Ban David Cameron from entry to the UK

There's a fucking petition.

All I can say is; pahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahhaahahahah.

Yes I fucking signed it.

~ Baxster Brand

Voting Fraud

Alright.

So in the most recent polls in Arizona, there's been a few allegations of Voter Fraud, and Voter Suppression.

Do I think these claims are well founded?

Short Answer: Yes, I bloody well do.


Longer Answer: Yes, I bloody well do. Why? Well, let's look at the facts, shall we?

1. Despite the fact that there was both an expected and actual voter turnout higher than almost any year before this one, there were vastly fewer polling stations set up - particularly in the liberal, further left wing areas of the state of Arizona, you'll also find. This means that there are more people in fewer stations, and as a result, the lines are longer.

No really.

They're fucking long.

I have heard of people waiting four hours to vote. Four hours. Which means that anyone arriving later in the day simply won't get to vote before the polls close.

2. Despite the fact that there was both an expected and actual voter turnout higher than almost any year before this one, they didn't have enough fucking ballots. They had to start handing out provisional ones, which aren't always counted, meaning that the elections become more prone to being fiddled by the Right Fuckers. I shouldn't even need to explain why this is a problem - and yes, you're more than likely to find that the Democratic Party has this problem more frequently the more liberal and left wing an area is.

3. The - I quote now - "Massive, MASSIVE voter registration problems." We have had lifelong Democratic voters being registered incorrectly as independents, and liberalists. Now, I must admit, this appears as though it could just as easily be the result of (staggering, blinding, depressing) incompetence, and I suppose it could be. I can't say accurately whether or not this is occurring more with the leftist areas of Arizona or not. This means I wouldn't have made comment if this was the only problem.

But as you can see, it isn't.

Now, there are actually a lot more things wrong about this little election they're holding, but I won't go through the process of outlining them all - after all, I'm sure you can all use google.

The only really good thing about all this is how it's prompted the Sanders campaign to take action.

See, the DNC has actively prohibited him from accessing data regarding the turnouts for this election - something that has not been done to other candidates - and Bernie Sanders and his supporters have decided to sue them.

I'm tired. I'm feeling a little down about the state we're leaving this world in for our kids.

But that makes me smile.

It's good to see someone doing something funny to those in power.

~ Baxster Brand

"Boys are Stronger than Girls"

 - Some Ignorant Grandmother I overheard last Sunday when I went swimming.


I... what? What the hell? Ok, firstly, that is sexist. If you're in dispute over this, let me list the other things she said.

"Because you're so much stronger than her."

"That's why boys should never hit girls."

"Because boys are always stronger."

I actually couldn't contain myself, at the time, I kept on murmuring "But that's not true." and "Sorry, but you're wrong." under my breath.

Firstly, that is sexist. It promotes a culture of men being more powerful than women, and women being subordinate as a result, because we do still equate physical strength to power on some level, and the damage this can do - especially as the children she was talking to were still at a formative age - is simply not worth the boorishness. Besides, I know plenty of women who could kick my ass, strength or no strength - and yes, some of them could do it because they're stronger than me, it's not just a technique thing (though for the record, I do know kung fu).

Secondly - and this is arguably the most objectively 'what the fuck, dude' statement she made - 'that's why boys should never hit girls'? Wait, so it's ok for a girl to hit a boy, but the boy can't hit back? No! Fuck that shit! If you're being attacked, you have the right to self defense! If somebody hits you, and looks like they're gonna keep doing so, you've got all the right in the world to use reasonable force in defense of your self, male or female. I mean, for God's sake, we already tell girls that if a boy is being mean to them, its because he likes them, can we not add this to the slush pile of screwed up gender shit, please? And on the topic of boys hitting girls because they like them - no. Just fucking no.

How dare you? How fucking dare you assume that any kind of abuse is indicative of affection? This is a large part of the reason that victims of abuse rarely speak out - they literally do not understand that they are in abusive relationships, because of shit like this! Even if he is hitting her because he likes her, that's not ok! That's not ok at all! Never, never tell your daughter - or your son - that they should put up with abuse, because that's not what they should be doing at all. And besides, I thought we operated on an 'assault is illegal' basis, here? Boys shouldn't hit girls, no. Of course not. But neither should girls hit boys. Ever. Nobody should be hitting anybody. Ok? Ok.

Now.

Let's get to the original point of this post, which may or not be clear by now after that catastrophic derailment of my initial argument.

What was it?

Oh yes.

Boys aren't stronger than girls.

Allow me to explain.

The male sex is more predisposed to muscle growth, yes. This is because of the increased presence of testosterone - almost literally a form of anabolic steroid - during puberty. This does mean, I'm afraid, that men tend towards higher amounts of muscle mass, and indeed they'll always tend towards higher muscle/fat mass ratios, because of their increased testosterone, and because women have - y'know - breasts.

However, we're talking about a young boy and a young girl here, right? Right.

Young boys will have no more - or perhaps, if approaching puberty, marginally more - testosterone than a girl the same age. As a result, it is unreasonable to expect the boy to have any significant amount more muscle than the girl. Indeed, their muscle/fat ratios will be similar too, as neither of them have begun puberty yet, and as a result, apart from their genitalia and reproductive tracts, which are functionally useless at this age anyway, their bodies really aren't that different at all.

And besides, there's actually nothing stopping a woman, even after puberty, from maintaining the same sorts of volumes of muscle mass - and hence strength - as a man. It would be somewhat more difficult, yes, as they are without the advantage of testosterone, but that is something of an impairment, and not at all a preventative.

For example; Samantha Wright.

This woman - although I'll admit I'm more inclined to call her a girl, or lady, because in all seriousness, without trying to detract from her badassitude at all, she's fucking adorable - could literally crush your skull between her thighs, and almost effortlessly break your arms just by grabbing them a little too quick in a fight.

You don't know this about me, but I wasn't joking about Kung Fu. I am trained in a martial art that has been, and is, more than capable of killing people very, very quickly.

And there's no way in hell that I would fight this woman. She's stronger than me, almost certainly faster than me, and probably heavier than me too. And apart from the almost 100% certainty that I'd be dead in a matter of seconds, she's cute too. Why would I ever want to fight her?

See? Fucking cute as hell.

Ok, so we have physical strength out of the way, but what about everything else?

Well, believe it or not, lads, men are actually at a legitimate disadvantage in most other areas - many of which would come into a straight fight.

For example, our hips are narrower - we aren't designed to give birth, after all. But this makes our centre of gravity much higher than a woman's, on average, which means we're genuinely all the easier to push over.

On top of that, our only potential edge, testosterone, is actually part of the reason we won't live as long. Oh yeah, you heard me right, lads, our bodies, as a result of being male, are in fact much more fragile. Evidence to support this?

Premature babies.

Seriously now, male premature babies have significantly worse statistics for survival than the female ones. I'm not joking. It's a serious issue, and, as far as I know, is actually inherent with the male sex, sadly. I know people who have had dangerously premature births in the family, and the doctors would frequently say, when it was female, 'you're lucky you have a daughter. A son would have been unlikely to survive this.'

It's science. Seriously.

And on top of this, as if we needed to be any weaker, boys have smaller pain tolerances.

Because labour, and childbirth? They fucking hurt, my friends. In fact, they hurt more than the human body should logically be able to withstand. Women literally undergo more pain than the human body should be able to take without giving up the ghost and flat up dying, whenever they decide to have a kid - assuming natural birth, that is.

And get this.

Periods?

That's the first stage of labour, induced to get rid of the uterine lining built up in case of ovum fertilisation... every fucking month.

And then you have society. Society is the main weakness we don't see more women doing proper weight training at the gym. It's the main reason we don't see more buff ladies - and also probably part of the reason men don't live as long, too, believe it or not.

Gender Roles, stereotyping, and inherent sexism, play a huge part in why 'girls are weaker' and 'boys are stronger', but also in why men are really weaker.

It's because we're told not to cry.

Men are told to bottle it all up and hold onto it and bury it deep inside them, because boys don't cry.

And then what?

Well, then they kill themselves.

Men have a 3 times higher suicide rate than women in most first world societies. In third world countries, it's even worse. Why?

Because of el machismo.

And this is why I'm not just a socialist, boyos, I'm a Feminist too. Call it what you like, honestly, I don't care. But I am a Feminist, and very, very proud of it.

Because this is a problem inherent with society - but in particular, the conservative, right wing elements of society, and I will give my life to whatever ways I can find to fight that.

For you, for me, and for all the people.

Thanks for having a read. 

~ Baxster Brand

Homelessness, and the obvious solution

Homelessness is a plague. It costs everybody money, and leaves all of those subject to it in destitute misery. It leads to pain, which leads to addiction, which leads to further ostracisation, which leads to more pain and more addiction, and you can see how this becomes a vicious, merciless cycle, can't you?

Homelessness, however, is actually blamed on these things, rather than these things being blamed on homelessness - as perhaps they ought to be, a little more than they are now, at least - and this leads us to some rather frustrating problems.

Person A is homeless. Person A doesn't want to be homeless. Person A goes to Person B, a person of some money and authority in the community, and asks for help, be it in the way of temporary accomodation, or in the way of somewhere to work, for a source of income.

Person B, however, is a Tory.

Now, regardless of whether or not Person A is actually addicted to any illicit, controlled substances - or indeed, to any of the legal ones, whose legality should really come into question when you realise how much damage they really do - there is a stereotype about the homeless that they are all addicts, for one reason or another, and that the reason they are homeless is because they are addicts.

Person B tells them to sod off - more politely than that, perhaps, but it amounts to the same - and only come back when they've cleaned themselves up and been off whatever they're using for some time. Only when they're presentable, respectable members of society can anybody think about helping them in any meaningful way, thus allowing them to... become presentable, respectable members of.. society...

Yeah. The logic starts to break down there, actually.

But really, homelessness is good - for the Right Wing, at least.

Because it provides an example for the working class of what will happen to them if they stop rolling over and doing as they're bloody well told. It provides them with a class of people lower than them, so that they don't have to feel as bad - so that they have someone to take out their anger at their own lack of progress on. Homeless people get burned alive, and for what? Because they're homeless, that's why. Thugs on the streets go out after dark, and kick the homeless to death for no reason. They're arrested - sometimes - yes, but that's mostly to give everyone the idea that they don't enjoy it when the workers focus their rage on something other than the people who are really holding them down.

Yeah.

I mean, come on, have you ever given some money to a homeless person - someone like Person A - and seen people turn their heads and walk away, or murmur something about how they'll probably just use it for drugs? Surely you have, because I know I have.

So Person A? They're fucked. Another human being, just like you or me, made of the same stardust, made of the same kinds of dreams, hopes, and desires, is fucked because they screwed up once, or because someone else screwed them up, or even just because of bad luck.

And nobody is going to help them up.

Well, except Canada, it seems.

No, seriously, have you seen this?

Housing First is a Canadian initiative that has allowed one fairly large town to completely annihilate the problem of Homelessness. 

How? By simply giving every single homeless person a house. Nothing too big or fancy, but somewhere warm, safe, and registered. From there, with safety worries mitigated, they can start getting work done. They can become presentable, respectable members of society, even by a bastard Tory's standards - and this is not to say all conservatives are complete bastards, remember, there were three Tory MPs who rebelled in a vote for more cuts, and voted against, and they've won my respect, truly - and then everything is fine.

And get this.

Housing them costs much, much less than dealing with their presence on the streets! It reduces A and E costs, it reduces costs for police teams investigating drug problems - as the clientele for the dealers is diminished - and it reduces the unhappiness of not just the homeless, but the whole city.

This is Socialism at work, people! It works and it does real, tangible good.

To hell with our opposition, because they might be The Right, but we're IN the right!

And I have to say, before I go... I am very excited to see what cool things Canada is going to do next - after all, they're basically Gandalf the White to America's Saruman, right?

They're America - as they should have been.

With more snow, and the French language thrown it.

~ Baxster Brand 

Another Division

This Tory thinks that those with mental disability should be paid less

Now, to be totally fair, what he actually said was that they should be able to seek work for less than the minimum wage, so they can remain competitive in the jobs market.

But of course, that would mean that they would all inevitably end up with less than the minimum wage, because it is only rarely that employers pay more than they have to out of the kindness of their hearts - this is a capitalist society, after all. Who cares about other people?

I mean, this is ignoring the fact that the minimum wage is not nearly enough to have a family with anyway. This is ignoring the fact that the minimum wage is not survivable on for homeowners with a mortgage. This is ignoring the fact that only a single, childless person who rents a small flat, has few aspirations and no notable hobbies, and who puts in at least 40 hours a week, would be able to live with even a modicum of comfort on our current living wage.

This is ignoring that this man wants to make some of our more vulnerable brothers and sisters, who deserve no more pain than they almost inevitably go through, given how judgemental and asshole-ish our society tends to be.

I should also make it clear that at no point did this bastard Phillip Davies MP clarify whether he meant those with learning difficulties, or people with mental health problems generally. Mental health disability could be taken to mean a variety of things - I certainly know that I initially took it, if incorrectly, to mean anyone with any mental health issue, such as depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, or any of this.

Which, by the way, costs money too. 

You'll get some help from the NHS, yes, but they're stretched thin against the fat belly of the Tory Party's greed as it is, and so anything else you're going to need will cost extra, from private therapists and private psychiatrists.

So actually, even the regular minimum wage isn't sufficient enough for these unfortunate individuals either, let alone a reduced one.

God damn these monstrous Tories.

~ Baxster Brand

The Right Honourable Assholes

Ok. First things first, I must apologise profusely for my absence. I have no decent explanation for it, and I've genuinely missed a lot in terms of politics - for example, Super Tuesday, in America, and other such things. Don't worry though, I'll be making another post about that later tonight, if I don't pass out from exhaustion first.

Now, onto business.

Fuck the Tories.

I see this kind of thing on my facebook feed far too often. Tories, fiddling with their campaign expenses. It's no big secret that the money you spend does have an impact on how many people you can reach, and how convincingly you can reach them - it is, after all, why we have limits on electoral spending in the first place - and yet here we have the outstanding Tory party, fiddling their expenses to make it look like their electoral campaigns are within the law.

I've also seen this proposal, right?

It's a proposal to cut down the number of constituencies in the UK. This means less MPs. It's essentially a cut from 350 to 300, and you can bet - you can fucking bet that it's mostly labour constituencies being cut down.

God damn.

Oh, how I hate the Tories.

They know they won't win another General Election fairly, so they're trying to play it as unfairly as they possibly could, so they might get another five years after these to scrap the country for the benefit of their own wallets.

And did I mention that they don't even extend protection to family any more? David Cameron's own mother has been axed, because they've just cut the Children's Centre she works in.

Oh man, fuck these guys.

~ Baxster Brand