The state of this.

https://twitter.com/Docstockk/status/1346786606217392130

Just look at that. Now they’re hunting around to check on WHAT COMMONISST FAGGOT TRAITOR TERF has failed to sign. They’re drawing up A List of People Who Need To Have Signed Because We Suspect Them and then checking the list name by name – have YOU signed the letter Condemning The Witch? And have you, and you, and you?

And, as many have pointed out, it’s pretty striking to see a philosophy academic call it “fussy” to think the facts claimed in the letter attacking a woman and a colleague should be accurate.… Read the rest

It’s knife-edge, but for now…Warnock won and Ossoff is claiming the win.

Democrat Jon Ossoff — who as of 9 a.m. ET Wednesday leads Republican David Perdue by about 16,000 votes in the Georgia runoff that could give Democrats control of the U.S. Senate — claimed victory Wednesday. The Associated Press, which NPR relies on for its results, has not yet called the contest.

Perdue hasn’t conceded.

Tentative celebrations.… Read the rest

1/5/2021- Good Luck! #FairFightAction #GeorgiaRunoff #GeorgiaSenateElections #StaceyAbrams #RaphaelWarnock #JonOssoff #KellyLoeffler #DavidPerdue https://t.co/Mvqjvbc1lT pic.twitter.com/WGMX0xLqSK

— Clay Bennett (@BennettCartoons) January 4, 2021

… Read the rest

A man redefining feminism for us, in such a way that it includes him and doesn’t include feminist women.

femalism, n. aka: terfism, gender critical feminism, transphobia.

Femalism is the belief that women’s rights should be apportioned by anatomical assessment. Opposed to feminism, which derives women’s rights from social/historical realities.

— Prof. Grace Lavery (@graceelavery) January 5, 2021

As if the social/historical realities had nothing to do with the physical (and, yes, anatomical) ones.… Read the rest

Always the same slogans where an argument should be, always the childish catastrophizing. It’s not cute when Trump does it, why would it be cute when trans activists do it?

https://twitter.com/kylothomas/status/1346479084377784321

I would love to know exactly how kylo knows she/he suffers violence “as a direct result of Stock’s arguments.” How would someone know that? I suppose the violence-source could shout Stock’s name while punching, but that seems pretty god damn unlikely, and short of that – what?

Nothing, which is why it’s wise to be careful about saying things like that, i.e. it’s wise to NOT SAY THEM. It’s stupid, it’s catastrophizing, it’s obviously not something a person could know. Saying it while claiming to be philosophy-backgrounded is a … Read the rest

The Seattle National Weather Service people get great photos, on account of how their building is a few yards away from Lake Washington (which is the eastern boundary of Seattle).

https://twitter.com/NWSSeattle/status/1346490475931258880

For those of you who were not awake earlier we give you the 1st colorful sunrise of 2021. Hello Mount Rainier! A real smorgasbord of atmospheric features, lenticular clouds, sun pillar and crepuscular rays. Reality check…rain returns later today. #wawx #sunrise #seattle pic.twitter.com/CUOeyv8LSm

— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) January 5, 2021

… Read the rest

Oh dear. As many people predicted but Trump apparently forgot to consider, he can’t go bopping off to Scotland for some golf because there’s a wee pandemic on.

US President Donald Trump — just like anyone from outside the country — would not be welcome in Scotland at the moment due to coronavirus-related restrictions, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Tuesday.

Sturgeon was asked during a news conference about unconfirmed Scottish media speculation that Trump could be planning a trip to one of his golf courses in Scotland around the time of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20.

The White House is very indignant over these tyrannical rumors.

“Anonymous sources who claim to know what the President

… Read the rest

Misogynist philosophy bro strikes again.

A open statement regarding transphobia in philosophy.https://t.co/lLjrSFe3t6

— Jonathan Ichikawa (@jichikawa) January 5, 2021

Womanphobia on the other hand will be firmly ignored on pain of further punishment from Jonathan Ichikawa.

The Letter:

We are professional academic philosophers committed to the inclusion and acceptance of trans and gender non-conforming people, both in the public at large, and within philosophy in particular. We write to affirm our commitment to developing a more inclusive environment, disavowing the use of professional and cultural authority to further gendered oppression.

So we’re supposed to think that feminist women are “using professional and cultural authority to further gendered oppression.” Meaning what? Feminist women are bullying men? That’s what he’s saying?… Read the rest

Interesting…

The murk surrounding Donald Trump’s likely whereabouts on his last day as president has thickened considerably with news that an official plane he has used in the past is due to fly to Scotland the day before Joe Biden’s inauguration.

…

Scotland’s Sunday Post has reported that Prestwick airport, near Trump’s Turnberry golf course resort, has been told to expect a US military Boeing 757 that has occasionally been used by Trump, on 19 January.

He’s more than stupid enough to think he’ll be able to order up the plane again a few days or weeks later. He’s also more than stupid enough to think rules about travel during the pandemic don’t apply to him. … Read the rest

O…..kay.

"If we have a Democratically-controlled Senate, we're now basically at full-scale hot conflict in this country, whereas right now we're in a cold civil war" — @chiproytx https://t.co/VZ0H6jaoId

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 5, 2021

…the American people – regular people that are out there working every day, hard-working Americans – they’re getting trampled by a system that is rigged against them.

So it’s the Democrats who grind the faces of the poor, and the Republicans who have their interests at heart. (Mind you, the Democrats do very little more than Republicans to help working people, but that’s partly because they keep having to claw back a little of the ground Republicans have grabbed.)… Read the rest

The other day I saw a bit of the Mississippi Declaration of Secession, and stared with the usual surprise. The things people can convince themselves of: they surprise me.

Let’s see:

In the momentous step which our State has taken of dissolving its connection with the government of which we so long formed a part, it is but just that we should declare the prominent reasons which have induced our course.

Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery– the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical

… Read the rest

https://twitter.com/tibby17/status/1346179829734002688… Read the rest

Another step into the sunshine of utopia: we now get to know what pronouns courtroom lawyers “use.” Well, we don’t, but the lucky people of British Columbia do.

In an effort to be more inclusive of transgender people, the Provincial Court of B.C. has created a new policy asking lawyers to provide pronouns when introducing themselves and their clients in court.

While some lawyers have already started including pronouns in their introductions, the court will now expect everyone to share how they wish to be referred to.

In a press release, the provincial court provided an example of such an introduction: “My name is Ms. Jane Lee, spelled L-E-E. I use she/her pronouns. I am the lawyer for Mx.

… Read the rest

Hindu nationalists are still trying to bully the much-admired historian Romila Thapar.

Romila Thapar is the preeminent historian of ancient India, an octogenarian feted the world over for her scholarship excavating answers to questions at the heart of the country’s past. She holds honorary doctorates from top universities including Oxford, is the recipient of the Kluge Prize — akin to the Nobel in social sciences — and has lectured at colleges across the world.

All this makes her a fine target for religious fanatics.

At the age of 89, Thapar is the subject of attacks by supporters of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, who view her as an opponent to be discredited.

“In the early days, I used

… Read the rest

Yo FBI listen up.

The President, in a phone call with GA Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, appeared to solicit election fraud by asking him to “find 11,780 votes.” Our letter with @RepKathleenRice making a criminal referral to @FBI Director Wray to open an investigation: pic.twitter.com/9FZeVKN07Y

— Rep. Ted Lieu (@RepTedLieu) January 4, 2021

… Read the rest

Well then.

New – Statement from new Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis on Trump/Raffensperger pic.twitter.com/9AWJQYc5yV

— Justin Gray (@JustinGrayWSB) January 4, 2021

A felony violation of Georgia law, she says (to underline the obvious). State crime. State crime=not federal crime. Trump can’t pardon himself out of this even if he does try the self-pardon thing (the legality of which is a matter of dispute).

And…you know…it’s not as if this is some triviality. It’s actually very non-trivial. He committed the felony in aid of trying to steal an election.… Read the rest

This is amusing:

The blockbot that blocks all the terven:

The column farthest to the right is followers. You can see that Keir Starmer and the Labour Party have quite a few.… Read the rest

Did Trump break the law by making that call? Well, yes, but don’t go getting any wild ideas that he’ll be charged.

“It seems to me like what he did clearly violates Georgia statutes,” said Leigh Ann Webster, an Atlanta criminal defense lawyer, citing a state law that makes it illegal for anyone who “solicits, requests, commands, importunes or otherwise attempts to cause the other person to engage” in election fraud.

Which is what he did; we heard him do it.

But the meandering nature of the phone call and the fact that the president made no apparent attempt to conceal his actions as other call participants listened could allow Mr. Trump to argue that he did not intend to

… Read the rest

Oh good, Ichikawa the Good has a new Open Letter in the works. Of course he does.

Dear philosophers, it’s a disgrace that Stock got an honour, we must support our darling beloved fragile trans siblings at all costs and drive transphobic philosophers out of the profession entirely, yours, Jon the Pious.

https://twitter.com/Docstockk/status/1345775629485092864

I know, that’s why I said what a patronizing self-important smug goon he is here, instead.

https://twitter.com/Docstockk/status/1345773414922014721

It seems to be pretty normal for Jonathan Ichigawa at least. His level of smugness would break the smugness meter if there were such a thing.

Brian Leiter calls him smarmy.

Professor Antony Duff (emeritus, Stirling), a distinguished philosopher of law, sent me the letter, with this apt observation:

… Read the rest

This again. Yet again. No, dude, it’s not your call. We don’t need your permission. You’re not the boss of us.

This is your periodic reminder, in case anyone still needs reminding, that feminist philosophers (like feminists generally) are trans-inclusive.

Recent trans-exclusionary discourse attempts to co-opt the feminist label, but is discontinuous with real feminism

(Thread from 2019) https://t.co/8ZBRp4MLWO

— Jonathan Ichikawa (@jichikawa) January 3, 2021

Feminism has nothing to do with being trans, so there is zero reason for feminism to be “trans-inclusive.” If the claim being smuggled in is that feminism has to “include” men who identify as women in feminism then it’s obviously bullshit, because feminism doesn’t have to “include” men any more than BLM has to … Read the rest