Blake Farenthold won’t seek reelection. Mika Brezinski goes after Sarah Sanders about backing Trump. Study links fracking to growth problems in babies.
first, i’d like to thank all commenters — your comments are universally inspiring; i enjoyed them all. the tee-shirt slogan idea — ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES — is a keeper. i’d buy one, definitely! btw, “slogan” comes from the Scottish, meaning “war cry” — appropriate, n’est-ce pas?
secondly, i had a TOTALLY different reaction to Trump’s (attempted) insult tweet — yes, he has effectively weaponized Twitter — to Sen. Gillibrand. i see it as follows:
ON WHORES AND WHOREDOM IN A SECULAR NATION
so what if Trump did call Sen. Gillibrand a whore? the only damage done by the attempted insult is to Trump’s (lack of) character, not to Sen. Gillibrand’s faultless reputation.
please stop acting like whores are society’s black sheep; they’re not. they perform a necessary function, in return for which they are maligned, mistreated, and morally defamed. place any anger, blame, condemnation — the “abc’s” — on the men (and women?) who use and then abuse them; not on the women (and men) who provide the services. in these particular transactions, the customer is RARELY right — the working girl or guy has got to be ultra-careful in an unregulated business — because customers aren’t usually so careful or conscientious … because, since it’s illegal and therefore unregulated, they don’t HAVE to be careful. further, ask yourself why it’s the sex worker who bears the brunt of the punishment and not the procurer, who initiates the transaction, engages in the agreed-upon activities, and then reimburses the business-person with the agreed-upon sum of money? it sounds to me like a contractual agreement between two (or more) parties, upon the completion of which a monetary exchange ensues.
let’s choose to treat Trump’s tweet as (1) a miserable moral reflection on his innermost soul (such as it is), (2) an unintentional compliment to Sen. Gillibrand, offered up in the form of an intentional slur, and hinting at her timely demands upon such a flawed figurehead to resign, and (3) an out-loud ask of our secular government to legalize and regulate the profession of the working girl and guy. they do indeed work hard for a living, in the worst of circumstances, and under a cloud of condemnatory religious morality that has no place in our 21st-century secular society.
the current and ongoing #MeToo Movement might be well-served by removing sex from the sole control of men. they ought to willingly relinquish their dominance over women in all workplaces and public AND private spaces. think of the positive effect this kind of sea change could have on how men and women behave towards each as we go forward in our evolutionary process.
END
NOTES: the first response i received to this comment was from a man; he asked, “Necessary to whom?” i responded that, since he had to ask, obviously not to him. i went on to say that if he couldn’t think of ANY situation in which such a service might be necessary — it isn’t referred to as the world’s oldest profession for no reason — then perhaps he ought to download an “Empathy” app. then i complimented him, sincerely, on his use of “to whom” — nicely done and rarely seen, these days.
the very next response was from a woman in the Midwest. she is one of five siblings who had been raised by a single mother. when times were really rough, her mom supplemented the family’s income with sex work. this woman wrote to thank me for my empathetic defense of the sex worker in America. i am humbled to have been sensitive enough to have — at least, in part — understood the issue. you see, one of my dearest friends formerly engaged in sex work — she is one of the most perceptive people i’ve ever known when it comes to peoples’ characters and motives. gee, i wonder why.
I’m very happy that people already commented on this! I also think Cenk means well…but is still a prideful man at times. LISTEN to people.
GOOD JOB JOHN
It is not about women being clear (while of course that is important). From a very young age we learn that to get boys to like us we have to have sex…so even if we don’t want to and SAY NO there is still pressure if the boy acts like he still wants to. That maybe he won’t like us.
OF COOUUURRSSSEEE tell your daughters to be clear. But more importantly teach your son to be respectful if a girl says no…to not pressure… TO NOT ACT DISAPPOINTED. and to like a girl for who she is not whether she’ll put out or not. And to ALWAYS GET CLEAR CONSENT
Do you know how many times in college I had sex with someone just to shut them up so they would stop bothering me… Including my boyfriends. TOO MANY
I I know that pretty much every straight woman can relate…
Time to do some actual research,,,,,,, again. Fracking does NOT cause earthquakes. The increased frequency of earthquakes is caused by wastewater injection. These are different processes. Please use the internet (while we still have it).
To be fair, fracking does not cause MOST earthquakes. The link you gave does state that “1-2% of the earthquakes can be linked to hydraulic fracturing”. So fracking does actually cause earthquakes, it’s simply not the major cause of the recent issues.
Cenk, I honestly don’t know what situation you’re describing here. The woman in Spurlock’s story spoke up, repeatedly, both using her words and her body language. She wasn’t “thinking it in her head”. Please stop bringing up irrelevant scenarios. Also, it’s both people’s responsibility to speak up. Like John rightly pointed out in the previous segment, the guy can easily get clarity by asking and getting enthusiastic consent. The problem is that a lot of men don’t ask because deep down they suspect they will get a “no”. In our culture, a woman’s boundaries and “no” are treated as endlessly negotiable.
Let’s also not forget multiple instances when a person can’t speak up due to being intoxicated, incapacitated, terrified, and so on. And Cenk, if you say “you don’t know”, maybe you should spent less time opining and talking on the issue and more time learning and listening.
YES. Thank you.
John clearly gets consent, but Cenk still struggles. This was pretty obvious in the first hour, where he talked about speaking up. John did a great job stepping in. In Spurlock’s story, the woman did speak up, multiple times. It was not a matter of “perception”, Cenk. It was the fact that we socialize men to think that it’s ok to disregard a no, and to keep pushing, coercing, or cajoling a woman into sex. He should have stopped the moment she pushed him away. And when a person tells you ” I don’t want to have sex with you ” and you don’t immediately disengage, you are persisting in the hopes of getting them to say “yes”, and you don’t particularly care if that “yes” wasn’t freely and enthusiastically given.
Responsibility in these situations does not just fall to the woman (or person being pursued) to stop unwanted behavior; it is just as important for the man (or the person pursuing) to obtain active consent. Active consent is freely given, reversible, informed, enthusiastic and specific (FRIES).
If we keep framing consent as a reactionary behavior instead of a proactive one, we will continue to blame the victim, whether knowingly or not, because she/they did not speak up, weren’t clear, etc. And to your point, we have fostered a culture where men will pursue, pursue, pursue until they successfully wear the other person down or, in Spurlock’s case, get tired of trying to “convince” and just take what they want.
We need to start un-socializing this behavior. No means no the first time. Period.
Active consent, y’all.
Mika Brezinski was the only person in mainstream media who openly acknowledged Hillary’s constant lying. Every time Hillary told another lie, Mika was there on MORNING JOE saying “Hillary, stop lying!” And that was from someone who was a Hillary supporter. Mika was the only one to point out the obvious — if you really wanted the Democrat to win, you should want the Democrat to STOP LYING. Duh.
Gotta say, I love watching MORNING JOE. Sure, their “experts” are establishment hacks who call most shots wrong. But the fun is watching the back and forth between Mika and Joe. It’s like watching the comedy of Burns & Allen.
Cenk,
I know you are more empathetic than the average male, but I am not sure you can really wrap your head around this. I am in my 50’s and hopefully it is different for most young girls now, but we were raised to be nice, polite, and society was not interested in boosting our self esteem. As a male can you even conceive of not only acting like you like a bad haircut, but tipping anyway? Perhaps that is not the best example. But in so many trivial ways girls were/are raised to be subservient. I also had such low self esteem that I did not even consider that my opinions counted for anything.
It was not hard to manipulate me. I already felt guilty if a man had spent any money at all, surely he thought he “deserved” something. I have also been frozen by fear, as you alluded to. I think the world is a very scary place to be a female. Being clear- sounds easy, I hope that will be our future.
Sure that’s all true and good, Cenk. But what if you’re under the influence…you’re young and new to the drinking game and the night hits you hard a bit late. You said you didn’t want to get physical earlier with great mental clarity but are heavily under the influence later in the night — cant vocalize enough but spoke up earlier when you were more aware…men often take advantage of the quiet. You can be clear and on point as much as possible but sometimes men will take their chance when there is any sliver of opportunity.
I just joined today and am extremely happy that I did. I am graduating from my MPA program soon and now would like to get involved full throttle. I love the style of reporting done here as it is entertaining and evidence-based. I can’t wait to watch more.
Aww, but I agree with the other comments. Its all good as long as we know about it. I will wait for it to be posted with bated breath. Or with bate breath, if I eat some sardines
Comments
first, i’d like to thank all commenters — your comments are universally inspiring; i enjoyed them all. the tee-shirt slogan idea — ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES — is a keeper. i’d buy one, definitely! btw, “slogan” comes from the Scottish, meaning “war cry” — appropriate, n’est-ce pas?
secondly, i had a TOTALLY different reaction to Trump’s (attempted) insult tweet — yes, he has effectively weaponized Twitter — to Sen. Gillibrand. i see it as follows:
ON WHORES AND WHOREDOM IN A SECULAR NATION
so what if Trump did call Sen. Gillibrand a whore? the only damage done by the attempted insult is to Trump’s (lack of) character, not to Sen. Gillibrand’s faultless reputation.
please stop acting like whores are society’s black sheep; they’re not. they perform a necessary function, in return for which they are maligned, mistreated, and morally defamed. place any anger, blame, condemnation — the “abc’s” — on the men (and women?) who use and then abuse them; not on the women (and men) who provide the services. in these particular transactions, the customer is RARELY right — the working girl or guy has got to be ultra-careful in an unregulated business — because customers aren’t usually so careful or conscientious … because, since it’s illegal and therefore unregulated, they don’t HAVE to be careful. further, ask yourself why it’s the sex worker who bears the brunt of the punishment and not the procurer, who initiates the transaction, engages in the agreed-upon activities, and then reimburses the business-person with the agreed-upon sum of money? it sounds to me like a contractual agreement between two (or more) parties, upon the completion of which a monetary exchange ensues.
let’s choose to treat Trump’s tweet as (1) a miserable moral reflection on his innermost soul (such as it is), (2) an unintentional compliment to Sen. Gillibrand, offered up in the form of an intentional slur, and hinting at her timely demands upon such a flawed figurehead to resign, and (3) an out-loud ask of our secular government to legalize and regulate the profession of the working girl and guy. they do indeed work hard for a living, in the worst of circumstances, and under a cloud of condemnatory religious morality that has no place in our 21st-century secular society.
the current and ongoing #MeToo Movement might be well-served by removing sex from the sole control of men. they ought to willingly relinquish their dominance over women in all workplaces and public AND private spaces. think of the positive effect this kind of sea change could have on how men and women behave towards each as we go forward in our evolutionary process.
END
NOTES: the first response i received to this comment was from a man; he asked, “Necessary to whom?” i responded that, since he had to ask, obviously not to him. i went on to say that if he couldn’t think of ANY situation in which such a service might be necessary — it isn’t referred to as the world’s oldest profession for no reason — then perhaps he ought to download an “Empathy” app. then i complimented him, sincerely, on his use of “to whom” — nicely done and rarely seen, these days.
the very next response was from a woman in the Midwest. she is one of five siblings who had been raised by a single mother. when times were really rough, her mom supplemented the family’s income with sex work. this woman wrote to thank me for my empathetic defense of the sex worker in America. i am humbled to have been sensitive enough to have — at least, in part — understood the issue. you see, one of my dearest friends formerly engaged in sex work — she is one of the most perceptive people i’ve ever known when it comes to peoples’ characters and motives. gee, i wonder why.
I’m very happy that people already commented on this! I also think Cenk means well…but is still a prideful man at times. LISTEN to people.
GOOD JOB JOHN
It is not about women being clear (while of course that is important). From a very young age we learn that to get boys to like us we have to have sex…so even if we don’t want to and SAY NO there is still pressure if the boy acts like he still wants to. That maybe he won’t like us.
OF COOUUURRSSSEEE tell your daughters to be clear. But more importantly teach your son to be respectful if a girl says no…to not pressure… TO NOT ACT DISAPPOINTED. and to like a girl for who she is not whether she’ll put out or not. And to ALWAYS GET CLEAR CONSENT
Do you know how many times in college I had sex with someone just to shut them up so they would stop bothering me… Including my boyfriends. TOO MANY
I I know that pretty much every straight woman can relate…
Time to do some actual research,,,,,,, again. Fracking does NOT cause earthquakes. The increased frequency of earthquakes is caused by wastewater injection. These are different processes. Please use the internet (while we still have it).
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/induced/myths.php
I am 100% against fracking, but I am also 100% in favor of responsible reporting. Renewable energy sources are the only viable future.
To be fair, fracking does not cause MOST earthquakes. The link you gave does state that “1-2% of the earthquakes can be linked to hydraulic fracturing”. So fracking does actually cause earthquakes, it’s simply not the major cause of the recent issues.
Cenk, I honestly don’t know what situation you’re describing here. The woman in Spurlock’s story spoke up, repeatedly, both using her words and her body language. She wasn’t “thinking it in her head”. Please stop bringing up irrelevant scenarios. Also, it’s both people’s responsibility to speak up. Like John rightly pointed out in the previous segment, the guy can easily get clarity by asking and getting enthusiastic consent. The problem is that a lot of men don’t ask because deep down they suspect they will get a “no”. In our culture, a woman’s boundaries and “no” are treated as endlessly negotiable.
Let’s also not forget multiple instances when a person can’t speak up due to being intoxicated, incapacitated, terrified, and so on. And Cenk, if you say “you don’t know”, maybe you should spent less time opining and talking on the issue and more time learning and listening.
Cenk, when it comes to consent, don’t worry about what to tell your daughter, worry about what to tell your son.
YES. Thank you.
John clearly gets consent, but Cenk still struggles. This was pretty obvious in the first hour, where he talked about speaking up. John did a great job stepping in. In Spurlock’s story, the woman did speak up, multiple times. It was not a matter of “perception”, Cenk. It was the fact that we socialize men to think that it’s ok to disregard a no, and to keep pushing, coercing, or cajoling a woman into sex. He should have stopped the moment she pushed him away. And when a person tells you ” I don’t want to have sex with you ” and you don’t immediately disengage, you are persisting in the hopes of getting them to say “yes”, and you don’t particularly care if that “yes” wasn’t freely and enthusiastically given.
Exactly.
Responsibility in these situations does not just fall to the woman (or person being pursued) to stop unwanted behavior; it is just as important for the man (or the person pursuing) to obtain active consent. Active consent is freely given, reversible, informed, enthusiastic and specific (FRIES).
If we keep framing consent as a reactionary behavior instead of a proactive one, we will continue to blame the victim, whether knowingly or not, because she/they did not speak up, weren’t clear, etc. And to your point, we have fostered a culture where men will pursue, pursue, pursue until they successfully wear the other person down or, in Spurlock’s case, get tired of trying to “convince” and just take what they want.
We need to start un-socializing this behavior. No means no the first time. Period.
Active consent, y’all.
better advice could not have been given!
Mika Brezinski was the only person in mainstream media who openly acknowledged Hillary’s constant lying. Every time Hillary told another lie, Mika was there on MORNING JOE saying “Hillary, stop lying!” And that was from someone who was a Hillary supporter. Mika was the only one to point out the obvious — if you really wanted the Democrat to win, you should want the Democrat to STOP LYING. Duh.
Gotta say, I love watching MORNING JOE. Sure, their “experts” are establishment hacks who call most shots wrong. But the fun is watching the back and forth between Mika and Joe. It’s like watching the comedy of Burns & Allen.
Cenk,
I know you are more empathetic than the average male, but I am not sure you can really wrap your head around this. I am in my 50’s and hopefully it is different for most young girls now, but we were raised to be nice, polite, and society was not interested in boosting our self esteem. As a male can you even conceive of not only acting like you like a bad haircut, but tipping anyway? Perhaps that is not the best example. But in so many trivial ways girls were/are raised to be subservient. I also had such low self esteem that I did not even consider that my opinions counted for anything.
It was not hard to manipulate me. I already felt guilty if a man had spent any money at all, surely he thought he “deserved” something. I have also been frozen by fear, as you alluded to. I think the world is a very scary place to be a female. Being clear- sounds easy, I hope that will be our future.
Sure that’s all true and good, Cenk. But what if you’re under the influence…you’re young and new to the drinking game and the night hits you hard a bit late. You said you didn’t want to get physical earlier with great mental clarity but are heavily under the influence later in the night — cant vocalize enough but spoke up earlier when you were more aware…men often take advantage of the quiet. You can be clear and on point as much as possible but sometimes men will take their chance when there is any sliver of opportunity.
I just joined today and am extremely happy that I did. I am graduating from my MPA program soon and now would like to get involved full throttle. I love the style of reporting done here as it is entertaining and evidence-based. I can’t wait to watch more.
Cenk, Natural Gas IS A FOSSIL FUEL!!!!!
Cenk at some time on the show today there was the line
ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES
My guess is that can be used as a slogan
Perhaps on a T shirt with the orange monster
Huckerbee-Sanders: “Only if your mind was in the gutter would you have read it that way”
OK – What about the mind that wrote it that way???
Yes , Thank you very much for letting us know. A welcome change.
Where is Ag Prog for this week?
Will be up within the next hour or hour & half…hopefully
Thank you for communicating that.
Hour 1 for December 14 will be going up late due to technical difficulties.
Aww, but I agree with the other comments. Its all good as long as we know about it. I will wait for it to be posted with bated breath. Or with bate breath, if I eat some sardines
Thank you for telling us, if for no other reason than it reduces the wailing that otherwise happens.