Civil discourse

Nov 16th, 2023 10:12 am | By
Civil discourse

Speaking of people speaking of “vermin”…



The V word

Nov 16th, 2023 9:30 am | By

Trump is calling us vermin now.

Vermin.

At a campaign event Saturday in New Hampshire, Mr. Trump vowed to “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.” He then said his political opposition was the most pressing and pernicious threat facing America.

Vermin.

His daddy was a slumlord, so he knows damn well what vermin are.

He’s telling us “Yeah I’m a Nazi and you can’t stop me.”

Of course one of his spokies denied it.

“Those who try to make that ridiculous assertion are clearly snowflakes grasping for anything because they are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome,” a campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, said, “and their sad, miserable existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House.”

With zyklon b no doubt.

Last month, Mr. Trump told a right-wing website that migrants were “poisoning the blood of our country,” a phrase recalling white supremacist ideology and comments made by Hitler in his manifesto “Mein Kampf.”

But never mind all that, the important thing is, what are your pronouns?



Assertion to the rescue

Nov 16th, 2023 9:11 am | By

Is that right?

What are they then? Stallions? Bulls? Bucks? Roosters? Rams?

If trans women are not men then what does the “trans” in “trans women” mean?



But that will not make it so

Nov 16th, 2023 5:59 am | By

Oh golly Jolyon slipped up. Psssst dude you’re not supposed to admit that people can’t change what they are just by saying so, except in the case of purely social or cultural or legal types of “what they are.” As in, profession or political leaning or music preferences, yes; species or age or sex, no. You’re not supposed to admit that a law can’t make you literally the sex you are not.

https://twitter.com/JammersMinde/status/1725129428613640693


Psychological torture by cop

Nov 15th, 2023 4:35 pm | By

Police harassment continues:

The officer who unlawfully questioned our client for saying ‘transwomen are men’ turned up at her house overnight to post a handwritten envelope. The enclosed letter contained no apology, no acknowledgment of the alarm & distress, but simply stated that there would be no further action PENDING FURTHER INFORMATION. The level of inappropriateness is breathtaking. This is stalking. @CCJardineNP @NPNland



The fix was in

Nov 15th, 2023 11:19 am | By

And speaking of that man and the woman who appointed him…

He scratches her back, she scratches his.

Women lose.



Huge respect for lies and appropriation

Nov 15th, 2023 11:16 am | By

Labour MP. Formerly a BBC reporter.

https://twitter.com/BenPBradshaw/status/1724740528825110605

Charming. Women who question putting a man in charge of an endometriosis charity are bullying, while the man put in charge of an endometriosis charity and the woman who put him there are their victims. Welcome to Backwards World.



Muh muh muh pronouns

Nov 15th, 2023 10:11 am | By

The Vermont Daily Chronicle:

Following the resignation of a member of a Burlington Neighborhood Planning Assembly (NPA) over another member’s unwillingness to use preferred gender-related personal pronouns, the Burlington City Council Monday night approved a resolution to redraft NPA bylaws preventing ‘gender discrimination.’

You mean discrimination against women?

Hahaha of course not, don’t be so silly.

Lee Morrigan is a biological female who identifies as non-binary. Jeff Comstock refuses to use assigned pronouns at the NPA meetings because he considers them an effort to impose an agenda on individuals and society at large.

And, let’s not forget, to burden them with the duty to keep in mind a counter-intuitive use of language, which would mean being hyper-vigilant about everything one says in the presence of gender Stalinists.

The NPAs are local advisory groups intended to increase citizen participation in civic matters. At a recent meeting of the Wards 4 & 7 (New North End) NPA steering committee, Morrigan and others tried at length to persuade fellow NPA member Jeff Comstock that it’s ‘disrespectful’ to refer to Morgan with female pronouns. 

Way not to increase citizen participation in civic matters! Way to send people screaming for the doors, never to return! Way to change the subject from civic matters to one person’s greedy ego.

Morrigan: So why won’t you use my pronouns? Can you explain?

Comstock: Some folks are trying to impose their personal agendas on others. One of the concepts that I think this entire gender identity issue is failing at is the recognition of the concept that your rights end where my nose begins. There is an awful lot of cultural and social imposition of some people’s agendas on others in our society.”

Morrigan: I have a responsibility to keep myself safe. So what I’m hearing is that you are not going to use my pronouns, correct?

Comstock: And how does that impact your safety?

Morrigan: I’ve been explaining this for the past 20 minutes on how this impacts my wellbeing. You’re not going to use my pronouns, correct?

Well-being is not safety. Furthermore, referring to a woman as “she” is not a threat to anyone’s safety at a neighborhood planning meeting, especially not one in Burlington Vermont.

Monday night, the Burlington City Council approved a resolution clarifying what constitutes discrimination on the NPA level, establishes a complaint process, and creates a pathway for removing members who fail to comply. 

So Comstock will be booted out and petulant whiny self-centered entitled Morrigan will return. Burlington’s loss.



Surprisingly stupid

Nov 15th, 2023 8:00 am | By

Kenny Farq is miffed that his staggeringly banal and clueless “let’s you compromise” column is attracting contempt and derision.

Who could have predicted that anyone would write such an absurdly clueless column for a serious newspaper?



Backfired enough yet?

Nov 15th, 2023 7:07 am | By

Emma Barnett on Woman’s Hour surprises us all by telling Steph Richards and Jodie Hughes (founder of Endometriosis South Coast) some harsh truths.

Starts at 22:15.



Guest post: Surrender is not peace

Nov 15th, 2023 6:26 am | By

Originally a comment by tigger_the_wing on Let’s give your rights away.

The result of giving in to the demands of narcissists and sociopaths is never peace. It always leads to another round of demands, and so on and so forth until they have absolutely everything; and then what?

First they came for the lesbians, now they’re coming after women and children simultaneously. It was ‘just’ preferred pronouns, now they’re mandatory wrong-sex (or illogically plural) pronouns if you want to keep your job. It was just “We want to live our lives in peace” and now it’s “You have to let us into ALL women’s spaces, shelters, toilets, sports, changing rooms, jobs, BIGOT

Surely this bloke isn’t so full of himself that he didn’t do any smidgen of research into the subject, especially the history of appeasement and the results, before writing? Nah. Must be another narcissist, looking out for opportunities for himself, sod everyone else.



Let’s give your rights away

Nov 15th, 2023 5:00 am | By

Oh how I love it when men say let’s do a compromise on women’s rights.

How the trans row will end in compromise

By comparison, debates about Brexit and Scottish independence are akin to a chorus of Kumbaya at Brownie camp. There is something about the trans issue that brings out the irrational, the visceral, the absolutist.

Ooh I bet I know what that “something” is. I bet it’s the crazy irrational brainless stubborn wacky stupid mindless unthinking daft witless nature of women. Stupid bitches need a big patronizing man to show them how to do a compromise.

We are close to a compromise on the trans issue that will satisfy neither side of a deep divide. In fact each will greet a deal with dismay. And yet a middle way is necessary on this issue that has scarred public discourse like no other in recent years.

Except who is that “we”?

It’s a different “we” depending on who is talking. When Kenny Farquharson is talking it’s reasonable decent good people like him, who all happen to be men and thus who have nothing to lose if other men do help themselves to women’s rights. When the “we” who are talking are women things look rather different…but he’s too manly and important to pause for a think about that.

What does compromise look like on the issue of trans rights? Its exact contours are still indistinct but its general shape is now discernible. A useful guide is the judgment offered by Lady Dorrian earlier this month in a case brought by For Women, a feminist campaign group.

Dorrian upheld an earlier judgment that trans women should be treated the same way as biological women under legislation to improve gender balance on the boards of public agencies. She rejected the argument that this was incompatible with the Equality Act in which, she accepted, “sex” meant biological sex.

In short, she sought to protect trans rights while upholding a biological definition of woman.

Oh that kind of “compromise.” The one where men who call themselves women still get to steal jobs reserved for women, but in return the women get…uh…nothing.

I sometimes get the feeling diehards on each side of this argument would rather lose than compromise. Defeat would require no giving of ground.

Where’s the compromise? Spell out for us exactly what the compromise part is. Telling us that putting men who call themselves women on the boards of public agencies as a way to increase the representation of women on those boards is not repeat NOT a compromise. Saying “sure, they’re not literally women, but we’re giving them the women’s places on the boards of public agencies anyway” is NOT a compromise.

A key belief of gender critical feminism is that a man can never become a woman. And yet existing laws in place for decades allow a man to gain a gender recognition certificate to help them live the life of a woman.

And yet a “certificate” does not and cannot change the physical reality that a man is a man and not a woman. Imagine if a “certificate” could allow people to live the life of Kenny Farquharson; do we suppose he would cheerfully allow this someone to live in his house, drive his car, spend his paycheck?

A strand of thought is emerging that not only should extending trans rights be blocked but existing trans rights should be rolled back. At this point the distinction between gender critical feminism and social conservatism becomes hard to discern.

Define “trans rights.” Spell out exactly what they are and say what makes them rights as opposed to demands.

The compromise required of this particular side of the debate is to accept that for most intents and purposes a man can indeed become a woman in the eyes of society and in the eyes of the law.

Oh that compromise. The one that other people spell as “total submission.”

As a man, my view on the definition of woman is necessarily as an outsider. Having accepted this, I am still entitled to a circumscribed view, which I pose as a question: surely womanhood in all its glory is capacious enough, generous enough, diverse enough, to accommodate and perhaps even to welcome a small number of people who did not start life’s journey as women?

No, you’re not. You’re not entitled to jack shit when the issue is women’s rights.

There’s even more of this clueless entitled smug lecturing; read it at your peril.



Centering the centrism

Nov 14th, 2023 4:14 pm | By

This is where centrism gets you, especially radical centrism.

Split the difference, yeah? Call him “she” if you like him or think he’s a centrist or want to annoy some non-centrist pedant who knows what pronouns are. Call him “he” if he veers too far to the left or the right. Either way you’re obviously better than everyone else.



The organisation needed an activist

Nov 14th, 2023 9:37 am | By

The new CEO of Endometriosis South Coast issues a “statement” i.e. a tweet.

Endometriosis South Coast (ESC) are a small local charity with an annual income of around £8000. Our team consists of six trustees and five volunteers, all of whom were assigned female at birth and myself.

None of us are paid a salary; we do it to improve the lives of those who suffer Endo.

In the UK, 10% of those assigned female at birth suffer from this awful disease, which, via the NHS, takes on average eight years to diagnose. The cost to the economy every year is £8.2 billion, but honestly, how do you put a price on pain?

Our chair at ESC suffers from Endo very severely and is currently working towards her endometriosis research PhD – understandably, she wants to take a step back.

The trustees decided that the organisation needed an activist with a proven record to drive the charity forward and advocate for a women’s health hub in our city, and when asked, I duly obliged – I feel very honoured; thank you @EndoSouthC

My birth sex doesn’t come into it …..my CV does.

CEO’s are appointed by boards/trustees because of their “skill set”, not because of their sex (note I have a GRC).

There are numerous examples of charities/organisations employing CEO’s whose sex doesn’t correspond with those they serve – look no further than Laura Kerby at Prostate Cancer UK and Simon Cook at MSI Reproductive Choices.

Many gynaecologists are men – I don’t see any headlines about them. Some midwives are men – I don’t see any headlines about them either. And how about the male paramedic who may deal with miscarriage or prolapse – there are no headlines about them either. Am I wrong?

No, I am not.

I do believe the complaints against me are transphobic @millihill @runthinkwrite @HJoyceGender @MForstater @helenstaniland will not agree, of course.

In my opinion, many charities have failed women. For example, in Spain, Japan, South Korea and Zambia, women have rights when experiencing disabling periods. Why are we not talking about this instead of publishing headlines about trans women?

We need to talk about #Endo and supporting #women much more. Women deserve ACTION – that is why ESC asked me to be their CEO.

Recently, I did an FOI to our local Portsmouth hospital, asking them how many women they treated in 2022 with Endo. The answer was 249 – I want to know why this figure was so low, so I have made another FOI digging deeper. To date, I am still waiting for a reply. This is what activists do!

Diversity should be seen as a strength. Stereotyping is wrong, and by appointing me as the CEO of ESC, I will look at the issues Endo suffers endure with a different perspective than others. Who can argue that is not a positive?

ESC are an inclusive charity, meaning we welcome EVERYONE with endo and adeno. We do not mind if you are straight, gay, black, trans, non-binary or whatever.

WE ARE HERE FOR YOU.

ALL OF YOU.

Finally, a massive thank you to the many people who have sent me messages of support (even GC people).

Best wishes, Steph

Sure, have lots of diversity – by hiring and appointing more women for instance. Hiring a man as CEO of a women’s charity isn’t “diversity” it’s “same old shit.” The fact that he calls himself a woman does not make him more “diversity.” It makes him more narcissistic displacer of women.



Amongst them screaming

Nov 14th, 2023 8:52 am | By

Julie Bindel on the latest calculated insult to women:

When the announcement was made, by Endometriosis South Coast on Monday, many of us considered it to be a parody. “We are excited to share with you all that we welcome Steph to the team as our new CEO. Supporting to move forward with our missions as a charity – we are all grateful to have Steph on board” read the announcement on X

The new CEO is a man who identifies as a transwoman.

You know who can never have endometriosis? Men.

Steph Richards is well-known as a trans-activist, often leading the charge of protesters at feminist events, such as one I attended in 2021, in his hometown of Portsmouth. The FiLiA Women’s Rights conference, a gathering of more than 2,000 women from around the world, was picketed by a large group of protesters, draped in trans flags. 

Steph was amongst them, screaming about “transphobic feminists”, whilst inside there were women speaking about being raped in refugee camps, trafficked into prostitution, and overcoming childhood sexual abuse. 

How dare women talk about bad shit that happens to women instead of about men who pretend to be women?

It is utterly outrageous to employ a man to run a women’s health charity, however he identifies. There are plenty of women, including those whose lives are blighted by endometriosis, that could do the job. It is gaslighting in the extreme. 

And because it is gaslighting in the extreme, it’s all too obvious that it’s a deliberate, calculated, with malice aforethought insult. It’s an intentional attack on women and women’s rights and women’s right to organize and talk and campaign for their own issues.

Thanks to extreme transgender ideology being adopted by many women working in the sector, Steph is not the only example of a man taking such a role from a woman. The chief executive of Edinburgh Rape Crisis is a man called Mridul Wadhwa, employed by the handmaidens in order to look “intersectional” and “inclusive”. In 2021 Wadhwa caused outrage when he said on a podcast that those that believe in single sex spaces for rape victims and survivors, need to “reframe their trauma” if they are in the least bit bothered about a male person being in the vicinity of a supposed women only space.

How about men “reframe their trauma” instead? How about Steph “reframes his trauma” by not deliberately stomping all over women?



Change your definition, sluts

Nov 14th, 2023 7:29 am | By

Trans “activism” can never get enough punishment of women; it always wants more more more.

Two University of Wyoming sorority alumni have been callously removed as members after more than 50 years by the national organization after supporting a lawsuit to oust the first transgender member.

Kappa Kappa Gamma sisters at University of Wyoming alleged earlier this year that the 6ft2, 260lb trans member would ‘peep at (the other girls) while visibly aroused’ 

Patsy Levang and Cheryl Tuck-Smith, who had been with Kappa Kappa Gamma for more than 50 years, were expelled after they allegedly fundraised for the lawsuit contesting the sorority’s admission of a transgender woman. 

That’ll show those evil bitches.

A district court judge found in favor of the sorority and Langford in Westenbroek v. Kappa Kappa Gamma, ruling that the sorority’s bylaws – as a private, voluntary organization – don’t define who’s a woman.

The six members had raised safety concerns and detailed allegations against Langford, but said they were told to ‘change our definition of woman’ in the September 2022 lawsuit

Women are told to change their definition of woman to mean the opposite of what it means.

That’s like being told to change your definition of “day” so that it includes “night” or your definition of “on” so that it includes “off.” You have to change your definition of this word so that it includes its own opposite. Let’s do that with all the words, and see how it goes.

At the heart of the lawsuit was the issue of defining a ‘woman’, with the sorority sisters arguing that because KKG’s governing documents define it as a space exclusively for females, the organization broke its own rules by admitting a biological male.

The sisters claimed that the sorority changed its criteria to allow Langford to apply, while KKGs lawyers said the definition of ‘woman’ has evolved since the sorority’s founding 150 years ago.

Yeah right it’s “evolved” to include men.

Ok so then can we have a word that means what “women” used to mean? “Wimen” maybe? “Wominn”? Something like that? Because we do still need a word that means “women” – not “women plus any men who feel like calling themselves women.”

‘The term (woman) is unquestionably open to many interpretations,’ the sorority’s filing claimed.

Yeah? Like what? Can it mean seal? Trumpet? Cheese sandwich? Moon? Luxury yacht?

Also that “unquestionably” is a bit of a laugh. Hello, I’m questioning your assertion.

Although the plaintiffs offered a definition in their lawsuit as an ‘adult human female’, KKG said this was restrictive, and were seeking to dismiss on the basis of changing views around what constitutes a ‘woman’.

No, let’s not do that. We all know perfectly well “what constitutes a ‘woman’.” We have not consented to changing the meaning of the word so that men can use it and then push us out of it.



Try being aware of women for once

Nov 13th, 2023 5:04 pm | By

This guy is so infuriating.

https://twitter.com/MayorofLondon/status/1724107499437994305

He’s the one who booted Joan Smith from her unpaid role as co-chair of his commission on violence against women and girls, without a word of explanation, and without ever replying to her questions or anyone else’s. It’s disgusting and he’s disgusting. Ungrateful, unfair, cowardly, sneaky, contemptible…and he’s a misogynist.

He turned off replies, but he can’t turn off quote-tweets, which are very angry. He ignores women and slobbers over trans people, and tries to shut us up when we object. He needs a very serious talking-to.



When they present that way

Nov 13th, 2023 9:29 am | By

What does that mean though?

What does “present that way” mean though?

It can’t mean dress up as the other sex in private, because obviously anybody can do that any time. So what it means is dress up as the other sex in public, i.e. involve other people, including total strangers, in one’s “desire.”

People don’t get to do that. I don’t care how “tormented” they are. Sorry, but I don’t. Everybody is “tormented” by something. When someone’s putative torment can be soothed only by enlisting strangers in that someone’s fantasy life, that becomes a problem for everyone.



Calendar notes

Nov 13th, 2023 9:13 am | By

It’s never not Trans Awareness something – month, day, year, week, century, decade, whatever – they’re all Trans of them.

No no Fred, it’s never enough, never never NEVER.

GLAAD confirms.

Each year between November 13 – 19, people and organizations around the country participate in Transgender Awareness Week to help increase understanding about transgender people and the issues members of the community face.

Trans Awareness Week takes place the week before Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20. Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), is an annual observance on November 20 that honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence that year.

Transgender Awareness Week is a week when transgender people and their allies take action to bring attention to the trans community by educating the public about who transgender people are, sharing stories and experiences, and advancing advocacy around issues of prejudice, discrimination, and violence that affect the transgender community.

As is every other week of the year. Transgender people and their allies never stop taking action to bring attention to the trans community. They literally never shut up about it for one second.

(Why aren’t more people bored by this? Seriously. Why isn’t there a saturation point. Why haven’t more people had enough yet? Even if you agree that trans people are the most blah blah aren’t you sick of hearing about it every second?)

Human Rights Campaign confirms.

Honor Transgender Awareness Week and Transgender Day of Remembrance with HRC

Transgender Awareness Week and Transgender Day of Remembrance is a time for the LGBTQ+ community to celebrate, uplift and honor our trans community.

By publicly demonstrating support while challenging anti-trans legislation and negative rhetoric, we can turn our solidarity as LGBTQ+ people and allies into a collective power to advance equality and justice.

What equality and justice do trans people not have?

Never you mind. Get busy celebrating and uplifting.



Section 3 of the 14th amendment

Nov 13th, 2023 8:45 am | By

Conservative lawyer says why Trump is disqualified.

[Michael] Luttig, however, has a plan to stop him. In August he joined with the liberal constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe to publish an article in the Atlantic magazine under the headline “The Constitution Prohibits Trump From Ever Being President Again”.

The pair argued that section 3 of the 14th amendment automatically excludes from future office anyone who swears an oath to uphold the constitution and then rebels against it. Irrespective of criminal proceedings or congressional sanctions, they contended, Trump’s efforts to overturn the election are sufficient to bar him for life.

It makes sense. If you, as president, swear an oath to uphold the constitution, and then rebel against it, you’ve pretty much shredded your own allegiance to the very thing you want to be the boss of. You’ve also demonstrated that you’re an oath-breaker. If he did get elected he would have to swear the same oath again, and this time no one would believe him, so where does that leave us?

Luttig elaborates by phone: “The former president is disqualified from holding the presidency again because he engaged in an insurrection or rebellion against the constitution of the United States when he attempted to remain in power, notwithstanding that the American people had voted to confer the power of the presidency upon Joe Biden.

“That constituted a rebellion against the executive vesting clause of the constitution, which limits the term of the president to four years unless he is re-elected by the American people. I cannot even begin to tell you how that is literally the most important two sentences in America today.”

He tried to steal it, using force and violence, and now he wants to try to get it by legit means.

Luttig this week helped form a new conservative legal movement, relaunching an organisation formerly known as Checks & Balances as the Society for the Rule of Law. The move was billed as a nationwide expansion aimed at protecting the constitution and defending the rule of law from Trump’s “Make America great again” movement. Its leadership includes Luttig, the lawyer George Conway and former Republican congresswoman Barbara Comstock.

“We believe that the time has come for a new conservative legal movement that still holds the same allegiances to the constitution and the rule of law that the original conservative legal movement held but has abandoned,” Luttig explains. “There’s a split in the conservative legal movement that mirrors the split in the Republican party about Donald Trump.”

On other side of that split is the Federalist Society, a group that for decades has played a crucial role in grooming conservative judges – its prominent figures have included Leonard Leo, who advised Trump on his supreme court picks – but has said little about the threat posed by the former president to the constitutional order.

Luttig, who, unlike Conway, has never been a member of the Federalist Society, said: “We believe that the Federalist Society has failed to speak out in defence of the constitution and the rule of law and repudiate the constitutional and legal excesses of the former president and his administration and, most notably, failed to repudiate the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.”

What ever happened to law and order?