Instagram bars a vax denialist:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is now blocked from Instagram after he repeatedly undercut trust in vaccines. Kennedy has also spread conspiracy theories about Bill Gates, accusing him of profiteering off vaccines and attempting to take control of the world’s food supply.

“We removed this account for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines,” a spokesperson for Facebook, which owns Instagram, told NPR on Thursday.

Kennedy has been a prominent voice in the anti-vaccine community for years, speaking out against childhood vaccines and promoting controversial and disproven claims that seek to link vaccines with autism.

In the past year, Kennedy’s beliefs about vaccines have intersected with the COVID-19 pandemic. He has told his

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Helen Saxby wrote about Allison Bailey and Garden Court Chambers and Stonewall in October 2019.

Garden Court Chambers is ‘investigating’ Allison Bailey for being a founding member of the LGB alliance. This is no surprise given its associations.

Two years ago, on Tuesday October 3rd 2017, I attended a meeting in central London entitled ‘Progress and Challenges in Advancing Equality for Trans People in the UK’. It was held at Garden Court Chambers, in association with the Human Rights Lawyers Association.

That was just two weeks after the assault on Maria MacLachlan at Speakers Corner, Saxby points out.

Bex Stinson of Stonewall was first to speak. We were told that the Trans Inquiry was incredibly important regarding the recommendations it

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It’s on.

https://twitter.com/VictoriaPeckham/status/1360253969424125952… Read the rest

A…what?

Yes, There’s a Safe Way to Have a Cannibalism Fetish.

A…what?

As a fetish educator, I’m so tired of seeing the Armie Hammer allegations used against the BDSM community.

A what educator? The what community?

But most stories and commentary have remained focused on the sensationalism of his supposed cannibalism fetish and have ignored the real issue: that the foundation of true BDSM relationships is consent. We spoke to Jet Setting Jasmine, a master fetish educator, licensed clinical psychotherapist, and co-owner of Royal Fetish Films, to discuss why this is so damaging.

Ah yes consent. As long as you consent it’s fine if this strapping lad starts cutting away bits of you for dinner. I’m guessing that … Read the rest

This week’s Jesus and Mo:

There are, naturally, some sanctimonious comments about “punching down” – because of the obscure but binding rule that if a man puts on a skirt and tilts his head coquettishly he becomes the most marginalized person in the universe.

The Patreon… Read the rest

Massive surprise – some of the insurrectionists have a history of violence against women. Who could possibly have predicted that?

The message popped up on Katya Brock’s phone just after 10 a.m. one morning in September: “Do the right thing and kill yourself already.”

She was alarmed, but no more so than she had been by all the other messages: “I have better things to do than speak to a whore”; “Nobody loves you”; “Narcissistic whore.” Her ex-husband, Larry Rendall Brock Jr., had been sending them like clockwork for three years. A court had ordered the couple to communicate through a specialized portal while their contentious divorce was finalized. Larry often used it for threats.

And Larry was at the … Read the rest

Another one. (You’re ok with this, ACLU? This is what you want? This is what you consider a civil liberty?) Another man wins a women’s race. I hate having to cite The Federalist, because I really do not like their politics on any other subject, but nobody else is reporting on it.

Sherry Mix puts in 10 to 15 hours a week training for elite-level mountain and fat-tire bike races in the region. The Verona, Wis[consin] woman says it’s hard work but rewarding to the women who ride.

But as “equity” politics are further infused into just about every aspect of life, including competitive sports, cyclists like Mix are forced to compete on an unequal course. Last month, Mix

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I’ve been meaning to get back to that paper by Alison Phipps, kind of the way one gets back to a mosquito bite.

Reactionary feminisms, which coalesce around debates about sex workers’ rights and transgender equality, magnify the political whiteness of the mainstream and deliberately withhold womanhood and personhood from marginalised Others.

Now there’s an outright lie. Feminism that opposes pimping doesn’t withhold womanhood or personhood from prostituted women, it argues that prostitution exploits women. Gender critical feminism doesn’t withhold womanhood or personhood from anyone, it simply doesn’t repeat the lie that men can become women by identifying as women. It’s not “witholding womanhood” from men to say they are men, any more than it’s witholding bearhood from rabbits … Read the rest

Meanwhile today –

We are today attending the virtual hearing for #AllisonBailey’s claim against Stonewall & Garden Court Chambers.

— Safe Schools Alliance (@SafeSchools_UK) February 11, 2021

Attending and reporting on in tweets.

Much of the reporting is procedural, on questions like whether names can be redacted.

#allisonbailey

Ben Cooper QC: Gender critical beliefs held/expressed by claimant are those held by a women’s movement of female feminists. Indirect discrimination on grounds of sex, also on grounds of sexual orientation, many that hold these beliefs are lesbians.

— Safe Schools Alliance (@SafeSchools_UK) February 11, 2021

#allisonbailey

Ben Cooper QC going through claimants loss of earnings since openly expressing gender critical views

— Safe Schools Alliance (@SafeSchools_UK) February 11, 2021

#allisonbailey

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They weren’t playing.

The evidence is now undeniable. What we saw on Wednesday was the definitive proof that what broke into the Capitol last month was a hunting party. They came to kill people. “Hang Mike Pence” was not a metaphor. Hearing the hunters caroling, “Nannnnnn-cy? Nannnnnnnn-cy?” in that horror-movie sing-song was to hear the trilling of murderous intent. They came to the Capitol to kill people. Mitt Romney probably was saved by Officer Eugene Goodman, and this was before Goodman saved everyone else. (A security camera caught Goodman encountering Romney outside the Senate chamber as Romney was headed unwittingly into the teeth of the mob. Romney pivots like genuine Barry Sanders and beats feet in the other direction.)

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https://twitter.com/oliverburkeman/status/1359887719321776128

He’s reading it correctly.

In which @ReadingsBooks apologise for apologising for their apology and apologise profusely to their community of upstanding warriors that supply Melbourne's alternative community with pink and blue hair dye.

— Julie Bindel (@bindelj) February 11, 2021

2021:
Young trans author demands bookshop apologise for hosting someone the author disagrees with, 3 yrs ago – or else they won't appear at upcoming event.
Bookshop caves in, apologises.
Bookshop boss says he now regrets apology.@bindelj @ReadingsBooks https://t.co/p5NnFC9GaE

— Lucy Bannerman (@TimesLucy) February 11, 2021

Bookshop boss now says he now regrets apology for apology. Tune in tomorrow for another exciting episode of Who Will Apologize Last?

https://twitter.com/tuibguy/status/1359895255060013066… Read the rest

The Sydney Morning Herald on that slimy apology for letting Julie Bindel speak:

In 2018 Bindel, a campaigner against male violence, spoke at a Hawthorn bookshop event about her book, The Pimping of Prostitution, about the global sex trade.

On Tuesday, Readings issued a statement on its website saying it “regrets programming Julie Bindel in 2018”. The independent bookseller apologised for “any hurt caused by highlighting the work of an author whose current stance is to divide our community”.

Bindel told The Age that she believed the apology was directly linked to an online event with transgender author Juno Dawson, which Readings would be hosting later this month.

Why would she believe that? Because Readings posted a tweet … Read the rest

That depends on what you mean by that innocent little word “be.”

There's no wrong way to be a woman.
There's no wrong way to be a woman.
There's no wrong way to be a woman.
There's no wrong way to be a woman.
There's no wrong way to be a woman.
There's no wrong way to be a woman.
There's no wrong way to be a woman.

— UN Women (@UN_Women) February 7, 2021

Looked at one way it’s just an empty platitude. Looked at another way it’s an insulting lie. Suzanne Moore looks at it that second way.

The right way to react to this ridiculous mantra is surely to feel murderous. What is this slogan for?

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My god this is infuriating.

https://twitter.com/SaveWomensSport/status/1359537041378316288

I don’t know what hearing this is. There was a hearing on a bill on transgender athletes in Montana in January and I couldn’t find one on a federal bill so this is probably Montana, but I don’t know for sure.

But anyway – it’s astounding. He asks the obviously relevant question, if in 20 years there is a women’s team that is all “biological males” would you support that? And she doesn’t answer. She’s so flummoxed she asks him to repeat it, so he does, and she just outright refuses to answer, and even says “I apologize for not answering the question,” and then robotically repeats the moronic formula. Answer the fucking … Read the rest

Pretty harrowing to listen to.

"What you are about to hear has not been made public before."

House impeachment managers play radio communications from Metropolitan PD to highlight how "Trump supporters descended on the Capitol and become increasingly violent." https://t.co/OKAzzhvIne #impeachmenttrial pic.twitter.com/IUcjZpoXHn

— ABC News (@ABC) February 10, 2021

This video shows how members of Congress could hear the Ashli Babbitt shooting pic.twitter.com/SCtBhQ1Bpl

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 10, 2021

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Very progressive.

https://twitter.com/uktransalliance/status/1359600818664730625

Presenting ‘the right side of history’. Please @trussliz stop this assault on women’s rights & freedom of expression. pic.twitter.com/Mjg904rPAa

— Jo Bartosch (@jo_bartosch) February 10, 2021

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Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has opened a criminal investigation into Donald Trump’s attempt to interfere with Georgia’s election, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. While the former president faces potential criminal liability in several states, including New York, now that he has left office, the Georgia probe may pose the most immediate threat. All available evidence suggests that prosecutors are considering charges that amount to election fraud—a felony offense under Georgia law, and the very crime that Trump claimed he sought to stop.

The focus is on that call to Raffensperger.

As election law expert Rick Hasen noted at the time, there is no question that Trump was

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Also new.

Looks like Trump’s impeachment lawyers have some new ads up in the subway. pic.twitter.com/StkZlnqUUQ

— The Good Liars (@TheGoodLiars) February 10, 2021

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New item.

Remember: Brian Sicknick deserves justice. pic.twitter.com/doBHaL05hO

— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) February 10, 2021

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The most dangerous jobs during the pandemic:

A new study from the University of California, San Francisco suggests that line cooks have the highest risk of mortality during the Covid pandemic — even more than healthcare workers.

For the study, which hasn’t been peer-reviewed yet, researchers analyzed California death certificates for working-age people 18 to 65, during the first seven months of the pandemic. Then they looked at how the number of deaths increased in that time frame compared to pre-pandemic times.

…

Line cooks had a 60% increase in mortality associated with the pandemic.

The top five occupations that had higher than a 50% mortality rate increase during the pandemic include cooks, line workers in warehouses, agricultural workers, bakers

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