All entries by this author
Non le masculin ne l’emporte pas sur le féminin!
Nov 3rd, 2017 11:03 am | By Ophelia BensonOh, interesting. The Académie Française dit “non” to gender inclusive language.
The Académie Française, France’s ultimate authority on the French language, is under fierce attack for describing gender-neutral text as an “aberration” that puts the language in “mortal danger”.
The “Immortals”, as the 40 academy members – only five of whom are women – are known, have sparked a national row after declaring that “inclusive writing” has no place in the country’s grammar books, or anywhere else for that matter.
The thing is, having an “ultimate authority” on a language is a highly dubious enterprise to begin with from a linguistic point of view. I hate the way people say “it negatively impacted her” instead of “it harmed her” … Read the rest
He needs norm-glasses
Nov 3rd, 2017 9:09 am | By Ophelia BensonThe Post goes into contortions to say it politely:
President Trump on Friday pressured the Department of Justice — and specifically the FBI — to investigate Hillary Clinton, ticking through a slew of issues involving the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee and her party, and urging law enforcement to “do what is right and proper.”
Trump’s advocacy for criminal probe of his political opponent marked a significant breach of the traditional boundaries within the executive branch designed to prevent investigations from being politicized.
In other words Trump’s rant was completely deranged and trampled all over the norms that prevent total breakdown and internecine war and corruption.
… Read the restIn his Thursday radio interview, Trump said, “You know, the saddest thing is, because
Trump says Trump is the only one that matters
Nov 3rd, 2017 8:29 am | By Ophelia BensonNarcissism plus total incompetence plus grotesque overconfidence=what could go wrong?
President Trump says: “I’m the only one that matters” in setting U.S. foreign policy, thus downplaying the importance of high-level jobs such as the assistant secretary of state, which is currently vacant.
“Let me tell you, the one that matters is me,” Trump said in an interview that aired on Fox News on Thursday night. “I’m the only one that matters, because when it comes to it, that’s what the policy is going to be. You’ve seen that, you’ve seen it strongly.”
He was talking to some fool on Fox News, in his 700th interview with Fox News, which he advertised on his deranged Twitter, intermixed with 700 other … Read the rest
Breakdown
Nov 3rd, 2017 8:08 am | By Ophelia BensonHe’s lost it.
Great Tax Cut rollout today. The lobbyists are storming Capital Hill, but the Republicans will hold strong and do what is right for America!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2017
Donna Brazile just stated the DNC RIGGED the system to illegally steal the Primary from Bernie Sanders. Bought and paid for by Crooked H….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2017
The @TuckerCarlson opening statement about our once cherished and great FBI was so sad to watch. James Comey's leadership was a disaster!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2017
I will be interviewed by @IngrahamAngle on @FoxNews at 10:00. Enjoy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2017
… Read the restMy Twitter account was
Careful with the Twitter there sport
Nov 2nd, 2017 6:29 pm | By Ophelia BensonJunior’s mean tweet about Halloween candy and socialism backfired, because roughly 30 thousand people found witty ways to tell Junior what a nasty little swine he is. Twitter dogpiles are bad, but the Trumps are dogpiling the whole damn world.
https://twitter.com/monteqzuma/status/925525517595561984
Fill her bucket with old candy left by her great-grandfather, then explain that she has more because she's smarter than all the other kids. https://t.co/0lbhHYyFe4
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) November 1, 2017
Good prep for when Mueller takes half her family and gives it to prison. Makes her costume a tad ironic though.
— Adam Burns (@ATWURNS) October 31, 2017
https://twitter.com/Bearpigman/status/925506848358305792
https://twitter.com/clmazin/status/925506078296588289
https://twitter.com/linnieloowho/status/925542629709893632… Read the rest
How to gett tuffer
Nov 2nd, 2017 12:17 pm | By Ophelia BensonLegal types on Twitter are pointing out that Trump damaged the government’s ability to prosecute Saipov by barfing out his stupid murderous thoughts on Twitter. The Times explains.
… Read the restA day after an immigrant from Uzbekistan was arrested on suspicion of plowing a pickup truck along a crowded bicycle path in Manhattan, killing eight people, Mr. Trump denounced the American criminal justice system as “a joke” and “a laughingstock,” adding that he was open to sending “this animal” instead to the American military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
Shortly before midnight, the president took it a step further, posting a message on Twitter declaring that the suspect, Sayfullo Saipov, should be executed. “NYC terrorist was happy as he asked
A brief embarrassed mention
Nov 2nd, 2017 11:24 am | By Ophelia BensonThe BBC on Tariq Ramadan three days ago:
French prosecutors are investigating allegations by two women who say they were raped by Tariq Ramadan, a renowned Islamic scholar and Oxford professor.
One of them, Henda Ayari, told a French TV interviewer that Mr Ramadan had assaulted her in a Paris hotel in 2012.
“He literally pounced on me like a wild animal,” she said.
In a Facebook post Prof Ramadan denied the accusations, calling them “a campaign of lies”, and said his lawyer was suing the women for “slander”.
Just like Trump.
… Read the restHe is a controversial and influential figure among Muslim scholars. He challenges fundamentalist Islam, but some critics accuse him of promoting political Islam.
A Swiss national, he is
You gotta choose
Nov 2nd, 2017 10:39 am | By Ophelia BensonI didn’t know Scott Pruitt had invoked the bible in his move to gut the EPA.
Pruitt used a story from the Book of Joshua to help explain the new policy.
On the journey to the promised land, “Joshua says to the people of Israel: choose this day whom you are going to serve,” Pruitt said. “This is sort of like the Joshua principle — that as it relates to grants from this agency, you are going to have to choose either service on the committee to provide counsel to us in an independent fashion or chose the grant. But you can’t do both. That’s the fair and great thing to do.”
Yet he is appointing people from industry to … Read the rest
The double-talk of Tariq Ramadan
Nov 2nd, 2017 10:27 am | By Ophelia BensonCaroline Fourest on Tariq Ramadan:
… Read the restIt has taken me years to reveal the double-talk of the controversial Islamic speaker Tariq Ramadan.
Since 2009 I have known that he has also led a double life, contradicting his many sermons on the « Islamic conception of sexuality. » Yet I could not write what I knew. The most serious facts could not be revealed without strong evidence, without a victim filing a complaint. Other facts were deeply troubling, revealing a hypocritical and misogynistic pathology, but I wanted to respect the principal of the right to privacy. I had enough evidence to demonstrate the duplicity of Tariq Ramadan without entering such a sordid area. But I did, however, alert colleagues and even
What is “compromise”?
Nov 2nd, 2017 9:41 am | By Ophelia BensonApril Ryan asked Sarah Sanders about the Civil War and “compromise” and slavery again yesterday, and it went as well as you’d expect.
Ryan initially asked what the White House thinks is the definition of compromise as it relates to slavery and the Civil War.
“Look, I’m not going to get in and relitigate the Civil War. Like I told you yesterday, I think I’ve addressed the concerns that a lot of people had and the questions that you had and I’m not going to relitigate history here.”
What are the chances that Sanders knows anything about it? Or knows anything about it other than the most reactionary Southern myths?
… Read the restRyan pressed again: “But my question was still lingering when
In blatant disregard of his oath
Nov 2nd, 2017 9:03 am | By Ophelia BensonJennifer Rubin (a conservative) on Trump’s attack on the US justice system:
… Read the restWhen Trump pops off about the defects of our justice system with no understanding of what he is saying, he underscores his unfitness and undermines one of the great jewels of American democracy, the court system. For Trump to slander the courts as a “joke” gives aid and comfort to our enemies (both terrorists and thug-ocracies such as Russia). It is a regrettable but natural continuation of his indefensible slurs about “so-called judges.” Unfortunately, Republicans have been too cowardly to take him on, even rhetorically on this point. Nevertheless, one cannot ignore his unwillingness to defend the Constitution, of which courts are a part, in blatant disregard
People say all sorts of things
Nov 1st, 2017 5:00 pm | By Ophelia BensonIs there any merit to this?
Every believing Muslim says Allahu Akbar every day during prayers. We cannot criminalize "God is great." Prosecute the criminal not a faith.
— Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour) October 31, 2017
I don’t know of any plans to “criminalize” saying “Allahu akbar,” or to prosecute the religion that says it. On the other hand it does get pointed out when guys who drive trucks onto bridges or bicycle paths or shoot up editorial offices shout the phrase as they do so. Should journalists suppress that fact?
No. It’s evidence of motive, for one thing. The perpetrators themselves want us to know that that’s their motive; that’s why they shout it. We’re supposed to be converted, or … Read the rest
As progressive as a moratorium on stoning
Nov 1st, 2017 4:32 pm | By Ophelia BensonIn honor of Tariq Ramadan – last week’s Jesus and Mo:
Stunned
Nov 1st, 2017 4:16 pm | By Ophelia BensonA French official has admitted knowing Oxford professor Tariq Ramadan was “violent and aggressive” sexually, but denied hearing anything about rape.
Bernard Godard, who was considered the “Monsieur Islam” of the French Ministry of the Interior between 1997 and 2014, was well acquainted with Mr Ramadan, a prominent Islamic scholar and grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
A prominent Islamist scholar, albeit one who disguised himself to some extent as a sophisticated academic and deep thinker – but he’s the guy who refused to condemn stoning out of hand but instead called for a “moratorium” while serious theocrats debated the issue. He’s awful but with a veneer of okayness.
And now … Read the rest
Due process: it takes too long
Nov 1st, 2017 3:24 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Guardian on the White House press briefing today:
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders is holding a press briefing. She denies that the president was going the “political route” by attacking Chuck Schumer on Twitter this morning.
“The president’s not blamed senator Schumer. He doesn’t believe that the senator is responsible for the attack,” says Huckabee Sanders.
Huckabee Sanders is asked about the president’s willingness to “send him to Gitmo.”
She basically makes clear that that was something the president just said but there’s no thinking behind it:
He supports or would support that but he wasn’t necessarily advocating for it.
… Read the rest‘I believe we would consider this person to be an enemy combatant, yes,” Huckabee Sanders said.
The worst political adviser in the White House in modern history
Nov 1st, 2017 12:24 pm | By Ophelia BensonTrump thinks it’s all so unfair.
… Read the restTrump, meanwhile, has reacted to the deteriorating situation by lashing out on Twitter and venting in private to friends. He’s frustrated that the investigation seems to have no end in sight. “Trump wants to be critical of Mueller,” one person who’s been briefed on Trump’s thinking says. “He thinks it’s unfair criticism. Clinton hasn’t gotten anything like this. And what about Tony Podesta? Trump is like, When is that going to end?” According to two sources, Trump has complained to advisers about his legal team for letting the Mueller probe progress this far. Speaking to Steve Bannon on Tuesday, Trump blamed Jared Kushner for his role in decisions, specifically the firings
“What we have right now is a joke and it’s a laughing stock.”
Nov 1st, 2017 11:56 am | By Ophelia BensonTrump seized the opportunity to fling more mud in the direction of the US system of laws.
President Trump said on Wednesday that he would consider sending the suspect arrested after the terrorist attack in New York to the American prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and called on Congress to cancel a longstanding immigration program that he blamed for allowing the man into the country.
Or hey, why not put the suspect on a ship and tell the crew to throw him overboard in the middle of the Pacific?
… Read the restThe president’s comments came at the beginning of a cabinet meeting a day after an immigrant from Uzbekistan plowed a pickup truck along a crowded bicycle path in Manhattan, killing eight
Get those damn scientists out of here
Nov 1st, 2017 10:35 am | By Ophelia BensonScott Pruitt cut the EPA off at the knees yesterday.
Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, stripped a half-dozen scientists and academics of advisory positions Tuesday and issued new rules barring anyone who receives E.P.A. grant money from serving on panels that counsel the agency on scientific decisions.
The move will effectively bar a large number of academic researchers, many of them experts in fields ranging from toxicology to epidemiology, from advising the E.P.A. on scientific matters, since the agency is one of the largest funders of environmental research.
They get the grants because they know the subject – so Pruitt throws them out. Let’s not have any experts on environmental science in the EPA, because … Read the rest
