JL at the Glinner Update reports on another successful “REMOVE THAT ARTICLE!!!” campaign.

On Friday, leading psychology journal, Psychology Today, published an article by one of its regular contributors, award-winning journalist and documentary maker, Tina Traster. It was called “Trans Kids May Reject Family, Not the Other Way Around”.

…

Parents responded to the article with gratitude and by sharing their own experiences, stories which reflect just what Traster has written about.

Until.

… the voices of concerned parents were drowned out by a barrage of abuse from trans rights activists in what looked like a co-ordinated campaign to get the article shut down. These comments all seemed to follow a particular pattern ie the article is

A variation on the Whig theory of history:

If you find yourself constantly at odds with younger generations (who as a rule are totally cool with being trans) the thing you swore would never happen probably has. Perhaps the process of becoming your parents – out-of-touch know-it-alls – is subtler than once you credited?

— Jo Maugham (@JolyonMaugham) November 23, 2020

“The younger generations are always right” is the foundational belief and claim here. But is that true? Plenty of younger generations (it’s not clear how many Maugham thinks there are) belong to neo-Nazi groups, white power groups, Islamist groups, Brexit groups, pro-Trump groups.

And more generally and abstractly, what about the fact that people have time to learn more … Read the rest

It seems that Emily Murphy was supposed to talk to a House committee today to explain why tf she is refusing to ascertain Biden as president.

The House Committee on Oversight and Reform has summoned Emily Murphy, who is blocking the Biden transition team, for a private briefing.

If she appears she'll face questions from Katie Porter, Ayanna Pressley, Ro Khanna and Jamie Raskin among others. https://t.co/Ak3rxGNHac

— Swing Left (@swingleft) November 23, 2020

Get the popcorn ready-Emily Murphy, the head of GSA, who refuses to sign off on the election to appease Trump, faces questions from Katie Porter and other House members about her refusal to comply.

When she pulls out that whiteboard, it's going DOWN. pic.twitter.com/Ahda0WOorO pic.twitter.com/mVg89TC15V

—

Anne Applebaum notes that there are rules, and Trump and his rabble are breaking them in ways that no predecessor ever has.

Murphy is the head of the General Services Administration, the unglamorous bit of the federal government that actually runs the federal government. Part of her job—a part that no one has ever before considered controversial or even noteworthy—is to “ascertain” who has won the U.S. presidential election, and then to release the congressionally mandated funds that allow the winner to begin his transition. Usually, that process also unlocks cooperation between incoming and outgoing officials. Before leaving office in 2017, aides to Barack Obama had prepared elaborate explanations of the state of the world, including a 69-page playbook

But she sounds perfect for Trump.

[Sidney] Powell had made headlines in recent weeks for her increasingly outrageous and unsupported claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, repeatedly vowing to “release the kraken” of evidence, only to refuse to produce it when asked by reporters. She has accused election officials in multiple states of committing crimes, and in recent days turned on Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, who on Friday helped certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state. Her attack on Kemp, which also included the threat of a “biblical” lawsuit, appeared to unsettle some of Trump’s allies.

It seems ethically questionable for lawyers to accuse people of crimes without offering any evidence. I’m being polite; I … Read the rest

It’s all quite melancholy, really, because the thing is, she was going to release the Kraken, at least she said she was. Newsweek November 17:

Sidney Powell, one of the attorneys on Donald Trump‘s legal team contesting the election results, has been on the media circuit lately. She visited The Rush Limbaugh Show yesterday and Mario Bartiromo on Fox News the day before. The appearance that’s really gained traction, though, happened days before on Lou Dobbs Tonight on the Fox Business Network. During that conversation, Powell repurposed a popular phrase that has since taken off on Twitter as a clarion call for the right while a source of mockery for the left.

“I’m going to release the Kraken,”

One minute Sidney Powell is at a Trump team press conference spouting deranged conspiracy theories about the election, the next minute Giuliani is issuing a statement saying she’s not part of the Trump team. Probably the next item is Trump will do a presser holding Giuliani’s dripping head aloft.

President Trump’s campaign said in a Sunday statement that Sidney Powell is neither a member of its legal team nor a lawyer for Trump in his personal capacity.

Powell was a part of the campaign’s wild, conspiratorial Thursday press conference and baselessly floated unfounded conspiracy theories that included a claim that President-elect Biden won the 2020 presidential election thanks to “communist money” from the Venezuelan regime.

Which sounds funny, but … Read the rest

They’re gluttons for punishment.

INBOX: @RudyGiuliani and @TeamTrump are appealing the judicial smackdown they got from Judge Brann last night to the Third Circuit, for reasons passing understanding. pic.twitter.com/Nr4xkisl7r

— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) November 22, 2020

… Read the rest

More from the “individualism run amok” file:

Yeah yeah yeah, we’re all impressed, but the point you’re missing here is that your house FULL of people is a risk to other people, people who are not you and not part of your “we.” It’s not tough or self-reliant or brave or clever to take risks that endanger other people as well as you.

It shouldn’t be a “liberal” monopoly to want to avoid spreading a lethal virus. Why do conservatives want to wave that particular flag?… Read the rest

Is Trump finally running out of road?

Donald Trump faced growing pressure from Republicans on Sunday to drop his chaotic, last-ditch fight to overturn the US presidential election, as victor Joe Biden prepared to start naming his cabinet and a Pennsylvania judge compared Trump’s legal case there to “Frankenstein’s monster”.

Despite Republican leadership in Washington standing behind the president’s claims that the 3 November election was stolen from him by nationwide voter fraud, other prominent figures, including two of his former national security advisers, were blunt.

So, in other words, no, Trump is still marching up that road with Republican “leadership” right beside him. John Bolton said things on tv, but who cares.

And another former Trump administration national security

Well whaddya know, Tory equality commissioner has a Tory idea of what equality is.

(Spoiler: it’s to stop whining and find some way to “circumvent” the obstacles that discrimination puts in place.)

Jessica Butcher, a successful digital entrepreneur, was last week appointed as one of four new commissioners at the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) by Liz Truss, the minister for women and equalities.

The EHRC’s role is to enforce the Equality Act, Britain’s key equality law, and to reduce inequality and tackle discrimination. Commissioners help set the body’s strategic direction.

But in a series of speeches, interviews and articles, Butcher – who describes herself as an “old-school feminist” – has criticised many recent feminist campaigns, including on

People are enjoying the smackdown.

Judge laughs Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani out of court, dismisses case with prejudice, “DENIED AS MOOT” https://t.co/DBoN8XzHVF

— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) November 22, 2020

https://twitter.com/rumpfshaker/status/1330303129859055616

SOMEbody is not so happy.

The Media is just as corrupt as the Election itself!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2020

… Read the rest

Judge smacks Trump down hard.

A US District Court judge Saturday dismissed a lawsuit by the Trump campaign trying to invalidate millions of Pennsylvania mail-in votes.

“Plaintiffs ask this Court to disenfranchise almost seven million voters. This Court has been unable to find any case in which a plaintiff has sought such a drastic remedy in the context of an election, in terms of the sheer volume of votes asked to be invalidated,” US District Court Judge Matthew Brann wrote Saturday.

Plus, the case is crap.

“One might expect that when seeking such a startling outcome, a plaintiff would come formidably armed with compelling legal arguments and factual proof of rampant corruption, such that this Court would have no

How to do better at pronouning.

Yes! That’s so important! Always get into the habit of interrupting people to tell them what to say. Life is drab and tedious without that.

What a fun afternoon that sounds like.

What if my authentic self is someone who doesn’t believe in specialty pronouns?… Read the rest

There’s another one of those Open Letters, this one from “the LGBTQ+ community” of Ireland.

For decades the transgender community has advocated, marched, and fought for equality, and inclusion. This fight has never once wavered in supporting movements that garner equality for all marginalised communities.

Well that’s a lie. “The trans community” doesn’t advocate or fight for all marginalized communities, it advocates and fights for its own. Individual trans people may have joined in, but the “community” has not, and it has gone way out of its way to shit on women.

Our work, our fight, our campaigns, have all been underscored by two things, intersectionality and solidarity. The transgender community has always worked in advancing the equal rights

Katherine Morgan says it’s white women’s fault:

The 2016 exit polls reported that 52 percent of white women had voted for Trump, though according to TIME, that number was closer to 47 percent.

…

The bookstore where I worked was similarly hectic in June: We received countless anti-racism book orders. And yet, despite all of the learning that supposedly took place via these books, in early November 2020 exit polls stated that among white women, Trump still held their support: An estimated 55 percent of white women voted for Trump. This is at least a two-point increase for this demographic since the previous election. As I sit with this number—more than half—I think about how one

Trump is SULking, na na na na nah.

Used to was, we couldn’t get away from him.

The outgoing US president held endless campaign rallies, verbally sparred with reporters on the way to his helicopter and spent so long on the phone to Fox News shows that even pliable hosts had to gently but firmly hang up.

He’s that guy. He’s that guy who never shuts up, that guy who has no interest in anyone else, that guy who thinks his every word is enthralling.

But now he’s hiding.

For critics, it is evidence of a monumental sulk as Trump contemplates his imminent loss of power and exit from the White House. In their view, it is also a

Remember those two Michigan Republican legislators who visited Trump yesterday? One of whom sang a hymn rather than answer a reporter’s questions at the airport?

It seems they had a fun party at Trump’s hotel last night.

Two different Americas.

LEFT: Americans on food lines in Texas.
RIGHT: Michigan legislators at Trump Hotel drinking Dom Perignon pic.twitter.com/cSVoU5WyAY

— Mr. Newberger (@jeremynewberger) November 21, 2020

Also…

I spotted Michigan GOP legislators Mike Shirkey & Dan Lauwers leaving Trump Hotel this morning w/ staff, the morning after their meeting with Trump @ White House. They did not respond to my questions shouted from behind a security barrier and left in a black SUV for airport pic.twitter.com/UF2sPLSlQG

— Melissa Nann Burke (@nannburke) November

More of the same pious mindless glurge.

Trans rights are human rights, and your fight is our fight too.

The Labour Party stands proudly with the trans community. #TDoR2020 pic.twitter.com/BsMI6RsIWq

— Angela Rayner (@AngelaRayner) November 20, 2020

“Everyone should be able to love themselves and be loved for who they are,” she says earnestly. Really? Is that true? No. Should Trump be loved for who he is? No. Should he be able to love himself for who he is? No.

Funny how feminism never claimed this. Funny how no human rights struggle claimed this, until the trans hyperbole train rolled into the station. There is no Right to be Loved (except possibly children’s right to parental love). Human rights aren’t … Read the rest

From Brenda is a Sheep to Beatrix Potter’s Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, courtesy of Project Gutenberg:

Listen to the story of Jemima Puddle-duck, who was annoyed because the farmer’s wife would not let her hatch her own eggs.

Her sister-in-law, Mrs. Rebeccah Puddle-duck, was perfectly willing to leave the hatching to some one else—”I have not the patience to sit on a nest for twenty-eight days; and no more have you, Jemima. You would let them go cold; you know you would!”

“I wish to hatch my own eggs; I will hatch them all by myself,” quacked Jemima Puddle-duck.

So she went into the woods to do so.

Jemima alighted rather heavily, and began to waddle about in search