It just amazes me how cheerfully some men can dismiss women’s rights without pausing for even a second to remember that other people’s rights aren’t theirs to dismiss.

I'll ignore your framing and respond to your main point. I haven't said "stand aside". I do say, essentially, that meeting what we agree are the dreadful outcomes for trans men and women requires that we *meaningfully* recognise and engage with the causes of those outcomes. /1

— Jo Maugham QC (@JolyonMaugham) July 16, 2019

Actually we don’t “agree are the dreadful outcomes for trans men and women.” Too much of that is just automatic-pilot hyperbole, and much of the rest is discredited claims about the numbers. No, I don’t agree that … Read the rest

Also Kellyanne Conway: she ignored a subpoena.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Tuesday said she was “taking one for the team” by defying a House subpoena compelling her to testify on her multiple violations of the Hatch Act.

“They’re trying to silence me and take away my First Amendment rights,” she said in an interview on Fox News of her decision to skip the House Oversight hearing for which she received a subpoena to attend. “I would be happy to testify, just so we’re clear. I have nothing to hide. I have done nothing wrong.”

It’s not a “First Amendment right” to use your job in the White House for campaign purposes, just as it’s not a “First … Read the rest

Uglier again.

Here’s video, courtesy of @cspan pic.twitter.com/PNqIznSDcO

— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) July 16, 2019

This clip is shorter but the audio is much better and you can hear Feinberg’s questions as well as Conway’s replies.

“What’s your ethnicity?” Kellyanne Conway asks a reporter when the reporter asks her about the intent of the president’s tweets.

“A lot of us are sick and tired of this country – of America coming last, to people who swore an oath of office.” pic.twitter.com/Tia1VUQluP

— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 16, 2019

… Read the rest

Republicans are rushing to condemn Trump’s racism no just kidding they’re amplifying it.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) on Tuesday responded to President Donald Trump’s racist tweets by suggesting that Democrats are baby killers if they support abortion.

Non sequitur much?

At a press conference at the Capitol, Republican leaders — including Cheney — refused to condemn Trump’s tweets which suggested that four Democratic congresswomen of color should go back to their home country even though all four are American citizens.

Instead of calling the tweets racists, Cheney branded Democratic congresswomen Ilhan Omar (MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Ayanna Pressley (MA) and Rashida Tlaib (MI) as “socialists.”

…

Additionally, Cheney called the Democratic congresswomen “racist.”

She asserted that the congresswomen were

Pro-tip: don’t be a woman. It’s dangerous.

Greek police have arrested a suspect in the murder of an American scientist who was found dead in an abandoned World War II bunker on the island of Crete last week.

The unnamed suspect is a 27-year-old Greek man who was brought in for questioning Monday and was later arrested after he “confessed his crime,” according to Maj. Gen. Constantinos Lagoudakis, director of Police General Directorate of Crete.

He murdered her why? Oh, you know, he wanted to use her, and that’s easier when they’re dead.

The suspect claimed that he spotted U.S. citizen Suzanne Eaton walking toward the Evelpidon monument during the afternoon of July 2 and, “motivated by sexual satisfaction,”

CNN is doing a live update thing on Trump and racism.

House Democrats said they are staying focused on their policy agenda and will call out President Trump’s tactics to “deflect” and divide the country.

Rep. Katherine Clark said at a news conference Tuesday Democrats are going to continue to speak out against racist attacks.

“This president with his racist attacks is showing us that he is not concerned with anything but further enriching those who are already rich and powerful. And his plan is to distract us, to divide us, so they can pickpocket us while we’re not looking,” Clark said. “That’s what we are speaking out against. This attack on American values, this attack on trying to

The White House transcript of Trump’s racist bullying today:

Q    Mr. President, three of the congresswomen that you talked about were born in America.  (Inaudible.)  What were you talking about?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, they’re very unhappy.  I’m watching them; all they do is complain.  So all I’m saying is, if they want to leave, they can leave, John.  They can leave.

But that’s not how that works. Legislators are allowed to want to change some things, to improve things. Legislators are allowed to point out things that are not good enough. That’s an important part of their job. They are not required to say everything is already perfect. They’re allowed to say some things are not good enough, and … Read the rest

Mata’afa Keni Lesa in The Samoa Observer:

The truth is this. We just cannot stop thinking about Feagaiga Stowers.

Having been chosen as Samoa’s flag bearer, this Pacific Games was supposed to have been her moment.

This is a young woman who has had to endure tremendous difficulties in her childhood, where she eventually entered the Samoa Victims Support Group, to end up where she is today. It’s an incredible story.

Indeed, Stowers meteoric rise has proven there is hope for everyone. And she’s done everything possible to be on top of her game, where she deserves to be.

This was until she stepped up on the weightlifting platform on Saturday where her hopes of clinching a Pacific Games

It’s always so heartwarming to see a corporation win an award for marketing fake meds to credulous customers.

The American Association of Homeopathic Pharmacists (AAHP) has awarded Wegmans Food Markets with the Integrative Medicine Award. This honor recognizes a retailer that promotes and sells products that encompass a broad range of therapeutic approaches to achieve optimal health and wellness for consumers seeking to participate actively in their healthcare.

Whuff whuff fluff uff fuff fuff. “A broad range of therapeutic approaches” including ones that don’t work. “For consumers seeking to participate actively in their healthcare” by throwing their money away on water labeled as homeopathic “medicine.” I have a wonderful piece of land in Florida I’d like to sell you.… Read the rest

I was thinking Jeffrey Epstein would be denied bail because he’s a flight risk, but today I learned there’s another reason: he could use his millions to tamper with the case.

Further, prosecutors said Epstein could use his wealth to tamper with the investigation — and has a history of doing just that.

For example, prosecutors said in a court filing Friday that Epstein made $350,000 in payments to two possible co-conspirators after the Miami Herald’s stories were published in November 2018. The payments were made to two individuals who could potentially testify against Epstein at trial, the prosecutors said in the court filing.

“This course of action, and in particular its timing, suggests the defendant was attempting to

C-Span has the whole video, most of which is a prepared speech that he reads haltingly and clumsily. Around 41:25 he opens it up for questions, so we get his full thought-vomit as opposed to snips.

He notes with fake surprise that his “go home” tweets were controversial, and adds that “A lotta people love it, by the way. Lotta people love it.” Yes, no doubt they do, and that’s a problem. Throwing raw meat to people who are already racist is a problem. Inciting racist hatred is a problem. A president who does that is beyond a problem – it’s hard to know what to call that, because all the existing words seem too mild.

Starting at … Read the rest

More from the PhD candidate in Catholic ethics who is searching for a “carrier” to gestate a baby for him and his husband:

This is a very stupid argument and I’m tired of hearing it. The medical and legal term for a woman who carries a child is “carrier.” The only thing this argument shows me is that those who make it lack any understanding of this issue. https://t.co/sSIC1rOibV

— Brandon Ambrosino (@BrandonAmbro) July 14, 2019

Stupid. A stupid argument, he says. Stupid and made by people who lack any understanding of the issue. (Would that apply to boodle, who already has the PhD and has produced two babies recently?)

What jumps out at me in that revolting tweet is … Read the rest

Hey hey hey it’s International Nonbinary Day.

So that’s means it’s…most people day. So that’s exciting. Ok, as you were.

https://twitter.com/clewisreviews/status/1150455158016532481

I’m Christian. Nonbinary femme. He/him/his and she/her/hers. Please don’t call me or refer to me as guy, man, bro, dude, sir, gentleman, Mr., etc. If there is a feminine version of a word (like “alumna”) use that for me. Happy #InternationalNonBinaryDay

WHAT IS NONBINARY FEMME??? What can that possibly mean??? If you call yourself “femme” how can you also call yourself “nonbinary”? What are even words?

Never mind, the important thing is, it’s all about him her alumna waitress princess nonbinaryette.

to all you cis gays with thousands of followers, share my stuff and get me followers, you owe

Formulas. Speaking in formulas. Speaking in dopy unreasonable unexamined formulas. It doesn’t make for good thinking.

It’s a scientific and medical fact that men can get pregnant and also have abortions. Trans men and non-binary individuals are human beings who deserve to be acknowledged by society. They choose their own identity—not me, not you, not any doctor, and certainly not any politician.

— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 12, 2019

Of course “trans men and non-binary individuals” are human beings. That’s not in question and never has been. Shouting that they’re human beings is answering a question that was never asked.

But as for “they choose their own identity” – that’s where the mindless formulas fall apart. We don’t get … Read the rest