Hmm. Define “friendly.”

Russia has told “unfriendly” foreign countries they must start paying for gas in roubles or it will cut supplies.

See this is odd because I would say Russia is pretty much out in front on the “unfriendly” scoreboard. Bombing the bejeezus out of the country next door (the one where millions of people were deliberately starved to death by Russia in the 1930s) is on the face of it not very friendly at all.

It’s a funny thing how bullies manage to frame themselves as the bullied. We see it in disputes over gender and we see it in disputes over entire huge countries with 44 million people.

Life is so unfair. Sometimes, when you bully someone, onlookers call you a bully! Can you believe that?

It’s hilarious that he includes his own bullying in his screenshot. “Look, I tried to get Kathleen Stock dogpiled and people responded by dogpiling me!!! Did you ever?!?!”

We applaud.

Fairness to women is not less important than “inclusion” of men who identify as women. It’s a great deal more important.

Maybe now that the dam has broken women won’t be afraid to speak out any more, and the whole stupid brutal mess will stop.

I was out doing things for a few hours and this happened –

Be inclusive, let them find a home, yadda yadda, but not at the expense of women.

Now they don’t have to boycott the race.

Another crack in the edifice.

I happen to have seen the origin of the punchline before seeing the above.

The Times also appears to take the Tory MP’s claim at face value.

A Conservative MP has announced that he is transgender and has been the victim of rape and blackmail.

Jamie Wallis, the MP for Bridgend, said he was transgender, “or to be more accurate, I want to be”, and had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

Maybe he just has shlub dysphoria. Has anyone looked into that? He appears to be a shlub, and dysphoria seems likely in such cases, so maybe it’s nothing to do with gender at all.

Wallis rapidly received public support from fellow MPs. Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, said: “This is a very brave statement.” Andrew Bowie, a Conservative MP, said: “Incredibly brave of you to post this mate. Proud of you. All power to you”.

What’s brave about it? When Conservative MPs flock to praise you, what’s brave about it?

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said: “Sending you love and solidarity from the other side of the Commons. This is hugely courageous of you to share.”

How? How is it courageous? How is it hugely courageous? When colleagues are all but licking his ear, how is it courageous?

After Wallis’s announcement [Boris] Johnson said: “Sharing this very intimate story would have taken an immense amount of courage. Thank you for your bravery, which will undoubtedly support others. The Conservative Party I lead will always give you, and everyone else, the love and support you need to be yourself.”

What bravery? What immense amount of courage?

Oliver Dowden, the Conservative Party chairman, said: “Proud of my colleague Jamie Wallis. As a Conservative family we stand together, and we will support you. I hope that your brave statement will help others.”

Godalmighty anyone would think he’s on the front lines at Mariupol.

Ah good it’s helpful to have this cleared up by an expert.

So he gets to use all the toilets, right?

More from the expert:

Men who claim to be women must be allowed into all spaces set aside for women on pain of being called unambiguously transphobic by this Montgomerie dude.

Behold EQ7-9:

EQ7  Defend trans and non-binary people’s rights   North West regional committee

Congress notes:

1.  Government hostility towards Stonewall for its support for trans rights, including disaffiliations by the BBC and government bodies;

2.  Government’s refusal to implement Self-ID in the Gender Recognition Act;

3.  Government’s failure to recognise non-binary as a legitimate identity;

4.  The EHRC’s attempts to delay anti-conversion therapy legislation for trans people and undermine the Scottish government introducing Self-ID;

5.  The Tories’ anti-conversion therapy Bill that dangerously presents equivalence between oppressive anti-trans conversion therapy and pro-trans affirmative intervention.

Congress:

a.  Congratulates Sussex University UCU for their solidarity with student protests against ‘gender critical’ views;

b.  Welcomes the founding of the Feminist Gender Equality Network, committed to opposing transphobia on campuses and more broadly;

c.  Resolves to oppose ‘gender critics’ and transphobes promoting ‘gender ideology’ and trying to undermine trans and non-binary people’s rights and promote divisions between women’s and trans people’s rights.

Solidarity forever! Except with you, of course.

And wait, there’s even more.

Julie Bindel on male violence dressed up as “protection” of women:

Sexism is a funny thing, because it presents as its own opposite. Describing women as vulnerable and in need of male protection is actually about male dominance and attempts at ownership.

…

Has [Will] Smith ever spoken out publicly and passionately against sexism? Would he have kicked off if [Chris] Rock had made similar remarks about another woman? Of course not: only his property gets protected. I make no distinction here between Smith and any other posturing, macho male.

Unlike, she adds, commentators who call that racist.

TeenVogue magazine, for example, continued its valiant tradition of promoting anything harmful to young women by publishing a piece that describes criticism of Smith as “weaponized white womanhood”.

Oh lord. Now I’ll have to read that one too.

“Teen Vogue” ffs. What could be more capitalist and status quo-embracing than a fashion magazine for laydeez? Yet they keep putting on this pseudo-radical disguise to tell us girls have to enjoy anal and must embrace their trans sisters and are racist if they criticize male violence.

A Guardian op-ed on the incident actually included the term “performative pearl clutching” to describe white women objecting to violence when perpetrated by a black man. I can only assume that in the imagination of the writer, black women don’t mind violence being perpetrated on black men, so long as black men are the ones doing it, and also that white women should only comment on the behaviour of white men.

Correct, because Karens.

I have heard excuses for both Rock and Smith about how both men come from communities where when words are ineffective in solving a problem, fists can be. I also come from a community where this was the case, but there lies the problem. To varying degrees, so do all women. That community is patriarchy, and how it works is that when women can’t be manipulated into compliance, violence is always an option.

Nailed it. As usual.

It seems this is not a parody.

It sure as hell looks like a parody, wouldn’t you say? But it seems it’s not. The BBC is treating it as not-parody.

Mr Wallis was arrested last year on suspicion of driving while unfit, following an incident where a car hit a lamppost at Church Road in Llanblethian, Vale of Glamorgan.

What car? Driven by whom? What does the incident have to do with Mr Wallis?

“When I crashed my car on the 28th November I fled the scene. I did so because I was terrified,” he wrote.

Oh, so it was his car, and he was driving? Then why did the BBC say “a car” as if owner and driver were both a mystery?

“I am sorry that it appears I ‘ran away’ but this isn’t how it happened in the moment,” he said.

He identifies as not having run away.

Women’s Equality Party is quite overcome with emotion.

The NY Times also obscures the issue in the same old way.

Utah Legislature Overrides Governor’s Veto of Transgender Athlete Bill

No, not transgender athlete, male transgender athlete. Generic “transgender” makes it sound like random cruelty, but preventing the sabotage of girls’ athletics is not random cruelty…unless of course you think girls just don’t matter, or don’t matter as much as the feelings of boys.

The Utah State Legislature voted on Friday to override the governor’s veto and enacted a bill that would bar young transgender athletes from participating in girls’ sports, making the state the 12th in the country to enact such legislation.

That would bar young male transgender athletes.

Most Republicans in the Legislature who voted for the override said they were concerned about fairness in girls’ sports, while Democrats who voted against it argued that transgender youth would feel unnecessarily targeted and that their mental health would suffer.

Why don’t Democrats care about girls, and what they feel, and how their mental health would suffer? Genuine question; I have no idea what the answer is.

Look! Over there! Or there! Or how about over there?!

Trump’s 47 millionth frivolous lawsuit:

Former president Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Thursday against former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and others, alleging that they “maliciously conspired to weave a false narrative” that his campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential race.

He’s a funny guy. He can’t open his yap or move his thick fingers without uttering a false narrative.

Nick Merrill, a Clinton spokesman, responded to the lawsuit with a one-word statement: “Nonsense.”

Let me add a second one-word statement. “Horseshit.”

Hmm. Sometimes sniffing out concealed hatred or “bigotry” can accidentally reveal one’s own.

“We do not condone violence.” “Assault is never the answer.” These words have echoed through all of my social media accounts since Will Smith slapped Chris Rock for making a poor-taste joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

Most people agree the slap shouldn’t have happened. But there’s something that feels precious at best, and downright racist at worst, about white people’s reaction to the now-infamous smack.

I don’t think I understand the continuum here – from precious to racist? Maybe “petty” was the idea? At any rate, “something that feels” itself “feels” like a reach. That whole sentence “feels” like someone struggling to beef up a flimsy case.

The Hollywood director Judd Apatow declared in a deleted tweet that Smith “could have killed” Rock (seriously?), calling it “​​pure out of control rage and violence”. Apatow later confirmed he wasn’t even watching the show when he made the remarks. The radio host Howard Stern compared Smith to Donald Trump, while white women on Twitter somehow decided that Smith’s actions meant he must be beating his wife.

And this is where the flimsiness becomes downright embarrassing. A named famous man, a named famous man, and then – “white women.” White women wrote a tweet? How would they even coordinate that? And the linked tweet is by a white man, who went to all the trouble of finding four tweets by the dreaded Karens white women. Four random women, not famous like Judd Apatow and Howard Stern. You gotcher racist white famous dudes and then you got your white bitches.

While it’s justifiable – important, even – to interrogate his motives for delivering the slap (was this really all about defending his wife or more about his own ego?), it’s clear that the backlash against Smith is rooted in not just anti-Blackness, but respectability politics as well.

No it isn’t. It isn’t clear at all. It could be true, but it isn’t clear from 2 celebrity dudes and 4 uncelebrity women.

Then the subject suddenly changes and becomes about Black men punching down on Black women.

Still, this kind of punching down on Black women remains typical of many Black male comedians who, like the rest of the world, don’t see Black women’s struggles and experiences as real or legitimate. And this lack of care for Black women also partly explains why people were so taken aback by the image of Smith standing up for his wife in that way. The world is so used to seeing Black women as unworthy of being protected and fought for that it can’t see any merit to Smith’s actions or the emotions that spurred them.

Not the most tightly argued think-piece I’ve ever read.

Oh interesting. Another gap. There was that 18 minute gap on the Nixon phone tapes, and now there’s a seven hour gap on the Trump ones. You’ll never guess which seven hours.

Internal White House records from the day of the attack on the U.S. Capitol that were turned over to the House select committee show a gap in President Donald Trump’s phone logs of seven hours and 37 minutes, including the period when the building was being violently assaulted, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post and CBS News.

The lack of an official White House notation of any calls placed to or by Trump for 457 minutes on Jan. 6, 2021 – from 11:17 a.m. to 6:54 p.m. – means the committee has no record of his phone conversations as his supporters descended on the Capitol, battled overwhelmed police and forcibly entered the building, prompting lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence to flee for safety.

Oh those hours. Pure coincidence I’m sure.

The records show that Trump was active on the phone for part of the day, documenting conversations that he had with at least eight people in the morning and 11 people that evening. The seven-hour gap also stands in stark contrast to the extensive public reporting about phone conversations he had with allies during the attack, such as a call Trump made to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) — seeking to talk to Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) — and a phone conversation he had with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

The House panel is now investigating whether Trump communicated that day through backchannels, phones of aides or personal disposable phones, known as “burner phones,”…

Or just flushed the records down the toilet.

Excellent analogy!

It’s not just the BBC and the Guardian doing the evasive dishonest framing of “trans athletes” and the like; the Times does it too.

Headline: Trans cyclist Emily Bridges faces Olympic winner Laura Kenny

Bridges isn’t a “trans cyclist”; Bridges is a trans woman, aka a man.

Lede:

A transgender athlete who has recently become eligible to compete in women’s events is set to compete against some of Great Britain’s leading female cyclists this week.

A trans woman athlete, i.e. a man, will be competing against women this week.

Journalism really needs to stop obscuring the realities this way.

Emily Bridges, 21, has been included on the entry list for the National Omnium Championships, to be held at the Derby Arena on Saturday, along with Dame Laura Kenny, the five-time Olympic champion.

Last month, Bridges, who began hormone therapy last year, won the men’s points race at the British Universities’ championships in Glasgow.

And he obviously should not be competing against women.

She is now able to comply with British Cycling’s requirements to have had testosterone levels below 5 nanomoles per litre for a 12-month period.

British Cycling’s requirements are complete bullshit.

Bridges recently told Cycling Weekly that she had always hoped to be able to compete against women. “It was always the plan,” she said. “After starting hormone therapy, I didn’t want to race in the male category any more than I had to. It sucks, racing as a man when you’re not one. It was quickly apparent that that was the wrong category for me.”

Me. Me me me me me me me. I am all that counts. I alone matter. My feelings matter, and no one else’s do. Me me me me me.

Rhys McKinnon should just move to the UK; the policy of British Cycling would suit him perfectly. (No one else, but who else matters?)

British Cycling members have been warned that they will be censored and reprimanded if they have any criticism of their [British Cycling’s] newly updated 2020 “Transgender and Non-Binary Participation Policy.”

…

In reply to their Tweeted publication announcement the organization stated:

“We take a zero-tolerance approach to instances of hate being targeted at individuals because of their views or gender identity. This thread will be moderated, and if you’re aware of inappropriate or offensive behavior by our members please email compliance@britishcycling.org.uk.”

“Inappropriate” and “offensive” probably means saying men are men.

There’s a list of Roles and Responsibilities:

…all British Cycling employees, members, volunteers, affiliate clubs and Participants should:

• Welcome all Transgender and Non-Binary Participants, just as you would any other Participant;

• Treat all Transgender and Non-Binary Participants with dignity and respect, just as you would any other Participant;

• Respect the private and confidential nature of all Transgender and Non-Binary Participants’ situations and information;

• Accept all Participants in the gender they present; verification of their identity should be no more than expected of any other person;

• Report any incidents of inappropriate or offensive behaviour and language to the British Cycling Integrity and Compliance Department;

And so on and so on. Don’t you dare notice that men are competing on the women’s teams, don’t you dare object, don’t you dare ask any questions, and if anyone else does, rat’em out.

More Ronny:

No, I don’t. He’s right about that. I don’t care about Rhys McKinnon and people like Rhys McKinnon one iota. (That is, I don’t “care” in the sense he’s using it – anxiously wanting them to have novel extra “rights” so that they can get what they want at the expense of other people. I do care about him in the sense of considering him both a menace and a grotesque example of “trans activism” who is well worth discussing.) Why should I? Why should I care about him and people like him especially? There’s nothing about him to motivate such extra caring – he’s not interesting or thoughtful or eloquent or amusing, and he is belligerent and ruthless and selfish and demanding. Why should I care about him? Why should anyone? There are better people to care about, and there are vastly needier people to care about, the refugees fleeing from Ukraine and the people trapped there for two examples.

I don’t care about him one iota and yes I’d be happy just “excluding” him altogether from women’s competitions and letting him figure out whether to compete against men or just give up competing.