I Am Living

[Content Note: Fat hatred.]

"I would die if I looked like that."

The words floated across the space between where I was sitting and where a group of 20-something women were sitting in the interior of a crowded mall at the holidays. I was waiting for Iain, who was making a purchase inside a small store that didn't need any additional bodies, and I was people-watching happily while I waited.

They were people-watching, too, but for an entirely different reason. We were all unwitting contestants in a pageant they were judging.

I would die if I looked like that. It hadn't been said in that faux-concern for fat people's health way, but in the I would die of embarrassment way. The I would kill myself way.

I assumed they were talking about me, but when I glanced over, I saw that they weren't. They were talking about a woman who might as well have been me.

Some of them caught me looking and registered the expression of contempt that must have been on my face. They had the decency to look slightly ashamed. I greeted their shame with a bright smile, not because I felt like smiling, but because I needed to communicate to them with a single look that I was not dead, and that their hatred wouldn't kill me.

One might reasonably imagine that I had an urge to respond angrily to this open hostility. And I suppose part of me did. But what I know is that people who hate fat often fear it — and those words, I would die if I looked like that, are words of fear as much as hatred.

What I wanted to tell them, and what I will tell any of you reading this who might regard my body as a figure of hatred or a cautionary tale, is that you probably wouldn't die if you looked like this.

I look even fatter sitting down!
People who look like this have varied experiences with looking like this, have all kinds of different relationships with their bodies, have wildly disparate lives, as the human experience prescribes.

So I am not speaking for everyone who looks like this when I tell you that I am not dying, of shame or humiliation or self-loathing.

I am living.

And I am living more contentedly than many people who are certain they would die if they looked like me.

I have a job that fulfills me. I have a spouse who complements me; who loves and likes me. I have pets who make me happy. I have friends with whom I actually have the amount of fun it looks like we're having in our Instagram photos. I have a home in which I feel lucky to live every day. I have some minor talents that I try to put to good use or good fun. I have a big laugh that carries across a room.

And I have a body that has (at this size or bigger) carried me across the sandy shores of the Indiana Dunes and up the slopes of the Scottish Highlands and through the waves of the Caribbean and back and forth in the lanes of a pool for a mile at a time. I have a body that cannot sweat, which makes physical activity difficult and has limited me more than being fat ever has. I have a body that is strong and a body that is disabled. I have a body that holds a mind that thinks complicated thoughts valued by lots of people, and a heart that loves fiercely and loyally.

I am living in this fat body. And I am doing it well.

What I wanted to tell them is that someday they might look like this, and, if they do, they can also live well.

And that they could do a lot better not looking like this, too. Judging others, publicly and loudly, is unkind. But it's also a kind of death — the death of something you can allow yourself to be. It puts up walls, ever more rigid walls, around a life that gets smaller and smaller by what options are set off-limits by judgment. It's a thousand tiny deaths of your own possibilities. And your own self-love.

They were dying in the constrictions of their own judgments.

I know, because I have felt it myself, long ago, long before I knew how to live well.

Open Wide...

Shut Up!

"I don't have enough for a lawsuit, but I do have enough for a broken heart/spirit."

[Content Note: Rape culture; misogyny; objectification; body policing; fat hatred; diet talk.]

This essay by Ally Sheedy, "Stasis," from the new book Not That Bad: Dispatches From Rape Culture, a collection of essays edited by Roxane Gay, is a must-read. Following is just a brief excerpt:

It did not matter that I did a good job on auditions, that I was smart, that I had natural ability. My thighs were the "thing."

So I dieted. All. The. Time. I learned that whatever I might contribute to a role through talent would be instantly marginalized by my physical appearance. I learned that my success would be dependent on what the men in charge thought about my face and my body. Everything I had learned back home had to go out the window as I adapted to these new requirements: what I looked like was paramount.

It wasn't even just whether I was pretty or thin; it was that I wasn't sexy. When I managed to land my first part in a big movie, I was given a ThighMaster as a welcome present and told to squeeze it between my legs at least a hundred times a day. A director of photography told me he couldn't shoot me "looking like that" when I walked on set one day. He said it in front of the whole crew. I was too wide, I guess, in the skirt they had given me to wear.

A few years later, I was told point-blank that my career was moving slowly because "nobody wants to fuck you."

...I'm still navigating the sexual appearance standard in professional work. When I am called to consider a role or audition for a role in TV/Hollywood Land, my talent is never in question. The "studio" or the "network" wants me on tape to see what I look like now.

I was never alone in a hotel room with Harvey Weinstein, but I've been at "dinners" that felt like come-ons and I've walked into rooms where I've been sized up and then received phone calls or "date" requests that I've turned down.

Today, if the producer or executive or male director in charge finds me sexually attractive, then I'm on the list. This is how it goes. This is how it IS. If the Harvey Weinstein disaster illustrates anything at all, it illustrates the entirety of the power structure. The lurid details of his rapes are disgusting and yet a shield, in a way, for the greater toxicity of that power structure.

There is so, so much more at the link, and I highly recommend heading over to read the whole thing.

One of the most heartbreaking things about reading this essay is knowing that @allysheedy1 was being demeaned for not being "sexy" enough, while I was a kid watching War Games, Breakfast Club etc. & finding in her work a place where I belonged and a way to value myself as a girl.

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 12, 2018

What did I care how sexy Ally Sheedy was when I was watching her be cool and tough and weird and sweet? It didn't escape my notice that she was frequently cast as the girlfriend of the person who got to be the star, and it didn't escape my understanding, even as a child, that that was not a choice she could control. Virtually all the girls I liked were the girlfriend.

But if the Men Who Make Movies were casting her for her thighs, Sheedy imbued her characters with a complex humanity that captivated me. Not that it matters. Girls being captivated by other girls and women onscreen has never been the reason that men make movies.

Which is the cost of objectification to us all — the girls and women who act in movies, and the girls and women who watch them.

We all deserve better.

We all deserve to live in a world in which girls and women are genuine equals of men, in screen-time and complexity and pay and respect; where they are given characters of consequence to play; where they are cast in those roles for their talents alone; where they have equal opportunity to create and write and direct characters of consequence; where we are given abundant chances to watch them; where we all get to see ourselves represented onscreen, in characters who are more than objects or plot devices or sidekicks or tokens.

We all deserve to live in a world where girls and women feel safe participating in any industry that utilizes our labor.

Open Wide...

Shut Up!

Joe Biden, What Are You Even Doing?

[Content Note: Toxic masculinity; victim-blaming; rape culture; fat hatred. Video may autoplay at link.]

Joe Biden was never my favorite politician, to put it politely. But Maude Almighty is the former veep working overtime to make me loathe him even more than I already did.

To wit, via Karma Allen at ABC News: Biden Says He Would Have 'Beat the Hell out' of Trump in High School for Disrespecting Women.

Whut.

Leaving aside the cringe-inducing absurdity of a 75-year-old man talking about beating up a 71-year-old man when they were in high school six decades ago, this is toxic masculinity in its chivalrous iteration: Using violence to defend women's "honor" is not feminist and it's not heroic. It's chauvinist trash.

Former Vice President Joe Biden took fresh jabs at [Donald] Trump on Tuesday while speaking at an anti-sexual assault rally, telling students at the University of Miami that he probably would have "beat the hell out" of Trump if they'd attended school together.

"A guy who ended up becoming our national leader said, 'I can grab a woman anywhere and she likes it,'" Biden said. "They asked me if I'd like to debate this gentleman, and I said 'no.' I said, 'If we were in high school, I'd take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.'"

First of all, the solution to abuse is never more abuse. Secondly, Joe Biden was once face-to-face with a man who abused multiple women, and not only did he not "beat the hell out of" Clarence Thomas, but he was shitty to Anita Hill and refused to call three other witnesses who were prepared to make their own allegations against Thomas.

Women don't need men to beat up other men to defend us. We do, however, need powerful legislators to hold abusive men to account and ensure they don't, for instance, get a lifetime appointment to a court which empowers them to make decisions about our lives.

Biden failed that test. Big time. And he doesn't appear to have learned any lessons from that spectacular failure.

He went on to make what appears to be a defense of the narrative that popular guys beating up creepy losers is a workable rape prevention strategy, as if attractive athletes don't abuse women, and naturally threw in some fat hatred to boot:

"I've been in a lot of locker rooms my whole life," Biden continued. "I'm a pretty damn good athlete. Any guy that talked that way was usually the fattest, ugliest S.O.B. in the room."

Cool.

And if that weren't enough, Biden went on to admonish survivors that we have a responsibility to report being raped, as part of rape prevention:

"It's not just on the men. It's on you women, as well, on campus," Biden said. "All the studies show that 95 percent of young women who are abused — the first person they tell is their roommate, their friend, someone on campus. You've got to inform yourself as to what facilities are available, what help is available, not just empathize, hug and say, 'I'm so sorry.' You have an obligation to be informed."

Nope. Let me say that again: NOOOOOOOOOPE.

There are a lot of things that discourage survivors from reporting. Among them is men publicly fantasizing about violent retribution against rapists, which can leave survivors reluctant to report for fear of furthering a cycle of violence. Many, many survivors neither appreciate nor value men threatening other men ostensibly on our behalf.

That Biden doesn't understand that makes him untrustworthy. That he failed to hold a sexual harasser accountable when it mattered makes him unreliable. And that he thinks it's hip to wax tough about traveling back in time to beat up Donald Trump in high school makes him a fucking joke.

Open Wide...

Shut Up!

Quote of the Day

[Content Note: Fat hatred.]

"While it is not an obligation for anyone at any size to have to engage in physical activity, it's important progress to create spaces that welcome those who do for everyone's physical and mental health." — Ragen Chastain, quoted in a recommended piece in the Washington Post by Rebecca Scritchfield, "Why we need to take fat-shaming out of fitness culture."

This is, of course, something about which I've been writing for many years. If not-fat people who purport to care about fatties' health really did care about our health, they wouldn't do things like shout abuse at us out car windows while we're out for a walk, or body-shame us while we're swimming, or condescendingly "compliment" us for engaging in some physical activity that we may well have been doing for most of our lives, or take sneaky pictures of us in locker rooms and post them publicly without our knowledge or consent, or any one of a seemingly endless number of things that not-fat people who totally care about our health do, thus creating a massive psychological barrier for us to overcome to engage in physical activities.

If you care about fat people's health, then know this: Fat Hatred Is Unhealthy for Fat People.

Allowing us to live our lives free of fat hatred and shaming and judgment, however, is very good for our health indeed.

[H/T to Shaker girlunderthsea.]

Open Wide...

Shut Up!

We Resist: Day 363

One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures (plus the occasional non-Republican who obliges us to resist their nonsense, too, like we don't have enough to worry about) is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.

So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.

Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.

* * *

Here are some things in the news today:

Earlier today by me: Maybe Let's Not Empower Trump to Use Nukes and Trump Administration Revives the "Conscience Clause".

Remember how Steve Bannon was scheduled to testify yesterday before the House Intelligence Committee as part of its inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election? Yeah, well, it went great! (It did not go great.)

MORE NEWS: Top Dem on the committee, @RepAdamSchiff, says after committee subpoenaed, Bannon’s lawyer contacted the White House, which “doubled down” on demand he not answer questions.

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 17, 2018

BREAKING: AP Sources: Steve Bannon attorney relayed questions to White House during House interview, was told when not to respond.

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 17, 2018

I love how 13 days ago, Trump issued a statement that said, in part, "Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination." Now that lowly "staffer" is so important that the White House has to control his response to Congressional questioning!

Betsy Woodruff at the Daily Beast: Steve Bannon Will Tell All to Robert Mueller, Source Says. "Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon broke some bad news to House investigators Tuesday, announcing that the White House had invoked executive privilege to keep him from answering many of their questions. But executive privilege — the president's right to keep certain information from the public so he can have frank conversations with aides — will not keep Steve Bannon from sharing information with special counsel Robert Mueller's team, according to a person familiar with the situation. 'Mueller will hear everything Bannon has to say,' said the source, who is familiar with Bannon's thinking."

I'll believe that when I read about it in actual unredacted transcripts issued by Bob Mueller's office.

* * *

Eric Trump is famously not very bright. But this was pretty disastrous even by the rock bottom standards he's set for himself:

Eric Trump on his father: "He is the least racist person I have ever met in my entire life."

— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) January 17, 2018

Eric Trump says his wife Lara, his infant son, his brother Don Jr., his sister Ivanka, his brother-in-law Jared Kushner, his sister Tiffany, his brother Barron, his nieces and nephews, his mother Ivana, and First Lady Melania Trump are all more racist than Donald Trump. https://t.co/c2tNOACFdC

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 17, 2018

Presumably not a complete list of everyone Eric Trump has ever met in his entire life.

* * *

In yet another example of how decent and competent people don't want to work for or with the Trump administration, so we're increasingly governed by unethical shitheads... Juliet Eilperin at the Washington Post: Nearly All Members of National Park Service Advisory Panel Resign in Frustration. "More than three-quarters of the members of a federally chartered board advising the National Park Service have quit out of frustration that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had refused to meet with them or convene a single meeting last year. The resignation of 10 out of 12 National Park System Advisory Board members leaves the federal government without a functioning body to designate national historic or natural landmarks." Welp.

Jason Leopold and Anthony Cormier at BuzzFeed: Investigators Are Scrutinizing Newly Uncovered Payments by the Russian Embassy.

Officials investigating the Kremlin's interference in the 2016 US presidential election are scrutinizing newly uncovered financial transactions between the Russian government and people or businesses inside the United States.

Records exclusively reviewed by BuzzFeed News also show years of Russian financial activity within the US that bankers and federal law enforcement officials deemed suspicious, raising concerns about how the Kremlin's diplomats operated here long before the 2016 election.

Special counsel Robert Mueller's team, charged with investigating Russian election interference and possible collusion by the Trump campaign, is examining these transactions and others by Russian diplomatic personnel, according to a US official with knowledge of the inquiry. The special counsel has broad authority to investigate "any matters" that "may arise" from his investigation, and the official said Mueller's probe is following leads on suspicious Russian financial activity that may range far beyond the election.

One of the transactions being investigated is a $120,000 payment made to former Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak ten days after the election of Donald Trump. JFC.

In Touch has published a report that Stormy Daniels, the woman whom Donald Trump is alleged to have paid off to keep silent, had an affair with Trump soon after First Lady Melania Trump gave birth to their son, Barron. At ThinkProgress, Judd Legum explains why this story matters, and, to my mind, this is the most important point: "The story suggests Trump is vulnerable to blackmail and extortion. According to reports, Daniels was able to extract a $130,000 payment to keep quiet about her affair with Trump. How many other women have stories about Trump that he does not want told? This is potentially a very dangerous predicament for a sitting president. ...Trump, reportedly, has things to hide and is willing to go to substantial lengths to hide them."

[Content Note: Misogyny; class warfare] Heidi Shierholz, David Cooper, Julia Wolfe, and Ben Zipperer at the Economic Policy Institute: Women Would Lose $4.6 Billion in Earned Tips If the Administration's 'Tip Stealing' Rule Is Finalized. "The Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed a rule that would make it legal for employers to pocket their workers' tips, as long as they pay those workers at least the minimum wage. The proposed rule rescinds portions of longstanding DOL regulations that prohibit employers from taking tips. We estimate that if the rule is finalized, every year workers will lose $5.8 billion in tips, as tips are shifted from workers to employers. Of the $5.8 billion, nearly 80 percent — $4.6 billion — would be taken from women who are working in tipped jobs."

[CN: Nativism; white supremacy] Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani at ThinkProgress: Media Coverage of Trump's Claim That He Wants Immigrants from 'Everywhere' Is Laughable. "On Tuesday, Trump was asked by CNN's Jim Acosta whether he wants more immigrants from Norway. He replied that he actually wants immigrants from 'everywhere.' ...But without any actual evidence to support his claim, much of the media decided to take Trump's new comments on face value. 'Trump says he wants immigrants from 'everywhere,'' Reuters reported Tuesday, with no context of the president's previous rhetoric or policies before last week's report. CNN published another piece with the exact same headline, and again mentioned none of the president's previous rhetoric or policies. Even publications that offered some context published nearly identical headlines, which made it seem like a president who ran a virulently anti-immigration campaign and has implemented anti-immigrant and anti-refugee policies as president, does indeed want to accept them now."

[CN: Nativism; abuse] Rory Carroll at the Guardian: U.S. Border Patrol Routinely Sabotages Water Left for Migrants, Report Says. "United States border patrol agents routinely vandalise containers of water and other supplies left in the Arizona desert for migrants, condemning people to die of thirst in baking temperatures, according to two humanitarian groups. In a report published Wednesday, the Tucson-based groups said the agents committed the alleged sabotage with impunity in an attempt to deter and punish people who illegally cross from Mexico. Volunteers found water gallons vandalised 415 times, on average twice a week, in an 800 sq mile patch of Sonoran desert south-west of Tucson, from March 2012 to December 2015, the report said. The damage affected 3,586 gallons. The report also accused border patrol agents of vandalising food and blankets and harassing volunteers in the field."

[CN: Nativism; sexual assault; self-harm] Tina Vasquez at Rewire: Migrant Attempts Suicide After Forced to Interact with Alleged Abuser. "An asylum-seeking Salvadoran woman, whose allegations of repeated sexual assault by a guard at the T. Don Hutto Detention Center in Texas went largely ignored, has attempted suicide. Laura Monterrosa, who has been detained at Hutto since May 2017 and alleges her abuse began in June, first went public with her allegations in November, leading to a supposed investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Williamson County Sheriff's Office. In the days that followed, other women detained inside Hutto came forward with allegations of abuse. But after two interviews with officials from ICE and Williamson County in which there was a language barrier and Monterrosa initially wasn't allowed access to counsel, ICE unceremoniously announced that it found Monterrosa's allegations to be 'unsubstantiated.' The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has since confirmed it intervened in the investigation of sexual assault allegations emerging from the long-troubled detention center."

* * *

[CN: Fat hatred; body shaming] Finally, this is a very good piece by Addy Baird at ThinkProgress: Stop Talking About Trump's Weight. "Focusing on his size is a distraction from all of the other pressing issues with his presidency, and doesn't hurt Trump nearly as much as it hurts anyone else who is fat, uncomfortable in their own skin, or struggling with their body image in any way."

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?

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We Resist: Day 358

One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures (plus the occasional non-Republican who obliges us to resist their nonsense, too, like we don't have enough to worry about) is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.

So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.

Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.

* * *

Here are some things in the news today:

Earlier today by me: Here Is a Thing That Is Still Happening and Donald Trump Is a Racist.

[Content Note: Racism] Because Donald Trump is not only a racist but a liar, of course he took to Twitter to deny having called Haiti, El Salvador, et. al. "shithole countries."

The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made - a big setback for DACA!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018

Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said “take them out.” Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings - unfortunately, no trust!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018

Unfortunately for Trump, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, who isn't known as a compulsive liar, disputed the president's denial in a very straightforward and powerful way:

Sen. Dick Durbin, who was in yesterday's Oval Office meeting, says Pres. Trump "said these hateful things, and he said them repeatedly." https://t.co/gAgWtgbumb pic.twitter.com/tRdxdaKxRy

— ABC News (@ABC) January 12, 2018

As Senator [Lindsey] Graham made his presentation, the president interrupted him several times with questions, and, in the course of his comments, said things which were hate-filled, vile, and racist.

I use those words advisedly. I understand how powerful they are. But I cannot believe that, in the history of the White House and that Oval Office, any president has ever spoken the words that I personally heard our president speak yesterday.

You've seen the comments in the press; I've not read one of them that's inaccurate. To no surprise, the president started tweeting this morning, denying that he used those words. It is not true. He said these hateful things, and he said them repeatedly.

Wow. Thank you, Senator Durbin.

In other news, Trump has cancelled a visit to London next month to open the new U.S. embassy, fearing mass protests. But he's too much of a coward to admit that he's afraid for the world to see how hated he is, and he won't admit that his trip has been downgraded by the UK because of his bigotry, so he claimed it was because President Obama made a "bad deal" selling the previous embassy.

Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,” only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018

Couple of problems with that:

So Trump blamed Obama for selling the old U.S. Embassy in London for him not going to London. Fact is, Bush sold the embassy, not Obama, and London uninvited Trump, so it wasn't Trump's decision to make. Simply put, he's a "shithole" President. #TrumpisRacist

— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) January 12, 2018

Worst. President. Ever.

EVER.

* * *

Ashley Feinberg at the Huffington Post: Here Is a Draft of Trump's Nuclear Review: He Wants a Lot More Nukes.

In October, NBC reported that [Donald] Trump had told a gathering of high-ranking national security leaders that "he wanted what amounted to a nearly tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal." While the report doesn't nearly go that far, it does call for the development of new, so-called low-yield nuclear weapons — warheads with a lower explosive force.

The logic of those pushing for the development of smaller nukes is that our current nuclear weapons are too big and too deadly to ever use; we are effectively self-deterred, and the world knows it. To make sure other countries believe that we'd actually use nuclear force, the thinking goes, we need more low-yield nukes.

..."Making the case that we need more low-yield options is making the case that this president needs more nuclear capabilities at his disposal," said Alexandra Bell, a former senior adviser at the State Department and current senior policy director at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, "regardless of the fact that we have 4,000 nuclear weapons in our active stockpile, which is more than enough to destroy the world many times over. So I don't think it makes a convincing case that we somehow lack capabilities. And, in fact, I don't think you can make the case that this president needs any more capabilities."

Not only do we have 4,000 nukes in our active stockpile, but, Feinberg notes, "we already have over 1,000 nuclear warheads in our arsenal with low-yield options, to say nothing of the fact that the more nuclear weapons you introduce into the world, the more likely it is that they'll one day be used."

Especially when the sitting president is someone who [CN: video may autoplay] doesn't understand why we even have nuclear weapons if we don't he doesn't get to use them.

Meanwhile...

Here we go. GRU-Russian Military Intelligence entity FANCY BEAR (aka Pawn Storm) set up in 2017 to Hack US Senate. https://t.co/KDWrlJ13qH

— Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) January 12, 2018

But Trump is busily accusing members of the U.S. intelligence community of treason. Matt Shuham at TPM: Trump Tells WSJ That FBI Employees' Critical Texts Were Treasonous. "Donald Trump said Thursday that text messages critical of him shared by FBI employees amounted to treason, the Wall Street Journal reported. Journal reporters interviewed Trump for 45 minutes, the paper reported, in a conversation that touched on everything from North Korea to Steve Bannon. 'A man is tweeting to his lover that if [Democrat Hillary Clinton] loses, we'll essentially do the insurance policy,' Trump said. 'We'll go to phase two and we'll get this guy out of office. This is the FBI we're talking about — that is treason,' he added. 'That is a treasonous act. What he tweeted to his lover is a treasonous act.' Trump was referring to text messages between Agent Peter Strzok — once a member of special counsel Robert Mueller's team — and FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who worked briefly on Mueller's team as well." That is not treason. FYI.

Foreign Staff at the Telegraph: U.S. Ambassador to Panama Resigns, Saying He Can No Longer Serve Under Trump Administration. "U.S. Ambassador to Panama John Feeley, a career diplomat and former Marine Corps helicopter pilot, has resigned, telling the State Department he no longer feels able to serve [Donald] Trump. 'As a junior foreign service officer, I signed an oath to serve faithfully the president and his administration in an apolitical fashion, even when I might not agree with certain policies. My instructors made clear that if I believed I could not do that, I would be honor bound to resign. That time has come,' Mr Feeley said, according to an excerpt of his resignation letter read to Reuters."

James Hohmann at the Washington Post: Trump Has No Nominees for 245 Important Jobs, Including an Ambassador to South Korea. (Emphasis original.)

Next Saturday brings the anniversary of the inauguration. Over the first year, a fixation on the chaos and churn inside the West Wing has often overshadowed the less-sexy decay and neglect at the departmental level. There are a striking number of big jobs that have not been filled.

The Washington Post and the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, have been working together to track the status of 626 top jobs in the executive branch. This includes assistant secretaries, chief financial officers, general counsels, heads of agencies, ambassadors, and other leadership positions that experts believe are critical for the federal government to function effectively. These represent about half of the roughly 1,200 positions that require Senate confirmation.

The White House likes to blame Congress for dragging its feet, but that's only part of the story: As of this morning, there is no pending nominee for 245 of the 626 jobs we're tracking. Among them: Deputy secretary at Treasury and Commerce, director of the Census, director of ATF, director of the Office on Violence Against Women at Justice, and commissioner of the Social Security Administration.

At Veterans Affairs, no one has been tapped to be the undersecretary for health or benefits.

At the Transportation Department, there is not a nominee to be administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration, or National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Trump has not submitted nominees to direct the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or the U.S. Geological Survey. He has also not picked someone to be assistant secretary of Interior for fish, wildlife, and parks.

Many of these jobs have "acting" directors, but these people aren't fully empowered and cannot indefinitely stay in these roles without being confirmed by the Senate because of laws related to vacancies. The lack of permanence creates uncertainty and makes strategic planning difficult. It also makes it harder to manage career staff, who are less likely to follow orders they disagree with when they realize that their boss is a short-timer.

Fucking hell. All of these vacancies are alarming, but the fact that there is a vacancy for the Director of the Office on Violence Against Women at Justice is chilling.

* * *

[CN: Rape apologia] "Andrew Sullivan writes that it's time to resist the excesses of #MeToo." Oh.

I didn't give a single shit about anything Andrew Sullivan had to say yesterday, and I don't give a single shit about anything Andrew Sullivan has to say today.

Tune in tomorrow when I will continue not to give a single shit about anything Andrew Sullivan has to say.

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 12, 2018

[CN: Sexual harassment and vengeance]

“Dan Harmon admitted to falling in love with a female subordinate, then professionally sabotaging her when she rejected him.”

And y’all wonder why so many of us leave industries and/or have careers stalled. https://t.co/DrXtdASoSZ

— Sarah Lerner (@SarahLerner) January 11, 2018

[CN: Fat hatred] Kaiser at Celebitchy: Megyn Kelly: Some Women Want to Be Fat-Shamed Because Fat-Shaming 'Works'. "Megyn was doing a segment on her Today hour about 'Fit Mom' Maria Kang, the woman who posted a photo of her fit body with the caption 'what's your excuse?' As Megyn and Maria spoke, Megyn talked about how she kept weight off when she was in law school. Megyn said: 'Some of us want to be shamed! When I was in law school, I was gaining weight, I said to my stepfather, 'If you see me going into that kitchen one more time, you say, 'Where you going, fat ass?' And it works!'" Fuck. Off.

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?

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Shut Up!

On "Cat Person"

[Content Note: Rape culture; misogyny; fat hatred.]

There is a remarkable piece of short fiction just published at the New Yorker called "Cat Person." A lot of people are talking about it, and understandably so: It is beautifully written by its author, Kristen Roupenian.

Which is not to say I loved everything about it, but her writing is exquisite.

The short story is, broadly, about a 20-year-old female college student who has a sexual encounter with an older man she meets while working at a movie theater. But is about much more than that, too. It's also about modern dating, and technology, and safety, and consent, and how well we can ever know other people — and ourselves.

There is an interview with Roupenian about her story here, which is also very good.

This is a thread to discuss the story and the interview, if you are so inclined, and also the public conversation around the story, which I've also found very interesting.

Three things about that conversation that have particularly struck me [minor spoiler in #3]:

1. Margot, the young woman at the center of the story, will feel familiar to lots of women. (Her experience is not universal, but it isn't purported to be.) It's fascinating how many men seem bothered, even angry, about that. But for entirely the wrong reasons.

2. I'm not the least bit surprised that I've seen virtually no discussion of the fat hatred that permeates the story. I've seen a lot of reasons why I'm supposed to hate Margot, and not a single one of them mentions that she's a rank fat hater.

3. I did, however, see a lot of criticisms of her for being selfish and vain and various other standards that are used against young women. My thoughts about that were perfectly and succinctly summed by Nat in this tweet:

I’m seeing so many takes about Cat Person that revolve around Margot being “selfish” and “vapid”.

1) why are we demanding perfect 20 yr old female protagonists?

2) maybe don’t bemoan the *selfishness* of a young woman who had sex because she felt it would be rude NOT to

— Twas the Nat Before Christmas (@NatPurser) December 11, 2017

Yeah. Especially that second point. Yeah.

Discuss.

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The Swimming Thread

Because of the great feedback and conversations I've had since I started talking more about swimming, I'm going to keep talking about it and opening up space for other people to talk about it, too — whether it's sharing their own feelings about swimming, grousing about lack of accessibility, asking questions about how to dive in (literally), or anything else. So, here's another swimming thread!

[Content Note: Body shaming.]

So, one of the most difficult parts of being a swimmer for me is fat haters.

Let me be abundantly clear: The difficulty is not my being fat. To the absolute contrary, my fat is not an impediment neither to my doing nor my enjoying swimming. (In fact, my fat makes me incredibly buoyant!) The difficulty is other people having a problem with my being fat.

And even more specifically: Their failure to keep that to themselves.

It has, so far, in the months I've taken up regular swimming, just been nasty looks. But oh Maude how many nasty looks! How many long, lingering, nasty looks.

The kind of looks that even I notice, and I am infamously oblivious to people looking at me, in either a positive or a negative way. Something I suppose I just learned to tune out long ago, because even attention meant to be flattering makes me uncomfortable.

But I notice these looks. Thin women at the gym doing the most to make me feel like I'm ruining their lives with my very existence!

I would be lying if I said I didn't care. It sucks. But, the fact is, I love swimming too much to let it stop me. I love swimming way the fuck more than I hate the withering stares of thin folks who CANNOT with my jiggly thighs.

You can't stop me. You can try, but you will fail.
It will never, ever, cease being weird to be a fat person at a gym getting shitty looks. I go from strangers shouting at me to "put down the doughnuts and go to the gym" to strangers staring at me with disgust because I'm at the gym.

Nothing makes more plain that fat hatred is categorically not about "health." It's about just wanting us to disappear from the sight of thin people forever.

Which is why it's pointless to give a shit about any fat hater's opinion.

You can't fucking win, so just jump in the pool with a smile.

* * *

As before, please use this thread for all swimming-related discussion, and I am happy to answer any and all questions around being a fat woman who swims: How I navigate the locker room, what strokes I do, how I deal with shitty looks and comments, what's the best suit cut for what body shape to cover all the bits, anything.

Have at it in comments!

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Don't Look Away

[Content Note: Fat hatred.]

Your Fat Friend has written a terrific piece about thin people who find comments sections on fat advocacy pieces too harrowing to read: "Your Fat Friend Wants You to Read the Comments."

I shared a few comments with you in the hope of finding a witness to the cacophony in response to my handful of tweets — someone who could confirm the absurdity and harshness of strangers' responses. I should've anticipated what you would say.

Don't read the comments. I never do.

You, like so many other thin friends, were shaken, and found the comments too harrowing to continue reading.

I was surprised. These comments weren't anything I didn't hear regularly. These are words that strangers will readily say to me, face to face. Passersby shout epithets on the street. When turned down for a date, men snap "fat bitch" back at me with startling ease. Family members offer an unwelcome and unsolicited onslaught of diet advice and surgeon recommendations. Coworkers complain loudly about sitting next to passengers smaller than me. These comments are as ubiquitous as the air that I breathe. And like the air, they are invisible to you.

[...] I don't read the comments. I never do.

But, my darling friend, the comments are the one passage from your world to mine. The comments are what I breathe every day — the heavy smog that thickens in my lungs. The cloudy mess I exhale when I tell you what has happened. The thick skin that has brought me this far, and allowed me to take so much in stride.

I need you to peer into the world I walk through every day. I need you to read the comments.

There is much, much more at the link, and I strongly encourage you to read the whole thing.

It's a very good companion piece to one I wrote in October 2013: "I Wouldn't Even If I Could." That's about the advice that I should "just ignore" fat hatred, while Your Fat Friend's is about thin people confessing that they just ignore it (because they can).

Both of those dynamics are part and parcel of entrenching thin privilege by pretending that marginalization and abuse of fat people doesn't exist, even as such insistence is rooted in evidence of fat hatred's harm.

To posit that ignoring fat hatred is a viable option for fat people is absurd and cruel.

And any thin person who wants to do effective ally work in solidarity with fat people will never ask us to salve their discomfort at evidence of our abuse by ignoring it. Read the comments. Don't just ignore what our lived experiences really look like.

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What in Fat-Hating Hell Is This?

[Content Note: Body policing; fat hatred.]

The very last thing I want to be obliged to do is defend Donald fucking Trump in any way, but Ben Strauss at Politico has written a truly contemptible piece of vile fat-hating, body policing, and health auditing about Trump, so here we are.

There is a lot wrong with this piece, and I could spend the next three hours or so of my life deconstructing the many, many problems with it, but instead I will simply highlight one sentence, which is the attempt to justify the existence of a nearly 3,000-word article about how Donald Trump is fat and doesn't exercise: "All this scrutiny might seem like body shaming if it weren't for Trump's own obsession with appearances."

NOPE. All that scrutiny is still actually body shaming. That Trump does it to other people doesn't neutralize it when it gets done to him. That's not how it works.

There is no excuse — none — for publishing this lengthy exercise in fat hatred, the entirety of which is basically the equivalent of a Disney film using fat as shorthand to convey that a character is evil.

Trump is incompetent, cruel, vainglorious, ethically bankrupt, intellectually lazy, morally repugnant, disloyal, nepotistic, avaristic, egomaniacal, insecure, impulsive, and corrupt, and not a single one of those character traits is unique to fat people — even though fat is frequently used to indicate precisely these moral failings, in pop culture and literature dating back hundreds of years.

On my long list of concerns about Donald Trump, what he looks like doesn't make the cut.

And suffice it to say I am not fooled by fat hatred masquerading as concerns about his health, under the auspices that the United States President owes healthfulness to the nation he petitioned to serve.

Finally, as a fat person who spends her days documenting and protesting and resisting every single abusive thing Trump is doing, I take strong issue with the implication that fatness is an indication of low moral character.

If someone is fat, here is what that can tell you about them in total: They are fat.

The end.

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Today at the Intersection of Fat Hatred and Disablism

[Content Note: Fat hatred; disablism. Some pix at link may be NSFW.]

Normally, I will do everything I can to avoid linking to the Daily Mail, but, in this case, it's about the least offensive article on this story I can find: "Plus-sized protester strips NAKED at Bluewater shopping centre to demonstrate against mannequins being too thin."

Which is really saying something, given the all-caps alarmism at fat nudity right in the headline, and the description of the protester herself as "plus-sized." (NB: Clothes are plus-sized; people are fat.)

The gist of the story is that a fat white woman was reportedly protesting the lack of fat mannequins by standing naked in a store window. She was eventually escorted away from police, who said later she had been "passed into the care of medical professionals."

That's really something, isn't it?

It's considered perfectly sane to invisibilize the existence of fat people in every way except when calling us a scourge or an epidemic, or bullying us, or shaming us, or in some other way expressing contempt for our bodies and lives — but, if you are a fat person who is so fed the fuck up with being disappeared and monsterized that you stand naked in a store window to demand recognition of your existence and humanity, you're the crazy one.

Welp.

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Quote of the Day

[Content Note: Fat hatred.]

"After I lost weight, I discovered that people found me valuable. Worthy of conversation. A person one could look at. A person one could compliment. A person one could admire. You heard me. I discovered that NOW people saw me as a PERSON. What the hell did they see me as before? How invisible was I to them then? How hard did they work to avoid me? What words did they use to describe me? What value did they put on my presence at a party, a lunch, a discussion? When I was fat, I wasn;t a PERSON to these people. Like I had been an Invisible Woman who suddenly materialized in front of them. Poof! There I am. Thin and ready for a chat."—Shonda Rhimes, writing very frankly about the difference in how she was treated (that is, way better) after she lost around 150 pounds.

This is definitely something I've heard from friends who have lost a lot of weight.

It's also akin to something I experienced when I used to work in a corporate job: When people (especially men) talked to me over the phone, they (generally) spoke to me exactly as the competent, prepared, smart, and talented person I am. Then they met me in person, and suddenly they spoke to me like I was a child, and not a very bright child at that.

I was the same person with the same brain and the same abilities, but their stereotypes invoked by my fat body overwhelmed their actual experience of me as a human being.

Fat hatred is really something.

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Fatsronauts 101: Gaslighting the Mocked

[Content Note: Fat hatred; body shaming; invasion of privacy; threats.]

As you may recall, last year, a woman named Dani Mathers, who had a large social media following by virtue of having been a Playboy model, took a photo of a naked 70-year-old woman in the locker room of a gym, then posted it on Snapchat next to a photo of herself giggling with the caption, "If I can't unsee this then neither can you."

After massive blowback, Mathers claimed she had only meant to send it privately to a friend and shared it publicly by mistake. Oh.

This public fat-shaming was not only profoundly unethical and cruel, but it was also illegal—and Mathers recently pleaded no contest to invasion of privacy charges, for which she'll have to complete 30 days of community service. She also received three years probation.

Now Mathers is doing a round of media, because of course she is, to talk about how she's been victimized (she has gotten death threats, which I condemn without qualification) and also to whine about how she never intended to hurt the woman that she victimized.

"I didn't have an intention of breaking a law. I just wasn't thinking, to be honest," she said, noting that she meant to send the photo privately to a friend. "My intention was to reply to the conversation I was having with my friend. I know the difference between right and wrong and I chose wrong."

Mathers told ABC that she has never met the woman involved, although she has wanted to apologize in person.

"I never meant to hurt her," she said. "I never ever intended on showing the world this photo … I hope that she could forgive me."

"I just want her to be able to move on and move forward in her life and not feel judged or that she what she was doing was being ridiculed, because it had nothing to do with that and I'm so sorry," Mathers told ABC.

This is the same sad refrain we've heard from thin people getting caught fat-shaming over and over. That they didn't intend to hurt anyone; that what they were doing didn't have anything to do with judgment or ridicule.

Bullshit it didn't.

Time and again, people who are fat-shamed are revictimized by their abusers, who insist that what they were doing wasn't really what it seemed. As if we don't know. As if we haven't been subjected to the same disgusting fat-hatred and shaming our entire fat lives.

They abuse us, then gaslight us—trading on the ubiquitous narrative that fat people aren't that bright.

I cannot begin to sufficiently convey the profundity of my contempt for people who fat-shame and then implicitly accuse the fat people who call that shit out of being too stupid to understand what really happened, trying to convince us they're not actually fat-haters, even as they leverage the cultural fat hatred that marks fat people as stupid in order to get away with harming us.

Suffice it to say, if your play after getting caught fat-shaming is to claim that "no judgment or ridicule was intended," I'm not convinced that you care about harming fat people.

If you want me to believe that, then the place to start is admitting what you did, and frankly addressing that it was intended to harm, and forthrightly discussing your own anti-fat biases.

Because, I gotta tell ya: Not only are fat people not as stupid as you think, but y'all fat-haters aren't as clever as you think. We are well aware of all the judgment and ridicule that has happened at our backs.

We know what it looks like and what it sounds like. We recognize it clear as day, even if you won't.

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What in Fat-Hating Hell Is This?

[Content Note: Fat hatred.]

[Photo via.]
The ubiquitous narrative that fat is axiomatically ugly is something about which I have already written at length. (Go read it!) Suffice it to say here, that is some rank horseshit, and the fact that this narrative is being regurgitated so explicitly for the promotion of a children's movie is appalling.

And it's not just the marketing: At Celebitchy, Kaiser's got a clip from the film which shows two of the dwarves (?) hiding out in Snow White's house when she comes home. She first appears thin, dressed in a formal gown and high-heeled shoes. The dwarves are all hubba hubba. Then she takes off the dress and shoes and is suddenly fat. (And belching, because of course.) The dwarves are horrified.

So, it's pretty clear that fat = grotesque is a central narrative of the film.

There's a pretty good chance that this film follows the trajectory of what I call Deathbed Confession Cinema, where everyone is invited to spend two hours horrified by and laughing at the protagonist for being less than in some way, only to arrive at a conclusion where we learn that said protagonist is a neat-o person who deserves love, too. Or whatever.

Or maybe this movie doesn't even make that effort! Maybe Snow White's magic shoes just eventually turn her into a real thin girl!

Who knows. Who cares. Fuck this movie and everyone involved in it.

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The Latest on the Republican "Healthcare" Bill

From a friend, which I am sharing here with permission:

I had thought that the "repeal and replace Obamacare" bill (American Health Care Act) would pretty much only screw the self-insured, but no. Under the new MacArthur Amendment version of the AHCA, currently-mandated lifetime and annual out-of-pocket caps on employer-based plans can be waived, and states can waive essential health benefits for employer-based plans too.

If you have healthcare through your employer, this means you. Your employer plan could, for instance, decline to cover pregnancy/maternity or emergency care.

It does make a difference to call/fax your congressperson's staff and ask them to vote no on this bill. They hope to vote Wednesday.

Find your representative.

You can also fax your rep for free via internet at FaxZero.

This is a big deal. I did a quick thread on this issue last night on Twitter, with an emphasis on what this means for fat people, in particular, because of a major development since the Affordable Care Act, and its provision on preexisting conditions, was implemented:

Note that whether to cover preexisting conditions is one of the things that would be left to the states in the current plan. https://t.co/n5yf0w3JRX

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 1, 2017

Reminder: Since the passage of Obamacare, the AMA declared obesity "a disease." https://t.co/QTON0kmkNO

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 2, 2017

That means that everything which can be attributed to weight will be "a preexisting condition."

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 2, 2017

And EVERYTHING is attributed to weight when you're fat. Fat people die because of this now. Deadly ailments chalked up to fatness.

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 2, 2017

There are studies on fat prejudice among healthcare providers. It is also my personal experience. Fat as "preexisting condition" will kill.

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 2, 2017

There are of course many other issues here. But the AMA's decision has created a special and new circumstance for fat folks.

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) May 2, 2017

Employer-sponsored health plans are already no picnic for fat folks, given that "wellness programs" are enabling companies to find ways to penalize fat employees if they don't lose weight, irrespective of their ability to do so or their actual health. And this is only going to gut care for fat people even further.

Disabled people, people who have survived cancer, people with congenital heart defects (like Jimmy Kimmel's son), and lots of other people could also suddenly find themselves without coverage for their urgent healthcare needs, even through a workplace plan.

This is unconscionable.

The GOP leadership is still short on the votes they need to pass this reprehensible garbage. Keep calling. Keep faxing. Keep registering your opposition to this nightmare.

#RESIST.

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Fatsronauts 101: Fat Halloween

[Content Note: Fat hatred.]

Halloween is right around the corner—and thus Halloween costume parties—and, every year, after Halloween, I see pictures circulated on social media, without their subjects' consent, of fat adults dressed up as recognizable characters who aren't fat. (Very occasionally, I see this done to fat kids, too.) These pictures are inevitably shared to mock the fat costumed person, often under the presumption that the fat person doesn't understand how they look and frequently accompanied by resentful accusations that the fat person is "ruining" the character.

Don't do this.

Let me tell you that fat people dressed as thin characters understand we look different than the thin character. It's not that we don't know how we look; it's that we don't care what you think.

And why should we, when you think that a fat woman dressed up as Trinity or a fat man dressed up as Spock "ruins" the character? That's a garbage opinion. You're telegraphing to us that your opinion shouldn't be valued.

I have seen arguments on social media in which mockers of fat costumed people justify their mockery, their assertions that the characters are "ruined" by fat people, on the basis that "Batman could never be fat" or "Wonder Woman could never be fat," literally without a trace of fucking acknowledgment that Superman and Wonder Woman could never exist at all. It's a fantasy.

What they're saying, with their also-bullshit contentions about what fat bodies can and cannot do (which are almost always wrong), is that a fat body ruins the fantasy for them. Which is really their problem. Not the fat person in the costume.

And frankly, if one can imagine a man who can lift an entire skyscraper with one hand, but couldn't lift his own ass into the air if it were fat, one really doesn't have much of an imagination.

But the problem isn't a lack of imagination so much as it is a lack of decency. All year long, fat people are expected to hide ourselves away from view—to not take up space; to speak softly; to exercise, but not in public; to cover ourselves in yards of fabric to conceal the shapes of our bodies; to carry ourselves hunched and bowed, so that we might be smaller and convey the shame we are obliged to communicate for our very existence—and it's the same on Halloween. Best that we don't show ourselves at all, and certainly not dressed as a thin character.

The message is clear: You don't deserve to be that character, because you are fat.

Fuck that.

We aren't required to wait to live our lives, to do the things we want to do, unless and until we lose weight. We can live and do and thrive right now.

The public mockery of fat people in thin character costumes is explicitly designed to shame us back into hiding, into not living, unless and until we earn the right of participation by making ourselves thin.

I repeat: Fuck that.

And then there's this: I am a fat person who actively wants to dress up as fat characters for Halloween. And before Melissa McCarthy made it so that I could be a cop, a spy, a goddamned Ghostbuster, three whole characters, there wasn't a hell of a lot from which to choose. Not if you want to dress as a person. A fat person. Like yourself.

So, you know, if you're mad that a fat woman like me comes to your Halloween party dressed up as a fat Lara Croft, direct your ire at the rest of the fucking world, which denies us a delicious array of visible fat characters we can cosplay.

And if you really want to be mad at a fat Halloween costume, how about the costumes that treat fat people's personhood itself as a costume?

Because, honestly, if you're angry about a fat person dressing like a thin fictional character, but not angry about thin people dressing like fat people as though we're monsters, you have derailed.

[Originally posted October 27, 2015.]

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In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: School shooting] Goddammit: "Two children have been injured at a shooting in a South Carolina elementary school Wednesday afternoon, according to local reports. Greenville News reports that the shooting took place at Townville Elementary School in Townville, South Carolina, and that the school has been evacuated. A suspect is in custody, according to local authorities." There is very little additional information at this time. I am just so sad and so angry.

Michelle Obama hit the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia and was typically awesome. She also appears in a new Clinton ad.

[CN: Queerphobia] Meanwhile, Clinton campaigned in North Carolina, where she sharply criticized HB2: "Think about everything that's at stake in this election. The very mean-spirited wrong-headed decision by your legislature and governor to pass and sign House Bill 2 has hurt this state. But more than that it has hurt people. It has sent a message to so many people that you're not really wanted. You're not part of us. I think the American dream is big enough for everybody."

Heads-up, trans voters: The National Center for Transgender Equality has updated its Voting While Trans checklist.

[CN: Police brutality; racism] Serena Williams has spoken out about police killings of Black people in a moving Facebook post, which ends: "I. Won't. Be. Silent."

[CN: Lead contamination] An appalling update on the lead contamination crisis in East Chicago, Indiana.

[CN: Abuse] "10 Emotional Abuse Tactics That Trump Blatantly Used in the First Debate." Followed by ten metric fucktons of gaslighting.

[CN: Fat-shaming] And finally: FYI.

Y'all, "Alicia Machado wasn't even fat when Trump fat-shamed her!" isn't helpful. What he said was heinous *no matter her size*.

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) September 27, 2016

What have you been reading?

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In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Airline disaster; death] "Egypt said on Friday its navy had found human remains, wreckage and the personal belongings of passengers floating in the Mediterranean, confirmation that an EgyptAir jet had plunged into the sea with 66 people on board. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi offered condolences for those on board, amounting to Egypt's official acknowledgement of their deaths, although there was still no explanation of why the Airbus had crashed. ...The navy was searching an area about 290 km (180 miles) north of the port city of Alexandria, just south of where the signal from the plane was lost early on Thursday.There was no sign of the bulk of the wreckage, or of a location signal from the 'black box' flight recorders." My condolences once again to the people who lost loved ones. I hope they will get some answers soon.

[CN: Extreme heat; death] My god: "A city in India's Rajasthan state has broken the country's temperature records after registering 51C, the highest since records began, the weather office says." That's 124 degrees Fahrenheit. "The heatwave has hit much of northern India, where temperatures have exceeded 40C for weeks. The run-up to the Indian monsoon season is always characterised by weeks of strong sunshine and increasing heat but life-threatening temperature levels topping 50C are unusual. Murari Lal Thanvi, an eyewitness in Phalodi, told the BBC he had struggled to stay outdoors on Friday. 'Even my mobile phone gave up and stopped working when I was trying to take pictures today,' he said." Dozens of people have already died in the heatwave. Absolutely awful.

[CN: Illness] Fuck: "More than 270 pregnant women in the U.S. are infected with the Zika virus and worry about whether their babies will be born with birth defects, federal health officials announced Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the way it reports Zika-affected pregnancies, and said the new numbers show 279 women who tested positive for the virus. This includes 157 women in the 50 states and Washington, D.C, plus 122 in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and other U.S. territories. So far, fewer than a dozen have had an 'adverse event,' such as a miscarriage or evidence that the fetus has a birth defect, CDC officials said." Still, the CDC continues to encourage pregnant people who have themselves or whose partners have traveled to Zika-affected areas to get tested for the virus.

[CN: Anti-immigrationism; doxxing] "A federal judge with a history of anti-immigrant sentiment ordered the federal government to turn over the names, addresses and 'all available contact information' of over 100,000 immigrants living within the United States. He does so in a strange order that quotes extensively from movie scripts and that alleges a conspiracy of attorneys 'somewhere in the halls of the Justice Department whose identities are unknown to this Court.' It appears to be, as several immigration advocates noted shortly after the order was handed down, an effort to intimidate immigrants who benefit from certain Obama administration programs from participating in those programs, lest their personal information be turned over to people who wish them harm. As Greisa Martinez, Advocacy Director for United We Dream, said in a statement, the judge is 'asking for the personal information of young people just to whip up fear'—fear, no doubt, of what could happen if anti-immigrant state officials got their hands on this information. Or if the information became public." I don't even have words. What the fuck.

[CN: Misogyny; harassment; threats; abuse] "When Will the Internet Be Safe for Women?" The opening of that story details the swatting of a Massachusetts state congresswoman in retribution for introducing legislation to try to address swatting and online harassment. Which pretty much sums up the state of affairs.

[CN: Threats; harassment] Krystal Lake, a black woman from Long Island, "said she received death threats after photos of her wearing a cap with the message 'America Was Never Great' were posted widely on social media." Obviously, this was a response to Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan, and, the truth is, the country has not been great (and still isn't) for lots and lots of people. And the fact that a black woman got death threats for expressing that opinion really kind of proves her point.

[CN: Fat hatred; bullying] I mean, this is how Donald Trump treats his friends: "Donald Trump teased New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie about his weight while speaking at a fundraiser to pay off Christie's presidential campaign debt. Trump, when mentioning that the Nabisco cookie plant was leaving Chicago for Mexico, pointed to Christie and told the crowd the governor would stop eating Nabisco cookies. 'I'm not eating Oreos anymore, you know that—but neither is Chris,' Trump said. 'You're not eating Oreos anymore. No more Oreos. For either of us, Chris. Don't feel bad.'" This fucking guy.

[CN: Fat hatred; bullying] Hey, speaking of Trump and his disgusting fat hatred, remember the former Miss Universe who said that Trump had called her Miss Piggy? Well, she just got her US citizenship, and Hillary Clinton tweeted at her: "Congratulations on becoming a U.S. citizen, Alicia. Enjoy casting that vote." HAHA YES!

No kidding: "The last time information from Donald Trump's income-tax returns was made public, the bottom line was striking: He had paid the federal government $0 in income taxes." Which is exactly what I predicted his current tax returns will show.

RIP John Berry: "John Berry, an original member of hip-hop group the Beastie Boys, died Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. at a hospice in Danvers, Massachusetts. He was 52."

Trees sleep? "In research both charming and groundbreaking (sorry for the pun), scientists from Austria, Finland and Hungary used lasers to measure the overnight movements of birch trees. Their unexpected finding: During the hours of darkness, the trees appeared to relax, or droop, their branches at the tips by as much as four inches." Oh trees. You are a delightful mystery!

And finally! Big man and tiny dog! LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!

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In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Terrorism; death; video may autoplay at link] Fucking hell: "Three separate car bombings in the Iraqi capital Wednesday killed at least 93 people and wounded at least 165. The Islamic State group later claimed responsibility for all three bombings. In recent months, the extremist faction has lost some of the Iraqi territory it conquered in a stunning 2014 blitz. But Wednesday's carnage demonstrates the group's lingering ability to launch significant attacks across the country and in the heart of the capital. In the largest attack of the day, a car bomb ripped through a commercial area in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City Wednesday morning, killing at least 63 people and wounding at least 85. Later in the afternoon, two more car bombs killed at least 30 and wounded 80, police officials said. One bomber targeted a police station in Baghdad's northwest Kadhimiyah neighborhood, killing 18, of whom five were policemen, and wounding 34. Another bombing In the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Jamiya killed 12 and wounded 46." I am so angry and so sad about the continued havoc and fear and injury and death that IS is wreaking in Iraq (and elsewhere). Fuck these people. My thoughts and sympathies and support are with the people of Iraq who are being targeted by this incomprehensibly cruel group.

[CN: Police brutality; white supremacy] Delrish Moss has been sworn in as Ferguson, Missouri's new chief of police. Moss "is the first Black person to run the department. Moss, 51, takes over the department as it works to implement the terms of its agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which requires a major overhaul of practices that were found to violate the civil rights of the city's Black residents." Good luck to him. I mean that with all seriousness and hopefulness.

Vice-President Joe Biden says if he'd decided to run for president, he would have been aces! "It's an awful thing to say, but I think I would have been the best president." Yep, that's an awful thing to say!

[CN: Fat hatred] "Obesity may not cut your life short after all, a new study suggests." No shit! Gotta love the entire tenor of this article: Look, science, may be proving that fat doesn't actually kill you, but let's not get ahead of ourselves! Your life will probably be terrible! And also maybe science is wrong! In any case, let's not get ahead of ourselves with any kind of wild notions that we should stop hating fat people and bullying them constantly under the auspices of concern for their health.

[CN: Racism; displacement] Wow: "The remains of at least 10 Native American children who died nearly 2,000 miles away from their homes while being forced to attend a government-run boarding school in Pennsylvania more than a century ago could soon be repatriated under an effort taken up by a South Dakota tribe. The exhumation and return of the bodies of the children who as students of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School were stripped of their culture and left vulnerable to abuse won't be an easy undertaking. But leaders of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe hope that a meeting with representatives from the U.S. Army and other tribes scheduled for Tuesday will begin the negotiation process to repatriate the remains of the 10 children, and eventually, of the dozens more who died while attending the school as part of an assimilation policy intended to rid the children from Native American traditions and replace them with European culture. 'We are hoping that the United States government will say 'Yes, let's bring your relatives home,'' said Russell Eagle Bear, the historic preservation officer for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe."

[CN: Rape culture; familial sexual abuse] Ronan Farrow, the son of Woody Allen, has written a piece for The Hollywood Reporter about, essentially, the fact that the media and lots of famous people continue to ignore his sister's allegations of sexual abuse against their father. And I have a lot of thoughts about what he wrote, none of which I feel like detailing today, but I will point out this one incredible, painful irony: "But it hurts my sister every time one of her heroes like Louis C.K., or a star her age, like Miley Cyrus, works with Woody Allen." Louis CK, of course, has been accused of sexually harassing and/or assaulting multiple female comics. But no charges have been brought, so everyone feels free to ignore them. Like, yanno, Woody Allen. It's entirely possible (and likely) that Dylan and Ronan Farrow are among the many people who have simply never even heard of these charges.

[CN: Transphobia; typical bad media language and misgendering] "Portage transgender teen places second in prom queen contest." This is where I attended high school. There are problems with the article, but I'm really glad that Dakota Yorke was given a chance to speak for herself and I was pleased to see how many of her classmates are publicly supporting her. As well as the school! Good job, PHS.

[CN: Misogyny] OMFG this article about the Ghostbusters reboot. The subhead ALONE! "It's hard to believe geek culture 'sexism' is responsible for all the bad buzz aimed at Paul Feig's female-fronted remake. Now we need Bill Murray to save the day." Of course we do. Love how sexism is in scare-quotes, btw.

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] This tickles me endlessly: "Known for her grasp of policy, Mrs. Clinton has spoken at length in her presidential campaign on topics as diverse as Alzheimer's research and military tensions in the South China Sea. But it is her unusual knowledge about extraterrestrials that has struck a small but committed cohort of voters. Mrs. Clinton has vowed that barring any threats to national security, she would open up government files on the subject, a shift from President Obama, who typically dismisses the topic as a joke. Her position has elated U.F.O. enthusiasts, who have declared Mrs. Clinton the first 'E.T. candidate.'"

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] "Move over bald eagles, the bison are coming for you. While the bald eagle may be the national bird of the U.S., President Obama today officially made the bison the official mammal of the United States by signing the National Bison Legacy Act into law. It is the first time the U.S. has designated a national mammal." Congratulations, bison!

And finally! It's generally not a great idea to surprise someone by getting them a pet, lol, but this story is absolutely terrific: "A teacher in Texas was understandably distraught when her beloved 16-year-old cat named Blondie died. But Tonya Andrews' tears of sadness turned to those of joy when her caring students at Joshua High School, in Joshua, surprised her soon after with an extraordinarily thoughtful gift: two adorable kittens. ...Initially, the teacher thought they belonged to Hanhart and that the class was just going to play with them. 'Then she held them out to me and said they were mine. My heart was filled with joy,' she added, saying she'd 'never forget our sweet, sweet Blondie,' who they'd rescued from a warehouse in Fort Worth. 'But my heart can now experience happiness again.'" Blub!

Open Wide...

Shut Up!

In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Terrorism; death] Fucking hell: "Two [redacted] car bombs claimed by ISIS killed at least 32 people and wounded 75 others in the center of the southern Iraqi city of Samawa on Sunday, police and medics said. The first blast was near a local government building and the second one about 65 yards away at a bus station, police sources said. The death toll was expected to keep rising. ...Meanwhile, two police officers were killed and 23 people wounded in a suicide car bomb attack on police headquarters in the south-eastern Turkish city of Gaziantep, the governor and police sources said, in one of two attacks on security forces on Sunday. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but security sources said police raided the home of a suspected ISIS militant believed to have carried out the attack and detained his father for DNA tests and questioning." I am just so deeply sad and angry about the death and injury and terror and destruction wreaked by IS. And horrified by how little coverage this weekend's terrorist attacks in Iraq and Turkey have gotten in Western media.

[CN: Financial insecurity] "Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla announced that Puerto Rico's government will not make nearly $370m in bond payments due Monday after a failure to restructure or find a political solution to the US territory's spiralling public debt crisis. Garcia said Sunday that he had issued an executive order suspending payments on debt owed by the island's Government Development Bank, a default that will likely prompt lawsuits from creditors and could be a prelude to a deadline to a much larger payment due 1 July. The governor said Puerto Rico can't pay the bonds without cutting essential services." If you haven't already seen [CN: video autoplays] John Oliver's terrific segment on Puerto Rico, I highly recommend it.

[CN: Anti-choice terrorism] Jessica Mason Pieklo has another great piece on Robert Dear: "After a full day of testimony, which included an investigator's account that Dear had stopped at a crisis pregnancy center (CPC) before moving on to the Planned Parenthood, it was clear that neither the prosecution nor the defense wanted to talk about the central issue of Robert Lewis Dear Jr.'s case: anti-choice rhetoric and violence."

[CN: Breast cancer] This sounds encouraging: "Scientists say they now have a near-perfect picture of the genetic events that cause breast cancer. The study, published in Nature, has been described as a 'milestone' moment that could help unlock new ways of treating and preventing the disease. The largest study of its kind unpicked practically all the errors that cause healthy breast tissue to go rogue. Cancer Research UK said the findings were an important stepping-stone to new drugs for treating cancer. To understand the causes of the disease, scientists have to understand what goes wrong in our DNA that makes healthy tissue turn cancerous. The international team looked at all 3 billion letters of people's genetic code—their entire blueprint of life—in 560 breast cancers. They uncovered 93 sets of instructions, or genes, that if mutated, can cause tumours. Some have been discovered before, but scientists expect this to be the definitive list, barring a few rare mutations."

At Think Progress, Ian Millhiser details "Four Major Decisions to Expect from the Supreme Court Soon," on Affirmative Action (Fisher v. University of Texas), Birth Control (Zubik v. Burwell), Abortion (Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt), and Immigration (United States v. Texas).

[CN: Child abuse] Ted Cruz continues to be comprehensively awful: "A youthful protester who interrupted his rally late Sunday evening should get a spanking, Ted Cruz suggested to his audience in La Porte, Indiana. Such a punishment, he added, would have gone a long way in changing the behavior of Donald Trump. 'All right, apparently there's a young man who's having some problems,' Cruz said, as the young heckler shouted, 'You suck!' Cruz responded, 'Thank you, son.' 'Children should actually speak with respect,' he continued. 'Imagine what a different world it would be if someone told Donald Trump that years ago.'" This gross comment comes right on the heels of new research that finds " spanking is associated with troubling outcomes—like increased aggression, increased anti-social behavior, and mental health problems later in life."

[CN: Fat hatred; weight loss talk; disordered eating] I don't even know where to fucking begin with this article in the New York Times about "Biggest Loser" contestants gaining back weight. On the one hand, it's great that here is more evidence of what fat people have been saying about our own lived experiences. On the other hand, the abysmal language peppered throughout the piece! Like "what obesity research has consistently shown is that dieters are at the mercy of their own bodies" and "that shouldn't be interpreted to mean we are doomed to battle our biology or remain fat." As but two examples. I don't feel like I'm "at the mercy" of my body (as if I am somehow a separate thing from my body!) and I certainly don't feel "doomed to remain fat." For fuck's sake.

In better news, this is very neat: "The comet known as C/2014 S3 (PANSTARRS) has a lot going for it. For starters, it's the first comet ever detected without a tail—a trail of dust and ice that sublimates into space as the sun heats the frozen artifacts. It's also thought to have formed in the same time and place as Earth, meaning that the strange comet may contain the same building blocks that formed our planet, kept chilled and pristine and waiting for scientists to study them."

Cool! "Newfound Jellyfish Looks Like an Alien Spacecraft." I love jellyfish. As is probably obvious given that I have one tattooed on my body, lol!

And finally! "Why Rescued Is My Favorite Dog Breed." Love. ♥

Open Wide...

Shut Up!