Originally a comment by maddog1129 on We see you, Jonathan.

All the noise and agitation comes from transwhatevers: biological males who wish that they had been born as females, who want to be accepted as such, and for everyone else to play along.

I’ll take some issue with the emphasized language. I don’t believe for one minute that many, if any, really “wish that they had been born female.” They sit in a privileged spot, having been born male, such that they will never know or understand the second class citizenship (at best! At worst, it’s enslavement status) that is baked into being born female. They never wish for that! Oh, no! They can see the disadvantages of … Read the rest

Kushner pretends not to know what a conflict of interests is.

Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former adviser Jared Kushner has defended his business dealings with Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

After leaving the White House, Mr Kushner’s private equity firm received a $2bn (£1.59bn) investment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Mr Kushner worked closely with Saudi Arabia on a number of issues during the Trump administration. He has denied that the investment represented a conflict of interest.

To put that more accurately, Mr Kushner exploited his connection to Trump to endear himself to Saudia Arabia, which proceeded to give him 2 billion dollars. He has no relevant education or training that would make him … Read the rest

Behold: a callow clueless indifferent man gives women’s rights away.

Take the recent controversy over parkrun, the mass‑participation 5km fun run that has become the latest target in the cross hairs of the radical trans‑exclusionary police.

By “the radical trans‑exclusionary police” he of course means women protesting the destruction of women’s sports and prizes and rights at the hands of men in lipstick. No skin off Jonathan Liew’s nose, is it.

In recent weeks parkrun has been doggedly pursued by protesters and the media, unhappy at its policy of allowing trans women to identify as female.

No, stupid; angry at its policy of allowing men to compete as women.

And really the telling part of the parkrun row

That’s gotta sting.

Your previous remarks leave no room for mystery about your own special interest in this subject. Like many ‘progressive’ misogynists, you seem delighted to have found an acceptable outlet for your disdain for women’s and girls’ sport. We see you, Jonathan. pic.twitter.com/2H8IfuWDnH

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) February 14, 2024

… Read the rest

I caught a glimpse of this the other day but didn’t follow it up; I should have. Vancouver police claim they “don’t know” what sex a guy accused of rape is.

The Metro Vancouver Transit Police say they “don’t know” if the primary suspect in a skytrain sexual assault is male or female despite having recovered semen during the investigation.

On February 8, the Transit Police issued a press release pleading for help to identify the suspect. While photos and videos showed what appeared to be a male with long hair, some basic information on the suspect was curiously omitted from the release. No pronouns were used, and no information on the suspect’s sex was included.

In a recorded

Comedy:

The Soho theatre is investigating a complaint about a comedian who allegedly abused a Jewish audience member who refused to applaud a Palestinian flag…The incident reportedly took place on Saturday near the end of a one-hour Shtoom show by Paul Currie in front of an audience of 200 people at the central London theatre.

According to a witness who gave an account to the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), Currie placed a Ukrainian and a Palestinian flag on the stage, and invited audience members to stand and applaud. The witness, who asked to remain anonymous, told the CAA: “When we all sat down again, [Currie] looked towards a young man sitting in the second row and said: ‘You didn’t

Trouble at the Garrick:

One of London’s last remaining gentlemen’s clubs, the Garrick, has taken the highly unusual step of expelling a member, amid rising tensions over the club’s unwillingness to change its men-only membership rules.

Former theatre producer Colin Brough, a member for 40 years, was expelled from the club after sending a series of angry emails to fellow members expressing his conviction that women should be admitted immediately.

Gentlemen don’t display anger. It’s ungentlemanly.

The long saga of the Garrick’s refusal to admit female members attracts regular interest because its membership includes a roster of influential establishment figures and household names. Current members include actors Stephen Fry, Hugh Bonneville and Brian Cox as well as the levelling

Just a little more on Dr Gina Gwenffrewi: what you learn if you click on the Research button.

The study of global transgender female identities and their representation in the arts and media. This includes a particular focus on trans female identities excluded from mainstream trans narratives in the Global North, and their relationship with structural inequalities connected to socio-economics, nationality, and race and ethnicity. Methodologically, I draw on Lacanian/post-Lacanian thinkers, from Jacques Lacan to Julia Kristeva, Jacqueline Rose, and Judith Butler. However, my work currently is hugely informed by and indebted to perspectives gained from the scenes of trans artists of colour especially in North America, including persectives on race and socio-economics from writers/artists such as Jamie Berrout,

Pathetic. Utterly wall to wall pathetic.

In light of the recent appointment of Simon Fanshawe as Rector at the University of Edinburgh, the society has written a statement expressing our thoughts. pic.twitter.com/Hawhn8wsDd

— Edinburgh Labour Students (@EdLabStudents) February 12, 2024

One, replies are closed. Two…they don’t even bother to say what they object to. That’s a pretty striking omission for a “statement” intended to shape public opinion. “We don’t like it that Fanshawe is the new Rector. We can’t explain why. We stand around.”

Yet again we see that trans ideology makes people stupid.… Read the rest

The Telegraph on the worked-up “controversy” over Simon Fanshawe.

In 2019, Mr Fanshawe signed an open letter accusing Stonewall of undermining “women’s sex-based rights and protections” and “demonising” anyone who dissented from its gender policies as transphobic.

Transgender rights campaigners at the university are attempting to drum up support for an open letter calling on the university to axe the appointment and find “a true advocate of equality, accessibility, diversity and inclusion” instead.

They claim Mr Fanshawe’s appointment  “creates a hostile environment for the many trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming students studying at the university”.

No it doesn’t. The presence of people who have thoughts that are different from yours does not create a hostile environment for you. If that … Read the rest

The BBC reports the Simon Fanshawe news with more restraint than usual.

Writer and activist Simon Fanshawe has been named as the new rector of the University of Edinburgh.

The former comedian, who now works as a consultant on diversity and inclusion, will take up office on 4 March following an uncontested election.

Second sentence in they admit he’s a diversity and inclusion boffin, which kind of pre-empts claims that he’s a right-wing fiend. Good job.

After a lot of neutral factual detail they get to the pachyderm in the parlor.

Mr Fanshawe has a long history as an activist for LGBT rights but has in recent years become a critic of Stonewall, the organisation he helped found.

In a 

Now here’s a brilliant thoughtful rebuttal of claims that Trump’s attack on Nato is a bad thing.

Last year, Marco Rubio co-sponsored a law preventing presidents unilaterally withdrawing from Nato. On Sunday the Florida senator, whom Trump ridiculed and defeated in the 2016 primary, also dismissed Trump’s remarks about Russia.

“Donald Trump is not a member of the Council on Foreign Relations,” Rubio told CNN, referring to a Washington thinktank. “He doesn’t talk like a traditional politician, and we’ve already been through this. You would think people would’ve figured it out by now.”

Ahhh right, that’s ok then. Trump is a brainless ignoramus, and we’ve already figured that out, so it’s fine that he wants to trash Nato. … Read the rest

Andrew Sullivan has an interesting take on Trump in this conversation, saying he didn’t do all the authoritarian things he said he was going to do.

FS: So the authoritarian rhetoric didn’t materialise. Do you think that’s because it was always just talk, part of a tough guy image? Or do you think he just wasn’t capable of executing it?

AS: I don’t think he actually likes the exercise of power. He’s not that interested in controlling the lives of everyone around him, or indeed most Americans. He’s concerned primarily with his own ego, with his own glory, and with his own sense of being right in a particular moment. And so when it comes to difficult things, like

A bit of academic news:

Simon Fanshawe OBE has been named the Rector of the University of Edinburgh following an uncontested election.

He will take up office on 4 March 2024. 

Simon is a consultant and practitioner in the field of diversity, author, broadcaster and activist.  

He was formerly Chair of the Governing Council of the University of Sussex from 2007 – 2013.

He will replace Debora Kayembe, who has served as Rector since 2021.

[whispers] He knows men are not women.

Simon was one of the six original co-founders of Stonewall in 1989. In 2011, he co-founded the international charity Kaleidoscope, which campaigns for the human rights of LGBTI+ people around the world. 

In 1989 Simon won the Perrier

Gather round everyone, it’s time to CATASTROPHIZE.

Ten days since the judge at the trial of Brianna Ghey's killers identified transphobia as partial motive for the murder, the University of Edinburgh announces its new Rector is a founder of LGB Alliance, an organization categorized in Ireland as an "anti-transgender" hate group. https://t.co/6mP1965Wcm

— Dr. Gina Gwenffrewi (@GinaGwenffrewi) February 12, 2024

Ten days after random thing happens, unrelated thing happens in another part of the forest. BE APPALLED. Also, here’s this fella, that someone in Ireland said was something. ARE YOU APPALLED YET?

You’ll be surprised to learn that the person who composed that ridiculous sentence has a PhD. You’ll be less surprised now that I tell you it’s in “transgender … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on The president he so admired.

(Third story: his enemies lie about him. This one is handy for wiping up any lingering cognitive dissonance.)

Usually listening to Trump for any length of time is proof enough that he’s a narcissistic, bullying, thin-skinned, know-nothing, blowhard who shouldn’t be put in charge of a lemonade stand, let alone a government, but that’s just me. Maybe he’s actually brilliant, and all I’ve seen are Deepfake clips manufactured and strung together to make him look like a complete fucking moron. That nobody seems to be claiming this gives me some confidence that this is not the case, and that his manifest self-centered cruelty and stupidity … Read the rest

Foxy Jo tells women what we should be doing instead of what we’re already doing that he doesn’t like.

He’s right you know.

Trump inviting Russia to attack NATO allies should be one of the biggest stories of this election. The fact that it's not even on the front page of the NYT or Washington Post (while stories about Biden's age are) is a disgrace to journalism. https://t.co/1urTOFyq4e

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) February 11, 2024

… Read the rest

A little frivolity break. A story via Facebook (public):

I’ve been so busy between getting home and staying warm and skijoring and doctor’s appointments…I forgot to tell you the story of our journey home.

Well, our original flight was to be early February but the Alaska Airlines flight with the blown door changed everything. Flights were canceled and then the weather came in and more flights were canceled and then there was so much backup that Alaska Air would not fly the dogs for fear of delayed flights and the dogs getting stuck somewhere. I do appreciate that Alaska Air keeps a good eye out for the animals on their flights.

So, I had three canceled flights and was getting

The Journal of Gender Studies presents:

(Re)producing sex/gender normativities: LGB alliance, political whiteness and heteroactivism

Do pause to drink it all in before moving on to the abstract. It’s so…how shall I say…predictable. Formulaic. Conformist.

The author is Helen Clarke of Oxford Brookes University. We are told:

Helen’s research explores how decolonial feminism can be used to create alternative practices of solidarity, tackling trans-hostility in cis lesbian communities. She is involved in various feminist projects, working at creating more inclusive and supportive activist environments for all women, non-binary folk and gender diverse people.

Weird, isn’t it, claiming to be a feminist who specializes in feminism while she deletes women from feminism.

So, the abstract:

LGB Alliance, as a prime example