The BBC has a long piece about life on the front lines in Kharkiv:

Russia invaded at 05:00 on 24 February. The night before, 22-year-old Vlad and his brother-in-arms Mark, also 22, were at a fellow private’s wedding. Columns of Russian tanks, howitzers, armoured vehicles and troop transports rolled across the border, just 40km (25 miles) away. Despite the long build up of Russian forces, the move was a shock – Ukrainian troops scrambled to defend the city.

When they learned of the attack, Vlad and Mark joined their battalion – the 22nd Motorised Infantry – and headed straight to the front lines. They have been there ever since. I have visited them there twice on the city’s northern

Beardy bro wonders why there are so many more bitches in the UK than in the US and Canada. Fellow beardy bro helps him out.

The answer is Mumsnet, I believe.

— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) March 23, 2022

Turns out it’s because…uh…we have such excellent social support for women in the US compared to the UK. Yes, sure, that’ll work.

Yeah, no. We have secure reproductive rights, statutory maternity pay, maternity care on the NHS, maternity rights at work (far from perfect, but they exist), and at least some support with early years education.

US women? None of that.

— Homunculus  (@tryingattimes) March 23, 2022

Really glad you men are sorting this out. While you’re here, maybe you could

The Women’s Aid statement:

Our roots are in the international women’s rights movement, and our federation developed in the 1970s and 1980s in response to patriarchy, sexism, and male violence against women. Domestic abuse organisations and refuges were originally created by and for women – many of whom were survivors themselves – as spaces free from men for safety, healing, mutual support, and solidarity.

We have been at the forefront of shaping and coordinating responses to domestic abuse for nearly 50 years. We have done so by placing the needs of survivors at the heart of our work and by responding to their needs and many of our staff, board members and supporters are survivors of domestic abuse. Together

Women’s Aid said a thing yesterday:

We will continue to campaign for funding and informed commissioning so that every DA service can meet the needs of its service users. Services should be funded properly by commissioners to provide much needed high-quality specialist domestic abuse services for all survivors (2/2)

— Women's Aid (@womensaid) March 22, 2022

They have both – single sex and those that meet the needs of trans and non-binary people. But oh no, that can’t be allowed – women can’t have anything that’s just for women.

At SignHealth, we are concerned about this statement. We have written to Women’s Aid today to question it and notify that we will not continue our membership of Women's Aid unless

Originally a comment by Bjarte Foshaug on Now that the word’s been taken away. [Title by Sastra]

That’s exactly it! As I keep saying we know for a fact that many of the people now riding the gender ideology bandwagon used to say things that would now get them labeled as TERFs and demonized any time. E.g. I have personally been referred to as both “man” and “him” by “trans allies” who, in the absence of telepathic powers, couldn’t possibly know anything about my “inner sense of self”. I have also heard some of these same people say things like “douches are really bad for women”, talk about abortion rights as a “women’s issue”, refer to vaginas as “lady … Read the rest

The Guardian frowns on Ron DeSantis for saying that men shouldn’t compete in women’s races.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis has issued a proclamation that a resident of his state is the “rightful” holder of the NCAA 500m freestyle title won by trans swimmer Lia Thomas last week.

Trans swimmer? So Thomas isn’t a real swimmer but just identifies as one?

Also, we can do the scare quotes thing too. DeSantis said a resident of his state is the rightful holder of the NCAA 500m freestyle title “won” by trans swimmer “Lia” Thomas last week. Thomas didn’t actually legitimately win that title, because it was a women’s race and he has a male body.

The Guardian does the careful wording thing … Read the rest

Bozo is saying how much better he would handle it.

“I listened to him constantly using the N-word, that’s the N-word, and he’s constantly using it: the nuclear word,” Trump told Fox Business on Monday.

…

“We say, ‘Oh, he’s a nuclear power,’” Trump said. “But we’re a greater nuclear power. We have the greatest submarines in the world, the most powerful machines ever built …”

Idiot. It doesn’t matter whether we’re “greater” or not because a nuclear exchange with Russia would mean millions of people dead, whole cities destroyed, survivors if any poisoned and helpless.

“You should say, ‘Look, if you mention that word one more time, we’re going to send them over and we’ll be coasting back

I would share the originating tweet but he’s locked his account and I don’t follow him so I can’t.

“I mean, I ONLY tweeted this…” poor me…. pic.twitter.com/gg7RkC2scj

— James Dreyfus (@DreyfusJames) March 23, 2022

He’s not some petulant and barely literate Young Person, he’s an adult academic at Oxford ffs. Yet he too considers it appropriate and useful to say publicly that Rowling is “spreading hatred” and far to the right of Marine Le Pen.

Updating to add:

The real story here is that a professor specialising in European politics and radical right extremism said JK Rowling was worse than Marine Le Pen and still expects to be taken seriously. I'd laugh him out of every conference he attends

Oh gee golly guess what the Taliban have gone back on their promise to re-open high schools for girls. I thought they were sincere!

The Taliban on Wednesday abruptly reversed their decision to allow girls’ high schools to reopen this week, saying that they would remain closed until officials draw up a plan for them to reopen in accordance with Islamic law.

Well what’s the holdup? They’ve had months, in fact they’ve had centuries.

Tsss. We know what the holdup is. They have no intention of doing any such thing, and never did.

The keeping women in the dirt part is not some frill on the edge of their theocracy, it’s the whole point. It’s crucial. It’s central. It’s … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Artymorty on Culture wars in a blender.

There’s something about all this ostentatious word-swapping that gives up the game, that exposes the distinction between the reality which transactivists can see just as clearly as we can, and the performance that they put on. The words are so jumbled at this point: if the words “transgender female” are just as likely to refer to someone like Eliot Page (a female who identifies as a man) as they are to Eddie Izzard (a male who, at least some of the time, identifies as a woman), the activists end up having to fall back on their senses to make out which is which: they look at an image … Read the rest

Human Rights Watch on the situation in Mariupol:

Thirty-two civilians who managed to escape southeastern Ukraine’s besieged city of Mariupol last week told Human Rights Watch how they struggled to survive in below-freezing temperatures as Russian forces relentlessly attacked the city. They described men, women, and children sheltering in basements with little to no access to running water, power, heating, medical care, or mobile phone service since the siege began on March 2, 2022.

Russian forces laying siege to Mariupol should immediately ensure that civilians in Mariupol are not being denied access to items essential for their survival such as water, food, and medicine, and should facilitate safe passage to areas under control of Ukrainian forces for civilians who

It’s only girls.

The governor of Indiana governor on Monday vetoed a bill banning transgender females from girls school sports.

The ACLU called it hateful. I guess girls don’t have a civil liberty to have their own sports.

Republican sponsors of the bill said it was needed to protect the integrity of female sports and opportunities for girls to gain college athletic scholarship but pointed out no instances in the state of girls being outperformed by transgender athletes.

Well, good that it hasn’t happened yet, but what if it does?

The law would prohibit K-12 students born male but who identify as female from participating in a sport or on an athletic team designated for women or girls. It

Yes yes yes apartment blocks and art museums and theaters full of people sheltering from the bombs are being smashed but let’s wring our hands about the trans women who aren’t being allowed to leave Ukraine.

As strange hands searched her body and pulled back her hair to check if it was a wig, Judis looked at the faces of the Ukrainian border guards and felt fear and despair.

…

Judis is a transgender woman whose birth certificate defines her as female.

Legally, there is no reason why she should not be allowed to pass with the thousands of women who are crossing Ukrainian borders to safety every day.

Yet, on 12 March at about 4am, after a long

So much ardor, so little thought.

As a writer, I don't worry about being canceled. I worry about publishing something ignorant, betraying my audience, and accidentally using my platform to perpetuate hurtful ideas and societal structures. I worry about failing to be a responsible and curious author and citizen.

— ella dawson (@brosandprose) March 22, 2022

Hm. What she needs to worry about is being a boring writer and thinker whose brain is full of clichés.

It is horrifying to come to terms with your own ignorance, especially when you consider yourself an informed and progressive person. But when readers tell you that your work is flawed, you have to listen. Sulk in private, sure, but don't make your hurt

Labour MP.

Ok this is scary. Antarctica is hot:

The coldest location on the planet has experienced an episode of warm weather this week unlike any ever observed, with temperatures over the eastern Antarctic ice sheet soaring 50 to 90 degrees above normal. The warmth has smashed records and shocked scientists.

That’s no good. It’s bad in itself, and scientists weren’t expecting it, so what else could happen that scientists aren’t expecting and that could cook us like so many eggs in a pot? You don’t want temperatures soaring 90 degrees. That=being cooked.

Parts of eastern Antarctica have seen temperatures hover 70 degrees (40 Celsius) above normal for three days and counting, Wille said. Helikened the event to the June heat

Kathleen Stock explains to us about immersive fiction:

Getting immersed in fiction is a familiar state for most of us. Nearly all of us do it, and some of us do it several times a day. When you dip into a novel, binge on a box-set, or even just daydream furiously about succeeding romantically or seeing your enemies fail, you’re doing it.

I did it in all my spare time (time not at school, not around grownups or for that matter children, time not doing homework) as a child. I was always “being” someone out of a book or a tv show. My way of playing was basically just to roam the countryside while “being” Mary Lennox or whoever … Read the rest

Jolly is taking the war to the phobes again.

'Black people are a danger to white women. I don't think they should get public services I take for granted. And how dare they call me out as a racist – don't they know I have free speech rights?'

— Jo Maugham (@JolyonMaugham) March 20, 2022

Maybe you think trans women shouldn't compete in women's sport. Or trans women are a danger to cis women. Or being trans is a mental illness requiring therapy. There's no link of logic between those views. If you hold all three it's a racing certainty you're a transphobe. Own it.

— Jo Maugham (@JolyonMaugham) March 20, 2022

That’s a very peculiar argument, or attempt at … Read the rest

“Natalie” Washington’s claim that Lia Thomas is only 5’8″ is not holding up very well.

I'm insensed! pic.twitter.com/J7gAxfJUBL

— Modradical (@_gone_too_far) March 21, 2022

Who ya gonna believe, your lyin’ eyes or “Natalie”?… Read the rest

The Guardian Live is reporting from the Supreme Court hearing.

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and a presidential aspirant, is speaking now in remarks peppered with conservative talking points and grievances.

Cruz began by recounting the history of Supreme Court nominations and lamented how contentious they have become, though he notably left out the controversial and unprecedented decision by then-majority leader McConnell to deny Obama the opportunity to fill a supreme court vacancy, which infuriated Democrats and poisoned the already-poisoned well…

Echoing his Republican colleagues, he said the hearings would be different [from] the Kavanaugh hearings. “No one is going to inquire into your teenage dating habits. No one is going to ask you with mock severity,