Further to that discussion of the BBC’s rebuke of Jenni Murray for writing a think piece about whether or not trans women are women in every sense – the BBC puts it this way:

4.4.31

BBC staff and regular BBC presenters or reporters associated with news or public policy-related output may offer professional judgements rooted in evidence.  However, it is not normally appropriate for them to present or write personal view programmes and content on public policy, on matters of political or industrial controversy, or on ‘controversial subjects’ in any area.

Does that cover their rebuke of Murray, or not? Is she a presenter “associated with news or public policy-related output”? Does that describe Woman’s Hour? Was she in … Read the rest

I never knew Krazy Kat was genderfluid, but it’s so. Gabrielle Bellot at the New Yorker has the skinny:

“Krazy Kat,” George Herriman’s exuberant and idiosyncratic newspaper comic, was never broadly popular. From the beginning, though, it found fans among writers and artists. P. G. Wodehouse compared it favorably to Wagner’s “Parsifal”; Jack Kerouac later said it influenced the Beats. The strip ran from 1913 until 1944, the year that Herriman died. It is set in a dreamlike place called Coconino County, where a black cat named Krazy loves a white mouse named Ignatz, who throws bricks at Krazy’s head. Krazy interprets the bricks as “love letters.” Meanwhile, a police-officer dog, Offisa Pup, tries to protect Krazy, with whom

That thing about closed-minded versus close minded? Whaddya know, I was wrong.

The Online Etymology Dictionary tells the story:

close (adj.)late 14c., “strictly confined,” also “secret,” from Old French clos “confined; concealed, secret; taciturn” (12c.), from Latin clausus “close, reserved,” past participle adjective from claudere “stop up, fasten, shut” (see close (v.)); main sense shifting to “near” (late 15c.) by way of “closing the gap between two things.” Related: Closely.

Meaning “narrowly confined, pent up” is late 14c. Meaning “near” in a figurative sense, of persons, from 1560s. Meaning “full of attention to detail” is from 1660s. Of contests, from 1855. Close call is from 1866, in a quotation in an anecdote from 1863, possibly a term

LGBTQ Nation reports:

Last Friday, a Maine high school raised a rainbow flag, becoming the first school in the state to do so. The flag came down yesterday as one student didn’t want to attract media attention to the school.

The Rainbow Flag went up in front of Kennebunk High School after work by the school’s GSTA (Gay-Straight-Trans Alliance, presumably) put it up. The school’s Feminist Club caught the event on video and posted it to Twitter.

It’s true, they did:

But.

The flag attracted limited local media coverage, including the short article from a radio station linked above.

KMTW, the local ABC affiliate, is now reporting that the flag was removed because a transgender student did

The Guardian reports:

Kellie Maloney hits back at Jenni Murray’s trans women comments

Hm. Perhaps not the best headline ever chosen, seeing as how Kellie Maloney, back when she was called Frank Maloney, tried to strangle her wife.

Getting undressed for bed, Tracey tells him the only time she sees him happy is when he is drinking.

The red mist descends. He snaps and lunges at her, closing his hands around her neck. He sees fear flood her face. Then their two young daughters burst into the room screaming…

Kellie takes a deep breath as the ­flashback to 2005 subsides. “Who knows what could have happened,” she says.

Oh well. That was twelve whole years ago. Let’s find out … Read the rest

The UN says Ireland’s investigation into mother and baby homes isn’t good enough.

It says the Commission of Investigation as established may not uncover all abuses inflicted on women and girls in these homes, the perpetrators of which should be “prosecuted and punished”.

In its “concluding observations” report – following examination of Ireland last month – the UN Committee on the elimination of discrimination against women (CEDAW) says Ireland has, “failed to establish an independent, thorough and effective investigation, in line with international standards, into all allegations of abuse, ill-treatment or neglect of women and children in the Magdalene laundries in order [to] establish the role of the State and church in the perpetration of alleged violations”.

The terms

Point of order.

The word is not “close-minded.” It’s “closed-minded.”

I see the former written more and more, no doubt because the two sound alike when spoken. But come on – what would “close-minded” even mean? The mind in question is closed, to new ideas or information or argument. It’s a Trump-style mind.

Thank you for your compliance in this matter.… Read the rest

I saw dark murmurs about a pattern on Facebook a couple of days ago and wasn’t sure how well founded they were, but now that the Independent is murmuring…

When Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations died suddenly in New York last week, he became the sixth Russian diplomat to die unexpectedly since November, leaving internet conspiracy theorists trying to spot a pattern.

Vitaly Churkin, 64, was rushed to hospital from his office at Russia’s UN mission on 20 February, after becoming ill without warning on his way in to work.

It was initially reported that Mr Churkin may have suffered a heart attack, but following an autopsy medical examiners said the death required further study.

Media company

Samantha Bee and Jo Miller were on Fresh Air yesterday; it was good.

An excerpt:

Jo Miller is the head writer and showrunner.

GROSS: Let’s get back to, Jo, your work studying medieval Jewish history and planning to become a history teacher or a history professor. Was there a part of you thinking, what I really want to do is comedy, but I can’t do that…

MILLER: Yes.

GROSS: …I can’t become a comedian or a comic writer, so I’d better just keep to history?

MILLER: Yes. Yes.

GROSS: Why did you think that?

MILLER: Because I’m a girl.

(LAUGHTER)

MILLER: I hate myself like girls do. That’s exactly why. I was in – well, when Lizz Winstead started

Allison Stanger, a political scientist at Middlebury, wrote:

I agreed to participate in the event with Charles Murray, because several of my students asked me to do so. They are smart and good people, all of them, and this was their big event of the year. I actually welcomed the opportunity to be involved, because while my students may know I am a Democrat, all of my courses are nonpartisan, and this was a chance to demonstrate publicly my commitment to a free and fair exchange of views in my classroom. As the campus uproar about his visit built, I was genuinely surprised and troubled to learn that some of my faculty colleagues had rendered judgement on Dr. Murray’s

The Times on that secret Facebook group for male Marines to degrade women.

Now the Defense Department has opened a criminal investigation and the Marine Corps is facing its latest unwanted controversy after it was revealed over the weekend that a secret online Facebook group of active-duty and veteran Marines shared thousands of naked and private photos of Marine Corps women.

The invitation-only group, called Marines United and made up of more than 30,000 active duty Marines and veterans, built online dossiers on Marine women without their knowledge or consent, listing dozens of women’s names, ranks, social media handles and where they are stationed.

…

Several Marines said the Marines United postings are an evolution of a retaliatory practice

Sarah Ditum in the Independent on Jenni Murray and the BBC and who gets to say what a woman is:

Jenni Murray has presented the BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour for 30 years, and she’s been a woman for even longer than that. At the weekend, the Sunday Times published an article by her titled “Be trans, be proud — but don’t call yourself a ‘real woman’”. Under that headline, Murray criticised some claims of trans activism (and she was careful to say she was talking about the extreme of the debate): that anyone who identifies as a woman has “always been a woman” no matter the age at which they transition, and that references to the female body

One more Donnie bulletin, because it’s kind of funny, and because it’s about how miserable and furious he is.

He had a bad weekend. A bad bad weekend. Ivanka and Jared were with him but they couldn’t mellow him out.

Trump was mad — steaming, raging mad.

Trump’s young presidency has existed in a perpetual state of chaos. The issue of Russia has distracted from what was meant to be his most triumphant moment: his address last Tuesday to a joint session of Congress. And now his latest unfounded accusation — that Barack Obama tapped Trump’s phones during last fall’s campaign — had been denied by the former president and doubted by both allies and fellow Republicans.

Well if … Read the rest