Funny…the Rugby Football Union has a page on Diversity and Inclusion, which shows that they do realize women exist and are not always included. The RFU says it wants to improve diversity and inclusion…or, as they call it, D&I.

The RFU has conducted research with over 4,400 people from the rugby community to understand attitudes and opinions to D&I in rugby and it has undertaken a detailed analysis of sport participation from Sport England Active Lives and YouGov data. The findings will inform areas of focus for D&I action planning in each part of the game. The results included: 

Despite growth of the women’s game and the most diverse England men’s team ever, compared to the overall England adult

But won’t somebody please think of the trans ladies?

Transgender women will still be allowed to play women’s rugby at all non-international levels of the game in England for the foreseeable future, the Guardian can reveal, after the Rugby Football Union decided that more evidence was needed before implementing any ban.

More evidence! More evidence needed to figure out whether or not male bodies are a danger to female bodies in playing a very rough contact sport! It’s all up in the air; we just don’t know; must collect more evidence, and more and more and more and more. We suspect there may never be enough evidence to convince us.

The RFU’s position is sharply at odds with World Rugby,

No charges.

The federal prosecutor appointed by Attorney General William P. Barr to review whether Obama-era officials improperly requested the identities of individuals whose names were redacted in intelligence documents has completed his work without finding any substantive wrongdoing, according to people familiar with the matter.

Oh gosh darn it, they were so looking forward to punishing Obama for something.

The revelation that U.S. Attorney John Bash, who left the department last week, had concluded his review without criminal charges or any public report will rankle President Trump at a moment when he is particularly upset at the Justice Department. The department has so far declined to release the results of Bash’s work, though people familiar with his findings

ARE YOU KIDDING

Top elections officials in California are scrambling to find out how many illegal ballot drop boxes Republican staffers put up in three counties across the state over the weekend, as local law enforcement authorities continue to search for outstanding witnesses and potential suspects.  The state’s Republican Party, meanwhile, has indicated that it won’t comply with an official order to remove the boxes, and may even add more.

Law and order party, folks.

On Monday, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said his office, in conjunction with the state justice department, issued a cease-and-desist order to the California GOP to remove the illegal ballot drop boxes that have appeared in Los Angeles County, Orange County and Fresno County.

This is what I’ve been wondering about. It is, however, just an unsourced item on Facebook, so not necessarily from an ER nurse at all. But I have been wondering – if Trump really did have a bad case and they really did fix it the way they said, why aren’t they fixing all the serious cases that way? What’s the deal here? What are we not being told?

Nurses and Midwives at Work:

“Copied and pasted from an ER nurse —ER nurse: Allow me to clarify some things as someone who’s taken care of a lot of covid patients. Trump is fine. And he will be fine. That’s because when he was MILDLY symptomatic, we threw all the

Excuse me?

Judge Barrett: "I can't characterize the facts of a hypothetical situation."pic.twitter.com/QSkmhHNsax

— The Recount (@therecount) October 13, 2020

Is that right? So, is it illegal to murder people? Is it illegal to fly planes into tall buildings full of people? Is it illegal to hold up a bank? Is it illegal to stab people on the street? Is it illegal to extort money with menaces?

I guess she can’t characterize the facts in that situation and can’t apply the law in it either?… Read the rest

The US is a disgrace.

Early voting opened Monday in Georgia for the 2020 general election — but the first day was marred by technical issues and lines that in some locations stretched more than five hours long, particularly in the Atlanta metro area.

FIVE HOURS. Can you imagine?

But that’s not even the worst.

Now at 11hrs in line but we are next! A long journey but wouldn’t be anywhere else! Please vote everyone! pic.twitter.com/ifRcbK1XRm

— Johnta Austin (@johntalsr) October 12, 2020

Back to NPR:

Voters arriving in the morning at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, the home of the NBA’s Hawks — and the state’s largest early voting site, with 300 voting machines — encountered technical issues,

ACB is a big fan of forced pregnancy.

Amy Coney Barrett, the supreme court nominee, signed off on an advertisement in 2006 that called for the overturning of Roe v Wade, and called the landmark abortion rights decision “barbaric” and a “raw exercise of judicial power”.

The two-page ad, published by the St Joseph County Right to Life group, an extreme anti-choice organization in South Bend, Indiana, is the most striking evidence to have emerged to date of Barrett’s personal opposition to Roe v Wade.

And thus to women’s right to decide whether to be pregnant or not.

The first page of the ad, which is signed by Barrett and her husband, Jesse, states that life begins at “fertilization”.

The NAACP has thoughts on Amy Coney Barrett.

We have reviewed Amy Coney Barrett’s record on civil rights, including her writings as a law professor and her three years as an appellate court judge. On issue after issue, we have found her to be stunningly hostile to civil rights. Her aggressive view of when past decisions should be overruled, combined with her reactionary positions on what rights the Constitution protects, will jeopardize our hard-fought wins in the Court. Her scholarship questions even foundational principles such as whether the Fourteenth Amendment was properly adopted and whether Brown v. Board of Education remains viable authority. Her repeated endorsement of discrimination in the workplace—including the stunning conclusions that separate can be equal

Trump’s America:

The wife of Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor alleges she was insulted with a racial slur while grocery shopping this week.

Alleges it but also documents it, so…

Gisele Barreto Fetterman, who is married to Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, told CNN the incident happened Sunday evening. In a two-second video Fetterman posted on her Twitter account, a White woman is seen lowering her mask and saying, “You’re a nigger” through Fetterman’s open car window and then walking away. Fetterman was born in Brazil.

*TRIGGER WARNING* I love love love this country but we are so deeply divided. I ran to the local grocery store and was met by and verbally assaulted by this woman who repeatedly told me

No no no.

No no no. The point isn’t that all women have a cervix, it’s that only women have a cervix. If a woman doesn’t have a cervix then she’ll know warnings and information about the cervix aren’t relevant to her; problem solved. It’s silly and confusing to talk about people with a cervix not because all women have one but because only women have one.

It’s both ridiculous and insulting to detach the word “women” from the word “cervix” simply because of all this childish pretending and role playing.

And we don’t need any Joes explaining it to us.… Read the rest

This cannot be true. The Guardian:

Diners have rushed to pay up to £360 per head to eat a meal on a stationary plane, in the latest sign of public appetite to recreate the onboard experience without travelling.

Who would do that???

Being on a plane is an absolute nightmare. The only thing that makes it just barely endurable is wanting to go where the plane is moving you*. Doing it for the sake of doing it is inconceivable.

*Actually, also the view if there is any.

Singapore Airlines launched a waiting list after tickets rapidly sold out for two weekends of sittings onboard two stationary A380 superjumbos, with meals at seats and the chance to watch a movie,

Rosie Duffield MP is taking heat again.

Rosie Duffield got a standing ovation in the House of Commons last year when she revealed her experiences of domestic abuse in a speech that left many of her colleagues in tears. The Labour MP for Canterbury has been attacked by left-wingers for speaking out against antisemitism and vilified by right-wingers for campaigning against Brexit.

Now she is on the front line in the culture war accused of being “transphobic” after she liked a tweet suggesting that “individuals with a cervix” should be described as “women”.

Tweet-liking crime – it’s an epidemic!

The vitriol poured on her has left her “completely terrified”, she says. She has in the past suffered intimidation at

More COVID spreading, because it’s just that urgent to re-enslave women.

Senator Mike Lee — who tested positive for COVID-19 the same day as President Donald Trump — said Monday that he is cured and personally attended the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.

…

Some Democrats questioned whether proceeding was safe. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said, “Who has been tested? Who has been tested? Who is a danger? What contact tracing has been done on infected and exposed senators and staff? Nothing. The whole thing, just like Trump, is an irresponsible botch.”

But totally worth it to get a cultist religious fanatic on the Supreme Court so that she can make a majority to force … Read the rest

Mail-order puberty blockers…what could go wrong?

A UK chemist has been flogging puberty blockers for children online, courtesy of a company set up by disgraced gender doctor, Helen Webberley.

Puberty blockers and sex hormones can be dispatched via a “quick, discreet delivery” once they pay for prescriptions from a private clinic abroad https://t.co/hzPfVG9aE8

— The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) October 6, 2020

The Times has discovered that an online pharmacy, Clear Chemist, has been selling hormone treatments to ‘trans children’ on the internet and that this medication is being prescribed by GenderGP, the clinic originally founded by Helen Webberley.

In 2017 Helen Webberley was suspended by the General Medical Council, pending an investigation into her conduct.

Save Women’s Sports posted an item yesterday:

The Save Women’s Sports flag was raised this morning over Nashua City Hall, where it will be flying through Friday! Thank you to Beth Scaer for your dedication to our movement! Ask your city if they offer this option and we can send a flag your way!

But it got taken down today. A Nashua group page patted itself on the back for silencing women.

Yesterday morning, a flag was raised over Nashua City Hall in support of a transphobic organization, with the expectation that it would continue to fly until Friday. As word spread through the community, the response was clear – this isn’t what Nashua stands for. Many folks

First, the wildly dishonest ad:

Next, Fauci’s emphatic disavowal of the ad’s use of something he said months ago.

Dr. Anthony Fauci did not consent to being featured in a new advertisement from the Trump campaign touting President Donald Trump‘s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert told CNN his words were taken out of context.

“In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate. The comments attributed to me without my permission in the GOP campaign ad were taken out of context from a broad statement I made months ago about the efforts of federal public health officials,” Fauci said in a statement provided

Blegh.

Also – it’s Rowling like rolling, not Rowling like howling. Rowl as in bowl, not as in cowl. English is completely wack and pronounces words randomly, whatever the spelling.

H/t Pliny… Read the rest

James Barry on Ireland and women and the new woke erasure of women:

Enough now, Irish Twitter libfems. (Irish rant coming up). JUST because you made some noise for Repeal, and gained a few followers, does NOT make you the gatekeeper for “Irish feminism.” You’re NOT the person who forevermore gets to say “this is what Irish women are, or want.” 

It wasn’t just the young and woke who caused Repeal to happen.

Ireland was awful for a young woman in the 50s & 60s & 70s & 80s- and even 90s. ALL the women who lived through those terrible times, had a voice in the Repeal the 8th Referendum. The “repeal” doesn’t belong to any one group. 

…

“Misleading” is a polite way of putting it.

Twitter on Sunday added a warning label to a tweet from President Donald Trump, who tested positive for the coronavirus and said he is no longer contagious. 

Trump tweeted on Sunday that he received a “total and complete sign off from White House Doctors yesterday.”

“That means I can’t get it (immune), and can’t give it,” the president added. “Very nice to know!!!”

So he’s admitting that he didn’t “know” that before and thus knew he was being reckless with other people’s lives. Surprise surprise.

The tweet contains “misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19,” the Twitter label says. It remains accessible because “Twitter has determined that it may be