Thick as ten short planks.

President Donald Trump held a Cabinet Room meeting with pharmaceutical executives Monday, pressing them to deliver a vaccine for coronavirus as the epidemic spreads across the U.S.

Helpful. I’m sure they’re just being lazy, and if he presses them they’ll sigh and say “Oh all right” and come up with the vaccine by this afternoon.

At one point, Trump asked whether the normal flu vaccine could be used to prevent the spread of the current COVID-19 strain of coronavirus that is causing global disruption. “You take a solid flu vaccine,” Trump said, “you don’t think that would have an impact, or much of an impact, on corona?”

“No,” came the response. Tony Fauci, the

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Oh god.

https://twitter.com/ultimate__facts/status/1234820158738309120

It’s a little unfortunate that the dumbest guy in the UNIVERSE has that job right now.… Read the rest

Hey, remember when liberals pinned their hopes on Ivanka Trump?

No, neither do I.

Maggie Haberman says they did though.

Three years after liberals pinned their hopes on her as a bridge within the Trump White House, Ivanka Trump has registered as a Republican, defends her father over impeachment and goes on Hannity’s show. https://t.co/g8ikc8tGo0

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 2, 2020

The only "liberals" who pinned their hopes on Ivanka were extremely wealthy New Yorkers. https://t.co/OwSvTfzGCB

— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) March 3, 2020

Something I didn't realize before I read Andrea Bernstein's "American Oligarchs" is that Ivanka Trump donated $130k to Republicans in 2012 and said she didn't want to see Obama reelected. https://t.co/nxyXep83YH

— Michelle Goldberg (@michelleinbklyn) March

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See the man. See the man say words. See the man say words that don’t mean anything. See the man make remarks. See the man flap his lips while an epidemic takes hold and he has no clue what to do.

“A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly” pic.twitter.com/4opyUDi0Ey

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 2, 2020

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Originally a comment by Claire on It doesn’t.

This is actually dangerously incorrect information. Yes, for the most part endometriosis doesn’t kill (although it does slightly increase the risk of ovarian cancer). But it is a terrible condition nonetheless.

But if you say 1 in 10 people, you’ve now screwed up the statistic. It’s not 1 in 10, because almost half the population is not at risk at all. And they can’t say 1 in 10 people with a uterus because it is possible to get the disorder without one in places such as the fallopian tubes, pelvic cavity, and even the bowel.

Now imagine if we were talking about something that does kill people but has differential … Read the rest

But even tweeting that one in ten people get endometriosis didn’t save Sefton Council from the wrath of Doctor Harrop.

https://twitter.com/AdrianHarrop/status/1234499456483151873

Apparently they were too busy replying to angry women who were pointing out that only women get endometriosis to do what Doctor Harrop told them to do, so he summoned reenforcements.

https://twitter.com/AdrianHarrop/status/1234520548023132161

That did it – 15 minutes later he was crowing about his knockout punch.

https://twitter.com/AdrianHarrop/status/1234529920040284160

But women? Bah, they can get in the sea.… Read the rest

Robin Buckallew is honoring Women’s History Month by writing something every day of the month that is in her words “about women, for women, by a woman.”

She introduces today’s item:

Well, here it is. March 1. Day One of Women’s History Month, and the first day of my third annual Women’s Writes marathon. For the next month, I will post something for you every day, unless in that time period I am rendered unable by external forces beyond my control. I will start this year with something yanked from my own life, the story – modified, of course – of something that happened to me because I am a woman.

I know it may be difficult to believe;

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Oh godddddd the stupid.

https://twitter.com/seftoncouncil/status/1234414844624936962

Awareness month! So inaccurate misleading language is vital! It’s VITAL I tell you!

When queried on this gross mistake, Sefton Council replied with a smirk.

https://twitter.com/seftoncouncil/status/1234460051265458181

Editing to add: they’re rubbing our noses in it.

March is also #OvarianCancerAwarenessMonth
Getting a diagnosis at the earliest stage can double a person's chance at survival which is why we think it's important to highlight some of the symptoms to help more people get diagnosed sooner!https://t.co/kQUU3gT7ym pic.twitter.com/pVuMFUVud7

— Sefton Council (@seftoncouncil) March 2, 2020

… Read the rest

I saw a tweet saying that Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre had made its toilets [restrooms in American English] gender neutral, so I decided to take a look at how it describes itself.

Our specialist trauma-informed support services are open to women, all members of the trans community, non-binary people and young people aged 12 – 18 who have experienced any form of sexual violence at any time in their lives, by abusers of any gender. This includes rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse, child sexual abuse and commercial sexual exploitation.

So their services are not open to men over 18 who don’t describe themselves as trans or non-binary, but they are open to men over 18 who do describe themselves … Read the rest

Hmm.

Really struck by Joe Biden’s words on the promise of equality in the Declaration of Independence: “We’ve never fully lived up to it, but we’ve never before, until this president, walked away from it.”

— Carlos Lozada (@CarlosNYT) March 1, 2020

Yes, that is striking, striking in being so very wrong. (That may be what Carlos Lozada meant; my disdain is for Biden, not him.)

Never before walked away from it? Is he kidding? Does he remember what “we” did to the people who were here first? The genocide, the mass expulsions, the theft, all that? Does he remember slavery?

Of course we’ve walked away from it before. We’ve failed to go anywhere near it at any time, before. … Read the rest

The UN reports:

Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has warned against complacency on women’s rights at an event marking the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration, a landmark agenda for the empowerment of women.

…

“Women’s rights are threatened and attacked” on many fronts, she warned, adding that there over this period there has been “a backlash and the resurgence of gender inequality narratives based on age-old discrimination”.

And the surgence of male appropriation of everything belonging to women including the word “women.”

However, for the UN human rights chief, women’s rights are not negotiable: “they cannot be an optional policy, subject to the changing winds of politics,” she warned. According to Ms. Bachelet, the

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First you have to know that Jo Grady is the General Secretary of the University and College Union aka UCU.

https://twitter.com/shonfaye/status/1234050436514172928 https://twitter.com/DrJoGrady/status/1234060107903881217

So this is the General Secretary of the UCU cheering on Lola Olufemi’s success at getting Oxford feminist historian Selina Todd barred from giving her scheduled talk at a feminist history event.

It’s enough to make you lose your lunch.… Read the rest

As seen in #Liverpool…. pic.twitter.com/ECbgS0aEzy

— @LiverpoolReSisters (@LiverpoolReSis1) March 1, 2020

GENITAL

PREFERENCES

ARE

TRANSPHOBIC

As is everything else. Food preferences, weather preferences, dog preferences, book preferences, politics preferences – any kind of preference is transphobic, because.

You have been told.

Now see that you obey.… Read the rest

As usual, truth is the first victim. Jonathan Freedland at the Guardian:

The coronavirus crisis is a war against a disease, but it’s also the most serious battle yet in the war on truth. That much was clear from the start, as China moved to hush up the first outbreak and gag the doctor who had spotted it. It was a classic case of what we might call Chernobyl syndrome: the tendency of authoritarian systems to react to disaster by rushing to downplay or cover up the problem, focusing more on shifting blame than tackling the threat head on.

But this time it’s not just the openly, explicitly authoritarian states that are lying and hiding.

… this time, the

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I’ll skip that one, thanks.

https://twitter.com/BrizTransformed/status/1231688578868154368… Read the rest

https://twitter.com/VictoriaPeckham/status/1233802240932139009 https://twitter.com/VictoriaPeckham/status/1233802276046802945… Read the rest

In local news…

One person in King County has died due to a novel coronavirus infection, Public Health – Seattle & King County officials announced Saturday morning. It is the first death attributed to the virus in the United States.

Two people connected to a Kirkland long-term care facility have tested positive, officials said Saturday afternoon. A resident in her 70s is in serious condition, and a health employee in her 40s is stable. The long-term facility in Kirkland has 108 residents and 180 employees, according to the CDC.

At the Kirkland facility, 27 residents and 25 employees have symptoms.

So that’s not good.

Kirkland is 11 miles from where I’m sitting.

All local cases announced Saturday were acquired

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About those “people who were pulling out” – this is one:

So, it's become clear that at least one the factors in the no-platforming of @selina_todd by @womenslib_50 was because @lolaolufemi_ decided to pull out.

Here is Lola's statement just read out at the conference.@Womans_Place_UK #IStandWithSelina pic.twitter.com/8eCG3eed4l

— Dr. Jane Clare Jones (@janeclarejones) February 29, 2020

Lola Olufemi believes that feminism is “a political methodology that we can use to make demands for our freedom and the freedom of others” – why others? Why can’t women advocate for our own freedom? And feminism isn’t a “political methodology,” whatever that would mean, and it isn’t about “making demands” and it’s far broader than demands for “freedom.” In short her feminism … Read the rest

Well, that’s one I haven’t seen before.… Read the rest