Virginia Republican Del. Bob Marshall’s berserk homophobia and transphobia aren’t exactly news. His extreme statements and policy stances during his many years in the Virginia House of Delegates reveal his fear and loathing of the LGBTQ community.  But Marshall’s Democratic opponent in this year’s contest for House District 13 happens to be a transgender woman, and the GOP incumbent is not taking it well. Marshall, who refuses to refer to Daily Kos endorsee Danica Roem with female pronouns, is avoiding appearing at debates or candidate forums with her out of fear that he’ll get called mean names (“Bigot Bob” is apparently taking off online). Marshall has seems to have developed a fear of reporters, as well. He’s refusing to allow them to accompany him while he knocks on voters’ doors, and he’ll only respond to questions via email, with carefully planned remarks. And now a conservative outside group is trying to ride to Marshall’s rescue, so to speak, in the form of robocalls full of transphobic smears and lies. Voters in the district are receiving calls paid for by the American Principals Project, a ”social welfare organization” that advocates for “the union of one man and one woman as the definition of marriage,” among other typical conservative insults. The robocalls make a series of (false) statements, then asks if they make the listener more or less likely to support Roem or Marshall. These statements include claims that Roem supports: a law that would shut down hospitals if they refused to perform sex reassignment operations; a law that would shut down adoption agencies that prioritize placing children with married mothers and fathers; allowing boys into girls’ shower facilities and locker rooms, policies that allow boys to play on girls’ sports teams and girls’ sports leagues; and requiring business owners to provide services for same-sex weddings or face possible jail time or fines. All of this is transphobic garbage, obviously. The executive director of APP sees this race as part of a larger cultural battle against, as he put it, “a radical agenda to force the transgender identity on children in our schools.” Marshall’s own crusade against the LGBTQ community is long and storied. A few of his greatest hits include:

More sexual assault allegations come out of the #MeToo movement, this time against former USA Gymnastics doctor

Campaign Action A federal judge has ordered Donald Trump’s administration to turn over all documents pertaining to his decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and leaving 800,000 undocumented immigrant youth vulnerable to deportation. The order includes “emails, letters, memos and other materials.” Initially, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III sent a one-page memo to the Department of Homeland Security explaining why—DACA was “an open-ended circumvention of immigration laws that was an unconstitutional exercise of authority by the Executive Branch,” America’s most racist Keebler elf claimed—but the judge says that’s just not enough of an explanation: The order by U.S. District Judge William Alsup, based in San Francisco, also appears to cover legal advice about winding down the program, which grants quasi-legal status and work permits to so-called Dreamers. Acting in a series of lawsuits filed over the decision, the judge said the administration had waived its attorney-client privilege by claiming the decision was driven by concerns that the program is unconstitutional. “Defendants argue that [the Department of Homeland Security] had to rescind DACA because it exceeded the lawful authority of the agency,” Alsup wrote. “They cannot, therefore, simultaneously refuse to disclose the legal research that led to that conclusion. Plaintiffs are entitled to challenge whether this was a reasonable legal position and thus reasonable basis for rescission. In making that challenge, plaintiffs are entitled to review the internal analyses that led up to this change in position.” Well, about that: During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly claimed that DACA was illegal. Based on what legal grounds? The former host of Celebrity Apprentice and creator of Trump Steaks never explained.

The NFL decided not to change its rules on the national anthem, and Trump once again equated it with "disrespect"

Advertising continues to portray women as charming keepers of the home, making it harder to succeed at work

Republicans are happy to give Trump credit for a bipartisan deal he keeps denouncing

A new poll has bad news for the right-wing Republican Senate candidate

For once, women stopped doing the emotional labor to keep our lives looking perfect online

An amateur poet in Russia’s southern Krasnodar Region is facing criminal charges for disseminating hatred after calling atheists “despicable” in a poem he posted on social media. Read Full Article at RT.com

The president keeps repeating the same falsehood about U.S. taxes

But the fight may not be over, so activists are marching anyway

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An amateur poet the southern Krasnodar Region is facing criminal charges for disseminating hatred after calling atheists “despicable” in a poem that he posted on social media. Read Full Article at RT.com

Over the weekend and into this week, women on social media responded to actress Alyssa Milano’s call to write “me too” if they have ever experienced sexual harassment and abuse. Because sexism, misogyny and abuse of women are commonplace in our society, Twitter feeds and Facebook timelines were inundated with survivor stories. From Milano’s initial tweet, its unclear what the real intention of this call to action was. Presumably, it was her hope that by seeing millions of women publicly admit that they’ve experienced sexual violence at the hands of men, it would raise awareness of this important issue. Awareness is great, if and when it turns into action. But there are many problematic aspects to this kind of hashtag that are being unnamed and unheard because of the excitement surrounding it. Though Milano is receiving credit for starting this hashtag, she is 10 years behind the “Me Too” campaign begun by Tarana Burke. This campaign was actually started not to call attention and awareness to sexual violence but instead to let sexual assault survivors in marginalized communities know that they were not alone. A black woman named Tarana Burke is the original creator of the #MeToo campaign that has recently taken over social media. Burke, founder of youth organization Just Be Inc., created the “Me Too” campaign in 2007 long before hashtags even existed. The 44-year-old told Ebony Magazine that she created the campaign as a grass-roots movement to reach sexual assault survivors in underprivileged communities. “It wasn’t built to be a viral campaign or a hashtag that is here today and forgotten tomorrow,” Burke told Ebony on Monday. “It was a catchphrase to be used from survivor to survivor to let folks know that they were not alone and that a movement for radical healing was happening and possible.” Part of what is troubling here is how the labor and activism of black women routinely gets erased, or confused for the work of white women. This matters. It matters because there is a long history of white women appropriating the work of black women and women of color and not giving them credit for the emotional, mental, and physical labor that goes into that work. It is routine and especially frequent in the feminist movement—where black women are often told to ignore racism (especially the racism they experience at the hands of white women) and see sexism and patriarchy as a bigger threat to their well-being. Did Alyssa Milano know that this campaign existed before her tweet? Maybe or maybe not. Likely not (she did tweet about this later). And this isn’t specifically about Milano. But the fact that this work is being credited to her and it took other black women to speak up and lift up Burke’s work (despite it being available on the Internet) is telling about how black women’s activism consistently escapes the public’s attention.

Tech expert Sara Wachter-Boettcher stresses how racism and bias are often ignored when creating new technologies

Politico: Sens. Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray say they have reached an agreement on a bipartisan Obamacare deal to fund a key insurance subsidy program and provide states flexibility to skirt some requirements of the health care law. There is no assurance that the agreement will get to the Senate floor, however. Republicans on Tuesday were lukewarm about the prospect of resuming debate over whether to try to prop up Obamacare after multiple failed GOP attempts to repeal the law. This is what ‘regular order’ mean. Committees, negotiations, solutions. xin AL Sen race, the crazy wingnut and the decent human being are tied https://t.co/nrtIZFmltN— Greg Dworkin (@DemFromCT) October 17, 2017

What a revived socialist movement could mean for unions — and the broader push for workers’ rights and dignity

A senior Russian diplomat has urged the US and other nations to follow Russia’s example and decommission their chemical arsenals. Read Full Article at RT.com

Fires continue to rage north of San Francisco, and now a new fire is burning in the Santa Cruz mountains

Our categories of so-called "race" are "scientifically absurd" — DNA and skin color are not that simply related

The shocks are not normal, and order will not be restored

In both cases a public-facing feminism ended up essentially serving as a front that distracted from systemic sexism

The president convened meetings with mining executives to discuss profiting from Afghanistan’s mineral riches

Google is honoring the memory of the late Mexican-American superstar Selena Quintanilla Perez in her first-ever Doodle, which also launched on the 28th anniversary of her first solo album’s debut. Having sung almost exclusively in Spanish throughout her childhood and later youth, the 23-year-old was on the cusp of crossover stardom when she was shot and killed in 1995. Despite the fact that Selena has been gone for more than 22 years, her music and spirit have never left. Mexican-Americans, in particular, see her as one of their own, a hometown girl who never forgot or felt ashamed of her roots, and to honor her is to honor them: "I grew up as the daughter of a Mexican immigrant single mom living in a small (primarily white) town outside of Fort Worth, Texas," Perla Campos, Global Marketing Lead for Google Doodles and project manager for the Selena Quintanilla Google Doodle told Billboard in an exclusive interview. "There were always two women who taught me I could do anything and be anything I set my mind to: my mom and Selena. Selena has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember." “She was the girl next door,” tweeted Mexican-American actor and comic Cristela Alonzo, who was the first Latina to create, produce, write, and star in her own U.S. television network show. “We knew and still know women like Selena.”

Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn has a son who is also named Michael Flynn. Flynn the younger is best known for his outlandish statements in support of every possible conspiracy theory, such as a Russian bribery scandal involving President Obama, a secret group behind the Las Vegas shooting, and a fresh set of accusations against Hillary Clinton. And all that is just today. Which makes this a fairly typical day in the life of blowhard racist golf bro, Michael Flynn—whose biggest accomplishment in life is spreading the insane “Pizzagate” story. But the scruffier, pudgier Flynn—whose only military experience is dodging duck hooks on the golf course—was employed for a bit packing his father’s briefcase, accompanying him on overseas trips, and possibly little things like helping poppa plan to kidnap people and hand them over to foreign dictators. Which has earned him some time with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and has now brought him to the attention of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The committee, which is investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, is interested in Flynn’s work as his father’s aide and travel companion with Flynn Intel Group, the consulting firm retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn formed after he left government service, the sources said. In particular, Junior Flynn was along for that trip. The younger Flynn, 34, accompanied his father on a 2015 trip to Moscow, where the elder Flynn sat next to Vladimir Putin at a dinner to celebrate Russia’s state-funded media network, RT. The younger Flynn can be seen in video from an associated event. The one person who is likely edging out Paul Manafort for “most likely to draw serious jail time” in the whole Trump-Russia affair is Michael Flynn. And we can only hope that’s another trip where Junior goes along.