Wednesday Links

Remember that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return.  -  Genesis 3:19

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the solemn liturgical season of Lent; because Church doctrine formerly forbade the eating of meat (and other indulgences) during the season, “Fat Tuesday” was a sort of last goodbye to meat and other pleasures for the next six weeks.  Even the word carnival (whose meaning has shifted a great deal in English, especially American English) was originally derived from the Old Italian carne levare, “taking meat away”.  And though I’m no longer Catholic, I think the modern world has suffered for the lack of holidays like Ash Wednesday and the Day of the Dead, which were intended to remind us of our own mortality; certainly little tin gods and “safety”-hysterics alike could benefit from such rituals at least semi-annually.  In keeping with that thought, today’s first video (which I discovered on EconJeff‘s website) is a reminder that even one of the great necessities of life can kill you.

Everything down to that video was provided by this week’s top contributor, Jesse Walker; those between the videos were contributed by Popehat (“Twitter felony” and “pulp generator”), Radley Balko (“forbidden fun” and “insane judge”), Dean Clark (“cops at play”), Amy Alkon (“imaginary weapons” and “TSA generator”), Nun Ya (“cop gropes woman” and “illiterate librarian”), Grace  (“handicapped parking”), Aspasia (“spiders”), and Franklin Harris (“Mr. Rogers”).

• Tyrannical valentines.
• Cops pretending to be dead kids.
• It’s nice to see democracy beat fascism once in a while.
• Only Republican maps have the magical power to force people to do evil.

• Arizona politician wants to criminalize parody Twitter accounts, while one in Georgia claims that “No one has a right to make fun of anyone.”
• Entire Miami police squad fired after video shows cops shopping, dining and snogging while ignoring 911 calls.
• High school student suspended for picture of a weapon, and a second-grader for a wholly imaginary one.
• Cop follows pregnant woman, restrains and gropes her, then tries to talk his way into her house.
• Workers paint “handicapped parking” markings around woman’s car, then have it towed.
• Judge declared insane and therefore fit to return to the bench.
• How an illiterate librarian foiled the book-burners.
• The pogrom of August 1^st, 1988.
• Welcome to our world.
• It’s raining spiders in Brazil.
• The TSA statement generator.
• Mr. Rogers meets The Incredible Hulk.
• The customizable pulp magazine cover generator.

From the Archives

• If ignorance about sex is grounds for a court order forbidding it, neofeminists and religious fundamentalists need to start worrying.
• In New Zealand, even prohibiting streetwalkers from working in certain areas requires a new law.
• Most people have the sense not to act out abduction fantasies in public.
• Attractive female cops destroy the lives of high-school boys via trickery.
• Sex cannot be an addiction; those who disagree are selling something.
• African countries which are more civilized about sex work than the US.
• Police violence against whores, and follow-ups to those examples.
• Femen protests are less annoying if you just look at the pictures.
• No matter which direction the cash flows, it’s whores who suffer.
• My little sister’s peerless recipe for chicken and andouille gumbo.
• The tale of an escort who falls in love with a most unusual client.
• The prostitute who didn’t want Charles Dickens to “rescue” her.
• Meet Bethany St. James, Jill Brenneman and a sex worker mom.
• A study identifies the genes that cause gendered behavior.
• Must every strong urge now be described as an addiction?
• A prohibitionist “survivor” attempts to infiltrate my blog.
• Josie Arlington, one of the great madams of Storyville.
• A California woman claims porn can’t be copyrighted.
• Streetwalker accused of “knowingly” spreading HIV.
• Yet another debunking of the “gypsy whores” myth.
• Former madam tries to cash in on prohibitionist lies.
• Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?
• How well-chosen pictures increase blog traffic.
• There’s more than one way to skin a lawhead.
• A priest who campaigns for sex worker rights.
• Whores are no different from everybody else.
• Walking stereotype’s lawsuit is dismissed.
• Wannabe pimp falls for Super Bowl hype.
• Sex, love and money in Cambodia.
• Another “dog bites man” thing.
• All prohibitionism is the same.
• What Would Orrin Hatch Do?
• Potential HIV vaccines.
• Deadly butt injections.