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They made a point of it

More on Jenni Murray.

And gender rubbish is inherently inimical to women and our interests, yet here we are.

… Read the rest

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They made a point of it
By Ophelia Benson, March 21, 2026

More on Jenni Murray.

And gender rubbish is inherently inimical to women and our interests, yet here we are.

… Read the rest

Archives
Bad Moves
Articles
Flashback
In Focus
Latest News
Letters
Notes and Comment Blog

They made a point of it 

More on Jenni Murray.

And gender rubbish is inherently inimical to women and our interests, yet here we are.

… Read the rest
Beeb v women 

The Beeb is on the hot seat.

… Read the rest

No you can’t 

Reuters:

A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s restrictive Pentagon press access policy, which threatens journalists with being branded security risks ​if they seek information not authorized for public release.

The lawsuit by the New York Times in Washington, D.C., federal court alleged that policy changes ‌by the Defense Department last year gave it free rein to freeze out reporters and news outlets over coverage the department did not like, in violation of the Constitution’s protections for free speech and due process. The government disputed that characterization and said the policy is reasonable and necessary for national security.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said in his ruling that he recognized the importance of protecting troops and ​war

… Read the rest
Guest post: That’s where it blows up 

Originally a comment by Dave Ricks at Miscellany Room.

Yesterday (March 19, 2026), the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) reported on the military “exercise” called “Arctic Endurance” in Greenland that started in January 2026, and will continue at a lower level for the rest of the year. I used Google Translate to read these two articles:

The battle for Greenland

Denmark prepared for possible attack from the US: Flew bags of blood to Greenland and prepared to blow up runways

Key sources in Denmark and Europe are now telling for the first time what happened in the most critical days when Donald Trump threatened to take Greenland “the hard way”.

The battle for Greenland

ANALYSIS Behind the word ‘exercise’ in

… Read the rest
It’s yer attitude 

This guy.

That’s the summary. The word for word is worse.

Reporter: Mr President, why wait for Congress to release the Epstein files, why not just do it now?

Trump: You know, it’s not the question that I mind, it’s yer attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter. It’s the way you ask these questions, you start off with a

… Read the rest
More than the sum of the parts 

The thing is…

The thing is, it’s bad enough to have a man on to tell women about misogyny on a program called Woman’s Hour – but it’s way over the top bad to have a man who claims to be a woman on to tell women about misogyny on a program called Woman’s Hour. It’s exponential.

Why is the BBC determined to share exponential insults to women?… Read the rest

Get off the sidewalk 

Well it’s about goddam time.

Lime scooters in Seattle will soon be equipped with artificial intelligence and cameras that, it’s hoped, will shame people into not riding on the sidewalk.

The technology has been tested in town in recent months leading up to the rollout, and it’s coming to Seattle before any other cities, said Parker Dawson, who runs regional government relations for Lime.

Lime Vision will be installed on half the scooter fleet, about 3,500 vehicles, by June 1 and all of the fleet by year’s end. New and retrofitted scooters with the technology will begin showing up in mid-April.

Without sharing many details, Dawson said the technology was developed by Lime specifically to deter sidewalk scooter riding,

… Read the rest
The infinite trolling loop 

Every time you think you can’t despise the BBC any more profoundly, they step up to say hold my beer.

“on the basis of her academic work” – but it’s not “her” academic work you evil shits. And no we don’t believe he was the only sociologist who has done academic work on the subject of the social theory of masculinity.

And he didn’t share “her academic expertise,” he shared his academic expertise, … Read the rest

Diplomacy 

Sir that was 85 years ago.

… Read the rest

Mental age 34 months and falling 

It’s worth watching all 7 plus minutes of his slobbery crazed babble. Notice the contrast with Vance, who is evil but not bereft of a brain.… Read the rest

100% porridge 

This is…alarming. He has the brain power of a wet sponge.

Note the terrified laughter when he says he wants to hug it. They’re trying to pretend he was joking instead of babbling like a two-year-old. … Read the rest

The emergence of a different paradigm 

The NY Times published a guest essay yesterday titled We Study Mass Shooters. Something Terrifying Is Happening Online.

Until recently, if asked to profile a typical mass shooter, we would have described a middle-aged man who was socially isolated and in despair. He was not in the grip of a political ideology, nor did he have a mental health condition such as schizophrenia. Rather, he was deeply despondent about a life crisis, perhaps a divorce or a job loss. In attacking a workplace or a group of people he blamed for his problems, he was both exacting vengeance and effectively or literally committing suicide.

Over the past several years, something has changed. We are witnessing the emergence of a

… Read the rest
Not caring that transphobia what? Not caring that transphobia what? 

Once more for those waaaaaaaaay the hell in the back…

Knowing and/or saying that trans women are men is not in any way immoral or ugly or socially reprehensible. Trans women are men; that’s why the “trans” part is there. Women are women; trans women are not women. A table is not a trans chair; the two are different things. Different things are different. A carrot is not an orange, despite the similar color; the two are different things. A bicycle is not a car even though both have wheels; the two are different things. A man is not a woman even though both are human; the two are different things.

Also, check your spelling ffs.… Read the rest

Nullified 

Now there’s a piece of good news.

A federal judge on Tuesday nullified nearly all actions that the Trump administration took to shutter Voice of America, a federally funded news organization that broadcast to countries with limited press protections, including Iran, China and Russia.

Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered more than 1,000 full-time journalists and support staff at the news group to return to work by March 23 and to resume broadcasting operations. The judge’s decision excludes contracted employees.

Judge Lamberth wrote that Congress passed clear laws funding V.O.A. and directing the administration to maintain news operations “in each significant region of the world” that present “a variety of

… Read the rest
Guest post: Everyone loves a good rags-to-sequins-and-glitter story 

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Try shutting up.

… trying to force the unachievable on the unwilling….

That’s as good a summary of the whole outrage as I have ever heard.

There’s something about that logic which bothers me. Why the baked in assumptions that the third space must be trans only, rather than inclusive, willing and knowingly participating? It could have been packed with trans women, genderqueers, inclusive feminists and all the so called allies.

Because they wanted to be seen as women, period. Not going into women’s spaces breaks that narrative, and rubs their noses in the mad impossibility of their quest. In their minds, being women “by choice” or “through effort” makes … Read the rest

Neighborhood news Neighborhood news 

What a crappy thing to do.

A 40-year-old man is behind bars after causing catastrophic damage to a famed Seattle glass museum located on the grounds of Seattle Center.

On Monday night, just after 11 p.m., the man was arrested for assault and causing over $240,000 worth of damage to the Chihuly Garden and Glass.

Why we can’t have nice things.… Read the rest

Well, son, when you see what I’ve seen 

Bro has been watching too much tv.

Markwayne Mullin, the Oklahoma senator chosen by Donald Trump to lead the Department of Homeland Security who will be considered by the Senate on Wednesday, has never served in the US military, but he routinely speaks as if he did in interviews.

Two days after the US attacked Iran, for instance, Mullin told Fox News: “War is ugly. It smells bad. And if anybody has ever been there and been able to smell the war that’s happening around you and taste it, and feel it in your nostrils, and hear it, it’s something you’ll never forget. And it’s ugly.”

He knows this from the movies. No I know he can’t actually … Read the rest

Guest post: The ugly tribal reaction 

Originally a comment by Artymorty on It is not what it is.

Professors are being hounded for acknowledging biological sex. Carole Hooven is an EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGIST who taught AT FUCKING HARVARD no less, and she was hounded out of her job over her plain, simple assertion of the FACT that sex is binary.

I’ll have no fucking truck with this coy playacting that phrasing like “people with wombs” isn’t directly connected to the ugly tribal reaction against the facts of biology that has taken hold among young people.

The primary purpose of such language as “people with wombs” is to appease the ravenous kids who’ve been conditioned to go feral and become outraged at any acknowledgement of biological sex. That’s … Read the rest

It is not what it is It is not what it is 

A vox pop moment.

From a public post on Facebook:

Wut? Terms like ‘people with wombs’ are being sometimes used in medical literature in conversations that are specifically about data connected to people with wombs and that’s how we know the term is not being used as a placeholder for “women”?

This ideology is not good for people’s thinking processes.… Read the rest

Try shutting up 

Well…

It’s not exactly a slur, true, but it is nevertheless highly objectionable, and not just to the person being called it. It assumes matters not in evidence – it assumes that there are “cis” people and “trans people” when in fact there are only people. Cis would not mean anything without the existence of the word “trans” but the word “trans” names something that doesn’t exist. We don’t need the word “cis” because it’s just the equivalent of real or actual or non-fake. Trans women are real, actual, non-fake men. Trans men are real, actual, non-fake women. It’s simpler to just ignore the fakes and … Read the rest