Thursday: Cover Up

Good morning. This cartoon hit me hard. Because this is exactly how I am dealing with the tRump issue. I am literally staying in bed…or in a chair…with the covers…or a little blanket…over my head. And that anxiety in my writing there, is just part of the desperation oozing out. Even now as I write this, I am under my covers. It is like I am trying to self-soothe or bring myself to an animalistic den of sorts…a place of safety.

I am going farther…out there…by the day. And the fact that today is the fifth anniversary of my Ma’s death, doesn’t help.

So bear with me as I get this post out.

This triggered me yesterday:

I only bring it up because Joyce Vance wrote about it last night…and I always like her take on things:

Click on the picture above to read the article.

She also has some views on a new ruling out of Florida:

More on that in the article up top…

Now…the next several instagram stories are pretty tough. I’ve warned you:

Oof! We need a cleanse after that:

Just a few more:

That last one is amazing.

Be safe and take care. This is an open thread.


Sunday Reads: Bitter Bigguns

 

 

I know that I have posted this picture before, but it has special meaning today….

GUNKISS • gunkiss: Her Derby name is “Bomba” I wanna make…

gunkiss:

Her Derby name is “Bomba”

I wanna make a derby comic pretty bad and I might just use her as char, I loved drawing her. *Printing it so I can have it as motivation for the comic*

Many body positive blogs have been reblogging this today making it skyrocket in notes. I just wanna thank you for the comments, the notes and asked I’ve received and welcome to all new followers. I really appreciate it!

I’ve been asked regarding having this pic as a print and t-shirt, etc

You can get merch with this pic here on my Society6 store =)

Again thank you so much ♥⚡!

Innit lovely? She is so fuckingfantastic, I had to buy some “merch” with this roller babe on it…

Ok, that is enough diversion for now, let’s get to the bitterness:

I appreciate Sarah Kendzior more than I can say, but honestly, I do dread her twitter post as well…because she is so spot on. It seems like you can go back through her feed and find just how prescient her threads have been:

In October 2017, U.S. Army Sergeant La David Johnson died in a hail of gunfire while fighting off militants in Niger. Soon after, his widow, Myeshia Johnson, received a call from President Donald Trump. After coldly telling her that her husband “knew what he signed up for,” Trump failed to remember the slain soldier’s name, leaving Johnson shocked and crying.

“I heard him stumbling on trying to remember my husband’s name, and that’s what hurt me the most, because if my husband is out here fighting for our country and he risked his life for our country, why can’t you remember his name?” she said.

As the U.S.’s deranged president threatens to go to war in Syria and possibly beyond, it is worth re-examining how Trump views the troops whose lives he is putting on the line. For all his macho posturing and exhortations about his beloved generals, Trump–a draft dodger who referred to avoiding STDs as “my personal Vietnam”–has long treated veterans and their loved ones with contempt. This contempt is not rooted in an aversion to the military as an institution–Trump bloated the military budget and has been striking the Middle East while threatening North Korea and other states–but an aversion to the concept of service to one’s nation itself.

Serving one’s country is a sacrifice, and sacrifice terrifies Trump. The idea that one would risk oneself–out of love, loyalty, or duty–is alien to him. Sacrifice, to Trump, is a sucker’s bet, a gamble beyond his comprehension–but one he is all too willing to let other Americans make.

[…]

In July 2015, Trump insulted John McCain, who was tortured as a military prisoner in Vietnam. “He’s not a war hero,” Trump scoffed. “I like people who weren’t captured.” The comment shocked the audience, but it is completely in line with Trump’s worldview. What offends Trump about McCain is not that he was captured, but that he was willing to risk being captured–especially for a cause greater than himself.

This is not to say Trump does not thrive on disaster. He began his career profiting off the financial ruin of New York City (“When bad times come, then I’ll get whatever I want,” he told Barbara Walters in the 1980s) and continued to spout this philosophy before his presidential run (“You know what solves it? When the economy crashes, when the country goes to total hell and everything is a disaster. Then you’ll have, you know, you’ll have riots to go back to where we used to be when we were great,” he told FOX News in February 2014.) Trump loves a catastrophe if he is its beneficiary.

[…]

…Trump, with his visceral revulsion at the concept of service, is still the greatest danger. It is Trump whose past has finally caught up with him; it is Trump who stands the most to lose; it is Trump who unilaterally can launch nuclear weapons. Trump has shown that human beings have little inherent value to him. If Trump senses he may have to make a personal sacrifice, he will sacrifice the world instead.

This is a post from April 2018. I think Sarah resent the link today because it makes a point about the latest events from the past week. Even with the news and confirmation that Russia fucked with our election…tRump is still going forward with the planned one on one meeting with his handler Putin. (I mean that with all sincerity.)

 

 

 

Here are some signs from London’s protest of Trump:

 

If you click that link and go directly to the instagram site, you can scroll through about 6 more pictures in that particular post. Or you can just more your arrow up to the middle edge of the picture above, and you should be able to scroll through the images as well….

Brits Don’t Mince Words: The Most Irreverent and Radical Signs From UK’s Historic Anti-Trump Protest

Despite the American corporate media’s efforts to obscure the radical, irreverent, and often obscene signs on display across the United Kingdom on Friday, the disgust hundreds of thousands of Britons feel toward Donald Trump and Trumpism could not be suppressed as they took to the streets en masse to show their opposition to the U.S. president’s hate-filled policies.

Below, we present some of the greatest signs from Friday’s demonstrations, which “drastically exceeded” the expectations of organizers in both size and spirit.

I think that one above is my favorite….

As Trump Visited the U.K., Protestors Marched in Very British Style – The Atlantic

LONDON—The first protestors began assembling on Portland Place, just outside the BBC’s London headquarters, on Friday morning. They carried signs. “FEED HIM TO THE CORGIS,” said one. “TANGERINE TYRANT,” read another. “BOLLOCKS TO TRUMP.” “IKEA HAS BETTER CABINETS.” “TRUMP IS A TOSSER.” “I HAD TO FIX MY PRINTER FOR THIS.”

Demonstrators protest against the visit of U.S. President Donald Trump, in central London on July 13.

 

This image is floating around my Facebook groups:

 

Wow, is that a joke?

Notice the ZTA sticker on the back of the car window? Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity | The official website of ZTA

Here is another picture making the rounds:

 

As far as “jokes” are concerned, these next few links are not jokes:

Michigan judge rules kids don’t have a fundamental right to literacy | TheHill

A Michigan judge ruled last week that children do not have a fundamental right to learn how to read and write.

The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by Public Counsel, the nation’s largest public interest law firm, on behalf of Detroit students that sought to hold state authorities, including Gov. Rick Snyder (R), accountable for what plaintiffs alleged were systemic failures depriving children of their right to literacy, according to the Detroit Free Press.

“I’m shocked,” said Ivy Bailey, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, the newspaper reported. “The message that it sends is that education is not important. And it sends the message that we don’t care if you’re literate or not.”

The suit also sought fixes to crumbling schools that, among other measures, Detroit Public Schools Community District officials reportedly said would amount to more than $500 million.

The state had argued for dismissing the suit, with the city’s lawyers saying local officials are “all too familiar with illiteracy’s far reaching effects.”

“Widespread illiteracy has hampered the City’s efforts to connect Detroiters with good-paying jobs; to fill vacancies on its police force, and to grow its tax base,” said lawyers for the city. “Illiteracy, moreover, has greatly exacerbated the effects of intergenerational poverty in Detroit.”

So, here is the decision:

U.S. District Judge Stephen Murphy III acknowledged the importance of literacy in his ruling on Friday in a 40-page opinion.

“Plainly, literacy — and the opportunity to obtain it — is of incalculable importance,” Murphy wrote. “As plaintiffs point out, voting, participating meaningfully in civic life, and accessing justice require some measure of literacy.”

But he concluded that those points “do not necessarily make access to literacy a fundamental right,” adding that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the past that the importance of service “does not determine whether it must be regarded as fundamental.”

Wait a minute…wasn’t there a fucking PSA campaign called, “Reading is Fundemental.”

Home | RIF.org

Oh no, it was an actual charity, the biggest one no less, founded in 1966!

Reading is Fundamental Logo

Reading Is Fundamental is committed to a literate America by inspiring a passion for reading among all children, providing quality content to make an impact and engaging communities in the solution to give every child the fundamentals for success. As the nation’s largest children’s literacy non-profit, Reading Is Fundamental maximizes every contribution to ensure all children have the ability to read and succeed.

Click the link up top to find out more information and see ways you can get involved in the programs.

In other reading news: South Carolina police object to high-school reading list | Books | The Guardian

A police union in South Carolina has challenged the inclusion of Angie Thomas’s multiple award-winning novel about police brutality, The Hate U Give, on a school’s summer reading list, describing it as “almost an indoctrination of distrust of police”.

The intervention from the Fraternal Order of Police Tri-County Lodge came after Wando high school’s ninth-grade class was asked to read one of eight novels over the summer holidays. Two of the titles upset the police union: The Hate U Give, which follows a teenage girl after she witnesses the shooting of her unarmed best friend by a police officer, and Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely’s All American Boys, which sees a teenage boy trying to overcome his distrust of the police after he is wrongly suspected of shoplifting and then beaten by an officer.

Hey, check out the name of the cop leading the objection, ironic?

In fact, there are eight books on the reading list, only two of which tackle police brutality. Thomas’s book was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, but also includes a character, the main protagonist’s uncle, who is a black police officer and positive role model. It has won prizes including the Waterstones children’s book award, while All American Boys is the recipient of the Walter Dean Myers award for outstanding children’s literature.

You can read more at the link above, here is a screenshot of Blackmon from the local news link:

Then of course….there’s Maude:

Biden: McConnell blocked Russia warning – CNN Video

Former Vice President Joe Biden claims that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) blocked the Obama administration from warning the public about possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Anyway, that is all I have for today.

I am hoping to start working out and skating so that I can build up to becoming fresh meat at a roller derby somewhere. I have already picked my name out, Fanny Bigguns.

“Feel the Girthquake as Fanny Bigguns rolls on by….”

Yeah, my big ass should be able to block pretty darn good. And, it can maybe help get rid of all this angst I’ve been building up over the last few years.

This is an open thread.


Wednesday Reads: Designed in the USA

 

If anyone saw the Rep. Pramila Jayapal interview last night on Chris Hayes…you know the absolute terror and disgust that can make an actual pain in your chest.

If you have not seen this interview, stop what you are doing right now, and watch it.

Rep. Jayapal: Mothers didn’t even get to say bye to kids

It will be very difficult, and the word difficult is not used lightly…but work your way through it. Feel the bitter pain, that chokes up and taste foul in the back of your throat. For that is the essence of a hateful authoritarian dictatorship rule, and when Hannah Arendt spoke of the Banality of Evil….let me tell you, it starts here….

More from Rep. Jayapal:

 

The situation is only getting worse….

https://twitter.com/Green_Footballs/status/1006703532370690048

https://twitter.com/Green_Footballs/status/1006712714754838528

 

https://twitter.com/Shakestweetz/status/1006636622757101568

I don’t know what the fuck the United States is anymore, it sure as hell isn’t a democracy…it has moved on past the point of the “breakdown” period. I truly think we are now at the beginning of the Totalitarian Regime of Trump.

… Arendt notes that loneliness can become both the seedbed and the perilous consequence of the isolation effected by tyrannical regimes:

In isolation, man remains in contact with the world as the human artifice; only when the most elementary form of human creativity, which is the capacity to add something of one’s own to the common world, is destroyed, isolation becomes altogether unbearable… Isolation then becomes loneliness.

[…]

While isolation concerns only the political realm of life, loneliness concerns human life as a whole. Totalitarian government, like all tyrannies, certainly could not exist without destroying the public realm of life, that is, without destroying, by isolating men, their political capacities. But totalitarian domination as a form of government is new in that it is not content with this isolation and destroys private life as well. It bases itself on loneliness, on the experience of not belonging to the world at all, which is among the most radical and desperate experiences of man.

This is why our insistence on belonging, community, and human connection is one of the greatest acts of courage and resistance in the face of oppression…

 

And let’s not forget the fiasco with Canada and our other allies….the isolation that has been the cornerstone of tRump’s rule in office:

What perpetuates such tyrannical regimes, Arendt argues, is manipulation by isolation — something most effectively accomplished by the divisiveness of “us vs. them” narratives. She writes:

Terror can rule absolutely only over men who are isolated against each other… Therefore, one of the primary concerns of all tyrannical government is to bring this isolation about. Isolation may be the beginning of terror; it certainly is its most fertile ground; it always is its result. This isolation is, as it were, pretotalitarian; its hallmark is impotence insofar as power always comes from men acting together…; isolated men are powerless by definition.

 

tRump has aligned the US with ruthless dictators and powerful authoritarian governments…because that is what the US as become.

https://twitter.com/JimPethokoukis/status/1006500209269100544

Some updates on the North Korea Summit:

North Korea state media says Trump agreed to lift sanctions against North | Reuters

North Korean state media said on Wednesday U.S. President Donald Trump had agreed to lift sanctions against the North in addition to providing security guarantees in the summit with the North’s leader, Kim Jong Un, the previous day.

North Korea state media reporting Trump agreed to lift sanctions | TheHill

Both leaders signed an agreement committing the United States to unspecified “security guarantees” in exchange for denuclearization in the Korean Peninsula.

Trump reportedly offered to lift sanctions on the cash-strapped country in addition to those security guarantees, according to Reuters.

North Korea’s KCNA news agency cites Trump making the pledge to lift the economic barriers after saying the U.S. would end joint military exercises with South Korea.

Following the summit, Trump had indicated that sanctions would remainuntil North Korea began the denuclearization process saying of easing sanctions, “I hope it’s going to be soon. At a certain point, I actually look forward to taking them off.”

Reuters did not receive immediate comment from U.S. officials.

The Hill has also reached out to the White House for comment.

Ugh…

In other news, Steve King retweeted a Nazi: GOP lawmaker retweets prominent British neo-Nazi | TheHill

There seems to be a new Fox News/ tRump family connection in the “house” ….STASI: Fox should fire reporter Kimberly Guilfoyle, who can’t possibly stay neutral while dating a Trump kid – NY Daily News

And, tRump is keen on building a tRump Tower in North Korea:

North Korea ‘Could Have The Best Hotels’ On Its Beaches, Trump Raves To Kim | HuffPost

“They have great beaches,” Trump said at a news conference following the talks between the two leaders. “You see that whenever they’re exploding the canons into the ocean. I said look at that view. Wouldn’t that make a great condo beyond that?”

“You could have the best hotels in the world right there. Think of it from a real estate perspective,” Trump continued. “You have South Korea, you have China, and they own the land in the middle. How bad is that? Right? It’s great.”

Despite Trump’s grandiose suggestions, the U.S. State Department recommends against travel to North Korea. Federal authorities advise travelers to draft a will and “funeral wishes” before going.

I think that part about drafting a will and making funeral wishes is a dramatically different message to what the tRump admin is pushing.

Going back to the #Wherearethechildren and #FamiliesBelongTogether issue…

After the Chris Hayes interview, Rep. Jayapal posted this on her Twitter account:

 

Now the funnies…starting with this shit…no it ain’t no joke. This is fucking real:

Why Donald Trump showed Kim Jong-un a movie trailer at the North Korea summit – Axios

 

President Trump’s wooing of Kim Jong-un at the Singapore summit included the iPad showing (in English and Korean) of a “Destiny Pictures” movie trailer, made by the White House’s National Security Council, starring themselves saving the world.

Show less
  • There are dunked basketballs, exploding bombs, flourishing labs and cities — all designed to show Kim what’s possible if he engages with the West, and to warn him darkly of the alternative.
  • From the voiceover: “Only the very few will make decisions or take actions that renew their homeland and change the course of history … Two men. Two leaders. One destiny. … A story about a special moment in time when a man is presented with one chance that may never be repeated. What will he choose?”
  • From Trump’s presser: “I showed it to him … toward the end of the meeting. And I think he loved it. … [W]e had it on a cassette … an iPad.  … [A]bout eight of their representatives were watching it, and I thought they were fascinated.”

Jonathan Swan’s sources help illuminate Trump’s thinking:

  • Trump thinks of his presidency in cinematic terms — with himself as star, producer, director, writer and critic. Now, backed by the resources of the United States government, he’s a studio, too.
  • The president is very aware of his celebrity and how people view him.
  • Kim is a young tyrant obsessed with pop culture.
  • So by literally casting the two of them in a movie, Trump’s was celebritizing the summit, and aiming at Kim’s sweet spot.

The White House is very proud of the video: Vice President Pence showed it at yesterday’s weekly Senate Republican luncheon.

  • Garrett Marquis, National Security Council spokesman: “The video was created by the NSC to help the President demonstrate the benefits of complete denuclearization, and a vision of a peaceful and prosperous Korean Peninsula.”

And if you want to see the video…just go to the White House facebook page..yeah, can you believe this shit?

 

06/13/2018 Cartoon by Nick Anderson

Cartoon by Nick Anderson -

Exactly….yes to this one Nick Anderson!

 

06/13/2018 Cartoon by Nate Beeler

Cartoon by Nate Beeler -

06/12/2018 Cartoon by Nate Beeler

Cartoon by Nate Beeler -

06/12/2018 Cartoon by Signe Wilkinson

Cartoon by Signe Wilkinson -

Uh, that one from Signe is spot on.

 

Nick Anderson cartoon: 06/12/2018 Cartoon by Nick Anderson

Cartoon by Nick Anderson - Nick Anderson cartoon

The Handshake: 06/13/2018 Cartoon by Adam Zyglis

Cartoon by Adam Zyglis - The Handshake

Neighbors to the North: 06/12/2018 Cartoon by Adam Zyglis

Cartoon by Adam Zyglis - Neighbors to the North

G-7 Summit: 06/10/2018 Cartoon by Adam Zyglis

Cartoon by Adam Zyglis - G-7 Summit

06/13/2018 Cartoon by Steve Artley

Cartoon by Steve Artley -

Bruce Plante Cartoon: Trump and Kim Jong Un meet: 06/13/2018 Cartoon by Bruce Plante

Cartoon by Bruce Plante - Bruce Plante Cartoon: Trump and Kim Jong Un meet

Clay Bennett editorial cartoon: 06/13/2018 Cartoon by Clay Bennett

Cartoon by Clay Bennett - Clay Bennett editorial cartoon

06/13/2018 Cartoon by MStreeter

Cartoon by MStreeter -

06/13/2018 Cartoon by Kevin Siers

Cartoon by Kevin Siers -

06/12/2018 Cartoon by Joe Heller

Cartoon by Joe Heller -

06/12/2018 Cartoon by Gustavo Rodriguez

Cartoon by Gustavo Rodriguez -

Allies of Evil: 06/13/2018 Cartoon by Jen Sorensen

Cartoon by Jen Sorensen - Allies of Evil

Rudy: 06/13/2018 Cartoon by James Silk

Cartoon by James Silk - Rudy

The best deals: 06/13/2018 Cartoon by James Silk

Cartoon by James Silk - The best deals

06/12/2018 Cartoon by Matt Wuerker

Cartoon by Matt Wuerker -

U.S.-N.K. SUMMIT: 06/12/2018 Cartoon by Deb Milbrath

Cartoon by Deb Milbrath - U.S.-N.K. SUMMIT

G7 2018: 06/11/2018 Cartoon by Deb Milbrath

Cartoon by Deb Milbrath - G7 2018

Statue of Cruelty: 06/12/2018 Cartoon by Steve Greenberg

Cartoon by Steve Greenberg - Statue of Cruelty

I think the kid should be younger in that cartoon…but that is only my opinion.

 

 

 

And that will about do it for me…

 

One more thing before we go:

See this?

It is from a water bottle I bought at Walmart…see what it says…”Designed in the USA.”  What a fucking joke…

You know what else is funny…Walmart bicycles say they are assembled in the USA…you what to know what that means?

It means that some store employee puts the bike together in the back room, cute? Yeah, all the parts come from somewhere overseas…innit funny?

“Assembled in the USA.”

“Designed in the USA.”

The mutthafukkin joke is on us.

This is an open thread.


Sunday Reads: Time to take Earl on a picnic…again.

You all remember this song and video from the Dixie Chicks? I have the video posted down below, with the lyrics.

I bring old Earl up again because the latest school shooting is another example of this Earl problem that we see every fucking day:

It is that Toxic Masculinity problem I want to address.

Have y’all taken note of this key point…that doesn’t seem to be getting a lot of press:

https://twitter.com/JessicaValenti/status/997647699192270848

https://twitter.com/quinncy/status/997673742858731520

There is always a girl, innit?

Fucking hell.

Mother of victim says alleged Texas school shooter asked her daughter on date – CNN

Sadie Baze says she keeps expecting her daughter to walk into the house, but Shana Fisher was killed Friday, one of 10 people gunned down at her high school.

“She’s never going to walk through the front door again,” Baze said.
Baze told CNN that the alleged shooter, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, had been making advances toward Shana, who just turned 16, for the past four months, asking her to date him.
A week ago, during class, Shana stood up and told Pagourtzis she wouldn’t go out with him, the mother said.
Baze said Pagourtzis previously dated Fisher’s best friend and she had told told her daughter “you don’t date your friend’s exes.”
See, you don’t date your friend’s exes and you wind up getting killed by them…it is devastating. Why is there always some type of domineering asshole male shit behind these violent murders.
The family of 17-year-old Pagourtzis, accused of killing 10 people and wounding 13 others at the Texas high school Friday, issued a statement expressing condolences to the victims.
The family members said they are “as shocked and confused as anyone by these events that occurred.”
Pagourtzis is a “smart, quiet, sweet boy,” they said.
The statement, issued through a law firm, says the family is cooperating with investigators and will make no other public comments until the fact-finding stage is completed.
“While we remain mostly in the dark about the specifics of yesterday’s tragedy, what we have learned from media reports seems incompatible with the boy we love,” they said.
Pagourtzis is being held without bail and is accused of capital murder of multiple people and aggravated assault on a public servant. He has not entered a plea.
Robert Barfield, the attorney for Pagourtzis, said his client is “not doing well” and is “confused.”
The suspect won’t face the death penalty if he is convicted. Under Texas law, offenders who are under age 18 and charged with a capital offense face a maximum punishment of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years, according to Robert Dunham of the Death Penalty Information Center.
Your know what would be my kind of punishment? Pagourtzis getting his balls sliced off with a razor and have them handed to him in a Dixie Cup…let the fucker bleed for a long while.

He is not doing well? Tough shit. Confused? No…he knew what he was doing.

Yesterday, officials identified those killed as teachers Glenda Perkins and Cynthia Tisdale, and students Jared Black, Shana Fisher, Christian Riley Garcia, Aaron Kyle McLeod, Angelique Ramirez, Sabika Sheikh, Christopher Jake Stone and Kimberly Vaughan. Here is some information on the people who were killed:

Victims of Santa Fe High School shooting in Texas identified today – CBS News

Sabika Sheikh 

sabika-sheikh-santa-fe-high-school-shooting-2018-05-18.jpg
 PAKISTAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER HOUSTON/FACEBOOK

The Pakistani Embassy in Washington, D.C., confirmed that exchange student Sabika Sheikh was killed in the shooting. Sabika was an exchange student with YES, which is funded by the U.S. State Department. It provides scholarships for secondary school students from countries with significant Muslim populations to spend one academic year in the U.S.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent his “deepest condolences” to her friends and family in a statement Saturday.

“Sabika’s death and that of the other victims is heartbreaking and will be mourned deeply both here in the United States, and in Pakistan,” Pompeo said.

ddgfxuduwaawjt0.jpg

Shana Fisher’s aunt posted on Twitter that Shana was in the art room at the time of the shooting. She announced her death on Twitter.

Please go to the article to read about the rest of the victims, and remember…the killer said he did not shoot anyone he “liked”…Texas school shooting: 10 killed in Santa Fe High School massacre – The Washington Post

The affidavit states that the 17-year-old told police that “he did not shoot students he did like so he could have his story told.”

Yup, he knew exactly what he was doing. And if an ex-girlfriend was on the victim list, or some girl who did not treat him with the kind of attention he felt was “owed” to him…it would only be appropriate to add Pagourtzis name to the list of mass murderers who killed because they felt their women victims were entitled to them.

https://twitter.com/PolitikMasFina/status/998032779593109504

https://twitter.com/goldietaylor/status/998003702853087233

https://twitter.com/APCentralRegion/status/997995664201175041

https://twitter.com/reetamac/status/998039824429969413

So it appears, this ex-girfriend and the girl who was being harassed by Pagourtzis may be the same person?

Texas school shooter taunted victims during rampage: witnesses

By reading this NY Post article, it doesn’t seem to me that this “kid” had any confusion during the murdering part of his shooting spree…

“My friend Trent was in the classroom and said after [Pagourtzis] would shoot a student he would sing, ‘Another one bites the dust!’” Sante Fe High School sophomore Kole Dixon, 16, told The Post of a classmate, whose last name he asked not be printed.

“He also kept playing a kamikaze song over and over as loud as he could,” on his cellphone, Dixon said of the shooter.

Pagourtzis had the same kamikaze military anthem on his now-deleted YouTube page, Dixon said.

Pagourtzis had earlier bragged of wearing a “Rising Sun” insignia on his black trench coat, explaining it signified “Kamikaze Tactics,” according to a photo and text posted on his also-deleted Facebook page.

New details of the 17-year-old’s sick sense of humor went well beyond the previously reported “Born to Kill” T-shirt he wore, and his taunt of “Surprise!” as he blasted through the walls of an art class supply closet.

“They hear the gunman in the classroom next door yelling Woo Hoo! and firing more shots,” mom Deedra Van Ness said in a Facebook post Friday night, recounting details from her by her daughter Isabelle, who survived unscathed but was covered in blood.

“Surprise, motherf–ker!” the shooter hollered as he fired into the closet wall, instantly killing two of the half-dozen students who had barricaded themselves inside with Isabelle, Van Ness said her daughter told her.

“Are you dead?” he later asked from the other side of the closet.

“Do you think it’s for you?” he also joked, as cell phones left behind in the classroom rang unanswered.

I mean, what else should we expect right?

https://twitter.com/JessicaValenti/status/997998964199870464

The main stream media gives these assholes a pass, continuously, just take a look at this article from the NYTs:

https://twitter.com/hels/status/997565901150056448

This is as “tough” as the thing gets:

Recently, a young man named Alek Minassian drove through Toronto trying to kill people with his van. Ten were killed, and he has been charged with first-degree murder for their deaths, and with attempted murder for 16 people who were injured. Mr. Minassian declared himself to be part of a misogynist group whose members call themselves incels. The term is short for “involuntary celibates,” though the group has evolved into a male supremacist movement made up of people — some celibate, some not — who believe that women should be treated as sexual objects with few rights. Some believe in forced “sexual redistribution,” in which a governing body would intervene in women’s lives to force them into sexual relationships.

Violent attacks are what happens when men do not have partners, Mr. Peterson says, and society needs to work to make sure those men are married.

“He was angry at God because women were rejecting him,” Mr. Peterson says of the Toronto killer. “The cure for that is enforced monogamy. That’s actually why monogamy emerges.”

Mr. Peterson does not pause when he says this. Enforced monogamy is, to him, simply a rational solution. Otherwise women will all only go for the most high-status men, he explains, and that couldn’t make either gender happy in the end.

“Half the men fail,” he says, meaning that they don’t procreate. “And no one cares about the men who fail.”

I laugh, because it is absurd.

“You’re laughing about them,” he says, giving me a disappointed look. “That’s because you’re female.”

But aside from interventions that would redistribute sex, Mr. Peterson is staunchly against what he calls “equality of outcomes,” or efforts to equalize society. He usually calls them pathological or evil.

He agrees that this is inconsistent. But preventing hordes of single men from violence, he believes, is necessary for the stability of society. Enforced monogamy helps neutralize that.

In situations where there is too much mate choice, “a small percentage of the guys have hyper-access to women, and so they don’t form relationships with women,” he said. “And the women hate that.”

Emphasis is mine, of course, but read the whole article and tell me if it isn’t soft on this fucker.

(Take a look at the “Times Picks” comments…they are somewhat forgiving, and not from the feminist POV at all.)

https://twitter.com/CORPORATE_NAME/status/997511789553340416

(But that is the New York Times….)

Fuck you New York Times:

https://twitter.com/adamgoldmanNYT/status/997642905035640832

Back to the Peterson thing real quick…

Fucking Toxic Predatory Men… and their “enforced monogamy.”

I saw this tweet from Mona Eltahawy after I wrote my post above. I am glad I am not the only one who saw the connection.

Those with toxic masculinity …are they stupid dicks or what?

So take a look at that thread…it sounds familiar. I am sure that Dak or Boston Boomer may have brought it up back when the shooting/killing/slaughter occurred. If that is the case it is nothing new…but for those of us who have memories that last as long as a dog’s farts, or say a horse’s fart… it is a reminder. That these domineering men are also crazy assholes.

Let us feed them some black-eyed peas….yeah.

Mary Anne and Wanda were the best of friends
All through their high school days
Both members of the 4H club, both active in the FFA
After graduation
Mary Anne went out lookin’ for a bright new world
Wanda looked all around this town and all she found was Earl
Well, it wasn’t two weeks after she got married that
Wanda started gettin’ abused
She’d put on dark glasses or long sleeved blouses
Or make-up to cover a bruise
Well she finally got the nerve to file for divorce
And she let the law take it from there
But Earl walked right through that restraining order
And put her in intensive care
Right away Mary Anne flew in from Atlanta
On a red eye midnight flight
She held Wanda’s hand as they worked out a plan
And it didn’t take ’em long to decide
That Earl had to die, goodbye Earl
Those black-eyed peas, they tasted alright to me, Earl
You’re feelin’ weak? Why don’t you lay down and sleep, Earl
Ain’t it dark wrapped up in that tarp, Earl
The cops came by to bring Earl in
They searched the house high and low
Then they tipped their hats and said, thank you ladies
If you hear from him let us know
Well, the weeks went by and spring turned to summer
And summer faded into fall
And it turns out he was a missing person who nobody missed at all
So the girls bought some land and a roadside stand
Out on highway 109
They sell Tennessee ham and strawberry jam
And they don’t lose any sleep at night, ’cause
Earl had to die, goodbye Earl
We need a break, let’s go out to the lake, Earl
We’ll pack a lunch, and stuff you in the trunk, Earl
Is that alright? Good! Let’s go for a ride, Earl, hey!
Ooh hey hey hey, ummm hey hey hey, hey hey hey

Songwriters: Dennis Linde
Goodbye Earl lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

So let us get on with the picnic shall we?

https://twitter.com/DearAuntCrabby/status/997863062282604544

Here is the wedding sermon from yesterday, if you have not heard or seen it….

Subversive? Uh…I don’t know. It all seemed like a big fuck you from Harry to the Royals, if you asked me. I still feel the sermon was important, which is why I posted it here. There was a lot of talk about how culturally inclusive the Royal Wedding was, which I think this next tweet touches on perfectly.

And remember:

But back to the Royal Wedding, a few funny tweets:

https://twitter.com/AnandWrites/status/997802626925424640

Just a few more things before we go…

I love that phrase…Empower Girls…Empower Women…Empower Daughters.

My friend Rachana Sunar over in Nepal has been working on building a Kindergarten for disadvantaged children and a center for mothers. With some funds from a Norway free church women’s group. They have a new building with five rooms…she sent me these pictures that I want to share with you:

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This is what she says to me in her email:

Dearest JJ

Our vision is to empower young mothers who have married as a child brides.  Our aim is to teach them life skills and vocational education, parenting skills and give them income opportunity.
So we have got 15 mothers for this year.
We meet them every Saturday to discuss in women righs.
They are so excited to learn.
Hope one day we can have you here taking some classes.
Rachana says the children have been selected with prior home visits, so they are “needy children.”
It is wonderful to see this program building from the ground up. I am working to send some donations her way…one day I would love to take a trip out there and visit. We communicate about once a week and it is extraordinary to have a connection with a woman who is strong and such a positive influence within her community.
That is all for me today, this is an open thread.
BTW, I know we have some non-toxic males who read this blog…and I gotta say…no black-eyed peas for you!

Sunday Reads: London….This is London 


The above tweet found this morning….

I’m not in the mindset to come up with the words today. In fact, I doubt that my brain can wrap itself around any type of news that poured out of London late last night.

When I heard the sirens on the television, my parents were watching live coverage, I did not have to see the screen to know that some attack had taken place…and that the target was somewhere in Great Britain. You can tell by the sound of those sirens, distinctive bitches aren’t they?

Reactions vary as expected:

https://twitter.com/kthopkins/status/871325104285913090

(Incarcerate Deport Repeat? I think that phrase was already used on Veep already you fuckwad. )

Anyway, here’s some more reactions:

And then there is tRump:


** edited to add the screenshot of tRump latest tweets. 

I used to think that I hated certain politicians. Yeah, we all hate Ted Cruz and Santorum. Geez…remember the good old days of Bush 1 and 2?

But…the hate I feel for tRump is so deep, it almost disturbs me. Maybe my defenses are so worn down from what I’ve been dealing with…my mom and the rest. I don’t know…it has become a struggle to look at a news feed or read anything that connects to the outside world.

Every day there is a new onslaught of bad shit. Like a blitz of bad news that keeps proving tRump and all his merry men need to go…but still nothing is happening. I thought the despondent feeling I suffered from during the campaign was something I would not feel again.

Foolishly I thought:  Hey, once the stories started to break…people would finally snap out of it.

I can’t understand how folks who used to be so anti-Russian and all “fuck the commies” has turned into the kind of Putin loving population they are today. (I’m not talking the GOP politicians who obviously have been blackmailed or are otherwise indebted to Russian interests. ) I’m taking about the kind of people in towns like Banjoville who put tRump in office.  These are the people who still think that fluoridation is a conspiracy.

Can someone explain it to me?

Is it as simple as the repurposed neo-Nazi slogan tRump uses…Make America Great Again?

aka

Make America White Again?

Take a look at twitter now, after this latest attack, and see how the people around the world are reacting to tRump’s first Tweet when the news about #LondonBridge broke.  That asshole’s words reflects on our country no matter what anyone says. People around the world are disgusted with tRump. They are disgusted with us too.

Putin is succeeding, the people who want to see the United States fail are also succeeding. Our standing in the world is falling dramatically.

I know this post is about London and I have managed to turn it around into a rant about tRump and how he has brought our nation down.  But there is a point to all this.

Last night, when I heard those sirens on the TV, and knew something “terroristic” had happened in England…it no longer surprised me. I did not feel anything. Not even a hint of concern. I have become desensitized to the violence.

This realization, while staring onto a screen with bright lights from ambulances and cop cars which caused the living room to dance in colors of red and blue, I felt nothing. So what…I felt nothing. And, what’s more…that I was indifferent, meant nothing at all.

This is an open thread. Post whatever you want. I do not have the capacity to care anymore. What good does it do anyway?