Originally a comment by James Garnett on Trying to reason with Chomsky.

Plus, Chomsky is just boring a lot of the time. The man has literally put me to sleep.

Also, too:

the fact remains that Putin doesn’t own other countries even if they are right next to Russia.

In 1991, Estonia declared independence from Russia, and shortly thereafter made the Estonian language the official language for all governmental purposes. It had formerly been Russian. When I visited eight years later, the bulk of the Russian immigrants still refused to learn or speak Estonian because even though they composed less than a quarter of the population they considered themselves to be the “owners” of the country. I will never … Read the rest

Chase Strangio is now playing forlorn helpless victim, wounded by the cruel baying mob.

It is amazing how easy it is for people to to make other people into monsters or concepts. To forget or ignore that we have families, loved ones, communities, who then have to see what you say about us. That we have to see what you say about us.

— Chase Strangio (@chasestrangio) May 21, 2022

But women have to see Strangio cheering the ACLU on as it removes women from the fight to keep abortion rights. Strangio isn’t a fragile vulnerable bystander, Strangio isn’t a girl in her last year of school, Strangio is an important person at the ACLU, who is working hard to … Read the rest

Some Ukrainian academics write an open letter to Noam Chomsky that points out some recurring fallacies/patterns:

Pattern #2: Treating Ukraine as an American pawn on a geo-political chessboard

Whether willingly or unwillingly, your interviews insinuate that Ukrainians are fighting with Russians because the U.S. instigated them to do so, that Euromaidan happened because the U.S. tried to detach Ukraine from the Russian sphere of influence, etc. Such an attitude denies the agency of Ukraine and is a slap in the face to millions of Ukrainians who are risking their lives for the desire to live in a free country. Simply put, have you considered the possibility that Ukrainians would like to detach from the Russian sphere of influence due to

A teacher at That School tells us more about the bullying of the sixth form question-asker:

Every so often an event occurs that reveals the stranglehold of transgender ideology on our schools and society. One such event happened recently at the girls’ secondary where I teach.

Every so often or multiple times every day, depending on who you are and where you’re looking. I pay a lot of attention to that stranglehold, so I see a lot of those revelations.

It was probably naïve of the girl not to realise that to disagree, however respectfully, with transgender ideology is not allowed in much of our education system today. To question its basic tenets is heresy and heretics need to

Hoo-boy. Talk about having it both ways. Guy claims to be a trans woman BUT don’t go thinking he doesn’t get to inherit that title. No no. There’s a “loophole” you see.

The House of Lords could shortly welcome its first trans peer and only female hereditary member.

Why only female? You know why. That stuff is reserved for men. “Hereditary”=in the male line.

Matilda Simon was this week given permission to contest the next by-election for one of the upper chamber’s remaining 92 hereditary seats.

If she wins, she will doubtless become the envy of peers’ daughters across the country, because the vast majority of titles may only be passed to a male heir.

However, because of

Bobbi Gibb and Kathrine Switzer:

One is a neuroscientist-turned-sculptor, the other an activist and organizer. Taking different paths to the same goal, Bobbi Gibb and Kathrine Switzer outran Boston Marathon tradition and trampled the notion that women were too frail for a 26.2-mile race.

…

“I was hacking through the jungle. There was no path at all,” said Gibb, who actually hid in the bushes before becoming the first woman to run Boston, a year before Switzer strutted up to the starting line as the first official female entrant. “But I think we need all kinds of people. She’s an extrovert, I’m an introvert. Everybody has a gift to give.”

…

Told she was too pretty for medical school

Gee I don’t know, that’s a real puzzler.

I have a lot of reactions to the Bill Maher segment but why does he assume I am not a gay man?

— Chase Strangio (@chasestrangio) May 21, 2022

Kidding. He “assumes” that because Strangio is not a man, gay or straight. A woman, no matter how butch, is not a man.

The real question is why do adults do this crap? And why do other adults encourage them?… Read the rest

This story is all over Facebook and I can’t find an original author so I’ll just credit it to Facebook.

When she applied to run in the Boston Marathon in 1966 they rejected her, saying: “Women are not physiologically able to run a marathon, and we can’t take the liability.”

Then exactly 50 years ago today, on the day of the marathon, Bobbi Gibb hid in the bushes and waited for the race to begin. When about half of the runners had gone past she jumped in.

She wore her brother’s Bermuda shorts, a pair of boy’s sneakers, a bathing suit, and a sweatshirt. As she took off into the swarm of runners, Gibb started to feel overheated, but … Read the rest

Content notes aren’t automatically a bad thing [see previous post] but they do have to be…you know, accurate. Truthy. Andrew Doyle continues:

But it’s not simply a matter of race; books aimed at toddlers which advance the idea that they each have a gendered soul are also being promoted by activist teachers and authors. For instance, Who Are You? The Kid’s Guide To Gender Identity by Brook Pessin-Whedbee is marketed for children as young as three, and introduces them to identity categories well beyond the comprehension of most adults, including “genderqueer, non-binary, bigender and two-spirit”.

If there’s anything the world doesn’t need it’s a children’s guide to gender bullshit. It’s all made up, by excited delusional adults, and … Read the rest

How much attention to what children read is too much? Andrew Doyle writes:

Yet perhaps it is unsurprising that activists who are convinced that language causes real-world “harm” should be troubled by the reading habits of children. After all, it’s hardly a fringe view: the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Cambridge this month suggested that Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie series ought to come with “content notes” (a substitute phrase for “trigger warnings” given that the word “trigger” connotes violence and might therefore induce trauma).

Ok hang on. It’s clear that Doyle disapproves, but lots of books include content notes, including novels written 50 or 100 or 200 years ago. It can … Read the rest

The NHS is getting busy with the erasers.

Official NHS advice about ovarian, [uterine] and cervix cancers have quietly removed the word ‘women’ from their webpages, MailOnline can reveal. 

…

The original version of the ovarian NHS cancer page featured the line: ‘Ovarian cancer, or cancer of the ovaries, is one of the most common types of cancer in women.’

It also highlights the women who may be particularly at risk, saying: ‘Ovarian cancer mainly affects women who have been through the menopause (usually over the age of 50), but it can sometimes affect younger women.’

However, in an update sneaked out in January — which campaigners only uncovered this week — both lines were removed. Instead, another line

The gender playfuls get extra paid time off so haha suckers!

Coles supermarket has announced that team members undergoing gender affirmation will now be entitled to up to 10 days paid gender affirmation leave.

Gender affirmation? Is that what we’re calling it now? It’s not transition any more? No, of course not, it wouldn’t be, would it, because that would imply change, when the gender is eternal. But why does one need time off for affirmation of what one already is? Can everyone get affirmation? So everyone gets 10 days off with pay, i.e. an extra two week vacation?

The retail giant said the policy change was an important step in its commitment to champion inclusion in the workplace.

You’re Not Helping.

Q: "Do you believe that men can become pregnant and have abortions?" –@RepDanBishop

A: "Yes." -Democrat witness pic.twitter.com/TfxboajSJU

— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) May 18, 2022

Aimee Arrambide works for an abortion advocacy group. She’s not helping.

H/t The Dude Diogenes.… Read the rest

Another man gets historic win in women’s sport!!! Rejoice!!

West Australian longboarder Sasha Jane Lowerson, the first transgender woman to compete in surfing, has claimed a historic victory in the West Coast Suspensions Longboard and Logger State Championships on the weekend.

It’s so historic. Because he’s a man, see, and he did better than the women, on account of how he’s bigger and has broader shoulders and all that useful stuff.

The 43-year-old, who was crowned the men’s champion three years earlier, won both the Open Women’s and Open Logger divisions on her home beach at Avalon, putting together a dominant performance in the left hand waves.

Dominant is right.

“To be the first transgender woman competing in surfing hasn’t

Aw, sexy.

Ireland’s largest escort website offered men the opportunity to live out their “war-inspired fantasies” with Ukrainian women, a webinar has heard on Thursday.

By “escort website” they must mean “female human to fuck website.” I don’t think it has a whole lot to do with anyone “escorting” anyone. Anyway, how adorable, that men fantasize about fucking Ukrainian women along with…what, committing war crimes against them? Blowing up their children and then fucking them? Torturing them while fucking them? Hawt.

Escorts Ireland reported a 250 per cent increase in interest for Ukrainian women, Valiant Richey from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said.

That’s the ticket. When people are losing everything they love that’s the … Read the rest

Statistics Canada tells us:

Below you will find the proposed statistical standards for three variables: gender of person, sexual orientation of person and LGBTQ2+ status of person. These include classifications for the main components of sexual orientation – sexual identity, sexual attraction, and sexual behaviour, which can be measured separately.

Yay, clarity at last.

Gender refers to a person’s social or personal identity as a man, woman or non-binary person (a person who is not exclusively male or female). Conceptions of gender are influenced by several factors, including biological characteristics, cultural and behavioural norms, and self-identity.

Um. There are persons who are not exclusively male or female? According to Statistics Canada?

I guess not Yay clarity after all.

Gender

“Katy” Montgomerie is a sadistic bully of women and girls.

"Whining about feeling distressed because they are under mild scrutiny."
I have to point out again that this is a fully grown adult talking about a girl who was bullied out of school and is now subject to a witch hunt by people politically invested in ripping her apart. > https://t.co/8itlR0rtlE pic.twitter.com/dY2dzTRen9

— FeministRoar (@FeministRoar) May 19, 2022

… Read the rest

Filia in January 2021:

After a frustratingly painful year of violence against women, it seems only fitting that we draw attention to an activist whose relentless dedication to feminist action has made waves across the internet, resonating with women all over the globe.

…

Agence France Presse reported 116 femicides in France during 2019; however, this number is disputed by Femicides by Companions or Ex, an advocacy group who argue that the figure is closer to 138: an average of one woman murdered every three days. Marguerite responded by catalysing a movement of guerilla-style street art entitled Collages Féminicides, for which she installed white collages featuring condensed but powerful messages written in black lettering on the streets

Meta meta – the Times reporting on JKR’s response to the Times report on the bullied student who had to leave her school.

JK Rowling has condemned the “utterly shameful” treatment of a teenage girl who felt forced to leave her school after pupils hounded her for challenging the views of a visiting speaker.

…

Writing on Twitter to her 14 million followers, Rowling shared the Times article and described her treatment as “utterly shameful”. “Add this to the tottering pile of evidence that people in education and academia who’ve supposed to have a duty of care towards the young have succumbed to an outbreak of quasi-religious fanaticism,” she added. “The girl’s crime? Saying ‘sex exists’.”

Rowling has repeatedly come

The Mayo Clinic answers this question:

I’m adopting a newborn, and I’d like to breastfeed the baby when I bring him home. Can I produce breast milk if I haven’t been pregnant?

Neither the question nor the answer mentions “woman” but perhaps we can assume it’s assumed.

With considerable dedication and preparation, breastfeeding without pregnancy (induced lactation) might be possible.

Normally, the natural production of breast milk (lactation) is triggered by a complex interaction between three hormones — estrogen, progesterone and human placental lactogen — during the final months of pregnancy. At delivery, levels of estrogen and progesterone fall, allowing the hormone prolactin to increase and initiate milk production.

Induced lactation depends on the successful replication of this process.