All entries by this author

Fir stopenly

Nov 13th, 2024 6:50 am | By

Oh how exciting, another first.

Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride won the state’s only House seat Tuesday, NBC News projects, making her the first openly transgender person elected to Congress. 

But so very much not the first man elected to Congress.

There are a lot of available firsts in this kind of thing. The first person from an obscure small town in Iowa; the first person who failed algebra in 9th grade; the first person who has a cat named Ronald Krump – one could go on in this vein forever.

Meanwhile, McBride is a guy elected to Congress and women continue to be both ignored and mocked.… Read the rest



Largely inexperienced

Nov 13th, 2024 5:42 am | By

And here we go: Even Worse Than Last Time in action. The Beast appoints a Fox News jock Secretary of Defense.

President-elect Donald Trump stunned the Pentagon and the broader defense world by nominating Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary, tapping someone largely inexperienced and untested on the global stage to take over the world’s largest and most powerful military.

The news was met with bewilderment and worry among many in Washington as Trump passed on a number of established national security heavy-hitters and chose an Army National Guard captain well known in conservative circles as a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend.”

Of course he did. He considers himself … Read the rest



Guest post: In the odor of sanctity

Nov 12th, 2024 4:25 pm | By
Guest post: In the odor of sanctity

Originally a comment by Mike Haubrich on Often struggling.

This reminds me of the Arch Bishop of MPLS-St. Paul, John Nienstedt, who vigorously defended the Church against charges of priestly abuse (including moving notorious priests around without warning the new parishes.) He had sent a sermon around the state for priests to read on the Sunday before the vote on a state amendment banning same-sex marriage that reminded Catholic voters about the canonical position on the issue (gays must remain celibate to avoid sinning.) I heard him defend the position on a radio call-in on Minnesota Public Radio, about how the law can be painful to follow sometimes but there you go.

Shortly after, there were photos showing him … Read the rest



The 10 Rules for Bullies

Nov 12th, 2024 4:08 pm | By

I’ve been thinking about this 10 Stupid Goddy Rules in the Classroom thing, and what would be better in classrooms. I don’t necessarily think any homilies or bits of moral advice should be on the walls of classrooms, but I’m not adamant about it. Maybe it’s useful to have them. So what kind of thing should they be?

My hunch is some form of “don’t be shitty.” Maybe a bulletin board that could have posters that change every few days, with small manageable iterations of “don’t be shitty.” Help each other; don’t make fun of anyone; share; remember what it feels like to be teased or bullied. Blah blah; that kind of thing. Tiny chapters from the large book of … Read the rest



Boss man agenda

Nov 12th, 2024 11:37 am | By

Last June we were talking about Louisiana’s plan to force “the 10 commandments” on school children.

The AP version:

Louisiana has become the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom under a bill Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law Wednesday.

The GOP-drafted legislation mandates that a poster-size display of the Ten Commandments in a “large, easily readable font” be in all public classrooms, from kindergarten to state-funded universities.

Opponents question the law’s constitutionality, warning that lawsuits would be likely to follow. Proponents say that the purpose of the measure is not solely religious but that it has historical significance. In the law’s language, the Ten Commandments are described as “foundational

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A pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that

Nov 12th, 2024 9:43 am | By

Receive HOW much in grant money for writing fatuous speculative anti-woman blather????

Nearly two million pounds, that’s how much.

Two. million. pounds. … Read the rest



Often struggling

Nov 12th, 2024 9:35 am | By

Welby has resigned.

Justin Welby spent his 11 years as Archbishop of Canterbury trying to prevent the global Anglican communion from fracturing, often struggling to please liberals or conservatives as they fought over homosexual rights and women clergy.

But in the end he was brought down by an issue from the church’s past rather than its future: the failure to investigate an abuse scandal that dated back decades…Welby said he had had “no idea or suspicion” of the allegations before 2013, the year he became archbishop. But the independent Makin Report, published on Nov. 7, concluded it was unlikely he would have had no knowledge of the concerns regarding Smyth’s behaviour in the 1980s.

That’s unclear. Is it unlikely … Read the rest



Mister God’s servants have his back

Nov 12th, 2024 3:56 am | By

Archbish urged to get out.

The archbishop of Canterbury has been urged to stand in solidarity with abuse victims by resigning after a report into a cover-up in the Church of England. A petition started by three members of the General Synod – the church’s parliament – calling for Justin Welby to quit has reached more than 10,000 signatures.

An independent review published last week concluded John Smyth [might] have been brought to justice had Welby formally reported the abuse to police a decade ago.

But he didn’t, so Smyth went elsewhere to torture more boys. It seems Welby’s god hates children and loves their torturers. Beware of people who think they have a pipeline to Mister God.

Over

Read the rest


Trump’s list of enemies is not theoretical

Nov 11th, 2024 5:53 pm | By

Disruption.

There’s already a judiciary subcommittee on the “weaponisation of the federal government” in Congress to investigate the “censorship industrial complex” – the idea that big tech is “censoring” Republican voices. For the past 18 months, it’s been subpoena-ing academics. Last week, Elon Musk tweeted that the next stage would be “prosecutions”. A friend of mine, an Ivy League professor on the list, texts to say the day will shortly come “where I will have to decide whether to stay or go”.

Trump’s list of enemies is not theoretical. It already exists. My friend is on it. In 2022, Trump announced a “day one” executive order instructing “the Department of Justice to investigate all parties involved in the

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The authority

Nov 11th, 2024 5:20 pm | By

Brianna Wu speaking up for women…but of course he considers himself a woman, which he isn’t, so his speaking up for us is speaking over us, so no, not requested, not wanted, not needed, absolutely not appreciated.

Read the rest



Guest post: Saruman’s vast army

Nov 11th, 2024 9:52 am | By

Originally a comment by Bjarte Foshaug on The spirit of vengeful reprisal is the totality of his beliefs.

The part about learning Russian was not entirely a joke btw. Earlier today I filled up two 15 liter water jugs. The Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection recently sent out a leaflet asking all citizen to stock up on water, durable food items, hygiene products, matches, candles, firewood etc. to be prepared to survive for up to a week without electricity, tap water, open stores etc. in case of a “crisis or war”, so if it’s just my paranoid delusion, at least It’s not just me.

To my country, and Europe in general, one obvious implication of Trump’s return to power … Read the rest



An Alastair

Nov 11th, 2024 9:00 am | By

Dang, for imperturbably immovable male confidence this really takes the biscuit.

Punch line:

“I don’t know as much about it as … Read the rest



The spirit of vengeful reprisal is the totality of his beliefs

Nov 10th, 2024 4:24 pm | By

Adam Gopnik wrote this in the New Yorker before the election:

Think hard about the probable consequences of a second Trump Administration—about the things he has promised to do and can do, the things that the hard-core group of rancidly discontented figures (as usual with authoritarians, more committed than he is to an ideology) who surround him wants him to do and can do. Having lost the popular vote, as he surely will*, he will not speak up to reconcile “all Americans.” He will insist that he won the popular vote, and by a landslide. He will pardon and then celebrate the January 6th insurrectionists, and thereby guarantee the existence of a paramilitary organization that’s capable of committing violence on

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Guest post: There is no “Latino” vote

Nov 10th, 2024 10:39 am | By

Originally a comment by Freemage on What the United States really is.

3) The Harris campaign didn’t do enough to convince the Latino community that Harris was going to help them with their economic problems. The campaign assumed that because of Trump’s disgusting comments about Latino people, that this community automatically wouldn’t vote for him: they were wrong. Enough Latinos decided Trump was “stronger on the economy”, and decided to vote him in spite of his vile rhetoric.

Kamala Harris lost the Latino vote.

I’d say the biggest issue is the very notion of ‘the’ Latino vote, honestly. Democrats keep wanting to treat Hispanic-Americans as if they are a single voting bloc, like they do African-Americans. But Latinos have … Read the rest



Let the mullahs decide

Nov 10th, 2024 10:31 am | By

Iraq wants 9-year-old girls raped.

Iraq is poised to slash the legal age of consent from 18 to nine, allowing men to marry young children.

Young girls, that is. I really doubt Iraq is allowing men to marry young boys.

The proposed legal change also deprives women of rights to divorce, child custody and inheritance.

Iraq’s parliament, which is dominated by a coalition of conservative Shia Muslim parties, is preparing to vote through an amendment that would overturn the country’s “personal status law”. The legislation, also known as Law 188, was heralded as one of the most progressive in the Middle East when it was introduced in 1959 and provides an overarching set of rules governing the affairs

Read the rest


Those seeking personal freedom should go to Europe

Nov 10th, 2024 10:09 am | By

Libya goes full Afghanistan.

Libya’s interior minister has announced the reintroduction of the morality police to the streets to enforce what he called “society’s traditions” and restrict women’s freedom of movement.

On Wednesday, Emad al-Tarabulsi said the patrols would resume next month. They would target people with “strange” haircuts, ensure women wear “modest” clothing, and prevent gender mixing in public spaces. He also suggested that women would be barred from travelling within the country without a male guardian, adding that those “seeking personal freedom should go to Europe”.

That, or be male.

Since 2011, Libya has seen a decline in religious freedoms in the predominately Muslim country.

The circulation of non-Islamic religious materials, missionary activity and speech considered “offensive

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Guest post: The rewriting of the rule book has already begun

Nov 10th, 2024 8:43 am | By

Originally a comment by Bjarte Foshaug on Drag them and burn them he says.

As Timothy Snyder put it, they are clearly (from memory) preparing the ground for worse things to come. I don’t know to what degree it’s a conscious strategy (as opposed to instinctual, trial and error etc.), but anyway it’s a prime example of the weaponization of cognitive dissonance: Signal your illiberal and authoritarian agenda in advance while making sure there is just enough plausible deniability to give you an alibi (”it’s just trolling”, ”not to be taken literally” etc.). Get your followers into the habit of going along with, excusing or explaining away, even actively applauding increasingly dehumanizing and violent rhetoric, unambiguous, shameless lies, blatant … Read the rest



Guest post: Cutesy pushy is still pushy

Nov 9th, 2024 5:30 pm | By

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? at Miscellany Room.

Another neighbourhood vignette. Trans bullshit makes me cranky. Maybe at this point I’m spending too much time looking for it, but its omnipresence makes it hard to avoid. Today’s encounter with it took place in a local store selling handicrafts. Right at the door was a little Pride Progress flag (complete with the Intersex yellowtiangle with purple circle). Beside it was a happy rainbow sticker assuring those in need of such reassurance that You Are Safe Here. Of course this wasn’t telling everyone entering the store that the building they were entering was up to code and therefore unlikely to burst into flame or collapse onto us during … Read the rest



Drag them and burn them he says

Nov 9th, 2024 2:46 pm | By

Trump Attorney General Hopeful Vows to Drag Bodies Through the Street

Mike Davis, a right-wing activist considered a leading candidate for Trump’s attorney general, on Wednesday threatened to (legally) “drag their dead political bodies through the streets” and burn them, referring to enemies of Trump and the right.

He did say that.

https://twitter.com/mrddmia/status/1854200785975775609 How democracy.

Davis, a former clerk for Justice Neil Gorsuch who calls himself “Trump’s viceroy,” is not likely to show any restraint in exercising retribution on behalf of the president. He’s already threatened special counsel Jack Smith, who oversaw the investigation and prosecution of Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election as well as his mishandling of classified documents, to “lawyer up.”

The fact

Read the rest


Party time

Nov 9th, 2024 1:13 pm | By

It seems the Yay Nazis wing is celebrating. The New Republic reports:

The immediate aftermath of Donald Trump’s presidential election win is already a bad omen for women and minorities across the nation, who within less than 48 hours have found themselves the subjects of hate campaigns designed to belittle and marginalize them.

“Your body, my choice. Forever,” posted white supremacist, Hitler fan, and far-right political pundit Nick Fuentes hours before the race had even been called in Trump’s favor.

A text campaign—and obvious hate crime—issued a threat to students of color across the nation, claiming the recipients had been “selected” as “house slaves” and were due to appear at plantations.

Just kids blowing off steam.… Read the rest