That was the week that was! (And still is!)
I know you followed it all and will not try to do it full justice here.
Dr. Christine Blasey Ford heroically confronted her alleged abuser. She was an exemplary witness. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh denied everything. claimed conspiracy, raged at this obstacle to his expectations.
The Majority kept the event tightly limited and controlled. They refused to wait for a further investigation. They refused to hear additional witnesses. They refused to consider other alleged incidents. They ducked responsibility, hiding behind a woman prosecutor brought in for the purpose. To some of us, it looked like a metaphorical replication of the original assault.
The Majority voted the nomination out of committee, over the opposition of every Democrat. It looked as if they were going to “ram it through” the full Senate without ceremony. (How Freudian.) But did they really have the votes?
Two brave women confronted Sen. Jeffry Flake (R-AZ) in an elevator. The world both saw and heard!
”You are allowing someone who has actually violated a woman to sit on the Supreme Court! What are you doing, sir?”
“Don’t look away from me!”
“You’re telling all women that they don’t matter.”
“You are allowing someone who is unwilling to take responsibility for his own actions to sit in the highest court...”
(“Responsibility” should resonate with any self-identified conservative.)
Last minute surprise!
The Committee, though voting for the nomination to go ahead, asked the White House to order a further investigation by the FBI.
The White House actually did so, though it also demanded this be completed in a week.
Sen. Mitch McConnell addressed the President via television, directly from the Senate floor, reassuring him that yes, despite appearances, this nomination is still going ahead.
The FBI hit the ground running.
And then, this afternoon, we learn than the White House intends directly to control the “investigation” by telling the FBI specifically what evidence agents may or may not gather, who they may and may not interview.
Analogy: a suspect’s lawyer being permitted to control the police investigation.
Will there be pushback from Congress? Still more witnesses coming forward? More details pinnned down by investigative journalists? Might the FBI refuse to act in a charade? Maybe just go ahead and do its job?
Sometimes it seems like God must be a novelist.
At this point in the story arc, #MeToo intersects with all of the suspense over all the other issues that are or may soon be before the Supreme Court, including many things thought to have been settled, and most importantly, whether a President is actually above the law or, in effect, whether any nation so conceived and dedicated, can long endure.
Interesting times!
Good news!
Profile in VOA News of two recent Democratic primary winners who are expected to be the first Muslim women in Congress.
”With at most token opposition in the Nov. 6 general election, they are virtually assured of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives next January.”
Rashida Tlaib “is the daughter of Palestinian immigrants who left the West Bank in the 1970s to settle in Detroit, where Tlaib was born and raised.”
Ilhan Omar “was born in Somalia, but fled to a refugee camp in Kenya before reaching the large Somali community in Minneapolis. Once elected, she would succeed Keith Ellison — the first Muslim-American to be elected to Congress — as well as the first member of Congress born on the African continent.”
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New Zealand prime minister and new mother Jacinda Ardern recently gave a video interview to USA Today. (For some reason I’ve been unable to view; others may have better luck.)
She also addressed the United Nations General Assembly in a very different style from the alleged President of the United States.
Women are not chattel, declares the Supreme Court of India in striking down a law that allowed husbands to prosecute their wives for adultery, but not vice versa. Adultery is now a civil, not a crimminal, mattter.
NPR report:
“The 158-year-old law dates back to Victorian times, during British colonial rule of India. The penalty for adultery was up to five years in prison, or a fine, or both...Last year, the justices outlawed the summary “triple talaq" divorce for Muslim men, and in a country with more child brides than anywhere in the world, the high court ruled that sex with an underage wife constitutes rape. “
Back in the U.S., more listening: an interesting interview with two adult brothers whose mother told them about an abortion she had when she was 13.
http://advocatesaz.org/...
On the lighter side:
Our officebss comments:
“Re the story about the NY Met--They did mount a production of an opera by a woman before this--but not commissioned by the Met: Ethel Smyth’s "Der Wald" - in March 1903. It had previously been performed in Berlin.
http://archives.metoperafamily.org/...
“So we've only had to wait for 115 years for them to decide to present an opera by a woman again!”
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The NY Times has a piece about the increasing value of art by women:
"Want to Get Rich Buying Art? Invest in Women"
https://www.nytimes.com/…
More work needed:
Violence:
Another mass shooting as Pennsylvania man targets his estranged wife. The two were on the way into court for a domestic violence hearing.
https://www.rawstory.com/...
Unbelievable (except, sadly, it isn't): Man who strangled a woman unconscious got three years’ PROBATION.
https://jezebel.com/…
Gun rights activist and proponent of 3D printed guns fled charges of sexually assaulting a girl, 16. He resigned from his company, was arrested in Taiwan, extradited to the U.S...and released on bail...WTF? Flight risk much?
https://www.theguardian.com/…
and fortune.com/...
From right here at DK: Republicans still dragging feet as Violence Against Women Act set to expire
https://www.dailykos.com/…
"What we know about victims of sexual assault in America," https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/…
Still closing their ears:
Commentary by Sady Doyle on how patriarchy will believe anything—including in lizard people--except a woman's actual lived experience.
https://medium.com/…
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Egyptian woman sentenced to 2 years in prison for making a video about sexual harassment, The Guardian reports.
“Amal Fathy, an actor and a former activist, uploaded a video to her Facebook account in May detailing how she was sexually harassed during a visit to her bank and criticising the government’s failure to protect women.
Two days after the post, Egyptian security forces entered her home in a pre-dawn raid... Fathy was subsequently put on trial accused of spreading false news with intent to harm the Egyptian state and possessing ‘indecent material’…. In a second trial that is under way, she faces allegations that include being a member of a terrorist organization.”
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Long read: Teen pregnancy crisis in Uganda. When it comes to accessing birth control, obscurity may actually be an advantage. www.theguardian.com/…
More on demographics: why do women still die giving birth? www.theguardian.com/…
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Ovarian cancer was routinely referred to as the "silent killer." But it's not silent: patients simply weren't being heard when they described their symptoms.
Powerful twitter thread from a woman who went through years of agony because doctors wouldn't listen:
https://twitter.com/…
Annals of Entertainment:
Long read…..Working for Harvey Weinstein was “like tending a disgusting baby”: Guardian column by Anonymous.
"The culture that allowed him to hide in plain sight still needs to be addressed, and I think that’s barely begun.”
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Another long read….”We must listen to Soon-Yi Previn, as well as Ronan and Dylan Farrow,” by Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman.
“Woody Allen’s wife has as much right to tell her story...as anyone else involved.” True.
Personally, I have no further patience with the drama.
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Roman Polanski is about to start work on a new movie, "J'Accuse," Vanity Fair reports.
“Louis Garrel will star as Captain Alfred Dreyfus, the real-life French-Jewish soldier wrongly accused of spying for the Germans in the 1890s.”
Someone on Twitter asked, “How about ‘J'Extradite?’”
As readers here may all know, “J'Accuse...!" originally was the title of an 1898 open letter by novelist Emil Zola, charging French military authorities with falsely convicting Albert Dreyfus of treason. Dreyfus was sent to the penal colony of Devil’s Island, but eventually eventually saw his conviction overturned and his honor more than restored.
It may not be a coincidence that Polanski chooses a story about a false accusation.
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New book by Soraya Chemali.
At Goodreads:
“Women are angry, and it isn’t hard to figure out why.
“We are underpaid and overworked. Too sensitive, or not sensitive enough. Too dowdy or too made-up. Too big or too thin. Sluts or prudes. We are harassed, told we are asking for it, and asked if it would kill us to smile. Yes, yes it would….
A transformative book urging twenty-first century-women to embrace their anger and harness it as a tool for lasting personal and societal change.”
Yes, we’re mad.
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But this week we are ALSO rejoicing in our strength.
Never give up!
Let justice be poured out like water, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
...
This week's contributors included Angmar, Besame, Crimson Quillfeather, elenacarlena, officebss, ramara, Tara the Antisocial Social Worker. Thank you!
ksmoore777 was unable to be with us during the week because of a crisis; we hold her to our hearts.