Loot!

Loot

Oh, I has all the loot, with deepest thanks to my Marcus. Not long ago, my beloved little Samsung netbook suffered a dead screen. It’s old, so replacement isn’t an option, and the cost would likely be more than I paid in the first place, even if I could find a new screen. That little netbook was the one computer that actually managed to last around me, and I have missed it. Now I has another one! And external hard drives. And a DVD player. And more magical laundry liquid (which, if you start using, will soon find addictive). And incense with a sublime scent! Imma go play for a while now. *Happy*

Women: what I call them is, is you’re a ‘host.’

Host-parasite-coevolution-theory-of-sexual-reproduction

Oklahoma legislators are trying to ban abortion, nothing new there. One of the bills wants any woman seeking a termination to first have permission from whoever did the impregnating. Rep. Justin Humphrey wrote HB 1441, and he expanded on his reasoning:

At first, Humphrey said that the original intention of the bill was to ensure that fathers are involved in supporting a child from conception. “I was wanting fathers to have to pay child support at the beginning,” he said, but that specific language was excised from the bill.

Ultimately, he said, his intent was to let men have a say. “I believe one of the breakdowns in our society is that we have excluded the man out of all of these types of decisions,” he said. “I understand that they feel like that is their body,” he said of women. “I feel like it is a separate — what I call them is, is you’re a ‘host.’ And you know when you enter into a relationship you’re going to be that host and so, you know, if you pre-know that then take all precautions and don’t get pregnant,” he explained. “So that’s where I’m at. I’m like, hey, your body is your body and be responsible with it. But after you’re irresponsible then don’t claim, well, I can just go and do this with another body, when you’re the host and you invited that in.”

Let that sink in a bit. If you’re capable of getting pregnant and live in Oklahoma, you might want to get out, screaming all the way. Why is it, that women bear all the responsibility for “pre-knowing” something? Don’t men also “pre-know” they are wandering about with a loaded penis? Also, you dimwitted dipshit of a person, you can use contraceptives, correctly, and still end up pregnant. This is known as shit happens. Jesus Fuck.

The Intercept has the story.

It’s An Effing Circus.

President Donald Trump sits down to dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago on Friday. CREDIT: AP Photo/Susan Walsh.

President Donald Trump sits down to dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago on Friday. CREDIT: AP Photo/Susan Walsh.

This is an overload of facepalm. And near fatal eyerolling. And head desking. Underneath the idiocy of it all, is the scary.

According to a remarkable CNN report, President Trump was eating dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his private Mar-a-Lago club on Saturday evening when he received a call on his mobile phone informing him that North Korea had tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile.

[…]

Trump and Abe were seated in the middle of the club’s dining room, allowing members of the club to gawk as the two heads of state grappled with matters of war and peace.

“As Mar-a-Lago’s wealthy members looked on from their tables, and with a keyboard player crooning in the background, Trump and Abe’s evening meal quickly morphed into a strategy session, the decision-making on full view to fellow diners, who described it in detail to CNN,” Kevin Liptak of CNN wrote.

But White House strategist Steve Bannon and National Security Adviser Michael Flynn were sitting elsewhere in the dimly-lit dining area, so they had to huddle closer to Trump while he tried to deal with an international crisis.

“The patio was lit only with candles and moonlight, so aides used the camera lights on their phones to help the stone-faced Trump and Abe read through the documents,” CNN reports.

“Even as a flurry of advisers and translators descended upon the table carrying papers and phones for their bosses to consult, dinner itself proceeded apace. Waiters cleared the wedge salads and brought along the main course as Trump and Abe continued consulting with aides.”

In other words, Trump — who made Hillary Clinton’s email security the centerpiece of his presidential campaign  — discussed sensitive national security matters in front of waiters and diners who were later able to describe the scene “in detail” to reporters.

Some onlookers posted photos and accounts of what they saw on social media. (FB post at the main link.)

At Abe’s urging, the two heads of state decided to offer a joint statement before the assembled press. The New York Times praised the “uncharacteristic restraint” Trump demonstrated while reading his brief statement, but when he left the briefing room, the president couldn’t restrain himself from dropping in a wedding reception.

According to CNN, Trump grabbed a microphone at the reception and paid tribute to the newlywed couple, saying, “I saw them out on the lawn today… I said to the Prime Minister of Japan, I said, ‘C’mon Shinzo, let’s go over and say hello.’ “

“They’ve been members of this club for a long time,” Trump added. “They’ve paid me a fortune.”

Jesus Fucking Christ Onna Stick.

To capitalize on the the premium people are willing to pay for access to the president, the Trump Organization recently doubled the Mar-a-Lago initiation fee to $200,000. Trump has spent two of his three full weekends as president there.

Jesus Fucking Christ Onna Stick. I can’t even. Full story at Think Progress.

Hopper vs Calhoun.

Grace Hopper. Photo: Kay Peterson/Archives Center, National Museum.

Grace Hopper. Photo: Kay Peterson/Archives Center, National Museum.

Grace Hopper won out at Yale University, replacing Calhoun, and at least one person is all manner upsetty about it.

Yale University announced it would change the name of Calhoun College to instead honor Grace Murray Hopper, who was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer during World War II and also helped develop the Mark II and Mark III computers. The school had originally been named for John C. Calhoun, who held several high-profile positions in government, including vice president, senator, and secretary of state. Calhoun called slavery a “positive good.”

So who’s upset? Geraldo Rivera, who apparently had some sort of position there. Oh, he was an associate fellow, whatever that means.

On Sunday, media personality Geraldo Rivera announced he had stepped down from his role as an associate fellow at Yale, following the university’s decision to rename a college that had once been dedicated to a staunch slavery supporter. … Rivera described the university’s decision to cease honoring a champion of slavery and instead recognize a female computer scientist as “intolerant” and “lame.”

Does anyone care what Mr. Rivera thinks? I certainly don’t, and I’m very happy to hear that Yale has done the right thing here. Think Progress has the full story.

The Power Must Not Be Questioned!

Stephen Miller, policy adviser to President-elect Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower in New York, Monday, Jan. 9, 2017. CREDIT: AP Photo/Evan Vucci.

Stephen Miller, policy adviser to President-elect Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower in New York, Monday, Jan. 9, 2017. CREDIT: AP Photo/Evan Vucci.

As most everyone is aware, Stephen Miller did the media dance all of Sunday, spreading bullshit far and wide. It’s no secret that the Tiny Dictator is displeased with Spicer, and tweeted happily about Miller’s performances. Those performances should disturb the hell out of everyone with a brain and the ability to use it.

Senior White House Policy Advisor Stephen Miller raised plenty of eyebrows on Sunday as the perused the talk-show circuit talking about cases of voter fraud (that don’t exist) and Steve Bannon’s lack of involvement in drafting executive orders (which, according to most reports, is the exact opposite of the truth).

But perhaps his most alarming statement was in reference to the federal judges in Washington rejecting President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban.

“I think that it’s been an important reminder to all Americans that we have a judiciary that has taken far too much power and become in many cases a supreme branch of government,” Miller told John Dickerson of CBS News, as first noted by Will Saletan of Slate. “The end result of this, though, is that our opponents, the media, and the whole world will soon see, as we begin to take further actions, that the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned.”

Emphasis mine. This is the boot stomp of authoritarianism, the herald of a regime which wants no dissent whatsoever, from anyone. What’s even more frightening is the amount of people willing to go along with it. Elsewhere I wrote: I think there’s a place for the very worst truth of all: it does not take much to normalise the most monstrous of behaviours, and it takes very little indeed to make people willingly join in said behaviours. The time and place is now.

Think Progress has the full story.

11 Foot 8 Schadenfreude.

At the corner of Gregson and Peabody streets in Durham, North Carolina, lies a railroad trestle with an infamous history. The 11-foot-8-inch underpass, also known at the “can-opener bridge,” has seen hundreds of truck collisions over the past eight years. And Jürgen Henn has captured nearly every one of them with a surveillance camera and posted them online. A local celebrity, Henn and his 11foot8 website provide a delightfully painful reminder to pay attention to what’s around you—and to never underestimate your truck’s clearance height.

Via Great Big Story. I do love the Crash art, but I’m odd that way, with my collection of swarf, and other odd things which always end up in my pockets during a walk.

Kiikers gonna kiik.

Kiikers gonna kiik. Eesti Kiikingi Liit/CC BY-SA 3.0.

Kiikers gonna kiik. Eesti Kiikingi Liit/CC BY-SA 3.0.

Extreme swinging! Oh gods, that looks like so much fun! I was one of those insane swingers in my younger years, swinging is best when you’re upside down on the upswing, and I’ve wrapped a few chains in my time. I’ve always loved swinging, it’s always felt extraordinarily satisfying. I still love swinging. There was a set of swings across from the school here in town, and I’d always have to stop and have a swing. I think swinging is a particularly good activity for those of us with extreme stress problems – it gives you a comforting action, akin to rocking, and allows you to become fully focused on your physical self, and have complete joy in that. I wish I had a swing set.

…Meanwhile in Estonia, thanks to a cultural love affair with swings, going over the top has developed into a serious extreme sport.

Kiiking, as the sport of extreme swinging is known (“kiik” is “swing” in Estonian), is fairly young, having first been introduced in the early 1990s, but it has deep roots in Estonia’s cultural past. “Wooden swings are traditionally a big part of Estonian culture and all around Estonia you can find different wooden swings (they are called ‘village swings’) where all the people from surrounding places came together during celebrations or just to have fun while swinging and singing,” says Raili Laansalu, a kiiker since she was just 8 years old, and whose family currently runs the premiere website for the sport, Kiiking.com. To this day, communal wooden swings can be found in towns and villages across the country, so it’s perhaps no wonder that some Estonian daredevil would be the one to invent a way to go over the top.

[…]

As Laansalu tells it, a man named Tarmo Männigo attempted an arc over the spindle of both of Kosk’s swings. Männigo was able to conquer the first swing, which stood about 2.5 meters tall, but when he attempted to swing around the second, which stood slightly taller, at 2.7 meters tall, he couldn’t quite get over. It became clear that the taller the swing got, the more difficult it would be to complete a circuit over the spindle, which meant that there could be competitive accomplishments, and thus, a new sport was born. “We, who are kiikers so to say, like to say that “kiiking” starts when your legs are higher than your head, before that it is just swinging,” says Laansalu.

By 1997 Kosk had continued to refine his vision of kiiking as a pastime, and he invented a telescoping metal swing that could be raised and lowered safely, to allow for variable skill levels. The design has continued to be refined over the years, and the height of the swings increased. The spindly metal forks and system of support wires of modern kiiking swings are a far cry from Kosk’s original rustic inventions.

[…]

At least in Estonia, where kiiking is most popular, the rules of competition are regulated by the Estonian Kiiking Union (Eesti Kiikingi Liit). Kiikers set a certain height for the swing that they will then have the chance to try and round using just the momentum from their body. Should they swing all the way around at the stated height, they can try to go higher. “[For example], I set my first height at 4 meters. I make one spindle so I am allowed to choose a new height. For next one I choose 4.20 meters. I also complete that so I choose now 4.50 meters. If I do not complete 4.50m, my end result will be 4.20m,” says Laansalu. The competitor who can flip around the highest swing wins. According to Guinness World Records, the current champion kiiker cleared a 7.15 meter swing in 2015.

Indoor kiiking is also an option. Eesti Kiikingi Liit/CC BY-SA 3.0.

Indoor kiiking is also an option. Eesti Kiikingi Liit/CC BY-SA 3.0.

You can read and see more at Atlas Obscura.

Oh FFS, now he’s in the bible.

tucker-viemeister-nazi-trump-logo-design-graphics-hero

Nazi Trump Logo, Tucker Viemeister.

There’s an article up at Christian Post which is surprisingly well balanced, with one sane scholar bringing the reality check, but we all know how little reality means to many christians. Some of them are all excited about…The Last Trump. You betcha.

Is Donald Trump specifically named in the New Testament prophecies about the end times? Some are speculating that the new U.S. president is “the last trump” that is mentioned in the Bible and that his geopolitical moves are heralding the end times.

Dr. Samuel Lamerson, professor of New Testament and president of Florida’s Knox Theological Seminary, told The Christian Post that such analysis is “ridiculous.”
“First of all, it only works in the English language. The New Testament was written in Greek. Second of all, it only works in the King James Version and some other older translations. Many other translations will have ‘trumpet’ instead of ‘trump,'” Lamerson explained.

Thank you, Dr. Lamerson! This isn’t stopping others from claiming Trump is biblical.

Historian David Montaigne, who has written End Times and 2019, Antichrist 2016-2019, and The Two Witnesses of Revelation, pointed to two Bible passages in an online post last year that refer to “trump:”

1 Thessalonians 4:16 reads: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”

I Corinthians 15:52 states: “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

Montaigne noted that it is possible to look into such verses and explore what they might be saying about God’s plans concerning Trump.

“I am not suggesting that Donald Trump absolutely *IS* the last trump – but since the LAST TRUMP is one of the most clear and final signs in end times prophecy, can we overlook the possibility that a presidential candidate named Trump is being used as a sign by God?” he posed.

I’m not suggesting, no, not at all, I’m saying! Dr. Lamerson once again goes for the reality check:

“I think that often people forget that the book of Revelation was written 2,000 years ago,” he said. The notion that what the Scripture says applies to the shape of the political world today “is to totally misunderstand what exactly is going on there,” he added.

This never seems to stop christians at all, or even make them think. I have seen people on christian forums opine as to why America isn’t mentioned in the bible.

Other end times prophets have focused on the wider impact of Trump’s presidency so far, such as his criticism of the European Union, particularly when it comes to allowing millions of refugees to enter its territory.

Author and commentator Erika Grey, who analyzes Israel, the U.S., Russia, and other major players in geopolitics today and their role in biblical prophecy, has linked Trump’s opposition to the EU to factors that could bring about the end times.

[…]

“In end time Bible Prophecy we know that the EU is going to become the greatest most powerful world empire to have ever existed and it is going to be an economic powerhouse,” she wrote on her website.

“Despite BREXIT and Donald Trump in Bible Prophecy the EU is still going to move forward despite taking these bumps. With Donald Trump as president there is a new sheriff in town and the era of EU, US relations has come to an end, but with the new president will come a geopolitical shift and the EU will continue to move forward even to the surprise of some EU officials.”

One of the most disturbing things about christians is their ghoulish glee in their anticipation of total destruction, and people being tossed into a hell for all time. It’s truly disgusting, the complete lack of empathy, and the joy taken in judgment.

Full story at Christian Post.

Bringing Back the Specter of Illegitimacy.

Shutterstock.

Shutterstock.

I well remember the stigma of single parenthood back in the 1960s and 1970s. It was still a heavy stigma, and people had little regard or concern for single women raising a child/children. It was still considered to be highly shameful. Women who had the courage to be open single parents without made up stories about being widowed or what have you brought down societal scorn, but it’s thanks to those parents who had such courage that much of that stigma receded, although never completely eradicated. It took many generations to stop the open contempt of children deemed bastards. It really should not be needed to say that fostering judgmental biases which can impact children in the worst way is wrong, but it seems someone needs to inform Tennessee republicans that hanging “bastard” on a child is not at all okay.

A bill filed by a Tennessee Republican aims to make children born through artificial insemination illegitimate.

WMC reported that state House Representative Terry Lynn Weaver is sponsoring HB 1406 to repeal Tennessee current statute, TCA 68-3-306, which declares that children born through artificial insemination are the “legitimate” child of the mother’s husband.

The text of the new bill says it immediately “repeals statute that deems a child born to a married woman as a result of artificial insemination, with consent of the married woman’s husband, to be the legitimate child of the husband and wife.”

Last year, Weaver was one of 53 GOP lawmakers who got involved in a same-sex marriage divorce that dealt with the custody of a child born through artificial insemination. Weaver and the other lawmakers asserted that the lesbian wife of the child’s mother should not be considered a “legitimate” parent under the current statute.

Amazing, isn’t it, what republicans waste their time on. They could be doing good, but no, they find it much more important to fuck over parents and children. :snarl:

Via Raw Story.

Jeers, Sneers and Pants On Fire.

A person shouts to Rep. Jason Chaffetz during his town hall meeting at Brighton High School on Thursday. CREDIT: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer.

A person shouts to Rep. Jason Chaffetz during his town hall meeting at Brighton High School on Thursday. CREDIT: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer.

The GOP is getting desperate in the face of their constituents, who will not stop protesting, showing up, and demanding answers. The reek of cowardly ordure emanating from repubs is overwhelming at this point, and they are saying the first thing that pops into their vacuous heads in an attempt to make everyone shut up and go away, including the resurrection of the infamous lie about death panels. Yep. There are two stories here, we’ll start with Utah, and Rep. Jason Chaffetz.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) says paid protesters were among the thousand-plus people who gave him a raucous, negative reception at a town hall in Salt Lake City on Thursday. The crowd chanted “shame!” and “do your job.”

It was “more of a paid attempt to bully and intimidate” than a reflection of the feelings of his constituents, Chaffetz told the Deseret News. … But reporters who were at the event and interviewed attendees say they found no evidence anybody was paid to be there.

No, they wouldn’t, because the “paid protesters” nonsense is nothing more than a lie, and attempt to justify stupid and harmful actions along with evading questions about said actions.

Utah state Rep. Marie Poulson (D-Cottonwood Heights) represents the area around the high school where the town hall was held. She told the Deseret News she believes almost all the protesters were local.

“I’ve heard some of my colleagues (at the Utah Legislature) say here today that they had shipped in liberals to give him a bad time,” she said. “I serve that area and I listen to their frustrations.”

Poulson said she’s heard from many people frustrated that Chaffetz, chair of the House Oversight Committee, has so far seemed unwilling to investigate President Trump’s conflicts of interests.

“I had so many get back to me and say, ‘We’ve been so upset by what Rep. Chaffetz is doing. We want him to investigate equally, with as much zeal as he did in the past, with this current administration,’” Poulson said, referring to Chaffetz’s dogged investigation into the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi incident that occurred under then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s watch.

A whole lot of people are wondering what happened to all that violating the constitution, and why no one seems to be concerned about it, let alone doing something about it. The constitution has indeed been violated, to pieces, and the response from the rethugs? ****crickets****

Last Monday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said “protesting has become a profession now.”

No, it hasn’t. People still have their day jobs, if they are fortunate enough to be employed. All the protests are a sign of just how bad you are fucking up, and people are tired. They are also mad as hell, and not willing to take it anymore.

“They have every right to do that, don’t get me wrong, but I think that we need to call it what it is. It’s not these organic uprisings that we’ve seen through the last several decades — the Tea Party was a very organic movement — this has become a very paid, astroturf-type movement,” Spicer added, providing no evidence for his claims.

The Tea Party was organic because…? Oh right, delusional right wingers, who spent years flinging their shit all over the place in an effort to unseat a legally elected president. And yet, in the case of an illegally elected president, one who is an inexperienced, incompetent megalomaniac bent on destruction, the current grassroots movement is astroturf. Right. That is one of the stupidest things I have heard in a while, and that’s saying something, given the news every day.

Full story at Think Progress. Moving on to Rep. Gus Bilirakis and Bill Akins — chair of Pasco County, Florida’s Republican Party, who tried the “death panels!” defense, which did not work in any way.

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