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In response to complaints about this advert, the ASA said it considered that 100,000 was a large, round number that readers would typically associate with estimates. Photograph: Both Lives Matter/PA

Its a fairly large number, 100,000, but nice and round. Easy to compute. Most of us could even divide it by 10, at a push. Apparently it is this convenient roundedness that led the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) this week to dismiss complaints about recent claims on a billboard that Northern Irelands abortion laws have saved 100,000 lives. In its statement, the ASA said: We considered that 100,000 was a large, round number that readers would typically associate with estimates and was therefore unproblematic.

Funded by a campaign called Both Lives Matter, the billboard prompted 14 complaints, but the ASA decided that its assertion was not misleading despite the campaign admitting that it is not possible to calculate an exact figure, although its estimate is both credible and conservative.

It is not just the advertisement that is misleading and offensive, but also the very name of the campaign behind the billboard.

Describing itself as pro-women and pro-life, Both Lives Matter is a recent addition to the Northern Ireland anti-choice landscape, where abortion is permitted only if a womans life is at risk or there is a very serious risk to her mental or physical health. Fatal foetal abnormalities and pregnancies resulting from sexual crime such as rape or incest are not included.

And yet, somehow, in all its talk of both lives mattering during a crisis pregnancy, the campaign fails ever to mention the pregnant woman. What is happening to that persons life their body, their dreams, their finances, their mental health is, for a campaign seemingly more intent on oppressing women than liberating them, nothing more than a word association game meant to draw a provocative parallel with a real struggle for civil rights.

Playing on Black Lives Matter is not just cynical, its offensive. A campaign started by three black women Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi to highlight the gross injustice and racial dimensions of police brutality in the US, it owes much of its strength not only to the mothers of the men and women killed by police, but to women of colour writ large, who bear the brunt of Americas institutionalised racism and sexism. The concept of reproductive rights and reproductive justice, which goes far beyond the simple right to choose whether or not to continue with a pregnancy, is integral to Black Lives Matter, because it also means the right to parent your child in a safe environment without fear something consistently denied to black families by police and institutional injustice.

Defined by the Sister Song Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective as the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities, reproductive justice as a concept was developed by women of colour who saw many of their communities challenged not just by an absence of accessible abortion, but by poverty, racism and discrimination.

It is often poor women of colour whose access to reproductive healthcare is most affected by anti-abortion laws in states such as Texas, where the recent HB2 law increased the distance to the nearest abortion clinic by more than 100 miles in some places. This can be an insurmountable burden for women with low incomes, often women of colour, and is a pattern being repeated across America.

Concepts such as reproductive justice and campaigns such as Black Lives Matter are a response to oppression and domination. There are parallels to be drawn with abortion access in Northern Ireland, but it is not the one that anti-abortion protesters attempt to make. Rather, it is an understanding of how human rights might be used to liberate communities, rather than excuse and justify their oppression.

The hijacking of such a powerful concept by the Both Lives Matter campaign is a cynical attempt to spin the language of human rights into froth to hide their true agenda the subjugation of women. An appropriation of intersecting oppressions, Both Lives Matter neither cares about womens lives, nor shares an affinity with Black Lives Matter beyond using a powerful rallying cry for human rights as a cover to maintain the marginalisation of women in Northern Ireland.

It is perhaps beyond the remit of the ASA to name this for what it is. But it is not beyond ours.

Elizabeth Nelson is an activist with the Belfast Feminist Network

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This anti-abortion hijacking of Black Lives Matter is cynical and ... - The Guardian

Last November, Johnnie Walker seemed to make an ill-timed bet. The whiskey brand launched an ad on the theme of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." It included standard Americana, including cowboys on horseback.

There was also a prevalence of Hispanic faces. Guthrie's lyrics were spoken by a narrator in accented English that eventually merged into fluent Spanish. Brown faces and Spanish speakers, their daily work completed, were invited to kick back with a scotch and dream American dreams. "This land was made for you and me," the narrator assured them.

Donald Trump, that paragon and parody of white-bro culture, was not expected to become president of this emergent America. Yet November happened. Now, the Johnnie Walker ad's dim lighting seems less a conduit for shared intimacy, more a darker shade of uncertainty.

So it was interesting to see the Procter & Gamble Co., the world's largest consumer-goods manufacturer, home to familiar all-American brands such as Tide, Mr. Clean and Old Spice, wade last month into what looked to be fraught waters.

The corporation launched a web video featuring black parents and children having "the talk." In P&G's conception, "the talk" isn't just about black kids avoiding police brutality; it's about dealing with racial bias as an inescapable, constantly evolving fact of American life.

In an email, Crystal Harrell, a P&G senior manager for communications, wrote:

The Talk highlights the impact of racial bias from the viewpoint of African American mothers across several decades. It depicts the inevitable conversations many black parents have had with their children to prepare them for challenges they may face in the world, and importantly to encourage them to achieve despite these obstacles. It shows that while society and times change, bias still exists.

Showing consumers that you understand them is basic marketing. "I think its existence tells us a great deal about whats on the minds of black consumers (rising tides of racism and vulnerability in public)," emailed Lizabeth Cohen, author of "A Consumers' Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America."

But that understanding exists in a political context shaped by a president who doesn't share it. Trump ignores racial bias -- unless it's perceived against whites. Many of his supporters dispute that bias against blacks is a genuine problem at all: Republicans tell pollsters they believe that whites face more racial discrimination than blacks do.

P&G's video message may be subtle, discreet and narrow-casted to a black audience. But it still confronts such views head on.

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"P&G is obviously targeting African-American consumers and their growing spending power, but theyre also crowning themselves with a halo -- you can feel good about the Charmin or Tide, because P&G is not just some distant, staid, white-bread conglomerate. It cares," said Leslie Savan, author of "The Sponsored Life: Ads, TV and American Culture," in an email. "And maybe a bit of that is real. With a spot so overtly political, P&G does risk alienating a swath of angry white people who are sick and tired of being called racists."

I asked Harrell about the political implications of the videos. A corporate spokeswoman for brands that cross every geographic, class and racial line, Harrell was understandably cautious in her response. But she wasn't mealy-mouthed.

P&G and P&G brands are apolitical. We dont have a point of view on politics, but we do have a point of view that advocates for all our consumers. We know that bias exists in our society -- across age, sex, gender, race and many other dimensions of difference. And we know that acknowledging this fact may make some people uncomfortable. Our approach, with "The Talk," and with other campaigns, has been to spark that dialogue in an inspirational and empowering way -- not in a way that places blame.

Of course, if someone is a victim of racial bias, someone else must be a perpetrator. Trump's electoral success suggested a new birth of prejudice across the land, at least for a while.

How powerful institutions respond to that invitation matters. It's hard to conceive of a more mainstream, ubiquitous, middle-of-the-road American company than the Ohio-based Procter & Gamble, which also enjoys a stellar reputation for marketing savvy. So the messages it sends, and the reputational investments it makes, seem significant.

"Here's the bottom line," wrote Harrell. "At P&G, we aspire to create a better world for everyone -- a world free from bias, with equal representation, equal voices and equal opportunity. Our hope is that people see our messages in this light."

Noted.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story: Francis Wilkinson at fwilkinson1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Katy Roberts at kroberts29@bloomberg.net

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P&G Isn't Afraid to Say Black Lives Matter - Bloomberg

On Friday, Black Lives Matter cofounder Patrisse Cullors sat down with Mic in a Facebook live video to discuss the Black Lives Matter movement, its reputation across the world, as well as transgender support within the black community.

In 2013, Cullors, along with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, started the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag and subsequent movement to combat police brutality.

Were in a moment where Black Lives Matter has inundated every part of society, she said. I can get in an Uber, a Lyft, anywhere around the world and say Black Lives Matter and people will be like, Yeah, Ive heard of that.

As she pointed out, however, the success of the movement has not come without sacrifices. For Black Lives Matter chapters specifically, all of its members are volunteers who often have day jobs and lives to manage. Some of them, she mentioned, have even been fired from said jobs because of their affiliation with BLM.

Cullors is dedicated to more than one organization. She is also the founder of Dignity and Power Now, a grassroots organization based in Los Angeles that is devoted to fighting on behalf of incarcerated people, their families and their communities. Beyond that she bases her activism on an intersectional platform.

What people dont realize is not only do black people have to deal with racism, many of us have to deal with patriarchy, homophobia, transphobia, she said, while also sacrificing part of their life, sanity, happiness, so they can build something they might not even see right now.

Cullors recently flexed her activist muscles with fellow organizers Ashlee Marie Preston and Blossom Brown by disrupting an interview at Politicon between radio host Charlamagne Tha God and an MSNBC host.

Ahead of the event, comedian Lil Duval made a transphobic joke about killing trans women on Power 105.1s The Breakfast Club morning show. On Twitter, the backlash was swift with people using the hashtag #BoycottBreakfastClub to call out transphobia. The Marsha P. Johnson Institute issued an official statement on its Twitter timeline.

As an institution that serves the black community we demand that WWPR-FM and its parent company iHeartMedia fire Charlamagne Tha God for his consistent misogyny, anti-black and transphobic views, the statement reads. He has served as the donkey of the day for far too long and continues to harm the black community and especially ... black women.

On Thursday, the radio host denounced violence against trans women in a statement.

The Breakfast Club is an institution, Cullors said about the protest. We have to call out institutions that are violating our human rights, our civil rights and are allowing for people women, black trans women in particular to be seen as objects.

Cullors said the incident serves as a reminder of how much the cisgender black community hasnt supported black trans people. Even within Black Lives Matter, she noted that there hasnt been enough inclusion, but she does hope that will soon change.

We have to follow the leadership of black trans women, she said. We say this all the time: [Not] until black people get free, everybody will get free, but really, [not] until black trans women get free, everybody will get free.

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Patrisse Cullors talks BLM, police reform and why we need to support black trans women - Mic

By Theodore R. Johnson By Theodore R. Johnson August 4 at 6:00 AM

Theodore R. Johnson is a fellow at New America and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy.

Two years before Donald Trump became president, he tweeted, Sadly, because president Obama has done such a poor job as president, you wont see another black president for generations! But six months into Trumps tenure, theres a growing buzz among Democrats that the next black president has already been identified: first-term Sen. Kamala Harris of California. Shes running for president, one fundraiser told the Hill. Take it to the bank. The dominant trend in Democratic Party politics is fresh, new and interesting, another fundraiser told Politico. And Kamala is the trifecta on that.

Im bullish on the idea that well have another black president. But its not a given that the next one will be a Democrat.

That might seem like a wild assertion, particularly given the role that racial resentment played in Trumps electoral victory. Its no secret that the GOP continues to fail spectacularly at messaging to black voters. The partys present approach to African Americans is best summed up by Trumps mockingly unserious entreaty last year to vote Republican: What the hell do you have to lose?

Black voters have lent long-standing and overwhelming support to the Democratic Party. And most of the nations rising black political stars are Democrats: Harris, Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) and former governor Deval Patrick (Mass.) who is, reportedly, the preferred candidate of several prominent Obama administration alumni, including Valerie Jarrett .

The conventional wisdom assumes that a black presidential candidate can succeed only in the more racially progressive of the two major parties the Democrats and with the widespread support of black voters. But this isnt necessarily so.

An examination of gubernatorial and senatorial elections since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 shows that there have been comparable numbers of popularly elected black Republicans (eight) and popularly elected black Democrats (10). Though the two black governors were Democrats, the majority of the 10 black lieutenant governors have been Republicans, including the two currently holding office: Jenean Hampton of Kentucky and Boyd Rutherford of Maryland. In the Senate, there have been two black Republicans to four Democrats. At the statewide level, where gerrymandered districts arent a factor, a black Republican in a top office is no more anomalous than a black Democrat.

More significant to the prospects for a black GOP presidential nominee is the specific convergence of trends playing out across the country, particularly the intensifying hyper-partisanship. As the nation has sorted itself along party lines and antipathy has risen between the two sides , white Republicans who might harbor racial animus are willing to shelve that impulse to ensure that Democrats lose elections. At a minimum, the level of ideological polarization in American politics masks racially prejudiced voting behavior, and at a maximum, it renders it inoperable, according to a recent study on white conservatives in the GOPs base from professors M.V. Hood of the University of Georgia and Seth McKee of Texas Tech. The pull of partisanship is so strong and has become so central to the identity of white Republicans that their views on race take a back seat when they enter the voting booth .

Hood and McKee also found that white conservatives are either more supportive of minority Republicans or just as likely to vote for a minority as they are a white Republican, and that the base of the GOP does not discriminate against minority nominees in high-profile contemporary general elections. This finding helps explain the relative surge in black Republicans in Congress since the tea party movement, including Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) and Reps. Mia Love (Utah), Will Hurd (Tex.) and Allen West (Fla.) not to mention Indian American former governors Nikki Haley (S.C.) and Bobby Jindal (La.).

This phenomenon also can provide an advantage to black candidates in primaries and the general election. In Republican primaries, voters are overwhelmingly white and are becoming more conservative; they tend to choose the more conservative candidate. Understanding this, minority candidates often run to the right flank. Its unsurprising, then, that Heritage Action for America, an advocacy organization associated with the conservative Heritage Foundation, scored Scott, Love and West as more conservative than the average House Republican. (Hurd, who represents a purple district that is majority Latino, necessarily tacks more to the center.)

Two related studies show that in South Carolina, Nikki Haley and Tim Scott are more popular than their white Republican colleague Lindsey Graham, and that conservatives, evangelicals, and less-educated individuals respond more positively to Scott when he is described as a Tea Party favorite than as the first African American Senator from South Carolina since Reconstruction.

Consider Ben Carsons 2016 presidential campaign. Carson, an inexperienced politician, rode a strong evangelical message and critiques of the media both of which play well with conservative audiences to the top of the GOP presidential polls. He held steady there for a few weeks until terrorist attacks and national security concerns (not his strong suit) changed the tenor of the race in Trumps favor. In other words, its not that racial animus doesnt exist, its that the power of conservative identity can outweigh it.

The path to the presidency for GOP candidates requires winning a majority of white voters in the general election, not just the primaries. But every Republican presidential nominee since the Voting Rights Act has handily won white voters, except in 1968, 1992 and 1996 , when margins of victory were smaller because of somewhat competitive third-party candidates. In the current hyper-partisan atmosphere, if a black candidate can appeal to Republican voters, he or she can capture the same coalition that white Republicans use to win elections.

(Sarah Parnass,Osman Malik/The Washington Post)

The Democratic Party, for its part, is well aware of its poor performance among white voters and has begun focusing its attention on them, specifically the white working class. Post-election analysis shows that it was these voters, shifting from the Democratic Party to Trump, who were ultimately responsible for Hillary Clintons undoing. Some progressives have expressed concern that the partys attempts to win back white working-class voters will come at the expense of black voters, despite the fact that black voters are the most reliable part of the Democratic base. With its obsessive focus on wooing voters who supported Donald Trump, writes Brown Is the New White author Steve Phillips, the party is neglecting the cornerstone of its coalition.

The Democrats intramural debate was evident in the recent race for the Democratic National Committee chairmanship, when an ally of eventual winner Tom Perez said of Rep. Keith Ellison who, as the first black congressman from Minnesota and the first Muslim elected to Congress, holds more progressive positions than many others in the party Is he really the guy we need right now when we are trying to get all of those disaffected white working-class people to rally around our message of economic equality? This quote illustrates a desire to address oft-cited white economic anxiety by subordinating issues of race and religion. Now Democrats must determine whether their next electoral victory lies in recapturing the white working-class voters who used to be part of their base or doubling down on the demographics-is-destiny strategy, which prioritizes appeals to the growing segment of minority voters.

So while a black liberal is fighting upstream in a political climate of racial and ideological polarization, that same climate could work in favor of the black conservative candidate. And though black Democratic candidates often increase black voter turnout see 2008 and 2012 the rash of restrictive state voting laws has suppressed turnout among minority voters. Because a black Republican nominee doesnt rely on black voters, the electoral factors that hurt black Democratic candidates dont have nearly the same effect. In an irony befitting todays bizarre political landscape, a black Republican nominee may benefit electorally from discriminatory voting laws.

This leads to yet another trend that could help: growing black dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party. Even the election of a black Democrat to the presidency wasnt enough to compel the federal government to meet demands to address systemic racial disparities in a meaningful way. For all its loyalty to the party, the black electorate has not realized the policy gains that should accompany its voting power. Yet, black voters continue to support the Democratic Party for lack of viable options in the voting booth. This conundrum is called electoral capture, a concept that Princeton professor Paul Frymer describes as a blocs overwhelming support for one political party as a result of the opposing party having no interest in, or making no effort to win, the blocs votes. As a result, some black Americans have turned to other forms of political expression black turnout was down seven percentage points from 2012 to 2016 such as rallies and demonstrations, the Black Lives Matter movement, protest votes, and principled exits from the electoral process. Black Americans dissatisfaction hurt Democrats, not Republicans, on Election Day.

This is where black men put their finger on the scale. A black Republican nominee would peel away a small but significant portion of the black electorate, mostly men. Though black men largely hold liberal views, more of them than black women buy into the conservative mantra of self-determination, small government and economic sufficiency as a remedy to racial discrimination. Also, my research, supported by similar findings, found that black men are much more likely than black women to vote for a black presidential nominee regardless of party or policy views. This suggests that a black Republican candidate can cut into the Democratic base to some extent in the absence of a black Democratic candidate. If Trump managed to get 13percent of black men to vote for him (Mitt Romney drew 11 percent in 2012 against Obama), a black Republican candidate is certain to exceed that by some noticeable margin. And in a razor-thin election, black men voting along racial lines could help tip the outcome.

Taken together, the current landscape provides fertile soil for the idea of a black Republican in the White House. Of course, when it comes to the presidency and electoral politics, good conditions are hardly enough to win. There are simply too many other factors at play, from candidates likability to things they cant control, such as the state of the economy.

And race still matters: White Republican primary contenders could try to employ coded racial appeals to denigrate competitive black candidates (or to denigrate white candidates recall the George W. Bush teams attacks on Sen. John McCain during the 2000 South Carolina primary). Further, being black and very conservative is insufficient (recall the Alan Keyes, Herman Cain and Carson campaigns). And theres the reality that the Republican bench for viable black candidates is basically empty, except, perhaps, for Sen. Scott.

Still, if the notion of a black Republican presidency occurring before the next Democratic one seems doubtful, its becoming less so as our politics becomes more divided and stress fractures emerge in historic coalitions. Given the unpredictability and hyper-partisanship of the current political environment, the political winds now blowing could indeed fill the sails of a black Republican presidential nominee.

Twitter: @DrTedJ

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Why the next black president could be a Republican - Washington Post

The Senate voted Thursday evening to confirm two Republican nominees to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, one of whom accused natural gas pipeline opponents of waging a jihad against the agency.

Robert Powelson, a member of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission who made the accusation against pipeline opponents, and Neil Chatterjee, a senior energy policy adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), were confirmed by unanimous consent.

The Senate just gave about as much attention to pushing through these FERC nominees as FERC gives to the impacts of fossil fuel projects they approve: Zero. This is a shameful day in shameful times for the U.S. Senate, David Turnbull, campaigns director at Oil Change International, said in a statement issued late Thursday.

Senators who vowed to stand up to President Donald Trump on climate change missed a major opportunity by confirming the two Republican nominees, Turnbull stated. The new wave of gas pipelines under FERC consideration would lock in dependence on fracked gas that we cannot afford to burn, while delaying our transition to clean energy, he added.

The five-member commission currently has only one commissioner, acting chair Cheryl LaFleur, and has been without a quorum since former FERC Chairman Norman Bay resigned in early February. FERC is responsible for permitting decisions on energy projects like natural gas pipelines and export terminals. The lack of a quorum has leftFERC unable to move such projects forward.

One nominee accused anti-pipeline activists of waging a jihad against the natural gas industry.

Simply put, FERC exists as a rubber stamp for the profit-driven whims of the fossil fuel industry, Food & Water Executive Director Wenonah Hauter said in a statement. The Senates action to put FERC back in business gives a shameful green light to advance a future of poisoning, polluting dirty energy in America.

Chatterjee will serve out the remainder of a term that ends in June 2021. Powelson, who also serves as president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, will serve out the remainder of a term that ends in June 2020. With a quorum restored, our first order of business is the backlog of orders and issues that are awaiting commission consideration, LaFleuer, a Democrat, said in a statement Friday.

The White House has officially filed the paperwork need for two other nominees: Richard Glick, who serves as the Democratic counsel on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee; and Republican Kevin McIntyre, an energy industry attorney with the Jones Day law firm. McIntyre is expected to serve as FERC chairman if confirmed by the Senate.

As with other independent federal agencies, FERC cannot have more than three commissioners from the same political party. The commission is expected to have three Republicans and two Democrats if the remaining two nominees are confirmed.

Powelson made his controversial remark in March while speaking to industry representatives at a conference in State College, Pennsylvania, according to a State Impact Pennsylvania report.The jihad has begun, he told the audience. At the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, groups actuallyshow up at commissioners homesto make sure we dont get this gas to market. How irresponsible is that?

In the same speech, Powelson also expressed his support for streamlining the pipeline permitting process.

Dozens of environmental groups have called for reforms that would force FERC to consider the concerns of communities and the climate impacts when reviewing natural gas infrastructure applications. In May, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), reintroducedlegislationto create an Office of Public Participation and Consumer Advocacy at the agency. Private citizens have expressed frustration that participating in FERCs complex proceedings is extremely challenging, the senators office said in a news release.

Shaheens bill, The Public Engagement at FERC Act, or S. 1240, would establish an office that would directly participate in FERC proceedings on rates, service, and infrastructure siting to represent the interests of residential and small commercial consumers and create a Public and Consumer Advocacy Advisory Committee for the office composed of representatives from the national and state-based nongovernmental consumer advocacy community.

Communities being harmed by FERCs virtually indiscriminate approval of gas pipelines will keep fighting each project and fighting for a just future. Unfortunately, Senators failed to stand with them today.Oil Change Internationals Turnbull said.

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Republican who said pipeline activists were waging 'jihad' confirmed to energy agency - ThinkProgress