Just say no.

It is “highly, highly unlikely” that a trans woman with a history of violence against women will be sent to a female prison, MSPs have been told.

Never mind the highly highly; just don’t do it. Ever.

Teresa Medhurst, the head of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), said such a move would only happen in “exceptional circumstances”, after a “fairly in-depth analysis of the individual’s life history.”

Oh well if it’s fairly in-depth that makes it fine.

The SPS boss was being grilled by MSPs over the service’s new Policy for the Management of Transgender People in Custody, published at the end of last year. It was developed following the row over trans rapist, Isla Bryson, who first appeared in court as Adam Graham.

Following conviction, the SPS made the decision to divert Bryson to Cornton Vale, Scotland’s only women’s prison, rather than the planned destination of HMP Barlinnie, sparking outrage. 

Yeah no shit. Endangering a bunch of women for the sake of the feelings of one violent man – what the hell is wrong with you?

The new policy is due to come into force in February 2024. It initially states that a transgender woman “will not be eligible to be considered for admission or transfer to a women’s prison” if they have been convicted for a raft of crimes, including murder, assault, robbery, abduction, rape, and sexual harassment.

However, it then goes on to say that there is an exception to this rule if the SPS’s Risk Management Team, and subsequently an executive panel, “are satisfied there is compelling evidence that they do not present an unacceptable risk of harm to those in the women’s prison.“

What would such “compelling evidence” look like? And why does it have to be compelling? Why are there all these barriers in place to prevent men from being sent to men’s prisons? Why is so much energy being devoted to forcing helpless women into the presence of men 24/7?

Unison is supposed to be a labor union aka a trade union. It bills itself as the union for public service workers. And yet…

The Hackney branch of this labor union bashing the local Labour candidate for not believing that men can be women. Solidarity Forever eh???

“Unison” but not for women.

“Community” seeks to banish the witch:

Kauai’s Bethany Hamilton is a surfer, author, mother, and shark attack survivor. 

She recently gave birth to her fourth child, competed in the Vans Pipe Masters, and was invited to attend the Oshkosh Women’s Fund’s Annual Power of the Purse event as the keynote speaker in Wisconsin. 

But in light of Hamilton’s stance on transgender athletes, the event’s been met with backlash as community members demand that she be replaced. 

Yeah what stance is that? Does she pile them up and stand on top of them?

The controversy stems from Hamilton’s early 2023 announcement that she would officially withdraw from future World Surf League competitions in response to its policy on allowing transgender athletes to compete.

I bet that’s not what she annnounced. The news media never get this right, so I’m betting they got this one wrong too. As always, the issue is not “transgender athletes” but men in women’s competitions.

In a letter obtained by WLUK-TV, members and allies of Oshkosh’s LGBTQ+community retaliated against the Fund’s decision to select Hamilton as the keynote speaker. In the lengthy letter, protesters explained their decision to boycott Hamilton. While the Fund’s mission is to “improve the lives of women, girls, and all members” of its community, the letter says Hamilton’s views do not. 

Letting men compete in women’s sports does not improve the lives of women and girls. It’s no doubt very nice for the men who do it, but it does no one else any good at all.

The Adams vs Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre tribunal continues. Nicole Jones is testifying now. MW=Mridul Wadhwa, the man who runs ERCC.

Man in charge of rape crisis centre burbles about himself and his journey.

Yeah very different because it doesn’t Center Men.

Man in charge of rape crisis centre says fire staff who “aren’t sure” about including men in a rape crisis centre.

How did we get here?

How to turn feminism inside out and gloat in public about the clicks you’re getting as a result:

Liv Hewson clearly has no idea what “misogyny” means. It’s not hatred of women to say that teenage girls who get their breasts cut off for a fad belief in magic switchable gender are making a mistake. I don’t hate the girls who make that mistake, I hate the ideology and its advocates who urge her to make that mistake.

As for calling medically unnecessary mastectomies “mutilation,” the issue isn’t how “nice” it is, the issue is what a drastic mistake such mastectomies are.

Cutting healthy breasts off is not “medical intervention.” It’s horrifying quackery and abuse.

Please go soak your head.

What are we to conclude? That it’s a mistake to “cause offence” to a few hundred men who claim to be women but not a mistake to insult millions of women by knuckling under to petulant men who claim to be women.

Why are a few men more important than millions of women?

No one has explained that yet.

What did she say?

Laura Pascal was announced to be running for the position by Hackney Labour back in December. In recent weeks, tweets have been found from the potential councillor where she states that trans women are not women.

They’re not.

So she was suspended for not repeating a lie, and now she’s unsuspended because she knuckled under and repeated the lie, or at least apologized for not repeating it.

In the Labour rules it states: “We should not give voice to those who persistently engage in abuse and should avoid sharing their content, even when the item in question is unproblematic. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes where members either share or like (or otherwise favourite) any social media content that is racist, antisemitic, Islamophobic, homophobic, transphobic, sexist, ableist, or uses otherwise racist and/or discriminatory language.”

Notice that “sexist” is almost the last item on the list, and appears after “transphobic.”

Newsweek:

 transgender woman in Oregon was recently arrested after posting photos showing several guns and speaking about being angry over transphobia.

FBI agents in Oregon arrested Elizabeth West last week after reviewing several social media posts that included photographs of guns, a criminal complaint reviewed by Newsweek said. West was accused of interstate threatening communications, according to the criminal complaint.

The complaint states that on September 26, 2023, FBI agents in Eugene, Oregon, received a tip regarding a social media post made by West in a “Trans Woman Support Group” page on Facebook that showcased two guns and mentioned being bullied by “trans phobic” individuals.

“Well, I wish I had better news to tell but what I’m writing to you right now is the fact that I’m at the end of my rope I’m probably gonna get fired from his job…I’m too old to keep looking for jobs and I’ve had it up to here being bullied by trans phobic a**holes I am left with no alternative. I’ll probably have to go out in a blaze of glory. I’ve been preparing for this moment a long time at least then I’ll be remember I have no family no friends,” the post said.

Possibly because he’s not all that likable. Just a hunch.

“From November 27 through December 15, 2023, agents frequented West’s page as it was available to the public. Agents observed that West posted and reposted multiple memes, videos and statements that contained violence toward Black and Jewish people and immigrants, images of weapons owned, idolizing of Hitler and the Nazi flag, and a live-streamed video of the Christchurch Mosque shooting in New Zealand,” the complaint said.

On November 24, a post from West said, “bring it on blackie,” and included photos of firearms.

“On December 5, 2023, West uploaded a picture depicting a shotgun, an assault rifle, two handguns and an AK-47 with a white and green camouflaged body. The comment on the picture states ‘don’t forget white women,'” the complaint said.

Hey. We don’t call them “white women.” We call them Karens.

He’s nothing if not thorough.

“Upon searching West’s residence the same day, agents seized approximately 11 handguns and 16 rifles, tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition, firearm accessories, a black book that matched the description of West’s “black shadow” journal, 48 drawings, and a black and white composition notebook containing notes made by West,” the complaint said.

Tens of thousands of rounds.

It’s about a culture of intolerance.

I wanted to use my story to explain that “cancel culture” is not mainly about being fired or even losing a platform; it’s about a culture of intolerance and its effect on free speech. When one’s own institution abandons its founding values, it abandons those who are working to uphold them. Being personally attacked for that work, especially when the institution appears to condone it, is quite disorienting, to put it mildly.

An inability to pursue one’s academic interests, the loss of friends, and damage to one’s reputation predictably lead to the ruination of careers and mental health. One way I know this is from all the feedback I’ve received from others who went through something similar. I believe this happens because of DEI culture, the values it emphasizes and the human weaknesses it exploits.

Each case like mine ripples through campus, intimidating and silencing others. What happens in universities should nurture a thriving democracy, but the opposite is happening. But there are solutions. When those with institutional power summon the courage to uphold the value of Veritas—which is not incompatible with a form of diversity and inclusion—we can return to open debate, discovery and excellence.

But coddling men who claim to be women is way more important than all that truth and freedom stuff.

Will Keir Starmer ever admit that men are not women?

It has been reported that Laura Pascal, the Labour candidate in a forthcoming local council by-election in London, has been suspended by her party. It is believed that this happened after complaints were made against her that she has deviated from the one true faith of transgenderism. “Trans women are not female,” she is reported to have stated on X (formerly known as Twitter). “By definition they are male.” A pinned post on her account reads: “My embodied reality as a member of the oppressed sex class is experienced in a world where biology has a significant impact.” 

It will be of great interest to see what the end result of this individual case is. Surely it has already been established that employees cannot be discriminated against for believing in the reality of biological sex and for demanding that biological women’s services, sports and spaces should be protected from intrusion from biological men, however they may present themselves.

Has it??? Where has that already been established?

Labour, or some elements within it, still believe they can take punitive action against difficult women who refuse to bow to the pressure of their peers.

They don’t just believe it, they revel in it. It’s like a luxury nine-course meal to them.

Yet here we are, watching as another woman – it’s always a woman, isn’t it? – is apparently demonised and punished for speaking out of turn, for saying things that are not only empirically and biologically true but are protected in law. 

When Stalin’s victims were hauled off to the gulag and firing squads by Soviet security forces, the victims would often insist that such punishment was being meted out without the knowledge of Comrade Stalin, who could be trusted to intervene on the side of justice once he found out. But he never did, because he knew exactly what was going on.

If Starmer knows about Laura Pascal and the reported witch trial to which she is being subjected, he should intervene now to halt it. And he must know, because you and I know, so why wouldn’t he? Let’s see what kind of leader he is.

Not the kind who gives a damn about women, we know that already.

This is suitable. The UCSB Resource Center for Sexual & Gender Diversity is having an astrology night! In fact it’s this very night so you could still make it if you hustled!

Join us for an unforgettable evening on Wednesday, January 17th from 5-7pm in the MCC Lounge with Astrologer Afiya Sunflower, where you’ll dive into the mesmerizing world of astrology without the stress.

Astrologer Afiya Sunflower – it just doesn’t get any better than that, does it. And diving into a mesmerizing world of bullshit is what trans-world is all about. Dive in and within minutes you’ll have lost all your critical faculties.

Uncover the mysteries of your birth chart, share insights in a welcoming group discussion, and forge meaningful connections within our vibrant community. Break free from your busy schedule and social worries to enjoy and create your own birth chart keychain. Don’t let busyness or anxiety hold you back; step into a space where cosmic revelations meet a warm, inclusive atmosphere. Don’t miss the cosmic connection at the Black QT Astrology Night.

There’s a funny thing about this though. There’s no engagement. No replies, no shares, no likes. Hmm…maybe there just aren’t enough Black Queer Trans women to get excited about it? But I scroll down and there’s nothing for any of the posts. Maybe the UCSB Resource Center for Sexual & Gender Diversity is just a sad little room that no one visits?

Also, that definition is full of sneaky distortions, aka lies.

Second sentence. There’s no such thing as “discrimination of.”

Third sentence. No, misogyny is not “the hatred and devaluation of femininity.” That’s a new, manipulative definition sneaked in to make the word “misogyny” apply to men who playact being women. Misogyny is the hatred of women, end of story. Men who playact being women don’t get to help themselves to that word.

Fourth sentence – yet another silly manipulative refinement: “transfeminine people” – get out of here.

The remaining sentences build on this fatuous made-up hokum.

It issues from an academic institution.

Trump defies claims that he defamed E. Jean Carroll by noisily defaming her.

As he arrived at a federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, Donald Trump’s Truth Social account released an avalanche of posts attacking E Jean Carroll, who is suing the former president for defamation.

A jury in New York City will determine what damages he owes Ms Carroll, whom Mr Trump defamed by repeatedly calling her a liar and denying that he sexually assaulted her.

…

In a series of posts on his Truth Social on Tuesday, as he was arriving in the courtroom and while he was seated with his attorneys, without his phone, Mr Trump repeated false claims that are at the centre of the defamation cases against him, including his claim that he has never met Ms Carroll, and called the case an “unAmerican injustice” and that he was “wrongfully accused”.

In other words he took the trouble to schedule his lies to appear while he was sitting in front of the judge.

In letters to the judge last week, attorneys for Ms Carroll warned that Mr Trump wants to use the proceedings to “sow chaos” in the case, pointing to his behaviour at his fraud trial.

Is that his “strategy”? Or is it just that sowing chaos is what he loves to do. Mostly the latter, I’m guessing.

“If Mr Trump appears at this trial, whether as a witness or otherwise, his recent statements and behavior strongly suggest that he will seek to sow chaos,” attorneys wrote. “Indeed, he may well perceive a benefit in seeking to poison these proceedings, where the only question for the jury is how much more he will have to pay in damages for defaming Ms Carroll. This Court should make clear from the outset that Mr Trump is forbidden [to engage] in such antics and will suffer consequences if he does so.”

Well, if the Court did make that clear, it doesn’t seem to have worked.

This is our world now: magazines for teenage girls encourage them to get their healthy breasts cut off.

The article is from last June, but apparently Teen Vogue just can’t get enough of urging teenage girls to cut their healthy breasts off.

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on When in doubt, let the men cheat.

Really, the questions shouldn’t focus on “do they have a competitive advantage?” but rather “is there reason to have a category for female athletes?” and “are these athletes female?”. Because they don’t want to answer “no” to the second question, and because they can only think of “performance advantage” for the first one, they get all confused. There are age groups, there are leagues for people who are students at particular schools, and there are few cases where anyone says “Well, this person doesn’t fit the eligibility criteria, but he doesn’t have a performance advantage, so let him participate”.

This is very well put. Why are the governing bodies of so many sports assisting men in performing an end run around the eligibility criteria that they themselves establish and enforce? Why are they so keen on finding or creating loopholes for men who claim to be women?

It should be these authorities who have created this sitation who should be held accountable and forced to answer these questions; it shouldn’t be up to the women to point out and object to cheating men in order to protect their sports. The commisions and federations in question should have been standing up to keep women’s sports safe for women, not bending over backwards to find ways of letting men in.

It’s really not that hard. Watch. Humans can’t change sex. Men can’t be women. If you’re a man, you’re not eligible, so fuck off. Was that hard? No.

There’s no nuance present, no soul-searching or deliberation required, and anyone who thinks otherwise is going to sell out women’s sport and should not be on any such regulatory or governing body at any level whatsoever. Not grade school, not high schoool, not college or university, not amateur, professional, recreational or Olympic. Anyone in any of these positions who has proposed, voted for, supported, or enforced the inclusion of men in women’s sport (or boys in girls’ sport) should be struck off in disgrace.

“Inclusion” is bullshit. This is as reprehensible and corrupt as doping, cheating, or deliberately losing. It should be as scandalous and reputationally ruinous as all these other offences because it is cheating and doping (via hormonal construction of male muculoskeletal structures and metabolisms) put together.

Uh oh.

Ayodhya in the news again:

Frenzied construction work provided the backdrop in the northern Indian city of Ayodhya – a vast centre to welcome pilgrims, arched sandstone gates, a broad corridor leading to a grand new $217m (£170m) temple for the Hindu deity. A multi-billion dollar makeover has seen swathes of the city bulldozed to turn it into what some Hindu nationalist leaders are calling a “Hindu Vatican“.

And that’s a bad thing. “Holy” cities are bad things. Rome, Salt Lake City, Mecca, Jerusalem – all bad ideas, all lead to trouble. Theocracy is not a good political system.

Next week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fulfil a decades-long Hindu nationalist pledge by opening the temple, which replaces a 16th-Century mosque that once stood here, on one of India’s most controversial religious sites. In 1992, Hindu mobs tore down the Babri mosque, claiming it was built by Muslim invaders on the ruins of a Ram temple, sparking nationwide riots that took nearly 2,000 lives.

See? That’s why it’s such a bad idea.

Mr Modi opens the Ayodhya temple months before general elections, with his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) eyeing a record third consecutive term. He says the new temple will “unify the nation”. Senior minister Rajnath Singh believes the shrine would mark “the beginning of India’s cultural revival and restore national pride”.

By singling out one religion and conflating it with India itself.

Critics say the timing of the opening leans more towards political strategy than religious significance, building a Hindu nationalist momentum ahead of the polls. After all, they argue, the movement to build a temple was a major factor in propelling the BJP to a prominent position in Indian politics.

And the BJP is an avowedly theocratic party.

Julie Bindel points out a few facts about JK Rowling for the benefit of Nick Hilton:

So when I read podcast producer Nick Hilton’s ignorant and vitriolic attack on J.K. Rowling in the New Statesman – the magazine of choice for champagne-swigging socialists – I was furious.

Hilton’s article, published earlier this week, is as bizarre as it is defamatory. It labels the author ‘Britain’s nastiest novelist’, attacks her most recent books and even finds time to bemoan ‘child abuse, murder and torture’ in the beloved Harry Potter series.

…

While Hilton has since claimed he was writing only about her books, it is very clear he was using them as a means of launching a thinly-veiled sexist rant against the author herself.

Would he have been writing “about her books” at all if there had been no political background? And would the New Statesman have published his writing about her books in that case? I think not.

As an investigative journalist, who has dedicated their entire adult life to campaigning to end male violence against women, I am lucky enough to have become good friends with Rowling. She is, without doubt, one of the kindest, most generous and empathetic people on the planet. She has tirelessly used her wealth and platform to help others and the must rank as one of the most generous philanthropists in the world…And yet, despite the immeasurable good she has done, Left-wing commentators such as Hilton continue to attack her character.

The vilification of Rowling has long been led by aggressive woke activists who accuse her of being ‘transphobic’. Rowling is not a transphobe. She simply believes in the importance of biological sex. As a result, she takes the view that men who identify as women should not be allowed in women-only spaces – be it a changing room, prison or rape centre. Neither should they be allowed to compete in women’s sport or take women’s roles in business. Most importantly, they should not be allowed to insidiously roll back centuries of female emancipation.

But the Nick Hiltons think they absolutely should be allowed to do that.

We see you.

One problem with being a Donald Trump is that you’re a Donald Trump. It means a lot of people will avoid you, not necessarily for political reasons but because you’re a Donald Trump.

Donald Trump lost three of his lawyers in one day when attorney Joe Tacopina filed a declaration requesting the withdrawal of his firm’s representation of the former president in multiple lawsuits.

…

Tacopina withdrew his firm’s legal services from the hush money case only two months before the trial was set to start, at the end of March. Tacopina also requested to withdraw his firm’s legal services from E. Jean Carroll‘s civil defamation and battery case against Trump, which awarded the former Elle columnist $5 million in damages last May.

…

Tacopina will no longer represent the former president in any appeals related to the Carroll case, nor will his firm be involved in a separate defamation case against Trump from Carroll, which is set to start Tuesday.

Maybe he just has a dentist appointment that day.

Michael McAuliffe, a former federal prosecutor and former elected state attorney, told Newsweek that an attorney might withdraw legal services for various reasons.

“A lawyer might attempt to withdraw as counsel of record for a client in a pending case for a number of reasons,” McAuliffe said. “The attorney-client relationship might have suffered a fundamental breach of confidence, running in either or both directions. A strong-willed client who thinks he or she is more of a lawyer than the actual lawyer can create an untenable scenario for that lawyer to continue representing the client’s interests.

“However, with Donald Trump, any lawyer who agrees to act as his counsel is on clear notice on that front,” McAuliffe said.

A “strong-willed client” – aka a pig-headed dim-witted client who thinks he knows everything and never shuts up.

Ooooh that’s a tough one, we’ll get back to you in 20 years or so when we have the data.

Sex Matters has a new report:

A major new report launched today by Sex Matters reveals in shocking detail that leaders in the women’s sector who advocate for female-only services are routinely subjected to investigations, ostracisation, bullying and employment loss, and have been pressured into adopting policies that compromise women’s welfare and safety. 

Yet a new poll has found that the British public strongly backs single-sex support for women who have been the victims of rape, sexual assault or domestic violence, with 84% believing such women should have access to female-only services.

I’m even more crazy-radical than that: I think all women should have access to female-only services.

The report, titled Women’s services: A sector silenced, is the first of its kind globally. It is based on interviews with 19 experts and leaders in the sector from a wide range of organisations providing support services to women. These include rape-crisis centres, domestic-violence refuges and support services, support for trafficked women and women in prostitution, and prison and probation services that engage with female offenders, many of whom are survivors of abuse. 

Interviewees warned that the issues go far beyond the risk that women may be put at risk or be attacked. When women victims of male violence are left doubting whether a service is truly single-sex, and when they are banned from using clear language to talk about this, they may be retraumatised and fearful, and lose trust. They may self-exclude from support services.

For the sake of the fantasies of a few men, women self-exclude from support services intended for women. Seems fair.

Another tribunal. ERCC is Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre.

MW is Mridul Wadhwa, the trans-identifying man who is the head of Edinburgh RAPE CRISIS Centre.

Didn’t we all.

The rape crisis centre run by a man told the woman who needed women-only group therapy was turned away. That’s progressive!

No, sorry, because women are all Karens and don’t deserve information and choice.