Some Powerful Photos from the Women's March (Global)

Berlin

There are too many striking images from yesterday's march-gone-global to post them all so I'm choosing some of my personal favorites to highlight for a variety of reasons. (All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.)

Artistry: Whichever photographer landed this shot managed to walk away with a visually striking and symbolically powerful piece. The beautiful German woman s/he photographed looks exactly like the poster directly behind her 😊

Paris

Humor: You'll definitely want to click this pic from Paris to see one of the funniest signs ever!!

I probably looked at this photo half a dozen times before I saw the LOL moment. I'll make it easier for you by dropping a hint: 

• Focus on the sign that has four pieces of yellow tape on it. 
• See it? 
• 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Chicago

P Is For Vendetta: The next photograph is humorous as well, but it adds a little ass-kicking oomph to the comedy category. 

This Chi Town woman ain't playin'! But judging by the expression on her male companion's face, he's probably grateful for that fact 😉 

Chicago: it's not just known for its deep-dish pizza anymore.

Washington D.C. 

Poignancy: The next picture imbues the very point of political photography—it forces the viewer to stop and think. 

This young man exposes Trump and the GOP for the heartless, money-wasting vultures that they are. Comrade Trump wants to build a damn wall, while Comrade Ryan is scrambling to gut medicaid, medicare, social security, welfare, and a myriad of other social programs that serve to assist the poor, the elderly, the disabled, and veterans.

FUCK THE WALL. 

Pay more attention to the young man in the picture who NEEDS ramps and less (or zero) attention to the racist snowflakes who apparently get a case of the vapors just from thinking about a Mexican crossing the border. What comes after the wall, comrade? Are we going to start flinging virgins over it as sacrificial appeasements to El Chapo? (Hint: this ain't Skull Island and El Chapo ain't King Kong 😒)

Washington D.C.

Triple Hitter: This photo wins for three YUGE reasons.

1) The lighting is gorgeous and makes for a beautiful backdrop.

2) That's one of my best friends holding up her signage all loud and proud. (Go Amy go!)

3) Click on the photo for an enlarged view and check out what those fallopian tubes are up to 😂 🙌

I was supposed to be in D.C. with her, but I was too ill to go. It is literally the only life event I'll look back on with the coulda-shoulda-wouldas. 

Washington D.C.

Snarkaliciousness: This photo—damn! It needs no explanation. All I'll say is: You go girl!

Actually I will say one more thing. Namely, Comrade Ass makes this entire damn nation look like a huuge, bigly loser. Some people take pride in classless vulgarity—they refer to it as not bowing to political correctness!—but the majority of us prefer human decency to sleaze.

One thing I have found to be true about the most vocal proponents of the First Amendment on Twitter is they tend to be less concerned with protecting free speech for its constitutionally intended applications than they are concerned with their right to use free speech to degrade and humiliate others. If you see the words 1a/2a in a Twitter profile, save yourself a headache and block them. All 1a/2a means is "I'm an obnoxious racist and misogynist troll who gets off on demeaning others. Oh and I love guns. Yeehaw."

Washington D.C.

Hell Hath No Fury Like A Girl Scout Scorned: It might be time to reevaluate your life and morals (or lack thereof) when even the Girl Scouts hate you. Or at least that's what a normal person would do. But the Man-Baby-In-Chief? 

It won't happen. On the contrary, I doubt any of us will be surprised if he goes on a Twitter rampage against Thin Mints, Samoas, and the little girls who sell them. "The Girl Scouts are huge losers. Their cookie-selling business is going under. Sad." [insert long-suffering sigh]

New York City

Irony: Yes, Trumpel Thinskin, even the introverts hate you enough to protest your funky ass. They might have a hard time saying it, but they can write it out in signage like nobody's business. Which brings me to yet another point...

There was no group of people NOT represented in yesterday's historic, global march. Despite the disadvantage they would have been at had the demonstrations turned riotous, wheelchair-bound and blind citizens protested. Our fellow deaf Americans were so numerous that interpreters were on podiums at every speech.

All races, genders, sexual orientations, religions, ages, and political identities were accounted for. It was the definition of democracy and beauty.

heh heh

Karma: There are so many other photos that should be included here, but I have to end with the one that irritates Comrade Trump most of all: the side-by-side comparisons of Obama's first inauguration to his.

Trump's propagandist #ScarySpicer had the nerve to flatly lie during his first post-inaugural press conference ever by stating that Trump's inauguration was the most heavily attended in history. (Obama's first inauguration actually holds that honor.) When pressed about this lie today on Meet The Press, Kellyanne Conway told Chuck Todd that Spicer hadn't lied, but had provided "alternative facts" 😒

Hold on to your alternative Xanax, peeps. It's gonna be a long, anxiety-ridden four years.

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Questions or Comments?

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Pot, Meet Kettle: Angry White Man, Meet Special Snowflake

CAWMs (Conservative, Angry White Men) have spent the last few years of their online lives cyber-harassing women and minorities for suffering from what they like to call Special Snowflake Syndrome. While some of their original grumblings about over-the-top PC culture were arguably justified (social justice warriors are hypocritical bitches!), their collective resentment slowly extended over time to CAWMs hating on everyone who dared to speak truth to real injustice.

I'll be honest: a hardcore lib I may very well be, but when this fallout first started even I had reached the point of being irritated by (a) everyone claiming a minority status even if they were not minorities and (b) said minority-wannabes constantly trying to out-victim each other. Add into that face-palm-fest the hyper-vigilance of social justice warriors who were waiting in the wings to viciously attack any hapless person who mistakenly referred to a disenfranchised group member by the wrong politically correct term du jour, and... BAM. Shit got real.

So, yes, in the beginning I was an admitted CAWM-sympathizer. I was sick and tired of white men not being allowed to share their opinions online without SJWs snarkily dismissing their contributions as man'splaining and/or white'splaining. I stood up for these guys, much to the chagrin of many, and took heat for doing so. To real feminists, though, and not the online psychos that appropriated the term and its meaning, the exchange of ideas and viewpoints is a good thing. Listening to the experiences of others—especially members of one's out-group—helps all of us toward better understanding of and communication with each other. Unfortunately, the sympathy I was experiencing for conservative, angry, white men was to be short-lived. 

Similar to how authentic liberal feminists were outshouted by fanatical fringers calling themselves liberals, what I now recognize to be the alt-right (a.k.a. white nationalists) began outshouting authentic conservative men. In both cases, the extremes tended to be viewed by the opposition as the majority instead of as the political leeches they were and are. The problem being, I didn't—and still don't—see conservative white men (minus an exception of literally ONE) distancing themselves from their parasites. 

Before long, everybody was a special snowflake... at least according to the alt-right who were the only conservative men speaking up. Amidst conservative silence, they took their fanaticism against minorities to intolerable extremes. Worse, because genuine conservative men weren't calling bullshit, the alt-right disease continues to spread as insidiously as a computer virus. I never thought I'd see the day where seemingly nice white people always—without exception—explained away the executions of black men and youth by police. I never thought I'd see the day where seemingly patriotic white Americans embraced Russia and Putin as some sort of sick savior. I definitely never thought I'd see the day where fundamentalist white Christians who have been taught all their lives to protect the Jewish people would start the Jew-blaming rhetoric racists embrace.

The most nauseating example of this normalization of prejudice within the conservative party is the wholeheartedness with which they have embraced the continual demonization of George Soros. Seeing that bigotry expressed in hate-media every day has taken its toll on me. It has radicalized me. It has made me a less tolerant person overall. It has pushed many liberals and minorities further away from a white America that now disgusts us. George Soros, you see, is more than Hillary Clinton's friend and ally; Mr. Soros is also a beloved philanthropist, an elderly man, and a Holocaust survivor. For the last reason alone, NOBODY has the right to impugn his character. He is old, he has suffered much, and he is off limits.

Conservative angry white men are so busy living up to the angry part that they have become the very thing they hate most: special snowflakes. And make no mistake about it: they are the social justice warriors of special snowflakiness, the imaginary victims who demand to be heard.

"This is my country!"

No more than it is mine.

"Everything's rigged against white people!"

Yeah. I'm sure it's tough to make more money for equal work and not get executed by police at traffic stops. Let me fire up my violin to set the appropriate mood for your whiny ass... 

"Why can't I use the word nigger if black people do?!" 

Nigga is not nigger. And you still can't use it without a pass. *face palm*

"Go back to your country!" 

We're in it. Whether our ancestors were dragged here in chains or came in search of a better life, this country belongs to all of the colors of people within it. Don't like it? Too bad. Go to a seance and take it up with your dead grandpappy eight times removed.

Dear CAWMs, you are no longer distinguishable from the monster you chase. Wake up and take your politics back before it's too late.