Georgia is still busy suppressing that pesky black vote.

Georgia’s state House passed a bill this week that includes several measures that restrict voting access, including a ban on automatic voter registration, a limit on Sunday early voting days and ballot drop boxes, and a number of restrictions and ID requirements for absentee voting. The bills come after former President Donald Trump made baseless claims of a rigged 2020 election, saying there had been widespread voter fraud in Georgia.

It also comes after the terrible Supreme Court ruling in Shelby.

In a 5-4 vote, the court struck down a formula at the heart of the Voting Rights Act, the landmark 1965 law that required certain states and localities

Happy International Genders Day.

President Biden marked International Women’s Day on Monday by signing two executive orders geared toward promoting gender equity, both in the United States and around the world.

In a statement, Biden said: “In our nation, as in all nations, women have fought for justice, shattered barriers, built and sustained economies, carried communities through times of crisis, and served with dignity and resolve. Too often, they have done so while being denied the freedom, full participation, and equal opportunity all women are due.”

With you so far.

The first executive order establishes a Gender Policy Council within the White House, reformulating an office from the Obama administration that was later disbanded by the Trump administration, and

In observance of International Women’s Day…… Read the rest

Julie Bindel tells us:

At the Green party spring conference this weekend, a motion which sought to introduce a party policy on women’s sex-based rights was defeated. A whopping 289 delegates (out of 521) voted to not include biological females in the party’s list of oppressed groups.

All the motion aimed to do was simply add a paragraph to the Green party’s ‘Our Rights and Responsibilities Policy’. The motion reads:

‘This is to include the protected characteristic of sex as currently our Record of Policy statements supports the other eight characteristics (age, disability, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, race, maternity, religion/belief, marriage/civil partnership) but not that of sex discrimination – aimed primarily at women…’

The motion was opposed because, in

Today, as part of the protest for the international women's day I joined along with the women of @l_amazone_ the brave survivors of CAPP (the collective for the abolition of pornography and prostitution). There were about 15 of us. https://t.co/4vzc4XrCWJ

— narfem (@radfmnst) March 7, 2021

"If your feminism profits pimps then it's not feminism", "If you promote prostitution as work then you're in the wrong side of history", "Porn prostitution is a war against women" etc. After, an activist tried to tear a banner calling a pro prostitution organization a pimp lobby.

— narfem (@radfmnst) March 7, 2021

https://twitter.com/radfmnst/status/1368679696687374336

The yelling went on and on, along with throwing things.

The ones amongst us who have their identities shown on

Andrew Sullivan has form.

I’m with the judge. Calling trans females “male” is pointlessly offensive. “Trans female” is more accurate. Why does the opposition have to be so callous and hurtful? Their case remains solid without any hurtful slurs. https://t.co/s90joPCEuE

— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) May 11, 2020

It’s not “pointless” to call male athletes who are displacing female athletes in female competitions “male,” because that’s what they are and because it gives them an advantage over females that everyone used to know was in fact an advantage. It’s not some random thing to call them, it’s the whole issue, and it’s certainly not pointless, it is exactly the point.

And it’s not “offensive” unless you buy into the whole silly … Read the rest

Andrew Sullivan catches it and then drops it.

We are being asked to believe that this is a fair competition. It may be the right thing to do, but it isn’t fair. https://t.co/LT8NRLiMYJ

— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) March 6, 2021

Lots of people are telling him that it can’t be the right thing to do if it isn’t fair, which I agree with but think misses his point. He’s not so dim as to be unaware of the paradox in his claim. There can be necessities that are nevertheless unfair to someone.

But having said that, I still find it annoying that he says it may be the right thing to do, because…come on. A guy’s desire to compete against … Read the rest

It was Sex Week at Ohio State University last month! We missed it!

It was under the umbrella of the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Department.

What is that about? Why are women and sexuality lumped together? Do men have nothing to do with sexuality? It’s hard not to conclude that the lumping together is because women are the consumer good, rather than because men have nothing to do with sexuality. It’s like this, see: when people (i.e. men) think about women they think about sex, so the two go together as an academic department. What non-people (i.e. women) think about when they think about men is of no interest or importance. Disciplines are organized according to what men think about, … Read the rest

Cage fight.

There’s an ambiguity in there, which Dawkins corrects with the first two words of his second sentence. “Science” refers to the human discipline and also to the realities it uncovers. Gorski assumes Dawkins is talking about the first, but that requires him to ignore the “Science’s truths” bit. Perhaps because…

No, he meant science. Anti-woke ideology and criticisms of some science as being biased due to racism, misogyny, etc. have rotted his brain. I suspect he's posting this in response to transgender science.

— David Gorski, MD, PhD (@gorskon) March 7, 2021

So is transgender science the socially constructed kind or the “scientific facts” kind?

Dawkins did clear it up, while (characteristically) claiming it was OBVIOUS what … Read the rest

Wut?

Medical student pushed for and succeeded in getting clerkship directors to replace 'women' with 'gender-inclusive language'….. in an OBGYN course… pic.twitter.com/aSeQuHBoaM

— Amanda (@AmandaLuvsRoses) March 6, 2021

Well I certainly hope they decided to stop calling it OBGYN, given what the GYN stands for. Filthy business, filthy. (I actually once knew someone who considered “gynecologist” a dirty word. This panic-loathing around all things female comes from somewhere.)

So…

The old version starts with “This 4-week clerkship emphasizes health care for women…”; the second replaces that with “This 4-week clerkship emphasizes sexual and reproductive care…”

The word “women” is gone. Sabina Spigner is “stoked” to have gotten the word “women” removed from a course description for OBGYN students. Stoked… Read the rest

Bully plans to go all the way from Florida to Alaska, without Air Force One at his disposal, in order to bully a woman he doesn’t like.

Trump is making official his plans to target Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, vowing to travel to Alaska to campaign against her ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

Campaign against her meaning what? Running for the senate? Or just throwing his weight around.

In a statement to POLITICO on Saturday, Trump said: “I will not be endorsing, under any circumstances, the failed candidate from the great State of Alaska, Lisa Murkowski. She represents her state badly and her country even worse. I do not know where other people will be next year, but

Trump says images of him belong to HIM. Get your dirty mitts off them.

Donald Trump has told the Republican National Committee and other party bodies to stop using his name and likeness in fundraising efforts, it was reported on Saturday.

“President Trump remains committed to the Republican party and electing America First conservatives,” Politico quoted an unnamed adviser to the former president as saying about the legal cease-and-desist notice, “but that doesn’t give anyone – friend or foe – permission to use his likeness without explicit approval.”

Wrong! Anybody can use images of him without his permission unless he has copyright.

Spiteful little fucker isn’t he.… Read the rest

Relief bill passed.

Joe Biden hailed “one more giant step forward on delivering on that promise that help is on the way”, after Democrats took a critical step towards a first major legislative victory since assuming control of Congress and the White House, with a party-line vote in the Senate to approve a $1.9tn coronavirus relief bill.

One senator was able to see to it that unemployed people would be kept poorer.

The marathon “vote-a-rama” session that preceded the final Senate vote featured the longest recorded vote in Senate history, just shy of 12 hours, on Friday, as Democrats scrambled to strike a deal with Manchin, a moderate who mounted a last-minute push to scale back unemployment benefits.

Bowing

BREAKING & EXCLUSIVE: I’ve published Stonewall’s complaint about me in full, along with my detailed rebuttal. Understand what was done & what is at stake.

The trial is less than 12 weeks away.

Please continue to donate.

Thank you!https://t.co/YFHx3vTD0a

— Allison Bailey (@BluskyeAllison) March 6, 2021

That very first sentence is pretty astounding. What does it even mean to say “I am contacting you within my role as head of trans inclusion at Stonewall”? What does some “role” at some political organization have to do with sending peremptory bossy complaints about what one woman says on Twitter to her employer?

Has there ever been any organization that could do that on behalf of women?

Perhaps it’s just a racket, … Read the rest

Allison Bailey today made public the complaint that Stonewall sent to her chambers.

Plain evidence of Stonewall trying to have a black, lesbian barrister sanctioned by her employer for defending the rights of women and lesbians. This is why feminists and advocates of civil liberties find Stonewall's close relationships with employers chilling. https://t.co/HwCSViucW8 pic.twitter.com/0RvEhlSobA

— Professor Alice Sullivan (@ProfAliceS) March 6, 2021

https://twitter.com/Docstockk/status/1368120654466322432 https://twitter.com/jan_skelton/status/1368137697315983362 … Read the rest

Uh oh. A foot wrongly placed.

Prominent and young trans activist Katy Montgomerie has been denounced as a 'transphobe' by even younger trans activists for stating that genitals play a role in most people's sexual attraction and it might not be possible to teach, for example a lesbian, to be attracted to a man pic.twitter.com/zYgRFXosJz

— ripx4nutmeg (@ripx4nutmeg) March 5, 2021

Who doesn’t know that sexual attraction is based on chemical reactions as opposed to weird irrelevant shit like bodies and faces and genitals and chest-ornaments? Nobody pays any attention to bodies and faces and genitals and chest-ornaments. What a warped medieval idea.

Repent!

The 'clarification' isn't related to what Katy originally tweeted!

— ripx4nutmeg (@ripx4nutmeg) March 5, 2021

It’s … Read the rest

NPR should be better than this.

Detransition narratives are often weaponized against trans people. Torrey Peters says it’s time for trans people to reclaim them.

Listen to her chat with Sam Sanders on @NPRItsBeenaMin ➡️ https://t.co/BCy2xsvU4q pic.twitter.com/JSJ01MUEZl

— NPR (@NPR) March 4, 2021

“Detransition narratives” they say – but I bet they don’t talk about “transition narratives.” I bet their internal editor would tell them “that’s transphobic!!!” before they even finished typing it. Detransition is a fairy tale, but transition is glorious and healthy and never fails to make everything perfect.

In short, NPR has decided that trying to “change sex” is a good and wise thing to do, and that being skeptical of that view is evil and forbidden. … Read the rest

We don’t seem to be very good at learning, in the US. The fact that the number of new cases has fallen from a peak is not the same as PANDEMIC IS OVER EVERYONE JUMP INTO THE POOL AGAIN.

Public health experts encouraged Americans to continue social distancing and wearing masks at a potentially critical inflection point in the pandemic – one in which highly effective vaccines could provide relief, but fervor [eagerness] to reopen public life could unintentionally spread new Covid-19 variants.

The warnings come the same week Texas and Mississippi flung open the doors to normal social life in their states.

No doors should be flung open yet. Not even close.

Coronavirus cases have declined across much

Bolsonaro to the people of Brazil: suck it up!

The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has triggered a wave of revulsion by telling citizens to stop “whining” about a coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 260,000 people.

The far-right populist made the inflammatory declaration on Thursday, as Brazil’s already dire Covid situation deteriorated and its average daily death toll rose above that of the United States.

“Stop all this fussing and whining. How long are you going to keep on crying?” Bolsonaro asked supporters in the midwestern state of Goiás, where nearly 9,000 people have died.

What’s there to fuss and whine about after all? Hospitals overrun, nurses and doctors stretched beyond the limit, people suffering – who cares?… Read the rest

Getting closer.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Thursday that it has arrested Federico Klein, one of former President Donald Trump’s appointees to the U.S. Department of State, for his alleged role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Klein, 42, was picked up by federal agents in Virginia, according to a spokesperson for the FBI’s field office in Washington, D.C. Court documents obtained by ABC News show Klein has been charged with assaulting federal law enforcement personnel during the deadly riot earlier this year.

Gee I thought Trump and his people were big fans of law enforcement.

Charging documents filed Tuesday in federal district court in Washington, D.C., accuse Klein of taking part in one of