Rubio Starring at Anti-LGBT Rally.

Marco Rubio. Wikimedia Commons.

Marco Rubio. Wikimedia Commons.

When Marco Rubio cited the deadly attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando as a reason he was changing his mind and running for re-election to the U.S. Senate, many LGBT allies immediately noted that the Florida senator and failed presidential candidate has never been an ally of the LGBT community.

“To be using the tragedy in Orlando as a time to reflect on his Senate career, when his career and his promises on the campaign trail have been anti-LGBTQ consistently, it’s just staggering to think he would be using this moment for his own personal ambitions,” said Jay Brown of the Human Rights Campaign at the time.

It comes as no surprise, then, to see that Rubio is slated to address an event in Orlando next month that will feature some of the country’s most vehement anti-LGBT activists.

The Orlando-based Liberty Counsel Action, an extreme anti-LGBTgroup whose affiliate is famous for representing Kentucky clerk Kim Davis in her stand against the Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision, announced in an email today that the Florida Renewal Project will be hosting an event called “Rediscovering God in America” in August. The event will be headlined by Rubio, who will speak alongside anti-LGBT activists David Barton, Bill Federer, Ken Graves and Mat Staver.

[…]

The event will put Rubio in the company of some of the most extreme anti-gay activists in the country:

  • David Lane, whose organization is hosting the event, believes that gay rights will lead to the “utter destruction” of the U.S. and “car bombs in Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Des Moines, Iowa.” (Learn more about David Lane here).
  • Mat Staver, whose Liberty Counsel Action sent out the invitation to the event and who is scheduled to speak, has gained a national reputation by representing Davis and Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore through the affiliated Liberty Counsel. Last month, Staver denounced memorial gatherings for the victims of the Orlando nightclub attack as “homosexual love fests.” Staver has claimed that gay people are “demonic,” seek to abuse children and are similar to terrorists, and has warned that gay rights victories could lead to “forced homosexuality” and “another civil war.” At the same time, he has praised countries that outlaw same-sex relationships. (Learn more about Mat Staver here).
  • David Barton, a Republican Party activist who styles himself as a historian, thinks that God is justly preventing a cure for HIV/AIDS because it is a divine “penalty” for homosexuality, and has lamented that public schools try to “force” students “to be homosexual” when homosexuality really should be regulated by the government. (Learn more about David Barton here).
  • Maine pastor Ken Graves preaches against “militant homofascism” that he says “seeks to take over our land and make it Sodom” and argues that gay people cannot build happy families because they are “depressed.”

Via Right Wing Watch.

Twitter, Oh Twitter III.

Jessica Valenti will be taking a break from social media, due to ongoing threats and harassment. Those assholes who think it’s perfectly acceptable to do such things decided to target Ms. Valenti’s 5 year old child, because of course, they are such erudite, articulate adults who have such a good, solid, fact based ability to present their arguments, but this way is just so much better. I hope every single one of you sick assholes takes a very good look in the mirror, then takes a very good look at your own family. Try to figure out how to regain your humanity, because it is missing.

As for Twitter and other social media, I guess perhaps Ms. Valenti isn’t quite famous enough to warrant action. Link.

We’re Broken.

The Dakota Access Pipeline would run perilously close to the Missouri River, above, the main source of drinking water for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Credit: Thosh Collins.

The Dakota Access Pipeline would run perilously close to the Missouri River, above, the main source of drinking water for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Credit: Thosh Collins.

Dakota Access Pipeline has been approved. All the work, all the protests, all the meetings, all the talking…pointless. That photo reminds me of one of my favourite places along the Missouri, north of Lake Oahe, and to think of oil spilling, oh, it doesn’t bear thinking about, but it must be thought about, and the fight has to continue. This is wrong, so very wrong.

Despite the strong opposition of several tribes, the Army Corps of Engineers has approved nearly all permits to build the Dakota Access Pipeline project. Construction has already begun in all four states along its path.

“We are saddened to hear of this permit approval but knew the writing was on the wall,” the Indigenous Environmental Network said in a statement. “The Corps has a long history of going against the wishes and health of tribal nations.”

The $3.4 billion, 1,134-mile-long pipeline proposed by the company Energy Transfer, is also known as the Bakken pipeline, since that is the type of crude that would be transported through it. The battle to stop the project began months ago, when word of its potential construction began to spread. Activists and individual landowners who did not want the pipeline crossing their land immediately began to resist.

Soon after, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe launched a massive campaign to improve understanding of the devastation that a pipeline spill could cause. The “Rezpect Our Water” efforts included dozens of children from Standing Rock who worked hard to try bridge understanding between the tribe and the outside world. Through a series of videos and grassroots efforts, the youth of Standing Rock asked that their lands and livelihood be taken into concern.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe met with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on several occasions in the past year in hopes of convincing them to deny permits. All water crossings along the pipeline’s path needed federal approval. The Corps would have had the power to stop the pipeline from crossing the south-flowing Missouri River near the Cannon Ball community on Standing Rock’s northern border. This crossing point poses a particularly dangerous threat to the Standing Rock community as a pipeline break would contaminate the Missouri river, damaging the entire water supply of tribe, destroying land and creating a public health disaster for the reservation.

The tribe’s efforts and the youth of Standing Rock generated attention and support from thousands of supporters across the nation.
The Corps’ decision, however, did not reflect concern for the tribe or for the youth of Standing Rock. They granted permits to all 200 water crossings along the pipeline’s path, including the most potentially destructive point near the Reservation’s northern border. The Corps also ignored a plea by three federal agencies requesting a full environmental review.

[…]

“This decision will not deter the resistance against the dirty Bakken pipeline,” stated the Indigenous Environmental Network. “This decision merely highlights the necessity for the Corps of Engineers to overhaul the Nationwide Permit No. 12 process, which has been used by Big Oil to further place our lands, indigenous rights, water and air at greater risk for disaster. We demand a revocation of this permit and advocate for the rejection of this pipeline.”

The Pipeline will bring tax revenue to all counties and states along its path. While the land and people of Standing Rock face great risk of seeing damaging environmental impacts, they will not see any of the benefits. The pipeline crosses just north of Sioux County, where the Standing Rock Reservation is located. Tax revenue will not be generated for the tribe.

ICTMN has the full story.

Conservative Whine: Confusing, Bizarre, Very Disturbing!

CREDIT: Twitter/@SarahWoodwriter.

CREDIT: Twitter/@SarahWoodwriter.

We’ve already seen the one All Gender lav at the DNC, in the previous post. At that time, it was reported that the lav in question was full of different gendered people, with no problems at all. Now, it seems, conservatives have had time to pull themselves together and whine about it.

One of the bathrooms at the Democratic National Convention this week has been labeled an “all-gender restroom.” According to BuzzFeed, most people using the facility were unfazed by the experience, but a few members of the conservative press have been baffled about what they’re supposed to do.

Sarah Westwood of the Washington Examiner seemed to be unsure if she had a gender or not:

How is that confusing at all, let alone unnecessarily so? Here’s some help, Ms. Westwood – look at the cute little picture.

Westwood told ThinkProgress that her concern was pumping breast milk in a space in which her male coworkers could enter. She did not explain why the stall doors did not suffice to provide her with the privacy she desired like they would in any other restroom. She also did not seem to be aware that the convention center is equipped with two lactation suites specifically to meet her needs.

There we are, conservatives creating problems where there are none. Privacy? Stall doors with locks. Breast feeding? Oh look, lactation suites! Why, you don’t have to sit in a pee station for that at all.

On Fox News, Tucker Carlson described the bathrooms as “bizarre” and “disgusting.” “I mean, I guess we’re liberated by this? Everyone should come visit one and see the reality of it. It’s unbelievable.”

Just how are they bizarre and disgusting? Let’s see, a room equipped with stalls, toilets, and sinks. There are people in there, doing what they have to do. Seems like business as usual to me.

Elizabeth Harrington of the Washington Free Beacon bemoaned that setting aside the all-gender restroom “leaves female convention goers with one fewer bathroom than male attendees,” a complaint that seemed to ignore the fact that female convention goers can actually use that restroom. She decided to film a short tour of the facility as a male colleague entered a stall:

On her twitter feed, it finally dawned on Ms. Harrington that she had made Mr. Scher very uncomfortable, following him into the lav and filming him. She managed a weak apology. The irony is simply too much.

Harrington also shared a reader’s concern that toilet seats might be left up or down or have urine on them. It’s unclear if she has ever lived in a house or existed in any other space that only has a single-use restroom.

Harrington went on to say she walked by the all gender lav again, and it smelled so very, very bad, oh my yes! I wonder if she was this busy poking her nose in the gender designated lavs. The course of the great pee debate seems clear: ban all conservatives from lavs outside their own homes.

Conservative activist Dinesh D’Souza, who is peddling his new film Hillary’s America attacking Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party, decided to stage a photo demonstrating his wife’s reaction to having used the all-gender restroom.

She complained to another Twitter user that when she used it, “a man walked in,” calling the experience “very disturbing.” She did not explain why.

Marcus made a just right sign for the conservatives:

pee

Full story at Think Progress.

McCrory and the failure mode of clever.

pat-mccroryx750Pat McCrory saw fit to make jokes about transgender people at the RNC, still referencing his beloved HB 2, even with the latest massive cost to the state with the withdrawal of the NBA.

McCrory took the stage and immediately started acting like a flight attendant.

“All right, let’s be safe now. We’ve got a big crowd, so if you need to leave suddenly, we’ve got exits this way, exits this way and exits this way,” McCrory said, motioning straight ahead, to his right and to his left. “And if any of you need to use the restrooms …”

McCrory paused as the crowd of several thousand laughed and cheered his reference to legislation passed earlier this year that requires individuals to use the restroom that matches the gender they were born with, not the one they identify with.

[…]

As Politico reported, the backlash [to HB 2] reached the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Monday, where an executive with the Raleigh-based company Citrix, Jesse Lipson, accused McCrory of not understanding how business worked by backing the law.

“Republicans may think they’re telling people which bathroom to go into,” Lipson said. “They’re actually telling people which market to stay out of.”

The Wells Fargo Center, where the event is being held, also had at least one all-gender restroom. Buzzfeed’s Dominic Holden posted a picture:

One estimate of the NBA withdrawal of the all star game is 100 million in lost revenue, and McCrory thinks he’s being clever joking about HB 2? Seriously, I don’t know how much more NC can possibly take of this – the sheer amount of lost revenue is staggering, and people cannot be happy about watching their state’s economy plunge down a hole. Right now, McCrory is a bit player in the political scene, but outside of Trump, I can’t think of anyone else who so very badly needs to be forcibly ousted from his position. The amount of damage he has done is in the phenomenal range, and on many levels.

Via Washington Post and Raw Story.

Das Kapital.

Karl Marx’s Capital: Critique of Political Economy has been used as the source for a new alien-looking sculpture by Chinese artist Wang Yuyang. Yujang’s Identity is 20 feet tall and composed of folded layers of various materials including brass, copper, iron, fiberglass, concrete, marble, and steel—all interwoven as arcing contours that look both organic and like some otherwordly samurai armor.

Photo:Barney Hindle©2016 CASS Sculpture Foundation, Wang Yuyang, Identity, 2016.

Photo:Barney Hindle©2016 CASS Sculpture Foundation, Wang Yuyang, Identity, 2016.

Beyond its striking form, what’s remarkable about Yuyang’s piece is that, when you look at it, you’re actually looking at the text for Marx’s Capital: Critique of Political Economy. Yuyang converted the words themselves into binary code, then visualized it all using 3D rendering and modelling software, which determined the material, the color, and structure.

Wang Yuyang, Identity, Proposal Rendering, 2015 © Cass Sculpture Foundation, Wang Yuyang.

Wang Yuyang, Identity, Proposal Rendering, 2015 © Cass Sculpture Foundation, Wang Yuyang.

For Identity, the binary code was input into 3ds Max and a 3D printer for a visual output, with the program “reading” the order of the text to form the installation.

“The shapes of the sculpture are the twisted rectangles or circles function in the program,” explains Yuyang to The Creators Project. “The title of the work is also a selection by the computer (selected from a dictionary pack when we ‘save’ this file) and the color by reading the code again.”

The idea, says Yuyang, is to give the making over solely to the computer so it can objectively visualize the text. While Marx writes about how exploited labor underpins capitalism, Yuyang hands the labor of the creative process—outsources it—over to automation.

“It shows my curiosity with these texts,” notes Yuyang. “Das Kapital has been grouped into different chapters when I was reading it in school. Different chapters are taught in primary, elementary, and high school, it’s the topic of exams [in China]. The book was with my generation all the time when we were growing up. So I am deeply familiar with it and now I would like to see it differently. Turning it into a visual work is a different way to look at the text again.”

Full Story at The Creators Project. Wang Yuyang’s website is here.

No True Catholic.

Tim Kaine.

Tim Kaine.

While Tim Kaine’s pastor describes Kaine as “very compassionate, approachable, available, and friendly,” a Washington DC-based priest, a member of the Dominican Order, has told Tim Kaine that he is not a true Catholic and not entitled to receive communion. The issue? Tim Kaine has stated his personal opposition to abortion, but refuses to enact laws as a public official that would interfere with a woman’s right to choose.

The anti-abortion site LifeNews reported that Father Thomas Petri took to Twitter to condemn Kaine. “Senator @timkaine. Do us both a favor. Don’t show up in my communion line.” The priest also told Kaine that his beliefs that women should be priest and that “abortion is fine” makes him either “poorly catechized or a dissenter.”

I can’t say I was thrilled with the Veep pick, but anyone who pisses off priests gets credit from me. Nothing riles up priests like the disobedience of thinking. Perhaps Father Petri should spend more time praying than tweeting. I’m sure if he prays hard enough, god will do something or other, right?

Full story here.