Janice Turner gives us some background:

hen Thibaut Rey was radioed by a colleague to say a man in the cosmetics department was behaving suspiciously, he went to the CCTV room to watch. It was late summer in Provence, so many women browsing the E.Leclerc hypermarket were bare-legged. Walking among them a man was carefully positioning a cool box beneath their skirts. Out of it poked a mobile phone.

The man, in his sixties, was deftly moving from woman to unwitting woman, and Rey, a security guard, was incensed. He ran on to the shop floor and grabbed the man’s arm. “You are a disgusting person,” he said. “I swear if she was my mother, I’d rip your head

… Read the rest

Why does Musk have so much power over the government and how can it be taken away?

…the billionaire tanked a bipartisan spending deal in the House last week and sent lawmakers scrambling.

Musk torched the plan to his 200 million followers on X, the social media platform he owns, and President-elect Donald Trump called on Republicans to reject the deal.

That’s part of the answer – he owns TwitterX and he abuses the power that gives him.

Musk was one of Trump’s biggest benefactors on the campaign trail and has been attached to the president-elect since his victory — weighing in on Cabinet appointments, meeting with foreign leaders and, increasingly, swaying dealmaking in Congress.

And that’s another part. Trump … Read the rest

More bullying:

Trump has demanded Panama reduce fees on the Panama Canal or return it to US control, accusing the central American country of charging “exorbitant prices” to American shipping and naval vessels.

“The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, highly unfair,” he told a crowd of supporters in Arizona on Sunday. “This complete rip-off of our country will immediately stop,” he said, referring to when he takes office next month.

His remarks prompted a quick rebuke from Panama’s president, who said “every square metre” of the canal and surrounding area belong to his country.

Also, and more frivolously, Trump is a funny guy to complain about rip-offs, given all the gilded trash with his name on it … Read the rest

Nicola Sturgeon throws mud in the general direction of feminist women yet again.

I wholly endorse this call for clarity from @mbmpolicy @ForWomenScot @Scot_Feminists @ScotLesbians @WRNScotland @VoteWithOurFeet & @WWWheesht. It undermines our democracy when politicians cast unevidenced aspersions like this. https://t.co/XNnBx4sk74 pic.twitter.com/P7VVWsVmuR

— Joanna Cherry KC (@joannaccherry) December 23, 2024

The Herald tells us:

Ms Sturgeon’s comments last week came during interviews marking the tenth anniversary of Scotland’s equal marriage laws.

The ex-SNP leader told Diva magazine: “I’ve had more abuse hurled at me on the issue of trans rights than I have on probably any other issue in my career and I am a politician who helped lead an independence referendum.

“There are people who have muscled

… Read the rest

Maryam Namazie has a statement at Ex-Muslims International:

At least five people, including a child, were killed, and 200 others were injured when Taleb Al Abdulmohsen deliberately drove into the Magdeburg Christmas Market on December 20. Abdulmohsen, a Saudi-born doctor and self-proclaimed ex-Muslim atheist activist, starkly illustrates that right-wing extremism knows no racial, cultural, or religious boundaries. Despite being an immigrant, he was an outspoken supporter of the far-right AfD, harboring vehemently anti-Muslim and anti-migrant views. His attack was reportedly motivated by anger at Germany’s acceptance of Muslim refugees.

Abdulmohsen was known to our coalition as a stalker and cyberbully, which underscores his commitment to division and dehumanization. His actions serve as a reminder that hate cuts across backgrounds,

… Read the rest

Ahhh sweet.

https://twitter.com/Glinner/status/1870875590716273145… Read the rest

The mills of God grind slowly but they grind exceeding fine.

Victorian opposition to vote on John Pesutto’s future as leader

Victorian opposition leader John Pesutto will face a leadership spill against him on Friday after a group of Liberals called a special party meeting. 

Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto is set to face a leadership challenge this Friday after a group of shadow ministers called a special meeting of the Liberal party room.

The meeting will formally debate readmitting exiled MP Moira Deeming back into the Victorian Liberal Party team, just a week after a near-identical motion failed due to a 14-all votes deadlock.

MP Moira Deeming was exiled because she knows a man is not a woman.

Under

… Read the rest

Trump is throwing his weight around before he’s in the job.

Trump threatened to reassert U.S. control over the Panama Canal, accusing Panama of charging excessive rates to use the Central American passage, which allows ships to cross between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Says the guy who bills his own Secret Service agents when they have to stay at his Florida hotel.

The post was an exceedingly rare example of a U.S. leader saying he could push a sovereign country to hand over territory. It also underlines an expected shift in U.S. diplomacy under Trump, who has not historically shied away from threatening allies and using bellicose rhetoric when dealing with counterparts.

Aka picking fights and creating enemies.

“The

… Read the rest

Fancy that, the Independent pointing out that single-sex toilets are important for girls. Mind you, it was more than six years ago.

Unesco is urging governments around the world to prioritise providing single-sex toilets in schools, warning as many as 1 in 10 girls in some countries are missing out on lessons because of their period.

Gee, I wonder why girls would not want to deal with menstruation in a toilet shared with boys.

“In 1990, the world committed to admitting equal numbers of boys and girls into primary school by 2005,” Audrey Azoulay, director-general of Unesco said. “Since then we have set ourselves a more ambitious set of gender equality targets with a deadline of 2030, but we

… Read the rest

Transgender woman wins court case for transfer to female prison

A transgender woman won a High Court case to be transferred to Northern Ireland’s female prison while being held on charges of threatening to kill her neighbour, it has emerged.

Ah well good to know at least it’s not an alarming type of crime at all.

Michelle James, 63, was moved from Maghaberry Prison to Hydebank Wood on Thursday after taking court proceedings. The move happened after the Department of Justice accepted there was a lack of policy in place for transgender prisoners and consented to the transfer.

Oh great, so there is no policy, so the wise and safe thing to do is to force women to deal with … Read the rest

Ah yes the normal, reasonable, moderate version of thinking men can be women.

Love the pitch at the end, podcast bros are all the same. pic.twitter.com/aLruh3iLiR

— Billy Bragg (@Serena_Partrick) December 21, 2024

Correction. This clip is about four men having the kinds of conversations they think women have. They’re trying to get sane people TO AGREE THAT THEY ARE WOMEN EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE MEN.

Contrary to Wu’s ridiculous “if”, the reality is that JKR has no power to “force” Wu to “live as a man.” Nobody has that power, because the whole idea is meaningless. We don’t “live as” primates or mammals or vertebrates, we just live. We are what we are. Wu is what he is.

It’s … Read the rest

Helen has the bit that Pixar took out.

I'm glad they cut this. It was trying to normalise the idea that girls should move over and not just allow – but to escort boys into female spaces.
Girls shouldn't be taught that they are supporting cast, to selflessly put their needs aside to help boys get what they want. https://t.co/ovTBZCfujN

— Helen Staniland (@helenstaniland) December 21, 2024

Of course girls have been told that for the last ten? fifteen? more? years, so it’s going to take a long long time to unweave the message.

Update: This is a storyboard, not the finished work. I thought the sketchiness was a stylistic choice, derp. H/t Sackbut… Read the rest

Disney decides not to tell children there are people who are the sex they’re not.

Pixar’s original animated series Win or Lose will no longer include a transgender storyline in a later episode, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The series follows a co-ed middle school softball team named the Pickles in the week leading up to their championship game. Each of the eight episodes center on the off-the-field life of a character and their point of view, whether it be a player, a parent, a coach or an umpire.

A spokesperson for Disney confirmed that the story arc was removed and provided the following statement to THR: “When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by iknklast at Miscellany Room.

The VP said that [Warner Brothers/Discovery] had a duty to “provide a safe space” for trans employees to “live authentically”

This is not a duty of an employer. An employer has a duty to follow proper safety procedures and maintain a safe workspace in the physical sense, and they have a duty not to emotionally abuse employees. There is no duty to provide anyone a space to ‘live authentically’. In fact, most employers don’t do that; they have certain requirements about dress, behavior, language, and what the hell you are to do with your time while you are at work. For a gamer, ‘living authentically’ might involve using the work computers … Read the rest

Fanboy for trans ideology calls someone a “leading feminist” and I ask him what makes someone a “leading feminist.” His reply is that someone else calls her that. Not an answer to the question I asked, bro. I didn’t ask whether other people call her that, I asked what makes someone it. Those are different questions. The difference is significant. It’s a difference that matters. Labels matter; words matter; reasons for saying things matter.

It’s the kind of hackish mushmouth empty verbiage that riddles so much lazy journalism. If you mean famous, say that. If you don’t mean famous, say what you do mean. Aim for specificity. It helps.

https://twitter.com/peterjrainford/status/1870107538445775112 https://twitter.com/peterjrainford/status/1870156653481603246… Read the rest

Susie Green says she will go right on destroying children’s lives.

An organisation led by the former chief executive of the transgender support charity Mermaids has vowed to keep on helping children get access to puberty blockers, despite a permanent UK ban.

Anne Trans Healthcare, co-founded by the former Mermaids leader Susie Green, hit out at [criticized] Labour after it was announced that the government would keep a ban on the drugs for under-18s.

…

Green, 56, was dismissed as Mermaids’ chief executive in 2022 over a loss of trust in her leadership, a Charity Commission report into the organisation revealed.

The following year she set up Anne Trans Healthcare, which offers access to puberty blockers for under-18s

… Read the rest

Surprise surprise, it’s not just France.

Telegram ‘rape chat groups’ with up to 70,000 members uncovered

Ain’t technology great?

Thousands of men are participating in chat groups in which they share suggestions on how to rape and sexually assault women, a German investigation has revealed.

The groups, on the instant messaging service Telegram, have as many as 70,000 members who mostly communicate with one another in English and appear to come from a variety of countries.

Users claimed to have assaulted women in their household, including wives, partners, sisters and mothers, and also shared instructions with others on how to do the same.

It’s what Germaine Greer said – “Women have very little idea of how much men hate them.”… Read the rest

The BBC reports:

A 15-year-old boy has been charged after a mobile phone was discovered hidden in a girls’ toilet at a secondary school in Dundee.

The incident is understood to have come to light when a female pupil at the school discovered the device on Tuesday afternoon.

Police Scotland said the boy has been charged in connection, following a report of voyeurism.

A new Dominique Pelicot in the making.

… Read the rest

Masha Gessen in the NYRB November 10, 2016 on the rules of survival in an autocracy:

[Obama] added, “The point, though, is that we all go forward with a presumption of good faith in our fellow citizens, because that presumption of good faith is essential to a vibrant and functioning democracy.” As if Donald Trump had not conned his way into hours of free press coverage, as though he had released (and paid) his taxes, or not brazenly denigrated our system of government, from the courts and Congress, to the election process itself—as if, in other words, he had not won the election precisely by acting in bad faith.

Similar refrains were heard from various members of the liberal

… Read the rest

Good to see that the bros are learning from the Pelicot trial.

The lawyer of one of Gisele Pelicot’s rapists gets emotional outside the court, calling the female protesters “hysterical”, “foul-mouthed” and “shit”. https://t.co/FSOBK6EFOa

— Róisín Michaux (@RoisinMichaux) December 19, 2024

“I have a message on behalf of my clients, to all these hysterics, bad-mouthers: the message is: SHIT. [pause] But with a smile.” [pause] “Go, knitters!”

That last sentence is a translation of “Allez les tricoteuses!” That’s a vintage sexist insult dating back to The Revolution: it labeled women on the left who supposedly sat around knitting while heads rolled. It was not well received.

… Read the rest