Is Pence a good choice to lead the US response to the new virus?

“Mike is not a czar,” Trump said. “I don’t view Mike as a czar.”

Pence is not a public health expert, either. Instead, as governor of Indiana, he slashed public health spending and delayed the introduction of needle exchanges, which led to the state’s worst outbreak of HIV.

So he’s not just not a good choice, he’s a specifically bad choice, one with a record of fucking up government response to a contagious disease. Swell.

Yale epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves, who conducted the research linking the Indiana HIV outbreak to Pence’s policies, tweeted that the decision “speaks to a lack of seriousness by the White House.”

Gotta watch out for that overreach stuff. It can get in your clothes and your pipes and your engines and just mess everything up. Like making lynching a federal crime – that would be a terrible reckless thing to do.

Historic legislation that would make lynching a federal hate crime passed the House by near-unanimous consent Wednesday—with four representatives opposing it.

Not because they like lynching – no no. Because they don’t like federal overreach.

Three Republicans voted against the measure: GOP members Ted Yoho of Florida, Louie Gohmert of Texas and Thomas Massie of Kentucky. The chamber’s lone Independent, Justin Amash of Michigan—who famously switched from Republican to Independent over his support for impeaching President Donald Trump—also voted

Soutik Biswas at the BBC on why the Delhi violence has echoes of the Gujarat riots:

What began as small clashes between supporters and opponents of a controversial citizenship law quickly escalated into full-blown religious riots between Hindus and Muslims, in congested working class neighbourhoods on the fringes of the sprawling capital.

Armed Hindu mobs rioted with impunity as the police appeared to look the other way. Mosques and homes and shops of Muslims were attacked, sometimes allegedly with the police in tow. Journalists covering the violence were stopped by the Hindu rioters and asked about their religion. Videos and pictures emerged of the mob forcing wounded Muslim men to recite the national anthem, and mercilessly beating up a

More Trump trying to pull intelligent sentences out of his empty head:

Asked if he was worried about the spread of novel coronavirus in the United States, President Trump said, “No, because we’re ready for it.”

No we’re not.

“It is what it is. We’re ready for it. We’re really prepared,” the President continued. “We have, as I said, we have the greatest people in the world. We’re very ready for it. We hope it doesn’t spread. There’s a chance that it won’t spread, too. And there’s a chance that it will.”

Ah. There’s a chance that it won’t spread, and a chance that it will. What a relief to know that someone is in charge!

“It’s just a

Trump said some words to the cameras, in the hopes that everyone would hear the words and feel safe.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday placed Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the US government response to the novel coronavirus, amid growing criticism of the White House’s handling of the outbreak.

At a wide-ranging White House news conference, the President defended the White House’s response, stressing the administration’s ongoing efforts and resources devoted to combat the virus.

What efforts? What resources?

“Because of all we’ve done, the risk to the American people remains very low,” Trump said.

All what they’ve done?

Trump has been publicly downplaying the novel coronavirus’ effects, because he thinks doing otherwise could cause further panic

Pushing back.

Last week:

We are extremely disappointed by the City of Vancouver’s intent not to fund our public education work and the message it sends to the women who seek out a women-only group as part of their resistance to male violence.#VanCityCouncil #fail #women #womenresistance #womenonly pic.twitter.com/GPqltxw7ty

— VancouverRapeRelief (@VanRapeRelief) February 20, 2020

An hour ago:

We're at @CityofVancouver today with our supporters speaking to the importance of funding a grassroots women's group. You can follow it live https://t.co/xF2Z6D5ew5 #vancitycouncil #womenonlyspace #raperelief #radfem #yvr pic.twitter.com/UGnot4mF6q

— VancouverRapeRelief (@VanRapeRelief) February 26, 2020

Thank you everyone who's come down already to support us today. We are grateful for all the support we've received so far. From those who have written

Out of Florida:

Newly released body-camera footage shows the moment a police officer in Florida arrested a six-year-old girl as she cried and begged not to be taken from school.

Kaia Rolle was led to a police vehicle with her hands fastened behind her back in zip ties after having a tantrum at her school in Orlando that included kicking and punching school personnel.

Later in the story we learn that she has sleep apnea which is thought to affect her behavior.

By the time police officers arrived at the Lucious & Emma Nixon academy, she had already settled down.

In the video, Kaia can be seen seated and listening to a teacher read as officers approach her.

More on Trump’s tightening of the screws on the intelligence-gathering branch of government:

Maguire and several of his deputies were reportedly fired because an official in his office, election security expert Shelby Pierson, briefed Congress without Trump’s knowledge on Russia’s ongoing election interference, though the White House is disputing that version of events. The NSA, CIA, and Pentagon have been urged by the White House not to share information about Russia and Ukraine with lawmakers, while the “Gang of Eight” senior members of Congress were bypassed leading up to at least one major intelligence operation.

Say that again?

The NSA, CIA, and Pentagon have been urged by the White House not to share information about Russia and Ukraine with lawmakers… Read the rest

The murderous riots in Delhi are absolutely fucking horrifying – a reprise of Partition and the Ayodhya riots.

Twenty-three people have been killed so far in the deadliest violence the Indian capital has seen in decades.

…

Photographs, videos and accounts on social media paint a chilling image of the last few days – of mostly Hindu mobs beating unarmed men, including journalists; of groups of men with sticks, iron rods and stones wandering the streets; and of Hindus and Muslims facing off.

Some 189 people are injured, according to officials at the Guru Teg Bahadur hospital, where many of them have been admitted.

BBC reporters at the hospital say they saw people with all sorts of injuries, including

Arielle Scarcella has had enough.

Millennial lesbian vlogger Arielle Scarcella caused a stir last Friday when she announced that she no longer feels a part of the contemporary LGBTQIAA+ movement, the latest evolution of the gay rights movement that stands for ‘Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, Allies and others.’

My first introduction to Scarcella was via one of Magdalen Berns’s early videos, in which Magdalen took issue with some bit of trans dogma Scarcella was pushing. It’s been heartening to see her changing her mind since then.

Scarcella, who vlogs about women, sexuality and culture and has over 600,000 YouTube followers, denounced the ridiculously “woke” rainbow coalition movement as “a safe haven for the mentally unstable”, stating

The BBC is doing a Lent talk. This year’s sermon: how Jesus is like a trans woman.

Jesus’ 40-day struggle in the wilderness led to his discovery of who he was and what his mission would be. This year’s Lent Talks theme is identity – losing and gaining identity, struggling with identity, accepting and owning identity. Anglican priest Rachel Mann reflects on the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion and on her journey of identity as a trans woman.

From the Australian Feminist Law Journal, an abstract:

Sexually Dimorphic Bodies: A Production of Birth Certificates

Birth certificates produce bodies? Who knew?!

Registering a newborn’s gender/sex on the birth certificate is usually seen as a mere formality that reflects a natural state of affairs. This article, however, shows that the registration of gender/sex does something else than record naturally given sex differences in bodies; it actually produces and shapes bodies to develop in a way conformant with understandings of sexual dimorphism.

Hmm. I wonder what Lena Holzer means by “shows.” I say that because I doubt that a journal article can “show” something nonsensical.

Sexed bodies are therefore not pre-discursive and static objects, but they are constantly in the

Someone who probably knows what he’s talking about explains why Trump’s tweet about the virus was so terrible.

As both an emergency manager and as someone who helped manage the 2014 USG Ebola response, let me tell you why this is such a damaging tweet.

This is the loudest voice in the US government sharing actively problematic risk communication. https://t.co/L3PPHX4gW8

— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) February 24, 2020

Because it’s not “very much under control,” right?

This directly contradicts what CDC has said (albeit too tepidly) about the potential for community spread and the need for consider enhanced precautions. pic.twitter.com/W6OfkD3Qbl

— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) February 24, 2020

But which is more important, telling the truth so that we can try to … Read the rest

Some children have to be tricked into eating vegetables.

Donald Trump, a 73-year-old man who has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal at his fingertips, must be tricked into eating vegetables. The White House staff has also sought to cut down the president’s ice cream consumption by making it “less accessible.”

They put it in the library.

The newsflash is from an interview with the former White House doctor in the NY Times.

In public, [Ronny] Jackson lauded Trump’s health as “incredible.” At one point, he even told reporters that Trump could live to 200 years old.

Behind the scenes, however, Jackson said he wanted Trump to lose 10-15 pounds. He mapped out a workout routine involving an

The story is by Pink News “gender and identity” reporter Vic Parsons, who is or pretends to be incredulous that any women or girls ever have issues to do with excess bleeding.

Conservative peer Lord Lucas has spoken out about gender-neutral toilets, which he bizarrely thinks should be scrapped because women don’t want to “wash their bloody underwear” in front of men.

Vic Parsons doesn’t explain what’s bizarre about that.

The reality is that women don’t want to wash bloody underpants in front of anyone except possibly immediate family. Certainly having to wash blood out of one’s underpants in any public restroom/toilet would be a depressing and embarrassing need, but it would for sure be much worse in a “gender … Read the rest

Pink News arrives at peak misogyny.

Tory peer wants to scrap gender-neutral toilets so women can ‘wash their bloody underwear’ in publichttps://t.co/nwyRcamtlU

— PinkNews (@PinkNews) February 25, 2020

… Read the rest

The BBC is live-updating news on the virus.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US’s top public health agency, has warned Americans to brace themselves for a spread of coronavirus within the country.

“It’s not so much a question of if this will happen in this country any more but a question of when this will happen,” Dr Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunisation and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), said.

And it will be bad.

In Iran however they’re saying don’t worry, it’s all good.

Amid fears around Iran’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak, President Hassan Rouhani has appealed for calm, saying he expects the situation to be “normal” by this Saturday.

He

The CDC says look out, it will be bad. Trump says he’s got everything totally under control.

The CDC says:

New outbreaks in Asia, Europe and the Middle East are renewing fears of a coming global pandemic, even as the spread in China appears to be slowing.

RIGHT NOW “We are asking the American public to prepare for the expectation that this might be bad,” a C.D.C. official said.

Trump:

The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2020

He … Read the rest