News:

The American Conservative Union announced on Saturday that one of the attendees at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, has tested positive for coronavirus.

President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and other administration officials attended the conference, though the ACU says the attendee did not come into contact with the president or vice president, nor did they attend events in the main hall.

Ah but the attendee is not necessarily the only attendee carrying the virus. Maybe several people there, or many people there, would test positive if anyone tested them. You never know.

Do I hope Trump is pissing himself right now? Oh you bet I do.

The White House confirmed

Susan Dalgety in The Scotsman on why women have a right to call ourselves women:

For all the hard-won successes of the first and second waves of feminism, from the right to vote to the right to choose, women and girls are still second-class citizens.

From unequal pay to the US Supreme Court seriously considering whether or not to limit abortion rights, the battle for equality grinds on. Indeed, 50 years after the first Women’s Liberation event held in Oxford, it seems to be getting harder to argue against the patriarchy, especially when it is disguised in high heels and a blonde wig.

I could not have been the only woman of certain age who was aghast on Wednesday

Oh now what.

This is spinning out into a bigger, wider employment problem. More than 330 Guardian employees – one fifth of the workforce – have signed a letter to editor Kath Viner expressing concerns about the recent pieces on trans issues. https://t.co/MCcmq2iNyw

— Mark Di Stefano (@MarkDiStef) March 7, 2020

What concerns?

Patrick Strudwick at Buzzfeed presents a typically opaque version of events:

Hundreds of staff and contractors at the Guardian have signed a strongly worded letter to the editor in protest of the newspaper’s “pattern of publishing transphobic content”.

Careful, and unhelpful. His use of quotation marks hints that he doesn’t want to defend or even spell out what this “transphobic content” actually is, but he … Read the rest

The Guardian too was unimpressed by Trump’s performance yesterday.

Donald Trump used a freewheeling press conference on Friday, intended to provide updates on the coronavirus, as an opportunity to attack Democrats, praise his own intelligence, lash out at CNN and spread false and misleading information about the status of the outbreak, as a slew of new cases were confirmed aboard a cruise ship off the California coast.

Speaking at the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) main campus in Atlanta, Georgia, while wearing his red “Keep America Great” re-election campaign hat, the president went on a rant criticizing Washington state’s governor, Jay Inslee, as a “snake” and saying he disagreed with his vice-president’s complimentary remarks toward the Democrat. Inslee, who

Trump has a new chief of staff: Tea Party birther Mark Meadows.

With his choice, Trump tapped a lawmaker who was first elected in the post-Tea Party wave of 2012 and served as chairman of the Freedom Caucus. Meadows has been a key Trump ally since 2016 and the two reportedly talk frequently. During the impeachment battle, Trump and Meadows, who was instrumental in designing the president’s defense, talked several times a day.

Meadows also shares something else with the president, a past questioning of former President Barack Obama’s nationality. While campaigning in 2012, Meadows was asked if he would pursue an investigation to find out if Obama really is a citizen. “Yes,” Meadows responded. “If we do our

Here’s the bit where he starts babbling about his uncle and about him him him him him. He’s there to talk about a disease outbreak and instead he talks about his alternative career.

How much of this are we going to allow?
“I like this stuff! You know my uncle was a great person. He was over at MIT for like a record number of years. He was like a super genius. Dr.John Trump. I have a natural ability for this stuff”
It’s time #Trump is INSANE. #CORONAVIRUS pic.twitter.com/fKPIbIdMrp

— Bernie Connor (@BernieConnor9) March 6, 2020

Also…that collar.… Read the rest

Pink News tells more lies about non-compliant feminists:

More than 200 feminists have written to British newspaper The Guardian rejecting the argument that transgender rights are a threat to women.

The letter was organised in response to Monday’s column by The Guardian writer Suzanne Moore: “Women must have the right to organise. We will not be silenced.”

But of course Suzanne Moore didn’t say “transgender rights are a threat to women.” Here’s what she did say:

Female oppression is innately connected to our ability to reproduce. Women have made progress by talking about biology, menstruation, childbirth and menopause. We won’t now have our bodies or voices written out of the script. The materiality of having a female body

More on Trump’s ridiculous outing to the CDC. (Why did he wear his play clothes to the CDC? His play clothes are for throwing paper towels at people who survived a hurricane, not for visiting a government institution. Nobody else there was in play clothes.)

Trump, wearing his “Keep America Great” campaign hat while discussing the global worry, tried once more to quell growing alarm about the spread of the virus in America. But he quickly ventured into side matters and political squabbles.

Because he has the attention span of a flea.

The president touted the accuracy of the test to detect the coronavirus, which members of his administration have acknowledged is not available to all who wants it,

Oh did he.

Trump on Inslee: "I told Mike not to be complimentary of that Gov because that Gov is a snake…Let me just tell you we have a lot of problems with the Gov and the Gov of WA, that's where you have many of your problems, OK? So Mike may be happy with him but I'm not OK?"

— Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) March 6, 2020

Actually it was even worse than that. He spent a minute and a half explaining how much he hates Inslee, announcing that “he’s not a good governor by the way,” and inventing scenarios in which Inslee would do the wrong thing. It’s a disgusting contemptible sick-making display. The Tacoma News Tribune has video … Read the rest

No really that’s ok we can do this ourselves, we don’t need help. Really. We’re doing it. Your help is not needed or requested. Dude, seriously, back off.

"Trans women are women at the end of the day. Every woman is a woman. Women are multifaceted, intergenerational, international. They are limitless, formless … women are the world.” – @aaronphilipxo, model & disability rights activist#IWD2020#GenerationEquality pic.twitter.com/OKubMhpQwh

— UN Women (@UN_Women) March 6, 2020

Every woman is a woman, yes, thank you for the tautology. That doesn’t mean that every (or any) man who calls himself a woman is a woman, and in fact, it’s not the case that every (or any) man who calls himself a … Read the rest

And Bozo is doing what they told him to do.

Trump just reiterated his lack of worry about the spread of the novel illness in the US. Perhaps problematic, though is that, to many, he’s coming across as casually dismissive and posturing, not measured, and reassuringly presidential.

“You have to be calm,” he said, at the White House this morning before departing to tour the tornado damage in Tennessee and just after signing an $8.3 billion emergency spending bill to deal with the virus.

And the best way to be calm is to have the government hide the truth from you. Better calm and dead than agitated and alive, right?

“It will go away,” he said. “We have very

Ok they’re not looking out for our health and safety but at least they are doing everything they can to protect profits.

Another developing nightmare for the White House is growing fears that the travel industry — an important driver of the economy — could face a catastrophic blow as conferences are canceled and families mull whether to hold off on vacation plans.

After United Airlines announced cuts to capacity on domestic and international flights, the CEO of Southwest Airlines warned the domestic carrier may soon make the “gut punch” decision to cut flights owing to a falloff in bookings that started last week.

Trump met airline executives at the White House on Wednesday and they asked him not

Originally a comment by Bruce Gorton on Women deserve better:

The more I read this line, the more it bugs me.

Feminism is nothing without women of colour, migrant, disabled, queer, trans, Black and sex working women.

Feminism has included racists, xenophobes, eugenicists, homophobes etc… throughout its history.

And their bigotries did not render their calls for an end to gender inequality null, any more that MLK Jnr’s homophobia rendered his calls for racial equality null.

If you eliminated racism, xenophobia, homophobia etc… feminism would still have its place in fighting sexism.

To proclaim that feminism or any other social justice activism is “nothing without…” is an all or nothing fallacy that inherently demands a higher standard of behaviour … Read the rest

Whoopsie! Big surprise for Mister Barr.

A federal judge Thursday criticized Attorney General William Barr for his handling of the Mueller report when it was released last spring, saying Barr’s early description of the report didn’t match the special counsel’s actual conclusions.

This is a Republican judge, appointed by Bush.

Judge Reggie Walton asked if Barr’s actions were a “calculated attempt” to help President Donald Trump and opined the attorney general had a “lack of candor” with the public and Congress.

“The Court cannot reconcile certain public representations made by Attorney General Barr with the findings in the Mueller Report,” Walton wrote on Thursday. Barr’s initial publicly announced interpretation of the findings from former special counsel Robert Mueller “cause

Trump made some “remarks” yesterday at a coronavirus briefing with airline bosses, which the White House duly transcribed for us.

In a certain way, you could say that the borders are automatically shut down, without having to say “shut down.”  I mean, they’re, to a certain extent, automatically shut down. 

Impressive, isn’t it? We’re in good hands. But then he gets to the important part.

But it’s affecting the airline business, as it would.  And a lot of people are staying in our country, and they’re shopping and using our hotels in this country.  So, from that standpoint, I think, probably, there’s a positive impact.  But there’s also an impact on overseas travel, which will be fairly substantial.

That’s … Read the rest

This is horrifying. I mean really horrifying, as in you feel fear and horror.

.@Dr_Ronx has advice for Frankie, who wears too-tight binders causing his ribs to pop out. pic.twitter.com/Bi7Hl8SgFm

— BBC Three (@bbcthree) February 28, 2020

Some replies:

• This sounds like medical malpractice. The patient is in clear physical discomfort. A responsible doctor would tell them to stop and let their body repair itself. Does the @gmcuk have a view on this?
• Would this “doctor” give an anorexic teenager tips on how to starve herself further? This is shocking.
• I’m not sure how to express what the current output from you make me feel, but I do know the overarching reaction is terror. What are you doing? Why are

Dan Orr’s manifesto or campaign pledge or promo or whatever it is:

Women deserve better from our university. Sexual violence and harassment remain prevalent, and women are too often held back by misogyny and its intersections. As co-chair of Oxford SU’s Women’s campaign I helped bring women together to discuss feminism, establish support networks and campaign for change. From working with Irish activists in demonstrating and fundraising for the Repeal the Eighth campaign to tackling sexual violence on campus I learnt that the strength of the feminist movement is in its diversity and in the solidarity we have for each other. I want to bring the women at this university together to enact real lasting change. As a trans woman

Another one.

A university students’ union is under fire for rebranding International Women’s Day to include trans women.

Leicester students’ renaming of the celebration as International Womxn’s Day follows their election of a trans woman to the post of women’s officer. Dan Orr will represent the views of women on campus, speaking out about sexism and misogyny.

Which he doesn’t understand from the inside, on account of how he’s a man.

A female student at Leicester University told The Times that she was “very upset” by the election but feared speaking out publicly in case she was disciplined by the university.

“I am sure Dan Orr will try her best, but she has not grown up with the same

Last week:

Two of Scotland’s best known libraries are under attack for their conflicting stance on trans rights as the “culture wars” escalate in the country’s arts scene.

Feminists have railed against the Glasgow Women’s Library after a women’s campaign group opposed to gender self-declaration law changes were denied access.

Their fury was inflamed by news that trans rights activists had been permitted to hold a training day at the publicly funded venue, led by two men.

In a statement online, the Glasgow Women’s Library said: “We will only accept venue hire bookings from organisations that align with our values and we always do our best to make sure of this when bookings are made.”

So the values of … Read the rest