And the 2016 presidential campaign begins…NOW

The Republicans are always better organized than the Democrats, and they have already identified a clear front runner.

We will now spend four years moaning about the extra-special awfulness of the Republican candidate, pretending that a horrible half of the electorate doesn’t exist, and finally nominating someone notable mainly for their bureaucratic ability to blend in with the Washington beltway crowd. The Republican will still get a substantial percentage of the electorate and come close to winning (if not winning altogether), and then we’ll all wonder about those strange people who weren’t inspired by our lackluster candidate, and voted for the stupid party instead.

Exterminate!

Oh, man, let’s hear it for JohnTheOther, that wacky MRA. He’s posted another of his unctuous screeds, this time decrying all of feminism, even the liberal/progressive/humanist kind, because he associates them with his fantasy feminism.

When you pursue your noble goals under the banner of feminism, even when you prefix it, and say liberal feminism, or humanist feminism, or sex positive feminism, you are giving cover to those who openly call for the extermination of men.

And that’s why I don’t care what flavor of feminism you practice. You’re using the same brand name as murderous, eugenics enthusiast, destroy due process sexual apartheid gender ideologue elitists for whom violence isn’t just an unpleasant option. Violence, when contemplated against children, or men, especially when doled out by state functionaries is what gets them wet. That’s the big, funded, organized and politically established collective with which you identify by name.

Wait…there’s a big, funded, organized and politically established collective of feminists who have the goal of murdering men and carrying out violence against children? I know a lot of feminists, but none of them are particularly well-funded for that activity, and none of them are getting paid to exterminate men. I know there are a few extremists out there, but the liberal feminists, and humanist feminists, and sex positive feminists are more the mainstream. Much more the mainstream. And the primary feminist sources are not making excuses for man-murder.

But that’s the Manosphere for you — completely disconnected from reality.

Here, rinse that unpleasant taste out of your mouth with a video of one of those real aggressive, assertive feminists.

Minnesota election news

Suspend your ebullience over Obama’s election last night, and consider instead the more depressing summary of the Minnesota state election results. It’s not all bad; we have a little bit of good news.

  • Our Democratic-Farmer-Labor party senator, Amy Klobuchar, won re-election handily.

  • The DFL retook the state house.

  • The DFL retook the state senate. We now have a DFL governor and legislature.

  • The constitutional amendment that would have required voters to show a photo ID failed. One more Republican attempt to restrict voter rights has been defeated.

  • The constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage as between one man and one woman only was defeated. Minnesota has no gay marriage ban.

  • Oh, yeah, Minnesota’s 8 electoral votes are all going to Obama.

But there was tragic news, as well.

  • Minnesota’s 6th district (not mine!) re-elected Michele Bachmann to congress.

Dammit.

Oh, well, it was a very close race. She’s showing signs of weakness, and we’ll give her the boot next time.

What happened?

I’ve been drinking Ardbeg and working on a talk while studiously avoiding all the news (my wife is watching it, but I’ve got headphones on to block the idiot chatter)…but twitter just exploded and I looked up to see CNN showing a mob of black children dancing, so I guess the election agony is finally over. Yay, Obama.

You’ve got 4 more years to secure a place in history as something other than a backpedaling compromiser. Push. Do something. Something other than killing foreigners, please.

It’s looking like a global war on kids

Kristen Cunnane was raped and sexually abused by two teachers at her middle school in Northern California. This is not in question: one of the teachers was convicted and sentenced to 8 years in prison, while the other committed suicide as the accusations piled up. As an adult, she recently sued the school district for damages. She lost her case, for an interesting reason. The court found her responsible for her own rape.

Defendants allege that Plaintiff was herself careless and negligent in and about the matters alleged in the complaint, and that said carelessness and negligence on said Plaintiff’s part proximately contributed to the happenings of the incident and to the injuries, loss and damages complained of, if any there were . . . .

[Alternatively, d]efendants allege that Plaintiff was herself responsible for the acts and damages of which she claims herein, and by reason thereof is estopped from obtaining any damages as result thereof.

Hear that, teenagers? You can be raped by an adult and it’ll be your fault.

Inshallah

A 15 year old girl has been murdered in Pakistan.

By having acid poured on her face.

By her parents.

The girl’s parents, Mohammad Zafar and his wife Zaheen, recounted the Oct. 29 incident from jail. The father said the girl had turned to look at a boy who drove by on a motorcycle, and he told her it was wrong.

“She said ‘I didn’t do it on purpose. I won’t look again.’ By then I had already thrown the acid. It was her destiny to die this way,” the girl’s mother told the British broadcaster.

There is no crime so great that I could imagine doing something so horrific to any of my kids. I can’t even imagine committing such a violent act on a stranger. And to do it for so trivial and natural an offense…

It’s true. Religion compels people to commit abominable and terrifying acts normally well out of bounds of the behavior of well adjusted, normal people.

And no, it wasn’t destiny. It was the work of two awful people who didn’t deserve their daughter.

Around FtB

I’ll be heading off to my local polling place shortly, and then sinking into a long day of labs and classes. Fortunately, there’s no dearth of good stuff to keep you entertained while I’m occupied.

  • Avicenna recognizes a Catholic bigot.

  • Black Skeptics have a set of voting recommendations for California ballot measures.

  • Digital Cuttlefish wants you to vote. Yes, please do.

  • Ed Brayton has all the election predictions. Must have been a lot of Magic 8-Balls sold this year.

  • Greta Christina explains why voting isn’t a waste of time.

  • Jason Thibeault has a story on Microsoft cracking down on on-line sexism in gaming. Cue denialists claiming it’s not a problem, and that if women would just shut up it would all go away.

  • Maryam Namazie writes about art and fear.

  • Mano Singham cites a really stupid endorsement for Romney.

  • Taslima Nasrin writes about Yaseen — a boy murdered by his mother for failing to memorize the Quran.

  • Kylie Sturgess presents a very entertaining short history of genetics. It’s got Dara O Briain’s name on it, but I don’t know why.

  • Zinnia Jones gives her first public speech! At a conference with a distinct lack of PZ!

  • But the same event had a distinct presence of Aron Ra. That should compensate, right?

A poll for true skeptics!

Yay! You’ve all been waiting to prove your worth as real members of the skeptic movement, and here’s your chance: vote on this poll!

Do you believe Bigfoot exists?

34% Yes

66% No

Awesome. I feel pretty damn skeptical now, voting on the existence of a ridiculously improbable giant ape with a long history of laughable “evidence”.

By the way, if you’re a United States citizen, don’t forget to

VOTE

on the one popularity poll that actually matters today. The whole world is counting on us not to elect the bumbling Mormon who will wreck our economy and propose policies of ever greater inequity.