It's Labour Day in der Schweiz, so I went to a very jolly workers' rights shindig this morning (with oompah band and everything) and, as it's 25°C here, spent the afternoon in a park by the lake eating ice-cream and drinking wine. Sometimes, life is somewhat OK.
I Googled "Red Square Kittens" hoping to find a funny shopped picture of kittens marching on May Day. What I got was a collection of pictures of red, square toed, kitten heel women's shoes.
Both fashion and the internet can be baffling to the clueless, like Me.
I seem to be perplexing the algorithms. I only seem to get ads for products I've already bought and have been buying for a long time and plan to keep buying... and then ads for medications for conditions I very clearly do not have, but they apparently have a $17 billion ad campaign going on.
I swear to god, I googled colonoscopy prep ONE TIME and now ad sense thinks I have every gastro/colo/anus condition known to man.
As a kid, May Day meant the 2 neighbor sisters would ride their bikes about a mile to our farm, bringing me and my 3 brothers May baskets. We liked candy but remembering their smiles I think the sisters enjoyed it more. I still live here on that same farm, 2 of my brothers are nearby. One of the sisters lives on a farm in the area.
Today the contrast of a safe, pastoral life with the menace in the world seems just as bizarre as in 1968.
May 1Liked by Rebecca Schoenkopf, Martini Glambassador
Our anniversary is today. I picked this date so we would remember it. Now every year my husband goes around shouting the international distress signal, "Mayday! Mayday!" What a goofball.
Reminds me of a scene I dimly remember from the original Wicker Man. A bunch of young women are leaping over a bonfire in order to get pregnant. Edwdwdwd says it doesn't work that way and Christopher Lee said if it isn't better to believe you're knocked up by a pagan god than by a spotty lad behind the barn?
Thank you, gracious Editrix, for the link to the Josh Marshall article. Very much appreciated, as I have friends on both sides of the situation and the only thing I feel qualified to say or do is express my horror at the loss of life on both sides and pray for peace, as impossible as it has always seemed.
I knew Gaza was going to be a shitshow from the moment of the attack. Hamas has one goal, the destruction of Israel, which is never going to happen. While Israel is in the habit of hitting back 10 fold for very attack on them. I never expected Israel to execute a plan to reduce Gaza to rubble, kill tens of thousands of women and children, non-partisan aid workers and so forth. Hamas has no end-game. Israel has no end-game. It's just an endless shitshow.
There is no restraint with protests and counter protests. Stefanik and the MAGA cult are plain nutty. Police can be nonviolent and are able to restrain or use force necessary to overcome resistance. But TX got it wrong with their wildness. LA is another story.
I hate the antisemitism, and racism occurring on campus. Being for Gaza and aid support does not mean you support killing Israelis and Jewish people. The threats of and outright violence needs to end. Congress has no place poking their noses into private universities.
Hamas has to return the hostages and bodies of the deceased. And Israel has to cease their attacks and bombing in Gaza and Rafah and the West Bank. And let the aid come into Gaza, while protecting the innocent and the aid workers
Thank you for pointing out the moral and (frankly) strategic complexity of a situation where all the combatants are busting their ass to make everything as morally and strategically complex as they can. Seriously. And for calling out the folks who are so sure it's simple ("Be reasonable...just do it my way!").
It is so good to read someone who can say "It's all fucked up and I don't have the answers...and I'm betting you don't either." Because the one thing I am sure of is that anyone who thinks they have THE answer... doesn't.
Some of you may be interested to know that an actual Nazi who's been involved in gay/trans-bashing, Narek Palyan, was seen "helping" the "pro-Israeli" mobs break up the encampment at UCLA. Xitter thread here including Palyan's comeback: https://twitter.com/markmisoshnik/status/1785725246844383363
I have no way of knowing whether the pro-Israelis knew that they had a Nazi on their team. But it wouldn't surprise me if they did. There is a gross fringe of pro-Israel opinion who have an "enemy's enemy" attitude towards Nazis, bonding over the fact that they all agree that all the Jews should go live in Israel.
Thanks, Rebecca. I don't really read these Tabs posts but I made an exception today because I had to see if you'd say anything on this issue. I don't agree with all you say here but it's obviously sincere and consistent.
Actual communist here: 100% in favour of Palestinian resistance; Jewish-Israelis aren't going anywhere and they shouldn't have to, but Palestinians will simply not just forgive and forget al-Nakba. I think a Two State solution is no longer possible because the West Bank settler movement has gone too far and I can't see how any State of Palestine on 1967 borders could ever be properly independent from Israel (let alone whether Israel would allow it to be).
So the future has to be Jewish-Israelis and Palestinians *somehow* sharing the land rather than glaring at each other over fortified borders (because that solves nothing in the long run, see Ireland and India/Pakistan). These guys have an idea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Land_for_All_(organization)
You're 100% correct that a lot of "the Left" have gone into October 7 denial or apologies for Hamas theocracy and terrorism. You're correct that a lot of them were *always* going to declare Genocide Joe anathema for something (before this I think it was breaking the railroad strike) and a lot of them smack their lips over "AmeriKKKa getting Trump-fascism as a punishment", not realising that this will have personal consequences for them. A lot of this is due to the dynamics of social media and small-group politics, which rewards anathemas and moral extremisim over "real politics". But such has always been the case for "the kids". AND: the people scolding the kids that they can't criticise Biden on this because it lets Trump win are going too far in the opposite direction. Some of them are even suggesting the kids are funded by the GOP or goddamn Russia. That's "BlueAnon".
Rebecca, I am so sorry you are going through this. You are not alone- I have had to block 3 friends who were totally down with war crimes against civilians (in Israel) on Oct 7 and probably 3/4 of my friends from shul who are totally down with war crimes against civilians (in Gaza and the West Bank) ever since. I'm a part time chazzan for that shul in my old hometown and it has been one of the most fulfilling things in my life for the past three decades....and I don't know if I can go back. Some things you just can't unsee or unhear (Beau of the Fifth did a great PSA early on warning people about watching the rhetoric). You are right by the way, there is no going back from this- not for Israel or for us in the Diasporah. It is a REAL anti-semite's best outcome. Hugs.
This is why a loathe talking about the Israeli-Palestinian issue. You can’t say anything without someone calling you either an antisemite or a supporter of genocide.
Thank you Tab lady and Wonkette queen. You so effeciently summed up my feelings on this subject(s): both my Biden (esp on issues like this) and esp the thing that wakes me up at 3am each morning in tears and rage. Feeling so impotent. We say the words 'never forget' but humans forget again and again as long as they are not part of the 'them'. My heart feels so heavy all the time trying to find what ways to exist knowing the pain and voiceless to do anything about it while those WITH said voice missuse it, don't use it, or focus on the tangents & miss ways out of this horror, human chosen, human sustained quagmire.
I'm going to do my best to contribute to the conversation without being an asshole or resorting to hyperbole since the basic facts are awful enough. I'll just say that Portland State University (it should come as a surprise to no one that Portland students are getting in on this) is doing a really good job not being feckless twits about it. Their president was interviewed on OPB last week and unequivocally put her support behind the students' right to protest. And was only mildly annoyed that they were demanding PSU divest from Boeing when the only relationship between the university and that company is that Boeing provides scholarships.
Happy May Day, comrades. Here is your quickie source info post: https://open.substack.com/pub/martiniambassador/p/kitten-magic
Today's GIF an all time best, MG!
You have outdone yourself. Perfection!
The look in that kitten's eyes just...makes me want to live. Forever.
MY GOD IT'S FULL OF CATS
It's Labour Day in der Schweiz, so I went to a very jolly workers' rights shindig this morning (with oompah band and everything) and, as it's 25°C here, spent the afternoon in a park by the lake eating ice-cream and drinking wine. Sometimes, life is somewhat OK.
Oh gosh, you lucky thang! It's been miserable and rainy here all day. Sorta puts a damper on the May Day celebrations.
You can at least eat ice-cream and drink wine, though???
I can!
I Googled "Red Square Kittens" hoping to find a funny shopped picture of kittens marching on May Day. What I got was a collection of pictures of red, square toed, kitten heel women's shoes.
Both fashion and the internet can be baffling to the clueless, like Me.
LOL!
I expect to see ads for those things showing up across my devices for months.
I seem to be perplexing the algorithms. I only seem to get ads for products I've already bought and have been buying for a long time and plan to keep buying... and then ads for medications for conditions I very clearly do not have, but they apparently have a $17 billion ad campaign going on.
I swear to god, I googled colonoscopy prep ONE TIME and now ad sense thinks I have every gastro/colo/anus condition known to man.
You will likely be buying a pair before the summer starts. I think they'd look so cute on you!
I only do that on weekends.
the trick with potted kittens is to not overwater.
Any water at the bottom of the vase was not added by me.
As a kid, May Day meant the 2 neighbor sisters would ride their bikes about a mile to our farm, bringing me and my 3 brothers May baskets. We liked candy but remembering their smiles I think the sisters enjoyed it more. I still live here on that same farm, 2 of my brothers are nearby. One of the sisters lives on a farm in the area.
Today the contrast of a safe, pastoral life with the menace in the world seems just as bizarre as in 1968.
Magic jar! Kittteh goes in stripey, comes out solid black.
[affects prudish, indignant tone}
Tsk-tsk-tsk!
That kitten is all potted up!
At the kitteh's age, and at this time of day! Shocking!
Our anniversary is today. I picked this date so we would remember it. Now every year my husband goes around shouting the international distress signal, "Mayday! Mayday!" What a goofball.
It's my kid's first anniversary today.
Congrats!
Why, thanks!
Happy Anniversary. May you be blessed with many more with your “goofball”. 🥂
He could be yelling,
“Hurray hurray, the First of May!
Outdoor fucking starts today!”
Well, yeah except we're getting frost tonight and snow tomorrow. Yuck. It's 'supposed' to be the average frost-free date today too. Oh, the irony!
doesn't mean the baise a l'exterieur can't commence- you just need to move more for warmth
The local last-frost date where I am is a moveable feast: Mother's Day, which as it happens is *next* week this year.
Adorable. Cheers to your union.
Mazel Tov!
Hey, I thought congratulations in Wonkette was Molotov...
Not so funny but years ago when I tried to write Mazel Tov on FB to a friend it autocorrected to Mazes Rob. Since we are old, we use Mazes Rob
Congratulations!
Happy May Day! Break out the fertility dances!
Reminds me of a scene I dimly remember from the original Wicker Man. A bunch of young women are leaping over a bonfire in order to get pregnant. Edwdwdwd says it doesn't work that way and Christopher Lee said if it isn't better to believe you're knocked up by a pagan god than by a spotty lad behind the barn?
Let there be singing in the aisles, dancing in the streets, and necking in the parks!
I hope that everyone else got nekkid and danced to welcome and celebrate the new life abundant Spring Equinox in the wee hours!
To quote a great song
I don’t look good naked anymore
I’m a deep fried doublewide version of the man I was before.
It been soooo long since I have celebrated all night then put on my kit and bells, picked up my stick and hankies and danced up the sun*
*Morris Dancing tradition
I have the honey and crack pipe right here.
Maybe not since even thinking about abortion will get you prison time.
we're going to reenact Midsommar again?
Nutz. I thought you referenced "A Midsummer Night's Dream", one of my favorite Shakespearean plays.
I have always really wanted to play the role of Titiana, the Queen of the Faeries.
I'm transforming myself over the decades to play Lear.
Have you read Seanan McGuire's October Daye series? Titania and her kin are central to the story.
The only role I ever walked, a lifelong tech that I am, put a girdle round the world in forty minutes, a right faithful Puck was I.
Dame Judy did it topless in the sixties.
also, you'd make a great titania.
I have long believed myself profoundly well suited for that role.
Who do you want for Oberon?
close enough. XD
I figure, sure. It'll be too hot outside come Midsommar.
Fuck. Ima need more coffee and weed.
That holiday comes earlier every year.
Abra-Cat-abra!
Hocat Pocat...
😻
Prest-O Change-O!
Thank you, gracious Editrix, for the link to the Josh Marshall article. Very much appreciated, as I have friends on both sides of the situation and the only thing I feel qualified to say or do is express my horror at the loss of life on both sides and pray for peace, as impossible as it has always seemed.
Thank you. Fuck all binaries and fuck all binarised thinking. Grateful for your nuance and complexity.
I knew Gaza was going to be a shitshow from the moment of the attack. Hamas has one goal, the destruction of Israel, which is never going to happen. While Israel is in the habit of hitting back 10 fold for very attack on them. I never expected Israel to execute a plan to reduce Gaza to rubble, kill tens of thousands of women and children, non-partisan aid workers and so forth. Hamas has no end-game. Israel has no end-game. It's just an endless shitshow.
There is no restraint with protests and counter protests. Stefanik and the MAGA cult are plain nutty. Police can be nonviolent and are able to restrain or use force necessary to overcome resistance. But TX got it wrong with their wildness. LA is another story.
I hate the antisemitism, and racism occurring on campus. Being for Gaza and aid support does not mean you support killing Israelis and Jewish people. The threats of and outright violence needs to end. Congress has no place poking their noses into private universities.
Hamas has to return the hostages and bodies of the deceased. And Israel has to cease their attacks and bombing in Gaza and Rafah and the West Bank. And let the aid come into Gaza, while protecting the innocent and the aid workers
hold your head up, trix. it's all fucked up and it's not your fault.
Thank you for pointing out the moral and (frankly) strategic complexity of a situation where all the combatants are busting their ass to make everything as morally and strategically complex as they can. Seriously. And for calling out the folks who are so sure it's simple ("Be reasonable...just do it my way!").
It is so good to read someone who can say "It's all fucked up and I don't have the answers...and I'm betting you don't either." Because the one thing I am sure of is that anyone who thinks they have THE answer... doesn't.
Some of you may be interested to know that an actual Nazi who's been involved in gay/trans-bashing, Narek Palyan, was seen "helping" the "pro-Israeli" mobs break up the encampment at UCLA. Xitter thread here including Palyan's comeback: https://twitter.com/markmisoshnik/status/1785725246844383363
I have no way of knowing whether the pro-Israelis knew that they had a Nazi on their team. But it wouldn't surprise me if they did. There is a gross fringe of pro-Israel opinion who have an "enemy's enemy" attitude towards Nazis, bonding over the fact that they all agree that all the Jews should go live in Israel.
Thanks, Rebecca. I don't really read these Tabs posts but I made an exception today because I had to see if you'd say anything on this issue. I don't agree with all you say here but it's obviously sincere and consistent.
Actual communist here: 100% in favour of Palestinian resistance; Jewish-Israelis aren't going anywhere and they shouldn't have to, but Palestinians will simply not just forgive and forget al-Nakba. I think a Two State solution is no longer possible because the West Bank settler movement has gone too far and I can't see how any State of Palestine on 1967 borders could ever be properly independent from Israel (let alone whether Israel would allow it to be).
So the future has to be Jewish-Israelis and Palestinians *somehow* sharing the land rather than glaring at each other over fortified borders (because that solves nothing in the long run, see Ireland and India/Pakistan). These guys have an idea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Land_for_All_(organization)
You're 100% correct that a lot of "the Left" have gone into October 7 denial or apologies for Hamas theocracy and terrorism. You're correct that a lot of them were *always* going to declare Genocide Joe anathema for something (before this I think it was breaking the railroad strike) and a lot of them smack their lips over "AmeriKKKa getting Trump-fascism as a punishment", not realising that this will have personal consequences for them. A lot of this is due to the dynamics of social media and small-group politics, which rewards anathemas and moral extremisim over "real politics". But such has always been the case for "the kids". AND: the people scolding the kids that they can't criticise Biden on this because it lets Trump win are going too far in the opposite direction. Some of them are even suggesting the kids are funded by the GOP or goddamn Russia. That's "BlueAnon".
I love you Editrix. Thank you for appealing to our better natures.
Peace
Rebecca, I am so sorry you are going through this. You are not alone- I have had to block 3 friends who were totally down with war crimes against civilians (in Israel) on Oct 7 and probably 3/4 of my friends from shul who are totally down with war crimes against civilians (in Gaza and the West Bank) ever since. I'm a part time chazzan for that shul in my old hometown and it has been one of the most fulfilling things in my life for the past three decades....and I don't know if I can go back. Some things you just can't unsee or unhear (Beau of the Fifth did a great PSA early on warning people about watching the rhetoric). You are right by the way, there is no going back from this- not for Israel or for us in the Diasporah. It is a REAL anti-semite's best outcome. Hugs.
That picture? The awesome picture you post every May Day? Can you plz post it?
Where is Firedog Lake when we need it? A lot of the current batch of shit-disturbers would have fit right in over there.
'kin firebaggers, man.
This is why a loathe talking about the Israeli-Palestinian issue. You can’t say anything without someone calling you either an antisemite or a supporter of genocide.
Thank you Tab lady and Wonkette queen. You so effeciently summed up my feelings on this subject(s): both my Biden (esp on issues like this) and esp the thing that wakes me up at 3am each morning in tears and rage. Feeling so impotent. We say the words 'never forget' but humans forget again and again as long as they are not part of the 'them'. My heart feels so heavy all the time trying to find what ways to exist knowing the pain and voiceless to do anything about it while those WITH said voice missuse it, don't use it, or focus on the tangents & miss ways out of this horror, human chosen, human sustained quagmire.
Anyhoo, thank you.
I'm going to do my best to contribute to the conversation without being an asshole or resorting to hyperbole since the basic facts are awful enough. I'll just say that Portland State University (it should come as a surprise to no one that Portland students are getting in on this) is doing a really good job not being feckless twits about it. Their president was interviewed on OPB last week and unequivocally put her support behind the students' right to protest. And was only mildly annoyed that they were demanding PSU divest from Boeing when the only relationship between the university and that company is that Boeing provides scholarships.