All entries by this author

Who needs disease control?

Jun 26th, 2025 5:15 pm | By

Occupy Democrats on Facebook:

Senator Jon Ossoff streamrolls Donald Trump’s slimy OMB Director Russell Vought after he tries to shift blame to Joe Biden during a hearing: “I don’t want to hear about the Biden administration! You’re here on behalf of the Trump administration.”

Finally, someone shut down the MAGA blame game…

“You guys are making mistakes and I want to focus on the mistakes that you’re making at the CDC. Have you visited the CDC Mr. Vought by chance?” asked Ossoff.

“I have not,” admitted Vought, who was testifying on behalf of the Office of Management and Budget about Donald Trump’s disastrous proposed cuts to federal funding.

“It is the flagship epidemiological and public health agency for the

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Seen on Facebook

Jun 26th, 2025 11:10 am | By
Seen on Facebook

Spot the problem.

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In full daylight

Jun 26th, 2025 10:24 am | By

Just one paragraph from the Everyday cancellation article:

A criticism of SEEN in Publishing, a sex equality and equity network for publishing professionals, was that its organisers chose to remain anonymous, but reactions from the industry – including naming it a “vile TERF publishing group” (commissioning editor) and a “nasty, anonymous, hate-filled little network” (editor), and telling its members to “get fucked” (publisher) – show why it has been necessary for them to do so. “I was really scared,” said a representative of SEEN in Publishing of her decision not to reveal her identity. She pointed out that most of the abuse directed online at the network had been sent from social-media accounts that were linked to their employers

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Publishing v reality

Jun 26th, 2025 9:20 am | By

Sex Matters has a new report on Everyday cancellation in publishing.

This research investigates the working environment for authors, agents and publishing staff who believe that sex is binary and immutable, and that it matters in life and law. It was commissioned to investigate widespread but anecdotal reports that publishing has become a hostile environment for people who hold gender-critical beliefs.

That’s an important thing to investigate. Publishing, like universities, journalism, social media, conversation, is how we learn about things: how we learn truths and also falsehoods. We all rely on these institutions and pastimes to get things right, so that we can get them right ourselves, and not fuck everything up by getting them badly horrifyingly wrong. … Read the rest



Round up the usual quacks

Jun 26th, 2025 4:34 am | By

Make America Sick Again.

The new members of US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s panel of vaccine advisers will review long-approved immunisation schedules for children and teens. The seven members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (Acip) met for the first time on Wednesday, weeks after Kennedy ousted all 17 of their predecessors.

The Acip recommends who should be vaccinated and when these immunisations should occur to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Ahead of the meeting, public health experts and politicians raised concerns about the qualifications of the new members – several of whom are vaccine critics.

Who the hell wants immunity from dangerous diseases anyway? Getting extremely sick builds character. Dying builds … Read the rest



You cannot protect what you cannot define

Jun 26th, 2025 3:36 am | By

Nailed it.

https://twitter.com/UN_HRC/status/1937824019207561702… Read the rest


Reasoned debate

Jun 26th, 2025 3:08 am | By

The opposition.

https://twitter.com/MShipworth/status/1938002038572683291… Read the rest


One in three what?

Jun 25th, 2025 4:51 pm | By

Oh gee will you look at that.

Kind of conspicuous, isn’t it.… Read the rest



Doctors say no

Jun 25th, 2025 4:48 pm | By

Or as the Telegraph puts it, doctors are revolting.

Doctors who support the Cass Review into children’s trans services are revolting against the British Medical Association (BMA).

Insiders claimed that “ideologues” have infiltrated the union and “silenced” doctors who backed last year’s report by Baroness Cass into the care of children who think they are transgender.

The BMA controversially decided to reject the review during a council meeting, but later backtracked to a “neutral” stance after receiving a barrage of complaints from members.

What, doctors complaining about their union’s belief that men can be women? How hoity-toity of them.

It said it would carry out its own evaluation into the Cass Review’s recommendations by the end of 2024,

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Zeal

Jun 25th, 2025 3:20 pm | By

Absolute monster.

The U.S. will no longer contribute funding to Gavi, a global alliance that helps buy vaccines for the world’s poorest children, because it ignores safety, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Wednesday, without providing evidence.

In a video statement seen by Reuters and shown at a Gavi fundraising event in Brussels, Kennedy – a long-time vaccine skeptic – also accused Gavi of making questionable recommendations around COVID-19 vaccines, and raised concerns about the DTPw (diphtheria-tetanus-whole cell pertussis) vaccine.

Gavi said in a statement that safety was key, and that it acts in line with World Health Organization recommendations. It has full confidence in the DTPw vaccine, which has contributed to halving child mortality in the

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One of the “dumbest”

Jun 25th, 2025 11:17 am | By

Hmmm. Trump on Truth Social:

Stupid AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the “dumbest” people in Congress, is now calling for my Impeachment, despite the fact that the Crooked and Corrupt Democrats have already done that twice before. The reason for her “rantings” is all of the Victories that the U.S.A. has had under the Trump Administration. The Democrats aren’t used to WINNING, and she can’t stand the concept of our Country being successful again. When we examine her Test Scores, we will find out that she is NOT qualified for office but, nevertheless, far more qualified than Crockett, who is a seriously Low IQ individual, or Ilhan Omar, who does nothing but complain about our Country, yet the Failed

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Professors owned people forced into bondage

Jun 25th, 2025 9:46 am | By

I’m reading a long Guardian piece about Harvard and slavery and what to do about that whole massive scar on US history. In doing that I find myself doing what I always do, which is wonder how it worked – how people explained it to themselves, lived with it, understood it, all that. It’s a puzzle. If I’d lived then instead of now I would have done the same thing, so naturally I’m curious how it worked.

Part one is that it’s not all that puzzling that bad working conditions were taken for granted, because that was just a given and had been since forever. It’s the ownership part, the permanent capture part, that sticks out. The enslavement.

As the

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How dare women say no

Jun 24th, 2025 11:24 am | By

This guy…

As well as politicians, desperate for attention and relevance, like JK Rowling and others

Stop right there, Sherlock. JK Rowling is desperate for attention and relevance? Really? Really? You seriously think she’s starved for attention and relevance?

have poisoned the public discourse with attacks on our trans communinny, all under the false dichotomy that you cannot be a true feminist and protect women’s rights without attacking

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Bad choices

Jun 24th, 2025 10:06 am | By

So, she’s been found, dead. I continue to wonder why anyone thinks it’s a good idea to take tourists (as opposed to experienced climbers) on such a dangerous walk.

After a complex rescue operation, teams finally reached her body on Tuesday, her family said in a statement on social media.

That’s another thing. Letting amateurs do dangerous climbs puts rescuers in danger too.

I wonder if she had any idea how dangerous the climb is – I wonder if the people who make money from taking tourists on such strolls pretended it was exciting but totally safe, because they want to make the aforementioned money.

One group member told Brazilian TV that the terrain was slippery, the climb “very

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Spot the rad

Jun 24th, 2025 9:48 am | By

Michael Deacon at The Telegraph has some questions for Stephen Fry. He wants to know exactly which of JK Rowling’s beliefs about women are “radical” in Fry’s view.

Take, for example, Ms Rowling’s belief that women don’t have testicles. Or her belief that men can’t give birth. Is either of those beliefs radical? Extreme? Wildly at variance with established medical science?

Perhaps he’s thinking of her belief that biological males should not be entitled to enter the female changing room at their local swimming pool and strip naked in front of small girls. Or her belief that confused children should not be pumped with drugs designed to prevent them from going through a normal, healthy puberty. Or her

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Uffizi selfie

Jun 24th, 2025 9:13 am | By

People can be so tiresome.

An 18th Century oil painting has allegedly been damaged after a museum visitor tripped while taking a selfie.

Florence’s Uffizi Gallery said a tourist fell backwards while trying to “make a meme in front” of a portrait of Ferdinando de’ Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany, by Anton Domenico Gabbiani. The museum explained the damage could be repaired quickly but director Simone Verde warned restrictions on visitor behaviour could be imposed in the future.

If what you want to do is take selfies to impress your friends or social meeja or the unlucky people in your immediate vicinity then do it somewhere other than in front of a unique work of art, mkay?

Earlier this

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Near the crater

Jun 24th, 2025 4:14 am | By

Some people have a strange idea of fun.

Rescuers in Indonesia are searching for a Brazilian tourist who fell while hiking near the crater of Mount Rinjani, an active volcano.

Like that. Why would people want to hike near the crater of an active volcano?

Brazilian media and the woman’s family have identified her as 26-year-old Juliana Marins, who was hiking with a group when she disappeared around 06:30 local time on Saturday (23:30 GMT Friday).

Brazilian authorities said she fell from “a cliff that surrounds the trail next to the volcano’s crater”. Search and rescue attempts have so far been unsuccessful due to the extreme terrain and foggy weather, according to Indonesian authorities.

I don’t know, I guess … Read the rest



He must have been terrified

Jun 23rd, 2025 5:14 pm | By

This guy is enormous, and according to women who have encountered him, extremely intimidating. It’s very easy to believe that, listening to and watching him drone on and on about how poor poor HE was “attacked” i.e. told he doesn’t belong in women’s toilets. He’s huge, he’s confident, he has a deep rumbly voice and he talks slowly and importantly. (If you watch him you will see what I mean.) He’s a massive growly man making a display of himself rebuking and tacitly threatening women, because some women spoke up when he forced himself on women in a women’s toilet. He’s loathsome.

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What is possible

Jun 23rd, 2025 4:44 pm | By
What is possible

The ridiculous airy confident belief in magic yet again.

“Be what you want,” he says, as if he were 3 and believed in Santa Claus. We can’t just be what we want, because we are what we are. Some things are changeable, but the vast majority are not. We work within narrow limits. We can be more educated or strong or talented by working on it, but we can’t be zebras or cars or apples, no matter how hard we work. That’s neither a shackle nor a prejudice, it’s a reality.… Read the rest



Nah you can keep your text

Jun 23rd, 2025 10:24 am | By

What was that about dumb moments?

Dude thinks the erasure of women causes no harm. Easy for dude to say.… Read the rest