Peas on what now?

Peas on toast trump smashed avocados as UK cost of living bites, says Waitrose https://t.co/9DNLh95X25

— The Guardian (@guardian) December 7, 2023

Peas on toast???

Come on, you’re joking, right? Aren’t beans on toast horror enough? Who tf puts peas on toast? You might as well put toast on toast. You don’t pile starch on starch on starch; that’s not how any of this works.

I’ll spell it out for the confused. No mashed potatoes on toast, no pasta on toast, no baked potatoes on toast, no lima beans on toast, no hashbrowns on toast, no toast on toast. If you’re going to put something on toast make it something that’s not bland heavy carbs.… Read the rest

The tension between free speech and discouraging genocide continues.

Harvard University’s president apologized as pressure mounted for the University of Pennsylvania’s president to resign over their testimony at a congressional hearing on antisemitism that critics from the White House on down say failed to show that they would stand up to antisemitism on campus.

“Their” testimony meaning Harvard’s and U Penn’s. I thought at first that was some weird random gender neutral wording but then managed to figure it out.

In an interview Thursday with The Crimson student newspaper, Harvard President Claudine Gay said she got caught up in a heated exchange at the House committee hearing and failed to properly denounce threats of violence against Jewish students.

Gay

Judges have ruled:

Judges have ruled that the UK government acted lawfully in blocking Scotland’s gender self-ID reforms. Legislation making it easier for people to change their legally-recognised sex was passed by the Scottish Parliament last year. The UK government blocked it from becoming law over fears it would [have an] impact on equality laws across Great Britain.

The Court of Session in Edinburgh has now rejected a Scottish government legal challenge to the veto.

The Scottish government can appeal.

Campaigners against the reforms warned the legislation could risk the safety of women and girls in same-sex spaces such as hospital wards and refuges. Supporters argued it would make the process of obtaining a gender recognition certificate (GRC) easier

Popehat says people who paid attention to Elise Stefanik’s “yes or no” are credulous and stupid. He’s probably right.

America faces many problems. The easy ones we solve or ignore. We struggle with the hard ones. Hard problems raise complex questions that lack glib, one-word answers. The stubborn thirst for simple answers to hard questions is bad for America. It’s anti-intellectual, pro-ignorance, pro-stupidity, pro-bigotry, pro-reactionary, pro-totalitarianism, pro-tyranny, pro-mob.

Other than that…

He’s right though.

Take this week’s Congressional hearing about antisemitism on college campuses, titled “Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism.” A generous interpretation — a credulous one — would be that the hearing was designed to inquire why colleges aren’t protecting Jewish students from antisemitic harassment. A

Kristallnacht much?

A York University professor who wrote an award-winning book on the use of direct action in protest movements is among 11 people facing criminal charges in the defacing of a bookstore with red paint and accusations its Jewish founder supports genocide. Toronto Police have described the bookstore defacing as motivated by hate.

Lesley J. Wood, an associate professor, who chaired the university’s sociology department from 2017 to 2021, was charged this week with mischief over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence by Toronto Police. The allegations relate to red paint thrown on doors and windows at the Bay-Bloor outlet of Indigo, Canada’s largest bookstore chain, and posters depicting its founder and chief executive officer, Heather Reisman,

Originally a comment by Freeminder on Referral.

The Enhanced DBS can go much, much further. Arrested but not charged, cautions, even interviews under caution (even not being a suspect) are recorded. Driving offences (speeding etc.) can appear.

It can also go deeper: contact former employers, check present and past addresses, so yes, gossip and personnel records can be examined.

Several government bodies (i.e. health, education, emergency services) regard not using pronouns as requested by an individual as a serious safeguarding issue, which can result in disciplinary procedures or dismissal. It is no surprise the DBS was consulted: it can be used to destroy someone’s career but then also make them virtually unemployable (too many jobs need DBS, from taxi … Read the rest

Now there is a catch 22.

Last week, the DBS confirmed they would give me their decision on barring me at the end of this week. This follows from New College Swindon's referral of me to them because I didn't call a girl a boy in a class.

Today, they've told me they can't come to a decision.

Even van… pic.twitter.com/C0pIjW1YSQ

— Kevin Lister (@KevsTribulation) December 7, 2023

Today, they’ve told me they can’t come to a decision. Even van driving jobs need DBS clearance.

What is DBS? You can see it under the “caseworker”‘s signature: “Disclosure and Barring Service.”

So there’s a “service” that runs around “disclosing” i.e. gossiping tattling ratting accusing whining pointing to prospective employers, and is … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Mike Haubrich on Insult & injury=.

I think that what needs to be taught regarding First Nations and their history is that the “Noble Savage” concept is insulting and patronizing. What I have experienced as recently as 4 years ago in my 300 level course in diversity is not indoctrination about the poor natives or brown people but the necessity of broadening our experiences to better understand other cultures and how they have integrated into our own. Those students who have this fantasy about an idyllic pre-Columbian world are likely to have gotten it from anywhere but a UofT anthropology course, like perhaps social media. I think the same thing whenever I see someone claim … Read the rest

Liz Cheney has a book out.

Republican Liz Cheney has made no secret of her criticism of former President Donald Trump. It’s what made her an outcast in her own party and cost her her job in Congress last year.

The former Wyoming representative was one of just 10 Republicans to back his second impeachment in 2021. She became one of two Republicans on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, for which she explicitly blamed Trump.

Cheney’s vocal and sustained criticism of the former president led to her losing her leadership role as the No. 3 House Republican and, eventually, her primary campaign for reelection.

You know…the surprising thing is not … Read the rest

Oh look, how sweet, NPR chose yesterday as the day to run a flattering story about trans “woman” Kai Cheng Thom. Who’s he? He’s the one who gave the keynote at the University of Toronto event nominally to commemorate the 14 women murdered for being women at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal. How adorable of NPR to puff him up on the very same day he had the unmitigated gall to center himself instead of the 14 murdered women and women in general.

The byline is Jess Kung, Lori Lizarraga, Leah Donnella, Dalia Mortada. All women? All trans women? Half and half? Three and one? Who knows. They’re all helping NPR insult and displace women. … Read the rest

Here is the disgusting narcissist in person, whining about how “afraid” he is to be there, shoving dead women aside so that he can talk about his pretense of being a woman. He actually does have the gall to call it “pure spite” for us to object to his role as keynote speaker at an event remembering 14 women who were murdered for being women.

A very carefully defined version of “inclusion.”

Academic specialist in inclusion calls for ‘evil’ Jewish conference to be ‘blown up’

A senior academic at the University of Bristol who specialises in inclusion, inequality and discrimination has called for someone to “blow up” a conference organised by the Jewish Labour Movement.

Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Bristol Harriet Bradley made the comment while reposting another remark about the gathering which read: “If you wanted to know where you can find every racist, n**ce and sh**house in Britain, now you know.”

Above that post, which included the poster advertising the JLM event, Bradley wrote: “Somebody blow up the venue!”

I’ve had a look at her Twitter and to be honest it’s hard to … Read the rest

Reduxx on another male usurpation of an event to commemorate women:

The University of Toronto invited a trans-identified male to speak at a memorial ceremony dedicated to the women who lost their lives during the École Polytechnique massacre. Despite it being the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women in Canada, the speech instead focused on “addressing transmisogyny.”

Hosted by the University’s Sexual Violence Prevention and Support Center, the event was held today at the St. George Campus in downtown Toronto. While the official announcement claimed the event was intended to memorialize the 14 women slaughtered during the École Polytechnique massacre, the keynote speech was almost completely unrelated to the horrific shooting.

The event was first

Kemi Badenoch in action.

We will sort it by publishing a draft Conversion Practices Bill alongside the work being undertaken by Dr Hilary Cass.

We will protect clinicians & parents who do children no harm, but prevent processes intended to change someone's gender identity which do cause serious harm. pic.twitter.com/9gy5gDDXPo

— Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) December 6, 2023

We know that gender dysphoria is complex. It is important that the government is taking an evidence-based and principled approach on these issues, and taking our time to get this right.

But no child is born in the wrong body. pic.twitter.com/SY5crpE6LM

— Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) December 6, 2023

… Read the rest

Encouraging.

What a momentous day for everyone who cares about the rights & interests of LGB people, women and children in the UK. 4 years ago, most MPs thought self-ID was about being “kind” to a tiny vulnerable minority. They thought banning “conversion therapy” would help “LGBT” people./1

— Bev Jackson (@BevJacksonAuth) December 6, 2023

It was as if her opponents had not read a single scientific article on the impact of puberty blockers on bone density and brain development, for instance, on the homophobia helping to drive youth “transition” and other key issues. They were all out of their depth./3

— Bev Jackson (@BevJacksonAuth) December 6, 2023

And when she finally said, with passion but steely determination, “Stonewall does

I think Kendi needs to get around more. He’s very parochial. “Whiteness” just isn’t the root of all injustice in the world. Racism is not just white USians v everyone; there is racism among and between people of all hues. There is also rivalry, hostility, aggression, competition, war, oppression, exploitation among groups of every kind you can think of. Humans are very good at seeking out differences, no matter how slight, in order to create ingroups and outgroups. Believe it or not, at some times, in some places in the world, the people on top had darker skin than the people on the bottom. It happens.

In short “whiteness” isn’t as interesting as he thinks it is.

“Whiteness prevents white

National WOMEN’S Law Center throws women under that bus yet again.

“Women need to learn to lose gracefully to men in women’s competitions” @FGossGraves

From the freaking NATIONAL WOMEN’S LAW CENTER. Never did I dream this.
Unbelievable to watch women who have been given power sell out all the future generations of women. So sad. @martina… https://t.co/qNDLFfSLsg

— Kim Shasby Jones (@KimJonesICONS) December 5, 2023

…and success in school sports depends on a whole range of factors including how hard you work, and coaching, and access to really good resources and facilities, and trans students participate in sports for the same reason as their kids: because it is fun, because it creates belonging and community, because it teaches

It certainly is.

This is horrifying https://t.co/6MQ32m5eXb

— Edie Wyatt (@msediewyatt) December 6, 2023

I pushed the button to watch it. I could hardly believe what I saw. The two presidents balked at saying that calling for genocide of Jews is harassment. Not is a crime, not is against the law, not is murderous, not is violent, just is harassment. I don’t normally find myself on Team Stefanik, but I don’t normally expect presidents of high-status universities to smile blandly at calls for genociding the Jews, either.

Politico reports:

Top university presidents defended their responses to antisemitism on their campuses in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war before Congress on Tuesday as they faced a grilling from lawmakers.

Claudine

Yes by all means err on the side of letting violent men be housed in women’s prisons instead of on the side of never doing that ever.

Transgender inmates with a history of violence against women will not be housed in female prisons in Scotland, except in “exceptional circumstances”.

Fuck “exceptional circumstances.” Just don’t do it. There are no circumstances that mean women should take the risk instead of just not housing violent men with women.

The new guidelines confirm an “individualised approach” that any transgender woman with a history of violence against women and girls, and who is assessed as presenting a risk to women and girls, will not be placed in the women’s estate.

The history … Read the rest