Abe of The Strange Bed Manners

I always admired the 16th president of The United States, Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), for his politics as I find the very idea of slavery detestable. He defended America as a constitutional union and had an important part in securing the U.S. economy, and all of this made him one of the great presidents of his country. As he was born of a poor family I find even more to admire in him: "Self-made" men and women always speak to my sense of admiration. However, there are some traits from his private life that seem quite surprising to me, and one of them is his habit of sleeping with male friends. As it is during his youth and adulthood he slept in the same bed with eleven boys and men or even more. Was that normal at the time? Some historians say it was, whereas others see it as an indication of homosexuality. That may be, but we shouldn't forget the intense friendships of men with men and women with women at this time of history.

After all, Abe did get married to Mary Todd (1818–1882) - that is after two periods of being engaged to her - and they had four sons although, sadly enough, three of them died in infancy. As it is their marriage was reputed for its sexual overtones which indicate that they were genuinely physically attracted to each other. Then why did Lincoln chose to sleep with men who were more or less close male friends? These days some have suggested that he was a "closet LGBT"-guy, practizing homosexuality for several years. One of his closest friends and also bed fellows was Joshua Speed (1814-1882). Their friendship went far back and one may say that both of them were self-made men. There are letters that show their mutual concern for fulfilling the obligations of marriage and life in a society that harbor certain expectations to young males, but both of them married and had children.

However, be that as it may, it has been known that the Lincolns (most often) didn't sleep together in the same bed, but that he over the years shared his bed with several men. Was that common or was it very special for the Lincolns? Well, it seems that it may have been an English habit for a married couple not to share bed most of the time. Besides, poor Mary was afflicted with several ailments that might have made her want to sleep alone. Actually, at times she was committed to hospitals of various art and if she complained about the marital arraignments of her marriage I haven't found it. As for an explanation of the arraignment of the sleeping habits I think it may have something to do with childbearing: Maybe they practiced a crude form of planning, both to have a grip on the numbers of children and to spare Mary as she wasn't well.

She sat beside her husband when he was shot which must have been a very traumatic experience. Did people feel sorry for her? No, somehow she became quite unpopular and even today she isn't a woman whom the Americans take to. In my opinion she represents an enigma and I feel that we should know more about her and whom she really was before passing any judgements on her. Gossips may love the stories about her and her husband, but after all, it's none of our business until it proves of an historical interest that will make us wiser about this time period ....

 

https://www.therestorationmovement.com/_states/oklahoma/speer,ws.htm

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/did-abraham-lincolns-bromance-alter-course-american-history-180962203/

 

Wikipedia

The Abused Child Victim: Victoria Martens

 

What a smile! Yes, Victoria Martens was a lovely girl of 10, but she led a miserable life of abuse, rape and murder that doesn't fit with this photo of her pretty, smiling face. The most shocking part of it is that the one who forgot to protect the innocent girl and let others do all of this to her was her mother, Michelle Martens.

When her daughter's dead body was discovered Michelle denied having as much as known or even sensed what went on with the child, but later on in the interrogation by the police she admitted that not only knew she about the abuse, but she had also instigated it. Actually, she had accepted that several men came to the home of the family to rape and in many other ways abuse the child with her watching the crimes "because she liked to see it being done". The perverted actions that led to the death and dismemberment of Victoria lack any kind of normality but it all seems to start with Michelle.

 

These photos depict a beautiful girl of 10 and a depraved monster who took part in the killing and dismembering of her own child. One wonders at such a crime, also because the child begged to be left alone by the grown-ups who abused her to death: The boyfriend of her mother, Fabian Gonzales, and his cousin, Jessica Kelley.

After the murder Michelle had sex with Fabian, most likely watched by his cousin, Jessica Kelley. All in all a horror scenery with the dead child still in the flat, but none of the grown-ups seem to mind that. Actually, one gets the impression that their only regret was being caught and that none of them had any compassion for the girl who lost her life because of their sick games.

At the autopsy it was found that the child suffered from various sexually transmitted illnesses, which may have been from one of her killers, namely her mother's lover, Fabian.

 

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/albuquerque-metro/fabian-gonzales-found-guilty-on-all-charges/ 

 

https://viralnova.com/victoria-martens-murder/ 

 

https://www.elitedaily.com/news/mom-offered-daughter-men-online-rape-murder-fantasy/1747463 

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4104776/Girl-10-raped-murdered-dismembered-mother-s-boyfriend-suffering-STD-died-showing-d-abused-before.html 

 

Wikipedia

 

The Vicarious Power of Women

 

Well, he is cute so of course he has his female fans. Hopefully he stays adorable even when he grows up. As we know that happens for some, but not all men. This man is a good example of that truth: Clark Gable. Obviously he, in his turn, adores being adored ....

As to the women then they may resent their fellow Gable-fans: They are rivals, but not necessarily for the sexual favor of this or other men in the meaning "bedded by him". No, what still is important to many women is the status that they obtain by being courted by men. Women have their own inner lists of social status that are based on the impact each of them make on men. That means that rivalry for status may not even be about the man as such, but about their ability to make him and others like him fall for their charms. It sounds crazy, but actually, it's quite logical in a Patriarchy where one sex is turned into a sex object: The female. To be good at being a sex object gives her the right status, primarily with her own group, namely other women. 

She may enjoy being adored by all of these men - whom she most/very likely - has no ideas of sleeping with, and she regrets when age or other circumstances put a stop to it. However, now most women know that that kind of sex symbol-adoration keeps them in a social situation that makes it difficult for them to do much about their true position in a Patriarchy: It, sort of, takes out the steam of their efforts to obtain a genuine, not sex-based career as they may be judged unfavorable by deeds that get men to the top of the ladder. (Actually, that also goes for deeds that make them succeed via the bed of rich and powerful men: In some respects women are "damned if you do, damned if you don't ....")

I bet she will turn some male heads and get some nasty comments by women, either to her face or to her back, as she in some ways give in to the Patriarchal ideas of women as "pure body" and thus nothing but a "sex doll". Theoretically she may be anything from a successful business woman, a politician with genuine power, a famous artist or writer, but her clothes signal that she is nothing of that kind: She is the plaything of men a toy. However that may be only men will be naive enough to think that all of this comes without thought and planning. As women will know that's far from it, and what's more, by turning herself into a plaything she may obtain the kind of power which is open to women in a Patriarchy: The influence on those in power, namely the men. The female vicarious power should not be shrugged at, but in my opinion more because it has its limits and it deludes women into believing that they are powerful, than anything else. Genuine power is something else:

 
   
 

Severed Heads And Those Who Want Them

The words "Bring me his head!" have a certain Biblical ring to them as they may get us to think of the beautiful Salomé revenging the insults of John the Baptist when he called her mother a "whore". The still quite famous Hebrew king Herod didn't want to execute the holy man, but watching the sexy dance of his Salomé made him forget his wish to protect John and instead give in to her when she demanded the head of the prophet as her reward for tickling his senses with her dance skills (Mark 6: 21-29 and Matthew 14: 6-11). 

The decapitaded head of the French king Louis XVI

Several royal individuals have lost their head when they lost the power that made them one of the "heads" of the state. That goes for e.g. two of the six queens of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. Sad stories of the trials of these two women depict them as innocent according to modern standards so maybe that's the reason why the ghost of Anne Boleyn, carrying her decapitated head, has been seen ever since her untimely death?   

Presumably the ghostly finger of Anne Boleyn as captured on camera

OK, the idea of Anne as a victim who may have got a new life after her death is at least funny or even thought-provoking, but what about her experience of the decapitation? I remember that the heinous French serial killer Henri Désiré Landru was very concerned to get to know for how LONG his severed head might experience the situation and whether it might be able to perceive his dead body. Well, that's not as far out as it may sound as scientists from New Zealand in 2013 took on an experiment of decapitating some rats, and they observed neural activities for 10-15 seconds after the decapitation .... 

Major General Horatio Gordon Robley

This fine (!!!) collection of what is severed heads of dead people are to be found in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, but i t stems from an European obsessions with this kind of "memoralia" from what was considered "primitive societies". Many of the heads of unfortunate people who met head hunters of various observations and nationality lost their life because of this uncanny obsession. Heads like these had been holy objects or just some kind of souvenirs of defeated enemies, but with the Christian invasions they turned into merchandise. Sadly enough that meant that many of them were "made to order": Some were hunted down, got killed and beheaded so that their head might bring in some money ....  

Shrunken heads which are known to the Indians who made them as "tsantsas" stem from an age old belief that shrinking the head of an enemy would make it impossible for his spirit to take revenge. Those who bought them most likely didn't believe in this ideology which in my opinion makes their obsession to get these heads even more uncanny. To them the heads were nothing but a macabre kind of souvenirs whereas they actually were vital parts of murdered peoples' corpses.

We still know the expression "Headhunting", but not in such an uncanny way as in former societies. To be hunted  down by a skillful head hunter may even be the dream of many modern people who want a career ....

 

https://allthatsinteresting.com/mokomokai

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3184015/Anne-Boleyn-s-ghost-captured-camera.html 

 

https://www.profilpartners.dk/en/companies/headhunting-search-and-selection-denmark/ 

 

Wikipedia 

What's in A Name?

 

Many well-known actors, authors as well as not all that famous people have changed their birth name into something they felt would make them more marketable. For instance, just to mention a few, that's what people like Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe as well as the Russian born Jew Kirk Douglas did. After chosing a movie career he shed his name of Issur Danielovitch because he felt that it was too foreign and much too Jewish to be of use in his career as a movie star.

Someone who wouldn't have agreed to changing one's name for something that "flimsy" is the American woman Assata Olugbala Shakur who was born Joanne Chesimard. I find it hard to bend my tongue to her new name as it's difficult to pronounce. Actually, that goes for many new African names that sort of have pushed the good old names of e.g. Ellen, Julie, Elizabeth, etc., etc. out of business. However, that's not in the least a legit objection to these new names which I suppose often were chosen because of their symbolic value, either of strength, hope or protest. 

 

She is a controversial figure, to FBI she is a murderer and terrorist whom they have tried to capture for 40 years, but to others she is a brave and strong woman fighting for the black community and the rights of black people. Something she wants to give expression to by choosing her new name and "Assata" translates nicely into something like "She who struggles" which is what she has been doing ever since she became a so-called "Black Panther". "Olugbala" means "savior", and "Shakur" stands for "thanks" or "thankful" which turns her name from a non-descriptive entity not chosen by herself into a statement. Actually, that's the point: Her new self chosen name depicts her as she feels she is, body and soul, and not as her parents chose to decribe her from an understanding of what a nice, American girl ought to be. There is no rebellion in "Joanne Chesimard", but there is a lot in "Assata Olugbala Shakur".

 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/fbis-most-wanted-terrorist-tupacs-20164553 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/assata-shakur-convicted-killing-police-officer-wanted-fbi/story?id=63076257 

 

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Name-giving 

 

https://progressive.org/magazine/impact-of-assata-shakur-tarala/ 

 

Wikipedia

Prophets and Shady Politicians: "The Ones Who Speak With Many Tongues" ....

I, for one, don't fall for the many people who want us to believe that what they say is "the truth" because they are the prophets of God, something which translates into the "mouthpiece" of God. That's a very unsafe kind of authorization, also because these "prophets" may be what The Bible itself warns against as false. They pretend to be messengers from the Divine authority that is supposed to hold the ultimate power over this world, but in reality they may very well be victims of self-delusions or just criminals who work from an ulterior and not so benevolent urge to gain advantages with their gullible fellow human beings. 

Many people are duped by these "prophets" and follow them, maybe even into death or crimes. I don't find this altogether impossible to understand as I know that many people cling to authorities that may lead them in life, thus making them feel safe and "in the right": They themselves believe they are doing the work of the deity they have chosen to believe in. However, these believers should read what The Bible has to say about this, e.g.

Deuteronomy:

    20 But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.
    21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?
    22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

Well, one thing is religion and religious "prophets", but let's not forget that also very, very earthbound and exceptionally narcissistic individuals may attain the status of "prophets" simply because their followers wish to see them that way. A short while ago some Trumper-Republicans were talking about how the former president, Donald Trump, was going to be "reinstated". Some - presumably quite many - still keep heralding the unbelievable belief that this confirmed narcissist is some kind of Messiah. After taking a look at this man's life and professed ideologies that's a ludicrous notion, something crazy and totally beyond reality. However, the adherents of these political prophets, after having talked themselves into believing the unbelievable, seem to really believe the words that come out of their own mouth: The political "prophets" they have chosen are supposed to "speak on behalf of God" which in my opinion gives the "art of Prophetizing" a bad name. However when someone don't have anything to bring them fame and status they grab at whatever they find to grab, and being the "messenger of God" may be the ultimate in that game even in politics.

 

https://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/18-22.htm

 

https://www.forewordreviews.com/articles/article/memo-to-modern-prophets-thou-shalt-follow-these-5-rules/

 

https://www.reed.edu/reed-magazine/articles/2018/music-prophecy.html 

 

http://gospelcity.ca/media/messages/the-antichrist-regime-part-1/ 

 

Boobytrap, November 26, 2022: "Prophets and Religious Testimonials"

 

Wikipedia

 

 

Giving the Gender Games Some Considerations ....

In the animal kingdom which mirrors its human equivalent maleness comes in many forms. Some of them are total opposites of what we have been taught is "natural". For instance a male animal might be an anglerfish which are puny creatures compared to their female partners. They are not at all capable of surviving on their own which means that immediately after being hatched they find a female and fuse with her. Without the female they die, but human males may find this fusing arrangement horrendous as the male anglerfish turns from being an individual into nothing but a sperm bank after losing most of their organs. They are alive, and still not, which tempts me to compare them to the in many ways artificially made women of harems, etc., etc.: They lost their natural looks, health and freedom of movement to become nothing close to sex dolls ....  

However, the male anglerfish may be seen by human men as the lucky one, compared to the male bee - the so-called "drone". These members of the cube have to share the one female who mate: The Queen bee. She may mate with 12-15 of her many suitors which is fewer than one percentage of the males who court her. That means that the main bulk of male bees don't stand a chance of mating, but I think they may live longer, as it is believed, but - as far as I can see - not proven that the "lucky" (???) ones die in the act, so to speak. However, this mating is the climax of a drone's existence, but not only does it make him lose his penis, i.e. the "endophallus", but also his life: The endophallus stays with the female bee and he drops down to the ground, to die shortly after. Both the male anglerfish and the drones as well as many/most of other animal species are potent illustrations of a biological truth that the human patriarchy has done everything in its power to hide from both men and women: Nature made the male expendable if he doesn't hold a rôle in the upbringing of the offspring. Yup, the male is for the female, not the other way around as e.g. the legend of Adam and Eve tries to lure us into believing ....

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sex-redefined-the-idea-of-2-sexes-is-overly-simplistic1/

 

 

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/male-honey-bees-die-climaxing-sex/ 

 

 

Wikipedia