A philosopher tackles some weighty issues in the disagreements between gender critical philosophers and what she chooses to call “transfeminist” ones. (What does that even mean? Identifies as feminist but is actually a misogynist?) I haven’t finished reading it yet because one item demanded immediate attention.

What about the claim – elaborated most fully in Dr. Stock’s Quillette column – that trans-inclusive institutional policies can constrain professors’ freedom to teach?

I think the answer here is mixed. Certainly, no one should mispronoun a non-binary person simply because they (the speaker) have adopted the scholarly view that there are only two genders. But there is an easy workaround. If, for some reason, I refuse to say “they”, then when engaging with a student who uses that pronoun, I can simply use their name instead.

That “the scholarly view that there are only two genders [sexes]” is funny-irritating. Yes, it’s a mere “view” that there are two sexes and not eleventy billion. It’s a mere view but it’s a scholarly view, as is the view that there are eleventy billion. We’re all scholars here, doing our scholarly thing.

But that’s not what made me stop reading in order to post.

But imagine an instructor whose expertise is in issues related to prisons and incarceration. Now imagine that, as is the case with many British GCF philosophers, the instructor believes that trans women in women’s prisons pose an unacceptable threat to the safety of inmates in those prisons. (For the record, I deny this view.) Does academic freedom permit that instructor to discuss this issue in the classroom? I think that it does.

Now, that’s bad news for trans students in the class. I don’t say this lightly. A classroom in which such ideas are taught is an inhospitable learning environment for trans students, in a world that is already plenty inhospitable for them. Not all of the costs of academic freedom are borne by faculty themselves. Responsible colleagues therefore attune themselves to power differentials that render students vulnerable, and seek to cultivate supportive learning environments. But universities can’t force them to do this.

That’s a strange move she makes there. Inhospitable for trans students, power differential, vulnerable…but what about the women in prison? Why does the transfeminist philosopher ache with concern for trans students but not for women in prison? Isn’t it likely that women in prison are a whole hell of a lot more vulnerable and at the mercy of a power differential than university students who identify as trans? Isn’t it in fact a near certainty? Which would you rather be?

It’s pretty breathtaking to see an academic who clearly considers herself – identifies as – progressive and woke and concerned in the right ways, so blithely jump right over the fears of women in prison to focus on the inhospitable learning environment for trans students created by talking about those fears of women in prison. The writer – Shannon Dea – apparently didn’t even notice that’s what she was doing. Class privilege anyone? Educational privilege? Freedom privilege? Not being in prison privilege? Being in a classroom privilege?

This is one of the many reasons I refuse to board their train, and it’s a big one.

Robert Reich:

Greenland’s ice sheet lost 11 billion tons of surface ice in one day. July is on pace to become the hottest month ever recorded. Wildfires are raging across the Arctic.

We are already feeling the effects of the climate emergency. But Trump and Republicans in Congress refuse to even acknowledge the basic science of this crisis, much less take action to address it. The oil and gas industry donated almost $24 million to Republican candidates last election cycle — and they’re getting their money’s worth.

He was linking to CNN:

After months of record temperatures, scientists say Greenland’s ice sheet experienced its biggest melt of the summer on Thursday, losing 11 billion tons of surface ice to the ocean — equivalent to 4.4 million Olympic swimming pools.

Granted we don’t know how many tons of surface ice Greenland normally loses on an August day.

This July alone, Greenland’s ice sheet lost 197 billion tons of ice — the equivalent of around 80 million Olympic swimming pools — according to Mottram. She told CNN the expected average would be between 60-70 billion tons at this time of year.

60-70 billion tons for the whole summer, for July, what?

Not clear, but it’s a lot, and it’s not a good trend. Meanwhile Trump is busy stirring up racists day in and day out.

Oh no – Native Americans are destroying our Western way of life, at least so says Liz Cheney.

On a momentous day for Tribal Nations, Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY), the House Republican Conference Chairwoman, stated that the successful litigation by tribes and environmentalists to return the grizzly bear in Greater Yellowstone to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) “was not based on science or facts” but motivated by plaintiffs “intent on destroying our Western way of life.”

Our Western way of life? Whose Western way of life? White people’s? Republicans’? White Republicans’? Cheneys’? Because from what I remember – correct me if I’m wrong – white people did quite a lot to ruin Native Americans’ way of life back in the day, and something tells me Liz Cheney doesn’t feel a whole lot of compunction about that.

In other words it takes quite a lot of gall for pale Republicans to complain about Native Americans spoiling any way of life.

One of the largest tribal-plaintiff alliances in recent memory prevailed in the landmark case, Crow Tribe et al v. Zinke last September, when US District Judge Dana Christensen ruled in favor of the tribes and environmental groups after finding that the Trump Administration’s US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) had failed to abide by the ESA and exceeded its authority in attempting to remove federal protections from the grizzly. Tuesday, USFWS officially returned federal protections to the grizzly.

…

“So, in striving to protect our culture, our religious and spiritual freedoms, our sovereignty and our treaty rights – all of which are encapsulated in the grizzly issue – we are ‘destroying’ Cheney’s idea of the ‘Western way of life’?” questioned [Tom] Rodgers. “I would remind the Congresswoman that at the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition an estimated 100,000 grizzly bears roamed from the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast. That was all Indian Country. Now there are fewer than 2,000 grizzly bears and our people live in Third World conditions on meager reservations in the poorest counties in the US. Does she really want to talk about ‘destroying’ a ‘way of life’?” asked Rodgers.

Yes but you see her way of life matters and yours doesn’t.

That seems to be the new rule.

Also the president of the US takes to Twitter to mock Elijah Cummings for having an intruder break into his house.

“Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad!” Trump tweeted Friday morning.

Trump’s tweet came less than 24 hours after a report from WJZ, the CBS affiliate in Baltimore, that Cummings’ home had been burglarized early Saturday morning, hours before Trump launched a Twitter attack on the congressman.

He had another fascist rally yesterday.

At a raucous rally in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Thursday night, Trump continued to drag the city of Baltimore through the mud ― and extended his attacks to Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Trump claimed that Baltimore’s homicide rate was “significantly higher than El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala,” then asked his audience for more suggestions to embellish the comparison.

At one point, before protesters interrupted his speech, Trump also suggested that Democrats were at fault for murders in Chicago. And he blamed Democrats for the violence that plagues various urban areas, saying they “squeezed the blood” out of those places.

And so on and so on. It’s an early-stage fascist regime. It will continue to get worse.

Updating to add: The article is from August 2016 so obviously the inspiration must be the other way around. H/t clamboy for noticing.

Yaniv has inspired imitators. Of course.

A transgender woman in Charlottetown has filed a complaint with the P.E.I. Human Rights Commission alleging she was refused service at a local salon because of her transgender status.

Kristen McKay says she went into Carrie’s Esthetic Salon in downtown Charlottetown on Tuesday afternoon to get her nails and makeup done and for makeup lessons.

Behold the transgender woman in question:

Krystalle Ramlakhan/CBC

McKay said a woman at the salon informed her that she didn’t do services for men, and when McKay replied that she’s not a man but a transgender woman, McKay was still refused service.

“I felt like I was a piece of garbage. I was worthless,” said McKay.

I don’t believe he felt anything of the kind. I think he felt happy about his chances for getting into the papers.

If you go to a supermarket and ask them to fix your car, you don’t get to complain of feeling worthless if they say they don’t provide that service.

In a written statement, salon owner Carrie MacFadyen said she would serve a transgender customer if she felt safe and secure in a room alone with them.

McKay said MacFadyen tried to give her an address for another salon to get her nails done, but McKay refused. She left, filed a complaint with P.E.I. Human Rights Commission and went to the media with her story.

Of course, because going to another salon wouldn’t be any fun, and wouldn’t give him the chance to play Civil Rights Hero Like John Lewis or Elizabeth Eckford.

“It is discrimination. I’m a human being. I have rights and people should know what people’s rights are and if you’re going to run a business you should know what rights are,” said McKay.

Nobody said he wasn’t a human being. He’s the one who should know what people’s rights are. This isn’t the Greensboro Woolworths lunch counter and he isn’t a black person denied a public service on racial grounds. He’s a stubbly white man who wants to make life unpleasant for women in the service industry.

Also, he’s been stalking the salon owner.

“It is unfortunate that the situation is being referred to as a transgender issue when the only issue is about my safety. I have absolutely no issues with transgender people and support their cause,” MacFadyen said in the statement.

It goes on to say that McKay is often standing or sitting on the street where MacFadyen parks her car and that — along with the fact that McKay then showed up at her work — made her uneasy.

Gee, I wonder why.

The dictator strikes again:

Navy officials said Wednesday they are pulling achievement medals from prosecutors who argued the case against a decorated Navy SEAL who was acquitted in the death of a wounded Islamic State captive after President Donald Trump intervened.

Trump tweeted earlier Wednesday that he had directed the secretary of the Navy and the chief of naval operations to “immediately withdraw and rescind” the Navy Achievement Medal from prosecutors who argued the case against Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, who was acquitted by military jurors earlier this month. “The Prosecutors who lost the case against SEAL Eddie Gallagher (who I released from solitary confinement so he could fight his case properly), were ridiculously given a Navy Achievement Medal,” Trump complained, adding, “I am very happy for Eddie Gallagher and his family!”

And so it was done.

Navy spokesman Cdr. Jereal Dorsey said that on Wednesday, after Trump’s tweet, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer rescinded the awards. As secretary, he has that authority, Dorsey said.

The move appeared to be a highly unusual presidential intervention in a case Trump had personally championed and drew immediate condemnation. Former Pentagon spokesman David Lapan, a retired Marine colonel, said the move represented the “further politicization of our military” and was a “ludicrous” move “in the face of so many more important and pressing personnel issues.”

Dictators gotta dic.

A seller of guns seeks new customers by putting targets on lefty brown women in Congress:

A gun shop owner in North Carolina put up a billboard that is more of an attack than an advertisement. The sign, about one mile away from Cherokee Guns in Murphy, North Carolina, shows four congresswomen of color — who have become known as “the Squad” — with a disparaging message.

“The 4 Horsemen Cometh,” the sign reads, with the word “Cometh” scratched out and replaced with “are idiots.”

Below are the faces of Reps. Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley, who were the subject of a barrage of racist tweets by President Trump.

What could possibly go wrong.

He’s giving away free bumper stickers with the same image.

“You may come by the shop (next week) and get your very own FOUR HORSEMEN COMETH STICKER…simple…eat a piece of bacon…tell us you’re voting for Trump in 2020…then get your limited edition bumper sticker!! (While supplies last!) Snowflakes and Liberals are not eligible…sorry…” he wrote on Facebook.

It’s only Snowflakes who think it’s bad to put up billboards inciting murder of specific individuals.

Originally a comment by Screechy Monkey on Can you affirm my gender at 3 p.m. Tuesday?

The “gender affirming” bit is key. It seems to be what all of these fights are about, or at least most of them.

Yaniv wants these spas to give her treatments that will supposedly “affirm” her in her gender. (I’m more than a little suspicious that this is Yaniv’s only or even her main motive, but let that go for now.)

Trans women athletes want to compete with cis women because it will “affirm” their gender to be in the “women’s” event. (Again, I’m being charitable and assuming that they’re not motivated by a desire to win awards and scholarships.)

Same for arguments about having birth certificates changed — it seems to be about getting the state, or other people or businesses, to “affirm” their gender.

And… is that an appropriate thing to ask? I think other civil rights movements have wisely focused on concrete, meaningful rights that directly affect people’s lives: the right to employment, housing, legal benefits of marriage, and so on. In fact, in the gay marriage debate, it was the anti-SSM side that insisted that the liberals were gonna make you renounce your religious views about homosexuality and swear fealty to our new gay overlords. Marriage equality advocates generally kept the focus on “no, we just want the same rights as everyone else. You can think our marriage is stupid or immoral or illegitimate in your eyes or God’s, just as we have opinions about some straight people’s marriages. Just give us the damn legal rights.”

Purely as a matter of public persuasion, I think it’s a big ask to demand that the state, or people generally, certify that someone’s perceived gender identity equals their gender. I also suspect that it would be a poor legal strategy, as it opens up some possible First Amendment (in the U.S.) implications regarding compelled speech and religious freedom.

Pink News rushes to the defense of J Yaniv:

Jessica Yaniv says she has received huge backlash from journalists and on social media for asking salons to give her a Brazilian wax as a trans woman, with some calling it “sexual assault.”

Is that true? For asking? Not for suing when turned down? Can it really be called “asking” when the response to “no” is a lawsuit? Looks more like demanding, to me.

Although there has been a focus on Yaniv’s requests for a Brazilian wax, she told PinkNews that the coverage “has not been fair nor accurate,” and that she was in fact requesting many different services which would be “gender-affirming” for her.

And we can be completely confident that Yaniv is telling the truth? Based on what?

Also, since when is “gender affirmation” a service that salons are required to provide? Why can’t Yaniv affirm his own goddam gender?

She said: “I reached out starting in March 2018 to businesses advertising over Facebook Marketplace gender-affirming care services like facials, haircuts, manicures, pedicures, head massage, full-body waxing, Brazilian waxing, arm waxing, leg waxing, and was refused service.”

Because it’s not possible to feel like a laydee without facials, haircuts, manicures, pedicures, head massage, full-body waxing, Brazilian waxing, arm waxing, and leg waxing? But then why be trans at all?

Yaniv provided PinkNews with screenshots of her conversation with one of the salons she has filed a complaint against.

The person from the salon said (spelling corrected for clarity): “Sorry I’m not trying to be rude or anything it’s just that I don’t feel comfortable doing this and I know you have the right it’s just that you’re a man into a lady but you’re still a man right but into a lady.”

And? Pink seems to think that’s very damning but it isn’t. Male bodies are male bodies.

In recordings heard by PinkNews, one salon told Yaniv when she enquired about the price of a wax, that she was a “fucking bastard,” and that she was “mentally sick” and that if she called again they would give her number to the police.

Could that be because Yaniv was harassing and threatening the salon?

Yaniv told PinkNews: “These are basic services that I am requesting as a transgendered person. There is no excuse nor reason that I should be denied service.”

Basic? What does he mean basic? They seem pretty extra, to me.

Yaniv said: “Trans people need these services! We’re like any other woman out there.

“To deny us these rights is denying our existence.”

No, it is not. It may be contradicting your claims about yourselves, but that’s not the same thing as denying your existence.

Pink News doesn’t give a rat’s ass about women, does it.

Meanwhile, about the Uighurs…

China has detained an estimated 1 million to 2 million Uighur Muslims in the region of Xinjiang, and millions more live one step away from detention under the watchful eye of the Chinese Communist Party.

Why it matters: It has been two years since the internment camps first came to light internationally, and a series of reports from Xinjiang have made vivid the scale of the abuses. Yet foreign governments and corporations are content to pretend it isn’t happening.

“If right now, just about any other country in the world [were] found to be detaining over 1 million Muslims of a certain ethnicity, you can bet we’d be seeing an international outcry,” says Sophie Richardson, china director for Human Rights Watch.

• “Because it’s China, which has enormous power in international institutions these days, it’s hard to muster any response at all.”
• “There has been this almost childlike hope that as China gets wealthier and more secure it would change” and adapt to international norms, Richardson says. Instead, China is using its economic clout and influence at the UN to undermine those norms.