[guest post by Dana]

Can we talk for a moment about how stupid women can be? This is a photo of Jeremy Meeks. Last week, the Stockton Police Department released a mug shot of him on its Facebook page. His photo, along with several others, was posted on behalf of Stockton area law enforcement agencies to help deal with a spike in shootings and robberies in the area. Jeremy Meeks was arrested on felony weapons charges.

When his photo was posted, it immediately went viral. Women went gaga for his chiseled cheekbones, lush lying lips and come-hither criminal eyes. According to some reports, within a short period of time there were more than 33,000 “likes” on Facebook and it now has more than 88,000 several days after the posting.

A sampling of the comments left on the Facebook page were as follows:

“OMG, this man makes women from the world entire to scream!”

“oh la la! Bad Boy Bad Boy they’re gonna come for you! I can just see 100’s of women running and screaming after him! Maybe the next Calvin Klein underwear commercial? Briefs-definitely briefs.”

And then they get really ridiculous.

Huffpo writer Jen M.L. had to talk herself off the ledge of lust upon viewing his photo – this after knowing full well that he was a criminal:

I clicked the link and I immediately fell down into the deep blue wells that are Jeremy Meeks’ eyes. Be strong, Jen! I thought. This guy is a dangerous felon, and it’s not just his chiseled cheekbones that make him wanted.

I wasn’t the only one seduced by Jeremy’s soft, full lips.

She then uh, works through the turmoil of finding such a bad boy so attractive:

Jeremy Meeks is a convicted felon who was arrested on felony weapons charges. He had a gun illegally. Sure, even the thought of him holding his gun is kind of hot. But then I imagine him holding it sideways and saying “Sayonara!” before he blows my head off! This guy is no good. He’s a REAL bad boy, not like the ones you read about in your books.

(The writer does go on to make the point that a few days afterward, the memorial service of Stockton police officer Scott Hewell was posted about on the Stockton Police Department Facebook page as well, and the 399 “likes” fell way short of the now 88,000 “likes” on Jeremy Meeks photo.)

At Jezebel, writer Erin Gloria Ryan, breathlessly began her article:

Jeremy Meeks, the hOt CoNvIcT whose mug shot went viral yesterday because on one hand, violent crime is bad, but on the other, OMG THOSE CRYSTAL CLEAR EERILY HOLLOW BLUE EYES, has finally broken his silence and spoken. And, like many hot people facing possible prison terms, he doesn’t really care much that people think he’s attractive. He just wants to get out of jail.

…

It’s madness. We’ve been driven mad with lust by the image of this symmetrical maybe-reformed felon.

Further, Jeremy Meeks’ mother set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for his legal defense. And, not surprisingly, given the reaction to his mug shot, has raised $3,879 raised by 199 people in 2 days. Although there is no way of accurately assessing the gender of contributors, I think it’s a fairly safe guess to say that the majority were women.

With that, I’m happy to see that women continue to rise of above their baser drives unlike the neanderthal, objectifying, sexualizing, women-hating men of the world. Progress!

–Dana

UPDATE: This Meeks’ meme is just getting out of hand. You just never know who will show up next on #FreeJeremyMeeks, #HottieThug, and #FelonCrushFriday…

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

This morning, President Obama stated that ISIS is just one of a number of terrorist organizations that threaten the United States that we will need to “focus” on.

“Their extreme ideology poses a medium and long-term threat,” the president said, of the group now taking control of large swaths of Iraq.

He added that the immediate problem is that ISIS is ”destabilizing a country that could spill over,” but they are “just one of a number of organizations that we need to stay focused on,” including al-Qaeda in Yemen and Boko Haram.

“What we can’t do is think that we’re just gonna play whac-a-mole and send U.S. troops occupying various countries wherever these organizations pop up,” Obama said.

Also:

The president rejected the idea that the power “vacuum” in Syria, and thus the current threat from ISIS, could have been averted if the U.S. had backed moderate rebels in Syria against Bashar Assad.

“I think this notion that somehow there was this ready-made moderate Syrian force that was ready to defeat al-Assad was simply not true,” he said. “The idea that they could have defeated” Assad and jihadist groups, he added, “if we just sent a few arms, was a fantasy.”

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

UPDATE: The approval discussed in post took place in February of this year. However, because we discussed California yesterday and its abysmal budget, I wanted to remind readers, especially out of state ones, that there are pro-active measures, no matter how extreme, occurring. Not every Californian is content with the way things are being run here.

Californians are one step closer to the possibility of the state being divided into six separate states.

Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper got the go-ahead this week to collect signatures for his “Six Californias” plan, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office.

Draper needs more than 807,000 signatures of registered voters by July 18 to get his proposal on the November ballot.

According to Draper, California, with 38 million people, is too unwieldy to govern and properly represent all of its residents.

“Vast parts of our state are poorly served by a representative government dominated by a large number of elected representatives from a small part of our state, both geographically and economically,” the plan says.

Draper believes his “Six Californias” proposal will address the state’s troubled public schools and outdated and overmatched infrastructure systems.

Here is a map of the proposed six states:

*South California: San Diego and Orange counties
*West California: includes Los Angeles and Santa Barbara
*Central California: includes Bakersfield, Fresno and
Stockton
*Silicon Valley: includes San Francisco and San Jose
*North California: Sacramento area
*Jefferson: Redding and Eureka areas

There are political concerns, of course:

Brendan Nyhan, Assistant Professor of Government at Dartmouth College, isn’t sold on the idea. “Splitting California into six states would raise all sorts of concerns about the partisan balance of the senate. I can’t imagine this would ever go anywhere” said Nyhan.

Nyhan says a plan like this would surface many issues. Things like water policy, agricultural policy, and even the electoral college would all change if this plan were to take action.

The plan aims to settle California’s financial issues after the separation of the states. If things can’t be resolved, each state would receive a portion of the state’s debts based on the newly created state’s population.

If the federal government approves creating six new states, “all tax collections and spending by the existing State of California would end, with its assets and liabilities divided among the new states,” Secretary of State Debra Bowen said in a statement on Tuesday.

That would leave decisions regarding taxes and public spending of the new states up to its elected leaders.

According to Kurt Bardella, president of public relations firm Endeavor Strategic Communications and former aide to Rep. Darrell Issa, it is unlikely the six state solution would occur. Not only would Congress have to approve the additional states, but also the addition of 10 senators.

The implications would have tremendous repercussions at every level of government, from Congress all the way down.

And here is a different map of the proposed six-state California:

–Dana