Convergence!

Yikes.

Sherman Alexis has also written about being sexually abused as a child.

3: Alexie

Is the verb "to hold" suddenly being used in a new and somewhat grating way?

Maybe it's being used in the same way it is used in wedding vows?

It looks like "hold an opinion"/"hold a perspective" was generalized to "hold a reality." If you don't accept (or don't really care about) an underlying real reality, it doesn't seem like much of a stretch.

7 is right.

But can we hold the complex reality that Junot Diaz is both a #MeToo survivor and a perpetrator?

5. No doubt it's from "1984," where doublethink required you to hold two contradictory ideas in your head at once.

Don't know if 9 is a joke, but really, how childish a worldview does one have if those claims strike one as contradictory?

For more than two you need to juggle.

Maybe she's trying to say not that the reality is incomprehensible--that victims can become perpetrators is not news--but that she's having trouble simultaneously having sympathy for him as a victim while judging him for his crimes, and trying to find the right balance of perspective. She later says "My goal isn't to drag Junot Diaz, nor is it to excuse him." Which leads to this more important conclusion:

My goal is to end sexual violence against women and girls. And in order for that to happen, we need to end male domination. If our society weren't male dominated, males wouldn't form a hierarchy in which they abused each other, and females wouldn't be a dumping ground for men's toxicity and trauma.

And men? And boys?

I don't feel like being virtuous today, so I'm not going to read the link.

That is also a good goal, with the same root cause. I wish she had phrased potential victimhood more universally, especially as it's relevant to this case.

8: it's easy to believe if you're detached. If you're emotionally invested, it can be much harder.

Then get with the program, dude. Stay frosty.

@excerpt in 12: What's the connection between our society being male-dominated and males forming a hierarchy to abuse each other? I feel like most people who share the writer's general sympathies believe in other contexts that being in the non-dominant group causes higher rates of bad behavior due to frustration/hopelessness etc.

"Abusive hierarchy" is basically the definition of a sedentary society, right? Just the details of the abuse vary (a lot).

I'm all for ending sexual violence against women and girls, but I really enjoy the sexism dividend of not having to do more stuff around the house. Can we find a middle ground in which females aren't a dumping ground for males' toxicity and trauma and also I don't have to do a lot of work?

20: Isn't that just Halfordísmo?

i guess but Halfordismo is more focused on monumental architecture.

Are sex grottoes properly monumental?

mine are

Can we find a middle ground in which females aren't a dumping ground for males' toxicity and trauma and also I don't have to do a lot of work?

Robots!

I just want individual chore moochers to find a better excuse than gender. I'm not trying to destabilize anyone's moochiness.

The one male privilege I consider non-negotiable is shorter lines for the restroom.

I find it quite easy to avoid chores and traumatizing women. Architecture is a little more iffy. Could, say, the Long Island garbage barge be considered a monument?

27: That's just a natural consequence of being able to pee in the sink.

While holding the idea that somebody is both a victim and a perpetrator, it does make it hard to figure out how to act. Obviously, the reasonable solution is to make a formula adding up relevant life experiences/actions with an arbitrary cut point, one side victim and the other perpetrator.

Speaking of horrible masculinity, Oliver North is the new president of the NRA. Because of course he is.

Moby pwned you like an hour ago. Because of course he did.

I guess my question is: Is it important that we have sympathy for Diaz? We should have sympathy for the category of victims, and that should inform our policy-making, but why do we need to feel sympathy for Diaz in particular?

I'm still writing papers. I'm horrible when I'm doing that.

From the link in 31,

"I want my grandkids to say that Granddad was a person who taught me how to fight the good fight, how to finish the race, how to keep the faith," North said.

You should probably avoid the phrase "finish the race" when palling around in ultra-rightwing circles.

Which race?

TURNS OUT THE ROBOT PLAN HAS DOWNSIDES.

I had to google that because I don't even own an TV.

You know, Republicans say Democrats are soft on crime, but its the Republicans who eagerly put criminals at the head of their institutions.

Oh yeah? Name ONE illegal act committed by a prominent Republican.

30: On Person of Interest the super-advanced AI was completely unable to distinguish victims and perpetrators. That's how outlandish your proposal is -- it isn't even possible in science fiction.

And the threads really are converging. North is the incarnation of self-defeating Reagan Central America policy which is largely responsible for the self-defeating US border and drug policies of today. And now at the NRA he will work, to his dying breath, to make the whole clusterfuck that extra bit worse.

Well, North at least has a demonstrable commitment to opposing restrictions on the sale of arms. Remember, TOW anti-tank missile launchers and HAWK surface-to-air missiles don't kill people; Iranians kill people.

David Clarke and Joe Arpaio must be yelling at their agents right now because the has-been Oliver North beat them out for this gig.

I never quite understand what the tweets and blog posts mean when they demand that Disgraced Man make amends before etc., etc., etc. The demand for a full and frank confession is easy to understand, as the first part of truth and reconciliation. Does JD own three expensive houses and an expensive farm, like Charlie Rose, that he can turn into nonsectarian kibbutzes (unlike, as far as I know, Charlie Rose)?

44: Roy Moore, too. But when you think about it, Oliver North really had the inside track, having made his mark in the illegal arms trade.

Shah's out, guns out.

You guys are being kind of dumbly nitpicky about this whole thing. I mean, to 45:

But let's be clear, he hasn't redeemed himself yet. He would need to start telling more of the truth in his public statements, he would need to keep doing his healing work, and he would need to find ways to make amends for all the harm he caused. Maybe he needs to stop teaching for a while. Maybe he needs to be supervised when he's with female students. Maybe he shouldn't be jet setting as a guest lecturer star to places with wide-eyed students. I'm not sure what consequences are needed, but it can't be business as usual.

That leaves you wondering what she means by redeemed?

Or the conversation on "to hold": it means to hold ideas, in this context.

Or what Dalriata said.

41: I don't think that's quite right. It was designed to be unable to communicate which was which so as to ensure human judgement remained in the loop. That was a surprisingly interesting show, despite the first season police procedural setup and Caviezal's wooden acting.

||

What is it with New York liberal lions? Well, the word "lion" might bespeak something, but: AG Schneiderman is multiply accused.

|>

Oliver North looks like he stopped working out after Reagan left office.

52: I am as shocked as anyone.

You want really messed up news stories, I confused Grimes (who I'd never heard of) and Greitens and I was like what the fuck just happened today, the sex assaulting governor of MO came out of the closet and is dating Elon Musk, who I somehow already assumed was gay?

But Ronan Farrow actually is Woody Allen and Mia Farrow's son so I can't just turn off the parts of my brain that filter out random associations as implausible.

He might be Woody Allen and Frank Sinatra's son.

And now he's gone. From NY PBO code 41 it looks like the Lege has the ball. What could possibly go wrong?

Good thing Cuomo reined in those rogue Democrats, I'm sure they'll keep their word and not appoint a Republican who will drop all Trump investiagtions or anything.

52 That's awful but is it ok that all I can think about is how this affects the Muller investigation and hope it doesn't derail it?

I only know of one Grimes: Frank Grimes. And maybe that guy from Quantum Leap, maybe? There was another tv Grimes somewhere, I'm sure of it.

You'd think after Eliot Spitzer, people would know that you shouldn't take a high profile job, especially in NY, if you don't have an extraordinarily clean past. Or are a Republican.

Also, who the fuck is "Junot"? The man's name is Diaz.

Ok, looked it up. The other Grimes I was thinking of is a Dean Stockwell role, but in To Live and Die in L.A.

Grimes is great (musically). I recommend Oblivion and Kill v Maim.

Fun suggestions for NYAG replacements- Preet Bharara, or... HRC.

And as long as this is the early week WTF news thread, that Georgie seems like a nice man:

George Zimmerman text to his latest alleged victim: "I know how to handle people who fuc* with me. I have since February of 2012" -- the month he killed Trayvon Martin, according to police report.

I only know of one Grimes: Peter Grimes, the opera by Benjamin Britten, which is great (musically).

Tammy Grimes?
John Grimes? (obscure SF reference)

Grimes and Musk are like the flip side of Brad Pitt and Neri Oxman.

Grime and Musk would be a good name for a men's cologne. So close!

Good couple portmanteau too: Mimes. Or Grusk, I suppose.

The choice would depend on the desired D/s configuration.

Grimes is great (musically).

I autocorrected this to "grime", but this is not so.

The timing on the NYAG thing isn't bad -- there's a Democratic primary 9/13. Schneiderman would have been unopposed, but I think there's time to get candidates in place for it. And then the election in the fall. For now, Barbara Underwood, the Solicitor General, will be running things, and I don't think an interim appointee will have time to do much damage.

That's really late in the year for a primary, isn't it?

Anyway, our primary is next week. I think I'm just going to vote for the incumbent for the Lt. Gov. nomination because that seems like the best way to win the general.

75: Everyone hates him, though. He's the worst. He's an idiot who has abused his office.

On the other hand, i don't really know the other three, and I think Fetterman is a faux-progressive who is more concerned with bolstering his credentials than working for systemic change. He really did not impress me at the DSA electoral meeting last year. But Lt Gov is mostly a bully pulpit so maybe he'll be able to do good with it?

68: TWYRCL played on a recording of PG for the Britten Foundation a couple of summers ago.

76: Then somebody should figure out which of the other two I should vote for.

Stormcrow?

Does anybody know who I should vote for in the Ohio 12th District? I think there are 7 Democrats running. How am I supposed to choose?

Kevin Bacon is running as a Republican in that race.

81: If I vote for him does that make me only one degree of separation away?

I'm leaning towards Ahmad. Anyway, first past the post is such an awful system in primaries like these. I have no idea if I'd be throwing away my vote or not.

If I knew I was throwing away my vote, I think I'd feel better about not bothering to look into it.

I think Ahmad. The LWV voter guide is annoying me because 2 of the 3 questions were on non-partisan redistricting and voter access, both of which are "easy" ones for Dems. It's a pretty BS job.

Thank you. I don't get the Left Wing Voter guide. Is there a sign-up?

I guess I better figure out what the ballot issues are.

Anyway, it looks like the answer to the question of "How many West Virginians can you kill and still win an election there?" is "less than 29."

I guess lying about having taken an internal poll to change the news cycle is cheaper than taking an internal poll.

Essential Consultants, Unlimited Liability Company.

Not knowing that much about the political geography of WV, I'm surprised there's such a clear divide between Jenkins in the south and Morrisey in the north. Morrisey seems to be from the eastern Panhandle--he's a DC lobbyist who barely lived in the state before become attorney general, while Jenkins is a good old boy from Huntington. Still, that doesn't seem enough to explain the hard boundary.

I guess Cocaine Mitch deserves a few lines in celebration.

As of right now, 1,402 people voted for Blankenship in Raleigh County, site of the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, giving him second place there and 23.8% of the total vote. That's above the statewide average, reflecting a trend that he seemed to do better in coal-producing regions. Huh.

Mitch has made it clear: don't mess with big cocaine.

That's real? I saw it before, but I thought it was a joke.

That appears to be McConnell's real (campaign) Twitter account, at least.

How hard would it be to photoshop some white powder around the rim of his nostril?

93: I would guess there's a lot of social pressure to vote for the interests of mine owners, despite the anonymity of the ballot box.

I know Ahmad personally and think highly of her, but I admit to being mystified as to why she went after the Lt Gov role. It seems pretty empty to me.

I would much rather have seen her in Congress, but I guess after the redistricting happened there must have been some backroom horsetrading among the establishment Dems about who was "allowed" to compete for which seats. Or maybe I'm just assuming there was because PA is so corrupt. Sigh.

99: You're probably right. Would she be in PA-2 or PA-3? In either case, she'd be essentially primarying incumbents. At least Lieutenant Governor is visible and, as I said before, a bully pulpit.

Anyway, you thinking highly of her is enough of an endorsement for me.

I would guess there's a lot of social pressure to vote for the interests of mine owners

Also, don't forget that "doing well in coal-producing regions" doesn't necessarily mean "doing well with actual coal miners". Most people in a coal-mining town won't be miners. Maybe non-miners in West Virginia just can't stand miners and are voting for the guy who's killed the most miners.

Grimes: Tiny Grimes.

Who played with Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and had his novelty RnB 'Scottish' themed band, the Rocking Highlanders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR1sM8xqH50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlRvazf3_7k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVwQps3R7T0

Grimes : Tiny Grimes :: ??? : Tinie Tempah

Forgot about Tiny. Brilliant and underrated. Now listening to him jamming a blues with Coleman Hawkins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p51MT5OMw-I

101: That's not stupid enough for reality.

105: He kill my mother, he kill my father, I vote for him.

The worst part of it all is that it was (mostly) Pennsylvania natural gas that killed coal in the whole region. Republicans made sure the natural gas drillers didn't even pay taxes. But it's still the Democrats fault because reasons.

At least I got a cheap heating bill out of it.