So now I know this is a thing.

Sigh. President of Humanists UK.

New paper out today: Fair and Safe Eligibility Criteria for Women's Sport: The Proposed Testing Regime Is Not Justified, Ethical, or Viable@RugbyGeneStudy @stebbina coauthored by me, @BlairH_PhD @JonathanOspinaB @SGollishRuns et al.

+ Linked rebuttal.https://t.co/2mWZbfbr5n

— Dr Adam Rutherford (@AdamRutherford) November 4, 2024

I guess women aren’t human enough.… Read the rest

Hmm.

Iowa.

I was waiting outside the PNC Music Pavilion in Charlotte, North Carolina after Vice President Kamala Harris’s rally when my phone started to blow up. Ann Selzer, the vaunted pollster of Iowa, had just dropped a poll showing that Harris was leading Trump by three points in the Hawkeye State — a state Trump had won twice. Everyone in the political world wanted to talk about it.

The Trump campaign knew how bad this news looked. Tony Fabrizio and Tim Saler, the Trump campaign’s data men, released a memo challenging the findings almost immediately.

Not long afterwards, a New York Times/Siena College poll showed Harris leading in North Carolina, as well as Georgia, Nevada and Wisconsin.

Wait a second.

I’m reading an article about heterodoxy and how goony both the left and the right can be and yadda yadda but then I stumble to a stop.

Until recently, within the heterodox slice of the cultural spectrum, opposition to Trump was the obvious response to his singularly reckless and destabilizing political presence. The number of self-described centrist “Never Trumpers”—starting with Trump’s current running mate, who once compared him in this magazine to “cultural heroin”—were legion. But as the race tightened in recent months, I’ve been struck by a palpable shift in attitude among many liberal and centrist voices—a slackening of vigilance, and a softening on Trump.

This is not to be confused with the 180-degree pivot of

So. It’s in the news that Imane Khelif is indeed a man. Also, dogs can’t read.

Remember the man who won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing?

His medical reports show he has XY chromosomes, male testosterone levels, testicles, & a micropenis.

But that never mattered—they believe that words & feelings make you woman, not biology.https://t.co/Ip8KLvEt6S

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) November 4, 2024

Maybe now men will stop saying women should be beaten up for saying a man is not a woman?

No, of course not, now it will be women should be beaten up for getting it right too early, kind of like the premature anti-fascists of last century.… Read the rest

Baddy Kennedy in charge of public health: now there’s a plan.

Donald Trump suggested vaccines could be banned if he becomes president, in the clearest sign yet of a radical shake-up in public health policy should he put his ally Robert F Kennedy Jr in charge of it.

Trump on Sunday told NBC that Kennedy, the anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist and former independent candidate who dropped out and endorsed Trump, would have a “big role in the administration” if [he] wins Tuesday’s presidential election. Trump said he would talk to Kennedy about vaccinations.

Why? Why talk to Dumb Kennedy about vaccinations? He’s not a doctor or a researcher so why talk to him? Why treat a public health issue as … Read the rest

Trump is publicly saying he thinks “leaving” after losing an election is optional. In other words he’s saying that if you lose a re-election it’s up to you whether you “leave” or not. He’s wrong. If you lose a re-election then leaving is mandatory. That’s the point of the election.

By the way there are other situations where leaving is mandatory. Say friends invite you over for dinner. At some point after the dinner part, you have to leave. Inviting you over for dinner is not the same as inviting you to move in. There is some wiggle-room – in fact it would be bad form to swallow your final bite and then immediately rise and head for the door. … Read the rest

Trump in cognitive decline:

When I say insane asylums, and then I say, Doctor Hannibal Lecter, does anybody know? They go crazy. They say, oh, he brings up these names out of— Well, that’s genius. Right. Doctor Hannibal Lecter. There’s nobody worse than him. Silence of the Lambs. Who the hell else would even remember that? I have a great memory, but they always hit me. I don’t bring it up too much because they have to take such a— he brought up Hannibal Lecter. What does that have to do with this? What is it? It has everything to do with it, right? He was – that’s who we’re allowing into our country, and, we don’t want to allow

Originally a comment by Mostly Cloudy on It’s more than just a habit, it’s an aesthetic.

It does make me laugh that the article says today’s teenagers and twentysomethings are taking up smoking to “rebel”.

This is a generation that panics when someone uses the term “adult human female”.

This is a generation that bullies a writer (Elizabeth Gilbert) into withdrawing a book that’s set in Russia in the 1900s, because they think that the book is somehow pro-Putin.

This is a generation that has “challenging” books removed from their university courses because the rich little snowflakes are so easily triggered.

“Rebel?” The majority of today’s youth are conformist, philistine and easily offended. Somehow, we’ve raised a generation of … Read the rest

From the Sheer Unadulterated Stupidity Files: Hay kidz smoaking iz bakk.

…singers, actors and influencers seem to be bringing smoking back into vogue – quite literally, with cigarettes making a return as on the New York Fashion Week runways earlier this year as accessories.

So, why are cigarettes being glamorised again?

Lucy, a 20-year-old university student, says she took up smoking recently because “it’s just what everyone does”. Almost all her friends also smoke and she says it’s more than just a habit, it’s an aesthetic.

“I definitely think everyone trying to be brat has influenced people to start smoking because Charli herself says you have to have a pack of cigs if you really want to embody the

The NY Times editorial board concisely sums up the bad guy:

You already know Donald Trump. He is unfit to lead. Watch him. Listen to those who know him best. He tried to subvert an election and remains a threat to democracy. He helped overturn Roe, with terrible consequences. Mr. Trump’s corruption and lawlessness go beyond elections: It’s his whole ethos. He lies without limit. If he’s re-elected, the G.O.P. won’t restrain him. Mr. Trump will use the government to go after opponents. He will pursue a cruel policy of mass deportations. He will wreak havoc on the poor, the middle class and employers. Another Trump term will damage

OutKick reports:

As OutKick reported earlier Saturday, San Jose State suspended associate head volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose. 

The university sent a statement to OutKick confirming the news, but did not provide a reason. “The associate head coach of the San Jose State University women’s volleyball team is not with the team at this time, and we will not provide further information on this matter.” 

Batie-Smoose filed a Title IX complaint against the school earlier this week alleging that San Jose State showed favoritism for transgender player Blaire Fleming at the expense of the women on the team. 

Following her suspension, Batie-Smoose spoke exclusively to OutKick. 

“We had a match today at 12 p.m. [Pacific Time] versus New Mexico.

Want to play the most boring game on the planet?

Iiiiiiiit’s Pronouns Pairs!

The Scouts have been encouraged to use gender-neutral language and to drop the terms “mum and dad”. Members have been encouraged to guide children through a card game called “Pronoun Pairs”, which has been devised as a way of teaching them about gender identity.

The game uses the character of “Billy the Butterfly” who is “non-binary” to introduce LGBTQI+ concepts to children.

If Billy is “non-binary” why the fuck is his name Billy? Why not Leslie or Alex or Terry?

The game, which has been branded “indoctrination” by critics, coaches youngsters to use gender-neutral pronouns, and a post-game reflection led by older Scouts suggests other ways in

Originally a comment by Acolyte of Sagan on The non-optional communinny.

The guide references the BSA, so it’s now out of date. After 114 years of being the Boy Scouts of America the name has recently been changed to Scouting America. I only know this from a Telegraph article about the Scouts (no longer Boy Scouts) in the UK being taught about pronouns use by means of a card game, Pronoun Pairs. The whole thing is ridiculous.

[The game] suggests “using ‘sibling’ rather than ‘brother or sister’, ‘everyone’ instead of ‘ladies and gentlemen’ or ‘boys and girls’”. It adds: “You could use ‘parent’, ‘carer’ or ‘grown-up’ rather than ‘mum and dad’.”

I can see that going down well … Read the rest

Behold: a guide to “inclusive scouting”:

A framework for advancing inclusion and belonging that is rooted in the Scout Oath and Law can guide our actions as we move between the different kinds of knowing. But what other guidelines and actions can facilitate inclusion and belonging in alignment with these values? In this section, we offer best-practices and guidelines to help further advance inclusion and belonging in our movement.

…

Meet people where they are. Given the discriminatory history of the BSA, chances are high that not everyone is committed to advancing inclusion and belonging in our movement. Those people are who we should be striving to speak with the most! It is important that we create opportunities for

The Guardian insults us and tries to deceive us yet again.

Imara Jones was filming a documentary on a road trip in California when she took a break to scroll the news. A story about state lawmakers in Idaho banning transgender girls from playing on female sports teams at public schools caught her attention; it was the second anti-trans legislation that Jones had seen passed in 2020. She turned to her producer and told her that they needed to look into “this anti-trans stuff”. 

The Guardian lies to us in the very first sentence. Imara Jones is a man: he took a break to scroll the news.

A year later, Jones launched her podcast The Anti-Trans Hate Machine: A Plot

Thanks, Guardian. Even when talking about women’s safety, do be sure to include a man who pretends to be a woman, despite the fact that that kneecaps the whole issue.

Saoirse Ronan’s comment about women’s safety on The Graham Norton Show has gone viral after she said using a phone as a weapon is something “girls have to think about all the time”. Ronan later said the reaction has been “wild” and that the moment was “opening a conversation”.

Here, six women tell us what they think about the comments and how they feel about women’s safety.

Except it’s actually five women plus one man for the sake of inclooooooooosion. Which is like having one tiger in a … Read the rest

If the union won’t stand up for women, women will walk. Janice Turner in The Times:

[Lisa] Lockey, 51, is one of five Darlington nurses in dispute with their NHS trust over its policy of allowing a trans-identified male colleague to use female changing rooms. When the health secretary, Wes Streeting, heard they were suing for sexual harassment and sex discrimination he was “horrified” and offered to meet them. Last week they travelled to London where he heard their concerns, including those of a nurse who has PTSD after being sexually abused as a child.

This meeting incensed North. It was “deeply concerning”, he tweeted, “that Wes Streeting appears to be once again pandering to anti-trans bigotry”. Three

Originally a comment by tigger_the_wing on The rules of play.

From the Cass review and various whistleblowers, we can be pretty sure that the castrations are a punishment for the crime of being a little boy who displays all the behaviours associated with a high likelihood of becoming a gay man after puberty. As has been announced in the Westminster parliament, the Tavistock clinic, who were brought little gender-nonconforming children by their panicking homophobic parents, and egged on by the homophobic sociopaths of Mermaids and Stonewall, were openly ‘transing the gay away’.

My siblings and I, and our children, and my grandchildren, were allowed to play with whatever toys we wished. As the meme says, if the toy isn’t … Read the rest

Anne Applebaum on the “vermin” trope:

The word vermin, as a political term, dates from the 1930s and ’40s, when both fascists and communists liked to describe their political enemies as vermin, parasites, and blood infections, as well as insects, weeds, dirt, and animals. The term has been revived and reanimated, in an American presidential campaign, with Donald Trump’s description of his opponents as “radical-left thugs” who “live like vermin.”

This language isn’t merely ugly or repellent: These words belong to a particular tradition. Adolf Hitler used these kinds of terms often. In 1938, he praised his compatriots who had helped “cleanse Germany of all those parasites who drank at the well of the despair of the Fatherland and