The state of this.

https://twitter.com/alan_maguire/status/1086249796367724546

Graham Linehan was not cautioned. The police came by for a chat because a couple of the usual Robespierres told them to.

This kind helpful fella even offers the aspiring Robespierres a model email they can send to the police about a guy having opinions on the internet.

https://twitter.com/alan_maguire/status/1086260846420996096

Just imagine calling it “mutilation” to cut off healthy breasts or penises. “Gender confirmation surgery” is the correct ScienTific term and not at all loaded or political or shaped by a particular ideological fantasy. Similarly it is “height confirmation surgery” to have one’s healthy head or legs cut off.

And that nonsense is his only substantive point, the rest of it is all “inappropriate” and [unspecified] … Read the rest

Golf balls. Didn’t think of that, didja.

Two years ago, a 16-year old diver named Alex Weber was swimming off Pebble Beach along the Pacific near Carmel, Calif. “My dad raised me underwater,” says Weber, and she means it. She’s a free diver: no scuba tanks; she just holds her breath. She was diving in a small cove and looked down and saw something weird. “You couldn’t see the sand,” she recalls, still sounding incredulous. “It was completely white.”

White with golf balls.

Pebble Beach isn’t near Carmel, it’s in Carmel – or, if you prefer, immediately adjacent to it, but both are small places. Of course Carmel is a town while Pebble Beach is a resort, but anyway, … Read the rest

The security breach aspect is getting attention.

A point just made by @KatyTurNBC and @AliVelshi on @MSNBC, by releasing this "tit for tat" letter, the Trump administration also outed a foreign trip by the person second in line to the presidency. These trips are held close to the vest for reasons of operational security. https://t.co/ajuu9tRbWv

— Nope. (@JoyAnnReid) January 17, 2019

The details of Pelosi's planned travel to Brussels, Egypt and Afghanistan — particularly those destinations — had not been previously announced. Earlier today her aides asked news organizations not to report that the trip would take place, citing national security.

— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) January 17, 2019

Point of fact: for security reasons, trips to active war-zones are

I had jury duty Monday and Tuesday so I missed some headlines. I missed the very public murder of the mayor of Gdańsk.

The mayor of the northern Polish city of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz, was stabbed on Sunday evening in an apparent assassination attempt in front of thousands of people during a charity concert.

Adamowicz, who has served as mayor of Gdańsk since 1998, was resuscitated at the scene and rushed to a nearby hospital where he underwent five hours of surgery. Doctors described his condition as “critical” and “serious”.

And he didn’t make it.

Adamowicz is a powerful liberal voice in a country that has been governed by the rightwing Law and Justice party since 2015. He is

Grim.

Over two days in November, record-breaking heat in Australia’s north wiped out almost one-third of the nation’s spectacled flying foxes, according to researchers.

The animals, also known as spectacled fruit bats, were unable to survive in temperatures which exceeded 42C.

They plummeted out of trees by the thousand.

Last week, researchers from Western Sydney University finalised their conclusion that about 23,000 spectacled flying foxes died in the event on 26 and 27 November.

That tally was reached through counting by wildlife volunteers who visited seven flying fox camps following the heatwave.

There were only about 75,000 going in.

Flying foxes are no more sensitive to extreme heat than some other species, experts say.

But because they often gather

Thieves fall out department. Cohen helped Trump rig polls, Cohen stiffed the people doing the rigging, Cohen kept some of the money Trump gave him to pay the poll-riggers…it’s grifters all the way down.

In early 2015, a man who runs a small technology company showed up at Trump Tower to collect $50,000 for having helped Michael Cohen, then Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, try to rig online polls in his boss’s favor before the presidential campaign.

In his Trump Organization office, Mr. Cohen surprised the man, John Gauger, by giving him a blue Walmart bag containing between $12,000 and $13,000 in cash and, randomly, a boxing glove that Mr. Cohen said had been worn by a Brazilian mixed-martial arts

Why do so many women keep buying into this line?

"We can argue all day, but trans people are dying, and I don't want to be part of a feminism that allows that to happen…"

Important, empathetic talk from @MillyAbraham on why feminism should be allied with trans rights #LwithTheT #ComeOutForTransEquality https://t.co/pnHCyz7K0q

— Stonewall (@stonewalluk) January 16, 2019

We can argue all day, but trans people are dying, and I don’t want to be part of a feminism that allows that to happen.

I haven’t watched the TED talk and don’t intend to, I’m just addressing that one sentence that Stonewall UK thinks is so convincing.

Why in hell does Milly Abraham single out feminism as somehow allowing trans people … Read the rest

Aw no.

It says women’s march in the url, but…

THE MARCH – January 19

We kick off a the anniversary of the first Womxn’s March on Seattle with a RALLY. Hear from the region’s most powerful progressive womxn leaders as they speak about the greatest threats and most inspiring triumphs our communities have experienced in the past year. Af­­ter the rally, we will MARCH to Seattle Center, where we continue our day of service and learning. At Seattle Center, attend one of several “Activism 101” WORKSHOPS designed to energize, illuminate, and activate our marchers for the work to come in 2019 and beyond. See the most recent updates about the march on our website.

But it wasn’t… Read the rest

In intervals between jumping off cliffs, Parliament has passed legislation making “upskirting” a crime. I don’t really understand why it can’t just be part of existing laws against doing creepy shit to women, but whatever. A young woman named Gina Martin started a campaign to this end after some toad stuck a camera up her skirt.

Speaking after the bill was approved, Gina said: “Eighteen months ago I was upskirted at a music festival and I decided I wasn’t going to brush it off.

“I was tired of ‘ignoring it’. I felt this was wrong and I was astounded to learn that upskirting wasn’t a sexual offence. I wanted to change this for everyone, because the least we deserve is

Solidarity with.

Patreon… Read the rest

They want to be clear about something.

We want to be clear about something. The Second Shelf is intersectional, inclusive, and expansive in our use of the term women as we embrace the multidefinitionality of gender identity and expression. We will not debate this.

— The Second Shelf (@secondshelfbks) January 15, 2019

Only, to me it’s not clear. It’s anything but clear; it’s downright muddy.

For instance, why is there any need to be “expansive” in anyone’s “use of the term women”? Why can’t the word “women” just mean “women” and let it go at that? Apart from anything else, it’s convenient. It saves trouble when words mean what they mean and not some “expansive” extra set of things imposed … Read the rest

So that’s a big NO to Theresa May and her particular Brexit plan. Unfortunately a second referendum is not the only other option.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal has been rejected by 230 votes – the largest defeat for a sitting government in history.

MPs voted by 432 votes to 202 to reject the deal, which sets out the terms of Britain’s exit from the EU on 29 March.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has now tabled a vote of no confidence in the government, which could trigger a general election.

The confidence vote is expected to be held at about 1900 GMT on Wednesday.

Putin is no doubt hugging himself with glee.… Read the rest