By David Futrelle
It’s a rarity in this year of terrible, but tonight has been a night of actual good news! Dems are winning elections, and Reddit has banned the toxic cesspool known as the Incels subreddit! Celebrate while you can in this open thread!
No trolls. Fuck trolls.
This is the first time a wall of news notifications hasn't been a nightmare in god knows how long pic.twitter.com/NpTaW5QK6e
— Ashley Feinberg (ashleyfeinberg.bsky.social) (@ashleyfeinberg) November 8, 2017
Dems have won all three of the marquee off-year races — NJGov, VAGov, NYC Mayor — for the first time since 1989.
— David Weigel (@daveweigel) November 8, 2017
Democrats decimated Republicans across the country tonight, at every level and in every branch of state government.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) November 8, 2017
Thanks, Trump!
And this is the icing on the cake:
Trans woman Danica Roem (D) just defeated anti-LGBTQ candidate Bob Marshall (R) in Virginia, becoming the first trans state legislator in America.
— Laura Bassett (@LEBassett) November 8, 2017
The man who wrote the anti-trans bathroom bill just lost the election to a trans woman. Let that sink in. https://t.co/KFEZXSYvMy
— Laura Bassett (@LEBassett) November 8, 2017
Oh, and there’s this:
Jeff Sessions' DOJ Drops Prosecution Of Woman Who Laughed At Jeff Sessions https://t.co/slOPOhmLYN pic.twitter.com/ekRsU1RJAq
— Curt and Frank 🏳️🌈 (@curtandfrank) November 7, 2017
Let’s all celebrate by laughing at Jeff Sessions!
Meanwhile, on Reddit:
Reddit has banned the Incels subreddit. About fucking time; it was a cesspool of misogyny and violent hate. pic.twitter.com/8RieXtxZLN
— David Futrelle (@DavidFutrelle) November 8, 2017
HEALTH NOTE: Though cheered by tonight’s news, I’m still dealing with a shitstorm of health issues. I will return to regular posting as soon as I can, but I’m not sure when that will be. Thanks again for your patience and your support!
Right? I am nowhere near Alabama, but if I got a call like that, I’d be like “My Chihuahua is female, but to my knowledge, she’s never met Roy Moore. Also, you’re a liar, and you’re obvious about it. Have a nice day.”
@LittleLurker – Pretty much what I figured.
Not a bad aim at all – but it gravels me when I wind up agreeing with something that gives the groups you rightly (and politely) don’t mention by name ammunition.
@Alan – if you haven’t seen it yet, check out this week’s Private Eye cover. It’s appropriate. 😛
@Shadowplay
I know, I get the same feeling when that happens.
Shooter was Kevin Janson Neal.
From Twitter:
California school shooter another PoC of the Muslim fai….
Naw. Middle-aged white guy. https://t.co/5vkGDYzrxI
Yep.
@ tovius
And that’s just Wisconsin.
So, why was this guy allowed to be out on bail and stay out on bail?
This is not one of those cases where people who knew him can even pretend that they didn’t see this coming. If the firing off rounds wasn’t enough to get the bail revoked, the domestic violence call should have been. He was very clearly demonstrating that the risk of serious violence was high.
On the plus side
I think that those of us concerned about gun violence should start lauding instances of successful self defense or defense of others that did not involve guns. So I thought I’d highlight this.
From the Guardian article about the shooting.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/15/northern-california-gunman-out-on-bail-stabbing-neighbor
@WWTH : the “that did not involve guns” is redundant. No successful self defence against a mass shooter involved a gun.
@Ohlmann It’s redundant to *us*, but not to the “but but what about the Good Guys with Guns (TM)?!” people.
Gerrymandering can be reversed by taking as many statehouses as possible in 2018 or 2020 (not sure which one is before the census). But there definitely has to be a larger focus from the national party on voter suppression and getting out the vote. Canada has a similar problem with low voter turnout and I consider it a sign of an unhealthy democracy if it’s below 50%.
I was listening to the Pro Left podcast over the weekend and Bluegal had an interesting point about Danica Roem. She won a campaign that was centered almost entirely on one issue: Virginia Route 28. It was a local issue, one that everyone knew. “We all drive this messed up road and I have a plan to fix it.” That was a message everyone could get behind compared to her opponent who kept on harping on her appearance and reproductive organs. The results speak for themselves.
One thing that bothered me about the Bernie supporters of 2016 (and maybe it’s not them so much as it was the party apparatus) is that it took the eagerness of a bunch of freshly activated people and had no direction for them once Bernie’s campaign ended. It didn’t seem like there was anybody saying “Hey, you volunteered for Bernie, we’ve got a local school board trustee race you should throw your hat into.”
I think of my local city Councillor Josh Matlow, who my parents see on the sidewalk on occasion walking his dogs. He always has a tent up on the Tuesday Farmers market at June Rowlands Park. The Ward newsletter has him pushing back on rampant condo developments and pushing for more parkland. He was a key voice in opposing crack mayor Rob Ford’s subway fetish for Scarborough. He’s young, ambitious, and right on a lot of the issues with a keen passion for the environment. I guarantee that once John Tory’s done being mayor he’s throwing his hat in that race. In 2014, he won 85% of the vote. 85 freakin’ percent!
This is how a successful political party grows its bench. Matlow ran for trustee first, then after a term or two in that office, ran for Councillor. After that, who knows? Mayor, maybe even MPP.
Follow the lead of Danica Roem and Josh Matlow. Start local. Talk about the issues that people in your neighbourhood understand. That’s how you win.
THANK YOUUUUSSSS!? IT’S ADORBS!?
And even if there’s some hemmin’ & hawin’ from the Aussie Govt. the signs are still good.?❤️?? ?❤️??
(I ran out of time with the last post, sorry)
THAT IS AWESOME! KEEP IT UP, U.S.A!
And that “Bernie Bernstein” robocall is hilarious! It’s so obviously bogus and the perps have no imagination.
@WWTH
“If the cats in those pictures are anything like mine, they couldn’t care less about the coffee and just want to play with the straws!”
Yes, but I’m still going to second kupo’s warning, and I’m going to up it with not just being “bad” for pets, but actually being “poison” to pets at seemingly low doses. Caffeine’s chemically related to Theobromine, (the drug in chocolate that’s fine for us but causes so many problems in dogs and cats), and most pets are similiarly very sensitive to caffeine when compared to humans. Just seconding the PSA.
Speaking for myself, I tend to forget how different dogs, and cats, and hamsters, are to humans, and how different they are from one another. Assumptions can be deadly. I know that people have poisoned themselves taking their dog’s medicine, because they didn’t realise that the dosage in dogs isn’t based only on weight, but on a dog’s metabolism as well. Each species really is unique. 🙂
@Scild
“You are speakin my language! I have replies.”
HOOF BUMPS!
I have replies as well! I couldn’t reply yesterday, hopefully the conversation hasn’t moved on today. 🙂
“Alcoholics Anonymous is a great example – it has an enormous failure rate. That’s because it’s mostly about religious conversion to my understanding – all about ‘surrendering to a higher power’.”
The higher power doesn’t have to be ‘GOD’, or even ‘a god’, but it has to be something bigger than the addict themself. I believe it can even be something as cheesy as “the greater good”. The people I know who have been to AA/NA are not religious, although they are very spiritual. But then again maybe how intense the “religious” side of AA is laid on could very well could vary between group to group? I don’t know.
Does AA have a high failure rate? Yes, but I think it’s important to ask “compared to what. Addiction is hard to kick. A high failure rate is hardly surprising.
” ‘Rehab’ is about regaining social acceptance, not actually curing the thing.”
Who? already mentioned this, but I’m going to repeat the old joke about the psychologist and the lightbulb- “How many psychologists does it take to change a lightbulb? One, but the lightbulb has to WANT to change”. 😛
“You are talking about long term potentiation effects here!”
HOOF BUMPS!!!
“Yeah. Because they don’t have sex addiction. They have rape addiction, if anything.”
I don’t know whether they have sex addiction or not, but either way “being a violent, entitled asshole” is not an addiction.
“Sex addiction involves oxytocin and the sexual response.”
“The sexual response” indeed. It always surprises me when people accept behavioral addiction but assume that sex isn’t potentially addictive based on how much domamine gets released. I think a lot of this is due to the shame and baggage that gets heldover from society and religion though.
“It just grills my biscuits to hear their “sex addiction” excuse. They say that to go to some frickin’ resort and drink themselves into oblivion for a few weeks. “
“Grills my biscuits” lol LOVE IT! You really are from Canadian Texas aren’t you? 😉
TWO HOOF BUMPS BECAUSE I SECOND AND TWO IS SECOND AND STUFFS!
“Sex Rehab” isn’t about recovery from sex addiction. That’s what it’s supposed to be, but it’s not. It’s about giving rich, powerful men a way to escape the repercussions of sexual assault.”
I’m sorry, I hope this doesn’t come out as mean, but I think that you are making one hell of an assumption here. Rehab may not be about getting better for Spacey or Weinstein, but how could anyone say what it’s about for all the other people there?
This is why the whole argument rubbed me so wrong. I don’t care about Weinstein and Spacey, I don’t even think they should be there, but all the other people in the rehab program certainly deserve being given the benefit of the doubt! What if it turned out that Spacey or Weinstein are going to therapy for depression related to their crimes (which they very well may be), should we think “well everyone going to the same therapist for depression is a criminal and a rapist and fuck them?”
Sex addiction = mental illness
Depression = mental illness
Mental illness =/= violent asshole
“Telling women that they can’t wear tight clothes there is just another “women are foul temptresses” excuse.”
Again, for Spacy and Weinstein, not being around bikinis will not prevent or help anything, because their problem is being rapists, whatever else is wrong with them. For everyone else there, who’s problem is presumably actually sex addiction, bikinis would be like putting a bar in the rehab and telling the alcoholics not to look at it or think about it. Yes, a non-abusive alcoholic wouldn’t become violent at the sight of a bar, but it would certainly make them very uncomfortable, and probably make their detox just that much harder.
Likewise for sex addicts. A ban on casual and “sexy” clothing in rehab is not body shaming, or rape culture, it’s being respectful and thoughtful of what’s going on with the other people during their recovery. In contrast, a similiar ban on “sexy” clothing in schools, is a product of rape culture, because those boys are not trying to detox from sex, and being told they they can’t “help” but be distracted by sexy clothing is reinforing the myth that boys just can’t help themselves when it comes to sex.
“Freel free to provide a link, but if you need to cite something, the quote should be a couple sentences at most. Beyond that and the conversation turns into an argument.”
Point taken.
“More worryingly – leaning on science is a very tricky thing, and it’s very easy to get it wrong. Not just you, this is a human-universal thing. “
Are you telling me that I should stop reading this shoddy article about the 10 things I should ALWAYS eat on Thursdays because science?
YOU LIE!
Haven’t commented in a couple of weeks because I’ve been working up to 11 hour shifts on top of also trying to get my uni assignments done on time. But I got 91% on the last assignment and hoping for similar on this one. Not entirely sure how I’m managing to juggle it all but somehow it always works out.
Hope you feel better soon David. But take all the time you need.
Loving the news posted here. Also very excited about Australia voting yes to equal marriage!!
Sad but not shocked to hear about the latest mass shooting from a white man though.
Nicola Luna it’s wonderful to see you! Also I suspect you must be some kind of WonderWoman because that’s one hell of a workload (congrats on the amazing mark).
Hope you are well.
seconding the hope that David feels better!
and very very very belated (like pages ago) hello! you’re back again! to Valentine and general best respects to all the Mammotheers including ongoing NotAtAllHeroWorshipHonestNoReallyIt’sNotWellMaybeJustALittleBit to Scildfreja.
Didn’t make it to the education demo outside Parliament, sadly. I wonder if any Mammotheers were there?
In a column titled “Post-Weinstein World,” Vanity Fair drops this bombshell:
Terry Crews Publicly Names the Man Who Allegedly Assaulted Him in 2016
He compared keeping assault quiet to being a “prisoner of war.”
by Kenzie Bryant
November 15, 2017 2:20 pm
Prisoner of war: that’s an apt comparison. Due to my father’s abuse, I’ve always known that feeling.
Oh, for the love of Katie — more revelations of Bush the Elder’s hijinks And this happened soon after Bush’s term ended. I’m pretty sure that he wasn’t experiencing dementia at that point.
Exclusive: Fmr. Flight Attendant Tells Democracy Now! George H.W. Bush Grabbed Her, Delaying Takeoff
Web Exclusive November 15, 2017
In a Democracy Now! exclusive, a former flight attendant tells us former President George H.W. Bush grabbed her while she was working in first class, refusing to let go of her for so long that he ended up delaying takeoff.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/11/15/he_wouldn_t_let_go_fmr?utm_source=Democracy+Now%21&utm_campaign=c9c5ff91fc-Daily_Digest&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fa2346a853-c9c5ff91fc-191068453
Oops! Here’s a link to the Terry Crews story:
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/11/terry-crews-names-hollywood-executive-assault-gma-interview
the dumpster-fire-in-chief appoints another klan admirer to the (former) dep’t of justice….
fainting couches are outside the door to the left for those overcome by the shock and surprise….
E.T.A., Kat, hugs if wanted.
And for the win in the “most punchable mug” contest….
my bad if afoul of comments policy, or if I offended… WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?????
@mrex : my experience and knowledge (not a professional in the field, even if one of the firm I worked at abused addicted peoples) seem to indicate that, actually, addiction isn’t in general particulary hard to heal. With exceptions, of course.
The thing that make relapse common is that if the life of the patient stay the same, it mean the reason for him to start the addiction are still here, and consequently he or she can fall to it again. It’s like catching a disease again because you are still exposed to infected people.
That’s because in a lot of cases, the addicted people get into its addiction to solve / escape a particular problem, and don’t get into it just because the drug is a magical willpower-stealing powder. (and it’s not due to something specifically human ; rats and dogs similarly are way more prone to become addicted when they are bored out of their mind, in pain, or otherwise in distress)
An example of that is in WWI, were various opium-based medicine left a lot of veteran hooked on them. But while quite a bit stayed addicted after the wars, a lot of veteran just stopped taking opium once at home again. The situation was different and they didn’t felt the need to continue the old habit.
Now, that don’t mean at all that addicted people are responsible for their problem. Rather, it mean that addiction is quite often a symptom of something else, typically social isolation, poverty, depression, self-worth problems, or a combination of all that. (plus, as a reminder, some people do fall in addiction without other cause)
What does that do with AA and the like ? Thoses institutions try to heal the symptom. For a minority of people, that can work, because they don’t actually have problems to push them back into addictions. But for a lot of people, they won’t work on the long run. Of course, healing depression and social isolation is difficult at best, and healing poverty is definitely not something doctor can do. But any approach that don’t start by trying to identify then solve the other problems the addicted have is suspect at best to me.
And rich people are a lot more likely to “only” need to heal the symptom, because they are less likely to be in distress otherwise. Money can’t buy happiness, but it make everything a lot easier.
(plus, the explanation of Scild that some people do them only for show likely have some hint of truth)
@Weird Eddie
I appreciate hugs. Thanks.
“Mr and Mrs Mnuchin pick out wallpaper for their underground art vault.”
@PeeVee And a matching rug, to cover the serfs tiling the floor. So they can swirl their cognac in peace and quiet.
“… misery a LOT more palatable….
re: addiction, in my experience, the active addiction (e.g. the using) can be avoided by not picking up the drug (or food, or pornography, or whatever I’m struggling with). The rest of the addiction is more difficult. The “lifestyle” change that Ohlmann spoke of is necessary, I can’t put out the fire on my ass until I (1) accept that my ass IS on fire, and (2) crawl out of the burning trash can I’ve been living in. The rest of the process is an ongoing mental, physical, spiritual and emotional treatment procedure to keep myself wanting to avoid crawling back in.
Buttercup, yes. And of course the grout is made from gold dust and orphan tears.