It could all just end you know.

It seems eternal because it’s what we know…which is to say, it’s an illusion that it’s eternal, or even all that stable.

Rachel Nuwer wrote a long read on the subject for the BBC.

Safa Motesharrei, a systems scientist at the University of Maryland, uses computer models to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that can lead to local or global sustainability or collapse. According to findings that Motesharrei and his colleagues published in 2014, there are two factors that matter: ecological strain and economic stratification. The ecological category is the more widely understood and recognised path to potential doom, especially in terms of depletion of natural resources such as groundwater, soil,

The Times writes up the making of a tv serial based on The Handmaid’s Tale.

Before the series even debuts on Wednesday, April 26, references to “The Handmaid’s Tale” — shorthand for repressive patriarchy — seem ubiquitous. A photo of a group of male Republicans at the White House debating maternity services with nary a woman in sight earned the social media hashtag #Gilead. Last month, women in Handmaids’ red dresses and bonnets sat side-by-side in the Texas State Capitol to protest anti-abortion measures under consideration.

In short the dystopian premise is horrifyingly more plausible than it was a year ago.

It was still the Obama era when Hulu pursued the property two years ago, as part of a

I read this thing on a self-described trans dating site yesterday, and found it puzzling in several ways. It’s a “Femininity Guide For Trans Women.”

Trans Women are unapologetically fashion conscious; they have an insatiable desire to look more feminine.

That seems insulting. Surely trans women are like people in general: various. Surely they don’t all have an insatiable desire to look more feminine.

Also what is “feminine”? But more on that later.

Just like cisgender women, they always want to look younger and prettier.

That’s insulting to both. It’s not true that “cisgender” women always want to look younger and prettier. That’s a sexist and belittling stereotype about women.

However, after the sex reassignment surgery, many transgender women find

The Times has a long-read article on the FBI and emails and Trump and yadda. One of the four reporters on the story tweeted it, and replies to the tweet are raking the Times over the coals for its previous reporting on the subject.

@adamgoldmanNYT @mattapuzzo @nytmike @EricLichtblau Guys, it will NEVER make up for THIS.
J. Miller helped get us into Iraq. Then you hired Wm. Kristol.
Then did THIS & hired Bret Stephens. pic.twitter.com/rt0z3GGOKq

— Padraig O Mearan (@omearan) April 22, 2017

The Times did that, and now we have an ignorant impulsive rage-prone narcissist as head of state.

@adamgoldmanNYT @maggieNYT @mattapuzzo @nytmike @EricLichtblau Rather than this article I'd prefer NYT to apologize for saying during election

So apparently the Justice Department is now in the business of telling big American cities how horrible they are.

Today, the Department of Justice sent the attached letters to nine jurisdictions which were identified in a May 2016 report by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General as having laws that potentially violate 8 U.S.C. § 1373.

Additionally, many of these jurisdictions are also crumbling under the weight of illegal immigration and violent crime. The number of murders in Chicago has skyrocketed, rising more than 50 percent from the 2015 levels. New York City continues to see gang murder after gang murder, the predictable consequence of the city’s “soft on crime” stance.

That sounds more like Trump on Twitter than … Read the rest

Lots of “sex positive” guys here.

York Regional Police say an undercover operation has resulted in the arrests of dozens of men who sought to buy sex with children over the internet.

“We stopped 104 men from purchasing 104 children,” Det. Sgt. Thai Truong told a news conference Friday.

The four-year operation, dubbed Project Raphael, zeroed in on men who sought sex with girls they believed were between 13 and 16 years old.

How prudish and judgmental to think men shouldn’t be trying to fuck girls of 13.

The men, who ranged in age from 21 to 71, offered to pay between $80 and $300 for encounters of between 30 and 60 minutes with the children.

The children have … Read the rest

The Irish government, for some fuck-unknown reason, is giving ownership of an expensive new maternity hospital to…wait for it…the “Sisters of Charity” – you know, the order that tortured all those generations of children in industrial “schools” for the crime of being poor and / or born to unmarried parents. Emer O’Toole tells the story.

In 2009 the Ryan report into child sexual abuse in state-funded, church-run institutions was published, costing the Irish taxpayer €82m. It uncovered decades of abuse endured by children in the ostensible care of Catholic organisations including the Sisters of Charity. This is the order of nuns that will be given ownership of the €300m state-of-the-art new National Maternity Hospital by the Irish government

Bradd Jaffy tweets:

A paragraph you have to read twice in order to wrap your brain around it. https://t.co/pwSbMzO7jQ pic.twitter.com/ShWjYQx2hJ

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) April 20, 2017

Payouts related to sexual harassment allegations at Fox News now total more than 85 million dollars. The vast majority of it – up to $65 million – is going to the accused men.

The millions go to the men who did the harassing.

Jaffe is right: it’s hard to wrap your head around.… Read the rest

This happened:

A Russian journalist known for his criticism of President Vladimir Putin has died after being beaten by unknown attackers, it has been reported.

Nikolai Andrushchenko, 73, who co-founded the Novy Peterburg newspaper, was attacked six weeks ago and had been in a coma since then.

He died on Wednesday in St Petersburg.

His attackers have not been identified but Novy Peterburg editor Denis Usov linked the assault to articles in the newspaper about corruption in the city.

Mr Andrushchenko was a member of the St Petersburg city council from 1990 until 1993. He made his name writing about human rights issues and crime.

Our new best friend Russia.… Read the rest

Paris:

One policeman has been shot dead and two others wounded in central Paris, French police say, with their suspected attacker killed by security forces.

A lone gunman opened fire before being killed as he fled the scene, police say. The Champs-Elysees was sealed off.

President Francois Hollande said that he was convinced the attack was “terrorist-related”.

So-called Islamic State (IS) said that one of its “fighters” had carried out the attack.

Islamist militancy is a major issue in the polls after recent mass attacks claimed by IS, with 238 people killed in jihadist attacks in France since 2015, according to data from AFP news agency.

I suppose this will increase votes for Marine Le Pen, and I also … Read the rest