Oh that’s gotta hurt.

Four authors represented by JK Rowling’s literary agency have resigned after accusing the company of declining to issue a public statement of support for transgender rights.

Ouch. Four! Resigned! Will the agency even survive?

Fox Fisher, Drew Davies and Ugla Stefanía Kristjönudóttir Jónsdóttir said they could no longer work with the Blair Partnership, the London-based agency that represents all aspects of the Harry Potter author’s work, because they were not convinced the company “supports our rights at all avenues”. One other author is understood to have also quit the agency but wishes to remain anonymous.

Who?

In a joint statement, Fisher, Davies and Jónsdóttir said that following Rowling’s recent intervention on transgender rights, they had

Life in the USofA:

Right-wing extremists are turning cars into weapons, with reports of at least 50 vehicle-ramming incidents since protests against police violence erupted nationwide in late May.

At least 18 are categorized as deliberate attacks; another two dozen are unclear as to motivation or are still under investigation, according to a count released Friday by Ari Weil, a terrorism researcher at the University of Chicago’s Chicago Project on Security and Threats. Weil has tracked vehicle-ramming attacks, or VRAs, since protests began.

The 20 people facing prosecution in the rammings include a state leader of the Virginia Ku Klux Klan, as well as a California man who was charged with attempted murder after antagonizing protesters and

Remember that awful, sloppy, book-length post by Laurie Penny last week?

Inexplicably, the original commissioner didn't want her "giant" essay, so she was begging for another, paid, home. As duff, unreadable, woke diatribes against JKR have been run by every rag going, it must be a tad embarrassing not to have found one willing to take this nonsense. pic.twitter.com/fxqx874wbi

— For Women Scotland (@ForWomenScot) June 21, 2020

Lies. All lies. Laurie didn’t have a commission at all, but desperately wanted it on a platform that wasn’t her own blog. It’s continued bullying and harassment of a socialist feminist who has given millions away to important causes. Unlike Laurie who just promotes her own ego.

— Julie Bindel (@bindelj) June 21,

Oh. Well ok then.

"What you heard from the president was frustration," says @DHS_Wolf of Pres Trump's rally comment last night that he told aides to "slow the testing down" for Coronavirus. On @FaceTheNation, Wolf says Trump is frustrated by press focus on increasing numbers of Coronavirus cases.

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) June 21, 2020

Yes well you can see how that would be frustrating, having the press focus on a highly contagious virus that has killed 122,000 Americans in the past four months when it could be focusing on the awesomeness of

Wait a minute. He’s frustrated because the press is focusing on a lethal disease that is burning through the population when it should be focusing on … Read the rest

This is quite a good campaign video…until the end.

This is art. https://t.co/ZPJxHu20TV

— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) June 21, 2020

What’s at the end?

Har har. Let’s shit on women. Har har.… Read the rest

Careful, the thought police are watching.

The bit where he says we have to test for the virus less, so that we won’t know how bad it is.

"Here's the bad part: When you do testing to that extent, you're gonna find more people, you're gonna find more cases. So I said to my people, 'slow the testing down please!'" — Trump pic.twitter.com/m5MOV9je70

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 21, 2020

The crowd cheers this murderous claim.

2.19 minutes on his Adventure Going Down the Ramp – and he’s only begun.

"The stage was higher than this one … I'm weather leather-bottom shoes … it was like an ice-skating rink" — Trump whines at length about the media pointing out the obvious and noting that he had

Richard Wolffe at the Guardian observes the humiliation.

…nothing truly comes close to the embarrassment of his so-called comeback rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday.

It was so toe-curlingly cringeworthy, such a crushing humiliation. There are 80s pop bands who have enjoyed greater comebacks than Donald Trump.

Ok the smaller than expected crowd was humiliating but at least the rally itself was good, right? Trump on top form? Feeding off the energy of the [smaller than expected] crowd?

Trump told the crowd at great length why he couldn’t possibly walk down a ramp unaided. He even re-enacted his walk down the deadly incline. He also treated them to a long excuse about why he couldn’t hold a glass

Look at this maniac.

"Don't you understand, you dumb son of a bitch" — I challenge you to try and make sense of this Trump rant pic.twitter.com/LJnS4W9oVn

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 21, 2020

What he really wants to be is a stand-up comic. He gets so high on his own performance…it makes my skin crawl.… Read the rest

The Tulsa tweets are interesting.

WATCH: Due to lack of attendance, workers have begun to dismantle an outdoor stage that had been setup in an overflow area for a speech by President Trump near the arena in Tulsa tonight.

The president will speak soon in the arena. pic.twitter.com/SekDGR2f2Z

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) June 20, 2020

UPDATE: At his rally in Tulsa just now, President Trump referred to #Coronavirus as the “Kung-Flu”. https://t.co/yt7rXLzvHi

— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) June 21, 2020

Trump is cracking jokes in Tulsa about Covid-19, calling it "kung flu" which is not only racist but belittles the deaths of 122K Americans and the horrific loss for their families.

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) June 21, 2020

Also…I hate to … Read the rest

Charming.

As you can see, that’s Facebook and it’s public, so I found it. This is the nice lady who wants to murder Rowling:… Read the rest

Barr is every bit as evil as anyone thought but not as fiendishly clever. Not so clever at all really.

President Donald Trump on Saturday denied involvement in firing Geoffrey Berman, the powerful prosecutor atop the Manhattan US Attorney’s office, shortly after Trump’s attorney general sent Berman a letter saying the President had done so.

Who, me? Nah I didn’t. Pass the burgers.

Attorney General William Barr told Berman, whose office has led prosecutions and investigations of Trump’s allies, that Trump had agreed to remove him after he refused Barr’s effort a day prior to oust him.

“Unfortunately, with your statement of last night, you have chosen public spectacle over public service,” Barr wrote in his letter to Berman.

Hahahahahahaha

This is what overflow looks like at the Trump rally in Tulsa right now. Pence is scheduled to speak out here in about 10 minutes. People still streaming in but not nearly the number the campaign said they were expecting. pic.twitter.com/hbypfviOxv

— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) June 20, 2020

The overflow where there is no overflow.

Trump and Pence had planned to speak separately to approximately 40,000 “overflow” attendees.

That idea has been scrapped. #TrumpsCoronavirusRally pic.twitter.com/69ij2WNby9

— Gage Ulrik (@mh_otter) June 20, 2020

Sir sir where are all the people sir?… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Bjarte Foshaug at the Miscellany Room.

People have always noticed that human beings have different innate physical traits. Furthermore, the distribution of these differences is not entirely random. Some of the most obvious (let’s call them “sex differences”) seem to cluster into two sets of traits that tend to go together far more often than expected by chance. One of these sets (let’s call it the set of “male” traits) is clearly more representative of fathers than mothers while the opposite is true of the second set (let’s call it the set of “female” traits). Roughly half the people on the planet have a strong preponderance of traits from the first set, and roughly the other … Read the rest

Apparently it’s a crime to attend Trump’s rally if you’re not a fan of Trump? Or if you’re wearing an “I can’t breathe” T-shirt?

So…they arrested her because shirt?… Read the rest

How murderous is this Tulsa rally exactly?

Three items:

An indoor event. Instead of holding the event outdoors, it is being held indoors in a center that regularly crowds people together for concerts and sporting events.

No physical distancing. The president has touted that his campaign has already received more than one million requests for seats. And he has mentioned that only 22,000 people (or even up to 40,000 if he can get the adjacent convention hall) will be allowed to attend. Someone needs to check that math because 22,000 — already 2,800 people above capacity — signifies there will be no physical distancing in place.

No masks. Trump has also reported that those attending the rally will 

Oops, what was that again about go to the Trump rally but wear masks but have a fabulous time but stay six feet apart but jump up and down and scream?

JUST IN – 6 members of the Trump campaign advance staff in Tulsa doing logistics for Trump's rally tested positive for COVID, per @carolelee @kwelkernbc @albamonica @kellyo

— Josh Lederman (@JoshNBCNews) June 20, 2020

NEWS: Six staffers working on the Trump Tulsa rally have tested positive for coronavirus.

A campaign statement says "quarantine procedures were immediately implemented. No COVID-positive staffers or anyone in immediate contact will be at today’s rally."

— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) June 20, 2020

Wellllllll that’s ok, no problem, just whisk them away in a sealed … Read the rest

On the one hand – wear masks, maintain distance, stay away if you’re at risk – on the other hand, have fun, knock yourselves out, MAGA. Clear?

Pam Bondi, one of Trump’s lawyers who served as Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019, downplayed concerns by public health officials about today’s rally in Tulsa.

[That is: one of Trump’s lawyers, who served as Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019. Trump doesn’t have several lawyers who served as Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019. Commas exist for a reason, people.]

“We hope that people are going to stay socially distanced, are going to wear a mask, (use) hand sanitzer and be respectful of each other,” Bondi told the

Oops. Trump tried to fire the SDNY prosecutor but he’s refusing to resign.

Attorney General William Barr’s declaration he replaced Geoffrey Berman of the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York renewed the debate over the extent to which Barr is acting [i]n President Donald Trump’s interests rather than the nation’s. The office of Berman, who is refusing to quit, is leading a probe into Trump’s lawyer Rudolph Giuliani and associates and has also indicted a Turkish state-owned firm involved in an Iran sanctions-busting case which Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has raised with Trump.

Scores of former Justice Department officials had already called for Barr to quit over a series of interventions that appear specifically

God what a tool.

Mike Pence declined to say the words “Black lives matter” during an interview with an ABC affiliate in Pennsylvania, instead saying that “all lives matter.”

“Let me just say that what happened to George Floyd was a tragedy,” Pence told ABC6 in Philadelphia, when asked directly if he would say that Black lives matter. “And in this nation, especially on Juneteenth, we celebrate the fact that from the founding of this nation we’ve cherished the ideal that all, all of us are created equal, and endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. And so all lives matter in a very real sense.”

Uh, sir, no, sir, that’s exactly not what we celebrate especially on … Read the rest