From the Venomous Thugs on Twitter files:

https://twitter.com/LouisStaples/status/1205962507590000641

Updating to add a few later tweets:

His venomous unprovoked attack was on Helen Lewis. He probably didn’t expect that the result would be fellow journalists and editors saying how brilliant she is and how zero she deserves this venomous unprovoked misogynist attack. Dude has now apologized and set about deleting his shitty tweets, all too late.

End of update.

The Independent should fire him, but leaving that aside – what I’m interested in is the (all too typical) loose analogy that, if you think about it for .5 second, is complete bullshit. “Imagine a “left wing” magazine publishing this sort of thing [meaning: the sort of thing he doesn’t like] … Read the rest

If you’re going to make a case for something, try using a little care in the way you make it. For instance:

https://twitter.com/DonaldClarke63/status/1205808705150881793

I was going to argue with the column, so as a preliminary step I read it, which is just as well because I found I don’t disagree with it all that much. If particular person X asks to be called “them” I’m not going to go to war over it. The issue is when you try to generalize that into a Big Rule that applies everywhere – as Clarke did in that tweet. It’s laughably easy to think of exceptions to Clarke’s Big Rule, so it won’t work as a Big Rule.

And this is part of … Read the rest

Originally a comment by latsot on Hands.

Of course he has posted a passive-voice notpology about how mistakes were passively made when she was passively “touched” on the “back” in an incident involving a hand, which might or might not be connected to his arm, as opposed to her being deliberately slapped on the arse by his hand, which is what happened. And happened because he thought she was his to use. And because he thought he’d get away with it, because you can grab them by the pussy.

Of course the part of the not-pology about how he is a loving husband and father is not in the passive voice. That part is very clear about how it’s … Read the rest

Life lesson: if you’re running in an event and you spot a reporter doing a live bit, and you’re a man and the reporter’s a woman, don’t take the opportunity to slap her bum on the way, because the thing is, since she is a reporter doing a live bit, you will be on camera. 

A Georgia man who was videotaped slapping a female reporter’s bottom on live TV was arrested on Friday on a misdemeanor charge of sexual battery.

A Savannah police spokeswoman, Bianca Johnson, confirmed that Thomas Callaway, 43, of Statesboro was charged in connection with the incident that occurred while WSAV-TV reporter Alex Bozarjian was broadcasting live as runners streamed past her on a prominent bridge

… Read the rest

They cannot be serious.

New pronoun guidance (“Inclusive Language Tips”) from @nyctaxi, the city’s regulator. pic.twitter.com/8AN4RgbqFT

— Matthew Chayes (@chayesmatthew) December 12, 2019

Using someone’s preferred pronoun is a simple way to show respect…so the driver should say “Where do them want to go?”

Ask the passenger what their pronoun is. Do not assume someone’s pronoun because of their appearance or name on the app. If you do not want to ask, you can ask what they prefer to be called –

So if you do not want to ask, ask. Mkay.

Introduce yourself and share your pronouns.

What planet are these people on? A taxi trip isn’t a long-term relationship, it’s a transaction in which A drives B … Read the rest

She really doesn’t care.

Her cause is anti-bullying, which is making the first lady’s silence deafening.

Melania Trump has yet to speak out in the wake of President Donald Trump’s mocking tweet directed at 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg, in which he told the teenager to “work on her anger management” and “chill” out.

This is 72-year-old millionaire president of the US using his Twitter account to jeer at a teenage girl. It doesn’t get much more “bully” than that.

Just last Wednesday, Melania Trump tweeted a defense of her own child, whose name was referenced in a pun by an impeachment inquiry witness.

“A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics.

… Read the rest

At least we know whose fault it is that the Tories won.

https://twitter.com/arthur_affect/status/1205247088532963329

It was the Jews the Communists the Masons the feminists!!… Read the rest

I BEG you pardon?

I'll be on @seanhannity 2nite @FoxNews at 9pm ET and will explain how @realDonaldTrump will be eligible for a 3rd term due to the illegal attempts by Comey, Dems, and media , et al attempting to oust him as @POTUS so that's why I was named to head up the 2024 re-election.

— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) December 12, 2019

For an encore how about he “explains” how he’ll pluck the moon out of the sky and use it for a lawn ornament.

Also note that “will be eligible.” Not so fast, sonny. It doesn’t become true just because you use the future tense.

Also note that ludicrous “eligible” as if he’s talking about some … Read the rest

No thank you. No really, that’s ok, we’ve got this.

Empowered Trans Woman:

I think it’s super important for trans gals to learn about the feminist movement. Here’s Jude reminding us of the First Wave — the women’s suffrage movement. The Women’s Suffrage movement flourished concurrently in the United States and in the United Kingdom. Thanks to the efforts of such courageous women, the 19th Amendment, giving women the vote, passed in the U.S. in 1919, and got ratified in 1920.

… Read the rest

Ah Princess Ivanka – she’s so sneaky.

https://twitter.com/Susan_Hennessey/status/1205216342330269696

If your family leave is paid for by your own Social Security then it’s not paid family leave. That’s not how we use the word “paid.” Paying for it ourselves isn’t “paid.” A job we pay ourselves for isn’t a paid job, and family leave we pay for from our Social Security isn’t paid leave.

https://twitter.com/Susan_Hennessey/status/1205217210979045376

Remember kids – if you pay for it yourself then that’s you paying for it yourself. Don’t be fooled.… Read the rest

Another episode of Trump Behaving Badly:

In the days following the release of a viral video showing world leaders at the NATO meeting in London making fun of him, Donald Trump shot back at his counterparts. The famously sensitive American president lashed out during a closed-door meeting at the White House with more than a dozen ambassadors to the United Nations present, according to three sources with knowledge of the gathering.

Oh he’s not famously “sensitive.” He’s famously touchy, famously quick to go nuclear at any insult to him while freely insulting anyone and everyone else whenever he feels the urge. That’s quite another thing. “Sensitive” would include other people’s feelings as well as his own. Trump never, … Read the rest

Trump’s Twitter is an explosion this morning, not surprisingly – he must have 20 people or so assigned to posting Republican talking points, or screaming points rather.

But his personal sneer at Greta Thunberg stands out.

So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill! https://t.co/M8ZtS8okzE

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2019

Yes how dare she be named Time’s person of the year instead of Trump.

The Guardian live comments:

As we await the impeachment hearing that starts at 9am ET today, the president has had a manic morning on Twitter so far.

Most of it does not need national and international

… Read the rest

Stone the crows. Green Party Women on Facebook:

On the day before a general election, Green Party Women are shocked and deeply saddened at the investigation by Fair Play for Women that discloses several Green Party prospective parliamentary candidates using a misogynist slur on public platforms.

Our campaign launch, to ‘Make Misogyny a Hate Crime’, feels very hollow when we cannot set an example within our own party.

This reprehensible behaviour by a handful of candidates does not represent the values of the wider Green Party membership, nor the Party’s core values, and is completely unacceptable. Green Party Women are raising formal complaints against all party members involved.

We will never convince others to reach consensus in the fight

… Read the rest

The bit of Twitter that I see is not impressed with Owen Jones this morning.

https://twitter.com/VictoriaPeckham/status/1205031764319711232 https://twitter.com/HJoyceGender/status/1205061036644143105

Just two of many.

OJ’s tweet:

Fact pic.twitter.com/5CSgKQciAq

— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) December 11, 2019

… Read the rest

The Washington Post makes an important point:

Our research finds that Trump has attracted a disproportionate (and unprecedented) number of ‘low-information voters’ to his campaign. Furthermore, these voters are more likely to respond to emotional appeals — whether about the economy, immigration, Muslims, racial relations, sexism, and even hostility to the first African American U.S. president, Barack Obama. They are the ideal constituency for a candidate like Trump.

We define low-information voters as those who do not know certain basic facts about government and lack what psychologists call a ‘need for cognition.’ Those with a high need for cognition have a positive attitude toward tasks that require reasoning and effortful thinking and are, therefore, more likely to invest the

… Read the rest

More on the AA Doesn’t Work story:

Wood was working as a registered nurse on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside when he was diagnosed with substance use disorder after a psychotic break in the fall of 2013.

His professional college was informed, along with his union and Vancouver Coastal Health, his employer at the time.

He was referred to a doctor specializing in addictions, who created a plan that Wood would need to follow if he wanted to return to work. AA was a mandatory component.

As an atheist, Wood suggested alternatives to the 12-step program, including secular support groups like SMART Recovery and LifeRing Secular Recovery, but his doctor rejected them, according to emails Wood provided to CBC News.

He … Read the rest

Boris Johnson did what now?

Labour has accused Boris Johnson’s campaign of “lying and cheating” to try to distract attention from the prime minister’s insensitive reaction to a sick four-year-old boy forced to sleep on a hospital floor.

With just days to go until polling day, the Tories suffered one of their worst days of the campaign as Johnson refused on camera to look at a picture of the poorly child and pocketed the phone of the reporter who tried to show it to him.

But wait, there’s more.

https://twitter.com/demarionunn/status/1204190151041269765

Bots sending out identically-worded fake tweets saying the photo of the child on the floor was FAKE NEWS.

https://twitter.com/Awarddas1349/status/1204363398999412736

Isn’t it funny how Joe Tulip and Tim Curtis have the … Read the rest