Originally a comment by Rob on Not needed on voyage.

I’m not a fan of constitutional monarchies, but I’m not convinced that democracies that place significant power in the hands of presidents or similar posts have covered themselves with glory either. Ceremonial presidencies seem just as pointless as a constitutional monarch, although I guess it’s less likely to become hereditary.

Getting to my rambling point, if Charles is ‘just another guy’ then why shouldn’t he have and express a view? If he’s technically head of state, then why shouldn’t he display leadership – even if we feel distaste for why he’s head of state? The point in this specific case is that now he’s head of state he’s by … Read the rest

Mermaids instructs children on how to change their names. Obviously this is something some random goons on the internet should be doing rather than children’s parents. This is serious business, way too serious for parental units.

 What obligation does my school or workplace have if I change my name?

Changing a name is almost always a momentous moment for trans and non-binary people and it is becoming more and more common for trans people want to change their first name during childhood and adolescence. The changing of a name is often an indicator that an individual is taking steps to, or proposing to move towards presenting as their true gender identity. 

Sic. Mistakes theirs, not mine.

Any request

The government has told King Choss it doesn’t need his help at the environment summit.

I’ll say right up front I’m not consistent on this point. I think Choss has no standing to say anything on any subject, other than the ordinary human one. On the other hand turning the climate ship around is more important than keeping the monarchy in check. I think both that Choss should keep his opinions to himself because he has an arbitrary megaphone via birth, and that Choss should be allowed to warn about climate change because he has an arbitrary megaphone via birth.

Before his accession to the throne last month, the King – then the Prince of Wales – had indicated he

What happens when the weather tries to kill you.

Suzie Mack, a Fort Myers resident, told the BBC that her brother’s mobile home park saw water as high as 8ft during the storm.

Remember that stationary camera in Fort Myers? It was at 10ft and the waves kept submerging it.

“They got on their air mattresses inside their house, because it was too late to leave, and by the time the surge got to its peak, they had about a foot of air left in their homes,” she said. “Nobody died there, but it was a horrific story to hear.”

That’s what happened in Katrina. The water rose and rose and rose and people had to break through their … Read the rest

Yellow stars ffs.

I have read some history.

Nobody is pinning yellow stars on trans people, or advocating for doing so, or advocating for anything that looks like pinning yellow stars on trans people. Knowing that men are not women is not comparable to pinning yellow stars on Jews.

Also, of course, it didn’t start with yellow stars, it started centuries before Hitler, with religious rivalries and popes and inquisitions and all the rest of the poison brew.… Read the rest

Two of these today.

Us, our, we, us.

Who?

US I tell you! WE!… Read the rest

Janice Turner on girls and those bumps:

Female puberty is like being bundled into a runaway car. Let’s put aside periods, the shock of blood, the tsunami of emotions. Let’s concentrate on a girl of 12 or so, who until now has wandered the world thinking little about her body, suddenly acquiring breasts.

At the same time, though, she is suddenly acquiring periods, the shock of blood, the blurghy achy feeling every month, the mess and tedium of it all, the risk of showing – all this and tits. It’s way too much. It’s too much and too early – the brain and the emotions are nowhere near adult. Honestly there ought to be a law. It’s widely … Read the rest

Stupidity and credulity are spreading like a poison gas.

Because he says he is; that’s good enough.

So, saying something=that something is true. Always, because saying is good enough.

So nobody ever lies.

Quod erat demonstrandum.

Update seconds later: Apparently it’s a parody account. And yet, people do say that, if perhaps not quite so baldly.… Read the rest

More credulous bilge pours out of people at the University of Southern Maine:

USM grad students in Professor Christy Hammer’s class say recent discussions on social gender and biological sex identifications got heated when Hammer told the class only two biological sexes exist, male and female.

All but one student walked out of class, feeling the professor’s comments were a personal attack on trans, non-binary and intersex students.

An utterly basic biological fact was interpreted as a “personal attack” on people who share the mass delusion that they can soar free of that basic biological fact.

“I believe that everyone should be accepted based on their identity,” [student Liv] Petersen said. “And I think the professor was in the wrong

LGBTQ Nation insults women not once but twice…or probably even more than that, I haven’t checked the whole list yet.

We’re in the FINAL stretch!!! It’s the LAST WEEK to make your voice heard and vote for @SecretaryLevine LGBTQ NATION POLITICAL HERO. Vote for all your #LGBTQNationHeroes once a day, per device, until voting closes on FRIDAY September 30th: https://t.co/6VoxvjoAst pic.twitter.com/KTSFnVaz8e

— LGBTQ Nation (@lgbtqnation) October 1, 2022

Secretary Levine is a man scooping up plaudits for being “the First Openly Transgender Four-Star Officer and First Female Four-Star Admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.”

Why is he a nominee? For having it both ways? Being first ever trans and first ever female? The fact that he’s trans=he’s … Read the rest

Insult & injury=

We’re in the FINAL stretch!!! It’s the LAST WEEK to make your voice heard and vote for #LiaThomas LGBTQ NATION SPORTS HERO. Vote for all your #LGBTQNationHeroes once a day, per device, until voting closes on FRIDAY September 30th: https://t.co/tDxJf3ypCk pic.twitter.com/IJ62dNr453

— LGBTQ Nation (@lgbtqnation) September 30, 2022

… Read the rest

Back in July –

The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled Thursday that a transgender woman cannot change her name because she is on the state’s sex offender registry and the law does not allow people on the registry to change their names.

The conservative majority, eh? So the “liberal” majority were in favor of letting a man change his name to a woman’s name despite being a convicted sex offender? Could there be any downside to that I wonder? Any downside that ought to be apparent to people who style themselves liberal?

The court’s 4-3 decision upholds the rulings of two lower courts, which rejected the woman’s requests to change her name and avoid registering as a sex offender.

Here we go again.

British Rowing today announces updates made to the 2016 Transgender and Transsexual Policy. A Trans and Non-Binary Inclusion Competition Policy and Procedures (2022) has been released along with new guidance to help the rowing community at the grassroots. These documents can be found on the British Rowing Policies and Guidance page in the Diversity and Inclusion section.

The Trans and Non-Binary Inclusion Competition Policy and Procedures (2022) is a revision of the British Rowing Transgender and Transsexual Policy (2016), which was found by British Rowing to be outdated and not fit for purpose. Following extensive consultation with stakeholder organisations, and taking into account more recent guidance provided by the UK Sports Councils’ Equality Group’s 

Originally a comment by Mike Haubrich on Cue the stirring music.

The thing that I seriously don’t understand is that if capitalism is supposed to bring us the best of all possible worlds due to profit, why don’t these giant energy companies see themselves as energy companies as opposed to oil companies. Chevron knew that the carbon emission from their products was going to lead us to where we are now with climate change 50 years ago, but decided to hide their data and analysis, and find ways to drill deeper and farther offshore and keep us using gasoling and diesel fuel. They knew that it’s a finite resource, they knew that eventually they will have to rely on … Read the rest

It’s the pettiness that’s so revolting.

The Wall Street Journal reported in May 2019 that the military had worked to obscure the USS John S. McCain ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to a neighboring ship in Japan. It was a decision that apparently stemmed from Trump’s feuds with the decorated war hero and late senator, who was added as a namesake for the ship initially named for his father and grandfather. But the senator had died just nine months prior, rendering the effort particularly bizarre.

And petty, spiteful, childish, ridiculous, contemptible.

It was not fake news, as a batch of newly released emails reinforces and details.

The emails, obtained by Bloomberg News reporter Jason Leopold and by the 

Political bodies think they have the power to change reality by passing motions.

A council can “state clearly” whatever it likes, but stating it doesn’t make it true.

A council can state clearly that carrots are alligators; that doesn’t make it true.

Also, it’s not “phobic” to spot an untrue statement.… Read the rest

Eyes on the prize!

Mind you, he cheats at golf.… Read the rest

Tune in for another episode of “Surely you are making this up”:

Randolph High Schools girl’s volleyball team has been banned from its own locker room while school officials investigate a conflict involving a transgender student on the team.

Girls, you see. Always making trouble, always picking on the boys, always starting fights.

Vermont education policy says students can play sports and use the locker room corresponding to their gender. But some members of the Randolph girl’s volleyball team objected to having a transgender teammate in the room while they were changing.

No, it’s not the “transgender” they object to, it’s the boy.

Isn’t it funny how this doesn’t come up with boys and their locker rooms? No, … Read the rest

Stupidity on the rampage:

Nearly two dozen graduate students at the University of Southern Maine are demanding their education professor be replaced after the professor allegedly said only two biological sexes exist.

“Allegedly.” The professor allegedly said humans don’t have wings.

The students said professor Christy Hammer’s remarks were inaccurate and transphobic.

The students were wrong.

All but one of them walked out, they demanded a “restorative justice” meeting (as if she’d committed an injustice), they got their wish but she refused to lie for them.

Biologists believe there is a larger spectrum to sex than just the male-female binary.

No they don’t. The link is to that SciAm article that SciAm should never have published.

University officials have

It’s not what you think.