Aw, Bibi won’t play.

Speaking to “Bibi” on the phone in the Oval Office earlier today, Trump tried to goad Netanyahu into attacking Joe Biden.

“Do you think Sleepy Joe could have made this deal, Bibi?” Trump asked Netanyahu, referring to Biden by an insulting nickname. “You think he would have made this deal? Somehow, I don’t think so.”

Very appropriate. Just what heads of state are supposed to do – try to draw other heads of state into insulting a rival for the office. “Bibi” will have to work with Biden if we succeed in putting a stake through Trump’s gut, but Donnie Two Scoops can’t be bothered with details like that when they’re about other people.

But

Peter Tatchell’s determined indifference to the concerns of women – which he names accurately and claims to “sympathize and empathize with” – is breathtaking to see.… Read the rest

More voter suppression from the right-wing Supreme Court:

The Supreme Court has sided with Alabama state officials who banned curbside voting intended to accommodate individuals with disabilities and those at risk from the COVID-19 virus.

The high court issued its order Wednesday night, without explanation, over the dissent of the court’s three liberal justices.

At issue was the decision by the Alabama secretary of state to ban counties from allowing curbside voting, even for those voters with disabilities and those for whom COVID-19 is disproportionately likely to be fatal.

People like that won’t be voting for Trump so…… Read the rest

Tatchell reminds us he doesn’t give a shit about women.

Peter Tatchell: "actually the studies show that transwomen are at a disadvantage in women's sports."

How people can lie so brazenly in the media and still expect people to take anything they say seriously is beyond me. https://t.co/M0ZtcLngv5

— Roary (@GrRoary) October 23, 2020

Trans women are at a disadvantage in women’s sport? Really?… Read the rest

This goon. He says it AGAIN – I knew he was going to and flinched in advance and pow, there it was: the crystal clean water again.

US President Donald Trump says, “Look at India … it’s filthy. The air is filthy.” But who ran away from the Paris accord? pic.twitter.com/gCYyie3usF

— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) October 23, 2020

But also…starting at 40 seconds, notice the energy with which he calls China filthy, India filthy. We can all see he’s not just thinking about “the air.”… Read the rest

Remember those skeletons in the septic tank at the Catholic-run mother and baby prison [formally “home”] in Tuam? Let’s hush all that kind of thing up until everyone’s dead, ok?

In September, the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes said bespoke legislation would be required to safeguard and transfer a database of the mothers and children who were resident in the main mother-and-baby homes.

The bill provided for the database to be sent to Tusla, which raised concerns among former residents of the homes and their families over their ability to access the information held by the Child and Family Agency.

Under a 2004 act, the remaining archives will be sealed for 30 years. Last Friday, the bill

Joining the women-haters club:

The US has today signed an anti-abortion declaration with a group of about 30 largely illiberal or authoritarian governments, after the failure of an effort to expand the conservative coalition.

The “Geneva Consensus Declaration” calls on states to promote women’s rights and health – but without access to abortion – and is part of a campaign by Trump administration, led by secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, to reorient US foreign policy in a more socially conservative direction, even at the expense of alienating traditional western allies.

You can’t promote women’s rights while imposing mandatory pregnancy on them. If women can’t say no to having their bodies taken over for nine months then they have… Read the rest

Again with this baffler.

We are campaigning to protect the Human Rights of female prisoners and female guards in female prisons where transwomen are being housed.
The transwomen in Limerick Women’s prison for instance, are both fully-intact males. One might imagine a Human Rights organisation.. 2/

— The Countess Didn't Fight For This! (@TCDFFT) October 22, 2020

This letter outlines their policy in stark terms: pic.twitter.com/LvQ3NXBQ0t

— The Countess Didn't Fight For This! (@TCDFFT) October 22, 2020

That last one is the baffler. WHY is it their general human rights position that people have a right to have their gender identity recognized? WHY??

What they mean by “gender identity” is “fictional gender that is the opposite of the real one.” … Read the rest

The 60 Minutes interview wasn’t Trump’s to post. CBS allowed the White House to tape it for archival purposes. Trump doesn’t honor agreements. Never do business with Trump.

CBS News on Thursday called out the White House for violating an agreement it had with the network and posting President Trump’s full “60 Minutes” interview online ahead of its Sunday air date.

“The White House’s unprecedented decision to disregard their agreement with CBS News and release their footage will not deter ’60 Minutes’ from providing its full, fair and contextual reporting which presidents have participated in for decades,” CBS News said in a statement.

…

CBS News has said the White House recorded the interview alongside the network, but agreed

The BBC has been letting the children loose on their website again. The result is An Article About Bespoke Pronouns.

How to be an ally to friends who’ve changed their pronouns

Walk away. Don’t linger, don’t express regrets, don’t wave, just walk away.

There is no such thing as “their pronouns.” Pronouns aren’t a thing you can possess. Personal names, yes; pronouns, no. That’s pretty much the point of them. Personal names are, as the title suggests, personal to the people whose names they are. Pronouns are the short items that substitute for the personal names because it gets weird saying the name over and over. They are necessarily generic.

We all like to be referred to in a

Trump wants to punish cities that don’t vote for Trump by starving them of funds.

The White House is considering slashing millions of dollars for coronavirus relief, HIV treatment, screenings for newborns and other programs in Democratic-led cities that President Donald Trump has deemed “anarchist jurisdictions,” according to documents obtained by POLITICO.

In other words anything to the left of Trump is basically criminal.

New York, Portland, Ore., Washington, D.C., and Seattle could lose funding for a wide swath of programs that serve their poorest, sickest residents after the president moved last month to restrict funding, escalating his political battle against liberal cities he’s sought to use as a campaign foil.

“Kill the poor!”

“But sir, who then will … Read the rest

Trump has done what he said he was going to do, and had the raw interview posted on Zoshal Meeja. It’s 37 minutes of stupid. I haven’t watched all of it yet; none of what I have watched is anything remotely unfamiliar. He brings out the same stock phrases and then repeats them 900 times. He translates everything Stahl asks into his own stock phrases which he answers with his own stock phrases – it becomes Trump interviewing Trump. At the end he indignantly repeats Stahl’s question, “Are you ready for tough questions?” over and over and each time he puts on a special “this is you” voice and face, which looks and sounds nothing like Leslie Stahl but conveys … Read the rest

This. This is what I keep saying. This is why I keep recording Trump’s outrages with fury and loathing. This is why I say I would despise and detest him even if he had outstanding policies. (He couldn’t, really, because the evil that wants to take health insurance away from people is the evil of everything else about him – but the point remains.)

Obama: "There are consequences to [Trump's] actions. They embolden other people to be cruel & divisive & racist & it frays the fabric of our society. And it affects how our children seen things…it affects how the world looks at America. That behavior matters. Character matters" pic.twitter.com/zBs37th9q5

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 21, 2020

… Read the rest

“Sophie LaBelle” of Assigned Male Comics has a new one out:

That Genitalia Board in the first panel is enough to give you nightmares, but aside from that…

No it isn’t. Nobody is required to “date” (i.e. fuck) trans people. Nobody is required to do it and nobody is required to be silent about refusing to do it. “Sophie” is way too narcissistic and entitled to be an appealing “date” object.… Read the rest

Sorry about the image this conjures up…

The reputation of Rudy Giuliani could be set for a further blow with the release of highly embarrassing footage in Sacha Baron Cohen’s follow-up to Borat.

If you care about spoilers now is the time to exit.

In the film, released on Friday, the former New York mayor and current personal attorney to Donald Trump is seen reaching into his trousers and apparently touching his genitals while reclining on a bed in the presence of the actor playing Borat’s daughter, who is posing as a TV journalist.

Following an obsequious interview for a fake conservative news programme, the pair retreat at her suggestion for a drink to the bedroom of a hotel

Oh lord he’s done it again – tried to impress us with blank sheets of paper. Remember those action shots at Walter Reed of Trump signing the middle of a blank sheet of paper? And those boxes stacked on a table at the beginning of his “administration” that were supposed to convey how open he was being with his financial records? Except that the boxes were just boxes? He hasn’t learned.

Kayleigh McEnany presenting Lesley Stahl (@60Minutes) with some of the many things we’ve done for Healthcare. Lesley had no idea! pic.twitter.com/8bfIxkFiXt

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 21, 2020

Oopsie, they shouldn’t have let her open it.

Computer, enhance pic.twitter.com/k593RPda4D

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) October 21, 2020

Juliet Jacques at Newsweek assures us that no male person would ever pretend to be trans just to win at his chosen sport:

As a transsexual woman and fervent soccer player (and fan), the idea that someone would transition just to succeed in women’s sports because they couldn’t do so in men’s sports is absurd.

Not as any kind of writer though. Writers understand that you have to keep your subjects and verbs straight throughout the whole sentence. There should have been an “I find” before “the idea,” and the “is” before the last word should be gone. Then the whole thing should be re-worked because that second clause is too clumsy.

ANYway – like hell it’s absurd. Is it … Read the rest

From the voter intimidation file:

Voters in Alaska and Florida reported receiving emails on Tuesday that threatened “vote for Trump or else!” — messages that have prompted investigations in both states. “You are currently registered as a Democrat and we know this because we have gained access into the entire voting infrastructure,” said one of the emails obtained by Alaska Public Media. “You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you. Change your party affiliation to Republican to let us know you received our message and will comply.”

It sounds so…Mississippi 1964.

The sender claimed to have the voter’s email, phone number and home address. Some of the emails were purportedly sent by

It’s International Pronouns Day. We’re encouraging everyone to use pronouns and ask about pronouns as a simple way to show you’re inclusive of trans and non-binary people #PronounsDay #hellomynameis #LGBTHealth pic.twitter.com/zGFM9VAGcD

— Michael Brady (@drmbrady) October 21, 2020

It may be “simple,” in a sense, but as for showing you’re “inclusive” of trans and non-binary people…even if it’s true that “using pronouns” and “asking about pronouns” is a way of doing that, what about the fact that it’s also a way of showing you’re not “inclusive” of everyone else? What about the fact that it’s alienating to most people to force them to pretend that they chose their own sex? What about the fact that most people just do not … Read the rest

But who cares that Woman’s Hour bigged up the claim that Fair Play For Women, Woman’s Place UK, and Filia are “transphobic”? Why does it matter? Fair Play For Women explains:

Fair Play For Women are others are often called transphobic. It is a political smear tactic designed to silence us and make others fearful of engaging with us. This is why is it vital that other do not repeat these claims out of context. /1

— FairPlayForWomen (@fairplaywomen) October 21, 2020

'Transphobic' is a serious allegation. The general public understands this word to mean hate, dislike, fear and prejudice towards trans people simply because they are trans. What is lost is that 'some people' who started the smear believe