So…this is not good.

It took me a minute to figure out the scale of it, thinking this could be just a small patch and we can’t tell…but then I spotted Florida. Tiny tiny Florida. The scale is enormous.

S FL ocean hits mid 90s! NOAA forecasts 100% chance of bleaching in red. “No form of management or protection can prevent reefs from being impacted by increases in sea surface temps associated with the burning of fossil fuels,” Precht says. https://t.co/ThxoTpha8N @WFLA pic.twitter.com/S4sBPepd4q

— Jeff Berardelli (@WeatherProf) July 11, 2023

… Read the rest

TIME has a long profile of Rapinoe. It gets to That Subject toward the end.

Rapinoe has shifted her focus to trans-rights advocacy. She’s particularly contemptuous of policies designed to keep transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams. “We as a country are trying to legislate away people’s full humanity,” she says. Proponents of such laws often claim they’re protecting women’s sports. “It’s particularly frustrating when women’s sports is weaponized,” she says. “Oh, now we care about fairness? Now we care about women’s sports? That’s total bullsh-t. And show me all the trans people who are nefariously taking advantage of being trans in sports. It’s just not happening.”

Excuse me? We can show you Lia … Read the rest

Megan Rapinoe is confused.

“Absolutely ‘You’re taking a ‘real’ woman’s place,’ that’s the part of the argument that’s still extremely transphobic. I see trans women as real women. What you’re saying automatically in the argument—you’re sort of telling on yourself already—is you don’t believe these people are women. Therefore, they’re taking the other spot. I don’t feel that way,” Rapinoe told TIME when asked if she’d be okay with a biological man playing with her on the national team.

It doesn’t matter what you “see” people as, and it doesn’t matter what way you “feel.” You can see horses as airports and cars as flowers if you like, but that doesn’t change the reality. You can “feel” that peaches … Read the rest

The Daily Mail:

The Met today reopened its investigation into a transgender activist and convicted attempted murderer who told activists at a London march to ‘punch TERFs’ in the [fucking] face. 

Sarah Jane Baker, who spent 30 years in jail for kidnap and then the attempted murder of a fellow prisoner, provoked outrage over her inflammatory comments on Saturday against feminists who are critical of trans ideology. 

…

Astonishingly, Baker was defended by the organisers of Trans+ Pride, who said Baker ‘holds a lot of anger’ which she had the ‘right to express… through their words’. 

Astonishingly but not all that astonishingly if you’ve been paying attention to trans ideology and “activism.”

She was reported to the police for

… Read the rest

Twitter has limited visibility of a reply I made to a tweet of Peter Tatchell’s.

This one:

Violent threats against trans critics are wrong. I condemn them

But it was one person who does NOT represent the #trans community

Also wrong are abuse & smears by trans critics – against trans people & allies like me

Two wrongs don't make a right!https://t.co/8tYHpPtHoU

— Peter Tatchell (@PeterTatchell) July 10, 2023

It’s an idiotic thing to say. Of course it wasn’t one person! It was also the crowd who cheered!

So I replied:

No it WASN'T "one person" Peter, because it was also all those people who screamed approval.

Imagine if he'd said "Punch a faggot in the fucking face!" to

… Read the rest

So here is Ian Kennedy’s wisdom on why women don’t want men in women’s sports:

Transgender women in hockey. 

It’s a topic being used by politicians to pass harmful legislation removing rights from transgender people. Meanwhile the presence of transgender women in women’s sport is being defended by human rights advocates, allies, sports governing bodies, and the LGBTQ+ community. 

Why? Why are human rights advocates defending men intruding in women’s sport? Women’s sport is for women, so obviously men should stay out of it. Adults don’t play on Little League teams and men don’t play in women’s sports…unless they’re selfish narcissistic pigs.

At the roots however, research and scholarly analysis has shown that the exclusion of transgender women from

… Read the rest

Jon Pike on the Foucauldian trope about “policing women’s bodies”:

Here’s a supposed gotcha, that bugs me, and deserves a thread on ‘policing women’s bodies’ as a criticism of arguments for fair sport for women. The objection is presumably Foucauldian in inspiration, derived from Discipline and Punish and the [concern] with bio-politics.

My reading of Foucault is heavily indebted to Nancy Fraser’s critique: ‘Empirical insights and normative confusions’ sums it up nicely. Those who talk today about ‘policing women’s bodies’ in the context of sport are normatively confused. That’s to say, any practice that secures sex-based spaces necessarily involves regulating bodies, on the basis of sex. So, if sex based spaces are sometimes a good thing then regulating bodies on

… Read the rest

Joan Smith on the both-sidesing of trans “activists” who threaten women with violence:

On Saturday, a convicted criminal got up in front of a cheering crowd in central London and publicly incited violence against women. “If you see a terf, punch them in the fucking face,” he declared to whoops of approval from his audience at Hyde Park Corner.

…

After Baker called for assaults on women at Saturday’s London Trans Pride event, the organisers defended him. They insisted they did not condone violence, but added that “Sarah and many others in our community hold a lot of rage and anger and they have the right to express that anger through their words.” 

In other words many trans people are … Read the rest

Sir sir can we have some rights please? Sir just a few sir? Not being punching bags please sir?

We are living in a time when a violent, sadistic criminal can stand on a public stage in the country’s capital and tell a cheering crowd to go and punch non-compliant women in the face. Tell me, @metpoliceuk @MayorofLondon why do you permit this?

— Joolz Denby (@JoolzDenby) July 9, 2023

https://twitter.com/JNHanvey/status/1678066485288218625

Male violence against women and girls is not a "both sides" issue.

There are simply no examples of feminists issuing these kinds of violent threats.

Every time women organise to discuss our rights we are faced with abuse. It shouldn't be hard to condemn that unequivocally. https://t.co/iYFEcgHFbZ

— Professor

… Read the rest

Not just a convicted violent felon but a wit, too.

https://twitter.com/SarahJaneBake12/status/1677961609258344448

Hur hur thank you to the police for not caring that a violent felon incited violence against women hur hur.

https://twitter.com/SarahJaneBake12/status/1678144837663563777… Read the rest

Finally some news coverage. The Daily Mail has it and so does the Telegraph. Gee, thanks, Guardian and BBC and Independent; nice to know you’re studiously avoiding news about male felons who incite violence against women.

London Trans Pride has defended a convicted kidnapper who called for protesters to “punch” gender critical people “in the f—— face.”

Sarah Jane Baker, a trans activist who campaigns on behalf of trans prisoners, addressed attendees at the march on Saturday.

She was released from prison three years ago after serving 30 years for the kidnapping and attempted murder of her stepmother’s brother, and for attempting to kill another prisoner while incarcerated.

At the march on Saturday, Baker told a cheering crowd:

… Read the rest

It’s not a Both Sides issue.

It’s really really not.

The issue with this kind of “both sides though” condemnations of the violent threat against women made at Trans Pride yesterday is that I’ve never heard of female activists making violent threats against trans people at an event endorsed by politicians and policed by the Met. https://t.co/Tb6SqpAA3M

— Sonia Sodha (@soniasodha) July 9, 2023

Shame on politicians & leaders who are so blinkered they can’t recognise patriarchal violence against women & girls when they see it

— Sonia Sodha (@soniasodha) July 9, 2023

Where does that feeling of male entitlement to make and act on threats of violence against women and girls come from? From human sexual dimorphism, of course. … Read the rest

Inciting violence against women is perfectly fine, says someone who claims to speak for the police.

A Mumsnet poster has had a reply from the police saying it won't be taken any further. pic.twitter.com/U93wwdHfzZ

— Jurassic Snark (@underhandrea) July 9, 2023

That doesn’t sound like the police to me. It sounds like a teenager who is maybe there to sweep the floors and empty the bins. It sounds ignorant and wrong. The issue isn’t “a hate crime” so much as it is incitement to violence, in particular from a violent ex-con out on lifetime parole. “The female” is not a female, he’s a male, calling for violence against women. The issue isn’t the hate, it’s the violence. Freedom of … Read the rest

Sarah Jane Baker, the “punch a terf in the face” guy, is running for office.

JOIN SARAH JANE BAKER FOR MP

AND MAKE BRITAIN A NICER, SAFER, AND FRIENDLIER PLACE

FOR US ALL TO LIVE IN

How to make Britain a nicer, safer, and friendlier place to live in: address a rally to tell people to punch feminist women in the face.

Our mission is to inspire and promote impactful solutions to some of the most critical issues we face through the power of civic engagement. Join our community of activists and allies as we work towards a better and more just world.

And by “impactful” he means punching women in the face.… Read the rest

Women who defend their sex-based rights lose their jobs, get taken to court and are publicly denounced as fascists. But someone who spent 30yrs in prison for violent crimes can tell people to punch women in the face and they get cheered, while the Met looks on doing nothing https://t.co/wK0PQTN8cl

— Hadley Freeman (@HadleyFreeman) July 9, 2023

And a male Labour MP says feminist women do it too, without troubling himself to offer a shred of evidence.… Read the rest

I hope these violent threats against women who believe sex remains relevant – made openly at yesterday’s Trans Pride – are something everyone would condemn regardless of their stance on sex and gender. Can you imagine the outrage if this was said about any other protected group? https://t.co/PRYDbysmyP

— Sonia Sodha (@soniasodha) July 9, 2023

But of course they’re absolutely not something everyone would condemn regardless of sex/gender views. We’ve already seen that Labour MP Clive Lewis brushes them off with the ridiculous lie that radical feminists also call for punching trans people in the face.

I think institutions on the opposing side of the debate have a particular responsibility to call this out. Charities like @stonewalluk. I wonder

… Read the rest

This is pretty appalling coming from an MP.

Advocating violence against others is wrong & this is no exception.
But as you’ll be aware violent language and actions are not unique to one side on this issue. That doesn’t justify the above in anyway, but it does require we acknowledge the general toxicity & step back from it

— Clive Lewis MP (@labourlewis) July 9, 2023

We’ll be aware of no such fucking thing, because it’s not true.

What a stinking cowardly woman-hating liar.… Read the rest

I think the BBC is telling a whopper here.

A teenage boy who was sexually assaulted by two women woke up with his clothes removed and injuries to his head and body, Sussex Police have said. The 15-year-old was walking along Cants Lane in Burgess Hill before heading through a wooded area towards World’s End at about 18:15 BST on 4 June. He was assaulted and woke up on the floor, police said.

The floor? The forested area has a floor? Ffs Beeb, you’re not teenagers. He woke up on the ground.

But more to the point – I don’t believe you. Women don’t sexually assault teenage boys. Why would they? What would be the payoff?

Both women were

… Read the rest

Pouring gasoline on the fire.

Yesterday was the busiest day for commercial aviation that we’ve ever tracked. We tracked 134,386 commercial flights on 6 July and today is shaping up to be another busy day. More than 20,000 flights are in the air right now. pic.twitter.com/E7wheAo86B

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) July 7, 2023

H/t Rev David Brindley… Read the rest

This is nice.

https://twitter.com/unpopulargenz/status/1677790606561628160

So enlightened and progressive.… Read the rest