The Other Day's Today

I managed to be woefully mis-informed, and missed it, but on August 18, 1920 - The 19th Amendment was ratified by Tennessee, making it part of the US Constitution.

A weird political irony is that with the exception of a few states, only the men could vote to make the government stop denying the women's right to vote. (and I promise I'm not trying to steal the thunder and pat myself on the back for being so magnanimously man-errific)  

And it just seems like a good example of Progressives being right again (which happens a lot), and the Conservatives being wrong again (which, funnily enough, happens just as often).  

And you don't have to look very far to find what I think is pretty good evidence to back that up.

When you think about which states you'd consider to be "typically conservative" (and if you're more or less normal), you're prob'ly thinking those states are in the South.

Now consider this list of when certain states finally got around to ratifying the 19th Amendment.

Virginia 1952

Alabama 1953

Florida 1969

South Carolina 1969 (not certified until 1973)

Georgia 1970

Louisiana 1970

North Carolina 1971

Mississippi 1984

 

Just as a little reminder - there's a better than even chance that one or more of the women in that picture went home to places that weren't just indifferent to their service and accomplishments, but downright hostile to their having a reasonable expectation of simply being treated as equals.  

Their fight continues, and we all continue to benefit from their victories.

It Sounds Familiar

Way back in the old days, if the boss wasn't pretty watchful, one of the pranksters would sneak onto the mainframe and start some weird shit thing like:

10 PRINT TO SCREEN: HELP ME - I'M STUCK IN AN ENDLESS LOOP
20 GO TO: 10

And the terminal would eventually lock up and the supervisors would get all pissed off and we'd laugh and laugh cuz it'd take a good 20 minutes to clear the memory partition and restart the sector - or whatever magic the uber-nerds did to get it all back up and runnin'.

And somehow, we didn't know we were just being assholes.

Well, now we seem to have kinda the same thing going on in certain sectors of our politics.

We gave a lot of money to rich people to fix the economy, but it didn't work

So we gave a lot of money to rich people to fix that, but it didn't work

So we'll give a lot of money to rich people and see if that works

And somehow, they don't know they're just being assholes.

1st Woman Nominated For POTUS

Victoria Woodhull - on this date in 1872.

Victoria Claflin Woodhull, later Victoria Woodhull Martin (September 23, 1838 – June 9, 1927) was an American leader of the woman's suffrage movement.

Woodhull was nominated for President of the United States by the newly formed Equal Rights Party on May 10, 1872, at Apollo Hall, New York City. A year earlier, she had announced her intention to run. Also in 1871, she spoke publicly against the government being composed only of men; she proposed developing a new constitution and a new government a year thence.[25] Her nomination was ratified at the convention on June 6, 1872. They nominated the former slave and abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass for Vice President. He did not attend the convention and never acknowledged the nomination. He served as a presidential elector in the United States Electoral College for the State of New York. This made her the first woman candidate.

No, I'm really not slagging Hillary.  Sec'y Clinton will likely be the very first woman to accept the nomination of a "major political party" in the history of the USofA.  And that's a big fuckin' deal.

If you want a real kick in the head, go look at this one at Wikipedia.

Yes, that is indeed "that Gracie Allen" who ran in 1940 on the Surprise Party ticket.  And she got 42,000 votes - as a gag, that some folks obviously weren't convinced was a gag at all.  Which should serve as something of a reminder that all of this weird shit we're angsting over in 2016 is really not terribly new.

We've found our way through it before, and we will again.  

God willin' and the crick don't rise.

Today's Tweet

.@HasanMinhaj @alikrieger @beckysauerbrunn @hopesolo on soccer's pay gap https://t.co/Z6prgL1KVd #EqualPlayEqualPayhttps://t.co/klQk75dkK8

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) May 7, 2016

Chris Rock Rocks

We might be talkin' about this for a while.

And this too.

And the winner for least funny #Oscars bit goes to @FoxNews' @REALStaceyDash: https://t.co/p0FsTAtxPe pic.twitter.com/Qao1iRSKsv

— Matt Wilstein (@TheMattWilstein) February 29, 2016

Today's Chart

From a few years ago, and still more than a little troubling.

We can't go on like this - and you know it's not any better now than it was in 2012 when the guy put this up. You can see it if you look.

Schools

We "tried" desegregation and integration for about one generation, and just as the "achievement gap" was closing in a very significant way; just as minorities were beginning to manifest the side bennies of education (longer healthier lives, net worth, etc), we bailed.  We gave in to the whiny-butt pussies of the Radical Right and we fucking bailed - on ourselves.

hat tip = Ta-Nehisi Coates via twitter

Today's (Belated) Justice

I'll file this one under "Well-It's-About-Fucking-Time".

Going to the chapel: Will Smith & James Yates get a marriage license in Rowan Co from deputy clerk Brian Mason. ^JC pic.twitter.com/JPUOdepzxi

— Bluegrass Politics (@BGPolitics) September 4, 2015

Kids Who Die

hat tip = Color Of Change (Facebook) -or- Color Of Change (YouTube)

White Squad

I guess I'm wishing I could think it was less necessary to take it seriously enough to  consider starting the actual company.

hat tip = FB buddy VWE, via Addicting Info

A Sunny Day In Ireland

It's generally a lousy idea to put Human Rights to a vote, but in a country that's 85% Catholic, marriage equality is now the law in Ireland. 

Way to go, Irelanders.

With the world watching, the Republic of Ireland has become the first nation to enact marriage equality by popular vote.

The leader of the opposition, David Quinn, has already conceded the loss. “Congratulations to the Yes side on their win,” tweeted Quinn, who is director of the Iona Institute. And in a more lengthy statement Quinn is already pivoting to the next fight, saying "We hope the Government will address the concerns voters on the No side have about the implications for freedom of religion and freedom of conscience."

But today is a day of celebration for supporters of LGBT rights, both in Ireland and worldwide. The margin is still being finalized but all reports say Irish voters Friday overwhelmingly approved adding this language to the country’s constitution: “Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex.”

Coupla things:
While Ireland is the first to make it official by way of popular vote, they're the 19th country in the world to make Marriage Equality the law nation-wide.  USAmerica Inc (aka The Land Of The Free and The Home Of The Brave) funnily enough isn't among them.

And also too:

Irish people from all over the world went to great lengths and considerable expense for the  chance to go home and vote.  We've seen similar phenomena in South Africa and Argentina and Panama and Iraq and Afghanistan and Poland and Ukraine and Egypt - and we never see it here in the US.  I guess it's just another good example of how fucking exceptional we are.

Today's John Oliver

Our Better Half

Today's Quote

"Make no mistake. This is your father's Republican Party.  This is the exact same trans-vaginal ultrasound, all-white-guy committee chair, aspirin-between-your-knees Republican Party we've have fighting for 30 years.  Shame on them. They're trying to fool women. And shame on us if we let them get away with it. They don't support women. They don't respect women. So don't tell me that there's no "war on women". And don't bother asking for a truce. We didn't start this fight, but mark my words - we are going to win it. But if we don't show up for this battle in 2016, we will pay the price for a generation to come. Just imagine what a Republican President and a Republican Congress would do."  

--Stephanie Schriock, EMILY's List

God Love Larry Wilmore

Handsome Joe

The Veep hits one out - and for a nice change, nobody in the White House is threatening to staple his tongue to his forehead (so far).

Then there's Dan Savage.  This guy is a fucking hero as far as I'm concerned.  I'm not gay - as far as I know - but if I were, I'd be seriously tempted to move to Seattle and see about becoming his number one groupie.

Gay rights activist Dan Savage called Ben Carson out in his syndicated column this week, challenging the prospective GOP presidential candidate to put his money where his mouth was — so to speak — regarding his views on homosexuality.

“If being gay is a choice, prove it,” Savage wrote. “Choose it. Choose to be gay yourself. Show America how that’s done, Ben, show us how a man can choose to be gay. Suck my dick. Name the time and the place and I’ll bring my dick and a camera crew and you can suck me off and win the argument.”

And it's not because of the sexuality thing anyway - he's a hero because he's fierce and competitive and he insists on public people having the balls to be intellectually honest.

I hear it's nice in Seattle tho' - sometimes anyway(?)

A Bridge Not Far Enough

First - "conservatives" have been trying hard to pretend GW Bush never even existed.  Wonder what they're gonna say about this:

The rhetorical gymnastics I think we can anticipate coming from Jeb's Bunch oughta be a pretty thing to watch too.

But, y'know - maybe we could stop fuckin' with each other just long enough to remember some of the really good things that happen once in a while, even if they have to grow out of something really shitty.

Tell ya what tho', love him or hate him or somewhere in between, that Obama guy knows how to make a fuckin' speech.

For we were born of change. We broke the old aristocracies, declaring ourselves entitled not by bloodline, but endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights. We secure our rights and responsibilities through a system of self-government, of and by and for the people. That’s why we argue and fight with so much passion and conviction — because we know our efforts matter. We know America is what we make of it.

Look at our history. We are Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea, pioneers who braved the unfamiliar, followed by a stampede of farmers and miners, and entrepreneurs and hucksters. That’s our spirit. That’s who we are.

We are Sojourner Truth and Fannie Lou Hamer, women who could do as much as any man and then some. And we’re Susan B. Anthony, who shook the system until the law reflected that truth. That is our character.

We’re the immigrants who stowed away on ships to reach these shores, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free –- Holocaust survivors, Soviet defectors, the Lost Boys of Sudan. We’re the hopeful strivers who cross the Rio Grande because we want our kids to know a better life. That’s how we came to be. (Applause.)

We’re the slaves who built the White House and the economy of the South. (Applause.) We’re the ranch hands and cowboys who opened up the West, and countless laborers who laid rail, and raised skyscrapers, and organized for workers’ rights.

We’re the fresh-faced GIs who fought to liberate a continent. And we’re the Tuskeegee Airmen, and the Navajo code-talkers, and the Japanese Americans who fought for this country even as their own liberty had been denied.

We’re the firefighters who rushed into those buildings on 9/11, the volunteers who signed up to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq. We’re the gay Americans whose blood ran in the streets of San Francisco and New York, just as blood ran down this bridge. (Applause.)

We are storytellers, writers, poets, artists who abhor unfairness, and despise hypocrisy, and give voice to the voiceless, and tell truths that need to be told.
We’re the inventors of gospel and jazz and blues, bluegrass and country, and hip-hop and rock and roll, and our very own sound with all the sweet sorrow and reckless joy of freedom.

We are Jackie Robinson, enduring scorn and spiked cleats and pitches coming straight to his head, and stealing home in the World Series anyway. (Applause.)

We are the people Langston Hughes wrote of who “build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how.” We are the people Emerson wrote of, “who for truth and honor’s sake stand fast and suffer long;” who are “never tired, so long as we can see far enough.”

That’s what America is. Not stock photos or airbrushed history, or feeble attempts to define some of us as more American than others. We respect the past, but we don’t pine for the past. We don’t fear the future; we grab for it. America is not some fragile thing. We are large, in the words of Whitman, containing multitudes. We are boisterous and diverse and full of energy, perpetually young in spirit. That’s why someone like John Lewis at the ripe old age of 25 could lead a mighty march.

And that’s what the young people here today and listening all across the country must take away from this day. You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention. Unencumbered by what is, because you’re ready to seize what ought to be.

For everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, there’s new ground to cover, there are more bridges to be crossed. And it is you, the young and fearless at heart, the most diverse and educated generation in our history, who the nation is waiting to follow.

Today's Chart

I have to think long and hard about how the hell I'm gonna get a coupla 17-year-olds thru the next 4 years of college.

I don't like thinking about that right now, but what I really don't wanna have to fuck with is the belief on the part of so many rubes that "them durn thugs are getting all the scholarship money, and all the good placements in all the good schools just because they're black and it ain't fair that they're takin' the spot of a deserving white child blah blah blah."

(btw - the rubes really do use the word "thug" in polite company so they don't have to use the word "nigger".  Yes. Really.)

Anyway, here's another of my handy dandy charts to illustrate just how stupid some of these clowns can get.

That tiny blue line at about 12 o'clock on the doughnut is the one-quarter of one percent of the total scholarship money available which is actually "earmarked" for use by kids with brown skin.  Which means that the white people, who make up about 80% of the total population are collecting most of the remaining 99.75% of the bucks.  Sound familiar?

Could you please stop bitching about it now?

Just Shut Up And Listen

17 minutes that started continued some pretty momentous change.  The prospect of change (and the agents of that change) proved so scary and dangerous that the authoritarian assholes among us moved quickly to try to kill it.



The problems King was trying to tell us about haven't gone away.

Here's one of the more imprtant points from a longer talk by Tim Wise - I've put this one up a coupla times before, and I'll keep going back to it until I can recite it verbatim:



It's about what's fair vs what's unfair.  It's about getting USAmerica Inc to live up to its promises, and to stand by its word.  It's about demanding "the power" to behave like regular human beings.

We should never expect anything more, and we must never accept anything less.

And also too - if this doesn't apply to you, then why're you gettin' all bent outa shape about it?

Bitch In Charge