I can't imagine The Dead Zone without King's spot-on characterization of Greg Stillson as a small-town psychopathic bible salesman working his way up through political office as a right-wing, patriotic Republican. At one point there's a passage about Stillson campaigning for adding more police and cutting funds for…

@rebeldevil: Except those bad guys are more representative of Stalinism—and most socialists, including Orwell (given his experiences watching the Stalinist CP stab anti-fascist fighters in the back during the Spanish Civil War) would argue Stalinism has nothing to do with genuine leftism or progressivism.

@angelheadedhipster: You're right about "The Walls Do Not Fall." I also remember coming across "HERmione" in college and being fascinated.

H.D.? (Hilda Doolittle)...went to Bryn Mawr where she encountered William Carlos Williams and Marianne Moore; had a nervous breakdown (sleeping with a fascist like Ezra Pound will do that to a girl); and had a number of relationships with women (and was very open and unapologetic about it).

@yeahisaidit: Thanks! I babysit for a little boy who, just the other day, asked me to help him get dressed in his sister's fairy princess costume and tiara (He pulled them out of the dress-up box that also contained a fireman's hat, pirate sword, etc). He was adorable and so happy getting to be his fairy princess…

@PrisonBreakShaker: Thanks! I'm in the ISO myself, but I have a lot of respect for DSA.

If a dress was good enough for Jesus, why isn't it good enough for little boys?

For a great take on the lunacy of the "controversy" around Semenya's gender, I'd recommend people read this piece by The Nation Sportswriter Dave Zirin and author and activist Sherry Wolf from April:

Wow, to all the folks who are saying "she was much prettier before" (or that her hair looks bad now, or that she looks unhealthy now, or whatever)...I understand (I think) what you're trying to say, but I think you're missing the point a bit.

@jabberjabberwock: : Personal preference is one thing. But people who feel such a need, in a post about very real discrimination against fat people, to inject how much they prefer a thin body type and how unnatural they find fat? That to me is both insulting and totally missing the point—unless you think those…

@Nico Coer: and @firefoxx66:

@ladyneeva: I'm getting the kitty disdain look from my own as I type...I always take cat attitude as praise.

@weirdette: thanks for the compliment!

Yeah, I don't think it's a crisis of empathy. I think it's a result of the constant demonization of Pakistan in the media and by US politicians for the last 9 or so years and, as others have said, the Islamophobia that is being exploited in a particularly gruesome way right now.

A bit off topic, but I'm making a plea for Jezebel to do a post or repost from Kate Harding or others about how people approach stories about weight/fatness, whether about the diet industry or instances of discrimination like this.

@Pinkpepper1818: "Something needs to be done to discourage the wide-spread weight gain. Telling people fat is unhealthy doesn't seem to be working."

@ProfessorSara: Plus, [SPOILER]...

Walking home from the train at 1:30 am in my slightly sketchy neighborhood I was approached by a guy who said "Hey, stop...I'm your neighbor..." I didn't recognize him (I don't know most of my neighbors) and said, firmly, "I don't want to talk to you." And walked away.

Rachel is a shrieking troll doll of a human being who has no voice modulation. (There's something about the way she screams "NO ONE'S GONNA COME BETWEEN ME AND MY MAN"! that makes my cat hide under the bed every time she comes on screen.)

Just an update, for those who think what Abergil did is perhaps not so bad: she is a virulent, unrepentant racist.