This actually happened to me today. It's fantastic.

I swear every word of this is true by whatever measurement you care to require.

BART.

I sat in my seat; window seat.

An older - well, small - person, a woman(?), sat down, facing away talking to someone. Totally ignoring me; I was part of the scenery. A little close! I might as well have been a stuffed pillow. That's cool. I play Bejewelled.

She turns to face forward. I'm looking at my phone. She kind of nudges me with her shoulder. I turn to look.

NOT an older person. Not a woman - a dude. Something... familiar. Can't place it but I don't want to stare so I look ahead. Kind of feeling a bit crowded. I am very attentive to my phone.

Shoulder nudge. I look over again. Ah! This person has Down Syndrome - as does my oldest sister, Kathryn. Okay, this is familiar territory! So, I look around to see if he is travelling with a group or has another travelling companion.

No companion. No group.

Shoulder nudge. He leans in; "mumblemumblemumble". Looks at me intently. I don't understand a thing he said. We are at the Oakland 12th Street station on the Pittsburg/Bay Point train. HE SEEMS TO BE BY HIMSELF. 

OKAY. I DON'T WANT TO PLAY ANYMORE.

I look back; smile. Nod my head. Smile - chuckle a little.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!" Big smile. Turns to his left, away from me. Talks to... someone? No one? I can't tell.

OMG. What if he is alone? I can't just... leave him here. How am I going to get him out of the train to the police[*] - what if there IS someone with him and I am accused of kidnapping this guy? HELP. I WANT AN ADULT.

Shoulder nudge. Head bump. HE BUMPED ME WITH HIS HEAD LIKE MY CAT. "Mumblemumblemumble." Stare. I look back, bemused, chuckle. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" He turns away.

Repeat.

Repeat. etc. Thankfully my companion was entertaining without being a problem. He was just having a good time, it seemed.

We are now at Orinda station. The train has emptied quite a bit and my boon companion does something else that is... familiar.

When I lived at home Kathryn had a stance that was not sitting but not quite standing - it was her saying "I'm ready to go, lead me" to... whatever it was that Kathryn wanted to get to. The car. The bathroom. Whatever.

My companion now was showing that exact same stance. It was almost spooky. OMG. HE IS CONSIDERING LEAVING THE TRAIN. WHAT DO I DO. THIS WAS NOT IN THE MANUAL.

Ah! He does have a companion - looks like a sister. She sat him next to me as there was no other option; she was sitting on the other side of the aisle and behind. She had secured a window seat for her brother and then she, herself, sat in the aisle to block him getting out.

I smiled and made it plain that everything was fine; she seemed to want to drop things ASAP and nodded, then looked away to her phone.

I got off at Concord; they were still in their seat.

I hope my next BART ride is somewhat more boring.

Reasons not to live in Texas part 1

Exhibit 1 of part 1

Yes, dear reader, people actually believe this.

I, too, was once a paranoid dipshit. In fact, I probably still am.

Mr. Akin's most non-non-heinous day

Many, many others have more piquant and interesting things to say about Mr. Akin and his "mis-statement".

I will say this; I've been around many people who believe this way, and the concept of "legitimate rape" is a big deal to them. He believed this so adamantly that he simply uttered it as he would when he was with "his people", the true believers. I've heard others say things very, very similar to Mr. Akin's dumbass attack.

Simply put, the belief is this:

A woman cannot conceive a child during a rape because she isn't enjoying it, and that prevents the body from allowing conception. This is, of course, completely wrong and has no scientific backing whatsoever. (Although you can find an interesting attempt at it here. Misogyny by mathematics.) This is far from the only departure from medical reality you'll find in those circles.

BUT... there is an unspoken corollary. If she did get pregnant then it wasn't rape; it means she enjoyed it (a sin in and of itself)... and sluts should not be allowed to abort their baby. Which is really what this is all about, but we'll leave that for another time.

Mr. Akin has released a clarification... not that this will really help him a great deal. You see, he didn't mean "legitimate" - he meant "forcible". Which means you will need evidence of, of course, or - we're terribly sorry - the lady will simply have to have their rapist's baby. Unsurprisingly, the fact that resisting will, at times, get the victim killed seems to have been missed here.

But the most annoying aspect of this is that this belief system is very common amongst the religious right.

They believe that women are just being hysterical, and are simply "crying rape" after they regret a one night stand. That the victim should feel blessed because all babies are a gift from God - some of them just come in rape-y gift wrapping.

So, if you have daughters, remember that a vote for Paul Ryan is a vote for your daughter - or your niece or your sister - being forced to carry their rapist's baby to term. Keep in mind that the father of the child will very likely have visitation rights. I am not fucking joking.

What has really happened here is Akin has spoken the unspoken beliefs of the religious right. It doesn't stop here, either; we've already seen them attacking access to birth control earlier this year. I'm sure we'll see more of this kind of lunacy in the near future.

Addendum: As usual, The Onion has it right.

Edit: Please comment on Facebook, not here.