Category: The Shadow Knows

Is there anything they can’t spin?

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

https://youtu.be/v4jng0ZBRUs

Occasionally, a political figure comes along and I think to myself, “Ah, Greg Stillson!”

Greg Stillson was the populist political psychopath played by Martin Sheen in the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Dead Zone.” He’s running for Congress, and Johnny Smith, a local schoolteacher who woke up from a coma with psychic abilities, sees that Stillson will become the president who starts a nuclear war.

Johnny decides to kill him, and tries to assassinate him at a rally, but misses. Stillson grabs a nearby toddler, holds him up as a shield and the resulting picture destroys his career.

So that’s how I judge Republicans: Is this someone who would use a baby as a human shield?

Of course I wonder about Donald Trump; people who grow up with that kind of money strike me as (at the very least) pathologically narcissistic and maybe borderline sociopathic. You get the sense with some people that their parents never said no to them. They finally get so out of control that their parents send them to a military academy to straighten them out. (I used to work in a sandwich shop near a famous military academy. Some of these rich kids were actually sweet — but I suspect I also met many future psychopaths. Even at that age, you could tell when something was off.)

Trump is a guy whose ex-wife described some really brutal treatment (she said he pulled out clumps of her hair) and actual rape (although “not in the legal sense”), but of course the divorce settlement has since guaranteed her silence on this incident.

Allegations of rape and assault aren’t enough, right? Nor should they be, because we are allegedly a nation of laws. Because just like with Bill Cosby, we can’t prove anything. But the fact that Trump’s lawyer response to recent news accounts was saying “you can’t rape your spouse” should give decent people pause.

Yeah, we can’t prosecute them. But we should at least shun them.

I also wonder: Would using a baby as a human shield even be enough to ruin someone’s political career these days? Wouldn’t the spin be that he was actually trying to save the baby, but slipped and had to hold the kid up to keep his balance? Wouldn’t the talking heads all nod and say, “I think we have to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one”?

Look at the Iraq war. Look at Abu Ghraib. Look at how Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz are treated like honorable men.

Is there anything a politician can do that’s heinous enough that our compliant media can’t — or won’t –distort, brush off or help cover up?

Oh, right. Penis pictures. Or a blowjob. Democrats, naturally.

Your librul media.

Pedophiles

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

WesPala1

I’ve been following this story for over a year. The “civilized” British let it go on for years, maybe decades — and the scandal encompasses many, many more celebrities and powerful people than they mention in this one story.

An investigation into claims in the 1980s that an MP had a “penchant for small boys” ended when he gave his word that he was not a paedophile, a review of government papers has discovered.

Peter Wanless, head of the NSPCC, and lawyer Richard Whittam QC, reported last year that there was no evidence that the government had destroyed documents about an alleged Establishment paedophile ring.

However, the Cabinet Office only belatedly discovered a number of other relevant documents, which have now been considered by the lawyers. They said they found no suggestion of a Whitehall cover-up in the new material, but added that the discovery of the files “illustrates the merit of a broader search of potentially relevant material both on and off the system”.

However, the papers did contain a “striking example” of how crimes against children were treated much less seriously than they would be now. The lawyers cited a document written in November 1986 about an unnamed MP accused by two sources of having a “penchant for small boys” by the then head of MI5, Sir Antony Duff, and sent to Sir Robert Armstrong, now Baron Armstrong of Ilminster but then Secretary of the Cabinet under Margaret Thatcher.

Continue reading “Pedophiles” →

Study: Men who harass women playing Halo suck at playing Halo

~ susie

Michael Kasumovic and Jeffrey Kuznekoff, researchers at the University of New South Wales and Miami University, have published a new study in the journal PLOS One, says the Washington Post. Their study, titled “Insights into Sexism: Male Status and Performance Moderates Female-Directed Hostile and Amicable Behaviour,” indicates that in a sample of 163 plays of Halo… Continue reading “Study: Men who harass women playing Halo suck at playing Halo” →

Study: Multiple gun ownership makes you more prone to angry outbursts

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

Guns / in the grocery store

More to the point, even if you have an anger management problem, you’re still not likely to kill someone unless you have easy access to guns:

The more guns you own the more likely you are to be subject to angry outbursts that you cannot control.

This conclusion about Americans and their guns comes from a study published this week in the journal Behavioral Sciences. Researchers found that some 9 percent of people in the United States have both guns and significant anger issues.

“The new research also indicates that the 310 million firearms estimated to be in private hands in the United States are disproportionately owned by people who are prone to angry, impulsive behavior and have a potentially dangerous habit of keeping their guns close at hand,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “That’s because people owning six or more guns were more likely to fall into both of these categories than people who owned a single gun.”

The study, by psychology researchers from Duke, Harvard and other universities, states that “a large number of individuals in the United States self-report patterns of impulsive angry behavior and also possess firearms at home (8.9%) or carry guns outside the home (1.5%).”

The study’s findings are drawn from in-depth interviews with 5,563 Americans over the past decade. The key conclusion is that public policymakers’ focus on keeping guns from those with diagnosed mental illness does little to reduce the risks posed by the high level of private gun ownership in the United States.

Duggar madness

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

duggars 2014

The Family Research Council is one of the more extreme right-wing orgs, and even they couldn’t tolerate this. I don’t think this guy was unusual; from what I’ve read, such behavior is very common in these sexually-repressed, fundamentalist families — and the Quiverfull people are even crazier than your typical fundies:

Josh Duggar has resigned as Executive Director of the Family Research Council, acknowledging he sexually molested underage girls including some of his sisters, calling his conduct inexcusable.

Josh just told People, “Twelve years ago, as a young teenager. I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret.” He continues, “We spoke with authorities where I confessed my wrongdoing, and my parents arranged for me and those affected by my actions to receive counseling.”

The molestations occurred in 2002 and 2003, when he was 14. He fondled the genitals and breasts of the girls, some of whom were sleeping.

Josh’s wife Anna says he confessed his “past teenage mistakes” to her 2 years before he asked her to marry him.

The incidents were not reported to police until 2006, and the statute of limitations has now long since passed. But Josh says he believes God has shown him mercy and given him redemption.

Gay-hating pastor is… a serial rapist

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

Protecting LGBT people from discrimination is bad according to those voicing opposition to Ordinance 2223 in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and that includes a Baptist Preacher who features prominently in a new video urging voters to repeal the measure. That preacher pleaded guilty to a series of violent rapes in Oklahoma in 1977. The Arkansas Times reports:… Continue reading “Gay-hating pastor is… a serial rapist” →

Understanding the pathological liar

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

I dated two of them! One was a lawyer, so I’m not sure that counts.

Four years of high school and a steady dose of reality television have made Americans pretty adept at spotting liars. Everyone seems to know at least one person who compulsively flip flops — who twists the truth either for their own gain or, more maliciously, for someone else’s destruction. We call these people, of course, pathological… Continue reading “Understanding the pathological liar” →

Just awful

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

This story is horrible on so many levels.

He was left in the park where we played as kids, and where my own children played. It’s awful. But I will withhold judgment of the mother, because I have friends with disabled kids and I know the strain they’re under. We used to fund things like respite care, but not so much these days.

Relatives say they would have watched him, but who knows? It’s an enormous task, taking care of a child who’s this profoundly handicapped. The whole thing is very sad.

Statement suicide

~ susie

capitol shooting

Far too many people in despair these days. I understand his frustration, if not his tactics:

Washington (CNN)A shooting that prompted the lockdown of the U.S. Capitol for several hours Saturday was a suicide and does not have an apparent connection to terrorism, Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine said in a news conference.

An unidentified male walked through a public area on the west front of the Capitol early Saturday afternoon and shot himself, Dine told reporters. Witnesses told CNN dozens of shocked onlookers watched, including some young children.

The unidentified shooter had a backpack and a rolling suitcase that authorities treated as treated suspicious packages, prompting the lockdown as they were investigated, Capitol police said.

The male carried a sign with a message about “social justice,” authorities said. A witness, Robert Bishop, told CNN it also said something about taxing the “1%.”