In partnership with
If you like what you see, you can help support independent journalism and the cost of putting out LMP by becoming a paid subscriber, with tiers starting at $1.01 per month. You can also help by clicking through on the ad below or leave a tip. And if you think it’s appropriate, please share with a friend or on social media!
Good morning and Happy Friday! Thanks for starting your day with me. And thanks to all my premium subscribers for giving me the grace to phone it in on Thursday when a massive migraine knocked me out of commission.
When I posted about the sexual assault allegations against civil rights leader Cesar Chavez on Thursday, I thought to myself, “I have a lot of big feelings about this, but I don’t know how to untangle them all right now.” Twenty-four hours later, I still have no idea how to untangle them, but I keep coming back to this: I am sick and tired of women having to keep men’s dirty little secrets.
If you’re just catching up on the story, I’ve gift-linked the NYT piece above, here’s the 10,000-foot overview:
Ms. Murguia and another woman, Debra Rojas, say that Mr. Chavez sexually abused them for years when they were girls, from around 1972 to 1977. He was in his 40s and had become a powerful, charismatic figure who captured global attention as a champion of farmworker rights.
The two women have not shared their stories publicly before, and an investigation by The New York Times has uncovered extensive evidence to support their accusations and those raised by several other women against Mr. Chavez, the United Farm Workers co-founder who died in 1993 at the age of 66.
It got worse from there, as iconic labor activist and feminist Delores Huerta, now 96, also came forward this week to tell the world that Chavez raped her twice, and both assaults resulted in pregnancies. Here’s part of what Huerta wrote:
“I am nearly 96 years old, and for the last 60 years have kept a secret because I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for.
I have encouraged people to always use their voice. Following the New York Times’ multi-year investigation into sexual misconduct by Cesar Chavez, I can no longer stay silent and must share my own experiences.
As a young mother in the 1960s, I experienced two separate sexual encounters with Cesar. The first time I was manipulated and pressured into having sex with him, and I didn’t feel I could say no because he was someone that I admired, my boss and the leader of the movement I had already devoted years of my life to. The second time I was forced, against my will, and in an environment where I felt trapped.
I had experienced abuse and sexual violence before, and I convinced myself these were incidents that I had to endure alone and in secret. Both sexual encounters with Cesar led to pregnancies. I chose to keep my pregnancies secret and, after the children were born, I arranged for them to be raised by other families that could give them stable lives.
Over the years, I have been fortunate to develop a deep relationship with these children, who are now close to my other children, their siblings. But even then, no one knew the full truth about how they were conceived until just a few weeks ago.
I carried this secret for as long as I did because building the movement and securing farmworker rights was my life’s work. The formation of a union was the only vehicle to accomplish and secure those rights and I wasn’t going to let Cesar or anyone else get in the way. I channeled everything I had into advocating on behalf of millions of farmworkers and others who were suffering and deserved equal rights.”
Even as I sit here writing this, I can feel that my shoulders have tensed up, my jaw is tight, and I’m pounding the keyboard with my fingers (and I went to restorative yoga this morning!). I am angry.
Angry that Huerta, at 96 years old, still has to deal with Chavez’s bullshit. Angry that we’ve held up Chavez, like so many other abusive men, as heroes. Angry that the movement Chavez and Huerta spearheaded was so tenuous that it felt as if telling the truth about Chavez could bring the whole thing crashing down.
I’m angry that two of Chavez’s victims were children, aged only 12 and 13. I’m angry at a culture that has allowed men who are attracted to children to define unattainable, poreless, hairless, curveless bodies as the beauty standards women aspire to. Angry that the President of the United States has been found liable for sexually abusing one woman and accused of assaulting children, and no one seems to care. Angry that I was born into a time when women’s pain doesn’t even make the evening news.
But I’m angry about so much more. I’m angry that the same conservative white men who brought us Project 2025, which already restricted women’s rights and took away our bodily autonomy, have a chilling new “plan” for women. I’m angry about this (now former) Mayo Clinic med student who made videos mocking and shaming women’s bodies. I’m angry about the “manosphere” of incel podcasters who lack chins and a firm hairline, insisting that women should be virgins who stay home and care for children. I’m angry that the new standard of beauty is so remarkably thin that people, including women, are calling Heidi Klum “fat.” I am angry that congressional Republicans care so little about the allegations in the Epstein Files that not a single one showed up for the deposition of close Epstein pal Les Wexner, who was named as a potential co-conspirator by investigators.
I am so angry about so many things, but mostly, I am tired of living in a world where so many mediocre men succeed while so many brilliant women fail. Delores Huerta should never have had to take a back seat to Cesar Chavez, and she should have been valued enough by her allies and her movement to be able to speak the truth.
I regret that I don’t have anything groundbreaking or meaningful to say, but it’s all been said over and over again. How many times do we have to beg men to see us as equals before it’s enough? I don’t know the answer to that. I do know that I think, regularly, that I’m glad both my children are boys. I worry about so many things for them, but at least I don’t have to worry about the patriarchy relegating them to second-class citizens. I don’t have to worry about someone grabbing them and sexually assaulting them. I don’t have to worry they’ll bleed out in a hospital parking lot while trying to get care for a non-viable pregnancy.
The most painful part of all this is that even when we howl with rage about the injustice of it all, we’re dismissed as bitches who “can’t take a joke” or eldery cat ladies who just hate men. We do not “hate” men, but we are wary of men, and rightfully so. Most adult women will tell you that the first time a grown man made inappropriate overtures toward them, they hadn’t yet hit their teens. One in six women in the US has been raped in her lifetime. Eighty-two percent of all children who have suffered sexual assault are girls. Women aged 16-19 are four times as likely to be victims of sexual assault as the rest of the population.
(deep breath)
The good news is that groups are now scrambling to remove Cesar Chavez’s name from streets, parks, schools, momuments, and events.
Amid the fallout from the allegations, members of the public quickly called on officials to rename locations that carry his moniker. Now, local officials in multiple states have begun the herculean work of changing the names of locations and holidays, as well as contemplating the fate of monuments and murals that honor Chavez. Some have proposed renaming streets after Huerta and others have suggested renaming March 31, which President Barack Obama in 2014 designated Cesar Chavez Day, as Farm Workers Day.
The lessons to take away from the revelations against Chavez are myriad, but 1) we need to stop entertaining the idea that “#MeToo went too far” and recognize that sexual violence in all its forms is still drastically underreported, underprosecuted., and underappreciated by our society. And 2) no person, no matter how great, is the sum of a movement. Cesar Chavez was not the farm workers’ movement, just as MLK Jr. was not the civil rights movement, and Gloria Steinem is not the feminist movement. We can admire our leaders, but not to the point that the movement can’t exist without them. The movements exist because of thousands of people whose names we will likely never know, and that is who we should be honoring.
In other news: Trump embarrasses us again, this time in front of Japan; What $200 billion buys; Dems walk out of a “fake” hearing with Pam Bondi; and The High Note.
Here we go.
Men, Say Goodbye to Eyebags, Dark Spots & Wrinkles
Reduce eyebags, dark spots and wrinkles with the first of its kind anti-aging solution for men.
Based on advanced dermatological research, Particle Face Cream helps keep your skin healthy and youthful, ensuring you look and feel your best every day.
Get 20% off and free shipping now with the exclusive promo code BH20!
(Clicking through on ads is one of the best ways you can help LMP stay afloat. I only run ads on Fridays, and I refuse to run ads for anything related to generative AI.)
(puts paper bag over head)
For someone who inspires such inexplicable loyalty among a certain segment of Americans, it’s remarkable how bad Donald Trump is at talking to people. Or…talking in general. If there’s something he absolutely should not say, he’s guaranteed to say it. He’s a more malignant, nefarious Michael Scott. Earlier this week, Trump told the entire world about Florida congressman Neal Dunn’s formerly private terminal diagnosis, and yesterday, he did this:
“Hey, who knows more about fencing than the Germans, right? How did you guys build all those camps so fast? And kept everyone in! I mean, no one got out of those things. Just great fencing work by you guys.”
Trump said this after Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (note: Japan is yet another country managed to put a woman in charge) offered her country’s help with stabilizing shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz — help the US desperately needs. But Takaichi is, above all, a woman and a foreigner, so she must be humiliated and put in her place, publicly.
It’s not that I don’t think Donald Trump is a blithering idiot who says whatever pops into his head, I do. But it’s notable how often he goes out of his way to insult women. It’s equally notable how his lemmings in the Oval Office, be they part of the White House Press Corps or his cabinet members, can always be counted on to laugh at his jokes, no matter how embarrassing or inappropriate.
I can’t be the only one who is sick to death of the “Fuck ya, ‘Merica!” crowd. Whether it’s Pete Hegseth seemingly becoming aroused by the thought of bombing civilians or the US Men’s Baseball WBC team taking off their silver medals after losing to Venezuela, why do we always have to be “Number One!” Why can’t we just be part of a coalition of really good countries? Why can’t we be satisfied with being really good, but not the best? The video gamification of war, and of every aspect of American life, is so draining. I don’t care about “winning” everything or being the “best” at everything. Why can’t we just be like Sweden? Sweden isn’t tops at everything, but everyone respects them, and their citizens are pretty happy. I’d like to just be Sweden for a while.
If I were Takaichi, I would have gotten up and left. I’m still waiting for someone to do this. I’m begging someone to do this. Who will be the first to Hugh Grant Donald Trump? The ‘Merican people will support you!
What $200 billion buys
We in the US have been told we can’t have universal healthcare, student loan forgiveness, subsidized childcare, or house the homeless. You know, things that most other Western nations provide their citizens. All of that is “too expensive.”
We can, however, come up with $200 billion on the spot to fund a confounding war that almost no one supports. There is always money for war.
Republicans are grappling with how to handle an expected $200 billion request for supplemental funding for the war in Iran, weighing their desire to support the president with demands from fiscal hawks, questions about the scope of the funding and the challenge of a super-slim majority in the House.
Democrats are not expected to support such a Pentagon funding boost for a war they oppose, leading Republicans to eye fulfilling the request through the special budget reconciliation process, which bypasses the need for Democratic support to clear the 60-vote threshold in the Senate.
Curious about what else we could get for $200 billion? Well, here’s part of a statement released by Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen:
Make sure you’re registered to vote.
Why Dems walked out of a “fake” hearing with Pam Bondi
Attorney General Pam Bondi has been subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee, which wants some answers about what the hell the DOJ has been doing with the Epstein Files. The release of the files has been, as expected, sloppy, shoddy, and incomplete. And that’s before you get to the allegations that the DOJ is withholding documents that directly implicate Donald Trump.
In an attempt to get Congress off her back, Bondi met with Congress behind closed doors on Wednesday. And then Democrats walked out.
Appearing on “The Weeknight,” Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif, called the meeting with Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche a “complete travesty” and accused his Republican colleagues of putting politics above obtaining justice for Jeffrey Epstein’s victims.
The House Oversight Committee recently bucked Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., voting to subpoena the attorney general over her department’s Epstein investigation. However, Garcia said Bondi has yet to commit to complying with the subpoena and testifying under oath.
“The American public should be very clear that Pam Bondi is leading a White House cover-up, and right now the Republican majority is assisting them,” Garcia said.
The California Democrat said committee members were informed about Bondi’s appearance only 24 hours prior and that he asked her at the start of the meeting if she planned to return.
“The attorney general would not commit to following the subpoena and coming in under oath,” he said. “Yet she wants to come in and set up some type of fake hearing where we ask questions, but it’s not transcribed, it’s not under oath, and it’s not shown to the American people.”
“I’ll talk to you, but not under oath” is a hell of a thing for a public official to say, particularly when the “talking” is about whether your office is accused of hiding evidence that the President of the United States sexually assualted children.
And while we’re talking about the Epstein files, this is a story that is flying too far under the radar for my comfort.
Why is no one talking about the POTUS being caught in an obvious lie? Oh right, because there are hardly any journalists left in news media.
The High Note
Each Day, I do my best to leave you with a smile on your face, a song in your heart, and the will to fight another day.
If you haven’t caught up on the saga of Afroman and his big win in court this week, all I can say is that you definitely want to remedy that. In honor of his victory at his jury trial, I give you Lemon Pound Cake.
I also got to see Project Hail Mary last night, and I thought they did a wonderful job. Take your friends, take your family, and go have some fun at the movies.
Hey, survive and advance out there today, kids. Don’t let the bastards get you down. Have a great weekend!
Follow Julie on Bluesky and Instagram so she can get another book contract. Tips? [email protected].
