This is how one inspires women in leadership?? Really?

Delighted 2 share @rachel_brian illustration post regarding the LGBT community. Be curious, respectful, listen & learn. Ask questions like- 'What pronouns do you use?' & provide resources like the 'Gender Unicorn' 2 help people understand their gender expression #LGBTHM2020 pic.twitter.com/Na9nd9ApyC

— Inspiring Women in Leadership (@IWiLScot_) February 4, 2020

It says “the LGBT community” but the ugly cluttered poster is all about the T. And what does inspiring women in leadership have to do with gender unicorns and being told to “embrace discomfort”? Like, what, women don’t get enough opportunities to embrace discomfort just in trying to navigate the world, now they have to put up with people ostensibly concerned with … Read the rest

Yes I too understand why people ask this: it’s because they’re intrusive controlling impertinent creeps.

I understand why people ask this, but 1, I follow lots of people I disagree with and I think it's important to do that so as not to be in an echo chamber, plus I'm a journalist who writes often about people I disagree with. 2, I've done my time in the glinner trenches. https://t.co/OFtYg7PbnM

— jon ronson (@jonronson) February 5, 2020

Boom, 20+ years of friendship thrown overboard.

20+ years of friendship, defended him from the mob countless times, shouted down an anti-Semite at one of his readings, and this is the best he can do. Jon, just unfollow so I don’t have to

Originally a comment by Artymorty on Needs.

Here’s a personal anecdote about an encounter I had with Canadian pro-sex-work feminists:

A couple years ago when I ran an event venue I booked a women’s storytelling group and the theme of this particular gathering was something like “What makes you happy?” It was billed as an evening for amateur women speakers to share stories of finding empowerment in doing things for themselves — doing what makes them happy instead of doing things for the sake of others’ feelings. Quickly sold out; 200+ capacity; about a half a dozen speakers. Sounds great! I happened to be filling in as a bartender in the Hall that night so I was able to … Read the rest

Mike Burns at Media Matters on Limbaugh being loathsome way back in 2011:

Rush Limbaugh has a long and ugly history of race baiting. Yesterday was no exception. Limbaugh said that First Lady Michelle Obama was booed at a NASCAR event because she has exhibited “uppity-ism.” Today, however, Limbaugh acted as if nothing controversial had happened.

Mm, yeah, what could possibly be controversial about that.

What Limbaugh said:

NASCAR people, as are most people in this country, are mature, tolerant people who fully understand when they’re being insulted and condescended to. And they remember being called bitter clingers. They know that in their hearts the Obamas don’t like them. We’ve taken notice of this as has, by the way, Chris

Now Trump is hating on public schools. Naturally: schools are there to make guys like him a profit.

If for some reason you haven’t been clear about what President Trump thinks about traditional public schools, consider what he said about them in his State of the Union address Tuesday night.

There was this: “For too long, countless American children have been trapped in failing government schools.”

That’s cute. It makes public schools sound like gulags.

Trump spent most of his education-related comments on the subject of “school choice,” which he and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have put at the top of their education agenda. DeVos has said her chief priority was expanding alternatives to traditional public schools, which she

Ugh.

Repeat to infinity and beyond.

Trump, Limbaugh, medal, of freedom.

There was Mother Teresa, “a heroine of our times,” and Rosa Parks, “a living icon for freedom in America.” Elie Wiesel kept “watch against the forces of hatred,” while Jackie Robinson “struck a mighty blow for equality, freedom, and the American way of life.”

I wouldn’t have led with Anjezë Bojaxhiu aka Mother Teresa, since she was an enemy of freedom and not the friend to the poor she was made out to be; the other three are much better illustrations of the point. There are humanitarians, and then there are their opposites. Rush Limbaugh is their opposite. Limbaugh despises … Read the rest

It never stops.

As #LGBTHM20 begins, I am very sad to say that a certain transphobic professor – Kathleen Stock – has been invited to give the Francis Bacon lecture at @UniofHerts. All weekend I have been anxious and concerned about this and how best to proceed. I'm in the process of posting…

— Chris Lloyd (@clloyd9) February 3, 2020

You couldn’t make it up. A woman is invited to give a lecture, and a man takes to Twitter to wonder how he can “proceed” in this tragic emergency.

…an open letter articulating why this invitation is a problem for the School and university. This is not a matter of 'freedom of speech' nor 'no-platforming' – it's clear that

Rush Limbaugh said what now?

Just five years ago, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh went on a pro-tobacco rant on his show, during which he downplayed the risks of smoking, said it’s “a myth” that secondhand smoke causes illness or death and argued that smokers aren’t at any greater risk than people who “eat carrots.”

Smoking and eating carrots are not mutually exclusive.

“Smokers aren’t killing anybody,” the conservative host declared in an April 2015 segment of the “Rush Limbaugh Show,” then argued that tobacco users should be thanked because their purchases generate tax dollars that fund children’s health care programs.

“I’m just saying there ought to be a little appreciation shown for them, instead of having them hated and

This isn’t like other protests. This is the protesters threatening, browbeating, and assaulting people attending a discussion of women’s rights. It’s mostly men threatening and assaulting mostly women.

The woman in the pink hat is holding a sign that says “women’s voices matter,” and a large man lunges at her and shoves her. So…women’s voices don’t matter? They’re going with that? That’s what they want to tell us?

The “protesters” hop up and down screaming “TERFs out!”

They’re not protesting exploitation or oppression or injustice…they’re protesting women who are trying to defend their rights against men who demand – with menaces – admission to the category “women” despite the brute fact that they are men. That’s not a glorious cause, … Read the rest

More on the “have you ever considered doing sex work?” question:

Members of Parliament were in the House of Commons for debate on a Conservative motion seeking to condemn the decision by the Parole Board of Canada to release a convicted murderer on day parole in Quebec City and allow him to “meet women, but only to meet [his] sexual needs.”

So that’s a question for conservatives? And MPs on the left think it’s fine to send male murderers out to get their “sexual needs” met? I’m on the left, but I lean toward thinking women don’t exist to meet the “sexual needs” of murderers (or anyone else). I lean toward thinking women aren’t a kind of implement for … Read the rest

Good question.

If “sex work is work” then what the hell is there to apologize for? And why would a woman who believes SWIW get offended? pic.twitter.com/JpQvHm8iBx

— Amy Eileen Hamm (@preta_6) February 4, 2020

On a completely unrelated subject, what does pole dancing have to do with football? And what does football have to do with pole dancing?… Read the rest

Being woke on the cheap – the very, very cheap.

It’s about those pronouns.

If everyone stated their pronouns, allowing those with a non-traditional gender identity to blend into the crowd, the quality of life of countless people could improve markedly, with negligible inconvenience caused to everyone else.

I am a cisgender, straight, white, male, middle-class Tory. If even I can muster enough self-awareness to recognise the uniqueness of others’ experiences and make small changes to the way I behave as a result, such as adding “he/him” to my social media bios, then you definitely can too. There is no basis for defying this that is both rational and compassionate.

It’s so easy – aka cheap. He can go on … Read the rest

Another filing:

White House Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President Jared Kushner violated the Hatch Act during a CNN interview on Sunday, according to a complaint filed today by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) with the Office of Special Counsel (OSC). Throughout the interview, Kushner advocated on behalf of the Trump campaign while appearing in his official government capacity on behalf of the Trump administration.

The Hatch Act prohibits executive branch employees from “us[ing their] official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election.” Throughout the interview, Fareed Zakaria and Kushner openly discussed Kushner’s strategy to re-elect President Trump, while Kushner was identified in his government capacity.

No free press for you.

President Donald Trump’s targeting of CNN is moving to yet another arena: The annual presidential lunch with television network anchors.

CNN anchors are being excluded from Tuesday’s lunch, three sources said on Monday night.

Do they have a reasonable expectation to be included? Yes, they do.

Trump, like presidents before him, typically invites anchors from all the major networks to dine with him at the White House in advance of his State of the Union address. The lunch conversation is considered off the record, but it gives the anchors a sense of the president’s state of mind before they anchor SOTU coverage. “Despite Trump’s persistent attacks on the news media, he’s kept up such

Ah yes, a remarkable achievement.

Laurel Hubbard kept alive her hopes of competing at Tokyo 2020 when she won the women’s super-heavyweight contest at the Roma World Cup, the first Olympic qualifying event of the year.

It would be a remarkable achievement should she make it because Hubbard, who will be 42 on February 9, ruptured ligaments in her left elbow at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast and thought her career was over.

But not all that remarkable given the fact that Hubbard is a man and he’s competing against women.

Hubbard, who competed at national level as Gavin Hubbard before transitioning in her thirties, may find that her fate is not entirely in her own

From Tatsuya Ishida:… Read the rest

So Trump doesn’t know where Kansas City is. I’m sure lots of people don’t, and the name does suggest that it’s in Kansas, but still, a president should know things like that. It’s not a random small town, it’s an important city in the Midwest or West or Plains States or whatever you want to call it – in the Heartland, if you like. It has a lot of cultural chops. Presidents should have a decent knowledge of US geography.

But does it really matter? Yes.

But here’s why Trump doesn’t get a pass. Because he and his administration have made a HUGE point of picking out the slip-ups of past politicians and questioning people over their supposed lack