The Times in July 2020 on why Black instead of black:

“We believe this style best conveys elements of shared history and identity, and reflects our goal to be respectful of all the people and communities we cover,” said Dean Baquet, The Times’s executive editor, and Phil Corbett, associate managing editor for standards, in a memo to staff.

Conversations about the change began in earnest at The Times and elsewhere after the death of George Floyd and subsequent protests, said Mike Abrams, senior editor for editing standards. Several major news media organizations have made the same call including The Associated Press, whose stylebook has long been an influential guide for news organizations.

“It seems like such a minor change,

… Read the rest

Joyce Vance on the state of play:

Lots going on, most notably news that neither the Fulton County case nor the classified documents prosecutions [is] going to see the light of day before the election. Although that already seemed preordained, it’s now formal.

• In Fulton County, the Georgia Court of Appeals will review Judge McAfee’s decision that Fani Willis can stay on the case. Whichever side loses the appeal will likely apply to the Georgia Supreme Court for another bite at the apple. The process will take months.
• In Florida, Judge Cannon has removed her May 20 trial date from the calendar. She refused to set a new one, but scheduled almost all of the pending motions in the

… Read the rest

From Slate a few months ago:

Homicide Is a Leading Cause of Death for Pregnant People. Abortion Bans Are Making Things Worse.

You know what else is making things worse? Pretending violence against women is violence against people. Pretending violence against women is not specific to women and thus not in any way linked to hatred and contempt and disgust for women.

When Julianne McShane wanted to report on how some of the most vulnerable women in the United States were dealing with the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, she knew exactly where she needed to go: Tulsa, Oklahoma. Oklahoma is where two realities collide. It is one of 16 states that have banned abortion almost

… Read the rest

If you don’t have the goods, just make something up.

A barrister who championed LGBT+ charity Stonewall has been disbarred after making false homophobia claims. Barry John Harwood was found to have knowingly misled the Bar Standards Board (BSB) after fabricating parts of “serious” allegations against fellow barristers. Mr Harwood, who was the deputy director of advocacy at City law firm DWF, complained about a colleague’s behaviour towards him in March 2019.

What behavior? Referring to Harwood’s partner as his “husband” despite knowing they were in a civil partnership aka not married.

Take your time digesting the horror of it.

But anyway, however trivial, it’s not even a fair cop.

However, the BSB found Mr Harwood had in

… Read the rest

A win, for a change.

My mind is slightly blown – Government have accepted my legal amendments to ban Registered Sex Offenders from changing their name to avoid detection. Huge congrats to all the victims & survivors esp. @DellasLaw x @LDNVictimsComm @VictimsComm pic.twitter.com/GiHVkqlWfI

— Sarah Champion (@SarahChampionMP) May 9, 2024

… Read the rest

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Science Based Medicine says what?

Remember back in 1997, the Pokemon seizure episode? Hundreds of children reported symptoms, including seizures, after watching a specific episode of the Pokemon cartoon that includes a sequence of flashing alternating red and blue lights. The press reported the episode at face value, attributing the reaction to a known phenomenon of photosensitive epilepsy. However, later reviews found that the majority of cases were not seizures, and in fact occurred during later viewings of the episode, after the story was widely reported.

Widely reported, eh? So we’re talking suggestibility here? Social contagion?

The episode is a great example of a mass hysteria – a story spreading widely in the public that triggers some form

… Read the rest

I don’t think I saw this one last October.

… Read the rest

Traitors. Backstabbers. Thieves. Haters of women.

BREAKING: Today, we sought to intervene in #GainesVNCAA — a bogus lawsuit that's trying to get the NCAA to ban transgender athletes from college athletic participation. We are proud to be represented by @ACLU, @ACLUofGA, and @CooleyLLP. pic.twitter.com/U4zFa8LmmA

— National Women's Law Center (@nwlc) May 6, 2024

Why do they continue to call themselves a women’s law center? It’s grotesque. They’re not just standing by while men grab women’s sports, they’re actively helping.

Read our full statement: https://t.co/y9abKQIXeb

— National Women's Law Center (@nwlc) May 7, 2024

It’s not “bullying” for women to have their own sports and keep men out of them. It’s just utterly disgusting for this “Women’s” … Read the rest

It turns out that by “doing more” the Premier meant doing more to promote “family and domestic violence.”

You couldn’t make this insanity up if you tried.

Last week, Western Australia Labor Premier @RogerCookMLA said, “No government is doing more than my Government in relation to family and domestic violence.”

This week, his @walabor government is trying to pass a law that will… pic.twitter.com/Y0PvxEEHoU

— Rachael Wong (@RachaelWongAus) May 9, 2024

This week, his @walabor government is trying to pass a law that will allow men to change their legal sex to female, and self-identify into female-only spaces, like bathrooms and refuges.

Here is the Premier on the day the Bill was introduced, pictured with WA Attorney General John Quigley,

… Read the rest

The kids are not all right.

Delegates at a National Union of Students (NUS) conference voted in a breakout meeting to stop recognising their Jewish members’ main representative body because of its support for Israel, the JC can reveal.

The non-binding vote against the continued affiliation of the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) was carried overwhelmingly at the NUS conference in Blackpool last month during a session that began with calls to “dismantle” the Jewish state as a “racist project of colonialism”.

So in other words shun the Jews. We’ve been here before, chums.

At the Oxford protest camp, participants have been asked to agree that as a “colonised” people, Palestinians have the “right to resist against occupation”.

They have

… Read the rest

Sigh.

https://twitter.com/ReduxxMag/status/1788286633650868612… Read the rest

Huh – for some extremely mysterious reason the jovial Fred “Freda” Wallace is in Twitter jail.

https://twitter.com/GreatBritishGay/status/1788250123702579357

But not to worry! He’s using his other account, which is against the twitty rules.

https://twitter.com/Missfreda666/status/1788236778018841003

Serious abuses eh? Remember Fred at that discussion facing the audience with his skirt up around his neck and his balls on display? Such a character.… Read the rest

Top climate scientists say we’re screwed.

Hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5C (4.5F) above preindustrial levels this century, blasting past internationally agreed targets and causing catastrophic consequences for humanity and the planet, an exclusive Guardian survey has revealed.

Almost 80% of the respondents, all from the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), foresee at least 2.5C of global heating, while almost half anticipate at least 3C (5.4F). Only 6% thought the internationally agreed 1.5C (2.7F) limit would be met.

All of which is unsurprising, given the rate at which we continue to do the things that roast the climate.

Many of the scientists envisage a “semi-dystopian” future, with

… Read the rest

Are. they. serious.

https://twitter.com/SonyaDouglas/status/1788107621045600361

Wat?

If they’re not really, literally, materially women then the study will be worthless.

It’s slightly more complicated with “Black” because that’s not yes or no (aka “binary”) the way female or male is. Many many enslaved people in the US were partly white thanks to the genial custom by which owners and overseers were free to rape the enslaved women and girls whenever they felt like it. Looking at you Thomas Jefferson.

Anyway. What in hell is the point of doing such a study if you’re going to render it worthless by including men who pretend to be women?

CNN tells us:

The American Cancer Society said Tuesday that it is seeking participants for

… Read the rest

Schewpid man.

“You don’t need to be bothered about it – just fark off and let people be.” [crowd giggles]

Dire Mr Tennant "what are you trying to say?" – beyond what you've been conditioned to say by Stonewall & @scottishgreens – "wrong side of history, let people be, rights to exist", blah blah blah slogans. Oblivious of impact of Cass or on women's rights. pic.twitter.com/pNn73gS4UT

— Shahrar Ali (@ShahrarAli) May 8, 2024

Yeah we do, Dave, on account of how many of the men we need to “let be” are hell bent on taking everything that belongs to women, and invading everything that women need, and ridiculing everything that women say. Yeah we do need to talk about this … Read the rest

The fix is in.

A federal judge Tuesday indefinitely postponed the criminal classified documents trial of former President Donald Trump, a court filing shows. The trial on charges that Trump willfully retained classified national security records after leaving the White House and then hid them from federal authorities was scheduled to start May 20.

But the new ruling from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon vacates that date and sets a new slate of pretrial proceedings, the latest of which is a hearing set for July 22. The ruling casts more doubt on whether Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, will face trial on the federal criminal charges prior to the Nov. 5 election.

Which is a grotesque, … Read the rest

The Guardian is even worse. Headline:

Leeds Green party councillor says sorry for comments about Gaza conflict

But he didn’t. That’s not what he said. Don’t rewrite what he said and then tell us he said it. He didn’t say it. Don’t tell us he did. That borders on the L word, the one that’s libelous if you get it wrong.

It’s probably an editor who perpetrated that title, because Eleni Courea, who wrote the piece, did not get it wrong.

A Green party councillor at the centre of an antisemitism row has apologised “for the upset caused” by his remarks but hit back at “Islamophobic” attacks against him.

Scare quotes on both his taking it back moves. One … Read the rest

The BBC reports on the bogus “apology”:

A Green Party councillor has apologised after he was criticised for calling his local election victory a “win for the people of Gaza”.

Mothin Ali, 42, made the comments after being elected on Friday for the Gipton and Harehills ward, in Leeds.

His remarks prompted calls from the Jewish community in the city for him to be suspended.

Dang. That’s shocking even for the Beeb. He didn’t apologize. It’s common knowledge that the grudging “I’m sorry you took it that way” does not count as an apology.

And “the comments” were not limited to calling his local election victory a “win for the people of Gaza”. There was more to it … Read the rest

Ohhhhhh no you don’t.

Via the Green Party, Mothin Ali’s notpology:

I am sorry for any upset my comments caused about the Gaza conflict. That was not my intention. Like many across the world I have been deeply impacted by the dreadful conflict currently underway in Gaza. The International Court of Justice said this conflict meets the case for plausible genocide.

That is the definition of a notpology, that “I’m tho thorry you were offennnnnnnded” switch.

Being elected to represent the wonderful community of Gipton and Harehills was one of the proudest moments of my life. The inaccurate reporting and misrepresentation of my acceptance speech has led to me being subject to a lot of hate and hostility. I

… Read the rest

The real right to life:

The race to save the planet is being impeded by a global economy that is contingent on the exploitation of people and nature, according to the UN’s outgoing leading environment and human rights expert.

David Boyd, who served as UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment from 2018 to April 2024, told the Guardian that states failing to take meaningful climate action and regulating polluting industries could soon face a slew of lawsuits.

…

The right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment was finally recognised as a fundamental human right by the United Nations in 2021-22. Some countries, notably the US, the world’s worst historic polluter, argue that UN resolutions are

… Read the rest