All entries by this author

T-shirts and mugs

Jul 30th, 2017 5:18 pm | By

A Sunday Times reporter went to talk to Richard Dawkins about all this no-platforming they get up to over there in Americaland.

He is in the news because, 10 days ago, a left-leaning Californian radio station suddenly “no-platformed” him. He had intended to speak in Berkeley, where he undertook graduate studies in the 1960s, but the event’s organisers cancelled his talk, citing his “abusive speech [against Islam]”, which had “offended and hurt . . . so many people”.

Dawkins insisted he had never spoken abusively against the religion, admitting that while he had called Islamism “vile”, Islamism is not the same as Islam. (In a 2013 tweet, he wrote that “Islam is the greatest force for evil in the world

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 8 comments


Please don’t be too Trump-like

Jul 30th, 2017 12:27 pm | By

Not all cops are delighted by Trump’s advice to let suspects slam their heads into the cars as they’re being shoved in.

The criticism online started shortly after Mr. Trump’s comments, which came at an event in Brentwood, N.Y., which was intended to support the police in their fight against La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, a gang that has been accused of several murders on Long Island.

After calling for more immigration officers to help arrest the gang members, Mr. Trump told officers, “Please don’t be too nice.”

“Like when you guys put somebody in the car, and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put your hand over” their head, he said,

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 4 comments
Tags:


In front of a mirror trying to project like Alec Baldwin

Jul 30th, 2017 11:16 am | By

Well I never expected to be knocked sideways by a piece in National Review, but that day has arrived. Kevin Williamson nails Trump by way of Glengarry Glen Ross.

Glengarry Glen Ross is the Macbeth of real estate, full of great, blistering lines and soliloquies so liberally peppered with profanity that the original cast had nicknamed the show “Death of a Fucking Salesman.” But a few of those attending the New York revival left disappointed. For a certain type of young man, the star of Glengarry Glen Ross is a character called Blake, played in the film by Alec Baldwin. We know that his name is “Blake” only from the credits; asked his name by one of the other

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 5 comments
Tags:


Intensive manspreading

Jul 30th, 2017 10:41 am | By

Robert Reich:

Here’s a photo of the interns in the Trump administration. I think it’s great for young people to have a chance to intern in government. But is it possible that the Trump officials who selected Trump’s interns left some young people out of consideration? Just asking.

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 13 comments
Tags:


He has ideas, she has smiles

Jul 29th, 2017 3:08 pm | By

From Facebook:

Morrisons, are you serious?

Boys’ top: “Little Man, Big Ideas”
Girls’ top: “Little Girl, Big Smiles”
Boys’ top: “King Of The Castle”
Girls’ top: “Pretty Little Me”

This has to be a joke, right?

Sexism? I don’t see any sexism, do you see any sexism?

 … Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 11 comments
Tags:


Payments that the federal government owes insurers

Jul 29th, 2017 2:54 pm | By

Evil Donald Trump announces he’s going to kill Obamacare by withholding funds; Chuck Schumer points out that’s not ok.

 Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged President Donald Trump to release payments that the federal government owes insurers as part of the Affordable Care Act, firing a salvo in the latest stage of the health care reform fight.

Schumer’s reaction came after Trump launched a Saturday afternoon tweet threatening to end “BAILOUTS to insurance companies” if Congress does not repeal and replace Obamacare.

They’re not “bailouts” of course.… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 4 comments
Tags:


You hold the pencil like this

Jul 29th, 2017 10:48 am | By

Maggie Haberman explains what Trump doesn’t understand about the legislative process.

Despite naming a chief of staff who is expected to bring a new sense of discipline to the White House, President Trump resorted to his old Twitter playbook on Saturday, attacking Senate Republicans who he said “look like fools” — even as he demonstrated an uncertain understanding of the legislative process.

In a series of early morning messages, the president criticized the Senate’s filibuster rules, saying they were hampering his agenda.

It

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 3 comments
Tags: ,


And a little child shall shout at them

Jul 29th, 2017 9:15 am | By

Today’s Donald-tantrum.

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 1 Comment »
Tags:


Trump spits more venom

Jul 28th, 2017 3:08 pm | By

Priebus is out, and Trump has replaced him with yet another military man, a retired general. He’s running a military dictatorship.

To warm up for the excitement, he went to Long Island to tell the police to get violent with suspects.

President Donald Trump told a crowd of police officers Friday not to be “too nice” to suspected gang members and others under arrest.

“When you see thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in; rough. I said, ‘please don’t be too nice,'” Trump said Friday at a Suffolk County, New York event discussing the administration’s efforts to handle a violent gang known as MS-13. “Like when you guys put somebody

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 2 comments
Tags:


What was that about a “sewer” again?

Jul 28th, 2017 11:04 am | By

Meanwhile…

President Trump’s nominee to lead the Justice Department’s criminal division, Brian A. Benczkowski, said on Tuesday that he helped Russia’s Alfa Bank investigate whether its computer servers contacted the Trump Organization.

Mr. Benczkowski had told the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that he represented Alfa Bank, which is one of Russia’s largest financial institutions and whose owners have ties to President Vladimir V. Putin.

On Tuesday, as Mr. Benczkowski came before the panel for his confirmation hearing, he acknowledged that his work for Alfa Bank directly touched on suspicions related to the bank in connection with the Trump-Russia affair.

Oh. Oh really. Well that seems fine – no possibility of conflict of interest there, right?

Mr. Benczkowski

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 2 comments


He channelled Priebus as he spoke

Jul 28th, 2017 6:06 am | By

Ryan Lizza’s phone conversation with Scaramucci is a hot item.

Mooch called Lizza Wednesday night wanting to know who “leaked” the information that he was having dinner with Don and Melania plus Hannity and former Fox News executive Bill Shine, information which Lizza had tweeted.

“Who leaked that to you?” he asked. I said I couldn’t give him that information. He responded by threatening to fire the entire White House communications staff. “What I’m going to do is, I will eliminate everyone in the comms team and we’ll start over,” he said. I laughed, not sure if he really believed that such a threat would convince a journalist to reveal a source. He continued to press me and complain about

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 12 comments


Based on the paperwork we have to put forward

Jul 28th, 2017 4:42 am | By

Kellyanne Conway considers ethics rules an unreasonable imposition.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, speaking on Fox & Friends Thursday, said the Trump administration’s hiring efforts are being hindered by the “hoops you have to jump through” to comply with Office of Government Ethics rules.

“There are so many qualified men and women who wanted to serve this administration and their country who have been completely demoralized and completely disinclined to do so based on the paperwork we have to put forward, divesting assets,” Conway said.

The “hoops” are intended to prevent people from using government jobs to help their own financial interests. The reason for that is that we want people in government to be working for the public … Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 2 comments


Mavericky

Jul 28th, 2017 4:34 am | By

So McCain sucker-punched them after all. He joined Murkowski and Collins in voting down the latest repeal of the ACA, which means that effort is over for now.

Republican senators said there was no consensus and no plan for what comes next on health care. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, warned of potentially severe political consequences for Republicans for failing to deliver on what has been the GOP’s unifying campaign pledge for the previous three elections.

“I sadly feel a great many Americans will feel betrayed,” Cruz told reporters, “that they were lied to, and that sentiment will not be unjustified.”

And a great many Americans will feel relieved that their health insurance won’t be yanked away.

The “skinny repeal”

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 4 comments


In his mind, he is his own best advocate

Jul 27th, 2017 6:24 pm | By

Will he, won’t he? Nobody knows for sure. Don really really wants to get rid of Sessions, but how to do it without getting into another mess that could turn out to be just as bad or even worse? It’s keeping him awake on the job.

President Trump has discussed with confidants and advisers in recent days the possibility of installing a new attorney general through a recess appointment if Jeff Sessions leaves the job, but he has been warned not to move to push him out because of the political and legal ramifications, according to people briefed on the conversations.

Still raging over Sessions’s recusal from the Justice Department’s escalating Russia investigation, Trump has been talking privately about

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 7 comments
Tags:


His dinner with Donnie

Jul 27th, 2017 6:13 pm | By

Nothing at all sleazy about this, oh no, perfectly normal and appropriate.

President Trump dined at the White House on Wednesday night with Fox News Channel star Sean Hannity, former Fox executive Bill Shine and newly installed White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci to discuss overhauling the West Wing staff and his political strategy, a senior White House official said.

The private dinner comes as Trump is contemplating major changes inside his White House, empowering Scaramucci to reimagine his communications strategy.

The president and his new aide solicited advice from Hannity and Shine over a meal in the Blue Room that was described by the senior White House official as social.

Hannity has his head so far up Trump’s … Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 1 Comment »
Tags:


Actively working to expose people to discrimination

Jul 27th, 2017 5:16 pm | By

Meanwhile in Trump World –

The Justice Department has filed court papers arguing that a major federal civil rights law does not protect employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation, taking a stand against a decision reached under President Barack Obama.

The department’s move to insert itself into a federal case in New York was an unusual example of top officials in Washington intervening in court in what is an important but essentially private dispute between a worker and his boss over gay rights issues.

“The sole question here is whether, as a matter of law, Title VII reaches sexual orientation discrimination,” the Justice Department said in a friend-of-the-court brief, citing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination in

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 3 comments


Their most stylish and advanced beauty product to date

Jul 27th, 2017 1:34 pm | By

The Onion reports:

Touting it as their most stylish and advanced beauty product to date, officials from global cosmetics brand Maybelline unveiled Thursday the Ideal-Woman Rubber Mask, a flexible facial covering that can be worn over the head in lieu of makeup. “Instead of spending hours each morning applying multiple cosmetic products, now women can simply roll out of bed, grab their stunning latex polymer beauty mask that has been molded to accepted standards of female beauty, and stretch it snugly over their face and hair,” Maybelline spokeswoman Jessica Healy said of the one-size-fits-all contoured masks, which designers carefully crafted with rouged cheeks, pouty full lips, high cheekbones, and a small taut chin for maximum physical appeal. “In the

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 3 comments


Trump punishes Alaska

Jul 27th, 2017 1:18 pm | By

Trump is taking revenge on the people of Alaska for Murkowski’s refusal to vote the way he wants. Yes really. He’s telling her that’s what he’s doing, too.

The Alaska Dispatch News reported Wednesday night that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke called Murkowski and fellow Alaskan Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) after Tuesday’s health care vote to let them know her position had put some of their state-specific projects in jeopardy ― particularly those pertaining to energy.

Sullivan told the outlet that Zinke’s phone call carried a “troubling message,” and the interior secretary made it clear to him that the call was in response to Murkowski voting no on the motion to proceed on Tuesday.

Nice little state ya got here; too … Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 5 comments
Tags:


Sir, point of order, Sir

Jul 27th, 2017 1:12 pm | By

So the question of the hour is: does a Twitter blurt from the Toddler President equal a direct order to the military if it announces a new policy on who can join that military?

It seems to be blindingly obvious that it doesn’t, but not everyone agrees. Some say it’s a direct order and the military is disobeying a direct order by saying they’re not doing anything until they hear from the White House.

I just don’t see how it can be a genuine order to the military. It’s not addressed to them. It’s much closer to a “who will rid me of this meddling priest?” than it is to a direct explicit do it now order. Telling the world … Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 9 comments
Tags:


Sir, not so fast, Sir

Jul 27th, 2017 12:07 pm | By

Subtext: Yet again Trump shot off his mouth on Twitter as if he were three years old and having a meltdown at the supermarket checkout because he wants the candy bar HE WANTS IT WAAAAAAAH. Literal text: no change unless and until the White House talks to the Defense Department by a more reliable and discreet channel than fucking Twitter.

The nation’s highest-ranking military officer said Thursday that the Defense Department was making “no modifications” to current policy regarding transgender service members until President Trump gives more direction.

“I know there are questions about yesterday’s announcement on the transgender policy by the President,” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford said in a statement. “There will be no modifications

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 5 comments
Tags: