<snip>

If he succeeds, it will likely have a lasting impact in metro Detroit and across Michigan, as programs — many relied upon by communities for decades — disappear or see funding eviscerated. Among them:

•The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which has received $300 million a year in recent years to pay for improving wetlands, reducing pollution and increasing water quality across the Upper Midwest, would be eliminated, according to the plan, a cut even greater than the 97% reduction previously reported on, as the administration “returns the responsibility for funding local environmental efforts … to state and local entities.”

•The Community Development Block Grant program, which since the 1970s has devoted billions to helping improve housing and living conditions in cities, would be eliminated, which could result in Michigan communities losing some $111 million compared to the current year — including $31 million for Detroit. The rest would be spread around the state, including $5 million for Wayne County, $4 million for Oakland County and nearly $2 million for Macomb County. In Detroit, CDBG funds have helped pay for homeless shelters and transportation for seniors as well as defraying costs for rehabilitation projects for housing and some acquisition and demolition costs in the city's fight against blight. The loss of another HUD program would cost state communities $29 million total as the administration “devolves … activities to the state and local level.”

•The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps provide home heating assistance to households, especially those of the disabled, elderly and families with preschool-age children, would be eliminated as would the Community Services Block Grant, through which agencies work to fight poverty. The state said it was on pace to spend nearly $170 million on LIHEAP this year.

•Coastal and marine management grants at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including Sea Grant, would be eliminated. As the Free Press reported last week, Sea Grant includes funding for a joint program between the University of Michigan and Michigan State University that has provided Great Lakes research and advocacy for nearly 50 years.

That’s just skims the surface of what Mulvaney said Wednesday is a budget built around Trump’s campaign promises with reductions “exactly where you would expect it.”

With its glimpse into an America where women have been legally designated as the property and chattel of the men around them, Hulu’s upcoming Margaret Atwood adaptation The Handmaid’s Tale is set to be one of the most unpleasantly relevant TV shows of 2017. The series—created by The 100 and ER producer Bruce Miller—made a silent splash at today’s SXSW, with Adweek reporting that Hulu has hired a bunch of unspeaking, red-clad Handmaids to walk together through the festival.

<snip>

Per Atwood’s book, the Handmaids are apparently sticking together in pairs, the better to police each other’s behavior and reporting deviations. The show’s official Twitter account suggests that something might happen if people ask the performers “Should we walk by the river?”; meanwhile, most of the people at SXSW just seem freaked out to see Atwood’s tale of institutional misogyny bleeding out into the real world.

The fight for women's rights is getting younger and younger— It's trickle down feminism, baby!

Just in time for International Women's Day, a fourth grade teacher found a delightful feminist note under a desk in her classroom.

Be prepared to feel so, so proud.

https://twitter.com/SMLXist/status/838844842558046208
<snip>

Boys have been telling girls they can't do the same things since literally the dawn of time, and it's something that's probably still frequent in elementary schools (and beyond) to this day. What's different is now these girls are rejecting that notion, and there's members of the school staff willing to back them up.

This feels particularly important because, as Elly points out on her Twitter, scientific studies have shown that girls stop believing in themselves at a startlingly young age— think fifth grade or younger.

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/5y91f5/im_margaret_atwood_author_of_the_handmaids_tale/

I’m Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale, and executive producer of the Hulu original series based on the novel premiering April 26.

I am the author of more than forty books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. My novels include The Handmaid's Tale, The Blind Assassin (winner of the 2000 Booker Prize), Oryx and Crake (short-listed for the 2003 Man Booker Prize), The Year of the Flood, and—my most recent novel—Hag-Seed.

Watch the latest trailer for the show:
Handmaid’s Tale on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/handmaidsonhulu
Handmaid’s Tale on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/handmaidsonhulu
Handmaid’s Tale on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/handmaidsonhulu
Proof: https://twitter.com/MargaretAtwood/status/839258321425207298

Hello: Now it is time to say goodbye! Thank you for all your questions, and sorry I could not get to the end of all of them... save for next time! Very best, Margaret

Just in time for International Women's Day, an all-female a cappella group from Oxford University have dropped an empowering cover of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."

Cyndi Lauper's 1983 version of the song — written by American musician Robert Hazard — might be your favourite Saturday night dance anthem, but this feminist reboot by The Oxford Belles could give Lauper a run for her money.

The Oxford Belles' version of the song features a feminist rap about smashing glass ceilings. "Can you stand over there and cover your eyes cuz Imma break glass ceilings, is that a surprise?" raps one of the Belles.

The video not only features the a cappella group's mellifluous singing, it also shows leading Oxford academics holding signs with feminist messages for International Women's Day. "Why does the term career woman exist when the term career man never has?" reads a sign by lecturer Mary McMenamin.

Happy International Women's Day!

Would-be Donald Trump foreign policy advisor Monica Crowley spoke out for the first time Tuesday night about the plagiarism scandal that forced her to forgo that White House position, saying on Fox News’ Hannity that it was a false hit job.

“What happened to me was a despicable straight-up political hit job,” insisted Crowley. “It’s been debunked, my editor has completely supported me and backed me up.”

“There is a very toxic and it’s getting increasingly toxic and poisonous atmosphere of personal destruction in Washington and the media. It’s always sort of been there, but now it’s at a whole different level,” Crowley said.

“I was something of the canary in the coal mine; the attack on me was a test,” she continued. “What happened to me, what happened to General Flynn, what’s happened to Attorney General Sessions and others is all of a piece. There is a very dangerous and very effective destabilization campaign underway against this president, his administration and his agenda.”

From March 7 – 29, 2017, NOAA and partners will conduct a telepresence-enabled ocean exploration expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to collect critical baseline information about unknown and poorly known deepwater areas in the Howland and Baker Unit of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument and the Phoenix Islands Protected Area.

NOTE: ROV dives are planned, weather permitting, most days from March 8 - March 27, typically from about 8 am to 5 pm WST (March 7 - March 26, from 1 pm to 10 pm EST).

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/media/exstream/exstream.html