Give that child a scholarship to a university of her choice.
https://twitter.com/veterans_i/status/1668490994994536449… Read the restAll entries by this author
Guest post: Step up truly virtuous individuals
Jun 12th, 2023 5:02 pm | By Ophelia BensonGuest post by Jonathan A. Gallant
I invite truly virtuous individuals to join my new organization “Electron Justice”. We are dedicated to decolonializing electricity by eliminating all the terminology of the colonialist, Eurocentric, heteronormativist old culture we must overturn.
For example, consider the coulomb, the unit of electric charge. It is named after the engineer and electrical experimenter Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, who was also a militarist and a colonialist. He served in the French army for 28 years, retiring with the rank of captain right after the French Revolution. Part of his military service was spent overseeing military construction in Martinique, a Caribbean island where black slaves labored on plantations, and which remains a French colonial possession to this day. … Read the rest
“Layla Le Fey”
Jun 12th, 2023 3:33 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Argus, a local paper in Brighton and Hove, reports:
Police have made an arrest after online threats to kill campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen.
A Twitter account in the name of Layla Le Fey posted threats to the campaigner also known as Posie Parker.
Here’s a surprise. The story had said police arrested a woman after the online threats. It said it just a few minutes ago, but now they’ve changed it. There were many objections and I’ll be damned for once someone paid attention. Unfortunately they do say “a woman” later in the story. Inch by inch by inch we’ll win this war.
… Read the restOne tweet said: “I’m a trans woman and I’m not ashamed to admit I’d be happy to physically
Tough choice
Jun 12th, 2023 2:55 pm | By Ophelia BensonUhhhhh…for what purpose?
Dearie me! Maya Forstater every minute of every day if the alternative is you Willoughby. pic.twitter.com/c92cbmXfOa
— Jacky Holyoake (@JackyHolyoake) June 12, 2023
I guess we’re supposed to gasp and say “Wow Willoughby is so hot.” But that’s stupid. We know he uses filters and extremely heavy makeup…but anyway what woman age 57 posts selfies like that? He’s trying to look like a teenage beach bunny or some shit but we know it’s fake so why do it??? Why isn’t he embarrassed to do it? Why doesn’t he look at it and realize what a fool it makes him look?
That open mouth thing – we know why models and actors do that, and why photographers … Read the rest
Salmon-costumed
Jun 12th, 2023 11:10 am | By Ophelia BensonOne more…the review hosted by LSE blogs:
In Underflows, Cleo Wölfle Hazard invites us into the hydrological, cultural and epistemological dynamics of both public imaginaries of water and water-related networks as well as the researcher relationships and ‘straight science’ norms that excise affect, care and kinship from the processes of knowledge production and communication. In doing so, he unpacks the settler-colonial land relations that shape water imaginaries and, by extension, water governance throughout the increasingly drought-stricken, dammed and extracted west coast of the US, tying in critiques and analysis with a queer and trans orientation to the world.
Or, to put it less flatteringly, attaching the absurd and decadent pseudo-politics of “trans” to a real and terrible … Read the rest
Vibrant communities of fish
Jun 12th, 2023 10:39 am | By Ophelia BensonRivers host vibrant multispecies communities in their waters and along their banks, and, according to queer-trans-feminist river scientist Cleo Wölfle Hazard, their future vitality requires centering the values of justice, sovereignty, and dynamism. At the intersection of river sciences, queer and trans theory, and environmental justice, Underflows explores river cultures and politics at five sites of water conflict and restoration in California, Oregon, and Washington.
But there is no intersection of river sciences with queer and trans theory. Those two items don’t intersect. You might as well say Manhattan’s Riverside Drive intersects London’s Kensington High Street. It doesn’t. They’re thousands of miles apart.
… Read the restIncorporating work with salmon, beaver, and floodplain recovery projects, Wölfle Hazard
The cisheterosexism of the petro-masculine rural
Jun 12th, 2023 10:22 am | By Ophelia BensonAnother Sokal hoax. Has to be. Right? Right?
The University of Washington Press has published the book 'Underflows, Queer Trans Ecologies and River Justice', which is a 'trans focus on grief for fish'. It also details 'why rivers matter for trans life'. A review of the book has even been hosted by London School of Economics pic.twitter.com/uKDvSLHlBj
— ripx4nutmeg (@ripx4nutmeg) June 12, 2023
Wait there’s more.
Feel sorry for the 15 year old boy who bought 'Truck Sluts' and waited til his parents were out before opening it
— ripx4nutmeg (@ripx4nutmeg) June 12, 2023
Guest post: How Cannon was assigned
Jun 12th, 2023 10:08 am | By Ophelia BensonOriginally a comment by Screechy Monkey on A uniquely favorable jurist.
This NYT article reports on the clerk’s explanation for how Cannon was assigned to this case. In a nutshell:
Judge Cannon’s handling of the prior case was irrelevant. The “low number” rule Rob reports Ken White mentioning was not in play here.
Her assignment was “random” in the sense that judicial assignments usually are — that is, strictly speaking, although there were 10 judges who were eligible to receive the case, it was not a 1 in 10 chance, because that’s weighted by how full each judge’s caseload is, and 3 of those 10 judges are senior judges (semi-retired) who have smaller dockets and are at or close … Read the rest
Normalize what?
Jun 12th, 2023 8:44 am | By Ophelia BensonMoral monster Willoughby
If you go on tv or radio and someone deliberately misgenders you, DO NOT let it pass. It’s offensive and cruel bigotry. The BBC seem to be trying to normalise this. #PoliticsLive
— India Willoughby (@IndiaWilloughby) June 12, 2023
Immediately followed by ridiculous fake dressup Willoughby
https://twitter.com/IndiaWilloughby/status/1668234218424377344… Read the rest1, 4, and 5
Jun 12th, 2023 8:00 am | By Ophelia BensonFestive interlude.
This is:
– A flight attendant escorting a mob boss off a jet
– A meeting of Adult Children Of Indicted Dads
– The angels of Denial and Tax Evasion
– Guests at a Saudi golf tournament
– Ivanka wearing a mullet: business up top, party below the knees
– The Perons at a brunch pic.twitter.com/HuRXd0q758— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) June 11, 2023
Simple and crucial
Jun 12th, 2023 7:46 am | By Ophelia BensonExcuse me?
https://twitter.com/LambdaLegal/status/1667949842683904000The two halves of the tweet disagree with each other. The first two curt bossy sentences just issue an order, without of course any authority to do so. The rest of the tweet pretends to give reasons for the curt order.
First of all, it’s just gibberish. Bits of vocabulary aren’t “required.” What are they gonna do, arrest us? Give us an F? Sue us? Carve us up? They’re not in a position to tell us what words to use or else.
Second, pronouns, like verbs and nouns and prepositions and the like, are neither preferred nor required, they’re just part of language. Use them correctly if you want to be understood, use them creatively if … Read the rest
Non-men and men
Jun 12th, 2023 7:08 am | By Ophelia BensonThe Johns Hopkins definition of lesbian is doing the rounds.
A masterpiece @JohnsHopkins clap………….clap………clap……
Compare & contrast. https://t.co/XSfdCt1nBb
— James Dreyfus (@DreyfusJames) June 12, 2023
https://twitter.com/SoniaRGallego/status/1668236564080590848 https://twitter.com/hatpinwoman/status/1668212741067137028
I really think Johns Hopkins ought to explain, as well as delete and start over. I really think anyone in a position to promulgate the claim that women are non-men while men get to go on being men ought to explain the reasons for spreading such a blatant shameless in your face insult to women.… Read the rest
It’s HuaMANists not Huwomanists
Jun 12th, 2023 5:24 am | By Ophelia BensonHumanists UK are going with “men are women if they say they are.” Women are going with “Goodbye Humanists UK.”
I've resigned today as a Patron of @Humanists_UK. I've campaigned for women's rights all my life & I can't support an organisation that opposes the EHRC's advice that the government should consider clarifying the 2010 Equality Act to protect women @SexMattersOrg @HayteratLords
— Joan Smith (@polblonde) June 12, 2023
Sex Matters explains.
… Read the restThe @Humanists_UK are lobbying against women's rights and freedom of speech.
They say there is no definition of sex in law, and no need for one.
Thankyou Baroness Hayter and Joan Smith for taking a stand and resigning @HayteratLords @polblonde https://t.co/sdLLeS3E5Q pic.twitter.com/QE1BgjgDrT
— Sex Matters (@SexMattersOrg) June
A uniquely favorable jurist
Jun 11th, 2023 5:23 pm | By Ophelia BensonMark Joseph Stern at Slate takes a very grim view of the Judge Cannon situation.
… Read the restCannon’s total lack of principle, combined with her evident incapacity to experience shame, renders her a uniquely favorable jurist for the former president. Indeed, if she maintains her grasp on this case, it is nearly impossible to envision Smith securing a conviction in her courtroom.
Cannon, a Trump appointee, gained notoriety while presiding over Trump’s attempt to halt the classified documents investigation in 2022. Following the search of Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s lawyers filed a complaint alleging that the search was illegitimate and unconstitutional; they demanded the appointment of a special master and, in the meantime, a freeze on prosecutors’ review of seized materials. In a
Dead zone
Jun 11th, 2023 3:56 pm | By Ophelia BensonBut don’t worry, climate change is just a lefty plot to make people get rid of their SUVs, it’s not a real thing. Not real not real not real.
Tens of thousands of fish washed ashore along the gulf coast of Texas starting on Friday after being starved of oxygen in warm water, officials said.
Park officials for Brazoria County said that a cleanup effort was underway but thousands more fish were expected to wash ashore.
That’s ok. We can just print new fish.
… Read the restKatie St. Clair, the sea life facility manager at Texas A&M University at Galveston, said that the warming of gulf coast waters through climate change could have contributed to the fish kill.
“As we
Maybe race against toddlers yeah?
Jun 11th, 2023 3:06 pm | By Ophelia BensonJust try harder grrrlzzzz
https://twitter.com/i_heart__bikes/status/1667989526692892672… Read the restMessage undeliverable
Jun 11th, 2023 12:44 pm | By Ophelia BensonNo no no no no you stupid goons, you still don’t get it – we’re happy for you to play all-trans sports. Delighted. Go for it! It’s the playing “one man in the women’s sport” that we object to.
Pink News headline:
Historic all-trans rugby match sends a ‘big f*** you’ to transphobes
No, Pinky, it really doesn’t. Quite the opposite. All-trans sport is perfectly fine and doesn’t trouble us in the least. It’s the stealing women’s sports we object to. I think we’ve been very clear on this point.… Read the rest
The only arguments against it are political
Jun 11th, 2023 10:58 am | By Ophelia BensonKen White on the unwinnable case scenario:
… Read the restYesterday, on our Emergent Situation Episode of Serious Trouble, Josh and I sparred a bit over the moral and political philosophy of Jack Smith’s decision to prosecute. I pointed out that the somewhat predictable assignment of the case to Judge Aileen Cannon — who proved herself to be an arguably lawless Trump partisan when she entertained his attempts to derail his own investigation — will make it extraordinarily difficult to convict him. If Judge Cannon presides over the case she can derail the prosecution in myriad ways, some of them unreviewable, if she wants to. Moreover, there’s reason to doubt that a Florida jury will convict Trump. Finally, and perhaps
Argument from Clients I Don’t Have
Jun 11th, 2023 10:39 am | By Ophelia BensonHmmm.
A lawyer speaks:
You know what I don’t have? Female clients assaulted in women’s institutions by women with penises. Nada. Not a single one. What I do have are trans women who can’t get women’s clothing, trans women who are told that wigs and makeup present a security risk, (4/x)
— Amy Matychuk (@amymatychuk) June 10, 2023
You know who the vulnerable parties are? Trans women living their gender in male institutions, which means being assaulted, being jeered at and asked to show their tits by staff and inmates alike. Trans women who are too afraid to be out while in custody. (6/x)
— Amy Matychuk (@amymatychuk) June 10, 2023
“And when they finally have the genitalia they want?” … Read the rest
The heavy hand of the law
Jun 11th, 2023 7:36 am | By Ophelia BensonFormer First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been arrested in connection with the ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the SNP. Police confirmed a 52-year-old woman was taken into custody as a suspect and is being questioned by detectives.
It follows the arrest and release of her husband, ex-SNP chief executive Peter Murrell in April. A spokesman for Ms Sturgeon confirmed she was cooperating with the investigation.
She probably won’t have to spend time in a cell, but if she does, I wonder if she’ll urge the screws to put her in with a trans laydee.… Read the rest