Category: Notes and Comment Blog

Much of the US is under an extreme heat warning. Really much of it.

Some of it has been for weeks.

Missouri and Iowa:

Illinois:

New York and environs:

Minnesota:

California:

When mature adults talk like addled teenagers.

Rosie Duffield and Putin both know where to look for the sun at dawn, but that doesn’t make them friends or allies. Claiming Putin is a friend of Rosie’s is fatuous.

Again – it’s not fascist to know that men are not women. How is Ghul not embarrassed to talk such childish drivel?

Again – fatuous. We’re not advocating for the marginalisation and erasure from public life of anyone. Men who claim to be women can go right on being in public life even though we point out that they are men. We’re not denying their right to existence as an equal human being – and saying we are is quite outrageous as well as fatuous. People’s right to existence as equal human beings does not depend on forcing everyone to agree with their fantasies about themselves. And it’s not “regressive” to know what women are.

Is she…just seriously stupid? I guess?

Updating to add even more fatuity.

R U 6?

But what does any of this have to do with equality?

What is “the self-identification principle”? In what way is it a “principle”? What besides sex is covered by the “principle”? Is self-identification as a squirrel a principle? How about self-identification as an MSP? How about self-identification as Maggie Chapman? In other words, how can it be a “principle” that people can self-identify as something they’re not and that we all have to accept and agree with their self-identification? Please explain.

What does identifying as something one is not have to do with equality? Please explain.

How is identifying as something one is not a very basic equality principle? How is it any kind of equality principle at all? How will making it possible for people to identify as something they are not ensure a fairer and more equal future for Scotland? Please explain.

Giuliani admits.

Rudolph W. Giuliani has conceded that while acting as a lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump, he made false statements by asserting that two Georgia election workers had mishandled ballots while counting votes in Atlanta during the 2020 election.

The concession by Mr. Giuliani came in court papers filed on Tuesday night as part of a defamation lawsuit that the two workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, had brought against him in Federal District Court in Washington in December 2021.

The suit accused Mr. Giuliani and others of promoting a video that purported to show Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss — who are mother and daughter — of manipulating ballots while working at the State Farm Arena for the Fulton County Board of Elections.

Let’s pause to reflect on the power and status of the two halves of this dynamic. On the one hand two election workers, on the other the former federal prosecutor and Mayor of New York and consigliere to Trump. Which half has more power to make the lives of the other half a nightmare? And get away with it?

In a two-page declaration, Mr. Giuliani acknowledged that he had in fact made the statements about Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss that led to the filing of the suit and that the remarks “carry meaning that is defamatory per se.” He also admitted that his statements were “actionable” and “false” and that he no longer disputed the “factual elements of liability” the election workers had raised in their suit.

But Mr. Giuliani, insisting that he still had “legal defenses” in the case, said that he continued to believe his accusations about Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss were “constitutionally protected” under the First Amendment. He also refused to acknowledge that his statements had caused the women any damage — a key element required to collect a judgment in a defamation case.

Let’s pause to wonder how his statements could possibly not cause the women any damage.

Last year, Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss appeared as witnesses at a public hearing of the House select committee investigating Jan. 6 and told the story of what happened after Mr. Giuliani amplified the false claims that they had pulled thousands of fraudulent ballots from a suitcase in their vote-counting station and illegally fed them through voting machines.

Although Fulton County and Georgia officials immediately debunked the accusations, Mr. Giuliani kept promoting them, ultimately comparing the women — both of whom are Black — to drug dealers and calling during a hearing with Georgia state legislators for their homes to be searched.

Mr. Trump invoked Ms. Freeman’s name 18 times during a phone call with Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, on Jan. 2, 2021. In the call, Mr. Trump asked Mr. Raffensperger to help him “find” 11,800 votes — enough to swing the results in Georgia away from the winner, Joseph R. Biden Jr.

“I’ve lost my name, and I’ve lost my reputation,” Ms. Freeman testified to the House committee, adding as her voice rose with emotion, “Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States target you?”

And Giuliani admits it, while also claiming it doesn’t matter and didn’t cause them any damage.

How interesting.

Why is Joan Smith no longer co-chair of the Mayor’s Violence Against Women and Girls Board?

Because the Mayor in question abruptly removed her from it, without a word of explanation or thanks or apology – without a word of any kind, despite multiple requests, from Joan and from us tiresome women.

Maaaaaaaate indeed.

The water is hot.

Water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico have been abnormally warm this summer and scientists are concerned about potential environmental impacts.

On Wednesday, a 98-degree water temperature was recorded off the coast of Everglades National Park. The reading was taken in very shallow, dark water, known to heat up very quickly. Still, water temperatures around the southwest coast of Florida and around the Florida Keys have been running about five degrees above normal for this time of the year.

Ocean temperatures take longer to heat than air temperatures. This means that peak ocean heating in the Gulf and Atlantic is normally found in August and September. Heating this early in the season has scientists worried about coral heat stress and potential bleaching.

…

Corals only cover about one percent of the ocean floor, but scientists say that they are home to over a quarter of all marine life and are also important for coastline protection from storms and hurricanes by breaking wave energy as it comes to shore.

But we’re cooking them.

“Our reefs already have so few corals because of all of the years of bleaching events and human impacts, and overfishing and pollution, and things like that that have impacted our reefs,” says Williamson. “If we have this really severe, just intense bleaching event that kills what’s left, I really worry that our reefs will barely even be there, I hope I’m wrong about that, but it’s looking pretty scary at the moment.”

Beware of dopey meaningless slogans.

What does that mean, “We believe that everyone deserves to be accepted without exception”? Accepted in what sense? As a lover, roommate, spouse, colleague, friend? Because if that’s what she means, of course Labour doesn’t believe that.

Maybe she thinks she means something like “not shunned or persecuted” – but then she needs to say that, and not what she did say.

What she probably means to imply, without spelling it out, is that Labour believes all men who claim to be trans women should be believed, no questions asked.

If that is what she means, she has rocks in her head. If that is what Labour means it’s a worse than useless, woman-hating political party.

Listen up Police Scotland.

A little note to the cops:

On the one hand we’re racing over the climate cliff, on the other hand there is this one person who is very special.

In their opening match against Nigeria, Canada midfielder Quinn became the first out transgender player at a Fifa World Cup. Like their style of play, it was done with minimal fuss.

Quinn is a key part of Canada’s midfield, their place as the midfield anchor crucial as the Olympic champions aim to add the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup trophy to their cabinet.

They played the full 90 minutes against Nigeria. The result was a goalless draw – but the Canadian number five’s role created history.

Quinn came out as non-binary in September 2020, dropping their old first name, asking to be known only by a mononym – a name composed of only one word – and saying they would use the pronouns ‘they/them’.

gasp

Isn’t that exciting?? Isn’t it fascinating and enthralling and you want to learn moreing?

Now, Quinn is looking to help drive their country’s bid for glory just as they did at the Tokyo Olympics. However, the significance of their gender identity – especially given the ongoing and often fraught conversation about transgender athletes – cannot be ignored.

“It’s ground-breaking, historic,” Har Johal, a Canadian freelance journalist who has covered the national team since 2012 and is working at her third World Cup, told BBC Sport.

“It shows people who watch sport that you can be non-binary and still play fantastic sport.”

Well duh. Of course you can, because being “non-binary” doesn’t mean anything. Literally not one thing. It doesn’t imply any physical changes whatever; it’s just an empty label.

Johal, who has covered Quinn with the Reign since their move there in 2019, says their coming-out was a barrier-breaking moment in Canadian sport and society.

“There was generally a very positive reaction to them coming out,” she says. “Canada is an open and welcoming country.

“Nothing changed from the national team perspective. Fans loved them just as much before as now.

“The greater impact was on the public who don’t know as much about the players, or soccer in general. Quinn is now seen as a role model for LGBTQ+ people, so it is tremendous they felt that comfortable [to come out].”

How can it be “coming out” when nothing is different? Just telling people to call you “they” doesn’t amount to “coming out.”

Quinn was also the first ever openly transgender Olympian, as they played for Canada at the Covid-delayed 2020 Games in Japan.

How can “non-binary” be “transgender”? Spoiler: it can’t.

There’s paragraph after paragraph more of this drivel.

I’m so bored with people being so enthusiastically stupid.

Uh oh!

The Gulf Stream system could collapse as soon as 2025, a new study suggests. The shutting down of the vital ocean currents, called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (Amoc) by scientists, would bring catastrophic climate impacts. Amoc was already known to be at its weakest in 1,600 years owing to global heating and researchers spotted warning signs of a tipping point in 2021.

…

Amoc carries warm ocean water northwards towards the pole where it cools and sinks, driving the Atlantic’s currents. But an influx of fresh water from the accelerating melting of Greenland’s ice cap and other sources is increasingly smothering the currents.

A collapse of Amoc would have disastrous consequences around the world, severely disrupting the rains that billions of people depend on for food in India, South America and west Africa. It would increase storms and drop temperatures in Europe, and lead to a rising sea level on the eastern cost of North America. It would also further endanger the Amazon rainforest and Antarctic ice sheets.

Never mind; let’s talk about the Barbie movie.

Not the way to think about (much less deal with) the climate disaster:

Rishi Sunak has signalled the government could delay or even abandon green policies that impose a direct cost on consumers, as he comes under pressure from the Conservative right to create a dividing line with Labour at the next election.

Listen up. A “dividing line” between one political party and another is short term stuff. Climate disaster is long term – it’s your children and their children and their children, ffs. Making the climate disaster worse for the sake of dividing lines between political parties is like getting a manicure just before the Titanic breaks in half.

The prime minister said the drive to reach the UK’s net zero targets should not “unnecessarily give people more hassle and more costs in their lives” as he rethinks his green agenda after last week’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip byelection.

Downing Street confirmed on Monday that the government would “continually examine and scrutinise” measures including a ban on new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, phasing out gas boilers by 2035, energy efficiency targets for private rented homes and low-traffic neighbourhoods.

Here’s an idea. How about all the Tories go for a nice summer holiday on Rhodes. Right now.

The move to row back on some green measures comes after the Tories’ opposition to the expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) was credited for their narrow byelection victory in Boris Johnson’s former seat on 20 July.

Tory strategists believe they could replicate their win in other newly marginal seats across the country by creating clear dividing lines with Keir Starmer’s Labour, which has its own internal tensions over environmental policy since the byelection.

Maybe they could, maybe they could, but is it really worth it? On the one hand a potential slight political gain, on the other hand a planet that no longer supports most forms of life?

On a visit to the West Midlands, where he arrived by helicopter despite the journey only taking 90 minutes by train, Sunak was asked if he would stand up to Tories who are urging against net zero measures after Jacob Rees-Mogg said that “getting rid of unpopular, expensive green policies” created a political opportunity.

Well there you go. Can’t turn your back on a political opportunity, can you.

H/t Mike Haubrich

There are some precautions we can take though. I would say a very easy one is: don’t go hiking in the desert when it’s hot. Just skip that.

Two women who had been hiking at a Nevada state park were found dead on Saturday, park rangers said, as record-breaking heat waves rippled through the region and sent temperatures rising through parts of the western and southwestern United States.

The coroner’s office in Clark County, Nev., identified the women as Jessica Rhodes, 34, and Diana Matienzo Rivera, 29. State park rangers said that they had been hiking the Prospect Trail together in the Valley of Fire State Park, a desert area known for its sandstone and limestone outcroppings and rock formations that is about 45 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

Summer temperatures in the park often exceed 100 degrees and can even reach 120 degrees, according to park officials.

Soooo don’t hike there in summer.

Park rangers conducted a search and, about an hour later, found the body of one of the women on the trail, which stretches 11 miles. The body of the second woman was found at about 2 p.m. that day, near a canyon that the trail bisects, leading the rangers to believe that she had gone searching for help.

Why go for a walk in the desert when it’s extremely hot? Do people just not realize that heat can kill you?

Mr. Brunjes said that the deaths were possibly linked to heat exhaustion.

“Anytime you’re going hiking you should go extremely early, carry at least a liter of water and wear light-colored clothing,” he said. “We can’t emphasize these things enough.”

The women, Mr. Brunjes added, had worn dark-colored clothing and did not seem to have been carrying enough water.

Just stay home.

To the surprise of no one –

The deadly, protracted heat waves that have scorched parts of North America and Europe this month would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change, according to a new study published Tuesday.

The analysis by the World Weather Attribution network, a coalition of scientists that conducts rapid analyses to determine how the warming atmosphere influences extreme weather events, examined weather data and computer model simulations to compare the climate as it is today, having experienced warming of about 1.2 Celsius (2.2 Fahrenheit) since the late 1800s, with the climate of the past.

…

“They are not rare in today’s climate,” Friederike Otto, co-leader of the group and a climate scientist at Imperial College London, said in an interview. “What surprises me is that people are so surprised. It is exactly what we expected to see.”

I’m surprised that she’s surprised that we’re surprised. People are good at denial when it comes to the future, and especially good at it when being good at it allows us to go right on breaking everything.

At least scientifically, Otto said, the findings support a growing consensus among researchers: The warmer the world gets, the more likely regions are to experience crippling heat waves, stronger storms and other climate-fueled disasters.

The warmer the world gets, the warmer the world will get. I think I grasp the idea now.

Ultimately, they found that the heat waves that baked the Southwest and southern Europe would have almost no chance of happening in a world without climate change. The Chinese heat wave was made about 50 times more likely given global warming, the study found, while the European and North American heat waves were at least 1,000 times more likely.

Ok ok ok. We can’t pretend it was the fault of something else. We can’t pretend we didn’t do this to ourselves (and everything else on the planet).

Also it’s only going to get worse.

Otto is adamant that the startling heat waves of recent weeks, while no longer rare on a warming planet, do not represent a new reality. “We don’t know what the new normal is until we stop burning fossil fuels. We are not in a stable climate,” she said.

Until the trajectory of human emissions falls sharply, temperature records will continue to fall. Heat waves will grow more fierce and more prolific, offering only a glimpse of potentially hotter stretches ahead. “This is not what extremes in the future will look like,” Otto said. “This could be even a cold year in the summers to come. This is not what we need to get used to. We need to get used to this, and worse.”

But vast numbers of people will not get used to it but be killed by it.

Gee, what could go wrong?

The BBC has apologised after one of its reporters asked an “inappropriate” question about homosexuality which critics claim endangered the safety of the first Arab team in the Women’s World Cup.

…

A correspondent, said to be from BBC World Service, asked: “In Morocco it is illegal to have a gay relationship. Do you have any gay players in your squad and what’s life like for them in Morocco?”

Brilliant. “X is illegal in your country. Are any of your players X? Please name them and tell us where they live.”

An official intervened saying: “Sorry this is a very political question so we will just stick to questions relating to football.”

The correspondent responded: “It is not political, it is about people. Please allow her to answer.”

Please remember she lives in Morocco.

Shireen Ahmed, a contributor to CBC, Canada’s national public broadcaster, tweeted: “The reporter was completely out of line. Harm reduction matters and posing the question to the captain or coach was unnecessary. The question was waved off by a Fifa media officer moderating but it shouldn’t have been asked.”

In a better world she could safely and cheerfully answer the question but this isn’t that world.

But…how…

But how can there be a space that aligns best with someone’s gender and needs if all the spaces are open to all genders? If all the spaces are the same in the sense of being open to both sexes, how can it be possible to differentiate them in order to choose the one that best aligns with one’s gender and needs?

If everyone is entitled to dignity and privacy, why is everyone not allowed access to washrooms and change rooms that are for one sex to the exclusion of the other? How can people have dignity and privacy when they have to take their clothes off in front of strangers of the opposite sex? If everyone is entitled to dignity and privacy, why is the Greater Toronto Y making sure they can’t have it?

As the northern hemisphere burns:

Guardian Australia asked seven leading climate scientists to describe how they felt as much of the northern hemisphere is engulfed by blistering heatwaves, and a number of global land and ocean climate records are broken.

Dr Joelle Gergis:

What is playing out all over the world right now is entirely consistent with what scientists expect. No one wants to be right about this. But if I’m honest, I am stunned by the ferocity of the impacts we are currently experiencing.

Bill Hare:

Driving all this is the fossil fuel industry. Enabling it are political leaders unwilling to bring this industry under control and who promote policies such as offsetting and massive gas expansion that simply enable this industry to continue.

Professor Ian Lowe:

Now all the projected changes are happening, so I reflect on how much needless environmental damage and human suffering will result from the work of those politicians, business leaders and public figures who have prevented concerted action. History will judge them very harshly.

Professor Matthew England:

It makes me feel deeply frustrated to watch the slow pace of policy action – it’s bewildering to see new fossil fuel extraction projects still getting the go-ahead here in Australia. And with this comes deep resentment for those who have lobbied for ongoing fossil fuel use despite the clear climate physics that have been known about for almost half a century.

Still the cruise ships trundle in and out of port.

Whatever you want, all the time.

This crap makes me so tired.

What does any of this have to do with “equality”?? Nothing. Men pretending to be women has nothing to do with equality; men trying to force women to agree that the men are women has nothing to do with equality; men trying to take everything that belongs to women has nothing to do with equality; men assaulting women with impunity has nothing to do with equality.

Not. one. fucking. thing.

The reception of this news is not altogether delighted.

Sam Cowie’s friend isn’t best pleased either.

There’s a torrent of furious replies and quote tweets.