The way it works is, the virus understands that people really really want to get together with family over Christmas so it will declare a cease-fire for five days. The virus is strict, but fair.

Ministers are facing calls to publish scientific advice on the relaxing of Covid-19 rules over Christmas amid warnings that a single infectious guest could infect a third of those at a household gathering.

Under rules revealed by the prime minister on Tuesday, up to three households can form a “bubble” for five days over Christmas. It prompted a raft of scientists to speak out, warning that mixing will inevitably lead to an increase in infections come the new year, leading to deaths. Some said

Can women have anything for ourselves now? Even just one day out of the 365 to call for an end to violence against us? Just ONE??

No, of course we fucking can’t.

The time is up for victim-blaming, rape myths and stereotypes.

We stand with all women – including our trans sisters and non-binary siblings – on International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls. pic.twitter.com/o56Lm7ILpg

— Amnesty UK (@AmnestyUK) November 25, 2020

… Read the rest

Rewire is doing the same thing all over again today.

First, it's important to say that abortion is popular–like, really popular. More popular than you ever were in high school, Aunt Karen. Most Americans are pro-choice! And it's also super common–everyone knows and loves someone who has had an abortion, whether they know it or not. pic.twitter.com/b5m1nnHX0d

— Rewire News Group (@RewireNewsGroup) November 24, 2020

Hur hur. Throw food at them. We are very adults. Hur hur Aunt Karen, she’s such a bitch. Aren’t we good feminists?

Expanding abortion access, on the other hand, is simply good public health policy, because abortion is simply good medicine. https://t.co/V1LjRwQJfg

— Rewire News Group (@RewireNewsGroup) November 24, 2020

“Ask any pregnant person,” because … Read the rest

The Post has updates:

Pennsylvania and Nevada, two key battleground states, certified President-elect Joe Biden’s wins Tuesday, even as President Trump continued to fight results in court and insisted that he will “never concede.”

So he will never not be a childishly sore loser. Ok Spanky.

Trump’s “legal team” is shouting that there will be hearings, hearings I tell you, but Arizona says nope we don’t have any hearings scheduled.

The campaign said Arizona would hold a hearing on Nov. 30, but spokesmen for the Arizona GOP caucuses confirmed that neither the House speaker nor the Senate president had authorized any such hearing.

Who you gonna believe, them or…never mind.… Read the rest

But the lawyer who says we should throw turkeys at the Aunt Karens who fail to agree that men are women if they say they are can stop fretting: soon Aunt Karen’s failure to agree will be a crime, at least it will if she doesn’t keep her damn karen mouth shut.

Activists who promote the view that a trans woman is not a woman will be breaking the law if a court rules their campaign was intended to stir up hatred, the justice secretary has confirmed.

Humza Yousaf said it would not be a crime to express the opinion that sex is immutable unless it was accompanied by behaviour that was intended to stir up hatred, which could

It’s not just a Twitter thread, it’s also an article at Rewire News.

At Rewire News Group, we hope you’re able to safely enjoy the holiday away from toxic relatives, but we also know that might not be possible. Toxic relatives come in many forms: the Trump supporter, the devil’s advocate, the COVID-19 denier.

There’s also the TERF: the trans-exclusionary radical feminist.

Let’s back up. Let’s think about this unargued assertion that Trump supporters and devil’s advocates and COVID-19 deniers are “toxic.” Let’s think about it and decide that it’s self-righteous adolescent garbage, and that it is, ironically, dehumanizing in just the way much of Trump’s rhetoric is. The views of the listed groups may or may not be … Read the rest

Golly. Last I knew Rewire News was focused on abortion rights. My mistake; it turns it it’s all about the violence-encouraging misogyny.

Toxic relatives come in many forms: the Trump supporter, the devil’s advocate, the COVID-19 denier.

There’s also the TERF: the trans-exclusionary radical feminist. pic.twitter.com/vXNSzlLcOI

— Rewire News Group (@RewireNewsGroup) November 23, 2020

Throw the turkey at them. If you do not have the upper-body strength to throw the turkey, you can opt for something slightly easier to lift like a handful of mashed potatoes or some stuffing.

A pie also works, and offers an added comedic effect. pic.twitter.com/Z6Tbuzcp3N

— Rewire News Group (@RewireNewsGroup) November 23, 2020

Yet again, I’m surprised. Yet again I blink and stare and wonder. … Read the rest

Oh hey, the grownups are back.

It’s a very minimal thing to rejoice at, but that’s where we are.

Avril Haines, who is set to be the new director of national intelligence, has taken the podium.

‘I will never shy away from speaking truth to power,” she said.

She promised to tell the president whatever is “inconvenient and difficult”. She said the intelligence community is indispensable to America to address threats that come not just from terrorism, cyber hacking or other traditional directions.

“Also the challenges that will define the next generation – climate change, pandemics and corruption,” she said.

Adults. Serious people. Not corrupt greedy clowns.

Antony Blinken has come to the podium to speak, just after 

Gee, he noticed?

Trump is sweating over his campaign lawyers’ dismal and often outlandish efforts to reverse President-elect Joe Biden’s projected electoral victory.

Trump is worried that his campaign’s legal team, which is being led by his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, is composed of “fools that are making him look bad,” NBC News reported Monday.

He can stop worrying. Of course they’re fools who are making him look even worse (which is not easy to do).

That group, which has unironically called itself an “elite strike force team,” to date has failed to win any legal victories that would invalidate votes for Biden, the former Democratic vice president, even as they tout wildly broad claims of fraud

Emily Murphy’s letter is getting shredded for being petty, unprofessional, egotistical, and rude.

She wants him to feel her pain.

The first of these letters was addressed, “Dear President-Elect Obama.” This one was sent to “the Honorable Joseph R. Biden Jr.” and begins, "Dear Mr. Biden.”

Just an unbelievable level of pettiness.

— Yoni Appelbaum (@YAppelbaum) November 23, 2020

Summary:
2008:
Dear President-elect,
Ive ascertained you winner. Here is how much money you have to work with

2020:
Dear Mr. Biden,
We're gonna give you transition money. Whine whine whine…(page 2) whine. And here's how much money you have to work with

TOTALLY unprofessional

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) November 23, 2020

https://twitter.com/bestoneTX/status/1331024128824971267 … Read the rest

Trump of course is pretending it’s totally his doing.

…fight, and I believe we will prevail! Nevertheless, in the best interest of our Country, I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 23, 2020

Just to nitpick…it’s not dedication and loyalty to the country to help a lying cheating criminal steal the election. More the opposite.… Read the rest

It’s about fucking time.

NEW: GSA has informed president-elect Joe Biden the administration is ready to begin the formal transition process, according to a letter from administrator Emily Murphy sent Monday afternoon and obtained by CNN.

— Jeff Zeleny (@jeffzeleny) November 23, 2020

BREAKING: GSA head, Emily Murphy, has moved to officially begin transition and give president-elect Joe Biden the resources to transition including $6.3 million. Here’s her letter. pic.twitter.com/Xlv6y6IWvt

— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) November 23, 2020

ABOUT DAMN TIME I SAY.

Whiny letter though.

Killing my "Hold Emily Murphy in Contempt" column, but this whiny letter is more evidence that contempt is justified https://t.co/xA2Z2EKoKJ

— Michelle Goldberg (@michelleinbklyn) November 23, 2020

Embiggening:… Read the rest

That article by Tina Traster dropped by Psychology Today and picked up by Transgender Trend:

Tina Traster is a socially-conscious, award-winning journalist, author, and filmmaker. She is the director of the award-winning documentary Catnip Nation and author of the award-winning memoir Rescuing Julia Twice: A Mother’s Tale of Russian Adoption and Overcoming Reactive Attachment Disorder. She has written about the transgender trend for Psychology Today. We are happy to re-publish her post here.

Traster notes that a lot of LGBQT teenagers are in foster care.

Let’s talk about trans kids. The generally accepted narrative among activists, the therapeutic community, and the media is that many trans kids are living with parents who reject them based on morality or intolerance.

JL at the Glinner Update reports on another successful “REMOVE THAT ARTICLE!!!” campaign.

On Friday, leading psychology journal, Psychology Today, published an article by one of its regular contributors, award-winning journalist and documentary maker, Tina Traster. It was called “Trans Kids May Reject Family, Not the Other Way Around”.

…

Parents responded to the article with gratitude and by sharing their own experiences, stories which reflect just what Traster has written about.

Until.

… the voices of concerned parents were drowned out by a barrage of abuse from trans rights activists in what looked like a co-ordinated campaign to get the article shut down. These comments all seemed to follow a particular pattern ie the article is

A variation on the Whig theory of history:

If you find yourself constantly at odds with younger generations (who as a rule are totally cool with being trans) the thing you swore would never happen probably has. Perhaps the process of becoming your parents – out-of-touch know-it-alls – is subtler than once you credited?

— Jo Maugham (@JolyonMaugham) November 23, 2020

“The younger generations are always right” is the foundational belief and claim here. But is that true? Plenty of younger generations (it’s not clear how many Maugham thinks there are) belong to neo-Nazi groups, white power groups, Islamist groups, Brexit groups, pro-Trump groups.

And more generally and abstractly, what about the fact that people have time to learn more … Read the rest

It seems that Emily Murphy was supposed to talk to a House committee today to explain why tf she is refusing to ascertain Biden as president.

The House Committee on Oversight and Reform has summoned Emily Murphy, who is blocking the Biden transition team, for a private briefing.

If she appears she'll face questions from Katie Porter, Ayanna Pressley, Ro Khanna and Jamie Raskin among others. https://t.co/Ak3rxGNHac

— Swing Left (@swingleft) November 23, 2020

Get the popcorn ready-Emily Murphy, the head of GSA, who refuses to sign off on the election to appease Trump, faces questions from Katie Porter and other House members about her refusal to comply.

When she pulls out that whiteboard, it's going DOWN. pic.twitter.com/Ahda0WOorO pic.twitter.com/mVg89TC15V

—

Anne Applebaum notes that there are rules, and Trump and his rabble are breaking them in ways that no predecessor ever has.

Murphy is the head of the General Services Administration, the unglamorous bit of the federal government that actually runs the federal government. Part of her job—a part that no one has ever before considered controversial or even noteworthy—is to “ascertain” who has won the U.S. presidential election, and then to release the congressionally mandated funds that allow the winner to begin his transition. Usually, that process also unlocks cooperation between incoming and outgoing officials. Before leaving office in 2017, aides to Barack Obama had prepared elaborate explanations of the state of the world, including a 69-page playbook

But she sounds perfect for Trump.

[Sidney] Powell had made headlines in recent weeks for her increasingly outrageous and unsupported claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, repeatedly vowing to “release the kraken” of evidence, only to refuse to produce it when asked by reporters. She has accused election officials in multiple states of committing crimes, and in recent days turned on Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, who on Friday helped certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state. Her attack on Kemp, which also included the threat of a “biblical” lawsuit, appeared to unsettle some of Trump’s allies.

It seems ethically questionable for lawyers to accuse people of crimes without offering any evidence. I’m being polite; I … Read the rest

It’s all quite melancholy, really, because the thing is, she was going to release the Kraken, at least she said she was. Newsweek November 17:

Sidney Powell, one of the attorneys on Donald Trump‘s legal team contesting the election results, has been on the media circuit lately. She visited The Rush Limbaugh Show yesterday and Mario Bartiromo on Fox News the day before. The appearance that’s really gained traction, though, happened days before on Lou Dobbs Tonight on the Fox Business Network. During that conversation, Powell repurposed a popular phrase that has since taken off on Twitter as a clarion call for the right while a source of mockery for the left.

“I’m going to release the Kraken,”

One minute Sidney Powell is at a Trump team press conference spouting deranged conspiracy theories about the election, the next minute Giuliani is issuing a statement saying she’s not part of the Trump team. Probably the next item is Trump will do a presser holding Giuliani’s dripping head aloft.

President Trump’s campaign said in a Sunday statement that Sidney Powell is neither a member of its legal team nor a lawyer for Trump in his personal capacity.

Powell was a part of the campaign’s wild, conspiratorial Thursday press conference and baselessly floated unfounded conspiracy theories that included a claim that President-elect Biden won the 2020 presidential election thanks to “communist money” from the Venezuelan regime.

Which sounds funny, but … Read the rest