The Guardian reports a policy change:

Transgender women have had their right to use Hampstead Heath ponds formalised in a new policy.

The City of London Corporation (CoLC), which manages Hampstead Heath and its ponds, announced that it had adopted a new gender identity policy to make sure services in the area “are fully compliant with the Equality Act 2010, and do not discriminate against trans people”.

In January, the City of London, confirmed that the ladies’ pond – which counts people such as the actor Helena Bonham Carter and novelist Esther Freud among its swimmers – was open to transgender women. That was formalised in an announcement on Thursday that the new rules would “ensure a robust

Hmmmm, really?

Morning @Womans_Place_UK . Being transgender is an innate part of the human condition. The only debate to be had about that is how best to deliver trans rights and healthcare.

You can have a thousand sweaty meetings in secret locations, and that will never change.

— Aidan Comerford (@AidanCTweets) May 23, 2019

Being transgender is an innate part of the human condition? So everybody is trans – which is pretty much the same as saying nobody is trans. If everybody is trans we just carry on as before.

But if that is true, why were we never told it before? Why in all this time, when humans were inventing agriculture and trade and alphabets and yoga and the … Read the rest

Men who have nothing but contempt for women have a gold mine in trans activism.

Oh wow @NewStatesman went full TERF. This article is one of the most bad faith hateful pieces of writing I've read in a while.https://t.co/ApphkebBf3 pic.twitter.com/1VjUx7f7SP

— Ryan Broderick (@broderick) May 22, 2019

He must not read anything at all, then, because it isn’t.

But never mind. He knows how to put women in their place.

the only upside to being astroturfed by radicalized mumsnet users is they think I'm actually capable of growing a beard https://t.co/phStWFAC0U

— Ryan Broderick (@broderick) May 22, 2019

Ooooooh radicalized mumsnet users – a tactful way of saying “stupid bitches.” Stupid women with their “babies” and “children,” what can … Read the rest

Meanwhile…

Remember the planned redesign of the $20 bill that was going to include the first African American woman to appear on U.S. currency?

Well, don’t expect to see Harriett Tubman on your $20 any time soon.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed Wednesday what had been apparent for some time: The currency redesign pursued by his Obama administration predecessor Jacob Lew not is going to happen during the Trump administration.

Well of course it’s not. Trump has a plan to put war criminals on your $20 so Harriett Tubman will just have to go back to Mexico where she belongs.

Mnuchin said a new design for the $20 bill will not come out until 2028. The $10 and the

Hey kids, let’s play Pretend Feminist for ten seconds before we go back to cheering for forced birth.

After Trump abruptly left legislative leaders meeting today, Kellyanne Conway asked Pelosi if she wanted to respond to what Trump had said. "I'll respond to the president, not staff," Pelosi said. "Wow, that's really pro-woman of you," Kellyanne Conway said back, per aides.

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) May 22, 2019

… Read the rest

Ursual Le Guin on abortion:

My friends at NARAL asked me to tell you what it was like before Roe vs Wade. They asked me to tell you what it was like to be twenty and pregnant in 1950 and when you tell your boyfriend you’re pregnant, he tells you about a friend of his in the army whose girl told him she was pregnant, so he got all his buddies to come and say, “We all fucked her, so who knows who the father is?” And he laughs at the good joke….

What was it like, if you were planning to go to graduate school and get a degree and earn a living so you could support

The Telegraph introduces the UK to Meghan Murphy:

As one of the lone voices unequivocally arguing that identifying as a different gender does not change one’s chromosomal sex (and, ergo, that trans-women are not actually women) Murphy was swiftly labelled a ‘radical’ feminist, as well as a bigot and a transphobe by her detractors, many of whom also accuse her of being Right-wing.

To Murphy, a once proud socialist with a Marxist father, it’s a laughable claim. But she feels betrayed by the Left. ‘The NDP [Canada’s equivalent to Labour] has fully vilified women who speak out about this,’ she says. ‘They won’t even have a conversation.’

On Monday evening she spoke at a sold-out event on women’s rights

The Times on Donnie’s tantrum:

President Trump abruptly blew up a scheduled meeting with Democratic congressional leaders on Wednesday, lashing out at Speaker Nancy Pelosi for accusing him of a cover-up and declaring that he could not work with them until they stopped investigating him.

He then marched out into the Rose Garden, where reporters had been gathered, and delivered a statement bristling with anger as he demanded that Democrats “get these phony investigations over with.” He said they could not legislate and investigate at the same time. “We’re going to go down one track at a time,” he said.

Before the White House meeting Pelosi had been meeting with Democrats to talk about impeachment.

She emerged from that

Boys’ Club gets boy in trouble yet again. Boys just wonder how come all the rules got changed alla sudden and nobody ever told them.

Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada, a Republican, said on Tuesday he plans to step down from his position after lewd and racist text messages between him and his former chief of staff were leaked to the media.

…

Opposition to his leadership snowballed after texts were leaked to the media in which Casada and his now-former chief of staff, Cade Cothren, traded lewd remarks. Sent in the summer of 2016, the messages show Casada egging on the aide as he bragged about a sexual encounter in a restaurant bathroom, as one example.

The leaks

Did McGahn surprise us all and heed the subpoena? Nah.

“Our subpoenas are not optional,” Mr Nadler said during his opening remarks on Tuesday. “This committee will hear Mr McGahn’s testimony even if we have to go to court.”

Mr McGahn could be held in contempt for defying the subpoena from Congress.

“We will not allow the president to block congressional subpoenas, putting himself and his allies above the law,” Mr Nadler added.

…

Both the Department of Justice and White House released statements on Monday arguing that Mr McGahn was under no obligation to give evidence.

You might as well say “the Five Families released statements on Monday arguing that Mr McGahn was under no obligation to give evidence.” … Read the rest

Not good.

Today, Governor Jay Inslee declared a drought emergency that now expands across nearly half of Washington, with snow pack under 50 percent of normal across highlighted areas.

Hotter, drier conditions lead to more wildfires. This drought is a reminder that we expect 2019 will be a tough fire season. We are preparing as best we can to meet this challenge, but ask you to take caution and be vigilant when doing activities that may spark fires.

Fires in all directions, it will be.… Read the rest

The constitutional crisis rolls on, with Congressional Democrats being irritatingly feeble.

Donald Trump has blocked the former White House counsel Don McGahn from testifying before Congress about special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian election interference.

Donald Trump can’t “block him” from testifying. It’s just a power play and McGahn should ignore it, but he’s not, he’s said he’ll obey this arbitrary demand from someone he no longer works for.

In a legal opinion released on Monday, the justice department said lawmakers on Capitol Hill cannot compel McGahn, who was subpoenaed by the House judiciary committee, to answer their questions under oath.

Because “the justice department” is wholly in the bag for Trump. It’s not a justice department, … Read the rest

Saw this by Mike Twohy in the New Yorker:

… Read the rest

No, let’s not remember not to do that.

Abortion is trending right now and we love it! But, let's remember not to use gendered language when talking about it. Abortion bans affect everyone who can get pregnant–not just cis women! pic.twitter.com/DJLzEmP18e

— URGE (@URGE_org) May 17, 2019

Abortion is “gendered” i.e. sex-based. If men needed abortions they would be easy to get.

Also, seriously, fuck all the way off with that idiotic slogan.

We won’t stop fighting. #StopTheBans pic.twitter.com/nMv91SWI3t

— URGE (@URGE_org) May 17, 2019

Why illustrate a “keep fighting for abortion rights” tweet with a poster screaming that abortion is not “just” a “cissue”? Why post a a “keep fighting for abortion rights” tweet with an image that insults … Read the rest