It’s ok, the asteroid won’t hit for at least a century. Of course if you have descendants you might be worried for their descendants, but…sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof, I guess.

Earthlings can breathe a sigh of relief after US space agency Nasa confirmed the planet was “safe” from a once-feared asteroid for the next 100 years at least.

…

“A 2068 impact is not in the realm of possibility any more, and our calculations don’t show any impact risk for at least the next 100 years,” Davide Farnocchia, a scientist who studies near-Earth objects for Nasa, said in a statement on Friday.

It waved from a distance recently.

The asteroid recently made a distant

This is just straight up a lie.

BREAKING: Tennessee Governor Lee just signed a bill banning trans kids from playing sports.

We’ll see them in court.

— ACLU (@ACLU) March 26, 2021

Of course he didn’t.

CNN reports:

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a transgender sports bill into law Friday requiring students to prove their sex at birth in order to play in middle and high school sports.

The bill states that “a student’s gender for purposes of participation in a public middle school or high school interscholastic athletic activity or event be determined by the student’s sex at the time of the student’s birth, as indicated on the student’s original birth certificate.”

Students must show proof of their

Will Bunch at The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Sometimes America’s legacy of white supremacy is hiding in plain sight, literally. When Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a hastily passed voter suppression law that many are calling the new, new Jim Crow on Thursday night, surrounded by a half-dozen white men, he did so in front of a painting of a plantation where more than 100 Black people had been enslaved.

The fitting symbolism is somehow both shocking and unsurprising. In using the antebellum image of the notorious Callaway Plantation — in a region where enslaved Black people seeking freedom were hunted with hounds — in Wilkes County, Ga., as the backdrop for signing a bill that would make it a crime

Hadley Freeman writes:

A recent YouGov survey found that 86% of women aged 18-24 in the UK have been sexually harassed. This statistic shocked me: did the other 14% not understand the question? To live in fear of harassment or assault is such a universal female experience that many of us don’t even think about it, having learned to accept it from an absurdly early age. It doesn’t break you but it shapes you, like a rock face getting battered by strong waves.

She provides ten examples from her own life.

Aged seven: my friends and I are in the park when a bush next to us trembles. A man climbs out holding his penis towards us, as if

If it’s not a felony, the arrest is facially unconstitutional.

Here's my major question. A magistrate judge in Fulton County apparently found probable cause to believe that this would be Rep. Cannon's third conviction for disrupting the General Assembly.

Is that true?

And if not, will there be false statement charges brought? pic.twitter.com/WbwwcPAO5P

— Andrew Fleischman (@ASFleischman) March 26, 2021

Here's the punishment part of the code section. If it's not a felony, the arrest is facially unconstitutional.

This is something that someone needs to investigate. https://t.co/Frl3BR2hbf pic.twitter.com/z9xt6ab19I

— Andrew Fleischman (@ASFleischman) March 26, 2021

Oddly enough, I don't see any prior arrests for Rep. Park for interference with the General Assembly.

The judge and the officer swearing to the

Voter suppression is riding high.

Georgia state Rep. Park Cannon was arrested on Thursday and charged with felony obstruction as Georgia’s Gov. Brian Kemp signed a controversial new voting reform bill into law.

Cannon was detained after knocking on Kemp’s door.

Kemp, a Republican, was announcing the signing of the bill over a live stream when he was interrupted by Cannon, a Democrat. Cannon’s arrest was also captured during a live stream, as the lawmaker was joined by others who came to the state Capitol in Atlanta to protest the bill.

This kind of shit is what the Voting Rights Act was meant to stop, but since the Supreme Court kneecapped it we’re going backwards.

“Why are you

Cohesion, we must have cohesion. All that means is that everybody has to agree about everything. Simple!

On Thursday, protests erupted over claims a teacher had shown a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad to pupils at Batley grammar school and now there are fears the row could be hijacked by extremists on both sides.

…

Outside the gates of the school, Hassan Mahmood said the protest was about educating people and raising awareness with the hope of increased community cohesion. “This is about generating that positive awareness so that there’s no sort of untoward reaction and there’s no disruption or disharmony in the community,” he said.

Mahmood explained that the issue centred on the potential impact on children, especially

The students at Batley Grammar have better sense than the adults outside the gates.

Students at #BatleyGrammar have started a petition to support their teacher. #BatleySchool pupils want their teacher reinstated. #Batley #JeSuisCharliehttps://t.co/LluiXTVQ1X

— Ex-Muslims of North America (@ExmuslimsOrg) March 26, 2021

Teacher facing death threats for 'showing Prophet Mohammed cartoons to students' was whisked away from home https://t.co/kJgSgjdrYR

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) March 26, 2021

Death threats. The guy died 15 centuries ago, he doesn’t care what people say about him.

Many people are offended by many different things but if we used the criterion of offence alone to determine what teaching resources should be used, we would be in a constant quandary. The criteria for deciding

Originally a comment by Sastra on In a free society.

Back when New Atheism was a ‘thing,’ liberal believers and liberal atheists criticized it for being simply the flip side of religious fundamentalism. New Atheists were attacking people’s faith; New Atheists weren’t making the proper distinction between good religion and bad religion; and, worst of all, they were trying to get people to agree with them. Reasoned debate and rational persuasion on the truth and benefits of religion were lumped in with proselytizing and conversion. It was saying “I’m right and you’re wrong.” The unforgivable sin.

People have the right to be who they are.

A lot of conservative religionists were guilty of manipulative tactics and double standards when … Read the rest

Ah yes supermarkets, those hubs of progressive enlightenment. Pronouns are on sale this week.

A Sainsbury’s supermarket in Edinburgh has introduced pronoun name badges for staff to avoid misgendering staff members.

Meaning…so that staff won’t “misgender” colleagues? Or so that everyone, including customers, will avoid doing that murderous thing? The wording is clumsily ambiguous.

Workers at the Murrayfield supermarket have been wearing tags that declare their preferred gender pronouns, such as she/her or they/them.

Managers and cis colleagues have also been adding their pronouns to their badges to show solidarity to the LGBTQ+ community.

Cis colleagues? What does that mean? Are there trans colleagues there too? People who identify as Sainsbury’s staff but don’t actually get paid?

I think … Read the rest

Much as I hate to agree with a Tory…

Protests outside a school where pupils were shown a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad are “deeply unsettling”, a government minister has said.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said teachers should be able to “appropriately show images of the prophet” in class.

In other words religion is a subject as well as a practice. Comparative religion can be taught in schools, and schools should be able to teach it without protests and complaints and teachers getting suspended.

Mr Jenrick called for the “deeply unsettling” scenes outside the school to “come to an end”.

“In a free society we want religions to be taught to children and for children to be able to

Oh goody another Motoon uproar. That should be enlightening.

A teacher who showed pupils an “inappropriate” cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad – sparking protests outside a school – has been suspended.

Classic BBC – it always does this, as does the Guardian. The teacher did not “spark” protests outside the school; some people decided to protest outside the school. The BBC loves to sneak the blame in that way.

The image depicting the founder of Islam was used in a lesson at Batley Grammar School on Monday.

…

Head teacher Gary Kibble apologised “unequivocally”, adding the member of staff had “given their most sincere apologies” and been suspended pending an investigation.

“We have immediately withdrawn teaching on this part

Originally a comment by Freeminder on Stuck.

I served as a Deck Officer on containerships (usually known as ‘boxboats’) for several years.

Evergreen, as a shipping line, was, and still is, regarded as a menace on the high seas. I saw an Evergreen ship run aground just outside Port Suez about twenty years ago, amongst other mishaps. The Evergreen ships were blatant in their recklessness: cutting across shipping lanes, ignoring the ‘Rules of the Road’ and even cutting through prohibited areas to save time. Sometimes we wondered if there was anyone on watch on the bridge…several times we had to alter course to avoid collisions, even when we had right of way or arrived at the pilot station on … Read the rest

Ari Berman at Mother Jones:

During the 2020 election cycle in Georgia, Donald Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state. His efforts to manipulate the electoral process failed after Raffensperger stood up to the president and defended the integrity of the election. But if the Georgia legislature has its way, Republicans could have a much easier time overturning the will of voters in future elections. 

The Georgia House of Representatives passed a major power grab on Thursday on a party-line vote that would remove Raffensperger as the chair and a voting member of the state election board, which oversees the certification of elections and

More from Ari Berman (who wrote the book on the subject).

"The Georgia bill, one of 250+ bills being considered by GOP in 43 states that would make it harder to vote, was passed one day after Mitch McConnell claimed in a Senate hearing that "states are not engaging in efforts to suppress voters whatsoever'"https://t.co/wn070q1yck

— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) March 26, 2021

This is happening on 56th anniversary of Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights & murder of civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo. History repeating itself in all the wrong ways

— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) March 25, 2021

Watching the clip did give me a horrific “is this 1964 again?? are we really going back there???” feeling.

"The

This is dreadful. Brian Kemp just signed Georgia’s filthy new voter suppression law, and the cops arrested a state representative – Dem AND BLACK of course – for trying to observe the signing. Watch the clip and be horrified.

This is insane: Georgia Dem rep @Cannonfor58 was arrested for trying to watch Brian Kemp sign new voter suppression bill. Look at how she is treated by police. This is straight out of Jim Crow pic.twitter.com/zRpMWumbkQ

— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) March 25, 2021

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Pliny on Stuck.

WooHOO!, a discussion about ships, something this old salt can contribute to. Carbon footprint wise, it’s hard to compete with these giants on an emissions per cargo ton carried level. They are extremely efficient which is why there has been a move to larger and larger ships – fewer sailors and lowered fuel costs per ton. Remember, the construction and operating costs of these ships pencils out in a global marketplace. It’s part of the reason you can buy less expensive goods manufactured overseas.

If you want to rail against emissions, it’s better to go after interstate trucking in the USA. Compared to rail transport, semis double the carbon footprint per ton … Read the rest

There’s this

And, in reply, there’s this

My statement, in full, regarding the egregious Alliance Against Tortoises. pic.twitter.com/mlJSOEMYqZ

— James Dreyfus (@DreyfusJames) March 25, 2021

… Read the rest

Lindsay Crouse of the New York Times “produced the Emmy nominated Opinion Video series “Equal Play,” which brought widespread reform to women’s sports.”

Now, however…

This year, lawmakers in more than 20 states have introduced legislation to ban transgender kids from girls’ sports, under the guise of protecting women and girls. Bills have already passed in Mississippi and Idaho.

Not “transgender kids” but boys. The issue, as I’m sure she knows, is boys playing on girls’ teams.

The cause is catching on: One recent Politico poll found that 46 percent of women support a ban on transgender athletes (as do 43 percent of young adults born since 1997).

Again: not a ban on transgender athletes, a ban … Read the rest

Shocker: the fact that women are held in contempt probably has something to do with why they are paid less.

Workplaces, homes and institutions continue to hold attitudes towards women that “devalues and discriminates against” them, exacerbating a gender pay gap that is unlikely to close for another 26 years, according to an author of a report on workplace equality published on Friday.

…

The report found that while some organisations have embraced change, in others there was “gender apathy”. “This ‘gender apathy’ has acted to slow the overall pace of change,” the report said.

Along with “gender excitement” over trans women. Women, yawn; pretend women, thrilling!

Cultural change was essential to change this apathy, Cassells said.