A letter to the editor:

The 2022 Census found that just under 0.5% of people in Scotland are trans. The Scottish Government employs 9,300 staff, so perhaps 40 are trans. Most will have been working at the government for years, and happily using the toilets in a way that matches their gender identity and appearance. For many of them, their work colleagues may not know that they are trans.

No.

Grown-ass adult people know a woman when they see one, and they know a man when they see one. The end.

There have been no reported cases of a trans person causing trouble or harassment in any of those toilets.

Oooh imagine that – in a climate of intense … Read the rest

From The Independent:

“I’m appalled by my party’s stance on trans rights,” says Nadia Whittome, Labour MP for Nottingham East, over the ban on puberty blockers and the government’s response to the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman.

Then she’s a fool. (To be fair, we already knew that.) There’s no such thing as a “right” to receive puberty blockers because you believe you are the sex other than the one your body has. That’s not a right, it’s tampering.

It’s such a prominent topic, that Whittome’s been asked many times by her constituents if she thinks about leaving the party, or if the Labour party – founded by the trade union movement, as

Ok so what about this then.

Goodness, look at you bringing out the fascist playbook. My identity is who I am, same as you. Denying it because of your personal beliefs is you just throwing a strop because you can. It is childish.

— Rachel Saunders (@rejserin) July 10, 2025

One’s identity can be who one is, if the “one” in question is being truthful. But it can also be who one is not, if the one in question is playing silly buggers, as of course this Saunders fella is. What he means by his “identity” in this context is his image of himself, his persona, his dream-self, his fiction. It’s emphatically not whatever biology made him. It’s also emphatically … Read the rest

Trump has been randomly holding back funds for things he might not like if he had any clue what they are. Better penniless than sorry, right?

The Trump administration has declined to release nearly $7 billion in federal funding that helps pay for after-school and summer programs, support for students learning English, teacher training and other services.

The money was expected to be released by Tuesday. But in an email on Monday, the Education Department notified state education agencies that the money would not be available.

Because it’s bad to fund education. Ignorance is good – just look how far it’s taken Trump!

“It’s catastrophic,” said Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance, a group that works to expand

Robert Reich in a rally the troops screed on Facebook:

[Trump] is targeting universities that he believes haven’t adequately eliminated DEI, or have allowed transgender athletes to compete, or failed to stop demonstrations against Israel’s war in Gaza. Last week, his regime forced a major university president to resign.

It doesn’t help the cause of resisting Trump to lie about the trans issue. The issue is not “allowing trans athletes to compete.” The issue is letting men compete against women.… Read the rest

Huh. After all these years, Frances Coppola (not the movie guy) is still being horrible.

I bet you thought tariffs were something to do with international trade. Silly you; no, they’re to force naughty countries to do what Trump tells them to do.

Trump sent his Brazilian counterpart a stunning letter Wednesday, informing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva that his country would face a new 50% tariff “due in part to…the way Brazil has treated” former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump political ally.

Also Brazil hasn’t made its bed or put away its toys.

Trump blamed the massive spike in tariffs partly on “Brazil’s insidious attacks on Free Elections, and the fundamental Free Speech Rights of Americans.” The first reference is related to the trial of Bolsonaro, a one-time frequent visitor to

So much for emergency management.

More cabins and buildings at Camp Mystic — the tragic site of more than two dozen deaths in the Texas flood — were at risk of flooding than what the federal government had previously reported, according to new analysis from NPR, PBS’s FRONTLINE and data scientists.

Maps by First Street, a climate risk modeling company in New York City, show at least 17 structures in the path of flood waters, compared to maps produced by FEMA, highlighting a longstanding risk facing many Americans. The analysis also shows at least four cabins for young campers were in an area designated by FEMA as an extreme flood hazard, where water moves at its highest

Even better is that they sat there whispering to each other like two kids who haven’t done their homework and are arguing over whose dog ate it.

President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are facing ridicule after a reporter’s question seemed to catch both off guard, prompting the two to exchange whispers before passing the question off on another official.

“Psst, the what?”

“I don’t know, I couldn’t hear.”

“Did you finish yours?”

“I didn’t start it, did you?”

During the presidential cabinet meeting on Tuesday, a journalist asked about Russia’s alleged use of chemical weapons in Ukraine. Trump leaned toward Hegseth and whispered, “What do you know about this?” Hegseth responded quietly, “John might know,” prompting

This is normal, everything is fine, they know exactly what they’re doing.

President Donald Trump’s decision to send more defensive weapons to Ukraine came after he privately expressed frustration with Pentagon officials for announcing a pause in some deliveries last week — a move that he felt wasn’t properly coordinated with the White House, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The Pentagon, which announced last week that it would hold back some air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons pledged to Ukraine because of what U.S. officials said were concerns that American stockpiles were in short supply. Trump said Monday that the U.S. will have to send more weapons to Ukraine, effectively reversing the move.

GB News has more.

Labour’s LGBT+ group has sparked outrage after nominating a transgender woman to become their next Women’s Officer.

Delivering his verdict on GB News, commentator Alex Armstrong declared that a “man cannot understand women’s issues”.

That, but even more basically, the very act of accepting such a nomination is a massive insult to women. Men who do that to women are misogynists to their core, so what the hell business does a Labour group have making a misogynist man their Women’s Officer?

… Read the rest

This is useful, as an illustration of the broken thinking that got us here.

I didn’t know Charlize Theron lost her mind. Is it a recent mind losing? pic.twitter.com/sU0fD2jPPy

— Jean Hatchet (@JeanHatchet) July 8, 2025

Hello? Anybody home? Children age 3 say a lot of things that are not purely factual/accurate. Children age 3 are not the first people we turn to when evaluating truth claims. Children age 3 are not aware of a sharp distinction between fantasy and reality. Children age 3 enjoy pretending to be a range of things: animals, toys, shrubbery, monsters, dragons, adventurers, cartoon characters and the like.

If your boy age 15 tells you he’s a girl there’s an issue. If your boy age … Read the rest

Activists taunt women:

Trans rights activists have put forward a biological man to be the women’s officer for Labour’s LGBT+ group.

That is insult for the sake of insult. They know it’s an insult and that’s why they’re doing it. Insulting women is now a core principle of “LGBT+” groups.

The Labour Party has agreed to scrap its annual women’s conference, warning of a “significant risk of a legal challenge” if self-identified women are allowed to attend.

Excuse me? They’ve “agreed” to get rid of the women’s conference to make things easier for themselves at the expense of mere women?

The Trans Rights Alliance has put forward Steph Richards, a transgender woman in possession of a gender

Peak trivialization achieved.

The question facing Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas at a news conference on Tuesday was whether he would call for an investigation into possible failures surrounding the deadly floods, which include a lack of state and local spending on flood control measures and warning systems.

To answer, Mr. Abbott said asking about blame was “the word choice of losers,” and then invoked a beloved Texas tradition — football — as he deflected questions about accountability for a disaster that has left at least 111 people dead and more than 170 missing.

“Every square inch of our state cares about football,” Mr. Abbott said, referring to the Friday night lights of high school fields and the

Brendan O’Neill mocks Owen “Babyface” Jones for trying to scold JK Rowling.

Jones is hopping mad. He’s even written a 1,300-word screed on what a rotter Rowling is, which I’m sure we can all agree is a perfectly normal response to a woman making a joke. His line of attack is that Rowling has been shamefully silent on the suffering of Palestinians. She claims to stand up for women, he says, yet she’s schtum on what is happening to women in Gaza.

His Rowlingphobic diatribe drips with haughty sexism. He bemoans her “useless obsessions”, by which he presumably means her valiant defence of the reality of sex and her financial backing of women and homosexuals who have been persecuted for

Make them dig up turnips!

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Tuesday seemingly contradicted President Trump’s recent pledge to let immigrant farmworkers remain in the United States if their employers vouch for them. Instead, she put forth an insane scheme in which Medicaid recipients will replace deported farm laborers.

“There will be no amnesty,” Rollins said. “The mass deportations continue, but in a strategic way. And we move the workforce towards automation and 100 percent American participation, which, again, with 34 million … able-bodied adults on Medicaid, we should be able to do that fairly quickly.”

That’s the ticket. Take away their health insurance and then drive them into the cotton fields. We should get some good songs out of … Read the rest

Ah yes, because everything three-year-olds say is true and accurate and not at all shaped by lack of information.

Paul Krugman on machismo and climate change:

There is, it turns out, a strong link between the manosphere — the online movement promoting “masculinity,” misogyny and opposition to feminism — and anti-environmentalism. For example, in 2023 Jordan Peterson convened a high-profile conference to declare that concerns about climate change are a “conspiracy run by narcissistic poseurs.”

If you think about it, this makes sense — not intellectually but emotionally. Don’t concern about the environment and advocacy of “clean energy” sound kind of, well, feminine? Real men burn stuff and don’t worry if the process is dirty.

The very word “clean” is horribly girly. Who wants to be clean when you can be dirty instead?

And manosphere-type attitudes are

Does transitioning actually help? Does banning puberty blockers actually harm? Helen Lewis asks some questions.

Advocates of the open-science movement often talk about “zombie facts”—popular sound bites that persist in public debate, even when they have been repeatedly discredited. Many common political claims made in defense of puberty blockers and hormones for gender-dysphoric minors meet this definition. These zombie facts have been flatly contradicted not just by conservatives but also by prominent advocates and practitioners of the treatment—at least when they’re speaking candidly. Many liberals are unaware of this, however, because they are stuck in media bubbles in which well-meaning commentators make confident assertions for youth gender medicine—claims from which its elite advocates have long since retreated.

And … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Speaking of self-discipline and judegement.

Per this 1966 Statement, professors are obligated to “exercise critical self-discipline and judgment in using, extending, and transmitting knowledge” and to “practice intellectual honesty”. We take this to mean that as academics, we also have a responsibility to the public to not misconstrue the scope of our expertise, nor comment in our capacity as academics on issues where we lack the requisite expertise.

Would that not also apply to supporting and promoting trans ideology? Is it possible to be an expert in lies and bullshit, in “care” that harms, and has no basis in reality? Do the signers of this letter themselves possess the knowledge … Read the rest