Some of the European countries are putting the arm on Maduro.

Spain, Germany, France and the UK have warned Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro that he must call elections within eight days – or they will officially recognise the opposition.

Mr Maduro is under pressure after his rival Juan Guaidó declared himself “acting president” on Wednesday.

Venezuela, or rather Maduro’s people, told them to fuck off.

On Saturday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on Twitter: “Spain has a responsibility to Latin America… we do not seek to change or remove governments, we want democracy and free elections in Venezuela.”

France and Germany also issued similar statements, in what looked like a co-ordinated demand that elections be held in Venezuela.

Remember when Wilbur Ross said government agencies were offering unpaid workers very low interest loans? Yesterday? (Never mind the fact that people shouldn’t have to pay interest, however low, on their own god damn salaries.) Turns out they’re not what a normal person would call “low” at all, at least not Wilbur Ross’s department.

The Commerce Department’s federal credit union is charging furloughed employees almost 9 percent interest on emergency loans to cover their missing paychecks, despite Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross saying Thursday that financial institutions were offering “very, very low-interest-rate loans to bridge people over the gap.”

Who wouldn’t want to pay 9 percent interest to get their own salary? Such a deal. I hear the commissary was … Read the rest

The governor of Washington state has declared a state of emergency because of the measles outbreak.

There are 25 confirmed cases in Clark County, and a single known case in King County after a man in his 50s contracted measles and was hospitalized following a recent trip to Vancouver, according to a news release from Inslee’s office. As of Friday, Clark County Public Health had posted even higher numbers, with 30 confirmed and nine suspected cases.

…

On Jan. 18, Clark County declared its own local public health emergency after the outbreak. Twenty-six of those suffering from the disease had not been immunized and the vaccination status of four others was unverified. Researchers called nearby Portland a “hot

Alice Sullivan and Judith Suissa of University College London on the narrowness of the ledge we are allowed to stand on:

Academics who do not adhere to a particular line on gender and transgender issues have suffered intimidation by trans activists. The people under attack are not mavericks or extremists. They are feminists who question the trans-orthodox view that biological sex is a social construct while gendered identities are fixed and innate. They also seek to defend women’s sex-based rights. In this article, we explain what is happening and consider what steps the higher education community needs to take to ensure that academic freedom is not curtailed.

One reason why concerns about academic freedom have been crystallised by

The Telegraph has further details on the “Inspector Plod understands you have tweeted a tweet” incident.

Harry Miller, 53, from Lincoln was contacted on Wednesday by a community cohesion officer following a complaint that had been made about the plant and machinery dealer’s social media posts.

Ahhh a community cohesion officer, of course. Community cohesion is apparently mandatory and enforced by the police in the UK…but then what is it, exactly? We know it’s not about men threatening women because the police couldn’t care less about that – but it is about doggerel (it’s not a limerick) that makes fun of “gender identity”? We have to cohere when it comes to gender identity but we’re free to split apart when … Read the rest

NEW: Pres. Trump says Speaker Pelosi "has cancelled" State of the Union address.

"I don't believe it's ever happened before. It's always good to be part of history, but this is a very negative part of history. This is where people are afraid to open up and say what's going on." pic.twitter.com/vQLJ5xzJyn

— ABC News (@ABC) January 23, 2019

Or, “Nancy” as I call her

and she doesn’t want to hear more importantly the American people hear the truth

n I think that’s a great…BLAHHTSHHH

on the…incredible country that we all love

it’s a great great harrible mark

this is where people are ayfrayd to open up and say what’s going on

very very negative pard of histree… Read the rest

Since Screechy Monkey and Pliny the In Between both quoted it, here is the full passage in A Christmas Carol:

They were portly gentlemen, pleasant to behold, and now stood, with their hats off, in Scrooge’s office. They had books and papers in their hands, and bowed to him.

“Scrooge and Marley’s, I believe,” said one of the gentlemen, referring to his list. “Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge, or Mr. Marley?”

“Mr. Marley has been dead these seven years,” Scrooge replied. “He died seven years ago, this very night.”

“We have no doubt his liberality is well represented by his surviving partner,” said the gentleman, presenting his credentials.

It certainly was; for they had been two … Read the rest

I’ll just strum the Wilbur Ross guitar for a few more minutes…

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross — a multimillionaire who has engaged in multiple, possibly criminal, ethics violations during his tenure — "doesn't understand why" federal workers are going to homeless shelters and food banks during the shutdown. pic.twitter.com/4jvYAdFMvf

— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) January 24, 2019

Wilbur Ross, who has been leading us into a trade war on behalf of the steel industry, says that the number of workers affected by the shutdown is small, so it's no big deal. A useful chart pic.twitter.com/5sWkjtwug8

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) January 24, 2019

Wilbur Ross is @realDonaldTrump’s Secretary of Commerce.

Wilbur Ross is a billionaire.

And this is billionaire Wilbur Ross

More on Wilbur Ross and “why don’t they just take out a loan?”

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Thursday said he doesn’t understand why federal workers are visiting food banks during the partial government shutdown, saying they should instead seek low-interest loans from banks and credit unions to supplement their lost wages.

“I know they are, and I don’t really quite understand why,” Ross said on CNBC when asked about federal workers going to food banks. Ross is a billionaire and a longtime friend of President Trump.

“The idea that it’s paycheck or zero is not a really valid idea,” he said. “There’s no reason why some institution wouldn’t be willing to lend.”

Wellllll I can think of a reason. … Read the rest

Stupid on Twitter.

… Read the rest

Ahhh yes, why don’t they just take out payday loans, the whiners.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says he does not understand why federal employees who are furloughed or have been working without pay during the partial government shutdown would need assistance from food banks.

Right? Right? Everybody has a few mill in the savings account for times like this, yeah? Why don’t they just use that money for now?

“I know they are, and I don’t really quite understand why,” Ross said when asked on CNBC about workers getting food from places like shelters. “Because, as I mentioned before, the obligations that they would undertake, say borrowing from a bank or a credit union are in effect federally guaranteed.”

James Kirkup on that chat with Inspector Plod:

This is a story about Harry Miller, a man who has lived a life that might be described as blameless and even admirable. He’s the director of a company that employs 70-odd people in one of the poorer bits of England, invests in its staff and community, and uses its financial and technical expertise to raise large sums of money and make life better for people who really need it in very poor parts of Nepal.

And yet he had that 34 minute conversation with a cop yesterday.

This is, of course, a story about Twitter, and transgenderism. Miller says he was interviewed by the police and warned about his ‘thinking’

The discussion of How Bad Would It Be if the Shutdown Went On For Months continues.

Economists have told NBC News that an extended government shutdown could be catastrophic for the economy — as well as for the almost 40 million Americans who would lose food stamps, two million people who could lose rental assistance and the 800,000 federal workers and estimated 1.2 million contractors who aren’t getting paychecks.

Also for national security, federal law enforcement and investigations, environmental protections, food safety, disease control, and assorted minor problems of that kind. Other than that it will all be just fine!

Hundreds of already frustrated and struggling federal workers demonstrated Wednesday in Washington, D.C., urging senators to stop sitting on

Ok this is really scary – this is coup-material.

White House seeks list of programs that would be hurt if shutdown lasts into March.

White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has pressed agency leaders to provide him with a list of the highest-impact programs that will be jeopardized if the shutdown continues into March and April, people familiar with the directive said.

Mulvaney wants the list no later than Friday, these people said, and it’s the firmest evidence to date that the White House is preparing for a lengthy funding lapse that could have snowballing consequences for the economy and government services.

Putin must be breaking out the very best champagne at this news – his little … Read the rest

Welp. Elijah Cummings and Adam Schiff have said Trump is using textbook mob tactics and that he’s breaking the law. In an official statement.

Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Rep. Adam Schiff, the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, issued the following statement in response to a request received by Michael Cohen to postpone his upcoming testimony before Congress:

“We have received Mr. Cohen’s notice postponing his voluntary appearance in an open hearing before the Committee on Oversight and Reform.  We certainly understand the completely legitimate concerns for the safety and security of Mr. Cohen and his family members in light of the attacks last week

And then the police phoned.

https://twitter.com/HarryTheOwl/status/1088144875122499584

https://twitter.com/HarryTheOwl/status/1088144879690174464

Ah yes the “you liked it” crime. I remember that one so well – creepy people monitoring my Likes on Twitter and Facebook and even writing long screeds about them. It seemed stark raving mad to me then, and it doesn’t seem any saner now – and as for the police doing it, and deciding on the basis of doing it that the Person of Suspect Likes is unsafe to employ trans people – it’s just fucking batshit crazy.

https://twitter.com/HarryTheOwl/status/1088144883909570560

https://twitter.com/HarryTheOwl/status/1088144888867241984

Don’t we all just long to have a cop phone us up to tell us that “sometimes a woman’s brain grows a man’s body in the womb and that is what transgender … Read the rest