We were happy to be in Sydney when it was cooler. But now Aus is burning. Help where you can, even just by sharing this will help others know about it! Help by caring for everyone. Thank you. #AustraliaBurning pic.twitter.com/rFpcdZzmFv

— Environment Caring People (ECP) (@EvrnmtCaringPpl) January 2, 2020

Tens of thousands of vacationers fled seaside towns on Australia’s east coast ahead of advancing bushfires, as military ships and helicopters began rescuing thousands more trapped by the blazes https://t.co/kJ6PVyCFoH pic.twitter.com/uSnHUcsAgg

— Reuters (@Reuters) January 2, 2020

https://twitter.com/OliviaMesser/status/1212777731303362561 … Read the rest

The unpleasant Dawn formerly Don Ennis, managing editor of OutSports, posted a New Year’s message to TERFS, starting with admitting he was name-calling.

The subhead tells us what to think in advance.

Outsports Managing Editor Dawn Ennis offers this reasoned response to hateful messages targeting trans women athletes and all transgender people.

We’ll decide for ourselves whether it’s reasoned or not, thanks. Talk of “hateful messages” and “targeting” in the subhead is not a good start if you want us to think the response is “reasoned.”

Dear TERFs, anti-trans activists and transphobes:

Again: not a good start.

It’s a new year, and I’m using this occasion to address you directly.

I know, you’re not keen on being called “TERFs”

Oh about that North Korea thing…

Q    Mr. President, can you — what is your message tonight for — what is your message tonight for North Korea?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, we’ll see.  I have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un.  I know he’s sending out certain messages about Christmas presents, and I hope his Christmas present is a beautiful vase.  That’s what I’d like — a vase —

Cute. I love it when he makes jokes about nuclear war.

Q    Do you think it will be, sir?

THE PRESIDENT:  — as opposed to something else.  I don’t know.  I — look, he likes me; I like him.  We get along.  He’s representing his country.  I’m representing my

In case you were feeling any impulse to think Princess Ivanka isn’t as bad as her rotting-from-the-head father, watching this will cure you.

Ivanka on her dad getting impeached. She’s off her game. She’s not looking or sounding like she usually does. pic.twitter.com/hHVsqSooL8

— Mystery Solvent (@MysterySolvent) December 20, 2019

All they could have been getting done were it not for the impeachment.… Read the rest

Had to beat an elk to death this morning with a ski-pole, while wearing my wife’s Spongebob Squarepants fun-fur onesie. How’s your New Year’s Day going? pic.twitter.com/lyFIUdZG4e

— Tom Sutcliffe (@tds153) January 1, 2020

… Read the rest

Oddly enough women don’t see Ivanka Trump as a diversity hire.

CES, the eading consumer-electronics trade show, is facing criticism after picking Ivanka Trump to serve as its keynote speaker next month in Las Vegas, after years of being accused of overlooking the role of women in technology.

I find that pretty disgusting and I’m not even a woman in technology.

She has no knowledge or experience or credentials in the field, and she also has no knowledge or experience or credentials in any other field. All she’s ever done is parlay her corrupt father’s celebrity and money into money and celebrity for herself.

“This is a terrible choice on so many levels but also – what an insult

Joan Smith points out some implications of the Cyprus outrage:

This sequence of events is a stain on the Cypriot justice system, but what lies behind it is a hugely disproportionate anxiety about false accusations. Indeed it is one of the principal myths that undermine rape investigations, even though the idea that there are high levels of false allegations is unsupported by evidence. In the UK, a handful of widely publicised cases that ended in acquittals or a decision not to proceed to trial has tainted the entire system for investigating rape. Many people do not understand that a decision not to prosecute reflects an assessment of the available evidence, and does not mean the victim was lying.

The Crown

New rule for women: don’t report gang-rape, because if you do you could find yourself convicted of lying.

The UK government is to raise concerns with the authorities in Cyprus over the fairness of a trial in which a British teenager was found guilty of lying about being gang-raped.

A judge ruled on Monday that the 19-year-old wilfully indulged in public mischief in claiming she was raped by a group of Israeli males aged between 15 and 22 while she was on holiday in Ayia Napa in July.

The ruling by Michalis Papathanasiou at Famagusta’s district court in Paralimni was immediately and strongly condemned by the defence team and rights groups. They claimed the trial was full of legal

What is transphobic? Saying that a man competing against women in sport is unfair is transphobic. We’re told.

Advantage? What advantage? What advantage could that doctor in the middle possibly have?… Read the rest

Mike Bloomberg describes for us his vision of hell plan to get lots done because desks and screens.

As president, I'll turn the East Room into an open office plan, where I’ll sit with our team.

I’ll use the Oval Office for some official functions – never for tweeting – but the rest of the time, I’ll be where a leader should be: with the team. https://t.co/zIU3ZL5uIv pic.twitter.com/jLwWKJCmxw

— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) December 30, 2019

… Read the rest

Dallas News:

Since my younger daughter is only 11, I didn’t expect the weight of the letter she brought me that night around 11 p.m., hours after I’d put her to bed.

In glittery red ink, the same she used for her Christmas list, her words sank my heart. At a friend’s birthday party, they were playing on the little girl’s phone. The girl handed it to my daughter and said, “Boys are disgusting.” My daughter clicked on a male classmate’s Snapchat story to find a video of him and a few other boys from her class laughing as they watched rape porn. She said the woman was bound up, saying “no” as a masked man approached her.

Her

Princess Ivanka gets another fawning interview with people who should know better:

[T]hings got worse at the end of the interview when Brennan went to extreme lengths to portray her as a moderating force in her father’s White House.

On the topic of immigration, Brennan described Ivanka as “vocal in your opposition” to the inhumane family separation policy her father implemented in April 2018, noting that she described the policy as a “low point.” But Ivanka was not in fact “vocal” in opposition to the policy — in fact, the opposite is the case.

As my colleague Emily Stewart chronicled at the time, Ivanka — supposedly an advocate for women and families in the administration — only spoke out