5
Bernie Sanders Wrote A WTF Essay About Rape And Gender Roles
Bernie Sanders has been involved in politics since some of his fellow candidates were merely a glint in their parents' eyes, so it's not surprising that he'd have something unfortunate in his past. What's surprising is how unfortunately horny that something is. In the 1970s, Sanders wrote an article for an alt newspaper about how gender roles are bad -- a piece that opens by suggesting that everyone loves rape fantasies.
A man goes home and masturbates his typical fantasy. A woman on her knees, a woman tied up, a woman abused.
A woman enjoys intercourse with her man -- as she fantasizes being raped by 3 men simultaneously.
Have you ever looked at the magazines on the shelves of your local bookstore? Do you know why the newspaper with articles like "Girl 12 raped by 14 men" sell so well? To what in us are they appealing?
Vermont FreemanWe weren't picking and choosing those quotes, by the way. Those are all in the first six sentences.
The essay (you can read it here) also includes a dialogue between a man and a woman about how much they resent each other due to the roles imposed by society, ending with a sad "And they never again made love together (which they had each liked to do more than anything) ..." The overall point is right and holds up, but it's written in the most "30-year-old teaching assistant trying to get laid with impressionable college students" way possible.
After the essay resurfaced and started making the rounds in 2016, Sanders' spokesperson called it a "dumb attempt at dark satire [that] in no way reflects his views or record on women ... it looks as stupid today as it was then." Whatever you think of Sanders, we can all agree it's probably a good thing that he stuck to politics and didn't try his hand at screenwriting or romance novels.
4
Tulsi Gabbard Is A Huge Fan Of Bashar al-Assad
Tulsi Gabbard was one of the first Democrats to announce a 2020 presidential run -- a head start that barely registers as a blip in the latest polls. Part of that is likely due to the "Tulsa who?" factor, but her long-term crush on a dictatorial enemy probably isn't helping much. See, since being elected to Congress in 2013, Gabbard has repeatedly voiced support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose primary policy could be best summed up as "war crimes for everyone."
In 2015, Gabbard went before Congress to argue that the best way of defeating ISIS forces in Syria was for the U.S. to side with Assad in the country's long-running civil war. The only problem was that her definition of "ISIS" included the many rebel groups trying to oust Assad. When Russia then teamed up with Assad and started air-striking rebel positions, she hailed this as a win for "counterterrorism." Something tells us she's the type of person who starts clapping and hooting whenever an X-Wing gets shot down in Star Wars.
The TelegraphPictured: counterterrorism
Financial TimesPictured: not counterterrorism, apparently