This is my rage face.

[CONTENT NOTE: mass shootings and shooters, violent misogyny, rape culture.]

Emoji: face with cringing eyes and mouth.

GENERAL NOTES:

First, when I use the word misogyny, by way of definition I incorporate by reference the concept of entitlement. It may be directed to women’s deference, obedience, attention, decisions, bodies, privacy, place in a hierarchy (such as a business), perceived or actual safety (relative to men), and/or umpteen kazillion other aspects that I cannot think of right now on account of the blinding rage. So whatever else its definition may encompass, it encompasses at least some form of gender-based entitlement.

Second, the definition of mass shooting lacks consensus, to put it mildly. Broadly speaking, it requires a single shooter, a minimum of three (or four) victims, which may (or may not) include the shooter, in a public place, in essentially the same geographic location with shots fired close together in time. Again, broadly speaking, it does not include foreign terrorist attacks, or incidental homicides such as multiple killings during a bank robbery.

Interestingly, the common caveat that a mass shooting must occur in a public place means that incidents where a shooter kills his wife, girlfriend, or ex, her children, other family member(s) and possibly himself (odds are 50-50 there) does not meet the definition of mass shooting.

I wonder why that is?

[Read more…]

And this is…news?

To anyone? Srsly?

Wahington Post banner logo

picture of the headquarters of the Southern Baptist convention.

News Alert
May 22, 4:01 p.m. EDT

Southern Baptist leaders covered up sex abuse, lied to members about secret database, explosive report shows

Leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention released a major third-party investigation that found that sex abuse survivors were often ignored, minimized and “even vilified” by top leaders in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

Read more [@Washington Post]

Why? So we can “learn” that the hierarchy at an ultra- conservative, openly misogynist, church has a hideous history of sexually abusing women and girls (and probably boys and men too) and covering it up for decades?

You guys, it’s so weird! I feel like I could have written this exact story, word for word, without seeing anything more than the headline.

Yeah, I must be psychic or something. ‘CUZ THAT’S THE ONLY EXPLANATION THAT MAKES ANY SENSE AMIRITE.

Emoji: big eyeroll

 

To my Black friends and their families re: the Buffalo shootings.

[CONTENT NOTE: white nationalist terrorism and mass murder, no images.]

This moment is not about me. It is about you, and your families and communities, facing loss, hatred, and evil. Again. Still.

I try, but I cannot really fathom the depths of your pain and grief, and not just today but every day, because you already carry with you the legacies of slavery, death, violence, injustice, and hate, and all of it at the hands of people who look like me.

This moment is about you sharing your grief with others who do understand this pain. It is about your families and communities coming together to bury your dead, and to hold each other up even as you face endless, bottomless despair.

I have no place in this moment.

I cannot even offer you my prayers. I am not a praying person, and so I find proffers of “thoughts and prayers” to ring hollow, especially from politicians and people who are in positions of power to make this country a better place for you, and yet they do not.

So I can only offer my thoughts, for whatever they are worth, along with my sincerest, deepest, heartfelt condolences.

If it helps, please know I will be here, on the sidelines and in the backgrounds, in mourning with you, and for you.

I will be here, waiting for you with open arms and open heart, with great love and great sorrow.

I will be here waiting, honored and grateful to listen, if and when you will tell me what you need from me, and from the people and communities where I may have some influence.

The next moment will be about me. It will be about the work I need to do – white people need to do – for you and yours.

I am here, and I see you.

All my love,
-Iris.

Louisiana to become El Salvador, i.e., hell.

[CONTENT WARNING: child rape, teen suicide, fanatical hostility to bodily autonomy and consent, extreme misogyny, and probably some other shit I could be too triggered to recall.]

Photo of a Salvadoran woman crying in court, flanked by two law enforcement personnel.In In this December 2017 photo, Salvadoran Teodora Vasquez, found guilty of what the court said was an illegal abortion via a miscarriage, arrives in a courtroom to appeal her 30-year prison sentence.
(AP Photo/Salvador Melendez)

Perhaps you have heard about Louisiana’s latest bill classifying all abortions as homicides? Anyone found to help facilitate an abortion, from the person(s) performing it to the involuntary organ donor who wants or needs it will be charged with homicide, with the potential penalty of life in prison. There is no exception for rape, incest, or when fetuses are incompatible with life (e.g. anencephaly).

The bill, HB813, passed out of committee on a 7-2 vote; it now faces the full legislature, and if passed, will land on the desk of Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards. But before you entertain visions of victorious vetoes dancing around in your head, you should know that Governor Edwards has been a hardcore advocate for involuntary organ donation (by other people) as a governor, and previously as a state lawmaker. He has already signed into law one of the most draconian anti-abortion laws in the country, outlawing the procedure upon the detection of a heartbeat, which is about six weeks gestation and before many people know they are pregnant.

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BREAKING: Abattoir goes international, welcomes new involuntary organ donors!

Black & white photo of equipment and staff at a U.S. Army medical facility circa WWI.

The Abattoir is quickly expanding its involuntary organ donor pool – we are now operating in Australia!

It turns out some prominent Australians feel so very strongly about other people involuntarily donating organs, it is only fair and just that they live by this principle themselves.

Thanks to commenters gijoel and mathscatherine, who provided candidate names and links to evidence that unquestionably qualifies these donors, we are now happily harvesting organs from:

 

  • Bernie Finn, Victoria, Australia “Liberal” MP.
    (qualifying criteria: commenting on unwanted pregnancies resulting from rape, “Babies should not be killed for the crime of his or her parent.”)
  • Tony Abbott, former prime minister of Australia.
    (qualifying criteria: calling abortion decriminalization “effectively infanticide on demand.”)

 

Remember, people: our mission is SAVING LIVES of children, women, and men who die every single day for lack of a life-saving donor organ. #savingbabies #prolife

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The Abattoir.

Once upon a time, I had another blog called Perry Street Palace™. It was (and still is imho) a wonderful place, with its own zoo, an extensive library, and of course a bar. But perhaps its most ambitious operation was The Abattoir.

The Abattoir has been sorely neglected since I joined FtB, and definitely needed some updating. Thus I am proud to announce the Grand Reopening of The Abattoir, in its sparkling new location, Freethought Blogs!

__________

Welcome to the Abattoir!

Black & white photo of equipment and staff at a U.S. Army medical facility circa WWI.

Here, we perform extractions of lifesaving organs–whether people consent to them or not!

Don’t worry! The Abattoir does not harvest organs from just anyone, willy-nilly. That would be morally reprehensible, barbaric, and inhumane. You see, all of our involuntary organ donors meet one, and only one, very specific criteria: they would eagerly and happily force other people to donate lifesaving organs  without the donor’s consent. And these donors do so with absolutely no regard for the harm this may cause, whether physically, psychologically or financially. Since all of The Abattoir’s donors feel so very strongly about this particular principle, it is only just and fair that they live by it!

[Read more…]

Amazon Union Win a “Huge Shock.” (not an April Fools joke!)

via NY Daily News:

Amazon workers in N.Y. vote to form first U.S. union in company’s history in ‘huge shock’

Workers at the Amazon warehouse on Staten Island voted decisively to form the first U.S. union in the mammoth multinational company’s history, according to a count of the historic labor election completed Friday.

…

The election was instantly viewed as a possible watershed moment for the American labor movement, which has weakened in recent decades.

“Weakened?” WEAKENED?! There are many, many more accurate words I can think of to describe what has happened to U.S. labor movements and unions: decimated, demolished, shattered, destroyed, conquered and obliterated are just some of them. I guess the Daily News misplaced its thesaurus today?

Christian Smalls, a fired Amazon worker who objected to the 27-year-old company’s COVID protocols, led the recently created Amazon Labor Union to the victory over the Seattle retail giant, which is known for pulverizing labor efforts by inundating workers with anti-union messaging.

“Pulverizing.” See? Much better.

At the New York warehouse, a fulfillment facility known as JFK8, management hung “Vote No” banners on the walls and held required union-busting meetings. But the workers would not be denied.

“Amazon has proven willing to put basically unlimited resources into anti-union campaigns, and these workers really won against all odds,” said Rebecca Givan, a labor studies professor at Rutgers University. “It’s really a historic victory and probably a huge shock to Amazon.”

You can read more here (@ NY Daily News).

One of the takeaways that struck me is the social media angle. While America’s Owners have developed and deployed extremely effective union-busting tactics (“required union-busting meetings”… WTF is with that?), the organizers here:

led a creative labor push that leveraged social media, including Twitter and TikTok, to succeed at the city’s lone Amazon fulfillment facility, a place where many workers are relatively young people of color, according to The City news outlet. “This is Gen Z,” Smalls, 33, told the outlet.

This suggests to me that there is only a very small window here for labor organizers with younger workforces to succeed in their unionizing efforts, before the Amazons of the world begin using the same platforms to deliver slick, Gen Z-tested, anti-union messaging to neutralize the threat.

If you’re wondering why this is a really big fucking deal, ask yourself this: if unions did not shift meaningful power, e.g. better working conditions, benefits and pay to employees, why would U.S. corporations be willing to put “basically unlimited resources” into crushing them?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PZ!

Happy birthday to my godless mentor, esteemed FTB comrade, and beloved friend, PZ Myers.

At my old blog, I would throw a virtual birthday party for him every year on this date, and celebrate with a collection of quotes, quips and bon mots that he’d written on his blog over the previous year. When his obsession was strictly cephalopods, it would look like this:

cameo photo of PZ Myers surrounded with purple balloons and floating presents, with a plate of fried calamari and black-colored cocktails in martini glasses.In 2016 I served fried calamari and Barchetta’s Spezia cocktails, made with vodka, caper brine and squid ink, with whole caperberry garnish. (I’ll have to come up with a spider-themed menu… hmmm.)

These days I’m not up for throwing a big bash, not even a virtual one. But I do want to celebrate PZ’s completion of another orbit around our sun. So today, I thought I’d share a quote from PZ that has long inspired me.

The general context of the quote is this. Back at ScienceBlogs in The Year of Our Lard 2009, PZ wrote a scathing, righteous screed about an apparently very terrible book by some Christian apologist named Terry Eagleton. PZ was stuck on a plane for 8 torturous hours with nothing to read but a SkyMall catalog (which, ♥♥♥! cultural anthropology FTW!), and a copy of this Eagleton book someone (evil?) had just given him in New York. He read the fucking thing twice.

As he was wrapping up, he wrote this:

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