It tends to be hard to pin down what people are talking about when they talk about Critical Race Theory. Is it that nonsense from Robin DiAngelo (who is white) claiming that a whole list of good things like reading and thinking carefully are white? Or is it people patiently reminding us that mass incarceration isn’t just some random accident?

TIME attempted an explainer.

Here’s a specific current example: consider the fact that a disproportionate amount of people from Black and Latinx communities are being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the CDC, Black and Latinx people are twice as likely die from the virus as white people. A person considering that stat in a vacuum

Miserable theocratic shits.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been sentenced to a further year in prison and a one-year travel ban after being found guilty of propaganda against the regime in Iran.

Her lawyer said she was accused of taking part in a protest in London 12 years ago and speaking to the BBC Persian service.

Iran doesn’t have jurisdiction over what people do in London.

The British-Iranian charity worker was first jailed in Tehran in 2016.

She has always denied the spying charges levelled against her.

Confirming the latest sentence, her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, said the court’s decision was a bad sign and “clearly a negotiating tactic” by the Iranian authorities – who are in the middle of discussions over

I can’t get used to this business of the police “investigating” people saying things. Last October:

Historian Dr David Starkey has said he is being investigated by police over an interview in which he made controversial comments about slavery.

The police investigate controversies? Isn’t that a tad outside their remit?

Dr Starkey made the remarks on YouTube to conservative commentator Darren Grimes, who is also being investigated.

Dr Starkey has apologised for saying in June that slavery was not genocide because “so many damn blacks” survived.

He said he did not “intend to stir up racial hatred” and would “defend myself robustly” against the allegation.

The Metropolitan Police said it was investigating “a public order offence relating to a

Will the march of political correctness never end? They’re going to make us drink plant-based beer now?!

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer has joined a flood of social media users gleefully trolling Larry Kudlow after the former economic adviser to Donald Trump complained that Joe Biden wanted Americans to drink “plant-based beer”.

Kudlow made the indignant claim on his Fox Business show on Friday, saying Biden’s climate policies and attempt to slash emissions would force Americans to “stop eating meat, stop eating poultry and fish, seafood, eggs, dairy and animal-based fats”.

“OK, got that? No burgers on 4 July. No steaks on the barbecue … So get ready. You can throw back a plant-based beer with your grilled Brussels sprouts

That’s not Woman’s Hour.

Charlie Craggs is a man who identifies as a woman, aka a trans woman. Woman’s Hour is supposed to be for and about women.

Also I hate that word “pampering” in this context. It’s so patronizing, so infantilizing, so “aren’t women adorable sweet empty-headed bunnies whose idea of luxury is some uncomfortable body-modification shit.” Keep your god damn “pampering” to yourselves.… Read the rest

Edie Wyatt at Spectator Australia makes a valuable point:

The right frequently refers to the “cultural Marxism” that dominates gender ideology, while the gender-critical left sees it more as cultural capitalism.  Genuine socialists are materialists after all, and don’t believe in the ethereal concept of a gender soul. They object to the unrestrained capitalist greed of the medical-industrial complex and the commodification of the human body.

Yes. Both of those. Well said.… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? at Miscellany Room 6.

Retweeted by Dr. Jane Clare Jones:

I've been removed from my position on the editorial board of Feminist Criminology for my alleged transphobia and 'anti-LGBTQ' sentiment.

If those labeling thought I would meekly accept their slanderous characterizations of my work & character, they were wrong.

— Callie Burt (@callie_h_burt) April 22, 2021

Apparently, her Thoughtcrime was to write this paper for the journal from whose editorial board she was removed: Scrutinizing the U.S. Equality Act 2019: A Feminist Examination of Definitional Changes and Sociolegal Ramifications.

Abstract:

The U.S. Equality Act, which amends civil rights statutes to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and

Cynical or stupid?

Lindsey Graham says systemic racism isn't an issue in America because Barack Obama and Kamala Harris were elected pic.twitter.com/PqRdoeWmHW

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 25, 2021

Lindsey Graham isn’t that stupid, so…cynical.

CW: Senator, is there systemic racism in this country, in policing and in other institutions?

LG: Uh, no, not in my opinion. We just elected a two-term African-American president, the vice-president is of African-American Indian descent, so our systems are not racist. America is not a racist country. Within every society you have bad actors; the Chauvin trial was a just result.

Talk about a non-sequitur. Obama was elected therefore our systems are not racist. You what? Can you show us your reasoning for that?… Read the rest

The thing about language is that often the need for precision and accuracy outweighs the need for “inclusivity.”

since I’m seeing some confusion around this, of course if you are a pregnant cis woman you can call yourself a pregnant woman, or a mom, etc—you are one!

I’m only talking about cases where you’re speaking about large groups of people, i.e: anyone who can get pregnant.

— Gabe (UPDATES ONLY) (@thegabecole) April 23, 2021

This Gabe is a trans man, so, a woman, and here she is busily trying to remove the word “women” from the language in the name of a bogus “inclusivity.”

Nothing new, but still irritating.… Read the rest

John McWhorter has views on Critical Race Theory and how it’s being deployed in education.

The organization 1776Unites, founded by my mentor and model Bob Woodson, has tweeted out a video where various black people decry a now fashionable idea that “whiteness” includes being smart. As in, precise, objective, fond of the written word, oriented towards dispassion, on time.

Those things are all manifestations of intelligence, vigilance, discipline. But according to our Elect folk, we black people are best off channeling our Crazy Badass Mothafucka. Because that’s more “authentic.” And, I get the feeling, fun to watch.

Well, that last is debatable. Personally I find McWhorter very fun to watch when he’s doing the tv talking head thing.

Because so

No deviation allowed.

An author of Islamic books in Algeria has been sentenced to three years in prison for offending the religion.

You can’t offend a religion – it doesn’t have a mind.

Said Djabelkhir said he was surprised by the severity of the sentence he had been given and would appeal.

He was tried after seven lawyers and a fellow academic lodged complaints against him for disrespecting Islam.

Mr Djabelkhir had said the animal sacrifice during the Muslim festival of Eid was based on a pre-Islamic pagan ritual.

He also suggested that parts of the Quran, such as the story of Noah’s Ark, might not be literally true and criticised practices including the marriage of young girls in

Oh ffs people. Epidemiology is not like the Holocaust! Not even within a billion miles of like the Holocaust.

Epidemiology:

not

like

the

Holocaust.… Read the rest

Punish the traitor:

A Michigan Republican who spoke out against former President Donald Trump and was hospitalized with COVID-19 after a GOP committee meeting has lost his position as the group’s treasurer.

The 6th Congressional District’s executive committee voted 26-0 on Saturday to remove Jason Watts, 44, of Allegan, as its treasurer. The vote occurred less than a month after Watts attended a district committee meeting at a Portage restaurant where he believes he contracted the coronavirus.

Maybe because the people at the meeting weren’t wearing masks.

Republican officials have linked at least four COVID-19 cases to the March 25 gathering. Watts, one of the four, was hospitalized for five days. He told his story publicly, drawing criticism

Originally a comment by Sastra on Just a bomb party, officer.

why on earth is the “gender reveal” such a big deal?

I had my two kids in the early 80’s, which was just before learning your child’s sex before birth became easier and more popular. Moms my age “wanted to be surprised.” When it started to change, the most common reason we gave to each other was “I want to know what color to paint the nursery” or a similar variation. In other words, decorating.

Many years ago I read a book on the sudden uptake in “labor-saving devices” for housewives back in the early 1900s. The people (men) who created and promoted them saw their major selling … Read the rest

Tell you what, we can say that was genocide and you can say that was and is systemic racism.

Joe Biden has become the first US president to issue a statement formally describing the 1915 massacre of Armenians as a genocide.

The killings took place in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, the forerunner of modern-day Turkey.

But the issue is highly sensitive, with Turkey acknowledging atrocities but rejecting the term “genocide”.

Just as many people in the US reject the term “systemic racism.” But the racism wasn’t and isn’t random or accidental, and the Turkish atrocities happened to a particular set of people, a geno.

Armenia says 1.5 million people were killed in 1915-16 in an effort to

There’s just no fixing stupid.

Trump has defended his close personal relationship with the leaders of Russia and North Korea, telling Fox News that his ties with them as president were “a good thing and not a bad thing.”

Last week the Biden administration released intelligence suggesting that Russia obtained Trump campaign data in 2016, raising further questions about ties between Trump, his associates, and Moscow.

The White House this week also threatened sanctions against Russia if opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was poisoned with Novichok last year, dies in prison.

However, the former president used an hour-long interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News to dismiss all criticisms of his closeness to Russia and its leader.

Because that’s … Read the rest

A couple of months ago:

A retired teacher said it was “ridiculous” that a smoothie company had unfollowed her on Twitter amid accusations of transphobia. Innocent Drinks unfollowed Margaret Nelson, 76, from Hadleigh, Suffolk, after another Twitter user suggested it should not be “endorsing her”.

The firm acknowledged the move had made “some people on Twitter quite cross”. But it said Ms Nelson’s Twitter content was not in line with its “values of inclusivity and respect”.

It’s not the unfollowing that’s ridiculous, it’s the making a public display of it. I suspect that’s what Maggie said or meant, and the BBC muddled it in a pretty typical way – the same way it always ascribes “offense” to people whether … Read the rest

Won’t someone please think of the man who wants to get a job around abused women?

Wight is Isle of Wight and DASH is domestic abuse support hub. Women are more vulnerable to domestic abuse than men are, so abused women are not invariably going to want to be around stranger men who identify as women when they (the abused women) are seeking help.

Ordinary people with ordinary understanding and empathy understand that. Narcissistic men and their deluded female allies either don’t understand that or think it’s trivial compared to a narcissistic man’s desire to act out his fantasies in the presence of women.

The latter group needs to grow the fuck up.… Read the rest

Why do people insist on being so stupid? (And destructive and reckless and neighbor-teasing?)

A New Hampshire family’s gender reveal party was such a blast that it set off reports of an earthquake, and could be heard from across the state line, police said.

Police in Kingston, a town not far from the Massachusetts border, received reports of a loud explosion Tuesday evening. They responded to Torromeo quarry where they found people who acknowledged holding a gender reveal party with explosives.

Stop with the farking “gender reveal” parties. Or have friends over for dinner if you like, but leave it at that.

One “gender reveal party” set off a wildfire during wildfire season near LA last summer. Smart move.… Read the rest

That’s not good.

While an average of nearly 1.9 million people a day came in to get their first dose of the vaccine during the week of April 11, the average for the week of April 16 was around 1.47 million. The total doses the U.S. has administered nationwide since vaccines were first authorized has also flattened out over the past few days, CDC data show, interrupting the exponential growth of the last few months.

And on Wednesday, a daily update from the Department of Health and Human Services showed numbers were down this week to an average of just over 3 million shots administered a day, when on Friday, the country was averaging about 3.35 million a day.