Category: Notes and Comment Blog

  • Wrong wrong wrong

    Always punish the woman.

    The conduct of a detective who said “all men” were rapists and should be given a curfew to stop sex attacks has been found to be gross misconduct. Detective Constable Rachel Fletcher, of Northumbria Police, has been subjected to a misconduct hearing.

    She was accused of saying “all men” were rapists and they should be given a 9pm curfew to stop sex attacks at night. Det Cons Fletcher, who worked in safeguarding, was also accused of describing transgender women as “c**ks in frocks”.

    A panel, sitting at Houghton-le-Spring police station, has found that she made all of the comments and had breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour in relation to Discreditable Conduct, Authority, Respect and Courtesy and Equality and Diversity.

    Chair of the panel, Assistant Chief Constable Andrew Hill, told the hearing that each proved allegation amounted to gross misconduct and they collectively amount to Gross Misconduct. The panel will now need to decide what disciplinary action she will be given.

    The action they decided on was kicking her out.

    During her evidence, Det Con Fletcher said she hated male violence and that some of the things they deal with in protection are “abhorrent”. She said: “But I have not said I hate men.”

    She went on to say: “I have been labelled as a man hater because I call out misogyny and I’m a feminist. The atmosphere is, if you call out misogyny, you hate men. That’s what I have been told repeatedly at work – I hate men.”

    …

    Detective Sergeant Damon Hall said he witnessed Det Cons Fletcher make the comment about a curfew for men to another colleague while they were all working at Gateshead Police Station. He said Det Cons Fletcher said: “The only way to stop night time rapes is to put a 9pm curfew on all men.”

    Det Sgt Hall said that, although she was known for her dry sense of humour, he did find the comment offensive. He said: “It was offensive to me as a male as it presumes that everyone is capable of rape.”

    Or you could understand what she said as a matter of what to do in a situation of incomplete knowledge. Rapists don’t wear labels saying they are rapists, so the only way to be sure would be to lock up all the men. It could be a point about epistemology as opposed to a literal recommendation or an insult.

    Det Cons Barbara Callaghan told the hearing how Det Cons Fletcher made the derogatory comments about transgender people during a conversation about new search guidance. She said Det Cons Fletcher had become very upset at the suggestion that female police officers would have to search transgender women, if that is what the individual wanted.

    Oh no, how dare a woman get upset at the news that she might have to search a man’s body if he claimed to be a woman.

    Det Cons Callaghan said she challenged her fellow officer when she said that transgender women were “cocks in frocks”. In her statement she said: “Although Rachel had a right to her views sometimes she would go to far. She said she would refuse to search transgender women as they are cocks in frocks.”

    Why is that to or even too far? It is after all true that transgender women are men.

  • What a pack of liars

    Something called New Socialist tells us how awesome Bash Back is.

    An interview with the trans liberationist non-violent direct action group BASH BACK.

    If it’s non-violent why is its theme-image a snarling man in a mask aiming a hammer at us? Are we supposed to think he’s in the middle of putting together an Ikea bookshelf?

    The trans-led non-violent direct action project BASH BACK emerged almost exactly a year ago when they took action against the then Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s constituency office, in response to “huge backpedals in the healthcare rights afforded to trans people — and young people especially — in an NHS system that was never kind to us in the first place.”

    By “took action” they mean they smashed the windows and painted graffiti all over the office. That’s not non-violent. It can be called non-violent in the sense of not physically injuring people, but only in that sense. It’s not non-violent to smash other people’s windows or vandalize other people’s offices. It’s a threat, for one thing, and it’s physical material harm for another thing. It’s intimidation. They do not get to dress themselves up as Gandhis.

    There is, as BASH BACK have said, little hope that the Andy Burnham administration will choose to change direction without considerable pressure.

    And by “pressure” they mean…you know…smashing up offices and so on. Non-violent “pressure”.

    BASH BACK have been extensively demonised by the state and by a press that seeks to portray them as a violent mob, or as thugs. Yet they have a serious strategy based on a rigorous analysis of the situation which trans people face in Britain today.

    It’s not the state or the press that keeps issuing images of Bash Back snarling through a mask and brandishing a hammer. Those are their images, not ours. They are most definitely advertising their threats of violence, so they absolutely do not get to sit back and say they’re not violent at all in any way. Violent threats are not a branch of non-violence. To put it as clearly as I can, that image of the snarling man with the hammer is intended to make us imagine it smacking us in the face. Not likely to by accident or as a by-product but intended to.

  • Merely a reputational inconvenience for Amnesty

    Merched Cymru on Facebook:

    Behind the “anti-rights” headline is a rape crisis centre that has supported more than 1,200 women mostly for rape, sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse and domestic abuse since it opened. Amnesty UK branded it a threat to human rights.

    The Telegraph got inside Beira’s Place, JK Rowling’s Edinburgh centre, and found exactly what you’d expect from an organisation that takes safeguarding seriously: female-only staff, sessions kept calm and private, cabs paid for women who can’t afford them and a genuine understanding that most of these women aren’t dealing with one incident but years of layered trauma. Chief executive Lesley Johnston has worked in this field for 30 years and she says the levels of violence against women and girls she sees now are higher than when she started.

    Since the Amnesty report, no-shows have risen and referrals have dipped. That’s the real cost of being wrongly branded “anti-rights”. While the report was merely a reputational inconvenience for Amnesty, for vulnerable women who need support it has led to hesitation to take up the services they need. Board member Johann Lamont, the former Scottish Labour politician, said it plainly: an organisation with Amnesty’s history “isn’t some random off-the-street thing that thinks it’s a good idea to slag off whoever about anything… it’s significant that they said it.”

    This is what feminism actually looks like in practice: women showing up for other women at their most frightened, asking for nothing except the right to keep doing it. The fact that Amnesty UK felt able to target it shows how deep the misogyny runs with trans rights activism. Women – even those victimised in the most intimate, most traumatic of ways – have been branded as bigots merely for wanting a space to heal from male violence. Amnesty UK can’t apologise enough to them for that.

    And it doesn’t want to apologize to them at all.

  • Oh who cares what’s in the ocean?

    One bit of damage being undone. Thousands more remain.

    Scientists have begun to re-deploy ocean monitoring equipment yanked from Pacific Northwest waters by the Trump administration in September.

    Yanked why? Well, they have a process. Ask: does this cost money? If answer is yes, yank it. Money saved! Win!

    On Monday, an autonomous underwater vehicle called a glider slipped gently off the stern of the Research Vessel Elakha and into the Pacific Ocean about 10 miles offshore from Newport, Oregon.

    Resembling a 6-foot yellow torpedo with wings, the glider is quietly motoring north to waters off Washington state while measuring conditions including rising ocean temperatures and sagging oxygen levels. Three times a day, after diving as much as 3,000 feet deep, it surfaces to transmit its oceanographic data by satellite and receive new instructions from its shore-based operators.

    Well now you see there’s another problem right there. Not only does it cost money, it also tells us things we don’t want to know. The solution is simply to throw it out. If we don’t know about the rising temperatures, the rising temperatures are not happening.

    The larger, stationary observatories that the Trump administration quietly removed last September will take longer to put back.

    Well he removed them for a reason you know. He wanted to.

    The ocean-watching equipment is part of the National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative, which monitors surface and underwater conditions 24/7 off Alaska, North Carolina, the Pacific Northwest, and Greenland.

    The high-tech buoys keep the pulse of the oceans as their temperature and chemistry rapidly change. The buoys also provide real-time updates to Dungeness crabbers and other mariners heading out into possibly dangerous waves. The science foundation calls the observatories “the most technologically advanced observational networks in the oceans.”

    Sounds expensive. Let’s get rid of it.

    In June, the Trump administration backed down from its push to dismantle the observatory networks, with Pacific Northwest devices already removed and others to be pulled by 2027, after pushback from the public and Congress.

    It backed down?! Can we have more of that?

    In an emailed statement in June, National Science Foundation spokesperson Mike England said that the agency remained committed to ocean science despite dismantling — or “descoping” — its ocean-observation network.

    “The decision to descope aligns with NSF’s wider strategy of a nimbler approach to prioritize support for evolving scientific priorities and emerging technologies, as well as smart lifecycle management within its research infrastructure portfolio,” he said.

    Wtf kind of “nimbler” approach is he talking about?? The kind with no technology? Just going to the beach and looking west and taking notes on what they see? Is that smart lifecycle management within its research infrastructure portfolio?

    Answers on a postcard.

  • Charm offensive

    Well, sir, yes, but also no. Mostly no. Of course there are women in all colors shapes and sizes [well not all, but a variety], but funnily enough there’s more to women than color, shape, and size. Quite a lot more. Maybe you don’t understand that on account of not being a woman?

    As for what the fuck do we know, what (may I ask) the fuck do you know? You seem to think being a woman is all about the visuals. You also seem to have a lot of contempt for women, along with some strong dislike. You also, as I mentioned above, seem to think women are about what they look like and nothing else.

    No of course we don’t all have to look the same, but to be women we do have to be the same in certain respects. And no, “some of us [women]” do not have penises. It’s definitional. Rabbits are not as tall as giraffes, and women do not have penises. Here endeth the lesson, without telling you to go fuck yourself.

  • which we should not have

    Amnesty sort of apologizes, while also assuring us how wonderful it is and how not as wonderful everyone else is, especially the people it is sort of apologizing to.

    We apologise for the publication of the briefing “A growing threat: the anti-rights movement in the UK.” This document should never have been published, and full responsibility for this error rests with Amnesty International UK.

    Well the document didn’t publish itself. What do you mean it should never have been published? Who published it? Was it you? If you published it, why are you now saying it should never have been published? Was it someone else? If so, who? It’s not much of an apology if we can’t tell who is sorry or who did what.

    The briefing was taken down within 48 hours of publication, as soon as management were notified of its existence, was not actively promoted, and will not be republished. We have an ongoing internal investigation into how this briefing came to be published.

    What do you mean “was taken down”? Who took it down? Why are there no agents in all this; actions but no person or persons taking them? You do realize we can see it, right? We can see how evasive and impersonal it all is, and we’re not impressed. You seem to be talking about a car crash with no cars.

    Whilst we do not share the views of all these organisations, we recognise the concerns raised by those labelled as “anti-rights” in the document. To be clear: this labelling does not represent our institutional position, and we apologise for its inclusion. In particular, we apologise to Beira’s Place

    Yes we know: because you were going to get your asses sued.

    and other groups, which we categorised as gender critical organisations, which we should not have collectively labelled as anti-rights. We have also taken down an earlier more discursive briefing (entitled Like A Snowball) which also referenced a wide range of organisations.

    Still hasty, perfunctory, non-specific. I am deeply unimpressed. You’re doing the bare minimum and we can tell you’re scowling and sulking while doing it. You’d much rather be calling us all “anti-rights” again.

    AIUK holds itself to the highest standards of research, evidence and editorial oversight in all its publications. We have concluded that this briefing fell significantly short of those standards.

    Wut? You are the very best; you have concluded this item was not the very best. That’s what you’ve got? You’re awesome, except this one time you weren’t quite awesome, now let’s change the subject?

    I am underwhelmed.

    H/t Piglet

  • Oh special off

    The spesh rapporteur in question is Alex Xanthaki.

  • Special indeed

    Eeeeeesh. A UN Special Rapporteur talks the most mind-bogglingly childish drivel here.

    …they have come under pressure from a specific section of women, not all women, not trans women for sure, they are women as well, because women are not defined by sex, they’re defined by gender, and not all biological women, and the reason why they have said they should not be [garbled], you know we go back to the 60s, where others were defining who we are […] all of them are women, the way we define women at the moment is emmm you know on the basis of gender…

    It’s interesting that she pauses and fumbles and says “emmm” and “you know” at that particular point – the point where she has to get specific about what she’s saying. It’s almost as if she knows it’s bullshit and loses her confidence.

    …of experiences, on society and how we view ourselves and how society views us –

    No, sport, that is not the way we “define women”. That’s the way we resist the ideologies that grow up around women and men, it’s not the definition of women and men. Obviously.

  • she hoped

    I think I missed this one at the time. The BBC reports on “Heather” Herbert’s public rejoicing at the violent murder of Ann Widdicomb without ever admitting that he’s a man. You keep waiting for the t-word to appear and it never does – it’s just straight-up she and her throughout.

    Heather Herbert had reportedly posted that Widdecombe’s death on Thursday was “good news” and that she hoped it was an “extremely painful death”.

    Her posts were reported to Police Scotland who initially said there was no criminality in relation to what she had written.

    It’s just plain lying.

  • He’s gutted

    Yet another.

    A women’s health campaigner and former local Labour women’s officer has been banned from the party’s women’s conference because she is trans.

    No, not because he is trans; because he is a man. It’s a women’s conference.

    Steph Richards is ‘gutted’ at her treatment by the party which she said once selected her as a candidate from an all-women shortlist.

    And it shouldn’t have. Men should never be on all-women shortlists.

    Metro revealed yesterday that four powerful Labour unions – Unison, Aslef, Usdaw, and the Musicians’ Union – are boycotting the event over the ban.

    So four powerful Labour unions want men to be able to take what was intended for women. Might as well let the bosses take what was meant for the workers; it makes just as much sense.

  • Following an incident

    Fuck around and find out?

    Seattle Storm minority owner Celeste Keaton has been fined by the WNBA and suspended for her team’s next five home games following an incident Tuesday night involving a pair of Sophie Cunningham fans, the WNBA confirmed to Yahoo Sports’ Cassandra Negley.

    The incident reportedly occurred when the two young women, wearing shirts for a brand advocating against the inclusion of transgender women in women’s sports, held up signs reading “We love you Sophie” and “Thank you Sophie for speaking up for girls” while sitting courtside for the Fever-Storm game. Their appearance came a week after Cunningham made comments against transgender inclusion.

    No, not “transgender inclusion”; male inclusion in women’s sports.

    After the game, the pair recounted to a content producer that a woman, identified as Keaton, confronted them and told them they were “effing insane.”

    Well isn’t that nice – the adult woman who is one of the owners of a women’s team told two girls they are fucking insane, because they don’t think men should be in women’s sports.

    It sounds so different when the wording is accurate. Funny how that works.

  • Men claim victory

    This is a good look. This is a very very very good look. They are right to look so confident and happy with their triumph over women. We are all hugely impressed. Well done three men!

  • Bringing out the best in people

    Wow, that’s a good look.

    Storm apologize after co-owner berates teen girls supporting Sophie Cunningham

    Yes how dare teenage girls support teenage girls who don’t want boys in their sports. Teenage girls are supposed to submit without asking a single question! And by the way so are women!

    The Seattle Storm issued an apology statement Wednesday, one day after one of their co-owners verbally accosted two teenage female fans with expletives because they were holding signs supporting the views of ​Indiana’s Sophie Cunningham during a home game against the Fever.

    The teenagers each had a ‌sign, one saying “Thank You Sophie for speaking up for girls!” Cunningham recently went to bat for the protection of women’s sports and keeping them female-only.

    Independent journalist Brandi Kruse reported that minority owner Celeste Keaton told the girls they ​were “fucking insane.”

    Isn’t that nice? Adults telling teenage girls they’re fucking insane for not wanting to lose everything to boys invading their sports? So enlightened, so progressive, so kind.

  • Of all the possible targets

    Ugh the filth. We’re drowning in it.

    Wednesday’s hearing is very unlikely to be the end of the story. And it could actually grease the skids for Republicans and the Trump administration to do something many of them have openly floated: Trying to put Fauci in prison.

    They’re ostensibly not trying to prosecute Fauci for what he did during the Covid pandemic, but have talked about holding him in contempt of Congress — a threat to initiate a process that would result in the Justice Department considering whether to charge him.

    …

    Fauci indicated he was pleading the Fifth because he feared Republicans would try to lay a perjury trap — i.e. try to get him to say something that could be used to bring a perjury case against him.

    Indeed, some prominent figures had spoken before the hearing about Fauci possibly still being prosecuted for perjury, despite his pardon. They included Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and conservative lawyer John Yoo, who both suggested as much in interviews on Fox News.

    I don’t understand these people.

  • Just force them

    Jolyon is…erm…threatening force against the Charity Commission. That’s a good look.

    Of course what he means by “hate” is just repeating the banal fact that men are not women.

    He wants to force us all to submit to his will. Modest chap.

  • Bad woman says what?

    Well, that’s a nice fair-minded headline.

    ‘She is a stain on society’: Sophie Cunningham’s anti-trans comments lead to ‘digusting’ rally and spark outrage

    One two three four. She is a stain on society; her comments are anti-trans; they lead to disgusting rally; they spark outrage. Got all that? Are you sure you hate her enough yet?

    Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, who is averaging 9.3 points off the bench this season, had a feature published by ESPN where she spoke about what she felt was necessary to “protect women’s sports.”

    Ooooh that bitch. How dare she think it’s necessary to protect women’s sports. What does that even mean? “Protect” how? What tf even are “””women’s sports”””?

    When approached about her stance by local media, Cunningham doubled down, saying, “I said what I said.”

    Oooh how dare she stick by what she said? How dare she not crumble and weep hot tears and apologize and call herself names and promise to submit no matter what?

    Now, the ramifications of Cunningham’s comments are being felt by the already vulnerable trans community.

    Oh oh oh oh the already vulnerable trans communninny oh that’s so sad – the ramifications! Good thing nobody else is vulnerable.

  • First in Our Nation’s History

    Well whose fault is that?

    Attorneys for President Donald Trump filed a petition Tuesday to toss the more than $83.3 million judgment in the defamation case brought by former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll.

    “This is the first case in our Nation’s history in which a court has imposed damages liability on a President for his conduct in office,” the filing states.

    It’s the first time in our history that a president has been such a worthless evil sadistic women-hating abusive violent rapey shit. He is by far the worst human being who has ever had that job; no one else even comes close. He makes Nixon look like a saint. He has not one single redeeming quality. He’s not charming or funny or witty, he’s not generous or kind or loyal, he’s not interesting or well-informed or thoughtful. It’s not anyone else’s fault that he’s the first president to be entangled in such a disgusting brawl.

    The petition went on to argue, “If left standing, the decision below will cause significant damage, not only to this President and future Presidents, but also to ‘the Nation that the Presidency was designed to serve.’

    “As this Court has recognized, it ‘would seriously cripple the proper and effective administration of’ government if Presidents feared that their official acts could result in damages liability…

    Excuse me. How is his revolting treatment of Carroll in any way an official act?

    He’ll be raping and then eating toddlers next.

  • Define your terms

    Again with the obfuscatory language.

    What “discriminatory” treatment? In what sense of “discriminatory”?

    We are allowed to discriminate between women and men in the sense of knowing which is which and sometimes acting accordingly. Sometimes it doesn’t matter which is which, and other times it does.

    See also: children and adults. There are many circumstances in which it’s necessary to discriminate between them. Discrimination is not always or automatically invidious; it’s often necessary. Triage is discrimination. In an emergency you don’t treat the person with the scratch before the person who is bleeding out.

    Humans are either one sex or the other. It’s not invidious discrimination to be clear about which is which and act accordingly.

  • Met with a lot of criticism

    They just can’t report it honestly. Not ever.

    Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham has made headlines this week as she spoke out against transgender women in women’s sports. While her comments have been met with a lot of criticism, she has received some support from a high-profile author who has similarly criticized transgender people.

    It’s not about “criticizing trans people”. It’s about objecting to men invading women’s sports.

    In an ESPN article last week, Cunningham was asked about her political beliefs and the “MAGA Barbie” nickname she has recently been given. While Cunningham says that label is a projection, given that she is a white girl from Missouri, she did go on to speak out on how to “protect women’s sports.”

    No scare quotes on “that label is a projection” or “a white girl from Missouri”; only on “protect women’s sports.” Funny how that works.

    Later in the week, Cunningham was given the opportunity to address the comments, ahead of a game against the Connecticut Sun. During that interview, Cunningham doubled down on her statement.

    Oh no, really? You mean she failed to withdraw it? How shocking.

    Cunningham was asked if she thought her comments could be viewed as derogatory toward trans athletes. She responded, saying that she does not “dislike anyone” and there is “room to love everyone.” However, she wasn’t backing down from her opinion.

    How dare she!

    While not everyone has been pleased with Cunningham’s political stand, Rowling did come to her support with a post on X.

    The Harry Potter author, who has a history of speaking out against transgender rights, praised Cunningham for “standing up for women and girls everywhere.”

    That’s just a lie. JKR doesn’t “speak out against transgender rights”. She doesn’t think or say that trans people should not have rights. The problem is that there are new claimed rights that are not rights at all, and that are destructive of women’s rights. Men who call themselves women don’t have any right to help themselves to everything that belongs to women.

  • After a video showed

    Well what did they think was going to happen?

    Two transgender netball players have been banned from competing in Australia after a video showed one of them knocking an opponent to the ground.

    Rival teams threatened a boycott over footage of Melton Central player Manawa Aranui sending a member of the Romsey team crashing to the court.

    There was no foul and Aranui, who played elite men’s netball before transition, is seen offering to help the opponent to her feet.

    So typical of journalism on this subject that it casually neglects to spell out the key fact here. What kind of “transgender netball players” eh Telegraph? Are they possibly male at all? If so why not say so in the lede? You pathetic chickenshits.

    However, following a host of complaints, Victoria’s Riddell District Football Netball League (RDFNL) announced the two trans Melton Central team-mates were now excluded from competition.

    That is, the two male Melton Central team-mates. The word “trans” does not specify sex or gender, so you have to spell it out. It’s your job to report clearly and accurately on this manipulative evasive sly sneaky campaign to let men ruin women’s sports.

    Melton South Netball Club had threatened to boycott matches against Melton Central due to safety concerns. The RDFNL acknowledges the pair “exhibit superior stamina and physique” in a statement explaining the ban.

    “After lengthy consideration and consultation, the RDFNL has ruled that the two transgender participants be excluded from the RDFNL netball competitions for the remainder of the 2025 season on the premise that both participants exhibit superior stamina and physique over their competitors, deeming Section 42 of the Sex Discrimination Act relevant,” a statement said.

    All this yet the Telegraph still finds it necessary to be hyper-“polite” to the massive shits invading women’s sports and threatening women’s safety.

    Melton South’s netball coordinator Melissa Dawson subsequently told News Corp reporters in Australia that she would support her players if they chose to forfeit games over safety concerns.

    “One of the players is six foot something – it’s ridiculous,” she said. “Netball Victoria needs to put the safety of biological females first.”

    In response, a furious Aranui said on Facebook: “I’ve sat quietly long enough while this narrative brewed and I’ve been dragged – publicly and without consent – into a conversation where both my character and identity have been attacked. Now, it’s exploded across social media and news outlets.”

    Cheating cheater says what?

    Update: This happened a year ago, but I missed it then, so here it is now.