People on Twitter are praising Rowling’s integrity and courage for returning the RFK award after Kerry Kennedy saw fit to issue a statement calling her transphobic.

I think Rowling has bags of integrity and courage but I don’t think integrity and courage were required to return that award in the circumstances. I think the difficulty was in not telling Kerry Kennedy that she should have the award dropped on her from a great height.

Or maybe that’s just me.

But I doubt it. I think when people publicly call you an evil person, on grounds that you know to be deeply mistaken and deluded and in fact destructive, it doesn’t take a whole lot of will power or integrity or … Read the rest

A new consignment of evil crap. Kerry Kennedy is president of a human rights outfit named after her father Robert Kennedy, the nepotistic Attorney General in his brother’s administration. Earlier this month she issued A Statement on…JK Rowling. You know what it says.

Writer J.K. Rowling is best known as the author of the Harry Potter books. In 2005, she founded Lumos, an international nonprofit NGO with a mission to move children worldwide out of orphanages and institutions and into loving family care by 2050. For her dedicated work on behalf of children, she received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award in December 2019.

But! But, sisters and brothers – she committed wrongthink! She must … Read the rest

The White House is plastered with campaign signs at this moment.

This one image explains a lot:

1. The abuse of the presidency for Trump's personal political benefit, with the White House adorned with a giant campaign sign

2. A complete disregard for science in the middle of a pandemic, with attendees not wearing masks or social distancing pic.twitter.com/I61gwj1JGA

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) August 27, 2020

Four years of the unthinkable led right to this moment: https://t.co/NFPVMlSZfe

— Susan Glasser (@sbg1) August 27, 2020

What do you call the politically motivated failure to enforce the law by the Attorney General? What should be done about it? Because make no mistake about it, this is a crime scene. https://t.co/T1Ah7AqBae

— David

Via Jane Clare Jones, a truly fancy piece of academic thinkery.

The Trans*-Ness of Blackness, the Blackness of Trans*-Ness

The essay thinks radically differently about the concepts of black and trans*. Trans* and black thus denote poetic, para-ontological forces that are only tangentially, and ultimately arbitrarily, related to bodies said to be black or transgender. That is to say, they are differently inflected names for an an original lawlessness that marks an escape from confinement and a besidedness to ontology. Manifesting in the modern world differently as race and gender fugitivity, black and trans*, though pointed at by bodies that identify as black or trans*, precede and provide the foundational condition for those fugitive identificatory demarcations. The author seeks to

Fox takes the next step:

Amid a quasi-fascist rant Wednesday night, Fox News host Tucker Carlson responded to murder charges against a pro-Trump teenager who crossed state lines and shot to death two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, by asking, “How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?” Several other Fox personalities have similarly downplayed or seemingly excused the deadly Tuesday night confrontation. 

Carlson says it:

Fox’s turn toward advocating violent right-wing vigilantism is a horrifying but natural evolution for the network. Its personalities have spent the last several months recklessly issuing dire warnings to their viewers, telling them that their lives are in jeopardy from racial justice

Speaking of clueless privilege and entitlement and disdain for everyone not-self – Jared Kushner steps up.

Jared Kushner, the son of a billionaire whose only professional achievements have been handed to him by members of his family, has taken a bold swipe at NBA players for their wealth and privilege. In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box Thursday morning, President Trump’s son-in-law and White House senior adviser was asked about NBA players’ decision to boycott playoff games in protest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. “The NBA players are very fortunate that they have the financial position where they’re able to take a night off work without having to have the consequences to themselves financially,” said Kushner, whose

Man opens up about using woman as baby-gestating machine during COVID-19: ‘different hiccups.’

Sweet touching photo of baby-wanting couple:

Awww, one daddy is cuddling other daddy’s non-existent bump, how sweet.

Lance Bass has shared a heartbreaking update about his road to fatherhood with husband Michael Turchin, noting that it’s been a journey full of setbacks. 

“We’re two-and-a-half-years in and we keep running into a lot of different hiccups,” Bass told TooFab last week. While the pair have embryos “ready to go”, the coronavirus pandemic has made their search for a surrogate more difficult.

Their search for a what? Oh they mean their search for a woman to spend nine months gestating their baby for them and then x number of … Read the rest

Why did Melania Trump wear that thing?

She chooses her outfits carefully. She will probably be remembered for her "I really don't care do u?" jacket more than for any other aspect of her tenure as First Lady. And with so many of them, as last night, she is saying, "Fuck you, American peons."

— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) August 26, 2020

… Read the rest

Trump is loving his new Covid advisor.

Dr. Scott Atlas warns against coronavirus overreaction and hysteria, pushes for the reopening of schools and sports leagues, and downplays the need for broader testing to root out the virus.

Don’t be hysterical, it will be fabulous to reopen everything, shut up about testing. What could go wrong?

With the virus showing no sign of letting up — the U.S. has recorded roughly 5.4 million Covid-19 cases and 170,000 deaths — and with less than three months to go in an uphill reelection battle, the president is betting that a telegenic physician with a positive outlook, but no expertise in infectious diseases or epidemiology, can change his fortunes.

And his fortunes are … Read the rest

This happened.

1) In a scene that played out several times Monday, a Black Lives Matter protest that began in Columbia Heights confronted White diners outside D.C. restaurants,  chanting “White silence is violence!” and demanding White diners show their solidarity. #DCProtests pic.twitter.com/fJbPM76vb0

— Fredrick Kunkle (@KunkleFredrick) August 25, 2020

It’s just moronic. What can possibly be the point in trying to shout people into making a particular gesture?

3) Modiano, who had been yelling at Victor and moments later identified himself as a citizen journalist who writes for @Deadspin, told Victor he couldn’t understand why she was the only diner in the area who wouldn’t comply. “What was in you, you couldn’t do this?”

— Fredrick Kunkle (@KunkleFredrick) August

Oh gee whaddya know.

On Monday morning, members of the Yale Law School faculty received a terse message from their provost informing them that Professor Jed Rubenfeld “will leave his position as a member of the YLS faculty for a two-year period, effective immediately,” and that upon his return, Rubenfeld would be barred from teaching “small group or required courses. He will be restricted in social gatherings with students.” As of Tuesday morning, he was no longer listed on the Yale Law faculty site.

Why? A pattern of sexual harassment. He denies it. Yale says it did in fact look into the matter as opposed to just making it up.

Multiple women told me that a whisper network

And another thing.

A statement of support for trans and gender diverse staff and students from Sheila Gupta, our Vice Principal of People, Culture and Inclusion, and Tom Barringer, Chair of Queen Mary’s Staff LGBTQ+ Network https://t.co/MIFScfi5Eh pic.twitter.com/dLSIv4R71i

— Queen Mary University of London (@QMUL) August 26, 2020

Who is Tom Barringer? Besides chair of Queen Mary’s Staff LGBTQ+ Network? JL told us more about him at Glinner.co last September:

Why do so many left-wing men hate women in general, and left-wing women in particular?

This week, feminist campaign group, Woman’s Place UK, held a meeting in Brighton to coincide with the Labour Party Conference.

…

This meeting was disrupted by a mob which gathered outside the venue. The

We do believe in magic, we do we do we do believe in magic. Yes we’re a university, yes we’re a university in the 21st century not the 12th, but we do believe in magic.

A statement of support for trans and gender diverse staff and students from Sheila Gupta, our Vice Principal of People, Culture and Inclusion, and Tom Barringer, Chair of Queen Mary’s Staff LGBTQ+ Network https://t.co/MIFScfi5Eh pic.twitter.com/dLSIv4R71i

— Queen Mary University of London (@QMUL) August 26, 2020

Also we recognize that witches are witches, wizards are wizards, and demons exist.

Sarcasm aside, they sound as if they’re being held captive by angry men with guns. “Recite the formula or we pull the trigger.” There’s no thought in … Read the rest

It turns out that nobody cares about ethics in government.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Wednesday dismissed accusations that Trump administration officials violated federal law by speaking at the Republican National Convention, arguing that critics have overstretched the bounds of the Hatch Act.

…

“Nobody outside of the Beltway really cares. They expect that Donald Trump is going to promote Republican values and they would expect that Barack Obama, when he was in office, that he would do the same for Democrats,” he continued. “So listen, this is a lot of hoopla that’s being made about things, mainly because the convention has been so unbelievably successful.”

The issue isn’t “promoting political values.” The issue is exploiting … Read the rest

The ancient redwoods in Big Basin state park are not gone.

…an Associated Press reporter and photographer hiked the renowned Redwood Trail at Big Basin Redwoods State Park on Monday and confirmed most of the ancient redwoods had withstood the blaze. Among the survivors is one dubbed Mother of the Forest.

“That is such good news, I can’t tell you how much that gives me peace of mind,” said Laura McLendon, conservation director for the Sempervirens Fund, an environmental group dedicated to the protection of redwoods and their habitats.

The infrastructure is destroyed.

“But the forest is not gone,” McLendon said. “It will regrow. Every old growth redwood I’ve ever seen, in Big Basin and other parks, has fire

They have their priorities.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) has doubled down on its refusal to let schools serve free meals to all students this fall—despite rising food insecurity and pleas from anti-hunger advocates, school nutrition officials, and lawmakers.

…

The announcement was prompted by a request from Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Representative Robert Scott of Virginia. On August 14, the lawmakers asked the agency to extend crucial regulatory waivers that would allow schools nationwide to serve meals at no cost to all children, regardless of whether they were enrolled students, and regardless of whether they technically qualified for free lunch.

Before the pandemic, students had to meet specific criteria in order to qualify for USDA’s

Good to know they’re focused on the important stuff.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he is opposed to the BBC’s decision to play instrumental versions of Land of Hope and Glory and Rule, Britannia! at the Last Night of the Proms next month.

“I think it’s time we stopped our cringing embarrassment about our history,” he told reporters.

Which cringing embarrassment? About which history? Does the UK have nothing at all in its history to cringe about? Bragging about “ruling the waves” seems a tad grandiose and pushy to me, seeing as how the oceans don’t belong to any one country.

Media reports have suggested the lyrics are being dropped due to associations with colonialism and slavery.

But the

Open all the things!

Or maybe not.

Six days after classes began, the University of Alabama has experienced an “unacceptable rise” in coronavirus cases, the university’s president said.

The University of Alabama’s main campus in Tuscaloosa has recorded 531 total cases. The remaining campuses in Birmingham and Huntsville have recorded 35 cases cumulatively, according to the university’s Covid-19 dashboard.

Yes I’d say 531 is too many.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Notre Dame both halted in-person classes within days of the start of the school year. Each university has recorded over 400 Covid-19 cases since mid-August.

This week, The Ohio State University on Monday suspended over 200 students who violated

The Guardian summarizes day one of the Republicans’ Rally o’ Fear:

Republicans delivered a dark, Trumpian message centered on the alleged dangers of electing Joe Biden as president. Despite party leaders’ promises to paint an optimistic vision about the future of the country, Republicans instead attempted to scare voters into supporting Trump by pushing baseless claims that Democrats would “disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home and invite MS-13 to live next door”, as the Florida congressman Matt Gaetz said.

I’d be willing to lock Matt Gaetz in his house.

The convention kept factcheckers busy as the RNC peddled falsehoods about the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans praised Trump’s response to the pandemic and accused Democrats and the

Time for the Kimberly Guilfoyle jokes.

#Guilfoylechallenge pic.twitter.com/Eb8aubYRbp

— Deon (@VitaminDeon) August 25, 2020

https://twitter.com/ltlwing47/status/1298296642081234944 … Read the rest