That’s how to do it.

Protesters have disrupted church services across Poland in the latest show of discontent against a court’s near-total ban on abortion. The protesters staged sit-ins and held pro-abortion banners, interrupting Sunday Mass at some churches.

The protests are considered unusual in a country where the Roman Catholic church has great influence. They follow a ruling by Poland’s top court that ending the life of a deformed foetus is unconstitutional.

…

Poland’s abortion laws were already among the strictest in Europe, with an estimated 100,000 women seeking a termination abroad each year to get around the tight restrictions.

The Catholic church as an institution hates women, whatever some nuns and priests may think.

In a park

… Read the rest

The Sydney Morning Herald tells us:

Four in ten young men do not consider punching and hitting to constitute domestic violence, a national survey has found.

The survey of 1074 adults for anti-violence campaign group White Ribbon found 42 per cent of men aged 18 to 34 did not consider “hitting, punching or restraining” another person to be “a type of domestic violence”.

Were they raised by wolves? In what world is punching not violence? Also in what world is it ok for men to hit women?

The research found older men were more likely to recognise domestic violence. The proportion of men who did not consider hitting and punching to be domestic violence dropped to less than a

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Omar on Here for you.

It is at times like this that I am reminded how improbable our individual lives are against the backdrop of human history and evolutionary biology.

My maternal great-grandmother Mary-Ann Connor was a refugee from the Irish potato ‘famine’ of the 1840s, when social arrangements in Ireland somehow resulted in the export of a large part of its agricultural produce. She went as a refugee to New Zealand, where by chance she met my great grandfather, who was a sailor.

Mary-Ann had eleven children in all, ten of whom died in infancy: probably of TB, which was raging at the time. My grandmother was the only survivor of those eleven children. … Read the rest

In a word: no.

Join Charlotte Clymer @cmclymer and other panelists this Monday for an upcoming Town Hall on the #EqualRightsAmendment and the impact in the LGBTQIA+ Community. You can register here: https://t.co/MYEtIpF8Dh
Hope to see you there! #ERAnow #Equality pic.twitter.com/XWqgmuaiyG

— ERA Coalition (@ERACoalition) October 24, 2020

Join a man who is roleplaying a woman for a discussion of the Equal Rights Amendment, a proposed amendment to the US Constitution to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex, in other words to remove women from second-class status. There are plenty of women who can discuss the rights of women, there is no need to turn to men who are roleplaying women instead of actual women. … Read the rest

They were what?

“A federal health agency halted a public-service coronavirus advertising campaign funded by $250 million in taxpayer money after it offered a special vaccine deal to an unusual set of essential workers: Santa Claus performers,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“As part of the plan, a top Trump administration official wanted the Santa performers to promote the benefits of a Covid-19 vaccination and, in exchange, offered them early vaccine access ahead of the general public, according to audio recordings. Those who perform as Mrs. Claus and elves also would have been included.”

They…you…what…

They can’t even do things in a non-criminal way when there’s no need for the criminality!

“Listen up, Santa dude – promote the vaccine or … Read the rest

The White House chief of staff is fine with all this coronavirus-defying:

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows defended Vice President Pence’s decision to continue traveling and campaigning despite his exposure to staff who have tested positive for COVID-19, saying Sunday that Pence is exempt from CDC guidelines because he is “essential personnel.”

But is campaigning essential activity?

Meadows told CNN that “we are not going to control the pandemic,” dismissing the notion that the appropriate COVID policy should be to “quarantine all of America.” Instead, Meadows argued, the focus should be on developing vaccines and therapeutics “to give Americans the relief that this is not a death sentence.”

And in the meantime it’s fine to infect people … Read the rest

So Pence’s staff is riddled with coronavirus.

At least five people in Vice President Mike Pence’s orbit have tested positive for coronavirus in recent days, including chief of staff Marc Short and outside adviser Marty Obst, a source familiar with the situation told CNN.

…

Despite the slew of coronavirus cases around him, Pence — who is the head of the White House’s coronavirus task force — is not quarantining, as per US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Instead, he plans to continue traveling and campaigning in the final stretch to Election Day.

Because, you know, the hell with CDC guidelines, the hell with safety, the hell with everything except the self-interest of Trump and his dummy.… Read the rest

This one really struck a nerve. Not in a good way.

https://twitter.com/SandsUK/status/1314855702343680002

Sands is here for you, but not so here that it will call you a mother instead of a “birthing parent” (or a father instead of a “non-birthing parent”).

The replies are genuinely painful to read.

Can you please have the decency & respect to refer to a woman who loses her baby as the mother? I've seen so many women crying out for their lost babies to be remembered & their short existence to be acknowledged. Let them be the mothers they wanted to be, the mothers they ARE.

— Jayne (courage calls to courage everywhere) (@ScouseJayne) October 24, 2020

I have never experienced the loss of

… Read the rest

Ok…

https://twitter.com/GailRossSNP/status/1319740452258676736

Commence piling on. If love, respect and humanity should be the bedrock of society then why are you calling people bitches? I know it’s hip and everything but what’s it got to do with love respect n humanity?

Also, how does “equality” come into it? What do “pronouns” have to do with equality?

In reality, nothing. In the jargon-world these two apparently inhabit, part of “equality” is bespoke pronouns and forcing everyone else to use those bespoke pronouns. How they get there, though, remains obscure.

And then from the Jason Michael tweet, what does treating other human beings with love, dignity and respect have to do with pronouns?

In reality, nothing. In the jargon-world these two apparently inhabit, … Read the rest

Alarm bells:

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S newest executive order, signed without fanfare this week, could prove one of his most insidious.

The directive from the White House, issued late Wednesday, sounds technical: creating a new “Schedule F” within the “excepted service” of the federal government for employees in policymaking roles, and directing agencies to determine who qualifies. Its implications, however, are profound and alarming. It gives those in power the authority to fire more or less at will as many as tens of thousands of workers currently in the competitive civil service, from managers to lawyers to economists to, yes, scientists.

Wo. That’s a terrible plan. It dynamites the whole point of having a civil service (the hilarities … Read the rest

We’re still doing it wrong.

The United States on Friday was approaching a record for the number of new daily coronavirus cases, as a new study warned that the pandemic is set to cause half a million American deaths by February.

…

This means that with cases surging in many states, particularly the upper midwest, what appears to be a third major peak of coronavirus infections in the US could lead to nearly 300,000 people dying in just the next four months.

Compared to over 200,000 in the last eight months – so that’s a huge leap.

The news came as Anthony Fauci, the top public health official on the White House coronavirus taskforce, said Donald Trump has not

… Read the rest

Speaking of the princess…she’s sharing Trump’s idiotic “cleanliness” interpretation of environmentalism.

https://twitter.com/IvankaTrump/status/1319759284947865601

“Pristine” ffs. It’s the comprehension of a resort-owner. There must be NO DIRT anywhere. We need CRYSTAL CLEAR WATER and PRISTINE OCEANS AND BEACHES.

The hell we do. Sterile environments are by definition hostile to life. Biology needs a lot of muck, and it generates a lot of muck. Princess Ivanka makes it sound as if we should bleach everything. (Ask the coral reefs how that’s working out.)

I cannot wait to see the back of these people.… Read the rest

Hahahahaha Princess Ivanka and Prince Jared are SUING, they are SUING I tell you.

Nuts! pic.twitter.com/XxxkG43z3W

— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) October 24, 2020

I’m sure they’ll win that suit because how could anyone possibly back up the claim that Princess Barbie is indifferent to the sufferings of people harmed by her criminal murderous daddy?

Jared and Ivanka have always been entitled, out-of-touch bullies who have never given the slightest indication they have any regard for the American people.

We plan on showing them the same level of respect.

Our full statement: pic.twitter.com/M3K5nOE5qd

— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) October 24, 2020

For the first time ever I feel a twinge of gratitude toward Princess and Prince, for giving us this … Read the rest

Why do they keep doing this?

https://twitter.com/RebeccaTinnelly/status/1319717341165457409

This makes NO sense. Women are the ones subject to sexual violence and harassment and creeping (you know, cameras, peering over the partition, that stuff), not men. Women; not men. It shouldn’t be men who are given the toilets to themselves while women have to share them with men; that is backwards.

Plus the whole…”well we don’t want to push men around because they might punch us, so we’ll just dump it all on you, because if you punch us we can smash all your teeth in.” It’s called bullying; it’s called unfair; it’s called taking advantage.… Read the rest

I wish I’d heard that (or could currently find a recording of it):

https://twitter.com/marstrina/status/1319694268102021121

Marina sent the perfect question:

https://twitter.com/marstrina/status/1319695360365834240

Seriously. How can Kate Manne talk about something named “male entitlement” or “male privilege” if she doesn’t know who male people are? How does she know they’re not all trans women but just haven’t worked up the courage to say so yet?

Festival of Ideas blurbs the conversation:

Philosopher Kate Manne offers a radical new framework for understanding misogyny. She ranges widely across the culture — from the Kavanaugh hearings and ‘Cat Person’ to Harvey Weinstein and Elizabeth Warren — to show how the idea that a privileged man is tacitly deemed to be owed something is a pervasive

… Read the rest

Aw, Bibi won’t play.

Speaking to “Bibi” on the phone in the Oval Office earlier today, Trump tried to goad Netanyahu into attacking Joe Biden.

“Do you think Sleepy Joe could have made this deal, Bibi?” Trump asked Netanyahu, referring to Biden by an insulting nickname. “You think he would have made this deal? Somehow, I don’t think so.”

Very appropriate. Just what heads of state are supposed to do – try to draw other heads of state into insulting a rival for the office. “Bibi” will have to work with Biden if we succeed in putting a stake through Trump’s gut, but Donnie Two Scoops can’t be bothered with details like that when they’re about other people.

But

… Read the rest

Peter Tatchell’s determined indifference to the concerns of women – which he names accurately and claims to “sympathize and empathize with” – is breathtaking to see.… Read the rest

More voter suppression from the right-wing Supreme Court:

The Supreme Court has sided with Alabama state officials who banned curbside voting intended to accommodate individuals with disabilities and those at risk from the COVID-19 virus.

The high court issued its order Wednesday night, without explanation, over the dissent of the court’s three liberal justices.

At issue was the decision by the Alabama secretary of state to ban counties from allowing curbside voting, even for those voters with disabilities and those for whom COVID-19 is disproportionately likely to be fatal.

People like that won’t be voting for Trump so…… Read the rest

Tatchell reminds us he doesn’t give a shit about women.

Peter Tatchell: "actually the studies show that transwomen are at a disadvantage in women's sports."

How people can lie so brazenly in the media and still expect people to take anything they say seriously is beyond me. https://t.co/M0ZtcLngv5

— Roary (@GrRoary) October 23, 2020

Trans women are at a disadvantage in women’s sport? Really?… Read the rest

This goon. He says it AGAIN – I knew he was going to and flinched in advance and pow, there it was: the crystal clean water again.

US President Donald Trump says, “Look at India … it’s filthy. The air is filthy.” But who ran away from the Paris accord? pic.twitter.com/gCYyie3usF

— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) October 23, 2020

But also…starting at 40 seconds, notice the energy with which he calls China filthy, India filthy. We can all see he’s not just thinking about “the air.”… Read the rest