The most recent cause among the Left is to demand that statues of Confederate heroes come down. They evidently feel very passionate about this, and have even staged mass protests abut it. Many seem moved to the point of hysteria.
But it leaves one wondering: if they find these statues of Robert E. Lee and Nathan Bedford Forrest and Jefferson Davis so incredibly offensive, why did they not object to them last year?
If, as the Left claims, the mere existence of these statues is the equivalent of violence, why did they not feel violated as they walked past these statues ten years ago? Or five years ago? Did those statues not rip at their souls then?
It certainly seems that this particular crowd thinks whatever it's told to think, whenever they're told to think something. Which basically means its members are unable to think for themselves. They're essentially automatons, who go in whichever direction they're pointed.
(Politburo members in the old Soviet Union used to refer to the American Left as "useful idiots.")
Most people walk by statues barely aware of whom the statues represent. I've walked past plenty of statues in public squares without bothering to see who was being commemorated. I'm sure that most of the people memorialized were admirable, but there were probably a few whom, had I known more about them, I might have disapproved of.
Either way, I never felt violated as I walked past one. Had I bothered to read the inscription at the base of the statue, and had I seen that the statue was of, say, Jack the Ripper, I think my reaction would have been astonishment. I might even have found it funny. But I doubt I would have felt violated and trembled with rage.
Frankly, it would never even have occurred to me to react that way.
This is an issue where it's a lot easier to sympathize with blacks than with their white allies on the Left. As I've said before, I've always seen Confederate flags as sort of an upraised middle finger to blacks. And if I were black, walking past a statue of Jefferson Davis might give me pause. (Though I suspect that most blacks, like me, are usually blithely unaware of the identity of most statues they happen to pass by.) But still, why did they not object before?
As for the whites who are now demanding such statues be torn down? For them, it's just the latest trendy way to virtue signal.
In fact, it's the same kind of whites who now demand Confederate statues be toppled who, had they been around in, say, Georgia, in 1810, would have believed whatever they were told to believe in back then, too.
Like slavery.
A certain type of personality will always subscribe to whatever mode of thinking is fashionable.
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Monday, August 28, 2017
Another male nurse serial killer
I pointed out in April 2016 that it was striking how many of the most prolific serial killers were male nurses.
Another one has just popped up. From the ABC News article which appeared today, "German prosecutors believe nurse killed at least 84 people":
A male nurse who was convicted of killing patients in Germany with overdoses of heart medication is now believed to have killed at least 86 people — and the true scale of the killings could be even larger, investigators said Monday.
Many of the deaths could have been prevented if health authorities had acted more quickly on their suspicions, said Johann Kuehme, police chief in the northwestern city of Oldenburg.
Niels Hoegel, now 40, was convicted in 2015 of two murders and two attempted murders at a hospital in the northwestern town of Delmenhorst. He was sentenced to life in prison. But prosecutors have long said they believe he killed many more people, last year putting the figure at 43 at least.
The crimes came to light after Hoegel was convicted of attempted murder in another case. Authorities subsequently investigated hundreds of deaths, exhuming bodies of former patients in Delmenhorst and nearby Oldenburg.
Kuehme said Monday that authorities have now unearthed evidence of 84 killings in addition to the ones for which Hoegel was convicted. The number of actual killings is likely higher because some possible victims were cremated, making it impossible to gather evidence, Kuehme added.
"Eighty-four killings ... leave us speechless," Kuehme told reporters. "And as if all that were not enough, we must realize that the real dimension of the killings by Niels H. is likely many times worse..."
He faulted local health authorities for being slow to act.
"If the people responsible at the time, particularly at the Oldenburg clinic but also later in Delmenhorst, hadn't hesitated to alert authorities — for example police, prosecutors —" Hoegel could have been stopped earlier, Kuehme said.
Authorities are already pursuing criminal cases against former staff at the two facilities.
Hoegel worked at the Oldenburg hospital from 1999 to 2002 and in Delmenhorst from 2003 to 2005.
Kuehme said other medical workers at Oldenburg were aware of an elevated number of resuscitations, and initial indications of possible wrongdoing by the nurse in Delmenhorst emerged as early as April 2003.
During his trial, Hoegel had said he intentionally brought about cardiac crises in some 90 patients in Delmenhorst because he enjoyed the feeling of being able to resuscitate them.
He later told investigators that he also killed patients in Oldenburg....
Another one has just popped up. From the ABC News article which appeared today, "German prosecutors believe nurse killed at least 84 people":
A male nurse who was convicted of killing patients in Germany with overdoses of heart medication is now believed to have killed at least 86 people — and the true scale of the killings could be even larger, investigators said Monday.
Many of the deaths could have been prevented if health authorities had acted more quickly on their suspicions, said Johann Kuehme, police chief in the northwestern city of Oldenburg.
Niels Hoegel, now 40, was convicted in 2015 of two murders and two attempted murders at a hospital in the northwestern town of Delmenhorst. He was sentenced to life in prison. But prosecutors have long said they believe he killed many more people, last year putting the figure at 43 at least.
The crimes came to light after Hoegel was convicted of attempted murder in another case. Authorities subsequently investigated hundreds of deaths, exhuming bodies of former patients in Delmenhorst and nearby Oldenburg.
Kuehme said Monday that authorities have now unearthed evidence of 84 killings in addition to the ones for which Hoegel was convicted. The number of actual killings is likely higher because some possible victims were cremated, making it impossible to gather evidence, Kuehme added.
"Eighty-four killings ... leave us speechless," Kuehme told reporters. "And as if all that were not enough, we must realize that the real dimension of the killings by Niels H. is likely many times worse..."
He faulted local health authorities for being slow to act.
"If the people responsible at the time, particularly at the Oldenburg clinic but also later in Delmenhorst, hadn't hesitated to alert authorities — for example police, prosecutors —" Hoegel could have been stopped earlier, Kuehme said.
Authorities are already pursuing criminal cases against former staff at the two facilities.
Hoegel worked at the Oldenburg hospital from 1999 to 2002 and in Delmenhorst from 2003 to 2005.
Kuehme said other medical workers at Oldenburg were aware of an elevated number of resuscitations, and initial indications of possible wrongdoing by the nurse in Delmenhorst emerged as early as April 2003.
During his trial, Hoegel had said he intentionally brought about cardiac crises in some 90 patients in Delmenhorst because he enjoyed the feeling of being able to resuscitate them.
He later told investigators that he also killed patients in Oldenburg....
Hoegel's killings follow a familiar pattern. First, Hoegel's coworkers, like the coworkers of several other serial killing nurses, saw that a lot of deaths seemed to be happening around him, but didn't jump to the obvious conclusion. Maybe they figured, oh no, Niels wouldn't do something like that; or maybe they just didn't want to get in trouble themselves in case he was innocent. But it seems in every case of nurses who were serial killers, the coworkers and sometimes even hospital administrators had their suspicions long before they contacted authorities.
Note that Hoegel said that he "enjoyed the feeling of being able to resuscitate them." This, too, is a fairly common phenomenon. His motive wasn't necessarily to kill these patients, it was to be able to resuscitate them and therefore appear a hero. He enjoyed basking in the admiration and gratitude of the patients and their relatives afterwards. But as a sociopath, if patients happened to die while he set up a scenario in which he could appear the hero, it didn't bother him in the least. (If it had, he would have stopped doing it.)
This is not dissimilar to those firemen/arsonists who've been convicted of setting fires so they could then put them out and appear the hero.
Hoegel's picture wasn't included with the article, but I found it elsewhere:
(He looks like an antifa type to me.) Here's another picture of him, evidently before he was caught:
Hoegel must have thought his Vandyke beard made him look stylishly devilish. Most people who saw him at the time must have thought him just pudgy and epicene. If they'd only known.....
Only a small percentage of nurses are male, yet it seems that at least half of the nurse serial killers are male. Of course, only a tiny fraction of male nurses have turned out to be killers.
Still, it's hard not to notice the correlation.
Only a small percentage of nurses are male, yet it seems that at least half of the nurse serial killers are male. Of course, only a tiny fraction of male nurses have turned out to be killers.
Still, it's hard not to notice the correlation.
Saturday, August 26, 2017
Judging an argument on its own merits
Yesterday a friend, Dave Moriarty, sent an email saying, "I've just been reading the Unabomber manifesto. He has a LOT to say about the Left and political correctness. And he is spot on."
I applauded Dave for his open-mindedness in judging the Unabomber's arguments on their own merits rather than by the guy who made them.
(I, too, had been stunned to find out how cogent and insightful the Unabomber's manifesto was.)
Whenever I hear someone sniff, "Oh I would never listen to anything he has to say," I have a tendency to stop listening to the person who said that.
(Though, now that I think of it, I suppose that makes me a little like that person.)
I applauded Dave for his open-mindedness in judging the Unabomber's arguments on their own merits rather than by the guy who made them.
(I, too, had been stunned to find out how cogent and insightful the Unabomber's manifesto was.)
Whenever I hear someone sniff, "Oh I would never listen to anything he has to say," I have a tendency to stop listening to the person who said that.
(Though, now that I think of it, I suppose that makes me a little like that person.)
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
"Icarus"
I recently watched Icarus, the documentary on Netflix about Russian doping. It starts out seeming to be about Bryan Fogel, an amateur cyclist out to prove how easy it is to get away with doping (by doping himself). But then it turns into an expose on Russian doping in general, as related by Fogel's guru, Grigory Rodchenkov.
Rodchenkov used to be part of the Russian state doping apparatus, which is apparently pervasive at the highest levels of Russian sport. It's almost impossible to watch the documentary and not come away convinced that the Russians are doping the same way the East Germans were back in the 1970's and 1980's.
The Russians who are still involved in the national sports program of course deny the doping. But, of course, they would. Evidently the KGB (now called the SVR) is involved, and evidently it's all done with Putin's approval.
I've always assumed swimmer Vladimir Morozov was juicing. He's 5' 11", which is uncommonly short for a top sprinter, but is the world record holder in the 100 meter individual medley and is always a contender in the freestyle sprints in long course as well:
Note the way his trapezius muscles seem to jut up from his shoulders, and the way the line between his pectoral muscles extends all the way to his collarbones.
From Wikipedia:
On 25 July 2016, Morozov was named by FINA as an athlete who had been identified by WADA as one that had benefited from the 'disappearing positive methodology' as part of a Russian state-run doping programme, and as such FINA declared him ineligible for the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics in accordance with the requirements issued by the International Olympic Committee the previous day. No further information was released as to possible punishments for doping. However, on August 4, 2016, Morozov was cleared to compete by the IOC.
Rodchenkov used to be part of the Russian state doping apparatus, which is apparently pervasive at the highest levels of Russian sport. It's almost impossible to watch the documentary and not come away convinced that the Russians are doping the same way the East Germans were back in the 1970's and 1980's.
The Russians who are still involved in the national sports program of course deny the doping. But, of course, they would. Evidently the KGB (now called the SVR) is involved, and evidently it's all done with Putin's approval.
I've always assumed swimmer Vladimir Morozov was juicing. He's 5' 11", which is uncommonly short for a top sprinter, but is the world record holder in the 100 meter individual medley and is always a contender in the freestyle sprints in long course as well:
Note the way his trapezius muscles seem to jut up from his shoulders, and the way the line between his pectoral muscles extends all the way to his collarbones.
From Wikipedia:
On 25 July 2016, Morozov was named by FINA as an athlete who had been identified by WADA as one that had benefited from the 'disappearing positive methodology' as part of a Russian state-run doping programme, and as such FINA declared him ineligible for the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics in accordance with the requirements issued by the International Olympic Committee the previous day. No further information was released as to possible punishments for doping. However, on August 4, 2016, Morozov was cleared to compete by the IOC.
Evidently Morozov also benefited from the "disappearing sanctions methodology" administered by the IOC.
By the way, here's a picture of Adam Peaty from the recent world championships in Budapest:
If you want humongous, unnaturally well-defined biceps, swimming is the way to go!
And here's another picture of Nicholas Santos (in the striped cap):
Check out that arm definition. All those people who tell you that swimming produces long, loose muscle are wrong. It makes you look like a body-builder!
By the way, here's a picture of Adam Peaty from the recent world championships in Budapest:
If you want humongous, unnaturally well-defined biceps, swimming is the way to go!
And here's another picture of Nicholas Santos (in the striped cap):
Check out that arm definition. All those people who tell you that swimming produces long, loose muscle are wrong. It makes you look like a body-builder!
Sunday, August 20, 2017
History test, Part II
On August 5th, I posted If history were recorded by fashion writers, Part II: the women. There weren't quite as many hidden references as there were in Part I, but it's possible you missed some. And, having done a little research on these women, it turns out a lot of the myths surrounding them probably aren't even true.
If you haven't read the post, please do. Then, take a look at the following:
Mary I:
Small wonder she wanted to cleanse England of that dowdy, "plain and simple" Protestant way of dress...Our beloved Queen was so assiduous in this task there's even a stylish drink named after her that's popular to this day: the Bloody Mary!
Her viper pendant, and the dagger/cross must both be Borgia family symbols. (Whose blood is that dripping from the dagger?)
Lucrezia is rumored to have a hollow ring from which she slips poison into drinks.
Our Empress Catherine is a great lover of all things equine.....how our favorite equestrienne looks sitting side saddle, or even straddling a horse!
Marie has caused a revolution in French fashion...
At first glance it might look as if our Lizzie has taken a whack at fashion...
If you haven't read the post, please do. Then, take a look at the following:
Mary I:
Small wonder she wanted to cleanse England of that dowdy, "plain and simple" Protestant way of dress...Our beloved Queen was so assiduous in this task there's even a stylish drink named after her that's popular to this day: the Bloody Mary!
Mary I was known as Bloody Mary because she wanted to restore Catholicism to England and had over 280 Protestant dissenters burned at the stake.
It's not clear what the popular drink was named after. Some say her. Others trace the name to a waitress named Mary who worked at a Chicago bar called the Bucket of Blood. And some say it's a mispronunciation of the first name of Vladimir Smirnov of the Smirnoff vodka family, for whom the drink was first prepared in 1921.
Lucrezia Borgia:
The Borgias, particularly Lucrezia's brother Cesare, probably deserve their general reputation for ambition, greed, licentiousness, intrigue, and even murderousness; but Lucrezia herself seems to have been less of a schemer than Cesare.
That was a rumor about her, though its veracity has long since been lost in the fog of history.
Elizabeth Bathory:
Bathory is at the top of every list of prolific serial killers, and is generally listed as having killed up to 600 young girls. But after looking into her story, as I wrote here, I don't think she was guilty. She doesn't fit the profile of a sociopath, and there was plenty of motive to frame her. The number of dead girls seems to have been a complete exaggeration. And the story about her having bathed in their blood didn't even appear until about a hundred years after she died.
Catherine the Great:
The one story everyone seems to know about Catherine the Great is that she died trying to have sex with a horse. This was just a rumor spread by enemies wanting to discredit her. She actually died of a stroke suffered in her bathroom.
Marie Antoinette:
Marie has caused a revolution in French fashion...
Get it? The French Revolution happened during her reign.
And check out that daring décolletage, which accentuates her slender, delicate neck. You can't put that kind of style on the chopping block!
She died at the guillotine.
Our darling Marie proves, once and for all, that you can have your cake and eat it too!
Her most famous "quote" is, "Let them eat cake" (since the peasants had no bread). She almost certainly never said this.
Lizzie Borden:
The most famous ditty about Lizzie Borden:
"Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one."
And those dark colors are only fitting given that she is probably still mourning her parents, whose tragic murders remain unsolved.
Borden was acquitted of their murders, but she is probably guilty.
Poor Lizzie! Note that her dress is quite modest, covering everything right up to the top of her neck, as befits a well brought up young lady of the Victorian era. (No man will get a peek at that body!)
Borden was widely thought to have been a lesbian.
We certainly have no axe to grind with her clothing choices!
Ilse isn't held prisoner to passing trends, but prefers the timeless simplicity of a summer dress. It takes concentration to look that good without becoming camp!
Self-explanatory, see above.
Ilse Koch:
Ilse Koch was an infamous guard at the Buchenwald concentration camp during WWII.
Ms. Koch knows that looking like just another frumpy hausfrau would be a crime against humanity.
"Crimes against humanity" was what many of the more prominent Nazis (though not Koch) were convicted of at the Nuremberg Trials. Koch was in fact a very minor figure, though she later gained infamy through her multiple trials for corruption.
Frau Koch's husband Karl Otto looks resplendent as well in his sharply tailored uniform and well polished jackboots.
Jackboots are almost synonymous with Nazis these days.
Her neatly appointed houses is undoubtedly perfectly decorated, right down to the lampshades!
Koch was accused of selecting tattooed prisoners for execution in order to make lampshades out of their skins, but this was never proven, and highly unlikely to be true.
And look at that dog -- what a humongous bitch!
Koch later became popularly known as "the Bitch of Buchenwald" after an American reporter called her that.
As befits the wife of Nelson Mandela, she has great concern for the populace as well, generously providing for many of them to be necklaced as well. As the great lady said, "With our boxes of matches and our necklaces we shall liberate this country!"
[T]he South African Truth and Reconciliation commission [formed after apartheid had been abolished in 1994] found that she had personally been responsible for the murder, torture, abduction, and assault of numerous men, women, and children, as well as indirectly responsible for an even larger number of such crimes.
From the time she married Baby Doc (top), Michele Duvalier has looked every inch the stylish voodoo queen! Who couldn't she cast a spell over with that headdress?
Winnie Mandela:
That's an actual quote from Winnie Mandela in 1986. She was later the First Lady of South Africa from 1994 to 1996, when her divorced from Nelson Mandela was finalized. To be "necklaced" was to have an inner tube filled with gas forced around one's chest and arms, which was then lit on fire. Victims would take up to twenty minutes to die. According to Wikipedia:
Michelle Duvalier:
Baby Doc reportedly believed in voodoo and Santeria. (I actually heard this from a Haitian the day before I wrote the post.)
Below, Michele wears one of her many fur coats she needed to stay warm through those cold Haiti winters!
Michele reportedly spent $75,000 on a freezer in which to store all of her fur coats in Haiti.
You can be sure they're custom made -- there's no pret-a-porter for the lady from Port au Prince!
"Prêt-à-porter" means ready to wear.
Whether she's encouraging her husband to resurrect the Tontons Macoutes, or abscond with the national treasury, our stylish Santeria knows how to dress for success!
The Tontons Macoutes were the feared secret police squad started by Papa Doc Duvalier in order to maintain power. They still existed during Baby Doc's reign. And when Baby Doc and Michele went into exile, they reportedly took almost the entire national treasury, roughly $500MM, with them.
Hillary Clinton:
You just went through a heated Presidential campaign less than a year ago, so you're probably familiar with all of those references.
Thursday, August 17, 2017
It's not enough to just disavow slaveowners
There's been a lot of discussion recently about how the statues of Confederate war heroes must be torn down, and about how all slaveowners, even George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, should be discredited.
This isn't going far enough!
We need to bring all the racists into disrepute.
And we should start with Abraham Lincoln, who said, during his famous debates with Stephen Douglas:
“I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races from living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be a position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.”
We should not only destroy the Lincoln Monument, we should take every available opportunity to burn that white supremacist in effigy!
Every president who abided by Jim Crow laws should also be discredited. Malignant segregationists like Franklin Delano Roosevelt should forever live in infamy!
We also need to vilify all the Presidents who didn't believe in giving women the right to vote. So we should rename anything ever named after chauvinist pigs like John Adams, James Madison, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt. Not one of them believed in women's suffrage!
And how about all the Presidents who were against gay marriage? You know who I'm talking about -- homophobes like John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. None of them ever made the slightest attempt to allow gays to have the same basic right to marriage that cisgender heterosexuals have!
As recently as 2008, when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigned for President, both came out staunchly against gay marriage. They, too, should be appropriately villainized.
Both JFK and LBJ supported a version of civil rights that called for race blind admissions policies for colleges. These early opponents of affirmative action should be discredited as the bigots they were!
It's a little disconcerting to think that every President we've ever had has been on the wrong side of history.
In fact, we have an entire national history full of people who were far more evil than generally acknowledged. Nathan Hale never once suggested slavery be abolished. Alexander Hamilton never once suggested women be given the right to vote. Mark Twain called one of his characters the n-word. And Albert Einstein never once agitated for gay marriage.
The history books obviously need to be rewritten to cast all of these reprobates in a more disparaging light.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Once you start judging historical figures by modern day sensibilities, there's no end to the discrediting you must do. Ironically, it's the same personality types who are now doing that who would have been the biggest conformists in previous eras as well.
This isn't going far enough!
We need to bring all the racists into disrepute.
And we should start with Abraham Lincoln, who said, during his famous debates with Stephen Douglas:
“I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races from living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be a position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.”
We should not only destroy the Lincoln Monument, we should take every available opportunity to burn that white supremacist in effigy!
Every president who abided by Jim Crow laws should also be discredited. Malignant segregationists like Franklin Delano Roosevelt should forever live in infamy!
We also need to vilify all the Presidents who didn't believe in giving women the right to vote. So we should rename anything ever named after chauvinist pigs like John Adams, James Madison, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt. Not one of them believed in women's suffrage!
As recently as 2008, when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigned for President, both came out staunchly against gay marriage. They, too, should be appropriately villainized.
Both JFK and LBJ supported a version of civil rights that called for race blind admissions policies for colleges. These early opponents of affirmative action should be discredited as the bigots they were!
It's a little disconcerting to think that every President we've ever had has been on the wrong side of history.
The history books obviously need to be rewritten to cast all of these reprobates in a more disparaging light.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Once you start judging historical figures by modern day sensibilities, there's no end to the discrediting you must do. Ironically, it's the same personality types who are now doing that who would have been the biggest conformists in previous eras as well.
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
If MS-13 hired a PR firm
MS-13 is in the news again because Trump has said that he wants to crack down on them. But maybe what MS-13 really has is just an image problem. What would happen if they hired the type of PR firm that corporations regularly use to make themselves sound like charities?
We are MS-13
We are the youth, and the future, of America
Henceforth, we don't want to be known as a "gang," since that word has so many negative connotations, and gives people the wrong idea about us. We want to be known as a "public service club."
The "MS" now stands for "My Savior." And the "13" alludes to our spirituality: we see ourselves as Jesus's thirteenth disciple.
We are MS-13, the public service club with a heart.
Our mission is to help youngsters from broken homes, or who came to North America by themselves, who are all alone in this great big world. We give them a group to identify with, and a sense of belonging.
We help those who are bullied. We have a near perfect track record in that regard. Once someone is under our protection, no one bullies them anymore.
As staunch environmentalists, we care about our Mother Earth, and are doing our best, bit by bit, to alleviate the overpopulation problem.
Unfortunately, in the past, a few of our members have gotten carried away when it comes to doing good. But please don't listen to that deplorable racist Trump who wants to persecute us just because we're Latino.
We are Barack Obama's Dreamers -- young people who dream of a better future. And we proudly represent American values. Like discipline. And honor. And loyalty. Many of our members are lifelong loyalists. They understand how healthy that is.
As a nondiscriminatory club, we accept women, too. We even have a special induction ceremony for them in which, as a group, we pay humble homage to the very practice which brings us all to life.
Young men are anxious to participate in their own induction ceremony, too, since it gives them an opportunity to demonstrate their resilience.
We are MS13. All we ask for is a chance at a better life. Please help us help you.
We are MS-13
We are the youth, and the future, of America
Henceforth, we don't want to be known as a "gang," since that word has so many negative connotations, and gives people the wrong idea about us. We want to be known as a "public service club."
The "MS" now stands for "My Savior." And the "13" alludes to our spirituality: we see ourselves as Jesus's thirteenth disciple.
We are MS-13, the public service club with a heart.
Our mission is to help youngsters from broken homes, or who came to North America by themselves, who are all alone in this great big world. We give them a group to identify with, and a sense of belonging.
We help those who are bullied. We have a near perfect track record in that regard. Once someone is under our protection, no one bullies them anymore.
As staunch environmentalists, we care about our Mother Earth, and are doing our best, bit by bit, to alleviate the overpopulation problem.
You may have noticed our extensive tattoos. We wear these to show our lighthearted, artistic side.
Unfortunately, in the past, a few of our members have gotten carried away when it comes to doing good. But please don't listen to that deplorable racist Trump who wants to persecute us just because we're Latino.
We are Barack Obama's Dreamers -- young people who dream of a better future. And we proudly represent American values. Like discipline. And honor. And loyalty. Many of our members are lifelong loyalists. They understand how healthy that is.
As a nondiscriminatory club, we accept women, too. We even have a special induction ceremony for them in which, as a group, we pay humble homage to the very practice which brings us all to life.
Young men are anxious to participate in their own induction ceremony, too, since it gives them an opportunity to demonstrate their resilience.
We are MS13. All we ask for is a chance at a better life. Please help us help you.
Sunday, August 13, 2017
Diagnosed vs. undiagnosed Aspies
On August 6th "Alicia W." made the following comment on the Asperger Syndrome post:
Even though I have Asperger's, I did still find myself agreeing with a lot of this. I've noticed I tend to do some of this stuff over the years, either by analyzing my own behavior from when I was younger or by having it pointed out to me. My symptoms have seemingly improved, or become more manageable over the years, I think in large part because I had a pretty good level of support in school. Either way, it's actually rather embarrassing to look back on. None of it was really my fault, as I couldn't help it, but I definitely [get] why people found me a massive pain while I was growing up. I also definitely understand why people would still find me annoying. I've improved a lot over the years, but I [make] no effort to pretend I'm anything close to normal. I'm just slightly less insufferable.
Alicia W. actually doesn't sound insufferable at all. It's always the people -- with Asperger Syndrome or otherwise -- who have no clue that they're insufferable who are in fact that way. And we all have embarrassing behavior to look back on over the years.
Alicia brought up an interesting point, though, about the difference between people who've been officially diagnosed with ASD -- and therefore are at least somewhat self-aware -- and those who haven't. Undiagnosed Aspies are far less likely to be aware of their own idiosyncrasies, and hypocrisies.
And older people who grew up before Aspergers was generally recognized are far less likely to have been diagnosed.
The two Aspies I know best were never officially diagnosed, and therefore make no attempt to rein in their own behavior. Both frequently think they're right even when they're obviously not, and neither seems to feel the least embarrassment about the incredibly lame excuses they make when they're proven wrong.
I suspect that if they had been diagnosed when young, each would make some effort to be less Aspergery.
An initial diagnosis of Aspergers must come as a body blow to those who receive it. But going through life with a little self-awareness does make things easier on those around you.
Even though I have Asperger's, I did still find myself agreeing with a lot of this. I've noticed I tend to do some of this stuff over the years, either by analyzing my own behavior from when I was younger or by having it pointed out to me. My symptoms have seemingly improved, or become more manageable over the years, I think in large part because I had a pretty good level of support in school. Either way, it's actually rather embarrassing to look back on. None of it was really my fault, as I couldn't help it, but I definitely [get] why people found me a massive pain while I was growing up. I also definitely understand why people would still find me annoying. I've improved a lot over the years, but I [make] no effort to pretend I'm anything close to normal. I'm just slightly less insufferable.
Alicia W. actually doesn't sound insufferable at all. It's always the people -- with Asperger Syndrome or otherwise -- who have no clue that they're insufferable who are in fact that way. And we all have embarrassing behavior to look back on over the years.
Alicia brought up an interesting point, though, about the difference between people who've been officially diagnosed with ASD -- and therefore are at least somewhat self-aware -- and those who haven't. Undiagnosed Aspies are far less likely to be aware of their own idiosyncrasies, and hypocrisies.
And older people who grew up before Aspergers was generally recognized are far less likely to have been diagnosed.
The two Aspies I know best were never officially diagnosed, and therefore make no attempt to rein in their own behavior. Both frequently think they're right even when they're obviously not, and neither seems to feel the least embarrassment about the incredibly lame excuses they make when they're proven wrong.
I suspect that if they had been diagnosed when young, each would make some effort to be less Aspergery.
An initial diagnosis of Aspergers must come as a body blow to those who receive it. But going through life with a little self-awareness does make things easier on those around you.
Saturday, August 12, 2017
A physical resemblance
It was hard not to be struck by the physical similarities between Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, and James Damore, the man he recently fired:
You can't quite call it a family resemblance, since Pichai is South Asian, and Damore Caucasian. But both men have the same prominent nose, full lips, thin neck, and gentle mien. And both give off the same air of general geekiness.
Not quite sure what to make of this. I'd guess they're similar types. Both were probably thought of as brainiacs by their high school friends, both probably have fairly wide-ranging interests, and it seems unlikely that either was ever a serious jock or womanizer.
Of course, that's where the resemblance stops.
As we all now know, one of them is on the side of truth, justice, and goodness, and the other one is a horrible repressive Nazi.
You can make up your own mind about which one is which.
You can't quite call it a family resemblance, since Pichai is South Asian, and Damore Caucasian. But both men have the same prominent nose, full lips, thin neck, and gentle mien. And both give off the same air of general geekiness.
Not quite sure what to make of this. I'd guess they're similar types. Both were probably thought of as brainiacs by their high school friends, both probably have fairly wide-ranging interests, and it seems unlikely that either was ever a serious jock or womanizer.
Of course, that's where the resemblance stops.
As we all now know, one of them is on the side of truth, justice, and goodness, and the other one is a horrible repressive Nazi.
You can make up your own mind about which one is which.
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Elizabeth Bathory
I've mentioned several times on this blog that one of the best ways to study sociopathy is to learn how serial killers behave when they're not committing murder. What were their relationships like? What was their non-murderous sex life like? What sort of reputation did they have in their community? Were they generally liked, or disliked? Were they charming? Manipulative? Did they commit other crimes? What else did they lie about? How did they use words? What quirks did they have? How surprised were people to find out that they were killers?
Inevitably, a sociopath's character informs every aspect of his life. Sometimes, to the people who know them, that character becomes clear only in retrospect. But no sociopath can hide his true nature forever.
Elizabeth Bathory, 1560-1614, is at the top of virtually every list of prolific serial killers. She is generally said to have killed roughly 500 young girls. Many of us have heard the story about how she believed bathing in the blood of virgins would keep her skin young.
It had never occurred to me to doubt the story -- it was always just a bit of ancient history I had unthinkingly accepted at face value. But when I read about Bathory on Wikipedia before writing the previous post, I was struck by the fact that there was nothing about her, other than the horrific crimes she was accused of, which indicated sociopathy.
Bathory didn't show any of the usual signs of deceit and subterfuge and manipulation, nor did she have a trail of broken relationships. She gave birth to a child at age 13 (thanks to a local peasant boy), which must not have pleased her parents. But after that she was married to the same man for 29 years, until his death, and bore four more children, all of whom seemed to go on to live relatively normal lives. She was well educated, and fluent in four languages. While her husband was away at war, Elizabeth was responsible for managing the business affairs and running the estate.
None of this proves Bathory's innocence, of course, but it's a little surprising that she appears so stable and responsible.
More to the point, the methods of torture of young girls were both extremely sexual and extremely varied: some had needles poked into them, some were stripped naked and covered with honey and left outside so the ants and flies and bees would get to them. Some were frozen to death, and some were burned to death. A few supposed had red hot skewers put into their vaginas. Some were starved, some had limbs chopped off, some were forced to eat their own body parts, and some were supposedly cannibalized by Bathory herself.
All of this sounds much, much more like the work of a male serial killer. The fact is, female serial killers are extremely rare, and those who kill for sexual reasons are almost nonexistent. The few female serial killers there have been have either been in thrall to their male serial killer partner, or they are nurses who want to be able to subsequently "save" their patients in order to look heroic, or they do it for money, like Aileen Wuornos.
Also, bear in mind that serial killers who kill for sexual reasons always kill the objects of their desire. There has never been a male homosexual serial killer who went around killing women, or a heterosexual who went around killing men. Bathory bore a child to a local peasant boy when she was 13, was married to the same man for 29 years, and reportedly took male lovers during his long absences. There is no record of Bathory having been a lesbian. So it makes no sense that she would take a sexual pleasure in torturing young girls to death.
Also, the sheer number of methods of torture make one wonder. The reason FBI profilers are usually successful is precisely because these killers have a profile. And their killings almost always have a specific signature. Some serial killers prefer strangulation, others prefer to slowly knife their victims to death. Each has a specific technique he prefers. If Elizabeth Bathory was in fact guilty of all that she was accused of, she would have employed far, far more variety than any other known serial killer.
And many of the more sensational stories about her, such as the one about how she liked to bathe in the blood of virgins, didn't appear until a century after her death.
It's actually the enormity of the crimes, and the infinite variety of despicable acts she was accused of, which in a roundabout way point to her innocence.
Back then, people didn't know about serial killers. In Bathory's day, they believed in werewolves and that some women consorted with the Devil. When people misbehaved, it was often seen as the work of the Devil.
There is also the question of how many victims there were. Some accounts said as few as 30, though over the years that has grown to as many as 650. (The only "proof" of this latter number is a servant girl who claimed she had seen a diary listing that many, though the diary was never found.) How can there be such a huge discrepancy?
There were evidently some dead and mutilated bodies, however, so the question remains, if Elizabeth was innocent, who was guilty?
Bathory's husband died in 1604, when she was 44, and he entrusted her well-being to Gyorgy Thurzo. Thurzo also happened to be the man who prosecuted her for her supposed crimes.
I found this article, on a site called "Rejectedprincesses.com," whose author has actually read many of Bathory's letters. He, too, is convinced of her innocence. (He includes far more detail about the gory nature of the crimes she was accused of.) He also says that Thurzo was "a known schemer who’d made a career out of backstabbing people."
The article also makes the case, which some historians have made, that there were a number of people with both political and financial motivations to do away with Bathory. (Among these were the King Matthias II, who owed her estate a lot of money.)
Thurzo evidently tortured many of the 300 witnesses -- not just suspects, but witnesses -- who testified against Bathory. Among the more lurid accounts, several witnesses claimed that they had seen her having sex with the Devil.
There was never an official trial. And Bathory herself was never allowed to testify. It's all enough to make you doubt her guilt.
Knowing what we know about Thurzo, it seems possible that he was the serial killer. He obviously liked to torture people, and the fact that he was a "known schemer who'd made a career out of backstabbing people" makes him sound sociopathic. Thurzo himself was the one who "discovered" her victims upon entering the castle. And, he would have had two strong motives to convict Bathory: to please his king, and, possibly, to cover up his own crimes. (He had lived in the area for several years prior to the initial accusations against Elizabeth.)
And we now know that some serial killers get a big kick out of pretending to help "solve" their own crimes.
Add to all this the vicious religious conflict at the time between Catholics and Protestants. (Elizabeth was Protestant.)
Some historians have cast doubt on Bathory's guilt before, citing the many reasons various interested parties had in seeing her downfall. To their theories we can add what we've learned about sexual serial killers in the past century: they are almost exclusively male, they generally have one preferred method of killing, and they act like sociopaths all the time, not just when plying their deadly trade.
It's obviously far too late to uncover any further forensic evidence regarding Bathory, so we'll never know for sure. But it seems pretty obvious that she was innocent.
Inevitably, a sociopath's character informs every aspect of his life. Sometimes, to the people who know them, that character becomes clear only in retrospect. But no sociopath can hide his true nature forever.
Elizabeth Bathory, 1560-1614, is at the top of virtually every list of prolific serial killers. She is generally said to have killed roughly 500 young girls. Many of us have heard the story about how she believed bathing in the blood of virgins would keep her skin young.
It had never occurred to me to doubt the story -- it was always just a bit of ancient history I had unthinkingly accepted at face value. But when I read about Bathory on Wikipedia before writing the previous post, I was struck by the fact that there was nothing about her, other than the horrific crimes she was accused of, which indicated sociopathy.
Bathory didn't show any of the usual signs of deceit and subterfuge and manipulation, nor did she have a trail of broken relationships. She gave birth to a child at age 13 (thanks to a local peasant boy), which must not have pleased her parents. But after that she was married to the same man for 29 years, until his death, and bore four more children, all of whom seemed to go on to live relatively normal lives. She was well educated, and fluent in four languages. While her husband was away at war, Elizabeth was responsible for managing the business affairs and running the estate.
None of this proves Bathory's innocence, of course, but it's a little surprising that she appears so stable and responsible.
More to the point, the methods of torture of young girls were both extremely sexual and extremely varied: some had needles poked into them, some were stripped naked and covered with honey and left outside so the ants and flies and bees would get to them. Some were frozen to death, and some were burned to death. A few supposed had red hot skewers put into their vaginas. Some were starved, some had limbs chopped off, some were forced to eat their own body parts, and some were supposedly cannibalized by Bathory herself.
All of this sounds much, much more like the work of a male serial killer. The fact is, female serial killers are extremely rare, and those who kill for sexual reasons are almost nonexistent. The few female serial killers there have been have either been in thrall to their male serial killer partner, or they are nurses who want to be able to subsequently "save" their patients in order to look heroic, or they do it for money, like Aileen Wuornos.
Also, bear in mind that serial killers who kill for sexual reasons always kill the objects of their desire. There has never been a male homosexual serial killer who went around killing women, or a heterosexual who went around killing men. Bathory bore a child to a local peasant boy when she was 13, was married to the same man for 29 years, and reportedly took male lovers during his long absences. There is no record of Bathory having been a lesbian. So it makes no sense that she would take a sexual pleasure in torturing young girls to death.
Also, the sheer number of methods of torture make one wonder. The reason FBI profilers are usually successful is precisely because these killers have a profile. And their killings almost always have a specific signature. Some serial killers prefer strangulation, others prefer to slowly knife their victims to death. Each has a specific technique he prefers. If Elizabeth Bathory was in fact guilty of all that she was accused of, she would have employed far, far more variety than any other known serial killer.
And many of the more sensational stories about her, such as the one about how she liked to bathe in the blood of virgins, didn't appear until a century after her death.
It's actually the enormity of the crimes, and the infinite variety of despicable acts she was accused of, which in a roundabout way point to her innocence.
Back then, people didn't know about serial killers. In Bathory's day, they believed in werewolves and that some women consorted with the Devil. When people misbehaved, it was often seen as the work of the Devil.
There were evidently some dead and mutilated bodies, however, so the question remains, if Elizabeth was innocent, who was guilty?
Bathory's husband died in 1604, when she was 44, and he entrusted her well-being to Gyorgy Thurzo. Thurzo also happened to be the man who prosecuted her for her supposed crimes.
I found this article, on a site called "Rejectedprincesses.com," whose author has actually read many of Bathory's letters. He, too, is convinced of her innocence. (He includes far more detail about the gory nature of the crimes she was accused of.) He also says that Thurzo was "a known schemer who’d made a career out of backstabbing people."
The article also makes the case, which some historians have made, that there were a number of people with both political and financial motivations to do away with Bathory. (Among these were the King Matthias II, who owed her estate a lot of money.)
Thurzo evidently tortured many of the 300 witnesses -- not just suspects, but witnesses -- who testified against Bathory. Among the more lurid accounts, several witnesses claimed that they had seen her having sex with the Devil.
There was never an official trial. And Bathory herself was never allowed to testify. It's all enough to make you doubt her guilt.
Knowing what we know about Thurzo, it seems possible that he was the serial killer. He obviously liked to torture people, and the fact that he was a "known schemer who'd made a career out of backstabbing people" makes him sound sociopathic. Thurzo himself was the one who "discovered" her victims upon entering the castle. And, he would have had two strong motives to convict Bathory: to please his king, and, possibly, to cover up his own crimes. (He had lived in the area for several years prior to the initial accusations against Elizabeth.)
And we now know that some serial killers get a big kick out of pretending to help "solve" their own crimes.
Add to all this the vicious religious conflict at the time between Catholics and Protestants. (Elizabeth was Protestant.)
Some historians have cast doubt on Bathory's guilt before, citing the many reasons various interested parties had in seeing her downfall. To their theories we can add what we've learned about sexual serial killers in the past century: they are almost exclusively male, they generally have one preferred method of killing, and they act like sociopaths all the time, not just when plying their deadly trade.
It's obviously far too late to uncover any further forensic evidence regarding Bathory, so we'll never know for sure. But it seems pretty obvious that she was innocent.
Saturday, August 5, 2017
If history were recorded by fashion writers, Part II: the women.
In December of 2015, this blog speculated as to how fashion writers would have covered some of the more prominent figures in history. How would they have covered some of the more prominent women? What would they have emphasized?
A girl's simply gotta have her extensions, and if her boyfriend has matching hair, why not go for it? Our gal Delilah doesn't believe that men should have all the power! And she expresses her own power the way every woman wants to -- with a heavy gold armband and bracelet to match her sumptuous necklace and earrings. Those eleven hundred pieces of silver she'll be paid by the Philistines for Samson's hair will certainly pay for a lot more bling! You go girl!
Mary I, the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, looks absolutely stunning in her royal regalia! Mary's ornate pendant set in 14 karat gold, the matching belt, the tiara set back on her head, and the embroidery of her dress, all speak to the kind of sumptuousness we want to associate with royalty. Small wonder she wanted to cleanse England of that dowdy, "plain and simple" Protestant way of dress -- which is far more pretentious in its own way. Our beloved Queen was so assiduous in this task there's even a stylish drink named after her that's popular to this day: the Bloody Mary!
Does Lucrezia look stunning in this diaphanous dress? Is the pope Catholic?!! Her viper pendant, and the dagger/cross must both be Borgia family symbols. (Whose blood is that dripping from the dagger?) Yet the flowery motif on her headdress somehow evokes both a nun and a wood nymph. Or is that nightshade depicted? It's no surprise that even while giving birth to ten children she caught the eye of so many men during all three of her marriages! Lucrezia is rumored to have a hollow ring from which she slips poison into drinks -- but there is no evidence of that here! How do those ugly rumors get started?
Countess Elizabeth comes from a very noble family: one uncle is Andrew Bonaventura Bathory, Voivode of Transylvania; another is Stephen Bathory, Prince of Transylvania! Elizabeth's blood red dress is set off beautifully by white sleeves, which symbolize the purity of her heart. It all accentuates her tiny waist and preternaturally youthful skin! Local girls wanted desperately to emulate the countess, and many have flocked to their heroine. Their transformation must have been complete, because many have never even been recognized again!
Our Empress Catherine is a great lover of all things equine! And she looks tres chic in that riding coat, her tricorne perched at a jaunty angle, and stylishly baggy pantaloons! No wonder they call her The Great! There's simply no other word for how our favorite equestrienne looks sitting side saddle, or even straddling a horse!
Marie has caused a revolution in French fashion with her hair done up in pouf style, decorated with a panache (spray of feather plumes)! And check out that daring décolletage, which accentuates her slender, delicate neck. You can't put that kind of style on the chopping block! Some wags may call her Madame Deficit, but why worry about a silly little thing like that? Marie spends lavishly on herself because she deserves it -- she's worth it! And the French people agree! Our darling Marie proves, once and for all, that you can have your cake and eat it too!
At first glance it might look as if our Lizzie has taken a whack at fashion with that plain shirt, but if you look closely, you'll see that the ruffles on the front of her blouse are artfully arranged. And those dark colors are only fitting given that she is probably still mourning her parents, whose tragic murders remain unsolved. Poor Lizzie! Note that her dress is quite modest, covering everything right up to the top of her neck, as befits a well brought up young Victorian lady. (No man will get a peek at that body!) We certainly have no axe to grind with her clothing choices!
Ilse isn't held prisoner to passing trends, but prefers the timeless simplicity of a summer dress. It takes concentration to look that good without becoming camp! Ms. Koch knows that looking like just another frumpy hausfrau would be a crime against humanity. Frau Koch's husband Karl Otto looks resplendent as well in his sharply tailored uniform and well polished jackboots. Her neatly appointed house is undoubtedly perfectly decorated, right down to the lampshades! And look at that dog -- what a humongous bitch!
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela wears a tradiitonal African headdress, a traditional African necklace, along with traditional African sunglasses. As befits the wife of Nelson Mandela, she has great concern for the masses, generously providing for many of them to be necklaced as well. As the great lady said, "With our boxes of matches and our necklaces we shall liberate this country!" Winnie, don't forget your beautiful headdresses and designer sunglasses too!
From the time she married Baby Doc (top), Michele Duvalier has looked every inch the stylish voodoo queen! Who couldn't she cast a spell over with that headdress? Below, Michele wears one of her many fur coats she needed to stay warm through those cold Haiti winters! You can be sure they're custom made -- there's no pret-a-porter for the lady from Port au Prince! Whether she's encouraging her husband to resurrect the Tontons Macoutes, or abscond with the national treasury, our stylish Santeria knows how to dress for success!
Nobody can rock a unicolor pantsuit like our gal Hillary! Whether you're hiding a pay to play "donation" from a dictator or just a pair of thunder thighs, pantsuits are the way to go! Note the cut of her pants, which allow for the ease of movement you need while bravely dodging sniper fire in Bosnia! Like the LGBT warrior she is, Hillary looks stunning in all the colors of the rainbow: Blood of Gaddafi Red, Prison Jumpsuit Orange, Goldman Sachs Gold, Color of Money Green, Benghazi Blue, Personal Server Purple, and I-swear-I-tried-to-enlist Navy. No wonder she screams so much at her Secret Service detail: those dreary bores always dress in the same old dark suits! I am woman, hear me roar -- or cackle!
A girl's simply gotta have her extensions, and if her boyfriend has matching hair, why not go for it? Our gal Delilah doesn't believe that men should have all the power! And she expresses her own power the way every woman wants to -- with a heavy gold armband and bracelet to match her sumptuous necklace and earrings. Those eleven hundred pieces of silver she'll be paid by the Philistines for Samson's hair will certainly pay for a lot more bling! You go girl!
Mary I, the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, looks absolutely stunning in her royal regalia! Mary's ornate pendant set in 14 karat gold, the matching belt, the tiara set back on her head, and the embroidery of her dress, all speak to the kind of sumptuousness we want to associate with royalty. Small wonder she wanted to cleanse England of that dowdy, "plain and simple" Protestant way of dress -- which is far more pretentious in its own way. Our beloved Queen was so assiduous in this task there's even a stylish drink named after her that's popular to this day: the Bloody Mary!
Does Lucrezia look stunning in this diaphanous dress? Is the pope Catholic?!! Her viper pendant, and the dagger/cross must both be Borgia family symbols. (Whose blood is that dripping from the dagger?) Yet the flowery motif on her headdress somehow evokes both a nun and a wood nymph. Or is that nightshade depicted? It's no surprise that even while giving birth to ten children she caught the eye of so many men during all three of her marriages! Lucrezia is rumored to have a hollow ring from which she slips poison into drinks -- but there is no evidence of that here! How do those ugly rumors get started?
Countess Elizabeth comes from a very noble family: one uncle is Andrew Bonaventura Bathory, Voivode of Transylvania; another is Stephen Bathory, Prince of Transylvania! Elizabeth's blood red dress is set off beautifully by white sleeves, which symbolize the purity of her heart. It all accentuates her tiny waist and preternaturally youthful skin! Local girls wanted desperately to emulate the countess, and many have flocked to their heroine. Their transformation must have been complete, because many have never even been recognized again!
Our Empress Catherine is a great lover of all things equine! And she looks tres chic in that riding coat, her tricorne perched at a jaunty angle, and stylishly baggy pantaloons! No wonder they call her The Great! There's simply no other word for how our favorite equestrienne looks sitting side saddle, or even straddling a horse!
Marie has caused a revolution in French fashion with her hair done up in pouf style, decorated with a panache (spray of feather plumes)! And check out that daring décolletage, which accentuates her slender, delicate neck. You can't put that kind of style on the chopping block! Some wags may call her Madame Deficit, but why worry about a silly little thing like that? Marie spends lavishly on herself because she deserves it -- she's worth it! And the French people agree! Our darling Marie proves, once and for all, that you can have your cake and eat it too!
At first glance it might look as if our Lizzie has taken a whack at fashion with that plain shirt, but if you look closely, you'll see that the ruffles on the front of her blouse are artfully arranged. And those dark colors are only fitting given that she is probably still mourning her parents, whose tragic murders remain unsolved. Poor Lizzie! Note that her dress is quite modest, covering everything right up to the top of her neck, as befits a well brought up young Victorian lady. (No man will get a peek at that body!) We certainly have no axe to grind with her clothing choices!
Ilse isn't held prisoner to passing trends, but prefers the timeless simplicity of a summer dress. It takes concentration to look that good without becoming camp! Ms. Koch knows that looking like just another frumpy hausfrau would be a crime against humanity. Frau Koch's husband Karl Otto looks resplendent as well in his sharply tailored uniform and well polished jackboots. Her neatly appointed house is undoubtedly perfectly decorated, right down to the lampshades! And look at that dog -- what a humongous bitch!
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela wears a tradiitonal African headdress, a traditional African necklace, along with traditional African sunglasses. As befits the wife of Nelson Mandela, she has great concern for the masses, generously providing for many of them to be necklaced as well. As the great lady said, "With our boxes of matches and our necklaces we shall liberate this country!" Winnie, don't forget your beautiful headdresses and designer sunglasses too!
From the time she married Baby Doc (top), Michele Duvalier has looked every inch the stylish voodoo queen! Who couldn't she cast a spell over with that headdress? Below, Michele wears one of her many fur coats she needed to stay warm through those cold Haiti winters! You can be sure they're custom made -- there's no pret-a-porter for the lady from Port au Prince! Whether she's encouraging her husband to resurrect the Tontons Macoutes, or abscond with the national treasury, our stylish Santeria knows how to dress for success!
Nobody can rock a unicolor pantsuit like our gal Hillary! Whether you're hiding a pay to play "donation" from a dictator or just a pair of thunder thighs, pantsuits are the way to go! Note the cut of her pants, which allow for the ease of movement you need while bravely dodging sniper fire in Bosnia! Like the LGBT warrior she is, Hillary looks stunning in all the colors of the rainbow: Blood of Gaddafi Red, Prison Jumpsuit Orange, Goldman Sachs Gold, Color of Money Green, Benghazi Blue, Personal Server Purple, and I-swear-I-tried-to-enlist Navy. No wonder she screams so much at her Secret Service detail: those dreary bores always dress in the same old dark suits! I am woman, hear me roar -- or cackle!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
