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Apparently cheered by the arrival of newcomers

Mar 15th, 2017 11:48 am | By

George Packer in the New Yorker a couple of weeks ago:

Section 4 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution allows for the removal of a President who can no longer discharge his duties but is unable or unwilling to say so. It empowers the Vice-President, along with “a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide,” to declare the President unfit and to install the Vice-President as Acting President. Section 4 has never been invoked. In 1987, when Ronald Reagan appointed Howard Baker to be his new chief of staff, the members of the outgoing chief’s team warned their replacements that Reagan’s mental ineptitude might require

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It has really nice appliances

Mar 15th, 2017 10:19 am | By

One of the things Rachel Maddow talked about in the segment leading up to the 1040 reveal was the fact that Trump sold a house to a Russian oligarch for way more than it was worth, so what’s that about.

So today I googled for more, and got a Washington Post piece from five days ago.

The front-page centerpiece of Friday’s Palm Beach Post, billed as an “exclusive,” begins with a provocative question: “Why did a Russian oligarch pay now-President Donald Trump $95 million for his Palm Beach mansion?”

The piece offers no clear answer and, despite being a captivating read filled with several new details, it revisits a curious real estate transaction that has previously been probed by

… Read the rest

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Some Wall Street finance broseph

Mar 15th, 2017 8:31 am | By

On International Women’s Day:

A new bronze statue had New Yorkers stopped in their tracks Tuesday as a “Fearless Girl” statue was strategically placed in front of Wall Street’s iconic bull.

The statue shows a young girl standing straight with her head held high as she stares down the bucking bull that has become synonymous with Wall Street and big business.

The statue was installed by State Street Global Advisors, a branch of Boston-based State Street Corporation, to send a powerful message about gender equality in the workplace.

The defiant girl was placed in the financial epicenter of the Big Apple to encourage more companies to add more women in leadership roles and in the male-dominated Wall Street.

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 15 comments


Donnie’s off to a rally

Mar 15th, 2017 8:07 am | By

Today in TwitterDonnie:

Wut?

Ah yes, his favorite thing: adoring attention from a visible crowd of people. He misses the campaign. He would do that all … Read the rest

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A reporter nobody ever heard of

Mar 15th, 2017 7:47 am | By

Someone leaked Trump’s 2005 tax return, minus all the informative attachments, yesterday. I think it was Trump who leaked it, since a hostile party would have included the informative attachments.

President Trump paid $38 million in federal taxes in 2005 on income of $153 million and reported a $105 million write-down in business losses, according to a copy of his tax return first revealed Tuesday night.

Trump paid an effective tax rate of 24 percent and saved millions of dollars in additional taxes by claiming the losses, according to the document, the first two pages of which were obtained by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston and first reported by DC Report, a nonprofit news site he runs,

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Brotherhood

Mar 14th, 2017 3:50 pm | By

Ah Saudi Arabia.

They have invented a thing they call a girls’ council, which is apparently a place for men to show off their fashion sense.

See, it says Girls Council right there on the sign, so we can’t blame a faulty translation. There’s the Girls’ Council, and there are all the men, looking manly.

The male-dominated photos have been circulating widely on social media, after the meeting took place on Saturday.

It has been compared to another viral hit – an image of US President Donald Trump, surrounded by men, signing an abortion policy in January.

It’s a proud tradition, men deciding what women can and can’t do. Trump can barely write his own name, but he gets … Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 5 comments


No elected official may benefit from the lease

Mar 14th, 2017 3:26 pm | By

The owners of a popular wine bar in DC are suing Trump and his DC hotel.

Mr. Pitts and Ms. Gross claim that the Trump International Hotel, in the Old Post Office building in Washington, and the restaurants within enjoy an illegal advantage in the city’s restaurant market because of their association with Mr. Trump and that Cork has suffered as a result.

“We’re used to a lot of competition — it makes you better, faster, stronger — but the competition that’s coming from the hotel is not fair,” Ms. Gross said.

The wine bar, which serves more than 50 varieties by the glass, has hosted events for a variety of groups, including White House officials, members of Congress,

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 6 comments


38 new Trump trademarks

Mar 14th, 2017 10:19 am | By

China has cleared the way for Trump to provide pimping services there.

China has granted preliminary approval for 38 new Trump trademarks, paving the way for President Donald Trump and his family to develop a host of branded businesses from hotels to insurance to bodyguard and concierge services, public documents show.

Trump’s lawyers in China applied for the marks in April 2016, as Trump railed against China at campaign rallies, accusing it of currency manipulation and stealing US jobs. Critics maintain that Trump’s swelling portfolio of China trademarks raises serious conflict of interest questions.

Oh, sure, but nobody who can do anything about them will do anything about them.

If President Trump receives any special treatment in securing

… Read the rest

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Somebody else’s babies

Mar 14th, 2017 10:10 am | By

The racists are, of course, feeling emboldened.

Senior Republican congressman Steve King has sparked a backlash on social media after tweeting his support for the Dutch anti-Islam politician, Geert Wilders.

“Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny,” Mr King wrote on Twitter.

“We can’t restore our civilisation with somebody else’s babies,” he added.

That’s a pretty choice of phrase, isn’t it? “Somebody else’s babies.” It’s so tidily othering. We are we, and those other people we don’t like are “somebody else.” Who, exactly? Oh, you know. Them. Not-us.

Anthony Zurcher dares to call it white nationalism.

Congressman Steve King has a history of walking on the edge of white nationalist rhetoric, and on Sunday afternoon he once

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 1 Comment »


Trumpistanian whispers

Mar 14th, 2017 9:02 am | By

The Times reports from the hall of mirrors where it gets to correct the lies of Trump and Trump’s people about what the Times has reported in the past that Trump and Trump’s people are citing as justification for Trump’s lies about Obama’s dastardly wire tapps [sic] of Trump Tower.

Two senior White House officials suggested on Monday that President Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that President Barack Obama had tapped his telephone was not meant to be taken literally, arguing that Mr. Trump had been referring more broadly to a variety of surveillance efforts during the 2016 campaign when he made the incendiary accusation.

“He doesn’t really think that President Obama went up and tapped his phone personally,” said Sean Spicer,

… Read the rest

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Just a bit of an invitation, isn’t it

Mar 13th, 2017 5:10 pm | By

Here’s another:

H/t Stewart… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 5 comments


Trolls in real life

Mar 13th, 2017 4:43 pm | By

Now this is familiar.

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 4 comments


Otherwise intelligent

Mar 13th, 2017 3:29 pm | By

Oh good lord.

At Pink News one Josh Jackman explains what women are.

There seems to be an epidemic of otherwise intelligent, respectful, feminist people suddenly blurting out that trans women “aren’t real women.”

*grits teeth*

One, he mentions two people (and things Germaine Greer said years ago); two is not an epidemic. Two, it’s neither stupid nor disrespectful nor unfeminist to say that trans women are not women in every sense of the word. Three, nobody “blurted out” anything; two women made reasoned arguments.

After that, Josh Jackman (I don’t dare say “he” lest I be accused of misgendering…them) gets down to the hard work of explaining why it’s wrong to say that trans women are not women … Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 10 comments


When women dare to spark

Mar 13th, 2017 12:27 pm | By

Now Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s daring to say that she thinks trans women are trans women has become a news item. I guess it’s shocking when women say things like “trans women are trans women.”

The LA Times tendentiously headlines:

Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie angers transgender community

And the Motoons “provoked the Muslim community” and Charlie Hebdo “sparked outrage” and on and on it goes.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the Nigerian novelist and outspoken feminist, drew criticism from transgender activists after suggesting that the experiences of transgender women are different from women whose gender was assigned female at birth.

Which is ridiculous, because of course the two sets of experiences are different. In other contexts that’s seen as the whole point.… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 18 comments
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Locked up for Holi

Mar 13th, 2017 11:21 am | By

Michael Safi reports from Delhi:

As India’s raucous spring festival of Holi approached this year, a memo circulated among two women’s dormitories at the University of Delhi.

Undergraduate women would be locked inside the student halls from 9pm on Sunday until 6pm on Monday, it read – well after most Indians had finished smearing each other in dye, dancing or drinking from cups of bhang lassi, a milky cannabis-based concoction.

The decision of the hostels highlights a darker side to one of India’s most joyous festivals: as inhibitions decrease, many women say the street harassment endemic to Delhi life also surges.

And naturally the solution to that is to imprison the women. Literally imprison them for 21 hours. Literally … Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 10 comments


It is amazing

Mar 13th, 2017 10:46 am | By

Donnie from Queens showing his usual dazzling self-awareness and insight.

Ah yes, he’s such an expert at avoiding rudeness. He’s so good at being nice. Du wut he sez, nott wut he duz.… Read the rest

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The potential for surprises

Mar 12th, 2017 5:20 pm | By

Poor Angela Merkel. She has to go visit Trump on Tuesday. Yuck. I hope he doesn’t try to hold her hand.

German officials say the detail-oriented Merkel, 62, has been preparing assiduously for her trip to Washington.

She has watched Trump’s speeches and [pored] over his interviews, including a lengthy Q&A with Playboy magazine from 1990 in which he floats many of the controversial ideas he is now trying to implement as president, they say.

Members of her entourage have also analyzed Trump’s encounters with other leaders – including Britain’s Theresa May, Japan’s Shinzo Abe and Canada’s Justin Trudeau – and have had exchanges with some of their counterparts on how to handle the unpredictable former reality-TV star, the

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Penny wise

Mar 12th, 2017 4:54 pm | By

The health commissioner of Baltimore ponders what she would have faced if she had had no health insurance when she got pregnant.

Even though I’m a relatively healthy 34-year-old, I have several medical conditions that call for more frequent monitoring. My doctor recommended that I return every two weeks for a physical exam and ultrasound. Closer to delivery, I should plan to see him every week.

I didn’t hesitate to follow my doctor’s recommendations. I have excellent health insurance with no copay for doctor’s visits and a minimal cost for tests.

But what would I have done if I didn’t have insurance?

One obstetrician visit would cost $150. With an ultrasound each time, it would be $400. A Pap

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 7 comments


They are not an afterthought of nature

Mar 12th, 2017 12:29 pm | By

Margaret Atwood on The Handmaid’s Tale:

Over the years, “The Handmaid’s Tale” has taken many forms. It has been translated into 40 or more languages. It was made into a film in 1990. It has been an opera, and it has also been a ballet. It is being turned into a graphic novel. And in April 2017 it will become an MGM/Hulu television series.

In this series I have a small cameo. The scene is the one in which the newly conscripted Handmaids are being brainwashed in a sort of Red Guard re-education facility known as the Red Center. They must learn to renounce their previous identities, to know their place and their duties, to understand that they have

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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 16 comments
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She had to convince clients to respect her

Mar 12th, 2017 11:51 am | By

What happens when a man accidentally uses a woman’s name on the job?

Martin R. Schneider, an editor for the movie-reviewing site Front Row Central based in Philadelphia, realised men and women are treated differently in the workplace after he accidentally signed off on emails using his female co-worker’s signature

He tweeted the experience that made him realise women do not get the same respect in the workplace. The tweet that has been liked nearly 7,000 times and shared more than 5,400 times at the time of writing.

Mr Schneider, at the time working at another company, said that his colleague Nicole was getting criticism  from their boss for taking longer than he did on tasks that involved communicating

… Read the rest

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