The election is now two weeks from this coming Tuesday! Sooner if you have early voting in your state. $Rump and his Senatorial minions have made it all too clear that we need BIG change in both the White House and Senate, to reverse everything $Rump has done and at the same time progress forward from there.
You know who to vote for, for President and Vice President. So let’s look at the Senate. There are 35 seats in the US Senate up for grabs in the 2020 election. Of these, 23 are currently held by Republicans. We need to take those seats and hold onto the 12 we have. Of course, with the Reptublicans misogynist and the Democrats supportive of women’s rights, and the Senate the gatekeeper to the courts, all races are of vital interest to women. But let’s review some of the races with women in them. Unfortunately, there are several women Reptublican Senators. These women are not our friends; in their races, you may feel a need to vote for the guy!
The below will alert you to some races where you might want to donate or volunteer for the remaining 2 weeks. There are many issues we can examine, but to see where they stand on women’s issues, female Reptublican candidates were Googled regarding abortion. Surely if they break with their party, it will be over abortion, right? ;-)
We’ll review more of these races in future weeks.
Arizona: Martha McSally, R incumbent. Mark Kelly, D challenger. Of course, I love him because he is known as Gabby Giffords’ husband! Big issue for him, then, is gun control. McSally has said she is “pro-life” with three exceptions, rape, incest, and life of the mother. www.azcentral.com/… More about their race here, www.azcentral.com/…
Delaware: Chris Coons, D incumbent. Lauren Witzke, R challenger. He is considered safely re-electable, but you never know. Witzke is “extremely pro-life” and anti-Ruth Bader Ginsburg. www.timesofisrael.com/… Sigh. You might want to throw a few bucks at Coons just for that!
Georgia: Kelly Loeffler, R appointed. 20-candidate special election. Rev. Raphael Warnock leading Dems, top 2 runoff in January, www.bloomberg.com/… Rev. Warnock is pro-choice:
The pastor responded to Bryant’s question by declaring that he believes that health care is a “human right” and “something that the richest nation in the world provides for its citizens.”
“[A]nd for me, reproductive justice is consistent with my commitment to that,” he stated. “I believe unequivocally in a woman’s right to choose.”
Warnock argued that a woman’s decision to have an abortion as “something that we don’t want government engaged in,” adding that such a decision is “between her and her doctor and her minister.”
More details at www.christianpost.com/…
Idaho: Jim Risch, R; Paulette Jordan, D. www.spokesman.com/… You know who to root for.
Iowa — Joni Ernst, R incumbent; Theresa Greenfield, D challenger. www.vox.com/… Ernst is “protecting life,” www.ernst.senate.gov/…
Kansas: Pat Roberts, R incumbent is not running for reelection, but was predicted to be replaced by another R. Now the race has become competitive! Barbara Bollier, D challenger, is looking promising. slate.com/…
Kentucky: You could reasonably argue that Mitch McConnell, Senate majority leader, is King of the Reptublicans even over $Rump, as he continues to save $Rump’s rump and all his ilk from consequences. Hopefully Kentuckians are finally as tired of him as they are of the pandemic. His challenger, Amy McGrath, is a moderate and war hero, so this year has a shot.
Maine: Susan Collins, R incumbent is famously concerned, amongst other reasons, because Sarah Gideon, D challenger, may actually beat her. www.economist.com/… Collins has weakly supported abortion rights, including confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Ms. Gideon is attacking her on exactly these issues. www.cnn.com/…
More next time! Meanwhile, please check with your state if it’s not listed here and find out more about your Senate candidates! Be sure you’re registered to vote, and consider voting early in person! If you are at risk, request an absentee ballot and drop it off before Election Day.
In The News
If You’re Looking To Move….
Here is the Georgetown rating of best and worst states to be a woman. Scholarly long and very interesting. You’re going to find happier pastures if you like cold weather! Or maybe with climate change, that won’t matter so much soon….
https://giwps.georgetown.edu/…
Violence
Documentary about missing murdered indigenous women in Oregon. And about a woman reporter involved in investigating them.
Ghosts of Highway 20 | NW Film Center nwfilm.org › United States
Who were they and who was responsible? The Oregonian | OregonLive spent months investigating the disappearances, and how the killer evaded prison for years…
This screening of the 5-part documentary series
https://www.youtube.com/…
Misogynist "men's rights" activism is part of a broader vengeful fantasy.
* Trigger warning *
The mother of a five-year-old girl has launched an appeal after her daughter’s rapist was spared jail.
https://sports.yahoo.com/…
There were several articles; this happened in the UK (this time). None explained, however, what on Earth the judge was thinking.
Forced Marriage and Harassment
At least 30,000 girls forced into marriage in Iran every year, says minister.
1950's "girl watching" and the rise of street harassment.
Entertainment?
Bill Burr, so-called comedian, did a stand-up so-called comedic routine on Saturday Night Live last Saturday that has been offending normal people, perhaps especially women and blacks, ever since:
“Jim Carrey got fly and Bill Burr got canceled on a buzzy new 'SNL': 'How did you manage to be sexist, racist and homophobic in under 5 minutes?'” https://www.yahoo.com/...
“SNL host Bill Burr made some controversial jokes during his opening monologue”:
Bill Burr got more mixed reviews.The SNL audience greeted Burr’s jokes with a mixture of awkward silence and strained laughter, but the host plowed ahead, turning his attention to the white women he claimed “hijacked” the ongoing push for racial equality. “Somehow white women swung their Gucci-booted feet over the fence of oppression and stuck themselves at the front of the line,” said Burr, who has joked about both the Karen meme as well as the #MeToo movement in the past. “I never heard so much complaining in my life from white women,” he added, before accusing those same women of standing by “toxic white males through centuries of our crimes against humanity.”
The LGBTQ community wasn’t happy with him either: “Bill Burr's 'Homophobic' 'SNL' Rant About Pride Month Bombs: 'Worst Monologue' in Years.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/…
I had never heard of the guy before, so I looked him up. Apparently his fame has been pretty minor:
From Wiki on Bill Burr:
"He stars as the voice of Frank Murphy in F Is for Family, which premiered on Netflix on December 18, 2015. The show, an animated sitcom, draws on Burr's stand-up and the absurdity of political correctness. "
"Rolling Stone magazine called Burr "the undisputed heavyweight champ of rage-fueled humor".[31] Burr often portrays himself as "that loud guy in the bar" with "uninformed logic".[32] In an interview with The Boston Globe, Burr stated, "I'm the 'dude, bro' guy."
So I get that being an offensive ignoramus is his schtick. He’s mocking the “dudes” whilst playing one. But it is worse than, as they say, “too soon”. It’s right in the middle of women still, after all this time, having to deal with guys telling us to sit down and shut up. It is not any better if the white guy at issue pretends to be friends of the black community.
I don’t even know that what he’s complaining about is true. I have seen women supporting the BLM movement, not trying to take it over. Please feel free to discuss in comments. I note also that Burr used the B word. Sigh. Note also that there seem to be class assumptions, and this is certainly not the first time I’ve seen them, that all white women are relatively wealthy and comfortable and suburban. Not true of me, not true of most single women, not true of some married women. And certainly there are women who feel stuck in domestic violence situations whose lives are every bit as much at risk as a young black man facing a cop.
I don’t think any of us should get into a “who has it worse” contest. It’s all dangerous, potentially deadly, and we need to band together and make it stop. White guys who think insulting = funny are part of the problem.
I’ll let a black feminist have the last word:
More Politics
LA Times reported that Barrett confirmation hearing may pressure California senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Feinstein (ranking member) and Harris to rein in their "natural political instincts" (in men, this would be called "policies"), Feinstein's being a preference for bipartisanship and comity, Harris's being "her prosecutorial style. Known for tough questioning of judicial nominees and other Senate witnesses, Harris will have to balance expectations for a gotcha viral moment with the demands of a presidential ticket that is leading in the polls and eager to avoid any missteps or undue risks." If these were men, they'd probably be considered as balancing each other out. Personally, I love Harris in her tough prosecutor role with a poor Reptublican sap on the receiving end. This is not a liability to voters heartily sick of Reptublicans.
Good News
Getting Voters Excited ABout Voting
from LA Times - Irani-American entrepreneur, activist, lawyer, media personality and co-founder of I am a voter website,Mandana Dayani, "wants to make voting as epic as the next Marvel movie.
eNTERTAINMENT
Patty Jenkins is going to direct Gal Godot as Cleopatra in a bio being written by Laeta Kalogridis.
This led to wondering if any previous films on Cleo had any women in key behind-the camera jobs. Nope. 1963 film version/story of Cleopatra was directed, produced, written, cinematographed and scored by men, with one woman and 6 men as the starring cast, based on a book by a man, but yay, a woman editor ... ---that's the job women seem to have kept best in that industy -- named Dorothy Spencer who won an oscar for it! and Irene Sharaff together with 2 dudes, won the costuming oscar that year.
The 1934 version was written, directed, produced, cinematographed and musicked by men with yes, a woman editor named Anne Bauchens apparently uncredited, a longtime DeMille collaborator. A 1945 "Caesar and Cleopatra essentially likewise, editor Joan Warwick uncredited.
A 1953 version didn't even have a woman editor. A 1962 version from Italy (that focused on the lead-up to the arrival of Rome/Caesar) also no woman in any key job behind the scenes that I could see. A [1972 shakespeare version] (starring Chuck Heston!) likewise. A 1999 miniseries apparently likewise.
Maybe things finally start to change now in through whose eyes women are seen.
UN Women
Speech on the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action:
https://www.unwomen.org/...
You Think You’re So Tough? Try This One
Have I mentioned lately that women are tough?
Woman Takes Bar Exam While in Labor , Gives Birth, Then Finishes Test
According to ABC Evening News, they have indeed found out that she passed her tests.
(Nope, I couldn’t do it!)
As always, TWITWOW is a group effort! Many thanks to ramara, mettle fatigue, Angmar, Tara the Antisocial Social Worker, SandraLLAP, and officebss for news items and discussion!