Abortions Rights Aren’t Optional for Democrats — There’s No Economic Justice Without Abortion Rights

In spite of this, even some on the self-proclaimed socialist left, like Sanders, now seem willing to sell out abortion rights in pursuit of the elusive vote of the working-class white man. There’s no evidence that moving right on abortion will gain Democratic votes. But it’s an appeal to the same dynamic Trump ran on: a bygone America, the symbol of which is the white factory man, able to support his children and a stay-at-home wife on the salary he earned doing good honest work with his hands.

Safe, legal abortion and modern, reliable contraception made it easier for women to pursue education and work; it let us delay childbearing and to choose our marital mates more carefully, and enabled us to leave bad relationships more easily or avoid them entirely; it let us compete with men. Which is a big part of why it’s such a divisive and animating issue, both for the women who are thriving because of the freedom contraception and abortion offer, and for the traditionalists who think life was better when gender roles were clearer and women knew their place (and it wasn’t in the corner office or on the factory floor).

Many of the white voters who support Trump do so him precisely because he suggests to them that he’ll put white men back on top. If Democrats do the same, they’ll only be able to peel off some of these voters — many are simply GOP loyalists who aren’t going to be swayed — and they’ll alienate their base, which remains a multiracial and disproportionately female coalition, while they sell their souls.

Abortions Rights Aren’t Optional for Democrats — There’s No Economic Justice Without Abortion Rights

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Why Women Are So Angry with Sanders 

When Sanders repeatedly declared that “identity politics” were a problem, he exposed a dangerous weakness in progressive political thought that remains unaddressed. …To separate class from gender, race, sexuality, and ability in fighting for economic justice is to create a fiction that economic injustice is only driven by one kind of social injustice– the kind that able-bodied cishet white men experience. It’s a dangerous fiction that at its heart reinforces patriarchal white supremacy, and it’s becoming all the more dangerous as we fight against an administration and its attendant political movement that wants nothing more than to roll back as many social justice gains as possible.

Why Women Are So Angry with Sanders | Bitter Gertrude

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Mark Warner: More state election systems were targeted by Russians

The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence panel told USA TODAY that Russian attacks on election systems were broader and targeted more states than those detailed in an explosive intelligence report leaked to the website The Intercept.

…The National Security Agency report said Russian military intelligence executed a cyber-attack on at least one U.S. supplier of voting software and sent deceptive emails to more than 100 local election officials in the days leading up to the election last November — a sign that Moscow’s hacking may have penetrated further into voting systems than previously known.

Mark Warner: More state election systems were targeted by Russians

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New research on role of sexism in 2016 election.

The MSS attempts to test for resentment toward women through questions about feminism and women in the workplace. Here are the five statements from the MSS that the Blair Center Poll asked its sample to assess:

  • Many women are actually seeking special favors, such as hiring policies that favor them over men, under the guise of asking for “equality.”
  • Most women interpret innocent remarks or acts as being sexist.
  • Feminists are seeking for women to have more power than men.
  • When women lose to men in a fair competition, they typically complain about being discriminated against.
  • Discrimination against women is no longer a problem in the United States.

…fewer Sanders primary voters than Clinton primary voters were “sexist,” according to the scale. But when the general election came around, a model that used the Modern Sexism score was “highly significant” in predicting the 25 percent of Sanders voters who did not swing to Clinton. 

…In the general election, a high Modern Sexism score was very predictive of a decision not to vote for Clinton. …Among almost all the subgroups of voters in the sample, being “sexist,” according to the scale, moved you away from a Hillary vote. (Latinas and black Americans of both sexes didn’t seem influenced by their sexism scores in casting their votes.) So even controlling for all other variables, the researchers found that a Republican man who is strongly sexist had only a 10 percent chance of voting for a woman.

…“The GOP became this anti-feminist party under Reagan to chase votes in the South,” says Maxwell, who is working on a book on the way race, gender, and religion worked together to form the Republicans’ Southern Strategy. While appealing to white male voters via race-baiting, the GOP also “decided to drop the Equal Rights Amendment from their platform. They cultivated this patriarchal culture, they demonized feminists. And now in 2016, these numbers are like—we don’t see partisan gaps like that on a lot of things.”

New research on role of sexism in 2016 election.

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I’m a 90 year-old woman who has lived in Israel for 50 years – here is what I think about Israeli settlements 

It took decades for the immorality of occupation to sink in. In 1967, my husband was a military man. We were posted  abroad when the war was won and the fabric of the still infant Israel changed, perhaps irreversibly. When we came home in 1968, the mood was victorious and we thought it was marvellous. We were truly blind to what was happening.

I’m a 90 year-old woman who has lived in Israel for 50 years – here is what I think about Israeli settlements | The Independent

sigh…

Historic abdication law overshadowed by female succession debate in Japan 

The conversation around Emperor Akihitos’ decision to step down has more recently been dominated by the debate on the role women play in the world’s oldest hereditary monarchy.

…Imperial law decrees that sitting emperors cannot resign from their posts, but the one-off bill permits the 83-year-old to pass the Chrysanthemum Throne to Crown Prince Naruhito, the eldest of his three children.

…Added to the abdication bill is a resolution that potentially questions whether women who marry outside the family have to rescind their royal rights.

…In addition to Princess Mako, there are six other unmarried princesses who could lose their imperial status if they marry commoners, raising the possibility that the royal family will soon not have enough members to carry out its public duties.

Conservatives maintain a change of this ilk could lead to the advent of female succession, unthinkable to some of Japan’s traditionalists.

Historic abdication law overshadowed by female succession debate in Japan – CNN.com

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Qatar crisis: The deep diplomatic tensions behind the row 

How regional rivalries and mistrust lie beneath the current tension in the Gulf.

…The underlying tensions between Qatar and three of her Gulf neighbours in particular have been visible for two decades.

…the emir of Qatar pursues a series of policies which simply don’t fit into the rigid orthodoxy expected by most of the others, notably Saudi Arabia, the superpower of Sunni Islam.

His unconventional foreign policy is seen as a threat to Sunni solidarity, particularly because the emir and his ministers promote dialogue and a search for good relations with the rival regional superpower, Shia Muslim Iran.

…the single most powerful motive behind the blockade may be a quite different one: the desire to rein in, or even to close down, one of the emir of Qatar’s most cherished projects – the global television news channels of Al-Jazeera.

He sees Al-Jazeera as an agent of positive change across the Arab world, opening up political debate, reporting on the challenges from ordinary people from the street, so evident during the “Arab Spring”.

…Several member states of the Arab League have lined up behind the anti-Qatar campaign. Equally, both Turkey and Russia are consolidating their positions as friends to Qatar.

Qatar crisis: The deep diplomatic tensions behind the row – BBC News

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How will tourists get to New Hampshire? 

So how does one get to a New Hampshire tourist destination? You can rent a car.

…So many of the tourists coming into Boston are from countries that have spent billions on public transportation. Many of these people do not even own a car. How does one attract these tourists?

How will tourists get to New Hampshire? – New Hampshire Business Review – June 9 2017

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Ben Carson calls poverty ‘state of mind’ in interview 

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said in an interview Wednesday that having “the wrong mindset” contributes to poverty.

“I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind,” the retired neurosurgeon said during an interview with SiriusXM Radio released on Wednesday evening. “You take somebody that has the right mindset, you can take everything from them and put them on the street, and I guarantee in a little while they’ll be right back up there. And you take somebody with the wrong mindset, you could give them everything in the world, they’ll work their way right back down to the bottom.”

Ben Carson calls poverty ‘state of mind’ in interview – CNNPolitics.com

Ben Carson is an idiot.

Hillary Clinton Traveled For 401 Days As Sec. of State. Trump Couldn’t Last 2 Days As President

Hillary Clinton traveled overseas for 401 days as Secretary of State. Donald Trump had to cancel appearances two days into a nine-day foreign trip because he was exhausted. 78,000 Americans in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan got conned into electing a man president who has less stamina than Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Clinton Traveled For 401 Days As Sec. of State. Trump Couldn’t Last 2 Days As President

Heh

Shan S. Tsutsui | Farm to School Initiative

Across the nation, farm to school programs are reconnecting students to a better understanding of the food system and where their food comes from. Farm to school programs introduce students to healthier eating habits and help them become familiar with new vegetables and fruits that they and their families will then be more willing to incorporate into their own diets.

The goal of the Farm to School Initiative is to address the supply and demand issues surrounding the purchasing of local food for our State school cafeterias. The Initiative also aims to systematically increase State purchasing of local food for our school menus as well as connect our keiki* with the aina* through their food, using products from the local agricultural community.

Shan S. Tsutsui | Farm to School Initiative

Very cool.

*Hawaiian translation for all you mainlanders*
keiki = children
aina = land

Ancient Aztec temple, ball court found in Mexico City

A giant temple to the Aztec god of the wind and a court where the Aztecs played a deadly ball game have been discovered in the heart of Mexico City. Archaeologists unveiled the rare finds Wednesday after extensive excavations, giving journalists a tour of the semi-circular temple of Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl and nearby ball court.

Records indicate that Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes first watched the ritual Aztec ball game at the court in 1528, invited by the last Aztec emperor, Montezuma — the man whose empire he went on to conquer.

Ancient Aztec temple, ball court found in Mexico City

cool

Many prisons make bad people worse. 

Reserving prison for the worst offenders has hefty benefits. First, it saves money. In America, for example, incarcerating a federal convict costs eight times as much as putting the same convict on probation. Second, it avoids mixing minor offenders with more hardened criminals, who will teach them bad habits.

…Rehabilitation programmes that focus on factors other than crime, such as creative abilities, physical conditioning and self-esteem do not reduce criminal behaviour, argues Edward Latessa of the University of Cincinnati. Boot camps are especially ineffective: they foster aggression and bond criminals together.

Too many prisons make bad people worse. There is a better way

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