Well when you put it that way…

The memes, tho #TrumpArraignment pic.twitter.com/jxfhjtRzNc

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) June 13, 2023

… Read the rest

This is an interesting little detail. Trump isn’t even paying Walter Nauta: he’s making the campaign pay him. I think we’ve been reminded that’s illegal via all the other ways Trump has flouted campaign laws.

When Trump left the White House, Nauta was part of the post-presidency transition, serving for another six months while still in the Navy. Trump indicated in a social media post that at some point, Nauta “retired” from military service and “then transitioned into private life as a personal aide.”  

Federal Election Commission records show that beginning in August 2021, Nauta was paid by Trump’s “Save America PAC,” compensation that included salary, travel expense reimbursement and bonus. He later appeared on Trump’s 2024 campaign payroll. He has remained

So far I can’t find any news media reporting this. Speak Up for Women has a statement on Twitter:

Speak Up for Women statement regarding the granting of diversion for Albert Park assailant.

New Zealand has a shameful record of family and sexual violence. A main driver of this is that male violence is excused and minimised. This Court decision to grant diversion to the man who assaulted the 70 year old grandmother at the Let Women Speak event in Albert Park is part of a dangerous cultural shift the political class has endorsed – that the use of physical violence is to be expected and excused in retaliation for words or beliefs that don’t align with theirs.

Men

For some reason Trump has been unable to hire new lawyers to help him clear up this little misunderstanding.

Trump and his legal team spent the afternoon before his arraignment interviewing potential lawyers but the interviews did not result in any joining the team in time for Trump’s initial court appearance scheduled for 3pm ET on Tuesday after several attorneys declined to take him as a client.

Trump has also seemingly been unable to find a specialist national security lawyer, eligible to possess a security clearance, to help him navigate the Espionage Act charges.

The last-minute scramble to find a veteran trial lawyer was a familiar process for Trump, who has had difficulty hiring and keeping lawyers to defend him

It all makes sense now – straight people can be “queer.” Who knew?!

Just as it’s possible to be bisexual in a long-term relationship with someone of the same gender, it’s possible to be queer in a long term relationship with someone of another gender.

— Kirsty Blackman (@KirstySNP) June 13, 2023

Then what does “queer” mean? Interesting? Special? Better than all those boring beige people in long term relationships (commonly known as “marriages”) with someone of another gender?

Dennis isn’t having it.

This gets on my nerves.

Kirsty.

I am gay, I am married to a bloke.

So are you, that means you have a straight marriage and you're living a straight life mate.

Please stop co-opting my community

Give that child a scholarship to a university of her choice.

Guest post by Jonathan A. Gallant

I invite truly virtuous individuals to join my new organization “Electron Justice”.  We are dedicated to decolonializing electricity by eliminating all the terminology of the colonialist, Eurocentric, heteronormativist old culture we must overturn.

For example, consider the coulomb, the unit of electric charge.  It is named after the engineer and electrical experimenter Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, who was also a militarist and a colonialist.   He served in the French army for 28 years, retiring with the rank of captain right after the French Revolution.  Part of his military service was spent overseeing military construction in Martinique, a Caribbean island where black slaves labored on plantations, and which remains a French colonial possession to this day.  … Read the rest

The Argus, a local paper in Brighton and Hove, reports:

Police have made an arrest after online threats to kill campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen.

A Twitter account in the name of Layla Le Fey posted threats to the campaigner also known as Posie Parker.

Here’s a surprise. The story had said police arrested a woman after the online threats. It said it just a few minutes ago, but now they’ve changed it. There were many objections and I’ll be damned for once someone paid attention. Unfortunately they do say “a woman” later in the story. Inch by inch by inch we’ll win this war.

One tweet said: “I’m a trans woman and I’m not ashamed to admit I’d be happy to physically

Uhhhhh…for what purpose?

Dearie me! Maya Forstater every minute of every day if the alternative is you Willoughby. pic.twitter.com/c92cbmXfOa

— Jacky Holyoake (@JackyHolyoake) June 12, 2023

I guess we’re supposed to gasp and say “Wow Willoughby is so hot.” But that’s stupid. We know he uses filters and extremely heavy makeup…but anyway what woman age 57 posts selfies like that? He’s trying to look like a teenage beach bunny or some shit but we know it’s fake so why do it??? Why isn’t he embarrassed to do it? Why doesn’t he look at it and realize what a fool it makes him look?

That open mouth thing – we know why models and actors do that, and why photographers … Read the rest

One more…the review hosted by LSE blogs:

In Underflows, Cleo Wölfle Hazard invites us into the hydrological, cultural and epistemological dynamics of both public imaginaries of water and water-related networks as well as the researcher relationships and ‘straight science’ norms that excise affect, care and kinship from the processes of knowledge production and communication. In doing so, he unpacks the settler-colonial land relations that shape water imaginaries and, by extension, water governance throughout the increasingly drought-stricken, dammed and extracted west coast of the US, tying in critiques and analysis with a queer and trans orientation to the world.

Or, to put it less flatteringly, attaching the absurd and decadent pseudo-politics of “trans” to a real and terrible … Read the rest

More on queering the fish:

Rivers host vibrant multispecies communities in their waters and along their banks, and, according to queer-trans-feminist river scientist Cleo Wölfle Hazard, their future vitality requires centering the values of justice, sovereignty, and dynamism. At the intersection of river sciences, queer and trans theory, and environmental justice, Underflows explores river cultures and politics at five sites of water conflict and restoration in California, Oregon, and Washington.

But there is no intersection of river sciences with queer and trans theory. Those two items don’t intersect. You might as well say Manhattan’s Riverside Drive intersects London’s Kensington High Street. It doesn’t. They’re thousands of miles apart.

Incorporating work with salmon, beaver, and floodplain recovery projects, Wölfle Hazard

Another Sokal hoax. Has to be. Right? Right?

The University of Washington Press has published the book 'Underflows, Queer Trans Ecologies and River Justice', which is a 'trans focus on grief for fish'. It also details 'why rivers matter for trans life'. A review of the book has even been hosted by London School of Economics pic.twitter.com/uKDvSLHlBj

— ripx4nutmeg (@ripx4nutmeg) June 12, 2023

Wait there’s more.

Feel sorry for the 15 year old boy who bought 'Truck Sluts' and waited til his parents were out before opening it

— ripx4nutmeg (@ripx4nutmeg) June 12, 2023

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Screechy Monkey on A uniquely favorable jurist.

This NYT article reports on the clerk’s explanation for how Cannon was assigned to this case. In a nutshell:

Judge Cannon’s handling of the prior case was irrelevant. The “low number” rule Rob reports Ken White mentioning was not in play here.

Her assignment was “random” in the sense that judicial assignments usually are — that is, strictly speaking, although there were 10 judges who were eligible to receive the case, it was not a 1 in 10 chance, because that’s weighted by how full each judge’s caseload is, and 3 of those 10 judges are senior judges (semi-retired) who have smaller dockets and are at or close … Read the rest

Moral monster Willoughby

If you go on tv or radio and someone deliberately misgenders you, DO NOT let it pass. It’s offensive and cruel bigotry. The BBC seem to be trying to normalise this. #PoliticsLive

— India Willoughby (@IndiaWilloughby) June 12, 2023

Immediately followed by ridiculous fake dressup Willoughby

Festive interlude.

This is:
– A flight attendant escorting a mob boss off a jet
– A meeting of Adult Children Of Indicted Dads
– The angels of Denial and Tax Evasion
– Guests at a Saudi golf tournament
– Ivanka wearing a mullet: business up top, party below the knees
– The Perons at a brunch pic.twitter.com/HuRXd0q758

— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) June 11, 2023

… Read the rest

Excuse me?

The two halves of the tweet disagree with each other. The first two curt bossy sentences just issue an order, without of course any authority to do so. The rest of the tweet pretends to give reasons for the curt order.

First of all, it’s just gibberish. Bits of vocabulary aren’t “required.” What are they gonna do, arrest us? Give us an F? Sue us? Carve us up? They’re not in a position to tell us what words to use or else.

Second, pronouns, like verbs and nouns and prepositions and the like, are neither preferred nor required, they’re just part of language. Use them correctly if you want to be understood, use them creatively if … Read the rest

The Johns Hopkins definition of lesbian is doing the rounds.

A masterpiece @JohnsHopkins clap………….clap………clap……

Compare & contrast. https://t.co/XSfdCt1nBb

— J. Dreyfus Esq & Master Hobbes (blue tick each) (@DreyfusJames) June 12, 2023

https://twitter.com/SoniaRGallego/status/1668236564080590848 https://twitter.com/hatpinwoman/status/1668212741067137028

I really think Johns Hopkins ought to explain, as well as delete and start over. I really think anyone in a position to promulgate the claim that women are non-men while men get to go on being men ought to explain the reasons for spreading such a blatant shameless in your face insult to women.… Read the rest

Humanists UK are going with “men are women if they say they are.” Women are going with “Goodbye Humanists UK.”

I've resigned today as a Patron of @Humanists_UK. I've campaigned for women's rights all my life & I can't support an organisation that opposes the EHRC's advice that the government should consider clarifying the 2010 Equality Act to protect women @SexMattersOrg @HayteratLords

— Joan Smith (@polblonde) June 12, 2023

Sex Matters explains.

The @Humanists_UK are lobbying against women's rights and freedom of speech.

They say there is no definition of sex in law, and no need for one.

Thankyou Baroness Hayter and Joan Smith for taking a stand and resigning @HayteratLords @polblonde https://t.co/sdLLeS3E5Q pic.twitter.com/QE1BgjgDrT

— Sex Matters (@SexMattersOrg) June

Mark Joseph Stern at Slate takes a very grim view of the Judge Cannon situation.

Cannon’s total lack of principle, combined with her evident incapacity to experience shame, renders her a uniquely favorable jurist for the former president. Indeed, if she maintains her grasp on this case, it is nearly impossible to envision Smith securing a conviction in her courtroom.

Cannon, a Trump appointee, gained notoriety while presiding over Trump’s attempt to halt the classified documents investigation in 2022. Following the search of Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s lawyers filed a complaint alleging that the search was illegitimate and unconstitutional; they demanded the appointment of a special master and, in the meantime, a freeze on prosecutors’ review of seized materials. In a

But don’t worry, climate change is just a lefty plot to make people get rid of their SUVs, it’s not a real thing. Not real not real not real.

Tens of thousands of fish washed ashore along the gulf coast of Texas starting on Friday after being starved of oxygen in warm water, officials said.

Park officials for Brazoria County said that a cleanup effort was underway but thousands more fish were expected to wash ashore.

That’s ok. We can just print new fish.

Katie St. Clair, the sea life facility manager at Texas A&M University at Galveston, said that the warming of gulf coast waters through climate change could have contributed to the fish kill.

“As we