She/her also personally fought against transwomen in prison seeking gender affirmation surgery…
Here’s an article that gives more details on the story, and what Harris said about it. The key points:
It was the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation that refused the surgery to the inmates. When the inmates fought the policy in court, as Attorney General of California, it was Harris’s jobto represent the Department. Yes, she did it, but it wasn’t something she decided on her own to do. (Also, not for nothing, the inmates won the case.)
Her characterization of the episode: “On that issue I will tell you I vehemently disagree and in fact worked behind the scenes to ensure that the Department of Corrections would allow transitioning inmates to receive the medical attention that they required, they needed and deserved,” Harris said.
A policy now exists for inmates to receive transition-related care in California prisons (although apparently the DoC isn’t doing a great job of holding up its end of the bargain*–quelle surprise).
(*For the record, Harris finished her time as AG and became a Senator shortly after this agreement was reached, so it’s someone else’s job now to enforce it.)
The thing to keep in mind here is that, as Attorney General, Kamala Harris couldn’t wave her hand and have everything in the entire California Department of Justice go exactly as she wanted it–and she won’t be able to as Vice President, either. We currently have a president who thinksthat’s how it works, and we’re damned lucky he’s wrong.
She had (and will have to) work with large number of people who hold different views. (Another article I read said that the California Department of Justice, which she ran as AG, employs about 4,800 people–that’s a lot of different views.) If she had refused to back the Department of Corrections in their case, she would have alienated people whose cooperation she needed to be able to rely on. (If she even had the option of not backing them and staying AG–I’m not sure how it works, exactly.) Even people who agreed with her about the specific matter might have disapproved of her hanging her subordinates out to dry. (Another thing our current president does constantly–notice how Harris isn’t saying that the person in her office who actually wrote these briefs is a bad guy that she barely knew.)
So here’s what actuallyhappened when Kamala Harris “fought against transwomen in prison seeking gender affirmation surgery”:
The Department of Corrections had a policy denying gender-affirmation surgery to inmates.
Two inmates fought that policy in court.
Harris defended that policy in court (or, more accurately, was the supervisor of the person who did so–but the legal documents went out under her signature, and she takes responsibility for their content).
Harris also worked to change the policy.
If you’ve had a job, you’ve probably been in the position of having to carry out a policy that you don’t agree with. Your choices are to quit your job in protest or stay and argue that the policy should change. If you pick option B, you still have to follow the policy while you’re working to change it–again, just about the only person in the world who doesn’t know this is Donald J. Trump, because he’s never had a real job where he answered to anybody.
What this incident shows is that Kamala Harris is accustomed to working in a system where she doesn’t always get her own way, and that she knows how to lose the battle to win the war. As VP, she’s going to need those skills–especially if the Republicans keep the Senate, but even if the Democrats sweep everything in November, we’re notoriously bad at all pulling in the same direction. We’ve had about enough of the “I’m taking my ball and going home” style of leadership.
If you follow this blog or have been paying attention to the news, you will know that the Spanish military police tried to stop the Catalan independence referendum by using violence against the voters, including throwing elder people down the stairs and jumping over them, shooting rubber bullets (which are illegal in Catalonia btw) at voters and even at nurses trying to help wounded people reach an ambulance, getting clothes off girls and throwing them to the floor naked while laughing, graing women by their hair and dragging them out f the voting center while kicking them, etc. Over 800 Catalan people were hurt for trying to vote.
Today, to protest police brutality carried out and defended by the Spanish government, there has been an “aturada de país” which means we stopped the country. Practically all businesses have closed, and about 60 highways have been cut (including the border with France) by citizens playing chess or cards in the middle of the road. The economy is stopped and thousands of people are protesting on the streets. Many people also used the day to go bring flowers to the schools that were violently assaulted by the Spanish police.
I admit I don’t know much about this situation, but don’t anyone fucking try to compare it to the southern states ceceding during the Civil War. I’ve already seen that sentiment crop up on this site.
The difference, if you’re so asinine to not see them, is that the southern states forcefully ceceded, while Spain put it up for a vote to ‘allow’ Catalan to cecede, apparently they thought the majority vote would be not to.
Spain didn’t put it up for a vote, and they didn’t because they knew that yes to independence would win.
Catalans were so fed up with Spain treating us like second class citizens that we organised the biggest peaceful demonstrations in Europe’s history for 4 years in a row and independentist parties won the absolute majority of seats in the Catalan parliament. And Catalonia organised the referendum, trying to pact it with Spain but Spain didn’t want to at all, so we had to go forward alone.
The reason why this doesn’t have anything to do with the southern states is because Catalonia was already a country for centuries, until we got invaded, and have been discriminated against since. Catalonia is trying to decolonise itself, but Spain is forcing us to stay in order to keep their privileges over us.
I think it’s important for foreigners to understand that Catalonia is not “a piece of Spain trying to separate”, Catalonia is an entirely different nation that just happens to be occupied by Spain. Different language, different traditions, different history, different mindset, different needs. Different country.
There’s a reason why people who want the southern states to be separate are usually the conservatives, and the ones who want Catalan independence are the leftists and liberals.
This also applies to the Valencian Country, but sadly there are too many fascists here now, and we can’t do the same they’re doing in Catalonia, at least not yet. There was a demonstration today in València, and a woman told us that: that we were not Catalonia, that we were never going to do anything, that she was tired of us, that we should go to Catalonia, that Spain is a democracy… And we know that is not true, and now the world knows it too.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was officially sworn in on November 4th, 2015, gives a very simple answer as to why he decided to have 15 men and 15 women on his cabinet.
If you’ve ever applied for a job, you know about that tricky salary history question interviewers almost always ask.
Today New York City will officially ban employers from asking about pay history during hiring processes in order to address the city’s wage gap which keeps women and people of color from earning the same amount of money for the same amount of labor compared to white men.
Irecently finished reading mathematician Cathy O’Neil’s book, Weapons of Math Destruction, and learned that even if a question about pay history is entirely removed, interviewers can use questions about salary expectation as a proxy and that can still limit a minority’s chance to be paid fairly. Plus, with the help of third-party vendors and credit check companies who amass data on Americans all the time - selling our personal data - I wanted to learn more about how the law can prevent employers from taking advantage of applicants in our era of data collection and inequality.
So, I spoke with the First Lady of New York City, Chirlane McCray, along with the commissioner on NYC Commission on Human Rights, Carmelyn Malalis, and public advocate, Letitia James, who was the main person to introduce the legislation. Here’s the interview.
Spoke with The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) today.
According to research compiled by the anti-sexual assault organization, RAINN, at least 25 percent of sexual violence is committed by a former partner while 45 percent is committed by an acquaintance. Plus, one of the biggest and least-understood reasons why a victim won’t “just leave” an abuser is financial dependence. #Safety4Survivors wants to fix that.
In light of recent incendiary remarks from Donald Trump on Colin Kaepernick, I’m reminded of how frequently dishonest American discourse can be when it comes to introspection on nationalism and collective deference for the anthem and the flag. I always like to revisit one particular essay whenever compulsory patriotism is demanded of people, be it American or Pakistani. This lucid read by David Masciotra.
“The U.S. Congress approved a $225 million package to replenish Israel’s missile defenses Friday, after the Jewish state’s cease-fire with Hamas unraveled and Israeli forces pushed deep into Gaza in search of a missing army officer.”
What a JOKE. $225M to support the bombing of innocent civilians? You really have nothing better to put that money towards, like I don’t know, helping your own people? Idiots. Just a bunch of power hungry, money driven, lying, cheating politicians.
08/01/2014: 160 Palestinians have been murdered today by Israelis even after agreeing to a 72 hour CEASEFIRE.
Let me define CEASEFIRE, just in case it’s not obvious enough:
a temporary suspension of fighting, typically one during which peace talks take place; a truce.
an order or signal to stop fighting.
Absolutely disgusting, but so typical. Israel doesn’t give a shit about resolution; they don’t give a shit about anything. Their motives are clear: kill everything that is not of their own kind. Genocide. And yet, the world continues to ignore those who are being oppressed.
Zionists are doing to Palestinians what the Nazis did to the Jews. How can the world sit there like hypocrites condemning Hitler and the holocaust, but justify the current day Hitler-like fascist, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his continual support of what appears to be another version of just that.
Total count of Palestinians: 1567 deaths, 8760 injuries, and 9245 partially or completely destroyed homes.
The Time of Israel published and deleted an article today: “When Genocide is Permissible.” – Authored by Yochanan Gordon
“The Times of Israel, an online news site, quickly took down Friday a blog post titled “When Genocide is Permissible,” in which writer Yochanan Gordon suggested that killing all Palestinians is justifiable.”
“Hamas has stated forthrightly that it idealizes death as much as Israel celebrates life. What other way then is there to deal with an enemy of this nature other than obliterate them completely?” – wrote Gordon
07/31/2014: A 72 hour ceasefire agreement was approved by Israel and Hamas. However, the ceasefire period started 16 minutes ago. Israel bombed “Al-Salam” area in Gaza 8 minutes ago. Israel has already violated the ceasefire. Typical… Can’t wait to hear the excuses they use to blame and justify their actions. Absolute cowards.
UPDATE 10:38PM (PST): CEASEFIRE HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR HALF AN HOUR, TWO VIOLATIONS BY ISRAEL HAVE BEEN REPORTED.
“The death toll in Gaza continues to rise since Israel began Operation Protective Edge on July 8. More than 1,200 Palestinians have been killed, around 74 percent of them civilians, including 243 children and 131 women, the BBC reports. On the other side, 55 Israelis are dead, 53 of them members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) – and one Thai national.”
