Noah Berlatsky on the murderous ignorance and arrogance of Worst Kennedy:

It really should go without saying by now, but despite what RFK Jr. claims, vaccines are in fact one of the most transformative medical advances in human history.

The smallpox vaccine eradicated a 3,000 year old disease that killed 300 million people just in the two decades between 1900 and 1920. Before the measles vaccine became available in 1963, 400 to 500 Americans died of the disease every year, and some 48,000 a year were hospitalized. In the early 1900s, polio paralyzed hundreds of thousands of people a year; a devastating 1952 outbreak in the US killed 3,000.

And then of course there’s covid. Researchers believe that

… Read the rest

It’s a very small group of people in one city, but……..well, it’s that kind of very small group.

Ohio officials have denounced a small contingent of neo-Nazis who paraded Saturday afternoon through a Columbus neighborhood – waving flags featuring swastikas and shouting a racist slur – in the latest public demonstration by White nationalists in recent years across the United States.

Around a dozen people in black pants, shirts and head coverings – their faces obscured by red masks – marched along the street near downtown Columbus as three carried black flags emblazoned with red swastikas, footage provided to CNN affiliate WBNS shows.

At least one person yelled, “N***er,” again and again, according to the video that’s garnered online

… Read the rest

Oh dear oh dear confused muddled baffled person is at a loss to figure out which sweet Italian grandparent to emulate in which toilet! Be concerned!! Be very concerned!!!

I wonder though why cmbp is so upset about that rather than the fact that xir has several pieces of metal poking out of xir face. Kid! Watch out! You have bits of shrapnel in your face! That’s gotta sting!

I don’t know. Why do people put this kind of thing out in public where just anyone can see it? “Hello, watch me performing Whiny Sniveling Self-obsessed Fool.” Do they think it makes them look good?

https://twitter.com/DreyfusJames/status/1858585319777399196… Read the rest

This is very telling.

No, I'd think it a disgusting – and really quite remarkable – act if a woman decided to mark her territory by somehow urinating on a "trans woman's" car.
It's male behaviour. https://t.co/9l4gaeBisM

— Helen Staniland (@helenstaniland) November 18, 2024

It’s so telling that this fool thinks we’re like them. This fool thinks the hostile entitled enraged aggression of so many trans-identified men is normal behavior, and righteous in a good cause. This fool doesn’t get that the foundational sense of entitlement baked into trans ideology encourages people to act accordingly. This fool doesn’t get that the result is a lot of deeply unpleasant self-obsessed demanding belligerent people. This fool doesn’t get that rejection of … Read the rest

Oh but it’s so complex, you outsiders can’t possibly understand it because of the very complex complexity of it. The BBC reports how complex it is:

A protest over the Football Association’s transgender inclusion policy took place outside Wembley before England men’s match against the Republic of Ireland.

It was sparked by the banning of a teenage girl over remarks she made to a transgender opponent in a grassroots match.

So what is the background to what the FA calls “a complex case”?

Earlier this month, a 17-year-old female footballer was banned for discrimination after she was found to have repeatedly asked a transgender opponent during a match “are you a man?”.

But what does “a transgender opponent” mean? … Read the rest

We need some clarity on the details.

President-elect Donald Trump on Monday confirmed he would declare a national emergency to carry out his campaign promise of mass deportations of migrants living in the U.S. without legal permission.

Interesting ambiguity there. Which without legal permission? Migrants living in the US or Trump carrying out mass deportations?

Already, he’s tapped several immigration hard-liners to serve in key Cabinet positions. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was picked to be homeland security secretary, pending Senate confirmation. Former Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan was named “border czar.”

Homan previously discussed his vision for mass deportations, saying they would first concentrate on expelling criminals and national security threats. He didn’t

… Read the rest

With little consolation anywhere we have to take some from internecine quarrels.

Elon Musk weighed in over the weekend on the increasingly tense battle for Treasury secretary in the second Trump administration—and that has reportedly raised the hackles of some Trump advisers, who worry his influence might have grown too large.

Oh surely not. Musk is a very cautious humble self-effacing guy.

The Washington Post reported that Musk’s endorsement via social media of Howard Lutnick, who is co-leading the Trump transition team, could add confusion to the process. One adviser suggested to the Post that Musk was acting as a “co-president” and could be overstepping his advisory role with Trump.

Not possible. He’s a genius. There’s no such … Read the rest

Yet another iteration of Margaret Atwood v the wicked gender critical women.

And your evidence for this is? Let’s see it. Don’t spread misinformation. https://t.co/n5zW5dq4bN

— Margaret E Atwood (@MargaretAtwood) November 14, 2024

The evidence for it is as always promptly forthcoming.

Don't spread misinformation?

That's rich.

When I was the victim of unlawful discrimination by my employer you spread misinformation about me.

I pleaded to you on social media and by email to correct the mistake and stop smearing my name.https://t.co/Es47wTyvTa

— Maya Forstater (@MForstater) November 17, 2024

Audience: She did not delete them. https://twitter.com/AjaTheEmpress/status/1858208854456127737

The good old slug sex :) defense.

Oh, sit down.

You amplified a dumb Scientific American article re ‘sex not being binary’ (it

… Read the rest

Sometimes speed is not the goal. Sometimes it’s downright dangerous. That’s why speed limits exist.

Trump is zooming.

President-elect Trump has set a modern record for staffing his government, with 12 Cabinet-level appointments in the 12 days since the election.

That’s five times faster than President Biden made the same number of picks for his administration — and four times faster than Trump’s pick for his first administration, according to calculations for Axios by David Marchick, dean of the Kogod School of Business at American University and an expert on presidential transitions.

And it’s confirmation that he’s a reckless brainless wrecking ball.

Trump either “has the best and most efficient transition ever,” Marchick said, or “is blowing up

… Read the rest

Alex Massie writes a think piece about whatisawoman without much apparent thinking.

Few people, after all, hold a GRC. Nevertheless the theory also matters, not least because expanding the definition of woman, and indeed, that of man, creates a cascade of further questions. The distinction between people who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and hence qualify for a GRC and those we might dub “lifestyle” trans people is both important and, I would add, a means of protecting GRC-holders themselves.

What is legal, after all, is not the same as what is decent. The social reality of trans people and their rights to dignity and respect, including being addressed and, typically, treated as they would wish to be,

… Read the rest

I honest to god thought this was just one more Twitter fool mouthing the platitudes, but it turns out she’s an MP and government minister (in Canada…of course).

From November 13th to 20th, we celebrate Transgender Awareness Week.

This week highlights the challenges faced by the transgender community and reaffirms our commitment to fostering acceptance, respect, and inclusion for all to live authentically. pic.twitter.com/md91mNU8af

— Marci Ien (@MarciIen) November 14, 2024

How many weeks days months do trans people get???

It’s certainly way more than anyone else gets. Other marginalized or neglected or persecuted sets of people get one day if they’re lucky. Trans people The trans communinny get multiple days, weeks, months. Why is that?

pic.twitter.com/IVtLUQz3VH

— Marci Ien

… Read the rest

And the replies are taking this completely seriously.

.@jordanbpeterson: “When people read the history of N×zi Germany, they always think they'd be Schindler. They never think they'd be the perpetrator… Did you watch people during Covid? Many were thrilled to inform on others to feel moral superiority.” pic.twitter.com/4KMK1mU5Vo

— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) November 15, 2024

Right, because rules to avoid contagion during a pandemic are exactly the same as Nazi genocide.… Read the rest

Good old reliable BBC.

Smoggie Queens has been made by Hat Trick Productions, which pulled the Father Ted musical. Someone with knowledge of the show has contacted to say: "It's horrendous. A fetish club features heavily. It normalises pups, BDSM, cross-dressing and denigrating lesbians." 2/2 pic.twitter.com/dHKm7JNCPS

— ripx4nutmeg (@ripx4nutmeg) November 16, 2024

Also when’s the last time the Beeb aired a new comedy telling the story of a group of lesbians living in Rochdale? Or anywhere else? https://twitter.com/Glinner/status/1857818545108754472

Graham adds: it’s not real, it’s chat gpt. Which is a good joke in itself, real or not.… Read the rest

About the Kennedy Hazard:

Even among the chaos generated by Donald Trump’s recent cabinet picks, one stands out for the extensive suffering and lasting institutional damage it may cause: his choice of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department.

Modern public health is one of civilization’s great achievements. In 1900, up to 30 percent of infants in some U.S. cities never made it to their first birthday.

But that’s 124 years ago. Nobody has a personal memory of it. There are probably some people who have sorrowful memories of parents who never got over an infant death (or two or more) but none who held the dying baby themselves.

The danger isn’t merely

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Bjarte Foshaug at Miscellany Room.

We are all familiar with attempts to classify ideologies and political systems in terms of different axes, or dimensions, or coordinate systems (individualist vs. collectivist, egalitarian vs. hierarchical, libertarian vs. authoritarian, universalist vs. identitarian etc.). There is a tendency to lump one’s political rivals together by selectively emphasizing the axes along which their positions happen to coincide to the exclusion of all the others. There is also a tendency to distance oneself from groups one does not like to be associated with by selectively emphasizing the differences and ignoring the similarities. E.g. back in my movement atheist days accomodationists often accused “militants” like myself of being “just like the fundamentalists” … Read the rest

Gee. It’s only taken them ten or fifteen years.

On the one hand, this is a welcome step in the right direction.
On the other, I want to tear down tall buildings in Washington in a Hulkian rage. https://t.co/qeuuV0e0Ow

— Jon Pike (@runthinkwrite) November 15, 2024

But the realities of human biology raise legitimate questions about any notion that trans women should always and everywhere be treated exactly like cisgender women.

YA THINK??????????

Jesus fucking christ we’ve only been saying that at the top of our lungs for literally years only to be branded terfs and transphobes and cuntbitchwhores. Why did it take the Washington Post bigwigs all this time to discover what we’ve been shouting at them since forever?… Read the rest

The Guardian is on the case.

Daily Telegraph readers have woken up this week to successive front-page headlines alleging a grave threat to free speech, triggered by a star columnist’s “Kafkaesque” encounter with police. The rightwing broadsheet described how Essex police had told Allison Pearson on her doorstep last weekend that she was under investigation for allegedly stirring up racial hatred in a tweet last year.

The Telegraph and Pearson say they are unaware which post caused two officers to knock on her door at 9.40am on Remembrance Sunday.

But the Guardian thinks it has found the tweet in question.

Note the peculiar wording though – the tweet that “caused two officers to knock on her door at 9.40am … Read the rest

The Telegraph on the grotesque bullying of Maya Forstater by the police:

Ms Forstater was investigated for 15 months by Scotland Yard after a complaint that her June 2023 post about a transgender GP was allegedly a malicious communication.

I don’t believe she was actually investigated for 15 months. I think she was just made to twist in the wind for 15 months. I really don’t think Scotland Yard spent 15 months “investigating” a single tweet.

Police contacted her two months after the post on X in June 2023 to say she was being invited to a voluntary interview to give her side of the events.

Despite asking a series of questions about the details of the allegation, she was

… Read the rest

Tyranny via the CPS:

https://twitter.com/MForstater/status/1857164057301664094 “We can confirm our investigation has now concluded, with no further action to be taken.”

The process is the punishment indeed. Rape is largely ignored, but by god a single tweet by some rebellious bitch of a woman must be punished by 15 months of police harassment.… Read the rest