Hey, it’s a new year, let’s peddle more bullshit “wellness” to the adoring masses.

Dear @Netflix, the spread of health misinformation does real harm (https://t.co/4Yc3ZTKynz). In addition to promoting unproven ideas & products, it contributes to erosion of #criticalthinking. cc @DrJenGunter

In this era of #fakenews, pls do better!

Less @goop. More science.

— Timothy Caulfield (@CaulfieldTim) January 6, 2020

Let’s hear from Timothy Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy at the University of Alberta:

This has been the decade of misinformation. And, in the context of health, celebrities have led the charge.

It’s an easy buck, you know? You’re famous so people will buy what you market, so why … Read the rest

Simon Jenkins in the Guardian:

Donald Trump’s threat to destroy the sites of ancient Persia should send a shiver down the spine of any civilised person. How can anything justify American bombing of Persepolis or the mosques of Isfahan? Only the demented can see them as “threatening America”. It is on the same ethical plane as the Islamic State vandalism of Palmyra and Mosul.

And the Taliban’s destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas, and other Islamists’ destruction of shrines in Timbuktu.

The destruction of cultural artefacts in war is specifically outlawed under the Hague convention of 1954 and subsequent protocols. It ranks with genocide, chemical weapons and the “strategic” bombing of civilians as beyond the pale of human behaviour. The

Global fascism news, India division:

Students across India have been protesting against an attack on a prestigious Delhi university by masked men wielding sticks on Sunday.

At least 40 students and staff of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) were admitted to hospital with injuries.

Why JNU? Because “left-wing.”

The JNU has long been associated with left-wing activism, and some students have blamed Sunday’s violence on a right-wing student body linked to India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). That group denies involvement and says left-wing activists were responsible.

Sounds familiar.

It did not take long for students and activists across the country to mobilise. On Monday, about 1,000 people gathered in Mumbai, with demonstrations in Hyderabad, Chennai (formerly Madras),

You are threatening to commit war crimes. We are not at war with Iran. The American people do not want a war with Iran. This is a democracy. You do not get to start a war with Iran, and your threats put our troops and diplomats at greater risk. Stop. pic.twitter.com/RoXRgb9GsK

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) January 5, 2020

https://twitter.com/sarahelizalewis/status/1213869848624816128

Women get permanently banned from Twitter for saying men are not women, but Trump can tweet us into a war with Iran and that’s copacetic.

It is who we are though. If “we” and “who” and “are” are meaningful in the context of a whole large heterogeneous country, it is who we are. We (or “we”) have a long history … Read the rest

Pompeo is mad because people don’t think Trump is being awesome.

“I spent the last day and a half, two days, talking to partners in the region, sharing with them what we were doing, why we were doing it, seeking their assistance,” Pompeo told Fox News. “They’ve all been fantastic. And then talking to our partners in other places that haven’t been quite as good.

“Frankly, the Europeans haven’t been as helpful as I wish that they could be. The Brits, the French, the Germans all need to understand that what we did, what the Americans did, saved lives in Europe as well.”

Uh huh.

“Qassem Suleimani led and his IRGC [Revolutionary Guard] led assassination campaigns in Europe. This was

Well, yes.

These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner. Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2020

… Read the rest

Adam Schiff makes an important point here. It may seem obvious to thinking adults, but sadly it’s not thinking adults who are running this shit show. Pompeo claims the hit will save lives, Jake Tapper says, and Schiff points out that that’s Pompeo’s personal opinion but the intelligence information doesn’t support it. He continues to cite intel as opposed to opinion. Opinions are easy, but they can be based on anything or nothing at all. Opinions can be the product of desire as opposed to intelligence (in all senses).

After seeing the intel, I don’t believe it supports conclusion that killing Soleimani will stop Iranian plotting or reduce risk to American lives.

Trump’s decision does, however, increase likelihood of war

Trump yesterday:

….targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2020

He’s promising to commit war crimes. He’s doing it on Twitter. The US president is saying on Twitter that he plans to commit war crimes.

The AP reports:

President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday evening that if Iran attacks any American assets to avenge the killing of a top Iranian general, the U.S. has 52 targets across the Islamic Republic that

It’s 2pm in Auckland yet it feels like the sun is about to set. An eerie, dark orange tinted sky filled with smoke from the #Australia bushfires over 2000km away.
Climate Change Knows No Borders pic.twitter.com/HtoTLLXQOX

— Dr Michelle Dickinson (@medickinson) January 5, 2020

#Smoke update for #Auckland. The main plume is now moving over the city & into tonight, also parts of Northland, Coromandel Peninsula & Waikato.

Smoke in NZ's upper North Island peaks across the rest of Sunday & overnight tonight.

– https://t.co/gb7E1qcpZ3

4:40pm NZDT Jan 5 pic.twitter.com/QlPbOewOf2

— WeatherWatch.co.nz (@WeatherWatchNZ) January 5, 2020

Skies over Auckland this afternoon… pic.twitter.com/sN5Pjqs4NM

— Damian Light (@damianlight) January 5, 2020

The smoke haze from Australia has been dragged across the

New South Wales Rural Fire Service:

EMERGENCY WARNING – Currowan fire (Shoalhaven LGA)
The fire is now burning in Kangaroo Valley.
If you are in the area of Kangaroo Valley, seek shelter as the fire approaches.
For more information: https://t.co/S1fx90d8jK pic.twitter.com/DhQd0Nisqh

— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) January 4, 2020

EMERGENCY WARNING – Border Fire (Bega Valley LGA)
If you are in the area of Womboyn, Kiah, Narrabarba, Towamba, Burragate, Eden and surrounds, you are at risk. It is too late to leave. Seek shelter as the fire approaches. #nswrfs #nswfires #alert pic.twitter.com/fHbAOc9fvg

— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) January 4, 2020

EMERGENCY WARNING – Morton Fire (Wingecarribee LGA)
A fire is spreading quickly in the area N of Shoalhaven River. If you

The news from Australia:

Strong winds that have changed direction are hampering efforts by firefighters to contain bushfires in Australia’s south-east.

A southerly change with powerful gusts up to 80mph (128km/h) threatened to spread huge fires raging in New South Wales (NSW), officials said.

…

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the fires had created a “very volatile situation” and “we are yet to hit the worst of it”.

…

Skies reddened and darkened in areas of south-eastern Australia as wind gusts exacerbated the fires.

Temperatures surpassed 40C (104F) in some areas. In Penrith, west of Sydney, temperatures reached 48.9C. Some reports suggest it was for a time the hottest place on Earth.

Smoky and lethally hot – it sounds … Read the rest

Terry Gilliam doesn’t like this strange new fad for saying men shouldn’t rape women.

The Time Bandits director and Monty Python cast member, who first described himself as a black lesbian in interviews last year, made his latest comments to the Independent while promoting his film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, released later this month.

Gilliam said he was “tired, as a white male, of being blamed for everything that is wrong with the world”.

But he’s not, is he. He’s not blamed for everything that is wrong with the world. The fact that some men – far too many men – rape women does not mean or imply that Terry Gilliam does so, nor that Terry … Read the rest

Fires? Are there fires?

The Australian, Rupert Murdoch’s flagship newspaper, has defended itself against criticism it downplayed unprecedented bushfires by failing to put a picture of the disaster on the front page of an edition, even as newspapers across the world featured the harrowing scenes.

Many of the world’s leading mastheads featured pictures of the devastation of the Australian bushfires on page one on Thursday. But the Australian’s first edition ran an upbeat picture story about the New Year’s Day picnic races at Hanging Rock.

Um…Fake News? It may have looked like an upbeat picture story about the New Year’s Day picnic races at Hanging Rock, but actually it was in-depth coverage of the fires.

The national broadsheet’s lead story

People in south-east Australia are being told to evacuate.

Authorities in Australia have urged tens of thousands of people to move to safety amid concerns that bushfires will burn out of control this weekend.

“If you don’t need to be in the area, you need to leave,” warned New South Wales (NSW) Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

Temperatures are expected to soar above 40C (104F) in parts of south-east Australia on Saturday, with strong winds increasing the fire danger.

…

NSW Rural Fire Service deputy commissioner Rob Rogers warned that fires could move “frighteningly” quickly on Saturday because of the extreme weather conditions.

…

Meteorologists have forecast extreme heat and strong winds in fire-affected areas in south-east Australia on Saturday.

Some … Read the rest

I see this from Maya:

So I investigate. The British Library is having an exhibition April 24-August 23 2020 on women’s rights. Unfinished Business, it’s called.

Image: Designed by Shakila Taranum Maan for Southall Black Sisters

It starts out well enough.

From bodily autonomy and the right to education, to self-expression and protest, this new exhibition explores how feminist activism in the UK today has its roots in the complex history of women’s rights.

Be inspired by those who paved the way – from Cornelia Sorabji, the first woman to study law at Oxford University, to Hope Powell, the first British woman to gain the highest European football coaching licence. Meet lesser-known Suffragettes such as Sophia Duleep Singh