BBC headline:

Queen gets her own Barbie for Platinum Jubilee

Really? Only now? You’d think she could have had one right away when they first came out. They were only $3.… Read the rest

Jon Pike on the use of passive and speculative wording to arrive at one’s desired conclusion:

The fact that there are no female contributors to this is not just an oversight, or just a PR disaster for @basem_uk.
It has to do with the substance of the argument.
So here's a thread about exclusion, fairness, intellectual overreach, and poor academic writing… 1/ https://t.co/4tjxabSvOM

— Jon Pike (@runthinkwrite) April 21, 2022

… but this is misleading. Smuggled into the paper (and perhaps missed by some of the authors – I know some of them and respect some of them) is a bit of 'conceptual engineering' on the notion of fairness in sport, and female sport …./3

— Jon Pike (@runthinkwrite)

BASEM UK finally understood that it has made a tiny mistake.

We appreciate all your comments and feedback and are looking at solutions to make this a more inclusive session. Updates coming soon

We are happy this discussion is taking place over such an important matter however any personal attacks on individuals involved will be removed.

— basem_uk (@basem_uk) April 21, 2022

Let’s just ignore the bit about personal attacks, in order to focus on the astonishing fact that they apparently had no idea they should have women on a panel discussing a plan to destroy women’s sports. How did they manage that I wonder? Wouldn’t you think it was obvious? I would…but then I’m a woman. This could indicate … Read the rest

Pro tip: If you try to overthrow the government, don’t brag about it to your Uber driver on your way home.

On 6 January 2021, Jerry Braun hailed an Uber in Washington DC and got in the car, nursing a bleeding eye wound. The Uber driver noticed and asked, “So, has it been violent all day?”

“Well it started around, right when I got there. I tore down the barricades,” Braun bragged.

The conversation, captured on video by the driver’s recording device installed on the dashboard, triggered a 15-month long investigation by the FBI. Earlier this month, on 12 April, Braun was finally arrested by federal authorities and charged with violent entry or disorderly conduct, obstruction during civil disorder, and

Can we have public health regulations or no?

The Biden administration on Wednesday appealed a federal court ruling striking down the mask requirement for passengers on planes, trains, buses and other public transportation after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that the mandate was “necessary for the public health.”

That judge thinks bus drivers and flight attendants and the people who need to use buses and trains and planes should just take their chances, for the sake of our Divine Freedom. That judge who is very young and inexperienced and a Trump appointee.

While the C.D.C. wants to keep the mandate intact, it is also pressing the appeal to preserve its public health powers. But doing so is

Another woman speaks up:

The double Olympic champion Katie Archibald has sharply criticised the transgender policies of the International Olympic Committee and other sports bodies – saying they have not only let down female cyclists by underplaying biology but left trans women, such as Emily Bridges, facing intense scrutiny.

Maybe, but the intense scrutiny on Bridges is his fault as well as that of sports bodies. He should have been sharply aware all along that he should never compete against women, end of story.

Archibald, who won the second of her cycling gold medals in Tokyo last year alongside Dame Laura Kenny in the Madison, said it was wrong for governing bodies to ignore the science that shows trans

I am so fucking livid about this. All this time and still they think it’s ok to set up a panel of five men to talk about how much of women’s sport it’s ok for men to destroy in the name of “inclusion.” WHAT ABOUT WOMEN?? Do they even realize we exist? Do they think we’re computer programs? Blowup dolls? Aliens? Hello hello is this microphone even on?

They’re just trolling us.

Do not miss the very important session!
‘Transgender and DSD athletes in Elite Sport: Inclusion fairness and safety’
The session will be chaired by Professor Norbert Bachl Sec Gen FIMS Honorary president @EFSMA_eu & Prof Pitsiladis the Chair of the Scientific Commission @FimsOrg pic.twitter.com/Y022hGwbhS

— basem_uk (@basem_uk) April 20, 2022

Yay! Let’s talk about fairness and safety for women [though we carefully don’t say “for women”] in sport by asking a bunch of men what they think!

Oh wait, isn’t there one woman included? The token woman you might say?

No.

There is. Dr Blair Hamilton. But yes, there should probably be more.

— Greg Lehman (@GregLehman) April 20, 2022

Taunty McTauntface. Dr Blair Hamilton is … Read the rest

The story of the groomers and their sex show for “children as young as 5” is being framed in the non-conservative press as a matter of threats and abuse against the organizers as opposed to a matter of grooming.

The Guardian for instance:

Sex education theatre show for children cancelled after ‘violent threats’

The Family Sex Show organisers receive abuse over UK production aimed at children as young as five

A theatre show that promised to reimagine sex education by discussing the issue in a frank and open manner with audience members as young as five years old has been cancelled after “violent threats” were made against its organisers.

But small children don’t need “sex education” apart from a few … Read the rest

Girlguiding UK issues a statement:

We have been involved in a legal case with a former volunteer since 2018 and we have now reached a settlement. Please find our statement below.

Girlguiding’s full statement regarding its legal case with Katie Alcock:

Girlguiding celebrates the ever-growing diversity of its membership. We are committed to balancing the views, needs and wants of all of our members in a complex and changing world. It’s important that we do this in a thoughtful and respectful way, reflecting our volunteer code of conduct. So we have a diversity and inclusion strategic plan which underpins our commitment to inclusion.

Define diversity. Define inclusion.

Diversity meaning girls from all backgrounds, excellent, keep doing that. Diversity meaning … Read the rest

Oh, great. Who is the judge who struck down the mask mandate? A Trump appointee, age 35, rated unqualified.

US District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle has been serving as a federal judge in Florida for more than a year. Notably, the Senate vote confirming her to the lifetime appointment came in mid-November 2020, after the presidential election. She had been given a “not qualified” rating by the American Bar Association, based on her limited amount of experience post-law school.

Terrific! And she’s risking people’s health and lives, especially bus drivers, for a childish and stupid idea of freedomfreedomfreedom, meaning I can do whatever I want to and other people don’t matter.… Read the rest

Activist asks: Why can’t I just do whatever I want to? Why????

Columnist Leanne Wood in The National [Wales]:

“Being trans in the UK is fucking agony right now.”

My friend’s words last week following publication of guidance for separate and single-sex service providers by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. She goes on: “So now the EHRC want to help people exclude me from taking a piss in a bathroom that I’m comfortable in”.

As if that were the only possible criterion.

Here’s the thing: the fact that he’s comfortable in the women’s toilets doesn’t mean that anyone else is comfortable in the women’s toilets while he’s in them. It’s not just automatic or obvious that his comfort … Read the rest

The BBC seems to be nostalgic for the Jimmy Savile days.

A sex education theatre show aimed at children has been cancelled after the venue said it had received “unprecedented threats and abuse”.

Is sex education really something you want to do in a theater?

The Family Sex Show, featuring topics such as consent, pleasure and queerness, was due to be performed at Bristol’s Tobacco Factory in May.

Wtf is “queerness”? And who on earth wants some random theater company “educating” children about it?

The show also explored topics such as non-sexual nudity and gender and was aimed at children as young as five.

Who wants to take children age 5 to a sex show at a theater? Besides groomers?… Read the rest

Miriam Margolyes declines to shun JKR.

The actress who played Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films has offered sympathy to JK Rowling over accusations of transphobia.

…

Younger Potter stars including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, the three principals, all distanced themselves from Rowling after she expressed her views on the importance of biological sex.

Being the clueless ungrateful young toads they are.

“There isn’t one answer to all these trans questions,” [MM] told Radio Times. “We all know people who are slightly pansy or a bit butch or whatever you call it. But I think the vituperation that JK Rowling has received is misplaced. I don’t know her at all. I admire her as

You’d think people in India would have had enough of communal [aka religious] violence during Partition, but apparently not.

The procession had begun peacefully. Marching through the streets of Delhi’s Jahangirpuri district on Saturday, the devotees had gathered to celebrate the Hindu festival of Hanuman Jayanti. But the peace did not last long. As the evening drew in, an unauthorised parade began to gather. This time, men clad in saffron, the signature colour of Hindu nationalism, filled the streets brandishing swords and pistols, and started to shout provocative communal slogans.

Previous agreements between Hindu and Muslim residents for the procession to avoid passing by a local mosque, which was holding evening prayers, were ignored.

“A Hindu mob smashed beer

The Washington Post has a piece on something called Libs of TikTok, apparently a Very Influential Twitter account of the angry right-wing variety. It’s somewhat interesting, as such things are, but the writing is terrible – don’t their editors edit?

The anonymous account’s impact is deep and far-reaching. Its content is amplified by high-profile media figures, politicians and right-wing influencers. Its tweets reach millions, with influence spreading far beyond its more than 648,000 Twitter followers. Libs of TikTok has become an agenda-setter in right-wing online discourse, and the content it surfaces shows a direct correlation with the recent push in legislation and rhetoric directly targeting the LGBTQ+ community.

What the reporter, Taylor Lorenz, means is of course as usual … Read the rest

I very often think accusations of virtue-signaling are unfair, even when I do think the accused is being fatuous or censorious or worse. Even then I generally think there’s some intention of doing good. Other times, though, it’s just unmistakably “Look at me I have ascended to the highest level.”

Like this:

When I'm invited to speak at an event or panel please be assured I have made certain that the organisers are trans inclusive and that it's not just a panel of white women discussing feminist issues or VAWG. I will do my best to uphold this but if I've missed something let me know

— Patsy Stevenson (@PatsyeStevenson) April 19, 2022

Too funny. Please be assured that I … Read the rest

This farking idiot.

Former president Donald Trump voiced regret Wednesday over not marching to the U.S. Capitol the day his supporters stormed the building, and he defended his long silence during the attack by claiming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others were responsible for ending the deadly violence.

“I thought it was a shame, and I kept asking why isn’t she doing something about it? Why isn’t Nancy Pelosi doing something about it? And the mayor of D.C. also. The mayor of D.C. and Nancy Pelosi are in charge,” Trump said of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot in a 45-minute interview with The Washington Post. “I hated seeing it. I hated seeing it. And I said, ‘It’s got to

Via Old London Photographs:

Absolutely hideous.… Read the rest