If you’re a Texas senator now seems like the ideal time to take a nice warm vacation. It will cheer up all those forlorn people in your state who are struggling with a power outage and subfreezing temperatures.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz traveled to Mexico on Wednesday for a family vacation as his home state struggled with a powerful winter storm that left many residents without power or safe drinking water.

The high-profile Republican lawmaker went for a long-planned trip to Cancun and was expected to return almost immediately, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private conversations.

If you’re going to return almost immediately, why waste … Read the rest

A friend wrote on Facebook:

I’ve been pondering Rush Limbaugh all day. I’ve read many postings from my friends and many tweets from strangers. I don’t have any sort of hate for Rush (although I honestly did, some years ago). There are some things that I’d like to say about him, however.

We should note that Rush Limbaugh, about whose death many honestly good people (and some not-so-good) are admonishing others not to celebrate, for various good (and some not-so-good) reasons: Rush Limbaugh said, upon hearing of the death of Jerry Garcia of “Grateful Dead” musical fame (who although certainly not an angel did spend his life mostly bringing happiness to a lot of people): “Just another dead doper. And … Read the rest

This doesn’t seem like something that ought to be taught in schools.

Grateful for the opportunity to join Equity Leaders from @a2schools & @AASAHQ school districts across the country today in equity learning – thank you @luvelleb & @64msherman pic.twitter.com/CtC2KCqEqP

— PK12SuperSwift (@PK12SuperSwift) February 13, 2021

There’s an expanded version.

Below is a list of characteristics of white supremacy culture which show up in our organizations. Culture is powerful precisely because it is so present and at the same time so very difficult to name or identify. The characteristics listed below are damaging because they are used as norms and standards without being pro-actively named or chosen by the group. They are damaging because they promote white supremacy thinking.

… Read the rest

Why did Texas’s power supply fall over as the temperatures plunged way below freezing? It was nothing to do with the Green New Deal, as fools have been claiming. Texas has its very own electrical grid.

The U.S. has three power grids: one covers the eastern U.S., another the western states and the Texas grid covers nearly the entire state.

It’s the LONE STAR state, see, it has to do everything itsown self.

“Utilities in Texas were smart and made an agreement that no one was going to extend power outside of Texas,” Donna Nelson, who served as chair of the state Public Utility Commission, which oversees ERCOT, from 2008 to 2017, said in an ERCOT promotional video about

… Read the rest

Kate Manne objects to telling men to learn to care about rape by thinking of their daughters.

But there are at least three things wrong with thinking of it in this way.

First off, it should not take a woman in general, or someone’s wife in particular, to persuade a man in Morrison’s position to take decisive action over a problem as serious as allegations of rape in his own workplace.

That we still have to try to make people care about these devastating allegations wreaks its own kind of trauma – the trauma of dealing with hostile indifference in the wake of such reported violence. Higgins spoke of her pain upon realising that, when it came to what happened,

… Read the rest

About an hour ago:

#nofgm sick of people coming to this thread and insert themselves by bringing Trans issues. Hear me clearly. I will not discuss trans issues. trans issues aren't mine. I am only for Women and girls. If you come to my page and talk about Trans issue. I will block you 100%

— hibo wardere (@HiboWardere) February 17, 2021

What kind of clueless pest would try to tell Hibo Wardere to pay attention to trans issues instead of female genital mutilation? I wondered, so I went looking, and in mere seconds found an answer.

#nofgm women and girls are slowly been erased. We are named as things with ovaries or chest feeding instead of breastfeeding. This world

… Read the rest

Rudy is reading the old love letters and crying.

Attorney Rudy Giuliani is “not currently” representing former President Donald Trump “in any legal matters,” Trump advisor Jason Miller said in a statement Tuesday, as the ex-president’s former personal lawyer faces multiple lawsuits against him for his role in Trump’s effort to overturn the presidential election results.

And this is the thanks he gets.

Lie down with dogs get up with fleas, pal. You knew what he is, and you chose to help him be it while having the power of the presidency.

Miller’s statement was in response to a lawsuit filed Tuesday against Trump, Giuliani and two far-right groups, which alleges the president and his lawyer violated the Ku

… Read the rest

Talk about not getting it…

Days after Japan’s Olympics chief was forced to resign over sexist comments, the ruling party has decided to invite women to attend key meetings – as long as they do not speak.

No, see, guys, this is just the same thing all over again. The “sexist comments” in question were of the “women talk too much” variety. Telling women not to talk is not a fix for that problem. The problem is not women talking, the problem is MEN HAVING A PROBLEM WITH WOMEN TALKING.

Talking is basic. We need talking. Talking is why we have all this, very much including items like the Olympics, ruling parties, meetings, Japan – all of that is … Read the rest

An outstanding interview on Fresh Air with a law professor who got a part-time volunteer job as a cop in DC. Bonus: she’s Barbara Ehrenreich’s daughter. Highly recommended.… Read the rest

https://twitter.com/KatyMontgomerie/status/1360895734757937152

Actually it’s literally objectively false that men do experience misogynistic sexism, on account of how the “gyn” bit means women, and men are men. Men don’t experience misogynistic sexism even if they are wearing dresses and crippling shoes.

https://twitter.com/KatyMontgomerie/status/1360980764377178114

It doesn’t happen, because he isn’t one. He doesn’t get “sexually assaulted for being a woman,” because he isn’t a woman. Of course he can “identify out of it,” because he’s not in it to begin with.

There’s something very very sick about this envy of and theft of misogyny and violence.

https://twitter.com/KatyMontgomerie/status/1360987669547876354

No. Misogynistic sexism and sexual violence don’t happen to trans women, because they are not women. Hostility and violence directed at trans women is not directed at … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Screechy Monkey at Miscellany Room.

Speaking only for myself, I have no opinion on whether or not Murphy is a bigot or got what she deserved. Certainly I’m aware of the skewed nature of the debate over trans issues and the casual accusations of transphobia; on the other hand, I haven’t scrutinized her writings enough to form an opinion.

For me, it’s just a sense that this kind of thing doesn’t belong in court. I won’t go so far as to say this was a frivolous lawsuit, but it was an utterly predictable and correct result in my opinion, as both a descriptive matter (current law pretty clearly precludes it) and a normative one (that … Read the rest

Suzanne Moore in The Telegraph:

I was a bit worried, I must admit, that I was doing this womanhood thing all wrong. For my whole life I haven’t really got the hang of it. There are many things that women are meant to be interested in: shopping, baking programmes, thrillers in which other women get tortured that leave me cold. Ditto: weddings, dating, baby showers, celebrity gossip about torsos with pouts.

And that’s just to start with.

But I shouldn’t have worried because the United Nations has come up with a new slogan and tweeted “There is no wrong way to be a woman. There is no wrong way to be a woman.” They actually said it seven times,

… Read the rest

This will annoy Trump too:

The US top infectious diseases expert, Anthony Fauci, has been awarded a prestigious $1m (£717,000) Israeli prize for his commitment to science.

Dr Fauci, who was often at odds with former President Trump over how to handle the pandemic, was given the Dan David Prize for “defending science”.

He was also praised for advocating for Covid vaccines, and for his leadership on HIV research and Aids relief.

Why will that annoy Trump? Because he will take it as a rebuke to him, probably correctly. Fauci’s most conspicuous defending of science over the past year was defending it from Trump.

He was recognised for “courageously defending science in the face of uninformed opposition during the challenging

… Read the rest

The lawsuits are piling up on Trump’s gilded Lawsuits Table.

Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson is suing former President Trump, Rudy Giuliani and two far-right groups — the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers — for allegedly conspiring to incite the deadly violence on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol.

The lawsuit, filed on Thompson’s behalf by the NAACP and the civil rights law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, accuses Trump and the other defendants of violating the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act by trying to interfere in Congress’ certification of the Electoral College count. The legislation was part of a series of Enforcement Acts at the time intended to protect the enfranchisement of Black citizens from violence and intimidation.

… Read the rest

Yo, family values!

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., is being shunned and scorned by relatives after voting to impeach Donald Trump, according to a letter published in The New York Times this week.

Eleven members of his family signed a letter lambasting him for his vote last month to impeach the then-president, who they defended as a Christian.

As a Christian?

Come on, Kinzingers…it’s not azza Christian you’re defending him, it’s azza brutal sadistic racist misogynist authoritarian. That would be true even if he were clearly a Christian in some sense, but since he obviously isn’t, it’s even more true. It’s true with bells on.

He’s not a Christian in the sense of church-going bible-reading rigid conservative, and he’s … Read the rest

What law is that exactly?

Sorry but TWAW is actually the law so no false equivalence at all.

— Christina McKelvie (@ChristinaSNP) February 15, 2021

What law=trans women are women? What kind of law would that even be? Laws are not statements of fact, they are laws. They don’t take the form “rabbits are shoes” “beech trees are teapots” “men are women.”

She’s an MSP ffs. You’d think she’d know what laws are.… Read the rest

A comrade.

https://twitter.com/FrancisWheen/status/1361449672229990401… Read the rest

Regular commenter Arcadia sent me a correspondence she had with the South Australian Abortion Action Coalition.

How can we help you?: I was wondering if the proposed legislation utilises gender neutral language, similar to recent NSW legislation, which did not use “woman”, “girl” or “female” in order to be inclusive?

Thanks.

Reply:

Hi [Arcadia]

I have attached the Bill – it does use gender neutral language as do all government Bills since amending laws were passed by Weatherall government – maybe 2017?

regards,
Brigid

Reply:

Hi Brigid,

Who was consulted about the use of the term “person” throughout and zero references to “woman”, “girl” or “female”?

How was the decision reached that the bill would be worded this way?

Kind

… Read the rest

Well, if you’re a novice lesbian looking for advice on how to get started, I suggest not consulting healthline. Its guide for beginners is kind of…wrong.

Before we talk about lesbian sex, let’s talk about what the phrase means.

Ok – the phrase means female-female sex. It means same-sex sex for female people. What’s there to talk about?

Usually, people use the term “lesbian sex” to mean sex between two women.

Usually? If sometimes people use the term to mean something else, then they’re using the wrong term…unless you just mean “because hahaha it can be between two or three or ten women!”

If that’s the case, remember that those women might not identify as lesbian.

Ok, maybe they’re in … Read the rest

The conceit rises off him like steam.

Presumably the new psychiatrist affirmed this while asking Veronica Ivy to pop their arms into their friend, Mr Straightjacket pic.twitter.com/4VjmA9FMfV

— ripx4nutmeg (@ripx4nutmeg) February 15, 2021

Not a professor, not an athlete but a cheat, not world famous, barely mentioned by right wing media. Other than that, sure, bub, whatever you say.

Do psychiatrists in fact google patients during a session? Does that ring true? I think not.… Read the rest