Watch the clip.

Dude with pink backpack has shades and a thick scarf obscuring his face. He’s about twice as tall as the women he’s bullying. He stalks around towering over the women and grabbing their signs; he crushes the signs right in their faces, performing the “I’m so furious I’m just on the edge of smashing your face with my fist” ritual. Dude is this “community” in a nutshell: full of hatred and contempt for women who refuse, and big and strong enough to terrorize such women without breaking a sweat.

Updating to add what I forgot to say: he knows which people are women. They’re the one he bullies, because he’s bigger than they are.… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Might be.

…with officials planning to draw up guidance for librarians and readers on how to cope with them.e

They’re just books, not unexploded bombs. The way to “cope” with them is to read more books. There are going to be lots of publications with old, outdated ideas that have been superceded by more information and what we believe to be a better understanding. It is still important to keep the “outdated” books because it lets us see the context of the past, lets us see where we’ve come from, etc. Discovering the widespread, casual racism of the past can be alarming, but it’s better to have that awareness (and … Read the rest

Sidney Who???

Former President Donald Trump claimed Sidney Powell was “never” his attorney in a social media post Sunday, three days after she pleaded guilty in the Georgia election subversion case.

People are always never his ________ once they stop licking his bum.

Despite Trump’s claims, Powell was briefly an official member of Trump’s legal team in 2020, and Trump stayed in contact with her on election-related matters even after she was ousted from his campaign.

“Sidney Powell was one of millions and millions of people who thought, and in ever increasing numbers still think, correctly, that the 2020 Presidential Election was RIGGED & STOLLEN, AND OUR COUNTRY IS BEING ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED BECAUSE OF IT!!! MS. POWELL WAS NOT MY

Musk is doing what now?

…the sight of Elon Musk charging towards Wikipedia with his trademark guile and delicacy was so predictable that it was almost relaxing. He saw a collective resource that people prized and he wanted to hurt it. Why does Wales even need any money to run Wikipedia in the first place, he wondered on Sunday. You could fit the entire thing on your phone, he claimed. Eleven minutes later, he offered $1bn if it would change its name to Dickipedia.

He really is that adult.

Have you ever wondered why the Wikimedia Foundation wants so much money?

It certainly isn’t needed to operate Wikipedia. You can literally fit a copy of the entire text on your

The idenniny trap.

This is the reason why the pedagogical practices that many elite private schools have adopted of late, like racially segregated affinity groups or encouraging students to “own” their “whiteness,” infuriate me.

If you know anything about the world, you know how dangerous it is to… https://t.co/LmY20DBm6Q

— Yascha Mounk (@Yascha_Mounk) October 23, 2023

This is the reason why the pedagogical practices that many elite private schools have adopted of late, like racially segregated affinity groups or encouraging students to “own” their “whiteness,” infuriate me. If you know anything about the world, you know how dangerous it is to teach kids to define themselves by the group into which they’re born—and how easily such a culture can lead … Read the rest

“No place for hate” indeed.

A trans activist punched a 52 year old woman at the #1MillionMarch4Kids in Nanaimo yesterday. These are the 'no space for hate' people. These are the Canadians claiming *we* are hateful. These violent psychos. Get it straight @Dave_Eby @bcndp @JustinTrudeau… pic.twitter.com/VO8LNwup3Q

— Meghan Murphy (@MeghanEMurphy) October 23, 2023

The police apprehended the man and the victim intends to press charges

— Meghan Murphy (@MeghanEMurphy) October 23, 2023

Gee I hope the man’s fist is ok.… Read the rest

Here is how not to resist the social contagion of trans ideology.

1) Stop calling your kid “fabulous.” 2) Bin the glitter and get him a dog or put him on/around a horse. 3) Sports. 4) Camping. 4) Art. Expose him to all this. THEN let him define himself. But you do it first, leading the way and laying the foundation, as a parent should.

— Mary McDonald-Lewis (@mmcdonaldlewis) October 22, 2023

What a string of terrible ideas. Don’t bin the glitter! Let him glitter as much as he wants. Join him in glitter play if he welcomes you. Don’t force him into sports or camping – offer them if you like, but don’t force. Not everyone likes sports, not … Read the rest

“No place for hate,” says the huge burly man’s placard, as he punches an older woman in the head hard enough to knock her down.

This was the "No Place For Hate" counter protestor at Nanaimo City Hall today who crossed the street to the side where the parental rights group was gathered, put his sign directly in an older woman's face and then punched her hard in the side of the head when she tried to move… pic.twitter.com/W00WMNG7J4

— Kim Goldberg (@KimPigSquash) October 22, 2023

This was the “No Place For Hate” counter protestor at Nanaimo City Hall today who crossed the street to the side where the parental rights group was gathered, put his sign directly in an

Originally a comment by Nullius in Verba on A pause for extra sass.

I think that bit about the brutishness of human existence is critical—not Critical. This metaphysics of history and humanity in Critical Theory-flavored views, which they inherit from Marx, is that if not for [insert favored villain], life would be utopian. At the core of existence is pure gold, and it will be revealed by removing all the base substances through the hermetic alchemy of Critique and Dialectic. Humanity is already perfected, and all we have to do is deal with the colonialists, racists, sexists, cisheteronormativists, capitalists. Once we do, the Perfect will be revealed, and Social Man will be finally recognize himself as his own creator … Read the rest

Please flag the problematic books, says…Cambridge University Library???

The University Library, one of just six legal deposit libraries in Britain with some 10 million books, is asking lecturers to flag “problematic” books that might be “offensive/harmful”.

But…dear “university library,” most books might be problematic or harmful. There’s always that potential in nearly everything. If that’s your criterion you should be a paper-recycling facility, not a library.

Examples of such books are being sought from across the university’s colleges, with officials planning to draw up guidance for librarians and readers on how to cope with them.

I think you’ll find that “how to cope with” books is called “education” and that it’s something Cambridge University has a bit of … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Sastra on Inextricably entwined with cultural fads.

The social contagions that get real social traction are those that can piggyback on something legitimate, and roughly similar. Both Multiple Personality Disorder and Recovered Memory Syndrome were presented as new examples of women/children who suffered abuse in the past which is being dismissed today because “it didn’t happen.” The coping strategies (splitting the mind into separate alters or repressing all knowledge) were legitimized because the person making the claim was clearly suffering. That left the sympathetic with the easy conclusion that This Is Totally Familiar. Kid with behavior problems is being beaten at home. Woman says she was raped and isn’t believed.

Been there; done that; not … Read the rest

The Detroit Free Press:

A politically connected Detroit synagogue president was found stabbed to death Saturday morning outside her home in the city’s Lafayette Park neighborhood, east of downtown.

Samantha Woll, 40, led the Isaac Agree Downtown Detroit Synagogue and previously worked for U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, and on the reelection campaign of Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat.

Police said in an afternoon statement that they were investigating after finding a body stabbed multiple times in the 1300 block of Joliet Place. A trail of blood led to the victim’s home, where police said they believe the crime occurred.

Which sounds as if she tried to get help before she bled out, which is horrifying.

Woll had

From an article in the current Scientific American:

“Sex” typically refers to biological sex, which can be defined by myriad characteristics such as chromosomes, hormone levels, gonads, external genitalia and secondary sex characteristics. The terms “female” and “male” are often used in relation to biological sex. “Gender” refers to how an individual identifies—woman, man, nonbinary, and so forth. Much of the scientific literature confuses and conflates female/male and woman/man terminology without providing definitions to clarify what it is referring to and why those terms were chosen.

So “woman” and “man” don’t label biological sex? They’re purely social? They label only how people “identify” and not what people are? And this is settled knowledge and everyone agrees with it? But … Read the rest

Gareth Roberts takes a blowtorch to the “thinking” of Owen Jones:

‘Oh, and by the way’, said Owen Jones in his ‘sassy’ mode the other day on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, ‘it wasn’t actually Hamas who introduced the law banning homosexuality in Gaza. Guess who it was?’ He then gave an extra pause for extra sass. ‘The British Empire.’ (Dramatic chord!)

There’s an ordinance! A British Mandate Ordinance! Can’t argue with that, now can you.

Jones, who has been a vocal supporter of Palestine during the current conflict in Gaza, clearly thought he had got one over on those critics who have tried to remind him of Hamas’s less than savoury attitudes to gay people. Never

This is a useful mini-essay.

Karen Carpenter's tragic battle triggered a social contagion of anorexia; Princess Diana's public struggle with bulimia had the same effect.

The book Sybil kicked off the multiple personality disorder epidemic in the 80s. Running parallel to that was the Satanic Panic, set off… pic.twitter.com/B2z59I157r

— Mia (@_CryMiaRiver) October 20, 2023

Karen Carpenter’s tragic battle triggered a social contagion of anorexia; Princess Diana’s public struggle with bulimia had the same effect.

The book Sybil kicked off the multiple personality disorder epidemic in the 80s. Running parallel to that was the Satanic Panic, set off by the book Michelle Remembers. As a result, thousands of lives were destroyed.

As cutting started to appear in movies and TV

Steerpike at the Spectator has more:

In the past fortnight, pro-Palestine marches in London have attracted some unseemly elements to their cause. One such example was offered today at an event for Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir in central London. After one speaker asked the crowd ‘What is the solution to liberate people in the concentration camp of Palestine?’ a chant of ‘Jihad, jihad, jihad’ echoed out around the speaker. An incitement for holy war? Surely grounds for a police intervention…

Unfortunately not, it seems. For the Metropolitan Police have now used their overactive Twitter/X account to confirm they will not be taking any action:

“The word jihad has a number of meanings but we know the public will…”

blah … Read the rest

In London today:

The word jihad has a number of meanings but we know the public will most commonly associate it with terrorism. We have specialist counter terrorism officers here in the operations room who have particular knowledge in this area.

They have assessed this video, filmed at the Hizb…

— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) October 21, 2023

They have assessed this video, filmed at the Hizb ut-Tahrir protest in central London today, and have not identified any offences arising from the specific clip. However, recognising the way language like this will be interpreted by the public and the divisive impact it will have, officers have identified the man involved and will be speaking to him shorty to discourage any repeat

Dang that really has it all.

I am delighted to be invited to close the National Menopause Summit Cork this evening. The Government is committed to working with employers, employees and trade unions to make workplaces more inclusive places for all. pic.twitter.com/TudbDMNUhJ

— Roderic O’Gorman TD (@rodericogorman) October 20, 2023

He closed comments. There is a good deal of rage in the quote tweets. Like…

He did what?

The Irish Independent last March:

Equality Minister Roderic O’Gorman has been accused of playing “parish pump politics” after his department transferred €1.1m to LGBTQ+ projects. The money was originally allocated to schemes for the Traveller and Roma communities, migrant integration and Magdalene laundry redress.

So, obviously, just the right man … Read the rest

Trump is having a bad day.

A former lawyer to Donald Trump has pleaded guilty in an election subversion case in the US state of Georgia. Kenneth Chesebro is the third of 19 co-defendants to plead guilty in a deal with Fulton County prosecutors. He is accused of putting forward a slate of fake pro-Trump electors in Georgia and other states to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election.

That is, to steal the election. “Overturn” makes it sound vaguely legitimate. It’s important to be very clear and uneuphemistic about this.

Under the plea deals, the former defendants will have to testify under oath in forthcoming trials.

…

His guilty plea can be seen as a victory for Fulton

Judge holds Trump to account.

A New York judge has fined Donald Trump for violating a gag order in his civil fraud trial.

Mr Trump was fined $5,000 (£4,100) by Judge Arthur Engoron on Friday. The judge said in court that the former president had failed to remove an online post mocking a clerk at the court. He also threatened Mr Trump with jail time, and demanded he take down the “untrue and disparaging” post made about the clerk earlier this month.

Trump’s flunkies took it off social media but left it on his website. He can fling insults around but apparently he’s too important to erase them himself: that kind of menial work is for the underlings.

Later