When we celebrate Gay Pride, I’m reminded of the importance of constructive identity politics. 🏳️🌈 But it reminds me also of the sad fact that identity politics has been “academicalised” and turned away from the real struggle for disadvantaged people’s civil rights.
Meanwhile, in a parallel universe, the fringe Swedish Republican Association is complaining about Sweden’s future head of state addressing Stockholm Pride. The main argument seems to be that the Royal Family’s position in society somehow equates the pain and suffering gay people have endured.
Alexander Lukashenko’s departure would be good for Belarus and the world. 🇧🇾👍🗽
Tristan Greene writes in The Next Web about a breakthrough that could change everything. Or something. Maybe. ⧖∞
| Global Outbreak Situation | |
|---|---|
| Confirmed Cases | 17,660,523 |
| Confirmed Deaths | 680,894 |
Her name is Laura CodruÆ«a Kövesi, and I get a good vibe when I read Jennifer Rankin’s Guardian article about her.
If you were under the delete impression that primitive homophobia had been eradicated from Swedish society, this is for you. 🤮
The Times of Israel writes about Netanyahu’s son threatening anti-government protesters. All family members, bar the second son Avner, have done similar things in the recent past.
In 2018, David Horovitz of the Times of Israel wrote about this nasty despot’s revolting revisionist narrative. It’s time for the 84-year-old nutjob to retire.
The Guardian has posted some pictures of yesterday’s Beirut explosion. 💥
“Fifty million face masks bought by the government as part of a £252m contract will not be used in the NHS due to safety concerns,” the Guardian writes.
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“Candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya left her apartment after police detained two senior staffers and seven other campaign members in what they called an attempt to scare the opposition before the crucial vote,” the Guardian writes.
I suppose it’s highly unlikely that the dictator will let her take over Belarus, but it would be great if she and the people behind her succeeded.
I can’t really figure out what Carlo De Benedetti’s liberalism looks like, but his move is welcome in a country too caught up in populism, conservatism, and self-pity. 🇮🇹👍 Read about it at the Guardian.
A not-at-all-surprising result in a fake democracy where the de facto dictator runs everything, the election process included. 😢 Euronews has more.
He really think he has a place next to Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt! 🤡 Read about it at Daily Mail.
I really hope she and the Belarusian people manage to topple the dictator. 🤜🤛 Read about it at the Guardian.
The horrific reality of transphobia. Disgusting! 😡 Read about it at the Jakarta Post.
So far this year, the Swedish city of Malmö has seen nine shootings. Down from 34 last year, 47 in 2018, and 65 in 2017. 👍 Read about it at The Local.
Once again, a journalist on the left is trying to make us believe that globalisation means someone is losing. It’s a lie. ❌ Read it at Huffington Post.
The 90-year-old Akua Denteh was beaten to death in Ghana’s East Gonja District last month. She was killed in an organised witch hunt. 😢 Read about it at Deutsche Welle.
First the Russians gave us fake news, now they give us fake science. Welcome to our post-truth reality. 🧪 Read about it at the Guardian.
Good news! Europeans need to stand up to racist anti-Israel activists. 👍 Read about it at the Jerusalem Post.
No one with any knowledge of this intolerant bunch of atheists is surprised. These fanatics can’t stand religion. In their utopia, religious people are forced into hiding. ❌ Read about it at Sydsvenskan.
Trump and his allies have gone all-in on personal attacks—Harris is mad, angry, and not black enough. Well, Trump should know. He isn’t white enough, he’s orange. 😶 Read more at the New York Times.
“Cruise ship opponents are planning a party in Venice after two Italian cruise operators announced they were dropping the city from their 2020 itineraries,” the Guardian reports.
Dictator Lukashenko has no moral. 🤮 Read about it at Euronews.
This is big news. Hopefully, other Arab states will have the courage to follow suit. ðŸ‘🇦🇪 Read about it at the Times of Israel.
White House reporter’s question startles Trump. I love it! 👍🤣 Read about it at the Guardian.
“A customer signs up on their phone, takes a selfie and adds cash to their Pop Pay account from a credit card or bank account,” the Los Angeles Times writes.
My favourite prince is back in the spotlight after his royal exit. 👏💕 Read about it at the New Zealand Herald.
Dennis Overbye of New York Times writes about Betelgeuse’s cold symptoms. ⭐️
These nutty—but dangerously popular—people think Donald Trump is waging a secret war against Democrats and Hollywood celebrities engaging in paedophilia and sex trafficking, the Guardian reports.
In this era of post-truth populism, it brings tears to my eyes when a see large crowds protesting the dictatorship in Belarus. People want peace and democracy! 🕊🗽
BBC News has made a list of food photos.
It’s like something from a John le Carré novel. The Guardian writes:
A report by the Senate intelligence committee provides a treasure trove of new details about Donald Trump’s relationship with Moscow, and says that a Russian national who worked closely with Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 was a career intelligence officer.
Polish police have detained close to 50 people who demonstrated in favour of gay rights and may now press criminal charges against them, Michael Meyer-Resende reports in an opinion piece at EU Observer. 😡
BBC News shows the ugly face of Belarusian dictatorship. I hope the dictator falls before he’s done too much damage to the democracy movement.
About 2,500 prominent writers and artists from around the world have signed a petition. From the open letter:
On Friday, 7 August 2020, 48 persons were arrested in Warsaw—in some cases quite brutally—and detained on the grounds that they had participated in a violent illegal gathering. In fact, they were engaged in a peaceful protest in solidarity with an LGBT+ activist named Margot, who had been arrested for damaging a homophobic campaigner’s van. Her group had also placed rainbow flags over statues, including a statue of Christ. These actions were neither “hooliganism” nor “provocations,” as Poland’s government-run media insist, but rather desperate acts of resistance against degrading homophobic hate speech. The van is one of many similar vehicles parading outrageous claims around the cities of Poland: equating homosexuality with pedophilia, and asserting that gays are the source of diseases and a threat to children. Efforts to stop this well-funded hate campaign by legal means had led to nothing.The broader context is the persistent use of anti-LGBT+ rhetoric by Polish politicians and media, attacks against “LGBT ideology” in the recent presidential campaign, preceded by the emergence in many municipalities and districts of “zones free of LGBT ideology,” allegedly defending the safety of families and children, and last year’s violent attacks against Equality March in Białystok. Homophobic aggression in Poland is growing because it is condoned by the ruling party, which has chosen sexual minorities as a scapegoat with no regard for the safety and well-being of citizens. Margot is, in fact, a political prisoner, held captive for her refusal to accept indignity.
Continued:
We call on the Polish government to stop targeting sexual minorities, to stop supporting organizations that spread homophobia and to hold accountable those who are responsible for unlawful and violent arrests of August 7, 2020.We call on the European Commission to take immediate steps to defend core European values—equality, non-discrimination, respect for minorities—which are being blatantly violated in Poland. LGBT+ rights are human rights and must be defended as such.
Apparently, the alt-right nutjob has defrauded other alt-right nutjobs who donated money to Trump’s border wall. Ah, let the circus begin! 🍿 Read about it at Salon.
No one loves taxes as much as Sweden’s Social Democrats. Without a heavy tax burden, people might get rich, and that’s a problem for a Social Democrat. So, naturally, Philip Botström, head of the party’s youth wing, is upset about Amazon establishing itself in Sweden because its owner is rich. It would be so much better if we all were poor, had to pay higher taxes, and could only buy products costlier than the ones Amazon is offering us.
Read Botström’s article at Expressen.
This week is coming to an end. Only five working days left until I go to my beloved island in the Atlantic Ocean. I haven’t been to Gran Canaria this year due to Covid-19. 🏝
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Nothing makes me more infuriated than losing my Internet connection. 🤬
I like Dua Lipa’s new beat. With Missy and Madonna you can’t go wrong. The video is a too weird, though. But hey, I’m an old man now, so what do I know…
What’s the deal with Russia and poisoning? It’s so Borgia-esque. 🤔 Read about it at the Guardian.
I did blog before that, but the entries prior to 23 August 2005 were lost in a server crash (that’s what you get for not doing your backups). The diary in its current form began with a note on style and spelling.
“The language of sexuality in some of the sonnets, which are definitely addressed to a male subject, leaves us in no doubt that Shakespeare was bisexual,” says Dr Paul Edmonson, who done new research. Read about it at Pink News.
“The Charite university hospital treating Alexei Navalny in Berlin says early tests suggest he was poisoned by a toxin,” Deutsche Welle reports.
Plenty of things are nuts at the moment, but I can’t get my head around that the ongoing Republican conventions has turned into a Trump family event. What happened to American conservatism? No key speaker without the Trump surname available?
It’s turns my stomach to read about the two teenage boys who were raped and beaten for ten hours this past weekend. 🤢 Read about is at Expressen.
Laura Bates of the Guardian writes about the rise of a male separatist movement I’ve never heard of before. ♂
It’s a few hours too early for the Shabbat greeting, but I do it anyway. I’m a maverick! 😀
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I’m in Gran Canaria, but is sadden by the news from my Swedish home town, Malmö. Thugs have set fire to a number go places throughout the city. Now Malmö hits the headlines again—for all the wrong reason. Read about it at the Guardian.
The Independent reports that thousands joined an anti-lockdown, anti-vaccine, and anti-mask protest in London. In Berlin, a similar protest drew 30,000 people, according to Deutsche Welle. 🙄
Literally! 🇮🇨 #Maspalomas
The Daily Mail runs an important article about homophobic Poland, but it can’t refrain from blaming the EU. Besides, only ten years ago, the paper would run pretty much the same bigotry as Polish politicians do now.
“ If QAnon beliefs come to be the de facto position of an ascendant GOP, it is only a matter of time before they ‘save the children’ by coming after LGBTQ people in ways that make the Lavender Scare look tame,” Brynn Tannehill of Los Angeles Blade writes.
Got an email from something called the “father and son project”. Perhaps I have a perverse mindset corrupted by too many true-crime podcasts, but my immediate thought was of paedophile rings. 🤔