All entries by this author
Jun 4th, 2019 10:00 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Yet another lying bullying “statement,” this one from Minorities and Philosophy UK. Brian Leiter flags it up:
I don’t want to make more of this disgraceful statement than it deserves; many MAP chapters are doing constructive work, and they would do well to repudiate this embarrassment from the UK chapter. One can support equal opportunity for and dignified treatment of trans philosophers, as Professor Stock explicitly does, and still disagree with how some trans philosophers understand gender.
Note that this statement is the work of a handful of individuals, including the already notorious Keyvan Shafei and the equally benighted spouse of Nathan Oseroff, among others. It was apparently prompted by the fact that the Aristotelian Society, much to
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
25 comments
Jun 3rd, 2019 |
By Leo Igwe
As part of the activities marking this year’s world humanist day, humanists are organizing a free medical outreach at the national stadium in Surulere in Lagos. The program is open to the public especially those who are unable to access basic medical care. A doctor and other health officials will be on hand for consultation, to conduct basic medical tests and provide evidence based medical counseling. This article takes a look at the significance of this medical program and its potential to transform the landscape of medical services in the country.
Religion and medical practices have always mixed. Both in its traditional and modern formations, medical care has been linked to some form of religious or supernatural belief. Medicine is … Read the rest
Posted in Articles
Jun 3rd, 2019 5:17 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Meanwhile Trump is still trying to put the muscle on CNN, as is totally normal for presidents to do.
President Trump took his long-running attacks against CNN to a new level on Monday by suggesting in a series of tweets that a consumer boycott of its parent company, AT&T, could force “big changes” at the news organization.
“I believe that if people stoped [sic] using or subscribing to AT&T, they would be forced to make big changes at CNN, which is dying in the ratings anyway,” Trump tweeted. “It is so unfair with such bad, Fake News!”
The comment, which Trump tweeted in response to seeing CNN coverage while traveling in London during a European tour, fueled criticisms that
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
3 comments
Tags: Trump
Jun 3rd, 2019 4:31 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
https://twitter.com/FrancisWheen/status/1135651436082192386
Updating to add: I had to hit the Google to see if I was wrong to think Trump wasn’t supposed to be showing several inches of waistcoat below his jacket. GQ says nope I wasn’t wrong:
You will need a low
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
16 comments
Jun 3rd, 2019 11:38 am |
By Ophelia Benson
No, he’s not offering America’s hand of friendship. Don’t be silly. For one thing the two countries were already friends, before he was elected, before he ran, before he was even born. The relationship has deteriorated since and because he became president. And for another he comes offering nothing, he’s there for his own glory and nothing else.
For another thing … Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
4 comments
Tags: President Pig, Trump
Jun 3rd, 2019 10:28 am |
By Ophelia Benson
A few hours ago, the plane is over London, Trump is getting restless, so he decides this is the time to broadcasts some insults directed at the mayor of London. Perfectly normal behavior, yes? When you’re in the car on your way to a party, you call the hosts to insult them, right? Doesn’t everyone? “Hello, Inglund, I’m on my way! You’re stupid and ugly, I look forward to our frenndship!”
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
5 comments
Tags: Trump
Jun 3rd, 2019 9:56 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Saturday in Bradford:
Yesterday a group of lesbians went to Bradford Pride to celebrate their sexuality and challenge the erasure of lesbians by transactivists.
They had a banner saying “lesbians don’t have penises” so you can guess what happened next.
We had decided to meet in a coffee shop before going into the square. Whilst sat drinking coffee we were approached by two police officers from West Yorkshire Police. They explained that someone had come to them and said that they’d seen some placards and so they wanted to make sure that there was nothing derogatory and that we were not a hate group. We assured them that we were just lesbians going to Pride. That WYP felt it
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5 comments
Jun 3rd, 2019 9:38 am |
By Ophelia Benson
I haven’t seen Jared Soninlaw Kushner in action before. It’s not an edifying spectacle.
Have you seen Trump do or say anything racist, Mister Soninlaw?
Absolutely not. You can’t not be a racist for 69 years n then run for president and be a racist –
Let me stop you right there, Mister Soninlaw. Trump was not not a racist for 69 years. He very much was a racist during that time frame. He was raised racist by a racist landlord father who excluded black people from his rental properties. He … Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
5 comments
Tags: Prince Jared
Jun 2nd, 2019 4:54 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
The “nope” to a court order is a red flag.
The Justice Department argued that the documents need not be released because “it did not rely on such recordings to establish Flynn’s guilt or determine a recommendation for his sentencing.” Moreover, “Prosecutors also failed to release an unredacted version of portions of the Mueller report related to Flynn that the judge had ordered be made public.”
Constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe tells me, “Even if the district court’s order to release the Flynn-Kislyak transcripts goes further than justified by the sentencing matter before the court, I would’ve thought that, in a government of laws, the only way to avoid compliance is to take an appeal to a higher court.” The
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
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Jun 2nd, 2019 4:15 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
A column I wrote for the April/May issue of Free Inquiry is online. It’s about “authenticity.”
The idea of an “authentic self” has, oddly, become a theme of political discourse as well as Oprah-style uplift. We’re being told that people have a right to live as their authentic selves, which often means as opposed to their outward appearance, that mere physical dross. It’s a weirdly religious idea, reminiscent of the contemptus mundi of medieval monks, but it’s presented as political rather than religious. What I keep wondering is how it’s possible to make a sane politics out of the denial of material reality.
The irony is that what is meant by the authentic self in the current dialect is
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
6 comments
Jun 2nd, 2019 3:48 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Sadiq Khan doesn’t think much of Trump either.
This is a man who tried to exploit Londoners’ fears following a horrific terrorist attack on our city, amplified the tweets of a British far-right racist group, denounced as fake news robust scientific evidence warning of the dangers of climate change, and is now trying to interfere shamelessly in the Conservative party leadership race by backing Boris Johnson because he believes it would enable him to gain an ally in Number 10 for his divisive agenda.
Donald Trump is just one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat. The far right is on the rise around the world, threatening our hard-won rights and freedoms and the values
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2 comments
Tags: Trump
Jun 2nd, 2019 3:25 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
The Guardian editorial board is not excited about Trump’s state visit.
Two and a half years after Theresa May rushed to become the first world leader to meet the newly inaugurated President Trump in Washington, she has chosen to make a state visit that should not be taking place the final act of her premiership. While the prime minister’s poor political judgment and obstinacy have been hallmarks of her three years in office, the spectacle of the next three days will make a particularly awful ending. Mr Trump is only the third US president ever to be honoured with a state visit, the others being George W Bush and Barack Obama. Inviting him in the first place was
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
2 comments
Tags: Trump
Jun 2nd, 2019 11:43 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Normal. It’s normal. Totally normal. Nothing to see here. It’s not unreasonable. Not unreasonable at all. You could even say it’s reasonable. Maybe. On a good day. Anyway it’s normal. So so normal.
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney defended the administration’s advance team for asking the Navy to obscure the USS John McCain during the president’s recent state visit to Japan, arguing the request was not “unreasonable.”
Appearing on “Meet the Press” Sunday, Mulvaney said that “it was probably someone on the advance team” in the White House who was responsible, adding that the unidentified staffer who requested to hide the ship, named for the grandfather of the late Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, would
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
4 comments
Tags: Trump
Jun 2nd, 2019 10:42 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Breathtaking.
Kathleen Stock has a thread this morning.
https://twitter.com/Docstockk/status/1135159042513526785
Quoting the rest for ease of reading.
Rather, they’re concerned with what Austin would call perlocutionary effects of my arguments. That is, the indirect effects of my arguments on feelings, thoughts, and actions of others, whether or not these are grounded in charitable or accurate interpretations of my views. In vain do I ask critics to engage with my writing (pinned) in a fair, non-snarky manner typical of their philosophical engagement with others. I’ve come to realise most won’t do this, because for them it’s not the point. The point is, my views allegedly lead to harm: fear/anxiety, people allegedly leaving the profession, and possible violence to trans people by others.
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
12 comments
Jun 2nd, 2019 9:34 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Kim Jong Un may or may not have executed one of the negotiators of the whatever that is between the US and North Korea.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that the US is looking into reports that North Korea executed a top official after President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un’s summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, earlier this year.
South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported that Kim Hyok Chol, North Korea’s special envoy to the US, was executed after Kim Jong Un and Trump were unable to reach an agreement at their second summit in February.
CNN also tried to verify the reports and was unable to.
The [South Korean] paper — quoting unnamed North Korean sources —
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Jun 1st, 2019 6:04 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Jim Wright was disgusted.
According to the Wall Street Journal, in preparation for Trump’s visit to Japan, the White House wanted to ensure USS John McCain would not be visible to the so-called Commander-in-Chief during his visit to USS Wasp.
The McCain is undergoing repairs following its collision last year, a collision caused by gross incompetence of the ships officers and which killed seven Sailors. The White House was afraid Trump would be upset if he saw the ship’s name, because he hated John McCain, but since the ship is damaged and can’t be moved they had to come up with a way to make sure that didn’t happen. So, the Navy ordered a tarp hung over the
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5 comments
Jun 1st, 2019 4:39 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
What happened here?
What caused The University of Iowa’s Women’s Studies Program to become the Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies Program?
They narrate the history, briefly, but they don’t explain the reason.
The Women’s Studies Program was established at The University of Iowa in 1974 and is one of the first programs in the United States. Our initial strength in joint appointments in the social sciences made the program unique within an interdisciplinary field most often drawn from the humanities. Our recent appointments give us strength in both social sciences and the humanities and enable us to continue to develop the breadth of interdisciplinary strength we believe to be the cornerstone of a strong gender, women’s and sexuality studies
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
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