New at Rosetta Stones: Trump’s Disastrous Education Picks, and More!

Between Aunty Flow and trying to read up on Nazis, I’ve been a bit lax on blogging. But in case you missed them, here some spiffy recent Rosetta Stones posts for your reading pleasure: Continue reading “New at Rosetta Stones: Trump’s Disastrous Education Picks, and More!”

New at Rosetta Stones: Trump’s Disastrous Education Picks, and More!
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Books for the Resistance – Taking Suggestions!

Absent a miracle, Cheeto Hitler and Il Douche will be taking over the country in January. We’re going to have to work our utter asses off to hang on to any of the advances we’ve made. And considering how Republicans in general feel about democracy these days, coupled with a con man and a Christian Dominionist, we’re going to have to fight to the finish if anything resembling our country is to survive.

In order to be effective, we need to know what we’re dealing with, and how to counter it. So please suggest any and all books you’d recommend for people needing to learn about fighting the good fight. Subjects can include, but are not limited to, the following subjects:

  • Civil Rights and Resistance movements
  • Organizing
  • Fascist, totalitarian, and other despotic forms of government
  • Famous dictators such as Hitler, Mussolini, and others whose behavior mirrors Chitler and Il Douche.

I’ll be gathering your recommendations into a  special edition of the Super Gargantuan Book Guide for 2016. Gracias! Continue reading “Books for the Resistance – Taking Suggestions!”

Books for the Resistance – Taking Suggestions!

Two Quotes that America Needs to Take to Heart Right Now

With white supremacists now waltzing into America’s highest offices to the cheers of neo-Nazis and the KKK, I think it’s time to republish a couple of quotes I’ve used on this blog in the past. Too many in this country seem to have forgotten that America was supposed to stand against fascism. Too many have forgotten the cost of letting fascism gain power. Too many have forgotten that fascism is a monster that must be fought at all costs.

There is already a lot of blood on America’s hands, but the amount of blood and shame will be incalculable if we don’t stop this.

Whoever refuses to remember the inhumanity is prone to new risks of infection.

Richard von Weizsacker

Especially now, it’s critical to remember the true horrors perpetrated in the name of an ideology. Richard von Weizsacker, President of Germany from 1984 to 1994, gave a speech on the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II that speaks of the importance of that remembrance. Here’s the above quote in context (CN: casual ableism): Continue reading “Two Quotes that America Needs to Take to Heart Right Now”

Two Quotes that America Needs to Take to Heart Right Now

The Real Story of Thanksgiving

When I was a schoolkid, we were taught all about Thanksgiving. Pretty much everything was wrong.

We were told the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. Nope. They first landed at Cape Cod. They came to Plymouth about a month later, but they didn’t land on the Rock.

Then our teachers said the Pilgrims nearly starved that first winter. They didn’t. They weren’t exactly healthy, but they weren’t starving to death. They had plenty of seafood, and they also had all the food they stole from Native American winter stores.

Our teachers said the Indians (my school hadn’t caught up to terms like Native American or indigenous people yet) saved the Pilgrims that winter by feeding them. Well, if you consider theft to be a form of giving, then yes, I suppose the Wampanoag indirectly fed the Pilgrims. Truth is, they were hanging back through the winter, watching the white folks who’d moved into one of their abandoned villages. They’d already been hard hit by Europeans, who just a few years before had been busily enslaving them and giving them diseases that wiped out alarming numbers of them. They knew that white folks could be dangerous. But this batch had women and children with them, which made the Wampanoag think they were peaceful. Continue reading “The Real Story of Thanksgiving”

The Real Story of Thanksgiving

Remember: They’re the A**holes – How to Survive Holidays with Your Tr*mp-Loving Family

The Cheeto Hitler-in-Chief-Elect didn’t win the popular vote, but he’s quite popular with ISIS and various bits of the American electorate: neo-Nazis, the Klan, your relatives…

In the past, we’ve often stayed silent to keep the peace when various aunts, uncles, grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, etc. have spouted racist nonsense. We’ve agreed to disagree about politics. We’ve let things pass.

Well, white folk, we can’t do that anymore. Letting it slide is part of how we got here.

So, when you go home this holiday season and your family passes the praise for Chitler* along with the gravy, remember: you’re not the asshole for pushing back. They’re the assholes for bringing it up to begin with. And they are very much assholes for voting for someone who wants to dismantle American democracy and rob the country. And before you get all sympathetic and think they’re victims, just remember that signs this shitheel’s a con man were everywhere for literal decades, and there’s no damned excuse for not knowing exactly what he is. He just had to settle a lawsuit over his fraudulent university, for fuck’s sake. There are no victims here. Just willing dupes.

With that in mind, here’s a brief guide to surviving the holidays with Chitler-loving relatives, and how to push back against their isms and bigotry. Continue reading “Remember: They’re the A**holes – How to Survive Holidays with Your Tr*mp-Loving Family”

Remember: They’re the A**holes – How to Survive Holidays with Your Tr*mp-Loving Family

Ban Bannon – Call Your Reps

So, one of Donald “Chitler” Trump’s first acts was to appoint a real live white fucking supremacist as his chief advisor. People, when the KKK and their terrible friends are thrilled with a pick, you know he’s bad. How bad? This bad. This is really fucking bad.

So, it’s time to speak up and let everyone know: this is not okay.

We don’t want an America founded on racial hate. We don’t want an America run by hate groups. We don’t want this shitstain anywhere near the levers of power in this country.

How are we going to let people know? Well, outside of linking this post on your social media feed with words like Fuck No Stephen Bannon, here’s what to do: if you have the ability, call your representatives. Here is a post with handy scripts and links to getting their numbers and everything. Continue reading “Ban Bannon – Call Your Reps”

Ban Bannon – Call Your Reps

To The People Trying to Claim We’re Not Racist Because We Voted for Obama

I’ve seen some very oblivious white people in my Facebook feed claiming that this election couldn’t possibly have anything to do with race, because people voted for Trump who voted for Obama. Why would they vote for a black man and then a white supremacist??

Gosh, fellow white people, I dunno. Why don’t we stop denying we’ve got racist as fuck tendencies and start thinking of the reasons, eh? It’s actually pretty simple.

CN: racial slurs, racism, bigotry

You can vote for a black man and still harbor racist thoughts and tendencies. Trust me. I know white people. I know conservative white people – I was raised in a house and community full of ’em. And I know how they think. They’ll swear they haven’t got a racist bone in their body as they call their Iranian coworker a sand n*gger. They’ll claim they’re not at all prejudiced in one breath while they bleat about all those foreign brown people sneaking into our country and taking  our jerbs – complete with slurs like w*tb*ck and ch*nk. They’ll all have that one black friend, but they’re super nervous around black people and steer clear of black neighborhoods, because everybody knows that’s where the thugs live.

Even those of us who have friends of color and really try not to ever use racial slurs and are pretty embarrassed by our more openly racist relatives and really admire a select few people of color are scared of what’s going to happen to white people when the brown folk outnumber us. And we may not admit it to ourselves, but we think affirmative action means some lesser human is going to get the job we deserve, and that more brown people getting college educations and entering the workforce means fewer opportunities for us, and so we’ll support policies that keep that from happening. We may not consciously realize we’re doing that. But we’re doing it all the same. Continue reading “To The People Trying to Claim We’re Not Racist Because We Voted for Obama”

To The People Trying to Claim We’re Not Racist Because We Voted for Obama

10 Steps to Start Fixing This Mess

My dear friend Alexis Record has some very important steps for us to take, for those of us who’ve recovered from the initial shock and grief and are ready to get to work. I’ll have a lot more for you very soon, but this is a brilliant way to get started.

Here’s how to be a friend and support to those who need you right now in ten (not so easy) steps.

1. Acknowledge our fear and grief.

2. Offer to protect, love, and support us.

3. Publicly condemn when people hurt us or others. The key word is “publicly.”

4. Report abuse.

5. Educate yourself on the specific needs of the disabled community, LGBTQUA community, Black community, Muslim community, immigrant/adoption community, etc.

Continue reading “10 Steps to Start Fixing This Mess”

10 Steps to Start Fixing This Mess