Horrific Legislation and Executive Action

“Republican legislators liked this policy well enough to offer it in a new amendment. They do not, however, seem to like it enough to have it apply to themselves and their staff. A spokesperson for Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ), who authored this amendment, confirmed this was the case: Members of Congress and their staff would get the guarantee of keeping these Obamacare regulations. Health law expert Tim Jost flagged this particular issue to me.” Republicans exempt their own insurance from their latest health care proposal (by Sarah Cliff for Vox)

Racism

“I’m not sure how many editors laid eyes on this piece before it was published, but if the goal of AJC’s project is to show how tone-deaf and insulting white people can be when they make observations about black people, they hit the mark with this one.” I, a White, Rode the Train With Blacks 1 Day, and It Was Crazy: An Atlanta-Newspaper Reader Writes on Race (by Monique Judge for The Root)

Education

“It appears that we are facing a perfect storm where free speech and real debate are no longer possible. One way of countering this culture is to stop relying on student evaluations to assess nontenured faculty. If we want teachers to promote open dialogue in their classes, they should not have to be afraid that they will lose their jobs for promoting the free exchange of ideas. Therefore, we need to rely more on the peer review of instruction, and we have to stop using the easy way out. In short, we have to change how nontenured faculty members are evaluated.” Professional Insecurity in a Fraught Environment (by Robert Samuels for Inside Higher Ed)

Misogyny

“No matter how many people who have worked with or for her speak about how kind she is, no matter how many average people publicly share stories of the ways in which she’s generously gone above and beyond to help them, no matter how remarkably few negative interpersonal stories there are about a person with a decades-long political career, no matter how perfectly pleasant and decent a person she seems in her public appearances, the assumption is always that she is secretly a monstrous she-devil.” On Who Gets to Be Likeable (by Melissa McEwan for Shakesville)

“It isn’t just infuriating to watch Democratic men push this critical issue to the sidelines at such a dire time; it’s inherently sexist. After a woman failed to shatter the proverbial glass ceiling, some Democratic men are content to simply walk away from a key issue in our lives? After November, our health and rights no longer matter? That’s sure what it feels like.” Bernie Sanders’ Actions Show He Values Votes More Than Women (by Lauren Rankin for Allure)

Criminal Punishment System

“Prosecutors and a lawyer representing the estate of the inmate, Terrill Thomas, say that correction officers turned off the man’s water supply in an isolation cell in April 2016, and that he was unable to ask for help because he was having a mental health crisis. He died on April 24, 2016.” Milwaukee Inmate Died After Being Deprived of Water for 7 Days (by Daniel Victor for the New York Times)

Must-Read

“Dolezal chuckles as she says this, as if it is the most clever and original idea anybody has ever had. I don’t know how many times a white person has told me that they don’t care if I’m “red, green, blue, or purple” when they are trying to explain to me just how “not racist” they are—I’ve lost count. I do know that I’ve rolled my eyes every time. As my brother Ahamefule said to me once, “They may not care if I’m red or green or blue or purple—but they sure as hell care that I’m black.”” The Heart of Whiteness: Ijeoma Oluo Interviews Rachel Dolezal, the White Woman Who Identifies as Black (by Ijeoma Oluo for The Stranger)

Fight Back

Direct link to spreadsheet listing details of all who donated to the Trump Inauguration. Trump Inauguration Donors

Horrific Executive Action and Legislation

“Montes had left his wallet in a friend’s car, so he couldn’t produce his ID or proof of his DACA status and was told by agents he couldn’t retrieve them. Within three hours, he was back in Mexico, becoming the first undocumented immigrant with active DACA status deported by the Trump administration’s stepped-up deportation policy.” First protected DREAMer is deported under Trump (by Alan Gomez and David Agren for USA Today)

“The letter describes Severino’s “long history of making bigoted statements” about the LGBTQ community and states that his hire raises “deep concerns” about the Trump administration’s hiring practices. The two-page letter was obtained by the Washington Blade, and the office of Senator Patty Murray, the ranking member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, confirmed its existence to NBC Out.” Senators ‘Deeply Troubled’ by Trump’s New Health Department Pick (by Julie Moreau for NBC)

Racism

“Since 1988, we’ve never seen such a clear correspondence between vote choice and racial perceptions. The biggest movement was among those who voted for the Democrat, who were far less likely to agree with attitudes coded as more racially biased.” Racism motivated Trump voters more than authoritarianism (by Thomas Wood for Washington Post)

“The “incident”: another passenger on the plane, who was obviously inebriated, accused my husband of child trafficking. She claimed that my fair-skinned daughter didn’t look like her Mexican father, and stoked suspicion that he had kidnapped her. This passenger had no basis for this claim, nor any evidence to back it up.” My Mexican Husband Was Accused Of Trafficking Our Daughter On A United Flight (by Maura Furfey for Huffington Post)

“For most black women, the findings will not be surprising but, perhaps, will provide hard evidence and affirm what we’ve known for some time: bias against natural hair is real.” The Beautifully Complicated Reason I Created a Quiz That Tests Bias Against Black Hair (by Alexis McGill Johnson for Essence)

Classism

“Despite the protestations of editors and linguists, it’s still mainstream to believe that the strict enforcement of standardized squiggles in English is a linchpin not only of communication but also of virtue. So I’m here to hammer it in: That belief is wrong. It’s technically wrong, because the fetishization of specific uses of punctuation marks does not actually improve communication. Worse, it’s an unfair judgment of people who, through no fault of their own, don’t have the background and resources needed to produce what’s widely seen as good English.” ‘Good Grammar’ Comes From Privilege, Not Virtue (by Sarah Bronson for The Establishment)

Capitalism

“Second, as Slate Chief Political Correspondent Jamelle Bouie tweeted, the demographics of a job can determine its political salience. Coal mining is still 95 percent white and 95 percent male. Department store workers are 40 percent minority and just 40 percent male. The emphasis on work that is white, male, and burly may represent an implicit bias against the working class of the modern service economy, which is more diverse and female.” The Silent Crisis of Retail Employment (by Derek Thompson for The Atlantic)

Fight Back

This is Ashley talking – remember the absurd and vague executive order demanding a review of all EPA regulations? Public Comment is open! Might I suggest making your opinion heard? Evaluation of Existing Regulations

“We’ve heard a lot of complaints (and received a lot of reports) about businesses which have recently added small 1% – 5% “minimum wage” surcharges to their bills in what seems to be an attempt to send a political message about their opposition to raising the wage. We’re listing those businesses here.” Paying Your Employees is a Basic Cost of Doing Business

Horrific Executive Orders and Legislation

“The bill, which the usually camera-friendly President signed without any media present, reverses an Obama-era regulation that prohibited states from withholding money from facilities that perform abortions, arguing that many of these facilities also provide other family planning and medical services.
The bulk of federal money Planned Parenthood receives, though, goes toward preventive health care, birth control, pregnancy tests and other women’s health services. Federal law prohibits taxpayer dollars from funding abortions and Planned Parenthood says 3% of the services it provides are abortions.” Trump privately signs anti-Planned Parenthood law (by Dan Merica for CNN)

Environment

“News of the oil seeping to the surface could be inconvenient for TransCanada, which is now trying to convince communities across Canada to accept its proposal for a gigantic new pipeline infrastructure project — the 4,600-kilometre Energy East pipeline.” TransCanada shuts down Keystone after oil seeps to surface (by Mike De Souza for National Observer)

Gender

“There’s a reason women and girls leave STEM. It is because STEM is so hostile to women that leaving the field is an act of survival. It was for me. Microsoft, do not dump this shit on the shoulders of young girls. It’s not their responsibility; it’s the responsibility of those in power. That means you.” Dear Microsoft: absolutely not. (by Monica Byrne)

Health Care

“If Roe is overturned, the most likely immediate consequence would be that individual state legislatures would decide whether or not to allow abortions. According to legal analysts at the Center for Reproductive Rights, some 34 states are at risk of banning abortions, largely in the Midwest and South. About 40 million women live in those states.” If ‘Roe v. Wade’ Falls, Women Will Go to Jail (by Carole Joffe for Rewire)

Homophobia

“One of those who escaped told Novoya Gazeta that prisoners were beaten to force them to reveal other members of the gay community. Another prisoner who fled said that before being incarcerated in one of the camps, he had been forced to pay bribes to Chechen police of thousands of rubles every month in order to survive. Now the regime had taken another step against gays by creating these camps, the survivor said.” Chechnya opens world’s first concentration camp for homosexuals since Hitler’s in the 1930s where campaigners say gay men are being tortured with electric shocks and beaten to death (by Thomas Burrows for Daily Mail)

Sexual Abuse

“Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC) filed the complaint on Tuesday on behalf of 27 people who are in immigration detention or have been released from detention and who say they have experienced sexual abuse.” Complaint: Sexual Abuse, Harassment in Immigrant Detention Largely Goes Uninvestigated (by Tina Vasquez for Rewire)

“Like his history of sexual harassment, O’Reilly’s history of domestic abuse has been an open secret since at least 2015, when court transcripts from his custody trial with his ex-wife revealed that the couple’s teenage daughter saw O’Reilly “choking her mom” as he “dragged her down some stairs” by the neck. O’Reilly also told his daughter that he struggles to control his rage around his family.” Trump, Roger, and Other Ailments at Fox News – Enough of This Billshit (by Dahlia Grossman-Heinze for Bitch)

Fight Back

“New York has become the first state to ensure that no immigrant will be detained and permanently separated from his or her family solely because of the inability to afford a lawyer. Without counsel, a study shows, only 3% of detained, unrepresented immigrants avoid deportation, but providing public defenders can improve an immigrant’s chance of winning and remaining in the United States by as much as 1000%.” New York State Becomes First in the Nation to Provide Lawyers for All Immigrants Detained and Facing Deportation (VERA project press release)

Trans Bigotry

““We recognize the quality championships hosted by the people of North Carolina in years before HB2,” the NCAA wrote. “And this new law restores the state to that legal landscape: a landscape similar to other jurisdictions presently hosting NCAA championships.” This is blatantly untrue. Only two other states, Arkansas and Tennessee, ban municipalities from passing LGBT nondiscrimination protections. No other state has North Carolina’s new prohibition on any subdivision of government creating policies assuring transgender people have access to restrooms.” NCAA caves, rewards North Carolina for stigmatizing transgender people (by Zack Ford for Think Progress)

Sexual Assault and Harassment 

“In the gymnastics world, among fans and athletes, the Nassar story is the story. “In the community it’s everywhere you look,” said Lauren Hopkins, who runs the gymnastics site The Gymternet, in an interview with The Huffington Post. The popular gymnastics podcast Gymcastic has covered the story extensively; four of the last five episodes have been about sexual abuse in the sport. Yet the story has barely broken through from the gym world into mainstream sports coverage, let alone prime-time news.” A Huge Sports Sex Abuse Scandal Is Unfolding, And You Probably Haven’t Heard About It (by Chloe Angyal for Huffington Post)

“Most of us can recognize explicit sexual violence — “everyone’s seen the guy jumping out of the bushes,” Schwimmer noted — but predatory men often take advantage of power structures in the workplace, pressuring women into uncomfortable, and even dangerous, positions. It might not be as obvious, Schwimmer said, but subtlety doesn’t matter.” These powerful sexual harassment PSAs by David Schwimmer are must-sees. (by Robbie Couch for Upworthy)

Racism

“Emails show that undercover officers were able to pose as protesters even within small groups, giving them extensive access to details about protesters’ whereabouts and plans. In one email, an official notes that an undercover officer is embedded within a group of seven protesters on their way to Grand Central Station. This intimate access appears to have helped police pass as trusted organizers and extract information about demonstrations.” NYPD officers accessed Black Lives Matter activists’ texts, documents show (by George Joseph for The Guardian)

“But the unemployment rate for Blacks is still nearly twice that of the national one. At 8 percent, there are 1.6 million Black people looking for viable work in this country. The rate for Whites is half that (3.9 percent). It’s 5.1 for Latinxs and 3.3 for Asian Americans. Rates for Native Americans are not published in this report.” Your Quick Reminder That the Black Unemployment Rate is Still Too High (by Kenrya Rankin for Colorlines)

Horrifying Executive Orders and Legislation

• “Anyone who still believes there was “no difference” between the two candidates is being willfully ignorant. That narrative was always mendacious, dangerous trash—and nothing makes that more plain than what is about to happen on climate change.” Trump to Sign Devastating EO on Climate Change (by Melissa McEwan for Shakesville)

Gender Disparity

• “Beyond the obvious point that the quota would give fewer positions to men, quotas can have strategic effects on political selection. Mediocre leaders have a strong incentive to surround themselves with mediocre followers, so as to bolster their chances of remaining in power. A less acknowledged role of quotas is to create a threat to such cozy arrangements. It is this idea that our research on Sweden has investigated. Our main finding is that gender quotas increase the competence of the political class in general, and among men in particular. Moreover, quotas are indeed bad news for mediocre male leaders who tend to be forced out.” Gender quotas and the crisis of the mediocre man (by Tim Besley, Olle Folke, Torsten Persson and Johanna Rickne for LSE)
• “Yet, just like with basically everything else about parenting, thinking about it beforehand couldn’t possibly prepare me for some of this stuff. As my son and I have entered the world of kid clothes together, I’m continually surprised by how heavily gendered it all is, and the weird ways that manifests.” 5 Unexpected Gender Differences in Children’s Clothing (by Katherine DM Clover for Parent.co)
• “Ultimately, the reaction of my former coworkers is more illustrative than anything I could have originally written, in terms of shining a light on the volatile, masturbatory, and remarkably hypocritical world of establishment politics as I experienced it. It was this reaction, and its insane lack of perspective, that freed me from any lingering doubt that I was doing the right thing by speaking out.” My former office in the US Senate found out I was writing an essay about workplace sexism. Here’s what happened next. (by Carolyn Seuthe for Athena)

Gentrification

• “Historically, these demonstrations of excessive force have been used to repress and attack efforts to reclaim black land, build assets through ownership, and promote self-determination. This behavior will not be accepted. We, the Seattle Black community, have a right to exist and thrive in black space. Those who claim to care about Black Lives and solutions in Seattle cannot allow this to continue.” Capitol Hill Community Post | Battle at 23rd & Union — ‘Displacement Stops Here’ (by Cliff Cawthon for CHS)

Mmm Hmm

• “State Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a longtime Congressional Democrat who took over the investigation in January, said in a statement that the state “will not tolerate the criminal recording of conversations.” Prosecutors say Daleiden, of Davis, Calif., and Merritt, of San Jose, filmed 14 people without permission between October 2013 and July 2015 in Los Angeles, San Francisco and El Dorado counties. One felony count was filed for each person. The 15th was for criminal conspiracy to invade privacy.” Activists who secretly filmed Planned Parenthood face 15 felony charges (by Andrew Dalton for Chicago Tribune)

Election 2016

• “”Unwitting” is doing a lot of work there. Yes, in the sense that the faction of Bernie supporters who eagerly disseminated this disinformation weren’t aware it was the Russians who were feeding them the info, they were indeed “unwitting agents.” But they still believed and disseminated vile garbage about Hillary Clinton that was demonstrably untrue, because they liked the feeling of destroying her. And the women who supported her.” Sanders Supporters Were “Unwitting Agents” of Russians (by Melissa McEwan for Shakesville)

Good Stuff

• “Enter Babydoll Beauty Couture salon. A salon by plus size people, for plus size people. The stylists themselves can recall “being turned away from a nail salon because of fears she would break their chair, the awkward maneuvering to fit her thighs into a standard salon chair and many furtive glances from others.” They also discuss having been discriminated against by employers who, it seems, were more interested in the stereotype of beauty than skills and experience.” Finally a Fat Positive Salon (by Ragen Chastain for Dances with Fat)

Fight Back

• “But we really mean it this time when we say there’s a tech tool that will take the headache out of reaching out to your congresspeople. It’s called “Resistbot,” and it’s by far the easiest way to gradually chip away at Trump’s spirit.” This New Anti-Trump Tech Is The Most Genius Thing Of 2017 (by Kate Ryan for Good Magazine)

Horrific Executive Orders and Legislation

• “The affected airlines are Royal Jordainia, Egyptair, Turkish airlines, Saudia airlines, Kuwait airways, Royal Air Morocco, Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad. The email – described as a “circular” – is not a public regulation, but airlines will be expected to enforce the new rule. Airlines were issued the circular on Monday and given 96 hours to comply; the rules apply to flights both to and from the US, according to Royal Jordanian airlines.” US bans larger electronic devices on some flights from Middle East (by Sam Thielman for The Guardian)
• “Documentary evidence confirms she complained to others at the time about these statements, including to law school administrators. A second former student from the same class has submitted an anonymous declaration to the Judiciary Committee stating that Judge Gorsuch “said that many female lawyers became pregnant, and questioned whether they should do so on their law firms’ dime.” If accurate, these descriptions— which are corroborated by more than one person and were reported contemporaneously — suggest that were Judge Gorsuch elevated to the Supreme Court, critical precedents and legal interpretations protecting women from sex discrimination at work would be at risk.” Reported Gorsuch Statements Show Disqualifying Disregard for Women’s Workplace Rights (by Emily Martin, National Women’s Law Center)

Police Violence

• “Both deputies pulled their weapons and fired at Renee. It was 6:57 p.m., one minute after they had entered the house. That one minute would become a focal point during the investigation into Renee’s death.” Pregnant mom calls for help, ends up killed by police. Her tribe wants answers (by Amy Radil for KUOW)
• “While the details of the morning Hayes died are still fuzzy, news of the grand jury’s decision is sure to spark anger amongst community and family members who’d called for Hearst’s badge in the wake of the shooting.” The Portland Officer Who Killed Quanice Hayes Last Month Won’t Face Charges (Dirk VanderHart fore the Portland Mercury)
• “Police killings are actually increasing in the United States, according to new data, but because our current president is leading every news cycle, brutality is being pushed to the back burner, activists contend. The rate of police-involved deaths of American citizens is higher than in any month in 2016, and January and February each saw more killings of Americans by police officers than in any month in 2016, according to killedbypolice.net.” More Americans Killed by Police in 2017, but Trump Dominates Headlines (by Angela Helm for The Root)

Ableism

• “Around the country on March 1st, small groups of disabled people — along with friends and families and professionals focused on social justice — gather in real and virtual spaces to name the dead and to mourn. When weather and accessibility permits, we meet outside and light candles. I had spent months reading reports about the murder of disabled people, and decided to finish the project by flying to Washington and processing my own sorrow with some of the organizers of this somber ritual. I sat with my community, listening, our voices hushed.” Disabled Americans: Stop Murdering Us (by David M. Perry for Pacific Standard)

Racism

• “Yes, in the clearest display of the bigotry still plaguing the NFL, no team – in a league desperate for capable quarterbacks – has signed Kaepernick, a man who led a team to the Super Bowl just a few years ago, and, oh yeah, started a nation-wide conversation about racial injustice and police brutality last year when he took a knee during the national anthem before football games.” The bigotry behind Colin Kaepernick’s unemployment (by Lindsay Gibbs for Think Progress)
• “But thanks to Twitter user @BlackMarvelGirl, who shared pictures of the eight Black girls who had been reported missing, the news quickly went viral last weekend. Some of these teenagers have thankfully been found in the last couple of days, but that still leaves two questions unanswered: Where are the remaining kids, and why hasn’t this made national news?” Black & Latinx Teenagers Keep Disappearing In D.C. — But No One’s Talking About It (by Andrea Gonzalez-Ramirez for Refinery 29)

And Finally, A Little Joy:

The ACHA Bill Was Killed & People Are Celebrating With The Best Pop Culture Gifs