I’m wondering who runs the Richard Dawkins Foundation Twitter, because it’s someone surprisingly crude and ignorant and dogmatic. A very young intern? But I’m wondering why no adults are supervising.

The science is clear and overwhelmingly one-sided. Transgender people exist & are valid. Their existence poses no threat to you or society.

Take time to learn about things. Stay skeptical, always, but learn when to admit you’re wrong should the evidence be sufficient.

— Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science (@rdfrs) July 6, 2018

What? The science is real that transgender people are valid?? What kind of bonkers claim is that? What does it even mean? That’s not something Dawkins would ever say so we know it’s someone … Read the rest

Oh yes, it’s all going very well.

North Korea accused the Trump administration on Saturday of pushing a “unilateral and gangster-like demand for denuclearization” and called it “deeply regrettable,” hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said his two days of talks in the North Korean capital were “productive.”

How is this possible? Trump just told us the problem was over, done, history,  finito. Fixed by him, he said it was.

On Saturday, Mr. Pompeo and his entourage offered no immediate evidence that they had come away with anything tangible to show that North Korea was willing to surrender its nuclear and missile weapons programs.

Tangible? Oh come now, that’s a very high bar. Surely Trump’s word is all … Read the rest

Trump is going to steer around the whole protest problem by…avoiding London.

He will hold talks with Prime Minister Theresa May at her 16th-century manor house, meet Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle and attend a black-tie dinner at the home of former World War Two leader Winston Churchill – all outside London.

Well that’s fine, there’s nothing of interest in London after all.

A spokeswoman for May said the British people were looking forward to his visit.

“We are looking forward to making sure the president has a chance to see and experience the UK beyond London and the south east,” she told reporters.

Definitely, because why would anyone with any sense want to go to London? There … Read the rest

Optimism.

“Mr. Trump surely knows that the legal flood around him is rising…. in America, no one is above the law and common decency. Even if it’s possible to hold off the flood after the cracks in the dam begin to appear, at some point the dam eventually breaks.” https://t.co/5xYu0fi7rG

— Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) July 6, 2018

Aw come on. “In America, no one is above the law and common decency”? Really? Then how come so many people get away with being just that for so long? In America lots of people are above the law and common decency, and flourish like the green bay tree. Some of them are eventually brought to justice, but not all. It’s a pretty … Read the rest

The delegation of Republican senators went to Russia and made fools of themselves.

Republican lawmakers who went to Russia seeking a thaw in relations received an icy reception from Democrats and Kremlin watchers for spending the Fourth of July in a country that interfered in the U.S. presidential election and continues to deny it.

…

Members of the delegation set off on their trip late last week promising to be tough with Russian officials ahead of the president’s visit, especially on matters of election interference. But they struck a conciliatory tone once there: The point of their visit, Shelby stressed to the Duma leader, was to “strive for a better relationship” with Moscow, not “accuse Russia of this or

Our consolation for today will be laughing at Scott Pruitt’s resignation letter.

Pruitt’s deeply weird resignation letter should have been titled, “On Bended Knee: Ode To His Majesty On The Subject of His Most Gracious Reign,” and recited in a stately pleasure dome where Alph, the sacred river, ran through caverns measureless to man down to a sunless sea. pic.twitter.com/rkc9ttLAdl

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) July 6, 2018

Here’s that last paragraph from Pruitt’s letter again:

My desire in service to you has always been to bless you as you make important decisions for the American people. I believe you are serving as President today because of God’s providence. I believe that same providence brought me into your service. I pray

Oh did you think joining the military would be a path to citizenship? Did you think that because we told you so? Hahahaha just kidding, it’s not – so get out. No refunds, no rides home, no nothing.

Some immigrant U.S. Army reservists and recruits who enlisted in the military with a promised path to citizenship are being abruptly discharged, the Associated Press has learned.

The AP was unable to quantify how many men and women who enlisted through the special recruitment program have been booted from the Army, but immigration attorneys say they know of more than 40 who have been discharged or whose status has become questionable, jeopardizing their futures.

…

Eligible recruits are required to have

Took them long enough.

Scott Pruitt, President Trump’s administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, resigned after facing months of allegations over legal and ethical violations.

Mr. Trump announced the resignation in a tweet on Thursday in which he thanked Mr. Pruitt for an “outstanding job” and said the agency’s deputy, Andrew Wheeler, would take over as the acting administrator on Monday.

An outstanding job, eh. What would a terrible job look like then?

Trump likes them dirty, because it gives him a hold over them.

Earlier on Thursday, The New York Times reported on new questions about whether aides to Mr. Pruitt had deleted sensitive information about his meetings from his public schedule, potentially in violation of the

Sarah Ditum takes a look at the peculiar asymmetry of the move to make language more “inclusive” by not using the word “women.”

In June Cancer Research UK, a charity, tweeted: “Cervical screening (or the smear test) is relevant for everyone aged 25-64 with a cervix.” The odd phrasing—“everyone with a cervix” rather than “women”—was not accidental. The charity explained that it had deliberately chosen to use what it described as “inclusive language”. Similarly, the campaign Bloody Good Period, which donates tampons and sanitary towels to asylum-seekers, uses the word “menstruators” rather than “women”. And Green Party Women, an internal campaign group of the British Green Party, confirmed last year that its preferred designation for the constituency it represented was

The “charity” founded by Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu aka “Mother” Teresa has been caught selling babies.

A woman working at Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand has been arrested for allegedly selling a 14-day-old baby.

Two other women employees from the centre have been detained and are being questioned about other possible cases.

Police took action after the state’s Child Welfare Committee (CWC) registered a complaint.

The charity has not responded to BBC requests for comment.

“We have found out that some other babies have also been illegally sold from the centre,” a police official told BBC Hindi’s Niraj Sinha. “We have obtained the names of the mothers of these babies and are further

Uh oh, another pesky woman tears up the memo.

There’s an African proverb that states: “If you don’t know where you come from, how do you know where you are going?” Some of the most powerful black people known for their political analysis, social commentary, activism and legacy during the civil-rights, gay-rights and feminist movements were black lesbians. Oops! Did I just say “lesbian”, that dirty seven-letter word that has the GBTQI community scrambling to apologise for or afraid to associate itself with? Lesbianism is as ancient as the cosmos, yet it is a threat to patriarchy because it does not centre males, nor does it seek male wisdom, power or validation. Instead of finding solace within our community

Trump not welcome in Sheffield.

Sheffield’s Lord Mayor has “banned” US President Donald Trump from visiting the city.

Magid Magid made the announcement while chairing a Sheffield City Council meeting and donning a sombrero “in solidarity” with Mexico.

Hmm. I think wearing a sombrero “in solidarity” with Mexico is kind of like a man wearing Manolos “in solidarity” with women. Sombreros are not some kind of Mexican national garment just as stilettos are not required footware for women.

The council said Mr Magid does not have the power to ban anyone from the city, but that full council “may through a collective, democratic debate and process, agree to condemn the views of an individual or organisation”.

The mayor tweeted

pic.twitter.com/BUER3qHRRt

— Emskware (@emskware2015) July 4, 2018

… Read the rest

Oh honestly.

(1/2) I’m reveling not whining. I’m proud of taking an unpopular, principled position that gets me shunned by partisan zealots. It’s not about me. I couldn’t care less about being shunned by such people. It’s about their unwillingness to engage in dialogue.

— Alan Dershowitz (@AlanDersh) July 3, 2018

No. The fact that it’s an “unpopular” position doesn’t make it something to be proud of. Support for Donald Trump is “unpopular” for compelling reasons. Sometimes the minority is just wrong. Sometimes preening yourself on taking an “unpopular” position is just fatuous vanity.

(2/2) It’s bad enough when college students demand trigger warnings and safe spaces to avoid hearing views with which they disagree. But it’s worse when it