– Excellent news for SeaTac workers

– RIP Jane Shannon

– How False Narratives of Margaret Sanger Are Being Used to Shame Black Women

– BrechtFest is the best name for an event ever, but no Mother Courage?

– Kitchen Tips

When the legislative session finally ended, Senator Schoesler — the Majority Leader — decided to write about how excellent the session turned out. In light of the legislature being in contempt for how badly they fucked up on education (paraphrasing the recent McCleary ruling), I thought it would be fun (?) to revisit. Enjoy…

This year’s Legislature did not impose a general tax increase. We did end a couple of small tax breaks, which some members of the Democratic majority in the House are calling a major victory, and we raised gas taxes for road construction with our transportation package. But that’s not quite the same thing as imposing $1.5 billion in new and increased taxes to finance the growth of government, remake the state economy to suit liberal urban activists, and set the state up for an income tax in the future.

You could have maybe been on the path to sustain education if not for that. Anyway, I’m sure that knowing that the state officially fucked up education, we can look back on the education part of the post and see how the top GOP person thought about that issue.

Victory number two? We fully funded basic education, passing the best K-12 budget we have seen in the last 30 years. We increased spending by $1.3 billion and we made significant progress in satisfying the state Supreme Court mandate that we do right by our schools.

Um, not so much.

Now, I know the fuckuping on education has come with Democratic governors and with legislatures from both parties. But honestly, this is some pretty awful bragging given how horrible the courts have found it.

– None Dare Call it Classism

– I think we can all agree that after his years of hating unions, being so obviously correct on the tunnel, the ham handed way he tried to push his way into the Senate seat last time, Reuven Carlyle deserves a promotion.

– The mayor of Airway Heights who said racist shit about the Obamas has resigned. Ostensibly because of his health, but come on.

– Straight Outta Compton is bold, invigorating, and reminded me of all the things I do love about rap music. It also reinforces, affirms, and glorifies the systems in place that dehumanize, commodify, and erase Black women.

– Birthright citizenship is one of the greatest things we do as a country. So of course, Republicans are against it.

– #SpeechesMatter

– Any time is the right time to disrupt white supremacy: Thoughts on Westlake, historical legacies and supporting Black women [h/t]

– RIP Julian Bond

– I’m pretty excited about the upcoming Park(ing) Day

– I like Bernie Sanders, and may vote for him, but his fans really need to understand that one presidential candidate isn’t the end all be all to make change.

– Was the American Civil War about slavery? Short answer: yes. Long answer: yes.

– I’d say that Singaporean transit is every US lefty urban planner’s dream come true, but that isn’t quite accurate. Their wildest dreams fall far short of the Singaporean reality.

Oh right. I said I was gong to do these.

I’m on vacation for the rest of this week, and am back the middle of next week. I won’t be taking my computer, so I’ll have no idea what’s going on (as opposed to usual when I have no idea what’s going on for other reasons) so I’ll probably be out until the 17th. I will have my phone with me, so I may post the occasional open thread, but not with any sort of Monday-Wednesday-Friday regularity, but they’ll probably be even shorter than this short note. I’ve mentioned this to some of the other posters, so there will still probably be some stuff here.

Anyway, see you in a few weeks.

– Looks like a great panel.

– I just want to point out that women, in general, particularly older women, can’t win on this one. If they don’t go out of their way to at least look presentable they’re called an “old crone” and if they do they’re derided for spending so much time and money to try to look presentable. And none of it prevents the world from being casually vocal about how revolting they look look either way.

– I doubt this will keep Tim Eyman’s bullshit off the ballot. Still, at a certain point, this nonsense is just going to have to stop. It’s tough to change the state constitution for a reason.

– So the fake Planned Parenthood videos are now causing state governments to harass abortion providers that don’t even participate in the tissue donation program.

– And so, I sacrifice thee in the name of the Second Amendment!

Maybe it’s a coincidence or maybe it’s corporate policy that have caused all 3 Seattle area Chick-fil-A stores have failed their health inspections recently. Some people might say that places are going to have bacteria and that’s why we have health inspectors in the first damn place. But my guess is God is punishing them.

God was like, “I sent my only Son to tell you to love your neighbor as yourself, and instead you guys act like a dickbags: Here have some bacteria. Also, Ezell’s is still pretty good.”

I hope that sounds absurd, but there is a version of the fundamental attribution error — call it the fundamentalist attribution error — that certain religious people can subscribe to. They believe that everything that happens that they agree with is God’s doing and everything that they don’t agree with is just stuff that happens.

Chick-fil-A should be less hateful not because God might send them some disease, but because it’s the right thing to do. While their ownership would probably disagree with me, I’d also say it’s the Christian thing to do. And they should also do a better job cleaning up. Because ick.

– On global warming, I would still prefer we have a reasonable state senate, but this will work.

– The deceptively edited anti Planned Parenthood videos might put abortion providers’ lives at risk.

– Chris Christie’s (and probably most Republican candidates) attempt to push against states that have legalized marijuana is pretty unhelpful.

– The Seattle Review of Books looks like it’s going to be pretty great.

– I’m not a dog owner, but it seems like the off leash ares in the city are pretty pathetic. So maybe help Seattle know what would be better.

– Does Meet The Press have any standards for who they’ll have on as a guest? No? Cool.

– Assuming you are not performing in a film or play in which re-creating the late 19th or early 20th Centuries involves the realistic depiction of a minstrel show, it is not complicated to determine whether or not donning blackface is a good idea. For anyone who might be confused I have assembled a handy flowchart.

– Oh hey, Democratic foreign policy is actually decent.

– The news around the Wyatt Cenac interview on WTF reminds me of the issues Lauren Weedman had on the show. No matter what you think of the show itself, these sort of things are a pattern, and not a good one.

– When George W. Bush tried to use his narrow victory in 2004 to claim a mandate to privatize Social Security, it didn’t really take. In large part because it was a terrible idea, but also because he didn’t campaign on it, so the whole mandate thing wasn’t really there. So I can sort of see why Jeb is running on phasing out Medicare now, so maybe he will have a mandate to do it. But it’s still a really terrible idea.

Excellent.

In a big win for our right to have some semblance of control over our bodies, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that pharmacies must fill prescriptions even if the prescription is for Plan B.

The case was brought to the Ninth after several pharmacists in the state complained that doling out Plan B – which is, I guess you have to say, 100% not an abortifacient but rather a preventative medication – went against their religious beliefs and refused to do their fucking jobs and hand over the medication.

I’m not attorney, but this has seemed pretty obvious from the beginning. Congrats to the activists, attorneys, and elected officials, who made it happen. Hopefully there won’t be an appeal.

PS: no matter what, the Olympia Thriftway is gross. They could have done the decent thing and let people have emergency contraception at any damn point.

– You’re White and Marched With Dr. King: So What?

– Still, maybe that’s all just a big coincidence. Isn’t it always.

– I suggest we name this planet “Pluto”, both to celebrate the great work by the New Horizons team, and to make the stupid “Is Pluto a planet” debate a little more confusing

If you’re like me and still haven’t finished filling out your primary ballot, here are some more endorsements:

– Here’s Washington Conservation Voters

– And here’s Seattle Transit Blog (I disagree with a lot more of these than I usually do for endorsements I’m linking to, but OK)

Radio has fallen so much, I don’t even know who Jason Rantz is. I guess he has a show on KIRO. Anyway, here is him talking about breastfeeding, for, um, reasons. [h/t]

You are supposed to feel bad if a mom breastfeeding in public makes you a little uncomfortable.

Are you supposed to feel anything? Just, maybe, act like an adult. Problem solved.

It’s an issue that the feminist cause has taken up over the last few years and there’s some validity to their points, but they’re so militant in response to anyone who dare question what they’re doing.

You’re the one writing a 20 paragraph piece.

Case in point: A mom, Lydia Davis, in Spokane is outraged that some employee at a public pool told her to breast feed her child in the bathroom.

It’s tough to look at that sentence and say it probably needs more commas, but it does. After “Spokane.” Maybe it needs to be 2 or 3 sentences. Maybe find something else to write this column on because right now it’s kind of just Rantz being an asshole to new moms feeding their infants.

Now, it is legal to breast feed in public in Washington. It’s state law. But this employee obviously didn’t know. But we’ll treat it like some affront to womanhood.

Really? That sounds harsh. I hope the thing you’re going to quote doesn’t just talk about feeding a child and not being ashamed. And definitely says an affront to womanhood. Otherwise, it’s pretty pointless.

“I’m not ashamed of breast-feeding,” she told the Spokesman Review. “I don’t ever want anybody to be ashamed to feed their child if the child is hungry. We’re at a public pool where people have bikinis on. How is me breast-feeding any worse than people wandering around in a bikini?”

The link to the S-R’s website instead of the article left in because it amuses me. Here’s the link to the actual article. Anyway, does the quote continue to the affront to womanhood? No? back to Rantz?

Well, the difference is a bikini covers up a sexualized body part.

Jesus. Did KIRO give a radio spot to a not very mature 13 year old? Look l’il man, soon you’ll be able to put those feelings in more of a context. Until then, good luck with the radio show.

We get it, you have no shame. You don’t want to feel ashamed, but you’re doing it in public because you want attention; because you know something like this gets you attention and you absolutely love it.

If a mother with a baby that’s crying because it’s hungry wants attention, doing nothing is probably the way to go. Keep that baby crying and I’m sure many more people will stop and look than if she feeds it. Honestly.

Because that’s what this is about.

Also, not for nothing, but if you’re so dead set against giving breastfeeding mothers any attention, maybe don’t write 560 words and — I’m assuming — do a radio commentary on it. I mean there’s a primary election coming up. The legislature just adjourned recently, maybe for the year, maybe not if the Supreme Court says they have to deal with education funding.

Many of these moms are breastfeeding in public not because they have to — not because they have no alternatives or no other place to go — but because you want to make some feminist point.

???

And this is a clear case of that to me, because this mom immediately complained to the Spokane Parks and Recreation Department and they immediately apologized and said they would provide extra training for the pool’s staff.

So her complaining helped fix a problem. Unlike this post where the complaining is just for the sake of complaining.

The mom was apparently pleased by the response. In fact, the staff did end up getting the extra training.

Great.

But this mom — and other mommy activists — decided to hold a “nurse-in” on Friday at the pool. So despite getting an apology and being pleased with the reaction from city officials, Lydia Davis held a protest with her friends.

Well, as mentioned earlier, not everybody knows state law in this area. So a little education seems fine. More people will know it’s the law now. If you don’t want to be a part of it, you don’t have to.

Apparently about a dozen moms and their kids showed up to breast feed in public.

Lila McDermid learned about the event on Facebook and brought her children down, according to the Spokesman Review.

“I just never want to lose my right to feed my child anytime and anywhere I need to,” she said.

But she didn’t need to go to this pool to breastfeed. She chose to, like all these women, because they’re trying to push against ideas of etiquette.

The ideas of etiquette? You’re trying to push women into public bathrooms to feed their children. Seriously, public bathrooms. Because of etiquette?

There’s a big difference between breastfeeding in public because you have to (there are no reasonable, private accommodations) and because you want to; because you don’t care how uncomfortable it makes people feel.

I don’t care how uncomfortable 13 year old Jason Rantz is. Nobody does. Nobody should. There’s a crying, hungry baby.

McDermid told the paper: “Society has sexualized women’s bodies so that breast-feeding is seen as sexual when it’s not…”

I’m awful at punctuation, and this is the second — then quickly third for comic effect — time I’m making fun of this piece with regard to it, so I’m sure there’s some glaring typo of mine in this post. Nonetheless:

This is a major fuck up. The thing he’s quoting isn’t McDermid. It’s the Spokesman-Review characterizing her position. It seems accurate given the rest of the quotes, but it’s not a quote by her. Even though he just graduated middle school, Rantz should be able to recognize that. Also, there’s no need for those ellipses.

Society hasn’t done that. No one thinks breastfeeding is sexual. People think the breast is.

Seriously? Anyway, this whole argument has been ridiculous, but I think there’s a real chance to end weak. Like, super weak. Just awful, horrible, terrible, shittastic writing.

And if you want to blame society, fine. Society has defined your breasts as a sexual body part and if you don’t think that’s right, you should start off by talking to your fellow women who get breast implants, who wear clothing that accentuate the breasts, who purchase lingerie that highlight the breasts, because it’s women who are pushing the notion that that body part should be viewed as sexual.

Um. So. Maybe you’ll learn about context in some remedial high school class.

– The so-called pro-life activists playing “gotcha” with a doctor who thinks and speaks in clinical terms essentially wants more people like me to clasp hands with a pathologist before they start to cut on a dead baby to find out why it is in front of them instead of in the nursery. [h/t]

– Just compost your compost, and we won’t have a problem.

– I think it’s amusing that he thinks Clinton’s campaign is saying “vote for me because I’m a woman.” But I do know that Mitch is the one playing the gender card by saying she is …

If you’re looking for some guidance on the primary:

– Here’s who NARAL endorsed in Washington.

– Here’s who Geov Parish supports in Seattle, King County, and Seattle School Board races

– Oh hey, your primary ballots are here. If you care about safe streets, here’s some info on the City Council candidates.

– Or here if you don’t want to vote for the people the Chamber of Commerce is pumping tons of money into their campaigns.

– If you’re a Republican who is upset that Donald Trump is attacking John McCain’s military service, where were you for the last decade or so?

– I don’t like Carly Fiorina at all, but good on her for opposing sexism in the workplace, even in a mild sort of way. I’m sure even though she got to the head of HP, she experienced quite a bit on the way and at the top. But holy geez, some of her conservative critics.