We’re doomed.

Drunk people can't properly socially distance, a UK police officer warned after finishing a late shift Saturday — the first day that pubs reopened in England after the coronavirus shutdown. https://t.co/pBctzJgFyI

— CNN (@CNN) July 5, 2020

So what happens around July 18?

As the video shows, lifting #COVID19 bar restrictions in the UK led to a worst-case scene last night in London, as 10s of 1000s filled the streets, maskless, drinking, crowded.
Will this lead to a surge in new cases, in mid-July?@devisridhar @richardhorton1 @JeremyFarrar https://t.co/1vezh82mVs

— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) July 5, 2020

… Read the rest

God damn it Beeb!

Oh holy god it will be like this, won’t it.

H/t latsot… Read the rest

So Trump was playing with his toy trucks before it was time to get on the chop-chop to the Big Plane to the Faces Rock, and he was having ever such a nice fantasy about building a huge Disneyland kind of thing all full of the best Americans ever, like Donald Trump and Billy Graham and the guy who invented graham crackers and some crackers in uniforms and people like that.

Among the combative and unusual ways President Trump chose to celebrate Independence Day, some historians were particularly puzzled Saturday by his announcement for a new monument called the “National Garden of American Heroes” populated by a grab bag of historical figures chosen by his administration.

Well not puzzled … Read the rest

Trump’s “look at the big guns” celebration:

The US president staged a “Salute to America” jamboree on the south lawn of the White House with flyovers by military jets, parachute jumps and patriotic songs, but little effort among guests to physical distance or wear face masks.

Stupid and pathetic way to “salute America,” as if military force were the whole story. How about instead showing off our music and dance?

“We got hit by the virus that came from China,” the president said, prompting a strange whoop and applause from someone in the audience. “We’ve made a lot of progress. Our strategy is moving along well. It goes out in one area, it rears back its ugly face in

Another item from that oh so progressive Parliament Square rally yesterday.

Aw yeah. If you bitches don’t want men in your toilets here’s a nappy for you, hawhawhaw.… Read the rest

Nigel Farage has apparently violated the quarantine rules.

Nigel Farage appears to have broken the UK’s quarantine rules after posting a photo in a pub at midday today – less than two weeks after returning from the US.

And by the way who let him into the US? Trump slapped a spite quarantine on the UK ages ago.

There are calls for an investigation after the Brexit Party leader shared a photo with a pint as the coronavirus lockdown in England eased and pubs reopened for the first time. He wrote: “12 o’clock, first customer in. Love it.”

MSNBC footage shows Mr Farage at a Donald Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at 1.02am (UK time) on 21 June.

Commercial

That is, a boy successfully fought his school so that he could use the girls’ toilet.

It doesn’t sound quite so progressive that way does it.

That’s why it’s necessary to keep putting it that way.

(Notice no mention of how the girls at that school feel about the boy’s successful fight to join them in their toilet.)… Read the rest

Newsweek reports:

After a month of tweets, back and forths and intense scrutiny over her views on transgender issues, J.K. Rowling has ignited the debate once more by thanking Harry Potter fan site founder Emerson Spartz, of MuggleNet, for supporting her.

Well she didn’t “ignite the debate.” She thanked someone. No one was required to shout the house down in response. None of this stupid hounding of Rowling is necessary or inevitable. It’s people choosing to make a huge fuss over the trivial subject of people’s personal feelings about their “identities.” It’s not the most intelligent or useful choice I’ve ever seen.

“After hours of stomach churning & frantic pacing, I decided that, as founder of MuggleNet, I have

He’s not into any of that namby-pamby weenie-peenie Bring Us Together shit, he’s into saying THOSE DIRTY OTHER PEOPLE ARE ENEMIES and we gotta crush them like bugs.

Standing beneath Mount Rushmore on the eve of American independence day, Donald Trump staged a defiant celebration of what critics say is white identity politics and warned the nation’s history is under siege from “far-left fascism”.

Having it both ways, isn’t it. Fascism is by definition far-right, not any kind of left.

The US president defended the symbolism of statues and monuments before a packed crowd at an event that revelled in political incorrectness calculated to enflame the country’s current divisions and enrage liberal critics. There were few face masks and even

Trump says everything’s fabulous.

Donald Trump barely mentioned the Covid-19 pandemic sweeping the US in his incendiary speech at Mount Rushmore on Friday night. But in an appearance at the White House to wish Americans a happy fourth of July, the president referenced the virus, albeit to tell people how great a job he is doing. Predictably, he also recycled his old tactic of blaming the virus on China.

Chinadiddit therefore it’s fine that Trump has done everything he can to make it far far worse than it had to be.

“We were doing better than any country had done in history … and then we got hit with this terrible plague from China and now we’re getting closer

The people who write speeches for Trump to mouth should take more care to make them credible. The “Racism is Awesome” speech yesterday for instance:

“There is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance,” the president told an audience of several thousand, gathered at the base of Mount Rushmore, in South Dakota.

“If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted and punished. Not going to happen to us,” he said.

See what I mean? There’s the written speech, and then suddenly there’s Trump. It’s jolting.

“Make no mistake, this left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution. In so doing,

Trump gave his Naziesque rant.

Trump focused most of his address before a crowd of several thousand in South Dakota on what he described as a grave threat to the nation from liberals and angry mobs — a “left-wing cultural revolution” that aims to rewrite U.S. history and erase its heritage amid the racial justice protests that have roiled cities for weeks.

Yes how dare we object to the murder of George Floyd and the long long history of white-on-black violence. White supremacy is our heritage!

Praising presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, the men carved into the cliffs behind him, Trump declared that their legacies are under assault from protesters who have defaced and

This is How It’s Done.

The simplest question – what are your thoughts on the minimum wage? – and he doesn’t remotely answer it, he says he’ll say stuff about it in two weeks and then he repeats his usual string of beads. Positive statement – putting people to work – record numbers – greatest economy histry of our country – China virus – bans on China – lotta things right – great job. He’s the kid who didn’t do the homework, not once in awhile, but always.

Asked to detail his thoughts on raising the minimum wage, Trump once again reveals that he's completely unable to discuss policy in any way shape or form pic.twitter.com/Bj48wkiG7R

— Aaron Rupar

I missed this last October…Always Removes Female Symbol From Sanitary Pads:

In a nod to transgender and nonbinary customers, Procter & Gamble said this week that it was removing the Venus symbol, which has historically been associated with womanhood and the female sex, from the wrappers of Always brand sanitary pads.

Because now we have to pretend that anyone can menstruate, including men.

Steph deNormand, a patient advocate for transgender health at Fenway Health, who uses the pronoun “they,” told NBC that seeing “female-coded” imagery while purchasing menstrual products could create a sense of distress for some customers. “Trans and nonbinary folks are constantly misgendered, and a gesture like this can broaden out the experiences and open up

Big day out.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump head to Mount Rushmore National Memorial on Friday to celebrate an early Fourth of July at a gathering of an estimated 7,500 people during a global pandemic.

No social distancing is planned for the event despite the record-high new coronavirus cases in the United States. And the event takes place amid environmental concerns over the use of fireworks in the dry land and as the country engages in a reckoning over its own monuments and racist history.

In other words it’s a huge poke in the eye to reasonable people, in multiple ways. Score!

The dark history of Mount Rushmore’s sculpture itself takes center stage with Trump’s

When radical feminism is banned off reddit but this shit is fine pic.twitter.com/eg9dHkVmAk

— Dr. Jessica Taylor (@DrJessTaylor) July 3, 2020

… Read the rest

It’s old news now but I’m still kind of fascinated by it – Trump’s hostility to democratic allies and comfort with authoritarian rivals and enemies. He’s repelled by the one and drawn to the other.

Those who have witnessed the president’s phone calls and meetings with foreign leaders said he had a weakness for monarchs and leaders with absolute power, because that is how he would ideally like to govern. He could be contemptuous of democratic allies, on the other hand, if they had done poorly in elections or opinion polls, and generally viewed them as supplicants asking for personal favours. “Catch Trump at the wrong moment, when he has a fresh grievance (ie most days) and he

Masks and “masculinity” – you’d think that was about as random as masks and mustard or masks and Mars, but no, apparently masks are a threat to the Rule of Testicle-havers.

When HIV emerged in the United States, a key part of the public health response was to urge consistent condom use. Although the advice made obvious sense, in some pockets of the population, people resisted it. Researchers began to dig into the social factors that motivated this resistance. They found that among men who were having sex with women, “masculine ideology” was associated with rejection of condom use.

Ah so that’s the culprit! Have we come up with an effective vaccination for it yet?

At the time

Speaking of moral density…a license facility in Texas had to close because of a case of the virus.

Since reopening on 3 June, the facility had spaced seats inside to meet social distancing guidelines, cleaned surfaces regularly and only served those who booked appointments online. All workers wore masks, and anybody allowed in was required to wear a face covering. But despite the precautions, a Covid-19 case had been reported there.

One of the people turned away was Laurie Smith, 50. She is an administrative employee at a local church, where she is also a member, and calls mandatory mask requirements a sign of “sad” government manipulation. “My college-age kids are able to follow the recommendations without questioning