The last day I’ve been going “Argh” as I realize the barriers that have been put to thinking and expression thereof, as well as the continuous blast of “this you must think, this you must celebrate” (more onerous than even “this you must not think” and “this you must not do” that Heinlein cautioned us about) just in the last ten years or so.
The first occasion of ARGH was my going over page proofs for my mystery, Dipped, Stripped and Dead (under pen name Elise Hyatt.)
It was supposed to be out in December, then the collapse, and then January turned into “bursts of insane working, punctuated by the worst flu I’ve ever had.” That extended into February. Yesterday Dorothy Grant (BTW, her first book is out) pointed out if I didn’t try to use the treadmill desk the first day I feel up to it, I might not relapse again. It might have been too late for that warning, though this relapse feels less awful than the last. I should have pointed out to her that sanity is for sissies, but she might be able to slap me, even from Texas.
Anyway, in going over Draw One In The Dark, I came across a character I’d forgotten was in the book. First I should point out the furniture refinishing mysteries are where I put most autobiographical details, to the point of older son making me change a thing because he uses it as a password. Both boys refer to this series as “selling our childhood retail.” As in, E. the little boy character in the book, is a composite of my sons at that age.
The character I had forgotten was a Marine, who was a carpenter and six foot six or seven, whose other “personality” was a female who liked to dress in extremely high heels. He was completely harmless, and a very nice man, except for a tendency to think my wedding vows didn’t mean much. THIS part was goofy. (Though he took his rebuff with grace.) And hitting on me in my own kitchen, while wearing women’s clothing was very very creepy. His other goofy idea was that he passed as female. (OTOH best line to guys who were making fun of him in a bar was “How would you like to have your ass kicked by a guy in a dress?”)
Anyway, I use a version him in that book, and gentle ribbing happens.
It occurred to me that I couldn’t get that book traditionally published today for the thought crime of “laughing at the transgendered” (which I wasn’t. I was laughing at a very specific person whom I actually liked, but who had some odd quirks in his brain, as who doesn’t?)
And I went “ARGH.” Because this is an area in which we must now think that someone’s cross dressing name/persona is as valid or more valid than his male personality/person, and we’re supposed to call his occasionally liking to dress as a woman “genderfluid.” We MUST also not find it funny that he thinks his female persona is beautiful. (He is/was — we lost touch and he was older than I– a gorgeous man, of the “craggy type” which does not translate well to female beauty.)
In a way, this type of enforcing of what we MUST think of people’s little quirks is less tolerant and makes us less free. I mean, I honestly don’t know if my friend viewed this other persona of his as a whole other “person” or just as a hobby, i.e. something fun he liked to do/explore. And that was fine. I mean, we didn’t hold our noses up at him, and it was none of our business what he chose to do. But now, by the dictates of the politically correct church, he and I and all our friends would have to think of it as very serious indeed, a “genderfluid” thing that meant he wasn’t the same sex his body was for at least part of his time.
How is this helping? Sure, if you really are a person who thinks he/she shifts genders occasionally, you now have reinforcement/support. But what about everyone else? What about the vast spectrum of people, from guys who think women clothes are fun, to guys who just want to explore that side of themselves? WHY must there be only one correct way to be a guy who periodically dresses/thinks he passes as a woman? And isn’t labeling every other view of it as hateful… rather hateful?
My other moment of Argh was occasioned by younger son. No, that doesn’t mean younger son did something wrong. He didn’t. It’s more that younger son told me about something. (Oh, dear Lord, why does he do that?) and what he told me about was that some show introduced the concept of “Galentine’s” on the 13th. This is a day for “ladies to celebrate ladies.” What was driving younger son bananas (with a side of kiwi) is that he seeing all his female friends fall into this.
The idea is frankly loony. Valentine’s itself is highly commercialized, but most of the time, my husband I circumvent it by having walks together, or just watching a movie together. However, a day to celebrate being a couple is useful (and it wasn’t proclaimed by some government. In fact, I’m fairly sure what it is in the US grew organically, because it’s not the same anywhere else. In Portugal it’s considered “boyfriend/girlfriend day” but it mostly amounts to some kissing and maybe flowers. Or it did in my day.) Trust me, in the years of raising toddlers, any time to remember yes, you’re in love, and what brought you together is important.
But Galentine? What the actual heck? It’s not bonding, and it’s not building a relationship that is a cornerstone of society. No. It’s … putting up lists of your friends who are female and celebrating them BECAUSE THEY’RE FEMALE. This is something they were born, and can’t help being, and… what are we celebrating, precisely?
It’s not that I object to “ugly/awkward girls get a day too.” No. it’s the undertones of it. It’s the “It’s just as good to be a woman as a couple (you know, the future would beg to differ) and how being a woman is something you should celebrate because… because… because…. I don’t know? Because we have vaginas?
Picture guys saying that being a man is something to celebrate, because… they have penises? Mind you, I’m a big fan of both men and their ah implement, but seriously? It would be laughable. And celebrating because you’re a woman is equally laughable.
Mind you, I’m probably the voice crying in the wilderness in the days of pussy hats and women marching around with signs painted with vulvas or proudly proclaiming they have a vulva, but it seems to me if what makes you special is the non-thinking thing between your legs, you’re doing life wrong, you’re doing equality wrong and MOST importantly, you’re doing SPECIAL wrong.
I have friends who are female and friends who are male. Not only do I not care what their equipment is, but frankly I don’t want to think about their equipment. The only person whose sexual organs matter to me (other than myself) is my husband. It’s the only one whose sexual organs have an even remote effect on our relationship (I maintain if we lost the capacity to have sex tomorrow, love would go on, so, yes, remote. But it would be less fun.)
What makes my friends special are the things we both enjoy, the things we like to talk about, their fascinating minds or their generous personality, or their kindness, or their enthusiasm or all of those and more. None of them, though are “vagina” or “penis.”
Celebrating my lady friends is goofy. Celebrating my gentlemen friends sounds like I’m having affairs. I love all my friends, and wouldn’t even be opposed to giving non-romantic valentines, the way elementary school kids do it. (Only not to everyone I know.) BUT I don’t think of my friends in neat little groups. A couple of my best-male friends are gay. I don’t have them in a group for “my gay friends.” I only think of them in those terms when refuting some idiocy from left or right about “all gay males” or when the subject — usually a joke — is one they’d enjoy. In that sense it’s like thinking of my “writer friends” a fluid group who will appreciate some jokes/situations more than my other friends.
Putting people in groups, some of which are to be celebrated and some reviled is a trick for “governing” and controlling people, which has been used since machiavelli.
What burns me is seeing people willingly cooperate in this, seemingly unaware that any group that’s uplifted can be cast down when policy demands it. It’s all a game to control people.
They can pipe all they want. I’m not dancing.
Happy valentines to all my friends, male and female, all of whom are loved even those I’ve never met but who make this blog interesting.
You are loved, all of you, you fascinating individuals. Now, go be you.
According To Hoyt 
Ox not need special day.
Ox not need to use pronouns.
The song my class in middle school adopted as our class song.
I mentioned “Galentine’s Day” to Beloved Spouse yesterday, with the claim that it supposedly celebrates “Female Friendship” and we both agreed that regardless of whether “female friendships” are particularly worth celebrating, the association of the celebration with <IValentine’s Day indicated it was female friendships of a particular type which they had in mind.
But, of course, it was lesbophobic of us to suggest as much.
I don’t think so. My guess is THOSE types of female friendships celebrate on Valentine’s day like most other couples. I’m guessing the “Galentine’s” folks are in the “heterosexual, single, and really bitter about it” category.
I’ll ditto the observation that it’s less “gals who like gals” and more “gals who have a hard time getting guys”.
I’ll also toss in the fact that if a single gal spends all her time cloistered with her gal pals, she’s going to have a bit of a harder time getting dates.
Shush. Don’t use that male logic.
Just saying.
Except that is my sort of logic, and I’m definitely female (it’s the mammal giving birth six times that’s the tell, you know?), so clearly Joe was actually channeling female logic and you’re just being I-don’t-even-know-or-care-what-ophobic!
Just means you truly identify as male. Your biology is immaterial. Now start using the men’s room.
Nope, absolutely identify as female. How dare you tell me I can’t identify with my biological reality? I *feel* female, after all!
And I’m much too tired to come up with it but I’m sure there’s an excellent joke about your basic self-identity as acid. Probably a base canard.
C was doing some online research and discovered that several Asian countries have Valentine’s, when women give men chocolate; White Day, a month later, when men reciprocate (traditionally with white chocolate); and Black Day, two months later, when the unpaired get together to regret their unpaired status—apparently there’s a Korean noodle dish with a black sauce that’s become a customary dish in South Korea for that day.
I suspect that last one, also serves as a way to introduce unmatched singles to one another.
Precisely.
Well, if we can have Galentine’s Day, why not Palentine’s Day for the guys? They coukd give each other bacon wrapped corn dogs….
Is that a euphemism?
No, its a delicious combination of flavors, according to my gy friends, and if us gals can have chocolate, why not?
Is the bacon inside or outside the batter?
I’m being me by celebrating Single Awareness Day. My sex (it’s the lack thereof that’s causing the issue) has nothing to do with it.
It’s that day a month from now that is the really worry. Well, half of it anyway.
Beware!
That day a month from now is for eating PIE. Delicious, delicious pie. I recommend Hershey’s sundae pie.
And then on June 28th, you can celebrate Tau Day by eating TWO pies. Consistency? Why worry about consistency when there’s delicious pie to enjoy?
And seriously, I think τ (Tau, the ratio of a circle’s circumference divided by its radius, which equals 2π because the radius is half the diameter) really does make a better circle constant. Radians are much easier to understand using τ — τ/4 is a quarter of a circle, for example — and a lot of trig formulas become more consistent when written in terms of τ than in terms of π. But if anyone is interested in the rest of that, the details are at that link. And for those who don’t care about the details, just remember that Tau Day gives you an excuse to eat 2π.
Oooooh. I like the way your mind works! I must celebrate this with you!
Speaking of celebrating – bought your book! Looking forward to reading it. ^_^
Ranking when I got it is: Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,027 Paid in Kindle Store
Might I ask what you used to make the cover? Particularly, the face.
At least we don’t have the Japanese obligatory women giving men chocolate day, followed by the desperate hope of women to get white chocolate a month later.
Brilliant marketing, horrendous stress. And they wonder why the Japanese are not breeding.
Adding to it, chocolate is rather expensive in Japan.
1. How does this work, now? 2. Why are the women stuck with pseudo-chocolate?
Seriously. Any man hoping to win his way into MY heart had better show up with the real stuff, not this ridiculous tastes-like-yogurt alleged substitute for chocolate.
That too might be part of why the Japanese aren’t breeding…
Wrote this before reading the comments, but it seems fitting. Incidentally, I’m going largely on watching TV here in Japan, walking through stores, and talking to friends. Still an odd set of filters, but relatively close to the source.
Hum, you might be interested in the hijinks that Valentine’s day is going through here in Japan. See, the stores were perfectly happy to sell chocolates (and other stuff! But heavy on the chocolates) for Valentine’s day. With the explanation that women should give it to men. Oh, and there’s giri choco (duty chocolate) that office ladies and others gave their bosses or other male acquaintances, versus real chocolate, given because you are romantically interested. So, chocolates from the women to the guys, that’s Valentine’s day. With chocolates in every store, from January on.
BUT people noticed that this was uneven, so we also had White Day, March 14, when the guys were supposed to give chocolates in return. However, guys being guys, they often seemed to miss the boat. Plus, some women noticed that they didn’t really get the chocolates that they had been looking at and wishing for. So…
I think it was last year, we started getting the added twist of jido choco (my own chocolate!) which is chocolate that you buy for yourself. That’s right, go ahead and buy that superdeluxe box of chocolate and eat it yourself, because you should get what you want on Valentine’s day.
And this year? Well, they have started a weird little thread of return chocolates, where guys are being urged to buy ahead, or even buy just afterwards, and return that chocolate either right away, or at least the next day or so. Gotta reduce the chocolate debt, you know? Or is it balance the chocolate debt?
Anyway, we have chocolates for Valentine’s day everywhere right now. And it all tastes pretty good.
I meant to ask you to write a post on valentine’s in japan because I knew it was odd, then I got sick and forgot 😦
On a similar vein, my father would buy lots and lots of roses for Valentines. Red, pink, but mostly red, and angel’s breath and leafy sprays. These my mother, the maid, my father and I would arrange into single-rose bouquets, which my father would bring to the office, and give to all his female staff. My mother would get a dozen of her favorite yellow and peach colored roses; Dad would get me chocolate (after I said I would rather have chocolate than roses.)
I asked him why he did this. His idea was that Valentines celebrated all kinds of love, not just romantic love – even just friendliness. But Valentines was also special to women, and giving them a rose made them feel special because at least someone will have remembered on the day, regardless of whether or not the women on his staff were married, in a relationship, or not. Valentines was a day it was acceptable for him to show appreciation (Christmas is the other) without people thinking he was favoring anyone over another person.
It was something he liked to do on his own, and not a common thing for other bosses to do. So all Dad’s female staff would be delighted with the gift, and the women in other departments would look with some envy.
For the men, well, he’d take them out drinking on the weekend after, to show his appreciation.
Valentine’s Day (1979 or 1980, I forget) fell during the time I was attending SOSUS Watch Officer’s School. Two women lieutenants as instructors, 28 female ensigns, me, and a grizzled old CWO. I bought a sufficient number of roses, came in early, and laid one on every desk (mine and the CWO’s included).
I’m not clear how big a deal that is. The Anime shows tend to make a lot of it, but that could be because ideally the girl should MAKE the chocolate, which obviously has lots of opportunity for comic mess.
Our perceptions of Japan come through such odd filters.
BTW; two books about Japan that I love are THE ROADS TO SATA (expat walks the length of the country) and HOME, SWEET TOKYO
It’s the day before national Chocolate Goes On Sale Day, right? *tries to look if not innocent, at least not guilty*
Yeah, tomorrow is International Cheap Chocolate, sale-priced strawberries and wilting half-price roses Day, isn’t it?
The local membership-only discount store (Bi-Mart) had chocolate for the lucky number Tuesday. If your membership number ends in the right digit, you get that prize. The full matching numbers can yield really nice prizes, like my favorite finishing sander… 🙂
As luck would have it, we won the little prize. (Merci chocolate. Don’t know it, but I’ll try it for science. $SPOUSE only likes dark sugar-free chocolate. As Murphy would have it, I ingested some gluten a few days ago, and Glutazuma’s Revenge is working its way through my system. (I was gluten intolerant long before it was cool. $SPOUSE is flat out allergic to the stuff. Our groceries are, er, interesting. Fortunately, she has the Bette Hagman GF cookbooks and isn’t afraid to use them. I can cook, but she’s a lot better at it than I am.)
Merci chocolate is delicious. German brand. I pounced on some when I went to an Aldi’s while visiting my in-laws and they found the chocolates quite good.
I don’t know if they’re gluten free though…
One should HOPE so. The only way I can think that they should have gluten is if they have wafers inside them.
Some have coffee cream flavor or hazelnut or almond. Don’t think those have gluten…
Gluten free? With such like that the more important question is whether they are glutton free.
One of these years I’m going to be able to star buying cheap soon-to-be-tossed roses for making rose water again. Valentines will then be one of my favorite holidays. *shifty eyes*
I got leftover Christmas candy in mid-January for 90% off (and it was fantastic, too).
It lasted that long?! Astonishing.
There’s an addition to the chocolate. Jack’s Links now puts out a box of beef jerky in a fur-trimmed Valentine box. This year’s has Sasquatch laying on a bed of rose petals, holding a “Be Mine” valentine. They also have something for Easter now. Saw online a sort of bunny shaped box, trimmed in fur, with Sasquatch wearing bunny ears.
What scared me was that this year, the supermarket was selling Valentine’s Day candy BEFORE Christmas.
And the Easter candy arrived in the stores a week ago or so, and if there’s no room “in back” for it… it’s gotta go somewhere.
*sulks* My children are older and don’t enjoy easter egg hunts any more.
I want an excuse to get a lot of the mini Cadbury creme eggs!
Neighbor kids?
Hiding eggs anywhere outside results in liquid. The weather swings from 40+ degrees celcius to 16 overnight. Bipolar weather patterns.
Dipped, Stripped and Dead
Sounds familiar, but it’s been so long ago.
Clueless little twit with a talent for restoring old furniture and getting herself into predicaments. Sounds a bit like self characterization to me.
And a very happy Valentine’s Day to each and every one.
Most long term posters here are already aware — I have a crush on E.
The character I had forgotten was a Marine, who was a carpenter and six foot six or seven, whose other “personality” was a female who liked to dress in extremely high heels. … “How would you like to have your ass kicked by a guy in a dress?”
Great images come to mind, but I attend a anime con that draws a large contingent from a Naval station. One of the more memorable cos-players I ever saw was a rather lithe well over 6′ tall Sailor Mars in 5″+ red high heels that had to have special ordered. There was a very awkward run in the tights, but he didn’t seem to be aware of it.
I don’t know how I would have felt about such a sight in my kitchen. 😉
I should add, I have no problem being found attractive by anyone. It is the being thought easy that would offend me.
It had the feeling of a long-shot gamble on his part. It was still strange, since his dress was nicer than mine.
Could be worse. You could have both been wearing the same dress. (And worse still if he wore it better.)
It’s always worse if he wears it better! I had an exboyfriend who became and exgirlfriend, (we stayed good friends) who looked better in my dresses than I did. (She was most delighted that we were the same size.) She was also prettier than me, because she worked at her makeup, and had lovely flowing masses of curling red hair, where mine was hacked off short and dyed forest green. Or black. Or purple. Or…
And then there was the time we cosplayed the hot water / cold water versions of Ranma 1/2…
Its me, its me, its absolutely me!
Related to the thought control process:
Emily Ratajkowski blasts unnamed New York Times reporter for calling Melania Trump a ‘hooker’
Supermodel Emily Ratajkowski has publicly opposed some of President Trump’s policies, but the actress went out of her way on Monday to stand up for Melania Trump after she says a New York Times reporter on Sunday evening called the first lady a “hooker.”
“Sat next to a journalist from the NYT last night who told me ‘Melania is a hooker.’ Whatever your politics it’s crucial to call this out for … what it is: slut shaming. I don’t care about her nudes or sexual history and no one should,” the 25-year-old Ratajkowski tweeted in two messages about her experience at a New York Fashion Week event Sunday night.
“Gender specific attacks are disgusting sexist bullshit,” added Ratajkowski, who has publicly opposed President Trump’s policies on a number of issues, including abortion and immigration.
[SNIP]
The unnamed New York Times reporter has since been reprimanded and editors at the outlet told Politico the comments were “completely inappropriate.”
[END EXCERPT]
Okay, that blockquote appears to be Teen Vogue endorsement of Ratajkowski (probably best known for her topless appearance in the Robin Thicke “Blurred Lines” video) argument … although some of you likely noted that in “defending” Melania Ratajkowski greatly publicized the allegation, sort of like the old joke which ends “I defended you; I told him you don’t eat sandwiches.”
Begging pardon for not closing the loop: that blockquoted portion delightfully illustrates the type of tergiversation that is the consequence of the Politically Correct’s pretzel logic.
Er, not sure if this was your point, but it’s this part that gets to me, particularly in a magazine called Teen Vogue, which I assume from the title is aimed at teenage girls:
“Alleging someone was a sex worker and using that as an insult is not OK. Being a sex worker can be a personal, valid choice.”
Really? That’s what we’re teaching our daughters these days? That being a prostitute is just one more “choice” in life like choosing to go to college or choosing to die your hair purple?
I mean, I’m glad someone is defending Melania from casual insults, but is there something wrong with me that I think there IS something troublesome about the sex trade?
You correctly sussed my point, yes. We most be careful to be judgmental only about the Politically Correct things, after all.
As to Teen Vogue, coincidentally this post at NRO gangblog The Corner provides information about its reach and vapidity:
Teen Vogue Dismisses Abortion Regret
Being a teenager is full of challenges, and one of the most well-known sources for advice on navigating those challenges is Teen Vogue, a subset of Vogue magazine tailored specifically to the under-20 crowd. Teen Vogue’s print magazine has a circulation upwards of one million people, and one can imagine that its online reach is even wider.
That’s why it’s highly concerning that the outlet recently published a slideshow entitled “What to Get a Friend Post-Abortion,” suggesting lighthearted gifts for a friend who just underwent an abortion procedure. Some of its suggestions include an “angry uterus” heating pad, a “grl pwr” (girl power) cap, a sign-up to be an abortion-clinic escort, or a Ruth Bader Ginsburg coloring book.
The list gets one thing right when it says that “making this decision is never simple,” but it seems not to take its own point to heart, as the piece goes on to lament society’s “false stigma” against having an abortion. According to Teen Vogue, your friend “shouldn’t have to feel ashamed, because she made the right choice for her situation,” and she needs your support, “not because [abortion] itself is so terrible, but because sometimes the world can be.”
Regardless of one’s views on the morality of abortion, this is an emotionally fraught issue, and the decision to “terminate a pregnancy” can never be taken lightly in the way that this piece suggests. As people on both sides of the aisle will agree, whether or not to get an abortion is a complex decision — an especially challenging one for readers as young as those who read Teen Vogue — and it ought not be trivialized in the way that this slideshow does. And it’s certainly problematic to make the blanket assertion that abortion is, in all cases, “the right choice.”
[END EXCERPT]
Emphasis added. One million may not be an especially significant demographic in today’s population; I wouldn’t know. Clearly they are against being judgmental about a great many moral decisions, restricting their judgmentalism to the choices that truly matter: what clothes you wear, how you do your hair and how you apply your makeup.
A “grl pwr” cap, hmm? Can girls not afford to buy vowels these days? Is that the result of the almost entirely imaginary wage gap?
Beyond that, yeah, hard to come up with much to say on the subject beyond your last paragraph there. I know there’s a lot of good in this country, but it’s sometimes hard to remember when you read things like that.
A “grl pwr” cap, hmm? Can girls not afford to buy vowels these days?
Maybe they’re protesting Vanna White’s subordinate role to Pat Sajak.
You can’t have “i”s because they are a phallic letter.
Can guys use “o”s?
No. But they can use asterisks.
But only asterisks use asterisks
That’s what we’re teaching our daughters these days? That being a prostitute is just one more “choice” in life
In other news, Cali legalized child prostitution in January. (not sure if I can paste a link, just search for “California child prostitution”)
Yeah. In the name of kindness. Something about not forcing criminal records on underage girls, because prostitution is a ‘survival crime’.
It’s times like these when I wonder just what’s involved in converting to Amish…
OK, I looked it up. Holy Fracking Frell!
What kind of an idiot would think this was a good idea?
I am so glad to be out of California. The eventual meltdown is not going to be pretty.
Seems like a lot of people are rooting for #Calexit, with some even in California. (Of course, I’d want the State of Jefferson to form, to let the saner folks break free. Jefferson sounds good in eastern Oregon, too.)
I just saw a newsbite saying that the President of Mexico said he would agree to pay for the wall if Mexico could get Texas as part of the deal.
Personally, I think that would be a wonderful idea. I could start a betting pool on how many weeks it would take before the reconstituted Republic of Texas built a short economy-sized Wall across its Panamanian border…
No on Texas, but how about Central California and two counties to be named later?
*Central* CA is what we want to keep, its the left coast that can have shank’s mare.
I have no interest in turning the rest of Mexico into an economic colony of Texas. I’m sure it would be lucrative, but I fear it would also be morally corrupting.
Sort of. I can’t remember all of the details. But the stated expectation was that the typical child prostitute situation would still have a bunch of other illegalities that could be invoked by the police as necessary.
Still, it’s something that bears very careful watching.
Cali legalized child prostitution in January
Not quite as bad as that sounds… as I understand it, they’re not going after minors for soliciting, but pimps and johns will still be prosecuted.
That is if they do.
I still recall how livid The Daughter was after she heard about Howard Dean’s speech to NARAL. ‘He aided and abetted child abuse and he is boasting about it.’ she observed. She wanted to know why Dean did not think it of primary importance to see that the child was protected from such abuse.
From the speech in question:
note: When called on it later Dean claimed that the pregnancy in question was not caused by the girls father. He also insisted that the person responsible was punished.
Note, however, that when special carve-outs are made to parental consent laws to allow for a sitting judge to act as an alternative source of consent, the progs will still attempt to keep those laws from passing.
ARRGHHH!!! If they really believed that sex work was OK, they would not have said “More importantly, alleging someone was a sex worker and using that as an insult is not OK. Being a sex worker can be a personal, valid choice. ” They would have said something like “Alleging someone was a sex worker is just silly like alleging they were a mental health councilor.” As always, they agree with the insult, but lie about it to virtue signal.
Um.
“First Lady” is an office?
Yes, in this day and age. There are all sorts of assistants that help plan and organize the various events, both political and charity, that the First Lady must attend.
Then she should be elected. Or at least confirmed by the Senate…
Nope.
First of all, the Role of the First Lady is in the “Social Realm” not the Political Realm.
At the time our Constitution was written, it was expected that the wife of an important man would handle the “Social Duties” (as well as managing the home) of that important man.
Thus the wife of our President was responsible for dealing with the social affairs that the President had to hold, either for domestic affairs or foreign guests.
This is a matter of Custom not a matter of Law.
Since it is a matter of “what the wife of an important does”, then it isn’t the Business of the Senate or the voters.
For that matter, we had at least one President who was a widower and had one of his daughters handle the “Social Duties”.
Also, Ace points out a thing that nobody has yet mentioned in this thread, which was that this was a private conversation. He goes on to say,
(NOTE: The word that I asterisk-censored was not asterisked in the original, but I’d rather not say that word in Sarah’s virtual living room, even when I’m quoting someone else.)
I don’t mind Valentine’s day, but I prefer tomorrow (half price chocolate day). 😉
Hey, now, why are you accusing me of sanity? You, and Brad Torgerson, who accused me of successfully herding cats, and JL Curtis, who accuses me of being type A and mildly OCD…
People are going to expect me to be reliable, sane, and organized, darn it! Not that I’m not generally, but what if they expect that before coffee? 0.0
…As for the way they call the tune, I’m still waiting for my first one-star when someone reads far enough to realize that my Sacred Victim Class character is not, ah, conforming to the mandates of Holy Sacred Victim Class. I actually paused when writing it, because he wasn’t supposed to go be stupid, and contemplated if I wanted the firestorm of ‘how dare you!’
Then I shrugged, and wrote what the story was demanding, not what is currently approved. Because stories have to run on their own internal logic, and characters have to be true to themselves.
Nasty Woman!
I’m having to watch my book buying right now because I low on money (until the 3rd).
And You Are Making Me Want To Buy The Book Right Now!!!!!! 😉
Just finished it – loved it! [More, please…]
Whew! It’s a KU book so I can read it and pay for it later. 😉
There are a lot of those kind of books, sadly.
Don’t worry about the accusation. Flashes of sanity happen, even to the best of us.
More PC nonsense, reported today by Jay Nordlinger:
Where the Goose Is Cooked
In Impromptus today, I … have an item about a German children’s song.
This is “Fuchs, du hast die Gans gestohlen,” or, “Fox, You Have Stolen the Goose.” The song is in the news. What? Yes.
In the town of Limburg, a carillon plays tunes — 33 of them. About half of them are children’s songs. And one of them is the fox-and-goose number. A vegan resident complained. So the tune has been taken out of the town’s repertoire.
As I say in my column, this is one for the annals of political correctness. It is outstanding in them.
Better such a sissified Germany than … than … than another kind of Germany? Anyway, that’s a big essay.
[END EXCERPT]
To quote the Sacred Musical: This is a revolution, dammit! We’re going to have to offend SOMEbody!
I read that and did wonder precisely what objection the vegan raised? Was it the implication that the fox was not vegan? If so, my guess is that the fox didn’t give a damn.
Apparently the farmer does what farmers do when feral beasts raid their livestock:
The fox, after all, is simply being true to his (her? xis?) nature while the farmer is committing murder. Or perhaps the farmer was being equated with a slavemaster, raising sapient (as sapient as the complaining vegan, at any rate) beings in order to profit from their deaths and the fox was a revolutionary hero, liberating his fellow creatures?
Really, life is too short to attempt understanding of such complaints.
According to The Atlantic, the average age of marriage is now 27 for women, 29 for men. In 1960 it was 20 and 22.
There is now a time of adulthood which is spent as a single person. This is a time when young people, especially women, feel the pressure to establish a career. If you’re young, female, and in a relationship, you don’t escape pressure, because there’s also pressure not to get married “too young.”
It’s all likely to be a consequence of the Pill, which gave women the control over conception, the opening up of the labor market, and other legal and investment changes which make it quite possible for a person to never get married, work their entire life, and never “settle down” in the usual sense.
I have noted a growing pressure in society for people to be concerned with their sexual urges throughout their lifespan. Even people in their 70s and 80s are not free to be free from sex, thanks to Viagra, etc.
My young adult daughter and her friends treat it as a way to celebrate their female friendships. It’s also a consolation holiday for the young women who are not in relationships; with social media, there’s an expectation of display around valentine’s day, so everyone on the same social media accounts is barraged with Valentine’s Day declarations of love for each other from all of the couples of their acquaintance.
I don’t do it, but my Facebook feed (I just looked) is filled with middle-aged couples declaring their love for each other for Valentine’s Day. One is cute; dozens is peer pressure. I imagine it’s difficult for young people who haven’t met “the right one” yet, and even if they have a girlfriend or boyfriend, are not certain they would be willing to get married.
I think the young women are showing the insecurity, while the young men may feel the insecurity, but aren’t showing it, because “guy-tines” aren’t appealing to guys.
If Agatha Christie can write Ten Little Niggers, you can write a drag Marine. Joe Wambaugh did.
When it was first released in the US in 1939 the title was changed to the title you can presently purchase it under, And Then There Was None.
I thought that was originally Ten Little Indians? Or did the title go through a few revisions through the years?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Then_There_Were_None
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Then_There_Were_None#Publication_and_book_title_history
Definitely several changes but the first title was “Ten Little Niggers”.
That’s what I read it under, too.
In 1964 New York Pocket books published it under the title Ten Little Indians, which was the first time it appeared under that title. There were also 1965 and 1989 movie versions which were released under the title Ten Little Indians.
The first US version of the book, released in December of 1939, was under the title of And Then There Were None which is the last line of both a poem and song Ten Little Indians. Apparently all English language versions are presently published under the title of And Then There Were None.
Seriously… If I were to describe a significant fraction of the people I served with to you, you’d call me a liar.
And, the bad part about that? You’d be doing that after I had censored the more unbelievable parts of their stories/characters.
Same-same with most of my childhood, to be honest. At some point, whoever was in charge of my life before the age of 42 just turned the dial on “weird” up to about 11. Since then, I’ve either grown blase about the whole thing, or it’s just gotten more “normal”, for a given value thereof.
*Snort* I’ve been thinking about writing a gripe post at my place about “I’m not trans. I’m wearing men’s work shirts because they don’t make the women’s version with long sleeves,” which is true. And I’m too cheap to have them altered to fit better in the torso.
How long till someone rediscovers the episodes of M*A*S*H where Klinger dresses like a woman so he can get a Section 8 and out of the Army? Oh, the furor! Oh, the humanity! How dare they imply that the average man doesn’t wear women’s clothes in public?!? *Snort, head shakes*
So a Marine, or sailor, or airman, or Green Beret, cross dresses on his time off. Yawn. And is in fiction and gets teased, or is the bad guy, or is the unfortunate victim of a zebra stampede because he caught the heel of his pump in a grate. Why not?
“I’m not trans, but I’m not paying $Pricey for something that’s going to be worn working on airplanes…. and I’ve yet to see something that remains modest when twisted in working positions, washes easily, wears well, and is comfortable be a reasonable price in the women’s department.”
Although I do occasionally get a good giggle out of friends when I wear a kilt, and describe it as “the last transgressive clothing not yet claimed by women!”
There really are kilts for women — they are a bit longer than the male version, though. My youngest daughter has one, which she loves even though she needs to lose weight before she can wear it again, so it takes up space in her closet and gets moth holes in it, LOL! Genuine made in Scotland of quality wool; her grandparents bought it for her many years ago at a boot sale in Wales, where their daughter lives.
Very spiffy! …Guess I’d have to try harder, then. Or just enjoy what I have. I think I’ll do that, up until I get Peter in a kilt. Then I may have to accessorize.
I don’t know… women wearing kilts always look like they’re cross-dressing, to me…
I think someday I’ll identify as a cross-dressing Scot. That way, I can put on a skirt and say, in a Scottish accent, “It’s not a kilt. It’s a skirt!”
You never saw my friend Ashley in a kilt… wowsers!
How long till someone rediscovers the episodes of M*A*S*H where Klinger dresses like a woman so he can get a Section 8 and out of the Army?
was watching M*A*S*H last night and committed a thought crime: I laughed at Klinger
In Klinger’s case the point is that he is obviously not deriving any “gratification” from wearing the dress, it is merely his way of protesting the absurdity of the situation he finds himself in, just as the doctors are cognizant of the absurdity of “healing” soldiers in order for them to go out again and shoot people (or be shot by people.)
It is the essence of Catch-22.
But, placing “absurd” and “cross-dressing man” in the same sentence, nay — thought!, is a crime in of itself. The very idea that people might find humor in a man dressing like a woman is abhorrent to right (left?)-thinking peoples of this day and age.
/sarc
Oh dear, what now shall we do with all those recordings of Uncle Milty and Monty Python?
Or Victor/Victoria for that matter?
Or Rocky Horror Picture Show?
Or Flip Wilson?
Ru Paul
Bugs Bunny
Or Harvey Korman in the Carol Burnett Show…
While eating lunch and watching an episode of Get Smart I was reminded of agent Charlie Watkins of Control West, played by Angelique. He specialized in passing as a very beautiful woman.
But I just saw a parcel of pics from Rocky Horror. . . wait. . . that was a European Fashion show last week.
Yes, one stupid designer thinks men should dress like Tim Curry did in The Picture Show, though Curry carried it off far better than the models did.
or Some Like It Hot, or Bosom Buddies (I shudder to think what a modern makeover would be like!) …
*shrug* I’ll leave the situation in your capable hands; I’ll stay on the couch and keep enjoying my very unPC entertainment
Or James from Team Rocket in Pokemon. I’m rewatching the original Pokemon series, and I’m only on episode 21 and already James has appeared in women’s clothing twice.
That episode in Slayers where Gourry, Xellos and Zelgadis have to dress up as women… and the punchline of that particular episode.
Oh My Yes!
(Zel really did look rather good.)
Also more aggravated than usual. *chuckle*
sigh
I had some entertainers who had kings and dukes and other officials, always female, as part of their carnivalesque, topsy-turvey nature.
I think it’s going to be female titles because, actually, some forms of appropriation are bad.
It’s amazing how many implications that folklorists can read in cross-dressing at festivals without noticing that it’s the only form of costume that doesn’t require dedicated clothes in a place where cloth is too expensive to waste on dedicated costumes.
They’d probably hate (for multiple reasons) the article Robert Morley wrote that appeared in the January 1979 issue of Playboy: Why The British Love To Dress In Drag. It was illustrated with a soft sculpture of Mr. Morley in drag.
Recall that Klinger’s dress to get out of the draft-era Army in Korea (which, note, never actually worked) is a proud family tradition, which his father used to get out of WWII, and apparently on back throughout the family history, presumably back to Greece.
Therefore, he is double protected against laughter, playing both the trans-clothing and foreign-immigrant-family-tradition cards.
Two PC demerits and 50 pushups for freddimacblog. Next case for the People Tribunal?
Lebanon, not Greece.
They can still get him on a double count of cultural appropriation and hate speech from the time he claimed to be a gypsy.
“How long till someone rediscovers the episodes of M*A*S*H where Klinger dresses like a woman so he can get a Section 8 and out of the Army?”
I’ve not seen that episode, but it might be fun to write a modern-day parody of that where he tries it, the army brass start requiring everyone to refer to him as “she,” he’s given a prescription for hormones, and one of the doctors asks “Ms. Klinger” when she would like to schedule her transition surgery…
That’s more along the line of an episode or two of Blackadder Goes Forth. And that’s even without bringing up Bob.
They did that when Klinger encountered a Swedish doctor who offered to make it permanent.
I’m always happy to celebrate friends. Singling them out for celebration because of some demographic reason would demean my love for them as a person.
Sad. Just sad.
Does anyone else remember an episode of “Forever Knight,” the Canadian vampire series from a decade or so ago, where the bad guy really did have a woman’s spirit in his body? He was the reincarnation or something like that of a female vampire that the protagonist (also a vampire) had staked for killing innocents. Add that one to the list of “things writers dare not do on TV anymore.”
I liked Forever Knight. I kind of wish I could have watched the whole series.
its on netflix.
Not with my net I fear.
There’s also DVD sets.. but yeah i have spent enough time on SL to be aware of aussie internet.
“Picture guys saying that being a man is something to celebrate, because… they have penises?”
The hats would be WAY funnier. March of the Ding-dongs! Who’s with me?
*giggles* Instead of throwing beaded necklaces like Mardi Gras, would you spray foam at the crowd?
Silly String. White Silly String.
That escalated quickly.
But, when it’s over it de-escalets even quicker.
And white bead necklaces!
Pearl Necklace
Even better, use real ding-dongs in the march. With enough coverage, it might get them kicked out of super-markets so you could only buy them in sex shops. I think that they have already been banned from schools, so that probably would not change.
And the Twinkies are next!
And then there are the, dare I say it, Ho-Hos.
Revision of laws governing sex-workers will create a safe harbor allowing Ho-Hos to continue unencumbered.
Not “March of the Ding-a-Lings”? Y’know (or maybe you don’t), the Chuck Berry song …
When I was a little biddy boy
My grandma bought me a cute little toy
Two Silver bells on a string
She told me it was my ding-a-ling-a-ling
This was updated by Bob Rivers as “G’bye Ding-a-Ling” in honor of the Bobbits.
…in honor of the Bobbits.
Do you mean as in John Wayne and Lorena Leonor Gallo Bobbit?
Oh my.
Yep.
LOL. I’d support that.
Heck, I’d knit that.
the patterns would be a little more challenging I imagine. I’ll do a quick pintrest search to see if someone hasn’t already invented this phallic-shaped, woolen wheel.
I suspect a simple “one-eyed snake” pattern would do, with a toboggan-knit at one (the base) end.
A minor adaptation of this, perhaps.
perfect, I need 600,000 in pink and 300,000 in brown. That should cover everybody.
I have actually had fun, turning contemporary SJW memes upside down and inside out — of course, I mostly write historicals, so if I have a woman character say that she wants a good husband, a lot of children and look forwards to being a homemaker … or another woman character defending her habit of smoking cigarettes by saying that it is only a small vice and doctors say it is good for the lungs … or have other characters voice some pretty un-PC opinions about Indians, or black slaves … I can go all innocent and say that I am just being completely historically accurate, and whats the matter, you have something against writers being authentic to the period.
One of the main characters in the modern comedy series is frequently described as being an inconsiderate *sshole, and I can really let my own dark side out, in his voice …
Just give me a moment to blow my nose into my hand.
Ok, let’s shake hands now.
Wait, give me a moment. (re-reads article.) I’m sorry, You said “Go be you”, not “Go be eww”. I’m sorry about that.
I’ll be back in a few minutes. I need to wash my hands….
I have a friend who is a gay stand-up comic who put the first part of this post wonderfully. It was sonething like, “Transgender and drag queens are actually complete opposites: for one, identity is the whole point; for the other, identity is the pool they piss in.” It’s awkward how hard it can be to tell them apart, and how annoying that the Thought Police don’t know the difference, either.
yep. My friend wasn’t a queen, but what he did was more drag, yeah.
“… annoying that the Thought Police don’t know the difference”
Please. If we start in on the things the Thought Police don’t know we’ll never reach bottom.
I’m both not surprised the Marine is real, and startled the details were so exact…..
Yeah, well…
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/former-obama-officials-loyalists-waged-campaign-oust-flynn/
If they are really so dedicated to the Iran deal, couldn’t that be considered treason?
Yes. It could.
No. By the unwritten rules of American Politics (MSM Playbook) Democrats are never capable of treason; it is a crime only commitable by Republicans. In fact, being Republican is an act of treason but prosecutorial discretion waives acting upon that until and unless Republicans actually gain political power. (When out of power Republicans are not prosecuted because there needs to be somebody to blame for the failures of Democrats’ policies.)
Example: Gen. Flynn was “caught” cutting a behind the scenes deal with Russia? OMG, what does he think he is, a senior senator from Massachusetts?
Example: Rumours of conversations between Gen. Flynn and the Russian ambassador are leaked and the imagined contents of those conversations, not their leaking, are a scandal. Hacked emails revealing DNC contempt for rules and voters are leaked and the scandal is the leaking.
Picture guys saying that being a man is something to celebrate, because… they have penises? Mind you, I’m a big fan of both men and their ah implement, but seriously? It would be laughable. And celebrating because you’re a woman is equally laughable.
Well, actually, we do, sort of. It’s not a day, though. It’s more like a couple of weeks:
I live that
again.
Back in the YooPee again!
Half my relatives sound/act like characters from Culture Shock, the other half make them seem mild
I’ve been told in utter disbelief that the stuff on (the early) Da Yooper’s albums couldn’t be real. Alright there is some exaggeration but I’ve met a good many of those characters. And I’ve related before that upon hearing Rusty Chevrolet on the radio the first time, my mother all but melt-glared at the radio, saying, “I drove that car!” Wasn’t quite the case, but it wasn’t all far from it either. When our small central WI town got its first unmarked car it was easy for the locals to spot: the only big GRAY sedan in town. Had it been an old blue and rust Chevy, it would have been better than invisible.
Oh rust and smoke, the heater’s broke, the door just blew away– I light a match to see the dash and then I start to pray.
I had to buy a pair of Swampers and will need to wear them today
warm temps, and getting to and from my garage or truck requires a walk through inches of water
Ooh, great, swampers not needed today, it’ll stay freezing all day (forecast changed again!) My walking shoes get better ice traction.
Michigan trooper cars still use a (very large) single “Bubble Gum Machine” light on the top of the “State Police Blue” car, so spotting one in a mirror or off in the distance is very easy.
Most of the municipal, and county cars or mostly now-a-days SUVs use lights that are hardly noticeable. Add in many are also black, with the gray but reflective lettering, spotting the cops is getting harder, otherwise.
The lady ‘interviewed’ before the song “Married To The Couch That Burbs” sounds exactly like my aunt Flo.
“Life is like Bridge. If you don’t have a good partner, you better have a good hand.”
We’re men … we don’t need a day!
I just prefer to call it Singles Awareness Day. Followed, thankfully, by Half-priced Chocolate Day, which is one of my favorite holidays.
The Day After… no, not that TV show.
The Day After… Valentines Day
The Day After… Easter
The Day After… Halloween
The Day After… Christmas
I call it Discount Chocolate Day, because most of the stores around here don’t drop to half off right away.
Always be yourself.
Unless you can be Batman.
While I am impressed by his time management I would rather stay me.
Unfortunately, I can’t dance.