Depressing to watch.

I see the TERFs have arrived in my TL. Thank you for identifying yourself so I can block you.#ConsequencesOfFreeSpeech

— John Amaechi OBE (@JohnAmaechi) July 14, 2021

this is what I'm talking about. What has being trans to do with the abuse? You're terrible.

— John Amaechi OBE (@JohnAmaechi) July 14, 2021

What being trans has to do with the reporting on the abuse is that the news outlet called a violent man who raped a child a woman. We are not “terrible” for objecting to that!

oh and TERF… no thanks.

— John Amaechi OBE (@JohnAmaechi) July 14, 2021

No, I know who you are… you aren't fooling anyone.

— John Amaechi OBE (@JohnAmaechi) July

… Read the rest

The Amazon is no longer a carbon sink.

The Amazon rainforest is emitting a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, according to a study. The giant forest had been absorbing the emissions driving the climate crisis but is now causing its acceleration, researchers said.

Most of the emissions are caused by fires, many deliberately set to clear land for beef and soy production. But even without fires, hotter temperatures and droughts mean the south-eastern Amazon has become a source of CO2, rather than a sink.

Growing trees and plants have taken up about a quarter of all fossil fuel emissions since 1960, with the Amazon playing a major role as the largest tropical forest. Losing the Amazon’s

… Read the rest

Another thing stolen from women:

The category is: making history. Mj Rodriguez has become the first transgender performer to pick up an Emmy nomination in a major acting category.

Rodriguez is nominated in the lead drama actress category for her fierce and formidable portrayal of house mother and nurse Blanca Rodriguez on FX’s ballroom culture period drama “Pose.” It is her first-ever attention from the Television Academy.

“I do believe this is a pivotal moment. There’s never been a trans woman who has been nominated as a leading outstanding actress and I feel like that pushes the needle forward so much for now the door to be knocked down for so many people — whether they be

… Read the rest

Biden gave a speech about voting rights, which is nice and all but it’s not going to do anything.

Some Democrats hope that presidential attention will persuade Congress to pass a voting-rights bill that outlaws the new Republican voting rules. But that’s unlikely. Congressional Republicans are almost uniformly opposed to ambitious voting-rights bills. And some Senate Democrats, including Joe Manchin, seem unwilling to change the filibuster, which would almost certainly be necessary to pass a bill.

Well. Let’s get real. Congressional Republicans are almost uniformly opposed to any voting-rights bills at all, except the kind that restrict them. The more people who vote, the fewer Republicans who get elected. They don’t gerrymander for the fun of it you know.… Read the rest

They’ve got to stop doing this. News from CP24:

A woman is facing charges after she allegedly sexually assaulted a child in a Toronto park two months ago and police believe there may be other victims.

What woman? This “woman”:

Just stop.

According to police, a six-year-old boy attended the Walter Saunders Park, near Dufferin Street and Eglinton Avenue West, on May 20. At that time, the boy was sexually assaulted, police said.

How would a woman even go about sexually assaulting a six-year-old boy? What would that even mean? For a man it’s all too obvious how.

In a news release issued on Tuesday, police said investigators believe there may be other victims.

But they will have trouble … Read the rest

Trump in the bunker:

President Donald Trump was furious after reports last year said he and his family hid in the White House bunker during the George Floyd protests, and he said whoever leaked that information should be executed, according to a new book by The Wall Street Journal’s Michael Bender.

Executed, sure, why not.

In “Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost,” Bender wrote that Trump seethed about the bunker story during a meeting with military and law-enforcement officials and West Wing advisors, according to CNN, which published excerpts from the book on Tuesday.

According to CNN, Bender wrote that the president “boiled over about the bunker story as

… Read the rest

The usual stupid hodgepodge of Kinds of Anti-Racism I Don’t Like labeled “Critical Race Theory” as if the two were the same thing.

In schools across the country, woke teachers and left-wing parent activists are promoting critical race theory, a disturbing philosophical framework founded in radical, racially charged concepts about culture, society, and government.

No, you mean they’re promoting various innovations in teaching about race and history and racism. That’s not what Critical Race Theory means.

According to critical race theorists, virtually all of society’s problems should be viewed within the context of alleged systemic racism, which all people have a solemn duty to root out at any cost — including by promoting other forms of racism.

Ibram X. Kendi,

… Read the rest

Speaking of men, and men relative to women, and women relative to men – James Innes-Smith finds there are far too many women on the BBC these days.

Is it any surprise that research carried out by the corporation for its annual report found that more than a quarter of men feel that the BBC ‘no longer reflects people like me’?

“People like me” meaning what? Just, men? Or is there more to it than that? If there is, Innis-Smith overlooked it.

In a concerted effort to redress gender imbalance men are gradually being airbrushed out. Across much of the BBC men have become something of a rarity.

Really? Really? Really?

I don’t believe it. I don’t believe men … Read the rest

More on the NZ Herald article, which covers a lot of ground.

In Wellington City, a Speak Up For Women billboard has been removed from the CBD today.

In a statement Go Media general manager Simon Teagle said it was removed as soon as the company started fielding calls from offended New Zealanders.

He believed the billboard could be in breach of the Advertising Standards Authority’s codes.

A billboard that gives a dictionary definition of the word “woman” could be in breach of the Advertising Standards Authority’s codes? They must be very strange codes.

“Go Media is an inclusive, locally-owned New Zealand business and we support all communities. While we believe in freedom of speech, we do not condone

… Read the rest

The NZ Herald reports on the official bullying of a feminist group:

Lower Hutt’s Mayor has apologised after saying controversial group Speak Up For Women could hold one of their events in a council waste bin.

“Controversial” group aka feminist group.

Also he didn’t really apologize.

Meanwhile, one of the group’s billboards has been taken down from one of Go Media’s central Wellington sites.

That is, misogynist bullies got it taken down.

These developments come on the same day as Wellington City Council will light up the Michael Fowler Centre in the colours of the transgender flag timed for when the group holds an event there.

In other words deliberately timed to spit in the faces of feminist women … Read the rest

This is pretty amazing.

https://twitter.com/yatakalam/status/1414845595957792771

Stand Up For Women put up the definition of “woman” billboard and fans of trans ideology promptly bullied the relevant people into removing it.

So, women are now the class enemy, women are the arrogant dominant class, women have all the privilege and power, and it’s men who have to struggle to be heard…by making sure that women are not heard.

https://twitter.com/yatakalam/status/1414849423138566147 https://twitter.com/yatakalam/status/1414854622578192386 https://twitter.com/yatakalam/status/1414872469576458245

Who knew feminism would be killed off not by the right but by the left?… Read the rest

Apparently labor laws and safety laws don’t apply to prisoners.

Temperatures reached 97 degrees on June 21 at the French Robinson Unit prison the day Seth Donnelly collapsed. The Texas Observer reported Seth passed out during his prison job of training attack dogs — running around in a 75-pound ​“fight suit” while the dogs tried to bite him. Seth’s internal body temperature was 106 when he reached the hospital, where doctors eventually took him off life support. He died on June 23, and his preliminary autopsy lists multiorgan failure following severe hyperthermia.

97 degrees. A padded suit weighing 75 pounds. It’s worthy of the tunnels at Camp Dora.

Danielle, who asked for In These Times to withhold her

… Read the rest

Powell attempted the Sheer Volume defense.

Powell insisted the volume of the suit they filed last November was testament to the extent of research and investigation the attorneys did.

“We filed a massive and detailed complaint in federal court that doesn’t even require us to append affidavits to it,” Powell said. “The very fact we filed 960 pages of affidavits with the complaint shows due diligence on our part. … The only way to test that is in the crucible of a trial or an evidentiary hearing,” she added, noting that the judge had thus far denied such a hearing.

Listen, it’s millions of words of bullshit, surely that counts for something.

“Volume, certainly for this court, doesn’t equate

… Read the rest

In Trump lawyers news:

A U.S. judge on Monday appeared likely to reprimand Sidney Powell, a former campaign lawyer for Donald Trump, and other attorneys over a lawsuit they filed in Michigan seeking to overturn Democratic President Joe Biden’s election victory.

U.S. District Judge Linda Parker in Detroit suggested the pro-Trump lawyers should have investigated the Republican former president’s voter fraud claims more carefully before suing.

“Should an attorney be sanctioned for his or her failure to withdraw allegations the attorney came to know were untrue?,” Parker said during a court hearing via video conference. “Is that sanctionable behavior?”

You’d hope so.

Parker held the hearing to determine whether Powell, Lin Wood and other pro-Trump lawyers should be disciplined

… Read the rest

In further apocalypse:

For nine straight days, waves of dead fish have washed ashore along downtown St. Petersburg and Coquina Key [Florida], plaguing residents with the intolerable stench. 

City officials say over 100 miles of coastline have been impacted, with the worst areas being along the east and southeast coast of St. Pete — Tierra Verde to Gandy Blvd. 

The city is working to clean up the mess and has collected over 25,000 dead fish in the past 10 days, along with 15,000 dead fish on July 9, alone. The number of dead fish amounts to over 15 tons.

Much of Florida is doomed because of the rising seas. I don’t recommend moving there.… Read the rest

Stephanie McCrummen at the Washington Post reports on

a growing Christian movement that is nondenominational, openly political and has become an engine of former president Donald Trump’s Republican Party.

It includes some of the largest congregations in the nation, housed in the husks of old Baptist churches, former big-box stores and sprawling multimillion-dollar buildings with private security to direct traffic on Sundays. Its most successful leaders are considered apostles and prophets, including some with followings in the hundreds of thousands, publishing empires, TV shows, vast prayer networks, podcasts, spiritual academies, and branding in the form of T-shirts, bumper stickers and even flags.

And this is why we can’t have nice things.

This is the world of Trump’s spiritual adviser Paula

… Read the rest

It’s a bit late for the tut-tutting now.

Boris Johnson and Priti Patel have been accused of hypocrisy over their stance on racism in football, after they condemned the abuse of three black England players but previously refused to criticise fans who booed the team for taking the knee.

…

Sayeeda Warsi, a Conservative peer and former co-chairman, sent a public message to Patel, the home secretary, calling on her and all Conservatives to “think about our role in feeding this culture in our country”.

“If we ‘whistle’ & the ‘dog’ reacts we can’t be shocked if it barks & bites,” she tweeted. “It’s time to stop the culture wars that are feeding division. Dog whistles win votes

… Read the rest

The joys of sport.

England manager Gareth Southgate said the racist abuse aimed at Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after the Euro 2020 final defeat by Italy was “unforgivable”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Football Association also condemned it.

All three players missed penalties in the 3-2 shootout loss and were targeted on social media after the game.

Patriotism innit.

Updating to add:

To help restore balance to Twitter, here is Marcus Rashford helping at a Manchester food bank with his mother Melanie. pic.twitter.com/3301sQd03J

— Pádraig Belton (@PadraigBelton) July 12, 2021

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The Death Party intensifies its push to kill more of us:

The Conservative Political Action Committee conference in Dallas this weekend has been full of the usual moments from the Republican Party’s most outrageous figures trying to be the most performatively provocative. Notable, however, has been the drumbeat of anti-vaccine rhetoric that has pervaded CPAC’s annual gathering—even as the Delta variant of COVID-19 continues to build steam across unvaccinated parts of the country.

Because what, half a million deaths isn’t enough for them?

Fauci is, naturally, horrified.

Fauci was reacting to a talk in which anti-vaxxer Alex Berenson was roundly cheered by a CPAC audience for saying the US government had failed to “sucker” 90 percent of Americans into

… Read the rest

Jonathan Chait at New York Magazine:

Rich Anderson, the chairman of the Virginia Republican Party[,] wrote to the president of the University of Virginia yesterday. Anderson begins by explaining, “I understand the commitment that public servants make to serving with integrity, dignity, respect, and honor in their taxpayer-funded roles.” The letter concerns Donald Trump, though not in a way that follows intuitively from the premise that public servants must act with integrity, dignity, respect, and honor.

Anderson’s letter demands UVA open an ethics investigation into Larry Sabato, the director of the school’s Center for Politics. Sabato’s alleged ethics violation is a series of mean tweets from his personal account, concerning Donald Trump.

“Not an ethics violation, Your Honour.”… Read the rest