Unbelievable.

Bad enough yet?

He’s still hasn’t been fired.… Read the rest

It’s all just a game to some of them.

As Democrats lauded the White House’s 200th judicial confirmation, though, a partisan firestorm raged in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Republicans ground proceedings to a halt during a confirmation hearing for the latest slate of court nominees.

Among the appointees who faced questioning Wednesday morning was Sarah Netburn, tapped by the Biden administration to join the bench on the Southern District of New York.

GOP lawmakers on the committee dialed in on a 2022 case she presided over as a magistrate judge in the same district, in which she granted the request of an incarcerated transgender woman who asked to move to a women’s prison from a men’s prison. The

Oops. Turns out it wasn’t the neighbors after all.

NEW: Last summer, the Alito beach home in New Jersey flew the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which like the upside down US flag, is linked to Jan. 6. We have photos from July, August and September as well as eyewitnesses. https://t.co/uOjZcaUvk9 pic.twitter.com/yUCqbvdT2A

— Jodi Kantor (@jodikantor) May 22, 2024

So this is a huge deal. The Appeal to Heaven flag was all over the insurrection and comes out of explicitly Christian Nationalist spaces. Sam Alito is professing his Christian Nationalism. https://t.co/d7WMyyjEeg

— Andrew L. Seidel (@AndrewLSeidel) May 22, 2024

Either Alito’s wife gets into a lot of arguments with her neighbors or there’s a pattern here pic.twitter.com/fYCbi0uQRL

— Jennifer Senior (@JenSeniorNY)

If you’re going to write a book about the Church and its hatred of women, don’t accept a glammed-up tits-out cover. Like this one:

It was centuries of atrocities against women, primarily. She got that right. But this romanticized scene doesn't capture the full horror of it. The women were often stripped, or wearing a filthy shift, their heads shaved and chained to the stake, as in this 1587 Swiss drawing.… pic.twitter.com/Pc8WjsMUwr

— Max Dashu (@MaxDashu) May 22, 2024

Yeah they weren’t standing their in ball gowns that highlighted their breasts and with flowing hair tossed by the breeze. It wasn’t a sexy festive occasion.

This is how you do it:

Cover by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin… Read the rest

More Wings Over Scotland on Adam Ramsay:

Since 2019 Ramsay has been the editor of Open Democracy, an activist “news” site funded – to the tune of millions of pounds a year – chiefly by large grants from American and other corporate and industrial charities like the Ford Foundation, created by the notorious racist and anti-Semitic car magnate Henry Ford.

…

These grants are provided, naturally, mostly in the name of “social justice”, “diversity” and “inclusion”. Many of the donors, like the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund which provided OD with $800,000 in grants in recent years, are deeply opaque, with their website declining to identify even which country the fund is based in and having been

Rev Stuart Campbell at Wings Over Scotland responds to Adam Ramsay’s threats toward people who dispute him:

Adam Ramsay is Definitely a Liar

Ladies and gentlemen (and non-binary genderfluids), meet Adam Ramsay.

Adam Ramsay grew up in what his family describes as a “small castle” nestled in a 1300-acre estate in Perthshire that’s been in the family since 1232.

Check out the photo of the not all that small castle.

He was educated at the extremely exclusive private Glenalmond College, which he describes as the “poshest” school in Scotland, prone to outbreaks of “chav hunting”, and whose alumni include a lot of people called things like “Torquhil”, “Crispin”, “Rupert”, “Nairne”, “Dennison”, “Ernley”, “Beauchamp”, “Ninian”, “Logie”, “Adair” and

What a horrible man.

People calling me a liar for reporting these facts are defaming me. As a journalist, my reputation for reporting the truth has a material value, and I won’t be shy about protecting it in court if needs be.

— Adam Ramsay (@AdamRamsay) May 21, 2024

“These facts” he says. What facts?

Wadhwa has dedicated the last 14 years of her professional life to supporting women who are victims of sexual violence. But for the last three years, she’s faced torrential abuse including unfounded smears that she’s a sexual predator and numerous threats of violence – all because she is trans.

But Wadwha of course is a man, so referring to him with “her” and “she” has … Read the rest

Originally a comment by iknklast on Hamlet’s gotta eat.

I try to make all of this manageable for my students in Environmental Science, but they have always left the class stunned at the end of the semester. Every unit, they come up with solutions that previous units should have told them wouldn’t work. It’s difficult to carry so many interlocking things in our head at a time, and it’s natural for us to try to reduce it down to one more important thing that we can deal with. Unfortunately, we never deal with one problem before we move to another.

Save the whales? That used to be a big thing. The whales are not saved, but we’ve moved on. … Read the rest

Again – cheat by starting the report with misleading language. I wonder if anyone ever reports this stuff honestly. NBC News:

A transgender teenager was booed at an Oregon sports stadium after winning a race during the state’s high school track and field championship over the weekend.

They mean, of course, a boy was booed after winning a girls’ race.

Multiple videos posted on social media show McDaniel High School sophomore Aayden Gallagher being booed by a crowd of onlookers as she crossed the finish line first in the 200-meter race at the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) Track and Field State Championships on Saturday. Boos could also be heard as the teenage runner received her gold medal at

Ok stop right there, three seconds in. “I pride myself on being a teacher who’s very open about her life.”

NO!

Do not pride yourself on that. Be ashamed; very ashamed.

Your job is to teach, not to blather about yourself. Calling it “being open about your life” is just your way of trying to make grotesque vanity and self-absorption sound somehow admirable. Nobody on the planet needs you to be open about your life, and children you’re supposed to be teaching need that the least of anyone.

God I hate narcissism, especially narcissism that brags about itself. “Sit down, I’m very open about my life, so I plan to tell you all about it for the next 5 … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on The obvious answer never occurs to them.

The Earth could theoretically support a much larger population, but why?

That’s really questionable. That depends on (1) how long we want the population to survive and (2) what sort of quality of life they would have.

A lot of people think if there is land that is not holding people, we can put people there. Unfortunately, they’re wrong. Some of that land is already converted to human uses – farmland, rangeland, industrial land, government land, etc. Some of it can’t support human life. I’ve heard people say we could fill up the Grand Canyon with people. Really? Think again.

Some people seem … Read the rest

The Times is blistering on the ERCC’s treatment of Roz Adams.

Most people will instinctively understand that Adams’ views — and actions — were wholly reasonable. For many of her colleagues, however, they were “transphobic”.

The tribunal’s verdict is scathing. “Normal concepts of natural justice” were ignored, explanations offered by staff at the centre were “a nonsense” and the investigation into Adams “should not have been launched in the first place” — it was clearly motivated by bias and the prejudice that Adams’ views were “inherently hateful”. All this led to a “completely spurious and mishandled disciplinary process” that was “somewhat reminiscent of the work of Franz Kafka”.

And what does ERCC say in response? That it has a sad.… Read the rest

There’s this story about University of North Carolina Asheville’s move to maintain “institutional neutrality” and the shock-horror of students at such a move. So far so predictable.

What I wonder about is how students choose which banners to defend.

Since University of North Carolina Asheville students began protesting against the war in Gaza in early May, Chancellor Kimberly van Noort has maintained that the university should avoid an official stance on the matter.

“Neither the University nor I, the chancellor, should interfere by taking an official stance,” van Noort wrote in a public update to students and faculty earlier this month. “Institutional neutrality promotes the open exchange of ideas and avoids inhibiting scholarship, creativity, and expression. Compromising this position carries

Today in Trump:

Donald Trump has shared a video on his Truth Social account referencing a “unified reich” if Trump wins the presidential election in November.

…

In the video, a narrator states: “What happens after Donald Trump wins? What’s next for America?” Meanwhile, hypothetical headlines are shown, including: “Industrial strength significantly increased … driven by the creation of a unified reich.”

… Read the rest

Powerful argument from Tatchell:

Most Brits say schools should teach about different gender identities, new poll finds

Gender identities are NOT ideology. They are a fact of life. We all have one. I'm male & my gender identity is male

I respect trans & non-binary identities. You?https://t.co/4y7RL28Aqt

— Peter Tatchell (@PeterTatchell) May 21, 2024

Oh well then. If Peter T says so, and puts the “not” in capital letters, it has to be true. If Peter T says gender identities are a fact of life, then they must be a fact of life. If Peter T says we all have one he can’t possibly be wrong. If he says he has a gender identity then there must be a … Read the rest

Well here’s an interesting new angle on the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre hijacking.

One of the stories I haven’t yet seen break is the relationship between @EdUniStudents and Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre.

Some of the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre trustees were very recent or current Edinburgh Uni students at the time of their appointment (that’s how experienced…

— Levi Pay (@soppystern) May 20, 2024

Some of the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre trustees were very recent or current Edinburgh Uni students at the time of their appointment (that’s how experienced their team of trustees has been). One of the trustees, in particular, was an Edinburgh University Students’ Association sabbatical officer at the time when I was hounded out of my role

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on The scale of the future problem.

All those people wringing their hands over this don’t want to have to admit that the logical solution is to allow young immigrants from countries with more people than they can support period. But we must prevent the influx of the “wrong” people by encouraging more of the “right people” to breed. The demographic upheavals of declining and aging populations are going to be a rough phase for societies to go through, but we managed to get through the upside of the hump of increasing populations. Unfortunately the cost of that was our current crises of climate instability and loss of biodiversity, both of … Read the rest

Originally a comment by iknklast on The scale of the future problem.

The obvious answer never occurs to them. I’ve had this conversation with a lot of people, and it’s hard to get them to understand. If we destroy the earth, the economy won’t matter, will it?

Since the economy is man-made and the environment is evolved (and orders of magnitude more complicated than the most complicated economic system or corporate hierarchy), it makes sense to make changes to the economy that do not rely on constant growth, and can handle population declines.

I talk to people who think it doesn’t matter if we have forests and deer and birds and insects anymore. What the flying fuck do they … Read the rest

Aw diddums did the huge boy face a lot of boos for cheating a girl out of a win?

Trans athlete Aayden Gallagher faced so many boos and so much hostility, she needed extra security this weekend at the Oregon state track meet.

She won a girls state championship on Saturday. https://t.co/C9cldoRueV

— Cyd Zeigler (@CydZeigler) May 19, 2024

He stole a state championship on Saturday.

Note: he’s not a “trans athlete” or a “trans teen.” He’s a trans girl, i.e, a boy.… Read the rest

The BBC asks

How should countries deal with falling birth rates?

However, the scale of the future problem is immense. For a country in the developed world to increase or maintain its population it needs a birth rate of 2.1 children per woman on average. This is known as the “replacement rate”.

…

But why the concern about falling birth rates? The economic problems they can cause are significant, as countries face the impact of both aging and declining populations, and a smaller workforce in relation to the number of pensioners.

For example – where will a nation’s economic growth come from if companies cannot recruit enough workers? And how can a smaller workforce afford to pay for the pensions