The Associated Press is staffed by teenagers.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, a stunning setback to transgender rights.

Stunning shmunning. There is no “right” to be mutilated or prescribed harmful drugs or both. The whole idea of “gender-affirming care” is both absurd and malign.

Imagine if people started claiming to idennify as trees, and doctors rushed to provide transarborial rights. Yes, certainly, we will encase you in bark and replace your head with foliage, and behold, you are affirmed as a tree.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for a conservative majority that the law does not violate the Constitution’s equal protection clause, which requires the government to treat similarly situated

Brilliant work, Bob.

In 13 years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Fiona Havers crafted guidance for contending with Zika virus, helped China respond to outbreaks of bird flu and guided safe burial practices for Ebola deaths in Liberia.

More recently, she was a senior adviser on vaccine policy, leading a team that produced data on hospitalizations related to Covid-19 and respiratory syncytial virus. To the select group of scientists, federal officials and advocates who study who should get immunizations and when, Dr. Havers is well known, an embodiment of the C.D.C.’s intensive data-gathering operations.

On Monday, Dr. Havers resigned, saying she could no longer continue while the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., dismantled the

Originally a comment by Nullius in Verba on Veering.

I recently joined the local YMCA because it’s the only gym within anything like reasonable driving distance. When filling out the application online, there was a gender identity field that was marked mandatory. Since I don’t play that game, I went the next day to ask about it in person. My mother went with me, as she was also incensed about it. The girls at the front desk weren’t even aware of the field, since it isn’t on the paper app. (They also were clearly unaware of the significance of the language.) In any case, they said they’d contact their CEO about the issue and have him get back to … Read the rest

Feminism? Meh. Anti-racism? Bleh. Internationalism/multiculturalism? Yawn.

The Green Party=The Trans Party.

The Green party is veering away from its founding culture towards a more leftwing authoritarianism, its former health spokesperson has claimed.

Dr Pallavi Devulapalli said trans rights had become an obvious totem in the new climate, and accused the party of trying to purge anyone with gender-critical views.

Devulapalli, a GP and member of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk council, was expelled from the party for a rules breach that she has said was due to her beliefs on gender. Her expulsion this month, she said, has exposed a rift in the party’s leadership on transgender issues that threatens to widen during this summer’s leadership election.

But the … Read the rest

More Nazi-style takeover theater:

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was handcuffed and detained by federal agents Tuesday afternoon while escorting migrants from immigration hearings in Lower Manhattan — with video of the incident packing a politically potent punch for his suddenly energetic mayoral campaign.

On Tuesday morning, Lander was at 26 Federal Plaza in downtown Manhattan to observe an immigration hearing when he walked out of the courtroom locking arms with a Yoruba-speaking immigrant, according to Lander’s wife, Meg Barnette, who spoke to reporters at a press conference.

When federal agents moved to detain the immigrant in the hallway outside the courtroom, Lander asked for them to show a judicial warrant. The agents did not and put him

Worst possible time to have a pinhead in That Office.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned Iranian leader Ali Khamenei that he is an “easy target” and that “our patience is wearing thin,” before demanding Tehran surrender in its conflict against Israel.

“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Yeah great, war by social media, that will work out well.

“He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” he wrote. “But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.”

Trump added in a subsequent post: “UNCONDITIONAL

He what now?

Donald Trump slammed his “publicity seeking” French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in an excoriating social media post overnight, saying “whether purposely or not, Emmanuel always gets it wrong.”

Trump called someone else “publicity seeking”???… Read the rest

Sarah Ditum on the decline in sanctimony:

When actors in the new [Harry Potter] production are challenged about Rowling’s views, they tend to respond in robustly live-and-let-live style.

Asked whether criticism of Rowling had put him off accepting the role of Dumbledore, John Lithgow offered a genial: “Heavens, no.” Nick Frost, the new Hagrid, shrugged: “She’s allowed her opinion and I’m allowed mine.”

Frost’s comment might be the lowest possible bar of support for free speech imaginable, and part of me unkindly wants to demand a point-by-point explanation of exactly how he disagrees with Rowling. But it’s a million miles from the thoughtless acceptance of five years ago that, by demurring from activist talking points, Rowling was maliciously endangering

How interesting. Deep religious convictions are compatible with mass murder. Deep religious convictions even inspire and motivate mass murder.

The man accused of assassinating the top Democrat in the Minnesota House held deeply religious and politically conservative views, telling a congregation in Africa two years ago that the U.S. was in a “bad place” where most churches didn’t oppose abortion.

How deeply deeply deeply religious of him to draw up a list of legislators to murder for the crime of not wanting to force women to bear children against their will. Many deeply religious people see men as people and women as tools. Apparently murder-guy is of that clan.

Friends and former colleagues interviewed by AP described Boelter as

Originally a comment by Nullius in Verba on “I don’t think there is an issue”.

An intractable problem (as I see it) is that the formation of stereotypes and norms is a natural and automatic process. Linguistic innovation, for example, spreads because people tend to mimic each other. As mimicry spreads, behavior becomes (statistically) normal. When things are normal for long enough, which really isn’t very long at all, they become (normatively) normal as people begin to see deviation as wrong or indicative of potential danger. A pet example of this is how quickly it became a red flag for potential employers and romantic interests that someone didn’t have a social media presence. Another is how using punctuation and … Read the rest

He had a list.

The man suspected of shooting and killing a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband as well as shooting and wounding a second lawmaker and his wife “stalked his victims like prey” and “shot them in cold blood,” acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Joseph Thompson said.

“His crimes are the stuff of nightmares,” Thompson said at a news conference as he outlined the “chilling” details.

…

Boelter, who was arrested overnight near his farm in Green Isle, Minnesota, is facing federal charges including stalking and firearms charges and state charges including first-degree murder, officials said.

Boelter allegedly surveilled his victims’ homes and took notes, Thompson said. He allegedly had firearms and a list of

There’s a UK organization called ELECT HER.

What do they do?

We work to motivate, support and equip women in all their diversity to stand for political office in Britain.

Good stuff.

Do you include trans women in your work?

Yes. We are a fully inclusive organisation. All women are welcome to register to access our activities. We acknowledge that non-binary people do not fit into the binary categories of women and men, but we recognise that some non-binary people’s experiences or identities intersect with women’s and if you feel you would benefit from accessing a women-centred space, we want to welcome you.

Oh. So it’s not for women in all their diversity, it’s for women and men who … Read the rest

Guest post by Mike Haubrich.

I’m really only an “Out” atheist because religious people keep on assuming that they are the only ones who matter in the public square. (Not all religious people.) I don’t care about other people’s religions, they “neither pick my pocket nor break my leg.”

I realize that there are atheists who are insulting towards the religious, so no need to point that out, either.

In a thread from a state party google group, a religous person related his grief about the assassinations and attempted assassination in Minnesota yesterday. It was a heartfelt post, but he ended it by telling people to pray for the State Senator’s recovery, and then added “even my hardcore atheist … Read the rest

Yup uhuh that’s not a deranged thing to say at all. Keep it up Jonathan: show everyone how batshit you are.

The moral high ground?

The right to be left alone by a rich bored bully! https://t.co/vTNdexD9Uk

— Boy George (@BoyGeorge) June 14, 2025

Hmm. Remind us who and what Boy George is?

JK Rowling has highlighted Boy George’s conviction for beating a male escort with a chain after the singer criticised her campaign to protect women-only spaces such as prisons.

It’s a tough one. On the one hand a guy who handcuffs a male escort to a bed and then beats him with a chain, on the other hand a woman who says men are not women and should not invade women’s spaces. Which to choose, which to choose.

The author of the Harry Potter books was called a

This is very safe and healthy and multicultural. Nothing can possibly go wrong.

A male school bus driver in Ontario, Canada, was confronted by parents after wearing a pink "school girl" outfit while on the job and allegedly calling his bus "the lolita line."

Reduxx can confirm the video was taken at St. Michael the Archangel Elementary in Woodbridge. pic.twitter.com/HmF8Vevaqn

— REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) June 13, 2025

The “schoolgirl” outfit is of course no such thing. … Read the rest

Dude is furious that some pesky woman who is too short and not-thin for his liking told him he can’t go into the women’s toilets. The Guardian is passionately sympathetic.

I was visiting family in London when the British supreme court handed down its unexpected ruling: under the Equality Act, sex was now considered “binary” in law, which meant transgender people could be banned from single-sex spaces of their gender identity.

Circular enough? What he means is: men could be banned from women’s spaces. Well no shit, Sherlee.

It was my last night in London before returning to Australia. I was in full makeup and a dress when my female friends took me out dancing at

Did any of yez do any No Kings partying? I didn’t. No doubt I should have, but I couldn’t muster the enthusiasm. We couldn’t keep him out 6 months ago so what’s the point of protests now? We’re fucked, and pouring into the streets isn’t going to change that. But maybe I should have anyway. But I didn’t.

Others did.

Hundreds of protests against President Donald Trump have taken place in towns and cities across the US, organised by a group called “No Kings”.

The demonstrations coincided with a rare military parade hosted by Trump in Washington DC, and came after days of protests in Los Angeles and elsewhere over his immigration policies.

Lawmakers, union leaders and activists gave

Dreaming the glorious dream.

Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber’s trans daughter, Kai, always had a vision for her future.

“I want to be a supermodel. Period,” Kai, 16, said in a Q&A with Interview Magazine published Wednesday when asked to share her dream career.

Ahhhh isn’t that lovely? Right up there with wanting to find cures for lethal diseases and ending poverty and lawyering for justice. He wants to be stared at. Kids today have such lofty ambitions!

“I’ve been practising my walks in the kitchen for years; my mum can show you all the videos I forced her to film,” she continued. “Struggling with gender identity from a young age most likely had something to do with it.” The teenager

Living in a sewer chapter eleventy billion.

Donald Trump is trying to justify federal agents handcuffing California Senator Alex Padilla by suggesting that he “looked like an illegal,” his leading biographer has revealed.

“Trump saw these pictures and then has been on the phone saying to people, ‘Nobody’s ever heard of this guy,’” Michael Wolff, the bestselling author, said this week on The Daily Beast Podcast. “As though that’s an excuse. And then he’s gone on to say, ‘and he looks like an illegal.’”

…

Wolff said that Trump excused the assault by dismissing Padilla as an immigrant nobody. “If you are famous, that would obviously put you in a different category and ICE agents would not have