An offensive opinion column in The Hill ran across my news feed yesterday, “Plain truths don’t matter to the woke folks who now rule America”. Please don’t look for it, I’ll give you the gist and would rather they get less traffic. The claim is that we are so “woke” that we won’t speak the “plain truth,” as if the author has a corner on truth (Bernard Goldberg, whose name I will otherwise not repeat because he hasn’t earned any respect, but some of you may be familiar with his writing). But what is “woke” and why are right-wing types always insisting that’s a bad thing? Per Merriam Webster, in addition to having become awake, it is slang for: “aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)”. I would much rather be woke than asleep to important issues, have been reading here about justice issues for years, and am proud to be woke! I hope you are too. I reject “woke” as an insult!
Specifically, the author refers back to the incident when “In April [of this year], a 7-year old Black girl was shot and killed while sitting in a car with her father at a McDonald’s drive-thru in Chicago.” Say her name — Jaslyn Adams. Shortly before that, also in Chicago, a young Latino boy was shot and killed when running away from police, then as ordered turning around and putting his hands up (the moving hands causing the idiot cop to think he was going to get shot). Say his name — Adam Toledo. You may recall that the CEO of McD’s then “sent a text message to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot that recently was made public, in which he said that the shootings were ‘tragic’. Then he added: ‘With both, the parents failed those kids.’” Ugh! You probably also recall that the CEO later apologized repeatedly. In one of those apologies, he said “I have not walked in the shoes of [those children’s families] and so many others who are facing a very different reality. Not taking the time to think about this from their viewpoint was wrong.” You can judge for yourself whether or not you think that’s sufficient apology. The author of this op-ed, however, thinks he should not have apologised and was just stating an “inconvenient truth,” but he felt the need to apologise because we’re all “woke”. Even more Ugh!
First of all, regardless of facts, who with any heart at all tells grieving parents that they are partly responsible for their children’s deaths??? There’s a special place in Hell for someone who would do that, if there is a Hell. Secondly, this sounds very much like a CEO trying to avoid any blame placed on McDonald’s for the murder, and it likely had some (did they know this as a high-crime area, did they provide barriers so people can’t shoot into the drive-through line and/or an escape lane so people can get away from the drive-through line?). Now that his comments have come out, he probably bought himself a bigger lawsuit, but that’s not going to be much solace to grieving parents.
Thirdly, Marion Lewis was arrested in the Jaslyn Adams case for "18 felony charges, including first-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder, vehicular hijacking and aggravated discharge of a firearm”. Sure, maybe Ms. Adams’ father had a criminal record. Does that mean he should never be around his children? Is he supposed to be a mind reader, that someone would shoot at him with his very young daughter with him? Let’s hope Lewis’ attorney doesn’t try this as a defense.
Fourthly, it looks like Eric Stillman, the police killer of Adam Toledo, may escape justice, although the DOJ has been asked to investigate (I don’t like to use Wiki as a source, but couldn’t find the whole story elsewhere). But Chicago is already under a consent decree with the DOJ and is reviewing its foot pursuit policies because of the 13-year-old boy’s death. Does that look like a general feeling that it’s the parents’ fault?
Fifthly, there is a glaring systemic issue: I don’t know why Mr. Toledo was out in the middle of the night. Maybe as a young teen he was trusted to stay home alone whilst parents worked, maybe he had permission to go out with friends, maybe he left his house without permission; but he’s a kid and we’ve all escaped our parents’ supervision in our youth without deadly consequences. But if the right wing really wants parents to have the ability to constantly supervise their children, there is one really excellent way for this to happen: Pay as a minimum a living wage! Make any, say, 30-or-more-hour-per-week job pay enough for that one person to raise a family of four or more, so that the other parent can stay home with the children. That’s partly how wages used to be determined. Better yet, pay for caretaking, including that of one’s own children! We have been unpaid for domestic duties of all kinds for far too long, and children and the sick and/or elderly and/or disabled suffer for having to fend for themselves far too much of the time. It has become economically unfeasible for most families to stay home with their children; many even have multiple parents working multiple jobs to earn a basic decent living. The value of unpaid care to other adults alone in the US was estimated in 2019 as $470 billion per year. The value of unpaid care of children would surely be in the trillions annually. So the right wing doesn’t want teens out on their own figuring out what to do, where to go, who to hang with? Then make it financially feasible for parents to have the time to spend with their kids. But of course, this obvious answer will never seem agreeable to the right wing for something-something-socialism “reasons”! The real reasons, of course, being classism, racism and sexism!
My apologies for the long rant. But The Hill’s opinion author had a rather long op-ed to which I felt a need to reply.
In Other News
Abortion
Jezebel: The Supreme Court is Spitting in Our Faces: Every day that passes in which the justices don't block Texas' abortion ban is a tragedy.
It’s been 82 days since the Supreme Court cruelly sat on its hands and let Texas’ blatantly unconstitutional six-week abortion ban take effect, nullifying Roe v. Wade (or what’s left of it) in the second largest state in the country. The Justices claimed they couldn’t intervene because of the law’s unique citizen enforcement mechanism, which a garbage lawyer cooked up precisely to make it harder to block. And today, the Court once again had an opportunity to block the law, SB8, and took no action. It all feels like a taunt—they’re doing nothing because they can.
-snip-
The law has also made it harder for residents of neighboring states to get appointments thanks to the influx of Texans, and has threatened the lives of people with ectopic pregnancies, like one who was turned away by two doctors who said they couldn’t end the pregnancy under SB8 and drove 12+ hours to New Mexico for care.
I'm not sure how an ectopic pregnancy is not considered an unusually high danger to the health and life of the woman, thus an exception to SB8, but here we are. Doctors are too chicken to take any risk at all on behalf of women in danger, apparently.
Teen mothers pay high price while Colombia mulls easing abortion law.
SCOTUS possible 3rd path starting December 1 Supreme Court could redefine when a fetus becomes a person, upholding abortion limits while preserving the privacy right under Roe v. Wade:
Since the Supreme Court recognized a constitutional right to abortion almost 50 years ago, a powerful legal movement has sought to overturn the ruling, while abortion rights advocates have fought to protect it. On Dec. 1, 2021, the court will hear a case many believe will force the conservative justices ... to decide if they will strike down Roe v. Wade or uphold the long-standing precedent.
[But] There is a third [alternative}. The court may focus its ruling on a more neglected aspect of the ruling in Roe — the court’s understanding of the facts of fetal personhood.
Roe not a monolith
There are two separate rulings in [1973] Roe:
1) The Constitution protects a right to privacy, which encompasses the abortion decision.
2) A fetus is not a person in the early stages of pregnancy. Personhood emerges around the time of viability at approximately 6 months, which justifies a compelling state interest at that point.
[Thus, current ruling forbids individual states from outlawing abortions in the 1st or 2nd trimester of pregnancy, but allows them to in the 3rd trimester. So, the upcoming debate is less about the first 1973 ruling and more about the 2nd one...]
(Personally, I think a fetus is never a person. It’s a parasite. There should be no legal restrictions at any point prior to delivery.)
Violence, domestic and otherwise
When will we stop blaming women for becoming targets of domestic violence and recognise that a violent man has huge potential to be generally violent?
Darrell Brooks, the man who drove his SUV into a parade in Wisconsin, ["had left the scene of a domestic disturbance involving a knife moments before the incident, police said. had left the scene of a domestic disturbance involving a knife moments before the incident, police said.]
Mr. Brooks had been free on $1,000 bail in an earlier criminal case, in which he was accused of trying to run over the mother of his child in the parking lot of a Milwaukee gas station with his maroon 2010 Ford Escape earlier this month. A spokesman for the district attorney’s office on Monday described the state’s bail recommendation in that earlier case as “inappropriately low” in light of the seriousness of the charges, and “not consistent” with office policy.
Only $1,000 bail after this man tried to run over the mother and his child with what was apparently the very same vehicle he used to kill 5 people and injure 40 others in the Christmas parade?!
If he hadn't been granted such a low bail, he would have been in jail, and the five people he killed would still be alive and all the others would not have been hit.
At the very least, they should have impounded his car.
Amanda Marcotte has more on this:
By treating violence against women as a red flag for future violence, law enforcement could do much to actually prevent violence, instead of just show up after the fact, like they did in Waukesha. But instead, the law often treats domestic violence as a lesser concern. In 2005, the Supreme Court even went as far as to say the cops are under no obligation to enforce restraining orders, on the grounds that no "property interest" was at stake when a woman is being terrorized by an abuser. Just this week, a Maryland police officer convicted of rape and assault was put under "home detention" instead of prison, because the judge deemed that the victim did not suffer sufficient "psychological injury."
The United Nations: Orange the World? This is not the best colour choice, given how much we now associate orange with $Rump, but I guess if DKos can use orange, so can the UN: Social media users can download a large variety of images and other material for use Nov 25 thru Dec 10 — look for tag #InternationalDayForTheEliminationofViolenceAgainstWomen: As in previous years, this year's International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women launches 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, to be concluded on the 10th of December 2021, International Human Rights Day:
The United Nations is marking the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence from 25 November to 10 December 2021, under the global theme set by the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE campaign: “Orange the World: End Violence against Women Now!”
-snip-
While pervasive, gender-based violence is not inevitable. It can and must be prevented. Stopping this violence starts with believing survivors, adopting comprehensive and inclusive approaches that tackle the root causes, transform harmful social norms, and empower women and girls. With survivor-centred essential services across policing, justice, health, and social sectors, and sufficient financing for the women’s rights agenda, we can end gender-based violence.
The Generation Equality Forum that concluded in Paris in July set the momentum for decisive actions and investment to advance gender equality. The UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, the only global grant-making mechanism dedicated to ending and preventing all forms of violence against women, has announced a special fundraising challenge, #Give25forUNTF25}, marking 25 years of grant-making to support women’s organizations around the world.
Learn more and take action. [Download https://trello.com/... the #Orangetheworld campaign logos.
Al Jazeera: Thousands march in France protesting violence against women:
Saturday’s demonstrations, in Paris and other French cities, came amid growing outrage in the country over women killed by their partners and as French women are increasingly speaking out about sexual harassment and abuse.
-snip-
“We are always putting the blame on women,” Parisian demonstrator Ghislaine Gireire-Revalier said, expressing sympathy for women who are trapped in violent domestic situations.
“What we forget is the phenomenon of being in one’s grip … little by little it’s like a spider that surrounds you in its web.”
The Guardian: Domestic and sexual abuse of silenced Sikh women revealed:
Researchers received replies from almost 700 respondents, and, of those, 70% said they had experienced domestic abuse, nearly half had experienced incidents with more than one perpetrator, including female members of their family. Over a third of respondents said that they had experienced child sexual abuse, and of these incidents, one in seven involved more than one perpetrator. Most victims knew their abuser, and nearly half of the incidents of abuse took place at home.
Global demand for better internet laws against tech-fueled 'explosion' of online sexual exploitation and cyber abuse.
Reuters Nov 22 Video call of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai confirms safety after current and former tennis players joined in demanding to know her wellbeing amid allegations that an ex-Chinese government official sexually assaulted the player. But Women's Tennis Association remains concerned.
What the Peng Shuai saga tells us about Beijing’s grip on power and desire to crush a #MeToo moment.
Spotty data and media bias delay justice for missing and murdered Indigenous people [especially girls & women].
No one knows just how many Indigenous girls or women go missing each year.
There are estimates. In 2019, 8,162 Indigenous youth and 2,285 Indigenous adults were reported missing to the National Crime Information Center, or NCIC, out of a total of 609,275 cases. But crimes against Native individuals often go unreported, and with American Indian and Alaskan Native cases, race is sometimes ignored or misclassified as white.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that Native American women are murdered at a rate three times that of white American women.
Effective 1 July 2021, Turkey's Erdogan by decree denounced and withdrew from the 2011 Istanbul Convention — The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence-- named for its capital, It is the first legally-binding instrument which "creates a comprehensive legal framework and approach to combat violence against women" and is focused on preventing domestic violence, protecting victims and prosecuting accused offenders." Today, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, in Istanbul. Turkish police set up barricades to halt a mass, organized protest march of women along the main pedestrian street, Istiklal, to mark the International Day and demand the country’s return to that international treaty. The police fired tear gas at protesters trying to breach the barricade.
Human rights groups say violence against women is on the rise in Turkey.
The advocacy group, We Will Stop Femicide, says 353 women have been murdered so far in Turkey in 2021, 409 were killed last year [and in October 2021 alone] 18 women were killed by men and 19 others were found dead under suspicious circumstances...
Afghanistan
Update on Afghani women - Personal stories of young women who can longer attend high school or university:
The hardline Islamist Taliban movement, which stormed to power earlier this year after ousting the Western-backed government, has allowed all boys and younger girls back to class, but has not let girls attend secondary school.
https://www.theguardian.com/…
Covid
Globally, women have been much harder hit by the Covid pandemic than men:
"Women bore brunt of social and economic impacts of Covid – Red Cross | In 82% of countries surveyed, women were disproportionately hit, from loss of income to extra responsibility for caring, report shows"
The social and economic burden of Covid-19 has fallen disproportionately on women around the world, the Red Cross has warned, in a stark analysis of the impact of the pandemic.
Women were particularly affected by loss of income and education, rises in domestic violence, child marriage and trafficking, and responsibility for caring for children and sick relatives, according to a comprehensive report published by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) on Monday.
https://www.theguardian.com/...
Work
Stereotypes about girls dissuade many from careers in computer science.
Notable Death
Malcolm X's daughter found dead in her apartment:
Malikah Shabazz, one of six daughters of Malcolm X, was found dead in her Brooklyn apartment by her daughter [23-year-old Bettih-Bahiyah Shabazz] about 5 PM Monday, 11/22. She was 56. So far it does not look suspicious. As of today, information has been released that she had been seriously ill.
So far, I have not been able to find much on her life outside of her family connections. If this LinkedIn listing is hers, then she was a quite accomplished media producer, https://www.linkedin.com/...
Good News
Linda Dunikoski should be elected President! Ahmaud Arbery’s killers are guilty…. Here’s why: The extremely skillful prosecutor Ms. Dunikoski threaded the needle and convinced an all-but-one-white Georgia jury to convict three white men of murdering a Black man for jogging. Felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, etc. Some of us thought this outcome was impossible! We could use her skills nationwide. If not President, how about the next head of the DOJ?
The Hill: Two women could lead powerful Senate spending panel for first time in history:
Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, are prepared to retire at the end of their terms next year, and two senior members of the upper chamber’s largest committee are in line to succeed the pair.
Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), whose shared experience serving on the committee and in the upper chamber span decades, are poised to take their male colleagues' places.
As always, this is a group effort! Many thanks to Tara, mettle, J Graham, and officebss for links and discussion!