Matt Gaetz says they were just good friends.

The Florida politician, a close ally of Donald Trump, claimed during the Tuesday night interview that he was the victim of an extortion plot by a former justice department official, and questioned the motivation behind Tuesday’s original reporting by the New York Times.

Gee, yes, what motivation could a newspaper have for reporting such a thing?

Gaetz, 38, claimed his lawyers had been informed that he was the subject of an FBI inquiry “regarding sexual conduct with women” and that the official was attempting to extort $25m from his family “in exchange for a commitment that he could make this investigation go away”.

Uh huh. Sure.

According to the New York

Joan Smith points out that it’s a bit much to tell girls in school to be sure to report rape when in reality reporting rape tends to be a dead end, with a lot of misery on the way to the dead end. “Be sure to report rape, even though it’s futile and will also bring a world of bullying down on your head.”

Suddenly everyone is talking about a “rape culture” in schools. Not for the first time, it has to be said, but influential MPs, headteachers and senior police officers are urging anyone who has been attacked to report their experiences. “Every victim who comes forward will be believed, will be listened to and dealt with sensitively,” according

An arrest has been made in that violent attack on a woman in NYC yesterday. The suspect has previous.

An arrest was made early Wednesday in a brutal attack on a 65-year-old Asian woman that drew widespread outrage after footage of the assault was released.

It does tend to draw outrage, that kind of thing – kicking a woman in the abdomen so hard that she falls on the sidewalk, then stomping on her head three times. Yes, we get riled when we see something like that. Most people have enough compassion for such a reaction.

New York City police identified the suspect as Brandon Elliot, 38, who was charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime and

Another win!

Bowls England say they are updating their “historical and outdated” guidance on transgender bowlers after a trans female was barred from competing.

Stella Moore, 67, who has lived for three years as a woman, is unable [to] play for her Hampshire lawn bowls club.

There’s no such thing as “living as a woman,” any more than there’s such a thing as living as a bear or a tulip or a recycling plant.

Also, is Moore really unable to play for her club? Or is it just that she’s unable to play “as a woman”?

The Portsmouth and District Women’s Bowling Association say they have been following guidance published in 2014.

It required gender reassignment surgery three years before

Another day another bullying.

A gender studies professor at University of Rhode Island is facing backlash for comparing transgender people with far-right conspiracy theory-driven website QAnon, according to the Daily Mail.

Professor Donna Hughes wrote a piece for a radical feminist site. Oh the horror.

…saying that people who think they can change their gender are suffering from a “trans-sex fantasy.” Hughes also said that transgender people, just like QAnon with the right, has radicalized the left. Going further, Hughes said the left is using transgender issues to further an agenda that harms children.

“The American political left is increasingly diving headfirst into their own world of lies and fantasy and, unlike in the imaginary world of QAnon,

Vaccination passports are as dystopian as it gets? I’ll give you dystopian.

Here’s your dystopian.

NYPD says 65-year-old Asian American woman was walking to church this morning when suspect assaulted her and said “f*** you, you don’t belong here.” Happened in front of 360 W. 43rd St. 11:40am. Sources say building security guard not only failed to render her aid… 1/2 pic.twitter.com/ZLtQEHHJci

— CeFaan Kim (@CeFaanKim) March 30, 2021

I’m Asian American and I belong here. RT if you are too or you agree. https://t.co/smpLBqQile

— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) March 30, 2021

The security guard inside closed the door from inside instead of going to help her. I saw someone say that’s their job, to secure the building, their job … Read the rest

It doesn’t? Really?

No vaccine passport. It doesn’t get much more dystopian than being required to show your “health papers” wherever you go.

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) March 30, 2021

I can think of way more dystopian it can get. Lots of it. Surveillance cameras in every room, recording-transmitting devices on every surface, militarized police everywhere you go, food shortages, criminalization of all dissent, closure of all independent sources of knowledge and discussion, harsh prison sentences for the smallest infractions, death penalties for the smallest infractions, mandatory prostitution, mandatory impregnation and childbirth, disfavored races and ethnic groups and immigrants sent to camps in miserable climates, most people denied health care, schools eliminated…and so on and so on.

It’s laughably easy … Read the rest

Originally a comment by maddog on Cyclist and expert.

Let boys compete in girls’ competitions, but don’t count their wins

^^ This suggested model is a “solution” that doesn’t solve the fundamental problem: Why should boys compete in the girls’ division at all? There already exists a solution for boys who want to play sports: they can play in the boys’ division. “Where can boys play sports?” has NEVER been a problem. Wailing about, “where can this boy play?” is a ridiculous non-problem

He can play in the boys’ division, that already exists for him. Boys’ sports get the lion’s share of attention and resources, just as it always has been. Historically, girls haven’t had nearly as many opportunities … Read the rest

The thing about being an academic in English (the discipline) is that it’s pretty hard to say anything original, given the huge number of academic colleagues who precede you. So what do you do? In some cases you bullshit. Might as well, right?

“Unquestionably” – that’s rich. It’s questionable.

More:

Lavery told us that he was going to talk about a eugenicist (Marie Stopes) and a charlatan (L. Ron Hubbard) though ultimately [he] never gave us the lowdown on Stopes’ support for eugenics and Hubbard was given only a very passing mention in the Q&A.

… but if I confess to attempting to animate within realism, the erotic frisson that might derive from a fantasy of being

They what?!

BREAKING: Arkansas has become the first state to ban health care for trans youth.

— ACLU (@ACLU) March 29, 2021

Arkansas banned health care for a group of people? How can that be?

That’s how – by wording it deceptively. Arkansas didn’t ban health care for trans teenagers, it banned “gender affirming” care, i.e. puberty blockers and amputations. The NBC headline is honest, the Washington Post one is fuzzy, the Insider one is just a lie, like the ACLU tweet.

From the NBC story:

The Arkansas Senate passed a bill Monday that would ban access to gender-affirming care for transgender minors, including reversible puberty blockers and hormones.

But puberty blockers are not entirely reversible.

It’s interesting how … Read the rest

Never mind girls, pay attention to trans girls [who are boys]. Lawyers, Guns & Money:

The right-wing freak out that transgender girls could dominate girls’ sports at the high school level (as if right-wingers care about women’s sports except when it is useful in their culture wars) is so very, very frustrating. Claire Thornton decided to do what few journalists have done–actually talk to transgender girls and their families about it.

Well that’s mind-numbingly obtuse. How about talking to girls about it? Especially girls who have already lost out to boys who call themselves trans and take all their prizes?

Of course there are higher principles [in] play:

Civil rights experts said competitive sports are the latest facet of

Speaking of international commerce…

Customs officials in Ecuador discovered 185 baby tortoises packed inside a suitcase that was being sent from the Galápagos Islands to the mainland on Sunday.

The reptiles had been wrapped in plastic and were found during a routine inspection at the main airport on the island of Baltra.

Ten of them had died, officials said.

One of the biggest threats to Galápagos tortoises is illegal trading for animal collectors and exotic pet markets.

Many of the Galápagos tortoise subspecies are endangered. Also, wrapping live animals in plastic and shipping them in a suitcase is inhumane and disgusting.

Ecuador’s environment minister, Marcelo Mata, described the incident as a crime against the country’s wild fauna and natural

Dislodged and on the move.

Tug boats honked their horns in celebration as the 400m-long (1,300ft) Ever Given was dislodged on Monday.

Traffic is set to resume in both directions through the canal at 19:00 local time (17:00 GMT), according to local authorities.

…

The vessel was being towed for safety checks to Great Bitter Lake, which sits between two sections of the canal to the north of where the ship got stuck.

…

According to Lloyd’s List, there are currently more than 370 ships waiting to pass through the canal, including container vessels, tankers, and bulk carriers. Clearing that backlog is expected to take several days.

Some economies of scale aren’t.… Read the rest

She can go lower. Can and does.

Not that she’s gone at all conspiratorial in her thinking.

China wrote a white paper leaked to me to control the world via controlling all biodata by 2025. My best analysis is that CCP is in league with Big Tech and using Bill Gates (who is a willing asset) to flow billions to corrupt our leaders and institutions to comply with all this. https://t.co/pWrexxtsfy

— Dr Naomi Wolf (@naomirwolf) March 29, 2021

… Read the rest

Watch: Ships blow their horns moments after #EverGiven is re-floated, almost one week after it had blocked the #SuezCanal. https://t.co/PmPvRx2o5B pic.twitter.com/YsaPSDWYQH

— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) March 29, 2021

… Read the rest

It seems that if a woman “identifies as” a gay man then that’s what she is. Simples.

Who is Chiyo? I had to look it up. The BBC last August:

Being judged on his masculinity is something Chiyo feels every time he steps outside the front door.

Chiyo is transgender and, in April next year, he’ll be standing on stage with a group of other men – who aren’t trans – to be judged in what is ultimately a male beauty contest.

He’s a finalist in the (coronavirus-delayed) Mr Gay England 2020.

In other words Chiyo is a woman, who next month will be standing on stage with a group of other actual men to be judged in … Read the rest

Graham Linehan boosts the message of a woman currently suspended by His Majesty the Twitter:

Trade unions are trade unions. What makes them think it’s their job to force women to call men “women” if the men demand it?

Hubble’s response:

No, I wouldn’t like to talk about it. I have not said one thing that is transphobic (which has become a meaningless word as it is used so often). I proudly stand for the rights of women and the single-sex exemptions that are enshrined in equality law, and if that is considered transphobic then the problem is with the definition not with my stance.

I believe in biological reality and do not subscribe to the notion of gender identity

They’re building those things too damn big.

Over the past decade, out of the sight of most consumers, the world’s container ships have been quietly ballooning in size. A class of vessels that carried a maximum of about 5,000 shipping containers in 2000 has doubled in size every few years since, with dozens of megaships now traversing the ocean laden with upwards of 20,000 boxes.

The ocean can deal with it; canals, not so much.

The ships’ rapid growth has outstripped the capacity of marine infrastructure to follow. The Panama canal was expanded at a cost of more than $5bn (£3.6bn) more than a decade ago to meet the size of new container ships – only to be left

Ted Cruz tries to go all Apocalypse Now and everybody just laughs at him.

In the style of a wildlife documentary, Cruz captured his experience with the help of professional photographers and shared his recent journey to the US-Mexico border Thursday night on social media, where he aimed to shed light on what Republicans have dubbed a crisis.

Sporting a dark green fishing shirt and matching baseball cap with the Texas flag, Cruz spoke at a press conference where he sought to paint a dramatic picture of his experience: “On the other side of the river we have been listening to and seeing cartel members – human traffickers – right on the other side of the river waving flashlights, yelling

A Saturday soppy. Abandoned dog keeps returning to a store to try to take possession of a purple plush unicorn.

The business in Kenansville, North Carolina, called animal control on Sisu, a large male stray dog, because of his repeated thievery. He had come to the store five times to steal the same stuffed unicorn.

However, instead of being left empty-handed, the Duplin County Animal Control officer who went to pick him up ended up buying the toy for Sisu instead.

And Duplin County Animal Control advertised him on Facebook.

This is what happens when you break into the dollar general consistently to steal the purple unicorn that you layed claim to but then get animal control called