday.
âThat kind of banter goes around all the time,â Carson, a Trump surrogate, told CNNâs Brianna Keilar. âAs I was growing up, people were always trying to talk about their sexual conquests, and trying to make themselves appear, you know, like the Don, you know, Casanova.â
âIâm surprised you havenât heard that,â he continued. âI really am.â
Can you believe this? Oh…but Carson went on…
âI havenât heard it and I know a lot of people who have not heard it,â Keilar insisted.
âMaybe thatâs the problem,â Carson responded. âMaybe thatâs the problem.â
âThe problem is that I havenât ââ Keilar began to ask before being cut off by Carson.
âMaybe, maybe thatâs the problem,â Carson continued. âPeople have not heard this. Maybe thatâs the problem.â
The White House has released an official statement, because of assholes like Carson:
White House Releases Official Statement, Says Trump Committed Sexual Assault (VIDEO)
And finally, it seems the Media is getting it in gear:
WATCH AND WEEP: CNN host stops show to explain genital grabbing is sexual assault
N host John King took time out of his Tuesday show to explain to Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) that grabbing a womanâs genitals without her permission is sexual assault.
While defending a leaked tape in which Donald Trump bragged that he grabs women âby the pussy,â Sessions told The Weekly Standard that he did not consider the act to be sexual assault.
âI donât characterize that as sexual assault. I think thatâs a stretch,â Sessions insisted to the conservative magazine.
âSo if you grab a woman by the genitals, thatâs not sexual assault?â an interviewer atThe Weekly Standard pressed.
âI donât know. Itâs not clear that heâhow that would occur,â Sessions replied.
On Tuesday, King carved a minute out of his broadcast to address the senator, who he noted âwas an Army veteran, a former federal prosecutor, former Alabama attorney general, a law-and-order conservative, a devout Christian and a former Sunday school teacher.â
âSessions was asked about that tape, where Trump brags of forcing himself on women, including grabbing what we describe to our children as private parts,â King said, adding that Sessions had initially refused to âcharacterize that as sexual assault.â
âForget politics for a moment, Senator,â the CNN host pleaded. âWhat about your daughters and your seven granddaughters. Saying Trump is a better choice than Hillary Clinton, thatâs one thing. Saying what he described in that tape is not sexual assault â forgive me, Senator â thatâs an outrage.â
Anderson Cooper Delivers Knockout Punch To Kellyanne Conway Over Settling Lawsuits | Mediaite
Watch CNN’s Damning Comparison Of Trump And Clinton Tax Plans
I don’t know how far this will go, but it is something to bring up:Â First State In America Moves To BAN Donald Trump From Entering, More To Follow (DETAILS)
After Trumpâs campaign staff removed a Muslim woman who was peacefully protesting at a Trump rally in Rock Hill, South Carolina, state Rep. John King (D) jumped ship on the Trump train, and said he was ânot welcomeâ in the state.
King declared he was âsick to his stomachâ over the way Trumpâs cohorts treated the woman. And with good reason!
He told The Herald that he will file a House Resolution that states Trump isnât welcome in the state of South Carolina.
According to King, Trump is:
ââŚa race-baiting, xenophobic bigot and is not welcome in the state of South Carolina,â which was also earlier asserted by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
Most people likely agree, except maybe the Trump supporters. But they probably wonât see this article, as it requires knowing how to read.
âDemocrats and Republicans donât agree on much in South Carolina, but most of us agree that Donald Trump is an embarrassment to our countryâs political process and stands contrary to the beliefs of our Founding Fathers and the values of the United States Constitution. Why would we welcome someone to our great state when even our senior Republican U.S. senator agrees that Donald Trump is nothing more than a modern day George Wallace who preys on peopleâs fears and prejudices,â King explained in his statement.
The last link today is about the show Full Frontal with Sam Bee, if you did not see these clips, go watch them now:
Bee was unsparing of both Trump and Today show host Billy Bush, seen giggling and egging the now-GOP presidential nominee on to talk about how he sexually assaults women.
âLetâs stop that hostile work environment training module here and discuss what weâve just seen,â she said after showing a clip. âIn less than a minute, these two leering dildos turned their rape culture banter into a rape culture power move that demeaned and violated Zucker [the victim] in ways she is only now finding out about.â
âAnd we know this maybe shocking for most normal men,â she added. âBut every woman I know has had some entitled testosterone monster grab her like a human bowling ball.â
Bee later launched into what she called her âvagina monologue,â ridiculing cable show hosts and journalists who balked at saying what they often called, âthe p-word.â
âIt must be so hard to make 24 hours of television without saying the words: c*nt, snatch, cooter, silk purse, spicy taco, hoohoo,, trim, vajayjay, bearded clam, front bottom, nether region, sin grotto, red lobster, beaver, fur burger, downstairs retreat, honey pot, inner sanctum, yoni, sugar walls, peach blossom, lady treasure, roast beef curtains, gray garden â Oh! I almost forgot the most important one: box.â
âWell, that was literally a vagina monologue,â she exclaimed to the hoots of the audience.
Pussy Riot | Full Frontal with Samantha Bee | TBS – YouTube
GOP Fear the P | Full Frontal with Samantha Bee | TBS – YouTube
Debate 2: Misery in Missouri | Full Frontal with Samantha Bee | TBS – YouTube
We Thought We Were Done with This | Full Frontal with Samantha Bee | TBS – YouTube
And that is it for me, hope you all have a good morning, this is an open thread.
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