But what’s the point of it?

A children’s story hour run by a drag queen in Cardiff was targeted by protesters claiming it was “sexualising their children”.

The Drag Queen Story Hour Tour arrived in Wales this week with the final event being held in Cardiff Central Library.

Story-teller Sab Samuel said it provided a “positive experience” and said there was no sexual content.

But in what way is it a positive experience? What’s the point of it? Why drag queens and not drag kings? Why men dressed up as women and not women dressed up as men? What is it all supposed to mean?

What does it mean? What are children supposed to take from it? What does a … Read the rest

It appears Trump may have leaked the names of two FBI agents who searched Maralago to Breitbart, thus putting them at risk from Trump’s lunatic treasonous fans.

CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez suggested on Friday that former President Donald Trump‘s office was responsible for leaking a search warrant to Breitbart News and other outlets.

…

The warrant authorizing an FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence was provided to Breitbart on Friday before a federal judge in Florida formally unsealed it at the request of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The unsealed warrant redacted the names of the agents. The leaked warrant did not.

It is not known at this time how Breitbart News obtained the warrant on Friday

… Read the rest

Nick Cohen in the Spectator:

Like online trolls, religious totalitarians want their targets to think about them constantly. If some cannot physically harm their enemies, they will accept mentally crippling them as the next best option. The threats against Rushdie never went away. A few days before we met in 2012, the organisers of the Jaipur Literary Festival had cancelled a booking. They feared that the mere sight of him might lead to assassination attempts, riots, injuries and deaths.

I wrote about it at the time.

I asked why John le Carré had said, ‘My position is that there is no law in life or nature that says great religions may be insulted with impunity’.

‘I gave

… Read the rest

This is very good.

Funny to see Boris Johnson in the background.

God, I miss the Hitch. His response here to Shirley Williams and the question whether Salman Rushdie should’ve got a knighthood is a class act that no other pundit or thinker have managed or ever will manage to reach. pic.twitter.com/FzCVusR01v

— Ben Brittain (@BenABrittain) August 13, 2022

… Read the rest

Ok ok ok so Trump stole top-secret documents and kept them at his resort hotel, big deal. What harm could that possibly do?

The Justice Department’s search warrant raises concerns about national security, said former DOJ official Mary McCord.

“Clearly they thought it was very serious to get these materials back into secured space,” McCord said. “Even just retention of highly classified documents in improper storage – particularly given Mar-a-Lago, the foreign visitors there and others who might have connections with foreign governments and foreign agents – creates a significant national security threat.”

What, you mean a big resort hotel isn’t the most secure place you could possibly stash highly classified documents? Huh. Who knew?

“It’s a nightmarish environment

… Read the rest

Since The Religious Veto is on our minds at the moment, I was reminded of the last minute “wait let’s think about this some more” a week before Does God Hate Women? was published.

I wrote a quite furious post about it on May 25, 2009.

About this non-ecumenical book that Jeremy and I wrote, that is due out at the end of this week. Yes, what about it, you’re thinking, all agog. For reasons which I will explain another day, the publisher became nervous about it last Friday. The publisher phoned us on Friday, and talked of changes, or delays, or would we like to drop a chapters. We would not like to drop a chapter, and if

… Read the rest

Taliban attacks women:

About 40 women marched through the Afghan capital demanding rights, before the Taliban broke it up by firing into the air.

The fighters seized their mobile phones, stopping one of the first women’s protests in months.

Male insurrectionists attack women and steal their phones.

Never forget the Taliban are in no sense a legitimate government. They’re violent thugs who overthrew the government. They represent government by the gun.

Afghanistan is the only country in the world that officially limits education by gender – a major sticking point in the Taliban’s attempts to gain international legitimacy.

But “officially” only according to the Taliban, who are a group of criminals. They have no legitimacy.… Read the rest

Oh is that how it works.

https://twitter.com/monisha_rajesh/status/1558410523137417220

His own family’s religion – so he’s not allowed to critique and satirise other people’s families’ religions?

Plus of course Rowling’s not “peddling hate speech at a minority group” – she’s disputing the truth claims of a new and deranged belief system that’s carving up children and calling it “gender-affirmation surgery.”

https://twitter.com/monisha_rajesh/status/1558413720417714176

Yo, transgenderism is a human-made belief system, and a very destructive one, and we all get to “pick it apart” aka say what’s wrong with it.… Read the rest

Writers say it’s not good to try to murder writers:

Fellow authors such as JK Rowling and Stephen King have written messages of support, calling the news “horrifying”.

Booker-prize winning author, Ian McEwan, called it an “appalling attack” that “represents an assault on freedom of thought and speech”.

“Salman has been an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world. He is a fiery and generous spirit, a man of immense talent and courage and he will not be deterred,” he added.

He was an absolute torch of a defender of the Charlie Hebdo people, which meant quarreling with some of his own friends, because they shamefully took the other side.

Afghan-American author, Khaled Hosseini, wrote: “I’m

… Read the rest

The Beeb reports:

Salman Rushdie’s agent has said “the news is not good” after the author was stabbed at an event in New York state.

He was attacked on stage, and is now on a ventilator and unable to speak, Andrew Wylie said in a statement, adding that the author will lose one eye.

…

“Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged,” his agent, Andrew Wylie said.

A day that will live in infamy.… Read the rest

Reuters:

FBI agents in this week’s search of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Florida home removed 11 sets of classified documents including some marked as top secret, the Justice Department said on Friday, while also disclosing it had probable cause to conduct the search based on possible Espionage Act violations.

The bombshell disclosures were made in a search warrant approved by a U.S. magistrate judge and accompanying documents released four days after agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach. The Espionage Act, one of three laws cited in the warrant application, dates to 1917 and makes it a crime to release information that could harm national security.

Trump is saying it was all declassified, but Reuters says that’s … Read the rest

Good god, this is getting intense.

FBI agents removed 11 sets of classified documents from former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida,

including some marked top secret and meant to only be available in special government facilities.https://t.co/aDz9EmA2co

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) August 12, 2022

Many news sources are running the same headline.

11 sets, some top secret.

That’s no joke.

He’s done, isn’t he? Unless he just unleashes his fascists on us?… Read the rest

Leo Igwe:

A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it; or offer your own version in return.’—Humanists UK patron and novelist Salman Rushdie on freedom of expression.

Elham Manea:

„The moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision, or contempt, freedom of thought becomes impossible.“ – #SalmanRushdie #WordsMorePowerfulThanKnives #RushdiQuotes

… Read the rest

Sigh.

Ash Sarkar. Of course.

Don't have anything particularly clearheaded to say, but the stabbing of Salman Rushdie (though it has decades-old origins) alongside the campaign of threats and intimidation against drag queens in the US makes it feel like a very grim, dangerous time for artistic expression.

— Ash Sarkar (@AyoCaesar) August 12, 2022

… Read the rest

From a year ago:

Do your patients have questions about their #genderidentity? Join us for the "Understanding gender identity: Answers for physicians," webinar on July 14 at 5:30 p.m. Submit your questions in advance to answers@childrens.harvard.edu. Click ➡️ to register. https://t.co/7KBxQ8zghD pic.twitter.com/3GXfg0LxAz

— Boston Children's (@BostonChildrens) July 13, 2021

That’s like doctors offering a seminar for other doctors on “Understanding the immortal soul: answers for physicians.” There is no immortal soul, and there is no “gender identity” either – not in the sense of being a real, tangible thing that doctors can research and understand. There are feelings people have about their sex and “gender” but that’s more a social and/or psychological and/or emotional category than a medical one.… Read the rest

The BBC’s Frank Gardner on That Book:

The furore that followed the publication of his book, considered blasphemous by many Muslims, had far-reaching consequences. It sparked a deadly riot in Mumbai, the burning of both his effigy and his books in Britain, and attacks on translators and his Norwegian publisher.

It’s all nonsense. The whole idea of “blasphemy” is nonsense. The god is supposed to be omni-everything – all powerful, all knowing, all goodness and mercy, all perfection, all justice – peak excellence in all things. Why would such a god care about “blasphemy”? Do we care if ants think we’re stupid? No. We have better things to do than trying to make ants respect us or love us or … Read the rest

The Guardian also has a live page on the attack on Salman.

New York governor Kathy Hochul posted a statement on Twitter about Rushdie’s attack, praising first responders at the scene who assisted Rushdie and apprehended the suspected attacker.

Thank you to the swift response of [New York state police] & first responders following today’s attack of author Salman Rushdie. Our thoughts are with Salman & his loved ones following this horrific event. I have directed State Police to further assist however needed in the investigation.

She talked about Chatauqua as a place and an institution.

Hochul commented further on Rushdie’s stabbing, confirming that the author is alive and receiving treatment at a local hospital.

“He’s getting the care

… Read the rest

Some piece of ordure physically attacked Salman Rushdie onstage just now.

The Booker Prize winner was speaking at an event at the Chautauqua Institution at the time.

Witnesses say they saw a man run on stage and either punch or stab Mr Rushdie as he was being introduced.

People rushed the stage. More is not currently known. Will update when.

Update:

–@SuzanneNossel, CEO of PEN America, issued the following statement in response to the attack on author @SalmanRushdie:

“PEN America is reeling from shock and horror at word of a brutal, premeditated attack on our former President and stalwart ally, Salman Rushdie, who was…

— PEN America (@PENamerica) August 12, 2022

There’s some irony there, because … Read the rest

Also the Rhine is shrinking.

Water levels on the Rhine River could reach a critically low point in the coming days, German officials said Wednesday, making it increasingly difficult to transport goods — including coal and gasoline — as drought and an energy crisis grip Europe.

All the same thing innit. Drought hinders transport making energy crisis worse.

From France and Italy, Europe is struggling with dry spells, shrinking waterways and heat waves that are becoming more severe and frequent because of climate change. Low water levels are another blow for industry in Germany, which is struggling with shrinking flows of natural gas that have sent prices surging.

…

HGK and other shipping companies are preparing for a

… Read the rest

Drought declared:

A drought has been declared across wide swathes of England after a meeting of experts.

The prolonged dry conditions, with some areas of the country not receiving significant rainfall all summer, have caused the National Drought Group to declare an official drought.

The Environment Agency has moved into drought in eight of its 14 areas: Devon and Cornwall, Solent and South Downs, Kent and south London, Herts and north London, East Anglia, Thames, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, and the east Midlands.

Documents seen by the Guardian show the Environment Agency expects a further two areas will move into drought later in August. These are Yorkshire and West Midlands.

Could it be that the globe is warming?

Those

… Read the rest