This is fine, this is normal, this is nothing to worry about.

CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta called the maskless crowd at President Donald Trump’s Republican National Convention potential “super-spreaders”  of the coronavirus, and said a senior White House official’s explanation for the lack of social distancing “might blow you away.”

After Trump’s Thursday night RNC speech, Acosta delivered a report from the South Lawn of the White House, where hundreds of maskless revelers had been seated for the festivities. Anchor Wolf Blitzer tossed ti [sic] Acosta by noting “You had about 2,000 people sitting very close, and most of them were not wearing masks.”

“Yeah, Wolf, we not only heard a lot of gaslighting tonight, we

Oh, ok, fine. Two months before the election the DNI stops briefing Congress on election security. Brilliant plan.

They might as well be sending out embossed announcements on heavy paper saying “We are helping Trump steal the election, you’re welcome.”

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has informed the House and Senate Select Committees on Intelligence that it will no longer be briefing on election security issues, a senior administration official told CNN. It will provide written updates, the official said.

The official added that other agencies supporting election security, including the Department of Justice, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security, intend to continue briefing Congress.

For now. For a few more hours. Maybe. Expect … Read the rest

A clinical psychologist argues that we need to set aside the bouquet of armchair diagnoses of Trump and settle on the one overriding diagnosis that captures it all.

I invited Dr. Greenwood, who is a clinical psychologist and founder of The Washington Center For Cognitive Therapy, to answer a few questions. In addition to his presence o[n] Medium, he has just launched a new website, dutytoinform.org. You can follow him on Twitter at @dutytoinform.

The first question is why do we need one overarching diagnosis.

Mental health professionals have offered several diagnoses of the president. They have done so usually to warn the public about his psychiatric vulnerabilities and dangerousness. They want to engage the public in

Originally a comment by Sastra on Merfinks.

Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were indeed suicide threats or attempts when Rowling came out as gender critical. Such wailing and gnashing of teeth, fan clubs panicking, and breathless article after article expressing shock and concern over the effect on the most vulnerable, most marginalized, most suicidal group in the world.

There’s not a teenager out there who isn’t well aware that transgender people routinely kill themselves if not accepted as “who they know they are.” They’re reminded of that over and over, it’s drummed into their heads by Tumblr and Twitter and Tavistock and all the handwringing social media and organizations throwing out statistics because this is a real, … Read the rest

Now that’s some player activism.

In the aftermath of player protests across various professional sports leagues, the Board of Elections in the City of New York announced Friday that Madison Square Garden will serve as a polling site for the upcoming general election.

And it’s not just the aftermath; it’s what the players asked for.

Manhattan voters who are assigned to Madison Square Garden can vote there on Election Day, Nov. 3, as well as an early voting period from Oct. 24 until Nov. 1, with hours varying. The polling site will be located at MSG’s Chase Square at the 7th Avenue entrance between 31st and 33rd Streets.

The news comes after a three-day period of social activism from

I was alerted by this.

So, bristling, I read. They really do say that.

Today, J.K.Rowling re-stated her position on transgender lives. We have previously reached out to her both publicly and privately, offering a calm conversation around the issues she has raised and today, we sent a further email to her team, renewing that offer. We are yet to receive a response.

How sanctimonious that is, how passive-aggressive, how entitled, how intrusive. Yes, Rowling has nothing better to do than “have a conversation” with the damn fools (or fool) of Mermaids. If they offer she has to respond.

As part of that email, we have disclosed something we hoped never to say. We say it now with

Sadistic bully “Jessica” Yaniv is suing those women all over again. Devika Desai in the National Post:

Trans activist Jessica Yaniv has filed a civil suit against three female beauticians for close to $12,000, almost a year after a human rights tribunal ruled against her complaints against the same women. 

Documents published to the British Columbia Court services website on Aug. 26 show that Yaniv — who legally goes by Jessica Simpson — filed a suit against Sandeep Benipal, Marcia DaSilva and Sukhdhip Hehar for $11,800. 

Props to the National Post for assigning the story to a woman with an Indian name. Seriously: nicely done.

Little is known about the reason behind the civil suit, but this isn’t the

A tweet four hours ago.

And one hour ago.… Read the rest

Ok but why?

… according to Sarah Posner, the author of Unholy: Why White Evangelicals Worship at the Altar of Donald Trump, Falwell’s influence has been overestimated.

“His fall does not change anything. Trump has built relationships with the evangelical base and the religious right leadership in Washington, and they see him as their saviour – God’s hand is on him, he has come to save America at this critical juncture,” she said.

But why? Why? Even if you accept the God thing and the hand thing and the saving thing, why would God put the hand on Trump? Of all people? As some kind of sadistic joke? Because that’s about the only way it makes any sense.

Why … Read the rest

Pompeo is evil.

News from Congress, where the House foreign affairs committee has announced the opening of contempt proceedings against Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump’s secretary of state who, as it happens, gave a hugely controversial speech to the Republican national convention from Israel on Wednesday night.

The battle between the Democratic-controlled committee and Pompeo is a long one, as the secretary of state refuses to co-operate with the panel as it investigates his conduct in office, including regarding administration approaches to Ukraine for dirt on Joe Biden, the approaches which led to Trump’s impeachment.

He has no right to refuse. It’s outrageoous.

In a statement, committee chair Eliot Engel said: “From Mr Pompeo’s refusal to cooperate with the

The Guardian reports on Rowling v Kennedy more reasonably than it usually reports on trans issues, but it still can’t keep its thumb entirely off the scale.

JK Rowling is returning the Ripple of Hope award given to her last year by the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights (RFKHR) organisation after its president, Kennedy’s daughter, criticised her views on transgender issues.

The award, which is for people who have shown a “commitment to social change”, was presented to Rowling in December for her work with her children’s charity, Lumos…

But earlier this month, Kerry Kennedy, a lawyer and president of RFKHR, put out a statement describing her “dismay” over what “deeply troubling transphobic tweets and statements” made by the Harry

People on Twitter are praising Rowling’s integrity and courage for returning the RFK award after Kerry Kennedy saw fit to issue a statement calling her transphobic.

I think Rowling has bags of integrity and courage but I don’t think integrity and courage were required to return that award in the circumstances. I think the difficulty was in not telling Kerry Kennedy that she should have the award dropped on her from a great height.

Or maybe that’s just me.

But I doubt it. I think when people publicly call you an evil person, on grounds that you know to be deeply mistaken and deluded and in fact destructive, it doesn’t take a whole lot of will power or integrity or … Read the rest

A new consignment of evil crap. Kerry Kennedy is president of a human rights outfit named after her father Robert Kennedy, the nepotistic Attorney General in his brother’s administration. Earlier this month she issued A Statement on…JK Rowling. You know what it says.

Writer J.K. Rowling is best known as the author of the Harry Potter books. In 2005, she founded Lumos, an international nonprofit NGO with a mission to move children worldwide out of orphanages and institutions and into loving family care by 2050. For her dedicated work on behalf of children, she received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award in December 2019.

But! But, sisters and brothers – she committed wrongthink! She must … Read the rest

The White House is plastered with campaign signs at this moment.

This one image explains a lot:

1. The abuse of the presidency for Trump's personal political benefit, with the White House adorned with a giant campaign sign

2. A complete disregard for science in the middle of a pandemic, with attendees not wearing masks or social distancing pic.twitter.com/I61gwj1JGA

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) August 27, 2020

Four years of the unthinkable led right to this moment: https://t.co/NFPVMlSZfe

— Susan Glasser (@sbg1) August 27, 2020

What do you call the politically motivated failure to enforce the law by the Attorney General? What should be done about it? Because make no mistake about it, this is a crime scene. https://t.co/T1Ah7AqBae

— David

Via Jane Clare Jones, a truly fancy piece of academic thinkery.

The Trans*-Ness of Blackness, the Blackness of Trans*-Ness

The essay thinks radically differently about the concepts of black and trans*. Trans* and black thus denote poetic, para-ontological forces that are only tangentially, and ultimately arbitrarily, related to bodies said to be black or transgender. That is to say, they are differently inflected names for an an original lawlessness that marks an escape from confinement and a besidedness to ontology. Manifesting in the modern world differently as race and gender fugitivity, black and trans*, though pointed at by bodies that identify as black or trans*, precede and provide the foundational condition for those fugitive identificatory demarcations. The author seeks to

Fox takes the next step:

Amid a quasi-fascist rant Wednesday night, Fox News host Tucker Carlson responded to murder charges against a pro-Trump teenager who crossed state lines and shot to death two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, by asking, “How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?” Several other Fox personalities have similarly downplayed or seemingly excused the deadly Tuesday night confrontation. 

Carlson says it:

Fox’s turn toward advocating violent right-wing vigilantism is a horrifying but natural evolution for the network. Its personalities have spent the last several months recklessly issuing dire warnings to their viewers, telling them that their lives are in jeopardy from racial justice

Speaking of clueless privilege and entitlement and disdain for everyone not-self – Jared Kushner steps up.

Jared Kushner, the son of a billionaire whose only professional achievements have been handed to him by members of his family, has taken a bold swipe at NBA players for their wealth and privilege. In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box Thursday morning, President Trump’s son-in-law and White House senior adviser was asked about NBA players’ decision to boycott playoff games in protest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. “The NBA players are very fortunate that they have the financial position where they’re able to take a night off work without having to have the consequences to themselves financially,” said Kushner, whose

Man opens up about using woman as baby-gestating machine during COVID-19: ‘different hiccups.’

Sweet touching photo of baby-wanting couple:

Awww, one daddy is cuddling other daddy’s non-existent bump, how sweet.

Lance Bass has shared a heartbreaking update about his road to fatherhood with husband Michael Turchin, noting that it’s been a journey full of setbacks. 

“We’re two-and-a-half-years in and we keep running into a lot of different hiccups,” Bass told TooFab last week. While the pair have embryos “ready to go”, the coronavirus pandemic has made their search for a surrogate more difficult.

Their search for a what? Oh they mean their search for a woman to spend nine months gestating their baby for them and then x number of … Read the rest

Why did Melania Trump wear that thing?

She chooses her outfits carefully. She will probably be remembered for her "I really don't care do u?" jacket more than for any other aspect of her tenure as First Lady. And with so many of them, as last night, she is saying, "Fuck you, American peons."

— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) August 26, 2020

… Read the rest

Trump is loving his new Covid advisor.

Dr. Scott Atlas warns against coronavirus overreaction and hysteria, pushes for the reopening of schools and sports leagues, and downplays the need for broader testing to root out the virus.

Don’t be hysterical, it will be fabulous to reopen everything, shut up about testing. What could go wrong?

With the virus showing no sign of letting up — the U.S. has recorded roughly 5.4 million Covid-19 cases and 170,000 deaths — and with less than three months to go in an uphill reelection battle, the president is betting that a telegenic physician with a positive outlook, but no expertise in infectious diseases or epidemiology, can change his fortunes.

And his fortunes are … Read the rest