One wrong undone:

A man who was sacked by the supermarket chain Asda for sharing a video clip of the comedian Billy Connolly mocking religion on social media has been reinstated.

Brian Leach was dismissed last month after a colleague complained that a sketch he shared, in which Connolly said “religion is over” and called suicide bombers “wankers”, was anti-Islamic.

He shared the sketch on Facebook, I think in a friends-only post. He didn’t slap it up in the break room at work, so I fail to see how it’s any of his colleague’s business at all, let alone their employer’s.

The National Secular Society has been in touch with Mr Leach throughout an internal appeals process and has

Brendan O’Neill adds his take on the Yaniv Frolics:

A born male who identifies as female, and whose male genitalia is still intact, is suing female-only waxers on the basis that their refusal to wax his bollocks – sorry, her bollocks – is an act of discrimination. Yes, this person believes that because he identifies as female he should therefore have access to every female service, including the most intimate female services. Any female beautician who refuses to tend to his testicles is being ‘transphobic’, apparently, because they are denying his womanhood. Even though he has a penis. And testicles. And is a man. That’s hate speech, I know.

It’s parody-leftism, it’s made for people like O’Neill, and … Read the rest

A BC human rights tribunal has been hearing Jonathan “Jessica” Yaniv’s complaint that a woman who did genital waxing for women out of her living room refused to wax Yaniv’s balls. It got rowdy.

At one point, the complainant compared the business owner to a neo-Nazi. The lawyer for the business owner accused the complainant of engaging in “half-truths and fabrications.” Tribunal adjudicator Devyn Cousineau frequently had to interject to maintain decorum and to keep the hearing from careening off course.

But a substantive question remained at the core of the raucous daylong hearing: should a business be allowed to deny service on the basis of gender identity?

But that is not the substantive question. That’s pretty much the opposite … Read the rest

Originally a comment by latsot on Watch for the nod.

I’ve been talking and writing about the breaking of checks and balances in the tech industry for a couple of years and there’s a possibly useful analogy to politics. We know that checks and balances aren’t worth anything now but I think that’s because we’ve forgotten what checks and balances are.

In the tech industry, we’ve got used to everyone stealing and misusing our data in return for supplying us with things we probably don’t really want in the first place. We’ve got used to DRM being the norm so that we don’t own any of the things we buy (including things like vehicles and houses as well as … Read the rest

The BBC does a nice job of underlining how thoroughly Trump did not discourage the chanting at his Nazi rally.

President Trump told a reporter he “disagreed” with his supporters chanting: “Send her back” at Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

He also said he quickly told his supporters at a campaign rally to stop their chant.

Here’s what actually happened.

They count the seconds for us.… Read the rest

An open letter to Doctor Polly Carmichael, head of the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at the Tavistock in London, from a colleague:

Dear Polly,

I am writing to you as a former clinician from the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) in Leeds. I wish to outline the concerns I had at the time of working there and the concerns that have either grown or developed since I left. I hope that you will address my concerns and also see the importance of investigating the concerns of other GIDS clinicians who have also left the service…

I think it is a problem that GIDS clinicians are making decisions that will have a major impact on children and young people’s

Great. Just great. Trump thinks it was a brilliant idea and he’s going to keep doing it because “election strategy.” We’re stuck in this hell forever, and the only thing that’s going to change is that it’s going to get worse.

President Donald Trump’s initial racist jab at a foursome of Democratic congresswomen came as a surprise — and not a pleasant one — to many of his aides, who began texting about how to defend their boss’ tweets minutes after he fired them off.

Three days later, the shock has faded and the tweet is being used to frame a long-term political strategy.

Trump views his attacks on the four congresswomen of color as an unbridled political success, people

Getting serious:

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt for defying congressional subpoenas related to the U.S. Census.

The measure, which passed 230-198, was a response to the Trump cabinet members’ failure to produce documents requested by House Democrats as part of an investigation into whether the administration attempted to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census that would discriminate against racial minorities.

Which is to say, their refusal to produce documents requested by House Democrats.

Barr said Pelosi should have waited; Barr and Ross said the House was degrading the constitutional separation of powers. If they really want to talk about … Read the rest

Trump is, predictably, digging in. Game on! Let’s see how racist we can be before anyone will stop us! Yeeha!

He’s quoting a Republican senator.

…opinion, they’re Americans. Now I’m entitled to my opinion, & I just think they’re left wing cranks. They’re the reason there are directions on a shampoo bottle, & we should ignore them. The “squad” has moved the Democrat Party substantially LEFT, and…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 17, 2019

….they are destroying the Democrat Party. I’m appalled that so many of our Presidential candidates are falling all over themselves to try to agree with the four horsewomen of the apocalypse. I’m entitled to say that they’re Wack Jobs.” Louisiana Senator John Kennedy

— Donald

Feminism 101: include men.

Ahhh yes, the essential glossary of modern feminist terms, which defines feminism as an equality movement, tells you which women are evil witches, and fails to say a damn thing about the existence of male dominance. https://t.co/vMQn61irnP

— Dr. Jane Clare Jones (@janeclarejones) July 17, 2019

So, curious, I looked up the women’s department online. First sentence on the home page?

The Women’s Department exists to advocate for women and non-binary students on campus.

Bolding theirs. But…why? Why can’t a women’s department advocate for women and leave it at that? Why does it also have to advocate for “non-binary students”? What is this constant attack on women for not “including” people who aren’t women?… Read the rest

The House voted to censure Trump’s loathsome racist tweets.

The measure, introduced by Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., who was born in Poland, is titled “Condemning President Trump’s racist comments directed at Members of Congress.”

It unfavorably compares Trump’s comments to those of Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, who praised the impact of immigrants on the United States, and “strongly condemns” Trump’s language, stating that it has “legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color.”

(And that’s not even all. It’s a gruesome abuse of power, and it’s misogynist, and it’s blatant bullying and incitement.)

“This is an affront to 22 million naturalized citizens who were born in another country,” Rep.

On the border:

At a Border Patrol holding facility in El Paso, Texas, an agent told a Honduran family that one parent would be sent to Mexico while the other parent and their three children could stay in the United States, according to the family. The agent turned to the couple’s youngest daughter — 3-year-old Sofia, whom they call Sofi — and asked her to make a choice.

Sofi’s choice. Ironic, isn’t it. I don’t suppose the agent knew her name or knew of Sophie’s Choice.

“The agent asked her who she wanted to go with, mom or dad,” her mother, Tania, told NPR through an interpreter. “And the girl, because she is more attached to me, she said