The news from Australia:

Strong winds that have changed direction are hampering efforts by firefighters to contain bushfires in Australia’s south-east.

A southerly change with powerful gusts up to 80mph (128km/h) threatened to spread huge fires raging in New South Wales (NSW), officials said.

…

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the fires had created a “very volatile situation” and “we are yet to hit the worst of it”.

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Skies reddened and darkened in areas of south-eastern Australia as wind gusts exacerbated the fires.

Temperatures surpassed 40C (104F) in some areas. In Penrith, west of Sydney, temperatures reached 48.9C. Some reports suggest it was for a time the hottest place on Earth.

Smoky and lethally hot – it sounds … Read the rest

Terry Gilliam doesn’t like this strange new fad for saying men shouldn’t rape women.

The Time Bandits director and Monty Python cast member, who first described himself as a black lesbian in interviews last year, made his latest comments to the Independent while promoting his film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, released later this month.

Gilliam said he was “tired, as a white male, of being blamed for everything that is wrong with the world”.

But he’s not, is he. He’s not blamed for everything that is wrong with the world. The fact that some men – far too many men – rape women does not mean or imply that Terry Gilliam does so, nor that Terry … Read the rest

Fires? Are there fires?

The Australian, Rupert Murdoch’s flagship newspaper, has defended itself against criticism it downplayed unprecedented bushfires by failing to put a picture of the disaster on the front page of an edition, even as newspapers across the world featured the harrowing scenes.

Many of the world’s leading mastheads featured pictures of the devastation of the Australian bushfires on page one on Thursday. But the Australian’s first edition ran an upbeat picture story about the New Year’s Day picnic races at Hanging Rock.

Um…Fake News? It may have looked like an upbeat picture story about the New Year’s Day picnic races at Hanging Rock, but actually it was in-depth coverage of the fires.

The national broadsheet’s lead story

People in south-east Australia are being told to evacuate.

Authorities in Australia have urged tens of thousands of people to move to safety amid concerns that bushfires will burn out of control this weekend.

“If you don’t need to be in the area, you need to leave,” warned New South Wales (NSW) Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

Temperatures are expected to soar above 40C (104F) in parts of south-east Australia on Saturday, with strong winds increasing the fire danger.

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NSW Rural Fire Service deputy commissioner Rob Rogers warned that fires could move “frighteningly” quickly on Saturday because of the extreme weather conditions.

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Meteorologists have forecast extreme heat and strong winds in fire-affected areas in south-east Australia on Saturday.

Some … Read the rest

I see this from Maya:

So I investigate. The British Library is having an exhibition April 24-August 23 2020 on women’s rights. Unfinished Business, it’s called.

Image: Designed by Shakila Taranum Maan for Southall Black Sisters

It starts out well enough.

From bodily autonomy and the right to education, to self-expression and protest, this new exhibition explores how feminist activism in the UK today has its roots in the complex history of women’s rights.

Be inspired by those who paved the way – from Cornelia Sorabji, the first woman to study law at Oxford University, to Hope Powell, the first British woman to gain the highest European football coaching licence. Meet lesser-known Suffragettes such as Sophia Duleep Singh

But, hey, we’re in good hands. Serious, responsible, thoughtful, grown up.

pic.twitter.com/VXeKiVzpTf

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2020

… Read the rest

Trump’s cunning plan to avoid impeachment? Or just the normal reckless aggression and urge to smash everything not-self?

George Packer asks some questions:

But the main question about the strike isn’t moral or even legal—it’s strategic. Soleimani was a supremely powerful leader of a state apparatus, with his own cult of personality, but he was not a terror kingpin. His death doesn’t decapitate anything. He had the blood of tens of thousands of people—overwhelmingly fellow Muslims—on his hands, but he was only the agent of a government policy that preceded him and will continue without him. His deeds are beside the point; so is the display of American resolve. The only reason to kill Soleimani is to enter a new

Talk about real world consequences.

They reported me to Social Work England the body that regulates social workers in an attempt, I assume, to bully and intimidate me into silence. They are attempting to have me removed from the register of social workers for tweeting in favour of safeguarding children.

— Dr Andrew Thorne (@athornehere) December 30, 2019

There are social workers I know who will not post on social media because they fear for their jobs. I do too. However, I absolutely respect their rights to stay silent on this platform due to the professional fallout and financial implications of standing up to the GI lobby.

— Dr Andrew Thorne (@athornehere) December 30, 2019

The impact on children that

Rachel Veronica has the new year spirit.

In 2020, I need you to be willing to STOP being friends with transphobes.

Stop giving people the 'benefit of the doubt' here.

Make people scared to be transphobic.

— Dr. Veronica Ivy (@SportIsARight) January 2, 2020

Again – so sloppy for a philosopher.

Who is “you”?

Why is a generalized population supposed to care what Rachel Veronica needs?

What business is it of Rachel Veronica’s what a generalized population is willing to do?

What are transphobes?

What business is it of Rachel Veronica’s what friends other people have?

What benefit of the doubt is he talking about?

And the last item is just classic male bullying.

All in all pretty gruesome for … Read the rest

Kate Brannen has a long and hair-raising explanation of exactly what happened between the White House and the Pentagon during the struggle over getting the Congressionally approved funding for Ukraine released.

The basic story: the Pentagon tried like hell to get the OMB to release the money and the OMB refused and also blew smoke about what it was doing, and the Justice Department redacted the most damning evidence, not for reasons of national security or national anything else but to cover Trump’s ass.

Lemme repeat that.

The Justice Department redacted the most damning evidence not for reasons of national security or national anything else but to cover Trump’s ass.

“Clear direction from POTUS to continue to hold.”

This is

My last day of the decade felt like the apocalypse. Been covering the Australian bushfires for the last 6 weeks, but haven’t seen anything like yesterdays fire that decimated the town of Conjola, NSW. #bushfirecrisis #AustralianBushfires #NSWisburning work for @nytimes pic.twitter.com/KmVKqDMKsf

— matthew abbott (@mattabbottphoto) January 1, 2020

We were happy to be in Sydney when it was cooler. But now Aus is burning. Help where you can, even just by sharing this will help others know about it! Help by caring for everyone. Thank you. #AustraliaBurning pic.twitter.com/rFpcdZzmFv

— Environment Caring People (ECP) (@EvrnmtCaringPpl) January 2, 2020

Tens of thousands of vacationers fled seaside towns on Australia’s east coast ahead of advancing bushfires, as military ships and helicopters began rescuing

The unpleasant Dawn formerly Don Ennis, managing editor of OutSports, posted a New Year’s message to TERFS, starting with admitting he was name-calling.

The subhead tells us what to think in advance.

Outsports Managing Editor Dawn Ennis offers this reasoned response to hateful messages targeting trans women athletes and all transgender people.

We’ll decide for ourselves whether it’s reasoned or not, thanks. Talk of “hateful messages” and “targeting” in the subhead is not a good start if you want us to think the response is “reasoned.”

Dear TERFs, anti-trans activists and transphobes:

Again: not a good start.

It’s a new year, and I’m using this occasion to address you directly.

I know, you’re not keen on being called “TERFs”

Oh about that North Korea thing…

Q    Mr. President, can you — what is your message tonight for — what is your message tonight for North Korea?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, we’ll see.  I have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un.  I know he’s sending out certain messages about Christmas presents, and I hope his Christmas present is a beautiful vase.  That’s what I’d like — a vase —

Cute. I love it when he makes jokes about nuclear war.

Q    Do you think it will be, sir?

THE PRESIDENT:  — as opposed to something else.  I don’t know.  I — look, he likes me; I like him.  We get along.  He’s representing his country.  I’m representing my

In case you were feeling any impulse to think Princess Ivanka isn’t as bad as her rotting-from-the-head father, watching this will cure you.

Ivanka on her dad getting impeached. She’s off her game. She’s not looking or sounding like she usually does. pic.twitter.com/hHVsqSooL8

— Mystery Solvent (@MysterySolvent) December 20, 2019

All they could have been getting done were it not for the impeachment.… Read the rest