Arguing over the campaign to get rid of Claudine Gay:

[T]he fallout at one of the nation’s elite universities is also illuminating the ways in which the political right is increasingly targeting education, with deliberate efforts to “take on” elite schools by stripping them of federal student loan money and undermine diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, and a parallel movement to undo K–12 education with laws that limit the teaching of history or ban books and classroom libraries.

The trouble here is that diversity, equity, and inclusion programs aren’t an unmistakable good even to people who aren’t on the political right. The lunacy that bubbles and festers around “trans rights” has made a lot of lefty jargon … Read the rest

All too true.

The great ⁦@GrizeldaG⁩ in new ⁦@PrivateEyeNews⁩ – witheringly accurate. pic.twitter.com/jp7FWqTTaN

— Amanda Craig (@AmandaPCraig) January 4, 2024

See also: Can you remove all these references to Jews?… Read the rest

It’s not just the BBC.

It’s also – of course – the Guardian.

Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved hundreds of children from the Nazis, was so modest that he rejected an initial proposal to make a film about him, according to the producer of One Life, the soon-to-be released biographical drama about the British humanitarian.

Iain Canning told the Observer that, about five years before Winton’s death in 2015 aged 106, he and fellow producer Emile Sherman visited him at his Maidenhead home during a break from shooting their film, The King’s Speech.

Over tea, they broached the subject of making a film about the man who helped save 669 children from German-occupied Czechoslovakia, just before

Anything missing here?

The family of Sir Nicholas Winton, who organised the rescue of more than 600 children from the Nazis, say he refused to think of himself as a hero. The philanthropist is now the subject of a film which tells the story of him bringing them from German-occupied Czechoslovakia to the UK in 1939.

His grandson Laurence, who lives in Herefordshire, said the making of the film had been an emotional process. It also had a pertinent message about refugees today, he added.

Sir Nicholas, known as Nicky to his friends and family, saved 669 young children in the nine months leading up to the outbreak of World War Two.

Missing: the word “Jewish.” It seems it’s become … Read the rest

Watch out, guys, don’t let women get away with anything. One minute it’s saying something, the next it’s your balls in a pickle jar.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is attached [sic] to direct an upcoming “Star Wars” film, making her the first woman to helm a film in the iconic franchise—but right-wing critics are blasting the movie as “woke” after Obaid-Chinoy said it’s “about time” a woman directed a “Star Wars” installment.

Hell yes, what business does a woman have saying women should participate in the common culture?

Obaid-Chinoy, a filmmaker known for directing feminist documentaries, was announced in April 2023 as director of an upcoming, unnamed film set in the “Star Wars” universe and starring Daisy Ridley—who portrayed

Gee, I’d have thought that was illegal, and in fact it is illegal.

Trump businesses received $7.8 million in foreign payments during presidency

You don’t want that, see, because it can motivate the prez to do things for $$$ instead of for the common good.

During Donald Trump’s presidency, his businesses received at least $7.8 million in payments from the foreign governments and officials of 20 countries, including China, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, according to a report released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

The report argues that the payments violated the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause, a provision that bars federal officials, including the president, from accepting money or gifts from foreign governments without permission from Congress. That clause

Trump is campaigning on his prowess as a treasonous criminal.

“Trump heading into the 2024 election has decided to go all in as being the pro-Jan. 6 candidate,” said Tom Joscelyn, a counterterrorism expert who served as a senior staff member on the Congressional Select Committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack. “He’s gone full steam ahead in praising and in his own way endorsing the Jan. 6 rioters and extremists who attacked the Capitol.”

And what is January 6? An attempted coup.

Trump launched the first rally of his 2024 presidential campaign by playing a rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner” sung by Jan. 6 defendants in jail. He frequently refers to that day as “beautiful” and says his

It’s women’s fault even when it’s a man being pissy.

Yahoo News sneers Disabled Biker Confronted By Trail Karen – but it turns out the “Trail Karen” is a man.

As POV cameras surge in popularity, many incidents of discourteous trail behavior have made their way to the internet.

Perhaps the worst was when a disabled rider was confronted by a man on the trail about his adaptive bike. Watch the video below.

In this video, a man was riding in the woods on his adaptive bike when a very rude mountain biker accosted him about whether his bike was legal in the park. Despite having no authority, the Karen took it upon himself to enforce wrongly perceived rules of

Fair Play for Women sent a letter to UN Women.

In December the UN Women’s UK committee appointed a male who presents in a highly sexualised stereotype of womanhood as an ambassador for women. We coordinated a letter from seventeen UK campaign groups to register our dismay, as reported in the Times today.

UN Women has made a point of demonstrating that it considers males can become women. It’s disappointing to see the UK committee go so far as to select a male to represent women. Their credibility is in tatters.

UN Women made such a point of demonstrating that it considers males can become women that it actually appointed a male to represent women. In other words UN … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Mike Haubrich on As white Americans embraced the moonlight and magnolias.

I had known my (now) ex-wife for a year before we got married, and I knew she liked the movie. She was born in Louisiana, and would sometimes say things that made no sense to me as her personal point of pride at being from one of the 4 states that are the “real South.” The Mason-Dixon line was BS, she said. Only Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana were the Real South. So, you can imagine what it felt like as we were driving through Mississippi on our way back from a honeymoon in New Orleans for her to say “Slavery wasn’t so bad. … Read the rest

Dershowitz.

“One such powerful individual that Epstein forced then-minor Jane Doe #3 to have sexual relations with was former Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, a close friend of Epstein’s and well-known criminal defense attorney. Epstein required Jane Doe #3 to have sexual relations with Dershowitz on numerous occasions while she was a minor, not only in Florida but also on private planes, in New York, New Mexico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.” (Attachment 9)

“Dershowitz came “pretty often” to Epstein’s Florida mansion and got massages while he was there” (Attachment 18, sworn testimony from Epstein’s housekeeper Juan Alessi)

“Massages” was code for sex.… Read the rest

The Times in June 2020 on this business of making moral judgements about the past, in particular with regard to slavery and the ways of thinking that made it possible:

But the 1939 classic — still the highest-grossing film of all time, adjusted for inflation — has enduringly shaped popular understanding of the Civil War and Reconstruction perhaps more than any other cultural artifact.

Before that of course it was The Birth of a Nation, as we talked about the other day. Both are disasters as shapers of popular understanding of the Civil War and Reconstruction. You might as well let Hitler’s favorite niece tell the story of the Holocaust. [Hitler had no niece. Hold the phone calls.]

The … Read the rest

About this idea (or taunt) that discussion of slavery or colonial conquest and plunder or similar injustices in the past is mere “virtue signaling.” One, there is the fact that it is a taunt, and depending on the context can be a very snide one, but two there is the fact that there are other ways of looking at it, one of which is the “I could have been part of that” awareness.

That is to say, when we discuss the awful things that some people did to other people in the past, we’re not necessarily patting ourselves on the back; we can just as well be cringing at how easily we could have done the same depending on time … Read the rest

It’s what they want.

Trump has referred to his opponents as “vermin” who are trying to “destroy America and to destroy the American dream,” and claimed that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our nation.” The Hitlerian overtones have not gone unnoticed. And yet, the man who promises to be a dictator on “day one” leads the GOP primary by 50 points. How could this be? The horrifying conclusion is that there is plenty of appetite within the party for this sort of rhetoric and it doesn’t turn many people off.

Surveys back this up. A recent poll of likely Iowa caucusgoers found that 42 percent of them were more likely to vote for Trump

Another one of those “how exactly is that a right” issues.

Republican Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey said recently that “Israel is the only state in the world whose fundamental right to exist, within any borders at all, is openly denied by other states.” But Israel is the only nation with a “right to exist,” as the phrase is not commonly attached to any other country. And that’s the tell: This is not a legal concept, but a political one, available for broad interpretation and rhetorical weaponization.

I wonder if that’s true. Aren’t there claims that Cataluña is a nation? Weren’t there arguments about Pakistan’s right to exist as a nation during partition? What about Northern Ireland? Ukraine? … Read the rest

Warped reporting:

Transgender athletes face increased restrictions ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics compared to previous rules, as it was recently decided that they must have completed their transition before the age of 12 to avoid unfair advantages.

Transgender athletes face greater hurdles in qualifying for the upcoming Olympic Games, which will take place in Paris from 26 July to 11 August. It has been mandated that the transition must be completed before the age limit of 12, as doing so after that age could give an advantage over cisgender female competitors. 

That is, male athletes who cheat by claiming to be women will find it harder to cheat now that they are required to have completed “transition” before … Read the rest

Do not turn away. Must watch.

Homosexuals who have recently graduated from Cambridge, step aside.

MI6 are changing tack.

Good morning. pic.twitter.com/xZB4dckrop

— James Hogg (@JamesAHogg2) December 27, 2023

H/t PeterN… Read the rest

Please please please tell us again how trans ideology is not at all based on sexist stereotypes.

Oh I see. Women are required to wear makeup and heels because otherwise we look like a bag of crap.

What a delightful man he is.

Update: Sorry, that tweet got deleted. Here’s one from Fred that also shows Willoughby’s sexist stupidity.

The difference here is that @BevJacksonAuth is, and always has been, one helluva woman, whilst @IndiaWilloughby will always be a failure as a man and a woman. pic.twitter.com/KHBJmxOlAq

— Fred Sargeant (@FredSargeant) January 3, 2024

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Southwest at As a person.

Was in a grocery store years ago and there was one man unloading his cart and another man bringing his cart into the checkout line. The second man’s cart BARELY touched the first man’s cart, it was an accident, second guy did not tap the first guy’s cart on purpose. Well, they looked at each other and then they kept looking at each other and then really started glaring at each other and starting to square up aggressively. I expected to hear Marlin Perkins doing narration about how exciting it was that we got footage of these two magnificent animals about to fight in this amazing wild kingdom.

I said … Read the rest

Insult to women number eleventy billion:

Seventeen women’s rights groups have signed a letter to the charity UN Women UK expressing concern about its choice of a transgender woman as its “UK champion”.

Organisations including Fair Play for Women, Sex Matters, Transgender Trend and the Women’s Rights Network wrote of their “dismay and disappointment” that Munroe Bergdorf had been picked.

One, a man; two, a man who dresses up as a parody of a Hot Babe. Insult piled upon insult.

Bergdorf, 36, a model and broadcaster, was given the post of the first UN Women UK Champion in November. UN Women UK supports the work of the UN Women entity to improve the lives of women and girls, as