Just a little local story of no particular significance for once, simply because I saw some of it. I was out for a walk with a dog friend (or dog client, or something), on a boulevard that runs along the top of high bluffs at the western edge of Seattle, where Elliott Bay meets Puget Sound, and we came to a place with a lot of yellow tape between the sidewalk and the edge of the bluff. Part of the bluff there had collapsed recently, I’d noticed it some weeks or months back when walking the dog there, but it wasn’t yellow-taped then. Clearly this was new collapse, which was completely unsurprising given the record rains we’ve just had, and … Read the rest

Heh.

So the great skeptical mind has decided that we can only discern sex with 100% accuracy or with the accuracy of made up woo-woo nonsense.

Stellar critical thinking. https://t.co/8Ohjo3CklB

— Dr. Jane Clare Jones (@janeclarejones) January 8, 2022

a high degree of reliability. And it turns out, female people are better at it than males. So we'd thank you to stop telling us we can't perform a cognitive task we're much better at than you because you're a bit shit at it.https://t.co/1gPpj4qkun

— Dr. Jane Clare Jones (@janeclarejones) January 8, 2022

https://twitter.com/FondOfBeetles/status/1479859700103618561

Yes PZ, sexual maturation is just like changing sex how right you are. https://t.co/GMex2VeJxB

— Dr. Jane Clare Jones (@janeclarejones) January 8, 2022

… Read the rest

A new treat for your schedule:

“Feminist Gender Equality” – starring three men and Sally Hines talking about feminism. It doesn’t get much more equality than that.… Read the rest

Vandalism or termination of a hate crime?

THE Attorney General is considering referring the case in which four people were cleared of tearing down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston to the Court of Appeal.

Suella Braverman said the verdict is causing “confusion” and she is “carefully considering” whether to use powers which allow her to seek a review so senior judges have the chance to “clarify the law for future cases”.

…

The verdict prompted a debate about the criminal justice system after the defendants – dubbed the Colston Four – opted to stand trial in front of a jury and did not deny involvement in the incident, instead claiming the presence of the statue was a hate

He’s unhappy about the Wes Streeting interview.

I think what I found hardest to take about the interview is his framing of women's rights versus trans rights. No attempt to interrogate that proposition. From there, there is nowhere good to go.

— Jo Maugham (@JolyonMaugham) January 7, 2022

When’s the last time Jolyon Maugham “interrogated” the proposition that trans dogma takes nothing from women at all whatsoever in the least? My rough estimate is that would be never.

I was trying (a bit ineptly) to emphasise a slightly different point, which was that only some women and some feminists (a minority as I understand the evidence) feel as he describes all women and all feminists feeling.

— Jo Maugham (@JolyonMaugham)

Originally a comment by Bruce Gorton on More emp and und.

There was an essay on Forbes the other day about gatekeeping in fandoms, which I actually think is kind of relevant.

…the accusations of gatekeeping are being used to leverage access to effectively run each fandom and acquire power as a result.

I think there is a lot of truth in the complaints fans of various properties have about “wokeness” invading their spaces. A lot of the time, the issue keeping people out of specific hobbies isn’t that the hobbyists are saying “This isn’t for you” – it’s that the hobby just isn’t the “excluded” person’s bag.

Which is fine. You’re not being excluded if the thing isn’t … Read the rest

The Women’s Sports Foundation? Are they sure about that?

Kudos to @Penn and @IvyLeague for standing up for inclusion. We need to create sport environments that allow athletes to be their authentic selves. Having supportive schools and organizations behind them is critical.

All girls. All women. All sports. https://t.co/WFvuq3Zq7O

— Women's Sports Foundation (@WomensSportsFdn) January 7, 2022

The Women’s Sports Foundation says we need to create sport environments that allow athletes to be their authentic selves – by which they mean we need to let men pretend to be women so that they can steal all the prizes. What a peculiar thing for a Women’s Sports Foundation to mean. You’d think they’d be cheering on women rather than men who … Read the rest

Progress, but…

“Do you really think the way to win an argument for trans equality is to try and shut [J.K. Rowling] down?”

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting says “there’s got to be a lot more empathy and understanding” on both sides of the trans debatehttps://t.co/SoNEDDXZel pic.twitter.com/56SQmtNbHI

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) January 7, 2022

On both sides? I don’t think they’re equivalent. I don’t think you see as much testosteroney rage on the feminist side of the argument.

Still. It’s a step.… Read the rest

What are we talking about when we talk about ideology?

Joe Biden marked the first anniversary of 6 January with a powerful, ideological speech about the choice between democracy and autocracy.

Is the choice between democracy and autocracy really a matter of ideology? I think of it as more basic than that. Do you want someone like Trump making all the rules, or do you prefer a system where more people get a say?

Every major news network opted for somber programming and roundtable discussions about the fragile nature of American democracy.

Except for one.

Fox News’s primetime lineup of rightwing hosts used rock guitar licks to introduce a different narrative: one of hysterical Democrats “jilling up noise” and crying

Trump issued a “statement” (i.e. a rambling incoherent page of words) in response to Biden’s speech yesterday.

As reasonable and responsible as ever.… Read the rest

Elite institutions fall all over themselves to support men destroying women’s sports.

Harvard Athletics stands with Penn Athletics, and the Ivy League, in the support of all student-athletes and in rejecting hate and transphobia in our community. https://t.co/6Gw0PSHuTu

— Harvard Athletics (@harvardcrimson) January 6, 2022

“Unwavering commitment” to destroying women’s sports.… Read the rest

An interesting, teasing conundrum here. Is it possible to be insulting and ragey in public for hours every day while not actually being as insulting and ragey as that would seem?

Seen on Twitter today: “I’m not nearly as mean as I probably seem on Twitter.”

The tweeter, as you’ll have guessed, is someone who is insulting and ragey on Twitter for hours every day, so much so that that “probably seem” is laughable. Probably? Probably?

Anyway, is that possible? I’m not sure it is. I think if you act “mean” (i.e. sadistic and belligerent) a lot of the time then…well, you are sadistic and belligerent, aren’t you. Acting it is being it. “Seeming” it is being it. Doing it … Read the rest

Ah yes setting aside their differences.

Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and her UPenn teammates set aside their differences over the last week to train for their final home meet of the season behind a cloak of secrecy.

It’s not really something the women can just set aside, is it. He’s intruding on them and stealing their chance to be first.

The twice-daily winter practice sessions passed without incident but the 41-strong team remains bitterly divided over Thomas’s record shattering feats as a newly-transitioned female, according to insiders.

They’re not actually “feats,” are they. He didn’t have any “feats” on the men’s team, so he’s not really racking up feats now that he’s competing with people who have multiple disadvantages … Read the rest

Who was it who instigated the attack on the Capitol?

Around the same time President Biden said former President Donald J. Trump encouraged the violence that took place at the Capitol on Jan. 6, some of Mr. Trump’s most prominent supporters deflected blame for the attack during an appearance on a live online show.

It’s not a “show.” It’s a vanity project-insurrectionist plot.

On the show, hosted by Stephen K. Bannon, one of Mr. Trump’s top former advisers, Representatives Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene laid responsibility on Democrats, the Capitol Police, the federal government and others.

The socialists, the FBI, the Critical Race Theorists, the Pentagon, the feminists, the State Department. They’re all in it up to their eyeballs. … Read the rest

The circular belief system in action.

Trans people are not a threat to women or female spaces. All the trans women I know carry themselves with grace and respect for the goddess energy. If you don't like me having an opinion fuck off and don't follow me. Anyone who wants critical thinking please stick around.

— Boy George (@BoyGeorge) January 5, 2022

See, no women I know carry themselves with grace and respect for the goddess energy, nor would I want them to. I certainly don’t carry myself that way, and would be horrified if anyone accused me of it. Yuck. What women need to carry ourselves with is confidence that we have a place in the world just as … Read the rest

How dare ANYONE politicize a violent attempted insurrection in the form of physical invasion of the legislature complete with weapons and threats? Could there be anything more outrageous?

What brazen politicization of January 6 by President Biden.

I wonder if the Taliban who now rule Afghanistan with al-Qaeda elements present, contrary to President Biden’s beliefs, are allowing this speech to be carried?

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 6, 2022

Yeah, that Biden, man, politicizing something as obviously apolitical as an attempt to prevent him from taking office after he won an election. Brazen indeed – practically harlot-level brazen.… Read the rest

This seems fairly astounding.

Those numbers. Seven hundred sixty five thousand pounds to from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office??? For what?? It’s not as if they’re building anything or healing anyone or feeding anyone. Their “work” is telling people what to think – how is it possible to spend £765,061 on that? Plus £616 k on the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme, where you’d think the need for Stonewall’s views would be zero*. £256 k on all of the Welsh government seems thrifty in comparison (but is actually quite profligate).

Jobs for the boys, eh?

*See comments for corrections on this point. It’s a grant to keep employees paid, not a payment for stonewalling.… Read the rest

Lord, I pray, take pity on this cardboard cutout of a deranged criminal.

Trump-loving evangelist Lance Wallnau lays hands on and prays over a cardboard cutout of Trump, then declares that Steve Bannon "has an apostolic grace on him" and "was probably called to be an apostle." pic.twitter.com/Gkiaa0eeG3

— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) January 5, 2022

… Read the rest

And yet another follow-up to the story – Jon Stewart says with much emphasis that he’s not calling Rowling anti-Semitic and that Newsweek is full of shit for saying he is.

Newsweek et al, may eat my ass. pic.twitter.com/eRoYYeNRi1

— Jon Stewart (@jonstewart) January 5, 2022

That’s roughly where I am, except that I’m much less keen on Harry Potter, precisely because of the crude stereotypes and Manicheanism. … Read the rest

More on that theme.

In total fairness, goblin mythology as antisemitic tropes predates all of us, including JK Rowling. But across Harry Potter novels, JK uses her freedom to reinvent almost anything. But as Jon Stewart points out, the antisemitic tropes maintained.

— Rafael Shimunov (@rafaelshimunov) January 3, 2022

This is what it looks like to me – not that she did it deliberately, but that she drew on tropes without thinking about them. She didn’t have a subtle mind when she wrote the first Potter book; I’ve been surprised by the quality of her writing on the trans ideology wars.

I’m not overjoyed about saying this but it’s no good ignoring it or hiding it.… Read the rest