HorsesAss.Org

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

Ballots have dropped, and another election season is upon us. Please join us for an evening of politics over a pint at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally. This week, folks from Carbon Washington will join us to discuss I-732. This initiative would lower sales taxes and eliminate the B&O tax in exchange for a carbon tax, with a goal of reducing the carbon emissions that contribute to climate change as well as the impact of our regressive state tax system on low income families.

The Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally meets tonight and every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the small room at the back of the tavern. Our starting time is 8:00 pm, but some folks stop by even earlier for dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings happening this week. Tonight the Tri-Cities, Vancouver, WA, and Shelton chapters also meet. On Wednesday, the Bellingham and Burien chapters meet. The Spokane, Woodinville and Kent chapters meet on Thursday.

There are 190 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, four in Oregon and two in Idaho. Chances are good there’s a chapter meeting near you.

– 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.

Luke 19:29-34
As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

Exodus 20:15
Thou shalt not steal.

Discuss.

Thom: The Good, the Bad and the Very, Very Hircinely Ugly!.

David Pakman: One year of legal weed in Washington and everything is fine.

Eric Schwartz: Hattie and Mattie, 2015 edition:

Jackbooted U.N. Thugs Arrive:

• Thom with Jim Hightower: Obama invades Texas!
• The best Jade Helm conspiracy video ever.

Liberal Viewer: Megyn Kelly yells “The law is the law!” while misstating law on immigration detainers

Slate: How stressful is the presidency?

Cop caught on camera.

Persian Partisan Politics:

• Obama announces diplomatic deal with Iran
• WaPo: Politics behind the Iran deal
• Young Turks: Right wingers are furious over Iran agreement
• WaPo: The Iran Nuclear deal in 90 seconds
• Young Turks: The REAL reason critics hate the Iran deal.
• Thom: The fear-mongering begins
• Maddow: Historic nuclear deal puts US, Iran on path to peace
• Young Turks: Obama scolds reporter for stupid question.
• Maddow: Obama eager to engage conservative critics on Iran deal

What the Gardena police didn’t want you to see.

Congressional hits and misses of the week.

White House: West Wing Week.

Beware of the Blob! California’s Drought and Climate Change:

Fetal Attraction:

• Thom: The real Planned Parenthood sting revealed.
• Young Turks: Planned Parenthood under fire in Congress
• Ann Telnaes: Republicans are milking the Planned Parenthood video saga

Young Turks: Video of LAPD shooting unarmed men is released.

Mental Floss: 27 facts about maps.

Thom: The Good, the Bad, and the Very, Very Limicolously Ugly!

The 2016 Comedy Show:

• Young Turks: Christie, “Nobody in the real world cares about Trump.”
• Texas shop sells out of Donald Trump piñatas
• David Pakman: Donald Trump is leading in the Republican primary polls
• Ed and Friends: Angry old White guys could not be more upset about Latinos
• Young Turks: Trump, “John McCain is a dummy”, and “Rick Perry needs an IQ test.”
• The Donald’s speechwriter.
• David Pakman: The Donald refuses to apologize, but claims he will win the Latino vote
• Ann Telnaes: Trump continues to mouth off…gets rewarded at polls
• Sharpton: Is trump a Democratic plant?
• Young Turks: Is Donald Trump a Democratic plant???
• What’s trending: #TrumpYourCat.
• Young Turks: Trump’s “uber” fail of the week
• Melania Trump speaks
• Maddow: Scott Walker enters 2016 race amid Trump cacophony
• Thom: We have proof of how Walker would run America
• Ann Telnaes: What does Scott Walker stand for, exactly?
• Young Turks: How many lies can Scott Walker cram into one ad?
• Thom: Back to the future with Scott Walker
• Scott Walker: Puppet for president.
• David Pakman: Worst Republican? Scott Walker joins the race….
• Young Turks: Jeb Bush on Donald Trump’s fear mongering
• Ann Telnaes: Jeb has difficulty preparing for the debates….
• Farron Cousins: Is this Marco Rubio’s dumbest idea yet?
• The Fiorina workout (because we need some kind of video of her).

Minute Physics: The counterintuitive physics of turning a bike.

Young Turks: “Classy” Oklahomans greet Obama with Confederate flag.

Liberal Viewer: FAUX News likes anti-atheist discrimination?

Thom: The climate eeception dossiers.

Plutonic Love:

• Slate: Pluto comes into view.
• Stephen Colbert with Neil deGrasse Tyson on the 9th rock from the sun:
  https://youtu.be/6jXazEYi3P8
• Mountains on Pluto: The long zoom-in
• Flyover of Pluto

Mental Floss: Misconceptions about STIs.

Richard Fowler: Federal court upholds cancellation of “Redskins” trademark.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

If the Sawant-haters think their anybody-but-Sawant standard bearer can sweep the socialist from office by substantially outspending her, they have another think coming. Just weeks before the primary, Sawant has already raised nearly $200,000; across all the council races, only biz-favorite Tim Burgess has raised more. Sawant is also blowing the rest of the pack away with her sheer number of donations, 1,590, over 600 more than the next closest candidate.

But Sawant and her supporters shouldn’t get over-confidant about their convention-defying performance in the money game. Because our airwaves, Internet, and mailboxes could soon be crowded out by big league professionals from the unregulated sport of independent expenditures.

Take for example the race for Council District 5, where a crowded field of qualified candidates including Sandy Brown, Debora Juarez, and Halei Watkins have closely competed for cash and endorsements. Then, out of nowhere, the National Association of Realtors suddenly dumps $48,000 into an independent expenditure on behalf of little-known also-ran Kris Lethin.

Um… Kris who?

Lethin said he has basically no campaign staff or apparatus. “Even my brochure was made by a buddy and me over a weekend,” he said. He described his website as “rookie.” I’m almost embarrassed,” he said. “The other guys have got such fancy stuff going.”

Lethin said he believes his opposition to rent control and linkage fees may have helped win the realtors’ support.

Yah think?

So if the Realtors are willing to flush $48,000 down the drain of a hopeless no-name, just because he’s the most vocal opponent of rent control and linkage fees, how much money do you think they’re ready to put into defeating these policies’ most vocal proponent, Kshama Sawant?

District elections were supposed to help take money out of politics by enabling candidates to focus on doorbelling and community organizing and other forms of direct grassroots voter outreach. But when you count the IEs, District 3 could very well end up being the most expensive race in city council history.

Sawant has proven herself an incorruptible champion of working-class Seattleites, earning her near unanimous support from union locals. No doubt these unions will come to her defense. But Big Business simply has a shit-ton more money than Big Labor. All the more reason why Kshama needs your relentless support.

– The fake stories Stetzer describes are not being spread in good faith by innocent dupes. They are not innocent and they are not dupes. And the stories are not merely “fake,” but false. The biblical term for what he’s describing is “bearing false witness against your neighbor.”

– I’m just going to posit that if you call our first Black president “monkey man Barack”, and the first Black first lady “Gorilla face” avoiding being thought of as racist wasn’t a high priority, the mayor of Airway Heights.

– even if you dispense with the ghoulish idea of Bush going to any sort of veteran’s charity, the idea that he cashed in on it is disgusting.

– This story of what this country did to Lois Chichnikoff Thadei and other Native American children of her era is just awful.

– A believer in the power of social media to make change, Bland can be heard thanking the bystander recording her arrest as she’s taken into police custody — custody from which she was never released alive.

– I like Bernie Sanders. I might vote for him in the primary (although I did vote for Clinton 8 years ago, and am leaning toward voting for her again). Still I quite like the first 3 parts of this series on his history from a feminist perspective.

I’m back! And man am I behind on the news. So here’s a post that doesn’t require much thought:

I don’t know if it’s a sense of obligation or history, or if they actually think they’re making a difference, but I really don’t think most newspaper endorsements make a lick of difference. They spend most of the time pretending to be neutral observers, and then think we should care when they have opinions on who to vote for? Please.

Of course alt weekly papers are different. They have an opinion and a point of view all the time, and if you’re reading them, you probably care what they have to say about candidates. So if you’re already reading The Stranger, you probably already know this, but here are their endorsements. Whatever problems you may have with them, their endorsements probably matter more than any other paper in the region.

I’ll be back for real soon, I swear. Then I’ll go on vacation.

Lots of political news these days, locally, statewide, nationally, and internationally. Want to talk about it? Then please join us for an evening of political conversation over a cocktail at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the small room at the back of the tavern. Our starting time is 8:00 pm, but some folks stop by even earlier for dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle on Tuesday night? Check out one of the other DL meetings this week. The Tri-Cities and Redmond chapters also meet tonight. The Lakewood chapter meets on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Tacoma chapter meets. And next Monday, the Aberdeen and Yakima chapters meet.

There are 190 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, four in Oregon and two in Idaho. Chances are good there’s a chapter meeting near you.

Last week I told you for whom I am voting for city council. (Awkwardly formal phrasing, but you try flipping that sentence around.) So with the ballots arriving this week I thought I’d also mention that I’m voting for Julie Wise for King County Elections Director.

Why? For the exact same reason why I opposed making the office elected in the first place: This is a position that demands a professional who knows how to run elections, not a politician who knows how to run for them. And with 13 years working in King County Elections, deputy director designee Wise is that professional.

Nothing against the two Democrats running for the office. I know and like Zach Hudgins, and from everything I hear, Chris Roberts is a great guy. But neither of them have any experience running an elections office, let alone the largest all vote-by-mail jurisdiction in the nation. For them, this office would be a mere stepping stone to something bigger—maybe Secretary of State. But for Wise, this is her career. And I feel a lot more comfortable with a career technocrat running this office than just another politician.

I cut my teeth as a blogger following the controversially close 2004 gubernatorial election, but we haven’t heard much in the press about King County Elections in the years since. That’s because it’s being run great. Let’s keep it that way. Vote for Wise.

In theory, I get back to normal.