If you’re going to put people in very tall buildings, you need to make sure those buildings are safe.

A damning report on a deadly London high-rise fire concluded Wednesday that decades of failures by government, regulators and industry turned Grenfell Tower into a “death trap” where 72 people lost their lives.

The public inquiry into the 2017 blaze found no “single cause” of the tragedy, but said a combination of dishonest companies, weak or incompetent regulators and complacent government led the building to be covered in combustible cladding that turned a small apartment fire into the deadliest blaze on British soil since World War II.

…

The search for answers focused on a refurbishment completed in 2016 that

CNN on Musk’s lying and bullying:

On Monday, Musk posted an AI-generated image on his social media platform that depicted Harris as a communist, wearing a red uniform complete with hammer and sickle emblazoned hat.

Musk, who has endorsed former President Donald Trump for president and poured millions into a super PAC supporting the Republican, captioned the image with the false assertion, “Kamala vows to be a communist dictator on day one. Can you believe she wears that outfit!?”

The image, which appeared to violate X’s policy on manipulated content, resembled an AI-generated image posted by Trump last month during the Democratic National Convention, envisioning Harris addressing a crowd under communist symbols.

Musk’s post came a day after he shared another post with a

Multiple tiers. Joan Smith writes:

A childminder is facing a prison sentence for threatening asylum seekers in a social media post. Lucy Connolly, 41, who pleaded guilty to stirring up racial hatred, has been remanded in custody and told to expect a “substantial custodial sentence” when she next appears in court.

“Mass deportation now, set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards for all I care […] if that makes me racist, so be it,” she wrote.

A horrible thing to say, no question, but she deleted it and apologized – Joan says “quickly” but we don’t know if that means in seconds or minutes or hours.

On the other hand, violent assault is not ambiguous.… Read the rest

Without brazen lies, where would this “movement” be?

“Tearful transgender athlete Valentina Petrillo unrepentant amid Paralympics scandal”

What would “she” have to be repentant for, asks “Zinnia.” Disingenuous question. For being a man cheating a woman by competing in a women’s race, as he knows perfectly well.

Nobody is expecting him to apologize for existing. Lying about what sex you are is not a synonym for “existing.” Lying about what sex you are is lying about what sex you are.

Nobody is expecting him to apologize for participating in society, either. Of course he can participate in society. What he can’t reasonably or fairly do is participate in society as a woman.

And in conclusion, calling him unapologetic is … Read the rest

Here we go again. We’re not allowed to have opinions because opinions interfere with communninny coheesion. The only way to have communninny coheesion is for everyone to agree on everything all the time.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has said the Government is “actively considering” its approach to islamophobia in devising a full definition following far-right riots.

Ms Rayner, also the Communities Secretary, criticised the previous government for “stoking division” as she pledged to address issues of community cohesion.

I hate to tell her but Rayner is stoking division by trying to tell people what they’re allowed to say and think and dislike.

In 2019, the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on British Muslims devised a definition of islamophobia as

Originally a comment by Rev David Brindley on Backing the bullies.

@C… – tell me you’re a RWNJ without telling me you’re a RWNJ.

Is it red or blue states in the USA banning books? Interfering with elections? Purging voter rolls on spurious grounds?

Which nation has greater freedom of speech – UK or Turkey?

Which nation treats its citizens more equally – France or Iran?

Which nation is more likely to invade a neighbor – Russia or Germany?

Almost every advance in human rights has come about by the hard work and unrelenting focus on our shared humanity by those on the Left. The Right has fought us every step of the way, gassed us, bashed us, murdered … Read the rest

Trump and Musk v the working class:

Since the tech billionaire endorsed Trump on July 13, the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris has repeatedly attacked Musk for his anti-worker stances. The campaign has called Musk and Trump “self-obsessed rich guys” and reposted audio from an event on Musk’s social media app, X, in which the two laugh together about firing striking workers. 

Then there was the live one-on-one discussion on X, which Trump’s campaign billed as “the interview of the century.” Partway through the two-hour event, Trump brought up how much he admires Musk’s handling of labor unions. 

“I look at what you do. You walk in and you just say, ‘You wanna quit?’” Trump

Gee yes why would I not think Elon Musk is an admirable guy despite our different political orientations?

Kamala vows to be a communist dictator on day one. Can you believe she wears that outfit!? https://t.co/Anu9tKQHXN pic.twitter.com/ISKFXYnSon

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 2, 2024

The “outfit” is of course fake.… Read the rest

Cheered me up for the moment.

Trying to persuade people that a deranged man should not be running the USA for the next four years is not a laughing matter https://t.co/Asc6KdTQWC

— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) September 3, 2024

… Read the rest

Why are men?

A man has gone on trial in France for repeatedly drugging and raping his wife as well as arranging for dozens of other men to rape her. The defendant, named as 71-year-old Dominique P, is accused of recruiting strangers online to come to his home and sexually assault the victim for over a decade.

…

Police identified at least 92 rapes committed by 72 men. Fifty were identified and charged and are standing trial alongside the husband.

The victim, now 72, only learnt of the abuse in 2020 after being informed by police. The trial will be “a horrible ordeal” for her, said her lawyer Antoine Camus, as it will be the first time she sees video

Interesting in what sense, creepy guy?

Interesting observation https://t.co/xHD5VeS1IC

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 1, 2024

Onlee hi stattus men kno how to think good.

Such an interesting observation.… Read the rest

Musk is more evil and alarming than I had realized.

Elon Musk is rapidly transforming his enormous wealth – he’s the richest person in the world – into a huge source of unaccountable political power that’s now backing Trump and other authoritarians around the world.

Musk owns X, formerly known as Twitter. He publicly endorsed Donald Trump last month. Before that, Musk helped form a pro-Trump super political action committee. Meanwhile, the former US president has revived his presence on the X platform.

Musk just hired a Republican operative with expertise in field organizing to help with get-out-the-vote efforts on behalf of Trump.

…

At least eight times in the past 10 months, Musk has prophesied a future civil

Oliver Brown is icily clear:

“This was a dream,” says Valentina Petrillo, who today became a Paralympic sprinter at the age of 51, “that I had since I was a little girl.” Except this is an athlete who was never a little girl in the first place. The Italian is a father-of-two who was still competing at 45 as a male, who won national titles in men’s track and field, and whose self-portrayal in 2021 was of a “tough guy who would speak dismissively of women, who would have given you the idea he was sexist”. And yet on Monday morning at the Stade de France, Petrillo, courtesy of institutional cowardice at every level, lined up in the

Another one from the “let’s build a house in an area prone to drought/tornadoes/earthquakes/wildfire and have a blissful life forever after” file.

Perched atop a majestic cliff, Rancho Palos Verdes is a stunning city by the sea. Those who live here do so for the grand views of the ocean, the lush valleys, the breeze that sweeps away the heat of the sun.

But the scene on this peninsula 30 miles south of downtown Los Angeles comes with a caveat. Underneath the multimillion-dollar homes is a large complex of landslides. Every day, the ground moves.

That’s some “caveat.” The earth under your house is constantly sliding – no big deal.

For a long time, that movement was so glacial —

The BBC somehow manages to talk about it while not talking about it.

Mariuccia Quilleri, a lawyer and athlete who has represented a number of fellow athletes who opposed Petrillo’s participation in women’s races, said inclusion had been chosen over fairness and “there is not much more we can do”.

Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Ukraine Oksana Boturchuk, who is racing in the semi-final heats, said: “I find this not fair, in my opinion. I am not against transgenders in general but in this situation I do not understand and don’t support it.”

Inclusion of what? Fairness to whom? What are “transgenders in general”?

It’s not an accident, this constant lack of specificity. They do it on purpose because they do … Read the rest

So let’s take a look at this “Valentina” Petrillo issue.

The Guardian of course does the usual –

Transgender sprinter Valentina Petrillo reaches 400m semi-finals on Paralympic debut

Tactfully concealing the relevant fact: he’s a man in the women’s semi-finals.

• Italian sprinter qualifies for T12 400m semi-finals
• ‘For me, it’s the realisation of history’

For women, it’s the realisation of being cheated.

The Italian transgender sprinter Valentina Petrillo said that her debut at the Paralympic Games was “the realisation of history” after she qualified for the semi-finals of the T12 400m on Monday.

Petrillo, 51, finished second in her heat at the Stade de France, but qualified for the semi-finals as one of the four fastest runners-up. She said that

Well of course he does.

I defend trans paralympic athlete Valentina Petrillo

The sports governing body says her testosterone levels are low enough to compete alongside women

Since she transitioned, she's lost energy, strength & male advantage. Her body shape & size is similar to non-trans women https://t.co/1OwsWfUqiv

— Peter Tatchell (@PeterTatchell) September 2, 2024

Just sit down and shut up, Peter. You’re not the boss of women. You don’t get to tell women it’s tough shit when some man decides to invade their sport and destroy their chances. It’s obviously unfair and we shouldn’t have to see you gloating about it like the woman-hating pig you are. Just sit down.… Read the rest

Robin DiAngelo has hit a bump in the road. It’s about goddam time. Hadley Freeman writes:

Last week DiAngelo was accused of plagiarism. To understand why that’s interesting, you need to know that DiAngelo is the most successful anti-racism trainer in the world. Her book White Fragility: Why It’s so Hard for White People to Talk about Race became a blockbuster bestseller in 2020, after Floyd’s murder.

And of course she donated most of the profits to anti-racism efforts by non-white people, right? Right?

Nah, we know she didn’t. We’ve talked about her massively successful grift before.

She charged up to $20,000 to hold anti-racism workshops at companies like Microsoft and Google, where — in the words of one

More on the bullying and persecution of Jenny Lindsay:

A series of often dumbfounding reports over recent days about the crisis in Creative Scotland included a revelation that shows why the organisation must be closed, immediately.

In June, Lindsay announced the forthcoming publication of her book Hounded, which examines the troubling modern phenomena of women being bullied out of jobs and public life for expressing views about gender and sex that don’t align with voguish opinion.

Five years ago, Lindsay – then one of the country’s leading performance poets – publicly called out a trans-identifying male writer for urging attacks on lesbians at a Pride march. Thanks to the bestupiding effects of trans ideology, Lindsay was swiftly identified among

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Blame feminists.

What has Western society *overall* been able to do?

Saudi Arabia (and any other state that enshrines in law the subordination and oppression of women) should be a pariah state the way South Africa was under apartheid. But, as in many other instances, geopolitics trumps human rights, unless the human rights abuse can be turned to tactical geopolitical advantage and used to embarass an opponent. Saudi Arabia sits on top of an ocean of oil, so it gets a pass because oil. But given many cultures’ blindness to sexism (as opposed to racism, which “everybody” knows is “bad,” such that most try to keep their racist thoughts private … Read the rest