I cannot get past this Scary People On a Plane thing. This isn’t some disheveled person on the bus, it’s not even an agitated cousin at the family reunion, this is the president of a heavily armed nation.

Apparently he got it, directly or indirectly, from Facebook.

It’s unsettling, to put it mildly, to think the sitting American president believes there are nefarious forces lurking in “dark shadows,” whom he won’t identify, but whom he sees controlling both a presidential candidate and American streets.

But Trump didn’t stop there.

In an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, Trump claimed that “we had somebody get on a plane from a certain city this weekend, and in the plane

… Read the rest

Here he is vouching for the complete and utter truth of his claim about that mysterious plane full of scary people in dark clothes.

Here's Trump doubling down on his claim just now: pic.twitter.com/pcLwuM2Acb

— The Recount (@therecount) September 1, 2020

See, there was a person on a plane, and there were about six people like that person, and the entire plane filled up with that other kind of people. (Could this possibly be code for white people on the one hand and black people on the other hand? Surely not. Surely surely not.)

The plane filled up with The Looters and The Anarchists and The Rioters, people that were obviously Looking For Trouble, and The Person felt very uncomfterbul

… Read the rest

Another lovely glimpse into his id – he sees himself as standing alone in a sea of incompetent stupid people.

Trump on his message to women voters wary of his tone: "I have to be aggressive … look at all of those horrible race riots you had during Obama." pic.twitter.com/zyw5u6kAOp

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 1, 2020

Ingraham asks him what he says to people, women in particular, who don’t love his aggressive tone.

He pulls himself up and says a preliminary “Okay,” like, here it comes – “I have to be aggressive, I’m standing here [leans forward a touch] in a sea of incompedent people, stupid people, and violent people, [shake of the head] very violent people –

Ingraham … Read the rest

Completely normal, nothing to see here.

The President claims people in the dark shadows who control the streets are really controlling Biden. He goes on to talk about a plane full of people wearing black uniforms but then says he can’t reveal anymore because it’s under investigation pic.twitter.com/AAk5GX0eWu

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 1, 2020

Sounds like a joke but isn’t. That’s actually what he says.

Ingraham: Who do you think is pulling Biden’s strings, is it former Obama people –

Trump: People that you’ve never heard of, people that are in the dark shadows –

Ingraham [cutting in]: What does that mean, that sounds like conspiracy theory, dark shadows, what is that?

Trump: No, people that you haven’t heard of, … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Claire on Ask Doctor Oz next. (Excuse two guest posts from the same person in one day but if you people will insist on being wantonly informative and clarifying this way it simply can’t be helped.)

Herd immunity. For a pandemic. Fuck.

Herd immunity is a population specific term. Herd immunity is used in humans for very specific reasons. Calculating the vaccination rate required to reduce infections in a population. In a retrospective manner, looking at historical data. Projecting into the future in worse case scenarios and measuring against interventions and their efficacy.

By the time you’re working with populations, they’ve stopped being people and have become mere numbers. Epidemiologists have to remind themselves from … Read the rest

Peter Baker on Trump’s Twitter frenzy yesterday…

… embracing fringe conspiracy theories claiming that the coronavirus death toll has been exaggerated and that street protests are actually an organised coup against him.

In a concentrated pre-dawn burst, the President posted or retweeted 89 messages between 5.49am and 8.04am on Sunday on top of 18 the night before. He resumed on Sunday night.

Cool that he has so much free time, as well as so much good sense, discipline, sense of proportion, conscience, dedication…

In the blast of social media messages, Trump also embraced a call to imprison New York Governor Andrew Cuomo; threatened to send federal forces against demonstrators outside the White House; attacked CNN and NPR; embraced a

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Claire on Expertise.

Sigh. Why aren’t people taught risk better in school? I find that many people outside of STEM (and many within it too) just do not understand risk, nor do they understand the difference between the two models

If the probability that a woman is injured in a tackle from a transwoman is 20-30% (as per World Rugby) then the demoninator is the tackle. In Harper’s formulation, it’s more complicated but the answer may not be what she expects.

Let’s propose an imaginary trans woman who had been a short, weedy man and transition made him lose muscle and even bone density to that of a woman’s (unlikely but this is a thought … Read the rest

Let’s take a different approach.

One of Donald Trump’s top new medical advisers is urging the White House to embrace a “herd immunity” strategy to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Herd-immunity strategies entail allowing disease to spread through much of the population, thereby building natural immunity to the deadly, highly contagious virus. Basing its reporting on “five people familiar with the discussions,” The Washington Post says the Trump White House has already begun to implement some policies along these lines.

One tiny issue here (along with others) – from what I’ve seen it’s looking as if there is no natural immunity to this virus. People have been getting it again, after recovering the first time.

The approach’s chief proponent is

… Read the rest

Man who calls himself a woman explains how wrong it is to think men playing on women’s rugby teams would be a danger to women.

“Well, frankly, I think [the leaders of World Rugby] had their minds made up, before they called the meeting,” Harper said. “It would have been nice to have seen a trans woman rugby player there, but I doubt it would have made any difference.”

Would it though? Would it have been nice? Suppose you’re on a committee working out legislation on rape; would it be nice to have a rapist there?

The use of “trans woman” works so well to disguise this absurd “include the aggressors in the conversation” bullshit. It wouldn’t sound so persuasive … Read the rest

Clever trick!

The Secret Service had asked for a room close to the president. But Mar-a-Lago said it was too late. The room was booked. Would agents like a room across the street from the president, instead?

March 2017, this was. They didn’t waste much time.

The next time, the Secret Service didn’t take the same risk. It paid Mar-a-Lago to book rooms for two weeks at a time — locking them up before the club could rent them to others, according to newly released records and emails.

For Trump’s club, it appeared, saying no to the Secret Service had made it a better customer. The agency was paying for rooms on nights when Trump wasn’t even visiting — to

… Read the rest

Trump is having success in stoking violence.

Yesterday in Portland:

A person was shot and killed in downtown Portland Saturday night as a pro-Trump car caravan wound its way through city streets, clashing with counterprotesters along the way.

…

Images from the scene Saturday night show a man wearing a hat featuring the logo of Patriot Prayer, a group that has regularly attended, hosted and engaged in violence at Portland protests through the years. The man was also wearing a “Thin Blue Line” patch on his shorts, indicating support for the police.

The shooting occurred around 8:45 p.m. near the corner of Southwest Third Avenue and Alder Street. Portland police are investigating it as a homicide.

…

The lead-up

… Read the rest

Most most most most most maximum progressive. Also most vulnerable.

https://twitter.com/JenkinsSharing/status/1299811138876641280

I particularly love that this enlightened person is a “sensitivity reader.” Ho yus, all about the sensitivity.… Read the rest

https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1300108216051871745… Read the rest

Yet again, I don’t understand how it works. Yet again I don’t understand the basic concept. Yet again I think it’s the concept that’s broken, not my reading comprehension.

Again, disagree with me as much as you like, but I am not saying things I know to be untrue.

You say only cis women are women, which denies trans women's rights as women. I consider that transphobia. That does not make me a liar, and again I'd like you not to call me one,

— Rupert Goodwins (@rupertg) August 30, 2020

Rupert Goodwins says that saying only women are women is to deny trans women’s [i.e. men’s] rights as women.

That’s such a peculiar thing to say, and to think. … Read the rest

Oh ffs.

"When we talk about election security I want to reassure the American people it'll be difficult for anyone — China, Russia, Iran — to change actual vote tallies" — Ratcliffe (this downplays others types of interference, such as Russia's anti-Clinton propaganda campaign in '16) pic.twitter.com/jY7eKjPwIP

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 30, 2020

It even signals that that’s what he’s doing – saying “it’ll be difficult for anyone — China, Russia, Iran — to change actual vote tallies” just underlines that it will be easy for anyone to do other things to influence the election. It will be difficult for anyone to change actual vote tallies but easy to change voter views and motivations, by lying and fakery and … Read the rest

More openly fascist by the day:

A pro-Trump caravan of trucks drove into downtown Portland on Saturday to clash with Black Lives Matter protesters there, leaving one person, who was wearing the insignia of far-right group Patriot Prayer, dead.

Trump cheered on a caravan of his supporters that rolled into Portland on Saturday as “GREAT PATRIOTS,” even after video showed them driving into protesters, hurling tear gas and shooting them and a New York Times reporter with paintballs.

He did.

GREAT PATRIOTS! https://t.co/BWGxVoBTmI

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2020

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1300047956331114497 … Read the rest

About this “We’re not going to brief you on security threats any more, we’ll just send you a few written notes” thing:

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has informed Senate and House intelligence committees that it will no longer brief Congress on foreign efforts to interfere in the November election, according to congressional Democrats.

In a joint statement released Saturday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Congress had been set for briefings on election security in mid-September. But briefings for members of Congress, including the House and Senate intelligence committees, by the office of National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe have now been called off, they said.

“This is

… Read the rest

This Serena Daniari guy is a trip.

https://twitter.com/serenajazmine/status/1299425307041071104

If he’d just written the words, they’d still be wrong, but there would be nothing remarkable about them. But no, he included the photo, as if to demonstrate that the reason he knows who he is (i.e. a woman) is because of that photo. What is a woman? Why, someone with eyebrows six inches above her eyes, and a tiny nose, and gigantic bulbous lips – that’s what a woman is. A woman looks more like a blow-up doll than a human being. Also she’s giving the “fuck you” sign.

He’s good at respecting his sisters, too.

https://twitter.com/serenajazmine/status/1299444055680712705

One, there’s the obvious rudeness and cruelty, the cheap tattered misogyny, but two there’s … Read the rest

Speaking of Trump’s efforts to make sure that everyone Catches This Thing as fast as possible, yesterday –

No, I want Big Ten, and all other football, back – NOW. The Dems don’t want football back, for political reasons, but are trying to blame me and the Republicans. Another LIE, but this is what we are up against! They should also open up all of their Shutdown States.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2020

Football! All of football! High school included! Down to the smallest Montana town, it all has come back, NOW.

That’ll get those daily numbers up!

Meanwhile…

As revelers at Trump rally on Friday booed suggestions to wear masks, the Washington Post has published

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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

… Read the rest