…too far to go:
No tricks. Let’s go!
Music for a Sunday: One time too many…
Posted in Music for a Sunday
Comments Off on Music for a Sunday: One time too many…
Quotable: Ed Markey on climate-change denial
Posted in Environmentally Ill, Quotable Notables, She Blinded Me With Science, The United States of Amnesia
Comments Off on Quotable: Ed Markey on climate-change denial
Wankers of the Week: Bring me the head of Don the Bastard!
Crappy weekend, everyone! And how about them Comey hearings? If this doesn’t put the nails in Donnie’s coffin, I don’t know what will. And look who else is getting nailed this week…in no particular order:
1. Phil Fucking Stair. No, fuckass, the problem in Flint isn’t n-words refusing to pay their water bills — it’s a city with the gall to charge impoverished people for polluted water from old lead pipes, which is toxic enough to eventually kill them. And it’s also the racism of local idiots in charge…like YOU. PS: Aaaand BYE. Don’t let the sun set on your head in Flint, asshole.
2. Faith Fucking Goldy. Meanwhile, north of the 49th Parallel, Teh Stoopid was also flowing thick and fast out of the toxic pipes of The Rebel so-called “media”. But hey! Isn’t it nice to know that Andrew Fucking Scheer — alias “Harpo with dimples” — has a cheering section, however small and pitiful it may be? He’s unlikely to ever make the PMO, but it’s nice to know he has friends in low places!
3. Katie Fucking McHugh. Why?
That’s why. Tweet stupid shit on “religious” terrorism, get smartly schooled by someone from a land (which is officially still in the UK) riven by it. In 140 characters or less, even! PS: Oh dear. How the not-so-mighty have fallen! Ha, ha.
4. Clay Fucking Higgins. Deadbeat dad, fired cop, and adulterer says what? “Kill all the Muslims and let God sort ‘em out”, basically. And you want everybody to unite behind your call for extrajudicial killing and state-sponsored terrorism? Dude, you’re the shittiest so-called Christian since Adolf Fucking Hitler. Sit down and shut the fuck UP! Or better still, RESIGN.
5. Jeffrey Fucking Lord. Whoa there, dude. Don’t trip over yourself in your haste to bend over backwards defending Dear Leader and his dumb tweets, now!
6. Scott Fucking Pruitt. Just how dead IS Big Coal? So dead that Drumpf’s chief of environmental wreckage had to claim coal jobs were up by the total number of already existing ones. Oops!
7. The Fucking Conways. Yes, Kellyanne and her husband George, both. Because these two haven’t just gone wanky, they’ve gone wanky together. They’re like a circle jerk of two. No, guys, please do NOT upload your video to the Internets. We’ve already seen quite enough of you both.
8. Robert Fucking Coury. And moving from crapaganda to crapitalism, we have THIS GUY. Who thinks nothing of telling people with deadly allergies to go fuck themselves and pay un-fucking-REAL prices for his shit. Even kids. And worse, he’s claiming that it’s a substitute for watching your allergens. Nope, nope, fuckity-fucking NOPE. Someone can go fuck himself here, and it’s NOT the poor overcharged consumer!
9. The Fucking Brothers Drumpf. Yes, both of them. Diaper Don and Eric the Brain-Dead. Because who else would defend their dad’s indefensible shit like these two? Ugh.
10. Jim Fucking Bakker. So, if Drumpf is impeached, there’s gonna be a “civil war”, eh? Well, BRING it. I know who the losing side are going to be…all over again.
11. Ann Fucking Coulter. Looks like the Coultergeist is about to gnaw through the bottom of her barrel of inanities here. Didn’t she use to hate France because they weren’t mach enough when they were advising Dubya against the War on Terra? Why yes, she did! And she was none too keen on the democratizing forces of the French Revolution, either! My, how things have changed! And they probably will again, for Awful Annie is just a weathervane that turns whichever way the winds of hate are currently blowing, so as not to become totally irrelevant.
12. Janice Fucking Atkinson. How’s that saying go, again? Scratch a conservative, find a Nazi? Certainly true in her case, since she’s awfully chummy with Marine Le Fucking Pen!
13. Lucy Fucking Richards. Oh, Florida Woman. You really should know better than to issue death threats to someone who has lost a very real, non-hoax child to gun violence. Especially since your own state is one of the most prone to that same problem. Or, to put it another way: LOOK BEHIND YOU, IT’S JUSTICE!
14. Greg Fucking Gianforte. Congratulations on your recent election — and gee, what a shame that you’re now on the hook for $50,000 to the CPJ. I hope they also go after you to make you pay the medical and legal expenses of that reporter you assaulted and then lied about. Ha, ha.
15. David Fucking Whitney. Never mind that Ariana Grande was clearly traumatized and devastated to learn that some of her fans were victims of a terrorist attack in Manchester. No, let’s just beat up on her some more and make out like she deserved it because she has a gay brother (whom she hasn’t shunned!) and is one of those spiritual-rather-than-religious types. Oh, and nice antisemitic smear, too. Shame: it’s ON you, dude.
16. Karen Fucking Handel. Well, let’s at least give this fucking idiotess credit for one thing: she’s honest about not wanting peons to make enough money to live on. Which is refreshingly uncharacteristic of a teabagging Repug. And which, if everything goes as it should, will cost her an election and make her a permanent pariah in a state where so many are already hovering around the poverty line.
17. Jesse Fucking Garrett. Once more, with feeling: If your religion keeps you from doing your job, your whole job, and nothing but your job, you need either a new religion — or a new job!
18. William Fucking Boucher. Congratulations, smirky hipster in the cheap suit. You’re the next contestant on The Racist is WRONG!
19. Andrew Fucking Anglin. Being of mixed races makes one a violent abuser and potential killer? Uh, no, it doesn’t. Just ask any of your oh-so-pure Aryan brethren if you don’t believe me. Hell, for that matter, just look at yourself. You guys are fucking GENOCIDAL.
20. Kevin Fucking Johnston. And while we’re on the subject of genocidal dudes heavily into stochastic terrorism, how about this one? He’s a failed PUA instructor who’ll do anything for attention. Including tweet out his location to the Antifa, who so could not be bothered with his ass that he had to pick on a woman (brave move, jackass) to get them arrested. One of these days, when the Ottawa Police stop hiring stupid, that oh-so-clever gambit is gonna backfire on the self-styled TalkMaster, BIGLY. And it can’t come a day too soon, either.
21. Georgina Fucking Cassidy. Well hello there, racist islamophobic twatwaffle. We see you! Pity they don’t serve BLTs with garlic cheese in jail, eh? Ha, ha.
22. Wayne Fucking Allyn Fucking Root. Why the double Fucking? Because that’s how stupid you’d have to be to believe a right-wing blowhard who likes Donnie Drumpf is better company than cats. Cats are beautiful, intelligent, elegant and sweet. ‘Wingers are literally NONE of the above. Oh yeah, and cats are also not obsessed with their own genitalia. ‘Wingers? Try to get their minds out of their pants. It can’t be done.
23. Donna Fucking Kikkert. And speaking of ‘wingers with minds in pants, how about her? She’s so homophobic and hateful that she thinks she can demand an A for it and try to force a change of curricula to her liking…in court. Yeah, that’ll work. What a fucking snowflake!
24. Bill Fucking Whatcott. As Pride approaches, so do fake condoms with hateful “gospel” messages inside them. And we all know who’s behind them…THIS GUY. Who is probably deep in the closet himself. And at the rate he’s going, he’s never going to get what he so desperately wants, because he’s too busy alienating the one group of people who could help him out. Sad!
25. Steve Fucking Bannon. Dude, remember how you threatened the media? Those sure were awfully big, brave words…for someone who’s now lost over 2,200 sponsors and whose fake-news outlet is teetering on the brink of going belly-up. But hey! Bring it if you think you still got it, bitch. I just bought stock in Orville Redenbacher popcorn.
26. Tzipi Fucking Hotovely. You want the UN to stop using the word occupation for what you’re doing to Palestine? All right. But in exchange, you’re going to have to stop, you know, OCCUPYING PALESTINE.
27. Martha Fucking McSally. Oh noes, you have an R after your name! And to think that all this time, you’ve been associated with the party of the worst moral values shy of actual fascism and yet, you only recently became ashamed of it. You poor widdle snowflake!
28. Paul Fucking Ryan. How ironic is it that Eddie Munster’s evil twin is defending a so-called president who is crookeder than Warren Harding, Tricky Dick, and the Reagan/Bush triumvirate combined? Uh, actually…not so ironic at all, because he’s such a fucking piece of shit himself. But hey! Bonus points for style there, Paulie. The “he’s new at this, so go easy on him” schtick is so laughable, it hurts. The man is 70 years old and has a lifetime’s worth of “business” experience at ripping people off, bamboozling the public, and doing end runs around the law. He’s not new at ANY of what he’s accused of, and nobody who still cares about public service and has even a shred of credibility OR competence should go easy on him for it!
29. Chris Fucking Christie. He’s still around? And he’s still doing faceplants for Donnie? Dude, stop. Have some fucking dignity, just once in your life! Hell, have some integrity. At least, for you, it will have some novelty value!
30. Betsy Fucking DeVos. No, dear, of course the Department of Education doesn’t have to look out for the rights of LGBT+ students. Especially not since it’s so damn busy cutting public school funding to nil!
And finally, to Theresa Fucking May. Congratulations on your electoral “victory”, you horrid, milk-snatching bat. You thought you’d romp to an easy majority by calling a snap election, but then Jeremy Corbyn came thisclose to eating your lunch. How was that for a close shave? Don’t worry, you’ll feel the burn (or should that be Bern?) as soon as it sinks in that you’ve made common cause with a party associated with far-right terrorism…and a prudish git who raised a stink over Rihanna’s topless boobs, as well as trying to push young-Earth creationism onto the old-Earth natural wonder that is the Giant’s Causeway.
Good night, and get fucked!
Posted in Wankers of the Week
Comments Off on Wankers of the Week: Bring me the head of Don the Bastard!
Germany: Xenophobic party’s badvertising campaign of sexism and hate
Y’okay. So, here are some ads from the German election campaign. All are from the AFD party, which bills itself as the “Alternative For Germany”. See if you can spot what’s wrong with these pictures. (I’ll give you a broad hint by translating the captions.) Ready? Here’s #1:
Left to right, the captions read:
“New Germans? We make them ourselves.”
“Burka? I’m more into burgundy.”
“Islam? Doesn’t fit into our kitchen.”
And all across the bottom, the message is “Be Brave, Germany!”
Cute, eh? I see exploitation of women, more exploitation of women, and exploitation of…Wilbur? Dear gawd, that IS Wilbur, isn’t it. Look, I’m not vegan — I’m not even vegetarian, because bacon — but that last one kind of makes you think that halal eating isn’t such a bad idea after all. (And just think how this ad would read if “Judaism” were substituted for “Islam”. Jews don’t eat pork, either. Kosher and halal are actually the same thing.)
Now here’s #2:
“For family-friendly politics. Kids! Are! Fun!”
“No passport, no entry. Protect borders!”
“Islam doesn’t belong in Germany. Women’s freedom is non-negotiable!”
This was an ad campaign that ran only in Bavaria. Not so cute, is it? They went straight from the joys of babymaking (which have NOTHING to do with the more dubious “joy” of baby-raising) to purest xenophobia in three frames or less.
And who are they to talk about women’s freedom when they’re telling them straight up to go make babies lest Germany be overrun by the wrong color of babies? There is nothing LESS fun, to be honest, than this whole “make a baby for the state” schtick. Particularly when we all know who’s going to have to give up her career and stay home to raise it. Pretty sure that the last thing any German mother needs is to be patted on the head for “doing her bit” to keep the Arabs out.
If they really cared about being family-friendly, how about better maternity leaves, pay equity, and higher mothers’ allowances? Because the AFD is absolutely shit at those, that’s why. And persistent financial insecurity, not an influx of refugees, is the main reason German women are limiting their family size. But the AFD doesn’t care about that. They think that white German women should just be breeding on command, while their husbands bring home the bacon (sorry). Some “Alternative”!
But hey, sex sells, right? So, here’s #3:
“Burkas? We’re into bikinis.”
Well, boo, you do you. Ain’t no Muslims stopping you from wearing ’em. Or ogling ’em, as the case may be. But that’s a damn shitty reason for wanting to keep refugees from, you know, SEEKING REFUGE. They haven’t said a word about how German women dress (or don’t, as the case may be).
Also, once again, note the blatant exploitation from the party of “women’s freedom”. Apparently, “freedom” is only truly free if you can see its salon-tanned buttocks hanging out from under an overpriced shred of Lycra. But it’s NOT free to wear a burkini!
Finally, here’s #4:
“Colorful variety? We already have it.”
Astute eyes will note that they’re all the same color. In fact, they look suspiciously like they’re all the same model. Not very colorful, and not much variety. And that’s just the way the AFD likes it!
Posted in Confessions of a Bad German, Fascism Without Swastikas, Human Rights FAIL, Isn't It Ironic?, Isn't That Racist?, Madvertising, Not So Compassionate Conservatism
Comments Off on Germany: Xenophobic party’s badvertising campaign of sexism and hate
“But why don’t moderate Muslims speak out against terrorists?”
If there’s any question from the right I’m thoroughly sick of hearing (although all of their questions are eye-glazingly dumb and inane), it’s the ones about the Muslims: Where are all the moderates who oppose terror? Why don’t they say anything? Doesn’t that mean they’re all secretly complicit? And so on.
Mostly, I put it down to projection. I mean, why don’t right-wingers speak out against fascists and murderous gun nuts? Where are THEIR moderates, and why don’t THEY oppose home-grown neo-Nazi terrorism? Why don’t they even take it seriously? Why do they refuse to speak out against their asshole co-religionists who shoot up women’s clinics? Et cetera. I mean, that’s the biggest terror threat all over western civilization right now.
But for those who sincerely do wonder where the moderate Muslims speaking out against terror are, now you know: They’re everywhere. And in London, as in Manchester, they are speaking out in their own way…by refusing to speak in a certain highly significant way:
More than 130 imams and Muslim religious leaders have said they will refuse to say funeral prayers for the perpetrators of Saturday’s attack in London.
In a highly unusual move, Muslim religious figures from across the country and from different schools of Islam said their pain at the suffering of the victims and their families led them to refuse to perform the traditional Islamic prayer – a ritual normally performed for every Muslim regardless of their actions. They called on others to do the same.
They expressed “shock and utter disgust at these cold-blooded murders”, adding: “We will not perform the traditional Islamic funeral prayer over the perpetrators and we also urge fellow imams and religious authorities to withdraw such a privilege. This is because such indefensible actions are completely at odds with the lofty teachings of Islam.”
“Completely at odds with the teachings of Islam.” This is true. The Qur’an itself (Surah 5, Verse 32) states that whoever saves a life is regarded as having saved all of humanity. What do you suppose is the converse of that?
“We also urge fellow imams and religious authorities to withdraw such a privilege.” If that’s not speaking out, I don’t know what is.
Oh, and get this:
The Metropolitan police commander for engagement, Mak Chishty, the highest-ranking officer of Muslim faith, called for “a step-change – a different direction and a different movement to counter the scourge of terrorism, extremism and hatred that we have in our communities at present”.
In a statement he read out on behalf of Muslim communities, Chishty said: “It is the Islamic duty of every Muslim to be loyal to the country in which they live. We are now asking questions to understand how extremism and hatred has taken hold within some elements of our own communities.”
Harun Khan, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain umbrella organisation, expressed his anger over the London Bridge attack, saying: “We want to do something about it.”
Speaking on behalf of the MCB’s affiliates, he said: “That is why we agree with the prime minister that things must change. Enough is enough. We are ready to have those difficult conversations, as equal citizens with an equal stake in this fight.”
These words carry weight. Muslims in Britain are already speaking out; if you don’t hear them, you’re probably not listening. Certainly the police weren’t paying attention, because the attackers in Manchester and London were already known troublemakers. The Muslim communities of both cities tried to alert the authorities, who dismissed their fears because these guys didn’t seem that dangerous. Even when the imams of the mosques that the killers attended raised the alarm, saying that these guys had gone badly off the rails, the police dismissed their concerns, thinking these guys were nothing more than petty crooks at most.
And here’s the killer part: The imams also tried hard to dissuade these guys, right before they went full terrorist. But even the teachings of Islam — including the all-important Surah 5, Verse 32 — went unheeded. These clowns had gotten it in their heads that they were justified in killing random strangers, even though everyone else, especially those knowledgeable in all scriptural matters, could see that they were not. This is why over 100 leading British imams are saying they will not offer funeral prayers for them. And this is why mosques are banning known extremists from entering to seek converts:
Under the banner of “one London, one community” at the East London mosque, Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders condemned the attack and called for unity.
Muhammad Habibur-Rahman, the mosque’s chairman, described the perpetrators as “evil terrorists” who espoused a “twisted narrative and perversion of the religion of Islam”. The mosque had stopped extremists at the door, he said, but they “continue to harass our worshippers” and “their hatred of mainstream Muslims rivals that of the extreme right”.
“Their hatred of mainstream Muslims rivals that of the extreme right.” That’s the same bunch that keeps demanding to know where the moderate Muslims who condemn extremism are, but who never stick around long enough to hear the answer. Probably because anything that contradicts their preconceived ideas about Islam and Muslims would put their entire ideology in doubt. Can’t have that, eh? And gee, I wonder who else thinks like that?
Oh yeah: Daesh thinks like that. Because they’re the mirror image of the far-right of the US, Britain and Europe. One group terrorizes Muslims in majority-Muslim countries, the other does it where Muslims are a minority. Same shit, different toilet.
Meanwhile, real Muslims ARE speaking out against terrorism among their own. And they’re going further than that: They are helping the police to track extremist networks, naming names and pointing out faces of extremists who have harassed people at mosques. They are among the taxi drivers who helped frightened victims get safely home. They are among the shopkeepers who offered shelter to those unable to escape. They are among the front-line medical workers who are saving terror victims’ lives and treating their injuries. They are donating their wages to help victims of terror. And they are turning out in force at demonstrations for peace and against hate. They are visible in their communities, and audible in their streets.
So, ‘wingers, you can all shut up now about the moderate Muslims. Your “question” is answered. They’re EVERYWHERE. And they’re doing a lot more than you to actually combat terrorism. Moreover, what they’re doing is what actually works. And the best part is, it’s all in line with the chief teachings of Islam.
PS: This Kuwaiti TV ad is going viral for Ramadan. See if you can guess why!
Posted in Angry Pacifist Speaks Her Mind, Crapagandarati, Fascism Without Swastikas, Good to Know, If You REALLY Care, Isn't It Ironic?, Merry Old England, The Hardcore Stupid, The War on Terra
Comments Off on “But why don’t moderate Muslims speak out against terrorists?”
Judge jails (indigenous) rape victim
Canada has no shortage of institutional racist disgraces on its historical record. But lest anyone say “Oh, but we’ve moved beyond that!”, right in time for our 150th birthday party (which is less than a month away now), sit down and clam up. Because it’s still going on, even as we speak. And here is one particularly egregious case of it, right from our own so-called justice system:
On a Monday afternoon in June 2015, Angela Cardinal was led into an Edmonton courtroom handcuffed and in leg shackles. Metallic rattling echoed as a sheriff escorted the 28-year-old to the witness stand.
She was not the accused, but rather a victim — called to testify at a preliminary hearing after she was savagely attacked and sexually assaulted by a notorious sexual predator.
Cardinal was angry about being locked up.
“I’m the victim and look at me, I’m in shackles,” she told provincial court Judge Raymond Bodnarek.
“You’re going to go back to remand tonight,” he replied, “so that we can get you back here tomorrow.”
Cardinal’s fury increased.
“Shackles,” she spat. “Aren’t you supposed to commit a crime to go to jail?”
Cardinal was forced to spend a total of five nights in the Edmonton Remand Centre during her testimony.
Angela Cardinal is not this woman’s real name, which is protected for privacy reasons. But can one seriously imagine them treating a white woman this way, even an impoverished one on crack? It’s obvious to anyone with eyes that “Angela Cardinal” is an indigenous woman.
And sure enough, several paragraphs down from the portion I’ve excerpted, we learn that Angela is “a Cree woman from Maskwacis, about 100 kilometres south of Edmonton”.
Why is a rape victim’s ethnicity so important? Because it has a bearing on the way she was treated by not only the court, but all of our society. And on the way other indigenous women in Canada are also treated. It has a bearing going all the way back in our history, even to before our 150-year-old Confederation.
The “Indian Act” of 1876 merely codified and consolidated the racist attitudes that had been percolating for centuries in the white settler colonies, and laid down the foundation of what was to become the most abusive school system in the world. Children were beaten, raped, even murdered, all in the name of “killing the Indian in the child” — a phrase borrowed from a US soldier, but which aptly described the intent of all the abuse. The residential school system was aimed at uprooting young indigenous people from their own cultures and, under the guise of “education”, forcing them to become essentially lower-grade non-natives. It taught them little, but what they learned most of all through it was helplessness. It failed utterly at assimilating the indigenous, but succeeded in making them easy targets for the non-indigenous predators of the future.
I mention this because one of those predators took advantage of the dire (but woefully common) situation Angela Cardinal found herself in: poverty. A condition too well known to too many indigenous women, and one that led to unimaginable horrors for her:
On a June afternoon in 2014, she was tired and hungry, with nowhere to call home. She convinced a tenant to let her inside a central Edmonton apartment building. She had no idea that Lance Blanchard, a career criminal, lived on the second floor.
Curled up in the stairwell next to a baseboard heater, Cardinal sang herself to sleep with “This Little Light of Mine”. But she awoke to a knife at her throat. Holding it was a six-foot-seven-inch, 260-pound convicted sexual predator.
At just over five feet tall, weighing only 109 pounds, Cardinal was at a clear disadvantage.
“Blanchard came out of nowhere, bat out of hell, grabbing me,” Cardinal testified.
She said he dragged her by the hair, up the stairs, to his dirty, cluttered apartment.
[…]
“He started stabbing me,” Cardinal said. “He said he was going to make me ugly and stick me in a closet and keep me. He started banging my head off the ground.”
Exhibit photos show Cardinal’s jacket and shoes on a blood-soaked couch. Blanchard held her at knifepoint, removed her clothing and fondled her.
“I felt disgusting,” Cardinal told court. “I wanted to get away as fast as possible, but I couldn’t. I was praying I would die before anything else happened.”
Blanchard grabbed electrical cords to tie up her legs. Court transcripts show he tried to stab her in the chest, but Cardinal put up her left hand to protect herself. Blood poured from a deep cut to her palm.
She made a run for the door, but couldn’t turn the knob with her slippery, bloody hands.
Blanchard was on top of Cardinal’s back when she pulled out a hidden phone, dialled 911, put it on speaker and threw it across the room.
The six-minute phone call to police was chaotic. On a recording, Cardinal can be heard screaming frantically in the background, “Help me. Somebody, help me. I’ve been stabbed.”
It took 27 stitches to repair the wound to her hand. Her body was covered with cuts. One eye was black and blue. Her neck was bruised from where Blanchard tried to choke her.
And this is the woman whom a judge ordered jailed so that she would not get away from testifying against her assailant.
Even though there was nothing to indicate that she would not co-operate, the court still treated her the same way the residential school system treated indigenous children: as forever wayward, unruly, and in need of a beating to make her act right.
Even though all her difficulty in testifying could be tied to her dire poverty and the trauma she suffered as a result of the assault that nearly killed her, white man’s “justice” still demanded that she be treated as a prisoner and a flight risk, rather than a victim in need of help.
And the most horrifying part is yet to come: The victim and the criminal were both imprisoned in the same jail. She was even transported in the same van as her attacker — “at least twice”!
If the judge were truly concerned about keeping them separate, as he claimed to be, why not let her go free? Why not let her stay with her mother, as she had intended to do? Can anyone imagine what was going through her head, not once but twice, having to sit in the same cramped paddywagon as her tormentor, unable to avoid seeing him, unable to evade his ugly, murderous eyes?
Women in general are treated badly by our so-called justice system when it comes to sexual assault, but indigenous women are treated infinitely worse than the general population. Institutional racism is piled on top of institutional sexism, and getting out from under it all is damn near impossible. And those who try are more likely to be punished all over again for “disobedience” than to receive the help they need, never mind justice for their abusers.
Little wonder, then, that Angela Cardinal dissociated and lost consciousness in court the way she did, even while being called upon to testify. When learned helplessness passed down through several abused generations is all you have to fall back on, that’s what you do! It’s not much of a survival skill, but it’s what is to hand.
And yet, that pitiful coping mechanism was not understood, but further punished.
Angela Cardinal did not survive to protest this injustice. Seven months after testifying at the prelim, she was shot dead in an unrelated incident. Manslaughter. The rapist, Blanchard, was tried and put away for life based on her early testimony, so he at least got something he deserved out of it all. Angela’s unimaginable suffering was not totally in vain.
As for the rest of us, the lesson is clear. If we want to do something about all the indigenous women in this country — not nation, country — who have gone missing and been murdered, we would do well to start with the so-called justice system we have inherited from our institutionally racist, institutionally sexist founders. There is nothing to amend here. We need to tear it down, and build something better in its place. A better system, with equal rights for all, where no one would even contemplate imprisoning a victim of rape in the same jailhouse and the same prison transport as her abuser, no matter what their color, no matter who they are.
I don’t know how we will go about it, I only know that we MUST. We have already lost far too many lives shilly-shallying.
Even just one is far too many.
Posted in Canadian Counterpunch, Human Rights FAIL, If You REALLY Care, Isn't That Illegal?, Isn't That Racist?, Law-Law Land, Men Who Just Don't Get It, Sick Frickin' Bastards, Teh Injunz
Comments Off on Judge jails (indigenous) rape victim
Music for a Sunday: Shadows with no substance but the shape of men
One for London, tonight:
Those lovely synths. And then when Phil picks up on the drums in his characteristic style…yeah. That’s the sound that can wash away anything.
Posted in Merry Old England, Music for a Sunday
Comments Off on Music for a Sunday: Shadows with no substance but the shape of men
Wankers of the Week: Covfefe!
Crappy weekend, everyone! Here, have a nice big cup of covfefe. Yes, it’s lukewarm and mucky, and full of floating black gritty things. But trust me and drink up. You’re gonna need it to get through this week’s wankers. And here they are, in no particular order:
1. Michael Fucking Fallon. Oh dear, looks like someone’s partisan hackery has caught up to him! Yeah, how embarrassing it is to think you’re slamming Jeremy Corbyn when in fact it was your fellow Tory, Boris Fucking Johnson, who said all that upsetting stuff! The comedy just writes itself, doesn’t it?
2. Boris Fucking Johnson. And here’s the other side of the embarrassing coin: He, too, criticized Jeremy Corbyn. And now he looks even more like a perambulating haystack than ever. Ha, ha.
3. Tony Fucking Blair. And sticking with British politiicans for the time being: How about Toady Bliar? He was warned that becoming Dubya’s poodle would lead to more terrorism in Merry Old England, and he ignored it. And now, the blowback has arrived. And Toady thinks he should make a comeback? How about HELL NO!?
4. Ivanka Fucking Drumpf. How many times do you need to be told, girl? If you cannot tweet responsibly, never tweet at all! (And gimme that champagne. You’ve had more than enough. In fact, at the rate things are going for you business-wise, you can’t afford it anyway.)
5. Tiger Fucking Woods. And speaking of irresponsibility (and alcohol), look who became a Florida Man statistic this week! Yes, the former winningest (and wealthiest) golfer ever…whose game has fallen off since his wife dumped him over his insatiable demons. Come to think of it, didn’t he crash a car under the influence then, too? Yup.
6. Mick Fucking Mulvaney. Dude, are you angling for a permanent place on this list? Because that can certainly be arranged…and especially by saying that it’s okay to deprive people who are already hurting, here and now, just so that bankers can get their pound of flesh. Which future generations will also be forced to give them, but that’s the part you’re NOT mentioning, is it? Here’s a truly radical thought, not that you’re likely to think it: HOW ABOUT CUTTING THE MILITARY BUDGET INSTEAD, and TAXING THE RICH FOR THEIR SHARE? Oh wait…gotta think of all the unborn cannon fodder who will make the rich richer again. Gotcha.
7. Matt Fucking Rinaldi. When you can’t handle challenges to your bullshit or demonstrations against it, reach for your gun and call La Migra. It’s the Texas Repugnican thing to do!
8. James Fucking Buchal. Or better still, call a far-right militia to protect you. Hey, what could go wrong?
9. Dave Fucking Daubenmire. And, not content to let the Alt-Reich steal all the limelight, we have THIS yutz, doing his bit for the Religious Reich and claiming THEY need to be thuggy for Jesus, too. If you want “violent Christianity”, Dave, just remember: You’re exactly like those moneychangers you-know-who drove out of the Temple with a cat-o’-nine-tails. And your boy Drumpf is the one that got whipped at the summit, by a little Frenchman who crushed his hand on purpose. He wasn’t “walking in authority”, he was riding in a golf cart, complaining that he needed his binky. Dude,Jesus doesn’t like it when you lie!
10. Anne Fucking Graham Fucking Lotz. Why the double Fucking? Because that’s how stupid you have to be to think that God hates trans people and evolution as much as you do, and would send terrorists to show it — which might be what YOU would do, but certainly isn’t God’s way of handling anything. In other words: It’s the projection, stupid!
11. Jaden Fucking Smith. You hope the Four Seasons Toronto puts you on the no-stay list? You’ll probably get your wish. Or you could just learn to read a menu, like the rest of us peons.
12. Noel Fucking Hilliam. Look out, they got a badass down there in New Zealand! And he’s out to prove that the real first settlers weren’t the indigenous Maori, but a bunch of white schmoes who look remarkably like something out of a 1970s ad! And he’s not gonna let anyone stand in his way, be it the local government or, you know, anyone who actually knows how to do archeology!
13. Cory Fucking Booker. How’s that old saying go? Lie down with dogs, get up with…oh, help me out here!
14. Christy Fucking Clark. For fuck’s sake, woman — BC had an election, the NDP and Greens won, they’re forming a coalition. IT’S OVER. It’s time for you to leave. Now pack your things and go dry your eyes as the well-paid oil-and-gas lobbyist you always hoped you’d be.
15. Andy Fucking Petrowski. Inappropriate images (read: PORN) in a reply-all email on an iPad that’s government property? Idiotic remarks all the damn time? “Pro-MAGA” in CANADA? What do you bet he’s also one of those guys who think women are too hormonal to be trusted in politics?
16. Alex Fucking Gardega. Hooboy, are men and their egos ever fragile. The Wall Street bull was actually placed there illegally, without so much as a permit issued in advance. And now this crap sculptor is so upset that he’s literally sending out the dogs to piss on the legs of a little girl who’s facing that illegal installation down? Crapitalism sure makes for bad public art, and masculism only makes it worse.
17. David Fucking Green. So, guess what the “generous”, religious CEO of the Hobby Lobby store chain thinks of birth control? That’s right, the company insurance plan won’t cover it. And if you get pregnant? No abortion for you! And maternity leave? Nope, none of that for you, either. Basically, if you’re preggers, you’re up Shit Creek without a paddle…and eventually, without a job or a means to support yourself and your brand-new sprog. Because FAMILY VALUES, y’all.
18. Brian Fucking Lilley. And again with the Family Values. Because a gestating woman can’t be merely “expecting” or “pregnant”, much less carrying a fetus. No, she has to actually say that she’s WITH CHILD. Barf!
19. Thomas Michael Fucking Marks. And while we’re still on the subject of right-wing Family Values™, how about him? Can you believe anyone married him, or hired him as a teacher, when he’s a child molester AND a Nazi? Because I’m fucking FLOORED that anyone did.
20. Sean Fucking Spicer. Well, I’m glad SOMEBODY knows the true meaning of covfefe, because it sure as hell ain’t the true meaning of Christmas. Glad we cleared THAT up! PS: Quack quack quack quack QUACK.
21. Paul Fucking Elam. Because if there’s one person whose opinion everybody is just DYING to hear regarding the Portland stabbing Nazi terrorist incident, it’s that of Mr. All Ears For Abusive Men. And yes, it’s every bit as gross and disgusting as you’d come to expect from Paulie, who is every bit as much a man-hater as he is a woman-hater.
22. Jack Fucking Posobiec. Far-right fake-news fucklehead (and author of the “Rape Melania” fake-leftist protest sign) just HAD to protest an all-female showing of a movie he’ll never see. Or, to phrase it just slightly differently, shitbirds gonna shitbird. But — ha, ha — NOT at The Rebel!
23. Tucker Fucking Carlson. Meanwhile, Billo’s replacement on FUX Snooze — in short, another far-right fake-news fucklehead — is pushing really hard on the “oh look, the Portland terrorist wasn’t a white supremacist, because he was really a Bernie Bro!” line of bullshit. He’s right about one thing, and one thing only: that murderous fucking ratbastard isn’t coherent in any way, shape or form. Just like Bowtie Boy himself, come to think of it.
24. Eric Fucking Prince. An “American viceroy” for Afghanistan? An “East India Company” corporate rule? Yeah, that shouldn’t be a problem. After all, it’s not like empires have repeatedly gone there to die or anything.
25. Matt Fucking Bevin. Roving prayer squads walking around the block to praise and/or bother the Sky Pixie, instead of tackling Louisville’s violence problems on a more concrete level? Yeah, that’ll work great, too.
26. Richard Fucking Ameduri. I really can’t do better at responding to this troll’s misogynous inanity than the Mayor of Austin himself, so please read his open letter and enjoy.
27. Andrew Fucking Scheer. What’s this? A memory hole? In the Conservative Party of Canada? And on your personal website, of all places? Oh myyyyyy. What do you suppose Andy Boy is trying to hide, folks?
28. Rick Fucking Santorum. Yes, folks, Icky Ricky Buttsploodge is still out there. Still bloviating. And still trying to stay relevant by claiming that the Sun — which rises and sets daily, without fail — is “unreliable” as a source of renewable energy.
29. Steve Fucking Moore. And then there’s THIS putz, who thinks that old windmills are “proof” that windpower is passé. How much is Big Fossil paying you and Ricky to say those dumb things, Steve?
30. Kellie Fucking Leitch. From far-right arbiter of Canadian Values™ to a seventh-place finish on the Con ballot. Oh, how the mighty (and their big-dollar Bay Street backers) have fallen!
And finally, to all the idiotic fucking Drumpfites who think that their “God-Emperor” (yes, really) was saying something about “standing up” in Arabic when he made the hilarious typo that broke the Internets. And that it had something to do with Afghanistan. Where Arabic is not an official language, but Indo-Persian tongues such as Pashtu and Dari are. I thought you guys hated Arabic! I thought you believed it was the devil’s own language. Well, it’s obvious to me that you still don’t know the first thing about it, because covfefe isn’t even a word (or a phrase) in it. In fact, I’m not even convinced that you fuckin’ ass-barnacles are proficient in English.
Good night, and get fucked!
Posted in Wankers of the Week
Comments Off on Wankers of the Week: Covfefe!
What does the Portland train terrorist have to do with Schrödinger’s Rapist?
Schrödinger’s Rapist, for those who don’t know, is the unanswered question that flits through every woman’s mind when she meets a man she doesn’t know: Is he or is he not a rapist? (And, more to the point: Will he or will he not sexually assault ME?)
Of course, if she gets sexually assaulted, the question will be answered definitively. If not, and the guy just goes his way, he still remains Schrödinger’s Rapist — the criminal equivalent of the cat who is and is not killed by hydrogen cyanide gas if the Geiger counter in the box detects an alpha particle from a decaying atomic nucleus. He remains, in short, fraught with potentialities: both possibly a criminal and possibly not one, and one never knows which he is until he offends. If he offends.
The same goes for the black person’s variant on the theme: Schrödinger’s Racist is the guy who might or might not be out for non-white blood. One never knows for certain until he tips his hand by acting in a conspicuously racist fashion.
Of course, the Portland Train Terrorist tipped his hand long ago. He’s a well known white supremacist. The Geiger counter has registered an alpha decay, and Schrödinger’s cat is dead. In this case, the cat is two men, one young and one not so young. (A third has survived, but barely, with serious injuries requiring surgery.)
The cat is also two teenage girls, one black and one a visible Muslim. They, too, are victims. Fortunately, they lived to tell.
And another woman, too, also black, who maced the terrorist when he tried to physically accost her on the train the previous day. That day he threatened to stab someone.
The next day, he followed through on his threats at last.
How many cats are there in this box? At least half a dozen. Dead or alive, they all count, because none of them emerged unscathed. It’s a very large box.
And it’s at the centre of a very sick quantum social experiment. One in which our collective tolerance of racism and sexism is being tested. The hypothesis, if I had to guess it, is: How much more of this shit do we put up with before we say enough’s enough, and start treating white supremacists and misogynists as the real terror threat that they are — the biggest terror threat in North America?
Of course, this sick experiment is being conducted in the United States of Amnesia, so the time limit is indefinite. And since they’re currently ruled by white supremacist misogynists with terrorist connections, don’t look for any leadership on THAT front.
To stop the experiment, there’d have to be a revolution. And the radioactive source, the fascistic elements, would have to be purged. Which they didn’t do back when they had a real chance, in the years immediately following World War II. When, on the contrary, the US of Amnesia actively coddled its own Nazis, and even imported some authentic gangsters from Germany, in the name of destroying communism — oh sorry, “protecting democracy”. “Protecting”, that is, by not stamping out its worst real enemies.
And in a further ironic twist, the Germans were largely left to do that job for themselves. Having seen with their own eyes what happens when one doesn’t, though, they weren’t so reluctant to ban a certain party and all its ideology and symbology with it, “freedom of speech” notwithstanding. People had to renounce Nazism if they didn’t want to lose their jobs and their social positions. Churches formerly co-opted by the party had to change their theologies. The well-being of a devastated, rebuilding country depended on it.
The Germans — my people — learned the hard way that you can’t allow everyone to just blat whatever idiocies they want and let the chips fall where they may, because they will invariably fall on the square marked Death.
The fact that ALL speech has consequences, and that therefore no speech is 100% free, should be a no-brainer. But there are a lot of people with no brains running around loose in the US of Amnesia, and one of them murdered two men and nearly killed a third on a train in Portland. He left two teenage girls scarred with a memory that will haunt them all their lives, coloring everything they do, silently restricting every movement they make in public. And still he had the gall to yell that this was about HIS freedom of speech, his precious freedom to spout any bullshit thing he liked. That he was not a terrorist, but a “patriot”. Even though the objective facts show that he had engaged in terrorism, and that his so-called patriotism had, in truth, undermined the safety and security of his country. That it had been doing so for decades, if not at least a century and a half.
After all, Adolf Hitler got his genocidal ideas from Andrew Jackson (the same “Injun killer” that the current squatter in the White House so admires), and from the centuries of slavery that “built” the US of Amnesia into the giant fog-wall of white supremacist forgettance it is today. The post-Civil War Reconstruction era saw the rise of KKK “militias” out of what had been the ashes of the old slave patrols. The KKK were the forerunners of the Gestapo and the SS.
Oh sure, freedom of speech is prized in the US of Amnesia, but some people’s speech is clearly valued above that of others, and far above the others’ safety, security, and freedom to move and associate as they please.
White supremacy is not innocent. Its mouth is frothy with “free speech” — and blood. It is constantly hungry for more blood. And it isn’t shy about howling for blood, as we have seen.
The question now is, what is to be done — concretely and collectively — to stop this social experiment?
Posted in Confessions of a Bad German, Der Drumpf, Fascism Without Swastikas, Human Rights FAIL, If You REALLY Care, Isn't It Ironic?, Isn't That Racist?, Men Who Just Don't Get It, Sick Frickin' Bastards, Spooks, Teh Injunz, The Hardcore Stupid, The United States of Amnesia
Comments Off on What does the Portland train terrorist have to do with Schrödinger’s Rapist?
Der Drumpf’s nonsense word of the day
What could it all mean? Jeff Waldorf inquires deeper:
Personally, I think he was on a yacht, the captain’s name was Fifi, and he told her to sail for the cove. But since he’s a crappy speller (and this is widely known), he got it all balled up.
Hey, it’s as good an explanation as any.
Posted in Der Drumpf, Schadenfreude, The Hardcore Stupid, The United States of Amnesia
Comments Off on Der Drumpf’s nonsense word of the day
