Ah yes supermarkets, those hubs of progressive enlightenment. Pronouns are on sale this week.

A Sainsbury’s supermarket in Edinburgh has introduced pronoun name badges for staff to avoid misgendering staff members.

Meaning…so that staff won’t “misgender” colleagues? Or so that everyone, including customers, will avoid doing that murderous thing? The wording is clumsily ambiguous.

Workers at the Murrayfield supermarket have been wearing tags that declare their preferred gender pronouns, such as she/her or they/them.

Managers and cis colleagues have also been adding their pronouns to their badges to show solidarity to the LGBTQ+ community.

Cis colleagues? What does that mean? Are there trans colleagues there too? People who identify as Sainsbury’s staff but don’t actually get paid?

I think … Read the rest

Much as I hate to agree with a Tory…

Protests outside a school where pupils were shown a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad are “deeply unsettling”, a government minister has said.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said teachers should be able to “appropriately show images of the prophet” in class.

In other words religion is a subject as well as a practice. Comparative religion can be taught in schools, and schools should be able to teach it without protests and complaints and teachers getting suspended.

Mr Jenrick called for the “deeply unsettling” scenes outside the school to “come to an end”.

“In a free society we want religions to be taught to children and for children to be able to

… Read the rest

Oh goody another Motoon uproar. That should be enlightening.

A teacher who showed pupils an “inappropriate” cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad – sparking protests outside a school – has been suspended.

Classic BBC – it always does this, as does the Guardian. The teacher did not “spark” protests outside the school; some people decided to protest outside the school. The BBC loves to sneak the blame in that way.

The image depicting the founder of Islam was used in a lesson at Batley Grammar School on Monday.

…

Head teacher Gary Kibble apologised “unequivocally”, adding the member of staff had “given their most sincere apologies” and been suspended pending an investigation.

“We have immediately withdrawn teaching on this part

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Freeminder on Stuck.

I served as a Deck Officer on containerships (usually known as ‘boxboats’) for several years.

Evergreen, as a shipping line, was, and still is, regarded as a menace on the high seas. I saw an Evergreen ship run aground just outside Port Suez about twenty years ago, amongst other mishaps. The Evergreen ships were blatant in their recklessness: cutting across shipping lanes, ignoring the ‘Rules of the Road’ and even cutting through prohibited areas to save time. Sometimes we wondered if there was anyone on watch on the bridge…several times we had to alter course to avoid collisions, even when we had right of way or arrived at the pilot station on … Read the rest

Ari Berman at Mother Jones:

During the 2020 election cycle in Georgia, Donald Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state. His efforts to manipulate the electoral process failed after Raffensperger stood up to the president and defended the integrity of the election. But if the Georgia legislature has its way, Republicans could have a much easier time overturning the will of voters in future elections. 

The Georgia House of Representatives passed a major power grab on Thursday on a party-line vote that would remove Raffensperger as the chair and a voting member of the state election board, which oversees the certification of elections and

… Read the rest

More from Ari Berman (who wrote the book on the subject).

"The Georgia bill, one of 250+ bills being considered by GOP in 43 states that would make it harder to vote, was passed one day after Mitch McConnell claimed in a Senate hearing that "states are not engaging in efforts to suppress voters whatsoever'"https://t.co/wn070q1yck

— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) March 26, 2021

This is happening on 56th anniversary of Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights & murder of civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo. History repeating itself in all the wrong ways

— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) March 25, 2021

Watching the clip did give me a horrific “is this 1964 again?? are we really going back there???” feeling.

"The

… Read the rest

This is dreadful. Brian Kemp just signed Georgia’s filthy new voter suppression law, and the cops arrested a state representative – Dem AND BLACK of course – for trying to observe the signing. Watch the clip and be horrified.

This is insane: Georgia Dem rep @Cannonfor58 was arrested for trying to watch Brian Kemp sign new voter suppression bill. Look at how she is treated by police. This is straight out of Jim Crow pic.twitter.com/zRpMWumbkQ

— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) March 25, 2021

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Pliny on Stuck.

WooHOO!, a discussion about ships, something this old salt can contribute to. Carbon footprint wise, it’s hard to compete with these giants on an emissions per cargo ton carried level. They are extremely efficient which is why there has been a move to larger and larger ships – fewer sailors and lowered fuel costs per ton. Remember, the construction and operating costs of these ships pencils out in a global marketplace. It’s part of the reason you can buy less expensive goods manufactured overseas.

If you want to rail against emissions, it’s better to go after interstate trucking in the USA. Compared to rail transport, semis double the carbon footprint per ton … Read the rest

There’s this

https://twitter.com/MrJohnNicolson/status/1374778555054370830

And, in reply, there’s this

My statement, in full, regarding the egregious Alliance Against Tortoises. pic.twitter.com/mlJSOEMYqZ

— James Dreyfus (@DreyfusJames) March 25, 2021

… Read the rest

Lindsay Crouse of the New York Times “produced the Emmy nominated Opinion Video series “Equal Play,” which brought widespread reform to women’s sports.”

Now, however…

This year, lawmakers in more than 20 states have introduced legislation to ban transgender kids from girls’ sports, under the guise of protecting women and girls. Bills have already passed in Mississippi and Idaho.

Not “transgender kids” but boys. The issue, as I’m sure she knows, is boys playing on girls’ teams.

The cause is catching on: One recent Politico poll found that 46 percent of women support a ban on transgender athletes (as do 43 percent of young adults born since 1997).

Again: not a ban on transgender athletes, a ban … Read the rest

Shocker: the fact that women are held in contempt probably has something to do with why they are paid less.

Workplaces, homes and institutions continue to hold attitudes towards women that “devalues and discriminates against” them, exacerbating a gender pay gap that is unlikely to close for another 26 years, according to an author of a report on workplace equality published on Friday.

…

The report found that while some organisations have embraced change, in others there was “gender apathy”. “This ‘gender apathy’ has acted to slow the overall pace of change,” the report said.

Along with “gender excitement” over trans women. Women, yawn; pretend women, thrilling!

Cultural change was essential to change this apathy, Cassells said.

… Read the rest

Perhaps it’s all been a misunderstanding?

Yes, Ms Blackman, a huge amount. Please think about what you're saying here. Take any issue (FGM for instance) and consider if it's on actual or perceived sex. I think you might also be deeply confused here between ontology (what is) and epistemology (how we come to know it).

— Rachel Julia (@rachel__julia) March 25, 2021

Does discrimination against women happen on the basis of actual sex, or is it just on the basis of who is wearing a skirt?

It’s all a matter of perception.

https://twitter.com/wwwritingclub/status/1375072984638107648

Won’t somebody please think of the boys facing Female Genital Mutilation.… Read the rest

Sometimes there’s such a thing as too big.

Dredgers, tugboats and even a backhoe failed to free a giant cargo ship wedged in Egypt’s Suez Canal on Thursday as the number of stacked-up vessels unable to pass through the vital waterway climbed to 150 and losses to global shipping mounted.

The skyscraper-sized Ever Given, carrying cargo between Asia and Europe, ran aground Tuesday in the narrow, man-made canal dividing continental Africa from the Sinai Peninsula. Even with the aid of high tides, authorities have been unable to push the Panama-flagged container vessel aside, and they are looking for new ideas to free it.

If a container ship is extra big then you can put more containers on it and … Read the rest

One bit of cheerful news:

https://twitter.com/SportIsARight/status/1372933262876815361

“They” being the College of Charleston.

https://twitter.com/SportIsARight/status/1373030423253688325 https://twitter.com/SportIsARight/status/1373070103147900930

You’re welcome. We’re absolutely excited to see you gtfo.

https://twitter.com/SportIsARight/status/1373073718969270272

Whatever. Bye.

https://twitter.com/SportIsARight/status/1373074222629711877 https://twitter.com/SportIsARight/status/1373074946222612483 https://twitter.com/SportIsARight/status/1373080467759595520

He’s not really a world champion athlete. He cheated.

https://twitter.com/SportIsARight/status/1373450796289900550

We’ll be happy too!

https://twitter.com/SportIsARight/status/1373458577512353792

Good. Good good good. Bye now.… Read the rest

From Slate’s Dear Prudence advice column:

Q. Quietly listening: Against my social circle’s better judgment, I’ve taken a liking to a controversial writer/podcaster. There are many accusations lobbed against him, but never any receipts, and his viewpoints are often mischaracterized. As a trans woman, I disagree with him about some things but I’ve never heard him say anything wildly unreasonable.

I’m torn. I understand if people don’t want to support him, but does that mean I have to stop? After reading the accusations against him, I personally find a lot of the backlash against him overblown. I enjoy his podcast, and I feel a little guilty pleasure when I listen to it. I won’t support all his endeavors—he is

… Read the rest

Shaming but not at all surprising.

The US has fallen to a new low in a global ranking of political rights and civil liberties, a drop fueled by unequal treatment of minority groups, damaging influence of money in politics, and increased polarization, according to a new report by Freedom House, a democracy watchdog group.

Nothing about all the voter suppression bills?

The US earned 83 out of 100 possible points this year in Freedom House’s annual rankings of freedoms around the world, an 11-point drop from its ranking of 94 a decade ago. The US’s new ranking places it on par with countries like Panama, Romania and Croatia and behind countries such as Argentina and Mongolia. It lagged

… Read the rest

Voting rights shmoting rights.

Seizing on Donald Trump’s lies about fraud in the 2020 election, Republicans have launched a brazen attack on voting, part of an effort to entrench control over a rapidly changing electorate by changing the rules of democracy. As of mid-February, 253 bills were pending to restrict voting in 43 states. Many of those restrictions take direct aim at mail-in and early voting, the very policies that led to November’s record turnout.

The filthy little truth behind all this is that Republicans can’t win in a fair fight, because there are only so many billionaires to go around.

Republicans have openly talked about their intentions. “Everybody shouldn’t be voting,” John Kavanagh, a Republican in the Arizona

… Read the rest

Separation of church and state? Whaaaaaaaat?

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith defends preventing people from voting on Sunday, because God pic.twitter.com/69tYzgi4jU

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 24, 2021

Look here, look at this dollar bill, it says right here “in god we trust” – and it says it on all the other bills too, the five n the ten n the twenty n the million, all of them. It’s always been that way! Well, since 1956, which might as well be always, because who cares about before that.

Also, by the way, Shabbos is Saturday and the one for Muslims is Friday and don’t Buddhists have it on Monday and Hindus on Tuesday and Jains on Wednesday and Sikhs on Thursday? So, … Read the rest

Unbelievable.

Aimee Challenor, kicked out of the Greens and the pervy Lib Dems is now an employee of Reddit and blocking my article from the site as well as kicking anyone off who shares it and banning them. Spread this around please and make it very public: https://t.co/62FhHsDAjO

— Julie Bindel (@bindelj) March 23, 2021

Aimee Challenor! Of all people.… Read the rest

At 15, Chloe Clark’s identity has become a political flashpoint, questioned by those who have never met her or her parents https://t.co/ZhRaJZ5nWG

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 16, 2021

Uh huh, and the Washington Post would say the same if a boy of 15 said his “identity” was a tiger or a can of garbanzo beans or a daffodil or Peru or Mars.

Knowing what “sex” means doesn’t require knowing everyone who has one. Knowing that sex isn’t changeable the way a shirt or a name or a religion is doesn’t require knowing everyone who has one. Knowing which sex pushes out babies and which sex does not doesn’t require knowing everyone who has one or the other.… Read the rest