A friend of mine died recently. J was only 50. He was well in all ways except health. This piece from last year about ATOS makes me feel.

Who defines an event as a 'famine' is a question of power relations within and between societies

- Alex de Waal

'Denying Rwanda: A Response to Herman and Peterson'

"Romney now complaining he wasn't born with all the advantages of blacks and Mexicans"

'On Holding Hands and Shouting in the Street'

"The crowd’s attention was drawn and people stared at us, two twenty something gayboys, holding hands in the street."

here

(via MT)

Like some people eat potato chips, Ferguson spots gays in history. It's just his thing.

here

Memo to the executive and legislative branches: there is no “unless it’s, like, a little inconvenient” exception to the Refugee Convention...An estimated 52,000 children have come to the United States since October, which is the mass-refugee-flow equivalent of a goddamned hangnail. That’s not even enough kids to sell out a One Direction show. The Met Life stadium can handle 90,000 screaming Harry Styles fans per night
here

"Only a few months ago, Henry Kissinger was dancing with Stephen Colbert in a funny bit on the latter's Comedy Central show.
...
Hill, who died in 1978, never did testify that Kissinger had urged on the Argentine generals, and the Carter administration reversed policy and made human rights a priority in its relations with Argentina and other nations. As for Kissinger, he skated—and he has been skating ever since, dodging responsibility for dirty deeds in Chile, Bangladesh, East Timor, Cambodia, and elsewhere. Kissinger watchers have known for years that he at least implicitly (though privately) endorsed the Argentine dirty war, but this new memo makes clear he was an enabler for an endeavor that entailed the torture, disappearance, and murder of tens of thousands of people. Next time you see him dancing on television, don't laugh."
re-up from this January in Mother Jones

Some good points last year from the late Norm Geras [RIP], discussing the name of a certain pro gridiron team who ply their trade around the capital city of the USA. Am excerpting the closing money quote; should not have to do this obviously, but there we go. Emphasis is in the original at normblog.

"It is constantly surprising how stuck people can be over the view that racist prejudice is simply a matter of what one intends; and how stubbornly they resist the obvious truth that words and symbols carry meanings associated with their history and which cannot simply be disowned by declarations of good will."

For those interested, Lauren Chief Elk sometimes writes on the topic of the same NFL team, riffing on the name [Chief Elk's Twitter / tumblr].

RIP x

Let them live: Josephine Baker, Maya Angelou, and Rihanna as erotic and holistic by Sesali Bowen.

A colleague of Bowen's has a short obit, which includes a embed of Dr Angelou reading Still I Rise here.