This is hilarious.

Seattle hears snow forecast, descends on grocery stores like the apocalypse is coming

The weatherman said that, worst-case scenario, 14 inches of snow might blanket Seattle over the weekend.

Hearing this, Seattle made like Supermarket Sweep and bought, literally, all the things.

Cue photo of empty shelves.

I can confirm. I went (on foot) up to the shopping street of my neighborhood a couple of hours ago (when the snow was well under way) because I needed milk and orange juice. Safeway: no milk, no orange juice, bare shelves all over the place! Trader Joe’s: one last carton of orange juice, which I grappled to my soul with hoops of steel; no milk, empty shelves! Bartell Drugs: … Read the rest

Paul Waldman at the Post argues that Whitaker and Barr are under such fierce scrutiny now that they can’t obstruct the investigation, however much they want to.

Democrats are trying to do two things simultaneously with this hearing in particular and their broader efforts with regard to the Mueller investigation. The first is to discover whether there has been any improper interference from the White House to limit the probe. The second is to apply enough pressure that even if Whitaker — or the White House, or William Barr — wanted to hinder Mueller, they’d decide that doing so would be too much of a risk.

The truth is that Democrats have probably succeeded in the latter goal, which must

The Whitaker hearing is happening today. The tweets emanating from there are startling.

!!!

Nadler asks Whitaker if he's been asked to approve any of Mueller's moves.
Whitaker: “Mr Chairman, I see that your five minutes is up I’m here voluntarily I agreed to five-minute rounds”

Gasps in the room

— Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) February 8, 2019

Jerry Nadler asks Matthew Whitaker if he has ever been asked to approve any request or action to be taken by the Special Counsel.

Whitaker: "Mr. Chairman, I see that your five minutes is up."

The response in the room is remarkable. Via CSPAN2 pic.twitter.com/UAcOyulX46

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 8, 2019

Whitaker makes a snide remark about Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee's time.

Well now what do you think is going to happen in a secretive all-male organization that employs women to do the scut work?

In his typically free-associating riff, Francis acknowledged “there have been priests and bishops” who have committed sexual abuse against nuns, and that “it’s continuing because it’s not like once you realize it that it stops.” He said the church needed to do more.

Priests and bishops in the Catholic church are all, by definition, men. Women are officially barred from being priests and bishops. That’s step one right there, or steps one and one. It’s a double whammy: women are an inferior caste who may not hold the important jobs, and women are all subordinate to the … Read the rest

Jeff Bezos. Today. Reporting attempted blackmail and extortion by the National Enquirer, owned by American Media, Inc (AMI).

Something unusual happened to me yesterday. Actually, for me it wasn’t just unusual — it was a first. I was made an offer I couldn’t refuse. Or at least that’s what the top people at the National Enquirer thought. I’m glad they thought that, because it emboldened them to put it all in writing. Rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, I’ve decided to publish exactly what they sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten.

AMI, the owner of the National Enquirer, led by David Pecker, recently entered into an immunity deal with the Department of Justice related

From the “oh come on now” files:

Speaks for itself and no one is at all surprised. pic.twitter.com/kLoJzMmY10

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 6, 2019

Yes, running the country like a mob boss is just fine as long as you wear a Flag Pin™ while you do it.… Read the rest

This big measles outbreak down on the border with Oregon is a dangerous thing.

Almost a quarter of kids in Clark County, Wash., a suburb of Portland, Ore., go to school without measles, mumps and rubella immunizations, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) recently declared a state of emergency amid concern that things could rapidly spin out of control.

Measles outbreaks have sprung up in nine other states this winter, but officials are particularly alarmed about the one in Clark County because of its potential to go very big, very quickly.

The Pacific Northwest is home to some of the nation’s most vocal and organized anti-vaccination activists. That movement has helped drive down child immunizations in Washington,

This op-ed about women who resist some items of trans ideology doesn’t begin well:

Last week, two British women stormed onto Capitol Hill in Washington for the purposes of ambushing Sarah McBride, the national press secretary of the Human Rights Campaign.

“Stormed”? Load the dice much? A decent editor would have edited that out. Nobody stormed; they simply went there. They’re allowed to do that. Poisoning the well six words in is just childish, and clumsy.

Ms. McBride, a trans woman, had just been part of a meeting between the Parents for Transgender Equality National Council and members of Congress when the Britons — Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, who goes by the name Posie Parker, and Julia Long — barged in. Heckling

A reporter for NewsAnglia talked to Margaret Nelson about her encounter with the police.

Police have apologised to a blogger for their handling of a complaint about her online comments which had offended some members of the transgender community.

Margaret Nelson, who’s in her seventies and from near Needham Market in Suffolk, was asked to tone down her web posts and tweets about the sensitive issue

That’s such shit writing, and shit reporting. “Their handling” “was asked” – be specific. Be specific and tell the truth. A police person called her on the phone early in the morning, which would be at least startling and intrusive even if the call were about buying tickets to a fundraiser.

What

Speaking of shame and disgust and fear around menstruation – it has killed another woman in Nepal.

A 21-year-old woman has been become the fourth person known to have died this year as a result of the illegal practice of chhaupadi, whereby menstruating women in Nepal are banished from their homes and forced to sleep in huts.

Parbati Bogati, from the western Doti district, is thought to have died from smoke inhalation while sleeping in a small, windowless hut. She was discovered by her mother-in-law on Thursday morning.

Thus women are banished at the risk of their lives because they are the people who grow new human beings inside their own bodies.

Just weeks earlier Amba Bohara,

At long last, a period emoji!

I kid, but actually I think “Good.”

More:

It’s happening. We’re definitely getting a period emoji.

Unicode has confirmed the period emoji has been given the go-ahead and will hit keyboards in spring 2019.

The blood drop emoji is the result of a campaign led by girls’ rights group Plan International UK backed by 55,000 people, which set out to smash the silence and stigma surrounding menstruation by bringing a period emoji to global smartphone keyboards.

Sure; why not?

The period emoji is officially happening. It might not seem like it's a big deal, but it is. The stigma & shame surrounding menstruation can have a damaging effect on girls' lives. An emoji

… Read the rest

I’ve mentioned a couple of times en passant that a couple of trans activists had managed to get The Police to go visit Graham Linehan to “caution” him about saying unapproved things on Twitter, but now in following the story of a woman who was actually arrested and held for seven hours, apparently also for saying unapproved things on Twitter, I’ve done a little more digging.

The Guardian, October 7 last year:

Graham Linehan, the co-writer of the sitcom Father Ted, has been given a verbal harassment warning by police after a complaint by a transgender activist.

Linehan was told by West Yorkshire police not to contact the activist Stephanie Hayden, after a row on Twitter.

Hayden reported him

.@RepCummings is on fire. Stop whatever you're doing and watch this.

“One year ago today, on my mother’s dying bed at 92 years old — a former sharecropper — her last words were: Do. Not. Let. Them. Take. Our. Votes. Away. From. Us.” pic.twitter.com/yN6phWkC7D

— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) February 6, 2019

… Read the rest

The pope says oh yes it’s true that priests have been abusing nuns since always, we know all about it, we make sure to keep the nuns powerless so that they won’t kill us, would you like a biscuit?

Nuns have suffered and are still suffering sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests and bishops, and have even been held as sexual slaves, Pope Francis confirmed on Tuesday. The abuse was so severe in one case that an entire congregation of nuns was dissolved by former Pope Benedict.

The scope of the abuse of nuns by clergy members first came to light with the publication at the beginning of February of the monthly Vatican magazine “Women Church World.”