Jan 8th, 2020 7:25 am |
By Ophelia Benson
The Times Higher on what it’s like to be a gender critical academic:
“It is quite a strange situation to work somewhere where people make it clear that they loathe you,” reflected Kathleen Stock, professor of philosophy at the University of Sussex, on the backlash she faced for her views on gender identification.
Some of it is just hot air.
In late November, a failed campaign to bar her from speaking at the Royal Institute of Philosophy’s annual debate generated 6,300 likes on Twitter, but just five emails from outraged complainants.
And the campaign failed. Did I mention it failed? It failed, you know.
But it is at traditionally left-wing Sussex where Professor Stock has encountered some of
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Jan 7th, 2020 4:21 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
So I guess this is what Trump was going for?
CNN:
At least 10 rockets hit al-Asad airbase in Iraq, which houses US forces, a Sunni commander of the paramilitary forces in a nearby town told CNN. The attack comes days after the US killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in an airstrike in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
The administration has sought to cast that strike as an attempt to de-escalate tensions with Iran, but Tehran has vowed revenge for the killing, which it says was an “act of war” and “state terrorism.”
Like hell it was an attempt to … Read the rest
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Tags: Trump
Jan 7th, 2020 11:37 am |
By Ophelia Benson
It doesn’t get much more phony than this:
They came to pray with their president, though in truth many came just to worship him. Donald Trump’s Friday launch of his so-called “coalition of evangelicals”, an attempt to shore up the support of the religious right ahead of November’s election, had the feel of any other campaign rally, except this time with gospel music.
An estimated 7,000 “supporters of faith” packed the King Jesus international ministry megachurch in Miami to hear the word of the president, and decided that it was good. The Maga hat-wearing faithful cheered Trump’s comments on issues calculated to resonate with his churchgoing audience, including abortion, freedoms of speech and religion, and what he claimed was a
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Tags: Trump
Jan 6th, 2020 5:12 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
The NY Times reports:
Dozens of Iranians and Iranian-Americans were held for hours at Washington State’s border with Canada over the weekend as the Department of Homeland Security ramped up security at border ports after Iran threatened to retaliate against the United States for the strike that killed its top military leader.
More than 60 of the travelers, many returning from work trips or vacations, were trying to come home to the United States on Saturday when agents at the Peace Arch Border Crossing in Blaine, Wash., held them for additional questioning about their political views and allegiances, according to advocacy groups and accounts from travelers.
CBP says it’s not true, it was just a busy time at the … Read the rest
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Jan 6th, 2020 11:27 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Hey, it’s a new year, let’s peddle more bullshit “wellness” to the adoring masses.
Let’s hear from Timothy Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy at the University of Alberta:
This has been the decade of misinformation. And, in the context of health, celebrities have led the charge.
It’s an easy buck, you know? You’re famous so people will buy what you market, so why … Read the rest
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Jan 6th, 2020 10:14 am |
By Ophelia Benson
So, is a tweet “official notification of Congress”?
President Trump claimed Sunday that his tweets are sufficient notice to Congress of any possible U.S. military strike on Iran, in an apparent dismissal of his obligations under the War Powers Act of 1973.
Trump’s declaration, which comes two days after his administration launched a drone strike that killed top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani, was met with disbelief and ridicule from congressional Democrats, who called on the president to respect the role of the legislative branch in authorizing new military action abroad.
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Trump’s claim that the United States will retaliate against Iran “perhaps in a disproportionate manner” also contrasts with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s statement hours earlier on “Fox
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Tags: Trump
Jan 6th, 2020 8:53 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Simon Jenkins in the Guardian:
Donald Trump’s threat to destroy the sites of ancient Persia should send a shiver down the spine of any civilised person. How can anything justify American bombing of Persepolis or the mosques of Isfahan? Only the demented can see them as “threatening America”. It is on the same ethical plane as the Islamic State vandalism of Palmyra and Mosul.
And the Taliban’s destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas, and other Islamists’ destruction of shrines in Timbuktu.
The destruction of cultural artefacts in war is specifically outlawed under the Hague convention of 1954 and subsequent protocols. It ranks with genocide, chemical weapons and the “strategic” bombing of civilians as beyond the pale of human behaviour. The
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Jan 6th, 2020 8:25 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Global fascism news, India division:
Students across India have been protesting against an attack on a prestigious Delhi university by masked men wielding sticks on Sunday.
At least 40 students and staff of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) were admitted to hospital with injuries.
Why JNU? Because “left-wing.”
The JNU has long been associated with left-wing activism, and some students have blamed Sunday’s violence on a right-wing student body linked to India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). That group denies involvement and says left-wing activists were responsible.
Sounds familiar.
It did not take long for students and activists across the country to mobilise. On Monday, about 1,000 people gathered in Mumbai, with demonstrations in Hyderabad, Chennai (formerly Madras),
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Jan 5th, 2020 5:23 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
https://twitter.com/sarahelizalewis/status/1213869848624816128
Women get permanently banned from Twitter for saying men are not women, but Trump can tweet us into a war with Iran and that’s copacetic.
It is who we are though. If “we” and “who” and “are” are meaningful in … Read the rest
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Jan 5th, 2020 3:19 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Pompeo is mad because people don’t think Trump is being awesome.
“I spent the last day and a half, two days, talking to partners in the region, sharing with them what we were doing, why we were doing it, seeking their assistance,” Pompeo told Fox News. “They’ve all been fantastic. And then talking to our partners in other places that haven’t been quite as good.
“Frankly, the Europeans haven’t been as helpful as I wish that they could be. The Brits, the French, the Germans all need to understand that what we did, what the Americans did, saved lives in Europe as well.”
Uh huh.
“Qassem Suleimani led and his IRGC [Revolutionary Guard] led assassination campaigns in Europe. This was
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Jan 5th, 2020 11:22 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Adam Schiff makes an important point here. It may seem obvious to thinking adults, but sadly it’s not thinking adults who are running this shit show. Pompeo claims the hit will save lives, Jake Tapper says, and Schiff points out that that’s Pompeo’s personal opinion but the intelligence information doesn’t support it. He continues to cite intel as opposed to opinion. Opinions are easy, but they can be based on anything or nothing at all. Opinions can be the product of desire as opposed to intelligence (in all senses).
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Jan 5th, 2020 9:25 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Trump yesterday:
He’s promising to commit war crimes. He’s doing it on Twitter. The US president is saying on Twitter that he plans to commit war crimes.
The AP reports:
President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday evening that if Iran attacks any American assets to avenge the killing of a top Iranian general, the U.S. has 52 targets across the Islamic Republic that
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