Pompeo’s attempt to demote Congress doesn’t seem to be gaining any traction:

The chairmen of three House committees say they expect “full compliance” from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as they investigate President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel and House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings fired back Tuesday after Pompeo said in a letter that lawmakers are trying to “intimidate” and “bully” his employees. Pompeo said depositions scheduled by the panels are “not feasible.”

The chairmen wrote Pompeo that “any effort to intimidate witnesses or prevent them from talking with Congress” is illegal and could constitute obstruction of justice in their ongoing impeachment inquiry.

Meanwhile…… Read the rest

Pompeo is trying to bully the impeachment hearings:

Secretary of state Mike Pompeo has written to the House foreign affairs committee chairman, New York Democrat Eliot Engel, vowing to prevent attempts to “intimidate, bully, and treat improperly” current and former members of the state department into testifying in relation to the impeachment inquiry.

In the letter, Pompeo said he would work to expose what he called any attempts to intimidate employees, the Wall Street Journal reports.

…

Pompeo said he is “concerned with aspects of the Committee’s request that can be understood only as an attempt to intimidate, bully, & treat improperly the distinguished professionals of the Department of State, including several career [foreign-service officers].”

He works for … Read the rest

So why doesn’t Harrop see it? Why do all the “TERF”-bashers not see it? Harrop’s claim is that people can’t overrule or overcome their sexual preferences and they shouldn’t be pressured to. What if that inability and right not to be pressured about it apply to more than just sexual preferences? What if they apply to other kinds of inter-relating?

What if, for instance, gender critical feminists can interact with trans women as women in some situations but not all? What if we want to reserve the right to talk to other women – literal women – about some subjects, especially those that affect us as women, because we’re women, and don’t affect men the same way, because they’re men? … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Roj Blake on Tiny favor, Scott.

Where do they get off? Why would they think Morrison has any interest in meddling with US internal affairs? Is Trump also asking other heads of state to wash his underpants, scrub his toilet, pick the nits out of his combover?

On December 27, 1941, Australian Prime Minister wrote in a “Letter to The Australian People” and published in that day’s Newspapers, “Without any inhibitions of any kind, I make it quite clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom.” Although Curtin saw an equal partnership with the US, that has not always been the case. … Read the rest

The Post has more. A lot more.

Attorney General William P. Barr has held private meetings overseas with foreign intelligence officials seeking their help in a Justice Department inquiry that President Trump hopes will discredit U.S. intelligence agencies’ examination of possible connections between Russia and members of the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the matter.

In other words the top law official is using the Justice Department as a personal weapon to defend Trump against all accusations, no matter how well-founded.

The direct involvement of the nation’s top law enforcement official shows the priority Barr places on the investigation being conducted by John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, who has been

Matt Lodder tweets:

Richard Dawkins is promoting far right, white nationalist, Christian crank conferences now. That’s what’s happening. https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins/status/1178170072537264129

Also, Helen Pluckrose and her gang of bold warriors for intellectual truth are *speaking* at far-right, white nationalist crank conferences, in case any one still doubted the quality of their work and the rigour of their research.

The tweet is gone but

Pretentious postmodern nonsense is a serious menace in universities & contemporary culture. Peter Boghossian, James Lindsay & Helen Pluckrose are heroes in the fight against it. Hear them at the London conference on “Speaking Truth to Social Justice.”

They are thought leaders! Thought leaders of the finest kind!

H/t Screechy Monkey… Read the rest

Bolsonaro has a weird sense of humor.

Bolsonaro, an outspoken fan of the 1964-1985 military regime during which hundreds of political opponents were murdered and thousands more tortured, met with students at the gates of the presidential palace in the capital, Brasília, on Monday.

Video of the encounter shows one of the students saying, “Send a hug to my teacher.”

“You teacher is a leftist?” the president replies, as the crowd erupts with laughter.

“Tell her to read the book The Suffocated Truth. Just read it,” Bolsonaro says. “There are facts, not the blah blah blah of the left.”

The book he recommended was written by Col Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, who in 2008 became Brazil’s first military man

Matt Yglesias at Vox reminds us why Congress isn’t getting much done (spoiler: it’s not because the Dems are “Do Nothing” as Trump keeps tweeting):

Both parties’ congressional campaign committees have polling that indicates the public is frustrated with Congress’ lack of progress on policy issues and therefore have adopted strategies centered on blaming the other party for inaction.

This theme recurs in recent Trump tweets on subjects ranging from China to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to nothing in particular, all of which repeat the phrase “Do Nothing Democrats.”

Under the circumstances, it’s worth emphasizing that this is simply false. House Democrats have passed a lot of bills, including conceptually ambitious legislation to curb corruption in politics and 

Say what? The Guardian:

Elon Musk has unveiled a SpaceX spacecraft designed to carry crew and cargo to the moon, Mars or anywhere else in the solar system and land back on Earth perpendicularly.

What are they talking about? SpaceX has as of now designed a spacecraft that can carry crew anywhere in the solar system? That’s nonsense.

In a live-streamed speech from SpaceX’s launch facility near the southern tip of Texas, Musk said on Saturday that the space venture’s Starship is expected to take off for the first time in about one or two months and reach 19,800 meters (65,000ft) before returning to Earth and landing.

So they’re working on being able to reach 65,000 feet and return. … Read the rest

Trump crazier than ever.

Like every American, I deserve to meet my accuser, especially when this accuser, the so-called “Whistleblower,” represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way. Then Schiff made up what I actually said by lying to Congress……His lies were made in perhaps the most blatant and sinister manner ever seen in the great Chamber. He wrote down and read terrible things, then said it was from the mouth of the President of the United States. I want Schiff questioned at the highest level for Fraud & Treason………In addition, I want to meet not only my accuser, who presented SECOND & THIRD HAND INFORMATION, but also the person who illegally

That’s funny.

Trump and other aides are frustrated with Mulvaney because he did not have a strategy for defending and explaining the Ukraine call.

Actually it’s hilarious. The problem is not committing an outlandish crime grotesquely festooned with sub-crimes which are in turn festooned with more crimes – the problem is not having worked up a set of lies to deal with exposure of the outlandish crime grotesquely festooned with sub-crimes which are in turn festooned with more crimes. It’s all the fault of the guy who didn’t lie fast enough!

The tweet links to a CNN piece:

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney is on shaky ground in the wake of a bad week for