Trump did his West Point event today, the one that meant 1107 graduates had to leave isolation and return to West Point so that Bumbling Don could bumble through some words in front of them. As always when he reads a speech he sounded exhausted, clogged, sniffy, drunk.

Plus what he said was of course garbage.

TRUMP: "It is not the duty of US troops to solve ancient conflicts in faraway lands that many people have never even heard of. We are not the policemen of the world. But let our enemies be on notice. If our people are threatened, we will never ever hesitate to act." pic.twitter.com/kMdFFngJnD

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 13, 2020

“that many people have never … Read the rest

Gender Heretic went to a reproductive rights panel at a progressive conference early in Trump’s dictatorship.

Donald Trump had just been sworn in, Roe v Wade faced its greatest threat since 1973, and activist friends were writing how-to books about home abortion, but the panel discussion was taking place in an entirely different universe.

There were no new strategies for activism on display. Instead, I heard lectures on the importance of pronouns.

Which is odd, because what could be less important in that context than pronouns? Every woman in the country could say her pronouns are he/him, it wouldn’t do a thing to protect abortion rights.

“Inclusiveness” and “intersectionalism” and validation exercises were vital things we all needed to learn

Again.

Do we see a lot of “The last thing the world needs right now is another rich black entitled man doing his learning out loud”?

No, because it would jar, because the other adjectives convey privilege, but black doesn’t.

But somehow we’ve decided it’s fitting to use privilege adjectives to pick out uppity women who dare to say things. Even when we are such women ourselves.

Also when did Rowling ever say that black lives don’t matter? Or that all lives matter or that white lives matter? When did she ever say that indigenous lives don’t matter?

I don’t know, but I’m betting never. I’m betting Gadsby just threw those in there to imply things without spelling them … Read the rest

Rowling must be punished for knowing the difference between sex and gender:

 The indiscretion for which she must be punished is saying that sex is real.

That’s sex as in male and female, not as in the activity. What kind of body a person has, not what they might plan to do with it in a “social bubble” (an England-only social bubble, it should be stressed). Sex as in the real, observable, and immutable difference between men and women.

Fortunately for her own sanity, the woman who made up muggles and quidditch and death eaters knows the difference between things that are real and things that are the product of human imaginations. She knows that sex is determined by

What is UN Women?

UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.

That doesn’t work if women no longer means women but instead means women and men who call themselves women. Men who call themselves women are not subject to the kinds of contempt and neglect and dismissal that women are.

Gender equality is not only a basic human right, but its achievement has enormous socio-economic ramifications. Empowering women fuels thriving economies, spurring productivity and growth. Yet gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in every society. Women lack access to decent work and face occupational

Talk about institutional capture…

"Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people."

– Daniel Radcliffe. via @HeForShe #HeForShe #Pride pic.twitter.com/V1NLa2yiAq

— UN Women (@UN_Women) June 12, 2020

UN Women quoting a male movie star publicly attacking the woman author who made him rich and famous. UN Women saying men who think of themselves as women literally are women. UN Women throwing women overboard with a boulder chained to their neck.… Read the rest

Another man does a pratfall by misusing that Simone deBeauvoir line.

Quite right. I don't agree with her position, but the response she had was utterly disgusting. That degree of demented verbal sadism is an indication of something seriously wrong somewhere.

— Philip Pullman (@PhilipPullman) June 12, 2020

Applause for Nigel Warburton there.

But Pullman went off the rails.

I think I prefer Simone de Beauvoir: 'One is not born, but rather becomes a woman.'

— Philip Pullman (@PhilipPullman) June 12, 2020

She didn’t mean by men saying they are women. Nope, that’s not what she was saying.

“No biological, psychic, or economic destiny defines the figure that the human *female* takes on in society”

— Dave Baxter (@JustDavidDavid)

So now The Body Shop is telling us what to think – and in fact telling us to think lies are truth. The Body Shop, for god’s sake. Hey has anybody asked Pizza Hut what it thinks?

we stand with ALL menstruators.

What for? And how? What do they do, summon all menstruators so that they can stand with them? What if the menstruators would rather sit, or run, or not be anywhere near The Body Shop?

But then the serene confident way they tell a woman that men menstruate.

People have periods – women, men and non-binary people.

They don’t though. Men don’t have periods. Commercial enterprises that sell lotion or shoes or chainsaws or dog food … Read the rest

Another treacherous ungrateful shit joins the pack.

Rupert Grint has become the latest Harry Potter cast member to speak out in response to author JK Rowling’s recent comments on transgender issues.

In a statement, the actor – Ron Weasley in the Potter films – said “I firmly stand with the trans community”.

What a treacherous self-serving shit. By saying that he implies that Rowling stands against “the trans community.” By saying it he implies that she’s malevolent and harmful and bad, and needs to be ostracized and monstered by shits like him and Radcliffe and Watson.

“Trans women are women. Trans men are men. We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgment.”

But they’re not. … Read the rest

The Guardian cautiously mentions that inciting violence against women may not be entirely admirable.

The government’s lead adviser on domestic abuse has written to the editor of the Sun to condemn the newspaper’s decision to publish a front page interview with JK Rowling’s first husband, under the headline: “I slapped JK and I’m not sorry.”

In the letter seen by the Guardian, Nicole Jacobs, the independent domestic abuse commissioner, said it was “unacceptable that the Sun has chosen to repeat and magnify the voice of someone who openly admits to violence against a partner”.

Of someone? A partner? It was a man who openly brags of hitting a woman and saying he would do it again. It’s not a gender-neutral … Read the rest

Barr and Trump and Pompeo see the ICC the way the surviving Nazi command saw the Nuremberg trials…and they’re not even embarrassed to say so.

The Trump administration has launched an economic and legal offensive on the international criminal court in response to the court’s decision to open an investigation into war crimes in Afghanistan carried out by all sides, including the US.

The US will not just sanction ICC officials involved in the investigation of alleged war crimes by the US and its allies, it will also impose visa restrictions on the families of those officials. Additionally, the administration declared on Thursday that it was launching a counter-investigation into the ICC, for alleged corruption.

The most corrupt administration … Read the rest

It’s not ok to threaten women with death or rape, yes yes, blah blah, but what’s really not ok is to have “gender critical views” i.e. to have the view that women are women and men are not women.

Having such a “view” is not just view-having, in Jamil’s [cough] view, it’s rhetoric, meaning it could well be utter bullshit deployed for nefarious reasons. Having the “view” that women are women and men are not women “is what contributes to” [meaning, is the sole source of? the wording is meant to be precise but is actually confused and confusing] i.e. causes the actual rape and actual murder of trans women, not just threats. Not just threats.

Got that, … Read the rest

It’s making it so obvious how intensely misogynist the trans movement is.

How not to write about domestic abuse, part 234: The Sun's front-page headline in which the first husband of JK Rowling brags about 'slapping' her and says he isn't sorry. Trivialising an assault as 'a slap' is what abusers do – and denies reality for victims.

— Joan Smith (@polblonde) June 12, 2020

In the latter half of this week we’ve seen such a striking example of what happens when a woman has the audacity to defend her rights and and speak her truth, the truth of so many.
With a woman of JKR’s prolife, it’s magnified but this happens to individual women all the time.

— Dr

This terrible terrible man.

"They went in and it was like a knife cutting butter … and yes there was some tear gas and probably some other things." ⁠— Trump on sending the National Guard to Minneapolis protests over the murder of George Floyd. pic.twitter.com/VTywTCcATD

— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) June 11, 2020

https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1271246554557378560 … Read the rest

The Sun had to have its two cents and it makes me so livid I can hardly see straight. A lot of my friends on Twitter are saying the same thing.

The only reason to publish this sh** is because you know some people are having a go at JK Rowling right now, so when you make a headline like that, you're intentionally inviting some people to agree with the statement.
The Sun & its editors are garbage.#dontbuythesun @benleo444 pic.twitter.com/S2sM6hN2dF

— Femi (@Femi_Sorry) June 11, 2020

https://twitter.com/suzanne_moore/status/1271211570249564167

Glenn Greenwald thinks Rowling has no right to say she was abused.

Regardless of one's views on the trans/TERF debate, JK Rowling's victimhood complex is suffocating & narcissistic.

She's one of the

They are such shameless liars.

At Trump’s roundtable, attorney general Bill Barr says, “We’ve never had a president who’s more committed to reforming law enforcement.”

Fact check: The Trump administration abandoned Obama-era police reform efforts, which had included civil rights investigations into local police agencies with documented records of abuse and problems. “Police departments are not investigated under this administration,” Christy Lopez, who led the justice department group investigating police departments under Obama, recently told the Washington Post.

The roll-back of Obama’s efforts began under attorney general Jeff Sessions.

Let’s make the police worse again, guys.… Read the rest

See?

Donald Trump on confronting bigotry and prejudice in America: "I think we're going to do it very easily and quickly and it'll go very easily." pic.twitter.com/JmAaA2FLgP

— American Journal News (@AmerJournalNews) June 11, 2020

This is what his Tulsa “speech on race” (if that is what he’s doing in Tulsa next week) will be like. He’ll read it haltingly and clumsily, tilting his head back and forth for no reason, in a flat croaking voice that makes it clear that he has no idea what he’s saying or why he’s saying it. And he’ll say “it” will go very easily and quickly and easily. Yes, certainly, and that’s why we haven’t done it all this time.… Read the rest

There’s much buzz about Trump’s oh so tactful selection of Tulsa, famous for a race riot, and Juneteenth, famous for the end of slavery, as the place and time for his first rally in months.

The selection of Tulsa as the place where Trump returns to the stump and the date on which he is choosing to do it both suggest that Trump’s long-whispered-about race speech — in the wake of ongoing protests and unrest following the death of George Floyd — will happen next Friday, and at a campaign rally no less.

A “race speech” by Trump. Dear god. It makes me want to solder my ears shut.

Tulsa was the site of one of the most vicious

Classic.

If you're looking to attend President Trump's rally in Tulsa next Friday, you must first agree not to sue him if you get coronavirus pic.twitter.com/4LJp9od3wx

— Kevin Liptak (@Kevinliptakcnn) June 11, 2020

Come to my rally during a pandemic to gratify my ego and help my effort to get another four years to destroy this country and maybe the world, and also sign this waiver saying that if the pandemic gets you at my rally it will bye YOUR FAULT and not mine.

Who could resist an offer like that?… Read the rest

Milley says that walk with Trump was wrong.

The top US military officer says he was wrong to have joined President Donald Trump during his controversial walk to a damaged church near the White House.

The 1 June event created “a perception of the military involved in domestic politics”, Gen Mark Milley said.

It sure as hell did, and that’s what fake-warrior Trump intended. Captain Bone Spurs wanted to walk his sorry cheeseburger ass up to that church with some SOJERS so that everyone would think he’s a warrior too instead of the blathering whining two scoops of ice cream couch potato he is.

The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff was speaking in a video for a