- A gallery of surreal paintings by Polish artist Igor Morski
- How One Law Banning Ethnic Studies Led to Its Rise. In your face, Arizona censors!
- Reflections on Our Obsession with “Calling Out” Cultural Appropriation
- ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES: Why Women “Prefer” Less Or Should Accept Less There’s some really sharp discussion here of the difference between an abstract personal preference and a preference in the context of available choices.
- FilmOn can use cable systems’ copyright license to stream broadcast TV on the internet | Electronic Frontier Foundation. This is a sensible and logical decision which might still be overturned.
- New Documentary “The Mask You Live In” Dissects Modern Masculinity | Bitch Media
- Another Troubling Police Encounter with a Black Motorist. A good summary of the arrest of Sandra Bland, and then her death by (alleged) suicide in jail.
- #BernieSoBlack: Why progressives are fighting about Bernie Sanders and race – Vox
- The Earthquake That Will Devastate Seattle – The New Yorker And Portland too, alas poor me. Not a short article, but very well-written – a page-turner, honestly. Living in Portland, of course, I had three people helpfully point this article out to me, starting with Grace, because it is apparently necessary that I live in terror. :-p
- “It’s important to note that there is no substantive difference between Walker and Bush on the nuclear deal.” | The American Conservative
- Oregon Sensibly Votes to Make Oral Contraceptives Available Without a Prescription | Mother Jones
- Shifts and living history | Comics212 Both in best-seller lists and in Eisner Awards, women in comics are a very big deal.
- Beyond the Model Minority Myth | Jacobin
- A.E.Brain: Gender Identity and the Brain – a Round-Table I haven’t watched this video yet, but it looks interesting.
- High schooler proves “No Irish Need Apply” signs existed despite denials – IrishCentral.com The best part is the extremely civil debate in the comments between Rebecca A. Fried (the high schooler) and Richard Jenson, the professor whose work she’s disputing.
- “I did indeed f*ck up”: How an online campaign against a transphobic comic completely changed the tenor of the debate – Salon.com
- Anita Sarkeesian On Why Women Don’t Talk About Online Sexual Harassment
- Paintings of the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian In Ascending Order Of Sexiness and Descending Order of Actual Martyring
- How 3-D printed arms are changing kids’ lives around the world – YouTube
- Scientists have discovered whether being a first, second or third child makes a difference – The Washington Post The answer: Nope.
- There’s a simple way to end gerrymandering. Too bad Congress made it illegal. – Vox
- ‘Hobby Lobby’ Is About Blocking Contraception Access, Not Religious Liberty
- The Unit of Caring discusses consent and the moral justification for statutory rape laws. There’s a followup post, too.
- Gardena Shows Why Police Can’t Be Trusted to Decide If Video Should Be Public – The Atlantic
- Don’t blame your expensive lunch on minimum wage increases | Joseph Mayton | Comment is free | The Guardian
- The Struggle of Female Carpenters – Lawyers, Guns & Money
- Labels, Not Identities | Thing of Things
- Sentencing Law and Policy: In praise of GOP Rep. Sensenbrenner making the moral case for sentencing reform
- Abigail Fisher, Please Stop Blaming People of Color for Your Mediocrity
- Fannie’s Room: Workplace Rule #3: White Male Privilege Is Real, and Yet Denied Against All Evidence
- How did he manage it? A man’s secret to a successful career, revealed.
- Link: Every Single Word | Consistent Panda Bear Shape A series of Youtube videos in which “every single word” spoken by a character of color in a popular movie is cut together into a single appallingly short video.
- The Debate Link: Executions and Their Alternatives
- The Debate Link: Aly Raisman’s Muscles “I was struck by this statement by [Olympic gymnast] Raisman, though, which is a stark commentary on how (female) bodies are viewed normally…”
- The Outrageous U.S. Role in the War on Yemen | The American Conservative
- Sentencing Law and Policy: Former US District Judge Nancy Gertner talks about drug war casualties she had to create
- Where the health care money is, in charts | The Incidental Economist
- Petition – Georgia: Add Outkast to Stone Mountain! How to improve “the confederate Mount Rushmore.” I signed the petition.
I have no problem with the press reporting on Trump per se. He is the frontrunner, he’s bombastic and is a past master at self-promotion. It’s a heck of a story. They should report on what he’s doing – but not the exclusion of the other candidates. It’s the MSM’s job to NOT let him suck all the O2 out of the room and to report on the other candidates as well.
Remember that this is not a situation where one candidate has 80% of the polling support and the rest are fringe candidates. Roughly 2/3 of people being polled for GOP candidates do NOT support Trump. On that basis the coverage of the GOP candidates is grossly unbalanced. That’s what makes me think that there’s bias operating here.
Another question that I asked myself immediately but I am now seeing raised elsewhere:
Why is it an obligation of Europe (both inside and outside the EU) to take in people fleeing Syria? Saudi Arabia has plenty of money, a similar culture, the same language, the same religion, etc., etc. and they’re a lot closer. Let them take them in. Let Turkey take some – most of them are going through Turkey to get to Greece, etc. anyway. There are some very wealthy countries in the Middle East – let them be the first to help and to dedicate their resources.
In addition to being a nickname of sorts derived from his initials (much like Dubya), Jeb! (with the exclamation mark, like a boisterous Broadway marquee as the Grauniad notes) is also his campaign slogan.
I remember (as a pre-teen at the time) her being referenced in the press almost exclusively and invariably as Rodham Clinton when the other Clinton was in highest office, but I notice this has fallen from favor. As far as I’m aware, she’s never legally changed her surname, but has changed her stated preference according to the political climate.
An annotation in her wiki article summarizes the history of her informal surname as follows:
Stephen Colbert makes fun of Trump – but even more, he makes fun of the media’s inability to stop talking about Trump.
All You Can Trump Buffet – YouTube
Google trends shows searches for “clinton” being about half again as common as searches for “hillary” (and searches for “bill clinton” are stable and small, while searches for “clinton” track searches for “hillary” very closely, with peaks in 2008 and now). Searches for “Bush” massively outnumber searches for “Jeb” and searches for “Jeb Bush”, but if we remove the baseline of ~40 search units, a peak in Bush searches is 60:40:45 bush:jeb bush:jeb, while Clinton searches are 76:60:77 clinton:hillary clinton:hillary once we remove the baseline of 22 clinton searches. So Clinton does seem to be somewhat more “Hillary” than Bush is “Jeb!”.
Okay, thanks for answering my question, Charles Mookie and Lee1; I’m persuaded that Clinton is more “Hillary” than Bush is “Jeb.” And I think that difference is probably, in part, sexism.
But I’m still not going to be bothered if people call her “Hillary,” or ask people to call her “Clinton.” Because her campaign organizations have spent years encouraging the public to think and refer to her as “Hillary.” See, for example, her current campaign’s big “H” logo, or her 2008 campaign’s big “Hillary” logo. If Hillary herself is in effect telling America “call me Hillary,” that’s good enough for me.
But of course, a professional news organization (for example, a newspaper headline) should be calling her “Clinton.” No question.
On second thought: If Hillary herself is saying to America “call me Hillary,” then that’s good enough for me in terms of not holding it against anyone if they call her Hillary. And I’m also not going to admonish anyone for calling her Hillary.
But on another level, of course Clinton and her designers and staff aren’t making these decisions in a void. They’re making these decisions in a sexist society, and at some level that effects the decisions they make. So just because Clinton herself implicitly endorses calling her “Hillary,” doesn’t mean that sexism isn’t involved.
Ron:
Turkey has taken in nearly two million Syrian refugees, far more than any other country, and nearly half of the total number of Syrian refugees.
Lebanon has taken in over a million Syrian refugees, which is incredible in a country with a population that, prior to refugees, was just 4.4 million. Between them, Lebanon and Turkey have taken in nearly 75% of Syrian refugees.
Jordon has taken in over a half million refugees. Iraq,
the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt have taken in over 100,000 each. (Source: see link above, plus this.).For comparison’s sake, the US has agreed to take in 10,000.
What is true is that Gulf states
, other than UAE,have shown an appalling unwillingness to take in refugees: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain have taken in no refugees. (They do say they’ve donated money.) So criticizing those countries for being jerks seems fair.But also:
Israel is refusing to take in refugees, making it the only country sharing a border with Syria to refuse refugees.
A bit of legal context:
But of course, just because they aren’t legally obligated to take in refugees, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t.
ETA: I’m seeing some sources – like the one I linked – saying that the UAE has taken in refugees, but others are saying they’ve refused to take in refugees. I suspect that the truth is that UAE isn’t taking in Syrian refugees, but I’m not sure.
Also, both Greece and Italy, due to geography, are receiving a lot of refugees, but most are expected to settle outside of Greece and Italy.
Regarding money donated to address the Syrian refugee crisis:
From the same article, some explanation as to why the Gulf states are refusing refugees. I’m not endorsing this, I just thought people would be interested:
Oh, and I’m behind the times: Germany has agreed to take in a huge number of refugees: Germany to take half a million refugees as Greek isles overwhelmed – Yahoo News
And from a NYT article about a European Commission proposal to “fairly” distribute refugees in Europe:
Sorry for so many links on this subject; Ron got me started reading about it (which is part of the reason I like it that Ron is here on Alas!). Just a couple more…
VOX has a brief overview of the Syrian refugee crisis.
Finally, although I certainly agree that the Gulf states and other nations should be doing more, that’s true of the USA, too – by taking in a half million or a million refugees. Our economy, geographic size, and population size in many ways makes us the best positioned country to address the crisis by accepting immigrants.
Another Vox article: The best way the US could help Syrians.
This is precisely my take on it. (Rodham) Clinton has spent more than 30 years negotiating this territory — with respect both to her surname and her first name — making concessions according to the prevailing climate, distancing herself of late from anything too feminism-y (like using her actual, legal name).
Jeb!, on the other foot, is asking us to call him Jeb! And the reason for Jeb! is different; it’s meant to feel familial and folksy, and to disassociate him from his blue-bloodedness.
Amp:
Are they in fact taking them in as immigrants? My understanding is that they are not treating them as immigrants but as refugees that are being stuffed into camps and are not being permitted to settle in the country – and that the current crisis is being caused by them getting (understandably, mind you) tired of this and leaving for European countries – who are then expected to permit them to immigate and settle.
Ron, I’m honestly not sure, but probably not. Nor am I sure that all of the refugees in European countries are being offered citizenship, although I doubt they are. (Do you have information to the contrary?)
Refugees aren’t always treated as immigrants – and not always for bad reasons (many refugees hope to be able to return home in a year or two). Although if I was emperor of the world, I’d have open borders everywhere. But, alas, I’m not.
In any case, I’d argue that regardless, your earlier claim that Turkey is doing nothing clearly isn’t fair. Turkey may be doing less than they would in an ideal world, but they appear to be doing more than any other country in the world, so singling them out for criticism seems unfair.
And since you appear to think Turkey ought to offer those 2 million refugees full immigration (which typically includes citizenship and permanent residential status), I have to ask – would you be in favor of the USA offering 2 million Syrian refugees American citizenship and permanent residential status?
Fantasy novelist Patrick Rothfuss is doing a fundraiser to help Syrian refugees. He and his nonprofit matched the first $50,000 of donations, but they’re just over $50,000 now. The money raised goes to Mercy Corps.
Refugees in Germany – and, I think, in other countries- are not being granted (or applying for) citizenship. If they meet the criteria – and Syrian refugees do – they are given asylum.
They’re not even taking them as refugees. Turkey have given people temporary protection status, not refugee status. Refugee status would entitle people to work, and benefits, and housing, and access to social services, etc. They’re basically just allowing the people who fled to live in a campsite and subside off food parcels.
Considering the reason these people fled is because of Islamists backed by – oh right – Turkey, it’s difficult to see this as an act of generosity. Imagine someone paid a gang to burn down your house and then landmine and randomly take pot shots at anyone seen on your property, and went on to pretended it was some massive act of kindness to let you pitch a tent on some scrubland they owned. That’s basically what Turkey are doing. The gulf states are mostly the same, except for the tent bit.
From Alexandra Erin on Twitter:
Ampersand, you seldom drop the ball as hard as you have by comparing what Turkey is offering its two millions to what Sweden does. Check this
Even Bulgaria, which has nowhere the resources of other European countries, is offering social services, a path to citizenship, and integration in society. Not that it is all great, as the country has been in shambles for ever, but Syrian refugee are still being settled in depopulated towns, of which Bulgaria has quite an abundance, after losing 30% of its population since 1988. No, not to war or famine. After the fall of communism, everyone who could leave left, including yours truly.
Compare this to what Turkey is doing – camps in the desert, and absolutely no prospects for legal integration.
Also, as an aside, I have spoken about this dozens if not hundreds of European friends of mine: Bulgarian, Turkish, Bosnian, Polish, Hungarian, French and Swedish. I have only found ONE who thinks that her county should accept all refugees without draconian screening. Of course, that may be just a reflection of the kind of friends I have.
Personally, I don’t care. Way back in the day, I got dishonorably discharged and barred from government employment for killing someone actively firing at my men during an operation against Islamic fundamentalists (years after the incident). The people whom we were after got monuments for being executed after blowing up a train car dedicated to mothers with children.
Sure, after the winds changed, and Bulgaria got its marching orders from its masters, I got bank my rank, my medal, my back pay and promotions, and even a pension. As far as I am concerned, Bulgaria and the EU can go fuck each other.
Amp:
Good God, can you blame them? The security risk of doing that is off the charts!
I didn’t say that. Turkey can simply offer them permanent resident alien status, or refugee status, or nothing at all. My question there was why we should be expected to offer more than Turkey is.
Nope. For one thing, there’s certainly the security risk to deal with. How are you going to sort out actual refugees from terrorists trying to enter the U.S. while masquerading as refugees?
This civil war is between a home-grown totalitarian government that hates us and an Islamic terrorist organization that hates us, both of whom are supported by local actors (and, if I’m not mistaken, Russia) and about whom Pete Pesho makes valid points. The oil-producing countries get plenty of money from us. Let them use it to deal with this. And if Europe is having issues, well – they constantly criticize how we have handled issues with the Middle East for years. Let’s see how they do without us.
How the Federal government has interfered with how colleges deal with accusations of sexual assault on campus has been a controversy for some time. Now comes Rep. Jared Polis on what he thinks needs to be changed in this regard:
More:
Remember, this is a man who was elected to make Federal law and swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States as a condition of taking office. What do you all think of these proposals?
Ron, isn’t there also a risk of terrorism for those countries that you’re suggesting should take in refugees?
I think what Polis said is appalling.
I also think there is approximately zero percent chance of what he says actually becoming federal policy, so it’s not a highly-ranked concern for me.
Preponderance seems reasonable. But in the end, I suspect (and I’m echoing something Angus Johnson wrote on Twitter) that standard of evidence will matter less than having robust due process for both the accuser and the accused.
American Exceptionalism. If we want to be exceptional, we have to do exceptional things. Also, we’re one of the parties responsible for creating the current conditions in the Middle East. Have you read A Peace to End All Peace? Britain and France are mostly responsible, but Germany, Russia and the USA each played part of creating the situation that has fermented into today.
People being fired from their jobs for the jerk stuff they do in their personal lives has come up here before… anyone been following the Nicole Arbour/Dear Fat People thing?
Arbour was hired as a choreographer for a body-positive teen dance movie (“Don’t Talk to Irene”–it’s now on my to-watch list), but had not started actually working on the movie, before she released her “Dear Fat People” youtube video–which I haven’t actually watched, but seems to be a bunch of tired fat jokes with a thin veneer of “concern”. The director talks at length about why he felt he could no longer work with her. Worth noting is that she mentioned she was a YouTuber when meeting with the director, so it seems like she sees her YouTube videos as related to her career, not merely an unrelated side business or hobby.
I don’t have any problem, morally, with this firing/job offer rescinding. I think there is a difference between firing someone who has proven that they have enough professionalism to not let their private views affect their job, and deciding to take a chance, or not, on someone who is a job candidate or was just barely hired. I think that the video does cast doubt on her judgment and her ability to do her job and work with the cast and director, especially given that she posted this video right after getting hired to work on the film–you could see it in part as a passive-aggressive reaction to reading the script of the film. That would be enough to make me okay with it, without the fact that she seems to see her YouTube videos as connected to her career. If she was making this video to try and promote her career, then I think it’s a good thing that it instead caused her to lose a job.
Arbour is not even pretending to be sorry, which I’m kind of glad of. It’s probably better than an insincere “I’m sorry that people were offended” apology; it’s not as though she could make a believable apology immediately after making that video.
Also, Lindy West has a great response piece.
Amp:
Sure. But sharing similar cultures, languages, religions, with the terrorists etc. – along with, frankly, a far more intrusive security structure – makes them much better able to identify them and deal with them.
Yeah, well, I thought there was zero chance that the Federal government would send out something like the “Dear Colleague” letter and that the current star chamber proceedings were going to be adopted by colleges around the country in response. That fact that someone responsible for making law in the country would in all seriousness would make a proposal like this is pretty amazing.
Not to me. Especially since in many (if not most) cases there’s no way to objectively determine the facts and all you have to go on is who sounds more believable to a bunch of college administrators drenched in the current academic culture.
Regarding Jared Polis, he has apologized and effectively withdrawn his remark (weakly trying to say it was just a “gaffe,” which I don’t buy).
“How an 18th-Century Philosopher Helped Solve My Midlife Crisis – David Hume, the Buddha, and a search for the Eastern roots of the Western Enlightenment“.