People planning to make new Harry Potter film with frogs playing all the parts.

Film producers are planning a woke version of the Harry Potter movies in which the magical characters will be played by transgender and non-binary actors.

Or frogs. Whichever demands the least money.

In what will be seen by many as a challenge to J.K. Rowling, who was attacked for questioning the claim that trans women are identical to biological women, the filmmakers are seeking a more diverse line-up for the starring roles.

They are insisting that some of the characters for the new versions – to be aired as a ‘web series’ – cannot be played by white actors, including the starring role of James

Dog friend/client and I walked around Green Lake this afternoon.… Read the rest

The noise issue:

Last month, I spent a cold morning wandering around Hampstead Heath, one of London’s largest green spaces, with a sound designer named Nicholas Allan. For many, the Heath is an escape. There are almost 800 acres of it: meadows and woodland, hollows and springs, hills and ponds.

I once lived in a bedsitter just off the Heath, so I spent a lot of time exploring it. There are several similarly vast parks in Seattle, which I spend a lot of time exploring.

In July, Allan awarded the Heath “Urban Quiet Park” status. He was acting on behalf of Quiet Parks International, or QPI, a non-profit based in Los Angeles that is “committed to saving quiet

Trump says white people can’t get the vaccination.

Trump says white people are being discriminated against on covid treatment: “If you’re white, you don’t get the vaccine or if you’re white you don’t get therapeutics .. In NY state, if you’re white, you go to the back of the line if you want help.” pic.twitter.com/QLgkC3VESk

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 16, 2022

Yeah let’s have that guy back.… Read the rest

Jo Grady, the very pro-trans and anti-feminist General Secretary of the University and College Union, agrees with the “auntie is an affectionate compliment” take.

Beyond all the other problems, aunties are very respected. likening an elder woman to an auntie is not a diss. It doesn’t even make sense.

— Jo Grady (@DrJoGrady) January 16, 2022

That’s an utterly stupid thing to say. If a student called Jo Grady “Granny” would she consider it a mark of respect?… Read the rest

Speaking of “aunties” who talk a lot of piffle that wise compassionate alert progressive young people know better than…

I have very vivid memories of how, whenever this happened, it would be narrated by men as "your mum/gran/aunt et. has gone off on one …" A bit of a joke, evidence of what a silly old bint the complainant was. >

— Victoria Smith (@glosswitch) January 15, 2022

It took me years to question this, and I think of it a lot now when I see the contempt many 'progressive' people have for mummies/aunts/older women in general. All silly women "off on one".

— Victoria Smith (@glosswitch) January 15, 2022

… Read the rest

School urges girls to wear “shapewear” to deal with body image issues. Mother not impressed.

So this is what my 8th grade daughter brought home from school today. I am beyond pissed, though I’m not sure if I’m more pissed at the fact that they had the “balls” to send this home or the VERY IGNORANCE of the “counselors” at the school.

So you begin this masterpiece detailing how damaging a negative body image is for girls, how the stress of conforming to an impossible perceived image can adversely affect their mental health, and then OFFER TO GIVE THEM SPANX SO THEY CAN BETTER FIT THE PERCEIVED IMAGE?!? What. The. Very. F@$&. How, in the hell, are you promoting

Cunning plan: give convicted rapists the option of joining the army instead of going to prison.

Brandon Scott Price, a former Kentucky jail guard convicted of sexually assaulting a female inmate, was recently told his one-year sentence would be probated (meaning no jail time) if he joined the US military. “You’re getting a huge break,” the male judge said. Price may have a little trouble enrolling, however, as an army spokesperson has said you’re not eligible for enlistment if you’re convicted for a sex offense. Which seems sensible since the military already has a massive sexual assault problem: female service members are reportedly more likely to be sexually assaulted by a colleague than shot by an enemy combatant at

She was out for an afternoon run by the canal.

Vigils are taking place across Ireland and the UK in memory of murdered 23-year-old teacher Ashling Murphy.

Irish police are continuing to hunt for the killer of Murphy, who was found dead on Wednesday after going for a run on the banks of the Grand Canal in Tullamore, County Offaly. The Garda Síochána said it had made “significant progress” in its investigation amid reports that detectives had identified a person of interest.

The canal. Canals are good places to walk and run. I seek them out, myself. There are canals here that link Lake Washington to Puget Sound; I like to walk along them. The first morning of my … Read the rest

Yeah. Women are either fuckable or My Auntie, i.e. old boring stupid wrong female woman.

"I liken JK Rowling to yet another middle-aged woman who does loads of stuff for me but whom I treat like a moron whenever I see fit" pic.twitter.com/8SqxYklrtW

— Victoria Smith (@glosswitch) January 15, 2022

She only wrote the thing that is the only reason anyone has ever heard of Rupert Grint let alone gives a shit what he thinks of her. Ungrateful misogynist little toad.… Read the rest

So now it’s your sexual preferences.

Lesbians are same sex attracted because of societal prejudices. Homosexuality more generally will existentially succumb to bisexuality.

So decree the gender overlords. The mad ruling class of gay rights. This is serious, the call is coming from within the house – the end of gay pic.twitter.com/C6CfIHXr9L

— Dennis Noel Kavanagh (@Jebadoo2) January 14, 2022

Yers it’s “rigid” to be either heterosexual or homosexual. Truly decent people are omnisexual, not that we’re judging you or anything, we’re just judging you.

Nobody should ever be pressured, but everybody should definitely be judged. Nancy Kelley is judging you.… Read the rest

I took my dog friend/client to Union Bay Natural Area this afternoon. It’s on top of what used to be a garbage dump but is now teeming with wildlife.

The trees were bare, unlike in this photo, but you can see what it’s like. On our way in I thought I saw an eagle perched up ahead then decided nah then decided oh, yes it is, and it was. Looking around, and then grooming under a wing. Cooper and I kept going after I watched the eagle for a while, and we were somewhere along this trail in the photo when I saw a couple of swans fly by, and then saw a whole group of them on the water. … Read the rest

Is it still 2015?

Let me be very clear – when I talk about making society and spaces safer for women, I mean ALL women. Big women, small women, short women, tall women, trans women.
Because trans women are women, and no amount of transphobic bile in my mentions is going to change that.

— Philip O'Connor (@philipoconnor) January 14, 2022

How original. ALL women, including men. Yes dear, we know, we’ve heard it before. We’ve replied before. It seems a bit dim to be saying that at this late date as if it were a brand new and interesting thought.

Also, big, small, short, tall, aren’t the same kind of modifier as “not.” Big and small women are of … Read the rest

Life with Lia:

The crux of the swimmers’ complaints is the biological advantage that Lia has over female teammates. The swimmers were promised competition between females, not men who want to be female. Yet, there’s also the matter of an apparently inflated ego.

“She compares herself to Jackie Robinson,” the female swimmer told me. “She said she is like the Jackie Robinson of trans sports.”

But Lia Thomas isn’t in trans sports. If he were there would be no problem. Lia Thomas has forced his way into women’s sports, thus ruining it for the women. He’s not the Jackie Robinson of trans sports, he’s the comet striking women’s sports.

“I try not to be around her because the whole

What a bizarre way to “make history.”

Munroe Bergdorf makes history as first transgender woman on Cosmopolitan UK cover https://t.co/HJwKv1LvTr

— The Independent (@Independent) January 14, 2022

… Read the rest

Accused.

Yesterday evening Professor James Treadwell, a criminologist at Staffordshire University, announced his dismay on Twitter at being accused of “transphobia”. The details are vague, even to him. He has not been presented with evidence and he doesn’t and may never know who has accused him. 

The issue is Professor Treadwell’s tweeting in favour of the right of female inmates to a single-sex prison estate. In a series of tweets on 27 December 2021, Professor Treadwell outlined his experience of the manipulative behaviour of violent sex offenders who will use loopholes to “game” the criminal justice system. He was clear that his tweets were not directed at the transgender community. He wrote:

“The idea that sex offenders are manipulative

Remember that story about the landslide last week? And that I added in a comment that one dog was killed and another was missing so probably also toast?

Well…

2400 block of Perkins Ln W: Firefighters found the dog alive and in stable condition! pic.twitter.com/ILsFbeDmrH

— Seattle Fire Dept. (@SeattleFire) January 13, 2022

… Read the rest

A breach in the defenses perhaps:

An upsurge in teenagers requesting hormones or surgeries to better align their bodies with their gender identities has ignited a debate among doctors over when to provide these treatments.

An international group of experts focused on transgender health last month released a draft of new guidelines, the gold standard of the field that informs what insurers will reimburse for care.

How about informing the well-being of the patient first?

A new chapter dedicated to adolescents says that they must undergo mental health assessments and must have questioned their gender identity for “several years” before receiving drugs or surgeries.

How about questioning the very idea of “gender identity”? How about not treating it as … Read the rest

Oath Keepers guy charged with sedition.

Stewart Rhodes, the leader and founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, was arrested on Thursday and charged with seditious conspiracy for organizing a wide-ranging plot to storm the Capitol last Jan. 6 and disrupt the certification of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s electoral victory, federal law enforcement officials said.

I think that might be a fairly serious crime.

The arrest of Mr. Rhodes was a major step forward in the sprawling investigation of the Capitol attack and the case marked the first time that prosecutors had filed charges of sedition.

…

The Oath Keepers, along with the Proud Boys, have emerged as the most prominent far-right extremists to have taken part in the