In spite of what has been the single nastiest election in American history (yes, ever) many folks are already turning their bloodshot eyes to the 2020 election.
(Assuming we’re not all dead or in internment camps, obviously.)
“Will he? Won’t he?”
That’s the question folks are asking themselves.
In spite of Biden’s declaration, it’s still unclear if Biden actually will run in 2020. Which hasn’t stopped countless hopefuls from working themselves into a frenzy.
Posted in America, government, history, news, politics
Tagged 2020, Biden, democrat, election, fans, gaff, hawk, internet, Iraq War, israel, issues, Joe Biden, Joseph Biden, Mass Incarceration, Mass Surveillance, meme, memes, Neoliberalism, Policies, president, The Onion, Trump, Vice President, War on Drugs
The bathroom use of transgender people has been a topic that’s hard to avoid, especially on social media. Here in Canada, the following video began to circulate after Alberta’s 61 school boards decided to “revise regulations and hash out new policies by March 31 to protect the rights of LGBTQ students and teachers, support gay-straight alliances and create a safe learning environment.”
And in the U.S., the American Family Association recently began a boycott of Target after the organization stated that transgender visitors should be allowed to use the bathroom they feel most comfortable in. Meanwhile, several States have attempted to pass bills that would force “transgender people to use restrooms that don’t match the gender they live every day”.
Along with the debate, a variety of memes have popped up on both sides of the conversation. While it irritates me to see the particularly popular Chuck Norris-themed meme belittle transgender experiences, I thought trans activists were easily holding their own in the meme department by reminding readers of how difficult it can be to spot a transgender person, and therefore how ridiculous it is to police who enters which bathroom.
Unfortunately, there have already been several cases of bathroom policing, where women who aren’t deemed feminine enough are challenged for entering their bathroom (as might be expected, the video below includes some strong language).
Posted in crime, feminism, gender, lgbt, politics
Tagged Bathroom, bathrooms, cis-gender, discrimination, Equality, female, gender, Girls, lgbt, male, memes, non-binary, protect, rap, safety, Sexual Assault, target boycott, trans, Transgender, transgender bathroom use, women
Readers, we interrupt your regular horror-themed post to bring you news from the Middle East- where, for anyone not keeping up, things have started heating up (even in this cold October).
Past weeks have seen a surge of violence on the streets of Jerusalem, as a spate of stabbings has left 8 Israelis and 56 Palestinians dead. Tensions continue to rise in a cycle of attacks and brutal retaliations, leading many to question if the region will see a 3rd Intifada in the coming days and weeks. With the looming threat of an all-out uprising, many within the region and internally have urgently called for peace.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netenyahu has not been among them.
Speaking at the World Zionist Convention this past Tuesday, Netenyahu proclaimed to his rapt audience that (and I quote):
“Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews at the time – he wanted to expel the Jews.”
-BBC World News (I’d link you to the YouTube clip, but I don’t want to give those racists the hits)
Netenyahu would go on to claim that it was only after meeting Haj Amin al-Husseini, the mufti (high-ranking Islamic religious scholar) of Jerusalem, that the “final solution” was implemented- Netenyahu claiming that Hitler only began the holocaust at the behest of the mufti.
And that is…
…just so ****ing stupid that I don’t even know where to begin.
I mean that every single word of that is wrong. And not just wrong but so obviously and categorically wrong. The wholesale murder of Jews/Roma/homosexuals/the disabled/communists/etc. was already well (as in years) underway by the time the mufti met with Hitler. Historians both within Israel and without, and across the full political spectrum, have poured their collective derision on Netenyahu’s barefaced lie.
-Everyone on the planet.
Posted in bizarreness, history, internet, media, military, morality, news, politics, race, zombies
Tagged "Hitler didn't want to exterminate the Jews at the time - he wanted to expel the Jews.", Attacks, Benjamin Netenyahu, Bibi, bigotry, death, Fury, germany, golda mier, Haj Amin Al-Husseini, Hitler, Holocaust, Intifada, israel, Jerusalem, killing, Knife, memes, Merkel, Mufti, nazi, nazis, palestine, palestinian, politics, repression, response, Revisionism, Shoah, Violence, World Zionist Convention, zionism
Pinterest. What is it you ask? Well, it’s a virtual bulletin board where you can find interesting pictures and articles and “pin them” for later. It’s essentially virtual hoarding, but not just hoarding of stuff, but also craft ideas, photography, tattoos, cool houses and much, much more.
Some people seem to think Pinterest is limited to women who are focused on one thing.
I’m pretty sure this only shows the men who are openly on Pinterest, ’cause John pinterests from my account all the time.
Posted in advertisement, advertising, feminism, health, internet
Tagged Culture, Dieting, dove, Ernestine Shepherd, feminism, health, Hollywood, Jennifer Lawrence, media, memes, pinterest, Real Beauty, Roni Davis, society, thin
I feel like I have more to write about than usual this week [unfortunate, since I’m a little late to this review due to my having a job now], so let’s get right into it. To summarize this episode in a sentence, Max and Caroline have not been paying their rent and are being forced to sell their property to a real estate corporation; not wanting to do so the two go to Caroline’s makeup mogul Aunt Charity to ask for some . . . financial help.
The first topic I wanted to delve into a little bit was the show’s humour, not in how it chooses the easy route on almost every joke but how it seeks to push the bar in its content. For example: a semen joke eight seconds into the episode. Co-creator and executive producer Michael Patrick King said that he “[considers] our jokes really classy dirty [ . . . ] they’re high lowbrow.” While the show has largely steered away from the rampant rape jokes which cropped up multiple times per episode int he first season, they certainly haven’t stopped walking, and often crossing, the line between “classy dirty” and dirty.
Take Max’s joke about how bubblegum flavoured lip gloss [which was wearing when she had her first kiss] helped to get her an A in class. It’s no secret that her character has slept around a lot, for little to no reason, but hinting at a minor [I’m sure her first kiss was before the age of 18] locking lips with a teacher is uncomfortable at best. A few minutes later she likes a tube of lipstick to a dog penis.
“How much is too much?” is a question that Gordon and I discussed once in regards to stand-up comedy, and we came to the conclusion that edgy humour is only as good as what its meant to accomplish. In the case of 2 Broke Girls that’s apparently to elicit cheap laughter. As far as I can tell, I mean. This has never been a laugh-out-loud show, but it’s Max’s snarkiness [as overbearing as it is at times] and not her disregard in screening her sexual partners that drew me to her to begin with. 2 Broke Girls may be trying to brand itself as an edgy comedy à la Family Guy, but needs to ask itself if they can continue to counterbalance that with the heartfelt moments they’ve been trying to inject into the show.
As a final note on the show’s humour, Aunt Charity had the upper two layers of her skin removed to look two years younger, which actually made me queasy just looking at her. Physical gross-out humour may be something 2 Broke Girls is thinking about adding more regularly in stretching the limits, which is a decision I’m currently unsure about. After all, one of my favourite episodes was the eighth one of this season, where Caroline yanks a needle out of her arm and proceeds to spurt blood all over the walls of an egg donation clinic.
Finally on to what was the biggest moment for me. So I’ve been writing about what the point of the “Current Total” and it’s accompanying ka-ching at the end of each episode for a while, so imagine my surprise when I saw it change so drastically in this episode.
Caroline coerces her aunt into signing over $25,000 to cover what the real estate corporation says they’ll need to keep the property, but finds out later that the cheque doesn’t clear because taking advantage of drug-addled relatives [Charity was on morphine lollipops to dull the pain of not having a face] isn’t exactly an ethical business practice. Then her and Max sign over the store.
All of the first season was leading up to “Max’s Homemade Cupcakes,” and suddenly we realize that the girls are starting over from scratch, especially since Max declares that they have just enough money to pay back everyone they’ve borrowed from. Soon after a little bit of curious greenscreen work in the windows behind Caroline’s head is explained when a car crashes through one of their walls. It looked pretty realistic, too.
The “New Total” leaves the girls with a single dollar to their names and us as an audienec wondering what exactly is next for them. This is a hard reboot of the status quo, though there are hints by both Charity and the real estate woman [who was deaf, by the way] that maybe starting out smaller is the way to go.
Whatever happens with the rest of this season, I have to give 2 Broke Girls my grudging respect for reigniting my interest and curiosity in the show.
Stray Observations:
Posted in Comedy, review, television
Tagged 2 Broke Girls, And Not-Too-Sweet Charity, Beth Behrs, Caroline, CBS, charity, cheesecake, classy dirty, Current Total, dirty, Earl, edgy, ermahgerd, Family Guy, Han, high lowbrow, humour, Jennifer Coolidge, Kat Dennings, Kramer, Matthew Moy, Max, memes, Michael Patrick King, Oleg, reboot, review, S2E18, Sophie, status quo, television, the A.V. Club, TV, TV Club
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