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

… Read the rest

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

… Read the rest

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

… Read the rest

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.

… Read the rest

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

… Read the rest

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

Originally a comment by maddog on Speaking of self-discipline and judgement.

[S]ince 1966, the AAUP has also agreed on a Statement on Professional Ethics. [5] 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. to not tell lies

FIFY

If you want to model the principles of academic ethics, the first principle is: be honest. Don’t lie. Without that first principle, none of the other precepts … Read the rest

Ok then I’ll make my own party, and it will be much better than yours!!

Yeah but bro you’re not even from here. You can’t even vote here.

Musk dreams the impossible dream.

Shares in Tesla tanked by as much as 7.6% in premarket trading Monday after its CEO Elon Musk said he is forming a new American political party, provoking an irate response from US President Donald Trump.

If only we could chain them to each other for life.

“I’m saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely ‘off the rails,’ essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform late Sunday

Clear symptom of someone who never reads anything, … Read the rest

Jerry Coyne says what I say. Everyone should be saying it.

As of yesterday, the letter was signed by (according to my count) 211 people, 31 of whom who refused to give their names and appear as “anonymous”, 65 who say they are graduate students, and 57 who say they are undergraduates. (See the signers by clicking on this link.) While there is some overlap between these groups, it’s fair to say that about half the signers lack either the courage or the expertise to call out Byrne for “lack of expertise”. What kind of person would refuse to give their names when engaging in such a dogpile?

And note that the “expertise” of those judging Byrne’s expertise

… Read the rest

From Alex Byrne’s Opinion piece in the Washington Post on June 26:

The hostile response to the review by medical groups and practitioners underscores why it was necessary. Medicalized treatment for pediatric gender dysphoria needs to be dispassionately scrutinized like any other area of medicine, no matter which side of the aisle is cheering it on. But in the United States, it has not been.

I was familiar with the other authors — there are nine of us in all — and I was confident that we could produce a rigorous, well-argued document that could do some good. Collectively, we had all the bases covered, with experts in endocrinology, the methodology of evidence-based medicine, medical ethics, psychiatry, health policy and

… Read the rest

Heather Cox Richardson yesterday

Immediately after the catastrophe became apparent, Texas officials began to blame cuts to the National Weather Service (NWS)—part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—for causing inaccurate forecasts. The “Department of Government Efficiency” cut about 600 staffers from the NWS. After the cuts, the understaffed agency warned that “severe shortages” of meteorologists would hurt weather forecasting.

All five living former directors of the NWS warned in May that the cuts “[leave] the nation’s official weather forecasting entity at a significant deficit…just as we head into the busiest time for severe storm predictions like tornadoes and hurricanes…. Our worst nightmare is that weather forecast offices will be so understaffed that there will be needless loss of

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Yeah no.

https://twitter.com/Wommando/status/1941755117121814702 No. See, claims about exhaustion and pressure could explain and perhaps excuse some things, like resort to alcohol or drugs, or playing loud music, or eating a whole pizza. Such claims cannot excuse things like torturing animals or setting people on fire or downloading kiddy torture porn. It’s not relaxing or stress-relieving to torture or harm sentient beings or to look at images of such torture and harm. It may be fun, if you’re a sick fuck, but it’s not stress relief.… Read the rest

Vile colleagues part 3: Dear Professor Byrne

It was alleged in May that you were among the anonymous authors of the HHS report on pediatric trans care. The report, among other things, issues the alarming recommendation that trans youth should not have access to gender-affirming care, despite the leading pediatric medical body in the country supporting the efficacy and life-saving potential of these treatments. [1]

In light of your recent confirmation [2] of these allegations, we as your colleagues at MIT, in philosophy, and in higher-education feel it necessary to speak out.

They’re not actually his colleagues. Most of them are grad students. Some are colleagues, but not most.

[S]ince 1966, the AAUP has also agreed on a Statement on

… Read the rest

Vile colleagues part 2.

“We are happy to grant that your participation in the authoring of the report is an exercise of your academic freedom.”

Another good place to stop and switch to making an argument against Alex’s work.

But no, they prefer to condescendingly attack his credibility instead. pic.twitter.com/WNgo2i5t3W

— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) July 6, 2025

“While you claim to support the right of trans people to live freely, in practice your behavior does not support this right. Since 2020 you have published a number of academic articles, as well as one book, arguing against trans inclusivity.”

Excuse me excuse me – what does the second sentence have to do with the first? The right to live freely is … Read the rest

Yet another witch trial under way.

https://twitter.com/sfmcguire79/status/1941867882083672111

The authors of the open letter are unhappy that Alex worked on the HHS report. They accuse him of:

-perpetuating harm against trans people

-failing to meet his academic responsibilities, and

-collaborating with the Trump admin.

The letter does not engage with his arguments. pic.twitter.com/DwbHoBw4mo

— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) July 6, 2025

…feel it necessary to speak out.

While we are not here calling for official or unofficial sanctions, we the undersigned believe that your behavior (a) perpetuates harm toward the trans community; (b) constitutes a failure to uphold your responsibilities as an academic; (c) is the result of an extremely misguided decision to collaborate with the Trump administration.

Is it still 2015? … Read the rest

Stone the crows, Euan [aka Sophie Molly] has written an article. It’s as bad as you’d expect.

Back in April 2025, the UK Supreme Court ruled that, for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, the definition of ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ refers to biological sex. This legal clarification, though presented as a matter of statutory interpretation, has had far-reaching and deeply personal consequences for many trans individuals across the country. 

Back in April, he means, or in April this year. “Back in April 2025” is clumsy and ridiculous. He is not a clever man.

More substantively, notice his whine about personal consequences for “trans individuals” [what’s wrong with “people”? Doesn’t sound pompous enough?] while he ignores personal consequences for … Read the rest

Allison Bailey won her case.

A gender-critical lawyer was banned by her vet because of her belief that there are only two biological sexes, a judge has said.

Imagine a vet or dentist or doctor takes exception to you because of your “belief” that humans are not rabbits.

Allison Bailey, a retired criminal defence barrister and co-founder of the LGB Alliance, sued Palmerston Veterinary Group’s surgery in Walthamstow, north-east London, after she was “expelled” from the practice.

The practice claimed she was thrown out for being rude to staff, but the judge rejected the argument, saying she had faced “unlawful discrimination” because of her beliefs.

I hope that vet practice isn’t spaying male dogs and cats and … Read the rest

Aren’t we clever, we’ve resurrected measles.

Falling childhood vaccine coverage and a large, smoldering outbreak that was kindled in an undervaccinated pocket of West Texas have driven the United States to a troubling new milestone: There have been more measles cases in the US this year than any other since the disease was declared eliminated a quarter-century ago.

Nice work, Bob. You’re a real piece of shit.

Experts say this year’s cases are likely to be severely undercounted because many are going unreported. Three people have died from measles this year – two children in Texas and one adult in New Mexico, all of whom were unvaccinated – matching the total number of US measles deaths from the previous

… Read the rest