(Source: hammeredtimesthree)
The People’s Record Memorial Day Dedication
Sergeant Shamar Thomas (photo source)
Sergeant Shamar Thomas is a veteran marine sergeant who stood up to a hoard of NYPD officers in militarized gear that were preparing to assault protesters at Occupy Wall Street. His heroic stand caused the officers to back-down and retreat and immediately became one of the most memorable moments of the Occupy Wall Street protest. This Memorial Day, we salute him! Here’s the video of his face-off with NYPD.
Click here for a complete list of The People’s Record’s Memorial Day dedications.
(Source: thepeoplesrecord)
May the trends be ever in your favour.
The latest Hunger Games spoof on the spin explores a Hipster Games battle royale. Five districts — Portland, Brooklyn, Oakland, Austin and Silverlake — fight to the death, facing deprivation of beer … and brunch. Directed by Wyoma Films’ Christopher Guerrero.
tw: abuse, rape, domestic violence
A few weeks ago my mom stapled pages of a story in one of her women’s magazines together and handed it to me. She gave it to me pretty much with the tag lines “for your feminist blog” and “something new to consider.” Indeed it was; she knows me well.
The story is titled “I was forced to be pregnant.” With a title like that, reading it was actually not on the top of my to read list. I thought it was about women not exercising their right to choice. I was very, very wrong on that one.
Have you ever heard of Reproductive coercion? It is a term that was quite recently coined by the advocates against domestic violence to describe a certain type of abuse some women face. It occurs when a man pressures their partner to have kids and/or impregnates them against their will. Reproductive coercion comes in three different types:
1. Emotional pressure that turns into verbal and physical abuse.
2. Sabotaging birth control
3. Marital rape
Over 75% of women 19-49 who reported once experiencing domestic violence also endured some type of reproductive control by men. It’s all about control and domination over a woman’s body.The first story in the magazine is about a woman who got married around 36 years of age. After a few months of dating her boyfriend talked excitedly about having children. After he proposed he began calling her “The Babymaker.” She then confided with him that one of her fallopian tubes was blocked. He in return insisted she see a fertility doctor. She recounts, “I had finally met a great guy who was eager to start a family with me. What woman wouldn’t fall for that?” Soon after her honeymoon he persisted on in an obsessive manner, but his efforts had to be temporarily halted as she had to get emergency back surgery. Alas, 6 months into recovery he was back to pressuring her again. She was in much pain at the time due to her back, but she agreed to In Vitro Fertilization. She then became pregnant, but soon miscarried. In response, her husband grabbed her by the neck, choking her. He apologized, blaming his outburst on his grief and had her sign up for another round of IVF. And then a third round. She tried to put him off with the excuse that she needed to weigh more before she could take treatments, her husband forced her to get on the scale often and filled the fridge with fattening foods. “It hurt that all I was good for was getting pregnant.” She recounts. At the end, he screamed at her, threatening to replace her with a maid if she couldn’t get pregnant and she told him she no longer wanted to have his child. He destroyed bedroom furniture, pushed her down the stairs and threatened her with a gun. She fled to a domestic violence shelter.
The second story was about a woman who faced marital rape. This woman was 40, had a then boyfriend and two children from a previous marriage. After telling her boyfriend she did not want any more children, her boyfriend refused to wear a condom and began to rape her. She then became pregnant with her third child. Birth control was never an option for her because she couldn’t hide pills anywhere for he went through all of her belongings. Three months after giving birth, he raped her again, impregnating her with twins. She lost the twins in a physical fight with him, but soon became pregnant again. During her recovery she begged her obstetrician to remove her ovaries and devise a lie to tell him; that she had cancer. After a decade of sexual abuse and violence she was able to get a job that kept her out of the house and often times traveling.
One in four callers to the National Domestic Abuse hotline said that their partners had tried to force them to become pregnant. Why? As one woman stated, “Its like he wants to own me from the inside out.” Having a baby is the perfect tie that binds. These type of abusers want to create a circumstance in which their partner is dependent on him.
WHAT’S THAT HAVE TO DO WITH PLANNED PARENTHOOD?
Many voters never consider how defunding these clinics could hurt victims of domestic violence who turn to them for counseling as well as pregnancy prevention. Abused women will turn to health care providers long before they will turn to domestic abuse hotlines and organizations. Many women in abusive relationships rely on life saving, affordable care programs such as Title X. It is critical that such places are open and operation when women and children need them so desperately.
holy fuck im crying.
(Source: noam-chomsky)
Senator Rand Paul defending oil companies on the Senate floor yesterday. The Senate is debating ending billions of dollars in tax subsidies to oil companies. Paul claims that oil companies deserve tax breaks because love money/hate Obama let’s have a tea partayyy.
Paul’s top campaign contributors? Oil, coal, and hedge funds.
(via climateadaptation)
-___- SMH SO HARD.
Haji Samad - Relative of the 11 victims killed by the US soldier.
Ahsan for Asian Correspondent adds his accurate analysis of the tragedy:
Naturally, we are going to hear about how this was a “rogue” soldier, “acting alone”, and how his actions don’t reflect the wider institution to which he belongs. Obama’s press statementcertainly touched upon that theme, saying that “this incident is tragic and shocking, and does not represent the exceptional character of our military and the respect that the United States has for the people of Afghanistan.”
Sorry, but that’s rubbish. It was only last year when the infamous “kill team” story came out (the details of that story, too, have to be read to be believed). It’s only been a couple of months since the “urinating on corpses” story came out. You wonder about the stories wehaven’t heard about. The U.S military may embody a lot of things but a deep respect for the people of Afghanistan is probably not one of them.
(via mehreenkasana)
Men: Read this and step-up.
This is a quite shocking read, and yet, ordinary.
I found it quite upsetting, perhaps more-so since I saw a woman being harassed on the bus the other night. I’m a bit ashamed that I didn’t step in. I think I was partially in shock, and it all probably took less than a minute - though it felt like hours. When I was leaving the bus, I seriously contemplated apologizing to the woman, on behalf of all men, to say something like “we’re not all…” But I didn’t. I didn’t want to disturb her, she seemed so absorbed in her anger and sadness.
For a long time I’ve wondered how some men can do such barbaric, sexist stuff. It’s just beyond me. I don’t understand how this still survives in modern times in modern places. I’m realizing though that it’s not enough to disdain such people. If this pains your conscience, you have to help it stop. How you do that is up to you. It could be wearing a button, talking to coworkers, stepping up for someone on the bus, or just writing a tumblr post. But we can’t just let this continue. If we want to see change, if we know things have to change, we have to be part of it.
Preach girl. It’s annoying that guys don’t understand what their “catcalls” can do, and it’s sad that people can’t stand up for themselves.
(Source: climateadaptation)
Jim Morin/Miami Herald (03/23/2012)
‘My son did not deserve to die’: Trayvon Martin’s parents demand justice at New York ‘Million Hoodies March’
Trayvon Martin’s mother on Wednesday told hundreds of protesters demanding an arrest in the shooting death of the unarmed Florida teen by a neighbourhood watch captain that “this is not about a black and white thing. This is about a wrong and right thing.”
Sybrina Fulton spoke to demonstrators at what organizers called “A Million Hoodies March” at a New York park about her son’s slaying last month by watch volunteer George Zimmerman in the gated community of Sanford, Florida. Martin was wearing a hoodie at the time of his death.
“Our son is your son,” Fulton told the crowd that waved signs decorated with Skittles, the candy the 17-year-old African American was carrying back from a convenience store when he was followed by Zimmerman, 28, who carried a gun. (Photos: Reuters/Getty Images)I want to give his parents a big bear hug. :(
Beautiful. We could use quite a bit more of these types of protests.
Today is the anniversary of the beginning of Syria’s revolution. So far eight to nine thousand people have been killed and countless wounded. 230,000 have fled their homes. The opposition has planned rallies to mark the day, although the Syrian army is bolstering its presence in opposition strongholds, making it difficult. Activist Adel El-Omari said: “It is clear that they have tightened the siege because they are worried about what people will do for the anniversary.”
One of the latest pieces of news out of Syria is the revelation of the contents of the Assads’ emails, as obtained by the Guardian. There are several thousand of them, revealing the Assads’ lives of casual luxury, ordering apps off iTunes while their country erupts.
Photos: Homs. Feb 15th. Satellite photo/AP, Idlib. Feb 26th. Rodrigo Abd/AP, Bab Tudmor, Homs. Feb 25th. Stringer/AFP, Idlib. March 10th. Rodrigo Abd/AP, Al-Qusayr. Feb 24th. Alessio Romenzi for TIME.[Al Jazeera, AP, Guardian]
Middle, right. Gets me every time. I just want to save that little boy :(
