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.

Speaking of Donald Trump – Here’s This Week’s Meme that Pissed me Off!

Holy fuck! False equivalence much?

First off, does the person who created this meme have even the slightest idea how many people there are in Chicago?  There are enough people to deal with both issues.  It doesn’t have to be the same people picking one cause or the other.

Also, when is the last time a bunch of people marching fixed gang violence?  That is a complex problem that requires different solutions.  You can’t just walk into a neighborhood with signs and eliminate gang shootings.  You have to do a whole lot more than that.

And the people of Chicago are trying to fix that problem.

This meme basically says “hey Chicagoans, your city is so fucked up, you don’t have the right to complain about this fucked up asshole running for President.”

Well look, you judgmental prick, this fucked up asshole was in town for one night.  So people showed up to make it clear they don’t like him (as they are constitutionally permitted to do).

The next night he was gone.  And a whole bunch of people went back to work trying to figure out how to solve the other problem.  What kind of fucking idiot thinks they can’t do both?

In Kentucky, a State Lawmaker Told a Rape Victim that Requiring Suspected Felons to give a DNA Sample was Too Intrusive

OK, I get that the Republican party is a party of less government interference.

But Dan Seum of Kentucky is taking his distaste for government intrusion just a little too far.  After a rape victim testified about how taking a DNA sample would create a database to help law enforcement solve crimes, Seum decided to tell her why he didn’t support the bill.

I can tell you I have eight children and 21 grandkids, that over the years this government through its intrusion has done more damage to me than all those criminals out there ever did.

So basically he feels that taking a DNA sample is just too much government intrusion.  Even if it means it might stop a serial rapist.  Or twenty.

So basically, when Hannibal Lector was forced to talk to Clarice Starling, that was too much government interference.

I mean, it’s great that his family hasn’t experienced any kind of tragic loss due to violent crime.  I’m really happy for all of them.  But does he honestly think that government intrusion has harmed his family more than that woman’s rapist harmed her?

Probably not.  He just said something fucking stupid.

But if you are going to be the jackass that opposes a common sense solution to dealing with crime, you are pretty much guaranteed to say something stupid.

Mitch McConnell is Totally Doubling Down on the Supreme Court

Yes, conservative friends who keep telling me that McConnell is completely within his rights to be an obstinate prick, he is completely within his rights to be an obstinate prick.

And he is totally using Joe Biden’s words against him.  Because that’s the classy way to justify a clearly partisan action.

Obama went with a guy who is pretty much a perfect candidate and who, further, is pretty fucking amazing because he has to know that this entire process could go nowhere.  He has to know that he is out there primarily for Obama and the eventual Democratic nominee to say “what’s wrong with this guy?  Do you really want someone in charge who won’t just give this guy a fair hearing?”

And seriously, Mitch (can I call you Mitch?), how do you feel about a Donald Trump supreme court justice?  Do you think that’ll be better?

And I have to think you aren’t going to be happy with whomever Hillary or Bernie picks.

So choosing not to go with this guy is, plain and simple, a dumb ass move.  You are making your party look bad.  Stop quoting Biden with the kind of smug air of someone who thinks what Biden said was right.

You thought it was wrong when he said it.  You probably think it is just as wrong now but you can’t come up with a better reason to keep doing something this dumb.

Chanhassen Company is Fined over a Million Dollars for Sexist, Ageist Hiring Practices

It can’t all be politics this week.  So let’s take a look at the world of business.

Alfred Iverson is (still) the President of the PMT corporation in Chanhassen, Minnesota.  In his opinion, women can’t sell for shit so he instructed his HR department to throw away any job application from a woman. He also asked them to screen away anyone who might be over the age of 40.  Because nobody ever buys stuff from old people.

When a member of HR blew the whistle on Iverson, he accused her of stealing from the company.  It was a bullshit claim that was ridiculously easy to disprove.  But she still had to hire a lawyer to defend herself.

So one lawsuit later, the PMT company is paying out over a million dollars to women who were subjected to Iverson’s unfair hiring practices.

Ooo! That sounds like a lot!

That’s bad enough.

What’s worse is that one million dollars is probably not really all that big a deal to the PMT corporation.  And Iverson is still in charge.  I’m betting nobody is going to be garnishing his paychecks to cover the cost.

And the individual women covered in the settlement will probably get something like ten thousand dollars each.  I mean, that’s better than nothing but in the end, Iverson gets to continue to be an ageist misogynist who will likely be slightly more subtle in how he discriminates.

But he’s still going to discriminate.  Because at the end of the day, he’s still rich and even if his company gets sued again, it will barely affect his life.

In Alabama, They Don’t Want People Who Receive Food Stamps To Own a Car

Being poor is a really big inconvenience to the rest of us and we need folks to cut that shit right out.

In the continuing narrative that poor people are just lazy fuckers who have too many babies (although in reality they are having too much unprotected sex because abortion shouldn’t be legal so if they are having sex then by God they had better have those fucking babies), we have a bill that is geared towards making sure people on government assistance get back to work.

One of the ways they are doing this, apparently, is making sure that poor people with cars don’t get as much government assistance because if they can afford a car, they can afford food.  Or some bullshit like that.

I know a lot of conservatives who think that people receiving government assistance shouldn’t own luxury items like cars or TVs.  Not that a car is a luxury but let’s not go there for a moment.

Thing is, you pay for a TV once.  You pay for food every day.  So someone on limited income saves up to buy a TV so they don’t have to sit around home all day and feel like shit because they are poor.

Fuck ’em, right? Let ’em eat or watch “Wheel of Fortune.”  They can’t do both.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t be encouraging people to find good jobs and get off government dole.  I’m just saying that the way to do that isn’t to tell them they can’t own a car.

PS: All these proposed changes are going to increase paperwork and workload for the people who administer the government assistance programs.  I thought the Republican party was all about making government smaller.

*YES, someone who says that Mexicans are rapists and who says that we should prevent all Muslims from entering the country and isn’t sure that Obama is an American is a fucking racist.  He doesn’t get to walk that one back.  And every time Hillary and Bernie mention him, they should point out he is a racist.

My final note is to once again encourage anyone who likes what I write on Friday to take a look at what I write on Wednesday.  This week, I wrote a pretty dark story inspired by Jack and the Beanstalk.