Rebecca Solnit summarizes the danger:

The crisis isn’t just that we had a coup attempt almost a year ago, but that the Republican party has itself become so venal, so corrupt, so ruthless in its quest for power, that it seems assured that we will see further attempts to overrule any election outcomes they don’t like. Already the kind of election laws they’ve pushed across the country seem aimed at such goals, and voter suppression has long been one of their anti-democratic tactics (it played a substantial role in Trump’s 2016 win, and the genuine illegitimacies of that election – foreign interference, anomalies the recount might have uncovered had the Republicans not stopped it – were appropriated as

… Read the rest

American bro goes on rant shocker.

American man @SethAbramson goes on rant against @jk_rowling for daring to speak out against grotesque situation in Scotland where male-bodied person who has used their penis to rape a woman can demand to be considered femalehttps://t.co/ttElkiI28C

— Susan Dalgety (@DalgetySusan) December 13, 2021

One, what’s that “(alleged)” doing there? You don’t need an “alleged” in a hypothetical! There is no alleged rapist who is going to sue you for calling him a rapist, because this is a hypothetical, so the words are general, not particular.

Two, wtf is a trans rapist? Someone who identifies as a rapist without actually raping? The issue is actual convicted rapists, not men who say they’re rapists when … Read the rest

Oh that’s okay, rape statistics don’t matter.

Police have been criticised for saying they will record rapes by offenders with male genitalia as being committed by a woman if the attacker “identifies as a female”.

Gee why would anyone criticize them for that?

The move, reported by The Scottish Sun on Sunday, comes ahead of proposed new laws to make it easier for people to self-identify as whichever sex they want, which are opposed by some feminist groups.

Feminists are funny that way. We think that only women are women, and that men (as it says on the label) are men.

MacAskill, who is the Alba party MP for East Lothian, having defected from the SNP, said: “As

… Read the rest

Letting us all know she’s not backing down and not going away.

War is Peace.
Freedom is Slavery.
Ignorance is Strength.
The Penised Individual Who Raped You Is a Woman.https://t.co/SyxFnnboM1

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 12, 2021

… Read the rest

Guardian columnist John Harris muses on the contempt for other people displayed by Boris Johnson:

There are two elements to all this: one is Johnson’s Trumpish disdain for some of the most basic components of our democracy – the rule of law, scrutiny of the executive, an independent BBC (which he is now lashing out at yet again). The other is bound up with the prime minister’s apparently dim and disrespectful view of his fellow human beings – which, as revelations about Downing Street parties pile up, is now at the heart of our politics.

Both of those are Trumpish though. They’re very alike, but also very different – Trump entirely lacks that Etonian posh boy vibe … Read the rest

What I keep saying. People pretend to be concerned about global warming but they go right on taking cruises and trips involving air travel and buying SUVs and gigantic yachts.

… the superyacht industry is booming – and the number of vessels under construction or on order worldwide has hit a new record. According to figures revealed in the latest edition of Boat International’s Global Order Book, more than 1,200 superyachts are slated to be built – a rise of 25% on last year.

That’s ok. The people who are struggling to stay alive 50 years from now will have every sympathy with contemporary people who just need a little recreation.

“The market’s never been busier,” said Will Christie,

… Read the rest

If a rapist identifies as a woman that rapist is a woman so SHUT UP TERFS, say the police.

Police have been criticised for saying they will record rapes by offenders with male genitalia as being committed by a woman if the attacker “identifies as a female”.

Rape is a thing men do to women. Women can’t return the favor even if they want to, because women don’t have the right equipment. In other news, crime statistics should be accurate as opposed to fanciful.

Police Scotland said that they would log rapes as being carried out by a woman if the accused person insists, even if they have not legally changed gender.

Oh well if the rapist insists he’s … Read the rest

This made me sit up and take notice.

Please understand this point. Both Sophie and I are bound by institutional policies about misgendering. We are here under our real names. The targeting of us – the desire to get us disciplined or sacked for breaking those policies – is real. https://t.co/csQtvUMbmC

— Jon Pike (@runthinkwrite) December 11, 2021

The point is to say don’t push academics to use “the wrong” pronouns, but if you stop to think more about it your hair stands on end. Universities have institutional policies about something absurdly called “misgendering”? Universities have institutional policies that forbid referring to people by what we’ve all learned from infancy is the natural intuitive unforced way to refer to people? … Read the rest

#PennCheats

https://twitter.com/coachblade/status/1469712718894673931… Read the rest

Another “no she’s the evil person” open letter:

Dancers who accused a leading choreographer of transphobia have claimed she has jeopardised their safety by publicising her resignation.

She was supposed to go quietly.

Earlier this week, the choreographer said she could not “endure this humiliation any longer” and spoke to the media about her decision to resign.

However, in an open letter seen by the BBC, the dancers claim that, by going public, Kay has caused “potential detriment to our careers”.

Why would that be? Oh, because their bullying was shameful? But then the detriment is their doing, not hers. If your behavior can’t stand publicity then that could indicate the behavior is bad behavior. Maybe the dancers … Read the rest

New Zealand passes a law making it easier to carry fake proof of identity.

Parliament has unanimously passed a sex self-identification law which will make it easier to amend a person’s sex on their birth certificates.

…

Once law, it will mean transgender, intersex, gender diverse, and takatāpui people will no longer need proof of medical treatment or a Family Court declaration to change the sex listed on their birth certificate, but instead apply for it to be changed on the basis of how they identify.

“Today is a day about inclusion–having the right to have a birth certificate that reflects who you know yourself to be,” Internal Affairs Minister Jan Tinetti said, during the third reading of the bill

… Read the rest

The administration strongly advises them to keep their filthy slutty bitchy greedy mouths shut or else.

Even after a Wednesday team meeting where a source says Penn administration “strongly advised” its swimmers to avoid talking to the media about the situation surrounding transgender Penn swimmer Lia Thomas, a second female Penn swimmer has stepped forward to speak out via an exclusive interview with OutKick.

Now why would the administration lean on them to shut up about it? The administration would doubtless say “Because transphobia!!” but that’s just virtuespeak for “Because we know how this looks.” The administration doesn’t want the cheated swimmers to tell the media how angry and frustrated they are about being cheated.

The second female Penn

… Read the rest

As Anna reminds us, Weimar Germany did have a sexuality institute which the Nazis did destroy. Wikipedia:

The Institut für Sexualwissenschaft was an early private sexology research institute in Germany from 1919 to 1933. The name is variously translated as Institute of Sex Research, Institute of Sexology, Institute for Sexology or Institute for the Science of Sexuality. The Institute was a non-profit foundation situated in Tiergarten, Berlin. It was headed by Magnus Hirschfeld, who since 1897 had run the Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee (‘Scientific-Humanitarian Committee’), which campaigned on progressive and rational grounds for LGBT rights and tolerance.

But it didn’t call it that, one because that’s not German and two because there was no such … Read the rest

It’s in the Daily Mail. Maybe that’s because knowing that men are not women is a loathsome far-right opinion – or maybe it’s because journalism to the left of the Daily Mail has lost its fucking mind.

UPenn trans swimmer Lia Thomas broke her silence on Thursday in response to the widespread outrage over her smashing women’s swim records and praised the controversial IOC rules for transgender athletes.

He’s lost muscle, he’s lost strength – but he still has more than women so hahaha bitches. He says it’s totally fair.

An anonymous female swimmer at UPenn gave an explosive interview to sports website OutKick on Thursday expressing her fury and frustration, and how she and most of her female

… Read the rest

latsot alerts us to a useful Twitter thread.

https://twitter.com/ox_fem/status/1469152679138107394

There are no images or other toys so I’ll just quote the rest of it.

Firstly, I’d need to know that there was actually research being done on the effects of the policy, particularly wrt those most likely to be affected by the loss of sex as a clearly defined category (women, gay people, anyone affected by safeguarding procedures).

I’d need to know it was somehow possible to gather and analyse these data reliably, despite the confusion between sex and gender. I’d want to see the data tracking patterns over a long time period to monitor societal changes.

I’d want to see that there hadn’t been an increase in crime against

… Read the rest

India Willoughby is appropriating the Nazi persecution of lesbian and gay people to himself.

Excuse me? I think you’ll find the nazis hated trans people. They burnt down the world’s leading trans research institute and made us wear pink triangles before being sent to the camps.

— India Willoughby (@IndiaWilloughby) December 10, 2021

The Nazis made gay men wear pink triangles.

But then I see from who you’re following you’re a Terf. So of course you’re going to distort the truth. The Nazis loved trans as much as Terfs do https://t.co/m0nBvHS97N

— India Willoughby (@IndiaWilloughby) December 10, 2021

There was no such thing as an “LGBTQ” library in Nazi Germany. The category did not exist. India doesn’t call himself a … Read the rest

Ah yes people who object to men stealing sporting wins from women are “nasty” and to be shrugged off. Shrug shrug shruggity shrug, bitches. The Daily Beast:

A trans university swimmer attacked by right-wing media for smashing records in her first meet as a woman says she expected some “pushback” but has chosen not to “engage” in the nasty online debate.

The scare-quotes should be on “as a woman” not “engage.” There’s no such thing as “as a woman.” If you’re not a woman then you’re not a woman; you don’t get to take women’s stuff by saying you’re doing it “as a woman.”

Over the weekend, Lia Thomas—now a member of the University of Pennsylvania women’s swim team

… Read the rest

Oh yes, completely fair, nothing to dispute here.

https://twitter.com/coachblade/status/1469279036073467907

Being male is a proven unfair advantage in competing against women.

I daresay “Lia” Thomas would see the point if one or two or six other men decided they were most comfortable competing against him and the dwindling number of women who got that far.… Read the rest

Another target.

https://twitter.com/mara_yamauchi/status/1469015820063973382

She’s not wrong though.

https://twitter.com/mara_yamauchi/status/1468897487201185794

This is the recipe. No debate or engagement. Just labels & threats. This is how pressure is exerted and it’s why it’s so difficult for women to stand up for their rights & voice their (legitimate) concerns & opinions. It makes @mara_yamauchi’s public stance even more commendable

— Ross Tucker (@Scienceofsport) December 9, 2021

… Read the rest

Matt Gaetz and Steve Bannon tell us up front that they plan to take over the country.

Former White House adviser Steve Bannon and GOP Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida want some “4,000 shock troops” to get ready to take control of the federal government if Donald Trump decides to run for president again and wins in 2024.

…

During a segment of Bannon’s War Room podcast on Thursday, he and Gaetz discussed a pro-Trump strategy to take full control of the government should the former president win in 2024.

Gaetz said that “sometimes you’ve got to raise your voice to raise a ruckus and to raise an army of patriots who love this country and will fight for

… Read the rest