Delay, deny, depose ... detained
Sit yourself down and let out a big sigh of relief: thanks to the tireless work of the Florida police force, everyone in the US can now feel a little bit safer. On Tuesday, Florida’s Lakeland police department charged Briana Boston, a 42-year-old mother of three, with threats to conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism.
What did Boston do, exactly? She was rude to a customer service representative. Boston had reportedly just had a medical claim denied by her health insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and allegedly said to the person on the phone: “Delay, deny, depose. You people are next.” This appears to have been a reference to the words written on ammunition discovered at the scene of the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson.
Boston has apologized for what she said and reportedly told police she didn’t mean anything by it. And there’s no reason, with the information we have now, to think otherwise. Referencing a high-profile assassination was obviously extremely poor judgment on her part. However, to any reasonable person, this whole thing sounds like a woman lashing out at a corporation rather than a credible death threat against an individual. Boston has never had any criminal charges or convictions, according to her attorney. She also told police that she doesn’t own any guns, and if the police found any in her house they haven’t shared this information yet.
If Boston’s home is later found to have a bunch of disguises, a 3D-printed gun and a manifesto, I will, of course, eat my words and any hats that are available. As it stands, charging Boston with threats to conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism seems a hell of a lot like overreach – as does the fact that the judge has set her bond at $100,000. The charge is a second-degree felony, which could be punished by up to 15 years in prison if she is convicted.
The good news here, however, is that the police seem to be interested in taking vague threats seriously now. So, if that’s the case, I’d like to cordially invite them to come over to my house and take a look at some of the correspondence I get sent. Like every woman who has the temerity to express an opinion on the internet, I regularly get sent death and rape threats. I regularly get people harassing me with language that is a lot more explicit than “delay, deny, depose”. I normally just ignore all this because it’s best not to feed the trolls, and I know the police won’t do anything. But at one point, when I got an extremely unsettling object sent to my home address, I went to the police. What did they do? Yep, you’ve guessed it: absolutely nothing.
My experience with the police is extremely common. Forget online harassment – police don’t even take it seriously when a woman is being physically stalked or abused. You can find endless stories – from all over the world – about the police ignoring or minimizing violence against women. There’s the case of California woman Pamela Motley, for example, who received violent threats from her ex-husband, Paul Motley. Police made no attempt to arrest him and even “told Pamela that she should not be too worried because ‘these guys only follow through 1% of the time’”. Paul then shot Pamela in the face, paralyzing her.
Even a high-profile celebrity like Lily Allen has talked about being failed by the police when she was stalked for seven years. According to Allen, the police didn’t take her stalker seriously until he entered her home and stole her handbag. “With a justice system that is obsessed with property rights, there’s little space for keeping women safe,” one activist commented about Allen’s case at the time.
The police’s newfound zest for taking threats seriously hasn’t gone unnoticed online. As soon as Boston’s story went public, social media was full of viral stories from women about how the police had ignored harassment because “a crime hadn’t been committed”. The double standards are stark. I’d bet pretty much everything I have that if, instead of threatening a health insurance company, Ms Boston had gone to the police and told them that she was being stalked by an abusive ex-boyfriend, they’d have shrugged their shoulders and told her there was nothing they could do until she had actual proof her life was in imminent danger.
The seemingly disproportionate response to the 42-year-old mother’s outburst appears to be an attempt by law enforcement and the legal system to make an example of Boston. “I do find that the bond of $100,000 is appropriate considering the status of our country at this point,” the judge in Boston’s case said. It’s clear that, as resentment towards health insurance companies in the US reaches a boiling point, the judge and the police want to send a message. Mission accomplished, they’ve sent one! The message being: we care far more about the protection of wealthy CEOs than everyday violence against women.
Call for end to ‘draconian’ police cautions for sex workers
In England and Wales, a police caution, typically issued for minor crimes, is filtered out from someone’s record after six years. However, thousands of women are thought to have received what is known as “prostitute’s caution” – a draconian type of caution reserved for the punishment of sex workers. Police don’t need much evidence to issue one, and the caution will show up on a background check until the “offender” is 100 years old. Sex workers and lawmakers have now demanded that police forces are immediately stopped from issuing these cautions.
Tokyo government gives workers four-day workweek to boost fertility
“We will review work styles … with flexibility, ensuring no one has to give up their career due to life events such as childbirth or childcare,” said the Tokyo governor, Yuriko Koike.
Jay-Z’s condescending response to the accusation that he and Diddy raped a 13-year-old girl is troubling
“Jay-Z’s response to this lawsuit and the blowback from his supporters is a stunning display of the culture of silence and complicity in hip-hop which continues to harm women and girls,” writes Tayo Bero.
University of Cambridge urged to apologise over jailing of thousands of ‘evil’ women
For almost 350 years, starting in 1561, the University of Cambridge had the power to arrest and imprison any woman “suspected of evil”. None of the women got a fair trial, said Caroline Biggs, author of a book about the phenomenon: “The university didn’t really care how they were treated. They wanted the women to be removed from the streets so they couldn’t tempt the undergraduates.”
Death feels imminent for 96% of children in Gaza
The western media seems to have given up covering Gaza now – and it’s becoming harder to get news about what’s happening as Palestinian journalists continue to get killed by Israel. However, what Amnesty International has termed a genocide is still very much ongoing. There are new massacres every day, and, according to a recent study, 96% of kids in Gaza feel that their death is imminent and almost half want to die as a result of the trauma they have been through.
Trump says he won’t restrict abortion pill
Trump says a lot of things, of course. Whether he follows through with them is another matter.
The week in porktriarchy
I hope Peppa Pig has her PR people on speed dial, because it’s not been a very good news week for the world-famous cartoon piglet. For starters, Keira Knightley has said she’s decided not to have another kid because she simply cannot watch any more Peppa. Meanwhile, a Spanish MP has blamed Peppa Pig for the lack of women in the construction industry. This accusation sparked outrage from a politician in the UK who has rushed to Peppa Pig’s defence and accused his Spanish counterpart of spreading porkies.
