The Independent wants to make it very clear how strongly it disapproves of JK Rowling’s…badditude. It can’t explain more clearly than that, but why would you need it to? Badditude is bad.

Harry Potter fans are tearing into JK Rowling after she posted a series of “transphobic” tweets.

Are the tweets “transphobic”? Or are they transphobic? Does the Indy take the claim seriously or not?

Theauthor was met with a backlash after calling out an article’s use of the phrase “people who menstruate”. While many Twitter users supported Rowling for her tweet, there were plenty – including numerous celebrities – who criticised her comment as “anti-trans” and “transphobic” arguing that transgender, non-binary and non-gender conforming people can also menstruate.

Guest post by Leo Igwe PhD, CEO of AFAW (Advocacy for Alleged Witches)

Malawi is one of the countries in Africa where witch persecution is pervasive. Alleged witches suffer egregious human rights abuses including stoning, lynching and murder. In the late 2000s, courts jailed alleged witches. And some court officials claimed that the imprisonment was for their safety. Local humanist and human rights activists campaigned and helped release many alleged witches from state prisons. But recent news suggests that little has changed regarding the plight of alleged witches in the country. Accused persons are still taken into custody but this time by the Sing’anga, as traditional priests/priestesses and witch hunters are called in the country.

Witch hunts in Mzimba

On … Read the rest

Colin Powell is not impressed with Trump.

“I certainly cannot, in any way, support President Trump this year,” Powell said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “I’m very close to Joe Biden on a social matter and on a political matter. I’ve worked with him for 35, 40 years, and he is now the candidate, and I will be voting for him.”

Powell’s support for Biden, who clinched the Democratic presidential nomination on Friday, marks a continuation of his drift from the Republican Party. The retired four-star general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff endorsed Hillary Clinton over Mr. Trump in 2016, and voted for President Barack Obama in 2012. He endorsed Mr. Obama

Fences. Fences fences fences. Trump wants ALL the fences, to keep the scary hordes away from him and his plastic fantastic daughter-wife.

Protesters arriving in the nation’s capital for the ninth consecutive day of demonstrations found the White House encircled by more than a mile of tall metal fencing.

The previous day, work crews had erected enough fencing — reinforced by white concrete barriers — to bar entry to Lafayette Square and to outline half of the Ellipse, the sloping green lawn that abuts the executive residence. But between Friday night and Saturday afternoon — on a day expected to draw tens of thousands to protest in the District — they added enough fencing to block the rest of

This happened today.

#Bristol statue of Edward Colston has been pulled down and pushed into the harbour during the #BlackLivesMattter march pic.twitter.com/ME1yxAhw7G

— BBC Radio Bristol (@bbcrb) June 7, 2020

Bristol was the biggest slave trade port in Britain.

There are many cries of “Disgraceful!”

I would ask people making this argument one question, politely. "Do you want it put back up then?" https://t.co/4jsUnERNhj

— Tom Sutcliffe (@tds153) June 7, 2020

The thing is, toppling statues of tyrants has a long history. It’s just silly to call it “vandalism” as if there were nothing more to it.

Does selling slaves count as tyranny? I think the question answers itself.… Read the rest

The Times (NY) is more circumspect…thus I suppose living up to its reputation for establishment conservatism, but that buys into the absurd new arrangement whereby thinking men become women by saying so is left-wing while thinking women and only women are women is right-wing. To be clear: thinking women and only women are women is not right-wing. It’s tautological, but it’s not right-wing.

J.K. Rowling, the creator of the popular “Harry Potter” series, came under fire from L.G.B.T.Q. groups after she took aim at an article that referred to “people who menstruate.”

The online op-ed article posted last month, with the title “Creating a More Equal Post-Covid-19 World for People Who Menstruate,” highlighted some of the risks faced by

Talk about ideological capture…

One of the headlines on Google News led to this alluring sample under Further Coverage:

TERF tweets; Anti-Trans Tweets; transphobic comments. It’s only Fox that doesn’t poison the well. This isn’t The Nation or Mother Jones, it’s USA Today and Variety – not exactly hotbeds of lefty thought. They all just take it for granted that her tweets were “transphobic.” What did she say again?

If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.

The idea

Uh huh. Man who roleplays as stereotypical HOTTTT woman tells feminists they’re not feminists.

I can't stress this enough. If your feminism requires tearing other marginalised people down, rather than deconstructing the patriarchy. IT IS NOT FEMINISM!!!

…you just aren't a very nice person.@jk_rowling

— Munroe (@MunroeBergdorf) June 7, 2020

Also – nobody knew the difference between women and men until colonialists made it all up.

A reminder that until colonial ideas of binary gender wiped out native and indigenous cultures. Gender was fluid and trans people were seen as spiritual guides and leaders.

This cult of transphobic white women in Britain is just another branch of white supremacy.@jk_rowling

— Munroe (@MunroeBergdorf) June 7, 2020

Imagine white people … Read the rest

This is brilliant.

Ok I’m going to have to inflict on you a transcript of that slice of Princess Daughter’s pretend commencement speech she bestowed on us this morning. If you can’t bear to listen to her yourself for even a second, you should bear in mind that she deploys a weird zombie-like whispery voice and that she accompanies it with much head and face and mouth work.

I am confident [flashing of shiny white teeth] that even if your path is different from the one you imagined, ultimately [seductive turn of the head], it can be better than we [sic] could ever have planned. In my own life I’ve found that my greatest personal growth has arisen from times of discomfort and

Another Trump Derangement Syndrome incident Monday:

This grown a*s man just did this to a little girl who was posting flyers in support of George Floyd. This is sick. No grown man has the right to touch children, ever. pic.twitter.com/gxUZ3fFpmf

— Frank Giugliano (@nyccookies) June 4, 2020

NPR reports:

A 60-year-old man has been arrested in Maryland following allegations that he assaulted a group of three young adults who were hanging flyers in support of George Floyd and an end to racial injustice.

The confrontation drew widespread outrage when video of the encounter was posted online. Authorities with the Maryland-National Capital Park Police said Friday that Anthony Brennan III of Kensingston, Md., has been charged with second-degree assault

Princess Ivanka is having an angry.

Our nation’s campuses should be bastions of free speech. Cancel culture and viewpoint discrimination are antithetical to academia.

Listening to one another is important now more than ever!https://t.co/VW6W8TIL9c

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 5, 2020

Oh no, did somebody cancel her? From what? Who wants to hear her in the first place?

The people of Wichita, maybe.

Ivanka Trump has hit out at complained about “cancel culture and viewpoint discrimination” after plans for her to give a virtual commencement speech to students in Kansas were canceled amid criticism of Donald Trump’s response to anti-police brutality protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.

The really interesting question here is why … Read the rest

Now Barr is trying to pretend he wasn’t actually involved in that whole thing. He was there and all, but he wasn’t, like, saying go spray that person and that one and that one. He did ask who will rid him of this turbulent crowd, but he didn’t say how. He was just musing aloud, really. Expressing the wistful hopes and dreams of a loyal public servant.

Attorney General William P. Barr sought to dissociate himself Friday from police’s move earlier this week to push back a crowd of largely peaceful demonstrators using horses and gas, claiming that he did not give the “tactical” order for law enforcement on the scene to move in.

He’s a civilian, ok? He … Read the rest

Trump took a little jaunt to Maine yesterday.

President Donald Trump traveled to Maine Friday to tour a facility that makes medical swabs used for coronavirus testing, but the swabs manufactured in the background during his visit will ultimately be thrown in the trash, the company said.   

So they’re Potemkin swabs? What’s the point?

Puritan Medical Products said it will have to discard the swabs, a company spokeswoman told USA TODAY in response to questions about the visit.   

It is not clear why the swabs will be scrapped, or how many.The company described its manufacturing plans for Friday as “limited” – but the disruption comes as public health officials in Maine and other states have complained that a shortage

Trump decided today would be an awesome day to forbid kneeling.

…We should be standing up straight and tall, ideally with a salute, or a hand on heart. There are other things you can protest, but not our Great American Flag – NO KNEELING!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2020

You can protest some things, but not the flag – Trump forbids it.

Too bad there’s a Supreme Court ruling saying yes you can.

But also…kneeling? Really, dude? Now?

how about "NO KNEELING" on necks https://t.co/FmjhPs1Hzw

— j.d. durkin (@jiveDurkey) June 5, 2020

NO KNEELING ON OUR NECKS, ASSHOLE.

— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) June 5, 2020

Imagine coming out for “NO KNEELING” and it not being about demanding that

So unidentified unidentifiable heavily armed soldiers are in the streets in Washington DC, the seat of the US government. Nothing to worry about there, for sure.

On Trump’s order, about 4,500 national guard troops from around the country were flown to Washington early this week, and a wide assortment of special units from the Bureau of Prisons, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the FBI and the US Marshal’s Service. 

In total, 7,600 soldiers and officers were deployed in Washington, including 1,700 active duty troops in reserve in bases around the capital, according to Bloomberg News.

7,600. That’s rather a lot.

Several of those units – including military police, United States park police and Secret Service – were involved in

Fascist president issues official fascist threats via his official presidential fascist Twitter.

…over the last number of nights. If she doesn’t treat these men and women well, then we’ll bring in a different group of men and women!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2020

… Read the rest

Kelly says Trump is telling whoppers about Mattis.

Former White House chief of staff John Kelly said Thursday that President Donald Trump “has clearly forgotten” the circumstances of former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’s departure from the administration, breaking with his former boss to side with a fellow retired Marine Corps general.

Aka is telling whoppers.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Kelly contradicted Trump’s claim that he had fired Mattis. Kelly called Mattis “an honorable man” and described Trump’s Twitter attack on the former Defense secretary as “nasty.”

…

“The president did not fire him. He did not ask for his resignation,” Kelly, who was Trump’s chief of staff when Mattis departed the administration, told the Washington

Another portent:

The US has been downgraded from a “medium risk” to a “high risk” country in a civil unrest index by the global risk analysis company Verik Maplecroft.

As nationwide protests continue over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the firm finds that the “marginalisation of racial and religious minorities” is the single biggest driver of the unrest “because of the profound impact on the living standards of entire communities.” The conditions mean that direct acts of violence to express discontent “appeal to a broad range of community members.”

This is what I was just saying (or ranting) – George Floyd is not a one-off, George Floyd is part of the whole big picture of this … Read the rest

The Guardian reports on Trump’s “press conference,” at which Trump took no questions, which makes it not a press conference but an announcement.

Trump has started his White House press conference, and the president opened the event by quickly veering from the jobs numbers to the George Floyd protests then back to the jobs numbers…However, the president unexpectedly shifted from the jobs numbers to the protests, bragging about the progress seen in Minneapolis this week after demonstrations last week turned violent.

Veering unexpectedly is what he does. He doesn’t do joined-up thinking, he does blurts.

He said we are “largely through” the coronavirus, which of course is not even slightly true.

Then the Guardian kind of threw up its hands … Read the rest