Charles Pierce on Murdochs and Foxes:

If I had to guess, I’d say that the lawyers having the most fun these days are the ones handling the defamation suit against the Fox News Channel and the extended Murdoch clan. Every now and then (most recently on Monday), they get to release another tranche of documents related to the case that make Fox look like the malevolent entity it always has been; that make the elite political journalists who have stood up for them over the years look like unusually useful idiots; and that make the Murdochs look like the invasive predatory species they are. This is a public service of immeasurable value. The lawyers must be convulsing with laughter

… Read the rest

The Guardian version:

A transgender woman found guilty of raping two women before transitioning has been jailed for eight years.

Is he a transgender woman though? Even in their terms? He “transitioned” after he was arrested. Does even the Guardian really think he really thinks he’s a woman?

Isla Bryson was convicted last month of raping two women – one in Clydebank in 2016 and one in Glasgow in 2019 – while still a man known as Adam Graham.

“while still a man” ffs. He didn’t magically change into a woman – he tried to get away with his sexual violence against women by claiming to be a woman.

She was found guilty of two charges of rape in

… Read the rest

ITV on that rapist fella:

A transgender rapist who raped two women has been jailed for eight years at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Isla Bryson, from Clydebank, was sentenced to eight years in prison with a further three years on licence.

…

The 31-year-old was convicted last month of raping two women: one in Clydebank in 2016; and one in Drumchapel, Glasgow, in 2019; committing the offences while known as Adam Graham.

That is, committing the crimes before changing his male name to a female one.

Bryson met both the victims online, with prosecutors saying Bryson “preyed” on vulnerable women.

The case sparked an uproar after Bryson was initially housed in an all-female prison before being moved to

… Read the rest

Trans epistemology:

Absolutely disgusting – this is hate speech. Constantly pitching trans women as male predators. This is why people get killed or receive death threats. If you work for Talk TV in any capacity and say nothing, you are complicit in putting trans people at risk. Disgraceful @TalkTV https://t.co/SCFGVDPoXk

— India Willoughby (@IndiaWilloughby) February 28, 2023

In trans epistemology, statements that trans women who are convicted of violent crime will be barred from female prisons = statements that trans women are male predators. In trans epistemology the limiting clause “who are convicted of violent crime” becomes invisible, so that the statement becomes simply “trans women will be barred from female prisons.” Mind you, that is what ought to happen, … Read the rest

Simon Edge on the Guardian’s dereliction of duty:

It's now 17 days since the media first reported on @hannahsbee's book Time to Think, which chronicles in detail the medical scandal that led to the closure of the UK's only child gender clinic, GIDS. It has been covered exhaustively in virtually every paper. Except the Guardian.

— Simon Edge (@simonjedge) February 28, 2023

If you fail to report on the biggest medical scandal of the century, even though the story is everywhere else, you are part of the cover-up. You are deliberately hiding the story from your readers, who may well treat you as their primary if not only news source.

This is inexcusable at the best of times, but

… Read the rest

The struggle continues. Why why why WHY won’t people remember to call this man “they” or “them” whenever they refer to him? WHY????

https://twitter.com/Dannny_K/status/1630298903735152640 https://twitter.com/Dannny_K/status/1630304000359759876

He’s not really beyond annoyed and upset though, he’s thrilled that he gets to rant in public about how oppressed and bullied he is because people can’t remember to call him “they.”… Read the rest

One piece of good news…or at least one piece of bad news finally thrown out.

https://twitter.com/FemmeLoves/status/1630267223238483968

That’s not all.

https://twitter.com/FemmeLoves/status/1630267227579482113 https://twitter.com/FemmeLoves/status/1630267233313202176

And…

https://twitter.com/FemmeLoves/status/1630345336249098241… Read the rest

Hoo-boy. Listen to this.

https://twitter.com/BillboardChris/status/1630044414352695296

“We give puberty blockers to cancer patients so obviously they’re fine for trans kids right??”

Yes, absolutely, that’s definitely the way medical treatments are managed: if it’s prescribed for one thing then it can be prescribed for a different thing. All medications are completely interchangeable! Yippeee!… Read the rest

"I don't believe Isla Bryson is truly, and genuinely, a trans woman".

SNP's @HumzaYousaf is asked about the transgender woman who was last month convicted of rape and held in a women's prison before being transferred to a men's estate.#Ridge https://t.co/ZoMhCmTrtv pic.twitter.com/JSHTMzsoAP

— Sophy Ridge on Sunday & The Take (@RidgeOnSunday) February 26, 2023

“Is Isla Bryson a man, or a woman?” Sophy Ridge asks.

Well I think Isla Bryson is at it if I’m honest, I think they’re a dangerous individual, a deceptive individual, I don’t think they’re a true trans woman, I think they’re trying to play the system for personal advantage; now what I can’t do, Sophie, is I can’t change law: the law, which has

… Read the rest

One of the funnier ledes of all time:

Sex education has been suspended in Isle of Man schools after a drag queen allegedly told 11-year-olds that there are 73 genders.

That’s what we’re calling “sex education” these days?

Parents of pupils at Queen Elizabeth II High School in Peel, on the Isle of Man, have reported that Year 7 pupils were taught by a drag queen who told them there are 73 genders. 

And who parodied women in the process. Why are drag queens teaching anything?

Some 11-year-olds at the school were taught about oral and anal sex, while another group learned about sex change operations and were shown how skin graft taken from a girl’s arm could be used

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Originally a comment by Sackbut on ACTUALLY you’re the racist.

This is a complicated issue to me.

I read what Adams said, and I think the way it’s being presented in the media is inaccurate. I don’t like Adams, I think he’s proven himself to be a jerk in oh so many ways, but I think that one quoted bit has a point, even if it’s a strained one.

I used to serve as a moderator on a couple of online discussion forums. One issue that came up frequently was whether to deal with individual posts or with patterns of behavior. For instance, to tell if Oswald is attacking Beatrice in violation of the rules, do we need to … Read the rest

Princeton historian Tera W. Hunter in The Nation:

When I was growing up, my Florida high school required me to endure a course called “Americanism vs. Communism.” I was hardly alone. Between 1962 and 1991, Florida mandated the class for all high school juniors or seniors in public schools. Each lesson had the same takeaway: “Americanism” was all good and “Communism” all bad.

No doubt an offspring of the House Unamerican Activities Committee. You’d think activities should be evaluated on their merits, right, not their location? It’s just dumb to label activities un-Swedish or un-Egyptian or un-Chinese or un-American. America has lots of activities, most of which it shares with other countries or land-masses – speaking of which, by … Read the rest

Boston Children’s Hospital again. They’re so creepy. So perky and cheery and soothing about the nightmare things they’re doing. “Many surgical centers require you to be eighteen,” [winsome tilt of head]; “at Boston Children’s Hospital for top surgery [bi-lateral mastectomy] we’ll see people as young as fifteen if they’ve been affirmed in their gender for a long period of time, and don’t really have any other life complications that make surgery inappropriate.”

https://twitter.com/BillboardChris/status/1630226502439800832

Any other life complications like being too fucking young???

She brags about Boston Children’s eagerness to mutilate 15-year-olds, in a gooey sincere caring voice that would lead you to think she’s going to make that bad owie go away right this minute.

Updating to add: Sorry, … Read the rest

Blasphemy hunts continue:

Four pupils have been suspended from a West Yorkshire secondary school after a copy of the Quran was damaged by students.

Wednesday’s incident at Wakefield’s Kettlethorpe High School happened when a copy of the Islamic text was brought in by a Year 10 pupil.

Head teacher Tudor Griffiths said the book remained intact and there was “no malicious intent” from those involved.

There is no shortage of copies of Islam’s holy book. It shouldn’t be a news story that one copy out of billions was “damaged.” You might as well fret that a newspaper got torn.

Maybe if people do it out of malice they should be told to stop bullying, but other than that, nothing … Read the rest

Elon launches another “Hooray for racism!!” into the world.

Twitter and Tesla chief Elon Musk defended Scott Adams, the under-fire creator of “Dilbert,” in a series of tweets Sunday, blasting media organizations for dropping his comic strip after Adams said that White people should “get the hell away from Black people.”

Replying to tweets about the controversy, Musk said it is actually the media that is “racist against whites & Asians.” He offered no criticism of Adams’s comments, in which the cartoonist called Black people a “hate group” and said, “I don’t want to have anything to do with them.”

He’s a busy man, he doesn’t have time to comment on what Adams said, he has time only … Read the rest

Originally a comment by tigger_the_wing on Questions of bodily autonomy.

Medicalisation of children, and the surgical removal of healthy body parts which are necessary for a full and healthy adult life, aren’t an issue of ‘bodily autonomy’; they’re an issue of bodily integrity. Adults should be protecting children from harmful physical interventions which are wholly unnecessary, and equally should be protecting them from an ideology which is telling them that they need those interventions in order to ever be happy again.

We allow children a say in medical and surgical interventions according to age and competence. My son had no say in the procedure to give him some hearing at the age of four months, so I had … Read the rest

She sums the mess up nicely.

@IMissHitchSlaps pointing out that George Orwell was right about the left and #RepealTheGRA #LetWomenSpeak @standingforxxhttps://t.co/sNJm3k3rMk pic.twitter.com/WClLy1oTUl

— Emily Wilding Davison (@Wommando) February 26, 2023

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Questions of bodily autonomy.

It’s interesting how they mention the anti-abortion laws, but those immediately fall away. It looks like abortion rights are like anti-racism; they have become a tool for trans to use for their own interests, to tie trans to unrelated activism in order to tie their issues to other issues that really are issues of rights.

Indeed. We saw TiM speakers at rallies, which were ostensibly protests against the overturning of Roe v Wade, turn the fight for abortion rights into a subsection of trans demands for “bodily autonomy.” Women’s rights pushed aside for boutique demands. To complete the hijacking of women’s platforms, captured orgs like the … Read the rest

Andrew Sullivan on the war on dissenters:

Five years ago when I wrote “We All Live On Campus Now,” I noted how illiberal practices that originated in elite colleges — bullying, ostracism, public condemnation, speech shutdowns, purges of dissenters — were becoming common in every sphere of life, super-charged by social media. From 2020 on, that dynamic has intensified, especially in journalism, with the media purges of 2020 lifted straight from the campus woke playbook.

And this week, we saw another campus maneuver: an open letter from a thousand or so New York Times contributors, accusing the NYT of “follow[ing] the lead of far-right hate groups” in its coverage of transgender issues. Other campus tactics: a loud

… Read the rest

But is it health care, or is it dangerous invasive tampering?

After a midterm election and record flow of anti-transgender legislation last year, Republican state lawmakers this year are zeroing in on questions of bodily autonomy with new proposals to limit gender-affirming health care and abortion access.

Calling it “gender-affirming health care” is tendentious at best. “Attempted sex-changing surgery and hormones” would be more accurate, though of course believers in the ideology would see it as an outrage.

You can’t change sex. You can change gender only if gender is being understood as entirely external and social, which is not how most people understand it. Either way it has nothing to do with health or health care. Assisting it … Read the rest