Category: Notes and Comment Blog

  • A particular cause

    The quoted assertion is from the trial of Axel Rudakubana.

    And what’s the purpose of terrorizing women? Dominance.

  • Blatantly

    Not so fast, Big Guy.

    A federal judge said Thursday that President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship was “blatantly unconstitutional” and issued a temporary restraining order to block it.

    Judge John Coughenour, a Ronald Reagan appointee who sits in Seattle, granted the request by Washington Attorney General Nick Brown and three other Democratic-led states for the emergency order halting implementation of the policy for the next 14 days while there are more briefings in the legal challenge.

    “I have been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case whether the question presented was as clear,” Coughenour said.

    “Where were the lawyers” when the decision to sign the executive order was made, the judge asked. He said that it “boggled” his mind that a member of the bar would claim the order was constitutional.

    Because, you see, it’s in the Constitution – the 14th Amendment to be exact. Pinhead can’t just waltz up and throw out bits of the Constitution he doesn’t like.

  • Made Oscar history

    They’re going ahead with it.

    Karla Sofía Gascón made Oscar history on Thursday, becoming the first openly trans actress to be nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as the title character in “Emilia Pérez.”

    Awww isn’t that nice. He made history by stealing a best actress nomination from a woman. Women notoriously struggle to get any parts at all in movies, because most movies are 80 or 90 or 110% peopled by men, and now here’s this sweet guy taking a woman’s part and a woman’s nomination from an actual woman. He made part of the history of Misogyny in Hollywood; congratulations.

    In the Netflix musical directed by Jacques Audiard, Gascón plays a cartel boss who tries to atone for her past after transitioning in secret. She previously received best-actress nominations from the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards for the role.

    Oh sweet. Two more nominations stolen from women. Bitches might as well just retire from the business, amirite?

  • Mis and Dis and Mal

    Disinformation experts blast Trump’s executive order on government censorship

    One of President Donald Trump’s first actions as he returned to the Oval Office on Monday was signing an executive order aimed at “restoring freedom of speech and ending federal censorship” of US citizens.

    The order bans federal officials from any conduct that “would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen” and instructs the attorney general to investigate if the Biden administration engaged in efforts to censor Americans.

    “Under the guise of combatting ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and ‘malinformation,’ the Federal Government infringed on the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens across the United States in a manner that advanced the Government’s preferred narrative about significant matters of public debate,” the order states.

    Right-wing media figures and some Republicans in Congress have for years decried what they claim are efforts by Democrats and technology platforms to censor their speech online, especially around the Covid-19 pandemic and elections. The Supreme Court ruled last year the US government can contact social media companies about mis- and disinformation swirling on their platforms, handing the Biden administration a major victory.

    Are lies protected free speech? Or are they just lies?

    Is perjury a crime? Or is it just free speech?

    Is libel a thing? Or is it just free speech the target doesn’t like?

  • Err nerr nert er perrty

    Oh no we saw him with her and them today.

    Ed Sheeran has hit back at [disputed] a report that claimed he attended a New Year’s Eve party at J.K. Rowling’s Scottish residence.

    Denying a claim about oneself is not hitting, back or forward or any direction.

    This isn’t just random, you know, this constant resort to claims of “hitting out at” and “hitting back at” and “gouging out the eyeballs of” in reference to people saying things. It’s of a piece with the frenzied rhetoric about putting trans people at risk by not endorsing every word any trans person says. Nobody is punching anybody; we are disputing claims. The two are not the same.

    The “Shape Of You” singer took to his Instagram Stories last night (Jan. 21) to contest the original report by The Sun newspaper.

    There you go. To contest. Not to hit back at; to contest. Skip the pretend violence in future. Metaphors are dangerous in journalism, especially when the journalists are hacks.

    The story claimed that Sheeran was rumoured to have attended the event at Killiechassie House in Perth and Kinross, Scotland alongside other celebrities such as actor Daniel Craig and musicians U2 and The Pretenders.

    Yo. The story was of a rumor. Level 2 from the beginning, see? When the story is about a rumor in the first place, it’s silly to pretend it’s about a fact.

    Writing on his Instagram Stories, Sheeran responded to a post by broadcaster India Willoughby: “Respectfully, India Willoughby, and any other journalist who has reported both these stories, neither are true. I spent New Years with my friends and family”.

    …

    India Willoughby responded on X/Twitter writing: “Hi @edsheeran- this is great to hear. I used the word ‘reportedly’ about JK Rowling’s NYE party, because it was widely reported by UK and international media at the time. I also reached out directly to you in the first wk [sic] of Jan via Twitter to ask if the story was correct – but no reply. Delighted to hear you didn’t go!”

    So India Willoughby is in charge of who goes where?

    I did not know that.

  • A pause, a freeze, a ban, a cancellation

    Maximize the disruption.

    Trump’s return to the White House is already having a big impact at the $47.4 billion U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), with the new administration imposing a wide range of restrictions, including the abrupt cancellation of meetings including grant review panels. Officials have also ordered a communications pause, a freeze on hiring, and an indefinite ban on travel.

    The moves have generated extensive confusion and uncertainty at the nation’s largest research agency, which has become a target for Trump’s political allies. “The impact of the collective executive orders and directives appears devastating,” one senior NIH employee says.

    Well, it’s only health. This would be bad if it were about something important, but health doesn’t matter.

    The hiring freeze is governmentwide, whereas a pause on communications and travel appears to be limited to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), NIH’s parent agency. Such pauses are not unprecedented when a new administration comes in. But some NIH staff suggested these measures, which include pulling job ads and rescinding offers, are more extreme than any previously.

    I suppose we can see the thinking. It’s health and human services. What good is that to Trump? How does it make him richer? Plus also, Fauci.

    Hiring is also affected. No staff vacancies can be filled; in fact, before Trump’s first day in office was over, NIH’s Office of Human Resources had rescinded existing job offers to anyone whose start date was slated for 8 February or later. It also pulled down currently posted job vacancies on USA Jobs. “Please note, these tasks had to be completed in under 90 minutes and we were unable to notify you in advance,” the 21 January email noted, asking NIH’s institutes and centers to pull down any job vacancies remaining on their own websites.

    The various directives have shaken the vast community of extramural scientists NIH supports. “[We] have not seen anything concrete from NIH yet,” said one scientist at a major academic medical center. “But just like about everyone in science, we are worried and waiting.”

    Listen, these health people are dangerous. You gotta use caution.

    H/t What a Maroon

  • High crime and misdemeanor

    This is interesting.

    Not being an expert in the law, I’m not sure I understand the distinction between legally authorized and constitutionally unpardonable. (I do assume he means the ordinary sense of unpardonable as opposed to the legal one.) It’s legal but it ignores/flouts a crucial part of the Constitution?

    Anyway. Only three days in. Bad moon rising.

  • Very minor incidents

    Unbelievable.

    Hannity: …people that were violent with police – why did they get a pardon?

    Trump: Number of reasons, number one they were in there for three and a half years, a long time

    Oh yes? And Trump pardons everyone who’s been in prison for 3.5 years? He has a rule that 3.5 years is a long time and definitely enough punishment? Trump doesn’t want to lock up people he dislikes and throw away the key?

    On the contrary, Trump has a long long record of slavering to lock people up, starting with the Central Park Five. He loves to see bad things done to people he hates. 3.5 years is not objectively a long time for assaulting cops, it’s subjectively a long time to Donald Narcissist Trump.

    Many in solitary confinement, treated [heightened emotion] like no one’s ever been treated – so badly – they were treated like the worst criminals in history

    He says, poking his lips out as far as they will go. He says, as if attacking cops in an effort to invade the Capitol building and overturn the elected government were the equivalent of jaywalking.

    And you know what they were there for? They were protesting the vote.

    No, Captain Liar, they were trying to stop the certification of the vote in order to force Captain Liar into office. They weren’t protesting anything, they were trying to overturn an election and install a dictator.

    Now the dictator is there legally.

    This country is officially broken. It’s a failed state.

    Because they knew the election was rigged and they were protesting the vote.

    The election wasn’t rigged, they weren’t protesting.

    Only a couple of days in and already I feel coated in filth.

  • Guest post: Don’t ignore the cronyism

    Originally a comment by Bruce Gorton on Vacations for all.

    The thing I think a lot of people miss, is if you look at Project 2025, the whole plan is for a crony government.

    Sure we can argue about the social justice aspect of all of this, but we aren’t arguing between a merit based system and a DEI one.

    We’re talking about Donald “Put his idiot son-in-law in charge of handling a pandemic” Trump here. Donald “Wants a drunken misogynist to run the military” Trump. Donald “Putting an antivax brain worm infested roadkill bear eater in change of health” Trump.

    The only merit Trump appears to care about is loyalty to Trump.

    What Trump is doing is eliminating the checks and balances that could get in the way of him stealing. Sure, it may mean that the best person isn’t getting the job, I honestly don’t know, but it is likely also getting in the way of Trump picking some of the worst.

  • Guest post: Winners because they stood firm

    Originally a comment by Rev David Brindley on Buzzing nonstop.

    iknklast is partially right about “victims being losers”, but there is a bigger issue in play here.

    These people were not losers, they were winners. Winners because they stood firm against a Trump inspired attempted coup. Winners because they put themselves on the line to protect Senators and staff from a violent insurrection.

    And that, in Trump’s eyes, makes them traitors who must be punished, and as the law doesn’t currently allow him to punish them, he will let loose his dogs of war.

    When America is no longer “The shining light on the hill” (if it ever was), don’t blame Trump and the GOP or those like ikinklast’s family members, put the blame squarely where it belongs on the lily livered weak kneed Democrats who put their own sinecures before country. They failed in their one job, to protect the Republic.

    Biden could have, but chose not to, grant a Presidential Medal of Freedom to any of those brave souls, instead he chose to reward a Pope, a Transactivist, and a dead tech entrepreneur.

    Why, he could have even followed the British Example when as a recognition of sacrifice during WW2, the George Cross was awarded to Malta, and for recognition of their standing between the Orange and the Green, it was awarded to the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1999.

  • Vacations for all

    Trump doing the end DEI thing.

    President Donald Trump has ordered that all US government staff working on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) schemes be put on immediate paid administrative leave.

    The White House confirmed that all federal DEI workers had to be put on leave by 17:00 EST (22:00 GMT) on Wednesday, before the offices and programmes in question were shut down.

    The executive order requires federal hiring, promotions and performance reviews [to] “reward individual initiative” rather than “DEI-related factors”.

    It revokes a 1965 executive order signed by former President Lyndon B Johnson that makes it illegal for federal contractors to discriminate on the basis of “race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin” in their hiring.

    What???

    Why do that? Why not just stick to the “color-blind” mantra?

    But also though – did the order signed by Johnson really cite “gender identity”? I don’t believe that. It wasn’t a category then.

    The order also requires the attorney general to submit, within 120 days, recommendations “to encourage the private sector” to end similar diversity efforts.

    To bully the private sector, you mean.

    Update: sure enough, the 1965 executive order did not mention genner idenniny, or sexual orientation either.

    Executive Order 11246, signed by President Lyndon Johnson on September 24, 1965, established requirements for non-discriminatory practices in hiring and employment on the part of U.S. government contractors. It prohibits federal contractors and federally assisted construction contractors and subcontractors who do business with the federal government from discriminating in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

  • Buzzing nonstop

    Ow, this is painful to read.

    When inmates are released from federal prison, the Justice Department places a call to their victims, notifying them that the defendant who attacked them is now free. On Tuesday, the phones of U.S. Capitol Police and D.C. police officers were buzzing nonstop.

    For Aquilino A. Gonell, a former Capitol Police sergeant, the automated calls began on Monday evening and continued into Tuesday morning after President Trump issued a sweeping legal reprieve to all of the nearly 1,600 defendants, including those convicted of violent crimes, in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

    Between 7:03 a.m. and 9:37 a.m., Mr. Gonell received nine calls from the Justice Department about the release of inmates.

    Mr. Gonell, who was assaulted during the attack and retired because of the injuries he suffered, was as outraged and distraught as he was shortly after the violence.

    How nice of Trump to pay exactly zero attention to the victims.

    More than 150 police officers from the two agencies were injured during the assault on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob four years ago. Some were hit in the head with baseball bats, flagpoles and pipes. One lost consciousness after rioters used a metal barrier to push her down as they marched to the building.

    Now many of those officers described themselves as struggling and depressed in response to Mr. Trump freeing their attackers.

    I’m struggling and depressed right now too.

    In the days and weeks after the riot, several police officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6 died, including Officer Brian D. Sicknick of the Capitol Police, who was attacked by the mob, suffered a stroke and died of natural causes on Jan. 7. Officers Jeffrey Smith of Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department and Howard S. Liebengood of the Capitol Police died by suicide in the days after the violence.

    …

    Senator John Thune, the South Dakota Republican and majority leader, sidestepped questions on Tuesday about whether Mr. Trump acted properly in pardoning the rioters.

    “We’re looking at the future, not the past,” said Mr. Thune, who called the pardons “the president’s decision.” He added, “We know the presidential pardon authority was expanded in a massive way by President Biden, and obviously we knew all along President Trump can exercise it like most presidents have, and he did.”

    “We’re looking at the future, not the past,” he says, and proceeds to whine about Biden.

  • Loud

    Hmm. I find the huge man with the bullhorn not all that persuasive.

    I also don’t understand why no one escorts him out of the room and either out of the building or to the jail.

  • They grimaced

    Trump people are surprised to learn that he’s reckless and impulsive.

    President Trump‘s sweeping pardons for 1,500 Jan. 6 criminals and defendants were a last-minute, rip-the-bandage-off decision to try to move past the issue quickly, White House advisers familiar with the Trump team’s discussions tell Axios.

    Always a good plan. If you’re going to do something evil and outrageous, do the worst possible version of it so as to get it over with quickly. What could go wrong?

    Eight days before the inauguration, Vice President-to-be JD Vance — channeling what he believed to be Trump’s thinking — said on “Fox News Sunday” that Jan. 6 convicts who assaulted police ought not get clemency: “If you committed violence that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned.”

    • Trump vacillated during an internal debate over targeted clemency vs. a blanket decision according to two insiders.
    • But as Trump’s team wrestled with the issue, and planned a shock-and-awe batch of executive orders Day 1, “Trump just said: ‘F -k it: Release ’em all,’” an adviser familiar with the discussions said.

    That’s the right way to solve all complicated problems. Just say “Fuck it, do the bad thing at top speed.”

    Trump’s decision was a surprise to some Republicans in Congress, who grimaced at the appearance of the new president condoning violence against police officers.

    The what? The what? The appearance?? Honey that wasn’t an appearance of condoning violence against cops, that was the thing itself. What the hell else would it be?

  • The naming of parts

    Trump orders all maps to name everything America.

    President Trump signed an executive order on Monday requiring the federal government to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” on official maps – a change that could take months to enact and may or may not be immediately reflected on the digital maps Americans use daily.

    “The Gulf of America – which has a beautiful ring,” Trump said at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago on January 7. “The Gulf of America, what a beautiful name and it’s appropriate.”

    Unless, of course, you want to know where you are.

    We could rename the Atlantic the America, and do the same to the Pacific, and then rename all the countries to the south and the east and the west and the north America. We could, but it would make travel and shipping and weather forecasting difficult.

    Here’s the thing: we’re already in America, we know where it is; what we need to know about a large body of water to the south of us is where it is. Calling it the Gulf of Mexico is a big stonking clue, while calling it the Gulf of America just leaves us where we are.

    It’s not dissing America (aka the US) to call the body of water between Florida and Mexico the Gulf of Mexico, it’s just a piece of information. It’s like a road sign. You don’t want all the road signs to say America, no matter how adorably patriotic that would be. You want the road signs to tell you where you are.

    Capeesh?

  • The struggle

    Aren’t the Republicans supposed to be the Law n Order party?

    Republican senators struggled to defend Donald Trump’s decision to commute and pardon hundreds of January 6 protesters, including those who were charged and convicted of crimes against police officers, just hours after the president entered office Monday.

    Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, who has warned before about giving a blanket pardon to the rioters, said, “I just can’t agree” with Trump’s decision to commute the sentences or pardon a vast swath of January 6 insurrection participants.

    …

    Trump pardoned more than 1,000 people who were charged in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. He also commuted the sentences of 14 people in the Proud Boy or Oath Keepers who were charged with seditious conspiracy.

    Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, sidestepped questions about the pardons, saying, “We’re looking at the future, not the past” when asked whether it was a mistake for Trump.

    Ah yes the past, meaning something Trump did 15 minutes ago. Blanket self-pardon then – once you say something, it’s in the past, and we don’t look at the past, so do whatever you want.

    Chats with Trump on the subject are going very well.

    When asked Tuesday whether he believed it was never acceptable to assault a police officer, Trump replied, “Sure.” Pressed on a specific case of an individual who drove a stun gun into the neck of a police officer but who received a pardon, Trump said he didn’t know but would “take a look at everything.”

    He didn’t know.

    How did he not know? Everyone knew. There was rather extensive coverage at the time.

    And if he didn’t know, what the fuck does he think he’s doing with these pardons?

    Asked once more whether the pardons were sending a message that assaulting officers is OK, Trump said, “No, the opposite. I’m the friend of police more than any president that’s ever been in this office,” he said.

    How is it the opposite? Explain to us in very short words exactly how pardoning people who assaulted cops is the opposite of sending a message that assaulting cops is ok. Don’t just assert it like an idiot, explain it.

    Shortly before taking office, Vice President JD Vance said those who committed violence that day “obviously” shouldn’t be pardoned.

    Oh really. Well then he should resign, shouldn’t he. Look what his boss has been and gone and done five minutes into his dictatorship.

    Shortly before taking office, Vice President JD Vance said those who committed violence that day “obviously” shouldn’t be pardoned.

    Asked Tuesday why Vance’s assertion was wrong, Trump said, “Well, only for one reason: They’ve served years in jail. They should not have served — excuse me — and they’ve served years in jail. … These were people that actually love our country, so we thought a pardon would be appropriate.”

    Sir, sir, that’s incoherent, sir, do you know what “incoherent” means?

  • Zero wisdom in Sophie

    Behold the huge whiney droning man complaining about women thinking they have rights too.

    It’s similar to the way “women” was spelt with a y a few years ago; it’s an effort to stop men being part of the phrase

    Hold it right there, bro. One, a word is not a phrase; two, and much more important, men don’t get to be “part of” the word “women.” It’s not a ticket to the movies, it’s not a birthday party, it’s not girls’ night out, it’s not a club, it’s not school, it’s not public transportation, it’s not prizes – it’s not any kind of rank or status or club that one can join or aspire to or make great efforts to belong to. It’s not up for grabs in that way. You can’t ever be a woman, because you’re a man. That’s just how it works. You also can’t be a rabbit or New Zealand or Mercury. Stop whining.

    The word women with a y actually has some sort of quite elitist very non-intersectional overtones, it’s predominantly a certain type of white middle-class feminist that would use that word, it doesn’t include women of color, it doesn’t include trans women

    Somebody tell this guy he’s white. Also fuck off: we don’t have to intersect with you. We’re adults too, we get to choose our friend and comrades too, and we don’t choose you. You’re a spiteful toad calling women names for not submitting to your demands. Stop talking.

  • Denali Denali Denali

    Come on, it’s a better name.

    In a flurry of first-day-in-office activity, Donald Trump has signed an order to rename the 617,800 sq mile Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s 20,000ft mountain Denali.

    The Gulf of Mexico will be renamed the Gulf of America, and Denali, the highest peak in North America, will revert to Mount McKinley – the name it was called before Barack Obama changed it in 2015.

    The renaming of the two natural features is to honor “American greatness”, according to a preview of the orders obtained by the New York Post.

    Pffff – what’s so great about McKinley?

    And anyway Denali is American. Alaska is an American state, thus Alaskans are Americans, thus their name for the mountain is an American name. Plus it means “great one” so there’s your American greatness right there.

  • May Mailman

    Ah, here is the author.

  • Guest post: The source

    Originally a comment by Dave Ricks on The one silver lining.

    The Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) takes credit for being the architect of model legislation used in Executive Order 14166 that Trump signed yesterday about the definition of ‘sex’ in the Federal government:

    Independent Women — the Original Champion of Legislation to Define ‘Woman’ — Applauds President Trump’s Day One Executive Order to Restore Biological Reality

    Independent Women is the architect of model legislation to define sex-based terms in law and code in order to stop bureaucrats and elitists on the federal and state level from redefining language to fit a false narrative and erase women. Gender ideologues have sacrificed women’s rights to single-sex spaces, opportunities, and privacy on the altar of a radical view of “inclusion.” Trump’s sex-definition executive order is a nationwide victory for women and girls.

    Importantly, this executive order uses Independent Women’s definitions of ‘sex,’ ‘female,’ and ‘male’ as based on reproductive potential, rather than chromosomes, to ensure clarity and protection for all individuals.

    Senior legal advisor for Independent Women, Beth Parlato said, “Over the past four years, gender ideology has infiltrated our schools, culture, policies and laws and has distorted our language with terms such as ‘pregnant person’ and forced use of opposite-sex pronouns. The lie that sex is fluid erases and endangers women. President Trump’s action today is a resounding victory for truth; that sex is binary, and women are biologically distinct from men. His repudiation of gender identity indoctrination brings back sanity and common sense.”

    Carrie Lukas, president of Independent Women’s Forum, concluded: “I’m incredibly proud of the groundwork that the team at Independent Women laid for today’s victory. As we have long argued, the United States is a nation of laws, not men. To have a system of laws, words must have meaning. Today, President Trump stopped the Left’s attempts to erase the concept of women as a separate sex. On behalf of women and girls everywhere, thank you President Trump.”