The Telegraph:

Sharron Davies raised fears of a woman Olympian being killed as she joined fairness for sport campaigners in demanding sex tests for all competitors. The former silver-medallist swimmer said the “insane” gender row engulfing boxing at these Games amounts to “genuine neglect” by the IOC. 

Genuine, knowing, calculated, brutal, murderous neglect. A man’s feelings somehow matter more than a woman’s physical safety.

Davies and Fiona McAnena, of the group Sex Matters, appealed for sport not to get sidetracked by doubts over the credibility of the International Boxing Association, which carried out gender eligibility tests on Khelif and Lin in 2022 and 2023.

“In boxing, it is insane to put a male in a ring with a female and for the IOC to say the only thing that’s important to them is what is on a passport is genuine neglect,” Davies told a press conference on Thursday. “The duty of care has been thrown out the window, and my head wants to explode… We’re literally on the cusp of a female athlete potentially being killed if we’re not careful. It really is that bad.”

Which the officials must realize. I’ll never understand why it doesn’t stop them.

Reflecting on the saga which has tarnished the Games, McAnena added: “This failure can be laid at the door of the IOC, and the IOC could solve it too. It’s the IOC that set up the Paris boxing unit, and the IOC that is claiming there is no scientific consensus on how to determine who is a woman.  The same IOC insists these two boxers are women. By refusing to allow or recognise sex screening, it is the IOC that has invited public scrutiny of Khelif and Lin.”

That’s a point. “We don’t know how to determine who is a woman and these two men are definitely women.”

The campaigners claim the IOC is “wrong when it says no one wants to return to sex testing”. Surveys have shown consistently that the vast majority of female athletes want sex screening. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, 82 per cent of those surveyed were in favour, they point out.

“There is no confusion in this,” said Davies. “It’s very straightforward. Biological females should be protected to have their own classification of sport. That’s 51 per cent of this world’s population… And at the moment, they’ve been told they just don’t matter, and it’s heartbreaking.”

The IOC has rejected such criticism, insisting Khelif and Lin are women, despite their disqualifications from IBA events last year.

What are we to conclude? That women just don’t matter, and never will.

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on There are no women.

I looked at that Facebook page. I get the feeling the motivation is not making menstrual products available but doing the whole “never mention women” thing. An opportunity to conspicuously erase women!

The more I looked at it, the more I thought the same. As far as I went (which, granted wasn’t that far, as there’s only so much delusion and dishonesty I can stomach), it was all sex denial and female erasure from both directions. The “Equity” in the Period Equity Project seems to come from their belief that anyone can have one:

Menstrual hygiene is a human right and refers to the practices and environmental factors necessary for people to manage their menstruation safely and maintain good health with dignity.

Did you know 1 in 6 Canadians* who menstruate report experiencing period poverty (i.e., lack of access to menstrual products, proper education, hygiene facilities, waste management, or a combination, because of financial limitations and/or harmful social norms and attitudes surrounding menstruation)?

………………

3. Menstruation is a natural process, and everyone deserves to manage it with dignity and respect. By advocating for menstrual hygiene, we advocate for gender equity and challenge harmful social norms and taboos surrounding menstruation.

But you believe that the fact that only females menstruate is one of those “harmful social norms and taboos”, so you’re not really helping with that part at all, given that you’re willing to erase and stigmatize half the population (i.e. women, i.e., the only sex capable of menstruating at all) in order to “centre” and appease a tiny percentage of women who mistakenly think they’re men, and a tiny percentage of men who mistakenly think they’re women.

A shared post from “Trans Army” shows a graphic of an apparently female figure (but as this figure is in front of a background of Trans Pink & Blue, it might be meant to be a TiM) with the slogan “You don’t have to menstruate to be a woman” (which is something that sex realists have never claimed). It is introduced on the PEP Facebook page with a post with the Yin to this Yang: “Nor do you have to be a woman to menstruate.” Women are only mentioned in order to be dismissed and denied. Very dignity. Much unshameful.

Another post they shared had a screen cap of somene writing “Men don’t use menstrual products” along with the response that “This one does!” A helpful soul by the name of Stevie Bees chiming in with the cheerily dehumanizing “Men and non-binary bleeders are valid! ”

Replies to both are uniformly deluded and denialist. Here’s one of them:

This is such a hard thing. Periods are so heavily associated with being “women” and the “female experience,” and we’ve had to and still have to fight so hard to keep “men” the hell out of the conversation about our bodies, but anybody having a period absolutely does belong. Anybody with a uterus is valid in the discussion and deserves to be considered just as strongly as anybody else. I want to do right and never EVER want to contribute to anybody’s dysphoria. I’m not a bathroom Nazi and want everyone to be able to pee in peace. I just don’t know how to put everything together, and I’m really grateful when someone with better ideas or understanding than me speaks up.

One of the posts advertising the “Fill the Truck” event on the Fairy Godparents FB page tells people to “Bring your kids from 11am-12pm to meet some special guests with a special truck!!!” Yreah, let’s completely screw up and distort their understanding of the human sexes. Let’s make girls ashamed of both being female, and knowing what being female actually is. To quote some weightlifters, “No thank you.”

And another thing. Why have journalists stopped using a closing comma after an interpolated explanation or detail or the like? The Telegraph journalist who wrote the piece about the Hope Not Hate guy skipped one in the second paragraph and I sneakily put it in because it’s NECESSARY.

Like so: Fiona Parker wrote:

“Nick Lowles, chief executive of Hope Not Hate used Twitter on Saturday night to claim there had been reports of an acid attack in Middlesbrough.”

WHY??

There obviously has to be a comma after “chief executive of Hope Not Hate” to close the interjection that started with “chief executive.” Why the hell do so many reporters leave it out? Pig ignorance or is it some kind of bizarre illiterate journalistic edict from the editorial department?

It drives me nuts.

If you can’t find any racist incidents, just make one up!

The Telegraph three days ago:

The boss of an anti-racism charity has apologised after wrongly tweeting that a Muslim woman had been attacked with acid during rioting.

Nick Lowles, chief executive of Hope Not Hate, used Twitter on Saturday night to claim there had been reports of an acid attack in Middlesbrough.

“Reports are coming in of acid being thrown out of a car window at a Muslim woman in Middlesbrough. Absolutely horrendous,” Mr Lowles wrote.

Sounds a bit Owen Jonesish, doesn’t it. “Apsly howwendous, mate.”

The post was seen by more than 100,000 people. The post was flagged by Twitter with a community note which said: “The reports of an acid attack have been denied by local police.”

Not to mention no one popped up to say “No really it totally happened.”

The note contained a link to a Cleveland Police statement which said: “We are aware of commentary online regarding alleged acid attacks in Middlesbrough today.

“Cleveland Police has not, to date, received any formal complaint from any victim or anyone on their behalf.”

The statement added a caller had been in touch about a “possible incident” in central Middlesbrough but was unable to provide details including “the location, nature of the incident, registration number of any vehicle, or description of any occupants”.

Doesn’t give the cops much to go on, really.

M[r] Lowles’ claim was made in relation to a riot which took place in the tow[n], as violence continues to break out in areas across the UK, following the murder of three girls in Southport last week.

A mob in Middlesbrough shouted “smash the P—s” and “there ain’t no black in the Union Jack” while targeting the homes of migrants, while footage on social media from elsewhere in the city appeared to show groups of Asian men attacking white men.

Isn’t that enough, without making up “incidents”?

The MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston told GB News: “This was an incredibly irresponsible thing to do, spreading misinformation and pouring petrol on the flames.”

Boys just wanna have fun.

When in doubt, euphemize.

There’s activism and then there’s calling for cutting people’s throats.

A suspended Labour councillor has been arrested on suspicion of encouraging murder after a video emerged in which he appeared to call for far-right protesters’ throats to be cut.

Ricky Jones, who was a councillor in Dartford, Kent, was filmed making the call at a counter-demonstration in Walthamstow on Wednesday evening. He has also been arrested for an offence under the Public Order Act following the incident on Wednesday evening, the Metropolitan police said.

In a statement on X, in which a link to the original video was given, the force said: “Officers have arrested a man aged in his 50s at an address in south-east London. He was held on suspicion of encouraging murder and for an offence under the Public Order Act. He is in custody at a south London police station.”

Jones was among thousands of protesters in east London who took to the streets campaigning against racism and violence.

Let’s go campaign against violence by calling for violence.

A few protesters held placards that read: “Smash fascism and racism by any means necessary.”

In a video apparently filmed on Hoe Street in Walthamstow, Jones said: “They are disgusting Nazi fascists and we need to cut all their throats and get rid of them all.”

In a non-violent way.

I don’t think I knew that Trump actually gave important government jobs to members of his expensive golf resort.

Trump is making available four new and rarely available memberships at his exclusive Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where he mingled freely with unvetted patrons during his first term of office and accepted policy advice from guests scrawled on cocktail napkins.

The $1m cost of each membership, which will open for applications in October, exactly one month before the presidential election, also represents a 43% hike from the current initiation fee of $700,000 – an eye-popping increase given the former president has railed against Joe Biden for what he sees as out of control inflation.

Yeah but that’s not inflation, it’s price gouging plus advantage-taking plus corruption.

“Trump is the ultimate grifter,” said Robert Weissman, president of the Washington DC-based pro-transparency group Public Citizen.

…

Weissman pointed to several episodes during Trump’s term in which Mar-a-Lago members received plum appointments.

They include Lana Marks, the luxury handbag designer, who became US ambassador to South Africa with no diplomatic training or experience; Adrian Zuckerman, a lawyer and Trump’s golfing buddy who served the same role in Romania; and David Cornstein, the jewelry magnate, a longstanding Trump friend sent to Hungary as ambassador to woo strongman prime minister Viktor Orbán.

The 500-member Mar-a-Lago roster is traditionally kept secret, but in 2019 USA Today identified eight past or present members of Trump’s clubs picked for roles in his administration.

Well at least they can play golf.

Update: H/t Acolyte of Sagan

Clashing world views:

The IOC is now trying to prevent people from sharing a short video clip in which Lin Yu-Ting throws illegal punches.

This account still can though. Fair use.

It’s fascinating that the IOC is going to the trouble of stopping people sharing an 11 second clip of a man rabbit-punching a woman to the back of the head.

Too much?

Labour has suspended a councillor over a speech at a counter demonstration calling for the throats of anti-immigration protesters to be cut.

Dartford councillor Ricky Jones has been suspended by the party over the video, which shows him in the middle of a cheering crowd at a protest in Walthamstow, east London, organised to stop the far-right from targeting asylum centres and the offices of lawyers helping asylum seekers.

In the speech on Wednesday evening, he said: “We need to cut all their throats and get rid of them.”

Not what you want in a councillor.

He followed his speech with leading a chant of “free, free Palestine.”

Or what? We’ll cut your throats too?

Updating to add:

He’s been arrested.

Well, you get what you pay for, or what you shilled for. Republicans are unhappy that Trump is not deploying substantive arguments in his campaign to get back in the White House. This is silly, because Trump doesn’t do substantive; Trump has never done substantive. Trump wouldn’t know substantive if it bit him on the ass.

The way Republicans see it, it should not be hard for Mr. Trump to pivot from President Biden to this new Democratic ticket. All he has to do is hammer Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz for things they have said and done, to paint them as out-of-step from most Americans, on everything including policing, immigration and transgender policies.

But then he would have to know something about policing, immigration, and transwhatnow?

But lately Mr. Trump keeps getting tangled up in distractions of his own making. He has gone on tangents about Ms. Harris’s biracial identity. He has picked fights with fellow Republicans. He has fantasized that Mr. Biden might somehow snatch back the nomination.

Many in Mr. Trump’s party find this all to be counterproductive, to say the least.

Well who did they think Trump was? A guy who engages with serious issues?

Mr. Trump started to veer off message one week ago, when he questioned Ms. Harris’s identity as a Black woman before a roomful of Black journalists at a conference in Chicago. “He’s more comfortable with personality-driven attacks, rather than issue-driven attacks,” said Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster.

Of course he is, because he’s lazy and stupid. Is this news to Republicans? Come on.

At times, it seems as though Mr. Trump has not even accepted his new political reality — that he is no longer in a race against Mr. Biden. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump wondered aloud in a post on Truth Social if there were any chance that Mr. Biden “CRASHES the Democrat National Convention and tries to take back the Nomination.”

Yeah, and then Buzz Lightyear throws a nukular weapon at them and everybody laughs and the movie ends.

The Nation (the magazine) is such misogynist garbage. Long piece on abortion; women not mentioned once.

There is an alarming disconnect between the agenda of our most powerful organizations and the real needs of abortion seekers and providers on the ground.

…

Local abortion funds from across the country are eager to share their perspectives and expertise on the challenges of funding abortion in their area, and the frustrations that are brought on by the failure of national reproductive health, rights, and access organizations to attend to the needs of so many pregnant people on the ground.

…

Abortion funds created a bridge between the theoretical right to an abortion and the real-world ability to access that right for the most marginalized…Unlike national funds, most local funds have no client requirements or restrictions–such as around gestational age or income–and trust the people who seek their help as the experts in their own lives.

Since the Dobbs decision, and subsequent enforcement of extremely restrictive state laws, local funds have used their decades-long expertise, deep relationships, and infrastructure to collectively meet this moment of crisis and support the growing number of people struggling to access abortion…While the expenses, misinformation, and fear tactics continue to rise, local abortion funds have doubled down on their commitment to supporting their callers, no matter what.

…

In June, for instance, the National Abortion Federation (NAF) announced that it would be cutting back on the amount it gives people who qualify for its financial assistance program. Where the NAF previously paid for 50 percent of the cost of care, it will now pay for just 30 percent, with no exceptions for exceptionally high abortion prices later in pregnancy. For example, an abortion seeker in Nevada who qualifies for NAF assistance will now be responsible for $1,330 of their $1,900 procedure.

…

The choice of these well-funded, national organizations to drastically deprioritize their assistance will be felt by abortion seekers

…

This statement is not only incorrect but an erasure of the work of local abortion funds that have been coordinating access for individuals across the country despite increasingly hostile conditions.

…

Reproductive freedom is a fundamental human right, and people cannot and will not wait for laws to change—especially over the course of a decade—to exercise that right. In communities like those supported by abortion funds across the country, the work of reproductive freedom is already happening. Without prioritizing material support for abortion seekers, we are putting pregnant people at risk and failing to live up to our movement’s mandate.

…

Without the ability of those at the grassroots to sustainably do their work, the already fragile abortion access landscape is at risk, and abortion seekers are positioned to lose the most. Now is not the time to put policy advocacy and wealth hoarding over material support. Now is the time to dig deeper into the work that is happening in our communities.

In order to most directly support abortion seekers now, donate directly to your local abortion fund to ensure that your donation gets to abortion seekers, and realizes abortion access right NOW.

Contortion after contortion after contortion, all to avoid saying the filthy word “women.”

Despicable.

Oh god not this again.

Hindus in Bangladesh Face Revenge Attacks After Prime Minister’s Exit

Hindus in Bangladesh, perceived by many to be supporters of the prime minister who was ousted in a popular uprising, braced for violent reprisals on Wednesday as the rudderless country awaited the formation of a new government after a month of unrest.

The former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, fled Bangladesh on Monday after a violent crackdown failed to quell a nationwide movement against her government. As thousands of protesters celebrated her ouster that afternoon, reports began to emerge of retaliation against members of Ms. Hasina’s party, the Awami League, and against those seen as her allies, including the Hindu minority.

In addition to the party’s offices and the homes of its members, the rioters targeted Hindus, torching their homes and vandalizing temples, according to witnesses and local media. Fears of more attacks were amplified in the absence of a government and with law enforcement retreating from sight in many parts of the country.

Not to mention the long bloody history of Hindu v Muslim and Muslim v Hindu violence in the subcontinent.

Rana Das Gupta, who leads an organization of Bangladesh’s religious minorities, said attacks toward Hindus had resulted in at least two deaths and more than 100 injured.

“Some of those whose homes were attacked may be directly involved in Awami League politics, but most are ordinary Hindus,” he said. “Therefore, this is definitely communal and targeted violence.”

…

Meenakshi Ganguly, the deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch, described the reports of violence against Hindus as “extremely concerning.”

“Hindus are apparently being attacked because they traditionally supported her Awami League party. Bangladeshis came out on the streets to demand an end to authoritarianism, and these attacks undermine their just demand for human rights,” she said in a statement.

Tensions between Muslims and Hindus in Bangladesh have boiled over in the past, including violent clashes across the country in 2021.

Grim.

Even the Sun?

But how deeply sad that a global event with so, so many stories — ones of triumph, adversity, heartbreak and sheer, hard work against all odds — should focus on the back stories of these two individuals.

Everyone has their opinion. And everyone is entitled to their opinion.

But those with the loudest, people such as JK Rowling — who should really get back to Privet Drive and lay off some of the militant anti-trans stuff — need to be careful.

When the author labelled the athletes “male”, she knew what she was doing: Stirring up her cauldron of hatred and winding up the ill-informed masses.

Her “cauldron”; get it? She’s a…rhymes with “bitch.”

Yeah gee what could be more witchy and bitchy than pointing out that male people should not infiltrate women’s sports.

It was deeply irresponsible.

Because in Algeria, where Khelif is from, it is illegal to be gay, let alone trans, which, let’s face it, is what the boxer stands accused of being.

No it isn’t. He’s accused of being male.

Very unhelpfully, the boxers themselves and their governing bodies are also refusing to say exactly what tests they had done. And in this, some blame lies with them.

Do the pair have conditions such as Swyer Syndrome which means they have female reproductive organs but higher levels of testosterone? Are they intersex? How raised is their testosterone?

Of course, they shouldn’t have to drop their shorts and show the world their genitalia. But they must display more transparency.

The IOC’s ham-fisted handling of testing procedures also needs addressing. And if these women really do have a grossly unfair advantage, then this must be dealt with — and yes, perhaps they should be competing against men, albeit in a lighter weight category.

After all, the hurt feelings of these athletes mustn’t triumph over common sense and the well-being of their XX-chromosomed counterparts. Safety must come first, for everyone.

Then why the insults for JKR?

Trump pissing all over the landscape:

In an appearance on Fox News early Wednesday morning, former President Donald J. Trump called the Democratic ticket of Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota “communist” and suggested he was willing to debate Ms. Harris anywhere, despite having pulled out of a scheduled debate.

Well by “anywhere” he means…anywhere unless he doesn’t like it.

In the interview, on “Fox & Friends,” Mr. Trump repeated an attack that he has made many times before and that has been criticized as antisemitic, saying any Jewish person who voted for Democrats “should have their head examined.”

“He’s probably about the same as Bernie Sanders,” he said of Mr. Walz’s ideology. “He’s probably more so than Bernie Sanders. She is more so than Bernie Sanders. That’s got to be your guy, Bernie Sanders, and that’s not a great guy. But there has never been a ticket like this. This is a ticket that would want this country to go communist immediately, if not sooner.”

That’s a good one – immediately, if not sooner. Good job, Don. I like the repeated “probablys,” too, indicating as they do that he’s just making shit up, as usual. Also the “go communist” thing is sheer fantasy. He goes on to cite conformity to trans dogma, which is likely true and a bitter pill, but not a reason to vote for Trump.

He then suggested that he planned to debate Ms. Harris, a few days after he wrote in a social media post that he would drop out of a scheduled debate on ABC News and suggested one on Fox News instead.

“I don’t know how she debates. I heard she’s sort of a nasty person,” he said, repeating an insult that he has used against several women, including Hillary Clinton, the former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly and the ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott. “But not a good debater. But we’ll see, because we’ll be debating her, I guess, in the pretty near future. It’s going to be announced fairly soon.”

He “heard” she’s sort of a nasty person – which is to say she has the unmitigated temerity to go up against him.

The Fox News hosts also asked Mr. Trump to respond to a criticism Mr. Walz made at his and Ms. Harris’s rally on Tuesday night. Mr. Trump “never sat at that kitchen table like the one I grew up at, wondering how we were going to pay the bills,” Mr. Walz said. “He sat at his country club in Mar-a-Lago wondering how he could cut taxes for his rich friends.”

Mr. Trump said he had built businesses and created jobs, claimed falsely that his administration was “the most successful administration from the economy standpoint there ever was,” and pointed to inflation under President Biden.

“I was not always sitting at Mar-a-Lago, either,” he added. “I was sitting at lots of other places.”

Hahahahahahaha now that’s a great punchline. Well done, NYTimes.

How is this even a question? How is there arguing over it?

You can have inclusion at the start – everyone can compete – but you can’t go on having it forever, because contests are either lost or won.

You can have athletic activities that aren’t competitive, and those can be as inclusive as you like, but when the sport is all about competing, then that’s what it’s about. One side has the ball and the other side tries to get it away from them. One side has the puck and the other side tries to grab it. One swimmer is faster than all the others. This is the point of sports, which is one reason I never liked it as a child. If your idea of social justice is total inclusion at all times then sports are not to your taste either.

This is where the obsession with “communities” gets you.

Hmm. Really? Are we sure?

As Trump fumes, Republicans wince at ‘public nervous breakdown’

Do they? Or do we just want them to?

Republicans on Monday reeled from Trump’s undisciplined approach to the opening stages of his new general election matchup with Harris — following a weekend that saw him praise Russian leader Vladimir Putin while smearing Harris as “low IQ,” and “dumb” and attacking a popular swing-state GOP governor whose turnout operation he may need in November.

He always refers to rivals and enemies as low IQ and dumb. He also frequently attacks people who could be useful allies. He’s an agent of chaos. That’s why his fans are his fans.

Republicans who saw their party lose the White House and both chambers of Congress during Trump’s presidency have worried before about Trump’s lack of discipline. But Trump’s venting now comes at a critical point in the election, with Harris surpassing him in fundraising and gaining ground in some battleground state polls.

That’s like driving a sports car and then complaining it doesn’t perform like an SUV. Trump’s venting is always going to come at some critical point or other, and at every other point too, because Trump’s venting is Trump’s venting. Trump is not a Mercedes, Trump is a rusty tricycle.

“Democrats are racing to remake Kamala Harris from real life Selina Meyer into the female Obama — and Donald Trump’s lack of discipline is letting them,” said a national Republican strategist who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “Every day Trump swipes at shiny objects — attacking the popular governor of a swing state, questioning the race of his opponent, or battling cat lady comments by his VP — is a day he is letting Harris define herself on her own terms.”

Gosh, really??? That is so surprising. Who could ever have imagined that Trump would just do whatever he felt like doing and fuck anyone who doesn’t like it?

Is the policing two-tier?

Amid escalating far-right violence across England and in Belfast over the past week, instigators and apologists for the rioting have sought to spread a pernicious myth: the idea that white far-right “protesters” are the victims of a “two-tier policing” system that treats them more harshly because of their race and political views.

That is an idea propagated by Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, as well as Laurence Fox and various other social media demagogues in the past few days. On Monday, Nigel Farage claimed that “ever since the soft policing of the Black Lives Matter protests, the impression of two-tier policing has become widespread”.

Ah the impression has become widespread – not the thing itself, but the impression of the thing. Cautious. Crafty.

Agitators point to the policing failures that allowed organised grooming gangs of predominantly Asian men to operate in Rochdale in the 2000s…

The Rochdale abuse was scandalously ignored by police. But the argument that it is a factor in policing today ignores major reforms to the way child sexual exploitation is treated in the region, including the addition of a specialist unit in Greater Manchester police and every Ofsted inspection since 2014 finding that Rochdale now responds to reported cases effectively.

The Guardian says “Asian men”; is that a euphemism for Muslim men? Is the “Asian” more or less relevant than the “Muslim”?

Wikipedia on Rochdale child sex abuse ring:

The Rochdale child sex abuse ring involved underage teenage girls in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. Nine men were convicted of sex trafficking and other offences including rape, trafficking girls for sex and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child in May 2012. This resulted in Greater Manchester Police launching Operation Doublet and other operations to investigate further claims of abuse. As of January 2024 a total of 42 men had been convicted resulting in jail sentences totalling 432 years.^[1] Forty-seven girls were identified as victims of child sexual exploitation during the initial police investigation.^[2][3][4] The men were British Pakistanis, which led to discussion on whether the failure to investigate them was linked to the authorities’ fear of being accused of racial prejudice.

So they likely were Muslims, or from Muslim families or of Muslim background or culturally Muslim or some category like that. Not necessarily devout or even obedient, but raised on Islamic views of women, which are not exactly generous.

There’s a lot of tiptoeing around this, for pretty obvious reasons. Apart from the Tommy Robinson-Laurence Fox types nobody actively wants to say that maybe importing Islam has some downsides, but then avoiding saying it leads to grooming gangs that get away with it for too long.

The two-tier claim seems to be more of the same thing. Maybe the police hold back on protests by “Asian men” more than the police hold back on other kinds of protests. Or maybe they don’t.

The Guardian continues:

Allegations of a two-tier system had gained currency even before the events of the past week, with claims about the policing of the pro-Palestinian protests in the UK since 7 October. Robert Jenrick, now a Conservative leadership candidate, claimed in March that two-tier policing had governed the police’s handling of those protests.

Cousins, you see. Islam v Judaism. Muslims v Jews. The Guardian and Beeb and so on don’t report it that way, because…what? It’s too painful to admit? It’s too dangerous to admit? I don’t know. But the result is that the religious aspect gets left out, when in reality the religious aspect is quite important (gross understatement). We’re all schooled to frame it in ethnic terms as opposed to goddy ones, but the goddy ones do in fact matter. Is it impossible to talk about this honestly? Maybe. I feel quite squeamish about spelling it out myself.

This has been annoying.

Seattle Public Library still reeling from May cyberattack

Three weeks ago, waist-high cardboard boxes filled to the brim with books cluttered every aisle of this industrial Georgetown warehouse. Stacked in rows, the still-to-be-processed books packed 90 boxes at its peak. 

Now, two months after a ransomware attack shut down many of Seattle Public Library’s services, library workers are celebrating: They’ve finally finished sorting and processing a backlog of thousands of borrowed books. 

We get to return books again. I did enjoy returning that book about Orwell v women after all these weeks. I felt rebuked every time I saw it sitting there waiting.

On Memorial Day weekend, the library was forced to shut down everything: from the internet and public computers to use of the library catalog and in-person book checkouts. Most of the services have been restored sporadically since then. The internet is back up, patrons can again receive new library cards in person and check out physical items. The online, searchable version of the library’s catalog is also up and running.

The library still has work to do: Borrowers still can’t register for new library cards online, and other services are also down, like online account login, self-checkout lanes, holds on physical books and other items like DVDs and CDs. Library pickup lockers, microfilm/microfiche and the use of public library computers are also unavailable.

Yes holds on physical books. I want that back!

The attack has cost the library hundreds of thousands of dollars, with the total growing every day as the work continues. This includes the costs of restoration programming, the consulting firms, data-mining efforts, overtime pay and more.

Which is enraging. So much money that could have been used for better things.

Be good to your libraries.