It’s St Patrick’s Day! Have a selfie:
I hate iCloud as a product but I might have to upgrade as a thank you to Apple and a fuck you to the FBI.
When I decided to start reading the news in high school, I turned to my dad’s favorite news site, the Drudge Report. This habit persisted all through college and into my first job. As such, and as someone who has worked with “conservative media,” I found How and Why the Conservative Media Sold Its Soul To Facilitate Trump’s Nomination super interesting.
Via @UnSlutProject, Sheriff says rape kits don’t matter because most rape reports are false. Reporter @NatalieShaver doesn’t challenge it. First off, most people vastly overestimate the prevalence of false rape reports. The best estimates put false rape reports at under 10% of reports. When polled, people cite 30% on average. But 90% of rapes go unreported, in part because victims expect to be called liars.
Of course you’d expect a Sheriff to know what percentage of rape reports are false. That is if you know nothing about how rape actually works in this country. From what I’ve read (there are no studies on this) and heard talking to victims, this is how police ~~usually~~ treat rape victims. They assume they are lying and tell them as much. Instead of trying to investigate their cases, cops will try to get you to recant your story so they don’t have to be bothered. And it usually works. Most rape victims who do report don’t follow all the way through to prosecution, not because the report is false, but because police and investigators try to get them to drop their cases EVERY STEP OF THE WAY.
It’s truly fucked-up. It’s rape culture at work.
Second issue, I LOVE when reporters go on all sanctimoniously about how they’re sacrificing to speak truth to power. Read an account of a crime. Any crime. Go on. I’ll wait. Did the reporter take the cop’s word for what happened without talking to anyone else or questioning the narrative? Despite the fact that cops routinely lie (even under oath!), reporters rarely question them or bring to light their lies because a cozy relationship and easy access is more important to them than the truth. Which is fine. Whatever. But you can’t have it both ways. Either you’re speaking truth to power or you’re issuing press releases for PDs. But if you’re doing the latter you should do it for a better product and get paid more.
@DaleDoesPorn shared a good Melissa Gira Grant piece on how an anti-abortion activist appropriates feminism in his new role, combating “sexualization.” It’s ironic that @JillFilipovic of @Cosmopolitan also blames cultural sexual excess for sexualization.
Yesterday @nona and @CharoShane shared an awesome piece by @LuxAlptraum about the painful irony of being a horny lady. This was something I connected with 🙂 It also reminded me of 2014’s When Women Wanted Sex Much More Than Men And how the stereotype flipped.
I adore Jason Kuznicki. But I wasn’t super into If You Want to Pass for Serious in Wonktown. Though it is well-written. One reason is that I’m biased for reasons I can’t reveal yet. But involve boning. The other is that while first principles are important, spending more on welfare as part of a reform to make it actually provide a social safety net doesn’t seem like a bad trade to me. I’m an anarchist, but I respect the people who work to end government by working near to and within it. I’d prefer a private social safety net to a public one. But until there is a sufficient private safety net, how can I fault someone for working to make sure it works?
I laughed so hard I cried. Looking Back at the Poop So Toxic It Grounded a Plane
This is odd but I like it for some reason.
I also love the meme where people sneak “taxation is theft” in places it doesn’t belong. When did libertarians get funny?
Speaking of funny, Nihilisa Frank is one of my favorite things on the internet right now. I LOVED Lisa Frank as a kid. Which is funny because I was a pretty dour and serious child, running around with rainbow-af folders in my trapper keeper. I literally had a collection of Lisa Frank school supplies that were too beautiful and precious for me to actually use. I just liked having them.
One final thought. This is my favorite part of my day. Thanks for reading so I’m not just spitting links into the void. I mean I am but I’m not doing it alone so thanks.
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