I don’t care if they’re in kindergarten or if they’re seniors in high school, they know the rules. – Mike Riley
My Friday the Thirteenth event went extremely well this time, as those of you who follow me on Twitter (or pay close attention to the comment threads) already know; there were 19 contributions altogether including the reblogs, and several of those were on very popular websites (including Reason and Popehat). The next one will be in December, and I’ll list all of the names and links of the posts in my column for that day. If you wanted to participate but didn’t have the time (or just forgot), you can still get in to that column just by sending me the link, and I’ll update it with those as I can. Radley Balko was our top link contributor this week, but not by much; he only barely squeaked out three others who tied for second place with two links each. The first video was provided by my cat, and the second by Aspasia (who also supplied “science”); the links between the videos were contributed by Cliterati (“cats and bacon”), Carol Fenton (“105” and “prisons”), Mistress Matisse (“eating”), Jemima (“fast food”), Lenore Skenazy (“climbing” and “bullies”), Jesse Walker (“graphic novel”), Nun Ya (“walking”), Cop Block (“slot machines”), and Grace (“royalty”).
- Arkansas sets 30-minute statute of limitations for crimes by cops.
- Sometimes, libertarianism happens to entire families at once.
- Headline of the week.
- Science!
- Infographic: cats and bacon.
- 105 years in prison for posting a link.
- New Yorkers are illegally eating things!
- Prisons don’t have to be torture chambers.
- Some say fast-food workers are underpaid.
- Cops threaten to shoot tween kids for climbing.
- William S. Burroughs once wrote a graphic novel.
- 15-year-old arrested for imagining he killed bullies.
- Cop beats man for walking on the “wrong” side of the road.
- Cops steal companies’ computers, calling them “slot machines”.
- Government is just a word for things we choose to do together.
- Never call the cops for any reason whatsoever, even if you’re royalty.
From the Archives
- Why can’t women understand that most “creeps” are just frustrated, not dangerous?
- Rapists & pedophiles find job where they can grope women & children.
- Condoms, karaoke, knives, conscious vaginas, rapist cops & parasites.
- A few journalists are beginning to question the “sex trafficking” hype.
- Cause: brothels cannot operate legally. Effect: many illegal brothels.
- If abortions are criminalized, should women who get be imprisoned?
- Ethically-retarded academics get in bed with morally-bankrupt cops.
- Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.
- Police launch “crackdowns” in anticipation of brothel legalization.
- An Algerian tribe in which prostitution was normal and accepted.
- Coming out to parents who are in denial about one’s sex work.
- An anti-sex fanatic’s crusade to criminalize a lump of bronze.
- Indian actress recognizes that sex work reduces rape.
- How “feminist” laws infantilize or pathologize women.
- The collapse of UK Olympic “sex trafficking” hysteria.
- Why only some religions have freedom in the US.
- Another win-win situation ruined by busybodies.
- Politicians judge others, but never themselves.
- Whores in the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
- Arianna Huffington panders to hysteria.
- Another transgender person murdered.
- Every whore is somebody’s daughter.
- An interview with Melissa Gira Grant.
- Thoughts on my first conference.
- Filmmaker persecuted for profit.
- R.I.P. Robyn Few.
- E pur si muove.
“Boozy feral pig steals beer, gets drunk and starts fight with a cow”
Oh, who CARES what the Clintons do?!?
Well there’s the little “detail” that he has NOT been sentenced to that. In fact – he hasn’t even been tried yet – only indicted. AND there’s also the fact that he did more than just post a link. He posted a threatening video – and is now claiming that withdrawals from “Heroin Addiction” made him do it.
I doubt this guy will get 10 years if he’s convicted.
That Paula Abdul video made me nostalgic for ’80’s and early ’90’s music videos – back when they were creative. There’s still some creative videos coming out today – from a few artists. Katy Perry has a good one (and may have the new LSU fight song) in her newest video …
Krulac, I grew up in the golden age of MTV and have fond memories of some of the great old videos. Somewhere in my piles of crap I have VHS tapes full of them: “Sledgehammer” “Take On Me”, “Walk This Way”, “Need You Tonight”, “Walk Like An Egyptian”, and “You Can Call Me Al”, which I believe might be the last funny thing Chevy Chase has appeared in.
Sasha,
Maybe you can help me with something that has bugged me for years. I dimly remember a high production value music video that appeared to be plotted around a search for a serial killer; police offices, pictures of suspects, maps. Towards the end some kids lose a ball (football? I’m not certain anymore) down a cellar window, and find a stash of (surprise!) MALE bodies wrapped up in silk as if they were the victims of a gigantic spider.
Now, what the HELL song was that about?
Were you reading yet when I did “My Favorite Short Films“?
Yeah those were all cool … there was cool shit happening in videos back then. I remember, in the early 80’s, my submarine pulled into Perth, Western Australia – actually we pulled into HMAS Stirling at Garden Island down by Fremantle. But I was sitting in a night club in Perth called “Pinocchio’s” with some girls when “Thriller” by Michael Jackson came on. I had never seen it before (was underwater when it came out) and the girls were giggling at me because I totally lost my interest in them while that video was playing.
And THAT never happens!! 😛
One of the girls was “Carolyn” – and she and I later fell in love. But it was long-distance with me being stationed in Hawaii and having no money to go see her. I ended up going to a Hawaiian brothel to “forget” her – which worked out well for me!
In fact, I can almost chronicle my deployments around the Pacific based on music videos. Guam, 1984 (I think) was “Karma Chamelion” from Boy George and the next year (also in Perth) was Tom Petty “Don’t Come Around Here No More”. A lot of “Duran Duran” videos I remember seeing in Yokosuka, Japan.
@CSPschofield: that isn’t ringing a bell. I’ll have to find my tapes and watch them as, um, research! Yeah, that’s the ticket! (note to self: ask Mr Sasha to hook up the VCR)
@Maggie: Great list! I’d forgotten about that Tom Petty video…terriffic stuff. Also, What’s Opera, Doc? is one of the great works of Western civilization. Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, and Wagner: what more could you ask for?
@Krulac: You, ignoring the girls to pay attention to Michael Jackson? Yeah, pull the other one, dude. 😉
What Paula Abdul video?
The one embedded in the “Science” link you posted.
“Opposite’s Attract” – that’s the video in the story. You can see it right?
Yes, I had just forgotten it was there.
Welcome to the wonderful adventure of “growing old” 😛
You two have no idea what “growing old” means 🙁
(It’s when the spirit is strong, but the flesh is very weak.)
That New York clandestine dinner party story. Sigh.
I was born and raised in New York when it was renowned as a tough town for tough people. Now it’s been taken over by sissy pearl-clutching hysterics.
I really, really hope the health inspectors break up one of those dinner parties, just to see the excrement-storm that will ensue. I’m hoping, anyway.
I’ll be in town next probably Feb-March 2014, if anyone wants to invite me to an underground meal. 😉
“If abortions are criminalized, should women who get be imprisoned?”
Maggie,
One of the biggest mistakes that I see the Pro-Choice side make is the assumption that anti-abortion people can’t possibly believe that a fetus is human, and must have some sinister hidden motive to want abortion banned.
I’m not saying that NOBODY on the anti-abortion side has such a motive, but the vast majority simply believe that a fetus is a human child and think that abortion is murder. On that basis, the above question simply doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.
Now, anti-abortion forces will be more interested in imprisoning abortionists than in the women they work on, as we would be more interested in mass murderers than in people who only kill once. But they still think of women who get abortions as murderers of children.
Not a comfortable thing, but the amount of time and energy that I have seen Pro-Choice people waste trying to understand their opponents’ motives WITHOUT acknowledging this amazes and distresses me.
For the record; I don’t think a fetus is human. I think that becoming human is something that happens after birth, and not in all cases. I also don’t think I can prove this, and doubt that anyone can without appealing to faith on some level.
>One of the biggest mistakes that I see the Pro-Choice side make is the assumption that anti-abortion people can’t possibly believe that a fetus is human, and must have some sinister hidden motive to want abortion banned.
Their motive isn’t at all hidden. And it isn’t about saving lives. If it were, they would spend the time, money and energy on civil engineering in the third world, where way more children, actual, breathing children, die from not having clean water than from abortion in the USA.
It’s about controlling women’s sexuality, and forcing a religious belief onto the rest of us, pure and simple.
*facepalm*
Look, I’m not saying that there aren’t control-happy idiots out there. But the core motive is horror at hundreds of thousands of murdered children. And, for the record, the Christian churches that vociferously oppose abortion DO spend money, and send missionaries to the third world, and those missions do a lot more than preach. They DO work on civil engineering projects, sanitation, and so forth. Hell. Christian missionaries are the primary driving force of literacy in the third world. They are responsible for CREATING written forms of languages that never had such before. (OK, that’s so the people can read the Bible; it’s still awesome).
Until you accept that the rank and file of the antiabortion movement sincerely (and I believe mistakenly, but that’s beside the point) believe that a fetus is human, their reactions will perpetually blindside you. Not understanding this is (I believe) what has drawn Pro-Choice spokespersons into the catastrophic mistake of defending Kermit Gosnell. I have read otherwise sensible people saying that Gosnell was necessary because he made abortion accessible to the poor. Weeping Buddha on a Flaming Pogo Stick; Gosnell is absolutely indefensible, and by trying to defend him to people who seriously think he STARTED OUT as a mass murderer, you throw away SOOOOOO much political capitol it isn’t even funny.
Get over yourself. Your goddamned sexuality is not the most important thing on the table. What is at stake is the ability of poor women to control how many children they have. I don’t think abortion is a happy choice, but I think it should be legal. But we have to craft a compromise with people who BELIEVE it is murder. And misunderstanding their motives will lead us into fights we cannot win.
Late Term Abortion is poison; it looks like child-murder to people who would not otherwise think that way.
Opposing Parental Notification is poison; no parent that we need to persuade is going to think that the State (and especially a low level functionary of the State) has a right to obtain an abortion for their child without even telling them. It doesn’t matter how many incest or abuse horror stories you spin; it’s a non-starter.
If you insist on misunderstanding and underestimating the motives of abortion opponents, you WILL piss abortion rights down the drain.
That’s the problem with the national debate – you hit it square. It’s not just pro-abortion misunderstanding anti-abortion though – it’s the other way around too.
I was raised EXCLUSIVELY around anti-abortionists and while I can testify their motivations are primarily for the babies – I can also say they make no attempt to understand the pro-abortion side – and often attribute sinister motives to them just as the abortionists attach sinister motivations to the anti-abortion crowd.
Ask any anti-abortionist what “motivates” someone on the pro-abortion side and they’ll tell you …
“Well, it’s easy to equate human life on the level of an animal if you don’t believe in God and don’t believe that man is special – or has a soul.”
“They are the inventors of “Eugenics” now – aren’t they?”
“They’re really just atheists and communists at war with Christianity! It’s not about women at all – they don’t care about “choice”
“They disdain Michael Vick for killing dogs – while late-term abortionists are canonized!”
“They’re racists … over 50% of abortions are performed on mothers of non-white ethnicity.”
“What they really want – IS INFANTICIDE – just look at Obama’s votes on the subject when he was an Illinois Senator.”
“If they’re not advocating INFANTICIDE – then why is Planned Parenthood fighting against emergency efforts to save a fetus born alive as a result of a botched abortion?”
“If they’re not advocating INFANTICIDE – then why did they defend Gosnell?”
Let me tell you something – if the Pro-Choice side wants to die on the hill of late term abortions they can certainly do so. They are an indefensible, barbaric practice that horrifies the majority of Americans – including many on the Pro-Choice side. You will end up losing ALL abortion rights if you don’t stop supporting this.
On the flip side – not like your opposition is really thinking too much either. Pro-Life people are marginalizing their position by refusing to compromise on RU-486 and early term abortions – and they’re also killing their support with what I call “stupid clown tricks” – like mandating vaginal ultra-sounds prior to abortion.
You make many sound points about the anti-abortion side and their preconceptions (sorry). But THEIR weaknesses don’t concern me nearly as much. If the pro-choice side were willing to see reality (that late term abortions and no parental notification are non-starters) I would have few fears for legal abortion. As matters stand, though, I seriously foresee major losses in that direction in the not-too-distant future. There have already been cases of young women taken across state lines to circumvent parental notification laws, and that is a situation full of possibilities … none of them good. One botched abortion, or one regretful teen, and the pro-choice side will have to do a LOT of damage control.
You are right 99% of the time girl – but you are absolutely wrong here.
There may be a few people in the Pro-Life movement that don’t give a shit about the babies and just want to tell you what to do – but the VAST MAJORITY genuinely care about all those millions of kids.
I am “Pro-Choice” now – up to a certain point and I tell you – nothing causes more grief and guilt in me than supporting abortion (under certain circumstances) – the ONLY way I can support it is with a cynical view that the women who want to kill their offspring would actually raise their kids to be leftists holding out their hands for more government handouts. So abortion serves as a cynical method to “purify the gene pool” of voters – certainly, most of those kids grow up to vote mindlessly Democrat for sure.
For me – liberties need to protected – and to me – LIFE is the FIRST liberty.
Ron Paul is a libertarian – but he’s also PRO-LIFE …
What really PISSES me off … IS THAT IT IS THE IRRESPONSIBILITY OF WOMEN – that make the whole debate necessary. For fuck’s sake – there’s enough birth control out there. A woman could use AT LEAST three forms of birth control if she wanted to be 100 percent safe from getting pregnant.
And then, add on to that – that we have the “morning after” pill and the option to “abort” as soon as the pregnancy is discovered – BUT WE STILL HAVE WOMEN CHOOSING TO ABORT LATE TERM? Seriously? At what point do we tell women … “Hey we’re PRO-CHOICE but you’ve made SEVERAL choices and now you have to live with them!!”
From the Archives
Why can’t women understand that most “creeps” are just frustrated, not dangerous? Capricious Lusts September 10, 2012 by Maggie McNeill .
I revisited this post and my response, I still say my gender ( male ) has been deceive, delude, hoodwink, mislead, take in, dupe, fool, double-cross, cheat, defraud, swindle, gull, hoax, bamboozle into the belief that they must have sex. Why can’t you just except the facts, women control sex period, and if you want it you must understand a system that makes the tax code of the IRS look like See Spot run in comparison. I think I’ve said this, but I’m not sure, and I’m hesitant for fear I’ll get a knock at the door from someone reading this asking me to come downtown to answer some questions, but here goes. In the last 21 years I’ve only had sex once, the last half of my 20’s passed,all of my 30’s and I’m in the latter half of my 40’s, I except that I’ll never have sex again in my lifetime. Humans have a wonderful mind and it is there to regulate and control the body, yet they choose not to claiming that reason and logic have no power over the power of the sex drive. No wonder our species is doomed.
How can a infographic about internet memes, bacon and cats not even mention the bacon cat?
[…] neglected to mention it in the actual piece, my most recent post at Slixa was done as part of Maggie McNeill’s Friday the 13th event, in which she encourage non-sex workers who are allies to write about the decriminalization of sex […]
Nyan! Nyan!
No, there’s no reason to let the whole thing play out. And you should thank Bastet that I didn’t link to the 10-hour version.
[…] neglected to mention it in the actual piece, my most recent post at Slixa was done as part of Maggie McNeill’s Friday the 13th event, in which she encourage non-sex workers who are allies to write about the decriminalization of sex […]