The New Statesman introduces:

We asked two thinkers to address one of the most vexed questions of our time: “What is a woman?”
Here, Jacqueline Rose argues against the claim that sexual differentiation is “reality”.

Why not ask “what is a man”? Why is it only “what is a woman?” that is one of the most vexed questions?

Jacqueline Rose “argues”:

“What is a woman?” The formulation has the merit of suggesting that to be a woman, far from being obvious, is a question, and one susceptible to more than a single reply. This is encouraging at a time when the fight over the definition of what a woman is has taken on such virulence. Being a woman is

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The grid is there for a reason. You can’t just walk out the door and go live off the grid. You have to know how to live off the grid, and make intelligent choices about exactly where off the grid you decide to live. You also have to know when it’s time to go back to living on the grid, if you don’t want to be a pile of rotting remains found months after you stop living on or off anything.

Three members of a Colorado family died while attempting to live “off the grid” in the Rocky Mountains, family members and investigators say. The emaciated remains of sisters Christine and Rebecca Vance and the latter’s 14-year old son,

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As if cooking ourselves isn’t enough, we also let a Kennedy run around causing multiple deaths.

(Ignore the Biden photo, the clip is Paul Offit.)

If there was ever a time I wanted people to retweet something – A vaccine specialist, Dr. Paul Offit, spells out how RFK Jr. played a role in discouraging vaccination rates in a small population. A measles outbreak followed which resulted in 83 deaths mostly of young children. pic.twitter.com/itED5aV1MU

— Decoding Fox News (@DecodingFoxNews) July 22, 2023

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Much of the US is under an extreme heat warning. Really much of it.

Some of it has been for weeks.

July has been ROUGH!

How's everyone holding up?

Every single day this month has hit 110 or higher. Last week was the hottest of the stretch, with highs at 116-119 every day.

More 110+ days this week.

An Excessive Heat Warning remains in effect thru Wed. #abc15wx #azwx pic.twitter.com/dnCuLTEaFI

— Iris Hermosillo (@IrisABC15) July 24, 2023

Missouri and Iowa:

Alright, here we go again. The Excessive Heat Warning has now been expanded to include the KC metro through 9pm Friday. The heat index will surge close to 110° this afternoon especially for areas highlighted in pink. Please be careful

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When mature adults talk like addled teenagers.

https://twitter.com/RayyaGhul/status/1683900022822141965

Rosie Duffield and Putin both know where to look for the sun at dawn, but that doesn’t make them friends or allies. Claiming Putin is a friend of Rosie’s is fatuous.

https://twitter.com/RayyaGhul/status/1684013484030173184

Again – it’s not fascist to know that men are not women. How is Ghul not embarrassed to talk such childish drivel?

https://twitter.com/RayyaGhul/status/1684187489131692035

Again – fatuous. We’re not advocating for the marginalisation and erasure from public life of anyone. Men who claim to be women can go right on being in public life even though we point out that they are men. We’re not denying their right to existence as an equal human being – and saying we are … Read the rest

But what does any of this have to do with equality?

https://twitter.com/MaggieChapman/status/1684175360181542913

Would Scottish Labour MPs support the self-identification principle like the vast majority of your Party’s MSPs did, or would they be expected to support the far more conservative and medicalised route advocated for by Annaliese Dodds?

— Maggie Chapman MSP (@MaggieChapman) July 26, 2023

What is “the self-identification principle”? In what way is it a “principle”? What besides sex is covered by the “principle”? Is self-identification as a squirrel a principle? How about self-identification as an MSP? How about self-identification as Maggie Chapman? In other words, how can it be a “principle” that people can self-identify as something they’re not and that we all have to accept and … Read the rest

Giuliani admits.

Rudolph W. Giuliani has conceded that while acting as a lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump, he made false statements by asserting that two Georgia election workers had mishandled ballots while counting votes in Atlanta during the 2020 election.

The concession by Mr. Giuliani came in court papers filed on Tuesday night as part of a defamation lawsuit that the two workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, had brought against him in Federal District Court in Washington in December 2021.

The suit accused Mr. Giuliani and others of promoting a video that purported to show Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss — who are mother and daughter — of manipulating ballots while working at the State Farm

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How interesting.

When I was Co-chair of the Mayor's VAWG Board, back in about 2014, we introduced a dashboard that showed monthly and annual totals of rapes, SSOs and DV reports to the Met police. It showed rising numbers, as you would expect.

— Joan Smith (@polblonde) July 26, 2023

Since October last year, the VAWG dashboard is no longer being updated. It's now much harder to find out what's happening to MVAWG figures in London.

How about fixing that, #maaate?@MayorofLondon

— Joan Smith (@polblonde) July 26, 2023

Why is Joan Smith no longer co-chair of the Mayor’s Violence Against Women and Girls Board?

Because the Mayor in question abruptly removed her from it, without a word of … Read the rest

The water is hot.

Water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico have been abnormally warm this summer and scientists are concerned about potential environmental impacts.

On Wednesday, a 98-degree water temperature was recorded off the coast of Everglades National Park. The reading was taken in very shallow, dark water, known to heat up very quickly. Still, water temperatures around the southwest coast of Florida and around the Florida Keys have been running about five degrees above normal for this time of the year.

Ocean temperatures take longer to heat than air temperatures. This means that peak ocean heating in the Gulf and Atlantic is normally found in August and September. Heating this early in the season has scientists worried

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Beware of dopey meaningless slogans.

Labour is the party of equality.

We believe that everyone deserves to be accepted without exception, and treated with respect and dignity in society.

That's why our commitment to trans people and women is not up for debate.

I can't wait to get to work.https://t.co/McXrSzuJtK

— Anneliese Dodds (@AnnelieseDodds) July 24, 2023

What does that mean, “We believe that everyone deserves to be accepted without exception”? Accepted in what sense? As a lover, roommate, spouse, colleague, friend? Because if that’s what she means, of course Labour doesn’t believe that.

Maybe she thinks she means something like “not shunned or persecuted” – but then she needs to say that, and not what she … Read the rest

Listen up Police Scotland.

We are appalled at the treatment of @DarcyWAHF by @PoliceScotland we have complained to the @CC_Livingstone @ and @COPFS
We want them to send out a clear message that violence against women in Scotland will not be tolerated
We will not be silenced by violence#WomenWontWheesht pic.twitter.com/L6ayvdhdgJ

— WRN Scotland (@WRNScotland) July 25, 2023

This is ludicrous. What do we have to do @PoliceScotland ? Judicially review you? Privately prosecute? Prosecute you for misconduct in a public office?

This is a very very clear ABH on any charging standards. A warning in these circumstances is an irrational decision. https://t.co/nCZxeVJQ8d

— Dennis Noel Kavanagh (@Jebadoo2) July 24, 2023

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A little note to the cops:

We have written to Police Scotland over the incident in Duthie Park. @PoliceScotland @CC_Livingstone #WomenWontWheesht pic.twitter.com/A8IcgB5eoA

— For Women Scotland (@ForWomenScot) July 25, 2023

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On the one hand we’re racing over the climate cliff, on the other hand there is this one person who is very special.

In their opening match against Nigeria, Canada midfielder Quinn became the first out transgender player at a Fifa World Cup. Like their style of play, it was done with minimal fuss.

Quinn is a key part of Canada’s midfield, their place as the midfield anchor crucial as the Olympic champions aim to add the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup trophy to their cabinet.

They played the full 90 minutes against Nigeria. The result was a goalless draw – but the Canadian number five’s role created history.

Quinn came out as non-binary in September 2020, dropping their

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Uh oh!

The Gulf Stream system could collapse as soon as 2025, a new study suggests. The shutting down of the vital ocean currents, called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (Amoc) by scientists, would bring catastrophic climate impacts. Amoc was already known to be at its weakest in 1,600 years owing to global heating and researchers spotted warning signs of a tipping point in 2021.

…

Amoc carries warm ocean water northwards towards the pole where it cools and sinks, driving the Atlantic’s currents. But an influx of fresh water from the accelerating melting of Greenland’s ice cap and other sources is increasingly smothering the currents.

A collapse of Amoc would have disastrous consequences around the world, severely disrupting the

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Not the way to think about (much less deal with) the climate disaster:

Rishi Sunak has signalled the government could delay or even abandon green policies that impose a direct cost on consumers, as he comes under pressure from the Conservative right to create a dividing line with Labour at the next election.

Listen up. A “dividing line” between one political party and another is short term stuff. Climate disaster is long term – it’s your children and their children and their children, ffs. Making the climate disaster worse for the sake of dividing lines between political parties is like getting a manicure just before the Titanic breaks in half.

The prime minister said the drive to reach the

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There are some precautions we can take though. I would say a very easy one is: don’t go hiking in the desert when it’s hot. Just skip that.

Two women who had been hiking at a Nevada state park were found dead on Saturday, park rangers said, as record-breaking heat waves rippled through the region and sent temperatures rising through parts of the western and southwestern United States.

The coroner’s office in Clark County, Nev., identified the women as Jessica Rhodes, 34, and Diana Matienzo Rivera, 29. State park rangers said that they had been hiking the Prospect Trail together in the Valley of Fire State Park, a desert area known for its sandstone and limestone outcroppings and rock

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To the surprise of no one –

The deadly, protracted heat waves that have scorched parts of North America and Europe this month would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change, according to a new study published Tuesday.

The analysis by the World Weather Attribution network, a coalition of scientists that conducts rapid analyses to determine how the warming atmosphere influences extreme weather events, examined weather data and computer model simulations to compare the climate as it is today, having experienced warming of about 1.2 Celsius (2.2 Fahrenheit) since the late 1800s, with the climate of the past.

…

“They are not rare in today’s climate,” Friederike Otto, co-leader of the group and a climate scientist at Imperial College London,

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Gee, what could go wrong?

The BBC has apologised after one of its reporters asked an “inappropriate” question about homosexuality which critics claim endangered the safety of the first Arab team in the Women’s World Cup.

…

A correspondent, said to be from BBC World Service, asked: “In Morocco it is illegal to have a gay relationship. Do you have any gay players in your squad and what’s life like for them in Morocco?”

Brilliant. “X is illegal in your country. Are any of your players X? Please name them and tell us where they live.”

An official intervened saying: “Sorry this is a very political question so we will just stick to questions relating to football.”

The correspondent responded:

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But…how…

But how can there be a space that aligns best with someone’s gender and needs if all the spaces are open to all genders? If all the spaces are the same in the sense of being open to both sexes, how can it be possible to differentiate them in order to choose the one that best aligns with one’s gender and needs?

If everyone is entitled to dignity and privacy, why is everyone not allowed access to washrooms and change rooms that are for one sex to the exclusion of the other? How can people have dignity and privacy when they have to take their clothes off in front of strangers of the opposite sex? If everyone is entitled … Read the rest

As the northern hemisphere burns:

Guardian Australia asked seven leading climate scientists to describe how they felt as much of the northern hemisphere is engulfed by blistering heatwaves, and a number of global land and ocean climate records are broken.

Dr Joelle Gergis:

What is playing out all over the world right now is entirely consistent with what scientists expect. No one wants to be right about this. But if I’m honest, I am stunned by the ferocity of the impacts we are currently experiencing.

Bill Hare:

Driving all this is the fossil fuel industry. Enabling it are political leaders unwilling to bring this industry under control and who promote policies such as offsetting and massive gas expansion

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