Sexual abuse BOGO day at Rationalizations-R-Us!

Just a quick observation about Roy Moore. Apparently Bill Clinton (or Ted Kennedy or Harvey Weinstein or whichever "liberal" bogeyman the "Wheel of Strawman" landed on for the day) is a stamp on someone's "One Free Puss-Grab Card!"

As a parting gift for that "stamp" here's some food for thought from Lauren Duca (using her story of online harassment as an example) about the way we obscure and obfuscate the victims' tales of harassment and abuse (it's basically the old platitude about hiding the needle of the subject amongst a whole bunch of straw):

It’s incredible how quickly the obvious awfulness of this story is obscured with nonsense. Is this actually about me trying to get famous? Does Martin really mean it when he says on a public video feed that he "get[s] to f*ck Lauren Duca"? Am I the true aggressor because I tweeted about him being at Guy Fieri’s Flavor Town Bar & Grill in August 2016?Really just pounds of nuance to unpack here, but if we can set all of that aside, I’d love to zero in on the simple reality eternally holding this conversation back: Online harassment victims feel they are not allowed to share their stories.

Edited to add (4-27-28): Now that Bill Cosby is going to J-A-I-L...O I thought a reminder is needed that that putting this justification in blackface doesn't make it any less ridiculous or disengeous.

Psst! Pick "D": All of the Above

Pop quiz, folks! Guess what's the problem with this?

He arrived at church ready for war, wearing black tactical gear and a ballistics vest and toting what authorities described as an "assault-type rifle."

No, no, no, wrong answer, Libtard! The actual problem is that we don't see a problem with that paragraph.

Update: Here someone who failed this little quiz spectacularly

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) views the deadliest mass shooting in his state’s history as evidence that more church parishioners should carry guns for self-protection.

In. A. Church. People!

Neo-Nazis:aka the weenies that were rejected by Oscar Meyer

Aww. And the world's tiniest violin is in the repair shop too...

A couple of things:

1) Yeah I mean who'da think that being around a bunch of people that promote the violent oppression and eradication of whole groups of people would have such negative consequences?

2)  Dude, I think a "My live is over" testimony is more applicable to Heather Heyer, because she was killed by your "allies".

3) Jerrod Kuhn's own description:

“I’m not a neo-Nazi. I don’t belong to a German workers’ party from 1933,” he told the paper. “... I’m a moderate Republican.” 

Isn't that the same thing nowadays?*

4) I'm amazed at how quickly the all the smug "machismo" facades and macho posturing fade away from these cretins when faced with a little accountability, a little push-back from people tired of their awfulness. Incidentally, Heather Heyer's mother has also gotten death threats (for the grand "crime" of  invoking her daughter's murder to inspire people to rally against injustice) yet she (who has a daughter who was killed by "moderate Republicans", remember) doesn't seem to be pouring herself as much whine as these losers have. If these guys were bigger pussies, The Donald would be grabbing them right now.

Edited to add (8-19-17): These are some of the "misunderstood" "moderate Republicans" that Mr Jerrod Kuhn desired to be a part of. Yeah it's so freaking hard to figure out why the public might not want such roaches infesting their neighborhoods.

*Any "moderate Republican" that's "offended" by that association would probably do well to stop pandering to and coddling white supremacists and start denouncing and standing up this this horrible cancer on our society.

Unpacking the "box" of the Master Liberal Stereotype

(Dust cobwebs off the ol' blog and chasing away the rats that nested in the neglected corners)

Just somthing I was thinking about the clusterfuck in Charlottesville in responds to this (Mic-Drop worthy) comment by a "Saxo the Grammarian":

Taking my thoughts for a test drive here...
OK, if you were at the protests in Charlottesville, and you threw a rock or a bottle or a brick, you shouldn'ta done it. Regardless of whose side you are on. Causing someone else's serious injury will not advance your cause. It will stop it dead in its tracks, in fact. And you don't need that stain on your soul.
That being said (clears throat), if you traveled to Charlottesville to take part in the neo-nazi rally, and you marched around chanting nazi slogans like "Blood and Soil", and you got a bloody nose or a black eye or a bump on the noggin, I don't have the slightest bit of sympathy for you. You went looking for a fight, it found you, and you get to live with the outcome. You wanted war, you became a casualty. Think twice, count the cost, and understand there are consequences for living your racist dreams.
Sermon over, stay for the potluck

😲 Actions have consequences? Who knew? (Anyone with some goddamn common sense perhaps?)

Here's my related tangent:

I think the problem is that too many people take "Liberal stereotypes" for granted (including, unfortunately, many liberals who feel pressured into internalizing them.) We're suppose to be all wishy-washy and "touchy-feeling" and spineless. We are the "equivocating party." We're suppose to "feel their pain" in a way that transforms empathy into hand-wringing rationalization. Our kindness is suppose to be taken for weakness to the point where it's blunted down to good-natured long-suffering, a Marge Simpson if you will ("Now let's forget this racist carnage with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream!") "Libs" are suppose to be be all "wimpy." We're not suppose to take a stand, remain firm in our resolve and (most importantly) fight back (sometimes vigorously and with passionate fervor). No, we're suppose to be like "the chick" in a stereotypical horror/action movie, a weeping mess flailing helplessly in a corner while her man is being hacked to death by demon axe murders ("LIBERAL SNOWFLAKE TEARS!").Therefore it confuses and infuriates these cretins when we don't act according to (artificially-imposed) orthodoxy with actions that are thought to be "reserved" (you can even say entitled) only for them (cue the "hypocri-shaming!") The fact that we can show gumption and subvert these stereotype being enforced upon us is what the assholes are REALLY protesting. The "America" they want to "make great" again is one where people simply took whatever they hashed out.
THAT is what's different

Cynical Sincere Proverbs 1:31 (The end of an era)

Because you demanded it, the LAST issue of Dazzler Cyncial Proverbs!

Yep, I decided to retire this feature for now. So let's end it with a bang, with an importance slice 'o wisdom that's particularly relevant in these times.

"Be wary of people who claim to have their finger on the pulse of society because often their extremities are somewhere a lot lower and smellier.

How to talk with a representative (which you shoud)

I got this from a message board (who then got it from the group listed below) but thought it was crucial to share to people who want to reach their congresspersons about the gazillion things that are becoming fucked up about this country:

Long, but hopefully useful to some - from the March on Science Facebook group:
For folks who are expressing themselves to congresspeople, this comes from a high-level staffer for a Senator (who is a friend of my friend XXXXXXXX XXXXX):
There are two things that all Democrats [ED: or anyone leaning progressive wanting to register their opinion] should be doing all the time right now, and they're by far the most important things. [If you want to share this, please copy and paste so it goes beyond our mutual friends.]
--> You should NOT be bothering with online petitions or emailing.
1. The best thing you can do to be heard and get your congressperson to pay attention is to have face-to-face time - if they have townhalls, go to them. Go to their local offices. If you're in DC, try to find a way to go to an event of theirs. Go to the "mobile offices" that their staff hold periodically (all these times are located on each congressperson's website). When you go, ask questions. A lot of them. And push for answers. The louder and more vocal and present you can be at those the better.
2. But, those in-person events don't happen every day. So, the absolute most important thing that people should be doing every day is calling.
You should make 6 calls a day: 2 each (DC office and your local office) to your 2 Senators & your 1 Representative.
The staffer was very clear that any sort of online contact basically gets immediately ignored, and letters pretty much get thrown in the trash (unless you have a particularly strong emotional story - but even then it's not worth the time it took you to craft that letter).
Calls are what all the congresspeople pay attention to. Every single day, the Senior Staff and the Senator get a report of the 3 most-called-about topics for that day at each of their offices (in DC and local offices), and exactly how many people said what about each of those topics. They're also sorted by zip code and area code. She said that Republican callers generally outnumber Democrat callers 4-1, and when it's a particular issue that single-issue-voters pay attention to (like gun control, or planned parenthood funding, etc...), it's often closer to 11-1, and that's recently pushed Republican congressmen on the fence to vote with the Republicans. In the last 8 years, Republicans have called, and Democrats haven't.
So, when you call:
A) When calling the DC office, ask for the Staff member in charge of whatever you're calling about ("Hi, I'd like to speak with the staffer in charge of Healthcare, please") - local offices won't always have specific ones, but they might. If you get transferred to that person, awesome. If you don't, that's ok - ask for their name, and then just keep talking to whoever answered the phone. Don't leave a message (unless the office doesn't pick up at all - then you can...but it's better to talk to the staffer who first answered than leave a message for the specific staffer in charge of your topic).
B) Give them your zip code. They won't always ask for it, but make sure you give it to them, so they can mark it down. Extra points if you live in a zip code that traditionally votes for them, since they'll want to make sure they get/keep your vote.
C) If you can make it personal, make it personal. "I voted for you in the last election and I'm worried/happy/whatever" or "I'm a teacher, and I am appalled by Betsy DeVos," or "as a single mother" or "as a white, middle class woman," or whatever.
D) Pick 1-2 specific things per day to focus on. Don't go down a whole list - they're figuring out what 1-2 topics to mark you down for on their lists. So, focus on 1-2 per day. Ideally something that will be voted on/taken up in the next few days, but it doesn't really matter - even if there's not a vote coming up in the next week, call anyway. It's important that they just keep getting calls.
E) Be clear on what you want - "I'm disappointed that the Senator..." or "I want to thank the Senator for their vote on..." or "I want the Senator to know that voting in _____ way is the wrong decision for our state because..." Don't leave any ambiguity.
F) They may get to know your voice/get sick of you - it doesn't matter. The people answering the phones generally turn over every 6 weeks anyway, so even if they're really sick of you, they'll be gone in 6 weeks.
From experience since the election: If you hate being on the phone & feel awkward (which is a lot of people) don't worry about it - there are a bunch of scripts (Indivisible has some, there are lots of others floating around these day). After a few days of calling, it starts to feel a lot more natural. Put the 6 numbers in your phone (all under P – Politician. An example is McCaskill MO, Politician McCaskill DC, Politician Blunt MO, etc...) which makes it really easy to click down the list each day.

Edited to Add (2-1-2017): Here's a good resource to utilize to schedule some of that "face-to-face" time mention above. Oh and note to "Senator Flake": You seem to living up to your name with your potential no-shows and all.

Question from the audience (Freedom: 2017)

From the dark, dank recesses of evil (by which I mean a Youtube comment section*):

Sue T: Why do I care where you stick your dick?

Me: Sue T. Because other people "care" and use it as an excuse to treat other people as less than human and as something "inferior." After all, many heterosexual celebrities can talk openly about their relationships without any hand-wringing worries about "where they stick their dicks at". It's something that "real" people do and gay folks are part of reality. And if anyone else wants to live on the REAL world they have to truthfully acknowledge what exist in it.

*RIP George Michael. Also, free video! (One his bestest!)