Ah there it is.

Well, actually it does https://t.co/8wCPfGr4Gq

— Sally Hines (@sally_hines) March 9, 2025

No actually it doesn’t. A piece of paper can make something legal, but it can’t make a woman in the sense of turning a man into a woman (which of course is the sense Hines has in mind). It can create a legal fiction, but the fiction remains a fiction.

It’s odd that an adult academic either doesn’t grasp this, or pretends not to grasp it.

Laws are laws, but not all laws are good laws. There is such a thing as civil disobedience. Trump is issuing executive orders as a dog sheds fleas, but he can’t change reality. He can’t move Greenland to … Read the rest

The rage, it choketh.

A man pretending to be a woman preaches to women about what it means to be a woman during a women’s march on International Women’s Day.

Beyond parody pic.twitter.com/Y7SGz8OxPD

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 9, 2025

… Read the rest

A man who gets it.

Sebastian Coe will demand urgent talks with Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg to stop “pond life” abusing female sports stars with impunity if he becomes International Olympic Committee president.

Speaking after a week in which Emma Raducanu spoke about not being able “see the ball through tears” after being approached by a stalker, and Eilish McColgan faced a blizzard of hate after posting a video of her running on social media, Lord Coe pledged to create a taskforce to find better ways to protect female athletes.

…

Asked what he made of comments posted on Facebook, Instagram and X attacking women, the World Athletics president, who is among the favourites for the IOC presidential election

The dear dear Guardian.

Trans women transferred to men’s prisons despite rulings against Trump’s order

Incarcerated trans women report being groped by male guards and suicidal thoughts: ‘I’m punished for existing’

Oh yes?

Now consider what women could report when men turn up in their prisons. Groping possibly at all? Staring? Peering? Rape? Violence of all kinds?

“I’m just continuing to be punished for existing,” said Whitney, a 31-year-old trans woman who was transferred from a women’s facility to a men’s prison this week. The BOP changed her records from “female” to “male”, records show. In messages before her transfer, she said she felt like a “pawn in others’ political games”. The Guardian is not using her full name due

Oh ffs.

Take a GOOD look. This person is protesting against the existence of trans people. Oblivious to the fact that she has, on many aesthetic levels, actually socially transitioned herself.
I think there is a BIG jealousy factor among GC lesbians. They feel miffed that trans people -… pic.twitter.com/18XrThWvEm

— India Willoughby (@IndiaWilloughby) March 8, 2025

The full photo:

Sista. That’s pretty much how I “present” except that I don’t wear earrings and I don’t wear glasses except when reading or online-babbling. I don’t have those nice curls at the top of the head, either. The woman at the desk, too – much the same.

That is not “transitioning.” Jeans have been for both sexes for decades, men … Read the rest

Inside the Explosive Meeting Where Trump Officials Clashed With Elon Musk

Aka King Kong v Godzilla v all of us.

Cabinet officials almost uniformly like the concept of what Mr. Musk set out to do — reducing waste, fraud and abuse in government — but have been frustrated by the chain saw approach to upending the government and the lack of consistent coordination.

“Chain saw approach” is too mild. It’s more like carpet bombing.

In a post on social media after the meeting, Mr. Trump said the next phase of his plan to cut the federal work force would be conducted with a “scalpel” rather than a “hatchet” — a clear reference to Mr. Musk’s scorched-earth approach.

Derp. That’s like … Read the rest

What is the point of announcing tariffs and then promptly delaying them? Other than making yourself look like a clueless buffoon?

Canada’s initial retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. will remain in place despite President Donald Trump postponing 25% tariffs on many imports from Canada for a month, two senior Canadian government officials said.

Trump said Thursday that he has postponed 25% tariffs on many goods from Canada and Mexico for a month, amid widespread fears of a broader trade war.

Why? Why do that? What can possibly be the point? Does he think they’ll be welcome in a month?

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier Thursday that he expects Canada and the U.S. to be in a

It seems the Darlington cops think women are not allowed to meet up without men. I think their grasp of the law may be a little bit off.

Women gathered in Darlington to celebrate International Women’s Day are awaiting the arrival of the police. They have been told it is illegal for women to gather together without men present. pic.twitter.com/2Kbz3EJ8KH

— LGB Alliance (@AllianceLGB) March 8, 2025

… Read the rest

The Independent reports:

Labour grandee Baroness Harriet Harman has been made the new UK special envoy for women and girls.

The former minister will “co-ordinate efforts across the globe” to push for the protection of rights over reproductive health, access to education and freedom from gender-based violence, the Foreign Office said.

…

Baroness Harman said: “Over the last decades we have made tremendous strides towards ending women’s inequality. But the job is far from done.  Women and girls are still not equal, and many still face oppression, violence and discrimination. It’s a great honour to have been appointed UK Special Envoy For Women and Girls and look forward to driving this important work.”

But does she really want to … Read the rest

Happening now –

BREAKING: Officers from @DurhamPolice are on their way to break up a meeting of women in Darlington who are attempting to celebrate #InternationalWomensDay without having a penis-haver forced on them.@RightNUFC

— WeAreFairCop (@WeAreFairCop) March 8, 2025

Cops hassling women for having a meeting on International Women’s Day.

Apparently the Council summoned the cops.

The Council are insisting they leave the premises because women gathered together is – get this – a breach of the Equality Act!

— WeAreFairCop (@WeAreFairCop) March 8, 2025

It’s like this, you see – women aren’t people enough to be equality on their own. There have to be some real people there to bring them up to the right level. … Read the rest

Kennedy’s woo infects the CDC:

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning a large study into potential connections between vaccines and autism, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, despite extensive scientific research that has disproven or failed to find evidence of such links.

In other news, NASA is planning a large study into the potential flatness of the earth.

The CDC’s move comes amid one of the largest measles outbreaks the U.S. has seen in the past decade, with more than 200 cases and two deaths in Texas and New Mexico. The outbreak has been fueled by declining vaccination rates in parts of the United States where parents have been falsely persuaded that such

That’s the way to do it: smash everything in sight and then pause to decide to take a more nuanced approach.

President Donald Trump convened his Cabinet in person on Thursday to deliver a message: You’re in charge of your departments, not Elon Musk.

According to two administration officials, Trump told top members of his administration that Musk was empowered to make recommendations to the departments but not to issue unilateral decisions on staffing and policy. Musk was also in the room.

…

The president’s message represents the first significant move to narrow Musk’s mandate. According to Trump’s new guidance, DOGE and its staff should play an advisory role — but Cabinet secretaries should make final decisions on personnel,

Trump’s side hustle of trying to annex Canada:

When U.S. President Donald Trump last spoke with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trump pointed to a 1908 treaty as apparent ammunition to support his threats of a tariff war and his envisioned takeover of Canada.

Trump’s reference to the 116-year-old treaty regarding the Canada-U.S. border reportedly took Trudeau and his office by surprise, sending staff searching for the pact online as the leaders spoke on the phone. That’s not a surprise. The treaty is somewhat obscure in terms of the historical relationship between the former British colonies that became Canada and the United States of America.

Spoiler: it nowhere says the US gets to swallow Canada.… Read the rest

The Telegraph on antisemitic abuse in the NHS:

The file includes a Jewish doctor being given a hijab as a secret santa present and a patient having pro-Palestine stickers plastered across his room as he lay fighting for his life.

Meanwhile, a group of therapists who complained about a colleague posting messages supporting Hamas online were subject to a countercomplaint for “micro-aggressions”. A patient waiting to be discharged from hospital was told: “Get your Jewish ambulance to come and get you.”

The Community Security Trust found that the number of complaints of antisemitism in the NHS had tripled from 29 to 86 in the 17 months before and after October 7, 2023.

It’s so interesting that antisemitism increased after the … Read the rest

Oliver Brown in The Telegraph:

… when I described Blair Hamilton, a transgender goalkeeper signed for Sutton United Women by a transgender manager, as a biological male in these pages last September, the player complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) that the label constituted a “transphobic dog whistle”. According to this argument, the description disregarded Hamilton’s “lived experience and affirmed gender identity”, not to mention “personal journey as a transgender woman”.

Six months on, the press watchdog has rejected this complaint, instead determining that The Telegraph’s use of the term was “genuinely relevant” to the issues raised by a biologically male goalkeeper competing for a female football team. “The committee did not consider that

When Trump is lost at sea without a life jacket or a paddle.

Governor @realDonaldTrump is a convicted felon, rapist, and Epstein’s old golf buddy, but somehow, his biggest crime might be how unbelievably stupid he is.

A reporter asks about TPS (Temporary Protected Status)—a major immigration policy affecting thousands of people. And this…

— Frank C (@FrankC164) March 6, 2025

A reporter asks about TPS (Temporary Protected Status)—a major immigration policy affecting thousands of people. And this mush-brained idiot thinks they said GPS. GPS. This man has been in politics for years and still doesn’t understand basic policies that his own administration has to enforce. It’s actually incredible—every single neuron in his head is on permanent vacation. And yet,

Wait a second I forgot my shoes. Hang on, I have to eat lunch first. Sorry, I’ll be right with you, as soon as I find my wallet. Sit down for a minute, enjoy yourself, I have to do my taxes before we go.

US President Donald Trump has said Mexico will not be required to pay tariffs on goods that come under the trade pact between the two countries and Canada until 2 April.

Trump has not confirmed if the suspension also applies to Canada, but its northern neighbour is expecting an exemption of the “same nature”, a Canadian government source told the BBC.

The latest move is the second climbdown in two days from Trump on his tariffs.

Or to put it another way…oops.

The CDC is inviting about 180 employees back to work, about two weeks after laying them off. https://t.co/vbK66lsCrD

— The Associated Press (@AP) March 5, 2025

Oh gee you mean the CDC actually does vital work? Who could possibly have known that? What does “disease control” even mean? … Read the rest

A bit of good news for a change.

New: An important victory for the Telegraph in how the transgender debate can be reported in sport. On the back of our reporting, this IPSO ruling today establishes that the term ‘biological male’ is ‘genuinely relevant’ to a discussion of these issues https://t.co/rOHw77mXWH

— Oliver Brown (@oliverbrown_tel) March 6, 2025

I’d like to read/quote the ruling but it won’t open; maybe later. Meanwhile Jon Pike enlightens:

There's a particular feature of this that I want to bring out. Blair Hamilton is an academic sports scientist who publishers in this area: Hamilton researches, in particular, the effects of T-reduction and cross sex hormones on performance. This research project has an enormous… https://t.co/CwWwFZ4tqE pic.twitter.com/r2ipL1ASAD

The NY Times muddies the waters in the approved fashion.

The headline is muddy:

Democrats Block Bill to Bar Transgender Girls From Female Sports Teams

“Transgender girls” are not girls. No doubt most NYT readers know that, but all the same, the word “girls” does its work. When we see the word “girls” we don’t correct it to “boys” automatically; it takes extra time and attention to remember that the subject here is boys in girls’ sports. Mostly we don’t read that slowly. Referring to boys as transgender girls is conditioning, and journalism really ought to stop doing it.

Democrats on Monday blocked a Republican-written bill aimed at barring transgender women and girls from school sports teams designated for female