Derek Thompson at the Atlantic sought out some vax-refuseniks to explain their thinking.

The people I spoke with were all under 50. A few of them self-identified as Republican, and none of them claimed the modern Democratic Party as their political home. Most said they weren’t against all vaccines; they were just a “no” on this vaccine. They were COVID-19 no-vaxxers, not overall anti-vaxxers.

Many people I spoke with said they trusted their immune system to protect them. “Nobody ever looks at it from the perspective of a guy who’s like me,” Bradley Baca, a 39-year-old truck driver in Colorado, told me. “As an essential worker, my life was never going to change in the pandemic, and I

… Read the rest

We can’t have herd immunity because people are too stupid.

Early in the pandemic, when vaccines for the coronavirus were still just a glimmer on the horizon, the term “herd immunity” came to signify the endgame: the point when enough Americans would be protected from the virus so we could be rid of the pathogen and reclaim our lives.

Now, more than half of adults in the United States have been inoculated with at least one dose of a vaccine. But daily vaccination rates are slipping, and there is widespread consensus among scientists and public health experts that the herd immunity threshold is not attainable — at least not in the foreseeable future, and perhaps not ever.

Instead, they are

… Read the rest

Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre puts the lotion on its skin.

https://twitter.com/EdinRapeCrisis/status/1389112490215288832

Who wouldn’t be delighted to welcome a man as head of a rape crisis centre?

https://twitter.com/dinahbrand2/status/1389171027704389633… Read the rest

Trevor Phillips warned of the problem back in 2018.

The disaster of the public consultation process on gender recognition has revealed a government so terrified of being labelled transphobic that it is ready to destroy half a century of painstakingly assembled anti-discrimination legislation to the detriment of every woman, person of colour and disabled individual in Britain. Under the current law, a change of gender requires a two-year period of reflection, medical checks and possible physical alterations. It is a gruelling process and proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act rightly aim to make the process less bureaucratic.

However, agitation by a guilt-tripping band of “trans” activists has corralled MPs into contemplating a wholly unnecessary and dangerous further step.

… Read the rest

So apparently Rudy Giuliani should be allowed to break whatever laws he chooses now, because if he’s not then that’s fascism?

Attorney Alan Dershowitz on Sunday criticized federal agents’ raid on Rudy Giuliani’s apartment last week, telling radio host John Catsimatidis that it was reminiscent of conduct seen in authoritarian countries.

“In banana republics, in Castro‘s Cuba, in many parts of the world when a candidate loses for president, they go after the candidate, they go after his lawyers, they go after his friends,” Dershowitz said. “That’s happening in America now. They’re going after Rudy Giuliani.”

So Rudy Giuliani should have permanent total immunity now? Because he was Trump’s lawyer and fixer and enforcer? Is that how that works?… Read the rest

More on Mridul Wadhwa, from Stuart Campbell at Wings Over Scotland:

Party insiders like the former Trade And Industry spokesman Iain Lawson have been shining light on the arcane and opaque processes of “vetting”, whereby people who want to be candidates themselves astonishingly have the power to block potential rivals and where “woke” candidates are receiving extremely preferential treatment, but the fait accompli is almost complete – by the time the party belatedly elects a new NEC in six weeks, candidates will be in place and it’ll be too late to change anything.

And of course, what’s revealing is who HAS been passed to stand for nomination as well as who hasn’t. Readers, meet a man called

… Read the rest

On and on it goes, ratcheting ever up.

Hooray hooray as a man is named CEO of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre.

Mridul Wadhwa takes over from Caroline Burrell who has led the organisation for 16 years.

Mridul said: “I am very excited to be moving to ERCC. Having been involved in the violence against women and equality sectors in Scotland since 2005, I am really looking forward to leading the committed team of women who do such incredible work supporting survivors of sexual violence. 

“I am especially pleased to be joining the organisation at a time when it is seeking to increase its accessibility to and inclusion of survivors of gender based violence from marginalised and easy to ignore

… Read the rest

https://twitter.com/kazarnowicz/status/1388148589671686146

I don’t believe that pianos can become oranges, but I do believe that trans oranges are oranges. Just like trans apples are apples.

If a bunch of cranks can just decide by fiat that the word that has always named the female half of humanity now includes men, then they can decide by fiat that anything means anything and we will never be able to make any kind of sense ever again.

The word “women” is already taken, and random Michaels don’t get to grab it away from us.… Read the rest

Just another woman.

A serving police community support officer whose body was found in woodland died from “significant head injuries”, police said.

The body of Julia James, 53, was found in Akholt Wood, Snowdown, near Dover, on Tuesday.

…

Ms James, whose body was found a few hundred yards from her house, had been taking her dog for a walk when she was killed. The pet was found unharmed at the scene.

…

Ms James joined the force as a PCSO in 2008 and had more recently been working with victims of domestic abuse while based in Canterbury.

Mr Richards said: “She was a hugely-devoted, passionate individual who was completely committed to serving the people of Kent.

But also … Read the rest

The UN points out that the torrent of online threats and abuse aimed at women journalists is not a good thing.

The avalanche of misogynistic abuse and threats is not only damaging women working in media, it is also weaponised “to undercut public trust in critical journalism and facts in general”, a report commissioned by the UN’s cultural agency Unesco has found.

‘The Chilling: Global Trends in Online Violence Against Women Journalists” draws on interviews with 901 journalists from 125 countries. Journalists from diverse backgrounds faced particularly intense attacks, as misogyny mixed with racism, homophobia, religious bigotry and other forms of discrimination, the report found. “Online violence against women journalists is designed to belittle, humiliate, and shame; induce fear,

… Read the rest

Okay then! There are very tall men, therefore it’s fine for men to compete against women in women’s sports. We can all go home now.

A few examples of widely accepted physical differences in sports. pic.twitter.com/tiVKT4SxKs

— ❤️ Jameela Jamil ❤️ She/Her ❤️ (@jameelajamil) May 2, 2021

… Read the rest

Rachel Cooke at the Guardian talks to David Bell:

Bell, a distinguished psychiatrist and practising psychoanalyst, is the doctor who in 2018 wrote a controversial report about the activities of the gender identity development service (GIDS), a clinic at the Tavistock and Portman NHS foundation trust in north London, where he worked in adult services from 1995 until his retirement earlier this year.

That’s the one that Keira Bell sued.

(The Tavistock is to appeal; the case will be heard in June. David Bell will be what is technically called an intervenor in the appeal, which means he can give evidence.)

Bell’s report anticipated the concerns of the high court and he feels vindicated by its judgment. “It was

… Read the rest

Lest we forget –

The administration of former President Donald Trump obstructed an investigation looking into why officials withheld about $20 billion in hurricane relief for Puerto Rico following the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, one of the deadliest U.S. natural disasters in over 100 years, a new report says.

Or to put it another way, the Trump administration withheld about $20 billion in desperately needed hurricane relief for Puerto Rico and then obstructed an investigation into this brutal theft.

The Trump administration’s OMB also insisted on overhauls to Puerto Rico’s property management records, suspension of its minimum wage on federal contracts and other prerequisites to access relief funds, according to the report. Some HUD officials worried such

… Read the rest

As Skeletor mentioned in Miscellany Room, Caitlyn Jenner got something right for a change.

I didn’t expect to get asked this on my Saturday morning coffee run, but I’m clear about where I stand. It’s an issue of fairness and we need to protect girls’ sports in our schools.https://t.co/YODLDQ3csP

— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) May 1, 2021

Guess who doesn’t approve.

They didn't stop you smashing your opponent's skull in the cage, Fox. Then you bragged about it. Well done for generating TERFs with that horrible tweet. The internet never forgets.

— Scattergrains (@scattergrains) May 1, 2021

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on What comfortable looks like.

And it isn’t resolved by transferring the problem to GC feminists, and attacking them as the enemy. They are the ones with the most understanding of the real problem, because we feel it ourselves. We live with it every day, and somehow manage without cutting off healthy parts, changing our name or our pronouns, or adopting the stereotypical image of the opposite sex.

It’s amazing how allegedly progressive people and organizations have bought into gender ideology, which is irredemably regressive and reactionary. Gender critical feminists are actually fighting the real war.

In the eyes of trans activists, GC feminists are the enemy, and for good reason. … Read the rest

Another crack in the dam.

The word "breasts" is not mentioned here. Nor "masectomy".
Major surgery is being promoted to young women all over the world as a route to liberation ("a freeing freeing experience") while medical, anatomical reality vanishes into euphemismhttps://t.co/G6mbbi28La

— Susanna Rustin (@SusannaRustin) May 1, 2021

Exactly.

But this glossy Hollywood promotion of a "having your breasts removed could save your life" narrative (with children's lives referenced explicitly) is disturbing.
What I see (among other things) is capital looking for places to flow and finding human bodies =natural resources

— Susanna Rustin (@SusannaRustin) May 1, 2021

Very damn disturbing indeed.

The thread is all the more encouraging when you see that Rustin is a leader writer … Read the rest

I didn’t know the Australian PM is an evangelical.

Scott Morrison has asked a national conference of Christian churches to help him help Australia, while revealing his belief that he and his wife, Jenny, have been called upon to do God’s work.

In video that has emerged of the prime minister speaking at the Australian Christian Churches conference on the Gold Coast last week, Morrison also revealed that he had sought a sign from God while on the 2019 election campaign trail, and that he had practised the evangelical tradition of the “laying-on of hands” while working in the role of prime minister.

He also describes the misuse of social media as the work of “the evil one”, in

… Read the rest

On Any Questions yesterday, starting at 33:50 minutes, a caller named Arthur asked “What is a woman?”

Jackie Baillie, Labour, starts with “I’m supportive of the Gender Recognition Act,” then says she recognizes “there are women who will identify as being a women based on their sex”

Ok let’s pause there – that’s a “recognize” too many. Women don’t “identify as being women based on their sex.” They just are women. Women are women, based on their sex. Sticking the I-word in there adds nothing but confusion.

She continues “and there are trans people whooo you know may be born as a different gender who will identify as women and I think we should demedicalize the process and enable … Read the rest

How the headline looks on the BBC front page:

Whoever is in charge of that front page is sending a signal. Nicely done.… Read the rest

The BBC solemnly reports on “Elliot” Page’s conversation with Oprah Winfrey.

Elliot Page says having transition surgery has been a “life-saving” experience.

So what the BBC is doing here is promoting the idea that getting your healthy breasts cut off can be life-saving. That is, the BBC is encouraging girls and women to think it can be good to get your healthy breasts cut off. Why is the BBC doing that?

The Canadian-born actor, 34, said having top surgery had allowed him to “feel comfortable in my body for probably the first time”.

And why is the BBC calling it “top surgery”? Why is the BBC, a grown-up institution, using baby talk for amputation of healthy breasts? There’s no … Read the rest