Oh yes that Trans Day of Vengeance thing…maybe it got an early start yesterday?

Trans Day of Vengeance, a weekend of protests for trans/non-binary rights, has been initiated by TRAN (Trans Radical Activist Network) and OURRIGHTSDC, because “visibility” is no longer enough. We resist and denounce the criminalization of transgender identity and violence against our siblings currently happening across the nation. We are fighting for our rights to exist. We are taking back the narratives. We are fighting back. With vengeance, because this is a fight for our survival.

Details are still being worked out, but we will meet at 11am on April 1st in front of the SCOTUS, where we will have a few speakers to kick off the march. In the evening of March 31st, following Queer Youth Assembly during the day, we will have a slightly riskier protest as a pre-march event. The details are to be announced.

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Don’t ask me what that last paragraph is for. An encyclopedia of keywords? Who knows?

Remember Wayne State professor of English Steven Shapiro? Who said –

Although I do not advocate violating federal and state criminal codes, I think it is far more admirable to kill a racist, homophobic, or transphobic speaker than it is to shout them down.

The president of Wayne State is not charmed.

Dear campus community,

This morning, I was made aware of a social media post by a Wayne State University professor in our Department of English.

The post stated that rather than “shouting down” those with whom we disagree, one would be justified to commit murder to silence them. We have on many occasions defended the right of free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but we feel this post far exceeds the bounds of reasonable or protected speech. It is, at best, morally reprehensible and, at worst, criminal.

We have referred this to law enforcement agencies for further review and investigation. Pending their review, we have suspended the professor with pay, effective immediately.

To be precise, he didn’t say “one would be justified to” – he said “I think it is far more admirable to.” They sound similar but there is a real difference. “One would be justified” is a good deal closer to incitement than “I think it is far more admirable to.” I’m sure Shaviro has every intention of saying that; I’m sure he was very deliberate in starting with the disclaimer and then wording it the way he did. Just saying you think it’s more admirable is…well, it’s very sly. He may well get away with it.

It’s also a nice (i.e. evil) touch to limit it to “violating federal and state criminal codes,” as opposed to confronting the horror of killing a human being. Murder isn’t wrong or bad, he hints, but criminal codes forbid it.

And all this because he hates women who know men are not women.

Plastics can’t be “recycled.” So-called recycling creates more pollution than it “recycles.” It’s all a big scam.

The disturbing reports on plastic pollution just keep coming: toxic plastic waste is filling up our oceans, our landfills, and even our bodies. But if you’ve seen a recent surge of ads from the companies that produce this garbage, you might be forgiven for thinking they’re working on solutions to the problem.

“America’s Plastic Makers” is the brand promoting a slew of ads about a new “solution” to plastic pollution that experts and evidence say creates new climate and environmental harms, and doesn’t actually work. It’s called “advanced” or chemical recycling, and refers to various processes for repurposing plastic waste. Some of those would use chemicals to break down used plastic and supposedly turn it into new plastic. But far more frequently, chemical recycling refers to combusting fossil fuels to turn plastics into chemicals or more oil and gas to be burned (also known as pyrolisis or gasification, which isn’t recycling at all). 

Big Oil companies are opening new chemical recycling facilities across the country, which they’re selling as the silver bullet to dealing with hard-to-recycle plastic waste. And they’re advertising these facilities with the help of the American Chemistry Council (ACC), a trade association for chemical producers and the main lobbying arm for the plastics industry. 

They’ve known all along, but they’ve campaigned to convince us to put those plastic bottles in the bin marked Plastics.

Enter chemical recycling.

Here’s the thing: chemical recycling is inefficient and unproven, and it exacerbates climate and environmental injustices, according to a series of nonprofit, journalistic, and government analyses. The process is extremely energy and emissions-intensive because it requires burning more fossil fuels, using and emitting more neurotoxic or carcinogenic chemicals like benzene, or both. Hazardous waste created during chemical recycling is either burned in copious amounts on site or, in many cases, shipped across the country to multiple locations to be burned. And a large majority of these facilities are sited in communities of color and low-income communities. 

Plus shipping takes more fuel.

Read the whole thing.

Tom Nichols on Trump in Waco:

Almost 30 years after a cult leader caused a disaster in Waco, Trump rallied his own political cult—and the location cannot be a coincidence—in that same Texas city. The Waco tent revival featured the usual Trumpian cast of grifters, carnies, and misfits, including the fan favorites Mike Lindell and Ted Nugent. Most of the former president’s speech was, of course, about himself and his many grievances, and the crowd reportedly began to thin out somewhat early.

I never will understand why a flabby rich guy who never stops talking about himself and his ludicrous grievances is so appealing to The Folk. He’s rich. He’s self-obsessed. He’s greedy. He’s lazy. He’s cruel. He’s a liar. He’s a rapist. He’s grandiose. What in that list makes him a man of the people?

I know that many people, after years of this mad-king routine, simply do not want to process anything with the words Donald Trump in it. I don’t blame you. But let’s not look away: In Waco, Trump embraced a creepy mash-up of the national anthem, “USA” chants, and his own voice, and then proceeded for some 90 minutes to make clear that he is now irrevocably all in with the seditionists, the conspiracy theorists, the “Trump or death” fanatics, the Vladimir Putin fanboys—the whole appalling lot of them.

Well, yes, but…um…he sticks it to the libs. Yeah, that’s it. He’s not politically correct.

Trump and his minions, especially elected Republicans, are experts at pretending that things didn’t happen the way we saw them. Ask a GOP official about Trump’s offensive statements, and you’ll likely get “I didn’t see that,” “I don’t read his tweets,” “I’ll have to check into that,” and other squirts of verbal helium. 

It’s all worth it because look, abortion rights are mostly gone. Victory!

Originally a comment by Nullius in Verba on Glam.

It occurs to me that the way these people talk about, celebrate, and encourage this shit online is similar to what I’ve seen of two other horrid online groups. Specifically those formed around murder and suicide. Looking into either one gets really dark, really quickly. You can see the same sorts of psychological pressures in action, all of which are also present in other high demand groups (i.e., cults). It’s also the same sort of assault on identity, one’s conception of oneself as a continuous entity of worth, that Lifton documented in Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism. (Side note: I highly recommend the book. It’s one of those things that, having read it, I see its echoes everywhere, just like with Nineteen Eighty-Four.)

The Internet is a more powerful thing than we really understand. In hindsight, it was almost certainly unwise to popularize it when and how we did. We aren’t ready for it.

So he’s off on his travels is he?

The human body is PORNOGRAPHIC. Who knew?

The Florence museum that houses Michelangelo’s statue of David has invited teachers and students from a Florida school to visit, after an uproar over an art lesson.

The school’s principal quit after a complaint about a sixth-grade art class that included an image of the statue.

A parent had complained the image was pornographic.

So have her children had their genitalia removed? Was it porn every time she changed their diapers when they were babies? Is it porn when she takes a shower?

The controversy began when the board of Tallahassee Classical School – a charter school in Florida’s state capital – pressured principal Hope Carrasquilla to resign after three parents complained about a lesson that included a photo of the 17ft nude marble statue.

Where is his fig leaf god damn it?! What was this Michelangelo fella thinking?!!

According to Florentine art historian and dean of the University for Foreigners in Siena, Tomaso Montanari, such an attitude is “disconcerting”.

“First comes the dismay at the absence of educational freedom, as it should not be restricted or manipulated by families,” Mr Montanari said.

“On the other hand, from a cultural perspective, the Western world has a tendency to associate fundamentalism and censorship with other societies, believing it possesses the capability to spread democratic ideals worldwide.”

He’s right you know. This is Talibanesque. Granted there aren’t whippings or burials alive or beheadings involved, but the thinking is all too similar.

Heather Cox Richardson writes:

March 27, 2023 (Monday)

Seven people died today in a school shooting in Nashville. Three of them were nine-year-olds. Three were staffers. One was the shooter. In the aftermath of the shooting, President Joe Biden once again urged Congress to pass a ban on assault weapons, to which today’s Republican lawmakers will never agree because gun ownership has become a key element of social identity for their supporters, who resent the idea that the legal system could regulate their ownership of firearms.

In the wake of the shooting, Representative Andrew Ogles (R-TN), who represents Nashville thanks to redistricting by the Republican legislature that cut up a Democratic district, said he was “utterly heartbroken” by the shooting and offered “thoughts and prayers to the families of those lost.”

In 2021, Ogles, his wife, and two of his three children held guns as they posed for a Christmas card with a caption that read: “The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference—they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.”

Then…………………………………………….why is there so very much gun violence in the US with its barely detectable gun laws and its profusion of guns? I await elucidation.

Virginia Thomas the conflict of interest:

A little-known conservative activist group led by Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, collected nearly $600,000 in anonymous donations to wage a cultural battle against the left over three years, a Washington Post investigation found.

The previously unreported donations to the fledgling group Crowdsourcers for Culture and Liberty were channeled through a right-wing think tank in Washington that agreed to serve as a funding conduit from 2019 until the start of last year, according to documents and interviews. The arrangement, known as a “fiscal sponsorship,” effectively shielded from public view details about Crowdsourcers’ activities and spending, information it would have had to disclose publicly if it operated as a separate nonprofit organization, experts said.

So that means she deliberately concealed the conflict of interest. How…interesting.

The funding is the first example of anonymous donors backing her activism since she founded a conservative charity more than a decade ago. She stepped away from that charity amid concerns that it created potential conflicts for her husband on hot-button issues before the court.

And proceeded to subterfuge in order to go on with her “activism” but in secret this time.

In reality I think it’s not altogether fair that a spouse married to a senator or justice or similar can’t operate independently, but at the same time I think the issue is real so we’re stuck with the unfairness.

Of course Virginia Thomas is also a trumpy lunatic, so there’s that.

In 2020, she privately pressed White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to pursue efforts to overturn the presidential election, and she sent emails urging swing-state lawmakers to set aside Joe Biden’s popular-vote victory in awarding electoral votes.

That is she tried to help overthrow the government. That goes quite a bit beyond spousal conflict of interest.

Ginni Thomas has long maintained that she and her husband keep their careers separate. “I can guarantee that my husband has never spoken to me about pending cases in the court. It’s an ironclad rule in our house,” she told congressional investigators last year who were examining the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. “Additionally, he’s uninterested in politics, and I generally don’t discuss with him my day-to-day work in politics.”

Which totally works as long as you define politics as “that which does not interest Clarence Thomas.”

It seems the guy who dumped tomato soup/juice/sauce/whatever on KJK is being sought by The Law. Unless he’s just identifying as being sought by The Law.

NPR is slashing staff to save $$.

NPR moved this week to cut 10% of its staff and stop production of a trio of acclaimed seasonal podcasts — Invisibilia, Louder Than a Riot and Rough Translation — as it seeks to close a yawning budget gap that stands in excess of $30 million.

…

[Chief executive John] Lansing said the network sought to protect its core public service mission of journalism while preserving what he calls its “North Star.” Since joining NPR four years ago, Lansing has pushed to ensure the network has a bigger and broader audience base, rooted in younger and more diverse listeners, readers and consumers who will serve as the next generation of NPR supporters.

Hmmyes but that may have been its undoing, too. “Younger” listeners may have convinced NPR that gender ideology is the hot new thing as opposed to an embarrassing mistake.

About that burden of proof thing…

The burden of proof (Latin: onus probandi, shortened from Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat) is the obligation on a party in a dispute to provide sufficient warrant for its position.

When two parties are in a discussion and one makes a claim that the other disputes, the one who makes the claim typically has a burden of proof to justify or substantiate that claim especially when it challenges a perceived status quo.

This is also stated in Hitchens’s razor, which declares that “what may be asserted without evidence, may be dismissed without evidence.” Carl Sagan proposed a related criterion – “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” – which is known as the Sagan standard.

The perceived status quo is that men have to stay out of women’s sports for much the same reason men must not punch women. It’s also much the same reason adults should not batter children and people should not batter puppies. You could call it the “pick on someone your own size” rule or standard or status quo. You could sum it up, however repetitively, as people should not take advantage of a physical advantage.

It seems like a pretty reliable status quo. There are exceptions, I suppose – if a small feeble person is about to open fire on a crowd then a big strong person should intervene. But as a broad, general status quo rule? I think it’s solid.

So then Pink News gloated again about its hostility to lesbians:

Members of The Dyke Project partied to protest the inaugural event of the The Lesbian Project – a trans-exclusionary initiative created by Julie Bindel and Kathleen Stock.

Yeah how dare Julie Bindel and Kathleen Stock be exclusionary of men in their Lesbian Project? The best people include men in all their lesbian projects.

The group held its first event on Saturday (25 March), which was met with a protest by The Dyke Project.

Formed in direct response to the Lesbian Project, the trans-inclusive group announced itself with a tweet reading: “Some want to sow hate and divide us by saying lesbians are being erased and need protection – so not true!”

So not true! We’ve just re-defined “lesbians,” that’s all!

I remember when Pink News was for lesbians and gay men. Seems like only yesterday. Now it gloats at bullying of lesbians.

Hundreds of LGBTQ+ women tell trans-exclusionary Lesbian Project: ‘You do not represent us’

What are LGBTQ+ women? They’re not anything, because no one can be all of those things. Why is Pink News rejoicing that confused lesbians are shunning and scolding lesbians for being lesbians?

More than 800 lesbians have signed an open letter to The Lesbian Project, denouncing the trans-exclusionary group as not reflective of the “lives, needs and community” of lesbians. 

That is, more than 800 lesbians have denounced other lesbians for not being inclooosive of men. Why are lesbians denouncing other lesbians for being…lesbians?

The Lesbian Project was launched earlier this month by Kathleen Stock and Julie Bindel, in response to the suggestion that lesbians are being “erased” and “silenced” in society. 

The pair have appeared across the media to discuss the project, saying it “highlights and champions the experiences, insights and sensibilities of lesbians in all their diversity”. 

They have courted controversy for their anti-trans views, and concerns have been raised that the new project will be used by some as an undercover means to push anti-trans viewpoints and other narratives harmful to the community. 

The old agent-free “concerns have been raised” – Pink News is “raising the concerns” itself but prefers to pretend it’s unspecified concerns-raisers in their thousands or millions. Also the old “narratives” when they mean analysis or knowledge or both. Also of course “anti-trans views” when they mean rejection of the reality-denying claims of the more fanatical trans ideologues – like the people at Pink News.

The letter goes on to say: “Our community is beautiful precisely because it is made up of gender non-conforming lesbians, trans lesbians, non-binary lesbians, butches, studs, femmes, lesbians of all kinds who make up a tapestry more vibrant than you can imagine.” 

So their community would be max beautiful if it were made up of anyone and everyone, right? If it’s vibrantly made up of “trans lesbians” i.e. men then why even call it the “LGBTQ+” community? Why not call it the everyone community?

Glinner asks a police officer why the police are not protecting the women from trans activists, who have completely encircled them. The officer says “People can come and go as they please.”

No, you can’t do research on male athletes’ physical advantages compared to women, because you called them male.

Dr John Armstrong, a scholar at King’s College London (KCL), applied to carry out a survey of elite athletes and volunteers on whether trans women, who are born male, should compete in women’s track and field categories and whether they felt they could express their views.

However, the university’s ethics panel rejected his application last week citing equality and diversity concerns, in what has been labelled an attack on academic freedom.

In a rejection letter, the university said: “The language is not sensitive and the misgendering of athletes is not appropriate… there is obvious bias in the language and there is very little scientific reasoning underpinning the hypothesis.”

You can’t do research on sharks because it’s not sensitive to call them sharks. You can’t do research on viruses because it’s not sensitive to call them viruses. You can’t do research on black holes because it’s not sensitive to call them black holes. You can’t do research on rape because it’s not sensitive to call it rape.

KCL took issue with how Dr Armstrong had referred to trans women as “males” in his research proposal.

Dr Armstrong’s application had said: “The principle aim of the project is to find the views of athletes and volunteers on the question of when males should be allowed to compete in the female category in athletics.”

But they don’t identify as males so no research for you, bang, case closed.

KCL’s panel also said “there is a risk that some participants might be unhappy or distressed by the questions that are being posed to them” and asked Dr Armstrong to “please contact the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team to seek input on the wording used”.

What for, when they’ve said he can’t do the study?

Former GB athlete Mara Yamauchi, the third-fastest British woman ever to have ran the marathon, told The Telegraph: “Female voices in sport have repeatedly been silenced, ignored and intimidated.

“Research like Dr Armstrong’s is therefore valuable, necessary and important. It is disappointing to hear that it has been blocked. This is yet another example of academic freedom being diminished.”

And a very grotesque one.

A King’s College London spokesman said: “While we can’t comment on individual research applications, we are strongly committed to ensuring that the research carried out by our staff and students is consistently of the highest quality and to the most rigorous standards.

“This is important to instill confidence in academic communities, funding bodies, and crucially the public that the data, findings, and results produced by our researchers are sound and trustworthy.”

Excuse me Spokesman you seem to be talking about something else. The issue here is blocking research because the researcher calls men “men.” That’s the opposite of “highest quality” and “most rigorous standards.”

Oh dear, NPR has had to admit it lies about men in women’s sports.

Ok ok ok we lied but still THERE’S LIMITED RESEARCH.

Mr Menno reports:

Well worth reading and watching the whole thing.

Tomorrow’s Times:

(It is just barely tomorrow in London but only just.)

The health secretary has ordered NHS bodies to review their membership of Stonewall and stop hiring diversity officers.

Steve Barclay wrote to ten leading national health organisations, including NHS England, the UK Health Security Agency and the Care Quality Commission, asking them to question whether their “diversity and inclusion memberships” provided good value.

Good value for money, he goes on to say.

I don’t think that’s the best way to put it, because Stonewall’s ideas of “diversity and inclusion” are bad ideas, even if Stonewall gives them away for free. But governments do have to think about the money.

Several organisations and institutions such as the BBC, Channel 4 and the House of Lords have pulled out of the Stonewall programme, which aims to promote workplace equality and inclusion.

That is, Stonewall aims to promote Stonewall’s idea of “equality and inclusion,” which leaves out equality and inclusion for a very few people such as for example women. Stonewall is all about the trans, and it’s not worth any money at all.

March 27 update: the LA Times reports more accurately:

WACO, Texas —  

Facing a potential indictment, former President Trump took a defiant stance at a rally Saturday in Waco, disparaging the prosecutors investigating him and predicting his vindication as he rallied supporters in a city made famous by deadly resistance against law enforcement.

With a hand over his heart, Trump stood at attention when his rally opened with a song called “Justice for All,” performed by a choir of people imprisoned for their roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Some video from the attack was shown on big screens displayed at the rally site as the choir sang the national anthem and a recording played of Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

End of update.

It’s pretty damn creepy to watch/listen to.