Shakesville

This is a real thing in the world.

[Click to embiggen.]
The Butch Bakery, located in New York, is the brainchild of former Wall Street securities attorney David Arrick, who "felt it was time to combine a masculine aesthetic to a traditionally cute product—the cupcake. When a magazine article mentioned that cupcakes were a combination of everything 'pink, sweet, cute, and magical', he felt it was time to take action, and butch it up."

Since REAL MEN can't eat no pink and magical bullshit, the Butch Bakery sells cupcakes for men in tantalizingly butch designs of Woodland Camo, Wood Grain, Houndstooth, Plaid, Checkerboard, and Marble. (No, I am not making this up.)

Their website (screen-capped above), done in appropriate butch hues of black, gunmetal, and khaki, exhorts: "Butch it up, buttercup. These ain't your grandma's cupcakes." YEAH! GRANDMAS ARE FOR PUSSIES!

Also to be found on the front page of the website is the Butch Bakery's "MAN-ifesto" (caps original), not to be confused with one of those grody "WOMAN-ifestos," which reads: "Our objective is simple. We're men. Men who like cupcakes. Not the frilly pink-frosted sprinkles-and-unicorns kind of cupcakes. We make manly cupcakes. For manly men."

Let me guess: They're sold by the half-dozen but there are really only four to a box.

This is quite genuinely the most dismal display of insecure, patriarchy-approved masculinity I have ever seen. The Butch Bakery is the sad, testerical endgame in defining masculinity in contradistinction to the feminine: What makes me a man is simply not being a woman.

[H/T to Lauredhel, via email.]

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

The Ocean Blue: "Between Something and Nothing"

Discussion Thread: Sci-Fi Heroines

Doing the open threads this week, I noted (once again) the difficulty of finding sci-fi heroines who are women of color, particularly WOC who are also main characters and not relegated to background dressing. The other thing that was really frustrating was finding images that weren't totally sexxxified. (And as Liss pointed out when I was griping about this to her, just try finding a fat sci-fi heroine.)

Who are your favorite sci-fi heroines who break the typical sexxxified white glamazon mold?

Headline of the Day

"Polanski Film Released in Awkward Circumstances." Awkward circumstances? Oh, okay.

It's Better Than Operation Red Dawn, I Guess

WaPo: "The Obama administration has decided to give the war in Iraq a new name—'Operation New Dawn'—to reflect the reduced role U.S. troops will play in securing the country this year as troop levels fall, according to a memo from Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates."

Open Thread: Plane Crash in Austin

David Neiwert: Huh? Since when is attempting to blow up a federal building NOT an act of domestic terrorism?

Max Bergmann: New MA Senator Scott Brown Yawns at Plane Attack on IRS Building: 'No One Likes Paying Taxes'

Use this thread for discussion and sharing links to other good info you've found.

Open Thread

Hosted by Starbuck.

Question of the Day

Suggested by Shaker JimmyJam696969: If you could invite six famous people to a dinner party who would you invite?

Hillary Clinton, Cornel West, Sonia Sotomayor, Eddie Izzard, Gabby Sidibe, and Kazuo Ishiguro.

What do you serve a politician, an academic, a jurist, a comedian, an actor, and a novelist? I'm not sure—but I would make it like 27 courses, so I could keep talking to them as long as possible.

So, Here's What I'm Thinking…

We just dismantle the entire American government as it now exists, and we hire American stage and screen actor Richard Kind to play a lovable benevolent dictator for awhile. I mean, technically he'll actually be the dictator of Rebootistan (which will be the USA's new name, and we'll Rebooties, and stop hogging "American" all to ourselves), but with the understanding that it's only a temporary part, like a Broadway Play, writ large, which will run until people who don't want to sell off this nation to the highest bidder figure out how to rebuild this baby from scratch. With a parliament. And run-off elections. And more than two parties. And national healthcare.

How bad could it really be?

Quote of the Day

Aren't liberals always talking about diversity? Well, where is it?! [applause] In reality, when liberals talk about diversity, they never mean offering students a wide variety of ideas, including conservative ones. Nope. Their diver—their version of diversity is, is bizarre.

For instance, at the University of Michigan, students can take a class on [says this as if it's the weirdest thing he's ever heard] Native American Feminism. [throws up his hands; audience laughter] There is also Cyber Feminism at Cornell University. And, uh, maybe my all-time favorite, the class at Occidental College which deconstructs what it means to be a feminist new black man. [audience laughter] Now, if you're wondering what just exactly is a feminist new black man, [audience laughter] think of a crossover between Ru Paul and Barney Frank. [audience laughter and applause]

—Jason Mattera, "spokesman for Young America's Foundation, a conservative group whose mission is to inspire America's youth with the principles of conservatism."

H/T to Shaker Ethan.

How The Fuck Is This Even Legal?

Oh, yeah, it's not. Hence the lawsuit. According to Blake J Robbins v Lower Merion School District webcams on the laptops issued to student body were secretly activated by the schools' administrators to spy on students and their families at home.

The issue came to light when the Robbins's child was disciplined for "improper behavior in his home" and the Vice Principal used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence.

What? The FUCK? I mean... Jebus... No, Christ... Wait... Just, no. Fucking no.

(PDF of the filing here.)

[H/T to Shaker EvilTammy.]

Daily Kitteh

"O hai, Mumsy. How goes the blogging?"

Open Thread: Plane Crash in Austin

Earlier today, Joseph Andrew Stack, 53, "an Austin, Texas, resident with an apparent grudge against the Internal Revenue Service set his house on fire Thursday and then crashed a small plane into a building housing an IRS office with nearly 200 employees."

Two people have been injured and one person is still missing, but no deaths among the building's employees or visitors have yet been reported, and I hope none will be. Stack was reportedly killed in the crash.

"The building into which the airplane crashed is a federal IRS center" and Stack left an apparent suicide note in which he "rails against the government and, particularly, the IRS."

The Smoking Gun has more here. And Gawker's got more here.

I know some people have already dropped links in the Daily Open Thread; please feel welcome to drop them into comments again here, too.

Tea Party Activists Eliminationists

[Trigger warning.]

Shaker radbean sent me a heads-up that Washington Senator Patty Murray, who, as radbean rightly notes, is "one of the most ardent politicians leading the fight for women's rights and for the rights (and safety) of domestic violence survivors," has been targeted by the Tea Party dipshits using violent, eliminationist rhetoric. The video doesn't seem to want to load in the page (more javascript errors caused by the current template, which we're still working on!), so click here to view it.

Two anchors, one male and one female, sit at a news desk.

Greg Craber: Good evening. I'm Greg Craber.

Stephanie Smith: And I'm Stephanie Smith. They say it's all about traditional values and pushing back against the government.

Cut to video labeled "Tea Party Politics: Asotin—Saturday." A man in a cowboy hat is playing a guitar and singing some faux-patriotic crap ("—'cuz in the real world, they're shuttin' Detroit down—") for a room of people, some of whom are holding anti-Obama signs.

Smith (voiceover): Now there were some strong words spoken at Saturday's tea party in Asotin.

Cut to video of a women standing at a podium, speaking: How many of you have watched the movie Lonesome Dove? [Some hands go up.] What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd? [There is murmuring in the audience; the woman continues, laughing.] What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd?! He got hung! And that's what I want to do with Patty Murray. [laughter, cheers, and applause]

Cut to video of a sign reading "Geld Obama," with a crudely-drawn picture of an elephant. (Yeah, I know—it doesn't make any sense.) The sign turns, revealing that the back says: B.O. "Stinks" (quotes original).

Smith (voiceover): Local tea party co-chair Doug Schurman says about 500 people showed up for the rally at the county fairgrounds.

Then there's some junk with Schurman and some other dude talking about how the government sucks. Blah blah.

I suspect that any kind of teaspooning to try to convince the Tea Party dingalings to stop being violent fucknecks will be a huge waste of time. So, instead…

Donate to Senator Patty Murray's reelection campaign here.

Today's Edition of "Conniving and Sinister"

Strips One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118. In which Liss reimagines the long-running comic "Frank & Ernest," about two old straight white guys "telling it like it is," as a fat feminist white woman and a biracial queerbait telling it like it actually is from their perspectives. Hilarity ensues.

Ewan McGregor is a genius.

And I am being sarcastic.

[Trigger warning re: Polanski case.]

In an article headlined "Polanski hailed as 'maestro' by Brosnan, McGregor" (barf), Ewan McGregor refused to issue an opinion on Roman Polanski's being an unapologetic rapist and fugitive from the law, saying instead, "He's held in high esteem because he's an extraordinary director."

Later in the same interview, which was done in promotion of the new political thriller he shot with Polanski at the helm, McGregor said "he was almost entirely uninterested in politicians after losing all respect for them when he was young over corruption cases or 'caught with their pants down' in brothels."

So, McGregor's got no problem respecting a man who raped a 13-year-old girl, but has no respect for politicians who have consensual sex with prostitutes.

Awesome.

[Via Laura, who got it from Margaret.]

"I'm not even supposed to be here today!"*

Also known as the "What No One Told Me" thread/post, as suggested in the comments thread of this post. The discussion is about both pregnancy and parenting.

[Commenting Guidelines: Please note that this thread is for sharing one's own personal experiences, and participants are asked to use "I/me/my" language (e.g. "my pregnancy was like this" as opposed to "pregnancy is like this"), and to refrain from judging or commenting on the veracity of other people's comments. (Although noting you shared the same experience is, of course, welcome.) Participants are also asked to refrain from using marginalizing or dehumanizing language: Words like "litters" used to refer to multiple children or "breeders" to refer to parents are not allowed, along with any other slang terms that necessarily imply that all parents are biological parents, that exclude parents who adopt or assume guardianship, or that suggest all parents are straight and/or cis.]

Now, for myself...

Today in Fat Hatin'

Yet another absolutely absurd, ignorant, and mean-spirited piece rooted in the premise that fat women don't know they're fat. (And lots of other equally grim stuff.)

It seems we can't even rely on our best friends to tell us when it's time to quit the cupcakes.

Am I the only one who thinks that's a crying shame? Whenever I watch TV diet programmes I am amazed that nobody has actually sat down with morbidly obese Jenny and had a word with her.

Did no one notice?

Well, I can't speak for the theoretical "morbidly obese Jenny," but I can speak for the "morbidly obese Liss," (who happens to prefer Lady Chub of Flabberton, thank you very much): I've noticed that I'm fat.

And, yes, concerned family members and friends observed I was getting fatter along the way. As have countless strangers, who have considerately expressed to me "it's time to quit the cupcakes" with disgusted glances, loudly-whispered judgments, comments about what I should or shouldn't be eating, nasty slurs, and literally mooing at me. Not to mention the backhanded compliments like expressed surprise that I can walk long distances, rollerskate, or have such a good relationship with a nice husband who treats me well. (Because fat girls don't deserve that, of course. And couldn't possibly be happy, even if they have it.)

No one, no one, looks like me and doesn't know they're fat. No one who looks like me has escaped being told they're fat, in a thousand different ways.

And anyone who can possibly think otherwise is an ignorant ass.

Who's probably too busy "helpfully" reminding fat people that they're fat for any reality about fat people's lives to penetrate hir ignorant bigoted yammering fat-hating head.

[Via WeSmirch.]

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Scandal: "Goodbye To You"

Rhetorical Question of the Day

[Trigger warning.]

Is it possible for Matt Taibbi to write anything that not's riddled with rape analogies?

That such a profoundly misogynist, rape-diminishing, smug, privileged, fauxgressive asshole is a hero of the so-called American Left is compelling evidence of the absence of feminism from our national dialogue, and the rejection of even the most basic feminist ideals from both sides of the proverbial aisle.