Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Black and white thinking.

On the trans issue the thing I find most checkable in my thinking is what it feels like. Maybe the feeling is so intense, so agonizing, so impossible to get rid of, that…well, that what?

But at any rate, I can agree that I don’t fully understand what it feels like.

Neither can I. On the other hand, just because it feels like something doesn’t mean that’s what it is. People are not always the best judge of their own experiences. The explanations we reach for first might not be correct. We can be mistaken, or fooled; we can dream or hallucinate. Our subjectivity is … Read the rest

Originally a pair of comments by Tim Harris on Imperialism: not THAT bad.

I came across a historian (English) who was educated at Cambridge, and taught at universities outside Britain; he was much exercised by anyone paying attention to slavery, and said the proper field of interest should be colonial history, by which he appeared to mean rehearsing the old tales of Clive of India, Cecil Rhodes et al. I remarked that slavery was an integral part of colonialism so that I did not see how it could be ignored. I find nothing positive, morally or otherwise, about slavery, the constant use of violence, and the extreme violence that was used if slaves rebelled; and I find nothing positive … Read the rest

Trump went to East Palestine Ohio today and…handed out bottles of Trump-brand water. No word on whether he threw them or not.

In what one former GOP official told Politico was a “clear” political stunt, former President Donald Trump visited East Palestine on Wednesday, nearly three weeks after a catastrophic train derailment. The trip also comes one day ahead of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s own trip to the Ohio town.

And two years and six weeks after Trump tried to incite a mob to hand him the election he lost.

In his remarks, he seized the opportunity to bash Buttigieg, saying he “should’ve been here already,” and President Joe Biden, advising him: “Get over here.” The former president

… Read the rest

CNN outdoes even the Guardian. It’s breathtaking how malicious and ugly this is:

For years, J.K. Rowling, one of the best-selling authors of all time, has made inflammatory comments about transgender people, particularly trans women, using dehumanizing language and baselessly accusing them of harming cisgender women. Her words have disappointed legions of “Harry Potter” fans and even the stars who brought Rowling’s books to life.

It’s “for years” only in the most literal sense, i.e. more than one year. The comments are “inflammatory” only in the sense that easily incensed people like “Scottie Andrew,” the author of this inflammatory piece, urge each other to be inflamed about them. “Dehumanizing language” is a straight-up lie. It’s also a lie to … Read the rest

Is that another crack in the foundation?

Police Scotland has withdrawn from a diversity scheme run by Stonewall, the controversial gay and transgender rights group.

The controversial group that used to campaign for gay rights but now campaigns for trans rights instead, often at the expense of gay rights.

The charity has been criticised for its stance on trans issues. Police Scotland is understood to be the first high-profile Scottish public body to have quit the scheme, which has attracted the support of the Scottish government — currently 89th on Stonewall’s top 100 employers index.

The fanatical, destroy everything else support of the Scottish government.

In 2021, the BBC announced its withdrawal from Stonewall’s diversity champions scheme after concerns

… Read the rest

The BBC does a much more adult job of reporting on Prime Suspect JKR’s conversation with Megan Phelps-Roper.

Rowling has attracted extensive criticism for a series of comments voicing concerns about how trans issues affect women’s rights, and her opposition to Scotland’s gender recognition bill.

How refreshing it is to see a news outlet say that in a way that doesn’t nudge the reader to recoil in shock at a woman’s defense of women’s rights.

Her position has been interpreted by some as transphobic, leading to calls for a boycott of the Harry Potter franchise…

By some. Not all, not most, not even many, just some.

The Beeb even allows her to make a persuasive, thoughtful case.

Rowling later said

… Read the rest

The Guardian has a piece about JK Rowling’s life with her abusive first husband, and to make up for such a twanzphobic act, goes on to abuse her. Part One: here’s how bad it was; Part Two: here’s how bad she is. The two takes don’t mesh very well – the transition is awkward.

The Harry Potter author JK Rowling has spoken about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her former husband, saying he tried to lock away the unpublished manuscript of the series’ first book to stop her leaving him.

Speaking on the Witch Trials of JK Rowling, a podcast series released on Tuesday, the author described her relationship with Jorge Arantes as violent and

… Read the rest

The Telegraph is paying attention.

A council is facing a backlash after agreeing to allow a trans cartoonist with a “kink” for nappy fetish art to speak to children at a library.

It’s ok. He could explain them about what a nappy fetish is, and they could tell him about their nappies.

Ms Labelle, who identifies as a woman, has spoken publicly about her nappy fetish art, known as “diaperfur art”. It has been defined as images related to someone with an interest in anthropomorphic animal characters and an interest in wearing diapers, typically as part of a baby roleplay.

Sheds a whole new light on Winnie the Pooh, wot wot?… Read the rest

Is that really what happened????

Many people doubt it.

If they really think Wisey the Pretty is all he claims to be and nothing besides what he claims to be, would they have done this?

I don’t think so.… Read the rest

About that Georgia grand jury…

A special grand jury that investigated election interference by former President Donald J. Trump and his allies in Georgia recommended indictments of multiple people on a range of charges in its report, most of which remains sealed, the forewoman of the jury said in an interview today.

…

A focal point of the Atlanta inquiry is a call that Mr. Trump made on Jan. 2, 2021, to Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, in which he pressed Mr. Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, to recalculate the results and “find” 11,780 votes, or enough to overturn his loss in the state.

“We definitely started with the first phone call, the call to Secretary Raffensperger that

… Read the rest

Good grief.

Men are in their prime forever, women only for a few years. You don’t like it? Talk to the science.

The CNN anchor Don Lemon will return to his regular morning-show role on Wednesday, the network announced late Monday night, after an uproar over a series of comments he made on the air last week about women and aging.

Women do it earlier and worse. That’s just how it is; look it up!

Mr. Lemon will be absent from Tuesday’s broadcast of “CNN This Morning,” where he last appeared on Thursday, shortly after asserting on the air that Nikki Haley, the 51-year-old Republican presidential candidate, “isn’t in her prime, sorry.” He went on to say that “a

… Read the rest

Kenan Malik has a review in the Guardian of a book about colonialism – the “hey it wasn’t that bad” kind of book about colonialism.

In 1857, in the wake of the Indian mutiny, a British officer, Lt George Cracklow, described in a letter home what happened to captured rebels. “The prisoners were marched up to the guns… and lashed to the muzzles,” he wrote. “The guns exploded… I could hardly see for the smoke for about 2 seconds when down came something with a thud about 5 yards from me. This was the head and neck of one of the men… On each side of the guns, about 10 yards, lay the arms torn out at the shoulders.”

… Read the rest

They translate.

It takes a bit of courage to block someone and then to fabricate a quote. On the right is actually what I write about the Combahee River Collective (from my book *Not So Black and White*. Can’t see the word “reactionary” there (or in anything else I have written about them). pic.twitter.com/PyBTr22Dyw

— Kenan Malik (@kenanmalik) February 20, 2023

It’s not just the “reactionary” bit that’s a translation – look at what else Caro S. translated. Kenan’s “a group of black lesbian militants” becomes “Black queer feminist socialist[s].” “Lesbian” is whisked out of sight to be replaced with the vastly more progressive and enlightened “queer”…… Read the rest

Republican Representative from Georgia.

https://twitter.com/mtgreenee/status/1627665203398688768

A national divorce is it. Like the one Georgia and South Carolina attempted in 1860? That went well.… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Sastra on Hoo yoo aw.

It’s turning into a vicious cycle. Children who identify as trans are encouraged to violate boundaries and use the bathrooms, showers, sports teams, etc that they feel “comfortable” in. There are then people (including other children) who resist this and some of them do so violently, say by beating up a “trans girl” in the girls’ locker room. It’s safe to say that in that particular situation the catalyst wasn’t that a boy was behaving in an effeminate manner, but that a trans-identified male was in the girls’ locker room. They were attacked “for being trans.”

Yet they wouldn’t have been attacked if they hadn’t been where they shouldn’t. This … Read the rest

Again with the childish bee whoo yoo ahhh.

https://twitter.com/WelshGovernment/status/1627714358888235008

In what sense does everybody “deserves to feel safe to be themselves”?

Does Andrew Tate deserve to feel safe to be himself, including threatening and assaulting women?

Does Wayne Couzens deserve to feel safe to be himself, including falsely arresting a woman, raping her, and murdering her?

Does Donald Trump deserve to feel safe (including from arrest, trial, sentencing) to be himself, including sedition, treason, corruption, sadism, fraud, lies, bullying, theft, revenge, xenophobia, incompetence, dereliction of duty?

The slogan sounds nice, but then if you think about it for even a second it becomes apparent how stupid it is.… Read the rest

The ACLU is still beating the silly drum.

Imagine being a kid and watching adults in positions of power attack your right to be who you are and threaten your family, health, safety, and life.

Imagine being the ACLU and wording your calls for support in such a sloppy deceptive way. Nobody is attacking “trans kids'” right to be who they are. Some people are resisting the ideology that tells trans kids to alter their bodies in an effort to be who they are not. Men can’t become women any more than humans can become dolphins. Nobody is threatening the family, health, safety, and life of “trans kids.” Some people are trying to rescue them from this poisonous … Read the rest

An open letter from Dr Neil MacFarlane BA MBBS MA MRCPsych to the police harassing Kellie-Jay Keene:

I write to express my concern at what appears to be the oppressive pursuit of Ms Keen by Sussex Police and the Crown Prosecution Service, aided by yourselves. If Ms Keen is charged with any offence it is my intention to offer to provide a supportive pro bono expert witness statement, and to give evidence in person at any trial. I will also offer to provide similar support for any complaint that Ms Keen makes against Police and/or the CPS.

I have been a GMC registered medical practitioner since 1986, and a registered specialist in psychiatry since 2002. I have been an NHS

… Read the rest

J.A. alerted us to a back and forth between a philosopher and a biologist a few days ago. Here’s how it ended on day one:

https://twitter.com/pzmyers/status/1625989800875659266

Here’s how a new chapter started yesterday:

https://twitter.com/TomasBogardus/status/1627429553365987328

Earth. How about the earth – it definitely predates societies, because otherwise where would the societies have been? No earth, no societies, yeah? Ok, so the earth. Right. Is the earth a social construct? Hell yes! Look at globes! And photos in National Geographic. Therefore, trans women are women. Quod erat demonstrandum.

Bogardus continues:

Myers also claims that I was being "spectacularly dishonest." I disagree; I think I was being pretty chill. But you can read the thread and decide for yourself, starting around here. (I

… Read the rest

It’s probably an exercise in futility.

In schools across Britain, educators are mobilizing to fight back against [Andrew] Tate’s messages, belatedly realizing the outsize influence he has among their students. A British-American former kickboxer, Mr. Tate gained a following of millions with videos glorifying wealth and a particularly virulent brand of male chauvinism, before being barred last summer from many mainstream social media sites.

It’s nice that they’re mobilizing, but I think it’s hopeless. They’re the schools, and Tate is the opposite. Schools, parents, adults, females – it’s all the same thing. It’s all duty, respectability, boredom, obedience. Nah we’ll take the other side thanks.

Believing that schools are a microcosm of society — and a preview of its

… Read the rest