Governed by imbeciles:

It seems the ‘conversion therapy’ ban is over, for the time being at least. Thank God.

But let’s not forget the inanely grinning, brain-dead MPs (of all parties) who held up these placards ⤵️ in May of last year, advocating a policy which would have criminalised anyone trying… pic.twitter.com/tudX3AGbDE

— Gareth Roberts (@OldRoberts953) September 25, 2023

Full tweet:

It seems the ‘conversion therapy’ ban is over, for the time being at least. Thank God.

But let’s not forget the inanely grinning, brain-dead MPs (of all parties) who held up these placards in May of last year, advocating a policy which would have criminalised anyone trying to *prevent* tomboy girls and camp boys from being steered towards untested

… Read the rest

Sastra raises the perennial question of what we are talking about when we talk about how “some women have a penis” [and related subjects, which are infinite in number]. She asks if it’s a matter of new discoveries in science or new sensitivities to human rights, which is a very good question.

I was thinking about the purported “new sensitivities to human rights” yesterday, wondering for the billionth time why there is such heightened sensitivity to and compassion for men who claim to be women when there was never such sensitivity to and compassion for feminist women with their old sensitivities to human rights. Why are the sensitivity and compassion so very heightened, so frantic, so loud, so hyperbolic, so … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Sastra on Brain rot.

If “some women have a penis” does that mean:

1.) There have always been some women who have a penis, but we only now realize this because of new discoveries in science.

2.) There have always been some women who have a penis, but we only now admit this because of new sensitivities to human rights.

3.) Women-with-a-penis is a totally new thing, the result of advances in medical science.

4.) Women-with-a-penis is a totally new thing, the result of advances in human rights.

My guess is that people who believe “some women have a penis” would dearly love to say it’s #1, mostly push #2, and fall back on #3 … Read the rest

Tattoo v neovagina.

In New York State, it is illegal for someone under 18 to get a tattoo, even with parental consent. But New York is a "safe haven" for minors seeking puberty blockers, and other gender transition procedures.

Think about that.

— Prof. Gary Francione (@garylfrancione) September 24, 2023

I think I get what the reasoning is from their point of view: gender transition procedures are (in at least some instances) literally life-saving. People will die without them.

If that thought is accurate the reasoning may possibly make some sense. But is it accurate?

Well, first, not all magic gender-havers claim to be suicidal, or threaten to act on suicidal thoughts, or do in fact commit suicide. Second, blackmail … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Francis Boyle on Who, literally, does she think she is?

I realise now that I was very naive to think, as I did for a long time, that the puritan impulse couldn’t survive in a pluralist culture. I’m not sure how the managerial mindset is related to puritanism beyond the fact that they both love putting things (and thus people) into boxes, but the two certainly find it easy to make common cause in promoting authoritarianism. Orwell is certainly relevant here but so is Mill. Without a willingness among the ordinary population (which is to say everyone who doesn’t see themself as a “thought leader”) to tolerate ideas they personally find disagreeable it is all too … Read the rest

MP says some women have a penis.

Yes really. An MP actually said that – on the record, in public. A woman MP said that.

I'll save them the bother of doorstepping me.

Yes some women have a penis.

It's clear that Tory allies will help with their #waronwoke

Vilification of trans people to distract from mess country is in.

How about asking MPs if they will eradicate Homelessness & Child Poverty? https://t.co/LtjeJUO45R

— Kate Osborne MP (@KateOsborneMP) September 24, 2023

It’s not “vilification of trans people” to say that women don’t have a penis.… Read the rest

Breathtaking.

the australian human rights commission (AHRC) have published their preliminary view on the lesbian action group's application for a lesbian-only ('lesbians born female') event in melbourne. their preliminary view is, 'no'. pic.twitter.com/C5E0pId1Nj

— A/Prof Holly Lawford-Smith (@aytchellesse) September 25, 2023

the main reasons for refusing the exemption appear to be that we shouldn't make distinctions between women based on their sex, and that we shouldn't ask people personal questions. like, aren't you a man and therefore not a lesbian and therefore get out? pic.twitter.com/TkQWAYkoO0

— A/Prof Holly Lawford-Smith (@aytchellesse) September 25, 2023

No. Lesbians may not hold lesbian-only events. No.… Read the rest

I really would like to know if it’s normal for an administrator at a healthcare network to lie and threaten and rage at patients and/or employees of the network who don’t believe men can be women and who don’t subscribe to the new religion that underlies that claim. If it is normal it obviously shouldn’t be. What business is it of Chandra Berkan-Hozempa’s if patients or employees or both attend a protest? Or participate in it? Or have opinions she dislikes? How is it her job to send out furious denunciations and warnings about a protest that has nothing whatever to do with the body she works for?

She’s the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Island Health, by … Read the rest

Oh good, there’s a source document. Let’s read it together.

Island Health is aware of the anti-2SLGBTQIA protests and counter-protests that are being planned across Canada on Wednesday, September 20th 2023.

And? What business is it of Island Health that there is a protest scheduled? Why does Island Health have to comment on it at all? Let alone threatening and libeling the protesters?

To be clear, Island Health respects the right for 2SLGBTQIA+ people to live in peace, without fear of discrimination, harassment and threat of violence, and recognize that the human rights of the trans and 2SLGBTQIA+ community are not up for debate.

Do they not get bored and embarrassed barfing out that endless string of letters over … Read the rest

Wow. Canada really is very…erm…restrictive. And scary.

This is an email blast that @VanIslandHealth sent to its employees on the eve of last week's protests. It's hard not to interpret this as a threat to discipline, or even fire, employees who attended the event. Is that even legal under Cdn employment law? pic.twitter.com/F5lIsvwK3B

— Jonathan Kay (@jonkay) September 24, 2023

The whole image:

I would not want to work at any institution where Chandra Berkan-Hozempa had power over the staff.… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Pink News has bad writers.

Here’s an idea: how about those attendees not interested in, or distressed by, a Harry Potter panel not go to that panel? If they are so fragile that the mere presence of such a panel at a large event upsets them so, they are likely too unwell to go anywhere, or do anything, as there’s no telling how many times they might unexpectedly run into the words “Harry” or “potter” whilst in the course of their travels. Either one on its own is bad enough. The two together? It must be like encountering a critical mass of harmful, verbal material, resulting in permanent injury and … Read the rest

Uh oh. Salt water contaminating the drinking water in a highly populated area.

Drought-like conditions in the Midwest over the summer have created a growing water problem in the New Orleans area this fall.

Water levels of the Mississippi River have dropped low enough to make the river less resistant to a mass of saltwater flowing north from the Gulf of Mexico. This circumstance, known as saltwater intrusion, is endangering the drinking water systems in and around the city, as well as smaller municipalities to the south.

Is that scary enough yet?

Officials in Louisiana and with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers say that a “saltwater wedge” could reach water treatment plants near New Orleans in October and

… Read the rest

This may be a contestant for the Most Passive-aggressive Subhead Ever prize:

A Harry Potter panel due to be held at London’s Comic Con event in October has been cancelled after conversations with an LGBTQ+ charity.

Who cancelled it? Who had the conversations? What is the connection between the cancelling and the conversations? What LGBXYZ charity?

Obviously a subhead can’t give all the relevant information, but that doesn’t mean it has to wrap itself in the passive voice repeatedly. It’s like the “activism” as a whole – all the creepy endless spying “something was said to someone by someone” hissing and pointing. Scandal-mongering without any scandal to work with. More succinctly: bad thinking leads to bad writing. That subhead is … Read the rest

It seems like only yesterday that no one would have said anything this stupid even for a hefty bribe.

The really unlikeable ARROGANCE of the TERF movement. In many ways, they remind me of Zionists trying to govern who is a "real" Jew or not. TERFs seem to think they have the right to govern who is a "real" woman or not.

It's none of their business. Who does Sandy think she is? https://t.co/q56ZMsS2yP

— Martin Philip Odoni (@HavetStorm) September 23, 2023

It’s nothing to do with “governing.” It’s knowing.

News flash: women need to know which people are men, partly for our own safety. We don’t think we have a “right” to “govern” and we don’t consider … Read the rest

I expect the next communniny we’ll be ordered to validate and lift up and ally ourselves with is the take pictures up women’s skirts communniny.

A Sydney teacher who was jailed for secretly filming up the skirts of students at his north shore school has had his sentence overturned on appeal, after a judge agreed his mental health conditions including a voyeuristic disorder could be better treated in the community.

I wonder how many men wandering loose in the community have “a voyeuristic disorder.” If we can hear what women tell us it has to be a pretty hefty number.

Eric Wong, 29, was jailed in July for at least six months after he took 90 videos and 300

… Read the rest

Good grief.

The Undergraduate Program Director at @YorkUniversity Faculty of Education @YorkUeducation denounces "Hateful Million Child March," and predicts that its apocalyptic psychic effects could make students "feel unsafe trying to complete program requirements" pic.twitter.com/D7LdwDnuRs

— Jonathan Kay (@jonkay) September 22, 2023

Yet again they honoo and stannd wif the “2SLGBTQIA+” memmers of our communinnee…while of course they don’t “stand with” those boring evil hags known as “women.” If only women could be done away with altogether! And they “stand against hate in all its forms” – except of course they don’t. This very statement reeks of hatred. They hate women who talk back, they hate women who are just women instead of trans women. They hate women who … Read the rest

Wait what? Who is demonizing whom?

https://twitter.com/MhairiHunter/status/1704741943966605532

It’s not “demonizing” anyone to say that men can’t be women, or to say that pretending men can be women is very bad for women’s rights.

Meanwhile…

https://twitter.com/MujerGuerrera78/status/1705135116899557835… Read the rest

The Telegraph has a long piece on what it calls Whitehall’s woke training regime.

Some of it is about what I would call anti-racism training and the rest is about gender bullshit.

Staff in Government departments are being taught about gender ideology, which affirms the idea that people can choose their gender, while those with legally protected gender critical beliefs, who believe that you cannot change your biological sex, say they are bullied into silence.

Instead of clearing backlogs from the pandemic, staff are spending work time on attending lectures on LGBT+ issues or watching videos telling them biological men can use women-only facilities if they self-identify as female.

In one department, staff shared a “30 days of Pride”

… Read the rest

Aw, Billy Bragg is sad that women are so stubborn about thinking their own thoughts instead of thinking his.

Your impressive performance at Left Field is the reason why I’m so dismayed to see you join the list of formerly progressive women who can now only find a platform in the Mail, Telegraph and Spectator.

— Billy Bragg (@billybragg) September 23, 2023

We haven’t stopped being progressive Billy. You on the other hand…… Read the rest

Geoff Mulgan on AI and bullshitters:

Since the arrival of ChatGPT there has been much debate about how AI can replace humans or work with them. Here I discuss a slightly different phenomenon which I increasingly notice, and probably wouldn’t have without the presence of generative AI: people who act rather like large language models. The phenomenon isn’t new. It’s just that we now have a new way of understanding it. As I show it’s quite malign, particularly in academia.

The strength and weakness of ChatGPT is that it can quickly assemble a plausible answer to a question, drawing on materials out in the world. It sucks them in, synthesises and mimics, sometimes quite convincingly, someone knowledgeable talking about

… Read the rest