Thank You for Your Service, You Evil Woman.

Tip left for SC waitress. (Source: Friend of waitress)

Tip left for SC waitress. (Source: Friend of waitress)

In Greenville, SC, a couple left a poison pill note for their server. They did note her service was excellent, but apparently all her hard work and excellence merited nothing more than a self-righteous helping of shit. Christians. Seriously, this sort of crap – every single one of you Christians knows people who commit this banal act of evil, and do you do anything about it? No. Gosh, you just add so much positivity to the world, don’t ya?

GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) –

A South Carolina server said she feels heartbroken and mortified after the tip she received from a couple she had served told her that her place is in the home.

The server who asked not to be identified said she had just finished clearing off the couple’s table after serving them when the couple walked back in and left her a note on a napkin and darted out the door.

What the napkin said angered her friend so much she submitted a picture of the napkin to FOX Carolina. The napkin read in its entirety:

[Read more…]

Do Not Resist.

(AFP Photo/Justin Sullivan).

(AFP Photo/Justin Sullivan).

Officers with assault rifles, backed by a huge armored grenade launcher, square up to a crowd furiously denouncing the killing of a young black neighbor.

It is a scene which could have been taken from archive footage of Mogadishu in 1990s Somalia or countless other battles, but this conflict is closer to home — the streets of small-town America.

The images, captured in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, open “Do Not Resist” — a disturbing documentary charting the transformation of police across the US into forces that look like military units.

The explosive film is set to fuel an already bitter debate raging in America over heavy-handed law enforcement, following a litany of police killings of black men that have sparked protests from Ferguson and Charlotte to Chicago.

Director Craig Atkinson, whose movie is opening across the US having won best documentary feature at the Tribeca Film Festival, says the American law enforcement ethos has changed “from a mentality of peacekeepers to that of an occupying army.”

Another eye-opening scene shows officers in black fatigues firing volley after volley of automatic rounds at cardboard targets, as if they were preparing for war rather than to “protect and serve.”

A khaki-clad instructor explains that security forces must prepare for all kinds of attacks, “including the Islamic State.”

MRAPs, the armored trucks that protect troops from roadside bombs planted along the dusty roads of Iraq and Afghanistan, are now ubiquitous across the US.

[…]

In another shocking scene, a SWAT team arrives in an MRAP at a tree-lined street in Columbia, South Carolina, to execute a search warrant in a drug case.

The officers, whose equipment looks barely distinguishable from that of an infantry division, end up badly damaging a family home in a raid that nets a small amount of loose cannabis.

Atkinson’s father, a retired policeman from Detroit, Michigan, spent over a decade in one such SWAT team, the New York-based filmmaker explains.

“In his time, his team intervened 29 times in 13 years. Now they are taking part in 200 raids a year,” Atkinson tells AFP.

[…]

Campaigners against police militarization accept that SWAT teams and their heavy-duty hardware have a vital role in combatting the rare instances of terrorism in the US.

But they point out that, due to prolonged mission creep, this is no longer how these resources are used.

Peter Kraska, a criminology professor at the University of Eastern Kentucky, says there are now at least 50,000 SWAT raids a year, up from 3,000 in the 1980s.

Most of the activities of these highly specialized units have little to do with the reasons for their inception, such as dealing with hostage situations, terrorist attacks and drug cartels.

According to Atkinson, one of the architects of the “warrior culture” is a hugely successful police trainer named Dave Grossman, head of a consulting firm called the Killology Research Group.

“We are at war and you are the frontline troops in this war. What do you fight violence with? Superior violence,” Grossman hollers at an audience of mesmerized police in one session filmed for the documentary.

The retired army lieutenant colonel has lectured throughout the US, according to his website, and Atkinson believes his influence has spread to every American law enforcement agency.

For those who are woke, none of this will come as a surprise, but I’d say this is necessary viewing for us all, and this ongoing militarization not only must be stopped, it needs to be revoked. It’s time to take all those shiny toys away from all the bully boys out there. If cops want to continue playing military, I suggest they quit being a cop, and join up.

Via Raw Story.

Public Lavatories: How To Do Them Right.

While there is endless, pointless arguing here in uStates over whether or not some people are people enough to use a public lav, and whether or not it’s okey dokey to try and scope out whether or not someone has an approved set of genitals, with regressive assholes intent on doing damage, and making everyone feel unsafe, squabbling like fucking four year olds over who gets to be the dominant one, Japan get its oh so right. I’m ready to run away from home.

What does Japan care about? Utility, of course, but also comfort, design, and the sheer artistry that can be a public lav. The Japanese government awards a highly coveted Toilet of the Year award to spaces deemed worthy. And boy, do they have a whole lot of worthy.

After all, the government estimates that in our lifetime we spend up to 11 months in a bathroom. So why shouldn’t they be spaces that are clean, soothing and relaxing?

So, officials created a pamphlet (PDF) of public toilets they deemed exemplary, and distributed it earlier this year in hopes of elevating the entire public toilet industry. Here are a selection of government-approved public toilets.

And there are a lot of them! You’ll need to click over to Spoon & Tamago to see and read about them all, or hit the pdf. Here are some examples, and it sure would be nice if uStates could grow up and start focusing on what really matters, like grown up Japan:

japanese-government-approved-public-toilets-3

Gallery Toto at Narita Airport Terminal 2 (Chiba)

At Narita Airport, Japan’s gateway to the world, an art installation-like lineup of toilets greet travelers. Here you’ll find iconic toilet-maker Toto’s latest toilet technology, which is of course available for public usage. We wrote about this project here.

japanese-government-approved-public-toilets-4

Haneda Airport International Terminal (Tokyo)

At Haneda you’ll find a public bathroom that’s been specifically designed to aid and assist disabled travelers. Universal signage, wide passageways and even a toilet for service dogs makes this bathroom user-friendly for absolutely anyone.

japanese-government-approved-public-toilets-6

Neopasa Shimizu Service Area (Tomei Expressway, Shizuoka)

Highway service areas usually have the grossest toilets. But not at Neopasa, where an oasis of clean and beautiful toilets await tired drivers and passengers. There are more than twice as many stalls in the ladies’ room, compared to the men’s, to combat longer lines. And a large monitor screen at the entrance even tells you which stalls are unoccupied.

japanese-government-approved-public-toilets-7

Neopasa Surugawan Numazu Service Area (Tomei Expressway, Shizuoka)

This is the only service area along the Tomei Expressway that has views of the sea. So the operator decided to build their bathroom on the 2nd floor near the terrace and create a space where people want to go, not just because they have to go.

Via Spoon & Tamago, go look! Maybe we can all plan to run away together. I want to live in Hokkaido, though.

Evil Mickey, 1934.

Mickey Mouse is one of the most popular cartoon characters in Japan, in line with beloved domestics like Totoro, Doraemon and Hello Kitty. But 80 years ago that certainly wasn’t the case, at least not according to a 1934 propaganda film that cast Mickey as an evil invader that’s come to terrorize a happy island community.

In the animated film, released just 8 years before pearl harbor, Mickey Mouse arrives by air, followed by a group of alligators by sea that perhaps symbolize a U.S. Navy fleet. The islanders turn to a fairy tale book for help and out come legendary Japanese fairy tale characters like Momotaro, Kintaro, Issunboshi and Urashima-Taro. Fairy tale characters coming to life is an animation trope that will become widely used later on, and as Open Culture points out, the underlying message here is that Japan has older, stronger and way more numerous fairytale characters.

Spoiler alert: in the end, Mickey is turned into an old, decrepit mouse by a white plume of smoke by Urashima-taro, who had undergone a similar fate in his fairy tale.

Spoon & Tamago has the full story.

California: No Porn for You!

Blocked Sign (blog.cyberghostvpn.com).

Blocked Sign (blog.cyberghostvpn.com).

Some porn providers have decided to get political, and fight California’s Proposition 60. While I do think health is a major concern, I really don’t know enough about the porn industry in general to make any sort of statement about their particular health policies in regard to their actors. I would assume most actors do care about their health, and don’t take unnecessary risks, but again, I really don’t know. I might be one of ten people on the planet who is not a porn consumer. I certainly do understand the fight against part of the prop which states they can be sued, by anyone, at anytime. That seems more than a little dodgy to me. I’m also very uncomfortable when it comes to anyone trying to mandate another person’s bodily autonomy. I don’t want anyone telling me what I can and can’t do with myself, as I am my body. That should apply to everyone else as well.  So, if I were still in SoCal, I’d be a no vote. Anyroad, as a political tactic, I foresee great success here.

Today, adult websites are taking away California’s porn. In protest of Proposition 60, a state bill mandating condoms in adult films, several sites are interrupting or entirely blocking access to California IP addresses. This includes the mainstream giant Vivid Video, as well as Evil Angel, Kink, Pink & White Productions, and Treasure Island Media. In-state visitors to these sites are met with a message instructing them to vote no on Prop 60 and, in some cases, warning that their porn might be permanently taken away if the bill passes.

This virtual strike coincides with a protest by roughly 100 adult performers planned later today outside of the Los Angeles headquarters of the Yes on 60 Campaign.

Prop 60, which is sponsored by AIDS Healthcare Foundation and will be on the ballot November 8, requires condoms in adult films shot within the state and also allows any resident in the state to sue producers and distributors of condomless porn. The adult industry is broadly opposed to the bill, primarily on the grounds that it violates performer choice and will push productions underground, making them less safe. Opponents also argue that by allowing lawsuits by everyday citizens the bill could expose producers and adult performers to stalkers, harassment, and privacy violations.

[…]

But at least three studios are considering the possibility of permanently blocking access to Californians if the bill passes — the thinking being that if Californians can’t see their content, maybe they can’t file lawsuits. Vivid’s website greets in-state visitors with a black screen bearing a “NO ON 60” icon and a message reading, “If you live in California and Prop 60 passes this is what your porn will look like.” Pink & White Productions’ pay sites greet all visitors with a pop-up reading, “IP BLOCK California? SAY IT AINT SO! If California Prop 60 passes, it could be” (although it’s possible to close it and navigate the sites). Kink’s site delivers a message reading, “This is what Californa will see on their favorite porn sites if PROPOSITION 60 passes.”

Mike Stabile, Kink’s spokesperson, told Vocativ, “Prop 60 isn’t a public health measure, it’s a public harassment measure for adult performers. If we have to block access to California in order to protect the performers who work with us, that’s what we’ll do. And should this initiative pass, it’s something we’ll be looking at doing in California on a permanent basis after November 8.”

Full story at Vocativ.

George Takei: There Is Hope.

George Takei (MSNBC).

George Takei (MSNBC).

George Takei has an open letter at The Daily Beast, and a message many of us sorely need to hear. Just an excerpt from the middle here:

You see, I am ever an optimist. A poll taken in August of voters aged 18-34 showed that the vast majority favored Clinton over Trump—64 percent to 29 percent. That split tells me the same thing that the polls for same-sex marriage told us years ago: Over time, reason and fairness will win out, while bigotry and hatred literally would die off. In 20 years, you will all be in charge, and demonstrate far less appetite or patience for Trump’s brand of nativist rhetoric and race baiting. Trump and his supporters understand they are on borrowed time, and while they may seem resurgent today, this in fact could be their last chance to take control. Our country is rapidly moving on from their discredited and archaic worldview. Perhaps that is why the death throes of their campaign are so spectacular.

You are in many ways wiser to the world than your older counterparts. You came of age in a time where there was greater cause for skepticism, and you’re accustomed to the non-stop barrage of social media. Unlike your parents, you understand that we all live in an echo chamber, and that it is up to each of us to depart from it to hear alternative points of view. You are more likely to place your trust in science and embrace diversity, to reject hate while celebrating love in all its manifestations. You are more focused on racial justice and equality of opportunity than the two generations before you. And contrary to common myth, you are not disengaged. In this election cycle, millions of young voters made their concerns heard and very nearly succeeded in realigning the entire election. Nor are you impractical; even when your favored candidate did not succeed, you stuck by your convictions and goals, and in overwhelming numbers now support the party that will best advance them.

Full article at The Daily Beast.

42.

William Jefferson Clinton. Whitehouse.gov.

William Jefferson Clinton. Whitehouse.gov.

Fifteen months after taking office, President William Jefferson Clinton made history by inviting tribal leaders to the White House.

Of the 556 leaders invited, 322 attended the meeting, during which Clinton fielded questions about economic development, tribal sovereignty, health care, education and government-to-government relationships. The April 1994 event marked the first time since 1822 tribal leaders were invited to meet directly with a sitting president of the United States.

In an afternoon speech delivered on the South Lawn, Clinton reaffirmed Native rights to self-determination.

[Read more…]

The Only Way Out.

A drawing by a 16-year-old girl from Iran on Nauru. CREDIT: Amnesty International.

A drawing by a 16-year-old girl from Iran on Nauru. CREDIT: Amnesty International.*

Most people will have a passing awareness of what’s been happening to refugees attempting to reach Australia. To say the Australian government has a lot to answer for is one hell of an understatement. This is open, unapologetic torture, and right now, it doesn’t look like anyone much cares that the main effect of this “open air camp” is suicide. When death becomes a preferable option, you get an idea of just how bad things are. These people, already carrying heavy burdens of trauma, are being treated as untouchable, nasty things, and as Esme Weatherwax pointed out, all the ills in the world begin there, with treating people like things. Although reading, it seems to me they are more being treated like inconvenient garbage that someone littered about. This is a terribly ugly story, filled with terribly ugly people, who cannot manage to dredge up the smallest sliver of concern. All around the world, we human beings are failing at being human, in a most spectacular way.

Refugees and asylum seekers who attempt to reach Australia by boat are turned away and detained in refugee processing centers on the Pacific island of Nauru or Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. The Australian government has argued that the policy acts as a good deterrence against human smugglers and people who might choose to undertake the journey to its shores. But those who wind up on these offshore detention sites face indefinite and unlawful detention, an ordeal so disastrous that refugees and asylum seekers are turning to self-harm to cope, according to a new human rights organization report released Monday.

The Amnesty International report found that it was not uncommon for detainees to try and kill themselves, based on field and desk research that happened between July and October 2016. One man failed to kill himself twice in a span of ten weeks. Another Iranian refugee who tried to kill herself multiple times every week was eventually put in a medical ward. And a man found his pregnant wife in the bathroom with rope marks on her neck.

[…]

Some service-providers at the detention center described practices that made refugees and asylum seekers feel less than human. One guard forcibly took away candy from a girl. Some asylum seekers were taken from showers after two minutes, with shampoo in their hair. Others had to wait weeks or months for basic necessities like underwear and shoes.

In a conversation with a seven-year-old boy from Iran, a service-provider told Amnesty International that the child would keep asking him questions. “He’d say ‘I don’t understand this place. Prisons are for bad people, right? Bad people are the men who hurt my father [in Iran]. Why am I in prison? Does that mean I am a bad person?’”

Nauru’s refugee processing center is described as an “open” center meaning that once people are recognized as refugees, they are moved into accommodation outside the refugee processing center on the same island, roughly one-third the size of Manhattan. But much of the island is uninhabitable, now environmentally ravaged by generations of phosphate mining.

Even refugees and asylees living outside detention grounds face Nauru police who fail to adequately investigate their complaints. One father, who told the police about a man who tried to rape his daughter, was told that the judge was “off duty.” An Iranian refugee who tried to report a robbery got the run-around from police who said that “their computer was broken.” When he offered to give handwritten testimony, he was told that they didn’t have paper.

[…]

Many of the abuses that Neistat found are consistent with previous accounts of abuse detailed by other refugees and asylum seekers. In late April, at least two refugees tried setting themselves on fire. One died from the self-immolation, while the other refugee suffered critical injuries. In August, The Guardian reported on 2,000 reports of abuse and neglect, which found that children were “vastly overrepresented in the reports.”

People set themselves on fire. On fire, for fuck’s sake. If this does not break your heart, if this does not make you ask questions, if this does not make you angry, something is very, very wrong.

The Australian government spends $419,425 per person, per year on offshore processing. In comparison, the U.S. government spends about $59,860 per person, per year on detention. Yet as the allegations show, the costs do not reflect the care that refugees and asylum seekers receive.

After clicking all the links, and doing all the reading, I would really like to know just where in the hell all that money is going, because it most certainly is not going into care of and for refugees and asylum seekers. The stench of corruption is wafting about.

* I probably have nothing to worry about here, but if  you’re the type of asshole who thinks it would be pertinent to comment about how your two year old could draw better than that 16 year old, you’ll be banned so fast you’ll end up with whiplash.

The full story is at Think Progress.