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Fourteen-year-old Caydden Zimmerman’s school days start early and end late.

He has a 90-minute bus ride to get from the homeless shelter where he is staying in Boise, Idaho, to his middle school. He wakes up at 5:45 a.m., quickly brushes his teeth and smooths some gel in his hair, and then he dashes downstairs to catch his school bus.

About 2.5 million children in the U.S. currently are homeless, according to the National Center on Family Homelessness. That number is rising as house prices and rental costs continue to grow in cities large and small, and the trend is clearly visible in Boise — the fastest-growing city in the nation.

Caydden has been living at City Light Home For Women and Children for a couple of months now with his 11-year-old brother, Keston, and his grandma, Pam Cantrell. Cantrell says they moved there after getting an eviction notice at their former duplex.

“The landlord decided to sell the property, and we just could not find a place we could afford,” Cantrell says. “The more I looked, the more depressed I got. I just, I didn’t know what to do.”

Trying Not To Break Down — A Homeless Teen Navigates Middle School

Photo: Amanda Peacher/Boise State Public Radio

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Some women being empowered does not prove the patriarchy is dead. It proves that some of us are lucky.

Roxane Gay, “Bad Feminist” (via shithappens-so-fuckit)

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The Truth Behind the Catspaw Dagger

Since most show watchers at this point seem to think Littlefinger was the one to order the assasination on Bran in season one with the Valyrian steel dagger, and the show seems to be framing it that way as well (and the books are incredibly subtle about the true story behind it anyway to the point where it goes over even book readers heads) I want to try and clear it up.

So Catelyn goes to Kings Landing to find the truth behind her sons attempted assassination. She brings the dagger and shows it to Petyr and Vary’s. Petyr reveals it is his.

“I would have told you that there was only one knife like this at King’s Landing.” He grasped the blade between thumb and forefinger, drew it back over his shoulder, and threw it across the room with a practiced flick of his wrist. It struck the door and buried itself deep in the oak, quivering. “It’s mine.” “Yours?” It made no sense. Petyr had not been at Winterfell. “Until the tourney on Prince Joffrey’s name day,” he said, crossing the room to wrench the dagger from the wood. “I backed Ser Jaime in the jousting, along with half the court.” Petyr’s sheepish grin made him look half a boy again. “When Loras Tyrell unhorsed him, many of us became a trifle poorer. Ser Jaime lost a hundred golden dragons, the queen lost an emerald pendant, and I lost my knife.”

He claims he lost the dagger to Tyrion Lannister in a tourney bet. This is a Lie he tells in order to further the conflict between the Starks and the Lannisters. Tyrion is later confronted by Catelyn and knows nothing about it.

“Tyrion felt the heat rise in him. “It was not my dagger,” he insisted. “How many times must I swear to that? Lady Stark, whatever you may believe of me, I am not a stupid man. Only a fool would arm a common footpad with his own blade.”

Once Catelyn doubts that Tyrion was behind it, she later confronts Jamie about the dagger, accusing him.

“And when he did not, you knew your danger was worse than ever, so you gave your catspaw a bag of silver to make certain Bran would never wake.”“Did I now?” Jaime lifted his cup and took a long swallow. “I won’t deny we talked of it, but you were with the boy day and night, your maester and Lord Eddard attended him frequently, and there were guards, even those damned direwolves … it would have required cutting my way through half of Winterfell. And why bother, when the boy seemed like to die of his own accord?”

He denies it too. He claims evidence in the fact that Tyrion always backed him in the tourneys. Tyrion couldn’t have gained anything that day, since Jaime lost against Loras. Its then that he has the revelation that he did recognise the dagger. it was Roberts.

Tyrion always backed me in the lists,“ Jaime said, “but that day Ser Loras unhorsed me. A mischance, I took the boy too lightly, but no matter. Whatever my brother wagered, he lost … but that dagger did change hands, I recall it now. Robert showed it to me that night at the feast. His Grace loved to salt my wounds, especially when drunk. And when was he not drunk?”

So it’s been revealed it was in Roberts possession just BEFORE the begginning of the story. Robert would have taken it with him to  Winterfell. This is when it falls into place what has happened, and Tyrion understands. It was Joffrey who sent the catspaw to kill Bran. He overhears Robert mention it would be a mercy for Bran to die after Bran is crippled from his fall. Joffrey wanted to gain favour with his distant ‘father’ by sending the assassin. This is confirmed in this quote.

The prince’s own dagger had a jeweled pommel and inlaid goldwork on the blade, Tyrion seemed to recall. At least Joff had not been stupid enough to use that. Instead he went poking among his father’s weapons. Robert Baratheon was a man of careless generosity, and would have given his son any dagger he wanted … but Tyrion guessed that the boy had just taken it. Robert had come to Winterfell with a long tail of knights and retainers, a huge wheelhouse, and a baggage train. No doubt some diligent servant had made certain that the king’s weapons went with him, in case he should desire any of them.

And in this exchange between Tyrion and Jaime.

 ”Joffrey would have been a worse king than Aerys ever was. He stole his father’s dagger and gave it to a footpad to slit the throat of Brandon Stark, did you know that?“"I … I thought he might have.”

SO THERE WE GO.

The only questions we have to Littlefingers involvement was wether he ever owned the dagger to start with, and made the lie involving any bet up entirely, OR there was a bet, but it was between himself and Robert perhaps. Either way, its been confirmed that the dagger WAS in Roberts possession in Winterfell, and JOFFREY was the one with the grand idea to try and have Bran murdered with it. 

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Idk if you've answered this before, but why is Rhaegar still so revered by the people of Westeros? Yes, he was the perfect prince with the harp and skill and whatnot, but regardless of what actually happened between him and Lyanna, it's more or less agreed upon that he kidnapped her. How are people like Kevan, Cersei, Barristan and Jaime ignoring this? Robert takes it too far, but even the others seem to think nothing of the fact that it was an official kidnapping, almost to the point of denial.

First of all, please consider the sources here. The Lannisters were Targaryen loyalists up until Rhaegar’s death. (Well, Tywin was fence-sitting, and only nominally loyal at that point anyway, but still he wasn’t officially part of the rebels until he began the Sack of King’s Landing; and Jaime was loyal until the middle of the Sack.) Barristan went down at the Battle of the Trident fighting for Rhaegar and Aerys… and he never truly lost his loyalty to the Targaryens, in his heart, despite Robert’s generous pardon. Jaime knows it was right to kill Aerys because of his crimes, though he’s haunted by guilt for it anyway, but he’s literally haunted for failing Rhaegar. Cersei dreamed of marrying Rhaegar, and still believes the wrong man came back from the Trident. If you asked any of them, they’d say it was Aerys’s crimes that brought down House Targaryen, not Rhaegar’s.

Secondly, for just about everyone except Robert and the Starks, Rhaegar’s kidnapping of Lyanna is framed as something romantic, done out of passionate love for her. And when I say romantic, I mean chivalric romance, courtly love. Think Lancelot and Guinevere, or Tristan and Isolde – both of which are stories of adultery, yet where the cheating lovers are held almost blameless by the narrative because of the pureness of their love, because of their destiny to be together, etc. (Though of course they’re also grand tragedies where almost everyone dies.) The people of Westeros are no more immune to the power of romantic stories than we are… less so, in fact. (Consider TWOIAF and GRRM’s DotD novellas, how often the maesters Yandel and Gyldayn keep ranting about how the singers have gotten history so wrong.) And Rhaegar presenting Lyanna with the rose crown of the Queen of Love and Beauty, choosing her above all other beautiful women (including his wife) at the grandest tourney in Westeros, is remembered as a deeply romantic moment. (Further on this topic, consider the romantic connotation of the word “ravishment”, as opposed to “rape” or “kidnapping”; and note the distinction is not all that modern, especially in chivalric romance.)

Thirdly, Westeros is a very patriarchal, misogynist society, highly prone to victim-blaming. (Not unlike our own.) Dany was told by Viserys growing up that if only she had been born earlier Rhaegar would not have needed to marry Elia, he would have been happy with no need to find another wife. (Blaming Elia for making Rhaegar cheat and guilting Dany for not being born, at the same time – heck of a job, Vissy.) Dany even asks Barristan if it’s true that Elia treated Rhaegar so badly, for him to seek out another. Cersei, Kevan, Jon Connington – they all blame Elia for not being “worthy of Rhaegar”. And when they’re not blaming Elia, they’re blaming Lyanna and her “wild beauty” for making Rhaegar stray. (And it’s not just the characters doing this – I still remember this c.2012 Tourney at Harrenhal fanfic where Lyanna is this seductive little temptress viciously reveling in her power over Rhaegar… ffs, she was fourteen.) But either way, it’s never the man’s fault – it’s the other woman that’s the homewrecker, or it’s the fault of the unworthy shrewish wife that drove him away.

And lastly, as you say, Rhaegar was the perfect prince, handsome and noble and valiant and talented. Little things called facts aren’t going to change this rose-colored vision for the people who saw him that way. “Almost to the point of denial”, heh… it’s not just almost. Just look at how these characters view the incident: “Rhaegar battling the Usurper in the bloody waters of the Trident and dying for the woman he loved”, “[he]stole her away from her betrothed”, “If he loved you, he would come and carry you off at swordpoint, as Rhaegar carried off his northern girl,” “Prince Rhaegar loved his Lady Lyanna,” and so on. So for these people, Rhaegar didn’t kidnap Lyanna – he took her away (from her unworthy betrothed), carried her off, because he was in love. He was tempted by beauty, he was lost to passion… but it’s not his fault, it doesn’t make him wrong or bad. (Though it is interesting to note that while there is a constant refrain that Rhaegar loved Lyanna, none ever say how Lyanna felt about it.) If they even acknowledge that it was a crime, then it was a crime of passion, a crime of love (“the things I do for love”)… and love forgives all.

So… I hope this helps you understand. And again, note it’s not just the characters of Westeros who feel this way about Rhaegar – because of how GRRM has framed the story of Rhaegar and Lyanna, because of the general romantic inclination of fantasy fans, it’s no wonder that the tendency to romanticize and forgive Rhaegar is prevalent in the fandom as well. (There’s so much beautiful romantic R/L fanart. So much.) So even if the truth turns out to be far more complicated, I’m sure there will still be people overlooking Rhaegar’s actual genuine problems for this idealized romantic view. (Though for me, Rhaegar just makes me feel disappointed and sad, and I don’t expect GRRM will tell me anything that’ll change that.)

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Misogynists brutally harass female animator online over ‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’ bugs

Some so-called fans of the upcoming epic sci-fi game Mass Effect: Andromeda responded to online complaints about its occasionally awkward facial animations by flooding a female animator’s Twitter account with rape threats, insults and harassment.

Worse yet, BioWare, the company that developed Mass Effect: Andromeda, said she was “misidentified as a lead member of the [development team]” — in other words, she’s not even responsible for what they’re blaming her for.

But regardless of her involvement, this sexist behavior is just the latest example of the way misogynists in gaming are hasty to blame and harass women at every chance they get. It’s a tale we’ve heard many times before. Read more (3/20/17 7:45 PM)

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In March of 1907, Congress passed the Expatriation Act, which decreed, among other things, that U.S. women who married non-citizens were no longer Americans. If their husband later became a naturalized citizen, they could go through the naturalization process to regain citizenship.

But none of these rules applied to American men when they chose a spouse.

That Time American Women Lost Their Citizenship Because They Married Foreigners

Image: George Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress

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Passengers on a US Delta flight were asked to show their papers

United States Customs and Border Protection agents requested that passengers on a flight from San Francisco to New York City on Wednesday night show identification upon landing at JFK airport. (Vice)

Two CBP agents — assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement — checked passengers’ identification as they exited a Delta flight in search of a legal immigrant who had received a deportation order after criminal convictions which included domestic assault, driving while impaired and violating a protective order. The person was not on the flight.

A CBP spokesperson told Rolling Stone such checks are “nothing new.” But Jordan Wells, a staff attorney with the New York Civil Liberties Union, told the Washington Post it’s unusual for authorities to ask for the identification of each passenger. Read more (2/24/17 2:06 PM)

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“As Michelle Obama experiences her final days in the White House, writers are honoring her role over the past eight years in a new collection of essays, The Meaning of Michelle.

Director Ava DuVernay wrote the preface for the book, which features 16 essays about the First Lady and the impact she has had on America.

The novel, published by St. Martin’s Press and available as of Jan. 10, contains essays from Hamilton alum Phillipa Soo, writer Roxane Gay and others.

Below is a collection of some of the most memorable quotes from the book, touching on Obama’s confidence, style, kindness and legacy.”

Read the quotes from Ava DuVernay, Phillipa Soo, Roxane Gay, Brittney Cooper, and more here

More FLOTUS Michelle Obama posts

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It’s Ok To Demand That Things Be Better Right Now

Last night, a high school student asked Roxane Gay if she had any advice for young women dealing with sexism and racism. This is what she said. (Watch it around the 1:12:20 min mark here.)

“When you’re young, people just tell you it gets better. And that’s very easy to say. But I think that it’s ok to demand that things be better right now…it’s ok to say this is not ok, it’s ok to push back on things that people want you to just suck up.

…

Don’t be afraid to push back and don’t be afraid to use your voice and say, ‘No, this is not ok.’ And don’t get down on yourself when you can’t find the courage. Because it’s hard to stand up for yourself. It’s hard for me at 42. So I can’t imagine, like when I was in high school, I never stood up for myself. I was just a doormat. And if i could go back and tell myself anything it would be you don’t have to be a doormat to get along. You don’t have to the good girl to make people tolerate you. It’s ok to be unlikeable and it’s ok to make people uncomfortable. I think that’s the biggest thing that people need to embrace is discomfort. It’s ok to be uncomfortable. It’s ok to disagree. It’s ok to have opinions that other people don’t like. So, just be unlikeable.” 

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Trump plans to eliminate 25 violence against women grant programs as way to cut spending

Trump’s staff has big plans to cut government spending, the most startling of which is a proposal to eliminate the Department of Justice’s violence against women grant programs.

According to the Hill, Trump’s budget blueprint includes cuts to the Departments of Commerce, Energy and Transportation

Other programs like the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities would be nixed entirely.

All together, these cuts would save the U.S. federal government $10.5 trillion over 10 years, but the discount is not without its costs to the American people.

The DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women oversees a total of 25 grant programs, which distribute funds to organizations committed to ending sexual assault, domestic abuse and dating violence. Read more

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#BlackLove #BlackPride #BlackExcellence 

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Revisit President Obama’s legacy on race and progressivism in Ta-Nehisi Coates’s cover story “My President Was Black”

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Artist Daniel Rarela creates “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” memes to stop people from whitewashing MLK

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WATCH: Van Jones On Prison Reform

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Black feminists deserve to be honored this Election Day, too

Women are leaving their “I Voted” stickers on suffragist Susan B. Anthony’s tombstone in Rochester, New York. But Evette Dionne, a senior editor at Revelist, is asking them to save some of these stickers for Ida B. Wells and other black women who paved the way for women’s rights.

Ida B. Wells was an African-American journalist and pioneering intersectional feminist, who fought for women’s right to vote and against the lynching of black men. Susan B. Anthony was an undeniable leader for white suffragettes, but also had a real history of racism.

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If you want to say “Hey” to a suffragette tonight

Bronx, NY: Woodlawn Cemetery: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Carrie Chapman Catt, Mary Garrett Hay, and Alva Vanderbilt Belmont.  They ask you put your stickers on the posters, not the graves.  Posters will stay up through Sunday.

Rochester, NY: Mount Hope Cemetery: Susan B. Anthony.  Open until 9pm.

Fayetteville, NY: Fayetteville Cemetery: Matilda Gage

Cinnaminson, NJ: Westfield Friends Burial Ground: Alice Paul

Philadelphia, PA: Fairhill Burial Ground: Lucretia Mott

Chicago, IL: Oakwoods Cemetery: Ida B. Wells

Battle Creek, MI: Oak Hills Cemetery Crematorium: Sojourner Truth

Buffalo, NY: Forest Lawn Cemetery: Shirley Chisholm.  (Not a suffragette, but worth visiting today for her historic run for the presidency) 

Washington, DC: Congressional Cemetery: Belva Lockwood

Brooklyn, NY: Holy Cross Cemetery: Lucy Burns

Lewis, NY: Lewis Cemetery: Inez Milholland

Boston, MA: Forest Hill Cemetery: Lucy Stone

Council Bluffs, IA: Fairview Cemetery: Amelia Bloomer

Madison: WI: Forest Hill Cemetery: Belle Case La Follette 

Argonia, KS: Argonia Cemetery: Susanna Salter

Mount Pleasant, IA: Forest Home Cemetery: Arabella Mansfield

Cold Spring Harbor, NY: St John’s Churchyard: Rosalie Jones

St. Louis, MO: Bellefontaine Cemetery: Christine Orrick Fordyce, Virginia L Minor and Phoebe Wilson Couzins

Norwalk, CT: Riverside Cemetery: Helena Hill Weed and Elsie Hill Levitt

Bozeman, MT: Sunset Hills: Mary Long-Alderson

Missoula MT: Missoula Cemetery: Jeannette Rankin

Niota, TN: Niolta Cemetery: Febb Ensminger Burn

Cornish City, NH: Chase Cemetery: Juliet Barrett Rublee

Jacksonville, FL: Evergreen Cemetery: Grace Wilbur Trout

Westbury, NY: Cemetery of the Holy Rood: “Unsinkable” Molly Brown

Cleveland Heights, OH: Lake View Cemetery: Belle Sherwin

Craftsbury, VT: Craftsbury Common Cemetery: Caroline Burnham Kilgore

Hazelhurst, MS: Shelton Cemetery: Burnita Shelton Matthews

Albuquerque, NM: Fairview Memorial Park: Ruth Hanna McCormick

List is being updated with new names and locations as they are found.

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Law enforcement in Morton County, North Dakota — armed in riot gear — began removing protesters who were occupying the Dakota Access Pipeline site on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation Thursday.

Officers removed a roadblock placed by Native American and environmental rights activists. The removal process resulted in a clash between protesters and officers.

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