The destruction of everything is well underway.

The Interior Department on Wednesday adopted final management plans that allow for mining, drilling and other development on lands that the administration recently removed from Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah.

Because it’s always better to destroy irreplaceable landscapes to make short-term money than it is to preserve them.

The resource management plans “mark an important moment in Utah’s history by providing certainty to local communities, business owners, permittees and the recreating public,” Casey Hammond, Interior’s acting assistant secretary for land and minerals management, said in a call with reporters. 

Yes, certainty that much of the two monuments will be permanently destroyed.

The Trump administration has said that shrinking

… Read the rest

When things get bad, women get punished.

Climate-related crises in poorer countries increases violence and exploitation of women, says a recent report, and current attempts to address climate change fail to tackle this issue. This was the conclusion reached by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)…

“We found gender-based violence to be pervasive,” said Cate Owren, lead author of the report, to the publication, “and there is enough clear evidence to suggest that climate change is increasing gender-based violence.”

Naturally. When the situation worsens, the strong oppress the weak more than ever. Men are stronger than women.

The study found evidence that poorer countries struggle the most with handling events influenced by climate change —

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Lookin’ good.

⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ returns to the White House from Charlotte, North Carolina. Photo by William Moon at the South Lawn of the White House on February 7, 2020 pic.twitter.com/n1a1Z93LrJ

— White House Photos (@photowhitehouse) February 7, 2020

… Read the rest

In other news –

Today, February 4, 2020, one of Africa’s most outstanding performers, the exceptional kora player from Mali, Ballaké Sissoko has just had his cherished, custom-made kora completely destroyed by USA Customs, without any justification.

Ballaké is a highly acclaimed, distinguished performer who travels around the world with his kora for concerts at top venues. His reputation is impeccable as both artist and human being. He has no criminal record. He is just a brilliant musician, a pacifist, a kind and gentle person, a magnificent and creative performer who manages to give African tradition a contemporary voice with total integrity.

The kora is a fragile, hand-crafted instrument, and Ballaké’s kora is tailor- made to his own specifications. It

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CNN has more:

Vindman, a decorated veteran who was born in Ukraine, was escorted out of the White House by security and told his services were no longer needed, according to Vindman’s lawyer, David Pressman.

His twin brother Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, a National Security Council attorney, was also fired and walked off the White House grounds alongside him.

Because Donald Trump is a crook and a thug.

Trump foreshadowed Vindman’s dismissal earlier Friday.

“Well, I’m not happy with him,” Trump said. “You think I’m supposed to be happy with him? I’m not.”

We don’t care whether you’re happy with him or not, asshole. You’re a lying crook and you’re committing more crimes by punishing witnesses. We don’t give … Read the rest

Disgust at the vindictive treatment of Vindman:

https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/1225887550793027586

This is a national disgrace. I will never forgive the people who have let Donald Trump do this to this country. https://t.co/czKvlzKwlW

— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) February 7, 2020

Seattle’s Representative:

Congressional Republicans: Will you let this stand? Is this the way you think a decorated officer and Purple Heart recipient should be treated? https://t.co/bggB9uLyHV

— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) February 7, 2020

I worked for a DOJ that prosecuted people who retaliated against witnesses.

— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) February 7, 2020

I’m seeing tweets saying Trump fired Vindman’s twin brother too.… Read the rest

Tick tick tick

Antarctica has logged its hottest temperature on record, with an Argentinian research station thermometer reading 18.3C, beating the previous record by 0.8C.

The reading, taken at Esperanza on the northern tip of the continent’s peninsula, beats Antarctica’s previous record of 17.5C, set in March 2015. …

Antarctica’s peninsula – the area that points towards South America – is one of the fastest warming places on earth, heating by almost 3C over the past 50 years, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Almost all the region’s glaciers are melting.

Never mind that, let’s talk about how hot Lisa Page is.… Read the rest

The sewer gets deeper again.

there is no bottom pic.twitter.com/yjksHGlpjI

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 7, 2020

Look especially at that Jezebel-y image – the man is sitting there like your basic G-man, foursquare, suit and tie, all business, got work to do, while the woman is a squirming crouching Sex Snare in sex clothes seducing him away from his work that he has to do. They’re not colleagues, they’re professional guy and slut whore.… Read the rest

Some unfortunate on the staff had to transcribe Trump’s words-vomit yesterday so that we could see the full horror without having to watch and listen to the sniffing gasping sneering poltroon.

Let’s have a sample or two.

And we did win.  It was one of the greatest wins of all time.  And they said, “Okay, he won.”  And, you know, I wrote this down because that was where a thing called the “insurance policy” — to me, when I saw the insurance policy — and that was done long before the election.  That was done when they thought that Hillary Clinton was going to win.

And, by the way, Hillary Clinton and the DNC paid for millions — millions of

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The BBC reports a startling new development:

Jameela Jamil has announced she is “queer” after receiving criticism for being cast in a new LGBT-interest show.

US broadcaster HBO announced on Tuesday that the actress and model would be a judge on its new unscripted voguing contest Legendary.

The news prompted an online backlash from people who said The Good Place star was not representative of the black LGBT community.

That prompted her to issue a statement addressing her sexuality.

But this identity “queer” is not at all a label of convenience for when people think you’re just another boring cis straight woman who as a cis straight woman is obviously not marginalized or oppressed in any way.

Opening with

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This is bad. This is very bad.

https://twitter.com/adamgoldmanNYT/status/1225382190659272704 https://twitter.com/adamgoldmanNYT/status/1225382915959402496

Barr is Barr. Barr is a wholly owned enforcer for Donald Trump. Donald Trump is now free to steal the next election eleven ways from Sunday and no one will be able to stop him.… Read the rest

Remember this guy?

Hi Jon, on a similar topic, given the content of his tweets, would you consider unfollowing glinner? It would mean a lot to a lot of people I'm sure.

— Steve (@moneenlux) February 5, 2020

This “hi would you unfollow this person?” guy? I decided to take a look at his tweets to see if he says that kind of thing a lot.

That kind of thing, maybe not, but that thing itself, yes. Downright weirdly a lot.

I'm a nobody but I'm asking you to consider unfollowing Graham Lenihan.@GoldsboroBooks@ByrnesBooks @WordsIreland @LambertPuppet @AnPostIBAS @booksirelandmag @GalleyBeggars @PhilipPullman @WELBooks

— Steve (@moneenlux) February 3, 2020

I'm a nobody but am asking if you'd consider unfollowing Graham

… Read the rest

Meanwhile, in the entirely unimportant world of foreign policy…

Lana Marks is a successful fashion designer and member of U.S. President Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. Though she has no prior diplomatic experience, Marks is also Trump’s ambassador to South Africa, and last month she forced out her second in command, the veteran career foreign service officer David Young. According to multiple current and former officials familiar with the matter, the issue arose following Marks’s attempts to elevate her son to a senior role in the embassy, an apparent violation of State Department rules.

That’s great, isn’t it? Wholly unqualified rando kicks out experienced foreign service officer apparently because he didn’t applaud her corrupt effort to give … Read the rest