Hilarity ensued.

On reflection I unreservedly apologise for my tweet on @jameelajamil’s coming out. It is not up to me to determine who is or who is not part of our wonderful #LGBTQ community. We all make mistakes and that tweet was wrong .I fully realise I came across as biphobic and I apologise

— Anthony Watson CBE (@AnthonyWatson) February 9, 2020

If it is not up to him to determine who is or who is not part of his/their/our/your LGBTQ community does that mean he can’t say TERFs are not part of it? Or no?… Read the rest

The US is a major human rights violator.

Migrants, for instance, face extreme brutality here.

In the early morning of June 12, 2017, a group of eight Central American migrants decided to go on a hunger strike to protest conditions at the immigration detention center where they were being held in California.

When detainees arrive at the facility, they’re given a handbook that states explicitly, “Detention is NOT prison.” Immigration detention is where the government holds people while deciding whether to deport them, and most detainees have no criminal record. But this group said the conditions felt like those of a penitentiary.

And that would be a penitentiary that itself violates human rights.

The group complained that… Read the rest

Kenan Malik considers the “cultural appropriation” question.

“What insults my soul,” Zadie Smith has written, “is the idea… that we can and should write only about people who are fundamentally ‘like’ us: racially, sexually, genetically, nationally, politically, personally.”

Both as novelist and essayist, Smith is one of the most subtle guides to the fraught terrain of culture and identity. The problem of “cultural appropriation” – writers and artists being called out for having stepped beyond their permitted cultural boundaries to explore themes about people who are not “fundamentally ‘like’ us” – is an issue that particularly troubles her. Too often these days, on opening a book or on viewing a painting, we are as likely to ask: “Did the

Aw, sad, Trump and Johnson aren’t besties any more.

Donald Trump’s previously close relationship with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson looks close to collapse, following new revelations that the president slammed down the phone on him.

Trump’s behaviour during last week’s call was described by officials as “apoplectic,” and Johnson has now reportedly shelved plans for an imminent visit to Washington.

So I guess there’s a downside to having an unstable bad-tempered moronic self-dealing hack as president?

[R]elations broke down following a series of high-profile threats from Trump and a series of pointed interventions against Trump by Johnson and senior members of his government.

What, because of a few threats? Losers.

Why did Trump get mad?

The call, which

That’s remarkable.

Asked whether the summary firing of LTC Alexander Vindman was justified Graham says Vindman was part of broader plot against President Trump by FBI Agents, CIA Agents and DOJ Lawyers. pic.twitter.com/AwgimKjlky

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) February 9, 2020

… Read the rest

How cozy.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that he spoke to Attorney General Bill Barr on Sunday and that the Department of Justice has “created a process” to receive and verify information that Rudy Giuliani gathered about the Bidens in Ukraine.

He did, yes.

Lindsey Graham says new DOJ "process" will let Giuliani turn over info on the Bidens https://t.co/MdEfWz8RKp pic.twitter.com/o1bb5KxSXo

— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 9, 2020

“Rudy,” he says, chummily, as if we’re all playing nicely in the sandbox together.

GRAHAM: “We’re going to make sure Hunter Biden’s conflict of interest is explored because this is legitimate. How could Joe Biden really fight corruption when his son’s sitting on the Burisma board?

Starbucks in the UK is selling a new “cookie”:

Starbucks have come up with this particular tooth-rotter in the name of something they present sweetly. Purchase a “mermaids cookie” and a full 50p will be given by Starbucks to the charity Mermaids. So sweet. So innocent. Or sickening. Depending what you know.

Also on what you wonder. I wonder if Starbucks has ever given 50p per cookie to a feminist group.

Personally I view Mermaids as one of the most sinister charitable organisations in the UK. Starbucks simply says that the group supports “young transgender and gender diverse people and their families”. The undrinkable coffee chain claims that all those 50 pences will pay to support a helpline for

The BBC’s New York correspondent asks if US politics is permanently down the crapper.

(My answer without reading further would be hell yes.)

Trump’s victory rally in the East Room of the White House the morning after his acquittal, where Republican jurors stood to applaud, may well come to be seen as a definitive moment – when the party of Reagan truly became the party of Trump.

But the party of Reagan was nothing to brag of. (Neither was the party of Clinton; it just wasn’t as bad as t’other one.) Reagan was elected because he was once a Hollywood B-actor. Not a good reason. He lacked Trump’s venom so in that way he was miles ahead, but the … Read the rest

Also this.

A new annual literary prize, named in honour of the late writing legend Carol Shields, will be launched in 2022 —awarding $150,000 to a single work of fiction by a woman or non-binary writer. | @CBCBookshttps://t.co/xFkpxrJXrC

— CBC (@CBC) February 8, 2020

Woman or non-binary.

Women aren’t allowed to have anything for ourselves any more.… Read the rest

Gee, how impressive: a few Republican senators tried to talk Trump out of firing Sondland. Not Vindman, mind you, oh no no, just Sondland.

A handful of Republican senators attempted to stop President Donald Trump from firing the US Ambassador to the European Union, who was a key impeachment witness, the New York Times reported Saturday.

People briefed on the discussion told the Times that the Republican senators were concerned it would look bad for Trump to fire Gordon Sondland, and told White House officials that Sondland should be allowed to leave on his own terms.

Look bad? Pffff, how silly, he’s the president, he can do whatever he wants. He says so himself.

An adviser to Trump

Who knew they wanted to ruin the built environment too?

We should have known, I suppose, given Trump’s notorious bad taste. Mr Tacky Versailles is just the type to think we must have just the one style of architecture and it should be that old marbley dignified kind like banks and public toilets.

In 1962, future Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan outlined the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture, which prioritized contextual, human-centered buildings and argued that “an official style must be avoided.”

I wonder if he did that in reaction to the Stalinist horrors that loom over Pennsylvania Avenue.

These directives have informed policy at the U.S. General Services Administration for over 50 years—however that could soon change.

Because Evil Don … Read the rest

This is insane.

According to an exclusive report from Fox News, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) is threatening to take action against Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson over his handling of the whistleblower’s complaint, giving him until February 14 to comply with congressional requests for documents.

“I will be referring this matter for investigation by the Department of Justice if you once again refuse to comply,” Nunes wrote in a letter.

It’s my understanding that we have laws governing this – laws that protect whistleblowers so that they won’t be too afraid to blow the whistle. Nunes appears to be breaking laws.… Read the rest

The monster this morning:

….was given a horrendous report by his superior, the man he reported to, who publicly stated that Vindman had problems with judgement, adhering to the chain of command and leaking information. In other words, “OUT”.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 8, 2020

One wonders why he puts scare quotes on “perfect” right after putting them on “Lt. Col.” We know the call was not perfect, but he claims it was.

But one also marvels that he put them on “Lt. Col.” at all, the jealous tiny-minded flabby sack of shit.… Read the rest

The destruction of everything is well underway.

The Interior Department on Wednesday adopted final management plans that allow for mining, drilling and other development on lands that the administration recently removed from Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah.

Because it’s always better to destroy irreplaceable landscapes to make short-term money than it is to preserve them.

The resource management plans “mark an important moment in Utah’s history by providing certainty to local communities, business owners, permittees and the recreating public,” Casey Hammond, Interior’s acting assistant secretary for land and minerals management, said in a call with reporters. 

Yes, certainty that much of the two monuments will be permanently destroyed.

The Trump administration has said that shrinking

When things get bad, women get punished.

Climate-related crises in poorer countries increases violence and exploitation of women, says a recent report, and current attempts to address climate change fail to tackle this issue. This was the conclusion reached by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)…

“We found gender-based violence to be pervasive,” said Cate Owren, lead author of the report, to the publication, “and there is enough clear evidence to suggest that climate change is increasing gender-based violence.”

Naturally. When the situation worsens, the strong oppress the weak more than ever. Men are stronger than women.

The study found evidence that poorer countries struggle the most with handling events influenced by climate change —

Lookin’ good.

⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ returns to the White House from Charlotte, North Carolina. Photo by William Moon at the South Lawn of the White House on February 7, 2020 pic.twitter.com/n1a1Z93LrJ

— White House Photos (@photowhitehouse) February 7, 2020

… Read the rest

In other news –

Today, February 4, 2020, one of Africa’s most outstanding performers, the exceptional kora player from Mali, Ballaké Sissoko has just had his cherished, custom-made kora completely destroyed by USA Customs, without any justification.

Ballaké is a highly acclaimed, distinguished performer who travels around the world with his kora for concerts at top venues. His reputation is impeccable as both artist and human being. He has no criminal record. He is just a brilliant musician, a pacifist, a kind and gentle person, a magnificent and creative performer who manages to give African tradition a contemporary voice with total integrity.

The kora is a fragile, hand-crafted instrument, and Ballaké’s kora is tailor- made to his own specifications. It

CNN has more:

Vindman, a decorated veteran who was born in Ukraine, was escorted out of the White House by security and told his services were no longer needed, according to Vindman’s lawyer, David Pressman.

His twin brother Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, a National Security Council attorney, was also fired and walked off the White House grounds alongside him.

Because Donald Trump is a crook and a thug.

Trump foreshadowed Vindman’s dismissal earlier Friday.

“Well, I’m not happy with him,” Trump said. “You think I’m supposed to be happy with him? I’m not.”

We don’t care whether you’re happy with him or not, asshole. You’re a lying crook and you’re committing more crimes by punishing witnesses. We don’t give … Read the rest

Disgust at the vindictive treatment of Vindman:

This is a national disgrace. I will never forgive the people who have let Donald Trump do this to this country. https://t.co/czKvlzKwlW

— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) February 7, 2020

Seattle’s Representative:

Congressional Republicans: Will you let this stand? Is this the way you think a decorated officer and Purple Heart recipient should be treated? https://t.co/bggB9uLyHV

— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) February 7, 2020

I worked for a DOJ that prosecuted people who retaliated against witnesses.

— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) February 7, 2020

I’m seeing tweets saying Trump fired Vindman’s twin brother too.… Read the rest