Originally a comment by Pliny the in Between on Here’s your amuse-bouche sir.

Being a white haired guy i my ’60s, almost every time I go to a restaurant anymore some 20 something asks if I need help with the QR code menu or ordering. Or in the self-check line at the grocery, or any other place where modern IT is about. I smile, say no thank you, and enjoy my wife’s wry smile at all this ageism, knowing full well that I just spent the last 8 hours analyzing training sequences in an AI system I developed. Or figuring ways to constrain generative AI. They don’t know that, of course and I could get all pissy about it – but why. Does it matter? No. How they view me is irrelevant,

We chose how we respond to the universe. If you look for reasons to be pissed off you will find them. If you chose to have a more zen view of humanity then you will enjoy that as well. All this angst worrying about tiptoeing through a snowflake minefield is not for me.

Fighting for the glorious cause of…this one person.

Double Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya says her focus is now “more about winning battles against the authorities” than collecting medals.

Semenya, 32, was born with differences of sexual development (DSD) and cannot compete in any track events without taking testosterone-reducing drugs. The South African wants to hold World Athletics to account for discrimination against athletes with hyperandrogenism.

“I fight for what is right for humanity and for inclusivity,” she said.

Inclusivity of what though? Of people with extra testosterone? Is that really a glorious cause?

Hyperandrogenism is a medical condition characterised by higher than usual levels of testosterone, a hormone that increases muscle mass and strength.

You can see his point. A medical condition is not the same as doping. It’s not doping but it is an advantage. It does kind of render the wins meaningless though.

She has argued that taking testosterone-reducing medication could endanger her health and that the ruling denied her and other athletes with DSD the right to rely on their natural abilities.

Well, that is, the right to rely on their natural abilities in competitions.

In a statement, a World Athletics spokesperson told Reuters: “World Athletics has only ever been interested in protecting the female category. If we don’t, then women and young girls will not choose sport. That is, and has always been, the Federation’s sole motivation.”

It’s never been Semenya’s motivation at all.

Wow here’s a shocker – “Barbie” Kardashian is less violent when he’s in the men’s prison wing. Who could have predicted that?

Trans inmate Barbie Kardashian’s behaviour behind bars has improved dramatically since being placed into a men’s prison. Sources say there “isn’t a peep” out of Kardashian as the lag lives within a strict and disciplined regime in Limerick prison.

The Irish Mirror revealed in August that the 21-year-old had been transferred there from the women’s wing of the jail. Prison officers in the female wing were struggling to keep her under control, as she threatened staff and fellow lags.

The “fellow lags” who are female and thus extra vulnerable to hulking strong psychopaths like “Barbie.”

Female staff at the prison did not feel safe with her presence either. Kardashian was born a male named Gabrielle Alejandro Gentile and has not had transition surgery.

She had a name change by deed poll and received a Gender Recognition Certificate from the State. However, her case came to national attention and was the centre of debate over whether or not she should be housed in a female prison.

Because that’s how demented this has become. “Trans people are who they say they are” – no exceptions. Changing the name changes the body into a female body…one that still looks like a male body and acts like a male body and is as strong as a male body. Clear?

This is worth watching because…what is he doing? Who is filming all this? Does he just systematically bring someone along when he goes out to eat and instruct that someone to record all interactions with the servers? So that he can bully and punish every single worker who recognizes a man and uses the normal polite subservient language when talking to that man? Yes, clearly that’s exactly what he does. Poisonous scumbag.

Trump has a boatload of gag orders and he’s having himself a high old time ignoring them all and telling us he’s ignoring them. Crime boss does whatever he wants all the time and brags about it in public while campaigning all too successfully for a second term as president. We’re locked in a nightmare.

The Telegraph reports:

The Welsh government is to redefine women to include transgender females under planned new laws.

The proposal was revealed on Sunday in a leaked draft of its Gender Quotas Bill which proposes that half the candidates in any list to be members of the Senedd must be women.

For the purposes of the proposed legislation this includes transgender women, the report stated.

For the purposes of the proposed legislation this includes transgender women, the report stated.

That is so so so fucking insulting. “Ok ok ok we’ll pass a bill saying half the candidates must be women. But we’ll also say men can be women so ha you lose anyway. Sorrynotsorry bitches.”

First, Julie Bindel in The Spectator last November:

The most important job of any union is to support its members against bullies. So why has the Society of Authors, a sort of posh union for writers, illustrators and translators, failed to support members who are receiving death threats? In August, J.K. Rowling tweeted her sympathy for Sir Salman Rushdie after his attempted murder. Imagine how she felt when she received this response: ‘Don’t worry, you are next.’ Rowling is a member of the Society of Authors and expected the union to put pressure on the authorities by condemning the threats against her. Right? Wrong.

Not only did the Society fail to defend Rowling, but the chair of the management committee, Joanne Harris, appeared to mock her. In response, a group of members tried to use last week’s annual general meeting to remove Harris. Unsurprisingly, we were defeated; a climate of fear reigns over much of the publishing industry.

…

So we decided to try to take control of the Society. We proposed two resolutions. The first was on the duty of management to uphold its stated aim ‘to protect free speech’ and to look at how best to protect the fundamental right of all authors to express themselves freely. Second was the resolution that Harris stand down as chair of the management committee, ‘in light of her documented behaviour and comments, which are not compatible with the Society’s goals of protecting free expression and their policy of dignity and respect’. As soon as the resolutions were made public, supporters of Harris began to tweet slurs about her detractors, calling us transphobes. Harris retweeted a number of these slurs.

Julia Williams, one of the authors of the open letter, spoke in favour of the resolutions at the meeting, describing it as ‘the most bruising and terrifying experience of my career’. Williams, who has worked in publishing for more than 30 years, told me: ‘I have never known such a toxic and bullying culture as exists now. But being agentless and publisherless means I have nothing left to lose. So I did it for those who are so scared for their careers they cannot speak.’

Now fast-forward to today:

Hurrah!

1. (Julia Williams [↩]

All in fun! Just joking! Where’s your sensayuma?

Originally a comment by Sackbut on Not Selfridge’s.

It is important to me distinguish:

– the actions of the Israeli government;

– the state of Israel itself;

– Israelis;

– Jewish people;

– Palestinian people;

– the nation of Palestine (whatever that means currently);

– the actions of the Palestinian government;

– the actions of non-governmental groups.

I keep looking for nuance in the various protests, and in reports of these protests. I keep hoping to see protesters make clear that they are criticizing government actions and not damning the civilian populations. I keep hoping for news coverage to make this clear. But it is distressingly rare. Protests like this one are described as “pro-Palestine” rather than “pro Palestinian people” or “anti Israeli indiscriminate attacks” or similar. And the protests, regardless of what chants or slogans they invoke, seem to show up to harass Jewish people or groups, rather than Israeli government offices. Why M&S, instead of the Israeli consulate? Why banging on the windows of a library harboring Jewish students, instead of anything whatsoever associated with the Israeli government, or with the American government or military, or anything at all relevant to the actual war effort?

“Israel is a terrorist state” could be a slogan used by anti-Zionist Jews assembled at the Israeli embassy. But no, it’s just a slogan used by people who assume “Israel” and “Jews” are the same thing and bear the same responsibility.

Horrific.

The Marks in Marks & Spencer was Michael Marks, a Jewish immigrant from Belarus.

Trump again told to shut up, again fails to comply.

A federal judge has reinstated a limited gag order on former President Donald Trump in his 2020 presidential election subversion case. It prevents him from criticising court staff, prosecutors and possible witnesses between now and his trial.

Judge Tanya Chutkan had temporarily lifted the order earlier this month so his lawyers could appeal but reinstated it on Sunday. An hour after the news emerged, Mr Trump called the judge “Trump hating”.

Laura Norder innit.

The former president is also under a gag order in a separate ongoing civil fraud trial in New York.

The judge in that case has issued two separate fines against Mr Trump for violating that order, one for $5,000 (£4,100) and one for $10,000.

Keep doubling.

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Protecting the public.

If they are that “acutely vulnerable” then maybe the outside world is not for them. If they really must go out of doors, they should make it brief. They should wear blinkers, lest they be upset by anything alarming coming into their peripheral vision. Looking down at the ground is also to be recommended. For longer, more dangerous journeys, they should be preceded by someone walking 10-20 yards ahead of them, ringing a bell, wearing a sign proclaiming “CAUTION: ACUTELY VULNERABLE PERSON APPROACHING!” This will give people in the vicinity time to hide from view anything that might upset or give offence.

There is no such thing as some particularly specially inordinately “acute vulnerability” that afflicts trans people and no one else.

This idea can be interpreted or rephrased a number of ways, some being more subtextual than this claim for particular sensitivity.

Only trans people’s needs and concerns are of importance.

Trans people are particularly demanding and vocal on encountering things they don’t like (like Islamists and cartoons of Muhammad), best not piss them off.

Please don’t hit us, we’ve done what you want us to.

These books are hidden away and we’ll give you a hard time and make you feel guilty about asking for them. And you should feel guilty. Bigot.

We love Big Brother trans women even more than you do. Why do you hate trans women so much?

Yet more solidarity from the boys.

The nightmare returns:

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters stormed the airport in the Russian city of Makhachkala in the predominantly Muslim region of Daghestan, with some shouting anti-Jewish comments at passengers arriving on a flight from Tel Aviv on October 29.

Riot police arrived at the airport after the disturbances, while the Interior Ministry office in Makhachkala said reinforcements, including National Guard units, were being sent to “ensure the safety” of arriving passengers, according to the Baza Telegram channel.

Anti-Jewish protests have broken out in several cities in the region in the face of Israel’s war with Hamas, rulers of the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip.

…

Late on October 29, videos and photos from the scene published by Izvestia indicated that protesters had stormed onto the Makhachkala runway and attempted to gain entry to the incoming plane.

Authorities said the airport was closed for incoming and outgoing flights, while police reportedly began jamming communications in the airport area to prevent the crowd from coordinating further actions.

A local news Telegram channel reported that protesters were trying to check the identities of arriving passengers, attempting to prevent Jews from leaving the airport, including searching police vehicles.

Yay more theocracy for us:

In the moments before he was to face a vote on becoming speaker of the House this week, Representative Mike Johnson posted a photograph on social media of the inscription carved into marble atop the chamber’s rostrum: “In God We Trust.”

That inscription of course should not be there.

His colleagues celebrated his candidacy by circulating an image of him on bended knee praying for divine guidance with other lawmakers on the House floor.

That’s just downright revolting. “I believe in a magic daddy in the sky so I’m better than you.”

And in his first speech from the chamber as speaker, Mr. Johnson cast his ascendance to the position second in line to the presidency in religious terms, saying, “I believe God has ordained and allowed each one of us to be brought here for this specific moment.”

Which being interpreted is: Daddy God put me here.

Very humble and meek.

Mr. Johnson, a mild-mannered conservative Republican from Louisiana whose elevation to the speakership on Wednesday followed weeks of chaos, is known for placing his evangelical Christianity at the center of his political life and policy positions. Now, as the most powerful Republican in Washington, he is in a position to inject it squarely into the national political discourse, where he has argued for years that it belongs.

That is, he wants to impose theocracy on us.

Mr. Johnson also played a leading role in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and has expressed skepticism about some definitions of the separation of church and state, placing himself in a newer cohort of conservative Christianity that aligns more closely with former President Donald J. Trump and that some describe as Christian nationalism.

…

In remarks to a Louisiana congregation in 2016, Mr. Johnson linked school shootings to no-fault divorce laws (he is in a covenant marriage with his wife, which makes divorce more difficult), “radical feminism” and legal abortion.

School shootings are the fault of radical feminists. I’d like to see a map of that journey.

In lectures to student groups he addresses across the country, Mr. Johnson has lamented: “There’s no transcendent principles anymore. There’s no eternal judge. There’s no absolute standards of right and wrong. All this is exactly the opposite of the way we were founded as a country.”

It is a viewpoint fervently embraced by much of the hard-right Republican base, which reveres Mr. Trump and identifies with his frequent claims of being persecuted, aggrieved and looked down upon by liberal elites.

Ok again I’m going to need a map of the route from absolute standards of right and wrong to revering Donald Trump. A really large-scale detailed map with no blurry bits or Miracle Street.

Originally a comment by Mike Haubrich on More bags.

The trouble with Western democracies is that the people who stand for political office are commonly not themselves democrats. They prefer their own wills to prevail rather than those of the population-at-large. Some prize examples of elected anti-democrats spring readily to mind.

I always wondered what the purpose of a divided government was, why didn’t the founders set up a parliamentary system where the majority party holds the executive? The way it is, the executive branch can be hamstrung as it is about to be when the next U.S. government shutdown battle comes along (and Johnson will not make a deal like McCarthy did). But, when someone like Trump or Sanders comes along as a populist who promises to “fix things” and have a “people’s revolution,” we are far better off with a strong Congress that can say “hold on there. Not so fast.”

People don’t vote for who would be the best administrator as President in the U.S. They vote for who would be a Strong Leader and make the country over by will and inspiration, and that’s bad for democracy. In Minnesota, the Democrats had a weak opposition in the most recent session and passed through a cornucopia of liberal wetdreams (some of which I think are pretty good.) But the opposition had no fangs and the Democrats were able to label any opposing voices on issues as being the plaints of RW bigots, they were basically toothless. So, the trans sanctuary bills, and “anti-conversion” bills were passed with no dissent among the Democrats and the Republican objections were dismissed.

That’s what happens when demagogues rule, the groupthink takes over. If our governor had faced a legislature with at least one house on the opposition party, he would have had to listen to them. Instead, we become yes-men, and I am thankful that the governor doesn’t have the power to do as much as a president would. I may secretly give money to Republicans in the next election here, not because I like them, but because I think we need opposition in the government. Slow down, fight for the hard compromises, and make sure all of the people have some voice and not just the members of the majority party.

Democracy depends on deliberation, but power is more attractive to the voters.

That sounds like a brilliant parody:

The trans “struggle for justice” hahahahahahahaha hilarious.

Let’s have a look.

Acknowledging the formidable hurdles trans and nonbinary athletes face in their struggles for inclusion, acceptance, and freedom, this book documents and analyses their resistance across a range of social-cultural and geopolitical contexts, from community sport to high-performance competition.

It looks like a parody but apparently isn’t.

So let’s talk about this “struggle” for “inclusion, acceptance, and freedom.”

Inclusion. We’ve been over this. We’ve been over this a billion times by now. Athletic competitions have categories and qualifications. End of story. There are age categories, sometimes weight categories, amateur/professional categories, and yes sex categories. There are categories for women. Women had to fight for them. They won the fight – the fight for inclusion, in fact. If men who identify as trans are allowed to compete against women then women are excluded from their own sports all over again.

Acceptance. That’s just another way of saying “inclusion”; see above.

Freedom. No one is taking away trans people’s “freedom.” Telling men they can’t invade women’s sports is not a violation of their freedom, it’s an enforcement of women’s rights. Women matter too.

The list includes Mein Kampf and gender critical books…and nothing else.

Works by authors including Helen Joyce and Prof Kathleen Stock were hidden from view by a library service of the Labour-run Calderdale council, and are now barred from being promoted in displays in order to protect the public from offence.

The only other book similarly censored by the library service by being hidden was Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

So, it seems, the Calderdale library system considers gender-skeptical feminism to be on a level with genocidal Nazism.

That’s puzzling for a number of reasons. Like, for instance, the fact that gender-skeptical feminism is not genocidal or genocidal-adjacent or remotely in any way similar to or connected to genocide. Like, also, the fact that there are many cruel or destructive or murderous ideologies promoted in many books other than Mein Kampf yet they are not on Calderdale Libraries’ list of books to hide.

The Telegraph previously revealed that six books discussing the dangers of puberty blockers and gender reassignment surgery were hidden from public view by Calderdale librarians.

Now council documents shown to The Telegraph indicate that staff had not previously taken such direct measures to conceal books, except on one occasion when “a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf was moved to our stores following complaints from some customers some years ago”.

In other words Calderdale librarians are saying gender-critical books are as evil and dangerous as Hitler’s book and that no other books in their system are that evil and dangerous.

Ms Joyce, the author of one of the six gender-critical books, told The Telegraph: “I was disgusted, but not surprised, to discover that the only previous example Calderdale Libraries could give of hiding away a ‘toxic’ book concerned Hitler’s manifesto, Mein Kampf.

“Its senior staff have apparently surrendered to the demands of trans ideologues to such an extent that when a crybully threw a strop about a top ten bestseller on the subject of women’s, children’s and gay people’s human rights, they agreed to treat that book as if it was Nazi propaganda.”

What’s the thinking?

Calderdale council officers cited best-practice advice that the books should not be promoted, advice which comes from the group Book 28, an LGBT organisation which has pushed councils to take steps to prevent LGBT people seeing “offensive” and “transphobic” gender-critical books in their libraries .

So why do Calderdale council officers and library bosses take advice from Book 28 and no one else? Why does it not take advice from, say, LGBAlliance? And feminist organizations? And free speech organizations? Why do they give the Trans Police the final and only word?

The controversy began with an internal HR grievance lodged in January 2023 about gender-critical books on display in council libraries .

Calderdale’s library agreed to remove six gender-critical books from public view.

After The Telegraph revealed that these books had been hidden, Calderdale library staff lodged a complaint against their own employer and demanded the books be reinstated on library shelves.

Calderdale council undertook a review of its policies following the outcry against censorship, while stating it had to balance these concerns against what it termed some people’s “acute vulnerability”.

Ok stop right there. That’s where you go so wrong. There is no such thing as some particularly specially inordinately “acute vulnerability” that afflicts trans people and no one else.

It’s more the other way around, really. Trans people – especially the male ones – are pulling a very elaborate and very destructive long con, and women are the people who are rendered “acutely vulnerable” as a result.

This week Ian Day, the council’s director for public service, said that while the books are likely “to cause offence to some people”, the titles do not reach “the threshold required to interfere with legal rights such as the right of freedom of expression”.

He recommended that the council decide to reinstate books, with the proviso that they are not promoted.

So just mild censorship. Thanks a lot.

Sorry but this is too hilarious to pass up.

Like the fact that there were five men and one woman discussing an issue about women? No, of course not that, that’s fine. Fred’s choices on the other hand…

Oh no, Inja and Fred are quarreling!

Take your time, boys. Be thorough.