Ah yes, the Amish. Who would ever have thought that a religious sect that isolates its members would turn out to have a nasty habit of raping its own daughters and sisters? Besides everyone who thinks about it for a minute?

As a child, Sadie* was carefully shielded from outside influences, never allowed to watch TV or listen to pop music or get her learner’s permit. Instead, she attended a one-room Amish schoolhouse and rode a horse and buggy to church—a life designed to be humble and disciplined and godly.

And very safe for rapey boys and men.

By age 9, she says, she’d been raped by one of her older brothers. By 12, she’d been abused by her father,

Man who identifies as a woman bullies woman (and Labour MP) to agree that he is a woman.

That is, trans woman Juno Dawson grills Labour MP Jess Phillips on why she retweeted the Women’s Party UK and does she understand why that retweet “caused some concern”?

Think very carefully before you reply.

@junodawson quizzes @jessphillips about that 2017 tweet pic.twitter.com/6jSNHFCo1Z

— PinkNews (@PinkNews) January 17, 2020

… Read the rest

Well?… Read the rest

Oh did they now.

National Archives exhibit blurs images critical of President Trump https://t.co/9XTBbEZNqc pic.twitter.com/KHRqFBWz3b

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 18, 2020

The National Archives admitted in a statement this week that it made multiple alterations to the photo of the 2017 Women’s March showcased at the museum for the centennial of women’s suffrage, blurring signs held by marchers that were critical of Trump. https://t.co/TRfpnlGjQs

— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) January 18, 2020

The Post reports:

The large color photograph that greets visitors to a National Archives exhibit celebrating the centennial of women’s suffrage shows a massive crowd filling Pennsylvania Avenue NW for the Women’s March on Jan. 21, 2017, the day after President Trump’s inauguration.

The 49-by-69-inch photograph

Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker tell us about Trump’s contempt for everyone who isn’t Trump:

There’s a room in the Pentagon nicknamed “the Tank” where the Joint Chiefs of Staff meet to make consequential decisions.

One hundred fifty-​­two years after Lincoln hatched plans to preserve the Union, President Trump’s advisers staged an intervention inside the Tank to try to preserve the world order.

By that point, six months into his administration, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had grown alarmed by gaping holes in Trump’s knowledge of history, especially the key alliances forged following World War II. Trump had dismissed allies as worthless, cozied up to authoritarian

Trump has been busy today honoring some athletes.

At the White House today, Donald Trump is honoring the 2019 college football national champions before heading to Mar-a-Lago.

Before heading to Mar-a-Lago to put many thousands more $$ in his pocket at our expense.

He told the players, speaking about the presidency and himself: “You’ve got a good one now, even though they’re trying to impeach the son of a bitch. Can you believe that?”

Cool cool, but for the punchline, look at that photo.… Read the rest

Feminist women to give a talk on being canceled.

Oops, no, wait, scratch that – the talk has been canceled.

You can’t make this up: The New York Public Library has canceled an event, scheduled for Friday at the main branch, that was to feature women who have been canceled.

Organized by the Women’s Liberation Front, a feminist organization that supports a biological definition of gender, the “Evening with Canceled Women” was to feature “five fearless feminists” speaking out about “women’s rights to a life free of pervasive harassment, silencing, coercion, violence, forced lying and endless punishment.”

Well we can’t have that, now can we. Whatever next? Leaving the house without permission?

In a blog post, the WLF’s

Jane Clare Jones also objects to Alison Phipps’s assertion that “‘Reasonable debate’ cannot counter unreasonable ideas,” calling it “a pretty staggering statement from someone who is supposedly in the business of dealing with ideas.” Isn’t it though? Isn’t it just self-undermining as all hell for an academic?

If taken at face value, ‘unreasonable’ here would mean something like ‘lacking in reasoned argument,’ or ‘not capable of being justified with compelling reasons.’ Maybe this is what Phipps means, but if so, she would have to, y’know, actually demonstrate that the many reasons we have given for our position are not, in fact, reasonable. Which would, indeed, be the entire point of asking her to intellectually engage with us, rather than just

Top mediocrity at the New York Times David Brooks has perpetrated another fatuous column, this one saying vast inequality of wealth is because the top people create eleventy billion times as much value as the ants at the bottom. Paul Krugman raises an eyebrow.

My colleague David Brooks asserts that rising inequality is about productivity, not power. People used to say that a lot, but the preponderance of economic analysis has moved the other way, for good reasons 1/ https://t.co/cCuA1G4u86

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) January 17, 2020

Bear in mind that CEOs get lavishly rewarded even when they screw up massively. 3/ https://t.co/hV1HU2m8Ko

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) January 17, 2020

But don’t go thinking that’s just because the plutocrat class … Read the rest

The presidents robot son in law looks so incredibly human and lifelike here pic.twitter.com/lxD70IIMiZ

— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) January 16, 2020

… Read the rest

It’s ok though, Trump has a brilliant defense.

I JUST GOT IMPEACHED FOR MAKING A PERFECT PHONE CALL!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2020

Oh well never mind then.

A perfect phone call! Dialed it and spoke and stuck the landing on the hangup too. Just 10s across the board!

Usually, the Russian judge gives low marks to American competitors, but not this time. https://t.co/efPWp3mPq6

— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) January 16, 2020

This reminds me of the time I so nearly made the perfect phone call but then at the last minute I illegally pressured the Ukrainian President to dig up dirt on a rival or lose out on military aid and I blew it. https://t.co/e4WWYrRWVi

—

The Government Accountability Office, which is a non-partisan arm of Congress, says Trump broke the law.

President Donald Trump’s White House violated federal law by withholding military aid to Ukraine, a top government watchdog announced on Thursday, dealing a blow to the administration’s case against impeachment as the Senate prepares to put Trump on trial.

…

“Faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” the GAO concluded in a report released Thursday morning. “OMB withheld funds for a policy reason, which is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act (ICA). The withholding was not a programmatic delay. Therefore, we conclude that OMB

Yet another one.

Have spent past two days writing paper for research seminar next Thursday at @uniofeastanglia. Have given many such seminars over years. Was looking forward to it, I used to work there. Have just been ccd in to email from a senior manager to others, saying talk is postponed/

— Kathleen Stock (@Docstockk) January 16, 2020

The red haze of fury that immediately descended prevented me from noticing the staggering rudeness of simply cc-ing Stock on an email to others as opposed to communicating with her directly. I guess that’s because the latter would require apologies? I guess it’s just simpler and quicker for the bullies in charge to discuss it among themselves and cc the people … Read the rest

Pink News reports:

The Argentinian football club Villa San Carlos has signed its first ever transgender player for the top women’s league, Primera Division A.

Funny how it’s always for the women’s league.

As well as being the first for the club, Argentine striker Mara Gomez, 22, will also be the first transgender woman ever to play in an official Argentine FA tournament.

Gomez previously played for Toronto City* and the amateur league side Malvinas, where she won two league titles and became the club’s top goalscorer.

A picture of her standing next to another of the team’s newest acquisitions, Ludmila Angeli, went viral as a piece of the country’s footballing history.

Possibly because Gomez towers over Angeli.

“Being

This country is a sewer.

Fearing potential violence, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is declaring a state of emergency and is banning firearms and other weapons on the Capitol grounds in Richmond ahead of a gun rights demonstration planned for next week.

“Gun rights” fanatics are planning to converge on Richmond next Monday to complain about efforts to pass gun control laws, because hey, why would anybody ever want to control guns.

The event, hosted by Virginia Citizens Defense League, is expected to draw thousands of armed demonstrators, some from out of state. Organizers have said they hope to hold a peaceful event.

Can you imagine? Hundreds of random people armed with guns converging on one spot in one city?… Read the rest

Now there’s more.

Welp, here's another 390 pages of Lev Parnas messages, posted by the House: https://t.co/0x2GU1xaHe

Starts off with a fun one to Parnas from a Trump PAC official: "What should I send Don to tweet?"

A tweet from Jr. soon materialized. pic.twitter.com/DN5WEfR5Kg

— Andrew Prokop (@awprokop) January 15, 2020

Many of these messages haven't been translated. Biggest batches appear to be Parnas's messages with Lutsenko and Viktor Shokin, awaiting translation.

— Andrew Prokop (@awprokop) January 15, 2020

Apparent discussion of attempt to fire Yovanovitch:

2/10/19: Toensing: "Is there absolute commitment for HER to be gone this week?"
Rudy: "Yes not sure how absolute Will get a reading in morning and call you. Pompeii [Pompeo] is now aware of