Wednesday, August 18, 2021

DEMOCRACY EMERGENCY IN CALIFORNIA!


Don't let the REPUBLICANS
fire
our democratically elected
Governor!

Sometimes, the most important thing you can do is
STOP SOMETHING BAD FROM HAPPENING.

Bloggelinis, we've got a democracy emergency here in California. We've got this recall election of the Governor coming up on September 14. It is a completely undemocratic, and even unconstitutional, event. We need to work really hard starting now because people are now receiving their mail-in ballots, and keep it up until Election Day. Otherwise, we could end up with a right-wing Republican governor for our fair state.

That's right, Bloggelinis.
A RIGHT-WING REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR IS A VERY STRONG POSSIBILITY UNLESS WE ALL BUST OUR ASSES UNTIL SEPT. 14 TO GET THE WORD OUT TO VOTE "NO" ON THE RECALL.


This is how a California recall works:
First, people -- in this case Republicans from San Diego, the most conservative city in California -- pay to circulate petitions calling for a special election to recall an elected official. If you have enough money, you can get pretty much ANYTHING on the ballot.

THE BALLOT LOOKS LIKE THIS:
SIDE 1
So first you vote on whether you want to throw Gov. Newsom out of office. A "Yes" vote means you DO want to throw him out. A "No" vote means you want him to remain Governor.
At this moment in the polls,
the "Yes" and the "No" votes are running neck-and-neck!

And then you turn over the ballot to see...
SIDE 2
There are 46 candidates to replace Newsom. Now, if the majority votes "No" on Side 1, it doesn't matter how people vote on Side 2. Newsom remains Governor. But if the majority votes "Yes" on Side 1, that's another thing entirely. Whoever gets the most votes on Side 2 -- and it doesn't have to be a majority -- becomes the new Governor. Newsom is NOT allowed to be a candidate on Side 2.

If you are having trouble grasping the mechanics of this recall, it's
understandable because the whole thing is RIDICULOUS! IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE! So here is an op-ed from the NY Times to clearly explain this bizarre phenomenon, the California recall.

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the School of Law at UC Berkeley, writes:
Imagine that 10 million people vote in the recall election and 5,000,001 vote to remove Mr. Newsom, while 4,999,999 vote to keep him in office. He will then be removed and the new governor will be whichever candidate gets the most votes on the second question. In a recent poll, the talk show host Larry Elder was leading with 18 percent among the 46 candidates. With 10 million people voting, Mr. Elder would receive the votes of 1.8 million people. Mr. Newsom would have the support of almost three times as many voters, but Mr. Elder would become governor.

That scenario is not a wild hypothetical. Based on virtually every opinion poll, Mr. Newsom seems likely to have more votes to keep him in office than any other candidate will receive to replace him. But he may well lose the first question on the recall, effectively disenfranchising his supporters on the second question.

This is not just nonsensical and undemocratic. It is unconstitutional.
In other words, far more people will have voted for Newsom for Governor than for any other candidate... BUT HE WILL HAVE LOST.


Chemerinsky goes on to describe the two U.S. Supreme Court decisions that make such an election unconstitutional and suggests that the current Supremes just throw out the damn recall election, which they can do. Good luck with THAT idea, Erwin.

Larry Elder, who will very probably be Governor if Newsom loses on Side 1, is a right-wing Republican talk show host who has used his platform to spread the lies of anti-vax conspiracy theorists. Elder wants to abolish the minimum wage and bring back capital punishment. He is a Black man who believes racism is not a problem in America. It would be a catastrophe for this state if Larry Elder ends up Governor.
AND IT VERY WELL COULD HAPPEN.

Gavin Newsom hasn't committed any of the outrages that cause people to want to throw a Trump or a Cuomo out of office before their term is up. This recall movement has no horrible abuses or violations of oath of office that they can point to. No, his opponents just don't like the decisions Newsom has made, like abolishing capital punishment. They will NEVER forgive him for that. Fine! Then they should run someone who represents their side in the next election, which is in 2022, only one year away. That's democracy. But they really have very little chance of winning a normal election for governor in this very blue state. Their chances of undoing the last election through a recall are much better. It costs the taxpayers a lot of money to hold an election. So Republicans are forcing the state to spend $276 million (according to the state Dept. of Finance) on this undemocratic recall. Suddenly, saving taxpayers' money isn't important to Republicans if it gives them a chance to grab power they could never grab otherwise.

Many Democratic voters don't even know that the recall is happening. They just aren't paying attention. Or, if they do know, they think that California is SO blue, that defeat is in the bag.
BUT IT'S NOT IN THE BAG,
AND EVERY VOTE TO STOP THE RECALL IS IMPORTANT.
The Republicans know this is their only chance to grab the governor's office, and they have been very busy contacting all the people who:
  • Want to bring back capital punishment
  • Want to eliminate the minimum wage and..
  • Demand the freedom to catch the delta variant any damn way they please.
And that's why "Yes" and "No" are tied in the polls.

This is a time for
ACTION!

I signed up to phone bank and canvas. It felt so good. I'll definitely phone bank this week, and I'm hoping I'll be doing door-to-door canvassing. That's the most time-consuming way to campaign and also the most effective. There's nothing like a heart-to-heart chat with an undecided voter. While masked and distanced, of course. I'm also putting a sign in my window.
Volunteer.
Donate.
Put a sign in your window.
Tell everyone you know how important it is
to vote "No" in the recall.
Forward this blog far and wide to Californians you know.

And I would ask all of you non-Californians -- many of whom have lived here -- to donate money to the "No" campaign. Any amount will help. A right-wing governor here will be very bad news for the whole country.

Governor Newsom was the first in the nation to mandate that all school staff be vaccinated or tested weekly. I'm grateful to him for that. I want him to be in charge while we deal with the Delta variant. We are in danger of replacing Newsom with someone who gives a radio platform to anti-vax conspiracy nuts, a man who believes the freedom to infect others is a god-given right.
THIS IS SERIOUS, FOLKS!
Newsom was elected in 2018.
He has one more year in office.
He deserves to finish his term!

You know, even though I'm a native, I've never thought very much about what it means to be a Californian. I'm very identified with my city and with my country. But a state, especially one so big, is an abstract concept. It's defined by invisible lines -- sometimes drawn quite literally in the sand. All of California's borders are like that -- except of course the western border, the Pacific Ocean.

California didn't used to be so Democratic. After all, the voters here sent Reagan on his political journey. Many, including me, feel Reagan seeded the low-tax anti-government pro-big business movement that fully blossomed under Trump.

But our state has come to be a place where the future happens -- be it gay marriage (thank you,Gov. Newsom) or Clean Power. At this moment in our political life, it would truly be a tragedy if an undemocratically elected right-wing Republican became governor. If Elder had been Governor, he would have appointed a Republican to replace Kamala Harris as Senator, giving the G.O.P the Senate majority. The fierce struggles now going on in the Senate would not be happening. The progress we've made under Biden would be a distant dream.
Don't let the Republicans fire our democratically elected Governor!
Sometimes the most important thing you can do is
STOP SOMETHING BAD FROM HAPPENING.


Bloggelinis: Did you imagine that we could relax a little after we defeated Trump? I certainly did. But relaxing is not what's called for at this moment. Terry

 

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Sunday, August 15, 2021

Hilarious Column re: FLA Guv's Insanity

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Andy Borowitz is a political satirist with a column in the New Yorker magazine. His columns are very brief and mostly hilarious. This one is particularly delicious, so I wanted to share it with you.
DeSantis Losing Support
Among Voters Opposed to Dying

August 10, 2021

FLORIDA (The Borowitz Report)—In a potentially ominous development for the Florida governor, a new poll shows Ron DeSantis hemorrhaging support among voters who identify as opposed to dying.

According to the poll, DeSantis’s favorability numbers are plummeting among Floridians who describe themselves as “somewhat,” “very,” or “strongly” opposed to being dead.

Asked to name the issue most important to them, an overwhelming majority of anti-dying voters cited “continuing to exist,” with the economy and immigration placing a distant second and third.

Harland Dorrinson, an aide to the Governor, dismissed the poll numbers as “a distraction” and said that “this obsession with not dying is the kind of political correctness the people of Florida are tired of.”

“Governor DeSantis has had a very strong pro-dying message, and that’s not going to change,” the aide said.

Andy Borowitz is a Times best-selling author and a comedian who has written for The New Yorker since 1998. He writes The Borowitz Report, a satirical column on the news.

Bloggelinis: Any Borowitz captures the absurdity of these times better than anyone. Terry

 

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Friday, August 13, 2021

Mea Culpa re: 5-Second Infection & Two Good Links

 




This photo has nothing to do with the blog. It's just to remind you that, even though I was an irresponsible Blogmistress and alarmed you unnecessarily, I do take nice pictures of San Francisco .

ALARMIST MEA CULPA:

Many thanks to long-time Bloggelini Gail for asking me where I got the statistic that one could catch the Delta variant in FIVE seconds. I had heard it from someone (can't remember who) and read it somewhere (can't remember where). I should not have repeated such extremely disturbing information without checking my sources. My deepest apologies.

So I went in search of this information that I had read somewhere, about the five-second transmission. I did find it. It wasn't easy, though, because all of the bigly official sites do NOT talk about how long you need to be exposed to be infected by the Delta variant. I think this is probably because they don't really have enough data yet. And as I look back to the pandemic's beginning, it was a while before they came up with the 15-minute exposure figure for the original COVID.

Anyhow, yes, there is one documented case in Sydney, Australia where one man caught Delta COVID from another just by walking past him. Read about it here. But here's what David Dowdy, associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has to say about that:

  • “The challenge is that, of course, the amount of an exposure that’s required to cause an infection is always going to vary. It’s always going to be possible for a very fleeting exposure to cause an infection. But it’s always going to be much, much more likely for a very intense exposure to cause an infection. It’s the same thing as saying, ‘Can you get the flu from passing someone on the street and they sneeze? Yes, of course you can.’ But how many people do you pass on the street, and how often do you get the flu from them, versus if your child gets the flu [and infects you]?”

So there is no authoritative site that has info on how long an exposure it takes to be infected. I hope, if my 5-second statistic made you anxious, you can relax now. Or at least you can exchange the 5-second Delta worry for worrying about flu from a random sneeze on the street!

The thing is, because the situation keeps changing, we're back in the position of not really knowing much about the enemy. And, as Dr. Dowdy makes clear, in the real physical world, there are no rigid statistics on how long it takes to pass a virus from one person to another. There are too many variables. Maybe the Australian man who received the virus in passing was extra-vulnerable because .... because he was just about to die anyway! AND he couldn't function well without coffee and he hadn't had his morning dose of caffeine yet! You see? There are all kinds of comforting ways to look at the situation.

Am I just digging the hole deeper?


TWO GOOD LINKS:

I think we need to read more so we can have a deeper understanding of our situation.

FIRST LINK IS ABOUT THE VACCINE:

I got a very good link from Elizabeth that talks in detail about what the vaccines can and can't do. You can read it here.

If you don't want to click, here's a summary of two interesting points in the article:

First Interesting Point: Many people are freaked out when they hear that the immunity that the COVID vaccines provide fades over time. They worry that this is a failure of these particular vaccines. But it turns out that ALL vaccine-acquired immunities fade away:
  • "This isn't a glitch," said Dr. Monica Gandhi, professor of medicine and associate division chief of the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine at University of California San Francisco. "This is how the immune system is designed," she explained. "It's normal for immunoglobulins to reduce over time." She said our blood and our noses can't hold all of the antibodies they've ever produced; if antibody levels didn't drop, "our blood would be thick as paste."

So if you've got to get a booster eventually --- No biggee. That's the price you pay to not have those childhood vaccines lying around and cluttering up your blood, making it all pasty. Who wants pasty blood? Not I!

Second Interesting Point:
  • Dr. Carlos Del Rio, distinguished professor of medicine in Infectious Diseases at Emory University School of Medicine noted that the vaccines were specifically designed to protect against severe disease and death, and that's what those big vaccine trials looked for. "Infection was never an end-point in these studies," he said. That the vaccines were later found to prevent infection, he said "was a little bit ... like the cherry on the cake."

The vaccines were designed to affect the LUNGS, where the disease develops, not the NOSE, where the disease enters. It's much more difficult to design vaccines to affect your nose. Somehow I can grasp that intuitively. So... if you're a vaxee who got infected and didn't need to be hospitalized, you didn't get the cherry on top, but you still got the cake!

Let's face it:
The vaccines are a great big fat
MIRACLE!

And it is so tragic that the power of the miracle is being shredded by partisan politics here and in other countries. It's also tragic that the miracle isn't being spread around the world as quickly as possible.


SECOND LINK TO REMIND US OF WHAT WE CAN DO TO PROTECT OURSELVES:

WHO has a series of five-minute videos about the pandemic on its website. Click here to watch this latest one which reiterates all the precautions we can take to avoid infection. It's worth going over. There was information I didn't know or that had slipped my mind. To summarize (if you don't want to watch the video):
  • Wear a mask. (yeah yeah yeah)
  • Wash your hands when you put on or take off your mask. (I did not know this.)
  • Avoid crowds.
  • Keep your distance from others. (I guess we gotta return to the six-foot gap. Damn.)
  • Maintain good ventilation. (Open a window! Open two! Three!)

Well, at least they're not telling us to spray all surfaces hourly with alcohol! And there's nothing about wearing those dreadful hot gloves to put away the groceries! Count your blessings.

Bloggelinis, dear dear Bloggelinis: Who could have imagined we'd still be... Well, I always say "Nobody knows the future." But I did "know" that the pandemic would not last this long. Oh well. We can still stop and smell the roses, as I did before I took that photo. But when you smell that rose, be sure there's no one within six feet, take your mask down BRIEFLY for a sniff and then put it back up, and remember, it's even safer if you wait for a stiff breeze! AND if the rose has no smell, don't panic. Lots of roses don't. Terry
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Thursday, August 12, 2021

TO MASK OR NOT TO MASK: That is the Question!

Have all these pansies been vaccinated?!? Hmmmm...

The CDC and WHO say to us vaccinated saints:
  • Wear a mask indoors in public places.
  • BUT it's fine to be unmasked indoors with vaccinated friends.

This being unmasked indoors with friends made sense a short time ago -- ahh, those few halcyon days of carefree delight, when we Vaxees romped through the world with abandon! I cherish the memory.

But NOW we know:
  • Breakthrough COVID infections in Vaxees are "uncommon but NOT rare."
  • Vaxees who have been infected can infect others just as easily as the un-vaxed can infect people.

AND we know that, while it took 15 minutes of exposure to the original virus to get sick, it can take only five seconds..
five seconds
five seconds
five seconds
five seconds
five seconds
... of exposure to the Delta variant to get sick.

The Delta variant is
three times as contagious
as the original COVID.
Five seconds is about two breaths.

My vaxed friends and I have been gathering indoors unmasked within the past 15 days.
THEREFORE...
It is possible that right now I am carrying the Delta variant, even though I have no symptoms -- and I could spread the virus with two breaths.

So why the fuck is it OK for me
to be unmasked around my vaxed friends?
And why the fuck is it OK for them to be unmasked around me?
IT IS NOT OK.

I was not the first of my friends to act on this principle. I mean, I've kinda sorta felt it deep down for a little while, but hey, it was so very nice to be sitting in my kitchen with a friend, drinking tea and chatting unmasked. Who would give that up when the authorities -- I'm talking about great big GIANT authorities -- say that it's OK?

I mean, how can I choose my own common sense over the wisdom of GIANT authorities? That's a tough one. HOWEVER, these giant, presumably scientific authorities, have turned out to be susceptible to politics. First Fauci said that it took 14 days of quarantine to be absolutely sure you're clear of the virus. THEN he said, 14 was ideal, BUT 10 days was really OK too. That made no sense to me. We're dealing with a gen-you-wine world-wide pandemic, folks. If it's 14 days, then so be it. Maybe Fauci was pressured to reduce the number of quarantine days. Or maybe he decided on his own that "freedom-loving" U.S. citizens just wouldn't DO 14 days for the good of humanity. Whatever it was, I don't trust the GIANT authorities when their positions conflict with my common sense.

So on Sunday morning, driving with Carolyn and her niece JoyAnn to the beach to walk the pups, I coughed. Just a brief little cough. And I was struck with terror, just for a moment, that I might be spreading the virus. I put on a mask. The moment passed, and on the ride home I didn't mask until I coughed again.

THEN in the afternoon, Betsy & Heidi came to drive me and our total of three poodles to a DIFFERENT beach. Yes, it was a pretty great Sunday for Nikki & Loulou.

BETSY & HEIDI ARRIVED TO PICK ME UP, WEARING MASKS.

This was the first time I encountered vaxed friends masking up with me, when they knew I was vaxed. Of coursed I immediately masked up when I saw them. On our walk, B&H told me they have THREE vaxed friends who've suffered breakthrough infections. (Remember: Uncommon but NOT rare) None of the friends had to be hospitalized. But being sick with COVID was worse than a bad flu. And one of them still has symptoms a month after being covid-free. So she might be a long-hauler.

So now Betsy & Heidi wear masks indoors (and in the car) with everyone. We walked on the beach, however, unmasked. Different rules for outdoors.

That did it for me. Almost. The next day, I hugged JoyAnn goodby, both of us unmasked.

That evening, I opened the door unmasked to Maria Elena, who was masked. Clearly, she had come to the same conclusion as B&H. I hurriedly put on a mask, and that was the turning point for me.

From now on, when I am inside, I will wear a mask around EVERYONE -- except my podmate. Yes, I think it's time to form pods again. A pod is a person, or a group of people, who agrees to the boundaries you accept -- so that you can be comfortable unmasked when you're together. So Elizabeth agreed she would only be unmasked with me. So she's my podmate.

Interestingly, When Maria Elena and I were drinking tea and talking, I wasn't really bothered by my mask. I just briefly lowered it for every sip and then up again it went. It didn't seem so terrible. I don't think eating together would work though, because then we would be constantly lowering our masks.

So, unlike a year ago, I feel comfortable having people -- vaccinated people -- in my house if we are both masked. I am comfortable shopping for groceries when everyone is masked. So I am not nearly as restricted as a year ago. But things I have done recently without a mask -- dinner with friends in my house, wandering around a museum, having lunch there (I did have doubts about that at the time) -- those things are in my past and (I pray) in my future, but not my present.

Bloggelinis: It's so difficult that the situation is changing all the time. We thought that vaccination would be the solution, and it WOULD be if.... Well, I'm not going to get into The Rage of the Vaccinated at The Insanity of the Unvaccinated at this moment. Anyhow, I feel I have to continually re-evaluate what makes sense to me and then follow through, even if it means forgoing freedoms I just enjoyed briefly a few weeks ago. Terry

 

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Thursday, August 5, 2021

NINA TURNER, Woman of the Future

 

Nina Turner is an incredibly charismatic progressive politician. She was Bernie Sanders' campaign manager and has been elected in Ohio at the city and state level.

Nina Turner lost an election on Tuesday.

She was running in her congressional district's primary to be the Democratic candidate for Congress in the general election. This is a very Democratic district. There is absolutely no chance of a Republican winning in the general election. Therefore, the Democratic primary is really the final election. There are many Congressional districts like this across the country -- both red and blue -- where the dominant party's primary is the only election that matters.

Turner's opponent was also an African-American woman, Shontel Brown. She is of the more docile and mainstream type beloved by Democratic Party insiders. Brown has been praised by an endorser as "respectful." Turner doesn't really DO "respectful." She does boat-rocking and corporation-challenging.

Shontel Brown doesn't even support Medicare for All. If you don't understand the need for THAT, then you're not even a liberal, in my book. Medicare-for-All is one of the basic planks of Nina Turner's platform.

Click the photo below to watch a campaign video by Move On in suppport of Turner. This will give you a taste of her fiery persona.
The Democratic Party power players got very worried that a woman -- who combines progressive beliefs with an ability to excite people -- might get elected. Heavens to Betsy, who needs another AOC? What a headache to the party leaders that woman has turned out to be!

So the Black Congressional Caucus stepped into the fray on the side of Brown. Hilary Clinton campaigned for Brown. And not only Democrats, one of Trump's best friends, billionaire Robert Kraft, contributed the maximum amount to Brown's campaign.

Because Nina Turner is bad news for billionaires and corporations. Shontel Brown? Not so much.

AND Ohio has open primaries, which means ANYONE can vote for the candidates of ANY party. Right-wing commentator William Kristol took advantage of that and sent out tweets urging Republicans to request a Democratic ballot and vote for Brown.

So Turner lost.

But I STILL title this blog "Woman of the Future" because in her concession speech, she refused to see her defeat as anything but a temporary setback. Here is what she said:

  • "We will continue this journey until every working person earns a living wage, including passing a $15 minimum wage. We will continue this journey until every person has health care as a right and not a privilege. We will continue this journey until children's destinies are not determined by their zip code or the color of their skin. We will continue this journey until we have torn down racism, sexism, homophobia, religious bigotry and every kind of hatred and discrimination. We will continue this journey until justice is equal for every person in this country. And this journey will continue until we have ensured that this planet will be habitable for our children and our grandchildren. So, my friends, it is OK to be sad tonight. But tomorrow we must roll up our sleeves and continue the fight to which we are all committed."

Bloggelinis: Now is the "tomorrow" that Nina Turner invokes. I'm pondering about how I'm going to choose to "roll up my sleeves." I'm going to sign up to send letters through Vote Forward as soon as I'm finished with this blog. I'll be doing SOMETHING. It'll make me feel good. Click the link. Do something. Terry
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Friday, July 30, 2021

A Message to Sighted People

 

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I bought the Street Sheet yesterday from the woman I usually buy from on 24th Street, but now she was standing on Market. She asked me if I wanted to buy any of her fridge magnets of Maya Angelou and Nina Simone, but I reminded her that I'd already bought some. (But then again, can anyone have too many fridge magnets of Nina Simone?) Then she recognized me because of the pups. I might be the only person who spends a lot of time walking around San Francisco with a pair of elegant black Standard Poodles.

Why did I only give her $2 -- the minimum? At that moment, I felt I was being generous to buy the paper at all. I thought I was doing her a favor to buy the paper. Often I don't read it at all -- except the poetry issue, which is always fantastic. But after I started actually reading this Street Sheet -- the Disability Justice Issue -- I realized, SHE was doing ME a favor by standing out there selling it! And I plan to read every Street Sheet from now on. I went to the website to donate to make up for my chintzy $2. If you are so inspired: Click here to donate.

Below you can read A MESSAGE TO SIGHTED PEOPLE written by Dlan, which I retyped in its entirety. I hope you take the time to read it. Dlan is clear, kind and helpful. And after you read that....

I urge -- I mean I really URGE YOU to read.....


This is the story of Dlan's life and it's actually
FASCINATING
JOYFUL
HOPEFUL
and, unbelievably...
SHOWS THE UNITED STATES IN A POSITIVE LIGHT!

Come on, folks, how often do you get that combo of qualities?? Admittedly, our country shares the responsibility for Dlan becoming a refugee in the first place.

BUT...
Did you know the U.S. has a program to resettle disabled refugees and their families here? And the program is well and compassionately run! I know, I know. It's weird, but true. So please read the story Dlan's life after you read...

A Message to Sighted People

My name is Dlan and I am blind. I have been totally blind since birth. My whole life, sighted people have been trying to help, but they do it poorly. They often do not understand me and do not think of simply asking me what I feel comfortable with when they have tried to help. I don't need to be grabbed or touched to be helped. I want to spread the message of respect, communication and equality from those with disabilities to people without disabilities.

Here is how to better help blind people:

  • First, don't assume blind people always need help. No matter who you are, some people can do things better than others -- whether they have a disability or not. The way someone does something may simply look different than how you're used to seeing it.

  • Second, you can feel comfortable around blind people, but please make sure you're paying attention to what's around you if you're guiding one of us. At that moment, we are trusting that you are making sure we are safe. If you don't know what to do, just ask. Most of us are happy to answer your questions on how to best give us assistance.

It's easier than you think. Ask and listen to blind people. That's it. It's very easy to help people who are blind or disabled. Avoid making assumptions. If people approach each other with more communication, there would be more respect. Treating each other this way will set us up for better interactions. I know many sighted people want to say and do everything correctly without offending anyone, but don't put that pressure on yourself. How cn you know what to do without learning first from the person that is disabled? Communication is all it takes. And who knows? Maybe we'd all realize that we're more alike than different and can build community.

Bloggelinis: I was blown away by Dlan's writing and moved by the simple compassion of "don't put that pressure on yourself." Other articles were also compelling, like THE RIGHT TO WASH. The Street Sheet is a treasure. Terry
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OLYMPIC WOMEN: Norwegians & Simone

The horror! The horror!

You see, they were fed up after complaining for fifteen years of being required to dress like this:
According to the New York Times:
The International Handball Federation requires women to wear bikini bottoms "with a close fit and cut on an upward angle toward the top of the leg." The sides of the bikini bottoms must be no more than four inches. Men, on the other hand, can wear shorts as long as four inches above their KNEES as long as they are "not too baggy."
A spokeswoman for the International Hand ball Federation said on Tuesday that she did not know the reason for the rules. "We're looking into it internally," she said.
Hmmmmm.... Very mysterious, don't you think? Why oh why oh why are the elite women handballers of the world required to wear itsy bitsy teeny weeny bikini bottoms?!? I just cannot imagine what the Federation will find when they look internally. Perhaps if they look internally inside the male Federation executives' pants, they will find the ANSWER!

Of course we all know very well why these women are required to wear bottoms no more than FOUR INCHES WIDE at the side. It is to increase audiences by pandering to the straight men who enjoy seeing women sexualized.

Here we can see the men's and women's teams together:
I have good news for the International Handball Association: If they put all their men in bikini bottoms, they could increase their audience even more! I personally know several men who would pay a LOT more attention to men's handball competitions if that were the case. And there are probably some straight women who feel the same.

But for some strange reason, the Federation only sees the male players as fine athletes, rather than fine athletes AND sexy bodies to be exploited.

From the NY Times:
Martine Welfler, a Norwegian handball player, said there were players in Norway who did not want to compete at an international level because of uniform requirements. (In domestic tournaments, Norwegian plays can wear shorts.)
"That's really sad because maybe the best players won't participate," she said. She also said female players were tired of being scrutinized in skimpy attire. The focus should be on the game, she said.
So this skimpy uniform requirement is actually WEAKENING the Norwegian team. Indeed, if any great handball player is the least bit chubby, she's not going to play internationally because she will certainly be ridiculed. And the uniform requirement precludes any female handball teams from cultures that have a strong tradition of modesty.

The Norwegian women were fined 150 euros ($177) each for their violation of the sacred rules of their sport. Fortunately, the pop star Pink was moved by their disobedience:
“I’m VERY proud of the Norwegian female beach handball team FOR PROTESTING THE VERY SEXIST RULES ABOUT THEIR “uniform,” Pink tweeted late Saturday. “The European handball federation SHOULD BE FINED FOR SEXISM. Good on ya, ladies. I’ll be happy to pay your fines for you. Keep it up.”
It turns out that women have been speaking out against the double standard in uniforms or decades. This is an issue in track and field, beach volleyball, and tennis. And it's not getting any better. Beginning in 2011, elite female badminton players were required to wear skirts, in a bid to increase interest in women's badminton.

I have to say, the high-cut bikini bottom worn by women athletes has always made me uncomfortable ever since it were introduced. I cannot imagine performing athletic feats before audiences if I were dressed like that. It LOOKS uncomfortable. But somehow it never occurred to me that women are FORCED to dress this way.

July 28, 2021

Well, that was what I wrote yesterday about the particular pressures that elite women in sports face. Now today I see that the pressure on the woman at the very pinnacle of the Olympics, Simone Biles, turned out to be too much for her to bear. This astonishing gymnast dropped out of the team competition because she was so overwrought she couldn't control her body anymore.

It has always seemed to me that being the favorite to win a gold medal is an absolutely horrible position to be in. Even when you do succeed, well, it's only what everyone was expecting anyhow. The only real news is when you fail.  What a drag.

And how can it be a FAILURE to win a SILVER MEDAL at the OLYMPICS, as the American women's gymnastic team did WITHOUT their star? The other three young women rallied, took over Biles' performance slots without any time to prepare, vowed to do their best for Simone, and came in second. Isn't THAT a great story?

What is it like to be Simone Biles? She was completely stressed out before the Olympics started. In an interview, she said, "I can't wait... for it to be over." The top gymnast in the world, the 24-year-old African-American has been pushing herself -- and being pushed by others -- since 2013, when she won her first World All-Around title at the age of 16.
Besides all the pressure that comes with such extraordinary achievement, Biles also has:
  • Carried American gymnastics through years of scandal about the sexual abuse of young women athletes
  • Acknowledged her own sexual abuse, and..
  • Embraced being a role model for young women of color in a sport that has been traditionally for white athletes.
And all this during a time when everything is heightened by being played out on social media.

Not to mention that little ever-present detail, the pandemic.

So far, other gymnasts have only expressed sympathy for Biles. They all know one thing that I was not aware of:
Gymnastics is a DANGEROUS sport.
If you make a mistake, you could break your neck.
And Biles was renowned for pushing the boundaries of what was possible for a human body to accomplish. At the same time, she was putting herself out in the world as a spokeswoman for the travails of gymnasts and the hopes of young Black girls. She pushed herself too far. Good for her that she had the courage to realize it and give herself a break, rather than breaking her neck. She said she was inspired by Naomi Osaka, who dropped out of a tennis competition rather than do a press conference that she found too stressful.

Bloggelinis, it has seemed to me for a while that Black women are rising to the the top everywhere. I can only say to that, "It's about time!" When I think about Biles & Osaka, I think maybe they are not only leading in achieving extraordinary things, but also leading in saying "Enough! I cannot do this! I am a human being and I have limits." We need to be able to stop when we've pushed ourselves -- or are being pushed -- too far. Terry

 

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