Betsy DeVos could have lived the rest of her dumb life as an unknown billionaire but apparently she had to seize the opportunity to make children's lives infinitely shittier
Why in God's world is she the Education Secretary?
We not only wonder why was she appointed, but why did she WANT THIS?
The woman clearly has no idea what she's talking about. Sitting in televised interviews having no clue how to answer the questions posed about your - supposed - area of expertise.
Is she not embarrassed? Even a little bit?
She could've done bare minimum and at least prepped for the interview. Had her lapdogs feed her facts and statistics masking her ignorance about the public education system in the US.
Or her home state for that matter.
How do you not know what's going on with education in your state, yet are in charge of education for the country?
This blog exists to celebrate women but goddamn.
We have limits.
We cannot co-sign this woman. There is absolutely NO WAY!
WATCH: Betsy DeVos struggles to provide answers when asked for evidence to support school choice policies https://t.co/VdZFF5jXzl
Established in 1979, Chippendales was the first all-male stripping troupe to make a business performing for mostly female audiences. Through the quality of its staging and choreography, Chippendales also helped legitimize stripping as a form of popular entertainment.
After operating a gas station, Somen Banerjee and his partner, Loyola Law School student Bruce Nahin, bought a failed west Los Angeles disco, and turned it into a nightclub featuring female mud wrestling and exotic dancing. The idea of featuring male dancers came from nightclub promoter Paul Snider, while the club name Chippendales because of the Chippendale style furniture at the club.
The concept of the male strip show was brought to Banerjee and Nahin by Snider (later notorious for killing his estranged wife, Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten and then himself) who was desperate to revive his nightclub business because other ideas of backgammon and female mud wrestling were failing. They packaged the idea of a male burlesque show with the name of elegant furniture in a night club venue that was clean and refined, and allowed women to feel comfortable watching men strip down to a G-string. The concept immediately gained a huge female following and expanded to New York, London, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Thailand, Australia, Philadelphia, and Florida.
In 1990 a Saturday Night Live skit featured guest host Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley competing in an audition to become a Chippendales dancer.
In the 1997 English comedy The Full Monty, the characters' plan to form a striptease group are inspired by the Chippendales.
They were featured in the 2001 film Just Can't Get Enough.
Chippendale dancers Jaymes Vaughan and James Davis competed in the 21st season of The Amazing Race, ultimately finishing in 2nd place.
Other notable Chippendales dancers are the actor Ian Ziering, The Bachelor star Jake Pavelka, actor Joey Lawrence, singer Jeff Timmons, and professional wrestler Kenny King.
As we all settle into this new year, we think of the habits we'd like to let go of, and those we'd like to acquire.
Typically, we make resolutions.
"I'm going to lose 20 pounds."
"I'm going vegan!"
"I'm going to quit smoking."
These are definitely handy notions, but in essence they're items we'd like to DO.
Intentions focus more on how we'd like to FEEL.
One issue with resolutions, is that they imply circumstances will be better once certain factors are different. We'll be happier once we change who we are. When we fall short of our avowed "to-do's" we can feel lazy or disappointed with ourselves. Most resolutions are discarded by mid-February. Not to mention resolutions are limiting. They're governed by the mind, and anything governed by the mind doesn’t have great consequences.
Sankalpa is the Sanskrit word for intention. Intentions are instead for the soul’s growth. A good intention nurtures consciousness and has the power to significantly raise awareness. When setting intentions, we worry about our actions because righteous intention creates righteous actions. An intention will help create more clarity. Setting an intention is like drawing a map of where you wish to go — it becomes the driving force of your higher consciousness. Without an intention there is no map, and you're just driving down a road with no destination in mind. In a nutshell, resolutions are about outcomes, whereas intentions are about the JOURNEY.
Key points to bear in mind as you set intentions are:
Keep it positive. Make the intention has a positive tone. If your intention is to de-stress, then say something like, "My intention is to invite peace and calm within myself during today's meditation." as opposed to "My intention is to fight this stupid stress."
Make sure the intention can evolve. If you stick with the same intention week after week, your mind will stop responding to it. Be advised that you shouldn't drastically alter your intentions or goals too frequently. The goal is polish and enhance.
Aim for the short term. By all means think of the big picture, just divide your long-term intention into shorter ones. This will help achieve a grandiose goal in shorter, more powerful segments.
An intention cannot be forced. It's a seed that you have to sow and then let reap on its own.
It must be intention you believe in. If not, the purpose of the intention is ruined.
Detach from the Outcome. Relinquish your attachment to a specific result and live in the wisdom of uncertainty. Intend for everything to work out as it should, then let go and allow opportunities and openings to come your way. You've released your intentions into the fertile ground of pure potentiality. They will bloom when the season is right!
Let the Universe handle the details. Your focused intentions set the organizing power of the universe in motion. Trust it to orchestrate the complete fulfillment of your desires.
Gratitude is an extremely important part of the intention-setting process. If you’re always wanting and wanting and wanting, (not finding the peace or the gratitude in your life), you'll be in a constant state of scarcity.
Some sample intentions might be:
I intend to manifest happiness naturally. I intend to respond first, and then react. I intend to witness Divinity in everyone. I intend to lead by example. I intend to be open to success and abundance. I intend to stop taking things personally. I intend to forgive others, and myself. I intend to love unconditionally. I intend to make meditation a more important part of my lifestyle.
My intentions for the month of January:
I will focus more of my time, energy and attention on artistic passions and endeavors.
I focus on my inner purpose, dismissing outer distractions.
I am devoting my energy and schedule to creating projects that matter most to my soul.
I will take advantage of the trainings that have presented themselves to me, further enriching my mind and skill-sets.
Invisible Murderers, Rapists and Blameable Victims
Why don’t men who murder women make headlines? Why does the media sway the title to focus on the victimized instead of the victimizer?
It would seem publications that do this, are subconsciously (or perhaps consciously?) sustaining the widely held belief that women are responsible for the crimes committed against them. When a woman is raped, she is often blamed because of what she was wearing, the time the crime took place in some weird and twisted countries, for provoking a man by being sexy. These justifications skip over the plain simple bottom line:
Someone CHOSE to rape.
Period.
So when crimes against women occur and newspapers decide to report them, the question begs, why are the victims the main subject of headlines but the violent aggressors aren't?
This focus on the victim extends to children as well. Why are children described in the media as "having sex" or being in "a sexual relationship" with an adult? Children, by definition, cannot have sex with adults. It's not sex, it's rape and it's sexual abuse. There is no gray area here. Most important, sex with children IS A CRIME.
No one who has been raped or murdered has ever said anything, worn anything, done anything to cause the crime committed against them. There is only one thing that causes rape or murder and that is the decision to commit rape or murder. Nothing else.
Publicly released crime stats will tell you a lot about the victims. Their age, where they were when they were attacked, their relationship to the offender, their gender, sometimes even their occupation. The same information could be available for offenders, but it’s rarely part of the public release. The process to retrieve offenders information can include contacting the police, waiting however many weeks for the info, and paying a fee to obtain said stats.
With all this, the info is often lacking.
Journalists and editors have a responsibility to the truth. Headlines that blame victims for violence enacted against them is not journalism, it’s deception. The ideology that women and children are responsible for the violence committed against them by men is not only absurd, but dangerous.
Here's how it usually works.
John raped Mary.
John is the subject and the focus of the sentence (John committed the rape), Mary is the object (the rape was done to her).
Mary was raped by John.
John is still the subject, but now Mary is the focus of the sentence; John is trailing off at the end.
Mary was raped.
Mary is now the subject and the only focus of the sentence; John has vanished from the discussion.
Mary is a rape victim.
Not only is Mary now the only subject and focus of the sentence, the rape has become who she is, not what was done to her. Her very identity has become the cause of the rape. John is no longer involved in what happened. Violence against women.
Violence is the subject, women are the object, and the perpetrators of the violence aren’t part of the discussion.
Jane Gilmore has spent years fixing these headlines with the FixedIt Project.
She redirects focus and blame in headlines to perpetrators, NOT victims. By changing these headlines, she's exposing bias and exposing how headlines are spun by media.
Donations are highly encouraged to help Jane keep the project going. Funding will help her provide daily updates, international publications, more public speaking and will help her finish her FixedIt book.
It's beyond important to change the way men’s violence against women, children and other men is reported and understood.
By placing blame where it's accurately due and not subliminally programming people to blame victims, we might be able to reduce the amount of victims in general.
Here some examples of the FixedIt Project at work:
FixedIt: Violent abuse of women and children is more important than property damage"Arsonist". Because a violent, abusive man who nearly killed a woman and two children is defined by damage he did to property.
This report on a man charged with torture, rape and assault after allegedly holding a woman against her will for three days.
Police raided the residence last Friday, before charging the 26-year-old with torture, possession of drug utensils and two counts each of rape, assault occasioning bodily harm and common assault.
It is alleged he knew the victim and held her against her will between October 9 and October 12.
Despite the horrific nature of the charges, the man accused of these crimes is erased from the headlines, he simply doesn’t exist. The victim of the crime is the subject of the sentence.
This report is on a man who appeared in court after he allegedly stabbed, choked, kicked and punched his partner was a comprehensive article that detailed the alleged crimes and quoted police on the context of increasingly severe domestic violence in the region.
But, yet again, the headline completely erases the alleged perpetrator from the story. He’s invisible. In all honesty, the headline doesn't mention if it's a "he" at all. He hasn’t yet been tried so editors do have to be careful about not assuming guilt, but they can and should report that he was arrested and in court. They can and should be clear that police do not think this woman assaulted herself or that some indiscernible entity is accused of committing the assault.
FixedIt: Murder is not how you end a marriage Posted on November 7, 2017 by Jane Gilmore
Here's a reporting on a man who murdered his ex wife and her new boyfriend.
I don’t think there’s any need for commentary here, the fix is pretty much self explanatory.
