I saw this tweet and tracked down the particulars.

https://twitter.com/coachblade/status/1598710469300453376

First, the news release:

Please send us your recommendations on how to deal with the mistreatment of women and girls in sport in Canada.

Second, the reply to Coach Blade:

Now, I haven’t read Coach Blade’s brief but I’ve been following her with great interest for a long time so I think I have a pretty educated guess about what she said. And the Standing Committee on the Status of Women said thanks but we threw it out, bye.… Read the rest

So even Elon Musk has a limit.

Elon Musk, Twitter’s chief executive, said late Thursday that Kanye West would be suspended from Twitter after the rapper and fashion designer tweeted an image of a swastika inside the Star of David. Mr. Musk said the post violated the social media outlet’s rule against the incitement of violence.

…

The indefinite Twitter suspension happened on the same day that [West] had appeared on a podcast hosted by the Infowars conspiracy broadcaster Alex Jones, during which he told Mr. Jones, “I like Hitler.”

Speaking of Alex Jones, he’s just declared bankruptcy. I’m wondering if he’ll be able to go right on “hosting” Infowars while not paying the victims of his sadism … Read the rest

Pink News on the investigation into Mermaids:

The Charity Commission has confirmed it has opened a statutory inquiry into trans children’s charity Mermaids after safeguarding allegations were raised.

A regulatory compliance case was opened in September of this year, which has now been formalised.

This began after several articles were published in right-wing publications, which portrayed Mermaids as posing danger to children.

Geddit????? There are no safeguarding concerns really, it’s all just right-wing publicationing.

The inquiry will focus on three areas of Mermaids, its work and how the charity is run. This includes investigating potential misconduct or mismanagement, whether the trustees have fulfilled their duties under charity law and into the administration, governance and management of the charity.

… Read the rest

Trump is running out of road.

In another big victory for the Justice Department Thursday, days after it won convictions of far-right Oath Keepers insurrectionists, an appeals court halted a third-party review of material taken by the FBI from Trump’s Florida resort…

In another blow to the ex-president on Thursday, a federal judge ordered former Trump White House lawyers to give additional grand jury testimony after dismissing Trump’s claims rooted in attorney client or executive privilege…

On another legal front threatening Trump, his former short-lived national security adviser Michael Flynn became the latest acolyte of his to be ordered to testify before an Atlanta grand jury. This investigation is specifically looking into Trump’s 2020 effort to reverse his

… Read the rest

Mermaids inquiry ratchets up.

The Charity Commission has launched a statutory inquiry into the transgender charity Mermaids after identifying concerns about its management. The regulator said the inquiry — its most serious form of investigation — was triggered by “newly identified issues” around the youth charity’s “governance and management”.

It had already announced a compliance case into Mermaids following safeguarding concerns, but a statutory inquiry marks a significant ramping up of its examination of the charity. It will try to establish if there was any mismanagement or misconduct by trustees.

The commission said today that Mermaids’ response to the initial compliance case “has not provided the necessary reassurance or satisfied the commission at this stage”.

Tick tick tick.… Read the rest

A bit of frivolity – a barrister explains why The Good Law Project is so bad and stupid, with that huge smug headshot of the kimono guy for extra laughs.

What happened? Well, there was a two day hearing involving a King’s Counsel and three other barristers for the GLP, and another King’s Counsel and two more barristers for the government. That is an expensive two days. 

What did the GLP want? Well, they weren’t actually clear initially, so we’ll come back to that later. But it was all to do with the issue of ministers using private emails and private WhatsApp or other messaging services for government business. The GLP were determined to stop that. They failed.

…

… Read the rest

Some commentary on the Special Master ruling:

https://twitter.com/JessBravin/status/1598472440426156032 https://twitter.com/MariaSohn1/status/1598471620296937473

BREAKING: Trump LOSES bigly: 11th Circuit rules Judge Cannon was incorrect, eliminates her ruling, orders case be dismissed.

Special master: gone. All restrictions on DOJ use of recovered Mar-a-Lago documents: gone.

Massive DOJ win. Great day for democracy and the rule of law.

— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) December 1, 2022

https://twitter.com/tribelaw/status/1598449445280296960

There are lots more like these. Fun reading for a change.… Read the rest

Appeals court strikes down special master in Trump Mar-a-Lago documents case

A federal appeals court panel on Thursday halted an outside review of thousands of documents seized from former president Donald Trump’s Florida residence, ruling that a lower-court judge was wrong to appoint an expert to decide whether any of the material should be shielded from criminal investigators.

…

Trump sought the outside arbiter, known as a special master, after the FBI executed a court-approved search of Mar-a-Lago, his home and private club, on Aug. 8, retrieving more than 13,000 documents related to Trump’s time in the White House. About 100 of the documents were classified, and some contained extremely sensitive government secrets, according to court records.

U.S. District

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Papito on Call the expert.

Every once in a while one of these misogynist twerps spurts out a rant that lays out all the hatred they normally try to keep hidden.

Not only does young master Baron insist that all women must agree with him on the definition of feminism, but he insists that if they don’t, then they are imposing the patriarchy. Not him, the man who is telling women what they are allowed to think, but them, women who refuse to listen to a man. That, per Aidan, is the true patriarchy.

This argument reminds me of the schoolyard taunt “I’m rubber, you’re glue! Words bounce off me and stick to you!” No, … Read the rest

Man puts himself in charge of feminism.

https://twitter.com/Aidan_Baron/status/1597991342885347329 https://twitter.com/Aidan_Baron/status/1597987871058599938… Read the rest

Sure, what’s not to like?

KANYE WEST PRAISED Adolf Hitler during a Thursday interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. 

“Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler,” Ye said. “Also Hitler was born Christian.”

Especially Hitler. Plus he was born Christian, so obviously good & bringing something of value to the table.

“I see good things about Hitler also” Ye said. “I love everyone. Jewish people are not going to tell me you can love us, and you can love what we’re doing to you with the contracts, and you can love what we’re pushing with the pornography. But this guy that invented highways, invented the very microphone that I use as a

… Read the rest

Of course she does.

Sturgeon rejects UN concerns about reform of Scotland’s gender law

She rejects women’s concerns, too. Men who claim to be women are the only people who matter.

Nicola Sturgeon has described the concerns of a UN special rapporteur about plans to reform how people change their legal sex in Scotland as “not well founded”.

During a robust session of first minister’s questions, Sturgeon also said Shona Robison, the minister in charge of the controversial gender recognition reform bill, would meet the special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, next week.

The Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, repeatedly challenged Sturgeon to delay the bill – which was the subject of the Scottish National party’s 

… Read the rest

Sackbut pointed out this cloying image:

Naaaaaaaaah.

That’s just the old self-esteem movement updated for even more solipsistic times.

No, parents shouldn’t treat their children like gods. No, parents shouldn’t be constantly wooing their children like lovers. No, parents shouldn’t be training their children to think they’re miraculous and supernatural. Unconditional love, yes; an infinite stream of flattery, no.

And this “become yourself” shit needs to die. As I keep saying to the point of monotony, the cult of the self needs to die. Encourage children to have a spine, think critically, resist peer pressure when necessary, all that, but obsess over a special unique magical Self, no.… Read the rest

With only four or five weeks to do anything with them, the House Dems finally have Trump’s tax returns.

Sort of.

The supreme court ordered the release of six years of returns last Tuesday, rejecting Trump’s plea to stop the treasury from acting.

On Wednesday, the release of the tax returns was first reported by CNN. According to the network, which cited an unnamed aide to the Democratic committee chair, Richard Neal, Democrats on the panel were due to be briefed on Thursday on the “legal ramifications on section of the tax law that … Neal used to request Trump’s tax returns” but would not immediately see the returns.

Well let’s do all this as slowly as possible so … Read the rest

Joan Smith on another heartbroken dude:

In an interview veering between self-pity and entitlement, Bridges claimed to be ‘heartbroken’ after being refused permission to ride for Wales as a woman in the Commonwealth Games. (British Cycling has suspended its policy on transgender athletes while it carries out a review.) Bridges also claimed to understand the anxieties of female athletes who don’t want to compete with biological males, but dismissed them because ‘I am not a man’. 

Which is funny, because he is a man, and this whole business of dismissing women’s anxieties about being displaced by him and men like him is the very thing women are anxious about.

Not many people, one would guess, really believe that

… Read the rest

They have got to be kidding.

An Oxford student union official has apologised for her supposedly trans- exclusionary stance after objecting to the abolition of the women’s officer role.

Ellie Greaves, the vice-president for women at Oxford’s student union, put out a statement after a backlash against her comments in The Times.

The union is replacing its women’s officer with a liberation and equalities representative from next year. The reorganisation of union leadership will keep the same number of roles — one president and five vice-presidents — but female students will lose a dedicated women’s officer. The union said this was because the role was created at a time when women could not get full degrees and colleges were segregated,

… Read the rest

And another thing. It’s so typical of the maudlin hand-wringing hanky-drenching sympathy for men who claim to be women along with complete indifference toward actual women. Look at this insulting dreck:

Transgender cyclist Emily Bridges has opened up to ITV about her journey, competing at an elite level and social media backlash.https://t.co/Qebd7x2WhR

— ITV Wales News (@ITVWales) November 30, 2022

Awwww, his journey, cheating women at their own sport. His “competing at an elite level” but actually not doing that because he competes against women and he has the advantage that male athletes have. Imagine a news outlet getting all soppy and flattery about a big hulking adult male competing against children. Why is it not ok to … Read the rest

Mara Yamauchi on “Emily” Bridges:

2. Bridges blaming those who speak up against gender ideology for the Colorado attacks. No mention of alleged attacker being non-binary, nor that 2-3 females are killed per week in UK. Bridges dismisses widespread valid concerns by using “so-called” & quotation marks. pic.twitter.com/Pldd2mKU9D

— Mara Yamauchi (@mara_yamauchi) November 30, 2022

Bridges is horrified and terrified yet women are murdered at a far higher rate than trans people are. What’s he got to be so terrified about? Does he ever pause to think about the terror of women?

7. Female athletes everywhere who have things of value taken from them by males in their own, the female category, are also broken. None of them gets a

… Read the rest

I had much the same thought.

One thing that struck me in Zoe Williams' attempt to terf-shame Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was that when CNA points out the logical conclusion of ZW's politics, ZW accuses her of "reducing it to the absurd". Yet nothing CNA says is untrue or not happening https://t.co/1diyH2er0g pic.twitter.com/LLhcHKf0BR

— Victoria Smith (@glosswitch) November 28, 2022

As I said Monday, Adichie didn’t reduce it to the absurd, it IS absurd. It comes pre-absurded.

Hugely. There was an uncomfortable tone throughout that ZW – the white woman – needed to educate the African CNA about this higher level of thinking.

— Arnie B (@arnie_booth) November 28, 2022

In fact…how is Zoe Williams not just the Guardian version of … Read the rest

Hilarity:

As fallout from Donald Trump’s meeting with the white supremacist Nick Fuentes continues, a far-right activist has claimed the meeting was a set-up, meant to “make Trump’s life miserable”.

Sigh. Now I have to catch up with the Trump news. I overlooked the meeting and the fallout.

NBC News reported that in an attempt to “send a message” to the former president, Milo Yiannopoulos, a rightwing provocateur and former Breitbart editor, helped arrange for Fuentes to travel to Mar-a-Lago in Florida for a dinner between Trump and the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.

Trump ate with the pair. He’s been criticized for doing so.

Ye, who like Trump is running for president in 2024, said he

… Read the rest