What counts as controversial, and who decides?

Sometimes the BBC decides.

BBC staff have accused the corporation of double standards after they were told not to attend a march against anti-Semitism this weekend. Staff working in current affairs and factual journalism who have sought permission to go to the Campaign Against Antisemitism march in London have been referred to guidelines that tell employees not to take part in public gatherings about controversial issues.

They have told bosses that “racism is racism” and that if the BBC believes racism is not acceptable in any form, it should allow staff to show their opposition to it. They point out that BBC staff are allowed to take part in marches supporting other

Sandi Toksvig has definitely done some good things.

When Toksvig came out in 1994, she became one of the most visible lesbian women in British public life. She tells me coming out was about setting an example to her children with former partner, Peta Stewart. “I had three small children and my youngest had just been born. My then-partner and I were not prepared for them to grow up in the shadow of a secret,” she says.

At the time, Section 28 prohibited their own children from learning about LGBTQ+ people in school. “It was more important to me to be a good mum than it was for me to have a career. Everyone told me that my

That Malott guy praises himself for being all nuanced and shit.

To each of you who resist acknowledging nuance:

On Tuesday I shared a video with thoughts about childhood medical transition and passability, in particular the strong draw for transitioning young because biological males in particular know that they will be treated quite a bit… pic.twitter.com/qd2tjwJS5i

— Julia Malott (@AlottaMalotta) November 24, 2023

To each of you who resist acknowledging nuance:

On Tuesday I shared a video with thoughts about childhood medical transition and passability, in particular the strong draw for transitioning young because biological males in particular know that they will be treated quite a bit more kindly and humanely if they ‘pass’.

I put forward that if we

Why the gag order on Trump just might be a good idea:

The Department of Justice submitted a court filing on Thanksgiving arguing that a gag order against the former president must remain while pointing to documents filed as part of the $250 million civil fraud trial in New York.

On Thursday, November 23, Cecil Vandevender, an assistant special counsel for the Department of Justice, notified the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals of a document which said that a gag order needs to be reinstated against Trump during the civil proceedings in New York, where state Attorney General Letitia James has accused the former president of fraudulently inflating the value of his properties in financial statements.

The government’s court

Charles Clymer attention-seeking as usual.

Originally a comment by Artymorty on This period of maximal disruption.

It’s off topic, but you make an interesting point about immigration and benevolence. In Canada, immigrants are not usually poor, and they’re admitted strictly on terms related directly to their suitability to the labour force.

Unlike Western European nations who are saddled with waves of migrants and asylum seekers of all kinds of education, language, and work skills, making their way from the Middle East, Northern Africa and elsewhere, and the US with its porous border with Mexico, Canada has the luxury of naturally strong border protection, flanked on both sides and above by vast oceans, with the US below. This means the topic of immigration is, to … Read the rest

Andy Lewis on the Brighton “skeptics”:

So, Brighton Skeptics were to hold a talk in January between Hannah Barnes and Helen Lewis. Barnes was the journalist who wrote a book exposing the debacle of the Tavistock gender clinic and how it was desperately failing vulnerable children.

What a perfect topic for a public critical thinking meeting! It involves the failure of evidence-based medicine, the ideological capture of institutions, and popular ideological beliefs that turn out not to be true. That is bread and butter for the ‘skeptic movement’.

Or so you would think. But as @helenlewis tweets, the event has been cancelled despite selling out immediately. It looks like Brighton Skeptics failed to “compromise”. With whom though, and why?

There’s been a surge in anti-Semitism in France.

Thousands of marchers joined French lawmakers in Paris on Sunday to condemn a surge in anti-Semitism in France during the conflict in the Gaza Strip, but arguments over political participation clouded an intended show of unity. 

The protest, called by the leaders of France‘s two houses of parliament, was prompted by a three-fold increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents compared with the whole of 2022, according to French authorities, since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Hamas attacks Israel so anti-Semitism increases. Seems fair.

Political figures, including Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne and former presidents François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, headed the march, holding a banner with

Thomas Schlachter at CNN tells us:

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced Tuesday that “any Male to Female participants who have been through any form of male puberty,” will not be allowed to partake in international women’s cricket.

In the announcement, the ICC did not define its criteria for “male puberty.” CNN has reached out to the ICC seeking more detail.

CNN doesn’t know what male puberty is?

“The new policy is based on the following principles (in order of priority): protection of the integrity of the women’s game, safety, fairness and inclusion, and this means any Male to Female participants who have been through any form of male puberty will not be eligible to participate in the international

Saying the quiet part out loud:

At its core, the Gender Critical movement is a female rights movement.

GCs sometimes pay lip service to the plight of gender dysphoric males, but such males are not their priority and are not considered in their policy preferences. https://t.co/RKcUBVAGG5

— phil illy (@autogynephil) November 22, 2023

Just imagine: gender dysphoric males are not the priority of these wicked selfish women. How dare women campaign for female rights instead of male privileges?… Read the rest

When skeptics go all credulous.

Sorry to say that despite selling out immediately, this event has now been cancelled.

The organiser offered all kinds of compromises—a trans voice on the panel, a separate rebuttal event, even a statement disassociating the Skeptic Society from our views—but it wasn’t enough. pic.twitter.com/m9FOWulcKn

— Helen Lewis (@helenlewis) November 22, 2023

“Humanist” chaplain approves.

So deeply relieved that @BrightonSkeptic canceled this event. What were they thinking even considering it? The anti-trans strain within skeptic, atheist, and humanist circles runs so deep. We are failing our queer family. https://t.co/yo7OpbP3aH

— James Croft (@CroftSpeaks) November 23, 2023

What were they thinking even considering it??? Gosh I don’t know, maybe they were wondering if it’s really true that … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Artymorty on Crank them out, ladies.

A healthy populace needs steady economic growth.

Steady economic growth comes from constantly increasing productivity.

Productivity growth requires the ongoing creation of new jobs.

New jobs require an ever-growing working-age population.

That’s been the formula for the past half-century or more. But it rests on a number of assumptions that can’t stay true forever. And just because this formula has worked up until now doesn’t mean it’s the only one that can ever work.

Firstly, and most obviously, civilization can’t just keep growing and consuming forever. The planet’s size is fixed, and so are the resources within it.

Secondly, there’s no actual law that states that a healthy populace … Read the rest

Ah yes, women don’t have any rights, women are simply machines for supplying the state with people.

Russian authorities are limiting access to abortions in an attempt to confront the country’s longstanding demographic crisis.

That is, Russian authorities are treating women as brood mares.

The Russian Orthodox Church, which has close ties to the Kremlin, is playing a key role in the anti-abortion campaign.

Because it’s up to men, in government or religious institutions or both, to decide what women get to do with their bodies and lives.

A stagnant population

Russia’s population is virtually the same size as it was over 20 years ago. According to official figures, there are now 144 million people in Russia – 2

It comes down to scribbles in the margins.

Donald Trump had his worst day yet in his ongoing civil fraud trial in New York on Tuesday at the hands of his own key witness, a former Trump Organization executive who linked the former president directly to the fuzzy math at the center of the case.

The witness was Jeffrey McConney, who was the comptroller and spreadsheet czar at the Trump Org. McConney had been called to the witness stand by the defense, but on cross-examination by lawyers for the state attorney general’s office Tuesday, he linked Trump firmly to the conspiracy and fraud counts that have yet to be decided in the non-jury trial.

McConney was handed People’s Exhibit

The NY Times:

Susan Sarandon, a five-time Oscar nominee and one-time winner (for best actress, in 1995’s “Dead Man Walking”), was dropped by United Talent Agency after making comments at a pro-Palestinian rally last week. An agency spokesman, Richard Siklos, confirmed Tuesday that the agency no longer represented Sarandon but declined to elaborate.

…

United Talent dropped Sarandon after she made remarks at a rally in New York City last week. “There are a lot of people that are afraid, afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence,” she said at the rally, where she called for a

Another brave heroic stunning man vows to keep working hard to take away everything women have.

The international career of Australian-born transgender cricketer Danielle McGahey would appear to be over after the International Cricket Council (ICC) ruled players who have been through male puberty will not be able to compete in international women’s cricket.

There it is again, the neutral “transgender” where “male” should be.

The change in regulations appears to have been prompted by the case of McGahey, who became the first transgender cricketer to take part in an official international match when she featured in a Women’s T20 fixture for Canada against Brazil.

But the problem isn’t “transgender cricketer”; the problem is a man playing against women and … Read the rest

It’s so interesting the way some misogynist men just can’t exercise their hatred of women without making it sexual. Why make it sexual when the issue isn’t sex? Why drag it in just for the sake of underlining how intense the hatred is? Why isn’t sex just plain irrelevant?

I suppose it’s because men of that type (there are lots of them, I’m afraid) just can’t think of women apart from their score on the Would I Fuck Her Index.

The Nazi Princess

Ursala von der Leyen, a German citizen, is president of the European Commission. She has of late lustily embraced Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.

— Norman Finkelstein (@normfinkelstein) November 20, 2023

It’s so easy to imagine

The lies people tell. This is a journalist.

Happening now: pro LGBTQ+ demonstrators are countering Women’s Declaration International USA (WDI-USA) event happening at a library in Portland. WDI-USA is a trans-eliminationist pseudofeminist organization.

— alissa azar (@AlissaAzar) November 19, 2023

“Eliminationist” implies genocidal. It’s an outrageous lie, and she must know it is.

“Today, Genocidal anti-trans organizers attempted to meet at this library.
100+ community members organized to prevent them from using our Public Space to erase our neighbors.
Unfortunately the disruption caused the library to close.
We regret the inconvenience.” pic.twitter.com/ixXkgUaVpX

— alissa azar (@AlissaAzar) November 19, 2023

“Genocidal.”

It’s a journalist saying this.… Read the rest

The BBC on the other hand finally manages to get it right.

Transgender women banned from playing international women’s cricket by ICC

Transgender women i.e. men, but I don’t expect the conventional media to start saying that any time soon.

Following a nine-month consultation process, the governing body said its new policy, which takes effect immediately, was based on “protection of the integrity of the women’s game, safety, fairness and inclusion”.

It shouldn’t take nine minutes to figure out that letting men play on women’s teams is not fair, but there it is.

“The changes to the gender eligibility regulations resulted from an extensive consultation process and is founded in science and aligned with the core principles developed during the

Always this shameless sneaky obfuscating lie – it’s always “trans” instead of “male.” Why is that? Because, of course, “male” makes it all too obvious why they’re banned, while “trans” makes it look disskrimminittoree to people who aren’t paying much attention.

Meanwhile in cricket … Transgender players banned from international women’s cricket by ICChttps://t.co/VPfxlUw6GG

— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) November 21, 2023

“Transgender players who have gone through male puberty,” the Graun says – in other words male players. The problem is not that they’re “trans”; it’s that they’re male. Nobody cares how people idennify; the issue is unfair artificial physical advantage. Sean Ingle must know this, of course, which means he must be deliberately hiding the reason for … Read the rest