Chamblee54

One part of life taken for granted in America is indoor running water. You turn on a faucet, and get what you need. There are concerns about the future, and fussing about water rights. In Kenya, a person walks to a water vendor to buy a 20 liter supply of water.
Kibera is euphemistically known as an informal settlement. It is located in Nairobi, Kenya. A land mass 75% the size of New York’s Central Park is home to a lot of people. “More accurately, Kibera turned into an unauthorized settlement after Kenya gained independence in 1963 and the new government made illegal certain forms of housing. Nonetheless, landlords rented out cheap properties to impoverished Kenyans who could not afford legal housing, and has since earned the reputation of being one of Africa’s largest urban slums. Importantly, the precise population of Kibera is hotly debated and remains uncertain. Some estimates are as high as one million and others as low as 170,000 (e.g, 2009 Kenya Census). Estimates are difficult because Kibera is made up of residents who are extremely mobile, and often prefer to remain in the shadow of the law.”
Very few of the residents have running water. Every day, people have to carry a 20 liter jerrycan to a water vendor. Often, there are shortages, and the price goes up. The water is often contaminated. There are water mafias, which create artificial shortages to boost the price.
“If the root of water problems in Kibera centered on price and supply it may be more manageable, but issues of water quality substantially complicate clean water delivery systems. Most water pipes in Kibera run above ground and are made of plastic (due to issues with theft of steel pipes), which are highly fragile and easily manipulated. These pipes will often crack or break (either accidentally due to traffic or intentionally by competitors), allowing sewage to seep into drinking water. Indeed, water sources that are generally clean can easily become contaminated without notice. This is reflected in public health data—infant mortality rates and bloody diarrheal infection rates in Kibera are more than three times the average of Nairobi as a whole (UNDP 2006).”
Stanford University is setting up a program to use mobile telephones to help people find water. Evidently, mobile phones are more common is the slums of Kenya than clean water. The program is called M-Maji, which is Swahili for mobile water. A database will have information about who has water for sale, the price, and the quality of the water. This information will be available to water users via mobile phones.
HT to Bloggingheads.tv. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. The spell check suggestion for Kibera is Liberace. This is a repost.

By now, most internetters know about the Brock Turner case. The Victim Impact Statement has gone viral. The 7140 words of polemic were probably not written by the accuser, known as Becky Doe. The statement is intended to motivate the court to give the defendant a more severe sentence. It was not intended to tell the truth. Was the statement made under oath? Was it subject to cross examination?
The statement seems to disconnect from the truth. “I called myself “big mama”, because I knew I’d be the oldest one there. I made silly faces, let my guard down, and drank liquor too fast not factoring in that my tolerance had significantly lowered since college.” In contrast, the Stanford Daily reports: “Doe confirmed that she had previously experienced four to five blackouts in college as a result of drinking. Asked by Kianerci if the Jan. 18 blackout was different from prior ones, Doe said, “In previous blackouts I have never been half-naked outside.”
There does seem to be a bit of alcohol privilege here. Miss Doe went to a party, and got blackout drunk. (“Alice King — a supervising criminalist for Santa Clara County — … estimated that the Doe and Turner’s blood alcohol content (BAC) levels at 1 a.m. would have been .242 to .249 and .171, respectively.”) While at the party, Miss Doe was seen dancing with, and kissing, Mr. Turner. She then left the party with Mr. Turner. Becky Doe trusted a drunken stranger to get her home safely.
This is not an excuse for what Mr. Turner did. He should have known that she was not capable of consent. However, for an adult to go to a party, get blackout drunk, and assume that she would be able to get home safely… this is extreme privilege. In the Victim Impact Statement Miss Doe denies any responsibility: “Campus drinking culture. That’s what we’re speaking out against? You think that’s what I’ve spent the past year fighting for? Not awareness about campus sexual assault, or rape, or learning to recognize consent. Campus drinking culture. Down with Jack Daniels. Down with Skyy Vodka. If you want talk to people about drinking go to an AA meeting. You realize, having a drinking problem is different than drinking and then forcefully trying to have sex with someone? Show men how to respect women, not how to drink less.” (Force was apparently not a factor in the January 18, 2015, incident. It is tough to say who started the fooling around.)
The Stanford Daily had another tidbit, that has gotten little publicity. “Lee discovered a mixture of at least two individuals’ DNA on the underwear’s waistband. The DNA present in larger amounts matched with Doe, while the DNA present in smaller amounts did not seem to match with Turner, assuming that it represented the DNA of only one person.”
The assault on Miss Doe was wrong, and should be punished. However, it should be noted: “Turner stated that that he took off the victim’s underwear, fingered her vagina and touched her breasts. He said that he never took his pants off, that his penis was never exposed and that he did not penetrate the alleged victim’s vagina with his penis.” While Becky Doe suffered a devastating attack, she was not at risk of pregnancy, or contracting an STI.
There is a double standard here. Many comments about the attack mention “my daughters.” People seem to be defending the damsel in distress…even when she got to the .249% percent distress on her own. Her Victim Impact Statement goes on, and on, and on about her psychological problems after the incident. If a man was attacked while passed out, and he were to issue a vitime statement about his hurt fee fees, then he would be laughed out of the courtroom.
Men and Women get robbed and beaten, while intoxicated, all the time. It is commonsense that if you go to a alcohol use facility, and get drunk, then you are in danger of being a victim later. This is especially true if someone is driving while drunk. (If a person is in an accident after drinking in a bar, the bar is liable for damages. Maybe a similar law for sexual assault is in order.) If a person goes to a bar, and gets robbed on their way home, they are seen as contributing to their own victimhood. Should sexual assault, where apparently the woman was not taken by force, be different?
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.

Remember the men forced into military service against their will. The majority of the American men killed in Vietnam were drafted. ~ There is sooo much food for thought here. I might not be able to take this in. Here are a few thoughts. 1- Two wrongs do not make a right. Sports fan riots do not justify brawling at WalMart. The easiest argument to make about something is to say hypocrite.2- So much of the out of control emotion in the black community comes from the Christian church. ~ A 94 word sentence confuses political rhetoric for “white supremacy.” This is facebook. Plain, and simple minded. ~ When a faithfully married black president who was the son of a single mother ~ I am researching a blog post about that meme. Mr. Google directed me to this post. You are saying many things that I would like to say. I may quote you. ~ Whiskypalians love to adopt the traditions of others. ~ Ask s-cs what state they live in. If it is not a “swing state,” then the electoral votes will go to whomever the party nominates. S-cs, in all likelihood, does not have a vote in a Presidential election. ~ are those cheering people in the picture celebrating someone being blocked? ~ @AnonymousAnon09 Pointing out racial injustice @ Notre Dame. I’m a law student.I live to argue! @realDonaldTrump supporter. ND REPUBLICAN, Lifetime NRA, CCW,SHARPSHOOTER,❤️Glock ~ Help support Little Green Footballs! As a Little Green Footballs reader, we’re sure you agree a Donald Trump presidency would be disastrous for America. That’s why, in this crucial election season, we’re going to be working harder than ever to debunk and push back against the bad craziness of the right wing – but we need your help! Please consider making a donation to the Little Green Footballs fund today. ~ @TheAtheistPig My god. I just turned on #FoxNews for the first time in awhile. Bill O’Reilly’s mortician needs to give him a touch up. ~ fools feedeth on foolishness ~ does anyone else read the numbered boldface list of items in an article, and ignore the rest of the piece? ~ i never made any of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking ~ If Albert Einstein said all those clever things on memes, how did he ever find time to make his discoveries? ~ Do an episode about how the word “racism” means so many different things to different people. Maybe it is time to put that confusing word on the shelf. Maybe, we can call both racists, and people with *prejudice*, what they are…assholes. ~ Derek Schmidt or just explain the basic difference between the more nuanced sociological definition of racism (with included power dynamics) and the common dictionary term. The importance of the former is that includes the reality of systemic racism, while the latter is just what you’re talking about- assholes that are racist in an interpersonal kind of way. Inequality won’t be fixed by just ending interpersonal racism, there needs to be change to the system and to many structures of our culture. We shouldn’t get rid of the word for being complex and nuanced, and we shouldn’t fixate on simplistic interpersonal racism (this person is an asshole, etc), when we need deeper change at a social and political level. ~ This is a semantic quicksand pit. This is not something that will be uncovered in a five minute video, with a talking paper mache reindeer. I agree that “calling out” interpersonal “racism” has very little effect on institutional inequality. Unfortunately, interpersonal mischief is an easy target for five minute videos. Also, this focus is almost always on PWOC shortcomings, and ignores the massive interpersonal prejudice of POC. Until we pay the same attention to “prejudice” that we pay to “racism”, we are going to have problems. ~ ‏@freddiedeboer Words generally don’t keep their meanings for long but “intersectionality” has been completely drained of content at a remarkable pace. ~ Derek Schmidt Complexity isn’t always a semantic quicksand pit (see how I boiled it down to main levels), and just requires work to understand. The last sentence I disagree with, racial prejudice by POC people occurs, is addressed, and called out all the time by other POC people and communities. If you agree that there’s systemic inequality with white people at the top (white supremacy), racism tends to be committed by white people because of the power difference. The semantics have mattered because the end goal is to change the system, not the person. Getting tied up in ‘but but but why can’t POC folks be called racist and we can?!” is imo an example of white fragility and our inability to objectively look at the severe consequences of the system of inequality we benefit from. What does interpersonal racial prejudice compare to systemic oppression (jailing, arrest, discrimination in jobs, housing, unequal sentencing, etc.), and ask yourself why you’d care so much about what you see as the ‘massive interpersonal prejudice of POC?’ ~ Jane you ignorant slut. ~ Your status is based on your device settings and any choices you have made with the Digital Advertising Alliance. ~ @nihilist_arbys Statistically, no one loves you. No one has even ever heard of you. Enjoy Arbys, you completely irrelevant turd ~ @HLMenckenBot Constructive criticism irritates me. I don’t object to being denounced, but I can’t abide being school-mastered by men I regard as imbeciles ~ when you are duped into saying foolish things, you choose the side of the oppressor ~ canvass is dumbass misspelled ~ repubs have been crying wolf about HRC for 24 years few believe them anymore, except those who have a reason to believe ~ One or more phones require Phone Number Verification, please enter the phone number below. ~ D List: 10 things gay guys say vs. what they really mean ~ sunshine daydream ~ saturation ~ White People Have No Place In Black Liberation. ~ When a faithfully married black president who was the son of a single mother ~ This Is Not White Supremacy ~ THIS IS NOT WHITE SUPREMACY ~ Not so plain ~ Why We Need to Talk About Racism as a Mental-Health Trigger ~ Here’s One Brutal Truth Every White Gay Man Needs to Hear ~ The Cult of Happiness ~ 6 Ways to Tell If You Need to Be Called Out ~ Einstein ~ Still Standing: The Untold Story of My Fight Against Gossip, Hate, and Political Attacks ~ The Largest Religious Group in Each County ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah