Sam Smith agitates to make an award “gender-neutral” and when he succeeds he pretends to have a sad about the women.

Smith’s popularity is remarkable — 30 million more monthly listeners on Spotify than Adele — and the recent, riotous single Unholy feels like a statement. As does the new album, Gloria, which blends house, gospel and a blast of choral to create music of release, with lyrics steeped in “queer history”. Unholy earned Smith a Grammy nomination for the first time since that debut and is also up for best song at the Brit awards.

Ah, the Brits. The one step forwards, two steps back awards show. Smith will have to wait until next year’s ceremony to

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It really is quite astonishing – not in a good way – how accepted this stuff is.

https://twitter.com/coccinellanovem/status/1616501159317090304… Read the rest

Openly wanting us dead.

https://twitter.com/carolinmcmillan/status/1616803990972387328

Oh silly me. I’ve found the love and acceptance, it’s the little hearts on the “decapitate terfs” sign. pic.twitter.com/N60EW0Yhfk

— Chris Rose (@ArchRose90) January 21, 2023

Ahh it’s the lovey kind of decapitation, how sweet.

https://twitter.com/mary_scone/status/1616987994036080646… Read the rest

“Decapitate Terfs” is trending.

Good. If the sign had called for such violence against trans people everyone would have righty been up in arms. Violent #misogyny is hiding in plain sight & it’s time it was taken seriously before a woman is seriously killed or injured. https://t.co/l6r8Pt5pvS

— Joanna Cherry KC (@joannaccherry) January 22, 2023

We’ve warned *for years* of the violent images targeting women. from guns to baseball bats, not to mention the black-clad, masked characters who turn up in real life to intimidate women’s events. So “Decapitate TERFs” finally gets attention? And what will political leaders do? https://t.co/xfVkaeuovX

— Bev Jackson (@BevJacksonAuth) January 22, 2023

I’m sure they’ll frown with concern for at least 5 seconds.

https://twitter.com/Aja02537920/status/1617143815306989568

Women

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The National [Scotland] on Those SNP women in front of the threat-posters:

SNP politicians have been pictured at a pro-trans rally standing in front of a sign reading “Decapitate Terfs[,]” sparking fierce criticism.

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Glasgow Kelvin MSP Kaukab Stewart and East Renfrewshire MP Kirsten Oswald were pictured in front of the threatening sign at a rally outside the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Saturday morning.

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Joanna Cherry, the SNP MP for Edinburgh South West and an outspoken critic of her party’s transgender law reforms in Holyrood, said: “I’m sure my colleagues didn’t realise they were standing in front of a hateful sign threatening violence against women and will distance themselves from it.

“I’m due in court again soon

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Hadley Freeman on the “passion” (actually the misogyny) of men like Lloyd Russell-Moyle:

It was inevitable the fantasies sold by gender activists would crash on the hard rocks of reality, and not just because of the endless internal contradictions (if gender is different from biological sex, and given that sport is segregated by sex, why are trans women now on women’s sports teams?). The movement is increasingly underpinned by a frothing misogyny that is becoming all too visible to even the most casual observers. Some insist it is impossible to engage rationally with this “debate” because, they say, “both sides are equally toxic”. Parliament last week gave the lie to that. When Rosie Duffield spoke on Tuesday, calmly —

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Originally a comment by Steven on Nicotine frees your mind!!

There is this thing that happens as stars age.

A star can sit there for millions or billions of years slowly fusing hydrogen into helium. When it runs out of hydrogen, the star contracts, gets hotter and brighter, and starts fusing helium into carbon. When it runs out of helium, it again contracts, gets hotter and brighter, and starts fusing carbon into neon.

The star continues in this way, fusing lighter elements into heavier ones. Each stage in the process produces less energy than the last, and goes by faster. The last stage fuses elements to produce iron, and takes about a day.

Iron is the endpoint. After iron, there … Read the rest

This is the place where all the gears grind, isn’t it.

Amazing turnout at Buchanan Street steps! #TransRightsAreHumanRights pic.twitter.com/taX7dksPV4

— Alison Thewliss for Glasgow North (@alisonthewliss) January 21, 2023

I have many qualities, but having eyes in the back of my head isn't one of them.

If I had seen the sign you're referring to, I'd have told the person involved how inappropriate and offensive it was, and to get rid of it.

— Alison Thewliss for Glasgow North (@alisonthewliss) January 21, 2023

Ok she didn’t see that particular sign. But it’s not just that one sign, now is it. It’s the threatening woman-hating rhetoric of the whole movement, and she can’t claim she’s never seen that. She can’t … Read the rest

Oh by the way, about that other frivolous lawsuit – never mind.

Former President Donald Trump on Friday morning voluntarily dropped a longshot federal lawsuit in Florida against New York’s attorney general — a day after the same judge in the case sanctioned him and his lawyer nearly $1 million for filing another, “frivolous” lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and many other defendants.

The judge, John Middlebrooks, had pointedly noted in a scathing sanction order Thursday evening in the Clinton case that he was also handling Trump’s complaint against Attorney General Letitia James in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Trump’s suit against James — which Middlebrooks last month warned appeared “vexatious and frivolous” — was filed

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Meanwhile in Glasgow…

Where this ideology goes, threats of violence, including sexual violence, are never far behind. This is a sexualised and profoundly misogynistic movement. pic.twitter.com/2w3Z2qWBfw

— Scottish Lesbians (@ScotLesbians) January 21, 2023

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More from that silly clumsy piece on Artifacts Gallery:

[Rylee] Lee said the shop is also in violation of Athens City Municipal Code section 3.07.62 (b), which states “It shall be unlawful for any proprietor or his/her employer, keeper or manager in a place of public accommodation to deny any person, except for reasons applicable alike to all persons, regardless of race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.” 

But who says the shop has “denied” anyone? I assume “deny” there means refuse service, kick out, tell to go away. There’s nothing in the article to indicate that the shop has done any such thing.

Lee hopes the protest will help draw attention to Mangano’s opinion

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News from Athens, Ohio:

At 2 W. State St. there lies a familiar Athens business that is the subject of current controversy: Artifacts Gallery. Some social media posts encourage a boycott of Artifacts Gallery and its owner, Amy Mangano, for accusations of transphobia. A protest against Mangano and the shop is scheduled for Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

Rylee Lee, a junior studying music education, helped organize the protest, and said it was sparked by social media posts about new signage on the door of Artifacts Gallery. From there, Lee joined forces with Kaycie Tillis, a sophomore studying psychology, to begin organizing a protest against the shop. The new signs and banners on the front door include messages like “humans

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Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Teach that everything was always fine.

The issue isn’t that people are born racist, the issue is that we absorb racism from the world we live in, because we can’t help it.

Ditto with sexism. Racism and sexism; we’re soaking in it. Simply pointing this out can bring accusations of guilt induction, particularly among those who want to pass off the status quo as a pure meritocracy that justly rewards the “industrious.” Those who lag behind or can’t hack it just have to try harder to get that job or make it to the podium. (Does this sound familiar?) We’re not supposed to look too closely at the ways in … Read the rest

But trans people are the most marginalized.

A few of Scotland's wonderfully progressive and kind politicians, posing proudly in front of banners calling for women to be decapitated and eaten. pic.twitter.com/satQhRojbA

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 21, 2023

Why is the rhetoric of the trans movement so violent? I’ve never understood that. Is it just because the trans movement is mostly about trans women aka men, and the opposition to trans women taking what belongs to women is mostly from women? In other words just men being misogynist?

I don’t know. See, I would think a movement that purports to be lefty and progressive would not want that kind of threatening violent imagery and talk, if only because it … Read the rest

The Telegraph:

Transgender women could continue to be allowed to compete in the female category in international track and field under controversial plans drawn up by World Athletics.

No. Just say no. No men in women’s sports. No.

In a move that risks reigniting sport’s toxic trans row, Telegraph Sport can reveal the governing body has begun a consultation with its member federations over a proposed rule change that would stop short of an outright ban.

There’s your problem right there. An “outright ban” should be all there is to it: men should be banned from women’s sport because women’s sport is women’s sport. That’s not something you compromise or bargain or negotiate over, it’s just definitional. … Read the rest

Hahahahaha oh lord now they’re lecturing us on the glories of nicotine.

Tucker: They hate nicotine. They love THC.. Why do they hate nicotine? Because nicotine frees your mind and thc makes you compliant and passive pic.twitter.com/M73aC2IeWy

— Acyn (@Acyn) January 21, 2023

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Rosie Duffield on the bullying:

I have lived through an abusive relationship and have spoken about it in Parliament. I was reminded of making that speech earlier this week — the daily trauma that inspired it, how hard it was to make and, afterwards, the overwhelming support of my colleagues. That was the Labour Party I joined.

On Tuesday, when two of those colleagues traded that sympathy for aggression, shouting down women in the Chamber, it felt like a very different Labour Party. I was defending the need to protect vulnerable women in single-sex spaces, and had just criticised Scotland’s Gender Reform Bill, when Ben Bradshaw yelled his disapproval at me. Sitting nearby, Lloyd Russell-Moyle went puce — 

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The Lloyd Russell-Moyle ragefest was even worse than I knew. He wasn’t satisfied with just shouting at Miriam Cates and stabbing his finger at her and making rage-face at her; he got up and went to sit close to her and stare at her. Sicko.

This morning I suggested that @RosieDuffield1 was mistaken – I’m happy to correct that – she wasn’t
Here is the intimidation and bullying in three screenshots
I hope @CommonsSpeaker @Keir_Starmer and @UKLabour will now investigate Lloyd Russell-Moyle’s behaviour in parliament pic.twitter.com/fwv2BOtQDc

— Tim (totally unremarkable) (@forwardnotback) January 20, 2023

I was there and saw Lloyd Russell Moyle bizarrely go and sit close to Miriam Cates on the Conservative side of chamber after his extraordinary outburst.

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There are so many gaps in information to this story that it’s hard to form an opinion on it.

Florida Rejects A.P. African American Studies Class

Florida will not allow a new Advanced Placement course on African American studies to be offered in its high schools, stating that the course is not “historically accurate” and violates state law.

In a letter last week, the Florida Department of Education informed the College Board, which administers A.P. exams, that it would not include the class in the state’s course directory. Rigorous A.P. courses allow high school students to obtain credit and advanced placement in college.

“As presented, the content of this course is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational

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The Baroness raises some interesting questions.

Why drag queens? Is there any equivalent butch woman story hour? Prostitute story hour? Stripper story hour? Kink story hour?

We don’t view minstrel shows as entertainment any more, let alone as entertainment for children.

How is it that we can see at a glance how insulting and destructive that is, but are fine with men mocking women?… Read the rest