Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Another insipid essay.

I imagine that every religion does this, but I do find it amusing how Christians catapult themselves into the finals of “Science vs. Religion,” conveniently bypassing all the playoffs that would have to take place against all the other religions in order to actually earn that spot. Hell, there are hundreds of versions of Christianity alone that would have to go up against each other, too.

Before “Religion” gets to go head to head with Science in the Explaining Reality Championship, it has to figure out a few things. There are so many things that religions have never agreed upon with each other, even before facing Science.… Read the rest

ALL the red lights were blinking.

The head of intelligence at D.C.’s homeland security office was growing desperate. For days, Donell Harvin and his team had spotted increasing signs that supporters of President Donald Trump were planning violence when Congress met to formalize the electoral college vote, but federal law enforcement agencies did not seem to share his sense of urgency. On Saturday, Jan. 2, he picked up the phone and called his counterpart in San Francisco, waking Mike Sena before dawn.

Sena listened with alarm. The Northern California intelligence office he commanded had also been inundated with political threats flagged by social media companies, several involving plans to disrupt the joint session or hurt lawmakers on Jan. 6.

Imagine getting Covid because Fox News told you to.

The gap in Covid’s death toll between red and blue America has grown faster over the past month than at any previous point.

In October, 25 out of every 100,000 residents of heavily Trump counties died from Covid, more than three times higher than the rate in heavily Biden counties (7.8 per 100,000). October was the fifth consecutive month that the percentage gap between the death rates in Trump counties and Biden counties widened.

Some conservative writers have tried to claim that the gap may stem from regional differences in weather or age, but those arguments fall apart under scrutiny. (If weather or age were a major reason, the pattern

Well I couldn’t pass that up.

Another insipid essay trying to reconcile religion & science, b/c both have "desire to know what is true" But scientific method is grounded in factual evidence, whereas religious "truth" comes from self-appointed prophets, whose claims one cannot question. https://t.co/katQnvRTPz

— Ronald A. Lindsay (@RALindsay) November 8, 2021

So I read it.

I have never had much interest in faith versus science debates. They simply did not resonate with me. I believe God created the world, but I never felt the need to nail down the details or method of creation. 

Well naturally not! “God created the world” is just a claim of magic, and there’s no nailing down the details of that, or … Read the rest

Originally a comment by J.A. on A set of contingencies that can be played with.

You mean that if I really, really, really, love my velveteen rabbit enough that someday it will really will become real?

That said, the story of The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams is a classic and deservedly so, because it shows how human love and affection can be imparted to what is an inanimate object in a fictional tale, and it’s impossible to read that story to a child without there being a bit of a tear in one’s own eye. We humans are capable of feeling affection for animate beings like puppies and kittens and by extension their inanimate imitations.

Children though don’t … Read the rest

Fantasy spreads until it pervades everything…… Read the rest

Grace Lavery back in June explaining how it really really is true that you can change sex.

Berkeley News: Your work in trans feminist studies focuses on the belief that transition works — that it is truly possible to change sex. Can you talk more about what you’ve found in your research? Did you begin to explore the idea during your own transition?

Grace Lavery: I suppose, on some level, I’m bound to cop to that: Research is me-search, as they say. I think what my research has come to demonstrate is that for the past 150 years or so, roughly since the time that people started performing transition or transitioning or whatever you want to call it, there

Postponed.

The government’s much-hyped information campaign targeting perpetrators of violence against women will not be launched until next year, the Observer has learned. This comes just as new research indicates the vast majority of females have experienced unwanted violent, aggressive or sexual behaviours on UK public transport.

Sorry and everything. We’d hurry if it were important but as it’s only women, we’ll get to it when we get to it.

As part of the home secretary’s strategy to tackle violence against women and girls launched in July, Priti Patel promised a “multimillion communications campaign with a focus on targeting perpetrators and harmful misogynistic attitudes”.

Like calling women terfs and cunts and telling them “suck my dick” when they hold … Read the rest

The Telegraph article that Priyamvada Ghopal mentioned:

The Telegraph has spoken to academics, who wish to remain anonymous, who claim that Prof Alison Phipps, a former colleague of Prof Stock’s, was one of those leading the criticism of her, which ultimately led to her resignation.

Prof Phipps was a professor of gender studies at Sussex University, and has recently taken up a post as professor of sociology at Newcastle University. 

Now, it has emerged that she posted a series of tweets suggesting that “gender critical feminists” are also “racist and ableist”, and accused colleagues of being “bigots”.

Screenshots of the now-deleted tweets show that in January, Prof Phipps wrote: “I’d be interested to hear how many people with a prominent

Ugly.

Oh BTW, you know how that "silenced" professor resigned a few days ago?

Turns out Sussex had a cushy voluntary severance scheme which ended on the 2nd of November.

— Priyamvada Gopal © (@PriyamvadaGopal) November 6, 2021

I think that “false flag opportunists” remark borders on libel. Yes it’s so opportunistic to get bullied out of a job you love.… Read the rest

For anyone laughing off the very idea that anti-Semitic tropes and images and movies and plays are something to object to, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum has a collection you could take a look at.

Anti-Jewish hatred has pervaded Western art, politics, and popular culture for centuries. Perceptions and understandings of Jews throughout history were manifested in objects—from fine arts and crafts for the elite to everyday toys and knickknacks and household items. Many of these objects promoted negative attitudes and stereotypes about Jews.

The Katz Ehrenthal Collection—acquired through the generosity of the Katz family—consists of over 900 individual objects depicting Jews and antisemitic and anti-Jewish propaganda from the Medieval to the modern era, created and distributed throughout Europe, Russia,

Wait, are you saying that a fictional character’s being named Hershel Fink suggests that the character is Jewish??? The Royal Court theatre is shocked shocked to hear it.

[Al] Smith, the author of a new play coming to the Royal Court theatre this week, had given a lead character the name of Hershel Fink. But publicity for the production prompted angry complaints about Jewish stereotyping. In response, the famous venue on Sloane Square in London has now apologised and agreed to change the name, admitting that it was “unconscious bias” that had led to the Silicon Valley billionaire in the work being given this identity.

Being given this name, I think that should read. The Royal Court people … Read the rest

Discouraging.

I want to talk about how misogyny is often framed as edgy jokes. I want to talk about how this guy is comparing battered women to dogs in an animal shelter and mocking how traumatized and easy to manipulate they are as a result. I want to talk about why men think this is funny. pic.twitter.com/yfwCMIVSz9

— feminist next door (@emrazz) November 6, 2021

I want to talk about how tossing out lazy, bottom of the barrel, vitriolic misogyny online is always done in the key of “king willing to say what we’re all thinking,” and that it’s a common part of the discourse among young men, and especially among progressive or leftist men. pic.twitter.com/udu4jBiV8K

— feminist next door

Huh. That’s quite a nice salary for helping men harass women.

.@UniMelb is advertising a Gender Affirmation Advisor position that pays over $100,000 annually to "provide support to staff and students wishing to affirm their gender" and to handle "external reporting or complaint processes" pic.twitter.com/x4XFZKjLea

— Genevieve Gluck (@WomenReadWomen) November 5, 2021

… Read the rest

LSE has an explainer for Athena Swan too, mostly quoting Athena Swan (or Athena SWAN as they call it) but tweaking the wording a little in places.

Athena SWAN was established in 2005 to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) employed in higher education and research.

So far so good.

In May 2015 the charter was expanded to recognise work undertaken in the arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law (AHSSBL), in professional and support roles, and for trans staff and students. The charter now recognises work undertaken to address gender equality more broadly, rather than just barriers to progression that affect women.

Ok wait.

I once … Read the rest

What is this Athena Swan Charter? According to Athena Swann:

The Athena Swan Charter is a framework which is used across the globe to support and transform gender equality within higher education (HE) and research. Established in 2005 to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) employment, the Charter is now being used across the globe to address gender equality more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women.

Ah, that’s very helpful – they tell us what treacherous idiots they are right in the first paragraph. They used to campaign for women and now they know better, now they look beyond “just barriers to progression … Read the rest

This is how it’s done – make yourself part of the Diversity N Incloosion infrastructure and bam, you get to make your crank ideas mandatory for all people who are part of that infrastructure. Stonewall seem to be the best at it but they’re not the only ones.

Lawyers and campaigners say that a university training scheme on gender identity is “totalitarian and unlawful”.

Imagine having to attend university training on “gender identity” when you don’t believe that’s a meaningful concept.

The latest row centres on a scheme called Athena Swan that is offered by Advance HE, formerly the Higher Education Academy, a charity that advises education institutions.

How do people get to appoint themselves “charities that advise education … Read the rest

“Oh but you can’t lump me in with the cishets, I’m QUEER.”

I am going to respond in some detail as soon as I am off deadline. This deserves a considerate answer.

— Julie Bindel (@bindelj) November 6, 2021

I’m a bit sore about this today, TBH, because I got reminded it’s been five years since I first got called a sexual tourist in the Guardian and taken the piss out of in the press for coming out as genderqueer (by @suzanne_moore).

— Laurie Penny (@PennyRed) November 6, 2021

I bet Laurie Penny’s not “glad to hear it” any more.

.@PennyRed OK. A thread in response to your statement, 'Presumably if the people in question are calling themselves

Gregor Murray, the unhinged man who shouts derogatory abuse at women on Twitter, is still a Dundee councillor.

Funny thing about that – you can’t tell from his official page that he’s “non-binary.” Nobody looking at that page would have any idea that he’ll flip all the way out if you call him “him” or address him as “sir.” People looking at that page are going to just assume he’s a man, because his name is Gregor and he’s dressed in the business uniform for men and he has a beard and a receding hairline and so on – they’re going to assume it because he “presents as” a man.

So…is the “non-binary” thing just for after hours? A hobby? … Read the rest

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has more details about the abuse of the female goalie.

Armstrong principal Kirk Lorigan said the school is “appalled and embarrassed” at the actions of the student section and chants that the students used during Thursday’s game at Belmont Sports Complex in Kittanning. One of the chants was sexually explicit, and Mars coach Steve Meyers said his goalie was in tears after the second period. Mars has played five games this season and the female goalie has been the starter for all five games.

…

Lorigan did not attend the game but said he was “disgusted” that no one — from Armstrong parents to two security personnel — did anything to stop the chants.

What are the … Read the rest