Just in case there haven’t been enough insults yet today…
https://twitter.com/scepticalPhil/status/1712361477988897071… Read the restAll entries by this author
No lesbian only events for you
Oct 12th, 2023 4:27 am | By Ophelia BensonSigh.
A shocking decision @AusHumanRights https://t.co/gFk15TQapp
— The Lesbian Project (@project_lesbian) October 12, 2023
Sorry, lezzers, you have to let men in. Sux 2 b u.
The Gay Men's Network stands shoulder to shoulder with the Lesbian Action Group and LGB Alliance Australia. We will do everything we can as an organisation to help in any way fighting this ridiculous and cruel decision. https://t.co/sqMgxMKxT3
— Dennis Noel Kavanagh (@Jebadoo2) October 12, 2023
The insults just keep rolling in.… Read the rest
Their own union
Oct 12th, 2023 4:07 am | By Ophelia BensonAcademics at the University of Edinburgh have accused their own union of attempting to stifle debate after it called for the launch of a book on sex and gender to be scrapped.
Sex and Gender: A Contemporary Reader features essays from figures such as the philosopher Kathleen Stock and is edited by Selina Todd and Alice Sullivan, a professor of sociology at University College London (UCL) who gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament last year on the Scottish Government’s gender reforms.
Selina Todd is a professor of history at Oxford. Don’t ask me why that was omitted.
… Read the restThe University and College Union (UCU) Edinburgh branch committee has written to the university’s principal, Sir Peter Mathieson, saying it has “concerns about the
Solidarity with [???????]
Oct 12th, 2023 3:36 am | By Ophelia BensonHas to be parody doesn’t it?
Guy is there to protest the event, guy tells interviewer he doesn’t know what it’s about, doesn’t know what the book says, doesn’t know what the protest is about, but by god he’s there anyway because [insert miracle here]
We spoke to Johnny, who was protesting the book launch.
He said this:
(Unfortunately the video was corrupted, but we still captured audio.) pic.twitter.com/WlAb6IeRcm
— Ross Patterson (@Ross_Patterson_) October 11, 2023
As a result
Oct 11th, 2023 6:00 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe CBC is being a little bit bashful in its wording here…
https://twitter.com/CBCNews/status/1712204181069504847Dead “as a result of the conflict”? Meaning what, dead of a broken heart?
But, I’m grateful to them in a way, because that silly periphrasis introduced me to this guy:
This should surprise no one. Ex-Muslims have been screaming about the Left-Muslim alliance since 9/11. It's the whole reason I got involved in talking about wokeness, for lack of a better term. I wrote about it here.https://t.co/Wehffypw1k
— Dangerous Speech Podcast (@dangerousspeach) October 11, 2023
Not even raking leaves
Oct 11th, 2023 4:46 pm | By Ophelia BensonWhat was that we were saying the other day (or maybe I was the one saying it) about how rape is basically legal in the UK? (Not that it’s much better in the US.) Tiny fraction reported; tiny fraction of those prosecuted; tiny fraction of those convicted.
Now we can add tiny fraction of those punished. It must be down to a thousandth of a rapist per annum by now.
… Read the restScottish man who R*ped a 13 year old girl smiles as he leaves court as his conviction is DROPPED due to liberal laws enacted by the Scottish government.
The 22 year old man repeatedly r*ped the 13 year old girl when he was aged 17 and was originally sentenced to
Oh no, he risks getting called a cheater
Oct 11th, 2023 12:21 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Outside article with the subhead “Banning trans women from competitive cycling is an insult to all women” is written by…wait for it…a man who claims to be a woman. Well he would say that wouldn’t he – anything to fool or cheat or bully women into obedience.
My career as an athlete is a little complicated, though. As a trans woman, bike racing has always felt like a lose-lose proposition for me. If I do well, I risk getting called a cheater, or even worse, becoming a Fox News headline.
That’s because you are a cheater, bro.
… Read the restEven before transitioning in 2020, seeing the hate directed at trans women athletes made me feel like competitive sports was a dead
Incorrect
Oct 11th, 2023 12:10 pm | By Ophelia BensonDishonest and stupid in one.
https://twitter.com/outsidemagazine/status/1711894420725862484First of all nobody proposes “banning trans women from cycling.” The issue is that trans women have zero right to compete against women, because it’s unfair to the women.
Second, the insult is not to trans women, it’s to women. Letting men who call themselves women compete against women is a profound and multifaceted insult to women.… Read the rest
Almost every shift
Oct 11th, 2023 10:24 am | By Ophelia BensonWhat a nightmare girls must live in.
“Most people aren’t able to do this job for more than two years.” It was a strange comment for an introductory training session, but it wasn’t an average first day of a new job. I was 27, living in Herne Hill and learning how to be an online sex and relationships advisor for young people on a salary of around £24,000 a year. “There’s no shame in quitting,” my trainer reassured me. “This type of work really takes its toll on a person.”
Because there’s so much of it? Because of all the research? Because too sedentary?
… Read the restI realised there was one issue coming up over and over that shouldn’t be considered
No rules in a knife fight
Oct 11th, 2023 9:56 am | By Ophelia BensonKenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch (1993-2022), on atrocities and the moral high ground and international humanitarian law:
Hamas’s appalling attack on Israeli civilians has been widely described as the country’s “9/11 moment”. It is an appropriate description of such wanton cruelty. But the analogy carries a cautionary note as well.
The US government lost the world’s sympathy, and the moral high ground, when its response to 9/11 degenerated into a highly abusive war in Iraq, systematic torture, and endless detention without trial in Guantánamo. The Israeli government should be careful not to replicate this path to opprobrium. Indeed, such an abusive response may be exactly what Hamas wanted to provoke.
Hamas also thinks … Read the rest
The only one to blame
Oct 10th, 2023 4:57 pm | By Ophelia BensonHarvard students don’t actually know everything.
A letter from Harvard University student groups blaming Israel for violence in the region has drawn a backlash from prominent alumni and US lawmakers.
The letter, authored by the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee, stated that students “hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence”.
Glad they’re not dogmatically absolutist about it.
“The apartheid regime is the only one to blame. Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years,” the letter added.
And what was going on 75 years ago? 76 years ago? 77, 78, 79? That might have given Jews the idea that they needed a Jewish nation?
… Read the rest“Never mind”
Oct 10th, 2023 11:21 am | By Ophelia BensonI overlooked this news last week:
Donald Trump has dropped his $500 million lawsuit against Michael Cohen, his former lawyer and fixer who is now a key witness in a criminal case against him, Cohen and a Trump spokesperson said Thursday night. But the former president did not waive his right to sue again.
Trump had accused Cohen of “spreading falsehoods” “with malicious intent” and causing “vast reputational harm” for talking publicly about hush-money payments made to women during Trump’s 2016 campaign that are at the heart of criminal charges he faces in New York. Trump has also accused Cohen of breaking a confidentiality agreement that he signed as a condition of his employment.
In other words Trump … Read the rest
The plaintiff this time
Oct 10th, 2023 10:22 am | By Ophelia BensonTrump doesn’t have enough legal action going on so he’s suing, suing I tell you.
… Read the restDonald J. Trump has claimed in a lawsuit in a London court that Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer, inflicted “personal and reputational damage and distress” on him by leaking a dossier detailing unsavory, unproven accounts of links between him and Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign.
…
In a court filing last month, Mr. Trump’s lawyers said he was “compelled to explain to his family, friends, and colleagues that the embarrassing allegations about his private life were untrue. This was extremely distressing” for him, the filing said, asserting that Mr. Steele had presented the claims in a “sensationalist manner” that was “calculated
No not like that
Oct 10th, 2023 8:58 am | By Ophelia BensonA month ago, on September 11, the president of Penn State explained about free speech and the First Amendment, while carefully also wringing her hands about how hurtful some speech can be – “not only offensive but deeply hurtful” she emphasized, without explaining the difference.
Today, it seems, Penn State canceled a talk by Riley Gaines, on account of how…um…er…
https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1711514058870910994… Read the restWhy, the nuns made him do it when he was only 4!
Oct 10th, 2023 6:21 am | By Ophelia BensonIs it, as the South East Technological University (SETU) claims, “unlawful” to refuse to address someone by their preferred name or use their chosen pronouns? It isn’t and it shouldn’t be. But it is bad manners – and deliberate discourtesy is not a trivial matter.
I don’t understand why anyone has a problem calling people by the names they prefer. I’ve been doing it almost all my life.
If Fintan O’Toole really doesn’t understand then he hasn’t been paying attention. Easy for him, isn’t it. Women, on the other hand, have compelling reasons to be wary of men who order us to call them “Nellie” while taking over our spaces and even our feminism.
… Read the restIt started
The women of Matobo
Oct 10th, 2023 5:30 am | By Ophelia BensonA good thing for a change.
The women of Matobo, Zimbabwe paint their dwellings with intricate designs using charcoal, ash, water and soil, an annual ritual with continually changing imagery #womensart pic.twitter.com/amcolVsgPs
— #WOMENSART (@womensart1) October 10, 2023
Not helping
Oct 10th, 2023 5:16 am | By Ophelia BensonAustralian police said on Tuesday they were investigating a pro-Palestinian protest outside Sydney Opera House, after footage emerged of a small group appearing to chant anti-Semitic slogans at the demonstration.
…
Unverified footage shared by the Australian Jewish Association and featured on Sky News appeared to show a small group outside the Opera House lighting flares and chanting “gas the Jews”.
…
Protest organiser Palestine Action Group Sydney defended its right to protest “apartheid” in Israel but said a small number of “vile antisemitic attendees” had no place in their movement.
There was an interesting (and heated) discussion about Israel and apartheid on Start the Week yesterday.… Read the rest
Guest post: Despite numerous complaints, injuries and deaths
Oct 10th, 2023 4:51 am | By Ophelia BensonOriginally a comment by tigger_the_wing on Just dissolve that sucker.
I suspect that the reasons that they formed a ‘church’ were tax avoidance and lack of oversight; the latter enabled them to avoid prosecution for years, despite numerous complaints, injuries and deaths.
Because of the abuse of autistic children, there were a lot of campaigns from autistic advocates over the years; but the wheels of justice were clamped until governments finally made it illegal to administer the specific ingredients to children.
The ‘church’ had got away with it by handing out the ingredients and then giving unrecorded spoken instructions to the ‘congregation’ which, when followed, turned the MMS into a powerful industrial bleach.
Parents enthusiastically shared photos in online … Read the rest
Just dissolve that sucker
Oct 9th, 2023 11:06 am | By Ophelia BensonIt’s interesting that one way to poison people for $$$ is to tell them you’re a church. God and poison in one easy visit, hurrah!
… Read the restA Florida man and three sons who used a business masquerading as a church to sell more than $1 million of a deadly bleach solution that they claimed was a “miracle” cure for Covid-19 and other diseases were each sentenced on Friday to several years in prison, federal prosecutors in Miami said.
Mark Grenon, 66, of Bradenton, Fla., and one of his sons, Joseph Grenon, 36, were sentenced to five years in prison for conspiring to defraud the government, while the two other sons, Jonathan Grenon, 37, and Jordan Grenon, 29, were sentenced to
If it’s popular it’s true
Oct 9th, 2023 10:41 am | By Ophelia BensonGood to know Musk is careful with information at least.
… Read the restAs false information about the rapidly changing war between Gaza Strip militants and Israel proliferated on the social media platform X over the weekend, owner Elon Musk personally recommended that users follow accounts notorious for promoting lies.
“For following the war in real-time, @WarMonitors & @sentdefender are good,” Musk posted on the platform formerly called Twitter on Sunday morning to 150 million follower accounts. That post was viewed 11 million times in three hours, drawing thanks from those two accounts, before Musk deleted it.
Both were among the most important early spreaders of a false claim in May that there had been an explosion near the White House. The Dow
