Who knew that singing with a bunch of people in a small enclosed space could spread the virus? Besides everyone who is paying attention at all?

The number of COVID-19 cases connected to a karaoke bar in Quebec City has grown to more than 30, public health authorities say, contributing to a jump in new cases in the region not seen since May.

Sigh. A karaoke bar ffs!

Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé confirmed on Tuesday that 12 more cases had been linked to Bar Kirouac, in the city’s Saint-Sauveur district.  Dubé said video taken at the bar recently has been circulating on social media, and he suggested that patrons and staff could be fined. 

Because: small space; enclosed space; … Read the rest

It was novichok.

Angela Merkel has demanded answers from the Kremlin over the “attempted murder” of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, after toxicological exams at Berlin’s Charité hospital indicated “unequivocally” that Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent from the novichok family.

At first it seems odd that they use a poison that will scream RUSSIA when it’s detected – and then you remember that it’s an instrument of terror, and it no longer seems odd. Putin is just saying, as publicly as anyone could wish, “I can kill you whenever I feel like it.”

The discovery that novichok was used on Navalny will lead many to conclude that the attack was meant as a brazen message

Some academics are angry that male people won’t be allowed to play on women’s rugby teams.

World Rugby’s proposals to ban trans women from playing women’s rugby have been criticised by dozens of academics, who have written to the sport’s governing body to insist there is “no evidence” that trans women pose a safety risk to others playing the sport.

One, that’s absurd, but two, it’s beside the point. Women and men are physically different in many ways, and that’s why they compete mostly on separate teams. Trans women are physically men, so they should not force themselves onto women’s teams.

The letter, which has been co-signed by 84 leading academics from a range of fields including sport, public health

What is Red Tent Australia?

The aim of Red Tent Australia is to connect, collaborate and create a community of strong and educated women in a supportive & nurturing environment. Our direction is governed by the need to nurture a symbiotic relationship with the earth. We believe everyone is connected. We believe that the earth needs us to remember our ancestral knowledge & go back to “the old ways.”

It is our goal to connect women with their natural wisdom in all areas of their lives, to initiate and increase their healing.

Well, ick, as far as I’m concerned, but whatever. It’s a thingy for women, and the “red tent” reference is about menstruation, and the need to shun and … Read the rest

Trump says nuh uh he DID NOT EITHER have a stroke or a bunch of mini-strokes. We must accept that because he is famous for never lying.

Sadly, #Strokeahontas is trending on Twitter.

OK: #Strokeahontas or the Soup Nazi?

Discuss.pic.twitter.com/Iym6Wfa7Yi

— BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ (@mmpadellan) September 1, 2020

Both.… Read the rest

Official White House transcript of Trump remarks on July 31 at a meeting of police organizations:

In cities across the nation, we’ve also seen police officers assaulted with bricks, rocks, bats, Molotov cocktails, frozen bottles of water. Somebody said last night, one of the protesters — I saw it — he said, “It’s only water. How can water hurt you?” Yeah, they don’t say it’s frozen, in a bottle the size of a football. And they throw it at the police. It’s unbelievable. “It’s water.”

And then they have cans of soup. Soup. And they throw the cans of soup. That’s better than a brick because you can’t throw a brick; it’s too heavy. But a can of soup, you

I cannot get past this Scary People On a Plane thing. This isn’t some disheveled person on the bus, it’s not even an agitated cousin at the family reunion, this is the president of a heavily armed nation.

Apparently he got it, directly or indirectly, from Facebook.

It’s unsettling, to put it mildly, to think the sitting American president believes there are nefarious forces lurking in “dark shadows,” whom he won’t identify, but whom he sees controlling both a presidential candidate and American streets.

But Trump didn’t stop there.

In an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, Trump claimed that “we had somebody get on a plane from a certain city this weekend, and in the plane

Here he is vouching for the complete and utter truth of his claim about that mysterious plane full of scary people in dark clothes.

Here's Trump doubling down on his claim just now: pic.twitter.com/pcLwuM2Acb

— The Recount (@therecount) September 1, 2020

See, there was a person on a plane, and there were about six people like that person, and the entire plane filled up with that other kind of people. (Could this possibly be code for white people on the one hand and black people on the other hand? Surely not. Surely surely not.)

The plane filled up with The Looters and The Anarchists and The Rioters, people that were obviously Looking For Trouble, and The Person felt very uncomfterbul

Another lovely glimpse into his id – he sees himself as standing alone in a sea of incompetent stupid people.

Trump on his message to women voters wary of his tone: "I have to be aggressive … look at all of those horrible race riots you had during Obama." pic.twitter.com/zyw5u6kAOp

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 1, 2020

Ingraham asks him what he says to people, women in particular, who don’t love his aggressive tone.

He pulls himself up and says a preliminary “Okay,” like, here it comes – “I have to be aggressive, I’m standing here [leans forward a touch] in a sea of incompedent people, stupid people, and violent people, [shake of the head] very violent people –

Ingraham … Read the rest

Completely normal, nothing to see here.

The President claims people in the dark shadows who control the streets are really controlling Biden. He goes on to talk about a plane full of people wearing black uniforms but then says he can’t reveal anymore because it’s under investigation pic.twitter.com/AAk5GX0eWu

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 1, 2020

Sounds like a joke but isn’t. That’s actually what he says.

Ingraham: Who do you think is pulling Biden’s strings, is it former Obama people –

Trump: People that you’ve never heard of, people that are in the dark shadows –

Ingraham [cutting in]: What does that mean, that sounds like conspiracy theory, dark shadows, what is that?

Trump: No, people that you haven’t heard of, … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Claire on Ask Doctor Oz next. (Excuse two guest posts from the same person in one day but if you people will insist on being wantonly informative and clarifying this way it simply can’t be helped.)

Herd immunity. For a pandemic. Fuck.

Herd immunity is a population specific term. Herd immunity is used in humans for very specific reasons. Calculating the vaccination rate required to reduce infections in a population. In a retrospective manner, looking at historical data. Projecting into the future in worse case scenarios and measuring against interventions and their efficacy.

By the time you’re working with populations, they’ve stopped being people and have become mere numbers. Epidemiologists have to remind themselves from … Read the rest

Peter Baker on Trump’s Twitter frenzy yesterday…

… embracing fringe conspiracy theories claiming that the coronavirus death toll has been exaggerated and that street protests are actually an organised coup against him.

In a concentrated pre-dawn burst, the President posted or retweeted 89 messages between 5.49am and 8.04am on Sunday on top of 18 the night before. He resumed on Sunday night.

Cool that he has so much free time, as well as so much good sense, discipline, sense of proportion, conscience, dedication…

In the blast of social media messages, Trump also embraced a call to imprison New York Governor Andrew Cuomo; threatened to send federal forces against demonstrators outside the White House; attacked CNN and NPR; embraced a

Originally a comment by Claire on Expertise.

Sigh. Why aren’t people taught risk better in school? I find that many people outside of STEM (and many within it too) just do not understand risk, nor do they understand the difference between the two models

If the probability that a woman is injured in a tackle from a transwoman is 20-30% (as per World Rugby) then the demoninator is the tackle. In Harper’s formulation, it’s more complicated but the answer may not be what she expects.

Let’s propose an imaginary trans woman who had been a short, weedy man and transition made him lose muscle and even bone density to that of a woman’s (unlikely but this is a thought … Read the rest

Let’s take a different approach.

One of Donald Trump’s top new medical advisers is urging the White House to embrace a “herd immunity” strategy to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Herd-immunity strategies entail allowing disease to spread through much of the population, thereby building natural immunity to the deadly, highly contagious virus. Basing its reporting on “five people familiar with the discussions,” The Washington Post says the Trump White House has already begun to implement some policies along these lines.

One tiny issue here (along with others) – from what I’ve seen it’s looking as if there is no natural immunity to this virus. People have been getting it again, after recovering the first time.

The approach’s chief proponent is

Man who calls himself a woman explains how wrong it is to think men playing on women’s rugby teams would be a danger to women.

“Well, frankly, I think [the leaders of World Rugby] had their minds made up, before they called the meeting,” Harper said. “It would have been nice to have seen a trans woman rugby player there, but I doubt it would have made any difference.”

Would it though? Would it have been nice? Suppose you’re on a committee working out legislation on rape; would it be nice to have a rapist there?

The use of “trans woman” works so well to disguise this absurd “include the aggressors in the conversation” bullshit. It wouldn’t sound so persuasive … Read the rest

Clever trick!

The Secret Service had asked for a room close to the president. But Mar-a-Lago said it was too late. The room was booked. Would agents like a room across the street from the president, instead?

March 2017, this was. They didn’t waste much time.

The next time, the Secret Service didn’t take the same risk. It paid Mar-a-Lago to book rooms for two weeks at a time — locking them up before the club could rent them to others, according to newly released records and emails.

For Trump’s club, it appeared, saying no to the Secret Service had made it a better customer. The agency was paying for rooms on nights when Trump wasn’t even visiting — to

Trump is having success in stoking violence.

Yesterday in Portland:

A person was shot and killed in downtown Portland Saturday night as a pro-Trump car caravan wound its way through city streets, clashing with counterprotesters along the way.

…

Images from the scene Saturday night show a man wearing a hat featuring the logo of Patriot Prayer, a group that has regularly attended, hosted and engaged in violence at Portland protests through the years. The man was also wearing a “Thin Blue Line” patch on his shorts, indicating support for the police.

The shooting occurred around 8:45 p.m. near the corner of Southwest Third Avenue and Alder Street. Portland police are investigating it as a homicide.

…

The lead-up

Most most most most most maximum progressive. Also most vulnerable.

I particularly love that this enlightened person is a “sensitivity reader.” Ho yus, all about the sensitivity.… Read the rest

Yet again, I don’t understand how it works. Yet again I don’t understand the basic concept. Yet again I think it’s the concept that’s broken, not my reading comprehension.

Again, disagree with me as much as you like, but I am not saying things I know to be untrue.

You say only cis women are women, which denies trans women's rights as women. I consider that transphobia. That does not make me a liar, and again I'd like you not to call me one,

— Rupert Goodwins (@rupertg) August 30, 2020

Rupert Goodwins says that saying only women are women is to deny trans women’s [i.e. men’s] rights as women.

That’s such a peculiar thing to say, and to think. … Read the rest