Thursday, January 26, 2017

Positive Fallout from Trump: Scientists are Organizing to Run for Office

Due to Trump's cluelessness and insistence on staying that way, a group of scientists has gotten together to encourage scientists to run for office, and is teaching them how to do that and access financial support.

Called 314 Action, the organization is named after the first three digits of pi. It is a political action committee that was created to support scientists in running for office.  It is similar to Emily’s List, which focuses on pro-choice female candidates, or VoteVets, which backs war veterans, but the science version.

“A lot of scientists traditionally feel that science is above politics but we’re seeing that politics is not above getting involved in science,” says founder Shaughnessy Naughton. “We’re losing, and the only way to stop that is to get more people with scientific backgrounds at the table.”
 
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/01/thanks-to-trump-scientists-are-planning-to-run-for-office/514229/?utm_source=atlfb

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Netherlands: Help Set Up International Fund In Light of the "Mexico City" Policy

People on top of hierarchies believe they have the right to control the lives of everyone below. When Trump signed the executive order reinstating the ban on contraceptive assistance to anyone even discussing the option of abortion, there were eight men in attendance, all white. No women.

Now the government of the Netherlands says it wants to help set up an international abortion fund to help families across the world after US President Donald Trump reinstated the so-called Mexico City policy.

Dutch official Lilianne Ploumen said that the lack of financial support will lead to "dangerous backroom procedures and higher maternal mortality. This decision has far-reaching consequences above all for the women it affects, who should be able to decide for themselves if they want a child, but also for their husbands and children and for society as a whole," Ploumen, the Dutch minister for foreign trade and development cooperation, said in a statement. "Banning abortion does not reduce the number of abortions."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/25/politics/netherlands-trump-global-gag-rule/

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Republicans: White Males are on the Bottom of the Totem Pole

In hierarchies, people at the top expect so much more that when they lose a little, it feels like they are losing a lot. Also, they feel that people in lower groups deserve so little, that when lower groups get a little more, it is going overboard.

In a poll, Republican men were the only ones who think that it is a better time to be a woman than a man. 82% of women said sexism is a problem in today's society, and 41% said that they had felt unequal because of gender. Meanwhile, men underestimated the sexism that women experience in their lives.

Just over half of Republican men thought it a good time to be a woman while only 41 percent thought it was a good time to be a man. Here is a quote from one Dennis Halaszynski:

"It's easier being a woman today than it is a man. The white man is low person on the totem pole. Everyone else is above the white man."

Looking at who the Trump/Pence administration is appointing doesn't appear to back that up, including Trump/Pence themselves. White males everywhere, including Congress, in much bigger proportion than their part of the population.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/17/upshot/republican-men-say-its-a-better-time-to-be-a-woman-than-a-man.html?mtrref=www.facebook.com&gwh=1B6F2C1C4389AB6894E8EF5D5DF40103&gwt=pay

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Lewis a Hierarchy–Buster, and Trump a Hierarchy Builder. A Comparison of Their Lives

Donald Trump as a clueless hierarchy-builder didn't start any time recently.

John Lewis from the beginning was a hierarchy-buster, suffering even a broken skull in the process.

"About the time Trump was more focused on female conquest and winning squash matches than his studies during his years at Fordham University, John Lewis is on the ground, his hands covering his head as he’d been trained, while an Alabama state trooper beats him with a baton. Lewis, who would be arrested more than 40 times for his civil rights work, came away from that encounter with a fractured skull."

More timeline comparisons, in an article published by The Hill today.

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/314413-trump-shouldve-googled-john-lewis-before-he-tweeted

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Ron Wyden: Why We Need to See Trump's Tax Returns

As in any hierarchy, the top feels that it should not be held accountable. No where is this more obvious than with our incoming president Donald Trump. Apparently, as we see with his tweets, everyone is accountable to him, but he is accountable to no one.

Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, in a New York Times op-ed, discusses that without Trump's tax returns, we can not know if he is enriching himself and his family with his position, and whether a policy he proposes benefits Americans or the Trump family. We also don't know if he is telling the truth about his ties to Russia.

Trump of course lies all the time, and expects not to be held accountable for what he does or says. Typical of the top, but hopefully for the good of our country, his unabashed insistence will eventually bring him down.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/12/opinion/why-americans-care-about-trumps-tax-returns.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

Friday, January 13, 2017

Utah Schools – Misogynistic Lessons with Separate Dating Guides for Girls and Boys

Utah schools have been teaching girls and boys how to go out on a very sexist date. With separate instructions to boys and girls, the instructions tell girls, "Be feminine and lady-like," “Don’t keep checking in the mirror combing hair,” “Don’t fish for compliments,” “Don’t criticize his driving” and “If you think you’re too fat etc, keep it to yourself.”

Over what some said was an example of misogynistic lessons common in the state, the handouts outline guidelines for a "$5 date" and provide separate instructions for boys and girls.

Gender hierarchy strong in Utah, supporting gender-biased norms.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/12/utah-dating-homework-gender-bias-highland-high-school

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Make America Great Again? – Great Video That Shows That Reality

Progressive group MoveOn.Org has sponsored a competition to depict with humor what it would really mean to 'make America great again" and go back to the old days of the 1950's. They found some great takers “to find the funniest and smartest comedians to take on Donald Trump and the GOP’s politics of hate.”

Two women created a musical number which not only brings back the stereotype of what Trump would like us to think was great, but what was the reality for people who were not white middle class and higher heterosexual men.

This video brings up many hierarchies, and demonstrates that we need to come together with a common language to fight and conquer a common enemy.

http://www.iagreetosee.com/portfolio/make-america-great-again-song/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=promoted+post&utm_term=maga+song&utm_content=Agree+Fans




Saturday, January 7, 2017

Kitchen Tools for People with One Arm – We All Appreciate Expanding What We Can't Do Alone

We all know Donald Trump's supporters don't have a problem with his making fun of people with disabilities,. But there are plenty of the rest of us who know everyone is equal in that we all enjoy tools that enable us to do what we can't do alone.

Loren Lim has come up with an award-winning design of kitchen attachments that can allow a person with one arm wash dishes, chop vegetables, and bag items, etc. He is an industrial design student at the National University of Singapore. He is in talks with companies to market his ideas. 

Called Oneware, one of his most unique ideas includes a perforated silicone layer that grips dishes so users can apply pressure while scrubbing one surface.

http://mashable.com/2016/09/30/oneware-one-arm-kitchen/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link#4nwKu7_SVPqm

Restaurants in DC Donating Profits from Inaugural Business to Anti-Trump Causes

In Washington, D.C., a call for chefs all over the country to donate sales made during Donald Trump's inauguration is gathering steam. The idea is to donate profits to groups that are "fighting hate." At least 15 area restaurants have agreed to do so.

Trump is fueling an effort like never before in people who want to stop the hierarchies he and his Republican cohorts are trying so desperately to build and maintain. Yes, maybe we lost this battle, but with efforts and unity like this, we will win the war.

So some of the Trump supporters maybe will unknowingly support causes their leader Trump opposes.

http://www.grubstreet.com/2017/01/dc-eateries-donating-inauguration-profits-to-anti-trump-causes.html

Friday, January 6, 2017

Illinois Provides Training for Hairstylists to Spot Domestic Violence

Hairstylists in Illinois have stepped up to become a force for domestic violence prevention. In a new first-in-the-nation law, the unique relationship between a woman and her hairdresser is recognized as a possible information source for people who are victims of domestic abuse. Salon workers will be required to take one our of training every two years to recognize the signs of abuse and assault and will have a list of resources to which they can refer clients for help.

For women living with abuse, oftentimes a salon is one of the few places she can go where her abuser is not present nor does he question her need to be outside the home.

With Donald Trump acting as a role model for men who sexually assault women, and his macho hierarchical attitudes toward women being praised by his supporters, we are glad to see domestic violence prevention take a progressive step.


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/us/hairdressers-domestic-abuse-sexual-assault-illinois.html?_r=2

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Bernie – Example of How to Hold Trump Accountable

The top group of hierarchies, specifically Donald Trump whose policies along with the GOP have supported hierarchies for decades, is not used to being held accountable.
But Bernie Sanders has done a great job today of using Trump's own words to try to hold him accountable.

A tweet from Trump states, "I was the first and only GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid." Bernie brought a large poster of the tweet to the Senate floor. Sanders said that if Trump plans to cut them now, he should admit he was lying.

http://gizmodo.com/bernie-just-printed-a-gigantic-trump-tweet-and-brought-1790767297?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow