Well, I had hoped to have the first female president (as I’d waxed dreamily about in some of my previous WOW diaries), but I’m still plenty thrilled with having the first female vice president. 😁
And it will happen, because Biden has vowed to choose a female running mate,
and Biden will win the election. For the contrast between the two parties, has never been starker…
To keep from catching the virus: Be sure to wash your hands 20 times a day, and never, ever touch your face…
Are you %@$&#*!!ing kidding me?!?!?
I seriously thought I would soon be dead.
For me at least, politics has never been so personal (not by a long shot…) This gruesome death lottery- inflicted upon us as a direct consequence of the epic fail of the sorry-ass present occupant of the White House- is a war on us all.
But then- 😍 this man 😍 :
had the blessed sense to respect the judgement of this woman,
because decent leaders value qualifications and experience, without being prejudiced by irrational biases… (and it's also worth noting that women have been shown to be remarkably good leaders, during this Covid crisis).
As succinctly summed up in the diary, “Covid-19 State-by-State California #33: California Emerges from The Lockdown” this past Tuesday by shadowbot1:
What Newsom did in locking down the state so early, following Dr. Sara Cody’s lead in the Bay Area, saved untold thousands of lives.
So basically- on the one hand, we have the party of LIFE 🌈 🌎🌼🌞, and on the other- the party of DEATH🔫🦠⚰☠
Oh and of course- the obligatory sexist overtones…
But now that I’ve had the good fortune of being spared from death (at least for now), what should I do, with this priceless gift of life…? (And, oh yeah- while also not leaving the house…??)
Well, as clear as the choice for president may be (I mean, “night and day” doesn’t even begin to describe the disparity), one thing 2016 should have taught us, is that we should never become complacent… There’s always those less motivated voters, who may need that extra little “nudge”, to get them to actually show up to the polls on election day- and getting the requisite number of votes, is ultimately what it all comes down to.
Enter, Vote Forward- “a simple, effective way to volunteer from the comfort and safety of your home”!
You Can Help!
Sending a Vote Forward letter is one of the easiest things you can do to increase turnout. It takes two minutes and one stamp, and meaningfully increases the odds that the recipient will vote. A concrete action you can take, no matter where you live, to get unlikely-to-vote fellow citizens to the polls.
It’s really quite easy: you first choose one of 12 swing states, and then they give you a number of addresses (however many you’d like, between 5 - 20 at a time) from that state of voters who don’t often vote, but tend to vote Democratic when they do. They a provide letter template for each of the voters assigned to you, which you print out & fill in with their name, and a sentence about why voting is so important, then you sign it, put it in a stamped envelope addressed to the voter, & hang onto it until about a week before the election, at which time you’ll mail it so that it arrives just before election day.
And, being as this requires stamps- this also helps the beleaguered Post Office, in danger of running out of money as early as June.
…and ones of some very cool women, like what I’ve purchased- Gwen Ifill, and Sally Ride!
One day (far off in the distant future, but a day that will eventually come), I envision a stamp of the first female vice president…😊
And now, this week’s news:
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Gender Bias, Violence, and Harassment
“BREAKING!! Man accused of sexual misconduct by no less than TWENTY-FIVE women, is a raging sexist a-hole!!!” (Gee, who could have ever imagined?!?!?) 🙄
Good riddance to bad rubbish, as they say- NBC News Chairman Andy Lack Stepping Down:
Lack has come under fire for not adequately addressing the systemic causes of sexual harassment cases at the network after allegations against Matt Lauer, one of its biggest stars, emerged in 2017. He’s also faced his own sexual harassment allegations in recent months.
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Under Lack’s leadership, the network was scrutinized for refusing to run Ronan Farrow’s landmark story on sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein that year.
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UltraViolet, an online community of women against sexism, also championed Lack’s ouster.
“After a career of enabling sexual abusers, preying on women in the workplace, and silencing stories from survivors, Andy Lack’s name is synonymous with NBC Universal’s toxic workplace culture,” the group said in a statement.
DeVos finalizes regulations that give more rights to those accused of sexual assault on college campuses, and the Daily Kos has a petition to Congress, to reverse this disgraceful action:
In the middle of a pandemic, the Trump administration is making clear where its priorities lie: with perpetrators of sexual assault.
The administration’s new Title IX rule gives more protections to assailants at the expense of survivors. The rule:
- Allows schools to ignore sexual violence that occurs outside of school grounds or outside the country, like in off-campus housing or during study abroad programs, even if it impacts a survivor’s education;
- Protects schools from liability for ignoring or covering up sexual harassment;
- Narrows the definition of sexual harassment so that a school is only required to act if the survivor is no longer able to access education, abandoning students to endure escalating levels of abuse without help; and
- Subjects survivors to live cross-examination by their assailant’s adviser or lawyer, creating a campus culture that further silences and retraumatizes survivors.
Implementing such a rule at any time would be unacceptable, but finalizing and instituting it in the middle of a public health crisis is shameful and unconscionable.
…
Sign and send the petition to your U.S. senators and representative: Use the Congressional Review Act to overturn the Dept. of Education’s dangerous new Title IX rule.
Reproductive Rights
Trump's war on birth control: Always insulting and sexist; even worse during a pandemic-
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court — one more time! —heard arguments over a provision in the Affordable Care Act that classifies birth control as preventive care, which means health care plans must cover it without a copay. Since the rule was first written, it's been a flashpoint for conservative anger about both women's rights and Obamacare. No other form of preventive care — vaccines, cancer screenings, breastfeeding services — has been subject to so much litigation or public debate.
Trump vs. Pennsylvania is the third time the court has heard arguments over the rule. This time, the battle was over a Trump-era rewritten rule that grants employers the right to block employees from using their earned health care benefits to pay for contraception, if the employer claims to have a "moral" objection.
(No, I am not going to let up on bashing the Republicans, thank you very much…)
Economic Inequality
It had absolutely astounded me, that they’d lost their lawsuit- so I was very glad to see that the US women's national soccer team players ask for appeal and trial delay after judge dismisses equal pay claims.
COVID-19 Is Fast Becoming A Women’s Economic Crisis:
Women are doing more work at home, facing more job losses and doing more of the dangerous essential work during the coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S. government reported horrifying unemployment numbers on Friday, with the jobless rate hitting 14.7% in April, a level not seen since the Great Depression.
The numbers were even worse for women.
Women make up 49% of the U.S. workforce but held 55% of the jobs lost in April as businesses shuttered to prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to an analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics data released by the National Women’s Law Center on Friday.
And from WaPo:
The last time Americans faced an economic crisis, it was called a “Mancession.” As millions of people lost their jobs in the Great Recession, 70 percent were men, many in construction and manufacturing.
This time, as job losses linked to the coronavirus pandemic dwarf what the country experienced in the 2007-2009 crisis, the heaviest toll is falling on women.
Waitresses, day-care workers, hairstylists, hotel maids and dental hygienists are among the 20.5 million people who watched their jobs vanish in April — the most devastating spike in unemployment since the Great Depression.
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Not only are women overrepresented in some of the hardest-hit industries, such as leisure and hospitality, health care and education, but women — especially black and Hispanic women — lost jobs in those sectors at disproportionate rates.
Before the pandemic, women held 77 percent of the jobs in education and health services, but they account for 83 percent of the jobs lost in those sectors, according to an analysis by the National Women’s Law Center. Women made up less than half of the retail trade workforce, but they experienced 61 percent of the retail job losses. Many of these women held some of the lowest-paying jobs — the cashiers, hotel clerks, office receptionists, hospital technicians, teachers’ aides.
International
Somewhat unexpected, but, still welcome: In Rural Afghanistan, Some Taliban Gingerly Welcome Girls Schools.
Egypt TV show aired during Ramadan under fire for insulting women:
Some Egyptian lawmakers have called on Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly to ban a prank television show aired every year during Ramadan, accusing it of inciting violence against women.
The show "Ramez Magnon Rasmi", or "Ramez Is Officially Crazy", invites celebrities onto a talk show in Dubai but it turns out to be a prank show hosted by actor Ramez Galal.
The guests are handcuffed to a chair with Galal threatening them with crabs, snakes, or other pranks if they do not "confess" to his questions.
In the first episode, Galal made fun of actress Ghada Adel as a divorced woman, and in other episodes he hit some actresses on their shoulders and touched their faces to get a reaction.
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Women's rights activists raised concerns that the show could increase violence against women.
"Besides normalizing torture through the pranks, Galal also makes insulting remarks and comments on female guests, their clothing and their reactions," said Randa Fakhr El-Deen, head of the NGOs' Union on Harmful Practices Against Women and Children.
"This is another show that encourages society to normalize violence and harassment in all its forms against women."
Indian police investigate after rape chat group sparks online backlash:
Delhi police were on Tuesday investigating an online chat group that made light of gang-rape and caused a backlash on social media over trivialising sexual assault, with one teenage boy questioned.
An Instagram chat group called "bois locker room" was the top trending hashtag on Twitter India, with many tweets using screenshots from the group to highlight derogatory comments made about women, sexism or victim blaming.
Revenge porn soars in Europe's coronavirus lockdown as student fights back:
Revenge porn is surging across Europe under coronavirus lockdowns, with a doubling of cases reported in Britain on Tuesday, while a student campaigner in France has spent hours getting girls' naked photos removed from the internet.
Women's rights activists said they have witnessed a rise in online posts of intimate images of women and girls, usually by abusive partners or ex-partners who are stuck at home in front of a screen, with their lives upended by the new coronavirus.
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And that about wraps it up… Well folks, I’m going to let Morticia have the last word: