Well now that’s just silly. Why would God build a cathedral upside-down and buried in the ground?

No national treasure is grander than the Grand Canyon.

The first time I saw it, the phrase came to mind: "God’s Cathedral."

And today, I’m proud to use my authority to protect nearly a million acres of public lands around Grand Canyon National Park as a new National Monument. pic.twitter.com/B7uN5QUDs2

— President Biden (@POTUS) August 8, 2023

(Not knocking the protecting public and indigenous lands part. Just saying a big hole in the ground doesn’t have to be “God”‘s doing. Shout out to the Colorado River here; peace be upon it, or what’s left of it.)… Read the rest

Originally a comment by What a Maroon on Intern runs amok.

This does sound like fun! Let’s dog the Mary Rose collection.

Dogging the Mary Rose collection:

Octagonal mirror: an octagon has eight sides, twice the number of paws of a dog. As social beings, dogs like to be around at least another dog, so the number 8 has special significance. (And did you know that if you turn the 8 sideways, you get the symbol for infinity?! How cool is that! We love our dogs to infinity!) As for the mirror itself, dogs don’t recognize their own reflection, so they may see the dog in the mirror as a rival, perhaps causing anxiety. On the other hand, they … Read the rest

Oh look, hours of fun for the whole family: Queering the Mary Rose’s Collection.

How can we understand The Mary Rose’s collection of personal objects through a Queer lens?

This blog does not attempt to identify the sexuality or gender identity of crew members, which would be an impossible task. Instead, we will use ‘Queerness as an interpretative tool’ to represent LGBTQ+ stories.

Who’s “we”?

Turns out it’s Hannah.

Queering The Mary Rose’s Collection by Hannah (Collections & Curatorial Intern)

I wonder if the non-intern staff are regretting having an intern, especially one with no last name.

How can we understand The Mary Rose’s collection of personal objects through a Queer lens?

This interpretation of historical objects

The Times offers detail on the protective order:

The first miniskirmish in the prosecution of former President Donald J. Trump on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election involves a step that is taken in the early phases of many prominent criminal cases: a proposal to impose rules on how the voluminous discovery evidence in the matter should be handled.

The disagreement started on Friday, when prosecutors in the office of the special counsel asked the judge who is overseeing the case for what is known as a protective order governing the disclosure of discovery material to Mr. Trump’s lawyers. The entreaty was routine, although in making their request, the prosecutors took what could be considered an extra

Oh wait, Swansea University West Ham Society is on board. This changes everything!!!

(What do you mean “who?”? SWANSEA UNIVERSITY WEST HAM SOCIETY. It’s a society. At Swansea University. Devoted to West Ham. The football club. 36 people follow it on Twitter. It’s kind of a big deal.)

Recently, @SwanseaUni has approved an event called “On the front line of the war against women” for the 31st August at Taliesin. This is the second transphobic event held there in the past year, and comes 6 months after celebrating being a Stonewall Gold Inclusive Employer (1)

— Swansea University West Ham Society (@SUWHUFC) August 8, 2023

We will be wholeheartedly supporting a protest on the same day outside Taliesin, and supporting

Hanan Razek at the BBC reports:

A hidden world of sex abuse and exploitation by men working as “spiritual healers” has been uncovered by BBC Arabic.

Spiritual healing, also known as “Quranic healing”, is a popular practice in the Arab and Muslim world. It is mostly women who visit healers – believing that they can solve problems and cure illness by expelling evil spirits known as “jinn”.

Naturally. Women are ferociously subordinated in the Arab and Muslim world, which makes them unlikely to have much education, which renders them credulous about scams like “Quranic healing.”

Testimonies gathered by the BBC from 85 women, over a period of more than a year, named 65 so-called healers in Morocco and Sudan

The ACLU rejoices that girls will be forced to take their clothes off in front of boys.

This decision follows last week’s federal court ruling in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed that trans students must have access to bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender.

No student should have to fear discrimination in school.

— ACLU (@ACLU) August 7, 2023

Trans students must have access to bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender, but there is zero need for girls to have access to bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their sex. Why is that exactly?… Read the rest

Peter Tatchell tries to LGBT+ a Jewish lesbian who escaped the Nazis.

Never forget Sharley McLean, a Jewish lesbian survivor of Nazi fascism

Sharley fled from the Nazis to Britain, aged 16, on one of the last #kindertransports of children leaving Germany

She became a LGBT+ activist & humanisthttps://t.co/Zx5zGlvgrT@Humanists_UK @andrewcopson

— Peter Tatchell (@PeterTatchell) August 7, 2023

She did not become an “LGBT+” activist. She was a lesbian activist.

David Semple in The Guardian November 5, 2013:

My friend Sharley McLean, the lesbian activist, has died aged 90. She was born Lotte Reyersbach in Oldenburg, north Germany, and escaped to Britain on the Kindertransport in 1939. Her father, Franz, a socialist, and her Jewish mother, Grete, were

What fresh hell is this?

This is what our children are being taught in schools.

That liking “girly” or “boyish” things determines whether you are male, female or ‘non-binary’.

Regressive and abusive. pic.twitter.com/bZET8bqkoF

— James Esses (@JamesEsses) August 7, 2023

“PLANET GIRL” is pink – “PLANET BOY” is blue – now there’s progressive for ya!

“Which planet were you sent to as a baby?”

I beg your fucking pardon?

Why is “NON-BINARY PLANET” much bigger than PLANET GIRL and PLANET BOY and also the original or parent planet that the inferior two are sprouting out of?

The people from PLANET IDIOT need to go away and stop messing with children.… Read the rest

It should have happened years ago! He’s not wrong there.

Shouty McCaps is having a rough day. pic.twitter.com/tf8sRiT5hJ

— Bill Prady ⚛️ (@billprady) August 7, 2023

… Read the rest

Trump continues to do whatever he wants all the time.

t Donald Trump’s arraignment last Thursday for trying to overturn the result of the 2020 election, magistrate judge Moxila A Upadhyaya warned him that he could be taken into custody if he violated the conditions of his release, including attempting to influence jurors or intimidate future witnesses.

…

The judge then warned Trump: “You have heard your conditions of release. It is important you comply. You may be held pending trial in this case if you violate the conditions of release.”

She asked Trump: “Do you understand these warnings and consequence, sir? Are you prepared to comply?”

Trump responded: “Yes.”

But not 24 hours later, Trump posted on social

Trump loses another round.

A federal judge has dismissed Donald Trump’s counter defamation lawsuit against E. Jean Carroll, dealing another legal blow to the former president.

In an order Monday, Judge Lewis Kaplan said that Trump had not proven that Carroll’s statements on CNN the day after the jury awarded her $5 million after finding that Trump sexually abused Carroll and defamed her were false or “not at least substantially true,” which is the legal standard.

Yikes, that’s a clumsy sentence. I’d start over if I were CNN. Break it into shorter sentences for the sake of clarity.

Carroll’s attorneys have argued the only issue for the jury in January is how much in damages Trump should pay

Women may not meet together. It is not allowed.

Women arrange an event at a venue to talk about women's rights
Online abuse commences
Student's Union offers their support and comfort (not to the women obviously)
Venue is targeted
Step up and investigate @swpolice
1/4#SameOldMisogyny#ListenToWomen pic.twitter.com/4acryfoGES

— Wales-Women’s Rights Network 💜🤍💚🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@WRNWales) August 7, 2023

Just a small sample of the online harassment campaign against the venue
Although they 'do not wish to see them harassed'

Too late – when you use histrionic hyperbolic language like this, is it any surprise when you whip up a misogynistic fury?
3/4@swpolice pic.twitter.com/PdXXEjVO2j

— Wales-Women’s Rights Network 💜🤍💚🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@WRNWales) August 7, 2023

How lovely when a response is added with

Extraordinary.

Swansea [University] Union issues a statement:

The University recently informed the Union that an external community group, Swansea Bay ReSisters, is hiring Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre for an event on 31^st August 2023 focussing on legal and social issues affecting women and girls in Wales.

This event has not been promoted, encouraged, or planned by the University, the Taliesin or the Students’ Union.

Wait, what? Why the need to frantically distance the university and the union from a discussion of legal and social issues affecting women and girls in Wales? Is that a taboo subject in Wales?

The Union acknowledges the impact this event could have on students, staff and the wider community, but also understands

Back in May, staff at the Edinburgh comedy club The Stand tried to shut down a planned Fringe event with Joanna Cherry, but were foiled by public outrage. Now there are new threats.

Joanna Cherry has claimed that the need for unprecedented security measures such as metal detectors at her Fringe show are “a disgrace in modern Scotland”.

The MP, who is well known for her gender critical views, is the headline act at a show at The Stand comedy club on Thursday, an event it is feared trans activists will attempt to prevent going ahead.

Her appearance had initially been cancelled after staff refused to work at it due to Ms Cherry’s views, but the venue

She’s the perfect judge for Trump – from our point of view, not from his.

LAWYERS WHO’VE DEFENDED clients before Tanya S. Chutkan, the judge assigned to Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 election conspiracy case, have some advice for the former president and his attorneys: buckle up.

Far from the more indulgent* Aileen Cannon, the judge overseeing Trump’s Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, attorneys tell Rolling Stone that Chutkan is perhaps the toughest judge he could have gotten in the Washington, D.C. district court.

*the more hand-picked and underqualified Aileen Cannon.

“It’s probably the worst draw for Trump. She’s the worst judge he could’ve gotten handed,” one attorney with experience representing a January 6 defendant tells Rolling Stone. “She’s

Let’s try the whole case in public shall we? In fact let’s do it on social media.

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

THERE IS NO WAY I CAN GET A FAIR TRIAL WITH THE JUDGE “ASSIGNED” TO THE RIDICULOUS FREEDOM OF SPEECH/FAIR ELECTIONS CASE. EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS, AND SO DOES SHE! WE WILL BE IMMEDIATELY ASKING FOR RECUSAL OF THIS JUDGE ON VERY POWERFUL GROUNDS, AND LIKEWISE FOR VENUE CHANGE, OUT IF D.C.

Trump complaining about experienced Judge Chutkan (black woman judge…his worst nightmare), where he doesn't complain about inexperienced Conservative Federalist Society White woman Judge Cannon?

Gee, I wonder why.

Your posts sure look like Obstruction of Justice to me, Donny. pic.twitter.com/vB8QvUdoSf

— Peter Briggs 🇪🇺 (@peterbriggs) August 6,

Other lawyers are surprised to learn this:

If former President Donald Trump committed a “technical violation of the Constitution,” it doesn’t mean he necessarily broke any criminal laws, John Lauro, Trump’s criminal defense attorney, argued on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

…

“A technical violation of the Constitution is not a violation of criminal law,” Lauro contended, calling it “just plain wrong” to suggest that Trump had pressed Pence to break the law.

Other lawyers beg to differ.… Read the rest

Here is the Museum of Pop Culture blog post by Chris Moore explaining why the museum is displaying JKR’s work but not her name, aka stealing her intellectual property without acknowledgement. Apart from the sheer spiteful nastiness it seems to me to be remarkably childish and silly for a museum administrator, but maybe I’m wrong, maybe it’s just pop culturey.

Remember, this blog post is on the museum’s website, so it’s speaking for the museum, not just Chris Moore the (proudly gender-special) person.

Title: She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named

Subhead: There’s a certain cold, heartless, joy-sucking entity in the world of Harry Potter and, this time, it is not actually a Dementor.

Body of text:

We would love to go with the internet’s theory

Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture, formerly the Experience Music Project, displays Harry Potter stuff but pretends Harry Potter was invented by no one. I call that highly unethical, bordering on plagiarism.

A Seattle Museum has airbrushed JK Rowling from its hall of fame and Harry Potter exhibition over her gender-critical views. The Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in Washington hit out at the famous author and accused her of holding ‘super hateful and divisive’ opinions.

It defended its decision to remove all references to Rowling in a lengthy blog post on Saturday. The museum still has Harry Potter memorabilia on display but any mention of the author of the franchise has been airbrushed.

In other words it profits … Read the rest