Bye, Felicia.

It doesn't get any better than this. When a few vocal curmudgeons howled in protest over this Reno Gazette Journal cover, RGJ editor Brian Duggan responded with this:

Dear people complaining about today's front page: I chose that photo to run on the cover and I'd do it again. Kthxbye pic.twitter.com/dWGttCFNoO

Overall, that was quite the good read. But because we're awfully shady b-tchez, we thought of the perfect response.



Look, hunties. We get it. Not everyone is happy about marriage equality coming to Nevada. But come on, grrl. Just because they want a temper tantrum doesn't mean they have the right to spoil the party for all the rest of us.

News flash: They're not the only people in the world. Hell, they're not even the majority any more. Who do they think they are? Beyonce? Oh, hellz to the no!



Now that the usual H8 filled suspects no longer have a law suit to fight, they have to find something else to fill their time with. So now, they're trolling.

This isn't the first time they trolled. They've just become far more pathetic in doing so over the past five years.

And all we have to say about it is...



#ByeFelicia

Ray Rice

Last month, MMA (mixed martial arts)'s largest, most lucrative, and most powerful league ran into an all-too-familiar problem. Even though UFC has made plenty of progress recently in welcoming women MMA fighters, it's still facing tough questions over War Machine and other former UFC fighters who have run into legal trouble over domestic violence.

Now to the credit of both UFC and Bellator MMA, both MMA leagues were fast to condemn War Machine. Even as some of his fans continue to rally behind him on social media, Bellator cut War Machine from its roster weeks before he was formally indicted here in Nevada for attempted murder, first degree kidnapping, sexual assault, and a host of other charges related to the violent attack on Christy Mack and Corey Thomas.

While there are legitimate questions on whether the powers that be in MMA are taking domestic violence seriously enough, it's increasingly looking like they're at least taking steps to address this problem. It's harder to say this about the NFL.



Initially, the NFL merely gave Baltimore Ravens runningback Ray Rice a two game suspension after pleading guilty in New Jersey to assault. A leaked elevator tape shows the full account of Ray Rice punching his then fiancee (now wife), Janay Rice, and knocking her to the ground. Even as he left the elevator, Ray Rice left Janay on the floor as her feet were on the elevator door track.

When the video was finally released to the public, Fox "News" enjoyed some "elevator humor"... While the rest of America was disgusted beyond belief.



How could this happen? And why did Ray Rice (at least initially) get away with a crime just as heinous as the one War Machine is now on trial for? Oh, and if UFC & Bellator are now coming to terms with this problem within their ranks, why can't the NFL?



We are now approaching the 20th anniversary of Congress' original passage of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). This is why we can't help but remember the "TEA" fueled Heritage Action's campaign to kill VAWA that came dangerously close to succeeding last year. This is why we continue to sound the alarms on the "mainstream-ization" of language, attitudes, and even actions that were previously thought to be relegated to the deepest and darkest corners of the "manosphere". And this is why we can't ignore this horrific failure of the NFL.

While a number of media pundits are bloviating over Ray Rice's future in professional football and speculating over why Janay Rice is still standing behind him, we'd rather focus on the more important issue behind this tragedy. Why is it still so damned difficult for so many to take domestic violence seriously? And how many more people must be hurt before we take further action?

Is "good football" truly worth more than women's lives?

"Everything She Got"

Expect some major legal fireworks in Simi Valley, California, later today. After fleeing there to evade arrest for the near fatal assault of Christy Mack, War Machine (aka Jonathan Koppenhaver) is due to appear in the Ventura County Courthouse for an extradition hearing. The Clark County District Attorney's office wants him back here in Nevada to stand trial for the Christy Mack attack.



The newly released Las Vegas Metro Police report mostly confirms Christy Mack's account of what happened. It then goes on to claim War Machine attempted to rape Mack (aka Christine Mackinday) before beating former "Megan Wants a Millionaire" contestant Corey Thomas and Mack. Needless to say, the Metro Police report shines more light on why War Machine decided to run away when he had his initial chance to tell police his side of the story.

However, that isn't stopping some celebrities some speaking up on War Machine's behalf. Earlier today, "Sons of Anarchy" star Chuck Zito actually said Mack "deserved everything she got" if she indeed "cheated" on War Machine.



So she "deserved everything she got" if she "cheated"? And because the police report has her describing the relationship with War Machine as "on again, off again", that means she's a "liar" and a "slut" who "deserved everything she got"?

There's a term for this. It's called "slut shaming".



"Everything she got"? Everything Christy Mack got was attempted rape and quite possibly attempted murder. And she's not alone. 600 people are raped every day in this nation. That's two people every minute. Yet all too often, victims are told they "deserve everything they get" because they did something "slutty".

"Everything she got" was a horrific attack on her life. And yes, it's not her fault. No matter what War Machine thought of his relationship status with her, no matter how Christy Mack described her relationship with him, and no matter what Corey Thomas was doing on her bed, there is no justification for the kind of violence that occurred at Mack's house. "Everything she got" was a crime committed against her. That's why War Machine is now in court.

All Our Problem

We were careful in describing his career path on Thursday... Because we sensed this was coming. Accuracy is always important. But really, is this necessary?

(Go to 9:00 on the video below for the fireworks.)



Look, we get it. Dana White wants to talk about Ronda Rousey. He wants to talk about the all female cast of competitors on the new season of "The Ultimate Fighter". He wants to show us all the progress UFC has made in integrating women MMA fighters and valuing the contribution women are making to MMA.

Dana White and other UFC executives don't want to talk about War Machine, especially since he hasn't fought for UFC since 2008. They don't want to talk aboht Josh Grispi either, even though his last MMA fight was for UFC last year. (Basically, they're now receiving the Jason Miller treatment.) They don't want to talk about male MMA fighters running into domestic violence related trouble, especially when they feel they've done so much in recent years to promote equal rights in MMA.

Yes, UFC has made some progress in leaving behind its sexist past. Yes, War Machine had been under contract with Bellator this year (until he was released from that contract when this story first broke). But really, what's the point of arguing over who he was under contract with when?



Look, we get it. No one wants to take responsibility for the transformation of Jonathan Koppenhaver into War Machine. And no one wants to acknowledge the severity of rape culture in America. Even many (mostly "TEA" flavored) politicians scoff at the reality of violence against women.

Nope, it's easier to cry about some mythical "war on men". It's easier to dismiss the "disposable". And of course, it's so much easier to simply blame the victim.

Christy Mack is a porn star, so she must be a "slut" who "deserved it". Marichuy Gamino is an "illegal" and a "t----y", so she "deserves it". Jada went to the party, so she "deserves it".

No. Just no. No one "deserves it". No one deserves to be assaulted to near-death. No one deserves to be thrown into solitary confinement after reporting one's sexual assault. And no one deserves to be drugged and raped at a teen party.

As we said Thursday, this isn't just a MMA problem. This is an American problem. And it's long past time for us to blithely dismiss violence against cis and trans* women.

Dana White may be callous in trying to dump the entire War Machine fiasco onto the lap of a rival MMA league simply because that was the last league he worked for. However, we're no better when we ignore or marginalize violence against women that doesn't involve MMA fighters. This is all our problem. So what will we do to solve this?

War Machine

Normally, we don't do this. But today, we just must. We noticed this Instagram post from UFC welterwight fighter John "Doomsday" Howard.

"This is for that p---y a-s War Machine. Yo, you're a straight b---h. I have three daughters, a mother, a sister and an aunt who went through that s--t. You're a straight p---y, straight p---y. A skilled fighter beating up a little girl like that. You're a p---y a-s motherf----r."

Wow. He certainly got his point across.

In case you're still scratching your head as to what "Doomsday" is talking about, he's referring to the horrific assault of Christy Mack last Friday. The Las Vegas porn star has taken to Twitter to describe the details of the attack that nearly ended her life. And she has already named ex-boyfriend Jonathan Koppenhaver as the perpetrator.



So why are "Doomsday" and other MMA figures freaking out on social media? Koppenhaver, who is currently better known as "War Machine", had been fighting for Bellator MMA after bouncing around UFC and other MMA leagues. Even though Bellator has already fired "War Machine", MMA insiders are worrying about "War Machine" becoming the latest in a string of MMA fighters engaging in domestic violence.



This isn't the first time "War Machine" has run into this kind of trouble. Last year, he "jokingly" tweeted "real men rape". He was convicted of 2 misdemeanor assaults (in 2007 & 2008) here in Nevada before a 2010 San Diego bar fight led to 2 felony assault convictions in California. And just moments before the brutal and near fatal attack on Christy Mack, "War Machine" tweeted this.

"[...] f--k u talking about? She's my Property and always will be."

Obviously, this is why MMA insiders are concerned. However, they shouldn't be the only ones concerned by this.

In 2012, (the lower House of) Congress failed to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). It took nearly a year of pressure from Senators and constituents (on G-O-TEA House Members like Nevada's Joe Heck) before the House finally agreed to pass the bipartisan VAWA renewal that the Senate had already agreed to.

But why was this "controversial" at all? Behind the scenes, "TEA Party, Inc.", powerhouse Heritage Action announced it would actively campaign against VAWA renewal. It even declared it would negatively score Members of Congress who voted for VAWA. That dragged out (and almost completely dragged down) what was supposed to be an easy vote for a broadly bipartisan bill meant to aid victims of domestic violence.

Throughout 2012 and early 2013, G-O-TEA aligned interest groups (such as Heritage Action) seemed to be taking their queues from the Men's Rights Movement. The Men's Rights Movement doesn't just oppose legislation like VAWA. The Men's Rights Movement claims any and all efforts to combat sexist discrimination and other forms of misogyny are somehow "attacks on men".



From Darren Mack to Elliot Rodger, we've seen what happens when "men's rights activists" resort to extreme violence to "make a statement". However, most others don't go that far. That's because they don't have to. Rape culture has increasingly become mainstream, as politicians, professional athletes, music artists, and other celebrities have been trying to make misogyny culturally acceptable. And sadly, some in the "mainstream media" seem all too willing to "go along to get along".

And then, there's this. Reports are now surfacing about Las Vegas Metro Police biding its time in responding to Christy Mack's assault. Metro may have very well given "War Machine" just enough time to make a clean escape while threatening Mack's very fragile survival. What does this whole situation say about us? What does this growing trend of extreme misogyny say about our society?

It's not just MMA fighters and bosses who should worrry about "War Machine".

Foul

Right now, a whole lot of Americans are watching the World Cup. And why not? Team USA is performing surprisingly well in Brazil. And right now, millions of Americans are trying to figure out whatever excuse they can latch onto in order to watch the games.

So we have a whole lot of Americans rooting for the American soccer team. How much more patriotic can we get? According to G-O-TEA soccer team reject washed up troll soon-to-be-unemployed circus clown pundit extraordinaire Ann Coulter, this isn't patriotic at all. And why's that? Oh, Latin@ Americans immigrants love soccer! And of course, this column wouldn't be from Ann Coulter unless it had some extra xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, and plain old stupidity tossed in for "good measure".



Believe it or not, Ann Coulter and her fellow fire breathing G-O-TEA pundits from hell are dictating immigration policy in the lower House of Congress. Of course, this is not really a surprise to those of us who have been keeping track of House Speaker John Boehner (R-Marlboro) smoke signals. It's been evident for some time that House G-O-TEA "leaders" care more about their pyrrhic political victories than they do about accomplishing anything in their chamber. Even though it's now been a year since the US Senate passed comprehensive immigration reform (CIR), they've made it clear that they'd rather waste taxpayers' time & money trying to impeach President Obama on frivolous law suits.

And speaking of those frivolous law suits, it's increasingly looking like they will be targeting DACA. Oh, yes. That's right. They're going there again. They're once again demanding the deportations of DREAMers.



Never mind that these Americans want the same opportunity to succeed that all the rest of us take for granted. Never mind that American families continue to be torn apart while the House continues to block bipartisan legislation that the Senate passed a year ago. And never mind that passing CIR would actually benefit our economy. No, House G-O-TEA "leaders" would rather continue pandering to their 21st Century Know Nothing base with dirty underwear, vendettas against Spanish language media, and attacks on the entire Latin American region (??!!) than accomplish anything worthwhile.

Oh, and of course, they're now attacking soccer... Because immigration. Yet in a bizarre way, it makes sense why they now hate soccer. They just don't their foul called out.

Yo, Dean

Yo. Yo! Yo?

No really, Yo. It's the hottest mobile app to hit the app stores this week. And it's reigniting debate on whether Silicon Valley is entering the next golden age of high tech innovation... Or another "bubble" that's this close to bursting (a la the 1990s' ".com Bubble").

We must admit, Yo has us thinking. What's the difference between "a simplistic yet revolutionary idea" and just another crazy fad that will expire once its 15 minutes of fame are up?

Back in 2011, we were thinking about this as well. Back then, Senator Dean Heller (R) unleashed perhaps the most ridiculous gimmick ever to roam Capitol Hill. It's an austerity powered train wreck that would wreck our economy if enacted. And Senator Heller refuses to let go of it because he thinks "it polls well".

In 2012, Senator Heller then tried to one-up himself with a gimmick that's so outrageous it's unconstitutional. But because "it polls well", Heller keeps riding this one trick pony whenever he thinks it will throw his name back into headline news.

Senator Heller still refuses to give up either ridiculous gimmick. Instead, he's taking his "No Scruples No Sense" hobby horse out for another ride... To the point of voting against much needed budget legislation. Oh, and only 2 of the most radical G-O-TEA Senators (Rand Paul [R-Kentucky] & Mike Lee [R-Utah]) joined Senator Heller in his pointless filibuster over his unconstitutional proposal.

It's debatable whether Yo is useful. However, it's not really debatable whether Senator Heller's fiscal gimmicks are useful. They're not. And there are far better ways for Senator Heller to be spending our time.

Now, if only there was a way for us to condense this message into a "yo" to send to Senator Heller...

Packing Heat

We've never quite understood why some of our friends have this ongoing love affair with Chipotle. Sure, we love the actual pepper. The fast food chain, on the other hand? Meh.

Earlier this year, certain groups decided to go beyond simply declaring their love for Chipotle (the fast food chain). They actually decided to #OccupyChipotle. But why? Oh, they wanted to feel their chiles with their military grade assault weapons.

Understandably, other Chipotle customers were disturbed by this. So Chipotle corporate headquarters just began asking customers to refrain from packing heat inside restaurants. And the gun fetishists were upset over Chipotle executives asking them not to bring their guns.

But wait, how did this even happen? How can this happen? In Texas, it's legal. And actually here in Nevada, it's legal.

And since we and several other states have no restrictions on military grade assault weapons, these individuals were able to carry their weapons into Chipotle. And since we and several other states don't guarantee background checks for gun purchases, we haven't really known who were packing heat at Chipotle and why they were doing so.

This is the problem. Not alleged "attacks on FREEDOM!" Not supposed "threats" based on outlandish conspiracy theories. No, this is the problem.

Sure, Chipotle's food may not pack much heat... But does that give certain customers the right to pack their own heat in the form of dangerous weapons? Keep in mind that at least some of these heat packing customers never underwent a background check.

We may not be all that into Chipotle, but other people are. Don't they have the right to order their (not really all that) Mexican food in a safe atmosphere? Must they be subjected to yahoos packing heat and brandishing weapons they could have obtained at a gun show or back alley without any background check? Shouldn't the heat be in the food, not in some customers' hands?

Sashay Away

For some, too much is never enough. This definitely applies to Cliven Bundy and his gang of "outlaw cowboys". For them, too much attention is never enough.

They loved it when national G-O-TEA politicians & pundits rushed to their aid. But when the Republican Party started "rebranding" its #BundyRanch involvement and the Kochs started to deny the existence of #BundyRanch, they had to rethink their media strategy.

So they started unleashing armed madness upon the Virgin Valley (and each other). They then proceeded to drive business away from the Mesquite area. And because it wasn't enough for them to damage Nevada's reputation, they then began making field trips to Utah to terrorize that state with their signature brand of lunacy.

Of course, "Free-dumb isn't free". That's why some Bundy Gang members have taken to GoFundMe to demand welfare checks donations for continued wannabe insurrection shit whatever. Apparently, they're most in need of life advice from the very wise philosopher, Lohanthony.



Needless to say, "outlaw militia" crew at #BundyRanch are now running into some money trouble. Below is some exclusive footage of the Bundy Gang soliciting at GoFundMe.



(Obviously, not really. The Bundy crew wish they could be this sickening!)

But wait, there's more. The Bundy Gang may be busy soliciting funds, but they're never too busy to throw shade at elected officials. And this week, they're actually reading Governor Brian Sandoval (R) and Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie to filth for not supporting their law breaking ways. Apparently, they forgot when Brian Sandoval cheered them on... Or they remember that, and they're just wondering why he doesn't want to be caught anywhere near them any more.

Here's some helpful advice for the Bundy Crew. Remember the 5 G's: Good god, get a grip, girl!

Here's some more helpful advice for the Bundy Gang: Call it quits already. We know you feel very attacked, but that's no reason to take up arms against our elected government that's set up by the very Constitution you claim to know & love. It's just too much. And the last thing we need is a man-made disaster on your hands.



We can only hope Cliven Bundy and his outlaw gang can take this helpful advice from us, and from Mama Ru of course, before their delusions of grandeur land them into any more trouble. It's now time for them... To sashay away.

Real. Serious. Dangerous.

This is serious. This is dangerous. This is happening. And this is very real.

So why are we still debating its existence?

Think about it. And think about what Nobel Prize winning chemist Dr. Mario Molina has to say. Years ago, he was a young scientist who uncovered the dangers of CFC's (chloroflourocarbons). And now, he wants us to realize the dangers of the great environmental crisis we're experiencing today.

The new report walks through a series of potential consequences of planetary warming, without asserting that any is sure to happen. They are possibilities, not certainties, and the distinction is crucial for an intelligent public debate about what to do. The worst-case forecasts include severe food shortages as warming makes itharder to grow crops; an accelerating rise of the sea that would inundate coastlines too rapidly for humanity to adjust; extreme heat waves, droughts and floods; and a large-scale extinction of plants and animals.

“What’s extremely clear is that there’s a risk, a very significant risk,” Dr. Molina said by telephone from Mexico, where he spends part of his time. “You don’t need 100 percent certainty for society to act.”

Some of the scientists on Dr. Molina’s committee like to point out that people can be pretty intelligent about managing risk in their personal lives. It is unlikely that your house will burn down, yet you spend hundreds of dollars a year on insurance. When you drive to work in the morning, the odds are low that some careless driver will slam into you, but it is possible, so we have spent tens of billions of dollars putting seatbelts and air bags in our cars.

The issue of how much to spend on lowering greenhouse gases is, in essence, a question about how much insurance we want to buy against worst-case outcomes. Scientists cannot decide that for us — and the report recognizes that by avoiding any specific recommendations about what to do. But it makes clear that lowering emissions, by some means, is the only way to lower the risks. Because so many people are confused about the science, the nation has never really had a frank political discussion about the options.

G-O-TEA politicians like to deny its existence. And certain media outlets (cough- "60 Minutes"- cough- Fox- cough) don't bother to get their facts straight. Yet while some political fixtures & media personalities continue to exhibit a lackadaisical attitude towards climate change, they can't change the reality that we're already feeling the effects of climate change.

That's why Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) joined several other US Senators earlier this month to stay #Up4Climate. We're already feeling the dry now (while other parts of the world experience epic flooding). And we don't have any more time to waste to embark on a cleaner & greener future.

Astrophysicist & "super cool science dude" Neil DeGrasse Tyson knows quite a lot about science. Perhaps that's why he has no patience for those who try to blithely dismiss the science of climate change.



This sh*t is real. It's serious. And yes, it will be dangerous if we don't step up & take the action that's necessary for our own survival.

So why aren't we acting like our future depends on our actions today? News flash: It does.

The Shade of It All

There's only so much crap we can take. Once we reach a certain point, we can't take any more. And once we reach that certain point, we have had it.

So we totally understood why Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Fierce) spilled his righteous indignation onto America's TV's earlier today. He had it. And he knew he needed to read to filth some shady @ss boogers.



So why the need for this read? House Shade-throwing Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa (R-@sshole) admitted that his scandalicious fishing expedition was reaching a "dead end". After all, "there is no there there".

Yet for some reason, Rep. Issa felt compelled to silence the ranking Democratic member of the committee when he dared to speak the truth that pretty much everyone knows.



How many times has Darrell Issa gone on purely political fishing expeditions? And how many times has he come up empty? Dude, give it up. There's clearly no there anywhere.

Unfortunately for all of America, Rep. Issa probably won't take our helpful advice. And why's that? He doesn't listen to us. Hell, he doesn't even listen to his own constituents. Rather, he serves the "TEA" tinged astroturf that sustains his vapid political career.

And this leads us back to Senator Harry Reid (D-Fierce) and his righteous indignation over the "Koch-topus" & its horrifying campaign of deceit. Since the Koch Brothers' dangerously radical agenda downright frightens most voters, they must resort to smoke & mirrors to hide it. And they hate that Senator Reid is fierce enough to reveal what's behind the Kochs' smoke & mirrors.



Surprise, there's nothing but shade! And the "TEA" we find there does not stand for truth... Far from it. No wonder why Senator Reid didn't wince as certain media pundits whined over his deeming "un-American" the Kochs' campaign of lies.

So now, we're coming full circle. And we return to Rep. Steven Horsford. In addition to calling out the G-O-TEA's scandalicious nothingburgers, he exposed the real scandal of the G-O-TEA's despicable obsession with repealing Obamacare (aka the Affordable Care Act). Yep, he's been on fire today.



But hey, who can blame him? After all, one needs light to expose the shade of it all.

Wig Under That Wig

Pay attention, hunties. There's a reason why our favorite philosopher has said, "Do not remove your wig... Unless there is another wig underneath your wig!"

Now watch... And learn.



Since we all know reading is fundamental, we must ask this question: When did the "Disney Nickelodeon Meltdown Club" suddenly morph into the Nevada Republican Party? We can't help but wonder. And come on, there's no way we could have missed the hot mess on Twitter that managed to ensnare Ray Hagar and Jon Ralston!

So what happened? Once again, Chuck Muth is f**king it up. Apparently when he's not slandering people he doesn't even know, race baiting to new extremes, or simply lying through his teeth about The Education Initiative, he's "The Campaign Doctor".



And this week, "The Campaign Doctor" has been busy promoting his candidates on various shady corners of the internet. But when he started throwing shade in all the wrong directions, he turned out to be the one left in the dark. (Yet even in the dark, we could still see that bad paint job on that mug.)

And once again, we're left to wonder why the Nevada Republican Party allowed Chuck Muth & his cohorts to conquer the party and remake it in their own image in the first place. Once upon a time, it was the party of Kenny Guinn, Bill Raggio, and Sue Wagner. It was the party of #winning. And even though it was a conservative party, it was also a party that stood for some sort of sound governance.

But now, the Nevada Republican Party has devolved into nothing more than a crazy clown car circus. And gawddammit, grrrl, they can't even lip sync for their lives!

We saw again this week who their true leader is, so we're not surprised that there's still no @NVGOP rebuke of the sh*tshow Chuck Muth starred in online. If anything, they're reveling in it. But in putting on such a show, they forgot a critical rule of engagement: If one truly wants to impress the judges, one best not remove the wig... Unless there's another wig under that wig.

"It's All Business"

Is it just us, or does it seem like we've seen quite a bit of weird celebrity news lately? Justin Bieber may be deported. Bill Nye had to debate the movement to nullify the entire 20th & 21st centuries. And J.K. Rowling now wants to change the end of her own damned Harry Potter story.

My gawd, what is this world coming to? Wait, what?! DMX agreed to a boxing match against George Zimmerman? WTF?!

Not so fast. Damon Feldman, the organizer of this pay-per-view clusterfuck match, has a history of promoting staged celebrity fights and cashing in on the fakery of it all. So don't get too thrilled about DMX getting "vigilante" on Zimmerman's ass.

And really, don't feed this kind of trollish assholery. This won't bring back Trayvon Martin. And it won't bring anyone any kind of justice.

You know what will? Repealing the warped "Stand Your Ground" statutes that let George Zimmerman off the hook for shooting an unarmed, innocent human being.

While watching DMX "beat the living fuck" out of Zimmerman may seem satisfying, it won't lessen the scourge of rampant gun violence in America. That will only come with loosening the NRA's & gun industry's extreme stranglehold over our political system in DC & close to home.

When asked why he'd put on such a lurid show, Damon Feldman replied, "It's all business." Apparently, the gun industry and its apologists on Capitol Hill (and in Carson City, for that matter) feel the same way. "It's all business." It's just too bad for all the rest of us that their "business" is not just classless, but downright deadly.

Blurred Lines? (Or Just Plain Crossed?)

Before the nation started getting jittery over possible drumbeats for war in Syria, we were dealing with a very different kind of crisis. All over the media, pundits were aghast. There were cries of horror. And there was plenty of wailing and gnashing of teeth. And it was all over Miley Cyrus twerking at the VMAs.

Sure, there was plenty about Ms. Cyrus' twerking that was disturbing. However, what also disturbed me was the sexist "slut shaming" she had to endure afterwards. Why was she condemned for her suggestive dancing on stage... But not Robin Thicke for his alarming song? Perhaps the New Zealand law students shown below were also thinking about this, as their parody of Thicke's "Blurred Lines" music video (which is also the same song Thicke & Cyrus danced to at the VMAs) aims to highlight the degradation of women in using them as naked props while suggesting rape can sometimes be "excused".

(The video below may not be safe for work, but Thicke's actual video most definitely is not.)



So why are we talking about Robin Thicke and Miley Cyrus today? Simple: The "Blurred Lines"/VMAs controversy is emblematic of the larger problem of sexism in our society.

And the sexism isn't limited to the entertainment industry and pop culture. Just this week, Rep. Joe Heck's (R-TEA Curious) campaign manager flippantly dismissed criticism of Heck's own voting record on (disrespecting) women's rights. Also this week, Senator Mitch McConnell and the national Republicans backing him caught a whole lot of heat over their misogynistic attacks on McConnell's Democratic opponent. And on top of that, a Washington Post columnist (Richard Cohen) even tried to blame Miley Cyrus for the increasingly infamous Steubenville rape!

How can we ever achieve true equality when we stomp on women's rights and treat them as mere sexual toys? America, we have a problem. And no, the problem is not the feminists pointing out the problem.

Robin Thicke may sing/rap about "Blurred Lines", but I'm concerned about him and so many other men flagrantly crossing the line on degrading women. When did it become OK to do this in Hollywood and Washington? Think about it.