Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Science Based Medicine says what?

Remember back in 1997, the Pokemon seizure episode? Hundreds of children reported symptoms, including seizures, after watching a specific episode of the Pokemon cartoon that includes a sequence of flashing alternating red and blue lights. The press reported the episode at face value, attributing the reaction to a known phenomenon of photosensitive epilepsy. However, later reviews found that the majority of cases were not seizures, and in fact occurred during later viewings of the episode, after the story was widely reported.

Widely reported, eh? So we’re talking suggestibility here? Social contagion?

The episode is a great example of a mass hysteria – a story spreading widely in the public that triggers some form of psychological reaction. This could involve a report of a UFO sighting leading to many further reported sightings, or the belief that something toxic is making people in a building sick leading to many people reporting symptoms, even if ultimately there is no underlying cause.

Or………………………….

I don’t think I saw this one last October.

Traitors. Backstabbers. Thieves. Haters of women.

Why do they continue to call themselves a women’s law center? It’s grotesque. They’re not just standing by while men grab women’s sports, they’re actively helping.

It’s not “bullying” for women to have their own sports and keep men out of them. It’s just utterly disgusting for this “Women’s” organization to say it is. They’ll be saying women ask to be raped next.

It turns out that by “doing more” the Premier meant doing more to promote “family and domestic violence.”

This week, his @walabor government is trying to pass a law that will allow men to change their legal sex to female, and self-identify into female-only spaces, like bathrooms and refuges.

Here is the Premier on the day the Bill was introduced, pictured with WA Attorney General John Quigley, alongside the bill’s poster boy, Dani (Dean) Laidley.

Laidley is a man who identifies as a woman, who pleaded guilty to stalking his ex-girlfriend and breaching a family violence order, and who reportedly called her a “slut” and a “c*nt” and threatened to run her down in his car.

They are literally using a man who terrorised a woman, to promote a law that will be exploited by predatory men, during a time where there is national outrage about violence against women in this country. Well, where is the outrage now?

Laidley is a very large man who identifies as a woman. Nothing intimidating about him, no siree.

The kids are not all right.

Delegates at a National Union of Students (NUS) conference voted in a breakout meeting to stop recognising their Jewish members’ main representative body because of its support for Israel, the JC can reveal.

The non-binding vote against the continued affiliation of the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) was carried overwhelmingly at the NUS conference in Blackpool last month during a session that began with calls to “dismantle” the Jewish state as a “racist project of colonialism”.

So in other words shun the Jews. We’ve been here before, chums.

At the Oxford protest camp, participants have been asked to agree that as a “colonised” people, Palestinians have the “right to resist against occupation”.

They have also been told they must support the Thawabit, a set of demands issued by the Palestine Liberation Organisation in the 1970s that would lead to the end of the Jewish state, including a right of return for six million Palestinian refugees and their descendants. One Jewish student was reportedly refused entry to the camp when he declined.

…

Unreported at the time, the move to expel the UJS took place at an NUS conference session on Palestine. It began with an invasion of the stage by a group of students claiming the only way to bring peace was to “dismantle the Israeli state” founded on “ethnic cleansing”, and that Zionism was a “racist ideology” and a “colonial project”.

One of the conference organisers then asked delegates whether the UJS should continue to be the “representative for Jewish students”.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Jewish student who was present told the JC: “The session had an incredibly hostile atmosphere, especially when delegates began to vilify the UJS. The proposal to disaffiliate from it was backed by a vast show of hands in support, which in a room of non-Jewish students felt isolating and wrong. Students with no skin in the game had decided that their place was to speak on matters impacting Jewish students.”

The skin in this particular game is all too literal.

Sigh.

Huh – for some extremely mysterious reason the jovial Fred “Freda” Wallace is in Twitter jail.

But not to worry! He’s using his other account, which is against the twitty rules.

Serious abuses eh? Remember Fred at that discussion facing the audience with his skirt up around his neck and his balls on display? Such a character.

Top climate scientists say we’re screwed.

Hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5C (4.5F) above preindustrial levels this century, blasting past internationally agreed targets and causing catastrophic consequences for humanity and the planet, an exclusive Guardian survey has revealed.

Almost 80% of the respondents, all from the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), foresee at least 2.5C of global heating, while almost half anticipate at least 3C (5.4F). Only 6% thought the internationally agreed 1.5C (2.7F) limit would be met.

All of which is unsurprising, given the rate at which we continue to do the things that roast the climate.

Many of the scientists envisage a “semi-dystopian” future, with famines, conflicts and mass migration, driven by heatwaves, wildfires, floods and storms of an intensity and frequency far beyond those that have already struck.

And those that have already struck are plenty bad enough.

Numerous experts said they had been left feeling hopeless, infuriated and scared by the failure of governments to act despite the clear scientific evidence provided.

“I think we are headed for major societal disruption within the next five years,” said Gretta Pecl, at the University of Tasmania. “[Authorities] will be overwhelmed by extreme event after extreme event, food production will be disrupted. I could not feel greater despair over the future.”

That can happen you know. Ruin the climate enough and you won’t be able to produce enough food any more.

The climate crisis is already causing profound damage to lives and livelihoods across the world, with only 1.2C (2.16F) of global heating on average over the past four years. Jesse Keenan, at Tulane University in the US, said: “This is just the beginning: buckle up.”

Nathalie Hilmi, at the Monaco Scientific Centre, who expects a rise of 3C, agreed: “We cannot stay below 1.5C.”

The experts said massive preparations to protect people from the worst of the coming climate disasters were now critical. Leticia Cotrim da Cunha, at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, said: “I am extremely worried about the costs in human lives.”

…

The experts were clear on why the world is failing to tackle the climate crisis. A lack of political will was cited by almost three-quarters of the respondents, while 60% also blamed vested corporate interests, such as the fossil fuel industry.

The thing about political will is that it has to be almost universal to be able to make a difference. If it’s not it just gets voted down. The two are inextricable – the refusal to stop blasting out carbon and the rejection of governments that try to slow (let alone stop) the carbon blasting.

Are. they. serious.

Wat?

If they’re not really, literally, materially women then the study will be worthless.

It’s slightly more complicated with “Black” because that’s not yes or no (aka “binary”) the way female or male is. Many many enslaved people in the US were partly white thanks to the genial custom by which owners and overseers were free to rape the enslaved women and girls whenever they felt like it. Looking at you Thomas Jefferson.

Anyway. What in hell is the point of doing such a study if you’re going to render it worthless by including men who pretend to be women?

CNN tells us:

The American Cancer Society said Tuesday that it is seeking participants for what may be the largest national study of its kind, one that aims to solve the mystery of why Black women have the lowest survival rate of any racial or ethnic group in the US for most cancers.

…

The Voices of Black Women study hopes to recruit at least 100,000 Black women from 20 states and the District of Columbia to follow for 30 years. The study is concentrating on these areas because they’re where 90% of US Black women between the ages of 25 and 55 live.

Twice a year, the study will ask participants about lifestyle factors, medical history and experience of racism to determine what might affect someone’s risk of cancer and dying from cancer.

To be eligible, participants must identify as Black and women, be between the ages of 25 and 55, and not have a history of cancer, with the exception of basal or squamous cell skin cancer. More information on joining the study is available on the society’s website.

Ok let’s follow that link. Now let’s click on “eligibility” in the menu. Behold what we see.

VOICES of Black Women is enrolling people who:

• are biologically female or identify as a woman.
• identify as Black.
• do not have history of cancer (except basal or squamous skin cancer).
• are between the ages of 25 and 55 years.
• live in one of our study enrollment states. Enrollment is open across 20 states and Washington D.C. 

Are in fact women or pretend to be.

Well what’s the point then???? What in flaming hell is the point? You’re kneecapping your own study so why do it?

We can click on “What is the definition of woman?” and get

In this study, a woman is defined as an individual who is biologically female (assigned female sex at birth) and/or self-identifies as a woman. Our primary goal is to understand the lived experiences of Black women residing in the United States and how these experiences may impact the development of cancer and other diseases.

Then why are you inviting men to participate? You abject dribbling fools.

Schewpid man.

“You don’t need to be bothered about it – just fark off and let people be.” [crowd giggles]

Yeah we do, Dave, on account of how many of the men we need to “let be” are hell bent on taking everything that belongs to women, and invading everything that women need, and ridiculing everything that women say. Yeah we do need to talk about this and push back on it and defend our own god damn rights. Trans ideology may not impinge on your rights but it does impinge on ours, so back off. Smuggy.

The fix is in.

A federal judge Tuesday indefinitely postponed the criminal classified documents trial of former President Donald Trump, a court filing shows. The trial on charges that Trump willfully retained classified national security records after leaving the White House and then hid them from federal authorities was scheduled to start May 20.

But the new ruling from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon vacates that date and sets a new slate of pretrial proceedings, the latest of which is a hearing set for July 22. The ruling casts more doubt on whether Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, will face trial on the federal criminal charges prior to the Nov. 5 election.

Which is a grotesque, corrupt situation.

Whether any of Trump’s other cases will head to trial before Election Day is unclear — and after Cannon’s latest ruling, increasingly unlikely.

In addition to the documents case, Trump is charged in federal court in Washington, D.C., with conspiring to overturn his loss to Biden in the 2020 election. He also faces election-interference charges in Georgia state court.

Trump of course appointed Cannon, a choice that shocked practically everyone because of her lack of qualifications and merit. Crook appoints cypher who obligingly shields him from the law long enough to get elected again and tyrannize over us even more. What a great system.

The Guardian is even worse. Headline:

Leeds Green party councillor says sorry for comments about Gaza conflict

But he didn’t. That’s not what he said. Don’t rewrite what he said and then tell us he said it. He didn’t say it. Don’t tell us he did. That borders on the L word, the one that’s libelous if you get it wrong.

It’s probably an editor who perpetrated that title, because Eleni Courea, who wrote the piece, did not get it wrong.

A Green party councillor at the centre of an antisemitism row has apologised “for the upset caused” by his remarks but hit back at “Islamophobic” attacks against him.

Scare quotes on both his taking it back moves. One can also read them as simply putting quotation marks on the quoted bits, but at least that’s a slight improvement on calling “Sorry you got mad” an apology.

The BBC reports on the bogus “apology”:

A Green Party councillor has apologised after he was criticised for calling his local election victory a “win for the people of Gaza”.

Mothin Ali, 42, made the comments after being elected on Friday for the Gipton and Harehills ward, in Leeds.

His remarks prompted calls from the Jewish community in the city for him to be suspended.

Dang. That’s shocking even for the Beeb. He didn’t apologize. It’s common knowledge that the grudging “I’m sorry you took it that way” does not count as an apology.

And “the comments” were not limited to calling his local election victory a “win for the people of Gaza”. There was more to it than that. And it was not just “the Jewish community” that took exception to his “remarks.” Burying the lede does not look good here.

Ohhhhhh no you don’t.

Via the Green Party, Mothin Ali’s notpology:

I am sorry for any upset my comments caused about the Gaza conflict. That was not my intention. Like many across the world I have been deeply impacted by the dreadful conflict currently underway in Gaza. The International Court of Justice said this conflict meets the case for plausible genocide.

That is the definition of a notpology, that “I’m tho thorry you were offennnnnnnded” switch.

Being elected to represent the wonderful community of Gipton and Harehills was one of the proudest moments of my life. The inaccurate reporting and misrepresentation of my acceptance speech has led to me being subject to a lot of hate and hostility. I should also make clear that it is not unusual for somebody of my faith to use the words ‘Allahu Akbar’ as an expression of gratitude and celebration. Some have sought to misrepresent this and it suggests Islamophobia to me. 

Oh yes oh yes oh yes he was all gratitude and celebration when he said it, wasn’t he. It wasn’t one bit an angry scowling snarl. Also it’s not a bit relevant that men who massacre infidels shout “Allahu Akbar” as they do it.

The real right to life:

The race to save the planet is being impeded by a global economy that is contingent on the exploitation of people and nature, according to the UN’s outgoing leading environment and human rights expert.

David Boyd, who served as UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment from 2018 to April 2024, told the Guardian that states failing to take meaningful climate action and regulating polluting industries could soon face a slew of lawsuits.

…

The right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment was finally recognised as a fundamental human right by the United Nations in 2021-22. Some countries, notably the US, the world’s worst historic polluter, argue that UN resolutions are legally influential but not binding. The right to a healthy environment is also enshrined into law by 161 countries with the UK, US and Russia among notable exceptions.

Surprise surprise. The US is way too busy building more gigantic cruise ships to fret about any human right to an environment humans can survive in.

Boyd, a Canadian environmental law professor, said: “Human rights come with legally enforceable obligations on the side of states, so I believe that this absolutely should be a game-changer – and that’s why states have resisted it for so long.

“By bringing human rights into the equation, we now have institutions, processes and courts that can say to governments this isn’t an option for you to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions and phase out fossil fuels. These are obligations which include regulating businesses, to make sure that businesses respect the climate, the environment and human rights.”

But that would be Marxist Communist Marxism.

Get your party clothes on! It’s Trans History Week – not to be confused with Trans Pride Week, Trans Celebration Week, Trans Rage Week, Trans Grumpy Week, Trans Electric Magenta Hair Week, to name a few.

Powerful ‘Always Been Here’ billboards appear across the UK to mark inaugural Trans+ History Week

I do love a powerful billboard.

A series of powerful billboards in major cities across the UK will make trans history visible to the public and mark the inaugural Trans+ History Week.

Ya ok that’s the same thing. Move on now?

The first-ever Trans+ History Week, which is a QueerAF launchpad project, will take place from Monday 6 May to Sunday 12 May and will be a period of time dedicating to learning about and celebrating history of trans, non-binary, gender-diverse, and intersex people.

Through a series of articles, podcasts and a lesson workbook created using academic research principles, Trans+ History Week aims to provide the British public and wider global community with a millennia-old history of trans+ people and gender-diverse communities.

Ah yes. We know what that will look like – examples of gender non-conformity seized and turned into unquestionable examples of “trans people” for the edification of the credulous.

Throughout the week, twenty emerging trans+ creatives – who have been supported, given audio equipment to keep, and mentored by QueerAF across multiple commissioning schemes – will also share their stories.

Oooh audio equipment to keep, well I never. The “mentoring” will of course bear no resemblance at all to manipulating, recruiting, hectoring, re-educating.

Originally a comment by Screechy Monkey on Man who can’t read claims favorite book.

I think there’s a lot of Christians who know that Trump is an absolute phony Christian, and are fine with that, because all they really want is for non-Christians to “bend the knee” and profess belief publicly whether it’s sincere or not. Saving souls is secondary at best, if it’s relevant at all.

It’s why there’s such a keen interest in forcing prayer in public schools. The point isn’t to make their own kids pray — they are presumably already doing that at home and in church. It’s to make everyone else’s kids pray, as a gesture of submission to Christianity’s dominance. You want to be a filthy atheist in the privacy of your own mind, who cares, I’m fine with you going to hell, but in public you pay lip service to our faith!

The fact that Trump, who prides himself on supposedly being a tough guy who says and does whatever he likes, is willing to abase himself like this is almost endearing to them. I think they regard it as a show of respect. Which in one sense it is, I suppose. He’s recognizing their political power. In the other sense, of course, he thinks they’re suckers.

Trump keeps putting his foot over the line and watching the grownups react.

Former US President Donald Trump has been held in contempt of court for violating a gag order for the 10th time in his hush-money trial in New York. Justice Juan Merchan issued his most serious warning yet to Mr Trump, saying further violations could mean jail. “At the end of the day, I have a job to do and that job is to protect the dignity of the judicial system,” the judge said.

But at the end of the same day he has Trump to deal with, and there’s no winning in that scenario. Trump defies the judge and wins; Trump is thrown in jail and wins. He should go to jail of course, because he’s deliberately defying the court, but if he does his fans will blah blah blah and everything will be even worse.

Justice Merchan acknowledged that incarcerating Mr Trump would be very disruptive to the proceedings. But he called the gag order violations “a direct attack on the rule of law” that he cannot abide.

Sitting with a stern expression at the defence table, Mr Trump showed little reaction to the threat of jail.

Mmmmmno. Not stern but sullen. He can’t do stern. He can do sullen, sulky, rabid, but he can’t do stern. Henry Fonda he’s not.

After court adjourned for the day, Mr. Trump called the gag order “disgraceful” and seemed defiant in the face of the warning. “Our Constitution is much more important than jail. It’s not even close. I’ll do that sacrifice any day,” he said later outside the courtroom.

Yeahbro the Constitution doesn’t say you can shoot your mouth off in court whenever you feel like it. Maybe you should learn something about it before you try to be the boss of us again.

What did he mean by it?

The Green Party is investigating a councillor who shouted “Allahu Akbar” after being elected and said on the day of the Oct 7 terror attacks that Palestinians had the right to “fight back”.

Mothin Ali won the Gipton and Harehills ward in Leeds with more than 3,000 votes at Thursday’s local elections and said it was a “win for the people of Gaza”.

But the job is to be a councillor for the people of Leeds. Not Gaza, Leeds. Not Jerusalem, not Canterbury, not Mecca, not Rome, not Ayodhya, but Leeds.

The 42-year-old, a father of three who works as an accountant and runs a gardening blog, has previously described a Jewish chaplain at the University of Leeds who was forced into hiding by threats from protesters as a “creep” and a “kind of animal”.

During his victory speech on Friday, Mr Ali told activists: “We will not be silenced. We will raise the voice of Gaza. We will raise the voice of Palestine. Allahu Akbar!”

Those two words have a sinister overtone to many people, but taken literally they’re just your basic monotheistic message. There is this one god, see, and it’s the one we call god, and he’s great. He’s male, obvs, and he’s great. Really really great; peak great; greater than anyone else’s god. There’s no need to fight about it, as long as you agree with us that he’s the one and he’s great.

That’s if you take it literally. In practice it doesn’t always mean that. All too often it means “our god is great and he’s going to smash you, all of you.” If you watch Mr Ali shout it he certainly seems to be shouting the threatening version.

After Mr Ali’s historic comments emerged, a Green Party spokesman said: “The Green Party is investigating issues drawn to our attention in relation to Councillor Mothin Ali, so cannot comment further. However, we are clear that we never support anything that extols violence.”

But why would we think saying “God is great” extols violence?

Probably because of all the supremely violent incidents in which somebody or many people were shouting it.

Piety interlude:

“All Americans need a Bible in their home, and I have many. It’s my favorite book,” Trump declared in March, in a video posted on Truth Social. “I’m proud to endorse and encourage you to get this Bible. We must make America pray again.”

In the video, Trump, who has a long history of endorsing and selling things, is clutching the God Bless the USA Bible – a “patriotic” take on the holy text that Trump is now hawking for $59.99.

“I want to have a lot of people have it,” Trump continued. “You have to have it for your heart and for your soul.”

Well of course he wants to “have a lot of people have it” – because he’s selling it for 60 bucks. You can get them free, of course, but what good is that to Donald Trump?

Anyway the obliging writer, Adam Gabbatt, duly bought the book.

Happily the Bible, which cost $83.37 after tax and shipping, eventually arrived. I eagerly tore open the packaging, held the bag upside down, and out plopped what is essentially a Christian nationalist’s fantasy: a Bible that is all American flags and bald eagles, with founding documents and lyrics to a patriotic anthem slotted in alongside the holy text.

We’re in a hurry, ok? We have to mash all these things together to save time. Oh say can you see our father who art in heaven etc etc – it gets the job done.

The front of the Bible has an embossed USA flag. In the back are glossy pages bearing some of America’s most sacred documents: the Declaration of Independence; the Pledge of Allegiance; and the lyrics to Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA, a song which is played on repeat at Trump’s political rallies.

These pages are illustrated with the American flag and some of the country’s best-regarded things: the bald eagle, yes, but also the Statue of Liberty, what appears to be a musket, and the Capitol building, which somewhat ironically was attacked by supporters of Trump three years ago.

Well that’s why! “Look at the size of the dome on that thing! But it didn’t scare me!!”