Hey, Mom! The Explanation.

Here's the permanent dedicated link to my first Hey, Mom! post and the explanation of the feature it contains.

Saturday, June 27, 2020

A Sense of Doubt blog post #1957 - Wanna be Loved? - Hodge Podge 2006.27

Trump Campaign Rally Tulsa, OK 2006.20
A Sense of Doubt blog post #1957 - Wanna be Loved? - Hodge Podge 2006.27

Greetings reader,

Welcome to the weekly hodge podge, the gallimaufry stew (which is like saying stew stew as gallimaufry means stew, so it's a pleonasm, but I want you to get what I mean) of the things from the week that caught my eye. Lots of Twitter. Seems like every time I go on Twitter, which I do at least once a day to send my blog, I always see something interesting because I follow lots of cool people and way too many people. Some day when I have free time, I am going to narrow down the following to some subject related lists. In fact, I just added more people I follow in a brief look at Twitter and added more Twitter messages (I hate the word "tweet") to this post.

This post has so many different types of content, though this week there's more of the pandemic news than any other stuff, even though there's still a fair amount of content on racism.

The tag line in this week's title comes from BUJU BANTON's song, immortalized in a GIF later on in the HODGE PODGE.

Isn't that topper image wonderful?

We're living in truly historic times on many levels.

There's a short column here from SCALZI on the issue of men behaving badly in SF&F, which includes WARREN ELLIS, and I did skip a day without mentioning him.

It's a great thing to see another wave of intolerance for abuse sweep the world (or at least our little corner) because it's long overdue and inspired, surely, by #BlackLivesMatter. There's a good story on changes to Dungeons and Dragons to remove any racist overtones or messages.

Great image and message below that truly characterizes this "thing" that believes himself to be "president." Call him out. When someone repeatedly shows the emotional maturity and intellect of a toddler, CALL HIM OUT.

With nearly 2.5 million reported cases, the news that there may be and have been at least 20 million cases of COVID-19 is not at all surprising.

We are not testing enough.

And we may perform more tests than any other country in the world, but as a percentage of our population, we still have not tested adequately, unlike other countries.

And we have a "president" who says not just stupid things but dangerously stupid things and then claims he was joking, kind of like how he "joked" about ingesting disinfectant.

Now, he's pandering to his base the nonsense that testing makes us (and he means him) look bad because if we didn't test, we wouldn't have any cases. If we did less testing, then we would have fewer cases. He said at his Tulsa rally (to fewer people than he hoped for, see pic above) that he told his staff to "slow down testing" because he doesn't want our situation to be so blatantly obvious to everyone that he has failed to mobilize the federal government adequately to respond to this pandemic despite his claims to the contrary.

But it's the way in which he describes the testing situation that is so disturbing. It's not that if we didn't test as much, we would have fewer cases. It's if we didn't test as much, we would not KNOW about as many cases as exist. The cases are out there, and the virus is still doing what a virus does: it's spreading. And hot weather does not seem to slow it down.

And so, wear a mask. Stay home as much as possible. When not at home, socially and PHYSICALLY distance from others. And let's ramp up testing and tracing.

But that's not even in the wheelhouse of a president who refuses to wear a mask, takes an unproven drug to prove a point to the country, worries more about his chances for re-election than anything else.



So, it's time to look at the time line of the virus on my blog. See the exponential growth in my weekly images from the Johns Hopkins site.

And it's time to get serious about masks, which do not cause hypoxia, because, DUH, surgeons and med professionals have often or always worn them all day long.

There's a reason that the hash tag #COVIDIOTS has so many posts throughout social media, mainly Twitter.

My new home state of Washington has mandated the wearing of masks in public.



I just ordered my DEVO mask, and I have a PINEAPPLE MAN mask from comic book creator Logan James.

I have collected some truly mind-boggling mask related news.

Like a sheriff in Lewis County who told people trying to comply with governor Inselee's mask regulation not to be "sheep."

It's sad how people keep seeing a basic health precaution, masks, which protects others more than one's self, as an infringement on their personal liberty. It goes to show us all how selfish and narrow minded large numbers of people really are. But thankfully, not everyone.

There's a great story about an anti-mask wearer whose social media post about being asked to wear a mask in a Starbuck's went viral to show what an asshole she is. She even compared the mask regulation to "forced vaccination," so you know that's going to be a thing if we ever do have a vaccine for COVID-19. People will refuse to take it just because of the need let alone what regulations to have one may be ordered. "Don't be a sheep." Really?

I would be okay if just those people died but as they may infect those not yet vaccinated, when this comes to pass, or how the vaccine may protect someone from death but not from getting ill, then, we're in for even more idiotic fights with this population in the near future.

At least, there's Joe Biden, who is a voice of calm, reason, and empathy during this crisis, much like Andrew Cuomo and my own state governor Inselee.



So there's the testing issue and the masks issue along with the people being reckless in how they live their lives as states try to "re-open."

And along our way through the content, there will be random things like the 30th anniversary of Deicide. Or the Michigan woman urging people not to vote for her Dad.

The Harry Potter Parent Trap is both cool as Hell and very disturbing if it is actually real. Leading kids to believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and even the Great Pumpkin is one thing, but the Wizarding World of Harry Potter? It seems like an order of magnitude more upsetting than finding out your parents have always been the Tooth Fairy. Because where's the pay off? And at what age do they tell the child she is NOT a witch and that the world of Harry Potter is all fiction.

So, I wonder what fan resistance will occur when Wizards of the Coast expunges its products of inherent racism?

I just found WEAR YOUR VOICE, and I freaking love it.

And then lots more TWITTER. Loch Ness Monster was trending. That's a gigantic fish!

The boys hugging.

I love Ilhan Omar as well as Kamala Harris, Pramila Jayapal, the AOC (of course), so many great women in government. The Twitter message from the Mail and Guardian has a great picture of Representative Omar. I love it.

And then a cool game, Inhuman Conditions.

Great Pride news. And a dust storm is coming. OOOh, and really good news that law enforcement may NOT be able to use facial recognition software on protesting citizens! That's great news!

This collection is full of goodies. Some news of Mars and very HOT arctic weather here on Earth.
Lots of random and various things ending with three great articles from MEDIUM on race. I am still working to be anti-racist, but I must be on the right track as I have never had to say or chose to say any of the things in that first article. Small victories.

Thanks for tuning in.

Here we go. Enjoy!




https://science.slashdot.org/story/20/06/25/2021217/cdc-coronavirus-may-have-infected-10-times-more-americans-than-known?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed

CDC: Coronavirus May Have Infected 10 Times More Americans Than Known


Posted by BeauHD  from the ongoing-outbreak dept.

Nearly 25 million Americans may have contracted the coronavirus, a figure 10 times higher than the number of confirmed cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday. The Hill reports:In a briefing with reporters Thursday, CDC Director Robert Redfield said surveys of blood samples taken from around the country suggest that millions of Americans may have contracted the virus either without knowing it or with only minimal symptoms. For every one confirmed case, Redfield said, the CDC estimates that 10 more people have been infected. "This virus causes so much asymptomatic infection," Redfield said. "We probably recognized about 10 percent of the outbreak."

Almost 2.4 million Americans have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine. Redfield said the serological surveys of blood samples, collected both for coronavirus tests and for other reasons like blood donations or laboratory tests, showed that between 5 percent and 8 percent of Americans have contracted the virus. Most people who contract the SARS-CoV-2 virus show few if any symptoms, and only a small percentage require hospitalization. But while the number of potentially infected people is multitudes higher than the number of confirmed cases, Redfield also said the relatively low percentage of Americans who have been infected means hundreds of millions more remain at risk.

 Well, OF COURSE!

It should be a no-brainer for anyone with a brain that there are many more cases than we know about because even though by recent estimates the U.S. is performing 500,000 tests a day that's still not enough. Most health experts think we should be performing 5 million tests a day, by now, on our way to as many as 20 million tests a day. And still, we would likely know there are more cases that go unidentified unless all positive cases are isolated and their contacts traced.

Why is this basic science so difficult for people to understand?

More than ever, it is time to look at the path of this virus.

Here's today's graphic:


WEEKLY PANDEMIC REPORT

Anyway, as usual, here's the weekly links to the data about cases (lower than reality) and deaths (lower than reality, also) due to COVID-19.

Data can be found here, as always:

COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU)

This is also a good data site:

Worldometer - Coronavirus info

There's still a pandemic...


This graphic shows the spread and epicenters of previous pandemics for SARS, H1N1, and Ebola. Notice how this map below is so much different than the displays of the spread of COVID-19.


TIMELINE OF COVID-19

Dates in these graphics are in the lower left corner, starting with April 18th through June 20th. Look at these numbers and tell me that this virus is "dwindling" as the so-called "president" has been touting for the last two weeks.











MASK UPDATE - WEAR THE MASK!






LOTS OF COOL MASKS FOR SALE....




buy pandemic products from DEVO

https://www.impactmerch.com/retail/product-category/webstores/devo/

main site: http://www.clubdevo.com/


May 15, 2020

“FREEDOM OF CHOICE IS WHAT YOU GOT. FREEDOM FROM CHOICE IS WHAT YOU WANT”

DEVO, ever canaries in a coalmine, issued that strident warning 40 years ago this month of May 1980 on the title track to our FREEDOM OF CHOICE LP. We were pro-information, anti stupid conformity and knew that the struggle for freedom against tyranny is never-ending.

Here we are 40 years later, living in the alternate reality nightmare spawned by Covid 19 and the botched response of our world “leaders” to do the right thing quickly. We are not exaggerating when we say that 2020 could be the last time you might be able to exercise your freedom of choice. If you don’t use it, you can certainly lose it.

DEVO also introduced the ENERGY DOME in tandem with our 1980 LP. Graphically bold design in aggressive, primary red it became the most iconic symbol of the band’s multi-media mission to spread the idea of Devolution. We explained that once the dome was placed on your head it recycled the electrical energy that regularly escapes from your brain. People of course laughed. Now the dome is no longer a source of controversy or derision. Its popularity is a sort of proof that De-evolution is real!

As you know the Coronavirus pandemic squashed any DEVO 2020 concert plans for the time being. We shall see what happens. In the meantime we know that as the lockdown is eased human interactions at concerts, sporting events, etc. mean that masks are part of our foreseeable future. To that end DEVO will be offering two classic designs for your PPE mask needs. Check our re-launched DEVO store for details.

What? The DEVO store is back? That’s right! Against all odds after unfortunate experiences with some bad actors & pandemic related delays, we are now able to offer cool DEVO stuff to any spud who might want it. In addition to the masks and classic T’s we have a spiffy, clear plastic, DEVO PPS Shield that is designed to attach easily to the DEVO Energy Dome to protect you from invisible microbes and unwanted bodily fluids. Stay safe in devolved style!

Duty Now For The Future,

Gerald Casale of DEVO













https://www.wonkette.com/anti-mask-lady-harassed-starbucks-employee-now-wants-a-piece-of-his-gofundme-action

Anti-Mask Lady Harassed Starbucks Employee, Now Wants A Piece Of His GoFundMe Action

Robyn Pennacchia
June 26, 2020 04:00 PM

Earlier this week, Amber Lynn Gilles had hoped to go viral. She went to a Starbucks in San Diego, which still has a mask ordinance, without a mask. Upon being asked if she had a mask, Gilles flipped out and started calling everyone "sheeple," and then came back and took a picture of Lenin Gutierrez, the employee who asked her if she had a mask, and posted it to Facebook for the purpose, she says, of "calling him out."

"Meet lenen from Starbucks who refused to serve me cause I'm not wearing a mask. Next time I will wait for cops and bring a medical exemption," she wrote, likely imagining all of the "You go girls" and "Burn him as a witch!-es" she was going to get in the comments from supporters.

It ... did not go that way.

Gilles went viral, but she went viral for being an asshole — which was not at all what she had wanted. Lenin, on the other hand, was cheered across the internet as the obvious hero of this ridiculous interaction. Someone even went so far as to set up a GoFundMe for tips for Gutierrez, which has since raised over $44,000. Damn.

Now, Gilles, for reasons no one could possibly discern, is claiming that they should give her some of the money. She also wants to sue the creator of the GoFundMe for "defamation and slander." The entire text of the "Tips for Lenin Standing Up To A San Diego Karen GoFundMe" description, by the way, is:
Raising money for Lenin for his honorable effort standing his ground when faced with a Karen in the wild

Please note that all donations made to this GoFundMe are considered to be personal gifts to Lenin Gutierrez.
Coupled with a screenshot of Gilles's Facebook post. Now, I may not be a simple country lawyer, but I am pretty certain that is neither slander nor defamation.
In a video sent to NBC7 in San Diego, Gilles, a self-identified anti-vaxxer, explains that she never threatened him (no one said she did), and now claims that she is receiving death threats herself.
I never threatened him, I never threatened him, I just called him out on his actions, I never threatened him. And I've received death threats. Thousands. It's very upsetting, it's very scary. [...] I was uh, denied and discriminated against. I didn't harass anyone. I called them out. Because I'm frustrated. Like I said, it starts with coffee but it ends with digital certificates and the Mark of The Beast, all of that, forced vaccinations, and you all know what I'm talking about. You've heard it all.
Well, if we hadn't heard it all before, we certainly have now.

It is unclear what Gilles thought she was calling Gutierrez out for, since there is currently a mandate in San Diego to wear a mask, but to say she never harassed him would be incorrect. She certainly did intend for something to go down. She took a picture of him, she listed the address of the store he worked at, she had some idea of what she thought was going to happen with that. She thought, perhaps, he would be the one shamed. That perhaps, even, he might apologize to her for doing his job and following the city-wide ordinance, unaware that she, as a precious and unique snowflake (and five bucks says an Indigo Child), did not have to wear a mask, like everyone else. That he would feel very sorry for trying to Mark of the Beast her like a common Bill Gates.

But alas, that never happened, and all that came of it is that the whole wide world now knows that she is an asshole who goes around harassing baristas for doing their job. Too bad!



 JUST WEAR THE DAMN MASK!!!









The candidate told The Hill on Thursday when reached for comment that he was not completely surprised by his daughter's words given their disagreements over issues like systemic racism, the existence of white privilege and Black Lives Matter.
“A lot of students when they go off to these liberal university campuses, like the University of Colorado, the University of Texas and Austin — and she went to the University of Colorado in Boulder — and you know, they just kind of get sucked into this Marxist, communist ideology and she and I just don’t see eye to eye when it comes to the whole socialism, communism, Marxist philosophy,” he said.





















https://www.wonkette.com/joe-biden-performs-live-autopsy-on-donald-trump-during-epic-covid-19-speech

On Monday, Donald Trump said, "If we stopped testing right now for COVID-19, we'd have very few cases if any." ... It's a statement that's not only absurd, it's absolutely tragic. Yesterday, the head of the White House task force on coronavirus, the vice president, claimed success in the fight because deaths are "down to fewer than 750 a day" — 750 fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, uncles, aunts, husbands, wives, children dying every day. More than 20,000 a month. That's greater than World War II level casualties each month, that's more than five 9/11s each month, and this administration is engaging in self-congratulations? Maybe good enough for Donald Trump, but it will never, ever be acceptable if I'm your president.























Joe Biden no longer talks about beating up Donald Trump.

This was a thing 50 years ago last year. Uncle Joe even challenged Trump to a push-up contest.

Everything's different now, and Biden knows it. The incumbent president isn't just an obnoxious jerk. He's currently steering the country into a COVID-19-shaped iceberg. Addressing a small group of socially distant reporters Wednesday at a campaign event in Darby, Pennsylvania, Biden torched Trump's pandemic response with a blistering “Reason You Suck" speech.




Biden is uniquely suited for this moment. A public health crisis like the coronavirus doesn't require reinventing the wheel. It just demands actual leadership that acknowledges the wheel exists. Trump has lied, ignored the advice of medical experts, and pitched magical elixirs like a less reliable carnival barker. The coronavirus has claimed the lives of at least 117,700 Americans so far, and Biden clearly and without hesitation blames the president for the needless deaths on his watch.
Researchers have shown that tens of thousands of Americans have died needlessly because Donald Trump was slow to respond to the crisis and then when he did he bungled the response.
Oh, that's why Trump tweeted about Joe Biden's bungle. NO BUNGLE NO BUNGLE JOE BIDEN IS THE BUNGLE.

How tiresome.

Biden correctly noted how he played Jor-El in January and February, warning that Trump wasn't taking the rising COVID-19 threat seriously. The president ignored the intelligence community and his closest advisers who weren't idiots like his son-in-law. Trump didn't want anyone bringing him "no bad news."

The former vice president acknowledged the sacrifices Americans have made to slow the spread of COVID-19 and save lives. People have lost businesses, jobs, and even basic human contact if you're into that sort of thing. But the bum squatting in the Oval Office is actively sabotaging the progress we've made thanks to his Cobra Commander-style leadership.
All because [Trump's] lost interest. He's once again ignoring the facts. The public health response is still woefully, woefully lacking from this administration ... We still don't have what we need when it comes to rapid results testing, contact tracing capacity, widely available personnel protective equipment for them, or clear nationwide guidance.
“Lost interest" perfectly encapsulates Trump's callousness. He's bored, so he's scaled back COVID-19 task force meetings. He “sent his testing czar home," and only a fraction of money given to the Pentagon for essential medical supplies has “made it out the door." The self-styled “wartime" president has “waved a white flag." He's not just a coward. He's lazy. He wants to “retreat" to the campaign trail for his ego-stroking rallies that might literally kill people.

Biden also called out Trump for failing the most basic GED test of leadership: He won't wear a damn mask. His stooges have criticized Biden for respecting the health of others, like a sissy, but Biden turns this back on the president, observing how his failure to fight the coronavirus "with the same energy and focus that he uses to troll his enemies on Twitter has cost us lives and is putting hope for an economic recovery at risk."
I have some basic questions for President Donald Trump. What are you going to do to make sure every worker has access to regular testing so they have the same confidence to go into a store or go back to work that White House staffers have? Why are you leaving schools and child care centers to navigate the uncertainty all on their own without an effective guidance and resources that they need to protect the kids and their communities? Why don't you enforce the OSHA standards for worker protection during this global pandemic?
Biden outlined his strategy for managing COVID-19. Borrowing from FDR, Biden said “the American people can handle anything, just tell them the truth." Trump is fundamentally incapable of honesty. He can't wish away a "fact of nature" like the coronavirus. He can't deny it exists or was ever alone in a room with it.
First, we have to do everything we can to avoid deadly spikes in the infections as people begin to go back out into the world. We're not that much better prepared today for the run of cases that overfills our intensive care units than we were three months ago. Second, we have to help give people the assurance and precautions that are necessary to restart the economy with confidence. If Americans lose what faith they have left, what little faith they have left in the government's ability to manage this pandemic, we'll see much deeper and longer lasting economic impacts than we even, and with even greater repercussions for people's well-being.
Biden then ordered Trump to “wake up" and “get to work." CNN, MSNBC, and even Fox News aired Biden's speech live instead of Trump's lie-packed gibberish, so you know he was pissed. Chuck Todd (of course) ignored the substance of Biden's remarks and instead commented on his performance and the camera angles like it was a goddamn MTV video. Todd also infamously suggested Hillary Clinton was “over-prepared." Ideally, we've spent enough time in quarantine to realize that a president's “Q rating" is meaningless and you can't “over-prepare" for global pandemics.

Follow Stephen Robinson on Twitter.



https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/25/trump-sarcastically-suggests-slowing-down-coronavirus-testing-340850

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he had “sarcastically” claimed that a decrease in coronavirus testing would lower U.S. infection rates, adding a new twist to the weeklong scramble by the White House to clarify the president’s comments on virus testing.
“Sometimes I jokingly say, or sarcastically say, if we didn’t do tests we would look great,” Trump said in an interview and Fox News town hall with Sean Hannity. “But you know what? It’s not the right thing to do.”
The president’s comments come nearly a week after he claimed at a campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla., that he’d ordered a slowdown in coronavirus testing. Trump on Tuesday insisted he was serious in slowing down testing, even after senior White House officials said the president made the comment in jest.

 “I don’t kid,” Trump said when pressed by reporters on Tuesday. “Let me make it clear.”
The president’s comments at the Tulsa rally sparked days of jockeying by officials and White House aides to defend the president’s statements. Vice President Mike Pence told governors that the president’s comments on testing were a “passing observation,” while White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump’s claim was “made in jest.”
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a House committee on Tuesday that the Trump administration was ramping up testing, not slowing it down.
The U.S. leads the world in coronavirus cases, a fact that Trump has repeatedly attributed to expanded virus testing. More than 2.4 million people have had confirmed Covid-19 infections nationwide, and nearly 125,000 people have died.
“If we didn’t do testing, we would have no cases,” Trump said at the town hall on Thursday in Wisconsin, echoing statements he has made over the last week on Twitter.
Trump also said on Thursday that he expected a coronavirus vaccine before the end of the year.



https://www.wonkette.com/donald-trump-is-not-a-civilian-he-is-also-not-a-cupcake


Donald Trump Is Not A Civilian. He Is Also Not A Cupcake.

Doktor Zoom
June 26, 2020 09:15 AM

New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut announced earlier this week that, to help preserve the progress they've made against the coronavirus, they will require anyone traveling from eight coronavirus hot spots to quarantine themselves for 14 days. The rule applies both to out-of-staters and to residents of the three states returning home from the high-risk states. If travelers don't self-isolate, they'll be subject to an enforced quarantine and fines. In response, the White House announced that Donald Trump plans to go ahead with his plans to visit his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, and will not quarantine, even though he visited one of the hot spots, Arizona, on Tuesday. And eight members of Trump's campaign team for his trip to Tulsa last weekend, including two Secret Service agents, were diagnosed with COVID-19.

The quarantine rule doesn't apply to Trump, according to White House spokesperson Judd Deere, who we keep thinking must be some sort of tractor. And why not? Well that's easy: "The president of the United States is not a civilian," Deere insisted, his eyes fixated on a set of approaching headlights. Rather, we suppose, Trump is a generalissimo.
Deere didn't explain that line of reasoning, although we're sure it has something to do with the whole "commander in chief' thing. Problem is, that doesn't make even legitimate presidents actual members of the military. Presidents are civilians, full stop, that's the whole point of having the military be ultimately under the command of the elected, civilian leader of the government. It's kind of a big deal. Hell, until Ronald Reagan started doing it, no president returned the salute of military guards, precisely because civilians do not salute. It used to be a thing that protocol people got fussy about, even before Barack Obama insulted Our Great Military while holding a cup of coffee instead of a dog.



Left: Bad and Kenyan. Right: Good and American as the highest pie.


Then again, even if Reagan hadn't set the precedent, Trump doesn't seem especially clear on what a president does, especially not since he briefly thought his "leadership" during the pandemic made him a "wartime president."

Whatever his status, combatant or merely a deserter from his private Vietnam (herpes), shouldn't Trump defer to New Jersey's health rules, what with having been in a state with one of the nation's worst COVID-19 outbreaks? Heck no, Deere explained, as Chuck Grassley's car barreled mercilessly toward him in the night.
"Anyone who is in close proximity to him, including staff, guests and press are tested for COVID-19 and confirmed to be negative," Deere said in a statement.

"With regard to Arizona, the White House followed its COVID mitigation plan to ensure the president did not come into contact with anyone who was symptomatic or had not been tested," the spokesman added.

"Anyone traveling in support of the president this weekend will be closely monitored for symptoms and tested for COVID and therefore pose little to no risk to the local populations."
NBC notes that a spokesperson for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy declined to comment on the White House statement, although we distinctly heard the spox pretend to cough while saying "bone spurs."

In any case, Donald Trump is not a civilian. He is also not a cupcake, nor is he a mouse. And he's definitely not an adorable Wonkette Toddler.



You may be seated.

Yr Wonkette is entirely supported by reader donations. We don't have any ads, because we are not a mouse. And because you fine people give us money.


Doktor Zoom
Doktor Zoom's real name is Marty Kelley, and he lives in the wilds of Boise, Idaho. He is not a medical doctor, but does have a real PhD in Rhetoric. You should definitely donate some money to this little mommyblog where he has finally found acceptance and cat pictures. He is on maternity leave until 2033. Here is his Twitter, also. His quest to avoid prolixity is not going so great.









https://games.slashdot.org/story/20/06/24/1945208/wizards-of-the-coast-is-addressing-racist-stereotypes-in-dungeons-dragons

Wizards of the Coast Is Addressing Racist Stereotypes In Dungeons & Dragons (polygon.com)




Posted by BeauHD  from the pledged-changes dept.

AmiMoJo shares a report from Polygon:Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast has acknowledged the existence of racist stereotypes in its sourcebooks, and pledged to make changes to ameliorate the issue. In a blog post published on June 17 titled "Diversity and Dungeons & Dragons," Wizards of the Coast said that depicting a diverse array of human beings -- beyond "fantasy versions of northern Europeans" -- is "one of the explicit design goals of 5th edition D&D." The developers noted that while they want to feature characters "who represent an array of ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, and beliefs," the game still contains problematic depictions of fantasy races.

Among these races are the orcs, who are often characterized as a savage horde of creatures who lust for battle, and the drow, an evil dark-skinned subrace of elves who dwell in a subterranean matriarchy. Wizards of the Coast specifically addressed these two groups in laying out recent and future changes to D&D products: "We present orcs and drow in a new light in two of our most recent books, Eberron: Rising from the Last War and Explorer's Guide to Wildemount. In those books, orcs and drow are just as morally and culturally complex as other peoples. We will continue that approach in future books, portraying all the peoples of D&D in relatable ways and making it clear that they are as free as humans to decide who they are and what they do." They add: "Later this year, we will release a product (not yet announced) that offers a way for a player to customize their character's origin, including the option to change the ability score increases that come from being an elf, a dwarf, or one of D&D's many other playable folk. This option emphasizes that each person in the game is an individual with capabilities all their own."The publisher also said "it's adjusting material that maligns or stereotypes real-world ethnic groups like the Roma," reports Polygon. "The company has revised the adventure Curse of Strahd, which includes a people known as the Vistani that 'echoes some stereotypes associated with the Romani people in the real world.'"

"In addition, the publisher said two future books will be written with a Romani consultant so as to characterize the Vistani 'in a way that doesn't rely on reductive tropes.'"







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The editors and writers of this publication are queer Black and brown anarchists/autonomists, communists, anti-fascists, and socialists who are working towards liberation from all structures of power and oppression. We believe that education, the dissemination of information, and the witnessing and documenting of history from our queer, trans, BIPOC perspectives are essential to the process of liberation. 
WYV’s feminism is not defined by cisheteronormative, white supremacist, colonialist, imperialist, capitalist, and carceral bastardizations of feminism. Our feminism is rooted in the belief that our struggles are interwoven and that “equality” with white men under our current social constructs is insufficient and ultimately a continuation of oppression under the guise of “women’s liberation.”
Our feminism aims to dismantle all forms of oppression because a better world is only possible without the power structures which create vulnerable people under volatile, violent conditions that benefit the few. 
We are Black and brown feminists and as such, we critically analyze everything from that perspective. It is our experience, and the experience of other Black and brown feminists/womanists, that our liberation is tied to dismantling all forms of oppression, from white supremacy to gender-based violence, to capitalism and beyond. Wear Your Voice publishes pieces that take into account overlapping marginalizations because our identities cannot be pulled apart. All liberation demands this. 

“When I flipped through the pages of my favorite magazines growing up, I never saw images that I could relate to; I did not feel seen or heard. I realized later in life that media had been the source for many of my insecurities, and I knew if I didn’t see myself represented in the media, other people, especially marginalized people of color, didn’t see themselves represented either. I decided that I wanted to change that, so I took the essence of a glossy lifestyle magazine and put an intersectional feminist spin on it, and out of this was borne Wear Your Voice Magazine, a magazine to redefine the way we as people are represented in the media.”
—WYV Founder, Ravneet Vohra




















































via GIPHY




















minisinhumanconditions

https://reason.com/2020/06/26/inhuman-conditions/


Inhuman Conditions is a new board game loosely based on the idea of the Turing test—a way to evaluate a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior, devised by codebreaker and mathematician Alan Turing in 1950.
In the game, one player is assigned the role of either robot or human. The other is an investigator attempting to figure out whether his or her opponent is a robot through conversation. The result is a surprisingly goofy romp in which humans pretend to be robots pretending to be humans.
As with many of the entrants in today's tabletop gaming renaissance, making it to the initial round of play requires some upfront investment of time and brainpower. But once you get into the groove, the natural logic of the game's structure emerges, and there are just enough gimmicks—including actual inked stamps with which the investigators make their final pronouncements—to keep play light.
The robots in the game are so quirky (and even violent) that a deadpan affect won't do you much good. The best strategy to appear human, it seems, is to be emotionally volatile, deeply awkward, and occasionally irrational.





















A post shared by Ͳɾìղì_ʂմɾƒҽɾ 📸 ᴛʀᴀᴠᴇʟ 🗺 ʂυɾf (@trini_surfer) on


https://news.slashdot.org/story/20/06/26/2121248/a-massive-saharan-dust-plume-is-moving-into-the-southeast-us

A Massive Saharan Dust Plume Is Moving Into the Southeast US (arstechnica.com)




Posted by BeauHD  from the dramatic-planet dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica:A hot desert wind is carrying a massive cloud of Saharan dust into the Southern United States this week. Dust plumes from the Sahara routinely blow westward across the Atlantic at this time of year, but this event is a doozy -- by some measures, the biggest in decades. And a second plume appears to be forming about a week behind the big one. Across the southeastern US, from the Gulf Coast to the Carolinas and potentially as far north as Indianapolis and Cincinnati, dust effects will likely be visible in the coming days. Trillions of dust grains will reflect sunlight in every direction, creating milky white skies. The dusty haze reflects some sunshine back to space, cooling the surface a bit where the plume is thickest.

Longer waves of red and orange light tend to penetrate the dusty haze, so sunrises and sunsets are likely to be especially beautiful. On the downside, where the plume mingles with showers or thunderstorms, downdrafts may carry desert dust to Earth's surface. This will impair air quality and could trigger allergic reactions and asthma attacks. The more dust reaches an area, the more pronounced the effects will be.Scott Denning, climate scientist and professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University, goes on to describe what causes these plumes to form.
https://science.slashdot.org/story/20/06/26/231246/crispr-gene-editing-in-human-embryos-wreaks-chromosomal-mayhem

CRISPR Gene Editing In Human Embryos Wreaks Chromosomal Mayhem (nature.com)




Posted by BeauHD  from the safety-concerns dept.

A suite of experiments that use the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 to modify human embryos have revealed how the process can make large, unwanted changes to the genome at or near the target site. Nature reports:The first preprint was posted online on June 5 by developmental biologist Kathy Niakan of the Francis Crick Institute in London and her colleagues. In that study, the researchers used CRISPR-Cas9 to create mutations in the POU5F1 gene, which is important for embryonic development. Of 18 genome-edited embryos, about 22% contained unwanted changes affecting large swathes of the DNA surrounding POU5F1. They included DNA rearrangements and large deletions of several thousand DNA letters -- much greater than typically intended by researchers using this approach. Another group, led by stem-cell biologist Dieter Egli of Columbia University in New York City, studied embryos created with sperm carrying a blindness-causing mutation in a gene called EYS2. The team used CRISPR-Cas9 to try to correct that mutation, but about half of the embryos tested lost large segments of the chromosome -- and sometimes the entire chromosome -- on which EYS is situated. And a third group, led by reproductive biologist Shoukhrat Mitalipov of Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, studied embryos made using sperm with a mutation that causes a heart condition. This team also found signs that editing affected large regions of the chromosome containing the mutated gene.

The three studies offered different explanations for how the DNA changes arose. Egli and Niakan's teams attributed the bulk of the changes observed in their embryos to large deletions and rearrangements. Mitalipov's group instead said that up to 40% of the changes it found were caused by a phenomenon called gene conversion, in which DNA-repair processes copy a sequence from one chromosome in a pair to heal the other. Mitalipov and his colleagues reported similar findings in 2017, but some researchers were skeptical that frequent gene conversions could occur in embryos. They noted that the maternal and paternal chromosomes are not next to each other at the time the gene conversion is postulated to occur, and that the assays the team used to identify gene conversions could have been picking up other chromosomal changes, including deletions. Egli and his colleagues directly tested for gene conversions in their latest preprint and failed to find them, and Burgio points out that the assays used in the Mitalipov preprint are similar to those the team used in 2017. One possibility is that DNA breaks are healed differently at various positions along the chromosome, says Jin-Soo Kim, a geneticist at Seoul National University and a co-author of the Mitalipov preprint.





But it is Trump who has done the most damage to national monuments, dismantling or desecrating four federally protected land and water sites with significant cultural, archeological and natural resources.
Those rollbacks include carving more than 2 million acres from a pair of protected national monuments in Utah — Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante ― in December 2017. The boundary of Bears Ears, a 1.35 million-acre landscape that several tribes consider sacred, was cut by 85%. Nearby 1.87 million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante, the largest land national monument in the country and rich in both archeological and paleontological resources, was cut roughly in half. This month, Trump signed a proclamation to greenlight commercial fishing within Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, a vast protected site off the East Coast ― a move that goes against the very purpose of designating a marine sanctuary.

















2nd of April was the marvellous Spirits Of Place event: hosted and envisioned by John Reppion. I was on the bill with some remarkable people, talking about the power of landscape, especially that of Liverpool and its environs. My talk, ‘Where The Buddleia Grows’ was on liminal spaces in urban magic, and seemed to go down well. You can read the text version over at Medium. Was an honour to be in that crew: meeting old acquaintances such as the great Ramsey Campbell and making many new friends. I also took advantage of the chance for a serious night of drinking with my partner-in-crime, David Southwell of Hookland fame.


ME AGAIN.... and so in my continuing efforts to find new cool authors, may I present material from Phenderson Djèlí Clark... 


Phenderson Djèlí Clark

The Musings of a Disgruntled Haradrim . . https://disgruntledharadrim.com/


https://locusmag.com/2019/10/phenderson-djeli-clark-wonderful-things-to-behold/



“W.E.B. Du Bois, the great sociologist and activist, used the term ‘double consciousness’ to describe this twoness, that one is forever (he said) Negro and American. If you add in the Black immigrant experience, where you become a part of this much larger Black American experi­ence, that pulls you in. You become part of that history and culture and everything – even as you add to it, it adds this other layer to the conscious­ness. Of course, all my friends were American, for the most part, in the south; I’d go home and my mom and dad still speak in their Trinidadian patois, and the culture they have is still a bit of Trinidadian, especially my mother, but it’s also American at the same time. Our household was always this bridge of the two.






AND TWO STORIES PLUS ONE PLACE OF PUBLICATION...


Nine ethereal Black people stand in defiance, surrounded by creepy dentures and luminous orbs.

https://firesidefiction.com/the-secret-lives-of-the-nine-negro-teeth-of-george-washington


https://www.tor.com/2016/05/18/a-dead-djinn-in-cairo/



https://firesidefiction.com/




BUJU BANTON



Mars 101

https://science.slashdot.org/story/20/06/23/2227213/mars-is-about-to-have-its-wright-brothers-moment

Mars Is About To Have Its 'Wright Brothers Moment' (nytimes.com)




Posted by BeauHD  from the Mars-missions dept.

As part of NASA's next mission to Mars, leaving Earth this summer, the space agency will attempt to do something that has never been done before: fly a helicopter through the rarefied atmosphere of Mars. The New York Times reports:If it works, the small helicopter, named Ingenuity, will open a new way for future robotic explorers to get a bird's-eye view of Mars and other worlds in the solar system. "This is very analogous to the Wright brothers moment, but on another planet," said MiMi Aung, the project manager of the Mars helicopter at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory over the past six years.

Flying on Mars is not a trivial endeavor. There is not much air there to push against to generate lift. At the surface of Mars, the atmosphere is just 1/100th as dense as Earth's. The lesser gravity -- one-third of what you feel here -- helps with getting airborne. But taking off from the surface of Mars is the equivalent of flying at an altitude of 100,000 feet on Earth. No terrestrial helicopter has ever flown that high, and that's more than twice the altitude that jetliners typically fly at. The copter will hitch a ride to the red planet with Perseverance, which is to be the fifth robotic rover NASA has sent there. The mission is scheduled to launch on July 20, one of three missions headed to Mars this year. At a news conference last week previewing the Perseverance mission, Jim Bridenstine, the NASA administrator, made a point to highlight Ingenuity. "I'll tell you, the thing that has me the most excited as an NASA administrator is getting ready to watch a helicopter fly on another world," he said.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/20/06/25/0117250/arctic-records-its-hottest-temperature-ever

Arctic Records Its Hottest Temperature Ever (cbsnews.com)




Posted by BeauHD  from the nothing-short-of-remarkable dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBS News:Alarming heat scorched Siberia on Saturday as the small town of Verkhoyansk (67.5N latitude) reached 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, 32 degrees above the normal high temperature. If verified, this is likely the hottest temperature ever recorded in Siberia and also the hottest temperature ever recorded north of the Arctic Circle, which begins at 66.5 degrees North. The town is 3,000 miles east of Moscow and further north than even Fairbanks, Alaska. On Friday, the city of Caribou, Maine, tied an all-time record at 96 degrees Fahrenheit and was once again well into the 90s on Saturday. To put this into perspective, the city of Miami, Florida, has only reached 100 degrees one time since the city began keeping temperature records in 1896.

Verkhoyansk is typically one of the coldest spots on Earth. This past November, the area reached nearly 60 degrees Fahrenheit below zero, one of the first spots to drop that low in the winter of 2019-2020. Reaching 100 degrees in or near the Arctic is almost unheard of. Although the reading is questionable, back in 1915 the town of Fort Yukon, Alaska, not quite as far north as Verkhoyansk, is reported to have reached near 100 degrees. And in 2010 a town a few miles south of the Arctic circle in Russia reached 100. As a result of the hot-dry conditions right now, numerous fires rage nearby, and smoke is visible for thousands of miles on satellite images.





https://www.espn.com/fantasy/baseball/story/_/id/29360991/fantasy-impact-dh-coming-nl


Consider the math: Of the 186,517 total plate appearances accrued by hitters last season, 5,098 were by pitchers (2.7%). Narrowing that only to the National League, which didn't have the DH, 4,770 of 93,238, or 5.1%, were amassed by pitchers. That also excludes the many pinch-hitter PAs for pitchers, opportunities that might now be absorbed by game-starting DHs. It's worth pointing out that 9.9% of all National League plate appearances in 2019 were accumulated by No. 9 hitters, which is the spot in the order most commonly assumed by the pitcher.





HUCK ~ a magazine

Here's a great magazine I found. It's from London. Here's a really cool article:



Bleak and beautiful: a visual history of Leeds

20th century portrait


Queens Road LS6, Hartwell terrace Leeds


Roundhay Road Leeds

Cloth Hill street Leeds


Hyde Park Corner Leeds

Alea Stony Rock Westlock terrace Leeds

Union Cross between Stocks Hill and Crab Lane

Meanwood road off Cliffdale road Leeds

Burley Road Leeds

Chapeltown Road Leeds



“The colour of Leeds used to be black because it was so industrial,” he says. “They didn’t start cleaning it up until halfway through the ’70s, and it didn’t look right somehow.” In his images, any bleakness is softened with bright skies and pops of colour courtesy of painted window frames.
“It was fast, there were whole terraces demolished in a day,” he explains of how the images, shot during the ’70s and ’80s, took form. “I made a note of things because I would think, ‘that looks incredible but it would look great if the windows were smashed’. They were sort of spontaneous, but I did a lot of waiting, going there morning and afternoon. I suppose one of the universal things I saw about them, was all these places were vulnerable, they weren’t going to be there for much longer.”





The seductive magic of Mexico City after dark

Night business



Flint: Inside the public health crisis that shook America

‘There’s no Justice’


Despite numerous lawsuits, deaths and disturbing health reports, the Michigan city’s tap water remains untreated. A new documentary tries to find out why.


Silver Boots, Studio 54, June 1977
ART & CULTURE  >  PHOTOGRAPHY

Capturing the underground hedonism of Studio 54

Sex, drugs and disco

Inspired by its diverse and decadent spirit, photographer Meryl Meisler spent years shooting at the New York club.
...and so many more:

https://www.huckmag.com/









https://yro.slashdot.org/story/20/06/25/2027240/facial-recognition-bill-would-ban-use-by-federal-law-enforcement

Facial Recognition Bill Would Ban Use By Federal Law Enforcement (nbcnews.com)




Posted by BeauHD  from the right-thing-to-do dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NBC News:Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., introduced legislation Thursday that seeks to ban the use of facial recognition and other biometric surveillance technology by federal law enforcement agencies. The legislation would also make federal funding for state and local law enforcement contingent on the enactment of similar bans. The Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act, is supported by Reps. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. It comes at a time of intense scrutiny of policing and surveillance tools, and widespread protests after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody in late May.

The bill would make it unlawful for any federal agency or official to "acquire, possess, access or use" biometric surveillance technology in the United States. It would also prohibit the use of federal funds to purchase such technology. The bill states that this type of surveillance technology could only be used if there was a federal law with a long list of provisions to ensure it was used with extreme caution. Any such federal law would need to stipulate standards for the use, access and retention of the data collected from biometric surveillance systems; standards for accuracy rates by gender, skin color and age; rigorous protections for due process, privacy, free speech, and racial, gender and religious equity; and mechanisms to ensure compliance with the act. It also stipulates that local or state governments would not be eligible to receive federal financial assistance under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program, which funds police training, equipment and supplies, without complying with a similar law or policy.



When Friends Fuck Up, and So Do I
 JOHN SCALZI101 COMMENTS
So, I’ve spent a day giving myself a small ulcer trying to write this thing well, and it hasn’t been working. So fuck it, I’ll just go for blunt and see where that gets me:
I have some friends who have fucked up in how they’ve been treating women. Specifically Myke Cole and Max Temkin and Sam Sykes and (as an online acquaintance who I’ve been friendly with) Warren Ellis. Variously they’ve fucked up and it’s the first time I’ve heard of it, or they’ve fucked up, been given one strike (by me and others) and then fucked up again. Some have owned up to it and accepted that they’ve fucked up; at least one (as far as I can see) has sort of slunk off.
I’m not interested in excusing or mitigating their fuck ups. When you fuck up, you own your karma. I like and have liked all these guys to a greater or lesser degree, and also my personal feelings about them are irrelevant with regard to how they’ve treated other people, and specifically women (and, additionally, people they’ve identified as women who might be non-binary).
It’s hard and sad when friends fuck up, because they’re friends; you like them and you have a relationship with them. You have friends in common. You have at least a little bit of a life in common. It hurts when your friends fuck up. But when they fuck up, you have to be clear about it.
My friends fucked up. Not accidentally, to be clear. They made choices.
They are responsible for their wholly intentional fuck ups.
Also, I am responsible for my fuck-ups in relation to them — to what extent my friendship implies complicity with their actions, or provides cover, or has allowed me to overlook things I should have been paying attention to, or has allowed me to excuse what they were doing. This is one reason I feel like I have a small ulcer at the moment; the gnawing feeling in my gut that wonders how much of their fuck ups are at my door. In some cases, not much! In others: well, more.
(You should also know right now I definitely have that exasperated part of me that is all, like, look, I haven’t been in the same room as this guy for a couple of years! I don’t have a body cam on him! I don’t see every goddamned thing he does as he does it and to whom he does it! My brain is very full of defensive frustrated whining right now! Which is also a thing I have to work through.)
(And while I’m at it, I’m going through my own interactions with people, especially women, at conventions and other places where it turns out the power differential slides toward me. I can admit that this power differential wasn’t something I truly clued into for a while — I think it took being SFWA President to get it drilled into my head, because that was a big fuckin’ neon sign, wasn’t it — but it was there fairly early, so, uhhh, yeah. I’ve seen people commenting “well, at least we still have Scalzi,” and there’s part of my brain going, oh, man, I sure hope you do! But I also know that I have fucked up before in other places where I didn’t understand my power (see: RaceFail, now a decade back), and because of that what I did or said hurt people. That’s also a thing.)
So, yeah, I have to sit with and work through all of that.
I’m angry at my friends right now. I’m sad for my friends right now. I’m even more angry about and sad for the women who they have made feel unsafe, and who they have harassed, or groomed, or otherwise harmed, because it is unacceptable. I want to be a friend to my friends and I also want to chuck them off the side of the fucking boat and be done with them. I want to think there’s a way back for some of them, for the same reason there was a way back for me when I’ve fucked up before. That’s on them, and right now I don’t know how much, if any, of my personal time and credibility I want to put into helping them. I’m frustrated and I’m tired that we keep having to do this, and I’m ashamed that some of the reason we keep having to do this rests on me. I understand and accept why I need to write this piece and I also fucking resent having to, and that resentment rests solely on my friends, and me.
I’m well aware of how much this piece I’ve made about my reaction, when at the end of the day what it should be, simply, is this:
Women have a right to be safe and secure, and to have full participation in the cultures and communities that they create and work in.
My friends fucked that up. And me too.
I’m sorry my friends fucked up. I am sorry for fucking up too.
I’m going to work on my shit. I hope these men I’ve called my friends work on theirs.




Seemingly Harmless Racist Phrases to Avoid Around Your Bipoc Friends

“You are so exotic.”


Ono Mergen
Jun 16 ·

 I am biracial. Wherever I am, the majority perceives me as a foreigner. I am a Caucasian- Asian mix. Not Asian enough in my native Asian country, or anywhere in Asia, and not white enough in Europe or the States.

Racist microaggression and the resulting racial battle fatigue are very real for BIPOC all around the world, regardless of whether they were born where they live or not.
A sense of being mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually drained from having to defend, validate our existence to racist people. The truth is that we are exhausted from having to navigate racist places and experiences.
We are tired of letting people tell us how we should feel about things; they never had to experience in their bodies.
So instead of trying to explain to every single person why something they’ve said is racist, here are some examples of racist phrases to avoid.
A gentle reminder to those who did not have similar experiences;
Learning about racism, instead of experiencing it is a huge privilege.





“It was a joke, calm down”
Usually said after some demeaning racist remark. Like when someone told my Thai friend that he doesn’t have to cook, just because he is Thai. While we had a BBQ at a villa, we rented on a little island.
This kind of attitude reeks of colonialism. You are a guest in a foreign country; the people who live there are not your servants. Please stop acting like you own the place. No, it is not funny.

“________ people are racist too.”

Deflection is a flawed argumentation technique often used in politics. “This and that party did the same as we did.“ Time to stop deflecting blame and attention, and reflect on your shortcomings.

“What I said/did is not racist.”

My experience is my expertise. You do not get to tell me if what you did was racist.

“Are you sure that is how they meant it?” “Are you sure that is what they said?” “Are you sure that is what happened?“

How do I say this? Yes, we are sure. We know full well when something is racist. Stop questioning us and start challenging the status quo.

“Never dated a _____ person., “Our babies would look so cute… ”

Or some variation of the above. Fetishising people is NOT a compliment. Read that again. It is racism wrapped as a compliment. So no cinnamon, chocolate skin compliments, please. BIPOC people are not the spice in your mayonnaise.

“You are so exotic.”

Again, NOT a compliment. Exotic compared to what? You could call an indigenous person “exotic” in a place where you are the coloniser. Or a third-generation Asian descendant in NYC, and then get into the neverending awkward spiral of: “Where are you from? But where are you really from? Okay, but where are your parents from?” Just stop it. Please. It is painful everyone involved.

“Where did your parents meet?”

It’s a common question aimed at mixed-race people. Please do not act surprised if we ask where YOUR parents met. It is an interrogation-like question to ask strangers. Just don’t.

“You are ____ for ______.”

I hardly think we have to get into this. When black people get “complimented” about being “smart” or “articulated” it implies that you believe it to be uncommon. Or when you say someone is “tall for an Asian.” Asians come in all sizes.

“I am not racist; I have a _____ friend. “

Having a token black friend or being married to a brown person does not give you a free pass.

“People say the N-word all the time! They say it in music lyrics, movies!”

Where do I start? Using the n-word is a racist hate crime. The reason why black people began to use it in music was to reclaim the word, to take away its demeaning power. If you are not black, you don’t get to use it.


These are transformative times. We have the opportunity to become the ancestors of a more inclusive society. BIPOC people need to be heard and seen before generations of trauma can be released. Let’s stand up together against systemic injustice, learn from each other, and educate each other!


Ono Mergen
WRITTEN BY

Ono Mergen


Environmental scientist, part-time nomad exploring the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. Kanate.co




A Black Man Was Killed And I Still Went To Work

How am I supposed to navigate the professional world in the middle of a race war?



TheBlkPrnt



I could easily have taken the day off, but it wouldn’t have done anything. I am Black 24/7 and have been Black for over 20 years. What people are just discovering as unfair and unjust treatment is my everyday life. There is no ending for this, nor is this anything I can “take a break” from. We are tired and lost.
This is not an issue we have the privilege of stepping away from, it doesn’t disappear the moment we put our phones down.






























Racism is not mine, it’s yours. It’s not called ‘helping’ when it’s your mess we’re cleaning.




Racism Is Yours. 1–2–3, Not It!

Racism is not “ours.” It is yours. And it is yours exclusively. Black folks did not build Black hate, and we certainly did not build it with you. Black folks are not The Bad Actor in Black hate. We can only work to convince The Bad Actor to stop acting badly. Black folks cannot kill Black hate in its cradle. Black hate breeds in places we cannot reach. If we could have killed it, we would have killed it. Trust that it is not our apathy about our own lives that keeps us dying in the streets.



























Worse, racism disappears when we try to look it in the eye, lost in a sea of nonsensical protestations:
  • “I don’t see color”: Why are we talking about racism then?
  • “I’m not racist”: Ooookayyyy, whatever it is you call this, you’re still getting fired for it.
  • “I have Black friends”: Me too. Go figure.
  • “Property destruction isn’t the way”: Just pretend it’s Black, then it won’t bother either of us.
  • “Stop spreading the hate”: Stop giving it to me.
  • “Racism goes both ways”: Yeah, I don’t follow.
  • “All lives matter”: Not so much. If all lives mattered, you wouldn’t still be in that chair. “All” requires more engagement, not less, because stupid isn’t really how math works here.
And while this back and forth can be quite entertaining, it’s almost never productive.
Black folks cannot reach this race hate, cannot catch this race hate, cannot kill this race hate. But there you are, insisting that you do not see this race hate in your home, at your job, or among your family and friends, yet it must be hiding over there, somewhere. Think about it — race hate has not just survived, it has thrived. It had to thrive to endure for centuries and still feel shiny and brand-new. It is not invisible, not silent, not odorless, not stealthy. And it sure the hell is not hiding over here. The call really is coming from inside your house, behind a door to which Black folks have never had the key. Seriously.

If you’re not being racist, no one is going to come looking for you. Blacks have neither the time for, nor the interest in, dragging people minding their business out of their own lane and into ours. Our plates are full with actual racists — nobody here is manufacturing anything special for you, okay?
We will no longer curate your humanity for our protection. It makes better sense to curate it for yours. Put in everyday terms, I do not teach my son to respect women to protect your daughter. I teach my son to respect women to protect my son.
Returning the consequence of race abuse to the lap of the race abuser is the beginning of the end. The motivation to learn about racism becomes profound. The personal investment to avoid racism reaps a richer bounty. The urgency to end racism comes into sharp relief. It’s like that old negro spiritual: When your skin is in the game, the entire game changes.
That is why there cannot be a “White Ally.” That is why we should — and must — abandon the fallacy. Find the lie. I’m waiting.


























Catherine Pugh, Esq.
Catherine Pugh is an Attorney at Law and former Adjunct Professor at the Temple University, Japan. She developed and taught Race and the Law for its undergraduate program, and Evidence, Criminal Law, and Criminal and Civil Procedure for its law program. She has worked for the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Special Litigation Section, and as a Public Defender for the State of Maryland.


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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2006.27 - 10:10

- Days ago = 1821 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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