From the Mailbag

As ever, I've just gotten a ton of good stuff lately, and I regret not being able to write a unique post about every one of them. Items that are potentially triggering are prefaced with [TW].

[TW] Shakers Medusa Jones, Twings, and Hillevi all sent this great piece by Patrick Stewart (yes, that Patrick Stewart) on the legacy of domestic violence.

Shaker Icca forwards one for the Assvertising pile: "I saw this Excedrin Migraine commercial today that was really infuriating! I couldn't find it on YouTube, but basically it's this ad where this woman has a migraine and it says 'Don't let your migraine become someone else's pain.' Then it shows the woman swinging her daughter around as they frolic happily. Because it's not about easing your suffering, it's about fulfilling your duty as mom! That's the only reason you might want relief from a MIGRAINE. Oof."

[TW] Shaker Erica sends one to be filed under "Rape is REALLY Hilarious": The Sex Offender Shuffle. I am wordless. I am without words.

Shaker Leigh emails about more Amazon fail, this time in the racism department: "Guess Amazon didn't get the 'post-racial america' memo...not only is this lovely item in-stock, but they have a whole array of delightful mammy and pappy products."

Shaker Melanie also sends a contemptible ad: "I couldn't not alert you to this arrrgggghhhh! assvertisement/contest for Orangina (and the ad-dude's response to it). I don't even really want to call it assvertising, because ass is exactly what it's reveling in."

[TW] Shaker Claudia forwards this article about a 39-year-old female teacher in Britain who has been jailed for 32 months and placed on the sex offenders' register for statutorily raping a 15-year-old male student. Claudia notes that not only does the author essentially assert that being a woman should make one immune to statutory rape charges, but "she is buying into the idea that young boys should be pursuing sex and young girls should not." Claudia also wisely notes that if the student had been female, there would almost certainly be outraged accusations of "gay recruitment." Indeed, and yet a female teacher statutorily raping a male student is regarded as normal by virtue of its service to heterocentrism.

[TW] Shaker BlueRidge emails about a report on rape in Afghanistan: "Rape in Afghanistan is under-reported, concealed and a human rights problem of 'profound proportions,' the United Nations said on Monday." Which makes Afghanistan like most places in the world; what's exceptional is that "there is no explicit provision in the 1976 Afghan penal code that criminalises rape." Justice is not merely elusive, but has not even an illusion of attainment.

[TW] Shaker Lynsey forwards this clusterfuck of a story about "a 66-year-old church elder convicted of indecently assaulting a child [who] will not be sent to jail" because of his "lack of mobility, ulcerated legs and need for frequent dressings amounted to 'wholly exceptional circumstances'." The headline deems him "too fat for jail."

And finally, to end on an up-note, Shaker Gretchen sends this great profile of 9th Circuit Court Federal Judge Betty Fletcher. I love the caption on the photo: "Betty Fletcher, 86, is a liberal icon and the most powerful woman in Seattle you've never heard of. Sadly for conservatives, she just won't stop working." LOL!