LUOF: Memorial Weekend edition
5–25–18
Not familiar with Lift Up Others Fridays?
I’m organizing this slightly differently today — backwards from normal.
Meat: Children Missing Because of the Government
I was astounded to see that the following piece hadn’t really gotten press. How does Customs and Border Patrol LOSE children?
Here are a few key quotes from the article:
“The Office of Refugee Resettlement reported at the end of 2017 that of the 7,000-plus children placed with sponsored individuals, the agency did not know where 1,475 of them were.”
“A documentary from the PBS program “Frontline” said that the federal government has actually released some of the minors to human traffickers.”
In the wake of FOSTA/SESTA, a bill which has dramatically
1) harmed sex workers;
2) fucked over sex educators;
3) made it more difficult for dominatrices and masseuses; and
4) made it easier to conduct trafficking…
What in the actual fuck is our government doing? And they want to separate families at the Mexico border, but still don’t know where these children are?
Oh, and they abused these kids, too.
And what did our president have to say?
Excuse the fuck out of me, but this is a major human rights violation. Our government has put children in harm’s way simply because of their family’s decisions to try to come to the US.
This is bullshit. I am outraged, and I hope you are, too.
We have to get vocal — share the above articles on social media. Make others aware. Come together to protest.
We can’t let this happen.
If you want to know what it’s like to be an asylum seeker, Propublica created a ‘game’ that takes you through it:
Read these
Footage of Milwaukee cops being racist abusive assholes to Milwaukee Bucks’ player Sterling Brown was recently released. While it has caused quite a stir — and rightfully so — many don’t realize just how horrible Milwaukee is. It’s consistently battling St. Louis for most segregated city. White people come to enjoy fru fru food, music, festivals, and more. They don’t see what Milwaukee is really like for black people. It’s beyond time to pay attention:
Perhaps the biggest news of the week for many, though, was related to #MeToo.
We all learned Morgan Freeman is awful.
His ‘apology’ left a lot to be desired.
“Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not someone who would intentionally offend or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy. I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected — that was never my intent.”
It’s a non-apology. Period.
In good (?) news, Harvey Weinstein was arrested.
Finally.
Arrested Development got cancelled, too — not because of Jeffrey Tambor’s continued sexual harassment of trans people on Transparent… but because of verbally harassing Jessica Walters.
Don’t get me wrong — the douche bag doesn’t ever need to be employed again. I just wanna know why this didn’t happen sooner. With other offenders, we saw Netflix pull their shows and movies while other sites dropped them, too… but okay.
Jason Bateman tried to defend Tambor in a released interview, so he’s a POS, too.
At least we know?
Here are some more must reads this week:
Social and Opporunities
Jen Brea is the mind behind Unrest, a documentary on living with ME/CFS. She recently began working on a crowdsourced wiki to document the history and science around ME/CFS and similar conditions. You can help here.
Bitch Media is looking for chronically ill/disabled photographers and illustrators. If that’s you, send your info and portfolio to design@b-word.org.
My pal Kenton runs Funkit Toys. You have a few days left to snag a gorgeous red NoFrillDo from him. Proceeds go to Red Light Legal and SWOP Behind Bars, both great organizations that help sex workers.
Palate Cleanser
With everything going on, here’s a cute to think about over the weekend:
Stay tuned for more information next week! Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing.
Kirsten is a genderfluid writer, sexuality educator, and chronic illness/disability activist in Wisconsin. They run Chronic Sex which highlights how illnesses and disabilities affect ‘Quality of Life’ issues such as self-love, self-care, relationships, sexuality, and sex.
Interested in helping with Kirsten’s work? Visit our ‘support us’ page or shoot them some tasty coffee money.
