Shaaz Mahboob at British & Global Muslims for Secular Democracy:
Behold the military’s pet and Islamist prime minister of Pakistan #ImranKhan and the mindset he carries.
Taslima also remarks on the white cloth object next to him:
Former playboy ended up living with a ghost! pic.twitter.com/76OPblsTGn
— taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) August 19, 2018
You might think Republicans would want to distance themselves from Trump’s racist outbursts, but no, they’re cool with all that.
The president of the United States had just lobbed another racially charged insult — this time calling his former top African American adviser a “dog” — but Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) had no interest in talking about it.
“I’ve got more important things on my mind, so I really don’t have a comment on that,” said the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, chuckling at the question.
Oh, more important things – so the president spewing racist insults on Twitter isn’t important. Well it’s not important to this one white guy at least.
… Read the restHas President Trump ever said anything on race that
So here’s this very nice man in baggy T shirt and shorts and a baseball cap (not a MAGA cap, that I can see) talking to hotel workers in Uganda. He appears to be distraught because the electronic key to his room didn’t work. He’s apparently a missionary? Or maybe just a pretend missionary, aka a crank who uses “jesus” as a veil for abusing people. His favorite thing to call the hotel workers (who are all men, which is probably fortunate) is “bitch” – or more like “biiiitch.”
… Read the restUganda police arrested an older American man after reviewing a video that showed him striking out at hotel workers and using racial slurs.
The police identified the
An artist in India is challenging sexist drawings of women in comic books by parodying them using male heroes in poses typically associated with women.
She-Hulk has superhuman strength and speed and is one of the most formidable hand-to-hand combatants in the Marvel world.
Like Hulk, not only does she have physical power, she’s also completely green.
Yet, on a 1991 comic book cover, she is shown in a seductive pose, wearing a G-string bikini, with her curves sharply accentuated.
Because power shmower, getcher tits out.
SHREYA ARORA
The Indian artist Shreya Arora finds this annoying.
… Read the restHer artwork draws inspiration from comic book covers but parodies the male superheroes using body language typically associated with women.
We live in strange times.
https://twitter.com/KateClancy/status/1029804418340937728
A woman, bragging about writing a book on menstruation that rarely mentions women, as if that’s something to be proud of.… Read the rest
I knew about this but PBS gives a very entertaining explanation and illustration of it.
Tim Weiner, a former NY Times reporter and author of a history of the CIA and one of the FBI, reminds us (and Trump) that Trump is not a king.
(It’s true that literally speaking he’s not, but we’re learning every day that he has royal and more than royal powers. He’s doing shit that constitutional monarchs in Europe wouldn’t dare do, and we can’t stop him.)
… Read the restIn times of crisis, the leaders of the military and intelligence communities try to put aside their differences, often many and sundry, and work together for the good of the country. That’s what’s happening today with a remarkable group of retired generals, admirals and spymasters who have signed up for the resistance,
Paul Krugman takes a look at the Horrors of Socialism in Denmark.
Last weekend, Trish Regan, a Fox Business host, created a bit of an international incident by describing Denmark as an example of the horrors of socialism, right along with Venezuela. Denmark’s finance minister suggested that she visit his country and learn some facts.
That’s silly; she can’t visit Denmark, lest she be thrown in the gulag.
… Read the restDenmark has indeed taken a very different path from the United States over the past few decades, veering (modestly) to the left where we’ve veered right. And it has done just fine.
American politics has been dominated by a crusade against big government; Denmark has embraced an expansive government role,
Screechy Monkey alerted us to a story that began with an origins of life conference featuring 14 men and 0 that’s zero women.
0/14 women speakers at FfAME Origins of Life Conference+Workshop in ATL.
I made this slide for the precise purpose of preventing this from happening. #smh #YAAMM #YAMMM #manel #STEMDiversity https://t.co/MQ9iQ2ZYXL pic.twitter.com/0MEwFdLj0S— Jennifer Glass (@methanoJen) August 7, 2018
She emailed the organizer to object, so he…announced a panel to discuss “biases and disparities in origins research” including her name without ever asking her.
… Read the restThe latest on #FfAME fiasco. Without ever agreeing to do this, nor ever even being asked, my name was added to OoL program.Unbelievable. Here’s a screenshot of the new program and an email
There’s another letter, this one from 6o former CIA officers saying Sir this is bullshit Sir.
Breaking: In new letter, 60 Fmr CIA officers protest Trump on clearances: “We believe equally strongly that former govt officials have the right to express their unclassified views on what they see as critical national security issues without fear of being punished for doing so” pic.twitter.com/D5UxhjrG3n
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) August 17, 2018
In a nutshell, it says they believe former government officials have the right to express their unclassified views on what they see as critical national security issues without fear of being punished for doing so.
Sad that a president needs that explained to him. Even sadder that he’ll pay no attention … Read the rest
We need a place for alerts about news items and whatever else needs sharing, so this can be that place.
Ever wonder how the youngest lambs get down the hill? Wonder no more.
… Read the restDonkey & mule nannies are used in Italy when grazing animals are moved from high pastures down to the plains. Newborn lambs are unable to make the journey on their own.
They ride in pouches of a specially made saddle on the back of a nanny.
At rest stops lambs are returned to their mothers for a meal & some nuzzling.
James Kirkup is not impressed by the BBC’s reporting on trans issues.
For one example, it sought to correct a claim by Fair Play for Women that “41 per cent of trans women in jail are sex offenders.”
The BBC seeks to test the FPFW figure of 41 per cent mainly by way of official Ministry of Justice figures, released following a BBC request under the Freedom of Information Act. Those figures show that 60 of 125 transgender inmates were serving sentences for sexual offences. That’s 48 per cent.
So what does the BBC do? It comes up with strained reasons to ignore the figures.
And then there’s its reporting on our friend Councillor Gregor Murray.
… Read the restCllr Murray of
A clusterfuck we didn’t hear about at the time:
Early on in the Donald Trump administration, the president vested many of his nearest and dearest with tasks they were woefully unprepared for—and Apprentice superstar Omarosa Manigault-Newman was no exception.
Long before she was his chief antagonist, Manigault-Newman was tapped by President Trump to handle veterans’ issues for the White House—causing immediate backlash from vets organizations who read this as a slap in the face and a betrayal of his campaign rhetoric about “taking care of our veterans.”
What, just because she had no relevant experience or expertise and was appointed as an act of grotesque frivolity by her reality TV buddy? Picky picky picky.
So they all had a meeting … Read the rest
Via Slate, the statement:
August 16, 2018
STATEMENT FROM FORMER SENIOR INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS
As former senior intelligence officials, we feel compelled to respond in the wake of the ill-considered and unprecedented remarks and actions by the White House regarding the removal of John Brennan’s security clearances. We know John to be an enormously talented, capable, and patriotic individual who devoted his adult life to the service of this nation. Insinuations and allegations of wrongdoing on the part of Brennan while in office are baseless. Since leaving government service John has chosen to speak out sharply regarding what he sees as threats to our national security. Some of the undersigned have done so as well. Others among us have elected … Read the rest
Fred Kaplan at Slate says yesterday’s op-ed by retired admiral William McRaven is a big deal.
One former senior intelligence official who read the op-ed sent me an email: “Takes my breath away. This is BIG!!!” Another wrote, again on background, that fellow officers—retired and active-duty—will take this as a sign of a major rupture in civil-military relations, brought on by Trump’s blatant disrespect for national security officials and the entire security system.
Which has to be alarming for people in the military. The guy at the top who can unilaterally make things happen is a flaming lunatic and egomaniac – yes that’s pretty scary.
… Read the restThen, late on Thursday night, 12 former CIA directors and deputy directors released a similar
Jonathan Best wrote a piece the other day.
… Read the restIn 2005 I became the artistic director of Manchester’s Queer Up North Festival. QUN took place annually in Manchester between 1992 and 2011 and had a tradition of disruptive, provocative performance work centred around sexuality and gender, alongside literature, film, music and debate. Artists and performers such as Lea DeLaria, Ursula Martinez, Mojisola Adebayo, Mx Justin Vivian Bond, Taylor Mac and Sandra Bernhard appeared. Scores of writers spoke, including Edmund White, Patrick Gale, Armistead Maupin, Sarah Waters and Val MacDiarmid. We invited a wide range of speakers, including Linda Bellos, Julie Bindel, B Ruby Rich and Billy Bragg. It was an irreverent and stimulating mix of events. Most importantly, it was
Trump has canceled his fascist parade and blamed the DC government for making it too expensive.
… Read the restPresident Trump on Friday canceled plans for a military parade this fall in Washington, blaming local officials for inflating the costs and saying they “know a windfall when they see it.”
Washington’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, pushed back on Twitter, saying that she had “finally got thru” to the president to convey the “realities” of what it costs to stage events like military parades in the city.
She put the number at $21.6 million, though the city’s costs are just a fraction of the total, with federal agencies also kicking in millions of dollars. A day earlier, the Pentagon said Mr. Trump’s parade to celebrate
Trump’s legal team said Wednesday it may fight all the way to the Supreme Court to quash a possible subpoena from Robert Mueller for an interview with the president. Trump has so far refused to be questioned by Mueller; his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, is saying Mueller should submit his report before September 7, threatening, “If he doesn’t get it done in the next two or three weeks we will just unload on him like a ton of bricks.”
Mimi Rocah made the mobster connection.
… Read the restGiuliani’s latest “we’ll come down on you like a ton of bricks” threat to Mueller sounds a lot more like the mobsters he (and I) used to prosecute than a
Civil rights advocates are objecting to a proposal to close about 75 percent of polling locations in a predominantly black south Georgia county.
The Randolph County elections board is scheduled to meet Thursday to discuss a proposal that would eliminate seven of nine polling locations in the county, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia. Included in the proposed closures is Cuthbert Middle School where nearly 97 percent of voters are black.
What does that do? It makes polling places farther away for a lot of people, and it makes the lines longer. Much longer. In short, it suppresses the vote. It does what the Voting Rights Act was meant to prevent, and did prevent, … Read the rest
