Here’s a good cause if you’re in a donating frame of mind:

Help Kato Mukasa help Humanists in Uganda

My name is Kato Mukasa . I am the founding Chairperson of the Humanist Association for Leadership Equity and Accountability ( HALEA) in 2007 and its current Legal Director. I am the chair of Uganda Humanist Association ( UHASSO) the oldest Humanist organization in Africa, registered in 1996. 

I am also the Executive Director of Legal Relief Frontiers LTD, a non governmental organization that was recently registered to provide Legal Relief services to the poor in Uganda.

And a lawyer working with Mukasa Lugalambi Advocates and Solicitors.

Along side all the incredible work I have been being doing I am keen

McConnell is breaking the knees of the proposed commission to look into that little insurrection the other month.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday that he will oppose legislation to create a commission tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — a signal that the legislation will not have the votes to get through the Senate.

“After careful consideration, I’ve made the decision to oppose the House Democrats slanted and unbalanced proposal for another commission to study the events of January the 6th,” he said on the Senate floor.

The bipartisan commission would have an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, five on each side.

Right, so that’s slanted and unbalanced. It should be nine … Read the rest

The glorious cause – refusing to wear masks during a pandemic. Our ancestors died for the cause! Salute the flag! Allons enfants de la patrie! Etc.

A group of House Republicans revolted over their chamber’s mask rules on Tuesday, the latest sign of tensions boiling over as Congress wrestles with how and when to return to pre-pandemic routines.

Around a dozen Republicans refused to wear masks during the evening vote series and strategically stood at the well of the chamber, which appears on the C-SPAN cameras, and seemed to encourage other members to join in.

…

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) snapped a selfie with a few other maskless members and posted it to social media. Taking pictures on

A friend on Facebook posted an image that prompted me to look up the painter to learn more.

In Shame and Prejudice, Kent Monkman paints missing Indigenous images into history

As UBC’s Museum of Anthropology gets used to welcoming visitors again, it’s opening a major new show—one that shakes up the very foundations of Canada.

On the final stop of a cross-country tour that kicked off in 2017, Cree artist Kent Monkman’s provocative Shame and Prejudice: A Story of Resilience finally arrives in Vancouver.

The painting in question:

“This was an opportunity to ask Canadians to think about what 150 years have meant to Indigenous people, and reframe it through my own lens,” the artist says, speaking to the Straight

Headlines – another person comes out as self-obsessed and expecting us to be interested in xir self-obsession.

Demi Lovato has announced they have a non-binary gender identity.

This is of no interest. There is no need for people to make “announcements” about themselves this way. It doesn’t matter. It’s not significant. People’s custom-built Selves are of no interest.

Says it all, doesn’t it – “I’m so happy to share more of my life with you all.” No, don’t be happy to do that – recoil from it with scorn and loathing. Don’t look ever more into the self, look away from the self, at everything there is out there to explore and think about. Also don’t be “proud” … Read the rest

Oh no, not mocking his faith. The horror.

THE BBC has been accused of “taking the mickey” out of the newly elected leader of the DUP over his religious beliefs.

Ian Paisley, the party’s MP for North Antrim, said the broadcaster had “lambasted” Edwin Poots because he is “a man of faith”.

The BBC says no we didn’t.

During the introduction to the programme, Mr Poots was described as “a creationist from the party’s Free Presbyterian roots, who once banned donations of blood from gay men”.

Just the facts ma’am.

“I would say absolute cobblers to your programme so far,” Mr Paisley told presenter Faisal Islam. “I’m reminded of the Frank Skinner line, you can be anything in Britain

Not just civil.

The New York attorney general’s office said Tuesday that it is pursuing a criminal investigation into the Trump Organization, in addition to the ongoing civil probe.

“We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature. We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA. We have no additional comment at this time,” Fabien Levy, a spokesperson for the office, said in a statement.

Closing in.… Read the rest

No they don’t.

Many trans women have to be hospitalized because of how bad their period cramps get, your assumption that trans women are physically the same as cis men is simply ignorant.

Please stop trying to take basic human rights away from me until you know wtf you're talking about.

— Plastic Doll (@AnnHertzz) May 19, 2021

Hospitalization for cramps is not a thing, and if it were, it would not be a thing that happens to men. Men don’t get cramps.

There are many basic biology lessons in the replies.… Read the rest

Eric Trump is confused.

Trump compared Biden and Harris unfavorably to his father and criticized them for not giving more press conferences.

“I think they’re lazy,” Trump said. “I think they lack motivation. I think they lack the charisma to do what my father did.

See he thinks being president means talking constantly and being on camera a lot and performing non-stop, like a clown on cocaine. He thinks that because his imbecile daddy thought that.

“My father was on a plane every single day. He was literally going somewhere every single day and where are these two? Why don’t you ever hear from them?

“They’re not giving press conferences. They’re not going out in the Rose Garden like

Republicans have gone all identity politics on us.

At this point, the best — and probably only — way to stop Trumpism would be for a significant share of Republicans to align with the Democratic Party, at least temporarily. But here’s the problem: For many Trump-skeptical Republicans, both elite and rank-and-file, being a Republican, and definitely not a Democrat, is a part of their personal identity. And so far, too few have been willing to prioritize the health of the country over this attachment.

That’s odd though, because what has Republican identity now become? It’s deeply entangled with Trump and trumpism and Trump’s revolting character and temperament and smashed moral compass. If you’re Trump-skeptical why would you cling to … Read the rest

Cancellations rebuked:

The University of Essex has today published Akua Reindorf’s Review of two events involving external speakers, concerning the controversy surrounding events at which Professor Jo Phoenix (Open University) and Professor Rosa Freedman (University of Reading) had been invited to speak.

The report concludes that the University breached the Professors’ rights to freedom of expression because of preconceptions about their views on trans rights and gender identity.

It was in breach of statutory duties and its own policies.

In Professor Phoenix’s case, a seminar which she was due to give in December 2019 was cancelled at the last minute because of threats of disruption. A flyer was circulated in the University bearing an image of a

Another letter.

With anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ hate rising in the UK and across the world, we’ve joined 38 LGBTQ+ organisations calling on the @EHRC to step up for our communities. #TogtherWithTrans

Read our open letter here: https://t.co/v7fjZV5IcY pic.twitter.com/f6PrAiJUTd

— Stonewall (@stonewalluk) May 18, 2021

The letter contains no surprises.

As leaders of trans and LGBTQ+ organisations we are writing to express our frustration and disappointment at the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) recent record on LGBTQ+ people’s rights and trans people’s rights specifically.

The emphasis is always on trans people. Why?

Probably because people are so easily bored. Lesbian, gay, that’s so last week – let’s have something fresher!

We are disappointed that, despite the realms of possibility to

Brilliant: another mosque in India demolished in defiance of the law. That will turn out well.

A local administration in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has defied a state high court order and bulldozed a mosque, in one of the most inflammatory actions taken against a Muslim place of worship since the demolition of the Babri Mosque by a mob of Hindu nationalist rioters in 1992.

That did not go well.

On Monday, police and security services moved into the area and cleared it of people, then brought in bulldozers and demolished the mosque buildings. Debris was then thrown into a river, according to images and local accounts. Security services have been deployed to prevent anyone coming within

The University of Melbourne.

The student union.

The women’s department of the student union of the University of Melbourne PRESENTS

Menstruation Beyond the Binary.

Oh goody I cannot wait. I am so sick of those selfish bitches – women – keeping menstruation all for themselves. There’s no privilege like cramps privilege! Feeling that uterus contract to expel the sludge is just the best damn thing, second only to the sheer fun of catching the sludge and then disposing of it without attracting attention or flies or anything else untoward.

You think I’m joking. No such luck. It’s two days from now.

The gendering of menstruation needs to stop, periodt.

I don’t know if “periodt” is a typo or some … Read the rest

Oh, one of those. Jeff gave Bill advice on how to get away from That Woman.

Bachelor sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein gave Bill Gates advice on ending his marriage with Melinda after the Microsoft co-founder complained about her during a series of meetings at the money manager’s mansion, according to two people familiar with the situation.

Gates used the gatherings at Epstein’s $77 million New York townhouse as an escape from what he told Epstein was a “toxic” marriage, a topic both men found humorous, a person who attended the meetings told The Daily Beast.

Bros before hos.

The people familiar with the matter said Gates found freedom in Epstein’s lair, where he met a rotating cast of bold-faced

Matt Gaetz’s buddy pleaded guilty.

Joel Greenberg, a former Florida tax collector and close confidant of Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, formally pleaded guilty on Monday morning to six federal charges in a court hearing, admitting to a federal judge that he had knowingly solicited and paid a minor for sex.

…

The guilty plea from Greenberg, a former Seminole County, Florida, tax commissioner, comes after he struck a deal with federal prosecutors to avoid some of the other 33 federal charges he had faced that ranged from identity theft to fraud and bribery allegations.

He sounds nice.

As part of the plea, Greenberg has agreed to give “substantial assistance” to prosecutors as part of their sprawling investigation, including

Foxkiller giving us our orders again.

Employers have a duty to protect their staff against bigotry. Replace "trans" with "gay" or "disabled" if you can't see why Maya's views are a problem. pic.twitter.com/eT3qxvGTQN

— Jo Maugham (@JolyonMaugham) May 9, 2021

Employers should protect staff from bigotry, yes, but what are we defining as “bigotry”? Foxie of course is defining not believing that men are women as “bigotry,” which is just silly. He doesn’t expect us to believe he’s a woman, so why does he expect us to believe other men are women simply because they say they are? He’s a lawyer ffs: surely lawyers are sharply aware that people often say things that are not true.

And no, replacing “trans” … Read the rest

Deborah Cameron has an interesting post about “a longstanding feminist bone of contention: the use of the terms ‘Miss’ and ‘Sir’ to address teachers in UK schools.”

You can see where the contention comes in: “Sir” ain’t comparable to “Miss.”

In other contexts the female address term analogous to ‘Sir’ is not ‘Miss’ but ‘Madam’ or ‘Ma’am’: though ‘madam’ has undergone some semantic derogation (it has acquired the specialised meaning ‘woman in charge of a brothel’), as an address term it retains a higher degree of formality and gravitas than ‘Miss’. That’s presumably why the related form ‘Ma’am’ has become the standard address term for senior female officers in the armed forces and the police. ‘Miss’ does not suggest deference

Bad.

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider a major rollback of abortion rights, saying it will decide whether states can ban abortions before a fetus can survive outside the womb.

The court’s order sets up a showdown over abortion, probably in the fall, with a more conservative court seemingly ready to dramatically alter nearly 50 years of rulings on abortion rights.

The court first announced a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion in the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and reaffirmed it 19 years later.

The case involves a Mississippi law that would prohibit abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy. The state’s ban had been blocked by lower courts as inconsistent with Supreme Court precedent that protects

Brenda Brooks at Feminist Current on the Oprah interview with Ellen “Elliott” Page:

I watched the Oprah interview with interest, hoping that Page might be encouraged to discuss the nature of the compelling urge that led to such a seminal modification in herself. I wondered: what were the specifics that define a woman or a man so clearly that altering one’s body to eliminate one set of discrepancies, and confirm others, made sense? A clear definition between the two would be required, wouldn’t it, in order to choose to go forward in life as one sex, rather than the other? Was transition a mostly psychological event, or primarily physical? I wondered what changes would occur in future relationships. Would