Here’s why Elon’s cunning plan is so stupid:

Twitter has applied a temporary limit to the number of tweets users can read in a day, owner Elon Musk has said.

In a tweet of his own, Mr Musk said unverified accounts are now limited to reading 600 posts a day.

If you don’t use Twitter that might sound reasonable, like the Guardian and the Washington Post and similar saying you can read X number of articles for X price. (They don’t do that, but they could.) But Twitter doesn’t work like a newspaper, because what you see is what Twitter decides to show you. It mostly works because what Twitter decides to show you is shaped by what … Read the rest

The New Yorker has an in-depth piece on the recklessness of the amateur Let’s Make a Submersible guy. It’s like reading an in-depth piece on why the Challenger exploded. Spoiler: he was determined to go ahead, safety be damned.

Until June 18th, a manned deep-ocean submersible had never imploded. But, to McCallum, Lahey, and other experts, the OceanGate disaster did not come as a surprise—they had been warning of the submersible’s design flaws for more than five years, filing complaints to the U.S. government and to OceanGate itself, and pleading with Rush to abandon his aspirations. As they mourned Nargeolet and the other passengers, they decided to reveal OceanGate’s history of knowingly shoddy design and construction. “You can’t cut

But who says that’s even a thing?

A controversial policy change that bars teachers from using a student’s preferred pronouns without parental permission will soon go into effect in New Brunswick despite pushback. It has caused political turmoil in the Canadian province.

See the way that’s worded suggests that “preferred pronouns” are the normal everyday established form of pronouns when in fact they’re the invention of crazed magic-gender ideologues. There’s no such thing as “preferred pronouns.” That idea is a new and stupid invention. Teachers shouldn’t be paying any attention to them at all, and neither should students.

In May, under Premier Blaine Higgs, New Brunswick announced that a policy to create a safe space for students who identify as

Don’t miss Jesse Singal’s piece on the grotesquerie at UCLA when a handful of fanatics decided Yoel Inbar is not Perfected enough to be on the faculty.

There was a little bit of weirdness when, during one meeting with a small diversity committee now enmeshed in the UC hiring process, Inbar was told that it had been brought to their attention that (four and a half years prior) on Two Psychologists Four Beers, he’d expressed skepticism of the mandatory diversity statements the University of California system had adopted around that time for anyone seeking to get hired as faculty. Inbar is a political liberal and very much favors making campuses inclusive; he just thinks diversity statements are unlikely to

For those who can still see tweets…

Also please see my statement https://t.co/N9NlRT4IGy

— Maya Forstater (@MForstater) June 30, 2023

Maya’s statement is way better than Center for Global Development’s.

[Updating to add summary:

CGD basically just says here’s our statement, with a link.

Maya replies with “Here’s mine” with her image from the deck of cards, and text saying CGD was ordered to pay etc.

Maya’s basically saying neener neener haha; it’s quite droll.]

The CGD statement:

London – Today, The Center for Global Development (CGD) released the following statement, in relation to the Employment Tribunal judgment in the case brought by Maya Forstater against CGD:

“Following the Employment Tribunal’s remedy judgment, the case brought against CGD, its

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on One law for the rich and.

When ProPublica asked Alito questions, he instead responded with a defensive, pre-emptive op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.

Does this mean if someone asks me an embarrassing question, I get to not respond by writing an opinion piece in a compliant publication? Cushy!

Boss: Did you remember to lock the door before you left?

Me: Read my latest in the Globe and Mail; that should explain everything.

Boss: What happened to the $2000 that was in the cash register?

Me: Check out my op-ed in the Free Press.

Boss: Why are you carrying a suitcase?

Me: See my column in tomorrow’s Star. Gotta run!… Read the rest

I have received the "remedy" judgement in my case. @cgdev has been ordered to pay over £100k in compensation for loss of earnings, injury to feelings and aggravated damages for their high-handed conduct.

Thank-you to everyone who supported my casehttps://t.co/N9NlRT5gw6

— Maya Forstater (@MForstater) June 30, 2023

… Read the rest

The serfs must continue to be serfs.

The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down President Biden’s plan for federal student loan forgiveness. Millions of federal borrowers will not see their debts decreased or erased.

…

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the “disappointing and cruel” ruling “shows the callousness of the MAGA Republican-controlled Supreme Court.”

“The hypocrisy is clear: as justices accept lavish, six-figure gifts, they don’t dare to help Americans saddled with student loan debt, instead siding with the powerful, big-monied interests,” he said, referencing the court’s recent string of ethics scandals.

The rich get richer and the poor get…ever-increasing debt.

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez similarly homed in on the controversies surrounding the justices, specifically Justice

Nice cartoon.

pic.twitter.com/joQfqL4itw

— Alan Henness (@zeno001) June 29, 2023

… Read the rest

Uh oh – Just Stop Oil v Pride. Is it wrong of me to hope to see them claw each other into tiny pieces?

Just Stop Oil has threatened to disrupt this weekend’s London Pride event over its headline sponsor United Airlines.

Ahead of the event on Saturday, Just Stop Oil issued a list of demands for the organisers to consider in order to stop any protest disrupting the event.

Blah blah blah but who has signed the oath swearing that men are women if they say they are, and who hasn’t? Focus, people.

We saw the pretend mother in the ITV News item several hours ago. Some hours before that Rosie Duffield commented on the pretend mother.

Dear @itvnews, I am sure this is a lovely, intelligent and decent human being. This was an important piece. This is not however a struggling 'mother'. https://t.co/niavb4FCAt

— Rosie Duffield MP (@RosieDuffield1) June 29, 2023

The TUC claimed that the man pretending to be a woman was being subject to abuse “because he is a mother.” But he’s not a mother, because he’s not a woman. Also, saying a man is not a woman is not “abuse.” I suppose it can be if you accost the man in public and scream in his face and … Read the rest

The People’s History Museum grovels in apology and self-chastisement for allowing disobedient women to hold a meeting on its premises.

People’s History Museum (PHM) is committed to creating a fairer world for everyone and we represent all those working to achieve this.  The PHM team works tirelessly to create an inclusive and welcoming space.  We stand in solidarity with trans and non-binary people.

But not women. Women are the Bad People.

We never want these values, or the trust that exists between us, to be undermined.

The past few days have been deeply troubling as our trans and non-binary allies, team members and collections have been at the centre of a hostile environment on social media.  We are deeply upset

Keir Starmer claims to be down with the lesbians and gays but…

Labour did what?

January 11 this year:

Lesbian Labour were in Liverpool this week handing out leaflets and speaking to delegates at the annual Labour Party Conference. Our concerns include the loss of single sex spaces and provision in public life, which particularly affects us same-sex attracted women.

Unfortunately we were literally and metaphorically left out in the cold given the Labour Party’s refusal to tolerate diversity of opinion over same-sex attraction and single sex services, after refusing stall applications from same-sex champions The LGB Alliance, the feminst charity Filia, as well as the Labour Women’s Declaration. This of course only made us more determined

Trump’s Supreme Court gets another win:

Race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina are unconstitutional, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, the latest decision by its conservative supermajority on a contentious issue of American life.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the 6-3 majority, said the two programs “unavoidably employ race in a negative manner” and “involve racial stereotyping,” in a manner that violates the Constitution.

And yet the Constitution was fine with race-based slavery for all those years. Funny how that works. You’d think “people from Africa are destined to be enslaved by people from Britain” would be at least as much “employing race in a negative manner” and “involving racial stereotyping” … Read the rest

The National Post tells us:

In Canada, professors can face discipline for openly claiming to believe in biological sex.

Not really the right wording. Not “claiming” and not “believe.” For openly saying that biological sex is real, would be more accurate.

That’s ultimately what anthropology professor Kathleen Lowrey discovered years into her battle with the University of Alberta, over her 2020 dismissal from an administrative position that she undertook on top of her teaching and research. Lowrey’s great sin: the display of print-outs outside her office door that asserted males could not be female, and her open expression of gender critical views.

There, that’s better wording.

Her punishment: removal from her position as associate chair of the anthropology department

If you’re a mum…

There’s a thing called Jo’s cervical cancer trust, which tells us it’s the UK’s leading cervical cancer charity. Glinner mentioned it yesterday.

It has a page headed Language to use when supporting trans men and/or non-binary people. It explains why this matters.

Using the correct language when referring to someone’s gender identity is a simple and effective way to demonstrate support and recognition. If incorrect language is used without being corrected, it can cause someone to feel hurt or distressed. This may lead them to leave and to eventually seek support elsewhere. 

That’s rather anxiety-producing, if you ask me, because what is correct or incorrect language is constantly shifting and is also different depending on which expert … Read the rest

Scholarship? What scholarship? Who cares about that? The important thing is the creed praying five times a day genuflecting facing Mecca hating women DEI. All hail the DEI!

Dozens of psych students signed this letter demanding UCLA not hire Dr. Yoel Inbar. After that, he didn't get the job offer he was almost certainly going to receive.

His main offense: expressing skepticism about DEI statements. In his words, "It is not clear what good they do." pic.twitter.com/piV6BwXUvh

— John Sailer (@JohnDSailer) June 28, 2023

The letter is really rather astounding. It’s not about his scholarship at all, it’s about his politics.… Read the rest

One Alex Kirshner at Slate is very confident that it’s “fair” to let men intrude on women’s sports.

Scores of sports governing bodies are inquisitive about whether trans athletes, especially women, have any advantage over their cisgender competitors in women’s sports. They’ve spent considerable time investigating the subject, and in general, they have decided against all-out bans of trans competitors. The competitions tend to follow the guidance of scientists and geneticists, who are much less certain of trans athletes’ advantages than are various podcast hosts, conservative media icons, and disappointed parents of high school girls who finished a spot lower than they’d have preferred in a track meet. 

The way he puts it is confusing, and that’s probably intentional. “Scores … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Cluecat on An unwelcome queering of disability.

This has been a serious problem in many of the “Autistic Communities” for some time.

Previously, the primary division was between the “Autism Warrior Parents” wanting everything set up to serve them, and the “Actually Autistic” groupings pointing out that autistic children will grow up to be autistic adults, who need a certain amount of representation and support that is focused on adult support needs rather than only young children – not “one or the other”, but both.

These groups did not get on. It was disturbingly common for a certain type of parent to behave as though everyone else was a naughty five-year-old and should just do … Read the rest