Shit that Pissed me Off – 8/5
New York Post Puts a Nude Melania Trump on Their Cover
I hate feeling like Trump has a genuine beef with anyone. I really do.
But this is sexist bullshit at it’s most base. Trump posed for nude pictures several years ago. OK. I get it. That has no bearing on how good her husband will be as a President.
For the record, he would be a shitty President.
His wife, however, made a very good nude model. She was paid well to do it and it was her body. Will the Post be following up with nude pictures of Bill Clinton?
I doubt it. Because in politics, women are judged by appearance more than anything else. I know plenty of people who refer to Hillary Clinton as “the pantsuit” without recognizing the sexism inherent in judging what she chooses to wear.
Does anyone call Trump “the suit and tie?”
No. Because every damn male candidate wears a suit and tie.
I’d like to see him wear a kilt for a couple of weeks, though. Just to see if anyone would start referring to him as “the kilt.”
Now Melania Trump posed for those pictures and knew they existed. I would expect she is intelligent enough to not give a fuck that the Post published them. Unless she should be getting royalties. In which case they’d better pay up.
Knowing Melania was a good model brings up a more important issue, though: it would appear she was a more successful model than Trump has been a businessman. Read More…
Shit that Pissed me Off – 7/29
The Debate Rages Over Slaves who Built the White House
If you missed Michelle Obama’s speech at the DNC, she basically dropped the mic. At which point, she picked it up and dropped it again.
She killed it so hard, not even many Republicans had bad things to say. So they attacked the one thing that, you would think, no smart person would attack.
Obama pointed out that she lives in a house built by slaves. Because, you know, the labor that built the white house was at least partially slave labor. I mean Abigail Adams wrote about it. Fact checking what Obama said, it would seem that perhaps she could have said “partially built by slaves” to be more accurate.
Not that it should matter. She is a black woman in America and when she points out that her home was at least partially built by slaves, it shouldn’t fucking matter what percentage was built by slaves.
The response should be “good point, Michelle. As a white person, there is no way I could relate to how that feels.”
Instead, we are hearing that it wasn’t entirely built by slaves (so how many would be an OK number) and Bill O’Reilly told us the slaves were “well fed” (thanks for the good meal but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t sell my son).
O’Reilly definitely knows a lot about being well fed.
The fact this is a conversation should embarrass all of us. The white house was at least partially built by slaves and when a black woman living in that house points it out, you should think about what that means instead of being a nit-picky racist asshole.
Because seriously, lecturing a black woman on slavery is pretty fucking racist, don’t you think?
Shit that Pissed me Off – 7/21
Leslie Jones Gets Trolled off Twitter
If you haven’t seen the new Ghostbusters, stop reading my column and go. It isn’t the greatest movie ever but it is very good and it should make a pile of money just because of shit like this.
Trolls, spurred on by the likes of Milo Yiannopoulos (I might have misspelled his name but I don’t give a fuck), bullied Leslie Jones right off of Twitter. In response, Twitter banned Yannipopcorn for violating their terms of service. He claims this is the end of Twitter. He claims it is a violation of free speech.
Maybe Twitter just flew into the side of US Bank Stadium.
Well look, Yolopenguin, you keep going on about free speech when you really mean consequence free speech.
The rest of us are going to see Ghostbusters again and again for two very important reasons.
One, Leslie Jones (and the rest of the cast) is awesome.
And two: Fuck you. Read More…
Shit that Pissed me Off – 7/15
Rudy Giuliani Says Black Lives Matter is Racist
In a classic white guy move, Rudy Guiliani makes the Black Lives Matter movement all about him. He doesn’t seem to understand that the statement “black lives matter” is not the same as “white lives don’t matter” or “black lives matter more.”
Instead, he focuses on black people trying to find a voice and calls it racist. He tells the BLM protestors that they are doing it wrong because they aren’t protesting every murder in Chicago.
Chicago is a big thing with the right. They bring it up all the time. Why isn’t BLM protesting every death in Chicago?
Like old black men who die of a heart attack because they drank too much coffee? Why isn’t Black Lives Matter trying to shut down Starbucks? What a bunch of racist fucks!
Hey, good question, Rudy! While you’re at it, why don’t you ask why people who are against the Death penalty don’t protest every death in America?
And hey Rudy, you’re pro-life, right? So after you go to those pro-life rallies, do you ever go to a rally protesting parents who beat their children to death? If I used that argument on you, would you call me racist?
Black Lives Matter is focused on a specific part of the black experience in America. It is not the only part.
But – and this is the crazy thing you don’t get Rudy – they are all related. You can protest one particular part of the problem (police brutality that disproportionately targets black men) and have an impact on all of it.
However, when you tell the BLM movement that they are doing it wrong, all you are doing is proving their point. They are saying white America needs to stop thinking about race from our point of view and spend a little time trying to understand it from their point of view.
And then we say “but you don’t understand my point of view.”
And we wonder why they block traffic so we’ll listen.
Shit that Pissed me off – 5/6
Fox News Commenters Make Racist Statements in a Story about Malia Obama’s Choice of College
I know. Reading comments is always a bad idea. In this case, Fox turned them off after a whole lot of racist assholes turned up to share their thoughts regarding what was basically a harmless story about a young woman’s college choice. Unfortunately for her, she is young black woman.
Being black in this “post-racial” society means that you are going to have racist epithets thrown at you by a bunch of internet ignoramuses for having the temerity to exist.
Fox was smart to turn off the comments. However, they need to recognize that they invite this kind of commentary. It is their own personality that helps encourage people to be racist fucks on the internet.
Malia Obama will be fine. She has been the target for this kind of language since her father became a legitimate Presidential candidate and while I’m certain her parents have protected her from the worst of it, there is no way they could protect her from all of it.
There’s just too much.
Thing is, as long as Fox news keeps insisting we live in a post racial society but has to shut down comments on an article about a young black woman, I will continue to wonder why anyone takes them seriously.
Shit that Pissed me Off – 4/22
An Open Letter from a Conservative Jerkwad to Strong Female Characters
This was posted back in March but I only found it this week. I’m sorry – I was slacking.
Basically, this is a crazy religious screed about why Rey is a terrible character because women are weaker than men (the Bible says so) and any time a woman kicks some ass (especially superior male ass), it’s lazy storytelling. It happens all the time. Except for nearly every fucking movie ever made.
Hey everyone! A man is here to save the day! How original!
He doesn’t just have a problem with Rey, mind you. He’s also got problems with Furiosa, Ripley, and pretty much every other female character who wasn’t in need of rescuing by a man.
When he is talking about the obvious physical differences between most men and most women, you could almost give him a pass. Then he says this:
It’s not just a matter of small bodies versus big bodies. Women are the weaker sex because they’re more timid and emotionally vulnerable and tender-hearted than men. God made them that way.
Oh, I get it. You suddenly got a degree in psychology by reading the Bible. Women are more timid? How can they be when they have to put up with bullshit like this every day?
I’m sick of the “God created women to be this way don’t blame me it’s in the Bible/Koran/whatever the fuck religious book I happen to read” argument. Talk about lazy storytelling.
Shit that Pissed me Off – 4/1
Japanese Whalers Killed 200 Pregnant Whales
So the Japanese are still whaling in the name of “legitimate research.” They headed off for their yearly kill of Minke whales and, among the 333 whales they were permitted to kill, they managed to bag 200 pregnant females.
To be fair – when you are killing a whale, you can’t tell if it is a pregnant female. I’m sure if they had known that almost 2/3 of the whales they were killing were pregnant, they would have killed them anyway.
Is this whale pregnant? Who cares????
The excuse they give is that they are researching the breeding habits of whales or some other bullshit that basically comes down to “fuck you, rest of the world, we just want to kill whales.”
I don’t get it. I really don’t. All this bullshit to keep the members of four whaling vessels employed.
If they can’t find any other jobs for these guys, Trump could probably use some help building a wall. I don’t think he has any problems with the Japanese.
Oh. Um….never mind….
Shit that Pissed me off – 3/18
Reporter Arrested at Trump Rally For…Doing his Job
This is the kind of thing that happens when your front-runner is a racist asshole*. Thing start to get out of hand.
Am I happy that counter protests turned violent at a Trump rally this week? No. I don’t know if anyone knows who threw the first punch but the point is that nonviolent protest should, ideally, remain nonviolent.
As soon as things get violent, it doesn’t matter who started it. People get hurt.
Note also some of the things that Trump supporters have shouted at this Reporter, who is Indian. Things like “Go Back to Iraq!”
It is possible that the statement was misinterpreted and he was being courted by a travel agent.
Trump is the kind of polarizing figure who tells people it is OK to judge people because their skin is the wrong color. He tells people it is OK to punch someone because they don’t like what Trump has to say.
And look – I know the Republican party is freaking out over the possibility of Trump being their flag bearer but they need to realize that they created this monster. The rhetoric of their party that includes people talking about “legitimate rape” and “religious freedom” is a rhetoric of intolerance that completely undermines any rhetoric about smaller government.
This guy is dangerous. And so are his followers.
Shit that Pissed me Off – 1/8
With Christmas and January 1st falling on Fridays, I’ve been a bit backlogged on this column. That means this week might feature more anger than usual. If you are a regular reader, I’m sorry for the time off.
A Couple of Prosperity Preachers Spend Some Time Justifying Their Private Jets
The sheer amount of privilege these guys exhibit when they talk about how difficult it is for them to fly coach is remarkable. What is frightening, though, is some of the points they make are completely fair. I hate that.
Imagine you are a super popular preacher who has to travel all over the country. Imagine you are flying somewhere new almost every day. If you had to fly commercial air the whole time, it would be a lot less convenient.
What if god loses your luggage?
I mean, you’d get all the first class upgrades and I’m pretty sure whoever is bringing you in to speak would be paying for your ticket but it would still be less convenient. If you schedule yourself that tightly, it would likely be very difficult to get everywhere you needed to go with commercial airlines. You might have to cut back on your appearances or something. Which would be a damn shame.
Thing is, they are getting luxury jets paid for by convincing poor people to give them money. Lots and lots of money. And they have conversations with god on their planes (not kidding – watch the video) in which god apparently tells them that they should want a better plane.
Which means it is time to fleece the poor people again!
Grail Diary 
Shit that Pissed me Off – 7/8
I took another week off for CONvergence and oh my did this week get full of all the things. I kept a few old articles but let’s start by taking a look at what happened this week.
Philando Castile was Murdered by Police
I know there are people who claim we should wait to judge until all the facts come out. It is interesting to me that every person who has said this to me is white.
I’m not suggesting these people are racist. I’m suggesting that these people need to listen to the facts that are already there and recognize that magnanimously suggesting that we need to know all of the facts before we “overreact” is part of the problem.
Every person of color I know is already well acquainted with the facts. They know that the officer who killed Castile will have a reasonable sounding excuse that he feared for his life. He may face a trial and he may face some public backlash but – and this is really important – no matter how unpleasant those things may be he will still be alive.
This is what he looked like. Just so we all remember that he was a human being.
Philando Castile will be vilified by clueless people who will find reasons he deserves to be dead. They will tell the rest of us that we don’t know what happened at that traffic stop and he probably deserved to be pulled over.
He doesn’t get to defend himself. He doesn’t get to tell his story. To anyone waiting for all the facts to come out, please remember that the only person who gets to tell their story is the man who killed him.
And if you believe his race didn’t matter, you really haven’t been paying attention.
Read More…