Just a Reminder that Bill Maher is An Asshole

No, this is not about something he said or did in the last day or two. Actually, it’s a blast from the past. And… I’m kinda late to blogging about it, too… but so what?

I’m watching the episode of TWiBPrime from February 22nd(?), and they talked about Bill Maher taking credit for Milo Fuckface-opoulos’s downfall after that clip of him defending pedophilia came out.

I love how Bill Maher felt very comfortable doing that, when he’s defended pedophilia in that past, as well…

Maher appears to see nothing wrong with a 14-year-old student’s love affair with a teacher 20 years older that produced two children.

“Basically, they’re having a family and they’re keeping the mother in jail because she won’t conform to the perfect American family,” Maher said to groans from the guests and audience.

“How can a woman rape a man?” Maher asked.

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Rep. Steve King Doubles Down on White Supremacy

Most of y’all probably already know about his low-key White-Supremacist tweet in support of racist, right-wing politician Geert Wilders.

Well… he’s decided to double-down on it…

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They Want to Kill Civilians, Too…

Not to say that previous administrations didn’t do their damndest to find ways to murder civilians, but this takes it to a level that (and I’m sure this will surprise y’all, as it certainly surprised me) hasn’t been seen since Bush II at the latest…

From the New York Times…

The Trump administration is exploring how to dismantle or bypass Obama-era constraints intended to prevent civilian deaths from drone attacks, commando raids and other counterterrorism missions outside conventional war zones like Afghanistan and Iraq, according to officials familiar with internal deliberations.

Already, President Trump has granted a Pentagon request to declare parts of three provinces of Yemen to be an “area of active hostilities” where looser battlefield rules apply. That opened the door to a Special Operations raid in late January in which several civilians were killed, as well as to the largest-ever series of American airstrikes targeting Yemen-based Qaeda militants, starting nearly two weeks ago, the officials said.

Mr. Trump is also expected to sign off soon on a similar Pentagon proposal to designate parts of Somalia to be another such battlefield-style zone for 180 days, removing constraints on airstrikes and raids targeting people suspected of being militants with the Qaeda-linked group the Shabab, they said.

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First Aid Kit Plays You Are the Problem Here

(Content note: the song I’m highlighting is a song written in response to the way society allows rapists to get away with their crimes.)

I’ve been a pretty big fan of First Aid Kit ever since I first saw the music video for their song Hard Believer, a pretty openly atheist song.

First Aid Kit is a Swedish folk duo consisting of sisters Klara (vocals/guitar) and Johanna Söderberg (vocals/keyboards/AutoHarp). They’ve actually been around for a long while, now, and are immensely talented.

On March 8th, International Women’s Day, they released a new song called You Are The Problem Here. This is how they described it:

“You Are the Problem Here” isn’t a typical First Aid Kit-song. It’s angry and direct. It’s a song written out of despair. After reading about yet another rape case where the perpetrator was handed a sentence which did not at all reflect the severity of his crime we felt upset and vengeful. We were, and are, sick of living in a society where the victims of rape are often blamed for the horrible thing that has been done to them. Our message is clear and should not be controversial in the least: if you rape, you are the problem. Alcohol is not the problem. So called “youth culture” is not the problem. You are. And you always have a choice.

On March 11th, they released the lyric video for the song:

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Jeff Sessions Calls Guantánamo Bay “a Very Fine Place”

Wow. I just…

From the New York Times…

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Thursday that he would advise President Trump to send newly captured terrorism suspects to the wartime prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, which he called “a very fine place,” rather than to bring them to civilian court for prosecution by the Justice Department he now runs.

“There’s plenty of space,” Mr. Sessions said of the prison. “We are well equipped for it. It’s a perfect place for it. Eventually, this will be decided by the military rather than the Justice Department. But I see no legal problem whatsoever with doing that.”

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Patriarchy in Action: Abortion Under Attack

On a whim, I decided to have a look through Congress’s repository of legislation currently being considered, and found the following bills. All have only been introduced, but I find them to be rather disturbing. Almost all of the ones I’m highlighting here have to do with abortion, and, of course, banning it. Considering the fact that they all include “exceptions”, I have a feeling that they won’t pass a conservative congress that wants to ban abortion outright, with no exceptions at all.

But they are worth highlighting, regardless…

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Agent Orange Wants to Cut the TSA, Coast Guard, and FEMA to Boost Border Security

From the New York Times…

The Trump administration is considering deep cuts in the budgets of the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency as it looks for money to ratchet up security along the southern border, according to a person familiar with the administration’s draft budget request.

The goal is to shift about $5 billion toward hiring scores of additional agents for Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as toward infrastructure to support a crackdown on illegal immigration at the border. A significant portion of the money would go toward erecting a wall along the border with Mexico, one of President Trump’s signature campaign promises.

To fund those efforts, though, the plan would seek significant reductions in other areas, including a 14 percent cut to the Coast Guard’s $9.1 billion budget and 11 percent cuts to both the T.S.A. and FEMA. The three agencies have played high-profile roles in the Department of Homeland Security’s post-Sept. 11 security architecture.

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DHS Outright Tells Us That They’re Going to Separate Children from Their Parents

Just pure evil…

From CNN…

Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly confirmed that the department is considering separating children from their parents at the border.

“We have tremendous experience of dealing with unaccompanied minors,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room.” “We turn them over to (Health and Human Services) and they do a very, very good job of putting them in foster care or linking them up with parents or family members in the United States.”

He continued: “Yes I’m considering (that), in order to deter more movement along this terribly dangerous network. I am considering exactly that. They will be well cared for as we deal with their parents. … It’s more important to me, Wolf, to try to keep people off of this awful network.”

A senior DHS official had previously told CNN that the department was considering a proposal to separate children from adults when they are trying to enter the country illegally at the southern border.

The official told CNN the proposal is meant to deter the exploitation of children.

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Planned Parenthood Can Keep Their Funding… if They Stop Providing Abortions

From the New York Times…

The White House, concerned about the possible political repercussions of the Republican effort to defund Planned Parenthood, has proposed preserving federal payments to the group if it discontinues providing abortions.

The proposal, which was never made formally, has been rejected as an impossibility by officials at Planned Parenthood, which receives about $500 million annually in federal funding. That money helps pay for women’s health services the organization provides, not for abortion services.

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Agent Orange Signs a New Islamophobic Travel Ban

From Reuters…

President Donald Trump signed a revised executive order on Monday banning citizens from six Muslim-majority nations from traveling to the United States but removing Iraq from the list, after his controversial first attempt was blocked in the courts.

The new order, which takes effect on March 16, keeps a 90-day ban on travel to the United States by citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It applies only to new visa applicants, meaning some 60,000 people whose visas were revoked under the previous order will now be permitted to enter.

Immigration advocates said the new ban still discriminated against Muslims and failed to address some of their concerns with the previous order. Legal experts said it would, however, be harder to challenge because it affects fewer people living in the United States and allows more exemptions to protect them.

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