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.

It’s what week?

What?

What kind of weirdo association of midwives is that? There’s no such thing as “chest feeding.” It’s breast feeding or nothing.

Maybe they just mean “chest feeding” as a pointless euphemism for the use of confused women who idennify as men. But they shouldn’t use it, because it’s ambiguous at best, and will sow more confusion. And anyway maybe they don’t, maybe they also mean “chest feeding” as the nightmare where men ingest a lot of hormones in an attempt to produce some toxic liquid in their male breasts and make a helpless infant drink it.

With “midwives” like these who needs misogynists?

Originally a comment by Acolyte of Sagan on Frenzy intensifying.

J.A.:

It’s almost impossible to win in the court of public opinion with respect to how gender ideology has practically eliminated the material reality of sex.

Funny you should say that because there was a transgender boxer competing in this Olympics who appears to have flown under the trans activists’ radar – or they are deliberately ignoring her for very obvious reasons.

Hergie Bacyadan is a Filipino who has won World Championship medals in two separate martial arts and is now a boxer, and she was eliminated from the Women’s 75kg class boxing tournament by China’s Li Quan four days ago. Bacyadan is a male-identifying female, albeit not medically or surgically transitioned. She has avoided all of that in order to remain eligible to compete as a woman, presumably because she knows that she will be at a massive disadvantage if she has to compete against men.

This will obviously be problematic for trans activists’ because it raises the awkward question of why they insist that female-identifying men must compete as women while ignoring the fact that male-identifying women continue to compete as their biological sex. I mean, I’m sure the mantra doesn’t go ‘Trans women are women, end of. Trans men are men unless it puts them at a disadvantage’.

I can understand why the IOC and other sporting organisations allow her to compete as a woman because despite her transgender identity she is a woman, but if the IOC are prepared to let her compete on the basis of biological sex over gender identity, why are they ignoring biology in the case of the two boxers with DSDs? That question may be rhetorical here at B&W but it’s one that really needs to be asked of the IOC.

Deepening feud time.

Elon Musk’s claim that race riots in the U.K. are “inevitable” is “pretty deplorable,” a government minister said Tuesday, amid a deepening feud between the U.K. administration and the tech billionaire.

Heidi Alexander, the U.K. courts minister, slammed the social media boss for a series of posts on the violent disorder gripping Britain in recent days.

…

Musk has come under fire from government figures after he suggested Sunday that “civil war is inevitable.” The X owner has also described the U.K. police response as “one-sided” and has been directly critical of Starmer’s explicit condemnation of the far-right for attacking mosques.

“I think Elon Musk’s comments are totally unjustifiable,” Alexander told the BBC Tuesday morning. “I think at the moment everybody should be calling for calm.” And she added: “He does have a responsibility, given this huge platform that he has, and so to be honest I think his comments are pretty deplorable.”

That’s the thing. He has this huge platform, because he paid $44 billion for it. Therefore he should use it very cautiously. What he’s saying can’t be described as cautious.

Lots of words, no clear meaning.

Sebastian Coe has taken a thinly veiled swipe at the hugely controversial Olympic gender policy in boxing, saying that all sports governing bodies must tackle the issue head-on with a clearly defined stance.

Well yes but it also needs to be the right stance. A clearly defined stance that men can invade women’s competitions would not be an improvement. The problem with the “hugely controversial” policy that lets men punch women is not that it’s not clearly defined.

Coe is the president of World Athletics, which introduced a new gender policy last year that means any athlete with differences in sexual development (DSD) must reduce their testosterone to 2.5 nanomoles per litre to compete in any event. Transgender women also cannot compete in the female category in athletics.

The DSD policy should be just no.

Coe is seen as a leading candidate to succeed Thomas Bach as the president of the IOC and, asked on Monday what his advice would be on the boxing issue, he said: “It’s unvarnished; have a policy. Be clear and have a policy.

“You’re never going to make everybody happy but you have to plant the flagpole down somewhere and that’s why it was so important for us. If you don’t, then you get into this sort of territory.

“I did five years on the British Boxing Board of Control as an administrative steward, and I have daughters. How do you think I feel about this?”

Notice anything about those three paragraphs?

They don’t tell us anything. The issue isn’t not having a policy, the issue is having the right policy. The issue is not making everyone or anyone happy, the issue is fairness. As for how he feels about this, I have no idea! If he means he thinks the Olympics needs to stop letting men invade women’s competitions he should say so.

Nobody needs to hear what Musk thinks.

Downing Street has criticised comments by Elon Musk who posted on X that “civil war is inevitable” under a video of violent riots in Liverpool.

Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said the violence came from a small minority of people who “do not speak for Britain” and said the prime minister did not share the sentiments of the billionaire, who has previously been criticised for allowing far-right figures back on to his social media platform.

…

Musk was responding to a video posted on X by the Libs of TikTok account, originally posted by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson, who has been spreading videos of rioting that has targeted mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers.

The X owner criticised Starmer again on Monday night, responding to the prime minister’s statement on protecting Muslim communities and mosques. Musk posted: “Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on *all* communities?”

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was banned from X in 2018, when it was known as Twitter, but his account was restored by Musk last year under his new ownership. Musk has since interacted with Robinson on the platform, posting exclamation marks under at least one of his posts about the violence. Musk has amplified a number of accounts posting inflammatory content about the violence, by commenting or posting exclamation marks under the users’ posts.

Such a nice guy.

Clarence Thomas found pocketing bribes again.

Justice Clarence Thomas took a previously undisclosed flight on a private jet owned by GOP megadonor Harlan Crow in 2010, a top Senate Democrat said Monday – the latest in a series of revelations that come as the high court is under pressure to strengthen its ethics practices.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden said US Customs and Border Protection records reviewed by the committee showed Thomas and his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, flew from Hawaii to New Zealand on Crow’s jet on November 19, 2010, and then returned on the jet a week later.

The flight was not listed on Thomas’ financial disclosure reports and is the most recent example of the conservative justice accepting luxury travel from Crow becoming public. Earlier examples of that travel documented by ProPublica last year – including travel on Crow’s yacht, the Michaela Rose – prompted widespread calls for ethics reform at the court.

This isn’t some naive newby not understanding about public officials not accepting backhanders, this is a Supreme Court Justice. If he doesn’t get that he shouldn’t be accepting sweeteners he shouldn’t be on the goddam bench.

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates on Monday said “today’s news strengthens the case” Biden made for reforms. “The most powerful court in the United States shouldn’t be subject to the lowest ethical standards, and conflicts of interest on the Supreme Court cannot go unchecked,” Bates said.

It seems pretty goddam basic.

Round and round we go with the same old obfuscations.

Olympic boxer Imane Khelif said the wave of hateful scrutiny she has faced over misconceptions about her gender “harms human dignity,” and she called for an end to bullying athletes after being greatly affected by the international backlash against her.

…

The vitriol stems from claims by the International Boxing Association, which has been permanently banned from the Olympics, that both Khelif and Lin failed unspecified eligibility tests for the women’s competition at last year’s world championships.

Khelif declined to answer when asked whether she had undergone tests other than doping tests, saying she didn’t want to talk about it.

Ah, well, that’s it then. If he doesn’t want to talk about it we just have to trust him when he says he’s a woman. What possible reason could he have to lie about it?

She expressed gratitude to the International Olympic Committee and its president, Thomas Bach, for standing resolutely behind her while the banned former governing body of Olympic boxing stoked a furor around her participation in Paris.

For standing resolutely behind him for no apparent reason. All they’ve told us in that it’s “in their passports.” To all appearances the IOC does not actually know that Khelif is a woman, so it’s peculiar at best that they’re so resolute about insisting he is.

Khelif started her Olympic run last Thursday with a victory over Angela Carini of Italy, who abandoned the bout after just 46 seconds. Carini later said she regretted her decision and wished to apologize to Khelif.

That unusual ending raised the chatter around Khelif into a roar, drawing comments from the likes of former U.S. President Donald Trump, “Harry Potter” writer J.K. Rowling and others falsely claiming Khelif was a man or transgender.

How does the AP know? How does it know it’s “false” to claim that Khelif is a man? What makes the AP so confident that it knows?

The IOC repeatedly declared her and Lin qualified to participate in the Olympics, and it has decried the murky testing standards and untransparent governance of the IBA, which was banished entirely from the Olympics last year in an unprecedented punishment for a governing body.

But it hasn’t tested them! It cites their passports instead of tests! The IOC can “declare” any old thing, even repeatedly, but that doesn’t automatically make it true.

You’d think journalism could do better than this.

It’s hilarious that Mark Adams huffily says the sex of Olympic athletes is PRIVATE when Olympic sports are divided by sex.

Also – why does Mark Adams always have two bottles of Coke in front of him at these pressers?

Good lord. The head of the IOC is shocked, shocked, that people are publicly talking about the sex of competitors in Olympic sports. That’s PRIVATE. How very dare you. It’s PRIVATE. You filthy meddling bad people talking about who is or is not a woman; it’s PRIVATE.

Riots, clashes, two-tier policing, communinnies, violence, fires, cops.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said violent protesters who had targeted Muslim communities would swiftly face the “full force of the law” as he sought to quell days of anti-immigration rioting.

The stabbing to death of three young girls in the northwest English town of Southport last week has been seized on by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim groups, with disinformation spread online and amplified by high-profile far-right figures to spark disorder in towns and cities.

“Whatever the apparent motivation, this is not protest, it is pure violence and we will not tolerate attacks on mosques or our Muslim communities,” Starmer said on Monday after an emergency meeting with police and prison chiefs. “The full force of law will be visited on all those who are identified as having taken part.”

The violence erupted last Tuesday after social media posts said the suspected attacker in Southport was a radical Islamist who had just arrived in Britain and was known to intelligence services.

It’s a mess.

The trouble is, there is such a thing as radical Islam, and it is bad. There is also such a thing as racism, and there’s such a thing as xenophobia, and they too are bad. Islam itself, radical or not, has content, including a lot of contempt for and hatred of women.

On the one hand stabbing little girls dancing, on the other hand setting fire to a hotel where immigrants are housed.

It’s a mess.