Friday, July 15, 2022

Althouse

Althouse

"A Columbus man has been charged with impregnating a 10-year-old Ohio girl, whose travel to Indiana to seek an abortion led to international attention..."

Posted: 13 Jul 2022 10:14 AM PDT

"... following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade and activation of Ohio's abortion law. Gershon Fuentes, 27, whose last known address was an apartment on Columbus' Northwest Side, was arrested Tuesday after police say he confessed to raping the child on at least two occasions. He's since been charged with rape, a felony of the first degree in Ohio.Columbus police were made aware of the girl's pregnancy through a referral by Franklin County Children Services that was made by her mother on June 22, Det. Jeffrey Huhn testified Wednesday morning at Fuentes arraignment."

There had been some doubts cast on this story. A few days ago, I wrote:
Yes, I have been waiting to hear the name of the rapist and news of his arrest or details about a rape by an unknown man who has eluded arrest.... [W]e should all be demanding to see that the rapist of this 10-year-old girl be brought to justice. But perhaps the story was made up, and that's the reason we don't know the name and the fate of the rapist: There is no such person. Why would 6 weeks pass without medical attention when a 10-year-old child is raped? Here is an incident that should be immediately reported to the police. If it was not, then it must be that some man — perhaps a family member — was coercing the child to protect him. Is the child still dominated by this man? We should know a lot more about what happened. The need to make the trip from Cincinnati to Indiana is the least of it. 

Now we see that a report was made on June 22.  

"When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash..."

Posted: 13 Jul 2022 08:21 AM PDT

"... or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he'd be worthless, and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, 'drop to your knees and beg,' and he would have done it…"
 
Writes Donald Trump (at Truth).

Twitter's writing prompt is "What's happening?"

Posted: 13 Jul 2022 07:55 AM PDT





I don't know what's happening now, but for me, this morning, that prompt — "What's happening" — unlocked an old memory, the 60s catchphrase, "It's what's happening, baby."
 
 

"It's what's happening, baby" was, if I remember correctly, specifically associated with the dj Murray the K. It was also the name of that June 1965 TV special. Wikipedia explains: 
The special featured performances by many of the popular artists of the day like Jan & Dean, Mary Wells, the Dave Clark Five, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, The Supremes, Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles, The Drifters, The Miracles, Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, The Ronettes, Chuck Jackson, The Four Tops, The Temptations, The Righteous Brothers and Little Anthony & the Imperials occasionally interspersed with Murray the K's public announcements urging the youth of America to pursue education and summer employment (due to the show being co-produced by the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity).

The U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity! That makes sense, weirdly.

Anyway, "What's happening?" and "It's what's happening" and "That's really happening" — that was a 60s way to speak. The word "happening" suggested that something exciting was happening. To call something "a happening" was to suggest that we ought to get over to that place right away. 

These days, "What's happening?," Twitter asks, and it usually seems to be that some famous person said something that can be interpreted — uncharitably — as stupid. Like, right now, I'm being prodded to take a look at this:


So dull!

"[T]he confluence of economic problems and resurgent cultural issues has helped turn the emerging class divide in the Democratic coalition into a chasm..."

Posted: 13 Jul 2022 07:54 AM PDT

"... as Republicans appear to be making new inroads among nonwhite and working-class voters — perhaps especially Hispanic voters — who remain more concerned about the economy and inflation than abortion rights and guns. For the first time in a Times/Siena national survey, Democrats had a larger share of support among white college graduates than among nonwhite voters — a striking indication of the shifting balance of political energy in the Democratic coalition. As recently as the 2016 congressional elections, Democrats won more than 70 percent of nonwhite voters while losing among white college graduates."

Writes Nate Cohn in "Poll Shows Tight Race for Control of Congress as Class Divide Widens/Nonwhite and working-class Democrats worry more about the economy, while white college graduates focus more on cultural issues like abortion rights and guns" (NYT).

This is one of the graphics. Don't miss the fine print that shows the smallness of the segment of voters that puts the "blue" issues first:

"Before Roe was overturned, architecture became an effective tool to limit abortion access, as states used regulatory codes — like zoning and building codes..."

Posted: 13 Jul 2022 06:16 AM PDT

"... to make it extremely difficult to operate. Known as Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers, TRAP laws included Texas's HB 2, a 2013 law that required abortion clinics to meet the same requirements as ambulatory-surgery centers, which included a lower staff-to-patient ratio; larger exam rooms, hallways, and doorways; having a room dedicated to operations; and complex HVAC systems. In just three years after HB 2 was passed, Texas went from 40 to 16 clinics. Abortions doubled in neighboring states....  There are over 70 architects from 16 states currently on the growing list of those willing to help expand or build new clinics. The list will not be publicly published, and will be shared only with clinics that are looking for architectural services, as a way to protect the architects' and clinics' privacy and help guard against retaliation...."

"We are... publishing the entire video for those who want to see what we obtained... [W]e blurred the identity of a child who exits a bathroom as the shooter approaches the classroom."

Posted: 13 Jul 2022 07:46 AM PDT

"The child runs back to bathroom to hide and was later rescued. We also have removed the sound of children screaming as the gunman enters the classroom. We consider this too graphic. We have also chosen to show the face of the gunman as he enters this school. Our news organization guidelines state that we should not glorify these individuals and give them the notoriety that they seek. We chose, in this instance, to show his face to chisel away at any conspiracy that we are hiding something. This last point included much discussion among our senior leaders.... Some three minutes after the shooting begins, three officers initially respond and run to the classroom door, where there is more gunfire, and the three officers retreat to the end of the hallway and stand behind the corners that provide some cover. For the next hour-plus, officers congregate and amass in the hallway and then more show up. Heavily armed officers from at least five agencies stand in the hallway that lead to the classrooms. These officers carry dozens of high-powered rifles, handguns, vests, helmets, camouflage gear and shields.... After 77 minutes, the video shows the officers breach the classroom."

"I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to raise an American girl in this moment.... Their right to bodily autonomy is more conditional."

Posted: 13 Jul 2022 05:20 AM PDT

"The backlash against not conforming to gendered ideals seems more virulent than in recent memory.... Maybe part of the answer is telling the truth in all its absurd failure and glory. Several brilliant American Girl doll meme accounts on Instagram have done just that. They've made me laugh and, even though they're laced with dark irony, they still retain some of the plucky hopefulness of Kit and Samantha. These accounts take photos of the American Girls and put them in ridiculous situations for a doll. Many of their posts portray the dolls witnessing random historical moments — like when Dan Quayle misspelled the word 'potato' — with their blank yet slightly knowing half-smiles dominating the images.... A meme account whose Instagram handle is a bawdy play on 'Kit Kittredge' posted a viral image after Roe v. Wade fell, highlighting the states where the Nixon-era American Girl doll Julie may have had more access to abortion in 1974 than we do today.... Within the world of these memes, there is nothing the world won't throw at an American Girl doll, and there is nothing she can't do.... [My daughter is] a few years away from marching on the National Mall, but she's learning that progress doesn't happen without effort and determination, and that's a message any American girl should know by heart."

Writes Jessica Grose, in "What It Means to Raise an American Girl Now" (NYT).

The "bawdy play on 'Kit Kittredge'" — presumably not fit to print in the New York Times (those body shamers!) — is "Klit Klittredge," and here's how that image looked:

"Tattooing is perfectly safe. The real reason it was made illegal was that people associate tattoos with undesirable types."

Posted: 13 Jul 2022 05:06 AM PDT

"They figured that by getting rid of tattoo artists, they'd get rid of undesirables."

When he made the quoted statement, it was 1976, and he was breaking the New York City law against tattooing. He did it publicly, in front of the Museum of Modern Art — "a bit of performance art as civil disobedience" (in the words of the NYT obituary). 

He was — in the classic civil disobedience format — arrested. That gave him a chance to argue in court that there's a First Amendment right to tattoo. He lost, but tattooing continued, and ultimately, in 1997, the ban ended. 

"Tapper didn’t immediately stop Bolton, who worked in the last four Republican administrations, when he admitted orchestrating coups abroad."

Posted: 13 Jul 2022 04:36 AM PDT

"Eventually, though, the CNN host asked his guest to elaborate, and Bolton pointed to the attempted effort in 2019 by Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido to overthrow the government of President Nicolás Maduro. (At the time, Bolton publicly said the plot, which the Trump administration supported, was 'not a coup.') When Tapper asked him if 'there's other stuff you're not telling me,' Bolton played coy: 'I think I'm sure there is.'"

From "John Bolton Admitted on National TV That He Helped Plan Coups" (NY Magazine).
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