News of the Restless

Quotable: Samuel Gompers on the labor struggle

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Sabina Becker

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Music for a Sunday: What I did today

Posted on August 31, 2014 by Sabina Becker

Okay, I didn’t dance to the Euro-beat; I just jumped in the pool and rediscovered juvenile idiocy and general fun, including the never-gets-old challenge of touching that white thingie at the very bottom of the deep end. And turning flips in the water.

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Wankers of the Week: The Other Ice Bucket Challenge

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Sabina Becker

Crappy weekend, everyone! Have you all done the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise money for research into Lou Gehrig’s disease yet? No? Well, don’t worry. I may not have your hundred dollars, but I got your ice-cold showers right here, baby:

1. Rajesh Fucking Kumar. Welp, looks like what everyone was expecting to happen, did. The Menz Rightz “movement” has officially embraced and endorsed the “Alpha Male shit” sausage factory that is Jonathan Koppenhaver, a.k.a. War Machine, a.k.a. that washed-up MMA fighter who damn near killed Christy Mack. Women are now worse than Nazis, and men more persecuted than Jews. Also, the sky is green, the grass is blue, and bullshit is roses that don’t smell a bit like poo-poo.

2. Dean Fucking Esmay. Oh wait, hold the phone. The OTHER Abusers’ Lobby has officially attempted to distance itself from said Koppenhaver. Onaccounta no true Scotsman, or some such fallacy. Um, yeah.

3. Warren Fucking Kinsella. Memory holes: Not for Big Brother anymore. Ingsoc lives…among Liberal strategists, anyway. And boy, do I feel sorry for anyone who’d keep this one as theirs. Glad he’s not Olivia Chow’s problem anymore!

4. Megyn Fucking Kelly. FUX Snoozers can always be counted on to blather about “race-baiting”, whatever that’s supposed to mean (I suspect it’s wingnutspeak for “black people refusing to take racist shit”). But then they try to do it themselves…with a black preacher who’s not having any of their shit. Racist bait: NOT TAKEN.

5. Christine Fucking Lagarde. Corruption? Qu’est-ce que c’est? The IMF does not engage in such things! Except of course it does. All major global financial institutions do. It’s just taken this long for Karma to catch up to it. And now Karma has. And of course, Karma’s a bitch.

6 and 7. Steve Fucking Doocy and Linda Fucking Chavez. Mike Brown wasn’t unarmed…he was armed with his…um…BRAWN! His brown brawn. Yeah, that’s it. And no, that’s totally NOT racist.

8. Pat Fucking Robertson. Cthulhu must be getting awfully hungry by now, with all the asinine things Patwa has said this week. But really…Robin Williams? He’s not around to defend himself from these ridiculous accusations. How Christian, to pick on a dead man. Jesus must be puking his guts out.

9. Des Fucking Hague. Thanks a lot for proving every bad thing we ever suspected about crapitalist CEOs to be absolutely true. Kicking puppies is pretty damn fucking low. Blaming the dog won’t help, either.

10. Vicki Fucking McKenna. How ironic is it that one of the biggest right-wing cop-cheerleaders was once in an altercation with police herself — and it’s all a matter of public record? Hell, I can see that the anarchist in me has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to these fascist hypocrites…

11. Rob Fucking Schneider. No, you don’t have proof that the CDC did anything. Conspiracy websites are notorious for being short on hard evidence, remember?

12. Gary Fucking Busey. I don’t know if he’s just senile, or if he’s always been skeevy, but really: hitting on Courtney Stodden? Dude, ugh. Just UGH.

13. Kirk Fucking Cameron. Oh look, it’s that tired old War on Christmas trope yet again. Seems it comes earlier every year, and the only thing it ever proves is that smug devout religionists are nauseating.

14. Kevin Fucking Sorbo. Why?

That’s why. Pot, keep calling that kettle black.

15. Peter Fucking MacKay. Yeah, there goes our so-called justice minister, wanking his puny dick off again. This time by wearing a pro-gun-nut shirt, touting a push to legalize all semi-autos, at a Con fundraiser. I guess the Montréal Massacre hasn’t taught this stupid motherfucker a goddamn thing. You know what to do in the next election, folks: VOTE THE FUCKERS OUT.

16. Will Fucking Hayden. And in other ammosexual news, looks like this “Son of a Gun” has been charged with the rape of his own daughter. At age 11. Maybe his gun is not the only weapon he needs to have confiscated.

17. Pamela Fucking Geller. ISIS is a GODDESS, you IDIOTESS. ISIL, on the other hand, is a far more accurate term for the terrorist militia that the US and Israel both have got blowing back in their collective faces right now. But trust a shitblogger of the far right not to get that fine distinction.

18. Stephen Fucking Joel Fucking Trachtenberg. Why the double Fucking? Because that’s how fucked-up it is that some people STILL don’t realize that rape isn’t caused by women drinking, it’s caused by men raping. And that this happens to women whether they’ve been drinking or not. But hey! Even if he doesn’t have the smarts or the grace to be embarrassed by his own stoopid, at least his successor is. PS: Sign, sign, sign!

19. Susan Fucking Patton. Yes, that’s right, the idiotic Princeton Mom is in the news again. This time, for slamming an alumna’s sugar-baby film Kickstarter. Not that there’s nothing wrong with the whole sugar-daddy arrangement (there’s plenty; my thoughts on that and other related matters, in case you care, are here), but it’s kind of hypocritical, considering that Patton is a big booster of the whole “marry young, marry well” archaism that a lot of educated women, including Princeton alumnae, have outgrown long since.

20. Rob Fucking Ford. Not only is he bat guano, but he got a bunch of high school football players to roll in goose guano. Yeah, that’s right: slimy, green, stinking shit. Boy, what I wouldn’t give to rub his nose in some of that!

21. John Fucking Baird. How’s it feel to be schooled in geography by a bunch of Russkies at NATO, eh Squealer? You gigantic fucking idiot. How did you get to be foreign minister again? You know nothing about external politics at all!

22. J.D. Fucking Hayworth. And speaking of schooled: How’s it feel to have a real doctor shoot down your bullshit “concerns” about Central American refugee children as vectors of contagious disease? Ha, ha.

23. Ralph Fucking Hudgens. Whatsamatter, Ralphie…afraid of a little critical journalism? Well, don’t worry. Just because you got your goons to strong-arm a lady reporter out of there, doesn’t mean that she isn’t going to get a strong signal boost…starting right here!

24. Bryan Fucking Fischer. No, Jesus isn’t magic, and he’s not keeping the Universe from flying apart. It is expanding, and there ain’t a damn thing anyone can do about that. Ha, ha.

25. Phyllis Fucking Schlafly. No, marriage isn’t magic, and it doesn’t have the power to protect women against rape. There’s only one way to do that, and that is to make men stop raping women. Including their wives. And marriage doesn’t protect against that, either!

26. John Fucking Goodman. Ah yes, another case of conservative family values gone oh, SO wrong. Funny how this sort of thing always seems to happen to rabid right-wingers. Must be all those gay couples getting gay married that’s doing it to them!

27. Ray Fucking Albers. Go fuck yourself…right out of a job. Ha, ha.

28 and 29. Lilia Fucking Ratmanski and Milana Fucking Musikante. The height of air-rage idiocy: Getting stinkingly drunk on the plane, smoking in the bathroom, setting off the fire alarm (because of course), and then getting into a brawl. Must have been some fight, because NORAD had to scramble two fighter jets to escort the diverted plane to the nearest airport. And the passengers erupted in cheers when these two idiots were hustled off.

30. Sandy Fucking Rios. Men are “more degraded than women”? Uh-uh. Sounds like the only one brainwashed here is YOU, Sandy.

And finally, to all the death-threat senders on the Internets. Especially those who attacked Anita Sarkeesian (and David Futrelle). If you really want someone dead, why not just show up at their door in person with a gun, you cowardly motherfuckers? Not that I actually recommend that either. FYI, threatening violence is a crime, too. May you all get caught, and may it not go well for you when you do.

Good night, and get fucked!

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Posted in Wankers of the Week | 3 Comments

ISIS is a Goddess; ISIL is shit. Literally.

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Sabina Becker

Aliaa Elmahdy and a Swedish friend show ISIL what they really think of their world-domination plans. Story from EMMA:

For this symbolic protest, they risk their lives: An Egyptian and a Swede menstruate and shit on the flag of the IS-terrorists. The key player is Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, who joined FEMEN in 2012 and outraged the Arab world with her nude photos. Today, she lives in exile in Sweden.

The provocation could not be greater. Or the courage. Aliaa knows her brothers. She knows that nothing could humiliate them more than to stage something like this, which she did with the help of her fellow FEMEN in the network. She (apparently) menstruates with legs apart on the Islamist flag — because nothing is uncleaner to them than menstrual blood.

And the half-veiled woman beside her shits, literally and figuratively, on the flag. And she also holds the stink-finger up (just for that, a woman practically deserves the death penalty, in the eyes of these Islamists). On her naked backside she has drawn the FEMEN symbol: two breasts. Right and left, Kalashnikovs lie at the ready.

The provocation is making the rounds of the western virtual world. In the Arab world, no one dares to distribute the photo of the demonstration. It could, so it’s said, “injure religious feelings”. But even in the west, the demonstration is often only published in censored form: with vagina covered and a black bar over the breasts. Or cropped, as in the otherwise unscrupulous magazine, VICE. Pre-emptive obedience.

Aliaa herself is not available to journalists at the moment; the danger is too great for her. But Inna Shevchenko, one of the leading FEMEN members from Ukraine, now in exile in Paris, gladly gave Paris Match an explanation. She finds the “religious feelings” argument “hypocritical”. “The IS terrorizes the whole world with its photos and videos of executions,” says Inna. “We, however, don’t really kill [anyone]. We only kill through ridicule. We show [them]: ‘We shit on your ideas!'”

Aliaa Elmahdy has long been in danger, but she would surely not survive this demonstration in an Islamically-ruled land. She has been living since 2012 in exile in Sweden. Until now, she has only been able to survive in hiding. Asked if she regrets her actions, she once said: “I won’t change my opinion in the face of death threats. On the contrary!” Today, she would surely say the same.

Translation mine.

Yes, I realize there might be some danger for me in republishing this uncensored photo. Which even VICE, funnily enough, didn’t have the nerve to do; corporatism makes cowards of us all. And in translating the story from German to English, so it can easily be read by anyone anywhere in the world. Well, so what? I’m in a lot less danger than Aliaa, who has already been in mortal peril for two years and counting. I’m just some little blogger. I’m under the radar. I guess I can afford to do this, and to share my thoughts about it.

Whether you agree with the general tactics of FEMEN or not (and I myself am ambivalent; I think their strip-down demos work best when they are protesting prostitution, not religion), a fragmentary or censored message is as bad as none at all. A pulled punch has no impact. I think it’s more important that people be able to see this and consider it for themselves.

Looking at this, I began to wonder if this was even real. It could be, certainly. Then again, that could just as easily be fake blood dribbling in artistic filigree between Aliaa’s thighs. And that turd, so small and neat and perfectly round — does it even stink? Or is it a shellacked prop? Are the guns real AK-47s, or plastic replicas?

At least there is no doubt about the authenticity of the fuck-finger, and no ambiguity about its message.

And whether the image is real or not, the danger Aliaa faces is always the same. Hanged for a sheep or for a lamb, either way you hang. She’s in exile already. She’s been in hiding for two years. And who knows how many fatwas have been issued against her for the rather mild act of being photographed nude?

Inna Shevchenko makes the very good point that beheading-porn ought to be considered far more obscene, by any sensible person, than merely stripping off, shedding a few drops of blood, and pooping on a flag. And it is. I would be far more reluctant to republish that; hell, I’m reluctant to even look at it. And I am not a squeamish little thing. Even worse than all that gore-porn is what lies behind the beheading — of James Foley, and of anyone else ISIL has gotten its grubby hooks into.

And worst of all, it’s all for nought, because the Muslim world itself doesn’t want an “Islamic State”, much less one ruled by some jumped-up schmuck with a fancy watch. ISIL is not Islam, and that dude at the helm is not the Prophet Mohammed. However devout, most Muslims prefer democracy, and have no problem abiding by secular law; as long as they are not asked to renounce their religion, or violate their own values, they are content and at peace with modernity. And more than capable of fitting comfortably into society wherever they are. Muslim women don’t need to have their veils torn off any more than they need to be forced to wear them in the first place. More important to them than re-establishing some mythical caliphate of the distant past are the priorities of the present: food, water, health, education, social welfare, and infrastructure. You know, the same basic things that we westerners also consider non-negotiable. Surprise, we all need the same things! And woe betide any leader, elected or not, who can’t give us those things — or the means to obtain them for ourselves.

ISIL is bound to come to a bad end; it’s only a question of where, when and how. One doesn’t have to be a FEMEN member to see that the ISIL goons, and everything they are trying to establish, are shit already.

It behooves us all to consider what these women have to say. And it behooves us all to remember that half the world menstruates. And everybody shits. And if ISIL’s ideology is so easily injured by harmless biological realities like that, then it isn’t worth killing for, dying for, or submitting to.

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Posted in Angry Pacifist Speaks Her Mind, Confessions of a Bad German, Rivers in Egypt, Scandinavian Smorgasbord, The Bold and the Badass, Uppity Wimmin | Comments Off

Dear men: Nobody owes you “pretty”.

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Sabina Becker

Nope, nobody. Not even these totally imaginary ladies.

Yes, kiddies, it’s that time again. Time for another anti-boner note to the menz from your ol’ Auntie Bina.

So, this US senator decided to share with us the stupid shit that others (all male, older, and white) have said to her over the years. Most of them with no idea how sexist, condescending and just plain stupid it all is. A representative sampling:

“Good thing you’re working out, because you wouldn’t want to get porky!” – an older male colleague

“You know, Kirsten, you’re even pretty when you’re fat.” – a Southern member of Congress, while holding her arm

“When I first met you in 2006 you were beautiful, a breath of fresh air. To win [the special election], you need to be beautiful again.” – a labor leader

“Don’t lose too much weight now. I like my girls chubby.” – one of her favorite members, while squeezing her waist

What do these different dudes’ remarks all have in common? I’ll give you a broad hint: It’s the ENTITLEMENT, honey.

These men are all in effect telling Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand that she needs to be pretty for them. Or for the special election. Some are telling her not to gain weight, others not to lose it. But all of them apparently think they have a right to tell her how she should look. Or NOT look. All of them are telling her, in effect, that she owes them “pretty”. And that she would be nobody and nothing without boner-appeal. (Sign this petition if you agree that this is fucked up and bullshit.)

Would they do that to other men? I’m guessing that no, they would not. They’d hold their tongues and keep any judgments on a male colleague’s looks to themselves, right? And they’d keep their hands off each other’s bodies, too, because no homo, bro!

But since Sen. Gillibrand is a woman, they feel they have a perfect right to do all that to her. A perfect right to paw her body and tell her what to do with it, as if she had no right to dignity, autonomy and respect that was not somehow tied intimately and constantly to her good looks. And by implication, that she could have no career if she did not look the way older white men wanted her to look. Because heaven knows that young people, women, and non-whites don’t vote, right? And that nobody votes for you if you don’t look like a strong contender for Miss America.

This sort of thing is disgusting and all too typical. And it doesn’t happen in a vacuum, either. It happens in a culture of rape and entitlement.

Right now, in a heartening development, there’s a lot of pushback going on against street harassment. (There’s even an app for that.) And there is, in a disheartening turn, pushback going on against the pushback. Recently, the New York Post (which has never passed up an opportunity to throw anyone’s dignity under the bus for dollars) published some contrarian clickbait in praise of street harassment, by some female sexist idiot claiming that it “empowers” women and makes them feel sexy.

It does nothing of the sort.

Anyone who’s ever been catcalled (I have, enough times to lose count), horn-honked at (ditto), followed around by a strange man (double-ditto) and touched by some dude very much against her will (diddly-ditto) can attest to how much it does NOT make a woman’s day to have to deal with this; it actually ruins it. Because the idea that one’s body is being regarded, and treated, as property by any man with the nerve to claim it, is profoundly unsettling. Don’t I belong to myself? Don’t I have a right to be left alone when every part of my body language is screaming as much?

Well, yeah. One would think so, wouldn’t one?

Funnily, I never hear men complaining of getting similar harassment from women. And really, when’s the last time you saw a construction worker, even a really super hunky one, getting hollered at by passersby in miniskirts and high heels? (Anyone? Bueller?) I’ve never seen it, never done it, and I don’t know anyone else who has, either. It never happens. Know why that is?

I’ll give you another broad hint: Women are not entitled to do that shit.

I’ve never assumed that any man, not even one near and dear to me, has ever showered, shaved, combed his hair or put on clean clothes expressly for my benefit. And if he told me he did, I would think it odd that he saw fit to emphasize the point. I did not grow up believing that they do any of that just for us. I didn’t grow up believing they HAD to. They don’t owe us anything, except (that obvious pipe dream) equality. And basic respect and consideration. And those are independent of how well-dressed and groomed a guy is. I’ve gotten them from big burly biker types, homeless guys, and dudes just as middle-class as I am. Any man can do it. It’s not rocket science, fellas.

Conversely, I’ve been harassed by all kinds of dudes. Black dudes. White dudes. Boys much younger than me. Classmates at school. Guys a few years older than me at university. Men much older than me. Blue-collar, working-class types. And yes, even men in suits. Older, well-groomed, educated white guys. Guys that, by their appearance, one would think they’d know better. Shockingly, they don’t. And the reason they don’t is that they grew up feeling perfectly entitled to do all that, and more. All straight males, regardless of age, race, religion, or class, have been taught to think they are entitled to OWN a woman, if not a very young girl. It’s never formally stated; it’s just “understood” that this is “the way things are”. It underpins every catcall that ever got yelled. It pervades society at all strata.

Once, I tried to impress upon a classmate at j-school that this was a serious issue. He was from Cyprus. He was Greek. Maybe this is some kind of cultural difference, I thought; maybe that’s why he doesn’t get it. So I explained it long, loud and clear. And he still didn’t get it. He spoke perfect, unaccented English, every bit as good as mine, even though it was a second language for both of us. It couldn’t be a language barrier, that much I knew. Maybe he just needed a more graphic example. So then I whacked him on the ass, hard enough to hurt, to show how demeaning that sort of thing is. He merely grinned over his shoulder at me. God damn him, he liked it. He probably figured I was hitting on him, who had a fiancée waiting back home. What I was trying to teach him totally backfired. He never did catch the lesson, and for all I know, he still hasn’t. Well, DUH. In the back of my mind, I knew that the playing field wasn’t really level. The entitlement wasn’t there for me. But it was for him.

And he was so entitled that he could even feel perfectly free to ignore the fact that he WAS entitled. That’s the really insane part.

Every dude, from the lowly hardhat to the bigwig in the Savile Row suit, is tacitly expected to show dominance on the sexual front. And multiple sexual fronts, at that. Long after his own hormones have begun to decline, he’s still explicitly allowed to do all sorts of things no respectable woman could even dream of getting away with. Why do I get all skeptical whenever anyone talks about “sex-positive” bullshit? Yet another broad hint: It’s the ENTITLEMENT, baby. A middle-aged or elderly woman paying for sex with handsome young men would be laughed at and pitied and held in contempt, no matter how high her social rank. A much older man doing that to pretty young women, no matter how low his social rank? Perfectly fucking normal, because he’s perfectly fucking entitled.

Same goes for older men in politics, church and state alike, policing who gets to have birth control and abortions, and who doesn’t. One would think that since it’s not their bodies, it’s not their issue. But they do think it’s their issue, because our bodies, so they think, are theirs to own and control.

Women’s bodies are treated as public property, to be displayed like objects, and pawed at random, and accorded no respect. To be born female is to put up with a lot of shit from entitled menfolks.

And it starts early.

I first became aware of it around the time I hit puberty, just before my tenth birthday. As soon as my breasts started budding — BAM! — instant sexual harassment. Just add hormones. And it had me hunching, slouching, crossing my arms, and wearing baggy, weather-inappropriate clothing for years in an effort to fend it all off. It didn’t work. It’s absolutely amazing how boobs, even ones barely bigger than a little kid’s mosquito bites, will attract unwanted attention. If a girl’s nipples poke up against her top, they will get gawked at, grabbed at, and twiddled like radio knobs. Failing that, there’s always that other, more juvenile statement of entitlement and ownership: the snapping of the bra strap. (Which, boys take note, does nothing to make a girl want you. Oh, she’ll notice you, all right, but not in a good way. Just think how you’d feel if she gave you an atomic wedgie or pantsed you in front of the entire class, and you’ll know how she feels about you doing that to her.)

And then we have the pedophiles, who also feel perfectly entitled to molest girls too young for even their first “training” bra. And who bitterly resent the fact that it’s illegal, and that there is any age of consent at all. But at the same time, they are grotesquely turned on by the fillip of doing something so illicit. Some of them are even willing to travel for the privilege of paying for what no one could even pretend was an encounter between consenting equals. I’ve never been approached by one them that I could remember, but then, maybe I was just plain lucky never to have encountered any. And when you’re too young to know what sex is, how can you even tell?

Now, of course, with the ubiquity of the Internet, one can’t get away from them. Or from guys who disingenuously argue that with the onset of puberty, a girl becomes fair game for any grotty thing a man might have in mind. (It’s worth noting that the Taliban thought Malala Yousufzai was fair game for shooting in the head because she was already pubescent.) There are all kinds of guys who, very “rationally” and “logically”, argue that if she’s old enough to bleed, she’s old enough to breed, and that the age of consent should be dropped in favor of “whenever she’s physically mature”. It doesn’t matter if she’s mentally mature or not; her job, it seems, is to be available to all comers, and to submit “willingly” to their advances. What she wants doesn’t matter. Physically developed girl = Total Slut Totally Asking For It. (It’s also worth noting that the average age for first-time prostitutes in North America is not 18 to 21, or even 16-18, it’s 11-14. Not only are girls that age considered “fair game”, they are highly profitable game. And yes, the johns know how old they are, and don’t give a damn that they can’t legally consent. They demand them that age, after all.)

The “old enough to breed” fallacy is never more glaring than in cases of precocious puberty, where girls as young as five (and some even younger!) have exhibited signs, such as breast development and menstruation, that one normally wouldn’t expect to see before age 11 or 12. Five years old is old enough for kindergarten; it is NOT old enough for sex. Never mind if she can already fill a bra. Not even if she’s getting her periods regularly. But it has been known to happen. I’ve lost count of how many such sickening instances I’ve come across. And there is nothing more jarring than seeing a five-year-old girl with adult-size breasts and a huge pregnant belly, who has no way of explaining how it happened. She hasn’t yet learned the words for all her body parts, and has no clear concept of sex, regardless of how “mature” she may outwardly appear to be. To take advantage of her, just because she looks like a miniature adult, is to ignore her right to a full, safe, unmolested childhood. (And again: How many women do you know of who have taken advantage of a precocious little boy’s accelerated puberty? Even Mary Kay Letourneau picked a kid who was of normal pubertal age and development — and if you’ve ever read her story, and know the arch-conservative circumstances of her upbringing, you’ll know just how messed up she is!)

And then again, sometimes you get wingnuts who just infantilize ALL women. Because they have to feel superior to them somehow.

No, there’s no way of getting around the sexist notion that all women, just by virtue of being female, owe something to all men. And that thing is access to their bodies. And accessibility, it seems, is signalled by conforming to the notion that we owe them “pretty”. And that we owe them “ladylike”. And that we owe them a degree of deference and respect which is merely optional when it goes the other way. And that if we don’t smile, and comply, and above all, remain silent, we’re the baddies in the whole fairytale.

We get insulted implicitly whenever we’re told “But you’d be so pretty if you only smiled!” (So, we’re ugly if we don’t? Wow, what a compliment!) We get insulted explicitly if we refuse to smile. We get flamed, insulted and harassed if we refuse to put up with shit on the Internet. Some of us get chased out of our homes by trolls for it. Some of us even get assaulted for it. We go from pretty princess to ugly hag and wicked stepmother combined. And all for just not complying.

Well, fuck that noise. I don’t owe “pretty” to complete strangers, or “ladylike” to anyone who pesters me. No woman does.

I always make a point of learning the “bad” words early in any foreign language I undertake, so that I can pull them out as needed when travelling or talking on the Internets. I can now cuss like a well-travelled sailor in at least half a dozen languages. It even stands me in good stead in my semi-professional capacity as a literary translator; it’s actually gotten me jobs, because it demonstrates full competence in the language in question. And I don’t take kindly to anyone who considers me “fair game” for sexual harassment or assault because I cuss, either.

I do not smile on command; I only smile if I feel like it. Anyone who tries to make me smile against my will, gets an exaggerated version of my resting bitchface.

If you honk your horn or throw a “nice tits” at me, expect to see a one-fingered salute, held high so everyone else can see it too.

If you harass me on the Internet and I can expose your data to hackers and police alike, I damn well will. And even if I can’t do that, I can still mock and ridicule you, and use my right to free speech against you. I hate trolls because they make the world so goddamn fucking ugly.

I don’t owe compliance to any man. I don’t owe you the time of day. And I certainly don’t owe you “pretty”.

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Posted in Fetus Fetishists, If You REALLY Care, Just Pissed Off, Men Who Just Don't Get It, Teh Heterostoopid, The United States of Amnesia, Uppity Wimmin | 2 Comments

The Gazan Ice Bucket Challenge

Posted on August 26, 2014 by Sabina Becker

Palestinian journalist Ayman al-Aloul presents a new variation on the ALS fundraising gimmick. One without water, ice, or even money involved. All you have to do is live in a war zone full of pulverized wreckage, and you too can take part in…

…the Rubble Bucket Challenge.

Solidarity. Are YOU up for it?

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Posted in Angry Pacifist Speaks Her Mind, Gazing on Gaza | Comments Off

And now, for a Very Important Message…

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Sabina Becker

…from a very self-righteously indignant dude:

Uh, dude? That’s not a fedora, that’s a trilby. Get your hats straight! And if you’re that irrationally angry about a silly little hat (which, I note, you’re not wearing very well either — either match it to your suit or GTFO), well…who are you to lecture anyone who makes fun of your “class, not swag” d-bag headgear?

(Also, stop with the frantic in-and-out zooming. You’re making me queasy. Pick a focus and stick to it. And for fuck’s sake, learn to hold your camera horizontally, so you don’t get those idiotic black bars down the side, rookie.)

PS: According to David Futrelle, the above video is comedy. Could have fooled me, but oh well. I was already laughing anyway.

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Posted in Good to Know, Isn't It Ironic?, Men Who Just Don't Get It, The Hardcore Stupid | Comments Off

Music for a Sunday: Like a rock…

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Sabina Becker

…I’m gonna roll over you:

A wonderfully action-packed, underrated Moody Blues classic with slick mid-80s production values that somehow manage not to sound dated, especially when cranked. You can also hear it in The Karate Kid II, in the background of the bar scene where Daniel-san (Ralph Macchio) chops through six rock-hard slabs of ice in one stroke.

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Wankers of the Week: Robin Williams Memorial Edition

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Sabina Becker

Crappy weekend, everyone! This week’s wankapedia is dedicated to the immortal Robin Williams — not because he was a wanker himself (furthest thing from it!), but because he inspired me to spot the ironies and idiocies of the wankers all around me, and to point the finger and laugh out loud. The man was so great that even Koko the talking gorilla mourns him. I will, and DO, miss him terribly. And this week, the finger points at the following, who richly deserve someone to satirize them the way Robin Williams would have:

1. Shepherd Fucking Smith. Much as it pains me to list the guy who came closest to being FUX Snooze’s one voice of reason, I’m doing it this week…because of the simple fact that suicidality is NOT cowardice. Anyone who hasn’t lived with the pain that drives others to the edge has no business pronouncing on it as if it were a simple choice, much less one of moral weakness. I expect better of news anchors, no matter their channel. Shame on you, Shep!

2. Chris Fucking Fields. Trying to score political points off the death of a great actor whose work touched so many of those “real people” you claim to represent is just about as cheap and low as you can go. But by all means, double down. Keep scraping. You’ll get through the bottom of that barrel yet, and before you know it, you’ll be well on your way to China!

3. George Fucking Brandis. You know, if you’re going to surveil the Internets, shouldn’t you also be a regular user of them, familiar with the terminology and technology at hand? And if you’re not — what the hell are you even doing in government, much less overseeing Australian security operations in the capacity of Attorney General?

4. Dennis Fucking Roszell. Nudity on the beach is “terrorism”, now? Where the hell do they hide the weapons — up their bums? And even assuming that some of them are there to hook up (which is actually against most nude beaches’ rules) — so what? That’s not terrorism, either!

5. Teresa Fucking Caputo. Real spirit mediums do exist, but they don’t generally go on TV with it (or wear dated, tacky hairdos and Louboutins!). Nor do they make pots of money off the bereaved. As we Wiccans so often say, “silver spoils the gift”.

6. Douglas Fucking Leguin. Yet another “sovereign” shittizen tries to ambush the police. Luckily, they sussed him out and he’s now under arrest. When can we finally start calling these assholes terrorists?

7. Rush Fucking Limbaugh. No, Rusty, Robin Williams did NOT kill himself because he was a “political leftist” who was “never happy”. He died of clinical depression, which is an ailment of the nervous system, not of someone’s politics. And he is a far greater loss to the world than you will ever be, you ignorant fucking Pigman, so SHUT THE FUCK UP. PS: Ha, ha!

8. Randy Fucking Baumgardner. And while we’re on the topic of ignorant fucks, how about this one? He seems to think that the Injuns burned methane-infused water to keep “warm in the wintertime”. Um, no, they didn’t. “Firewater” was just their word for alcohol. And, like fracking chemicals, it was strictly a white man’s poison.

9. Bill Fucking Bennett. Why?

That’s why. All those political donations from the same mining company responsible for Mount Polley must have gotten stuck in his eyes.

10. Enrique Fucking Peña Fucking Nieto. Why the double Fucking? Because that’s how stupid he is for confusing Robin Williams (deceased, brilliant comic actor) with Robbie Williams (still living, British pop singer). And just think, he’s an actual fucking president. ¡México merece mejor!

11. Keith Fucking Ablow. No, Michelle Obama is not fat, and no, she doesn’t need to drop anything…unless maybe it’s a brick on this idiot’s obese head.

12. Gary Fucking Kiehne. Somehow, it’s only fitting that a big prick be photobombed by…what else? A big prick. On a horse. Ha, ha.

13. Jeff Fucking Beltz. WWJD? Somehow, I doubt very much that he’d have hit Mary Magdalene, let alone hard enough to break her glasses.

14. Daryush Fucking Valizadeh. If you ever needed proof that pickup “artists” are fucking idiots when it comes to women, look no further than The Fucking Idiot Also Known as Roosh V. He seems to think that every woman who’s ever lived on her own, worked for a living and attended post-secondary education is some kind of heinous slut. Someone, in short, just like he fancies himself to be…only, in a woman, that’s not good. As if it were any better in a man. And such a skeevy man, at that. PS: RrrrrEEEEOWRrrrrrr! That’s right, Rooshie…get nasty with your fellow misodges of both sexes. Feminists love it when you guys bash each other; it saves us a shitload of work.

15. Gene Fucking Simmons. In case you needed one more reason to despise him, here it is. He wants all you mentally ill suicidal people out there to just kill yourselves. Proper response to someone who says that? YOU FIRST, ASSHOLE.

16. Jonathan Fucking Saenz. Hey, conversion therapy really does work — this anti-gay lobbywank’s wife realized she didn’t have to spend her whole life unhappy because of some dumb dogma, and left him for a woman! Ha, ha.

17. Catherine Fucking Nardi. Why?

That’s why. Cops are killing unarmed black guys, the victimhood is pretty indisputable, the police ARE out of control, and yet somehow, to an old white lady with long yellow teeth, blacks are the “feral” ones. And you wonder why they’re protesting? You can quit wondering now. PS: No, she’s not the top cop’s wife. She’s just some random asshole from Florida. But hey, she wrote that, so she’s still fair game for a listing here.

18. Michael Fucking Sona. After the big federal election theft of 2011, only one person is going to jail — a lowly staffer linked to some crappy robocalls. For a mere 5 years, probably with time off for good behavior. Anyone besides me getting the feeling that it’s My Lai all over again?

19. Graeme Fucking McEachern. Speaking of blasts from the past: Look, a Red Scare! Boogaboogabooga-ahOOGA!!!

20. Michelle Fucking Duggar. For the thousand-millionth time: Trans women are not men. And treating them the same as you would any other women won’t get your daughters sexually abused. On the other hand, I’m not sure that being a Quiverfull home-schooler with an awful mullet hairdo and a stupid “reality” show isn’t a truly heinous form of child abuse, particularly for the eldest daughters.

21. Doree Fucking Lewak. No, catcalls aren’t flattering, sexy or fun. They’re skeevy, skanky, scary, and just plain GROSS. Civilized men don’t do it. Civilized CATS, on the other hand…

22. Richard Fucking Dawkins. Women carrying Down’s Syndrome fetuses are morally obligated to abort and “try again”? Pro-choice FAIL, Dick. Nobody is morally obligated to do anything except support a woman’s right to decide if she’s up for the difficulties of raising a special-needs child…and to support her decision, whichever way it goes. Anything else would be immoral.

23. Jonathan Fucking Koppenhaver. So, the (now-captured) fugitive MMA fighter, who beat and kicked the shit out of his ex-girlfriend (whom he himself dumped) for just hanging out with a male friend, thinks that marriage is worse than what the Nazis did to the Jews? And he’s all whiny on his crappy blog because the world isn’t as amenable to his “Alpha Male shit” as he would like? Congratulations, Menz Rightzers. This one’s all yours. PS: And the same goes for his nasty, ugly, stinking ass barnacles on the tweeter, too.

24. Sunil Fucking Dutta. Holding cops accountable is not grounds for shooting anyone. Citizens not only have a perfect right to record police brutality as it happens, they have a moral duty to do so. And to complain about it, and publish it as widely as they can, so that the police department, if it is honorable, can put a stop to the bad cops. And if you object to the citizenry doing that, what does that make you? An apologist for brutality…right up to and including police-committed MURDER. Good cops don’t go there, bud.

25. Paul Fucking Coakley. If a Black Mass isn’t being celebrated in your church, why should you care what a bunch of silly Satanists are up to, much less lower yourself beneath even their level of silliness? Jesus H. Christ.

26. Rick Fucking Perry. Well, hey howdy! Looks like Crotch Goodhair has got himself in a mess of trouble, now. And he can’t even exercise his gun-nuttery rights, because thanks to his indictment, he no longer has any. Ha, ha!

27. Michael Fucking Pappert. So, it’s the protesters in Ferguson who are the “rabid dogs”? Nuh-unh. They’re not the ones who have all the military hardware, and they’re not the ones frothing at the mouth with xenophobia and racism, either.

28. Tamara Fucking Scott. How the hell do children become “highly trained warriors”, much less an invading army set to take over the US from Mexico? Hell if I know, and hell if she knows, either. But now that she’s dropped this golden turd, who’s gonna try and prove her correct? Bueller?

29. Dan Fucking Page. This one’s a multiple-level wanker: First for interfering with a journalist’s attempt to report what’s going on in Ferguson, and then for his racist rant — which explains a lot, since both the journalist and the protesters he’s out to suppress are black. Oh yeah, and some “equal opportunity” bullshit, too. If I had all night, I’d keep a running tally of the wanks this one’s racking up. Alas, I don’t, so go read the link if you wanna know more.

30. Mark Fucking Driscoll. Well, well. Looks like Hipster Pastor (the Hipstor? I kill me…) is in Limbaugh Land. And a Limbaugh-load of trouble with his own parishioners and church hierarchy, too. Ha, ha.

31. Ronda Fucking Bass. Do only girls commit dress-code violations in schools anymore? It would appear so. Otherwise, there’d be a lot of saggy-pantsed boys getting suspensions too; after all, the sight of a dude’s underwear above his waistband is distracting as hell. So, who’s the skank here again? YOU are. And so’s anyone else who subscribes to these inane, sexist double standards.

32. Martha Fucking Dreher. Epic babysitting FAIL. That is all.

33. Daniel Fucking Holtzclaw. Well, here’s a switcheroo in a week replete with racist cops: How about a SEXIST one, who raped at least six women on the job? Yeah, they exist too. How nice!

34. Gary Fucking McCoy. Nobody is “looting” in memory of Mike Brown. And 60-inch plasma TVs are fucking passé. But thanks a lot for your racist toon; it tells the world all it needs to know about what kind of person YOU are. And that person is an asshole with a shitty body of work, who shouldn’t have a publishing platform anymore.

35. David Fucking Horowitz. Isn’t it rich how far Davey has come since his days as a white poser with the Black Panthers? Yes, it is. And he’s still making bank off his own racism, too. Time to pull the plug on the money machine, folks.

36. Mitsutoki Fucking Shigeta. If you thought the Octomom was not mentally fit to become a parent, wait till you meet this dude. He’s been dubbed a “baby factory” because he’s spreading his seed around with reckless abandon. He’s already churned out 16 babies via surrogates, including four sets of twins. And those are just the ones we know about. His ambition is to keep ’em coming (even freezing his sperm for future use), so that they’ll vote for him in some future election. Somehow, I doubt that’s going to happen. He doesn’t exactly sound like a loving parent, much less a viable political candidate.

37. Steve Fucking King. So, all the Missouri “rioters” are “of the same continental origin”, but racial profiling isn’t a problem? Um, yeah. Riiiight. And in other news, all the thugs doing the real oppressing and terrorizing down there have the same continental origins, too. But they’re NOT black, so they won’t get more than a slap on the wrist at the very most. See how that works?

38. William Fucking McDaniel. Surprise! Strippers aren’t prostitutes. It’s not their JOB to have sex with you. It doesn’t matter what you paid for the privilege, you don’t get to call the cops on a woman who won’t put out. But thanks for showing just what a prize idiot a boner can make of a man. (And to the club owners: Why DO you have those fucking “VIP” and “champagne” back rooms, anyway? If you’re not running brothels, you shouldn’t act like you are.)

39. Joshua Fucking Delong. Because it wouldn’t be a wankapedia without Florida Man, here you all go. This one left his kids in the car while he went drinking, and wound up getting the shit beaten out of him for it…by the other drinkers. You know you’re a real wanker when THAT happens.

40. Jim Fucking Hagedorn. So, female politicians are all “undeserving bimbos in tennis shoes”? Gee, Mr. Conservative, you’re a real fucking charmer yourself.

And finally, to all the fucking white shitpiles in Ferguson and elsewhere who are rallying around their racist, killer cops. Yes, you are indeed all Darren Fucking Wilson. The question is, why would you want to be the worst man in town — not only a racist, but a liar and a chickenshit coward who won’t even show his face, probably because he didn’t sustain the injuries he claims to have received from the black kid he killed for no good fucking reason at all? You dumbfucks think you live in fear? Try being BLACK in a town with all white cops.

And oh yeah, your “reasons” and justifications for the fucked-up situation you’re in don’t cut any ice with me, either. It’s 2014. The Civil War is over by more than a century and a half. The South LOST. The civil-rights movement WON. It’s been sixty years since Jim Crow. There are no more fucking excuses for any of this. Yet you’re still making them. At long last, have you assholes no goddamn SHAME? PS: Ha, ha.

Good night, and get fucked!

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Lebensborn, Israeli style?

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Sabina Becker

Nazi officers overseeing the baptism of a baby of the Lebensborn program. Germany, 1936. Photographer unknown. Source: German Bundesarchiv, via Wikimedia Commons.

That not-so-fine line between “Never Again” and “It’s not fascism when WE do it!” just got blurred yet again. This time, it’s by Israeli sperm-bank users, who are unconsciously copying a particularly dark chapter in German history:

Whereas the norm for women has usually been to find an intelligent Israeli male who’s also, as our love columnist Andria Kaplan would say, “tall, dark and handsome,” an Israeli sperm bank has noted that the new trend is for sperm donated by Israeli combat soldiers, former or present.

While having been active in the IDF seems to be the requisite, you get bonus points if you’ve served in a combat unit.

Ynet reported the news Sunday, after Rambam Medical Center noted the increase in requests for samples from IDF soldiers from women seeking insemination treatment.

“Women build for themselves an ideal profile and picture of who the future father of their children will be,” said Dina Amnipour, Director at the Ramban sperm bank laboratory.

That’s courtesy of the totally-not-ironically named Shalom Life (shalom means peace in Hebrew, remember?), which also celebrates the IDF’s totally-not-indiscriminate killing of Gaza’s Palestinian civilians, fully a quarter of them children. (I’ve totally not got my tongue planted firmly in cheek, here.)

Now, from the Jewish Virtual Library, a reality check, and a reminder of what this all reminds ME of:

“Lebensborn” translates to “wellspring of life” or “fountain or life.” The Lebensborn project was one of most secret and terrifying Nazi projects. Heinrich Himmler founded the Lebensborn project on December 12, 1935, the same year the Nuremberg Laws outlawed intermarriage with Jews and others who were deemed inferior. For decades, Germany’s birthrate was decreasing. Himmler’s goal was to reverse the decline and increase the Germanic/Nordic population of Germany to 120 million. Himmler encouraged SS and Wermacht officers to have children with Aryan women. He believed Lebensborn children would grow up to lead a Nazi-Aryan nation.

The purpose of this society (Registered Society Lebensborn – Lebensborn Eingetragener Verein) was to offer to young girls who were deemed “racially pure” the possibility to give birth to a child in secret. The child was then given to the SS organization which took charge in the child’s education and adoption. Both mother and father needed to pass a “racial purity” test. Blond hair and blue eyes were preferred, and family lineage had to be traced back at least three generations. Of all the women who applied, only 40 percent passed the racial purity test and were granted admission to the Lebensborn program. The majority of mothers were unmarried, 57.6 percent until 1939, and about 70 percent by 1940.

In the beginning, the Lebensborn were taken to SS nurseries. But in order to create a “super-race,” the SS transformed these nurseries into “meeting places” for “racially pure” German women who wanted to meet and have children with SS officers. The children born in the Lebensborn nurseries were then taken by the SS. Lebensborn provided support for expectant mothers, we or unwed, by providing a home and the means to have their children in safety and comfort.

It’s worth noting that this hush-hush program was condemned, and that it ultimately failed, on the grounds of immorality. Not because eugenics was in and of itself immoral (it would take a few more decades for THAT unsavory truth to finally dawn on the world), but because this program overtly encouraged unmarried women to have sex, typically with married men. The men in question were all selected from the ranks of the Nazi military hierarchy; fanaticism and “correct” physical traits were the selection criteria. The result was a spate of illicit affairs that created embarrassment for the men’s existing families, while leaving the other women and their children in poverty and disgrace, with no place else to turn, when the war ended.

Anni-Frid Lyngstad, better known as Frida of ABBA fame, was one of the unhappy children of that program. Her mother became pregnant by a married German army officer in Norway during the dying days of the war. Frida and her mother faced years of shame, and finally had to move to Sweden, as a result of all the cruel gossip and post-war revanchism. (It’s also worth noting that Frida, with her beautiful dark auburn hair, does NOT fit the Nazi ideal of an “Aryan” Nordic blonde. Nor, for that matter, do most Germans, including myself.)

Sperm banks were not yet a thing in the 1930s, if only because the technology to run them had yet to be developed. But if they had been, then the “immorality” question could have been skirted with ease, all in the interests of developing a super-race of super-soldiers for the Thousand-Year Reich. It probably wouldn’t even have mattered if the mothers were complete virgins. In fact, knowing how purity-obsessed the Nazi ideologues were, those prospective Blessed Virgins would likely have been the most highly prized breeders of all.

Just one more thing to think about when you blindly praise the morality of The Most Moral Army in the World™.

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