Is it goodbye Don at last?

Democrat Kamala Harris has surged ahead of Republican Donald Trump, 48%-43%, a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll found.

The findings reflect an eight-point turnaround in the presidential race from late June, when Trump had led President Joe Biden in the survey by nearly four points.

…

“I think people are cautiously optimistic that they’re going to have a lot better chance with Harris than they would have had with Biden going head-to-head with Trump,” said Amy Hendrix, 46, of Fort Worth. An independent who usually votes Democratic, she was among those called in the poll. “I’m very excited to vote for a woman, and that’s just the truth.”

I’m excited to smack Trump in … Read the rest

The Army slaps Trump upside the head.

The US Army issued a stark rebuke of former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign over the incident on Monday at Arlington National Cemetery, saying in a statement on Thursday that participants in the ceremony “were made aware of federal laws” regarding political activity at the cemetery, and “abruptly pushed aside” an employee of the cemetery.

“Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds. An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside,” the Army spokesperson said in the statement on Thursday.

“This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate

… Read the rest

The obligatory insult:

https://twitter.com/FaeJohnstone/status/1828872210418712598 Dude is a better woman than women are! Recognize the dude! Male women are the best women!… Read the rest

Aw, gee, look how enlightened and sensitive and generous the man is when he explains why husbands have to beat their wives. It’s interesting, though, that he doesn’t also explain why wives have to beat their husbands, or even say they do have to beat their husbands. Apparently it’s just men who get to do the beating and women who get to be beaten.

Palestinian doctor at Islamic University Of Gaza warns Palestinian husbands not to seriously injure, break wives' bones or damage vital organs. He says men have a right & must beat their wives but: ״Wife-Beating Should Be Therapeutic, Not Vindictive״.pic.twitter.com/4NHmoVlZfK

— Liza Rosen (@LizaRosen0000) October 23, 2023

The purpose of the beating, he says earnestly, is … Read the rest

Any port in a storm:

Today, Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review (the flagship conservative magazine founded by William F. Buckley Jr.), published an article claiming that Donald Trump could win the 2024 election “on character.”

No, really. But bear with me; the headline wasn’t quite accurate.

Trump could beat Kamala Harris, Lowry wrote, not by running on his character but by attacking hers. According to Lowry, you see, one of Trump’s “talents as a communicator is sheer repetition, which, when he’s on to something that works, attains a certain power.”

That’s not a talent though. It may work, but that doesn’t make it a talent. There’s no skill to it. More the opposite – sheer repetition … Read the rest

It’s like kindergarten. As long as someone, somewhere, said ok, that’s all the permission you need. “Sally said I could!” “Sally, like you, is 5 years old.”

In a post on Truth Social, Trump shared a statement from family members of the fallen soldiers honoured at the event, expressing their approval.

“We had given our approval for President Trump’s official videographer and photographer to attend the event, ensuring these sacred moments of remembrance were respectfully captured and so we can cherish these memories forever,” the families said in Trump’s Truth Social post.

But that doesn’t matter. It’s not their cemetery and they don’t make the rules. Their approval doesn’t override federal law.

But that goes against federal policy, an

… Read the rest

Trump and his enablers tried to stage a campaign event at Arlington National Cemetery – in disregard of the fact that Arlington National Cemetery doesn’t allow such events.

I think the reasons for not allowing it are pretty obvious. That’s not what the cemetery is there for. It’s a military cemetery, and it doesn’t want to be used as advertising. It’s very typical of Trump and his underlings not to understand what that even means.

Two members of Donald Trump’s campaign staff had a verbal and physical altercation Monday with an official at Arlington National Cemetery, where the former president participated in a wreath-laying ceremony, NPR has learned.

A source with knowledge of the incident said the cemetery official

… Read the rest

Why does he not get some time in a cell?

A man berated three women [as] “prostitutes” for not wearing traditional Asian dress and [for] putting on make-up, then violently attacked them, a court heard.

Muhammad Hassan, 26, assaulted the victims after spotting them at a petrol station in Bradford.

In a 51-second attack captured on CCTV, Hassan grabbed the driver and slammed her head on to the dashboard of her vehicle. He then grabbed another woman’s hair and punched her in the head before hitting the third woman.

By “traditional Asian dress” the inept reporter means Muslim or Islamic but of course it’s taboo to spell out that this is male religious bullying in action. The religious belief here … Read the rest

I’m amazed.

The Guardian has a great big long piece on childbirth and it uses the taboo word “women” throughout. I could hardly believe what I was reading. Not one single mention of “people who identify as” or “and non-binary people” or just plain “people” where it should be “women.” There are mentions of parents but only where it makes sense, not where it glaringly obviously doesn’t.

“It’s lovely to know other mums hitting the same hurdles as you, so you don’t feel alone,” says Sinead Knights, 38, a travel industry manager from Manchester who did NCT classes in October 2023. She describes them as “a space to share ideas and ask questions and not feel judged” and says

… Read the rest

I see. Threats are ok, but calling a man a man requires investigation.

A city councillor in Hobart, Australia, is under investigation for a social media post describing a trans-identified male as a “man.” Louise Elliot, who was previously the subject of a tribunal inquiry for saying “trans women are men,” was previously the victim of threats from the very individual who reported her for “misgendering” him.

The one who is a man. The kind of man who threatens women. How dare women call men who threaten us “men”?

On July 24, Elliot announced via her X account that she was being subjected to yet another investigation, this time for labeling a trans-identified male who threatened to assault her

… Read the rest

What a fucking insult.

When being tr&ns isn’t quite enough oppress!on points for you pic.twitter.com/dRKTBQZgeC

— Hazel Appleyard (@HazelAppleyard_) August 26, 2024

… Read the rest

Hateful conduct is it.

I replied to a tweet of Rob’s.

Your brain on gender identity ideology. Yep, this time I'm apparently right wing because *checks notes* I joked about a new flavour of Jaffa Cakes. pic.twitter.com/ITIjGRMIuI

— latsot (@latsot) August 27, 2024

Too many all-caps?… Read the rest

Amnesty finally fixed it…in the dead of night, in a closet three stories underground.

“Just for being women and girls” replaces “for the ‘crime’ of identifying as a girl.”

They've quietly changed it now. Welcome, but an acknowledgement and explanation would have been better. @amnesty https://t.co/v27BxJQSc1 pic.twitter.com/qJMmfoVT9d

— Helen Staniland (@helenstaniland) August 27, 2024

… Read the rest

Is it censorship to delete lies? Are lies free speech? Should lies be protected as free speech?

Mark Zuckerberg apparently thinks so.

[META] CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the Biden administration had pressured the company to “censor” COVID-19 content during the pandemic, apparently referring to White House requests to take down misinformation about the coronavirus and vaccines.

Medical misinformation isn’t mere “content” – it’s misinformation.

In a letter dated Aug. 26, Zuckerberg told the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee that he regretted not speaking up about this pressure earlier, as well as other decisions he had made as the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp around removing certain content.

I have to wonder why he wishes that. Does he … Read the rest

It turns out medical organizations lose members if they make decisions based on politics rather than medical science.

Doctors are leaving the British Medical Association in revolt at its opposition to the Cass review, amid claims that the union has been taken over by an ideologically driven “vocal minority”.

See, “ideologically driven” is pretty much the last thing you want a medical association to be. Ideology is not going to cure your illness or mend your broken leg.

Hundreds of members, including NHS clinical leaders and former presidents of medical royal colleges, have gone public with their “dismay” at BMA leaders for voting to reject the Cass review into the care of transgender children and reverse a ban on puberty

… Read the rest

Back to Rotherham:

The journalist who uncovered the Rotherham grooming gangs scandal has said that even he massively underestimated the scale of the abuse.

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Mr Norfolk had been putting pressure on Rotherham Council and South Yorkshire Police to answer questions about child sexual exploitation by predominantly Asian men since he started receiving tip-offs in 2011.

There it is again, that meaningless “Asian” euphemism. What Asian? Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Malayan, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Indian, Sri Lankan, what?

But this time the BBC does in fact admit the truth, albeit briefly.

He admitted that he had had to balance his instinct to reveal the abuse with concerns that the story’s publication would both stoke the reaction of the far-right and lead

… Read the rest

Mother Jones reports:

I had traveled to the Silicon Valley headquarters of a startup called Qvin, pronounced “kwin,” derived from the Danish word meaning “woman.” Since receiving clearance from the FDA in January, Qvin has begun selling a new menstrual pad that it says will help people tap into the “power in your period.” Rather than undergo a blood draw, a woman (and anyone who menstruates, but for this story, I will sometimes refer to women because they dominate the group that does)…

No, women don’t dominate the group that menstruates; women are the group that menstruates. Men don’t menstruate; the end. For this story a sane journalist should always refer to women as opposed to “sometimes.”

The uterus

… Read the rest

Apart from anything else, it’s so futile.

The Graun:

New Taliban laws that prohibit women from speaking or showing their faces outside their homes have been condemned by the UN and met with horror by human rights groups.

The Taliban published a host of new “vice and virtue” laws last week, approved by their supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, which state that women must completely veil their bodies – including their faces – in thick clothing at all times in public to avoid leading men into temptation and vice.

In other words to avoid leading men into thinking about sex. But guess what: they’ll think about it anyway. You might as well lock up all the food so that … Read the rest

Godalmighty. If only people would learn how to think. Just a little would do.

In concluding that that sex can change and that women cannot have sex based human rights, Justice Bromwich relied heavily on amendments the Gillard Government made to the Sex Discrimination act in 2013. Here is Gillard with her rationale for that change #TicklevGiggle pic.twitter.com/UUMUk7zNTg

— Edie Wyatt (@msediewyatt) August 26, 2024

“There are a number of people who genuinely believe that they are trapped in the wrong body and they want to be recognized as the gender that their mind and soul has always told them that they are.”

One, she doesn’t know how many people “genuinely” believe that. Two, so what? People can “genuinely … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Francis Boyle on What reward can genderists offer?

Spot on Sastra. I would just add that it works because that’s what moralists have always done – take the natural human desire to protect the weakest members of the tribe (without which we probably wouldn’t be here, being the weak defenceless apes we are) and by a series of metaphysical shenanigans identify protecting the interests of a power elite as the only “proper” realisation of that desire. It’s like an erotic target location error (i.e. a fetish) but culturally imposed on the entire community (except of course the most elite of those power elites – the pope can have as many “nephews” as he wants, not to … Read the rest