Category: News

Feminism, Humor, Links, News, Politics

Weekend Links – Lady Rage Returns!

“Being a woman is a terribly difficult trade since it consists principally of dealings with men.” 
― Joseph Conrad, Chance

Hi kittens, it’s been a while since we had a links post dedicated almost entirely to lady-rage, so let’s do that. It’s a bit exhausting to be living in an age of real-time…everything. It feels as if we don’t get breaks between scandals or bombshells anymore and that can wear us down (or me at least), but the one bright spot is that a lot of things can also be confronted in real time now. Behaviors and trends that have been allowed to percolate in the shadows are now seeing sunlight. It’s ugly to witness what has been tolerated or protected for far too long, sometimes, but necessary to go through.

Let me know what you are doing this weekend in the comments! I’m working on a freelance assignment and lounging. I may do some laundry and talk Jeff into helping me clean the bathrooms if I’m feeling really frisky!

Fuck this noise! Whenever friends or family members ask me when I’m moving back to the states, my default answer has become, “You do know I have healthcare, birth control, and maternity cover options here, right?”

The reactions to this game’s release are…telling.

RIP.

Shock, surprise, etc.

So excited about this! I loved Planet Earth II and Sir David Attenborough’s voice is the most soothing to doze off to whilst watching documentaries.

I don’t think I covered this in last week’s links so let’s talk about Harvey Weinstein and long-running rumors bursting into the light.

The Cut talks about why it took so bloody long for years of rumors to become confirmed fact, including what women are up against in trying to go up against a rich and powerful man and why they are doing so in the current cultural moment.

The Cut also argues that calling the current epidemic of behavioral bs we’re confronted with these days “toxic masculinity” doesn’t go far enough. I can’t say I disagree.

Speaking of, yes. Let’s please talk about the radicalization of white men more. Like, now.

Because this shit is happening while white guys are buying arsenals and no one bats an eye until a mass shooting suddenly “just happens.”

To summarize: sorry, patriarchy, we’re coming for you.

Led by Emma Thompson.

There’s a new true crime podcast to fall for…and I’m preparing to lap it up with a spoon.

How nerd culture went toxic: a helpful twitter thread.

Goodness. I don’t need this. And yet…

David Frum sums up my worst ideological fears. A horrible president is bad. If military figures circumvent a president’s constitutional authority, a historically bad precedent is set for future generals to do the same–perhaps for less altruistic reasons. We have a civilian commander in chief for a reason…I have not yet grappled with what that means for someone like me who is certain that the current incumbent is doing harm to both the office and national prestige and safety. Where do I draw a line if I believe that, in wanting perhaps to do the right thing, military leadership permanently damages the powers of the presidency now in a way that may come back to bite us all?

Album of the week: Masseducation by St. Vincent

Humor, Links, News, Weekend

Weekend Links

“If you’re going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use two feet.” 
― Keith Richards

I have nothing new to say about politics this week. The president an unmitigated error enabled by the party he ostensibly heads but doesn’t lead, and no one is publicly doing anything to corral his mistakes in tone, temper, and judgement–I say nothing of policy because apparently he can’t either. His disaster relief efforts have been extraordinarily uneven (to be generous) and his constant racist dog whistles just keep coming.

Meanwhile, there was another horrific massacre and the usual “now is not the time to talk about gun violence/control/policy/legislation/statistics” talk, though I’m gratified to see pushback on this from a variety of media corners. When is the right time to talk about it, pray tell?

Ugh. It’s a news heavy links post this week, kittens, but there are some good morsels thrown in there to lighten things up. Tell me what your weekend plans are in the comments!

It’s time to stop finding convoluted explanations for significant amount of the President’s word and twitter vomit.

Man Repeller has a piece about the fading halcyon days of the EIC of major magazines and wonders what the future holds for such roles. I’m conflicted. I know print is changing (I do NOT believe that it is dead), and that magazines (like almost every other platform) have become glorified advertising campaigns…but I still see the role of the editors as needed in wider media culture. Living in a world with almost infinite products and services, I see the role of a good editor as to provide a consistent, thoughtful perspective on what is worth your time and what isn’t. Less gatekeeper and more curator. Almost the whole of each of my social media feeds is dominated by editors whose POV I admire and whose taste and judgement I trust.

Where does the Libertarian wing of US voters go from here?

McKay Coppins of The Atlantic filed a great piece of reporting, but one that’s also a bit frightening. Never have I been less thrilled to fear my biases are all being confirmed.

While we were ******* sleeping, I guess?!

David Brooks proposes that what Republicans need to reclaim their party is a better narrative. I don’t disagree. I also say, ditto Democrats.

I am fanatical about lipstick. I also reject this utterly.

As you wish.

HAHAHA. It’s funny because nothing matters anymore.

Literally nothing.

NOTHING. (Update.)

This story on how frustrating it can be to resell clothing is both annoyingly true and interesting. As a consummate secondhand shopper I do occasionally sell on my own things, but some attempts at this have been much more successful than others.

Album of the Week: Raised Under Grey Skies, by JP Cooper  

News

Las Vegas

People are awful and capable of terrible acts.

People are incredible and capable of extraordinary acts of kindness, courage, steadfastness, integrity, bravery, and selflessness.

These ideas are simultaneously true. Our great tragedies are almost followed by great heroism, whether every day acts of generosity and support or bigger acts of self sacrifice.

But I’m sick to the teeth of the tragedies.

Humor, Links, News, Weekend

Weekend Links

“While money can’t buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own form of misery.” 
― Groucho Marx

This week the president took on the NFL. In the words of the philosopher, Pretty Woman, “Big mistake. Huge.” The Health and Human Services Secretary stepped down ostensibly because he made the administration look bad with indiscreet displays of wealth and poor judgement in using resources. Which frankly doesn’t bode well for the rest of his cabinet. Which in turn frankly doesn’t bode well for the rest of the citizenry, given how understaffed our government is. There’s just too much news to recap here, so I’ll leave it to the links.

This weekend we continue our deep clean for the seasonal change, we’ll do some brunch, and I’m working on a fun freelance project. I’m also working on some blog posts so I can stop being such a ridiculous writing bum. In the meantime, here’s another teaser Santorini post, and enjoy your links. Let me know of anything worth sharing in the comments!

How to help Mexico and Puerto Rico.

The dangers of American tribalism.

Honest to goodness lion in winter. Disagree with him (and I do, often) he is an elder statesman who will be missed when he retires or passes, and I am sorry to hear his health prognosis is poor.

Good, it’s actually 2017 after all.

Disgusted this happened, thrilled at the response. I will never not be proud to be an Air Force brat.

Good lord. *fans self*

I don’t even have children, but I think a lot about emotional labor, both at home and in the workforce Jeff is a great feminist husband and we have a pretty gender equitable household, chores-wise, but it would be a lie to say that I haven’t had the exact same emotional experience over the box of gift wrap as this author!

Brand new Lizzo!

Miss Piggy is “over the frog.”

Hugh Hefner passed away this week and the think pieces flowed. Here’s my favorite.

This conversation on PBS NewsHour about how the overall news, with particular focus on how Republican party is/may (depending on your POV) becoming victims of their own PR and the president’s ability to steer the media, is both interesting and insightful.

Album of the week: Visions of a Life, by Wolf Alice

Humor, Links, News, Politics, Pop Culture, Weekend

Weekend Links

“Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions.” 
― Edward R. Murrow

I had to take a semi-break from news this week, kittens. There’s just too much to process and take in and too much of it is making me angry. What did I do with all those feelings? I channeled them into work and avoided Twitter; it did a lot of good. In spite of hurricanes, missile launches, racists amuk, and all the rest of it.

Here are your links, let me know what you’re doing for the long weekend, kittens! I’ll be doing some work, alas, but also watching the Game of Thrones finale through narrowed eyes (see below for more thoughts), cleaning the house, enjoying a fun brunch thanks to the kindness of a friend, and generally lazing about. I’m really looking forward to it!

It’s summer, let’s learn about seersucker!

I have a lot of thoughts about the current season of Game of Thrones (has time travel been invented in Westeros now? How the hell are people moving thousands of miles in mere minutes?), but of all the subplots I’m not enjoying, the most unenjoyable is how six seasons of character development for Arya and Sansa have been apparently been unraveled because some men seem to struggle writing female strength and growth narratives without turning them into rape victims or un-women. /rant.

Full disclosure, if this plot all turns about to be an elaborate plan to get rid of Littlefinger, I will gleefully eat my words. About the character arch I mean. Not about dudes struggling to write about women. That stands.

Ooh, yes, let’s talk about monstrous female archetypes.

Let’s be real, I am not here for this latest iteration of Taylor Swift. She got caught lying, she’s borrowing from Beyonce. Nope.

Man Repeller summarizes in case you are out of the loop on this one.

Super late to the game but here’s a new to me artist I discovered this week and have been digging.

I cannot wait for this film.

There is one Civil War pensioner still receiving checks!

Sit down, Cameron.

The Fug Girls wrote a hilarious thing about the topic in which they reign unquestionably supreme: royalty.

 

Album of the week: Legacy by The Cadillac Three 

Links, News, Politics

Weekend Link Addendum: The Fall of Cromwell

Rookie mistake, C., posting the links before the end of the day…

Bannon is out. I’m not sorry to see him go, but I’m highly aware that this man still has the ear of and media arm around a large number of angry, empowered, militantly armed people. He’s mobilised them. He rose to prominence and put a president in power by channeling their rage and resentment. I’m worried he may still have influence over them.

I’m equally worried that he doesn’t or soon won’t. I believe that he has incorrectly judged that he could coalesce and control these groups long term to achieve his political ends–that a devil’s bargain was made. They have unleashed forces and brought to the sunlight what had been festering underground, online, on message boards, in chat rooms, but less seldom dared to show its face in public. I’m very aware that the younger generation of white supremacists chose deliberately to wear no face coverings.

This administration rose to power by rousing the rabble, as I once said. It’s roused. I don’t think they can control or check it. And we are all of us less safe, our morals in question, our national security compromised, because of it.

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History, Links, News, Politics, Weekend

Weekend Links

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. ”
– Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

The American political news this week was appalling and, as a citizen abroad, cripplingly humiliating. The history of the American nation is one of a country constantly falling short of its own ideals, and yet striving tirelessly towards them anyway. We’ve backslid, we’ve divided, we’ve pushed for better, we’ve linked arms and moved forward together. I trust that will continue. But the current moment feels really, really dark. There are astonishing moments of light and brightness, yes, but I find myself constantly dismayed at my own naivete in thinking so many of the forces I see ascendant now were–not dead (I’m not that dumb), but were at least on the down and out. I was wrong. I was ignorant. I won’t make the mistake of complacency again.

To put your money where your mouth is in condemning white nationalism (code of white supremacy), BossedUp has put together an excellent list of causes you can support here. I will be donating, I encourage you to do the same.

The whole Charlottesville story is awful so let me be clear: if you are a purpose who purports to stand against people mobilized by dangerous ideology (political and religious) happening “elsewhere,” I damn sure expect you to oppose it on home turf. At time of adding this story, the photos look inches away from an actual Jim Crow South style lynch mob.

Added over the weekend: it got worse. Rest in power, Heather Heyer.

It got even worse. Seth Meyers, of all people, summed up my feelings on the president’s statements on the matter. Which he then tried to walk back with a scripted statement, which he later overturned again to confirm that his first statements that “both sides” were to blame truly reflected his views. I will concede that both sides threw punches; only one was able to show up armed better than the actual police (thanks to decades of paranoia-rousing and the systematic arming of civilians with military grade weaponry, and entrenched racism–I dare anyone to argue that a para-military group of black men armed to the teeth in an identical way would not have been met with swift and deadly force). Only one side is embracing an ideology that necessitates the subjegation or extermination of millions. There is no moral equivalency, and “both sides” arguments will not hold water here.

Seth Meyers nailed it again. I feel out of ways to say that Mr. Trump is unfit for the office he holds. I am not calling for his impeachment because that is a legal process that must be done in the right way for reasons within the boundaries of law…that or our laws are meaningless. But he is morally, intellectually, temperamentally unfit for the role he has been awarded, and I believe he is causing damage to the office and both the functionality and perception of the American government.

Vice produced a compelling, informative, and frightening mini-documentary almost in real time that should be required viewing in this moment.

This thread about the, let’s be frank, false victimhood of the American white male is required reading.

 

I legitimately had to read this article a couple of times and sit with it, because it’s so self-descriptive. I am horrible at taking holidays, and I am trying to take advantage of them (seeing as how I’m legally entitled to them, and all…) but the guilt I often feel for putting in a time off request is corrosive.

I am not the biggest fan of Taylor Swift, but I read this story of her testimony against a man she accuses of assault with great satisfaction. When questioned how she feels about him losing his job due to the incident, the cool response was: “’I am not going to allow your client to make me feel like it is any way my fault, because it isn’t,’ she said. Later, she continued: ‘I am being blamed for the unfortunate events of his life that are a product of his decisions and not mine.’” Amen and amen.

Sir, could you just not?

Wealth is a strange thing.

Disrupt away, ladies!

Faith in humanity ticking back up.

WAY behind the times but worth celebrating.

Oh man. I’ve given myself permission to buy from this collection when it launches, but now I fear it will take ALL of my money…

I might need to arrange to be on Westminster Bridge next Monday.

Pro tip: be a dick in public, get dragged in public. It’s the brave new media world.

Why white people don’t get to say, “This isn’t us.”

This story could have been handled in a tabloid-y and gross way. In McKay Coppins’ capable hands, it’s done very well.

Another tiny bright spot.

This week in Mormon news, another thing to warm your feeds!

What the **** is wrong with people?! (trigger warning on this one, but a number of -isms are on display here and need to be confronted)

And then, on Thursday, there was another terrorist car attack, this time in Barcelona. Waking up this morning, there was more bad news in Spain. My heart hurts.

Album of the week: Silk and Soul, by Nina Simone

Humor, Links, News, Weekend

Weekend Links: Leave Guam Alone!

“Un nota na tentashion nahoñg rason.”
[Transaltion: A very little temptation is enough.]
– Chamorro proverb, from pre-WWII Guam

My island of birth is caught between a despot and a reality TV star. What could possibly go wrong? Here are your weekend links, dropping on a Friday to help you kick off the weekend. If we all survive to Monday, let’s reconvene.

If my own trajectory is Cool Girl to Bitch to Broad, I will consider my life a success.

Relevant to my interests.

In news that shocks no one, Caitlin Moran continues to be brilliant.

This is just bloody adorable.

This story of this man’s dragging has been satisfying.

Janssen of Everyday Reading, who I’ve known since university days and with whom I’ve had the pleasure of touching base every few years, is starting an exciting new project!

This week in Mormon news, woah. This guy is the head of a pretty significant committee within the church structure responsible for the streamlining and dissemination of teaching tools, policy, and a wide range of official materials. At time of typing it’s a developing story, but it’s been a long time since a person of his rank has been kicked out of the church.

The world has seen this, sir. The guy who helped invent it could only quote, “I am become death,” when he saw what his fire could do.

As of Thursday, this story just keeps getting deeper and weirder.

…go on…

This thread, lit AF.

Album of the week: Early Grey, by Girl Ray

Humor, News, Politics

Emotional Journey: The Mooch

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
-Maya Angelou

Ducklings, it’s only Monday. Between the start and finish of our Game of Thrones watch party, Mr. Scaramucci was fired. My full throated laugh in response to this particular sounded not entirely unlike one of the highest and greatest of villainesses in reaction. Gifs of the Grand Evil Dame turned out to illustrate my emotional arc pretty well.

My initial petty reaction:

 

Seriously. Probably enjoying this a bit too much.

 

My internal rendering of Mr. Scaramucci’s surprise.

Not wanted?!

The President, who mistakes attention for progress and infighting for evidence of strength.

Dance, my minions.

 

Me, remembering every time that the Republican party thought he was on their side, or that he could be persuaded to act in their interest or advance their agenda.

Fools.

 

…Then remembering that a guy with an actual nuclear arsenal is treating the global community like an actual elimination style reality TV show.

Three competent generals stand before me, but I have only two slots in my cabinet….

 

Because we elected a guy who literally has never been successful at anything else besides cheap celebrity and getting views, and we gave him a political platform. Yes, we; because we all have to deal with the consequence of this now.

 

Meanwhile, I can only assume somewhere in the bowels of some sanctum somewhere, actual grownups in the Republican party are weighing their options.

Well, I’ll be going…unless you want to talk about cutting taxes for the rich…

 

And finally, my initial burst of malicious mirth subsiding because we are barely six months into this presidency and not a week has gone by without some kind of upset, coarsening of the office, massive gaffe, betrayal of a supposedly trusted subordinate, or a failure of competence.

That evil laugh may have been in poor taste. Let’s dial it down to a cackle, maybe.

 

Jokes aside, let’s now consider the somewhat sobering idea that this guys= might have been brought on board just to get rid of two other characters that the president didn’t like. Characters who, love their politics or hate them, served as the political tie to the Republican party that the president nominally heads. Mr. Scaramucci was a human plot device and he served his purpose. He was then expendable. He’s leaving the scene with a broken marriage, no job, and something of a laughingstock–as did a couple of guys before him. And if that’s not stark warning to anyone cheering on this administration, much less taking a job in it, I don’t know what else I can say about that.