Shit that Pissed me Off – 4/12/19
I missed a couple of weeks again! I had really good excuses but never mind that. I’m going to try to hit on a few things that have come to my attention in the last few weeks. Enjoy the rapid fire journey!
South Dakota Schools Required to Display “In God We Trust”
South Dakota lawmakers, in a display of “patriotism” passed a law requiring the national motto “In God We Trust” to be prominently displayed in all public schools.
It may feel like this is a violation of the separation of church and state and no doubt that will be tested. I think it will actually stand because “In God We Trust” is actually our national motto and Donald Trump has been allowed to seat two conservative Christian white dudes on the Supreme Court.
You can argue that “In God We Trust” is a shitty national motto and far worse than the one it replaced (E Pluribus Unim or “Out of Many, One) but it doesn’t matter because it’s still the national motto. You could also argue that the word “God” could be referring to any god and not just the Christian god it clearly refers to.
Maybe it’s referring to Thor! You don’t know!
Hiding behind patriotism is the dodge that really pisses me off. I mean they have to do that because if they admitted their motivation was to put God on every public school wall because Christianity just isn’t enough places in our lives already, even Brett Kavanagh and Clarence Thomas might need to stop hitting on their clerks long enough to strike the law down. But the transparency of the act is galling. Of course this is about religion.
If you wanted it to be about patriotism, you’d just pass some law about posting the bill of rights in every school.
For the record, I’d be 100% behind that one. Kids should know their rights. Read More…
Shit that Pissed me Off – 3/1/19
I totally missed last week because I was driving to a show. So I have some items from last week I’ve carried over. Because they still piss me off.
Captain Marvel Being Panned Pre-Release by People Who Haven’t Seen the Film
In the grand and glorious tapestry that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there hasn’t been one film featuring a Woman as the lead character. Until March 8th when Captain Marvel will be released.
Yes, yes, Ant Man & The Wasp technically had The Wasp as a lead/title character but that was a shared lead and Ant Man came first and it was a sequel and it didn’t seem to piss off Men’s Rights douchebags so let’s try to avoid being pedantic for just a moment, OK?
When it comes to pissing off Men’s Rights douchebags, nothing works better than a movie (any movie) about a woman. Mad Max Fury Road was awesome but why did it have to have a woman in it? The worst thing about The Last Jedi was all those girls getting in the way of the story that should be about whiny emo dudes just like them.
Holy shit! That’s why they hate Kylo Ren so much!
“Look at that whiner! He has all the power but he’s still not happy with it so he’s going to take power away from everyone around him who doesn’t have it just so he can feel better about himself even though he still doesn’t. That is so unrealistic!”
The scene is a lot more interesting if you imagine this guy eating Funyuns and crying.
I’m a nice guy! Why aren’t girls interested in nice guys?
Anyway – the reviews are already pouring in for Captain Marvel and many of them are by guys who haven’t actually seen the film!
That’s right! They are already posting negative reviews with their major complaint being “I don’t like that Marvel has, after three Captain America Movies, three Iron Man movies, a couple of Ant Man movies, and so on, decided to bow to the pressure of Social Justice Warriors by making ONE MOVIE with a girl in the lead!”
Some are even gloating that they are going to kill the box office for Captain Marvel just like they did for The Last Jedi.
Whatever, guys. If you didn’t notice that nearly every woman and person of color was dusted at the end of Infinity War, maybe you need to realize that women have a bigger representation gap than you.
So go back to your meditation chamber, Kylo, and feel sorry for yourself. Because the rest of us don’t.
Shit that Pissed me Off – 11/9/18
Trump Corner: A Press Conference for the Ages
Why bury the lede on this one?
So the day after Democrats managed to take over the House (more on bullshit Gerrymandering later) but not the Senate, Trump decided to refuse to answer reporters questions.
Now I could talk about the way his administration banned a reporter using a doctored video to bolster their unsubstantiated claim the reporter attacked an intern. But they just did that because their base loves it when Trump attacks reporters.
That’s why he consistently refers to the free press as an enemy of the people.
If you hear that and nod your head in agreement, you are creeping me right out. The press is, in fact, the tool by which the people can help keep that fucker honest. Well, they can try. Honesty is not part of his meager skill set.
The truth is the enemy of the Trump camp and most reporters have a pesky way of trying to find out the truth. Best way to deal with that tendency is to discredit most of them. That way the reporters who are biased to report what you want them to report are the only ones your legions will listen to.
So that was awful. But maybe you missed when our President who, if you recall, has always been a wealthy white man, lectured a black woman on racism.
Not only did Trump lecture the reporter, Yamiche Alcindor of PBS, on racism. He wouldn’t even let her ask a question.
I mean, I know he’s the President. He can talk over whoever he wants.
Also he’s a man and what he has to say is more important.
But that doesn’t mean he should. Alcindor was asking him if his rhetoric emboldened white nationalists (it does). He could have answered the question but the answer wouldn’t have been very good. So knowing he couldn’t really address it, he just blamed the reporter – a black woman – for bringing up racism.
He claimed his poll numbers were better with African Americans then they’ve ever been (which is technically kind of true based on one poll that is historically biased towards Republicans but also really not the point).
What he didn’t do was address the question of white nationalism. He could have spoken out against white nationalism. But he didn’t. He just told a black woman she was racist.
PS: that (skewed) Rasmussen poll he cherry picked showed that he has a 50% approval rating. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY???? Read More…
Shit that Pissed me Off 11/2/18
Dad Who Dressed his Kid as Hitler Upset that People Yelled at his Child
So the father in question dressed as an SS officer and dressed his kid up as Hitler.
Now we could argue that this was just innocent cosplay except for two things: the dad’s other social media posts indicate he is at least sympathetic to the Nazi ideology and there is no way dressing your kid up as Hitler is innocent!
This guy knew what he was doing. He was using Halloween as an excuse to dress up as a Nazi because he’s always wanted to dress up as a Nazi. He claims it is because he and his kid “love history” but there is a whole lot of history that isn’t Nazi Germany to pick from.
Now, if adults at the Halloween event came up to a child who looks to be around 5-7 years old and yelled at that child for his costume choice, that certainly doesn’t help matters. They should have instead yelled at the father dressed as an SS officer.
I mean, it’s pretty clear where the issue starts, don’t you think?
Hint: It’s the guy whose face isn’t obscured.
I don’t feel sorry for this guy. He’s a white supremacist who viewed a holiday as a coming out party.
I feel a little sorry for his kid because he’ll either turn out a white supremacist or spend most of his life estranged from his parents. So please, adults, do a better job adulting, OK?
The kid is still a kid and he doesn’t understand what he’s doing.
Please note: Don’t threaten this guy or his family. Leave his kids alone. Holy fuck.
Shit that Pissed me Off – 10/26/18
Man Gropes Woman on a Plane and Says it’s OK Because Trump
Now I understand that not every man who voted for Trump feels it is OK to grope women without consent. Some of them just think it is OK for Trump to do that but they would never imagine doing it themselves.
Well, OK, maybe they would imagine doing it themselves. But they would never actually do it unless there was absolutely no chance that they would be caught.
The thing is, our President has normalized sexual assault. He has turned victims into punch lines and perpetrators into supreme court justices. He has shown a lot of men in this country that you can do this kind of thing and get away with it.
Given rape culture in this country, that should actually not be a surprise. Thing is, when you have an admitted sexual predator in the white house (he’s on tape so shut up with your apologist bullshit), even the minor amount of stigma that existed before has been shredded.
Tell me more about how it’s a scary time for young men!
Sure, this guy was arrested and he’ll be fined or spend a few weeks in jail. He’s not going to stop thinking that what he did was OK.
And the biggest problem with Trump is that he’s popular with a subset of the American public because he represents all that deeply felt awfulness in each one of us. He releases the national desire to be a bunch of fucking unapologetic assholes.
So congratulations, women of America! You already had to deal with ten million other problems. Now you have a bunch of white dudes who have been told that actions don’t have consequences.
Shit that Pissed me Off – 10/5/18
Buckle your seat belts, y’all. This week. Holy shit this week.
Also, possible trigger warning because I do talk about sexual assault in very general terms.
Trump Corner
Let’s just start here with our shitbag of a President. What has he done recently?
Well, he mocked a sexual assault victim, he said it is a scary time for young men in America, and he said the King of Saudi Arabia wouldn’t last two weeks without American military support.
That last one might actually be true but what a way to undermine one of America’s strongest allies. And yeah – the rulers of Saudi Arabia are awful and I could get behind any President who had the courage to say so but that’s not what Trump was doing.
I’m really done being polite about this asshole. He is a sexual predator (no those women did not make their stories up). He’s a bully. He’s a racist.
And in spite of all of it, there’s a possibility the Democrats won’t win this fall because…hell I don’t know why.
Ahhh! Brown people!
Because people enjoy supporting a man child who delights in punching down at women, minorities, and the poor (who vote for him anyway)? Because they are such evangelical zombies that they will follow any man who claims to be the same (unless he’s a Democrat)?
I don’t know. Everyone of every political persuasion (with the exception of white supremacists) should hate this man. They should hate everything about him.
And yet they don’t. They go to his rallies. They laugh with him at victims of violent sexual assault. They show up at the polls to vote for whomever he tells them to vote for.
If the rest of us aren’t willing to show up at the polls and fight back this November, I’m out of ideas, folks. Because Trump and the rabble who blindly follow him into the abyss of humanity need to lose. Badly. And often.
There are more of us who are against him, aren’t there? There have to be.
So listen to me: if you think he is a good man, you are wrong. If you think he gives a flying fuck about you and your problems, you are wrong. He is interested in making money for himself. That’s what this Presidency is about. It isn’t about making America Great Again. It is about making Trump richer than he already was.
And he doesn’t give a shit who he hurts a long the way. This week it’s Christine Blasey Ford. Next week it might be you. And there will be stadiums full of people laughing right along with him.
Shit that Pissed me Off – 6/29/18
Walgreens Pharmacist Denies a Woman Miscarriage Medication
Walgreens allows their pharmacists to refuse service should they have a moral objection to the prescription being administered. I guess that’s OK because you wouldn’t want anyone…
…Hang on….
It isn’t OK. In this case you had a woman who wanted to have a baby and was about to miscarry and the pharmacist basically shamed her by publicly refusing to fill the prescription.
This pharmacist has a job to do. And the bullshit idea that his deeply held religious beliefs should prevent him from doing his job is completely backwards. He still should do his job.
We all have to do shit we don’t want to do all the time. A lot of us don’t like our jobs but we still do them. I don’t like driving when other drivers are on the road because all other drivers are awful. I do it anyway. So pharmacist guy should just do his fucking job and hope god forgives him for doing the job he decided he wanted to do.
I’m sure there is a biblical passage that supports such an act. And there is also one that condemns it. They might be the same passage.
Because if this exists, you can use the Bible to justify damn near anything.
This case is even worse, by the way. He could have gotten another pharmacist to fill her prescription (per company policy). But he didn’t. Because his opportunity to shame her for what he viewed as an immoral choice (even though it wasn’t but it shouldn’t matter if it was) was more important.
And I know that we live in a world where bakers can refuse to make cakes for gay couples because it is OK to be a homophobic bigot as long as you can claim the bible is on your side. And that world means pharmacists can shame women for miscarrying without anything more than some online blowback.
But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. This shit is not OK.
Shit that Pissed me Off – 9/1/2017
CA Restaurant Owner Blames “War on Whites” for Loss of Business
In case you missed it, a whole bunch of business owners were outed for their contributions to David Dukes failed Senate campaign, including here in my home state of Minnesota.
In California, a restaurateur has elected to close shop because he’s faced some flack over the fact he donated to one of the most prominent racists in the country who isn’t currently inhabiting the White House.
His response has been to complain about how all of this is a war on whites, which kind of explains why he chose to give money to David Duke’s campaign. He even said David Duke supports “European American Civil Rights.” In other words, the asshole is a white supremacist and screw him if he has to shut down his restaurant.
Here’s the problem that we face in all of this – I think it is great to out white supremacists. I think it is great to let them know their philosophy is bullshit.
I worry, however, that there is a lot of collateral damage. When the owner of Clubhouse Jager was outed as a Duke contributor, his employees announced they were quitting. At least one of them was later accosted at a different bar* because they worked for racist asshole even though they weren’t aware he was a racist asshole.
Please note: the person who took this picture is not a white supremacist.
I’m fully in support of outing Nazis and white supremacists. I think we should have full knowledge of who they are and then we should make our own informed decisions on whether or not to do business with them.
I just hope we don’t hurt people who aren’t white supremacists because they are unintentionally connected to racist assholes. If they lose their jobs, that sucks. Even if they leave that job voluntarily.
If we are going to cost a Nazi their business, that’s fine. But let’s not turn our backs on the people who are hurt when that business closes, OK?
*This report is from a reputable source but there is no news coverage of the incident.
Shit that Pissed me Off – 7/28/17
North Carolina Church Reportedly Importing Slaves from Brazil
Post racial society, huh?
This report, which the church very pointedly doesn’t deny in it’s vehement tirade against the news organization that broke the story, suggests some troubling things.
Now I know we could all simply dismiss this entire mess because people aren’t that awful but history tells us that, yes, people can really be that awful. There is currently a person that awful working in the white house. And our President regularly listens to what Mr. Bannon has to say.
America is, we are told, the greatest country in the history of countries (sure we are) so we ought to be super upset about this entire problem. However, with the possible exception of Vatican City, we are the most smugly Christian country in the history of countries and that means any report like this must be viewed with suspicion because Christians just don’t do that sort of thing!
And to be fair, most Christians don’t do that sort of thing. We should really get upset, though, when some self professed Christians actually do that sort of thing.
Remember how we all got super upset about this story five years after it broke?
The response so far seems tepid. It isn’t the sort of “what the FUCK” kind of response you like to see when a church is accused of enslaving people. I mean the health care vote is a big deal and it affects all Americans so I understand why we aren’t quite as concerned about a few Brazilians.
Once we get this health care thing sorted out, though, can we spare a few thoughts for people tricked into slavery?
Oh fuck. We’re never going to be done sorting out this health care thing, are we?
Shit that Pissed me Off – 2/10
Senate Silences Elizabeth Warren
Prior to the Senate vote in which Jeff Sessions was expected to be confirmed as Attorney General, Elizabeth Warren was reading a few remarks about Sessions penned by Coretta Scott King. They pointed out that Sessions didn’t have the best record when it came to protecting the rights of his black constituents.
As is the case when this sort of thing is happening, the Senate floor was mostly empty. Senators like to talk but they aren’t particularly interested in listening.
This is a non-partisan issue.
Anyway, because she said some bad things about now former Senator Sessions, the Republicans chose to censure her. You just don’t say bad things about senators, you see. That’s the rules.
Warren, of course, has become a hero of the left and she’s fine.
This T-shirt slogan was written by Mitch McConnell. Well done, Mitch.
The problem here is the fact the Republicans have basically served notice that they don’t give a flying fuck what the other side says and if they are tired of it, they will just force the other side to shut up. I mean, this isn’t much of a shock but frankly, all they needed to do was let her talk.
It didn’t fucking matter. Sessions was going to be AG and the words Warren was reading were already out there. It shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone on the Senate floor.
What took place was the Republicans reminding Senate Democrats (as well as the rest of the country) that they don’t matter. When they tire of Democrats chatter, they can shut them up.
I don’t like that precedent. And neither should anyone else.
Grail Diary 