Maya Forstater welcomes the end of No Debate:

“No debate” has been the longstanding position of Stonewall since it took up the cause of overwriting sex with by self-identified gender. It has refused all invitations to take part in discussion with those who disagree with its “trans women are women” position.

So when on Tuesday night Stonewall CEO Nancy Kelley spoke alongside Naomi Cunningham, Chair of Sex Matters, and answered questions from members of the LGB Alliance, history was made. 

The debate was about what Stonewall calls “conversion therapy” and reasonable people call not encouraging teenagers to rush into permanent changes to their still-changing bodies.

The proposed law would make it a criminal offence for a therapist or other

… Read the rest

David French on Kyle Rittenhouse and the self-defense defense:

The trial itself has not gone well for the prosecution, for reasons that relate to the nature of self-defense claims. Such claims are not assessed by means of sweeping inquiries into the wisdom of the actions that put the shooter into a dangerous place in a dangerous time. Instead, they produce a narrow inquiry into the events immediately preceding the shooting. The law allows even a foolish man to defend himself, even if his own foolishness put him in harm’s way.

But perhaps more so if he’s a white man, and a whole hell of a lot less so if he’s a black man. As for women, they don’t generally … Read the rest

This happened:

https://twitter.com/VictoriaPeckham/status/1460965687636152327 https://twitter.com/Docstockk/status/1461253380152639490

“Oh did I say ‘lacks a citation’? Of course I meant ‘cites.'”

Weasel.… Read the rest

Emma Watson of Harry Potter fame lets us know how perfected they all are:

I am proud not just of what we as group contributed as actors to the franchise but also as the children that became young adults that walked that path. I look at my fellow cast members now and I am just so proud of who everyone has become as people. I am proud we were kind to each other that we supported one another and that we held up something meaningful.

They’re just so wonderful as people, unlike that witch who created the whole thing. They’re kind to each other (but not to that witch, without whom they would be no one in particular) and … Read the rest

Via Screechy Monkey: another rapist gets a stern frown instead of a prison sentence.

A New York man who pleaded guilty to rape and sexual abuse for assaulting four teenage girls during parties at his parents’ home will not face jail time after a judge Tuesday sentenced him to eight years probation.

Niagara County Court Judge Matthew J. Murphy III said he “agonized” over the case of 20-year-old Christopher Belter, who was accused of committing the crimes when he was 16 or 17. Belter pleaded guilty in 2019 to felony charges that included third-degree rape and attempted first-degree sexual abuse, as well as two misdemeanor charges of second-degree sexual abuse.

Although Belter faced a maximum sentence of eight years

… Read the rest

Much discussion about this from Ellie-Mae O’Hagan:

I’m sorry, what? pic.twitter.com/BzBhvc0iLP

— Andrew (@notthatbeard) November 17, 2021

Anyone who claims to know “why some people are women and some people are men” is a liar.

Therefore, this man here is a woman because he says so.

Longer excerpt:

"I want the viewers at home to really think about why it might be upsetting for a transgender woman" to have an MP "call them 'male-bodied people'" says Ellie Mae O'Hagan of the CLASS think tankhttps://t.co/wHYWst78se #PoliticsLive pic.twitter.com/A6q3mbHvVt

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) November 17, 2021

“All I care about is the principle of live and let live,” she says fatuously. Oh yes? What if a neighbor moves into her house while … Read the rest

Ingratitude thou marble-hearted fiend.

The cast and crew of the Harry Potter movies are coming together for a reunion, with one notable exception – the author, JK Rowling.

HBO Max announced on Tuesday it would bring together the cast members from all eight Harry Potter films for a retrospective special entitled Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return To Hogwarts. 

The release said it would feature stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint – who have not made a public appearance together since the premiere of the last premiere of the franchise, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2, in July 2011, as well as filmmaker Chris Columbus, who directed the blockbuster film.

The Mail doesn’t say whose decision … Read the rest

"I want the viewers at home to really think about why it might be upsetting for a transgender woman" to have an MP "call them 'male-bodied people'" says Ellie Mae O'Hagan of the CLASS think tankhttps://t.co/wHYWst78se #PoliticsLive pic.twitter.com/A6q3mbHvVt

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) November 17, 2021

Oh yes? Well I want Ellie Mae O’Hagan to really think about why it might be upsetting for women to have men calling themselves women, and bullying any women who don’t comply.… Read the rest

QAnon shaman gets 41 months in prison.

The sentence matches one [Judge Royce] Lamberth imposed on a former mixed martial artist filmed punching a police officer during violence, who was sentenced last week to 41 months in prison. The two are the stiffest sentences handed down in any of the roughly 675 riot prosecutions.

…

While in detention, Chansley was diagnosed by prison officials with transient schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety. When he entered his guilty plea, Chansley said he was disappointed Trump had not pardoned him.

Trump doesn’t do things for other people. … Read the rest

So DOCTOR Adrian Harrop decides it would be a wizard idea to blab to a journalist (a highly partisan journalist) for publication during his GMC hearing. And share documents with the journalist. The journalist is Ben Hunte, the outlet is Vice.

We don't see the case papers.

In an exclusive interview with Dr Harrop, Ben Hunte writes he "was sent all of the material being discussed in the tribunal, including the full dossier of allegations, witness statements, & documents defending the doctor."https://t.co/pkNW2rfsE0

— Tribunal Tweets (@tribunaltweets) November 17, 2021

The artcle is archived here: https://t.co/HTpp70xEib

— Tribunal Tweets (@tribunaltweets) November 17, 2021

From Ben Hunte’s dispassionate journalisticky report:

A British doctor who used social media to defend trans rights

… Read the rest

School of trans.

A primary school in Birmingham has given children the assignment of writing a diary from the perspective of a bear that believes it is transgender. Children draw the trans flag and write that the bear's life improves by revealing its new gender identity https://t.co/aPViFh9Xv3

— ripx4nutmeg (@ripx4nutmeg) November 17, 2021

Anna Slatz has more:

In October, Colmers Farm Primary School gave its Year 6 studens an assignment to write diary entries from the perspective of “Tilly, a transgender bear.” The school initially posted about the results of the project on their Twitter, but has since deleted the month-old tweet, likely due to some emerging public attention. The tweet had included screenshots of some of the

… Read the rest

Oh honestly.

"I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with trans people at all," says Labour MP Rosie Duffield

"Hundreds of my constituents have concerns about self-identification and how we're going to manage that with single sex spaces"https://t.co/wHYWst78se #PoliticsLive pic.twitter.com/2IrIgzyxNv

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) November 17, 2021

The BBC woman to the right of Rosie Duffield asks her: “Do you understand why transgender people and groups of people who have been excluded from that definition have become upset about it?”

For god’s sake! The whole point of definitions is to exclude almost everything! You can’t make definitions “inclusive” without destroying them as definitions. Let’s define definitions as being inclusive of all the meanings, possible and impossible – that will be … Read the rest

I saw a shrinkwrapped notice/sign stapled to a utility pole this afternoon with rainbows in the upper left and lower right corners, and the message:

ALL HUMANS ARE WELCOME

Citizens Unite!

We Do Not Discriminate

Based On Sex, Gender

Race, Creed, Age

Vaccination Or No

Vaccination

And below that, in much smaller type:

END THE MANDATES

Picture me rolling my eyes.

I took it down. We’re not supposed to staple things onto utility poles anyway.… Read the rest

IOC to women: sucks to be you.

NEW – new IOC trans guidelines
1) Remove need for trans women to lower T
2) "No presumption that athletes should have an advantage due to their transgender status"
But 3) sports can restrict athletes if peer-reviewed science shows "disproportionate advantage” exists & for safety

— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) November 16, 2021

That second one is so stupid. The issue isn’t being trans, the issue is being male. It’s grossly and obviously unfair for men to compete in women’s sports, and calling themselves women does nothing to change that fact.

And…disproportionate advantage? Why should women have to accept men in their sports if some committee decides that the male advantage is … Read the rest

FAQ Q&A your questions answered:

Isn’t there…isn’t there already an Alaska Pacific University?

There might be, sure. Lots of things have similar names, or share initials.

OK but “Pacific”?

Alaska borders the Pacific Ocean.

The reason that’s funny is that there already is a University of Texas at Austin, which is quite well known and well regarded. (It’s also, come to think of it, the location of that tower where one Charles Whitman locked himself in and shot a lot of people in 1966, a time when mass murders of that kind were a novelty. That part’s not funny.)

Will there be “safe spaces” or “trigger warnings” at The APU?

No. No topics are disallowed and no uncomfortable subjects

… Read the rest

https://twitter.com/Docstockk/status/1460650434218106880… Read the rest

And we call that “theocracy.”

Michael Flynn tonight: “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God.” pic.twitter.com/ShGVrsQ9hW

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) November 13, 2021

Sounds great, right? Like Pakistan, like Saudi Arabia, like Iran, like Afghanistan…like Ireland until quite recently, like El Salvador now. Mullahs or priests – always male, of course, and not “identifying as” male either but the real thing – telling you what you can and can’t do.… Read the rest

Oh will they now.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson will join filmmaker Chris Columbus and other cast members from all the #HarryPotter films for an HBO Max special to celebrate the anniversary of the franchise’s first film, which premiered 20 years ago today. https://t.co/BtWi5emDKu pic.twitter.com/SKyAvpCM8k

— Variety (@Variety) November 16, 2021

That’s rich seeing as how they’ve all shat on the source of their fame and wealth i.e. JK Rowling.… Read the rest

Two down…

Exactly a week after former New York Times opinion columnist Bari Weiss unveiled the creation of a hypothetical new “university” stacked with advisers united by “a common dismay at the state of academic and a recognition that we can no longer wait for the cavalry,” two riders in that brave regiment have resigned their commissions.

Robert J. Zimmer, the chancellor of the University of Chicago, and Steven Pinker, the Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University, quit the University of Austin’s advisory board on Monday.

Just one week. It seems so embarrassing for the project.

“As is often the case with fast-moving start-ups,” a statement from the University of Austin said, “there were

… Read the rest

Hm, not going so well.

University of Chicago chancellor Robert Zimmer is distancing himself from the University of Austin, a newly announced institution that’s drawn scrutiny for its critiques of higher education and politicized nature, officials announced today.

Jeez. After a week?

Zimmer was initially listed as a member of the board of advisers when the website was launched last week, but he has since stepped aside, a U of C spokesman confirmed.

The school is being established to combat cancel culture and promote intellectual diversity, its founders say. They also lamented that higher education is fundamentally broken and that elite schools are failing students.

And Bari Weiss is front and center, which…

“University of Chicago Chancellor Robert J.

… Read the rest