Originally a comment by Screechy Monkey on Portents.

I think that for a long time, pro-choice advocates were regarded as the boy who cried wolf. “You keep saying that Roe will be overturned, but it never is, and all these abortion laws mostly get struck down by the courts and the abortion clinics survive the ones that aren’t anyways. I’m not pro-life, but I’m gonna vote GOP because [taxes etc.]”

And indeed for a long time, there was a school of Savvy Punditry that insisted that Republicans didn’t want Roe overturned anyway, and that’s why it would never happen. (My take is that the first part of that was largely true — there were definitely a lot of GOP … Read the rest

Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia.

Abortion rights advocates won major victories Tuesday as voters in conservative-leaning Ohio decisively passed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing access to abortion, while those in ruby-red Kentucky reelected a Democratic governor who aggressively attacked his opponent for supporting the state’s near-total ban on the procedure.

In Virginia, a battleground state where Republicans pushed a proposal to outlaw most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, Democrats were projected to take control of the state legislature after campaigning heavily on preserving access.

Women push back.… Read the rest

Boots said what??

Feedback works (sometimes!). Boots called us 'people with vaginas', women objected, and they changed it to 'women'. #thewordiswoman. Thank you @BootsUK.https://t.co/8Df70k8Oqc? pic.twitter.com/99mPvBFgyS

— Milli Hill (@millihill) November 8, 2023

Good that they’ve corrected it now but what the hell.… Read the rest

Now there’s a fine impartial headline from the CBC:

Nurse tells B.C. hearing she’s not transphobic, but calls gender identity ‘metaphysical nonsense’

There’s no “but” needed in that headline. There’s no contradiction. “Transphobic” means “mean and horrible to people who claim to be trans.” It’s neither phobic nor mean & horrible to know that “gender identity” is metaphysical nonsense. It would be metaphysical nonsense to say that people can be rabbits by thinking they are rabbits, and the same applies to all the other nouns that name something one can’t turn into via the power of thought. People can become teachers, pilots, parents, friends, colleagues, reporters, nurses, and the like. People can’t become trees or planets or watermelons. It’s not … Read the rest

When legislatures decide they get to define women.

A Bill has just been introduced to the Scottish Parliament to remove the unlawful definition of "woman" from the GRPB Act. https://t.co/MNnypbwNl9 pic.twitter.com/wnd4pEFrk0

— For Women Scotland (@ForWomenScot) November 8, 2023

A reminder of the definition of "woman" that was ruled to be unlawful by the Court of Session Inner House. pic.twitter.com/wMyg77484t

— For Women Scotland (@ForWomenScot) November 8, 2023

A man who is pretending to be a woman is not a woman, no matter how long he has been doing the pretending.… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Der Durchwanderer on Anne Frank wasn’t diverse enough.

This is the second time this specific article has crossed my radar in the last twenty-four hours, whereas none of my normal German sources have even mentioned it, which I think is somewhat telling. Let me trawl for an actual German article…ahh, yes, a bunch of highly-motivated right-of-centre rags…some respectable publications…no highly-motivated left-of-centre rags…

Ahh, there we are, something actually readable and vaguely objective that isn’t publicly-financed (which is nearly unnecessary to qualify, as publicly-financed media in Germany are often barely readable and quite rarely objective).

Firstly, let’s clarify a few points of confusion or misconceptions. “Kindergarten”, though it is a German word, means something different in … Read the rest

Siiiiiiiiiiigh

… If we can work towards a more inclusive and welcoming physics environment, the real winner is physics itself.” (2/2)

— Institute of Physics (@PhysicsNews) November 7, 2023

Aw yeah, nothing better for increasing yer inclusion & diversity than putting a white guy with bangs in charge of it.

Oddly enough the Institute of Physics turned off replies.

Updating to add:

There are a lot of furious and/or contemptuous replies and then one outlier.

Congratulations, Clara!

— LGBTQ+ STEM @UCL (@LGBTQ_STEMatUCL) November 7, 2023

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Nullius in Verba on ‘Microaggressions started out as a legitimate issue’.

Like, I can see putting a hand on someone’s knee as being actually innocent, even though invasion of personal space is always suspect. I had a coworker who always put his hands on people’s backs when talking to them at their desks, for instance. It made me uncomfortable, for obvious reasons, but I didn’t attribute ill intent to it, because the dude was probably autistic. On the other hand, it can absolutely be anything but innocent, and there’s no way for a woman (or much less often a man) to know the intent motivating the incoming hand. For some reason, we have yet to … Read the rest

This is a fun heads I win tails you lose Trump has going here. If he pitches fits in court and calls the judge names why that’s because he’s The Victim Of A Conspiracy. If he doesn’t, same deal.

Mr Trump was combative on the stand. He took direct aim at the judge, leading to some heated exchanges, and drew his rebukes for airing broad grievances when they were not directly relevant to the question.

Is this because he’s a goon who acts like that at all times? Or is it a cunning plan?

“I think he is trying to goad the judge into doing something he can argue on appeal shows prejudice on his part,” Prof McMunigal said.

Oh, good idea, Germany.

A German kindergarten has said it will drop Anne Frank from its name in favour of a “more diverse” alternative, adding fuel to the national debate over anti-Semitism amid the Israel-Hamas war.

More “diverse” than Anne Frank. (I have no idea what the German for the buzzword “diverse” is, or even if it’s comparable to the Anglo buzzword.) More “diverse” how? Adding anti-Semites? Nazis? Neo-Nazis? Fans of genocide?

In what way is there a need for more “diversity” than a name that symbolizes the mass murder of European Jews by the Nazi regime? To put it another way, why is it a good idea to change the subject when the subject is Anne Frank/the … Read the rest

Meanwhile let’s get this straight. There’s a prolific women-hater on Twitter named David Leavitt but he is NOT repeat NOT the novelist named David Leavitt. They are two different people.

I don’t know if the novelist is on Twitter, but the journalist definitely is. He’s a very bad man.

Also either dishonest or stupid. Rowling does not say what he claims she says in the tweet he singles out to demonstrate her saying the thing she didn’t say.

JK Rowling saying that all trans women are rapists pic.twitter.com/RIRq9by0xs

— David Leavitt 🎲🎮🧙‍♂️🌈 (@David_Leavitt) November 4, 2023

A very bad man. Not the novelist.… Read the rest

The most marginalized…

A very small sampling of what happens when you say on Twitter that compelling a woman to call her rapist or violent male attacker ‘she’ in court is state-sanctioned abuse. pic.twitter.com/HhuPz4igz2

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) November 5, 2023

But don’t ever ever ever suggest that trans “activism” is just a tiny bit inclined to abuse and threaten women. No no no no no don’t you dare or we’ll tell you cunts exactly how we want to slaughter you.… Read the rest

BBC yet again cheering on the destruction of women’s sports:

Two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya says she is “not going to be ashamed” of being “different”, and will “fight for what is right” amid her ongoing dispute with athletics authorities.

Some lede. Should read: Two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya, who competed against women, says he is “not going to be ashamed” of cheating women, and will continue to cheat amid his ongoing dispute with athletics authorities.

Semenya, 32, was born with differences of sexual development (DSD) and cannot compete in female track events without taking testosterone-reducing drugs.

What kind of differences of sexual development? Odd that the BBC doesn’t say. Why be so cryptic about it?

In a wide-ranging

JKR nails it again.

The Honourable Chris Kourakis has issued a statement referring to my 'anxiety' about the use of female pronouns for men standing trial for violence against women and rape. He states that 'a victim of crime would never be asked to address an accused person in a way which caused… pic.twitter.com/43tdCboOc6

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) November 6, 2023

The Honourable Chris Kourakis has issued a statement referring to my ‘anxiety’ about the use of female pronouns for men standing trial for violence against women and rape. He states that ‘a victim of crime would never be asked to address an accused person in a way which caused the victim distress.’

That assurance is welcome, although I note

Oh goody, an activist.

🚨 #SpeakerConfirmed!
Footballer & activist Natalie Washington @Transsomething will join us in Geneva on Dec 5 & 6 for the panel 'The transformative future of #womensports: embracing intersectionality & solidarity in policies & practices'

Click & Register for the #SCF2023! 👇

— Centre for Sport & Human Rights (@SportandRights) November 6, 2023

Erm. So that’s “The transformative future of #womensports” in the sense of being women’s sports played by men? That’s “embracing intersectionality and solidarity” in the sense of embracing men who invade women’s sports and thus destroy them for women?

Well why is there no solidarity with women? Can anyone explain?

Who is this Natalie Washington?

Natalie Washington is a British football

The Post on what Trump is planning for us:

Donald Trump and his allies have begun mapping out specific plans for using the federal government to punish critics and opponents should he win a second term, with the former president naming individuals he wants to investigate or prosecute and his associates drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office to allow him to deploy the military against civil demonstrations.

In private, Trump has told advisers and friends in recent months that he wants the Justice Department to investigate onetime officials and allies who have become critical of his time in office, including his former chief of staff, John F. Kelly, and former attorney

The NY Times is live-reporting Trump’s testimony.

Trump’s acknowledgement of some involvement in assembling the documents in question can’t be stressed enough. The modus operandi of Trump and most around him is to lay the blame at staff’s feet, or consultants’ feet or lawyers’ feet.

Trump is being asked about why he decided to drop the value of Seven Springs, one of his properties in Westchester County, N.Y., on a financial statement. “I thought it was high,” Trump says, yet again admitting his involvement in the process.

Trump appears not to realize that, because here the value was lowered, these admissions of his involvement in manipulating the financial statements are damning.

But it was good manipulating. Surely he should … Read the rest

The protocol.

2/ This practice direction states *in terms* that the "use of preferred gender pronouns is a matter of respect". That is an ideological position and it is correct to criticise the policy as having that objective. Please note lawyers and *others* in the second sentence. pic.twitter.com/A0tC7FTdzj

— Dennis Noel Kavanagh (@Jebadoo2) November 6, 2023

The protocol “does no more than allow lawyers and others to inform the court of the correct pronunciation of their name and their preferred gender pronoun”

Stop right there.

That’s smuggling. That’s smuggling the concept of “preferred gender pronoun” concealed by “correct pronunciation of their name.” Those two items are not the same thing. Preferred is not the same as correct, and pronouns … Read the rest

Of course.

I would have linked straight to the source but you have to click through eleventy times to get to that set of nominations…but by having done so I did get to learn (to my complete lack of surprise) that 1. the male nominations appear first and 2. the male nominations are all men.

Yes, Yasmin Finney is a trans woman.… Read the rest

Ahh poor Fiona the lonely sheep stranded at the bottom of a cliff has been rescued at last.

The sheep, called Fiona and wearing a huge fleece, had been stranded at the foot of cliffs on the Cromarty Firth for at least two years, with an animal welfare charity having deemed rescue attempts “incredibly complex”.

But five farmers managed to haul her up a steep slope, and now plan to deliver her to a farm park.

A real farm park, not the pretend kind kids are told about when Flopsy dies in the night.

Jillian Turner first spotted the sheep two years ago while she was paddling along the coast of Sutherland with her kayak club. She assumed the