Americans Share the Most Absurd Medical Bill They Ever Received

Healthcare is on many people’s mind these days, and the 2020 election is full of ideas on how to take our broken system and hopefully improve it.

Senator Bernie Sanders is and has been passionate about the topic for much of his career, and is championing a controversial Medicare for All plan that would see the end of private insurance offerings for good.

Regardless of what you think about Medicare for All, I’m sure we can all agree that healthcare costs are too damn high, and something has to be done.

Recently on Twitter, he asked his followers to share the most absurd medical bill they ever got in the mail, and you guys.

They delivered.

 

20. Always decline the ambulance ride.

19. Nobody should be worrying about the bill.

18. Yeah, that’s not a choice.

17. This one might win for most ridiculous.

16. I’m not sure that’s really science.

15. Heartbreaking AND absurd.

14. A whole new level of insult to injury.

13. We need equal opportunity healing.

12. I’ll bring my own Band-Aid.

11. Only the rich get to live.

10. I mean what else can you do?

9. It would be funny if it wasn’t so infuriating.

8. Answer: hardly anyone.

7. That’s a pretty penny for stuff you could have gotten at Walgreens.

6. You need a surgeon for that?

5. That’s a pretty high price for wielding a pair of tweezers for under 5 minutes.

4. Kidney stones are the worst and if $16k would help, I would have paid it.

3. I think they’re billing the wrong person.

2. Everyone should have a problem with this.

1. What on earth does most of that even mean?

 

I’m not here to discuss politics, but I think we can all agree that most of these are pretty darn silly.

If you were running for president, how would you solve the problem of rising healthcare costs, access to care, care for veterans, and all the rest?

There’s no easy answer, of course, but give it a go!

The post Americans Share the Most Absurd Medical Bill They Ever Received appeared first on UberFacts.

A New Planned Parenthood App Will Let Users Order Birth Control in Every State in the U.S.

This is important news, so pay attention.

Planned Parenthood (and women’s reproductive rights in general) has been the subject of a lot of scrutiny and argument over the past several years from some politicians and people, but I, for one, think that this is a great development. Why you wouldn’t want affordable birth control to be available to all women in every corner of the United States is beyond me, but that’s just where we are right now.

Luckily, a lot of people and women are still fighting the good fight. It was recently announced that the Planned Parenthood Direct app is now available in 27 states across the U.S., and it will be available in all 50 states in 2020.

In 2019, pretty much everything is on-demand. Why not #birthcontrol, too? Check out Planned Parenthood Direct, the…

Posted by Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson Action on Monday, May 13, 2019

The app allows users to order birth control, make appointments at Planned Parenthood clinics, and get prescriptions for antibiotics to treat urinary tract infections.

Alexis McGill Johnson, the acting President and CEO of the organization, said, “As politicians across the country try to restrict or block access to critical reproductive and sexual health care, the Planned Parenthood Direct app is just one part of the work we do to ensure that more people can get the care they need, no matter where they are.”

Planned Parenthood pulled out of the U.S. government’s Title X funding program in August because the Trump administration passed new rules wherein the organization would no longer be allowed to refer patients to abortion services. Planned Parenthood would have received $60 million in federal funding if they had stayed in the Title X program, but its leaders decided to withdraw.

We're committed to helping all patients get the care they deserve. Through the Planned Parenthood Direct app, you can…

Posted by Planned Parenthood of Southern New England on Saturday, September 7, 2019

The Planned Parenthood Direct app doesn’t take insurance, but birth control can cost as little as $20 for a three-month supply, and users can get birth control just by answering standard questions.

You can check to see if the app is available in your state HERE. This is definitely a small step in the right direction, despite all the negative news surrounding reproductive rights in America right now.

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10 of the Most Bizarre Declassified Government Documents

Some people are really into conspiracy theories – or more prone to believing that the government is hiding certain truths from us, maybe – and still others have just watched too many episodes of The X-Files to trust that we’re being told every last detail.

But if these 10, slightly terrifying declassified documents are any indication, people are definitely right to ask questions, because the truth is often buried behind miles of red tape.

10. Okay so this needs to be a movie, if it isn’t.

In East Germany a committed freedom fighter and her husband had dealt with having her home raided while she was away, being arrested on the way to protests and all sorts of state sponsored harassment. After the wall fell she was able to read the documents the Stasi had kept on her and found out her own husband was an undercover agent and had written many reports on her activities with a bloodless banality.

9. Everything about the Challenger explosion is horrible.

When the space shuttle Challenger was destroyed, it was reported that all 7 astronauts were killed instantly. It was revealed decades later that some, if not all of the astronauts survived the initial explosion, as the cockpit cabin had enough protection to not be breached. For 2 minutes and 45 seconds, they were awake and aware, as they plummeted toward the Atlantic Ocean.

Understandably, NASA knew that the news of their terrifying death would have crippled the space program even more than it already was.

8. Evil people sometimes have security clearance.

Canadian here… The Somalia Affair Not sure if it was ever classified but definitely a horrific scandal. A now disbanded division of the Canadian military torturing a kid to death in the 90s, and taking hero pics with him while doing it… I think it’s important to remember when your country does something shitty – it’s not always the “bad guys” who can be fucking evil.

7. This seems awfully small and petty when, you know, actual life should scare people enough.

Devil Eyes

The plan after 9/11 to make figurines that look like Osama Bin Laden and give them to kids in South Asia. After it’s left in the sun for a certain amount of time, it’s face would peel off to reveal a “demon-like visage with red skin, green eyes, and black markings,” basically a demon. The objective was to scare kids and their parents so Bin Laden and Al Qaeda would lose support.

6. This idea was actually floated, so what’s not possible?

Operation Northwoods; A plan for a false flag operation that came from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Department of Defense in 1962 and given to JFK who turned it down. The plan called for the CIA to commit terrorist actions against US Civilians across the United States and frame Cuba, allowing us the right to invade and depose Castro and the communist government there. It was declassified and can be found online at the JFK Library. Terrifying that no one knows or seems to care that this was suggested by our government to the President.

5. We have to prepare for all contingencies.

The Nixon Administration had a speech prepared for if the moon landing had failed, and it’s chilling.

You can read it here

4. The Manhattan Project was terrifying from the ground up.

My hometown was littered woth radioactive waste by the federal government as part of the Manhattan project. https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/01/nyregion/big-atom-waste-site-reported-found-near-buffalo.html

then we wonder why cancer and thyroid conditions thereare the norm.

3. It really seems likely that we’re going to wipe ourselves out on accident.

There are over 50 mishaps with nuclear weapons by the US Airforce in the 1950s alone.

2. So as you can see, we’ve never been a society that puts children first.

They tested Iodine on “retarded children” as well. In that time, oftentimes orphans and children who were behind in school ended up at these institutions.

The US government also inserted radioactive material into a man after a motorcycle crash and didn’t tell him.

https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/03/us/panel-urges-us-to-apologize-for-radiation-testing-and-pay-damages.html

1. Drug testing on clueless citizens. That’s not scary.

Operation Midnight Climax

The government hired sex workers to dose “johns” with LSD for research purposes so to speak

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Midnight_Climax

 

Some of these going to haunt my thoughts for weeks, and you know…the truth is out there, y’all.

Are you into conspiracy theories? Do these documents tickle your sixth sense? Let us know!

The post 10 of the Most Bizarre Declassified Government Documents appeared first on UberFacts.

Zoos Are No Longer Able to Acquire African Elephants from the Wild

You might have already assumed that trade in wild African elephants – and endangered species in general – was illegal, even if it was a zoo that was looking to take one in.

We would have been wrong.

Though hopefully that won’t be the case for much longer.

At the 18th meeting of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, members from over 180 countries reassessed regulations on international elephant trade. A vast majority of the the representatives voted to end the capture and sale of wild African elephants for display in zoos worldwide.

The issue will go for a vote in front of the full conference, but with 46 of the 83 countries in favor, it looks to have a good chance of passing.

Iris Ho, a senior policy advisor at Humane Society International (HSI), told Bloomberg that everyone in the business of supporting endangered species sees this as a win.

“It’s a huge step forward. It’s really historic that the majority of the parties present recognized that African elephants should not be captured in the wild, sent to zoos and be kept in captivity for the rest of their lives.”

The ban would largely affect countries in southern Africa, where elephant populations are healthier and herds are regularly thinned for the purpose of selling them to zoos. Zimbabwe alone sold over 100 wild-caught baby elephants to China in the past 7 years, and the issue of separating calves from their mothers and the rest of the herd certainly has animal welfare experts concerned.

“Calves suffer psychological and physical harm when taken from their mothers,” explains elephant biologist Audrey Delsink of HSI Africa. “Zoos and other captive facilities force these calves to live in an unnatural, unhealthy environment that doesn’t meet their complex needs.”

View this post on Instagram

Did you know that African elephants are the largest land animals on Earth? They are slightly larger than their Asian cousins and can be identified by their large ears that look like the continent of Africa. Their ears radiate heat to help keep them cool, but sometimes the African heat can be too much so they use their trunk to give themselves a shower. Elephants eat roots, grasses, fruits, and bark and they eat a lot of it. In fact, an adult elephant can consume up to 300 pounds of food a day. Female elephants have a longer pregnancy than any other mammal (22 months) and usually give birth to one calf. In 2018, Tarangire’s famed Eloise was the oldest elephant to give birth to twin calves. Source of information: National Geographic https://www.wanderlusttours.org #wanderlust #tours #africa #tanzani #tarangirenationalpark #tarangire #elephants #africanelephants #thisisafrica #travel #concioustravel #mindfultravel

A post shared by Wanderlust Tours (@wanderlusttoursafrica) on

Elephant trade has long been a hot topic, with African nations often territorial about managing their own wildlife without outside interference. Black market demands for ivory has drastically increased elephant poaching in the last few decades, though, so organizations like CITES feel as if they have a duty to protect the endangered species as if it belongs to the world, and not only to its endemic areas in Africa.

Over a million species are listed as at risk thanks to all manner of human activity, so committees like CITES are set to have busy years as they work to revamp how different species are protected around the globe.

“Nature’s dangerous decline is unprecedented,” says CITES Secretary General Ivonne Higuero. “Business as usual is no longer an option.”

I feel like that statement applies to environmental challenges all over the globe, and I hope there are people in every nook and cranny waiting to step up to do their part to save us all.

The post Zoos Are No Longer Able to Acquire African Elephants from the Wild appeared first on UberFacts.

Zoos Are No Longer Able to Acquire African Elephants from the Wild

You might have already assumed that trade in wild African elephants – and endangered species in general – was illegal, even if it was a zoo that was looking to take one in.

We would have been wrong.

Though hopefully that won’t be the case for much longer.

At the 18th meeting of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, members from over 180 countries reassessed regulations on international elephant trade. A vast majority of the the representatives voted to end the capture and sale of wild African elephants for display in zoos worldwide.

The issue will go for a vote in front of the full conference, but with 46 of the 83 countries in favor, it looks to have a good chance of passing.

Iris Ho, a senior policy advisor at Humane Society International (HSI), told Bloomberg that everyone in the business of supporting endangered species sees this as a win.

“It’s a huge step forward. It’s really historic that the majority of the parties present recognized that African elephants should not be captured in the wild, sent to zoos and be kept in captivity for the rest of their lives.”

The ban would largely affect countries in southern Africa, where elephant populations are healthier and herds are regularly thinned for the purpose of selling them to zoos. Zimbabwe alone sold over 100 wild-caught baby elephants to China in the past 7 years, and the issue of separating calves from their mothers and the rest of the herd certainly has animal welfare experts concerned.

“Calves suffer psychological and physical harm when taken from their mothers,” explains elephant biologist Audrey Delsink of HSI Africa. “Zoos and other captive facilities force these calves to live in an unnatural, unhealthy environment that doesn’t meet their complex needs.”

View this post on Instagram

Did you know that African elephants are the largest land animals on Earth? They are slightly larger than their Asian cousins and can be identified by their large ears that look like the continent of Africa. Their ears radiate heat to help keep them cool, but sometimes the African heat can be too much so they use their trunk to give themselves a shower. Elephants eat roots, grasses, fruits, and bark and they eat a lot of it. In fact, an adult elephant can consume up to 300 pounds of food a day. Female elephants have a longer pregnancy than any other mammal (22 months) and usually give birth to one calf. In 2018, Tarangire’s famed Eloise was the oldest elephant to give birth to twin calves. Source of information: National Geographic https://www.wanderlusttours.org #wanderlust #tours #africa #tanzani #tarangirenationalpark #tarangire #elephants #africanelephants #thisisafrica #travel #concioustravel #mindfultravel

A post shared by Wanderlust Tours (@wanderlusttoursafrica) on

Elephant trade has long been a hot topic, with African nations often territorial about managing their own wildlife without outside interference. Black market demands for ivory has drastically increased elephant poaching in the last few decades, though, so organizations like CITES feel as if they have a duty to protect the endangered species as if it belongs to the world, and not only to its endemic areas in Africa.

Over a million species are listed as at risk thanks to all manner of human activity, so committees like CITES are set to have busy years as they work to revamp how different species are protected around the globe.

“Nature’s dangerous decline is unprecedented,” says CITES Secretary General Ivonne Higuero. “Business as usual is no longer an option.”

I feel like that statement applies to environmental challenges all over the globe, and I hope there are people in every nook and cranny waiting to step up to do their part to save us all.

The post Zoos Are No Longer Able to Acquire African Elephants from the Wild appeared first on UberFacts.

A Recent Study Shows That More Guns Lead to More Violent Crime

A recent statistical analysis of 33 U.S. states might be a game-changer for the argument that more guns on the street would help reduce violent crime.

The report will likely come into play as the Supreme Court gets ready to hear arguments in a case lobbying for the constitutional right for Americans to carry guns outside the home.

The debate over whether more guns leads to more or less crime harkens back to the 1998 book More Guns, Less Crime, by John Lott Jr. of the Crime Prevention Research Center. Since its publication, 11 states have loosened their right-to-carry laws, and more than 30 states allow the open carrying of a gun with no permit necessary.

In those same states, violent crime increased 13%-15% in the decade after right-to-carry laws were adopted.

Which is one why, argues the study’s lead author John Donohue, adopting them could be a “dangerous mistake to make.”

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“It just another day.. and I stand behind you in line at the store with a smile on my face…and a gun in my purse and you are none the wiser. You have no clue that I carry because I have my gun concealed, yet you are safer for having me next to you. I will not shoot you. My gun won't pull it's own trigger. It is securely holstered. It can't just go off by itself. However, rest assured that if a lunatic walks into the store and pulls out a rifle and starts shooting innocent people, I will draw my pistol and protect myself and my family.. and because your next to me, I will protect you and your family. I may freeze up, I may piss my pants, I will be terrified just as you. I may even get shot before I can pull the trigger…but, I won't die helpless on the floor begging for my life or my families life without trying to protect us. I won't be that victim. I REFUSE to be that victim. No one will take my life or those around me without me fighting back. As for you, I don't ask you to carry a gun. If you are not comfortable, then please don't. There are some people that feel guns kill people.. I’m here to tell you people kill people. I choose to not be a HELPLESS victim. This world is ugly and there is evil in the world and if evil has a gun, I want one too… because that’s MY RIGHT and I pray that day NEVER HAPPENS but if that day did, you’ll be blessed to have me by you.” #concealedcarry #glock43 #myright #secondamendmentrights #gunsafe #concealcarry #countrygirl #SelfDefense #RefuseToBeAVictim #Glock #9mm #KeepCalmAndCarry #defendthesecond #2A #AllGunLawsAreInfringements #righttocarry #ihavetherighttoprotectmyself #DontBeAStatistic #Southcarolina #ThisIsMySafety

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“The important takeaway is that more guns seem to lead to more crime. So it is probably wise to think in terms of appropriate controls and it would be very unwise to push the 2nd amendment too far.”

The team behind the study looked at violent crime rates in all states, controlling for policing, incarceration rates, poverty, and other demographic issues to estimate the impact of the right-to-carry laws on the books.

3.1 million people were victims of violent crimes in 2017, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and jailing everyone responsible would double the prison population in most states.

Donahue says that even he and his team were surprised at what the data presented.

View this post on Instagram

"I stand behind you in line at the store with a smile on my face…and a gun under my shirt and you are none the wiser, yet you are safer for having me next to you. I won't shoot you. My gun won't pull it's own trigger. It is securely holstered with the trigger covered. It can't just go off. However, rest assured that if a lunatic walks into the grocery store and pulls out a rifle, I will draw my pistol and protect myself and my family and therefore protect you and your family. I may freeze up. I may piss my pants. I may get shot before I can pull the trigger…but, I won't die in a helpless blubbering heap on the floor begging for my life or my child's life. I won't be that victim. I choose not to be. As for you, I don't ask you to carry a gun. If you are not comfortable, then please don't. But I would like to keep my right to choose to not be a helpless victim. There is evil in the world and if evil has a gun, I want one too…” -unknown . . #SelfDefense #RefuseToBeAVictim #Glock #GlockPerfection #glock43x #9mm #therearemanylikeitbutthisoneismine #KeepCalmAndCarry #defendthesecond #edccarry #2A #AllGunLawsAreInfringements #righttocarry #ihavetherighttoprotectmyself #DontBeAStatistic #ConcealedCarry #Texas #ThisIsMySafety

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“It was really only after we had 13 more years of data and 11 additional adoptions of RTC laws that a clear picture emerged that RTC laws increase violent crime.”

And not by a little – by a lot.

In 23 of the 31 states with right-to-carry laws, violent crime increased by as much as 24% (PA) in the last decade.

Incidents of gun violence related to road rage disputes, bar fights, police shootings of armed civilians, and everyday disagreements explain increases, as the study did not find a statistically significant change in rates of homicide or property crimes.

Other researchers, like Daniel Webster of the Center for Gun Policy and Research at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told Buzzfeed News he’s thrilled to have more numbers.

“I have read the study and consider it to be the most rigorous of studies of right-to-carry laws to date. This is a very important piece of research.”

Mr. Lott – the author of the original pro-gun argument – is keen to dismiss the emerging numbers.

“Basically, poor areas are more likely to be affected by violent crime, so lowering barriers to permits has a bigger effect in states that do so.”

The insinuation (without evidence) is that the study didn’t take such things into account. He also complained that other studies that support his own findings have “gotten no news coverage.”

Criminologist Philip Cook from Duke University, though, argues that new studies often trump old research and topple old data. That’s just how science often works.

“The scientific process does not always get the answer right the first time, but if it’s working well, then important findings are reviewed and tested and the truth becomes clearer.”

The new study, which encompasses 33 states and an extra decade of data, should be the beacon going forward – unless another study as rigorous effectively challenges it sometime in the future.

Until then, these numbers should give everyone – including the Supreme Court – something to think about.

The post A Recent Study Shows That More Guns Lead to More Violent Crime appeared first on UberFacts.

A New Study Shows Police Violence Is a Leading Cause of Death for Young Black Men

It’s become clear that young black men have different experiences with – and more reasons to fear – interactions with police.

At least, that’s how it seems.

But now, a scientific study is backing up that idea with proof.

According to new research, black men between the ages of 20 and 29 experience the highest mortality rate, with use-of-force by police being the 6th leading cause of death (after accidents, suicide, other homicides, heart disease, and cancer).

Study author Frank Edwards, of the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University-Newark, issued a statement about their findings.

“We haven’t really known for sure how often these killings have been happening because the data hasn’t been good enough. But if we are going to try and change police practices that aren’t working, we need to track this information better.”

Lest you think those numbers aren’t striking, they mean that 1 in every 1,000 black men will be killed by police – a 2.5x higher rate than for white men.

They join American Indians and Alaskan Natives in being “significantly more likely” to be killed by police. Even black women are 1.4x more likely than white women to be killed by police.

The data comes from Fatal Encounters, a journalist-led effort to document police-related deaths, which otherwise are lumped in with other crime statistics.

We find that African American men and women, American Indian/Alaskan Native men and women, and Latino men face higher lifetime risk of being killed by police than do their white peers.”

Even though the data includes so-called “justified” killings, the results are nonetheless compelling. Race and police brutality continue to stand in the national spotlight, largely due to the fact that even though black people make up a mere 13% of the population, they encompass 34% of the prison population and 25% of people killed by on-duty police – making them closer to 3x more likely to die that way than their white peers.

While these results can be partially explained by the fact that younger people are more likely to engage in risky behavior, the study authors point out that police in the U.S. kill more people overall than forces in other industrialized democracies, particularly when it comes to people of color.

Hopefully studies like these, combined with thoughtful policies and departments intent on improving relations between officers and those they serve, will help steer America in the right direction.

The post A New Study Shows Police Violence Is a Leading Cause of Death for Young Black Men appeared first on UberFacts.

These Photos Show How Polluted America Was Before the EPA Cleaned It up

It’s difficult to imagine that there was a time when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) didn’t exist in the United States, but it actually wasn’t until 1970 that President Richard Nixon signed the order to create the agency.

From 1971 until 1977, the EPA hired freelance photographers to document just how bad the environmental problem was in the U.S. at the time.

These old photographs show just how polluted America’s air and waterways were before the EPA stepped in and cleaned them up. You can view more from the series here on Flickr.

1. “The Atlas Chemical Company Belches Smoke across Pasture Land in Foreground”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

2. “Smog Hangs Over Louisville And Ohio River, September 1972”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

3. “Burning Barge On The Ohio River”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

4. “Detroit Lake the Dam”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

5. “Paddlewheel Steamboats Seen From Banks Of Ohio River”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

6. “Litter Left In The Ohio River”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

7. “Broken Glass From “No-Deposit, Non-Returnable” Bottles Along the Washington Shore of the Columbia River in a Public Picnic Area”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

8. “The Job Of Clearing Drift From The Potomac And Anacostia Rivers Is Done By The Army Corps Of Engineers”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

9. “Warning of Polluted Water at Staten Island Beach Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Background”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

10. “Abandoned Car in Jamaica Bay”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

11. “Sand Covers Abandoned Car on Beach at Breezy Point South of Jamaica Bay”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

12. “Outflow Pipe 6 of the Oxford Paper Company Will at Rumford on the Androscoggin River”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

13. “Mary Workman Holds A Jar of Undrinkable Water That Comes from Her Well, and Has Filed A Damage Suit Against the Hanna Coal Company”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

14. “International Paper Company Mill at Jay on the Androscoggin River”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

15. “Cleaning Up the Roadside in Onset”

Photo Credit: US National Archives

Powerful photos, that’s for sure.

The post These Photos Show How Polluted America Was Before the EPA Cleaned It up appeared first on UberFacts.

A Horrible Fart Forces Kenyan Regional Assembly to Pause Their Debate

Everyone passes gas sometimes, but not everyone’s farts are smelly enough to disrupt the political process.

A member of a Kenyan regional assembly emitted a fart that was so foul, the entire assembly had to disperse in the middle of a debate, BBC reports. The Homa Bay county assembly had just returned from a lunch break to debate market stalls when they were interrupted by the sudden stench. Several men began to argue over who had dealt it (obviously).

“Honorable Speaker, one of us has polluted the air and I know who it is,” Julius Gaya reportedly told the assembly.

He went on to directly accuse a fellow member, who denied having done the deed, saying: “I am not the one. I cannot do such a thing in front of my colleagues.”

Speaker Edwin Kakach then paused the debate and told members to step outside and take a break from the smell in the chamber. Edwin also asked officials to bring in air fresheners “to make it pleasant.”

“Get whatever flavor you will find in any office, whether it’s vanilla or strawberry. We cannot continue sitting in an environment that smells bad,” Edwin said.

Fortunately, that didn’t prove to be necessary. After a 10 minute break, members returned to the room to find that the smell had subsided before any air fresheners were found. The heated debate on market stalls continued.

Guess we’ll never know who dealt it for sure.

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Meet the Woman Who Finally Wore Pants onto the Senate Floor – It Wasn’t Until 1993

With pantsuits all the rage among high-profile female representatives these days, it never occurred to me to wonder about a time when they were all but forbidden on the Senate floor.

Which is silly, maybe, given that there were few public places prior to the 1970s where you would catch a woman wearing pants, but still – this is the 90s, we’re talking about. Bill Clinton was president.

But still women followed the unwritten “no pants allowed” rule.

That is, until one woman – the first African-American woman to serve as a U.S. Senator – went in for her first day of work.

Carol Moseley-Braun, the Democratic Senator from Illinois, hadn’t thought twice about donning one of her many pantsuits (her “nice outfit) and heading to the Capitol. When she arrived, however, “the gasps were audible” and she was left wondering what faux pas she’d committed on her very first day.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

It was her pants.

Since the beginning of the legislative branch, members have dressed in a dignified manner befitting the office, though no official dress code was written. And when women began to seek and win political office in 1912, they followed suit (heh), typically choosing dark colors and conservative cuts to eschew unwanted attention. The trend continued into the 40s, as more and more women joined the ranks of representatives. Reps. Mary Norton and Frances Bolton would even patrol female fashion choices on the floor.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

In the 1970s, slacks and pantsuits became acceptable office and formalwear attire, and were also allowed at federal agencies around the same time (except at the FBI, where J. Edgar Hoover reigned).

In 1972, Pat Nixon became the first sitting first lady to be photographed wearing trousers, and Rep. Charlotte T. Reid became the first woman to wear a “black wool, bell-bottomed pantsuit” in “the annals of the U.S. Congress.” One male colleague even told her he “was told there was a lady here in trousers, so I had to come over and see for myself.”

Pat Nixon
Image Credit: Wikipedia

The Senate, however, was much slower to embrace the trend of letting women wear whatever the hell made them the most comfortable.

It is perhaps not surprising, knowing what we know about the Senate, that even in the 1980s women were warned to dress appropriately before showing up for work – not just Senators, but temps, secretaries, or anyone else who might find themselves in the chamber.

“We’ve heard from women staff that in the 1980s, if they came in to work – if they were called in on an emergency basis – they needed to keep a dress to put on quickly or they had to borrow one if they had to appear on the Senate floor,” says historian Richard A Baker.

Though, again, it was not an official or written rule, the Senate employed “doorkeepers” that decided who did and did not look appropriate to appear. They were part security guard, part “protocol monitor,” and still today they make sure that everyone who enters is supposed to be there and is dressed appropriately.

A 1972 request for a written dress code, so that women weren’t thrown off by a different door monitor on any given day, was ignored.

By 1993, things were shifting. For the first, time, more than two women were serving Senate terms at the same time (there were 4). One of them was Moseley-Braun, who was simply unaware of the unwritten rule.

“It was one of those unwritten rules that they don’t tell you about unless you’re part of the circle. And nobody was talking to me about these things, so I had no clue.”

She might not have meant to start a revolution, but when staffers started to thank her for taking up the fight to wear pants on the floors, Moseley realized she had done just that.

“What happened next was that other people started wearing pants. All the women staffers went to their bosses and said, ‘If this senator can wear pants, then why I can’t I’ And so it was the pantsuit revolution.”

For what it’s worth, Senator Barbara Mikulski had also made up her mind to fight the outdated norm that same session, on a day when a bad snowstorm was forecast.

“It was a snowy day,” she told Vice. “I found out more bad weather was coming. I just really wanted to be comfortable. I’m most comfortable wearing slacks.”

Aware of the tradition she would be flipping the bird, Mikulski went to Robert Byrd, president pro tempore of the Senate, and told him she would be wearing pants. After checking the official rules to make sure that pants on women weren’t explicitly outlawed, Byrd gave her the nod.

“He didn’t say yes,” Mikulski recalls, “but he gave a nod.”

Soon after, the Senate sergeant at arms, Martha Pope (the first ever woman to hold the job) amended the written policy manual from “women are required to wear business attire, i.e. dress, skirt and blouse, or business suit” to read “women are required to wear business attire, i.e. dress, skirt/blouse, business suit, coordinated pantsuit (slacks and matching blazer; no stirrup pants).”

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Gotta love the 90s for that last tidbit.

Though recent events suggest that there are plenty in Washington who would love to turn back the clock on many things – including the role of women in politics – pants, pantsuits, and powerful women aren’t going anywhere.

The post Meet the Woman Who Finally Wore Pants onto the Senate Floor – It Wasn’t Until 1993 appeared first on UberFacts.