Originally a comment by Arnaud on A couple of markers.

In 1957/1958, a flu pandemic (the Hong Kong flu) caused up to 3 million deaths worldwide, 100,000 in France alone. It circled the world in less than six months and caused untold misery. Like COVID19, most of the death occurred among older people (over 65) but, at a time when life expectancy was much lower than it is now, that didn’t shock that much, maybe. How to explain that the devastation was so quickly forgotten?

So quickly forgotten that when what was pretty much the same virus came back in 1968, the same mistakes were made, the same complacency prevailed and the same results were seen: a worldwide … Read the rest

Why are universities letting angry teenagers write their policies?

Who wrote the definition of "transphobia" that appears on @EdinburghUni's website? And what were they thinking of? https://t.co/h9zCq1LICa

— Legal Feminist (@legalfeminist) January 30, 2021

Naturally I was curious so I went to read it, and again found the familiar combination of aggressive ignorance and baseless assertion, rather than something composed by informed academics.

Then I went back a category, to the Learn More section of Edinburgh’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion whatever this is – instruction book, explanation, authoritative setting out of the facts – and found the all too predictable Forgotten Item indeed not there.

Nothing about women then? No need to worry about including women? Women not a … Read the rest

The Telegraph:

Psychiatrists fear that transgender children are being “coached” into giving rehearsed answers when trying to access puberty blockers, the Court of Appeal has heard.

Dr David Bell, a former governor at a gender identity NHS trust, expressed concern that children may be pressured by parents, friends or websites when trying to address feelings of gender dysphoria. 

How could children not be at least influenced by friends or websites or both when trying to address feelings of gender dysphoria in this climate? When the whole subject is so saturated with bullying and righteous fury and social pressure that would get juice out of a brick?

Dr Bell, who was a psychiatrist at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation

Another one.

Biology denial will become absolutelty dominant in social and political discourse unless you stand up to it. pic.twitter.com/mIwjxX9Mbu

— Andy (@lecanardnoir) January 29, 2021

No. This is such a beginner’s error. The words are “something we created” but the underlying reality is not. Calling the moon the moon is social, but that rocky roundish object is not. Naming is human and cultural, but not everything we name is a human artifact.

Only people who lived near it knew about what we now call the Grand Canyon until well into the 19th century, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t there.… Read the rest

David Hogg isn’t the only Parkland survivor that Marjorie Greene harassed and abused.

Another student activist who was present that day said Greene’s behavior had been “scary” and had left her shaken. Linnea Stanton, a college student and March for Our Lives activist from Wisconsin, recalled that Greene had first confronted the students as they delivered letters to lawmakers inside a Senate office building.

“All of a sudden, this blonde woman was yelling, and someone was recording us with an iPhone,” Stanton said.

After the students started chanting to get the Capitol police to intervene, Greene left, but she waited for the group outside the building, where she continued to harass and film them once they exited, Stanton said.

Stanton

Jonathan Freedland wonders why did the 1918 Flu disappear from the collective memory so swiftly?

Look around almost any British town or village and you will see a war memorial, usually first built to honour the fallen of 1914 to 1918. But scour this country and the rest of the world, and you will struggle to find more than a couple of markers for the event that, globally and at the time of the war’s end, took many more lives. The first world war killed some 17 million people, but the “Spanish” flu that struck in 1918 infected one in three people on the planet – a total of 500 million – leaving between 50 million and 100 million dead.

There’s this village in France that has a history of taking in people who are fleeing persecution or genocide.

An Austrian man who fled the Nazis with his family during the second world war has bequeathed a large part of his fortune to the French village whose residents hid them from persecution for years.

Eric Schwam, who died aged 90 on 25 December, wrote the surprise gift into his will for Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, located on a remote mountain plateau in south-east France that historically has a large Protestant community known for offering shelter to those in need.

…

Schwam and his family arrived in 1943 and were hidden in a school for the duration of the war, and remained until

It’s Jewish space lasers now.

In November 2018, California was hit with the worst wildfire in the state’s history. At the time, future Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) wrote a bizarre Facebook post that echoed QAnon conspiracy theorists and falsely claimed that the real and hidden culprit behind the disaster was a laser from space triggered by some nefarious group of people. 

A LASER from SPACE. Cue ominous theme music.

Greene’s post, which hasn’t previously been reported, is just the latest example to be unearthed of her embracing conspiracy theories about tragedies during her time as a right-wing commentator. In addition to being a QAnon supporter, Greene has pushed conspiracy theories about 9/11, the Parkland and Sandy

No actually let’s not spend months looking at their records.

The Pentagon has suspended the processing of a number of former President Donald Trump’s last-minute appointees to defense advisory boards as the new administration looks to weed out loyalists to the former president.

He shouldn’t have been making last-minute appointments. He should have been packing up.

The move effectively prevents a number of Trump allies, including his 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and deputy campaign manager David Bossie, from actually serving on panels tasked with providing advice to the defense secretary, at least for the time being.

Make it permanent.

The freeze announced on Wednesday pertains only to appointees who have not yet been sworn in or have [not] completed

This is so. weird.

The gun, first of all, but by no means last. The nail polish. The wedding ring. The 45 cap. The…crotch. I didn’t notice at first but the camera is zeroed in on her crotch, and she’s all but pointing at it.

Is it just me or is that some bizarre semiotics?… Read the rest

The fascism (the literal kind) ratchets up by the day.

David, please. We all saw how tough you were when questioned face to face.

Give your keyboard a rest, child. https://t.co/DDnpmkyfIS

— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) January 28, 2021

… Read the rest

Labour issued this in 2018, but it’s grabbed people’s attention today.

What does Labour’s Statement on All Women Shortlists, women’s officers, and minimum quotes for women say?

Labour has a proud record of championing equality for women of all backgrounds, including BAME women, LGBT+ women, disabled women and working class women. The use of All Women Shortlists, women’s officers and minimum quotas for women is a key aspect of this.

The Labour Party’s All Women Shortlists are open to all women, including self-identifying trans women. Similarly, women’s officers and minimum quotas for women in the Labour Party are open to all women, including self-identifying trans women.

So actual women can lose places to men who claim to be women. … Read the rest

Pelosi tells the Republicans they shouldn’t be looking fixedly in the other direction when Marjorie Taylor Greene is out there threatening and gun-carrying and threatening some more.

“What I’m concerned about is the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives, who is willing to overlook, ignore those statements,” Pelosi said at her weekly news conference, days after CNN reported Greene repeatedly indicated support for executing prominent Democratic politicians — including Pelosi — in 2018 and 2019 before being elected to Congress…

Greene is also facing criticism for a video of her confronting Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg before she was elected to Congress went viral Wednesday. And last week, other students who survived the Parkland, Florida, school shooting and families

The “Feminist” Library’s statement on “transphobia” and accountability:

… we feel it important to note that we come from different political histories as well as cultural and class backgrounds. However, while the Library has historically sought to encompass a wide variety of different perspectives, priorities, politics and stances, a by-product of this has been that we as a collective have failed to present a united and unequivocal stance on certain issues where it has been most needed. 

Like, for instance, whether feminism should stop being about women and be about men who call themselves women instead. Talk about most needed!

We understand that in an increasingly hostile conversation regarding trans inclusion from in the mainstream press and certain sects

Originally a comment by KBPlayer on Round and round we go.

Nicola Sturgeon is in a lot of trouble at the moment, because of an inquiry into how the Scottish government handled the sexual assault allegations against the former First Minister, Alex Salmond, who was cleared of the charges in court. It’s a very murky story, and shows bad mismanagement on her part, or downright conspiracy (which I find very hard to believe though plenty do). The Scottish government has been obstructing this inquiry in any way they can.

Sturgeon likes to appear as the progressive wing of the party and so adopted the transgender cause, which had cross-party support. The trans activists got posts on the National Executive … Read the rest

The Feminist Library, not detectably feminist at all, at least not on Twitter.

The Feminist Library @feministlibrary

Celebrating 45 years of archiving & activism. Community space & library. Trans-inclusive & welcomes visitors of all genders. We’ve moved to a new Peckham home!

Notice anything? No mention of women. No mention of women’s rights. No mention of the struggle for women’s rights. What does “feminism” mean then? Apparently it means being trans-inclusive and welcoming visitors of all genders.

To ram the point home (and I do mean ram), they make a Statement.

A long overdue accountability statement from us reiterating our trans-inclusive stance, our conception of gender & sex and our vision for future of the Feminist Library: https://t.co/5h5Gq6UWX5

—

Installment seven billion something of the same old circular circle.

A clear message from Nicola.

I hope many others follow and pledge their support to trans and nb people.

Hatred packaged or expressed as ‘debate’ is violence. It can never be tolerated. Silence is not an option. But words must also be backed with actions. https://t.co/kp8GIQjq5D

— Jo Grady (@DrJoGrady) January 27, 2021

It’s actually not a clear message from Nicola at all. It’s the same old run-around.

There must be no transphobia!!!

But what are you defining as transphobia?

Trans people must have rights!!!

But nobody disagrees with that so what are you –

There must be no transphobia!!!

Yes, we have differences of opinion on gender recognition reform.

Rinse, repeat.

We are revoking @JoanMcAlpine's invitation to speak at our event on 05.02.21 because we do not believe her views on transgender rights align with our views on equality. This invitation was made due to a vetting and communication error by us and our partner (@SusPartners).

— Teach the Future (@_TeachtheFuture) January 27, 2021

Teach the future to do what it’s told.… Read the rest

Politico reports:

A video of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) confronting David Hogg, a gun control activist and Parkland shooting survivor, years ago surfaced online Wednesday, fueling a new wave of outrage over the Georgia Republican’s history of questioning a dark chapter in Florida that left 17 dead.

Greene, in the video, which was apparently filmed just weeks after the 2018 Parkland shooting, calls Hogg a “coward” because he walks away from her, and complains Hogg was able to meet with senators. “He had 30 appointments where he went around and got to talk to senators. I got to talk to none,” Greene said, adding “Guess what? I’m a gun owner. I’m an American citizen. And I have

Jennifer Barnett tells us what it’s like to be a woman in journalism working for a terrible man, so terrible that she ended up having to quit. She says it’s a common situation and the men stay on and on, because that’s how this works.

I had the plum job. The top of the masthead of one of the most prestigious and respected publications with more than a 150-year-old history. I left because I blew the whistle on my boss for doing something unethical then abusing the staff and undermining the editorial process during which time I was assured he would be fired but instead he was promoted and after threatening me privately in his office, he marginalized me to