Category: Media and Culture,

Anne Frank’s stepsister meets the teens who partied with a swastika

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,Leave a comment

“I was very keen and willing to come and speak and hear from the children themselves why they were able to do anything like that, being so, so hurtful to millions of other people.”

She was surprised to hear their answer: They didn’t know what their actions meant. Not the swastika. Not the Hitler salute.

At least one student from the school told the Los Angeles Times they had just learned about the Holocaust in school last month, at least in her history class, watching graphic videos of concentration camps like the one Schloss was in.

But Schloss said even if the lessons had been given, the children had not fully understood or internalized the horror of the camps that she survived and the broader Holocaust that killed 6 million Jews.

…She said she noticed “some had tears in their eyes. They didn’t realize the impact. They were very sorry.”

…the prevalence of Nazi imagery and ideology on social media can be desensitizing for others, said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University.

“What disturbs me the most about some of these photos and videos is how relaxed these people are at parroting the most bigoted views that we used to see really parroted at places like skinhead rallies,” he told CNN.

Anne Frank’s stepsister meets the teens who partied with a swastika – CNN

hmmmm

Judge cites Ruth Bader Ginsburg, rules against men-only draft.

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Military,Leave a comment

Nearly 23 years ago, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg issued a landmark decision invalidating the Virginia Military Institute’s exclusion of women as a violation of equal protection. The ruling in United States v. Virginia compelled the United States’ last all-male public university to accept women, who quickly proved themselves to be worthy cadets. But as every adult man in the U.S. knows, sex discrimination in military service remains: Upon their 18th birthday, American men must register for the selective service, while women are exempt. How, almost 23 years after the VMI decision, can this flagrant inequality persist?

On Friday, a federal judge in Texas provided an answer: It can’t. In a brief but emphatic decision, U.S. District Judge Gray H. Miller ruled that the Selective Service System may not constitutionally direct men to register as part of its draft requirements while excluding women. Miller’s decision closely tracks Ginsburg’s gradual development of the law toward ever-greater gender equality. While the outcome might seem startling, the logic is carefully anchored in precedent. It would be difficult if not impossible for the Supreme Court to reverse Miller’s ruling without simultaneously eroding decades of sex discrimination jurisprudence. Under any plausible interpretation of today’s equal protection principles, the men-only selective service has got to go.

Judge cites Ruth Bader Ginsburg, rules against men-only draft.

hmmmmm

Constance Wu, Ava DuVernay and Jessica Chastain Talk Time’s Up Entertainment and Equal Pay

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

“Diversity isn’t just ‘Let’s have people of color supporting this white person’s story,’” Wu says, adding it’s a distinction she finds herself explaining repeatedly in Hollywood. 

…“What he was saying was such bullshit. If you want to talk about whether or not an Asian person, or a person of color, or a trans person can open a studio movie, you can’t argue, ‘That’s not going to sell!’ because you’ve never done it before!” [Wu] takes a breath, then continues. “I think he thought because I’m a female actor and he’s super high-powered that I would try to make nice. But I don’t give a fuck.”

…“People say women are inherently bitchy and competitive. But anybody will be competitive if there’s only one seat at the table.” 

…“I didn’t have any dreams or designs that a studio would want to make my work, that any awards body or critical community would embrace my work.” DuVernay chose to use this bias as an asset: “In many ways, that lack of attention put me in a really good place. No one’s going to watch it anyway, so I may as well make what I want.”

…“I’ve had people tell me, ‘You need to be a little more quiet with all this woman talk,’” Chastain admits, laughing, adding she has no interest in perpetuating damaging sexist tropes about what women should be and do, on- or off-screen. Her dedication to leveling the field extends to crew and head-of-department hires, adjustments that have real-world implications and puncture the oft-repeated lie that filling those jobs with women is “too hard.”

“I agree there are not as many women as men that have the same experience, but that’s because, in the past, women have been actively discriminated against. Male directors who had their first film in Sundance, their next offer is a huge action movie. Women haven’t been given those opportunities, and we need to ask why.”

…When asked how she freed herself from the approval matrix, Chastain pauses a beat.

“That’s a hard question because I don’t know that it was even something that I was aware of until I stopped doing it. All of a sudden, I realized, I feel really happy. Why is that? And it was because I was caring less about what others think of me.”

…“I learned it’s impossible to make everybody happy. At the end of the day, just do stuff that you’re proud of and don’t be an asshole.”

Constance Wu, Ava DuVernay and Jessica Chastain Talk Time’s Up Entertainment and Equal Pay

hmmmm

NEA Today: Here’s What Happens When High School Starts Later in the Day

On By peanutgallerynhIn Modern Parenting,, Schools,Leave a comment

In 2016, Seattle public schools changed the starting bell from 7:50 am to 8:45 am.

By providing a group of sophomore biology students at each school with sleep-tracking watches and a daily sleep diary, the researchers collected the data two weeks prior to the schedule change and two weeks after. They found that the students on average gained an extra 34 minutes of sleep.

Following the later start time, students were also more alert and engaged in class, absences and tardiness decreased, and final grades increased by 4.5 percent.

Starting school later also helped students combat the symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation, such as fatigue, depression, and memory and cognition impairment.

…Low-income students make up almost two-thirds of the population at Franklin High, compared with only 12 percent over at Roosevelt High. Although Roosevelt’s students experienced little change after the hour setback, Franklin students’ tardiness and first-period absences dropped to levels similar to Roosevelt’s students.

…The task force’s report also pointed out districts would likely save money on programs for disciplinary actions, school health clinics, counseling, and class failures. Students are less likely to need these programs when they get more sleep.

Here’s What Happens When School Starts Later – NEA Today

hmmmm

Study By MIT Economist: U.S. Has Regressed To A Third-World Nation For Most Of Its Citizens

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Temin applied W. Arthur Lewis’s economic model – designed to understand the workings of developing countries – to the United States in an effort to document how inequality has grown in America.

…In the Lewis model of a dual economy, much of the low-wage sector has little influence over public policy. Check*. The high-income sector will keep wages down in the other sector to provide cheap labor for its businesses.* Check*. Social control is used to keep the low-wage sector from challenging the policies favored by the high-income sector.* Mass incarceration – check*. The primary goal of the richest members of the high-income sector is to lower taxes.* Check*. Social and economic mobility is low.* Check*.*

Temin describes multiple contributing factors in the nation’s arrival at this place, from exchanging the War on Poverty for the War on Drugs to money in politics and systemic racism. He outlines the ways in which racial prejudice continues to lurk below the surface, allowing politicians to appeal to the age old “desire to preserve the inferior status of blacks”, encouraging white low-wage workers to accept their lesser place in society.

Study By MIT Economist: U.S. Has Regressed To A Third-World Nation For Most Of Its Citizens – The Intellectualist

hmmmm

Ken Jennings on Twitter: “I’ve said this before but Alex Trebek is in a way the last Cronkite: authoritative, reassuring TV voice you hear every night, almost to the point of ritual.”

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

Ken Jennings on Twitter: “I’ve said this before but Alex Trebek is in a way the last Cronkite: authoritative, reassuring TV voice you hear every night, almost to the point of ritual.”

Awwwww

Why Can’t the United States Build a High-Speed Rail System?

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Infrastructure and Transportation,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

What’s missing is a federal commitment to a well-funded national rail plan. Instead, we have a political system in which the federal government, having devolved virtually all decision-making power to states, cannot prioritize one project over another in the national interest. We have a funding system that encourages study after study of unfundable or unbuildable projects in places that refuse to commit their own resources. And we have a bureaucracy that, having never operated or constructed modern intercity rail, doesn’t understand what it takes. This helter-skelter approach to transportation improvements is fundamentally incapable of supporting large-expenditure, long-range projects like high-speed rail.

This wasn’t always the case. In 1956, Congress approved a significant increase in the federal gas tax, and with it a national plan for interstate highways. That plan, which included a steady stream of funding and a clear map of national priorities, was mostly completed over the next three decades. Though implemented by states, highway alignments were chosen at the national level, with the intention of connecting the largest cities, regardless of political boundaries. Funding came almost entirely (90 percent) from the national government and was guaranteed as long as a route was on the national map. Physical requirements for roadways were mandated at the national level and universally applied. And construction was completed by state departments of transportation that were technically knowledgeable, accustomed to building such public works, and able to make decisions about how to move forward.

…Intercity transportation systems require active federal engagement to guarantee the development of routes that reflect national needs and national priorities.

Why Can’t the United States Build a High-Speed Rail System? – CityLab

hmmm

Internal Investigation Launched After Officer Detains Man Picking Up Trash Outside His Home

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Race,Leave a comment

A police officer can be seen standing a short distance away from the man. The man can be heard shouting, “You’re on my property with a gun in your hand, threatening to shoot me, because I’m picking up trash.”

“I don’t have a weapon!” the man yells at the officer. “This is a bucket. This is a clamp.”

“I’m not sitting down and you can’t make me,” the man can be heard saying as more officers approach with their sirens on. “This is my property, this is my house, I live here.”

…The man counts out eight [emphasis: peanut gallery] police officers.

Internal Investigation Launched After Officer Detains Man Picking Up Trash Outside His Home – CBS Denver

sigh…

How the Koch Brothers Are Killing Public Transit Projects Around the Country

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Infrastructure and Transportation,, Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

The group, the local chapter for Americans for Prosperity, which is financed by the oil billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch to advance conservative causes, fanned out and began strategically knocking on doors. Their targets: voters most likely to oppose a local plan to build light-rail trains, a traffic-easing tunnel and new bus routes.

…At the heart of their effort is a network of activists who use a sophisticated data service built by the Kochs, called i360, that helps them identify and rally voters who are inclined to their worldview. It is a particularly powerful version of the technologies used by major political parties.

…i360, the Kochs’ data operation, …profiles Americans based on their voter registration information, consumer data and social media activities. The canvassers divided the neighborhoods into “walkbooks,” or clusters of several dozen homes, and broke into teams of two.

There are rules: No more than two people at a door (to avoid appearing threatening). No stepping on lawns (homeowners don’t like it). And focus strictly on the registered voter. If anyone else answers, say a polite “thanks” and move on.

…Their data zeroed in on people thought to be anti-tax or anti-transit and likely to vote.

…Supporters of transit investments point to research that shows that they reduce traffic, spur economic development and fight global warming by reducing emissions. Americans for Prosperity counters that public transit plans waste taxpayer money on unpopular, outdated technology like trains and buses just as the world is moving toward cleaner, driverless vehicles.

Most American cities do not have the population density to support mass transit, the group says. It also asserts that transit brings unwanted gentrification to some areas, while failing to reach others altogether.

Public transit, Americans for Prosperity says, goes against the liberties that Americans hold dear.

…Another weapon in the Koch arsenal is Randal O’Toole, a transit expertat the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington that Charles Koch helped found in the 1970s. Declaring transit “dead” and streetcars “a scam,” he has become a go-to expert for anti-transit groups.

…One of the mainstay companies of Koch Industries, the Kochs’ conglomerate, is a major producer of gasoline and asphalt, and also makes seatbelts, tires and other automotive parts. Even as Americans for Prosperity opposes public investment in transit, it supports spending tax money on highways and roads.

“Stopping higher taxes is their rallying cry,” said Ashley Robbins, a researcher at Virginia Tech who follows transportation funding. “But at the end of the day, fuel consumption helps them.”

…Americans for Prosperity and other Koch-backed groups have also opposed more than two dozen other transit-related measures — including many states’ bids to raise gas taxes to fund transit or transportation infrastructure — by organizing phone banks, running advertising campaigns, staging public forums, issuing reports and writing opinion pieces in local publications.

…The paucity of federal funding for transit projects means that local ballots are critical in shaping how Americans travel, with decades-long repercussions for the economy and the environment.

…The scale of the Kochs’ anti-transit spending is difficult to gauge at the local level, because campaign finance disclosure standards vary among municipalities. But at the state and national level, the picture gets clearer.

Last year Americans for Prosperity spent $711,000 on lobbying for various issues, a near 1,000-fold increase since 2011, when it spent $856. Overall, the group has spent almost $4 million on state-level lobbying the past seven years, according to disclosures compiled by the National Institute on Money in State Politics, a nonpartisannonprofit that tracks political spending.

…In Indiana, it marshaled opposition to a 2017 Republican gas-tax plan meant to raise roughly a billion dollars to invest in local buses and other projects. In New Jersey, the group ran an ad against a proposed gas-tax increase in 2016 that showed a father giving away his baby’s milk bottle, and also Sparky the family dog, to pay for transit improvements among other things. “Save Sparky,” the ad implores.

In Nashville, Americans for Prosperity played a major role: organizing door-to-door canvassing teams using iPads running the i360 software. Those in-kind contributions can be difficult to measure. According to A.F.P.’s campaign finance disclosure, the group made only one contribution, of $4,744, to the campaign for “canvassing expenses.”

How the Koch Brothers Are Killing Public Transit Projects Around the Country – The New York Times

hmmmm

The Double Standard In The Ilhan Omar Controversy

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Middle East,, Religion,Leave a comment

Were the Republicans denouncing Omar even sincerely opposed to anti-Semitism, they would not support Donald Trump. Trump, after all, in 2013 tweeted that “I’m much smarter than Jonathan Leibowitz—I mean Jon Stewart.”

He ran for president on a slogan laden with anti-Semitic associations from the 1930s: “America First.” In 2015 he told a Jewish audience that “You’re not gonna support me because I don’t want your money… you don’t want to give me money, but that’s ok, you want to control your own politicians that’s fine.”

In 2016 he retweeted an image of Hillary Clinton surrounded by money and a Jewish star. He closed his presidential campaign with an ad that showed three Jews—Janet Yellen, Lloyd Blankfein and George Soros—alongside language about “global special interests” that “control the levers of power in Washington.”

In 2017, he said there were “very fine people” among the neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville. And in 2018, his racist fear mongering about a caravan of Central American migrants provoked a Pittsburgh man to commit the worst anti-Semitic atrocity in American history. Unlike Omar, he has not apologized for any of this.

If you denounce Ilhan Omar but support Donald Trump, you don’t really oppose bigotry. You don’t even really oppose anti-Semitism. What you oppose is criticism of Israel. That’s the real reason Republicans are so much more outraged by Omar’s tweets than by Trump’s. They’re not trying to police bigotry or even anti-Semitism. They’re using anti-Semitism to police the American debate about Israel.

The Sick Double Standard In The Ilhan Omar Controversy – The Forward

hmmm

Plastic Mardi Gras Beads Could Soon Be A Thing Of The Past

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Media and Culture,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

His discovery — that algae processed in a centrifuge could form a biodegradable, plastic-like material — was actually a mistake. A lab student tasked with processing algae samples in a centrifuge and then placing them in a freezer forgot to freeze the algae one night.

…Kato’s algae-based beads break down naturally over one to two years, while plastic beads can last for dozens or hundreds. Two years is a sweet spot in terms of shelf life, he said, because “you don’t want to have beads that melt on your hands or in the rain.” The lifespan of these beads may change, depending on what kind of chemicals he uses to add colors that can match the allure of bright conventional Mardi Gras beads. He said he’s still figuring out this aspect of production.

Plastic Mardi Gras Beads Could Soon Be A Thing Of The Past | HuffPost

hmmm

Behind the Zulu blackface flap: liberal guilt, clueless outsiders

On By peanutgallerynhIn Gulf Coast Region,, Media and Culture,, Race,Leave a comment

It’s not like it’s hard to find racism in the history and present practice of Mardi Gras. Just tune in to WYES on Mardi Gras night and watch the “public TV” station’s obsequious fawning over the king of white supremacy, a.k.a. Comus, in his very white mask, at “The Meeting of the Courts.” Get mad about the captains in Ku Klux Klan outfits in all the old-line parades on St. Charles Avenue. Never accept a throw from Proteus. Think twice about watching the Knights of Chaos parade, or Krewe d’Etat and, if you do, bear in mind how closely their satire echoes the spirit of old-line krewes that, in their glory days, led the fight to drown Reconstruction in a shower of blood. But if you’re looking for racism among the white riders of Zulu, you obviously have no clue what’s racist and what’s not in the universe of carnival.

I saw a great sign in the Société de Ste. Anne procession on Mardi Gras day this year. It said, “This Parade Fights Fascism.” Yes, and it does so by inverting and puncturing the prevailing ideological categories of domination. That’s exactly what Zulu is doing by putting black riders and their white allies together in an inverted version of a tool designed for racial oppression.

I realize that the vast majority of Americans have no idea what carnival is, or how to read carnival messages, and that’s OK. But maybe well-meaning liberal observers should take a page from their own playbook and not comment on cultures that they have no exposure to or appreciation for.

Behind the Zulu blackface flap: liberal guilt, clueless outsiders | The Lens

hmmmm

Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, Inc.

On By peanutgallerynhIn Gulf Coast Region,, Media and Culture,, Race,Leave a comment

Full Script – Official Press Release : NEW ORLEANS (2/13/19) – “Blackface” minstrelsy was a racist and vile form of entertainment popular from the 1820’s through the 1960’s. “Blackface” minstrel shows attempted to mimic enslaved Africans on Southern plantations and depicted black people as lazy, ignorant, and cowardly. In fact, one of the most popular “blackface” minstrelsy characters in America was “Jim Crow” – the inspiration for the harsh and oppressive laws that terrorized Southern blacks decades later. “Blackface” minstrel performances were intended to be funny to white audiences and hurtful to the black community.

Unfortunately, some ignorant people continue to costume in “blackface” minstrelsy through today. Shocking photographs periodically come to light exposing the fact that even some of our most respected citizens still engage in this racist behavior. Recent photographs showing certain high-profile individuals dressed as “blackface” minstrels reveal their hateful intent to demean, disrespect, discount, and demoralize African-Americans. The backlash to their conduct has thankfully been severe and the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, Inc. joins with countless others in condemning this behavior.

Blackface_Virginia Miltary Institute image
Unfortunately, the offensive conduct of these individuals might cause some to confuse those racist actions with our rich history and traditions – which include wearing black makeup during the Zulu parade. Those who incorrectly compare our use of black makeup to “blackface” minstrelsy can first look to our name to dispel that notion. Unlike minstrelsy, which was designed to ridicule and mock black people, the founders of our Social Aid & Pleasure Club chose the name “Zulu” to honor their African ancestry and the continent’s most fierce warriors. (The South African Zulu tribe, using vastly inferior weapons, defeated the British Army in 1879 in the Battle of Isandlwana handing Britain their worst defeat in history.) Zulu parade costumes bear no resemblance to the costumes worn by “blackface” minstrel performers at the turn of the century. Zulu parade costumes more closely resemble and are designed to honor garments worn by South African Zulu warriors.

Z ulu Warriors
Most importantly, the history of Zulu makes it abundantly clear that nothing about the organization, including the black makeup, was never intended to insult or degrade African-Americans. To the contrary, Zulu has always been about celebrating African and African-American culture, strength, and pride. After the Civil War, formerly enslaved Africans were left financially crippled. Unable to afford the cost of funerals, illness, and other necessitous circumstances, blacks formed their own societies or Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs which held social events to raise money for needy members. Following the lead of Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs, a group of African-American workers began to gather near their “uptown backatown” homes around 1901. These men formally organized into a benevolent society they named “The Tramps.” The Tramps held informal parades and parties at Carnival time. In 1909, a traveling black theatrical company brought a very popular comedy show, “Smart Set” to the Pythian Theater. The Smart Set contained musical numbers set in a Zulu village. The visual of strong Zulu warriors, with their grass skirts and spears inspired a member of the Tramps, John L. Metoyer. Metoyer embraced that visual and organized about fifty men to form the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club. These “Zulus” paraded the following Mardi Gras in 1910. “Masking” is a central part of Mardi Gras. The financial and legal constraints on blacks in the Post-Reconstruction South made makeup (and not masks) the only option available to Zulu members at that time.

In conclusion, Loyola University New Orleans Professor C.W. Cannon has offered insightful commentary on and historical context for Zulu and its tradition of masking by using black makeup stating:

“It’s hard to measure the scope of Zulu’s influence on what the Times-Picayune’s Doug MacCash has called the “new” Mardi Gras, and on what I have called the restoration of carnivalesque carnival, after the dark ages of the white supremacist anti-carnival ushered in by the (formerly and currently segregated Krewes). It’s a remarkable testament to the resilience of carnival spirit that, in the midst of the white supremacist era . . . the Zulu king first stepped off a banana boat in the New Basin canal wearing a lard can crown. The date: 1909. That’s why it’s so upsetting — also a bit absurd — when people who have no understanding or appreciation for carnival aesthetics and social analysis chime in from hundreds of miles away with self-righteous finger-wagging. What they’re about is shaming traditions that are far more revolutionary than they are able to comprehend . . . “Zulu blackface”, the style of blackface worn by Zulu riders, is distinct from other forms of blackface viewed as offensive due to their history as a tool of white supremacist ideology . . . It calls into question the extent to which black people should be allowed agency in representing their own experience; it also places limits on how black people themselves choose to enunciate anti-racist arguments. In the best traditions of carnivalesque practice, Zulu has expropriated racist representations and inverted them as a form of anti-racist resistance. Those who say people shouldn’t try to do that kind of thing just don’t get what carnival is. Maybe because it’s not part of their culture. But it is a part of ours.”

* C.W. Cannon, Behind the Zulu blackface flap: liberal guilt, clueless outsiders , The Lens (March 10, 2017).

Col. Clarence A. Becknell, Sr.
Dir. Public Relations/Historian,Emeritus
Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, Inc

Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, Inc. – All yer mates scrawls

hmmmm