Originally a comment by James Garnett on We’ve come to believe our own press clippings.

I don’t think Earth will support eight billion humans living off the land.

Oh, I don’t disagree with that, at all. I’ve been saying for some years now that humanity and civilization are far past the point of sustainability; the great fall of humanity is not only inevitable, I think, but it’s coming far sooner than most people probably expect. My comment that “there are those who have taught themselves the old ways” is not a call for humanity to return to a hunter/gatherer lifestyle, it was simply an observation that there are people who do that. Because they lament the state that we’ve … Read the rest

Finally there is some pushback at the BBC:

Tim Davie is facing a revolt as he is accused of letting the transgender Pride network “police” the BBC.

Staff have told him to shut down the Pride network.

The latest trans row to hit the broadcaster began with a testy exchange between Nathan Wren, BBC Studios Pride’s co-chair, and Malcolm Clark, a science producer, at the World Congress of Science & Factual Producers last month.  Mr Clark claims he complained that the group “policed” BBC output and stifled debate, prompting Mr Wren to reply: “We only intervene, when, say, a trans subject is being covered and then we’ll press to ensure trans voices are being heard.”

Oh is that all.… Read the rest

The Guardian Live on events in Brasilia:

Democratic congressman Joaquin Castro has joined Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s call for former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s extradition from the US.

Seriously. Boot him out.

An hour ago:

Brazil’s GloboNews is reporting that the country’s Congress, supreme court and presidential palace have all been retaken by security forces.

…

GloboNews has also shared footage of the aftermath of the attack on the palace taken by the minister of communications, Paulo Pimenta, in which he says of his office: “Look what the vandals did here! The chaos. Unbelievable. They are criminals.”

In three blocks before that one the Guardian calls the attack “the protests,” which seems very mistaken. A coup is not a protest. … Read the rest

It’s…January 8.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has ordered the federal government to take control of policing in Brazil’s capital, Brasília, after hundreds of hardcore supporters of the former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed the country’s congress, presidential palace and supreme court.

Gee. Our fascists missed a trick, they just stormed the congress. If only they’d thought to take on the supreme court and the White House too maybe they would have won. The White House would have welcomed them and handed over the keys.

“What we are witnessing is a terrorist attack,” the news anchor Erick Bang announced on the GloboNews television network as word of the upheaval spread. “The three buildings have been invaded by coup-mongering terrorists.”

Shocking

Disturbances in the field:

In case helpful to anyone… we are getting a few questions about whether @GoodLawProject has any organisational position on sex work. We don't. It's not an area we presently have a policy position on or litigate in or are active in. And nor do we expect to in the future.

— Jo Maugham (@JolyonMaugham) January 8, 2023

Who will pay for the hundreds or thousands of staff we'd need? And all the infrastructure? We can't fix all the problems, Harry.

— Jo Maugham (@JolyonMaugham) January 8, 2023

If we only work with people we agree with on everything we will have a tiny audience, be bankrupt in months, and have zero influence. Change is about compromise.

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on They appointed an expert group.

I strip you naked and stand you out in the savannah in front of a hungry lion, you will understand. Biology rules not only us but lions…tigers…bears…spiders…snakes…etc etc etc

We’ve used our intelligence and technology to smooth over some of the rough edges of material existence. Unfortunately we’ve fooled ourselves into thinking that we’ve completely escaped all that biology stuff, and that we are beyond the jurisdiction of the rules that govern the rest of life.

In a very short time, most of us in the West have become divorced from the basic processes that sustain the lifestyle to which we’ve become accustomed. Food comes … Read the rest

If you’re in the mood to get really angry, watch this clip:

Our episode with @hjoycegender is phenomenal & Triggernometry at its finest.
Join us at 7pm UK time TOMORROW for the full taboo-busting episode as we go to the heart of one of the most controversial topics in the culture war. pic.twitter.com/JIys1dMbYn

— TRIGGERnometry (@triggerpod) January 7, 2023

… Read the rest

James Esses in the Spectator:

Childline has acted as a haven for struggling children for over 35 years. In 2006, it became part of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), to further its child safeguarding mission. 

He used to work there, and he says it’s put ideology ahead of safeguarding.

I was a volunteer counsellor at Childline between 2015 and 2020. In my time there, I spent thousands of hours counselling children through a variety of issues. Supporting the welfare and wellbeing of children was extremely fulfilling. 

Over time, I began to notice a change in the presentation of children coming through to speak to me. Increasing numbers of children were telling me that

Man boasts about his implacable campaign to force himself on women in a vulnerable situation:

Going back to the pool right now.

And I’m going to go every day.

And I’m going to change where I need to. And there is nothing, absolutely nothing you can do to stop me

You can’t shame me when my contempt for bigots is this low.

Have a good day wankers!

— Michelle Snow (@MeeshSnowDoes) January 8, 2023

Saying there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop me is very rapey. Very very very rapey.… Read the rest

Jolyon Maugham is on the naughty step?

It is vital that @GoodLawProject explains this immediately.

We strongly recommend that they first liaise with sex worker advocacy groups to discuss the absolute catastrophic harm that this action brings to sex workers and marginalised people.

This is completely unacceptable. https://t.co/6WNXEVOHJh

— Trans Activism UK (@TransActivismUK) January 7, 2023

Why does Jolyon Maugham’s Good Law Project have to explain a tweet from someone called Right to Equality? The two are In Partnership.

We are honoured to announce the launch of Right to Equality. We campaign to change the law FOR women & girls in partnership with @GoodLawProject.

The law has privileged the perspective of white men leaving the abuse of women invisible.

Seen on Facebook: cat mosaics purported to be from Pompeii. Snopes says no, they’re by a contemporary artist. Still nice cat mosaics though.… Read the rest

A new misogyny role model:

When Abbie Marsh (not her real name) overheard a 15-year-old boy in the West Midlands school she works in praising Andrew Tate, the social influencer known as the “king of misogyny”, she asked him if he understood Tate’s views on women. The boy replied: “Well, men are better than women, so he’s right.” His friends all nodded in agreement.

…

Many parents may be hearing about Tate for the first time, but schools across the country say he is already a hugely familiar figure to many of their pupils. Many are giving teachers training on how to talk to students about him. Some are holding special assemblies, or using personal social and health

This is how it should work – the disadvantage is only to the gender-swapper, not to all the women in the gender-swapper’s chosen sport.

Transgender male swimmer Iszac Henig has admitted that his transition has made him a statistically worse swimmer after he finished 79th out of 83 at men’s meet –  but says he ultimately ‘lives more’ as a man. 

Fine. No problem. Nobody loses.

Henig, 21, has begun swimming for the Yale men’s team after placing as an All-American on the women’s team the previous year.

In an op-ed published Thursday, Henig notes that his times are ‘about the same’ as last season when he swam with women but that as a result, in a November meet,

Would be considered.

“Crime report”

“the rainbow ‘pride’ flags which represent the LGBTQ community”

“These comments are targeting specifically the LGBTQ community”

“would be considered ‘grossly offensive'”

“I therefore require you to contact me to arrange a voluntary interview”

“If I do not hear from you”

This is in the UK, where

New scorecards show under 1% of reported rapes lead to conviction.

Under 1% yet the police have the time and money to haul people in for questioning over a tweet about A RAINBOW PRIDE FLAG.

And the combined idiocy and authoritarianism of the language is mind-numbing.

“Crime report” – what crime??? I don’t know what the tweet in fact said, but I do know there’s been a … Read the rest

News out of West Virginia:

CHARLESTON – A federal judge has ruled a state law passed in 2021 keeps a transgender student-athlete who was born male from participating in girls’ sports.

In his 23-page opinion issued January 5, U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin said he suspects the aim of House Bill 3293, which was known as the Save Women’s Sports Bill, was “to politicize participation in school athletics for transgender students.”

Why is it “politicizing” to keep boys out of girls’ sports but not politicizing to let boys invade women’s sports? Who politicized first? Why is it political to protect girls’ sports but not political to destroy them?

“Nevertheless, there is not a sufficient record of legislative animus,” Goodwin

Scotland is contemplating a rather intrusive new law…

The Scottish government is on a collision course with the courts again as it prepares legislation criminalising conversion therapy, according to a KC.

It all depends on how you’re defining “conversion therapy.” Conversion from what to what, for a start, and then conversion by what means, and for what reasons, and so on.

The SNP-Green alliance is considering plans to outlaw any activity – including parental chats, prayer and preaching – deemed to be an attempt to change a person’s sexuality or gender identity.

Those are two radically different things. Sexuality, aka sexual orientation, isn’t spooky or magical or based on fantasy. It’s both pointless and cruel to try to talk … Read the rest

Speaking of Jack Monroe, Kathleen Stock is very funny on the subject:

…austerity guru Jack Monroe has a new book, Thrifty Kitchen, to cheer us all up.

Some of the suggested “home hacks” in this book have attracted particular mirth, seeming as they do to involve great effort and even high personal risk for exceptionally low reward. For instance, should you be desperate to get your hands on an egg ring — that is, a metal ring that helps you form perfectly round fried eggs — but unable to afford the £2.10 that would obtain you one from Amazon, Monroe suggests removing the lid and the bottom from a tuna tin, sanding the rough edges away, and washing

So much lying patronizing stupid bullshit in one little tweet.

A reminder from that ALL women have a right to be safe and live free from violence and discrimination – #trans women included! #StandUp4HumanRights #TransWomenAreWomen pic.twitter.com/fZ1vUWUeGV

— UN Free & Equal (@free_equal) January 2, 2023

ALL rabbits have a right to be safe and live free from violence and discrimination – #trans rabbits [aka wolves] included!

To itemize the lying patronizing stupid bullshit –

One: it’s not a “reminder”; it’s a stand-alone announcement that relies on a dishonest label.

Two: we know all too well what “ALL women” means: it means women including men who say they are women – in other words it means women and some deluded or … Read the rest

Welsh language: Non-binary speakers want gender-neutral help

That’s one of the more cryptic headlines I’ve seen today. People who speak non-binary want help with what? What is gender-neutral help? What does Welsh language have to do with it?

Non-binary Welsh speakers have said they feel unable to express their identities in the language due to its gendered nature.

Oh, that.

Here’s a helpful tip: nobody cares. Non-binary Welsh speakers don’t need to “express their identities,” because nobody cares. Nobody cares about other people’s identities. Don’t adults explain that to children any more? It’s the universal truth: nobody cares as much about you as you do. Nobody wants to hear about you as much as you want to talk about you.… Read the rest

Ah yes, the party of the workers.

60% of workers report living paycheck-to-paycheck

— GOP (@GOP) December 19, 2022

Republicans care deeply about those impoverished workers.

And yet y’all still voted against raising the minimum wage https://t.co/tFkTHf2OAO

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 19, 2022

… Read the rest