Some of the European countries are putting the arm on Maduro.

Spain, Germany, France and the UK have warned Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro that he must call elections within eight days – or they will officially recognise the opposition.

Mr Maduro is under pressure after his rival Juan Guaidó declared himself “acting president” on Wednesday.

Venezuela, or rather Maduro’s people, told them to fuck off.

On Saturday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on Twitter: “Spain has a responsibility to Latin America… we do not seek to change or remove governments, we want democracy and free elections in Venezuela.”

France and Germany also issued similar statements, in what looked like a co-ordinated demand that elections be held in Venezuela.

UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the election in Venezuela had been “deeply flawed”, repeating his view that Mr Maduro was “not the legitimate leader”.

Kind of true here too, what with Comey’s October surprise and Wikileaks and the Russian thumb on the scale and the 3 million gap in the popular vote. Maybe Europe could help us out while they’re at it?

Russia, a UN Security Council member, has said foreign support for Mr Guaidó violates international law and is a “direct path to bloodshed”. China, Mexico and Turkey have also publicly backed Mr Maduro.

For once we’re not allying with Russia, China and Turkey, but supporting Guaidó with the other liberal states.

Discussions at the UN on Saturday were tense as nations clashed on how to resolve the crisis in Venezuela.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Russia and China of “propping up a failed regime” and said it was time to “support the Venezuelan people immediately”.

“No more delays, no more games. Either you stand with the forces of freedom, or you’re in league with Maduro and his mayhem,” he said.

Pompeo works for the guy who just shut the government down and threw nearly a million workers into instant poverty in a futile attempt to build a giant racist provocation in Mexico’s face. Speaking of mayhem.

]Maduro] was re-elected to a second term last year – but the elections were controversial, with many opposition candidates barred from running or jailed.

Yes that will tend to make an election controversial.

The National Assembly argues that the presidential position is actually vacant because the election was unfair – and that under the constitution this means that Mr Guaidó, as head of the National Assembly, should take over as acting president instead.

Good luck to them.

Remember when Wilbur Ross said government agencies were offering unpaid workers very low interest loans? Yesterday? (Never mind the fact that people shouldn’t have to pay interest, however low, on their own god damn salaries.) Turns out they’re not what a normal person would call “low” at all, at least not Wilbur Ross’s department.

The Commerce Department’s federal credit union is charging furloughed employees almost 9 percent interest on emergency loans to cover their missing paychecks, despite Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross saying Thursday that financial institutions were offering “very, very low-interest-rate loans to bridge people over the gap.”

Who wouldn’t want to pay 9 percent interest to get their own salary? Such a deal. I hear the commissary was selling milk for only fifty dollars a quart, too.

“During the Government Shutdown we’re here to help our members and non-member employees of the Department of Commerce & NOAA and its affiliates, the Executive Office of the President and the White House Management and Administration Offices,” the credit union’s website says.

Emergency loans of up to $5,000 are available for furloughed employees with repayment terms of up to two years, the site says. Two loan officers reached at the credit union’s telephone number confirmed the terms, which include interest rates “as low as 8.99 percent.”

Golly gee, that low. They’re right up there with Scrooge for generosity.

The governor of Washington state has declared a state of emergency because of the measles outbreak.

There are 25 confirmed cases in Clark County, and a single known case in King County after a man in his 50s contracted measles and was hospitalized following a recent trip to Vancouver, according to a news release from Inslee’s office. As of Friday, Clark County Public Health had posted even higher numbers, with 30 confirmed and nine suspected cases.

…

On Jan. 18, Clark County declared its own local public health emergency after the outbreak. Twenty-six of those suffering from the disease had not been immunized and the vaccination status of four others was unverified. Researchers called nearby Portland a “hot spot” for infections due to a high rate of non-medical exemptions from vaccines, according to The Washington Post.

But hey let’s hear more from the anti-vaxxers.

Alice Sullivan and Judith Suissa of University College London on the narrowness of the ledge we are allowed to stand on:

Academics who do not adhere to a particular line on gender and transgender issues have suffered intimidation by trans activists. The people under attack are not mavericks or extremists. They are feminists who question the trans-orthodox view that biological sex is a social construct while gendered identities are fixed and innate. They also seek to defend women’s sex-based rights. In this article, we explain what is happening and consider what steps the higher education community needs to take to ensure that academic freedom is not curtailed.

One reason why concerns about academic freedom have been crystallised by the trans activist movement in particular is the narrowness of the ideological viewpoint that it has sought to impose.

Emphasis mine.

National polling shows that only 19 per cent of people share the view that ‘trans women are women’, and dissenting opinion encompasses a range of views. Yet trans activists claim that questioning the position that a person’s ‘gender identity’ trumps their biological sex in legal and social contexts amounts to being ‘anti-trans’, and to denying trans people’s very right to exist.

They call it bigotry and transphobia and they and their non-trans but equally rabid allies do everything they can to shut it down.

When academics disagree with a piece of research, they would normally encourage debate, critique and more research. However, in the case of transgender issues, activists have derailed this process repeatedly. This is particularly troubling given the need for research into the rapid growth in the numbers of young people presenting with gender dysphoria.

It’s also particularly troubling given how thoroughly the whole thing has been politicized, such that claims about “authentic self” and “validation” are brandished like weapons to close down attempts to talk about the facts, aka the evidence. Researchers are assailed for trying to find out why there is such rapid growth in the numbers of adolescents claiming gender dysphoria.

The climate within academia is inevitably influenced by the broader political arena, where trans activists have sought to shut down debate, often using violent misogynistic language and behaviour. Trans activists have adopted the slogan and hashtag #nodebate, claiming that debate constitutes ‘real harm’ or even ‘literal violence’.

Read the rest.

The Telegraph has further details on the “Inspector Plod understands you have tweeted a tweet” incident.

Harry Miller, 53, from Lincoln was contacted on Wednesday by a community cohesion officer following a complaint that had been made about the plant and machinery dealer’s social media posts.

Ahhh a community cohesion officer, of course. Community cohesion is apparently mandatory and enforced by the police in the UK…but then what is it, exactly? We know it’s not about men threatening women because the police couldn’t care less about that – but it is about doggerel (it’s not a limerick) that makes fun of “gender identity”? We have to cohere when it comes to gender identity but we’re free to split apart when it comes to bullying women?

Citing 30 potentially offensive tweets, the PC singled out a limerick Mr Miller had retweeted which  questioned whether transgender women are biological women. It included the lines: “Your breasts are made of silicone, your vagina goes nowhere.”

I repeat: it’s not a limerick. Limericks are like sonnets in having a specific set of criteria for meter and length. Anyway, like many people, I have doubts about police officers monitoring what the citizens retweet.

PC Mansoor Gul told Mr Miller: “I’ve been on a course and what you need to understand is that you can have a foetus with a female brain that grows male body parts and that’s what a transgender person is.”

He’s been on a course, you see. Maybe next year he’ll be on a course that teaches him you can have a foetus with a human brain that grows giraffe body parts and that’s what a transspecies person is.

The investigation comes as crime in Humberside has gone up by 13 per cent in the year ending September 2018, above the 8 per cent national average. Violent offences are up 24 per cent, sexual offences are up 19 per cent and robberies are up 17 per cent. The number of officers on the beat has increased by nearly 200 in the past 12 months.

Well thank god they can still spare a few officers to monitor what we retweet.

Confirming that he had spoken to Mr Miller for 20 minutes, PC Gul told the Telegraph he made the remark about the foetus because he had “learned it on a training course ran by a transgender person last summer”.

Was the course titled Metaphysical Biology?

A spokesperson for Humberside Police said: “We take all reports of hate incidents seriously and will always investigate and take proportionate action.”

They don’t though. Ask Kate Smurthwaite for instance.

NEW: Pres. Trump says Speaker Pelosi "has cancelled" State of the Union address.

"I don't believe it's ever happened before. It's always good to be part of history, but this is a very negative part of history. This is where people are afraid to open up and say what's going on." pic.twitter.com/vQLJ5xzJyn

— ABC News (@ABC) January 23, 2019

Or, “Nancy” as I call her

and she doesn’t want to hear more importantly the American people hear the truth

n I think that’s a great…BLAHHTSHHH

on the…incredible country that we all love

it’s a great great harrible mark

this is where people are ayfrayd to open up and say what’s going on

very very negative pard of histree

Since Screechy Monkey and Pliny the In Between both quoted it, here is the full passage in A Christmas Carol:

They were portly gentlemen, pleasant to behold, and now stood, with their hats off, in Scrooge’s office. They had books and papers in their hands, and bowed to him.

“Scrooge and Marley’s, I believe,” said one of the gentlemen, referring to his list. “Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge, or Mr. Marley?”

“Mr. Marley has been dead these seven years,” Scrooge replied. “He died seven years ago, this very night.”

“We have no doubt his liberality is well represented by his surviving partner,” said the gentleman, presenting his credentials.

It certainly was; for they had been two kindred spirits. At the ominous word “liberality,” Scrooge frowned, and shook his head, and handed the credentials back.

“At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,” said the gentleman, taking up a pen, “it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.”

“Are there no prisons?” asked Scrooge.

“Plenty of prisons,” said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

“And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge. “Are they still in operation?”

“They are. Still,” returned the gentleman, “I wish I could say they were not.”

“The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?” said Scrooge.

“Both very busy, sir.”

“Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,” said Scrooge. “I’m very glad to hear it.”

“Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude,” returned the gentleman, “a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?”

“Nothing!” Scrooge replied.

“You wish to be anonymous?”

“I wish to be left alone,” said Scrooge. “Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don’t make merry myself at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned—they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there.”

“Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.”

“If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Besides—excuse me—I don’t know that.”

“But you might know it,” observed the gentleman.

“It’s not my business,” Scrooge returned. “It’s enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people’s. Mine occupies me constantly. Good afternoon, gentlemen!”

Seeing clearly that it would be useless to pursue their point, the gentlemen withdrew. Scrooge resumed his labours with an improved opinion of himself, and in a more facetious temper than was usual with him.

Charles Dickens

I’ll just strum the Wilbur Ross guitar for a few more minutes…

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross — a multimillionaire who has engaged in multiple, possibly criminal, ethics violations during his tenure — "doesn't understand why" federal workers are going to homeless shelters and food banks during the shutdown. pic.twitter.com/4jvYAdFMvf

— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) January 24, 2019

Wilbur Ross, who has been leading us into a trade war on behalf of the steel industry, says that the number of workers affected by the shutdown is small, so it's no big deal. A useful chart pic.twitter.com/5sWkjtwug8

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) January 24, 2019

Wilbur Ross is @realDonaldTrump’s Secretary of Commerce.

Wilbur Ross is a billionaire.

And this is billionaire Wilbur Ross saying he doesn’t understand why federal workers not getting paid during the #TrumpShutdown don’t just take out loans *to feed their families*.

Unreal. pic.twitter.com/YHHZqKa8sx

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 24, 2019

https://twitter.com/BCAppelbaum/status/1088441483177459712

As Wilbur Ross touts legislation granting federal workers backpay *after* the shutdown ends, it’s a good time to remember that most federal contractors — cafeteria workers, carpenters, security officers, etc. — don’t get backpay. Ever.

And they’re often the most vulnerable. https://t.co/DQe1KpIv0P

— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) January 24, 2019

More on Wilbur Ross and “why don’t they just take out a loan?”

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Thursday said he doesn’t understand why federal workers are visiting food banks during the partial government shutdown, saying they should instead seek low-interest loans from banks and credit unions to supplement their lost wages.

“I know they are, and I don’t really quite understand why,” Ross said on CNBC when asked about federal workers going to food banks. Ross is a billionaire and a longtime friend of President Trump.

“The idea that it’s paycheck or zero is not a really valid idea,” he said. “There’s no reason why some institution wouldn’t be willing to lend.”

Wellllll I can think of a reason. It goes like this: banks don’t lend money to everyone who asks, because banks are in the business of making money. They ask if you will be able to pay it back, and they seek documentation of any affirmative reply, and if they can’t find the right kind of documentation, they decline to lend the money. That’s a reason some institution wouldn’t be willing to lend. I would think a commerce secretary would know that.

Ross leads one of the agencies that is directly affected by the shutdown that began Dec. 22, and many of his employees haven’t been paid for weeks.

But they’re all fine, because they can all get loans just for the asking. Probably.

The White House is working to quell a growing anger among the 800,000 federal workers who are scheduled to miss their second paychecks this week, as many have begun calling in sick or refusing to show up for work. The Trump administration has scrambled to try to deflect the shutdown’s effect on the economy, but they’ve done this in part by requiring thousands of unpaid federal employees to continue doing their jobs.

Many of those workers are beginning to revolt, either calling in sick or saying they can’t afford gasoline.

“It’s kind of disappointing that the air traffic controllers are calling in sick in pretty large number,” Ross said.

Oh yes, how rude and disappointing of them to stop showing up for work when they’re not being paid.

This sort of grin-and-bear-it line is similar to the position Trump has taken, saying he thinks federal workers will make “adjustments” during the shutdown.

Sure. Just get out the screwdriver and give it a little twist and everything will be awesome.

Stupid on Twitter.

Ahhh yes, why don’t they just take out payday loans, the whiners.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says he does not understand why federal employees who are furloughed or have been working without pay during the partial government shutdown would need assistance from food banks.

Right? Right? Everybody has a few mill in the savings account for times like this, yeah? Why don’t they just use that money for now?

“I know they are, and I don’t really quite understand why,” Ross said when asked on CNBC about workers getting food from places like shelters. “Because, as I mentioned before, the obligations that they would undertake, say borrowing from a bank or a credit union are in effect federally guaranteed.”

And all anybody has to do to borrow from a bank is just waltz in and demand a few thousand bucks. It’s that easy. Paying the interest is easy too. It’s all just one big piece of Easy Cake.

James Kirkup on that chat with Inspector Plod:

This is a story about Harry Miller, a man who has lived a life that might be described as blameless and even admirable. He’s the director of a company that employs 70-odd people in one of the poorer bits of England, invests in its staff and community, and uses its financial and technical expertise to raise large sums of money and make life better for people who really need it in very poor parts of Nepal.

And yet he had that 34 minute conversation with a cop yesterday.

This is, of course, a story about Twitter, and transgenderism. Miller says he was interviewed by the police and warned about his ‘thinking’ because he had used his Twitter account to express opinions about transgenderism and the law as it applies to gender. On that account, Miller says things such as ‘trans women are not women’ and questions the school of thought that says someone born male who ‘identifies’ as female must be treated in exactly the same way as a person born with a female body.

Or rather, exactly the same way but more so because trans women are twice oppressed, unlike mere women. Trans women are women and trans, which is two kinds of oppressed, so they go to the head of the line.

Miller, it was suggested, might have been responsible for such a ‘hate incident’ by ‘promoting’ tweets that a complainant (unnamed) regarded as hateful or offensive. The officer allegedly had a list of 30 tweets Miller had sent, liked or retweeted, which he suggested had been cited by a person he referred to as ‘the victim’ of the supposed incident.

Miller says the officer went on to warn him that by ‘promoting’ such material, he might find himself in trouble with his company (the officer was evidently unaware that Miller actually owns the firm) because his tweeting might make transgender employees uncomfortable.

And of course we can assume that these non-existent trans employees are monitoring Miller’s tweets just as anxiously as the police are, in hopes of finding something to be “uncomfortable” about.

 spoke to Miller this morning about the call. He said he remains incredulous that a police officer would seek him out, via his business, and spend more than half an hour warning him about his ‘thinking’ and the fact that he had expressed opinions about social and political issues, in a way that does not in any way break the law.

Miller told me: ‘I kept asking him, why are you saying ‘victim’? If there’s not been a crime, how can there be a victim. He said that’s just the way it is.’

‘He said he would be passing my answers on to the complainant. I told him to tell that person I would gladly talk to them, that I’d like to take them out to dinner so we could have a conversation about this. I’d explain that I am a strong supporter of the 2010 Equality Act, and explain my concerns about possible reforms of the Gender Recognition Act and how that could affect legal rights for women. Of course, he wouldn’t tell me anything about the complainant, just that they were from ‘down south’.’

Well that narrows it down.

I also asked Humberside Police about Miller’s account of his conversation with their officer. They gave me this statement:

‘We take all reports of hate incident seriously and will always investigate and take proportionate action.’ [sic]

They didn’t say any more about what constitutes a ‘hate incident’, but English and Welsh police forces are subject to Home Office instructions on ‘crime reporting’ that appear to oblige them to record anything that a complainant perceives to be motivated by hatred of people because of a protected characteristic. That can mean race, age, disability or gender reassignment.

How about sex? In there at all?

What to make of this? I’ve written a lot about this subject, because I think it raises many disturbing questions about the way we conduct ourselves as a society and a democracy, about the way the political process registers and responds to different groups’ valid concerns and questions. I keep writing about it because I think that more people in positions of authority should take a closer (and more public) interest in numerous failures of policy and politics.

In the meantime, be careful of those limericks.

The discussion of How Bad Would It Be if the Shutdown Went On For Months continues.

Economists have told NBC News that an extended government shutdown could be catastrophic for the economy — as well as for the almost 40 million Americans who would lose food stamps, two million people who could lose rental assistance and the 800,000 federal workers and estimated 1.2 million contractors who aren’t getting paychecks.

Also for national security, federal law enforcement and investigations, environmental protections, food safety, disease control, and assorted minor problems of that kind. Other than that it will all be just fine!

Hundreds of already frustrated and struggling federal workers demonstrated Wednesday in Washington, D.C., urging senators to stop sitting on the sidelines and get the government going again.

The workers held a silent protest in the Hart Senate Office Building for 33 minutes — one minute for every day they’ve gone without pay since the shutdown began. Many held paper plates with messages scrawled on them, like “hostage,” “federal workers are going hungry” and “please let us work.”

The protest then moved to the Russell Senate Office Building, where 12 demonstrators, including several union leaders, were arrested outside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office.

Mitch McConnell is still getting paid.

The Kentucky Republican was also targeted by protesters in his home state. About three dozen workers demonstrated outside of his office in Lexington — and police were called on them when they tried unsuccessfully to present his office with letters describing the hardships the shutdown has forced them to endure.

The police were called when they tried to present letters to his office? Wtf? He’s not a private citizen, he’s the boss of the Senate, who is helping Trump to keep the government shut down – and his constituents don’t even have the right to deliver letters to his office? Why the hell not??

Ok this is really scary – this is coup-material.

White House seeks list of programs that would be hurt if shutdown lasts into March.

White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has pressed agency leaders to provide him with a list of the highest-impact programs that will be jeopardized if the shutdown continues into March and April, people familiar with the directive said.

Mulvaney wants the list no later than Friday, these people said, and it’s the firmest evidence to date that the White House is preparing for a lengthy funding lapse that could have snowballing consequences for the economy and government services.

Putin must be breaking out the very best champagne at this news – his little buddy is going to destroy the US altogether!

Welp. Elijah Cummings and Adam Schiff have said Trump is using textbook mob tactics and that he’s breaking the law. In an official statement.

Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Rep. Adam Schiff, the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, issued the following statement in response to a request received by Michael Cohen to postpone his upcoming testimony before Congress:

“We have received Mr. Cohen’s notice postponing his voluntary appearance in an open hearing before the Committee on Oversight and Reform.  We certainly understand the completely legitimate concerns for the safety and security of Mr. Cohen and his family members in light of the attacks last week by President Trump and again this past weekend by his attorney, Rudy Giuliani.

“As we stated previously with our colleague, Chairman Jerry Nadler of the Judiciary Committee, efforts to intimidate witnesses, scare their family members, or prevent them from testifying before Congress are textbook mob tactics that we condemn in the strongest terms.  Our nation’s laws prohibit efforts to discourage, intimidate, or otherwise pressure a witness not to provide testimony to Congress.  The President should make no statement or take any action to obstruct Congress’ independent oversight and investigative efforts, including by seeking to discourage any witness from testifying in response to a duly authorized request from Congress.

He already has done that, and he did it on television. He’s committed crimes right in front of us.

“We understand that Mr. Cohen’s wife and other family members fear for their safety after these attacks, and we have repeatedly offered our assistance to work with law enforcement to enhance security measures for Mr. Cohen and his family.

“Nevertheless, when our Committees began discussions with Mr. Cohen’s attorney, not appearing before Congress was never an option.  We will not let the President’s tactics prevent Congress from fulfilling our constitutionally mandated oversight responsibilities.  This will not stop us from getting to the truth.  We expect Mr. Cohen to appear before both Committees, and we remain engaged with his counsel about his upcoming appearances.”

We get The Godfather and All the President’s Men in one movie.

And then the police phoned.

https://twitter.com/HarryTheOwl/status/1088144875122499584

https://twitter.com/HarryTheOwl/status/1088144879690174464

Ah yes the “you liked it” crime. I remember that one so well – creepy people monitoring my Likes on Twitter and Facebook and even writing long screeds about them. It seemed stark raving mad to me then, and it doesn’t seem any saner now – and as for the police doing it, and deciding on the basis of doing it that the Person of Suspect Likes is unsafe to employ trans people – it’s just fucking batshit crazy.

https://twitter.com/HarryTheOwl/status/1088144883909570560

https://twitter.com/HarryTheOwl/status/1088144888867241984

Don’t we all just long to have a cop phone us up to tell us that “sometimes a woman’s brain grows a man’s body in the womb and that is what transgender is”?

https://twitter.com/HarryTheOwl/status/1088144892730195968

How can the cop possibly know he’s at risk of being fired for hate speech? Is the cop telling the company to fire him if he likes any more limericks on Twitter?

The world burns and this is what the UK police are busying themselves with.