Author: mcequality

Jeff Sessions: Bible Supports Separating Children From Parents

~ mcequality

Attorney General Jeff Sessions continues to be pleased with the outcome of his “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which has resulted in the forcible separation of children—some only a few months old—from their parents, who often do not know where they’ve been taken. The psychological repercussions of these forced separations, particularly for extremely young children, are massive. One Honduran woman told CNN that her infant daughter was taken from her in a detention center while she was breastfeeding; a father from Honduras died by suicide in his cell after being separated from his wife and 3-year-old. Due to overcrowding, some minors will evidently be detained in “tent cities,” forced to sleep outdoors, somehow, in a 100-degree desert.

via Jeff Sessions: Bible Supports Separating Children From Parents

Department of Education to Investigate USC’s Handling of Misconduct Allegations Against Gynecologist

~ mcequality

The Department of Education has launched an investigation into the University of Southern California’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations against a longtime staff gynecologist. The investigation is guided by Title IX, the federal civil rights law against sex discrimination.

For years, George Tyndall, who worked in the university’s student health clinic, was accused of photographing students’ genitals and making sexual comments during exams, but he was allowed to continue practicing. Tyndall resigned last year—with a payout—after a university investigation found that his behavior during pelvic exams ran counter to accepted medical practice. But USC failed to notify his former patients of the findings or report him to the Medical Board of California—until, that is, the Los Angeles Times began reporting on the case.

via Department of Education to Investigate USC’s Handling of Misconduct Allegations Against Gynecologist

Florida Frat Brothers Allegedly Had a Secret Revenge Porn Facebook Group Called ‘Dog Pound’

~ mcequality

Kathryn Novak, a student in Arizona, is the woman who filed the lawsuit on Wednesday. The lawsuit states she was in a long-distance relationship with Brandon Simpson, a member of UCF Delta Sigma Phi, from October 2017 through February 2018. Simpson allegedly recorded one of their sexual encounters around October of last year and shared it with five of his frat brothers. According to the complaint, the video was then distributed to other members to watch during their house meeting and ultimately posted on the “Dog Pound” Facebook page. In the end, more than 200 Delta Sigma Phi members and UCF students allegedly received the video.

via Florida Frat Brothers Allegedly Had a Secret Revenge Porn Facebook Group Called ‘Dog Pound’

To Be an Immigrant in Trump’s America: A Theory of Animals

~ mcequality

Immediately, both conservatives and liberals jumped to his defense on the basis of context, because he had previously been talking about the MS-13 gang. These justifications are hollow. Criminals are human; I grew up Catholic, then evangelical, so I can tell you I learned that one from Jesus. It’s also fruitless to analyze the words of a man who speaks in non-sequiturs, whose brain apparently functions at the level of images that remind him of other images. Coming from the person who has said repeatedly that immigrants are rapists and criminals, the “people coming into the country” are the same person. They deserve the same treatment. Animals, all.

I’ve spent the past couple of years writing a book about undocumented immigrants around the United States. I tell the stories of undocumented second-responders after 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy, day laborers on street corners and worker centers, South American housekeepers who came to feminism in middle age. I write about immigration because I think almost everyone who writes about immigrants gets it wrong. I’d know. My family is undocumented. I came to the United States when I was five years old and was undocumented until recently, when I became a permanent resident.

via To Be an Immigrant in Trump’s America: A Theory of Animals

What the Courts Make of ‘Reverse Discrimination’ Complaints

~ mcequality

Twenty-year-old University of Melbourne student Isabella Mason must have known that her new dance performance would trigger white people, but the backlash she experienced this week maybe proved a bigger point.
Dubbed “Where We Stand,” the show freely admits audience members of color into the theater, but stops white attendees in the foyer, where they must listen to four dancers talk about white privilege and then sign a large poster titled, “I acknowledge where I stand,” before being allowed into the theater. On top of that, the dance performance simply stops when the number of white people surpasses the number of people of color in the theater — a clever way to push back on an obvious demographic disparity in society.

via What the Courts Make of ‘Reverse Discrimination’ Complaints

Einstein’s travel diaries reveal racist stereotypes – BBC News

~ mcequality

Newly published private travel diaries have revealed Albert Einstein’s racist and xenophobic views.
Written between October 1922 and March 1923, the diaries track his experiences in Asia and the Middle East.
In them, he makes sweeping and negative generalisations, for example calling the Chinese “industrious, filthy, obtuse people”.
Einstein would later in life advocate for civil rights in the US, calling racism “a disease of white people”.

via Einstein’s travel diaries reveal racist stereotypes – BBC News

Haim Fired Their Agent Because They Were Paid 10 Times Less Than a Dude

~ mcequality

“We had been told that our fee was very low because you played at the festival in the hope that you’d get played on the radio,” explains Danielle. “We didn’t think twice about it, but we later found out that someone was getting paid 10 times more than us. And because of that we fired our agent.”

Alana, suddenly searingly serious adds, “That’s why I love my sisters so much. I trust them with my fucking life. We’re all in this together. But it’s scary out there and it’s fucked up. It’s fucked up not even to be paid half the same amount. But to be paid a tenth of that amount of money? It was insane.”

via Haim Fired Their Agent Because They Were Paid 10 Times Less Than a Dude

Chris Hardwick And Why Geek Culture Can’t Shake Its Misogyny

~ mcequality

Dykstra’s allegations of Hardwick’s cruel and controlling behavior — she says he isolated her, dictated her schedule, coerced her into unwanted sex, yelled at her constantly, triggered her anorexia and had her blacklisted after she left him — has many of us wondering, again, if the misogynist streak in nerdom will ever go away. On the primary level, of course, her story echoes every other recent testimony of a man using his status and connections to secure the obedience of a vulnerable younger woman. Each allegation is evidence that Hollywood’s specific power hierarchies and cult of personality are ideal preconditions for this exact abuse.
But there is no getting around the geek problem. From the dark days of Gamergate, to the dudes throwing tantrums about lady Ghostbusters and feminist Star Wars, to 4chan-inspired incel terrorism, nerds are itching for gender war.

via Chris Hardwick And Why Geek Culture Can’t Shake Its Misogyny

Absolute Twat Blocks British Law to Ban Taking Upskirt Photos

~ mcequality

In an effort to console Americans by proving that their country’s politics aren’t alone in being completely fucking mental, let me bring you this story from my homeland: A Conservative member of Parliament blocked a bill that would have made upskirting—surreptitiously taking photos up a woman’s skirt without her consent—a criminal offense punishable by up to two years in prison.

Sir Christopher Chope blocked the bill by shouting “Object!” in Parliament, the BBC reported on Friday—you know, the normal way to prevent progress on misogyny.

via Absolute Twat Blocks British Law to Ban Taking Upskirt Photos

Expose trolls, says Labour MP Jess Phillips after 600 rape threats in one day | News | The Times

~ mcequality

One in five women in Britain has suffered online abuse or harassment, Amnesty International revealed last year. Common psychological affects included low self-esteem and confidence, apprehension when using social media and a sense of powerlessness. A third of women said that the police response to online abuse was inadequate.

via Expose trolls, says Labour MP Jess Phillips after 600 rape threats in one day | News | The Times