A statue of Lee was removed from an eponymous park in Dallas yesterday, without incident.

The 14 foot- (4.3 meter) tall statue in Dallas of Lee on horseback riding with an unnamed soldier has been at a city park since 1936, with then President Franklin D. Roosevelt on hand for its dedication.

Workers in yellow vests took down the Lee statue and hauled it away on a trailer pulled by a pick-up truck, during an operation lasting about four hours, according to a Reuters Witness. Dozens of bystanders watched while police, including some officers armed with rifles, stood guard.

The park may be renamed.

Earlier this month, a U.S. judge dismissed a lawsuit from the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who

California Representative Ted Lieu wrote a memo to Steven Mnuchin.

The Treasury secretary has made a series of mistakes. So here are 4 rules to help him not get fired. pic.twitter.com/g6ey9GQGXn

— Rep. Ted Lieu (@RepTedLieu) September 14, 2017

 … Read the rest

Originally a comment by journalist Bruce Gorton on Off with their heads.

Is the potential of losing a free press more significant than the potential loss of individual liberty?

The free press is an individual liberty.

When you get right down to it, when you post a comment on a website or on your Facebook page or whatever, you’re essentially engaging in editorial. If you post anything with the intent to inform people in that public space, there is no real difference between you doing it, and a journalist doing it. It’s still fundamentally the same thing.

Freedom of the press, is essentially the same thing as freedom of your Facebook profile. It extends beyond the traditional media, into … Read the rest

And here are some more people who are not at all white supremacist or racist whatsoever: Sean Hannity plus everyone else at Fox News.

During his Thursday evening show, Fox News’ Sean Hannity convened an all-white panel to talk about Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ denunciation of a black ESPN host from the White House podium.

After introducing the panel — which included Fox News contributor Tomi Lahren, “psychology expert” Gina Louden, and commentator Danielle McLaughlin — Hannity ignored Trump’s recent defense of white supremacists and said he’s sick of liberals calling Trump supporters racist.

I’m glad those four people set us straight.… Read the rest

A judge has revoked Martin Shkreli’s bail. I guess offering to pay people to grab Hillary Clinton’s hair wasn’t such a good idea after all.

A federal judge on Wednesday revoked the $5 million bail of Martin Shkreli, the infamous former hedge fund manager convicted of defrauding investors, after prosecutors complained that his out-of-court antics posed a danger to the community.

While awaiting sentencing, Shkreli has harassed women online, prosecutors argued, and even offered his Facebook followers $5,000 to grab a strand of Hillary Clinton’s hair during her book tour.

Those aren’t “antics.” Those people who punched a woman in the face and knocked her down at a discussion on gender weren’t performing “antics” and neither was Martin Shkreli. … Read the rest

There was a talk / discussion event scheduled this evening in London, Miranda Yardley and Julia Long on the meaning of gender identity. It was originally scheduled to be held at New Cross Learning, which used to be New Cross People’s Library which is a much cooler name…but yesterday NCL canceled.

At NXL Management Committee meeting of 12 Sep the decision was taken not to host the “What is Gender” event due to take place here on 13 Sep

— New Cross Learning (@newxlearning) September 12, 2017

After completing a risk assessment the Mgmt believe the potential risks 2 the library, volunteers, public & building are too great

— New Cross Learning (@newxlearning) September 12, 2017

Discussions of gender … Read the rest

About Trump’s candidate to be “chief scientist” at the Department of Agriculture – Pro Publica last May:

The USDA’s research section studies everything from climate change to nutrition. Under the 2008 Farm Bill, its leader is supposed to serve as the agency’s “chief scientist” and be chosen “from among distinguished scientists with specialized or significant experience in agricultural research, education, and economics.”

Does that describe Sam Clovis? No.

Clovis has never taken a graduate course in science and is openly skeptical of climate change. While he has a doctorate in public administration and was a tenured professor of business and public policy at Morningside College for 10 years, he has published almost no academic work.

Plus public administration and … Read the rest

From June but still of interest:

Rep. Terese Berceau, a Madison Democrat, was quizzing Rep. Jesse Kremer, her Republican colleague from Kewaskum, at a hearing for his proposed Campus Free Speech Act before the state Assembly’s Committee on Colleges and Universities recently.

Berceau wondered what would happen under the bill — which requires University of Wisconsin System institutions to be neutral on “controversies of the day” — if a student in a geology class argued the Biblical theory that the earth is only 6,000 years old.

“Is it okay for the professor to tell them they’re wrong?” Berceau asked during the lengthy session on May 11.

“The earth is 6,000 years old,” Kremer offered.  “That’s a fact.”

Pause for … Read the rest

Jacob Tobia in Playboy explains the wonders of being objectified. There was this bar Tobia used to go to as a Duke undergraduate.

It was the place where basketball players, sorority queens, frat stars, gay boys and queer girls alike congregated to bump, grind and…bump-n-grind.

I didn’t go all that often, but when I did choose to grace Shooters with my presence, it was an all-out affair. I’d wear my shortest skirt, a crop top, and, if you were lucky, my biggest heels. I’d arrive just a touch after midnight, strut in already buzzed, head straight to the bar and climb on top of it. On any given visit, I’d spend at least 50-percent of my time dancing on

Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been explaining to the assembled journalists what a dangerous criminal James Comey is and why the Justice Department should arrest him immediately.

The Justice Department should consider prosecuting former FBI director James B. Comey for actions that “were improper and likely could have been illegal,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday.

“I think if there’s ever a moment where we feel someone’s broken the law, particularly if they’re the head of the FBI, I think that’s something that certainly should be looked at,” Sanders said.

Mind like a steel trap, she’s got.

Asked to clarify, Sanders said this:

“Anybody that breaks the law, whatever that process is that needs to be followed, should

The Campaign Legal Center reports:

Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) learned through a response to a FOIA Request from Feb. 15, 2017 that an employee with the Heritage Foundation pushed back on naming a single Democrat to the Presidential Commission on Election Integrity.

The employee wrote personally to Attorney General Jeff Sessions pushing back on even a single Democrat being named to the Presidential Commission on Election Integrity and discouraging the White House from naming mainstream Republican officials and/or academics to the commission.

You remember what this presidential commission is, right? It’s a faked-up pseudo-commission to dig up bogus “evidence” of massive voter fraud, so that Trump and his enforcers can get new voting restrictions passed that will keep … Read the rest