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

The Telegraph on Patrick Harvie:

The Scottish Greens have been accused of prioritising ideology over protecting children after the party again refused to endorse an expert report into gender healthcare.

Patrick Harvie, who until last month was a Scottish government minister, claimed that a Holyrood motion welcoming the Cass review and recognising it as a “valid scientific document” was not “supportable” by his party.

The Green co-leader also promised that his party would “oppose the toxic culture war” even if the Greens were “left alone in Scottish politics” in standing up for transgender rights.

In standing up for purported trans rights at the expense of women’s rights.

All other parties, including the SNP, endorsed Hilary Cass

Originally a comment by Screechy Monkey on For some survivors.

A couple of things that struck me about the ruling (well, more the factual background laid out than the ruling itself):

1. How incredibly mild Adams’ “heresy” was. She wasn’t a “terf,” she wasn’t refusing to use people’s preferred names and pronouns, etc. Basically, a victim asked whether the person referred to as “AB” — who was using a male-sounding name and had recently declared themselves nonbinary — was a man. Adams merely forwarded the request to her superiors with her suggested response and requested guidance, then expressed reservations about giving her superiors’ proposed response that the center doesn’t employ men because, aside from the whole question of whether … Read the rest

Men are the only true women and the only real feminists.

Para 146 (page 58)
December 2022

The CEO of Edinburgh Rape Crisis, Mridul Wadwha, sends an insane email to staff after hearing that @jk_rowling has set up @beirasplace (a women only centre for survivors of sexual trauma), describing it as founded on ‘white feminist imperialism’ https://t.co/xnMgojBgTw pic.twitter.com/wX2xnLtO1B

— teresa smith (@treesey) May 19, 2024

The BBC has belatedly managed to find its glasses long enough to report on the ERCC ruling.

A woman who worked at a rape crisis centre was unfairly constructively dismissed for believing that those using the service should be able to know the sex of staff, a tribunal has found. It also found that Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre had unlawfully discriminated against Roz Adams, saying that management had conducted a “heresy hunt” against her.

…

Sandy Brindley, chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, said “We believe that it is important that survivors can make informed choices about the services they can access at rape crisis centres. We know it is important for some survivors to have a choice over

Oh puh-leeze.

Statement from Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre Board of Directors

We are saddened by the outcome of the Tribunal. We will now take time to reflect on the written judgement.

We strive to provide a safe accessible and inclusive service and are committed to improving continuously.

No you don’t. If you did you would never have put a man who pretends to be a woman in charge.

We are fully supportive of Rape Crisis Scotland’s commissioning of an independent review of ERCC practice. This will help ensure our practices and procedures meet the highest standards as set out in the Rape Crisis National Service Standards, and that survivors receive the exceptional quality of support they deserve.

We want to

It appears that the BBC is ignoring the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre ruling. I searched and found only this one mention, in the category what’s in Scotland’s papers today:

Scotland’s papers: ‘Bad blood’ payout and rape centre gender row

Perfunctory at best. The main page has not a whisper about it.

Ah well, you know how it is, it’s only women.… Read the rest

The Times reports:

An employment judge has condemned a support service for rape victims and found that its chief executive was behind a “heresy hunt” against a ­female worker who held “gender-critical” beliefs.

Roz Adams won her claim of constructive dismissal against Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, which is funded by the Scottish government, with the ­tribunal finding that she had been ­harassed and discriminated against. Supporters of Adams condemned the “abusive management” she was forced to endure.

When she joined the rape crisis centre, Adams, 52, had at first welcomed its trans-inclusive policies, believing that everyone who had ­“suffered sexual assault is entitled to support”, the tribunal heard.

Support, yes. Support in a rape crisis centre for women, no.… Read the rest

This happened:

Everyone in the world needs to see this photo. This poor girl should be celebrating her title & being the state champion, on the top step. Instead she looks broken as the MALE who stole her title snears at her. Everyone supporting males in women’s sport – hang yr heads in shame! https://t.co/OHS73ZtVdW

— Mara Yamauchi (@mara_yamauchi) May 19, 2024

It’s appropriate that there’s a banner saying DICK right next to the cheater’s midsection.… Read the rest

News!!

https://t.co/toN35S6YJ2

— Julie Bindel (@bindelj) May 19, 2024

(2) The respondents unfairly constructively dismissed the claimant.

(3) The remedy to which the claimant is entitled will be determined at a future Hearing. 2/2

Full judgement here:https://t.co/RhsVAEZGp8

— Annie Bishop LLB Hons, Phd in making a fuss (@killhopelaw) May 19, 2024

Yesssssss … Read the rest

Yet another reason not to be captive on a giant ship with more than 4200 people.

Problems with a stomach bug spreading on a cruise ship have been going on for weeks, passengers have told the BBC. The P&O Cruises vessel Ventura left Southampton on 11 May for a two-week cruise around the Canary Islands. On Saturday, the company confirmed that “enhanced” sanitation protocols had been put in place following reports of passengers with “gastrointestinal symptoms”. However, people who travelled on Ventura in previous weeks said the illness had also been present during their cruises. 

What’s worse than being on a giant cruise ship? Being on a giant cruise ship with GI problems.

One passenger developed acute gastroenteritis, … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on That’s easy for you to say.

JKR: Please explain how a man, who by definition can’t know what it feels like to be a woman, knows he’s a woman, without recourse to regressive sex stereotypes.

This is exactly the crux of it. We’re only ever given our one, single, lonely perspective on what it is to be human. The only skin we inhabit is our own, the brain/mind we use to sense, filter, and reconstruct the world is the one inside our own head. We can’t shop around to try different existences on for size, to take test drives in other peoples’ minds or bodies. Autobiography and fiction offer imaginative … Read the rest

Canada is on fire early again.

Thousands of people in western Canada are facing the wrath of wildfires this week amid severe drought. Some six thousand people were told to evacuate Fort McMurray, Alberta, where 90,000 residents were forced to flee during the 2016 wildfires. More than 3,000 others were ordered to leave Fort Nelson, British Columbia, where a fire is burning 2.5km (1.5 miles) from the town.

Evacuation alerts were also issued in the provinces of Alberta and Manitoba. Smoke from the fires has triggered air quality alerts in Canada and the US.

It’s only May. That’s early.

There are two common sources of wildfires in Canada: lightning and human beings, Gordon McBean, a geography and environment professor