Wednesday Reads: But we are Sicilians, and we are not cold-blooded.
Posted: May 28, 2014 Filed under: Gun Control, misogyny, morning reads, Rape Culture, Real Life Horror, Religious Conscience, religious extremists, Reproductive Health, Reproductive Rights, Republican politics, right wing hate grouups, Vagina, Violence against women, War on Women, We are so F'd, Women's Healthcare, Women's Rights | Tags: Calhoun High School Georgia, Ellijay Georgia Calhoun High Prom Rape, Southeast Whitfield High School Georgia 61 Comments
Good Morning
Oh, as I write this I am watching the 1955 film, The Rose Tattoo, starring Anna Magnani.
It is fantastic…they do not play it very often on TCM, I’d forgotten how good it was.
You can see the entire film at the link below.
What dialogue there is in this play written by Tennessee Williams.
Take these couple of lines:
Yes…that is so true. There is so many other lines that are spot on in the play/film. Check out this review from the New York Times published December 13, 1955. Movie Review – The Rose Tattoo – Anna Magnani Triumphs in ‘Rose Tattoo’; Film Version of Play by Williams Opens Italian Star and Burt Lancaster Superb
THAT fine Italian actress Anna Magnani, whom American audiences know best from such fine Italian films as “Open City” and “The Miracle,” has a triumphant field day in her first Hollywood and English-speaking film. It is “The Rose Tatoo,” from the play of Tennessee Williams. It opened at the Astor last night.
They say that Mr. Williams wrote the play with Miss Magnani in mind. Her performance would indicate it, for she fits the role—or it fits her—like skin. As the robust Italian-born widow of a truck driver in an American Gulf Coast town, where she baffles her friends with her endless mourning and her Spartan watchfulness over her teen-age daughter who is ripe for love, she splays on the screen a warm, full-bodied, tragi-comic character. And she is grandly assisted by Burt Lancaster in the second lead—and the second half—of the film.
Note well that Mr. Lancaster does not appear until the tale is nigh half told. This has particular significance in the pattern of the film. For the first half of it is a somber and sometimes even morbid account of a woman’s idolization of a dead husband who, everyone but she seems to know was unfaithful to her. And because Miss Magnani is so ardent and intense in conveying the bleakness of this grief, this whole segment of the picture has a curious oppressiveness, which is barely lightened by the squawling and brawling that she either excites or engineers.
The review continues,
Let us be candid about it: there is a great deal more happening inside the widow’s psychological frame than either she understands or Mr. Williams has bothered to analyze in the play or film. It is clear that she has a strong sex complex which stems from a lot of possible things, including her deep religious training. This is not discussed and barely hinted on the screen. Thus one must make one’s own decision about the character’s complete validity and the logic of her eventual conversion to a natural life and the acceptance of her daughter’s love affair.
But, logical or not, Miss Magnani makes the change from dismal grief to booming joy such a spectrum of emotional alterations and personality eccentricities that—well, who cares! She overwhelms all objectivity with the rush of her subjective force. From the moment she and her new acquaintance get together for a good old-fashioned weep (for no particular reason except that they are both emotional), and then go on to obvious courting in a clumsy, explosive, guarded way. Miss Magnani sweeps most everything before her. And what she misses Mr. Lancaster picks up.
The exquisiteness of these two as sheer performers—just for instance, the authority with which she claps her hand to her ample bosom or he snags a runaway goat—would dominate the picture, if the rest of the cast were not so good and Daniel Mann as the director did not hold them under tingling, taut control. Marisa Pavan as the sensitive, nubile daughter; Ben Cooper as the decent sailor whom she craves; Virginia Grey as a tawdry ex-mistress and Sandro Giglio as a gentle priest head a group of supporting players that gives this picture—much of which was shot in Key West—a quality of utter authenticity. Producer Hal Wallis has afforded it the best.
It almost makes me want to get a rose tattoo on my chest. 😉
So today the post will feature pictures from the film…enjoy them.
First up, this link that I posted in the comments the other day. It is a “most excellent” op/ed written by Lauren Jones on the ongoing rape investigation of a Calhoun High School student. GUEST COLUMN: On the R-word
I’ve heard my share of information regarding the alleged perpetrators in this case, and I don’t care to repeat it here. But I will say this: No means no, and wrong is wrong. I don’t think any sexual act that ended up with a young lady going to the hospital was consensual.
And I don’t care whether the alleged perpetrator or perpetrators are star athletes, straight A students, or even carry little old ladies’ grocery bags for them; they deserve justice. They deserve a fair trial. And if the allegations are true, every single person involved needs counseling and support. In order for any kind of abuser to change, he or she must recognize that within themselves is someone who did something wrong and needs help.
I can’t imagine the gravity of what this young lady will have to go through in the years to come. But as a survivor of sexual assault, I know a little about the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I know what it is like to be at the mall or grocery store and see the back of someone’s head and think “Oh God, it’s him,” and suffer a panic attack, even if the person I saw is a complete stranger. I know the anxiety, the humiliation, the fear. The self-blaming reinforced by the blaming of others. It takes years of counseling, and you never get over it. Like the loss of a loved one, you learn to manage it.
I’m angry. I’m sad. I know I’m not alone in that. This young woman did not ask for what happened to her. And but for the choices of a handful of young men, this lady could have gone home that night, breathless from dancing, slightly buzzed and excited about her upcoming graduation. She could have taken a few aspirin and downed a glass of water to cut the hangover in two. Instead, she got pain medicine from an IV that night.
As a community we have to stand behind her and support her, and not sweep this under the rug. RAINN reports that 60 percent of sexual assaults are never reported and 97 percent of rapists never spend a day in jail. So I challenge this community to raise their voices, and educate themselves and their children about sexual violence.
This has to stop.
What a challenge…
It needed to be front paged, so if you missed it, please go and take a look at it now.
Funny that Lauren Jones ends her article very much like another article I will quote from below. But more on that connection later. Just put that little tidbit in the back of your mind.
**Update**
Okay, there is new Calhoun High School Post Prom Rape Case news!
The Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office will host a press conference today at 2 p.m. to talk about the suspects in the alleged rape that occurred at a cabin in Elijay after the Calhoun High School Prom. The sheriff’s office will discuss the charges that will be received, according to Gilmer County Captain Copeland.
**Update 2**
Finally, you have no idea how relieved I am:
Three Calhoun High School students charged in alleged after-prom rape | Times Free Press
Three Calhoun High School students will turn themselves in today for their roles in an alleged rape that occurred at a post-prom party two weeks ago.
The Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office has issued warrants for Fields Chapman, Andrew Haynes and Avery Johnson, charging the three men with aggravated sexual battery and underage consumption.
Lawyers for the three men did not return calls seeking comment this morning.
Recent Southeast Whitfield High graduate not charged in rape investigation » Local News »
A recent Southeast Whitfield High School graduate is not among three men charged with the sexual assault of a woman at an alcohol-fueled post-prom party in Ellijay earlier this month.
Fields Chapman, 609 Shenandoah Drive, Andrew Haynes, 263 Thornwood Drive, and Damon Avery Johnson, 321 Doubletree Drive, all 18 and 2014 graduates of Calhoun High School, were each charged by the Gilmer County’s Sheriff’s Office with one count of aggravated sexual assault and one count of possession of alcohol by a minor.
Rhett Harper, the former Southeast Whitfield student who was at the party, was not charged.
Sam Sanders, Harper’s Dalton-based attorney, told The Daily Citizen last week that Harper was only a witness in the case and was no longer a suspect.
The Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office incident report from May 11 lists 16 Calhoun High students — including the three charged — and Harper. Chapman, Haynes, Johnson and Harper were listed as suspects in the rape investigation. Sanders said Harper was at the party, but “did not participate in any sexual assault whatsoever.”
My guess is that Harper gave some up some information in return for not being charged. But that is pure speculation on my part, as nothing has been confirmed from the sheriff office…
News conference later today. Will update you at that time.
Yes, I’ve become obsessed with this case. And like a moth to the flame, the comments at various fora threads or local Calhoun websites suck me in…one thing is certain, these remarks are perfect examples of that hashtag that has made the twitterverse buzz lately. From Will Bunch at Philly.com:
#YesAllWomen: Feminism has its ‘Birmingham moment’
One of the most positive and uplifting characteristics of humans is our ability to take an unspeakable tragedy and not wallow in the despair that it creates, but channel that anger and sadness into something positive that benefits all of us, going forward.
For example, it happened in America in 1963. For years, the moral arc of the struggle for civil rights across the Deep South was bending toward justice…in slow motion. Anger over the Emmett Till case, the resilience of Dr. Martin Luther King and the Montgomery bus boycott, the courage of the Freedom Riders and marchers who faced fire hoses in Birmingham did put government-sanctioned racism on the front burner, and there were some impressive wins. But America — especially on the federal level — was still falling woefully short in ending segregation and other forms of sanctioned discrimination.
On September 15, 1963, in Birmingham, Ala., four monsters associated with the racist Ku Klux Klan placed a dynamite bomb against the 16th Street Baptist Church — a staging area for civil rights protests. Four adolescent girls — Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley — were murdered in the bomb blast. The shock of losing four innocent young girls to adult hatred caused many Americans to see the civil rights struggle in a new light, to truly focus on the broader injustice perpetrated against citizens because of the color of their skin. Within two years, Congress moved swiftly to pass both the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, ending an ugly chapter in our history.
I thought about Birmingham this weekend as I heard the grim, sickening news out of Southern California, about how a young man filled with misogynistic rage and inhuman hatred went on a murder spree that claimed six lives…and also as I watched the remarkable reaction that unfolded over the next four days. The news that the killer had posted anti-women rants on YouTube and in a lengthy manifesto, that he’d sworn to slaughter women for spurning his sexual advances and that he subscribed to something called the Men’s Rights Movement caused thousands of women to come out in the open and declare to anyone who will listen that enough is enough.
Oh, but then we here at the blog have had enough of this shit years ago, eh? Attytood goes on to say,
…the sad thing is that the misogyny and sexual objectification of women that motivated him was just extreme manifestation of something far too common. The uncomfortable truth is that we live In a nation where one out of five women are raped or sexually assaulted, millions more are beaten or roughed up by a man, and ALL WOMEN experience various forms of sexual harassment, frequently to the point of fearing for their own safety.
Yes, all women.
On Twitter, the hashtag #YesAllWomen was born as a response to some who were eager to point that the killer (I try to not to glorify mass murderers here by mentioning their names, if possible) does not represent all men (in Twitterese, #NotAllMen.) Of course, not all men are killers, not all men are chauvinist pigs…but that’s not the point. All women in America experience misogyny, harassment, sexual objectification, or forms of abuse that are far worse.
Yes, all women. Say what you will about “hashtag activism” — I understand the quibbles — but you can’t start a national conversation without the first 140 characters. The truths that flew across cyberspace this weekend were both revealing and profoundly depressing. Women openly sharing their breakups in a public coffee shop because of fears over violence, the times they were threatened with physical assault, the non-stop harassment from men who were drunk, or worse.
Did you know that over a million #yesALLwomen tags had been posted in just two days? But here is the disgusting part of this news, the women who started this twitter hashtag activism had to shut down their twitter accounts because of harassment.
Read more about this at the link.
All I can say is those “men’s rights” dickwads post hateful kind of remarks on those Calhoun commentaries. (I can’t really say “dickwads” because there are women who do that shit too. Is cunt to harsh a word? Yes, I am that mad. And if you are offended by that, I direct you to the title of this post and remind you that I am a Sicilian.)
It pisses me off. What the hell is wrong with these people? Young adults committed a crime and they must be charged and arrested and tried. They should not be allowed to get away with this horrible act. It is both disgusting and disturbing to see the many comments blaming the victim, making pathetic excuses for the ones who raped her, and passing the whole incident off as something that got out of control.
So of the folks talk about the fact that Calhoun high school has a “wealthy” student body. That the football team is an elite group. That may be but after thinking about all the crap that has happened lately, especially when you see the comments from the sheriffs office…I don’t think the word “elite” is the correct one to use. I say the word should be Entitled. It is an attitude we see all around us, these “suspects” felt entitled to abuse their victim in the vicious manner they did. Just as they feel entitled to get away with it. The same way the sheriff felt entitled to cast the evening the rape happened as only a party with alcohol that got a “little out of hand.” Seriously, he said that remember?
If you have time, or the stomach for it, read this shit: These commentators feel entitled to post derogatory things about the victim, because she is a woman and they have misogynistic issues from the get go…but also it goes along the line that women are subservient to men, period.
When you take a look at the situation in California, with the mass shooting at Isla Vista just this weekend and Google the pick up artist culture, it is disturbing as hell.(PAU Hate, PAU lingo) These men are f*cked up. Their views are exactly like some of the ones expressed in those threads.
The community needs to support the victim, they need to press the authorities for arrests. Instead many of these assholes are spending their time spreading the hate against women that Attytood ended his piece with:
Friday’s senselessness in Santa Barbara took things to a a new level. It was — sadly, yet of necessity — a “Birmingham moment” for female empowerment in America. What’s less clear, though, is what comes next, of how to translate anger and emotion into social change. The strong chance of electing a female president in 2016 is a positive — but remember that electing a black president in 2008 seems to have done more to provoke racism than to end it.
There are certainly areas — equal pay, sick leave — where government can play a greater role, but the deeper issues cut not just across the media — yes, the media — business and universities, but also the human spirit. Ending hate against women will require real work from all of us.
#YesAllPeople.
Much like the challenge that Lauren puts up in her op/ed isn’t it?
You know, when up against the kind of hate like this…that human spirit gets trampled down powerfully low. I am willing to do the work but dammit, sometimes all I feel is defeated and that there is no chance in hell anything will change for the better.
Now the rest of the links in dump fashion because I went on a rant:
Separatists remain resolute in Ukraine after elections and bombardments | Al Jazeera America
Did the SEC just drop a big hint about pay-to-play prosecutions? | PandoDaily
Take a look at the picture on this link: Indigenous people, Brazilia police clash | Al Jazeera America
Christian woman on Sudanese death row gives birth | Al Jazeera America
Robert De Niro Opens Up About His Gay Father – Hollywood Reporter
The World’s Most Content (and Miserable) Countries – 24/7 Wall St.
And that is all I got. It is 5:27 in the morning…I’ve got to get the soup started, making Ropa Veja today.
It is a Spanish dish that takes hours and hours. The soup alone will not be done until 3 or 4 pm…Anyway, y’all have a good day.
Leave some links in the comments, and tell us how you are feeling today.
Ciao!
peej
Carissa
dakinikat
ecocatwoman
grayslady
mablue2
NW Luna
peggysue22
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Wow, crickets today…I guess that c-word was too strong. lol
I’m here. I’m gradually packing the car for my trip to Indiana.
You leave today or tomorrow BB?
Today, as soon as I get ready. I don’t know why it always takes me so long.
I loved your post JJ. You are totally right on from my perspective. I think you and I see these abhorrent acts against women, and the women who excuse those acts, through a similar looking glass, separated only by 30 years of course. :-). It is amazing how resilient and perpetuating those ethnic threads are that run through our veins.
To my mind women who blame other women for sexual violence and the crimes of men make me sick beyond words. NO WORD is strong enough to express my disgust toward women who excuse those acts and try to blame the victim. They are enablers of the highest order and are equally responsible for cultivating a violent, entitled, machismo culture.
Keep up the good work.
Rather than using words that men have created to describe women they loathe (and we all know what they are) we need to make-up our own words to label women who create shields for men who commit violent acts against women. Perhaps we should have a word contest.
Here’s a few:
mansfodder.
manscuser
mansucker
I think I’ve got it.
Women who defend and excuse misogyny and violence against women are:
Codpieces
cod·piece
noun
a pouch, especially a conspicuous and decorative one, attached to a man’s breeches or close-fitting hose to cover the genitals, worn in the 15th and 16th centuries.
I agree.
I hate that word, honestly. But it is the most foul thing I can think of and those women we are talking about here…they are the absolute worst. Those other suggestions are just to pleasant sounding to me. Crude and vile is how these women see and treat other women. I cannot think of anything worse in the world…then a sister who turns against another sister, especially one who has been violated in such a horrific way. To use a term that is deemed to be a male chauvinistic derogatory “put down” seems to me a good use of irony and sarcastic “in your face” answer to these bitches. And that also goes for the girls who were at the party and saw what was going on and did nothing to stop it…including the one who supposedly “helped” get the victim drugged.
I can’t excuse my strong feelings about this. And like I said I am sorry if it offended anyone, but it really is the worst word I can think of….that is the truth.
Don’t apologize girl. We’ve all had head on collisions with the Codpieces (many of us since before and ever since Roe v. Wade) and we understand your anger well. I had an ongoing internet blog battle with a woman who dared to call herself a feminist and then tried to convince me that “real feminists” would defend those female politicians and political candidates that didn’t support Choice or reproductive freedom or LGBT rights. When she couldn’t convince me that I should abandon my bleeding heart liberal ideology and support her right-wing-nut anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-woman female candidates, she finally told me “Fuck You” and I was HAPPY!!! Mission Accomplished 🙂
Of course you have strong feelings! And I’m right there beside you.
Righteous rant JJ. Righteous all the way!
Maya Angelou had died.
http://triadnc.twcnews.com/content/news/708139/poet–educator-and-civil-rights-advocate-dr–maya-angelou–86–dies
Oh no!
I just heard, tears for a lovely woman. “With Hope Good Morning”
That’s a great loss.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2014/05/28/maya-angelou-dies-at-age-86/9663497/
She lived a good, honorable life. That’s the best any of us can hope for.
Amen to that.
tpm: Obama Remembers Maya Angelou: ‘One Of The Brightest Lights Of Our Time’
A very good statement on her passing.
Okay, there is new Calhoun High Rape Case news!
Gilmer County to hold press conference to discuss suspects and charges concerning alleged rape after Calhoun High School prom – : Police/Fire
Charges? Let’s hope so!
Oh god I know…
I’d like to see that live………..thank you JJ, this is way overdue.
Oh wow, I love Burt Lancaster! thanks for the young photos of him.
Love the 1950’s Freudian review too.
😉
I wonder if there will be another series of movie quotes: NBC News – Breaking News & Top Stories – Latest World, US & Local News
Inside the Mind of
Edward Snowden
In a wide-ranging and revealing interview, Brian Williams talks with former NSA contractor Edward Snowden about the global impact and debate sparked by his revelations.
He’s so grandiose and narcissistic. He was “at the top” in the CIA, NSA, and DIA?? What the hell is he talking about?
He sounds a bit delusional to me. If he’s so damned smart and important why was he so surprised to find out that spies, SPY? And spies spy on U.S. Citizens because maybe, just maybe there are U.S. Citizens who are dangerous enough to harm other U.S. Citizens. Or maybe, just maybe there are U.S. Citizens who join forces with those countries and those groups that want to harm U.S. Citizens…….You think?
Again, I don’t care if some security agency is gathering data, whether it is internet, landline, cellphone, that may or may not be examined at a later time. There is no doubt in my mind that every government on the planet that is capable of data mining is doing the same thing. And there’s no doubt in my mind that there are hackers out there who are selling the fruits of their labors to those who would harm us The argument about whether it is right or wrong, necessary or unnecessary isn’t even relevant, there are people among us who intend to do us harm and if tracking micro data can help us to avoid another disaster then so be it. To me it’s the equivalent of instituting meaningful gun laws. There has to be some barriers erected between those of us who are law abiding and those of us who are a bit whacked. The last time I checked, you can’t tell by looking who is and who isn’t capable of committing an atrocity. Consequently the covert agencies do what they do. Sometimes they go overboard, but I for one am damned glad they are there. If not for them the Bundy Ranch people and the Shit-for-brains people would be crawling out of the woodwork.
If he was at the “top”, then I am the Tsar of all the Russias. 🙂
ROTFL.
And John Kerry Kicked Snowden’s ass.
John Kerry Accuses Edward Snowden of Helping Terrorists, Endangering Lives
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/05/john-kerry-accuses-edward-snowden-of-helping-terrorists-endangering-lives/
JJ, my grandma’s kitchen was her paradise. Like her, my mother learned to cook on the wood stove, and then the gas range, and then electric. I don’t think she ever liked cooking with electricity. She like to control the fire. I learned my skills from her, and like her I became a great bargain hunter when it came to foods. You remind me of the shopping she would do, all the fruits and vegetables, breads, and first class meats. Then spending her day cooking for seven kids. Some days we had plenty, some days little, and after my father left, some days none. This past Saturday, a young lady with two babies, brought me over a loaf of freshly baked bread, warm from the oven. It sure was delicious, and the next day I did something I hadn’t done for years, I toasted a piece, and dipped it in my morning coffee. The way I did when I was a kid, learning to drink hot community coffee in New Orleans. It was delicious. I wish I were at your kitchen table, how do you say “filling up my stomach” in Italian? I know your Ropa Veja would be delicious.
My rose bushes are all in bloom. But my red rose speaks to love, the tender, the passionate, it speaks perfectly of love, forever. Like the beautiful lady who embraces the rose, I know that we will miss Maya Angelou dearly. We will always have her “prose”, and her “sunshine” to help us grow.
that was lovely.
From Huffpost: Alan Alda Discusses Isla Vista Killer: Misogyny A ‘Disease That Needs To Be Cured’
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/27/alan-alda-misogyny_n_5399073.html
Finally, you have no idea how relieved I am:
Three Calhoun High School students charged in alleged after-prom rape | Times Free Press
Recent Southeast Whitfield High graduate not charged in rape investigation » Local News »
My guess is that Harper gave some up some information in return for not being charged. But that is pure speculation on my part, as nothing has been confirmed from the sheriff office…
News conference later today. Will update you at that time.
BREAKING NEWS: Warrants issued in post-prom sexual assault » Local News »
WTVC NewsChannel 9 :: News – Top Stories – Warrants Issued to 3 in Alleged Rape Case
Thank goodness they have been charged, but why not with rape?
Finally. And I hope they weren’t charged only because the story (somewhat) made the news and made it harder to sweep it under the rug.
This is happening in GA and apparently the suspects come from well-healed families. You can almost bet that public scrutiny had a hell of a lot to do with charges being filed. The case of the young girl who was gang raped in Stubenville, OH was almost swept under the rug and if not for the Press & Media would have been. This is happening in colleges all over the country and it seems that the mix of locker room attitudes, drugs and alcohol and a general impression that if a girl drinks to much or if she is unconscious she is “fair game” and that if she is raped she is only “getting what she deserves” is an attitude that is accepted as truth by too many men and shared by some codpiece women, Which was part of JJ’s point in this post. Men and women who understand that RAPE IS A CRIME. That NO MEANS NO. And that an intoxicated or drugged girl is not FAIR GAME, need to speak out in opposition to those who excuse it.
Here is the news conference: WTVC NewsChannel 9 :: News – Top Stories – RAW VIDEO: Full News Conference on Gilmer County Sheriff’s Department News Conference
Gilmer sheriff: Victim received ‘substantial’ injuries in alleged post-prom sexual assault | Times Free Press
3 teens charged in after-prom rape investigation | http://www.wsbtv.com
That is the attitude that will get these kids off…don’t blame the alcohol, these boys made the decision to rape this girl in a vicious sadistic way.
WTVC NewsChannel 9 :: News – Top Stories – Calhoun Residents React To Sexual Assault Arrests; Prayer Rally Scheduled
This watch and do nothing while a woman is tortured and rape really demonstrates that we need to change the laws across this country. The sheriff says “non of the party attendees who knew what was going attempted to stop it. They didn’t want to get involved. At least one person witness the incident.”
That witness is believed to be Rhett Harper. It’s been fifty years since Kitty Genovese was raped and killed in NY city, and those who heard her cries, her screams for help, did nothing they didn’t want to get involved. The young 15 year old girl in Richmond, California was ganged raped and a was also used on her, and lots of people stood by watching, and did nothing. I mean her rape went on for hours.
Sheriff Nicholson in Georgia, knew how long it has taken this investigation (18 days), he didn’t say how long she was raped. This was a violent gang rape, with the use of foreign object. Earlier he referred to his investigation like puzzle, hell it’s more like a horror movie.
I realize that a lot of kids are afraid of retaliation, or the power structures when one snitches. Here we know that the clearly they could have changed things and help stop the rape. They did nothing. We need laws that can affect changes in our culture of rape. Like Mr. Martinez in Santa Barbara said, NOT ONE MORE, time to protect victims of rape with new laws concerning bystanders who do nothing. It’s most important now.
“That is the attitude that will get these kids off…don’t blame the alcohol, these boys made the decision to rape this girl in a vicious sadistic way.”
I totally agree!!!!! This “blame it on the alcohol” is an old one and one that has been used to excuse men of rape and other actions like wife beating, child abuse and other forms of violence for as long as I can remember. Apparently these 3 guys raped this young woman with some sort of instrument that injured her badly. That is a depraved act. Alcohol doesn’t make people morally depraved who aren’t already capable of committing depraved acts, it just removes the fear of consequence, or as it’s more commonly described, “it loosens a persons inhibitions”. A man that violently assaults a woman while intoxicated has entertained those thoughts while sober.
Well said ANonOMouse – that’s the way it happened with me when I was ganged rape, drugs, a rope, and bloody.
Maya Angelo has died. I was privileged to spend time with her as a young woman. She was profound and compassionate.
Bill Clinton’s statement:
tpm: Widow Of Late GOP Rep. Young Will Challenge Successor — As A Dem
David Jolly will have an opponent in 2016 after all.
I don’t tweet but if I did I would start #BecksaPrick!!! All it took was men who think like Glenn Beck and a few misguided women to intimidate women into shutting up.
I just checked #yesallwomen. It’s still sailing. Good for you WOMEN!!!!! Don’t let the Glenn Beck’s or the Rush Limbaugh’s or the Fox News Gals of the world stop you from speaking your truth. I’m tempted to take a dip in the Twitter pool. .
I keep putting it off but eventually I guess it will be a thing I have to do. Sigh.
Check out this TBogg story…
OMG….These new-era conspiracy theorists are the creepiest, craziest bunch of crackpots on the planet. WTF sort of world do they think we’re living in, The Matrix? They think 300 million people are all experiencing some sort of simultaneous mind control? Seriously how do people live in that counter reality state of existence and function in the real world? They believe the killings in Santa Barbara and Sandy Hook were Psy-ops? And of course they believe “the gays did it” because everyone knows gays & lesbians are trying to take out the USA and control the world from our vantage point at the very tip-top of the totem pole of influence, affluence and sheer numbers. I wonder if the families and associates of these kooks have noticed that they’re Crazy Asses? And these crazy asses are the number 1 reason we NEED the intelligence gathering agencies paying attention to American citizens too.
It’s just batshit insanity!
These same people claim that the Boston bombing was faked and all the people who claim to have been injured were just actors. The blood and injuries were fake. Unreal. Why would the government do something like that anyway? It makes no sense.
They’re certifiable.
Daily Beast: Exclusive: Texas VA Run Like a ‘Crime Syndicate,’ Whistleblower Says
If true, this looks like systemic fraud with the OIG involved. A DOJ investigation would seem to be in order.
AdamSerwer @AdamSerwer 1m
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The things women have to deal with on the daily are insane, and often invisible to men. http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2014/05/_yesallwomen_in_the_wake_of_elliot_rodger_why_it_s_so_hard_for_men_to_recognize.html …
Amazing I was just thinking about all the “bystanders doing nothing”……….this article addresses that.
Raw Story: TX bar ignites outrage with sign: ‘I like my beer like I like my violence: domestic’
Then the bar’s owner found out and was not amused at all. Pretty good ending.
of course you have strong feelings! and i’m right there beside you.