How Many Prince Charleses Can There Be in One Room? (Ep. 401) - Freakonomics Freakonomics - "DUCKWORTH: So my husband thinks that the great irony is that I have spent my entire professional career studying everything other than I.Q. In fact, my doctoral dissertation is called Non-I.Q. Predictors of Success. It’s got a hyphen in it. Non hyphen I.Q."
Existential Comics on Twitter - "Big congrats to all the people giving up on their New Years resolutions right around now. As Jean-Paul Sartre reminds us, allowing past decisions to control our actions is a bad faith denial of our transcendent radical freedom"
Eccentrik Hat on Twitter - "Feminist approach to men’s mental health:
“Kill all men”
“The future is female”
“Toxic Masculinity”
“I drink male tears”
“Masculinity so fragile”
“Mansplaining, manspreading, manterrupting”
“Male, pale and stale”
“Oh no, he committed suicide. Shame ... we tried so hard to help”"
Activist acquitted because Quebec City prosecutors were incapable of holding trial in English - "Steve Marquis, the chief Crown prosecutor for Quebec City, told Judge Pierre Bordeleau that neither he nor any of his available colleagues were capable of presenting the prosecution's arguments in English. (Singh, who is fluently bilingual, had requested a trial in English.) Marquis - who told the judge that the original prosecutor in the case, who could proceed in English, was on maternity leave - asked for a delay in the proceedings, which Bordeleau denied. The judge then acquitted Singh on the two charges, obstruction of justice and impersonation, that he was facing. Singh, 49, a veteran activist, was arrested Aug. 20, 2017, at an anti-fascist counter-protest to an alt-right gathering. When arrested, Singh told police his name was Michel Goulet (the name of an old Quebec Nordiques player) and said he resided in La Colisee (the Nordiques' old arena)."
Academic Probed Over Paper Praising His Adviser’s Marriage - "In a 2013 paper published in China’s Journal of Glaciology and Geocryology, Xu Zhongmin included information irrelevant to the topic of ecological economics by inserting details on the ecosystem of his adviser Cheng Guodong’s relationship with his wife, Zhang Youfen... In an interview with The Paper, Xu defended his approach, saying his adviser’s marriage was “an example” to prove the “development theory” of his paper. The study was part of a 2 million yuan ($290,000) research project on the Heihe River Basin... The questionable content of Xu’s paper comes at a time when Chinese academia is plagued with cases of plagiarism, fake peer reviews, and other academic misconduct. In November, the scientific community became alarmed after Cao Xuetao, a high-profile academician, was called out for apparent discrepancies in his research."
The 5 worst shopping malls in Singapore - "Alas, money can’t buy soul. Even during Christmas time, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands lacks warmth. There’s a pretentious, plastic feel to the place; from the overly grand architecture, to the crass consumerism of high-end brands placed end-to-end.The service staff of these high-end boutiques, although competent for sure, seem to play the part. They tend to place more emphasis on projecting elegance and dignity than friendliness, to an extent that it becomes hard to tell how much of the cold in here can be attributed to air-conditioning."
The Most and Least Expensive Cars to Maintain - "Luxury imports from Germany, such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz, along with domestic luxury brand Cadillac, are the most expensive. A Toyota is about $10,000 less expensive over 10 years, just in terms of maintenance.Toyota is by far the most economical manufacturer. Scion and Lexus, the second and third most inexpensive brands, are both Toyota subsidiaries. Together, all three are 10% below the median cost. Most domestic brands, like Ford and Dodge, are in the middle of the pack. While luxury cars call for the most expensive maintenance, many budget vehicles rank relatively high. Kia, an entry-level brand, surprises with maintenance costs 1.3 times the median. In this case, sticker prices don't represent maintenance costs."
Why buying a 10-year-old car is a savvy move - "The graphic, shown below, indicates that the cheapest thing to do is to buy a 10-year-old used vehicle, keep it for five years, and then repeat. The most expensive approach is buy a brand new car, keep it for five years, and then do that again. Is it ever cheaper to go with a brand new car rather than a used car?Yes. The graphic indicates that if you buy new and keep that ride for 20 years, that will cost you less than buying a three-year-old used vehicle that you drive for 15 years."
From Reddit analysis
NTU Once Rejected Canadian's Application For Chinese Course, Because He Was Chinese - "Derek Leung, a Canadian-born Chinese man, never got the chance to study his mother tongue growing up in Canada... Mr Leung ended up settling for another module after a course coordinator told him that his family background made it unfair."
Don’t throw out old, sprouting garlic — it has heart-healthy antioxidants - "“Sprouted” garlic — old garlic bulbs with bright green shoots emerging from the cloves — is considered to be past its prime and usually ends up in the garbage can. But scientists are reporting in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that this type of garlic has even more heart-healthy antioxidant activity than its fresher counterparts."
And apparently it's not that bitter too, especially after you cook it
Sheep facial recognition: Funding helps bring software one step closer - "As more farmers moved towards management technologies such as digital scales and automatic drafting gates, a reliable low-cost method of identification was essential... Future applications for the technology were broad and included tracking animal locations to prevent stock rustling, monitoring animal behaviour, estimating weight, diseases, welfare, or other characteristics, or estimating parentage without the need to observe lambing or do DNA parentage testing. Other projects included a pasture quality system and optimising fertiliser application."
Wachete - Monitor web changes - "Monitor website or entire portal for changes
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Visualping: #1 Website change detection, monitoring and alerts - "We monitor webpages… so you don't have to!
Select an area and relax: We’ll send you an email alert when something changes"
Max 65 checks per month (you can check daily, weekly or monthly for each page)
Indie game dev sees big boost in sales after he uploads it to The Pirate Bay - "Danger Gazers, "a post-apocalyptic roguelite top-down shooter" released earlier this month that saw a big boost in sales after its developer uploaded it to The Pirate Bay.Danger Gazers is $10 on Steam, but if you don't feel like dropping a tenner, that's okay too. "This torrent was officially brought to you by ShotX. This is the latest DRM-free version of Danger Gazers (1.1.0), there's no catch here, no Steam only features, just the fully functional game," the torrent description says. "As a developer, my only request would be to consider supporting and buying in case you like Danger Gazers and want more indie games in the future."The developer, Shota Bobokhidze, went deeper into his reasons for sharing the game on TPB last week on Reddit. "There are people who can't afford the game, some want to play the game before buying, some that never buy games. Just trying to help those people out and make the best of the situation"
Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable - "If the regulator enforces its proposed regulation, Apple devices sold in Europe would be required to have a new charging method.It is likely Apple would then adopt USB-C, considering the company's 2019 iPad Pro ditched Lightning in favour of the technology... The European Commission has been campaigning for a single charging method for the past decade.There were more than 30 types of charger on the market in 2009, but that number has since been reduced to just three.The regulator is determined to cut down on electronic waste being created by obsolete cables, which it estimates generate more than 51,000 tonnes of waste per year... Apple, along with 10 other leading tech giants such as Nokia and Samsung, signed a memorandum of understanding in 2009.They pledged to provide micro-USB compatible chargers for consumers.However, Apple took advantage of a loophole that allowed manufacturers to continue using their own chargers if they offered an adaptor... Some analysts are even predicting that Apple could scrap its charging ports altogether by releasing future iPhone and iPad models that rely solely on wireless charging."
I saw people slamming this as being against the free market
Most scientists 'can't replicate studies by their peers' - "According to a survey published in the journal Nature last summer, more than 70% of researchers have tried and failed to reproduce another scientist's experiments... The reproducibility difficulties are not about fraud, according to Dame Ottoline Leyser, director of the Sainsbury Laboratory at the University of Cambridge.That would be relatively easy to stamp out. Instead, she says: "It's about a culture that promotes impact over substance, flashy findings over the dull, confirmatory work that most of science is about.""
Ex-NTU valedictorian under probe for allegedly cheating 73 friends of $800k for breast enhancement treatments - "Ms Alexandra Low, a former financial analyst, is believed to have borrowed money under various pretexts, such as having to make a down payment for a house"
Who’s Really Killing Singapore’s Bookstores? - "As much as we might like to wallow in self-derogatory criticism about how the only culture Singaporeans have is of a bacterial nature, official statistics report otherwise. The National Library Board’s 2016 National Readings Habits Study found that almost 7 in 10 Singaporeans have read at least 1 book in the last 12 months—this is a higher proportion than in some Western European countries like Spain... Sales, revenues, and total number of publications across the world are still rising annually, despite detractors announcing the death of the book at the hands of social media, Netflix, or whatever new technological advancement... Admit it: you’ve walked into Kinokuniya, inhaled the smell of new books to rejuvenate your shriveled soul, eye-fucked the latest titles by Amanda Lee Koe or Margaret Atwood, only to return home to add them to your Book Depository cart.The next day, when you read about MPH’s impending exit from the Singapore market, you beat your breast, wail, and write a moving eulogy about the inexplicable death of bookstores in Singapore... “Publishers sell the same book at different prices in different markets. What Amazon can do is they buy books from the cheapest place, usually India, and sell it all over the world.”Such a procurement strategy has led to the strange situation in which “international publishers in Singapore can actually find their book online on Amazon for cheaper than their staff rate”... some books we find on the shelves of bookstores, according to Edmund, “have no right to be sold here”. “Books have territorial rights. If I publish an author, I have the Singapore or world right. In the case of America, most of them only have US right, so the book cannot be sold in Singapore. But because Singapore signed a free trade agreement, we have an open market, and anybody can bring in anything here.”... “Globally, special VAT/GST/Sales Tax treatment for publications is the norm, not the exception, among the countries with VAT/GST/Sales Tax regimes. The large majority (84%) of the countries surveyed, established a favourable tax regime for paper books.”... The book industry in other countries is highly regulated. Book prices are standardised—it’s why, at the back of any international edition of a book, you find that little box (noticeably absent on Singapore-published books) stating the price of the book in various currencies. Bookstores are obligated to sell the books at these prices, no more no less.In countries like Japan, bookstores are not even allowed to give discounts on books. Meanwhile in Singapore, we have shops that run eternal sales. Such measures to control the market might seem draconian or economically illiberal. But books aren’t just inert consumer goods. Books serve as cultural artifacts that reify the identity of a nation; they have positive externalities in their potential to generate “broader society benefits in the form of education, [literacy,] … higher rates of political participation,” and so on.These reasons justify the National Arts Council’s dispensation of grants to authors, publishers, and arts organisations in general.Why not grants for bookstores too, then?"
I suppose worshipping bookstores is a natural outgrowth of worshipping books
L'origine de Bert
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Why the US will be worst hit by the Coronavirus: A toxic mix of stupidity, aggression and overconfidence
For the avoidance of doubt, A is American
To be clear, A is just one idiot, but I've encountered many of his ilk. A brings it to a new level, though
B: People are being encouraged to rat on their neighbour and are hearing veiled threats from the 2nd in charge at WHO that infected family members will be removed from homes ...FFS 😳..if that doesn’t raise red flags nothing will 🚩
Me: And if your neighbour infects 1,000 people?
C: exactly! There will come a time when it becomes necessary to use force to remove contagious people who refuse to comply with mitigation protocols.
B: you’re sounding very much like a tyrant
I think you’ve never understood why people like Orwell wrote his books..
Me: Orwell wrote about authoritarian states using their powers to oppress people with the pretext of imagined threats
Not democracies protecting people from real ones
B: what makes you think Bill Gates is a democratically elected leader?
Me: When did I say he was one?
What policies has he enacted?
B: my point was that Orwell wrote about totalitarian regimes and you’re assuming his warning only pertains to people concerned about governmental totalitarian regimes. There are other types of regimes and other power structures that exert considerable influence over people’s lives that we should be concerned about. The tech giants being a case in point. They are unelected power brokers who are making a great many decisions that include the limiting of some people’s freedom.
Gates has enacted a great many policies that have influenced the world scene profoundly. He has plans for more as well.
Me: you can choose not to use Google, Facebook etc. It's harder to choose your government.
Governments can kill you. Big tech can make your life difficult, at most.
I am not a libertarian who thinks companies should be able to do anything. But I can see that companies are limited in their power
You're being vague in your gates conspiracy theories again. If you allude to some sinister conspiracy theory don't get upset when others think you're talking about some other conspiracy theory
B: Let me clear if I haven’t been already:
I think a man who is a self-elected leader, who has bought his way into power and prominence and is now advocating for a technocratic innovation that will tie people’s freedoms to their vaccination status on a world wide level, is treading on very dangerous ground.
Legitimate concerns for any citizen of the world imo.
I think anyone underestimating the danger posed by autocratic technocrats is sadly naive. These technocrats have the power to carve public opinion into the shape they want by their promotion and omission of certain voices and points of view. For you to believe that only governments can pose a risk to the freedoms people have is staggeringly blind.
Me: what technocratic innovation are you referring to? Did he call himself a leader?
Are you calling big tech technocrats? Technocrats are government officials
I never said big tech didn't pose a risk to freedoms. I said governments posed real risks and big tech less
A: nobody can infect 1,000 people. That’s a false assumption to begin with. You’re argument (if that’s what you call that) is based on a false assumption.
Me: 1,000 is just a number thrown out for the sake of argument. It's not an assumption. The term is hypothetical
Presumably you agree that if someone can infect 1,000 people, that person should be quarantined
But if someone can infect 200 people, should he be quarantined?
A: nobody can infect 1,000 people ever. You can’t use something completely unrealistic like that and then expect a realistic reply. Make your argument realistic and then I’ll entertain the idea of a reply.
Me: I guess you've never done philosophy before. Thought experiments are standard in philosophy
But I'll humour you
As I mentioned before
"if someone can infect 200 people, should he be quarantined?"
A: philosophy? This is not a philosophical debate it’s a real one with a real disease. Quarantine should be voluntary period. If you think government forcefully isolating people is ok then you’ve just exposed yourself as a communist. You’re either for government force against the citizen or you’re against it, there is no “but” in there.
alright laughing at my comment just makes you a giant douche bag. You’re not worth my time at this point. So you’re a douche bag and a commie. Even more not worth my time.
You’re basically siding with communist China that forced people into quarantine and locked them in their homes. That makes you a gigantic piece of shit as well.
Me: I see you equate philosophical to useless
Not realising that the tradeoff between different rights is an integral part of political philosophy
And I see you use the term "communist" to mean "bad person"
Ah well
Ironically, I'm pretty sure you think the government is justified in forcefully preventing a woman from getting an abortion...
A: uhmmm you don’t “see” anything. I didn’t equate anything. You said that not me.
And yes if you’re a communist you are by default a bad person. Anyone who believes government has a right to force people to do anything and take away their freedom is a bad person by default. That’s common sense. So you’re not all that bright either on top of everything else.
Me: This is why the US is going to be the worst hit country by the coronavirus
*GIF: freedom intensifies*
A: and it’s also exactly why we’ll always be a country with more freedoms.
Posting a gif like that because I’m against government using force against its citizens just exposes you as nothing more than a clown. You think you have a high intellectual capacity and are witty when in fact you’re quite the opposite, and you just proved it.
Me: Too bad.
Your country is illegitimate because taxation is theft and the government has a right to force people to do things. Paying taxes for one.
What's worse - most of your countrymen believe the government has this right. So most of your countrymen are bad people.
58% of Americans have a favourable view of the IRS, which forces people to pay their taxes.
Only 33% of Americans have an unfavourable view of the IRS.
58%-67% of Americans are bad people.
Majorities Express Favorable Opinions of Several Federal Agencies, Including the FBI | Pew Research Center
A: so now you’re resorting to insulting the people of my country? That’s just pathetic.
Me: "Anyone who believes government has a right to force people to do anything and take away their freedom is a bad personal by default. That’s common sense."
You said it, not me!
A: [To someone else:] people can just voluntarily stay on their homes if they are scared nobody is going to force them to leave. No force is required to deal with this. A study done by the journal Science, funded by the National Institute of Health found that 6 out of 7 people either show no symptoms and have only very mild symptoms. The mortality rate is much much lower than people are being told and the media is reporting. So the collateral wouldn’t be as high as you think. Millions die every year from many diseases. 60,000 died from H1N1 and government did not do any of this. The media is also to blame for this. It could all be done voluntarily and should be done voluntarily.
Government screwed this up from the very beginning. I’ve had to explain this so many times that I actually just saved in my note pad so that I can just copy and paste it when needed. The very same government that is overreaching is the same government that screwed it all up from the beginning.
South Korea has the lowest numbers of infected and deaths out of any country. They had their numbers drop steeply in a matter of 6 weeks and in fact have the lowest number of infected and deaths. They also didn’t have to close a single business. How is this possible? Because the got the help of the private sector to create and pump out thousands of test kits a day. They aggressively tested EVERYONE, and then quarantined those that tested positive. South Korea never had to shut down a single business or restaurant. A study done by the journal science and funded by the National Institute for Health concludes that 6 out of 7 people have the virus and are either asymptotic (show no symptoms) or only have very mild ones. These people spread the virus exponentially. South Korea weeded them out as well by testing everyone.
The first case of covid-19 was found in Washington state in January 20th the exact same day that South Korea found theirs. A private Institute was testing using their own test kits and found this person. They began testing others and found more so they could quarantine themselves. The CDC and FDA ordered them to stop. They refused and continued testing. The CDC then threatened them so they had to stop. Other companies also came out with their own test kits. The CDC ordered them all destroyed. Then the CDC came out with their test kits (which took forever because they are incapable of mass production unlike the private sector) and they all failed.
If the CDC hadn’t stopped the private sector from making test kits and continue testing they could have kept it all contained in one area, quarantining everyone that tested positive, and the level that it has now reached in the US would have never happened because we would have reacted soon enough to prevent it.
The CDC and the FDA are solely responsible for the mass infection we are experiencing in the US because they prevented the private sector from getting a jump on things early enough to stop it from spreading, like South Korea did, we are now at epic levels in the US.
When this is all over there need to be hearings about the way the CDC and FDA completely screwed this entire thing up from the very beginning when it was needed the most and allowed it to become what it is right now. The CDC and the FDA have both failed miserably. The public deserves to know and those failures need to be pointed out so they don’t screw up something this badly again in the future costing thousands of lives.
[To me:] calling them bad people is your opinion. Keep it to yourself jack ass. We’re also the most heavily armed country in the world. Making up 40% of the entire worlds gun ownership. So if we need to we can actually fight against our government if it gets to that point. Can you smart ass? Oh wait you can’t. You’re government basically took that right away. The only thing you can do is use colorful language. Huh...
Me: "People in South Korea who don't stay home are going to be tracked.
Responding to a new surge in coronavirus cases, South Korean officials said Saturday that electronic wristbands will be strapped on citizens who disobey self-quarantine rules."
South Koreans breaking quarantine rules to be strapped with electronic tracking wristbands | Fox News
A: If your reaction to my explanation of how government agencies screwed up the handling of covid-19 from the beginning was to laugh at it, then not only have you exposed yourself as a gigantic piece of shit, but you’ve also exposed yourself as a person of very low intelligence as well.
Gabriel was just as bad [as another person who made snide remarks] if not much much worse. I guess since he can hide behind a computer screen he’ll be as obnoxious as possible. No way he would do this shit to my face in person.
B: yeah I know what you mean. Today he’s called me a hypocrite who indulges in rants and tirades. That’s all very well on a public page but this is my own timeline. I wonder if he’d say that to me if he was in my home? I’ve known forever that he thinks like a leftist in some ways but today he’s hit a new low. It’s prob lockdown having this effect on him. Too much stewing in his own juice 🤣
A: yeah most people like him would never have the balls to actually say this to anyone’s face. They hide behind a computer screen like a complete fucking coward and do it.
Who in their right mind actually has to ask if communists are bad people? Communism is responsible for over 100 million deaths in the last century and strips people of their freedoms and private property. I personally think he is a sick asshole who thinks way too highly of himself.
B: yeah he totally gave himself away tonight. His talking down to you about philosophy was laughable 🤣...especially in light of his being a communist apologist.
A: oh the whole “I’m a philosopher” bit was a joke. Again he thinks way too highly of himself. Not to toot my own horn (but I’m going to in this case because it’s justified) but my IQ puts me in the top 6% of the worlds intelligence. So he can go eat a dick. When his IQ is higher than mine than I might actually consider anything he has to say and take it seriously. Everyone is a philosopher.
B: yeah, everyone is a philosopher...true! And for sure you’re intelligent. But character can’t be bottled. That’s what I think. Nothing else matters as much as character. Not even intelligence because plenty of nefarious people have been outstandingly intelligent.
A: [To someone else:] no government enforcement would be necessary for the testing. People were and still are scared shitless. Plenty of people want to get tested but they are making it ridiculously hard to even get tested for it. You basically have to walk in on deaths door. Unless you are massively sick they will absolutely not test you. Which is absolutely ridiculous because if the study I mentioned where they concluded that 6 out of 7 people have it and are either asymptotic and only show mild symptoms. Those are people you want to test. So yeah getting people to get tested would not be hard at all. People here would happily volunteer to get tested and tested often to be honest because they are all scared of getting infected.
As far as China goes their market economy is pure capitalism, and of course stealing everyone’s intellectual property, and then turning around and selling cheap knock offs. But yeah they are absolutely purely capitalist economy not necessarily free market however because a lot of their companies are very heavily government subsidized which is why it makes it so hard to compete with them and their companies there.
How aren’t communists bad people? Simply reading through a standard history book will tell communists are horrible people. Marxist communism is harmful because it rejects private property and ownership. That in itself completely contradicts freedom. Man is born to be free. Marxism does not allow that. It absolutely requires a dictatorship to work. Again by default it’s evil. That’s we can attribute 100 million deaths to it.
The Iraq war is comparing apples to oranges. The Iraq war isn’t an economic or socio economic theory put into practice. Was it a huge mistake? Of course it was. But again that’s what government does. Governments and communism has killed more people then any free market capitalist system ever could a million times over...
Government systems like The VA, a specific health care and hospitals that are government run for military veterans is absolutely horrible. The horror stories you read it about would blow your mind. Veterans dying because of long wait times. The hospitals are filthy and the treatment is horrible. That’s as good as it gets just for the tens of thousands of veterans. Imagine how horrible it would be if government tried to run and provide health care for 320 million people?! It would be a complete and total disaster.
Me: And yet us healthcare is expensive and yet doesn't perform well
Oh well, the price of "Freedom"
A: it’s not expensive at all. I have the best health care you can get and I pay $40 a month for it.
My step father used to be a head of engineering for the military he is now retired but still has top level security clearance. He helped design the SR-71, worked in the Star Wars project, when someone tried to shoot down Bill Clinton’s chopper with a shoulder mounted rocket launcher he designed the special flares that where deployed that saved Clinton’s life. He also worked on upgrades for the Saturn V rocket, designed the Nuclear Tomahawk missiles and so many other projects it’s not even funny. Half of them he can’t even tell me about.
He looked at my health care and told me I have better health care then he did while being an engineer, and all I pay for it is $40 a month. I get covered for everything.
Every comment you make is so wildly misinformed, it’s mind boggling to me.
The reason health care is expensive if you don’t get it through your job is government laws. Government made it illegal to be able to purchase health from any other company in any other state in the country. You’re limited by the 5-7 companies in your state. They have neutered competition which would drive the prices down. Once again the government that you praise has fucked the citizens again with their laws and the unintended consequences of those laws.
If you have a decent job that isn’t pumping gas though you’re most likely to have cheap health insurance. Our medical by the way is number one in the world. It’s our health insurance that some people are unable to get because, we’ll again, government won’t just let the free market work likes it’s supposed to.
so you’re just literally going to every single one of my comments and making sure you laugh at them just to be a douche bag keyboard warrior. You wouldn’t dare laugh in my face if we where having a debate in person, you’re too much of a pussy little coward, so you do it sitting behind a computer screen. Probably in mommy and daddies basement.
Me: Tons of organisations have done studies on US healthcare and found that it sucks. For example the OECD (The US Healthcare system from an international stance - OECD), Harvard University and the London School of Economics (U.S. pays more for health care with worse population health outcomes – Harvard Gazette) and Johns Hopkins (U.S. Health Care Spending Highest Among Developed Countries - 2018 - News Releases - News - Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)
But I'm sure all of them are ignorant and you, a random person on Facebook, are the one who's right
If inter-state restrictions for healthcare were really what made healthcare expensive, you'd expect that at least one state would have affordable healthcare, and that insurance companies from states with cheap healthcare would set up subsidiaries to penetrate the market in other states and steal some of that fat profit.
To say nothing of how the US Health Insurance Industry's profit margins are consistently in the low single digits, so these profits you imagine are illusory (National Association of Insurance Commissioners: U.S. Health Insurance Industry | 2018 Annual Results)
Strangely, though you claim your healthcare is great, New Jersey health care affordability is ranked 35 and health insurance enrollment is ranked 26 (Best States for Access to Health Care | US News Best States). So clearly it's not due to your state offering fantastic plans that are not available out of state.
Also I'm sure that inter-state healthcare restrictions have nothing to do with state rights. Though I've a hunch that if the restrictions were lifted, you'd be complaining about state rights being infringed
I see that for someone who accuses me of being a keyboard warrior you're incredibly hypocritical - it's fine for you to insult me but when I laugh off your puerile jibes I'm the one who's in the wrong
Presumably you are not a "pussy" and would happily insult me to my face
For someone who claims to welcome debate, you're incredibly thin skinned. Not to mention the joke of calling it a "debate" when you ignore points that you don't like or are unable to address
A: lol!!! Is that why when every world leader gets so much as a sniffle they come here for their medical care? Lol!!! Man you are such a dumb ass. Go search google some more for articles that back up your own biases. What you did is called “confirmation bias”. Google that phrase if you don’t know what it means as I have a feeling you probably don’t.
you keep laughing at my comments yet I continue to thrash you about like an intellectual chew toy making you look silly every time to everyone reading through the comments. Let me know when you’re finally ready to yield and admit that you’re just intellectually inferior in every way compared to me.
oh and I’m also far better looking to boot.
Me: For all my merits, I don't consider looks to be among them
Other points of error I noticed:
1) "South Korea never had to shut down a single business or restaurant."
Well, actually...
"company offices that are at risk to be closed and public venues and events be canceled. All schools that should have started a new semester on March 2 are now postponed until March 22. " South Korea’s drastic measures against the coronavirus offers a glimpse of what the US may need to do - ABC News
"He... said he would shut down several thousand welfare centers." South Korea Adopts Tough Measures To Stop The Coronavirus As Cases Break Out In Church And Hospital
2) "People here would happily volunteer to get tested and tested often to be honest because they are all scared of getting infected."
Coronavirus and carers: ‘I am so scared right now’
"I am at the stage I don’t want to know"
[Archived] Bogleheads community discussion - Coronavirus - Page 32 - Bogleheads.org
"Personally I don't want to be tested because I don't want to take 2 unpaid weeks off of work."
Dani Richard's answer to If it costs $3,000 to get tested for the corona virus, how many Americans are going to vote for universal healthcare? - Quora
"If I have symptoms of the corona then, I don’t want to get tested"
3) "Government systems like The VA, a specific health care and hospitals that are government run for military veterans is absolutely horrible"
"The VA health care system performs similar to or better than non-VA systems on most measures of inpatient and outpatient care quality" VA Health System Generally Delivers Higher-Quality Care Than Other Health Providers | RAND
A: that’s from March 4th. They began everything on January 20th. There was a peak in infected and then a very very sharp drop within 6 weeks. All this article does is talk about how they are still fighting it. Of course they are still fighting it. Duh, but they have under better control then every other country in the world because of the measures I already explain in a very long previous comment. You’re article doesn’t disprove anything I explained. You’re grasping at straws now and scraping the bottom of the barrel because you are so desperate to prove me wrong for some reason. It’s pathetic at this point. Why are you so desperate to prove me wrong about my valid and well researched explanation of how South Korea handled covid-19 from the beginning? It serves no purpose. At this point it’s just an ego battle for you that you’re desperate to try and “win”. That’s truly sad and pathetic. Seriously man, just look at yourself. You think people have any respect for you after reading through your comments and seeing how you act? No they don’t, it at all. You really are making yourself look pathetic and stupid. I can actually smell the desperation through my phone. 🙄🤦🏻♂️
Me: The lady doth protest too much, methinks
A: I protest to much? You’re kidding right? That is so rich in irony That’s literally what you’ve been doing the entire time with every comment I make. You should go look in the mirror. You’re ego is completely out of control. You’re unwilling to accept facts because your ego is so large and you think so highly of yourself that you think there isn’t anything you could possibly be wrong about. It really is just pathetic to watch at this point. And to laugh at every single one of my comments, you make sure you do that, you’re so childish on top of everything else as well. It’s truly just pathetic to watch. You don’t see it? It’s like you have narcissistic personality disorder, I’m not even joking, or maybe (but highly unlikely) you’re a sociopath. They are also extremely narcissistic. Either way man you really need to check yourself.
actually you may just be a sociopath. You do seem to be fond of communism which involves controlling other people’s lives, property etc. So there may actually be some truth to that.
keep pathetically laughing at everything I say, I’m the one that gets the last laugh anyways. Enjoy it while you can. It truly does expose you as an egomaniac to everyone reading this thread. It amazes me that you continue to do so. It’s as if you have zero self awareness.
To be clear, A is just one idiot, but I've encountered many of his ilk. A brings it to a new level, though
B: People are being encouraged to rat on their neighbour and are hearing veiled threats from the 2nd in charge at WHO that infected family members will be removed from homes ...FFS 😳..if that doesn’t raise red flags nothing will 🚩
Me: And if your neighbour infects 1,000 people?
C: exactly! There will come a time when it becomes necessary to use force to remove contagious people who refuse to comply with mitigation protocols.
B: you’re sounding very much like a tyrant
I think you’ve never understood why people like Orwell wrote his books..
Me: Orwell wrote about authoritarian states using their powers to oppress people with the pretext of imagined threats
Not democracies protecting people from real ones
B: what makes you think Bill Gates is a democratically elected leader?
Me: When did I say he was one?
What policies has he enacted?
B: my point was that Orwell wrote about totalitarian regimes and you’re assuming his warning only pertains to people concerned about governmental totalitarian regimes. There are other types of regimes and other power structures that exert considerable influence over people’s lives that we should be concerned about. The tech giants being a case in point. They are unelected power brokers who are making a great many decisions that include the limiting of some people’s freedom.
Gates has enacted a great many policies that have influenced the world scene profoundly. He has plans for more as well.
Me: you can choose not to use Google, Facebook etc. It's harder to choose your government.
Governments can kill you. Big tech can make your life difficult, at most.
I am not a libertarian who thinks companies should be able to do anything. But I can see that companies are limited in their power
You're being vague in your gates conspiracy theories again. If you allude to some sinister conspiracy theory don't get upset when others think you're talking about some other conspiracy theory
B: Let me clear if I haven’t been already:
I think a man who is a self-elected leader, who has bought his way into power and prominence and is now advocating for a technocratic innovation that will tie people’s freedoms to their vaccination status on a world wide level, is treading on very dangerous ground.
Legitimate concerns for any citizen of the world imo.
I think anyone underestimating the danger posed by autocratic technocrats is sadly naive. These technocrats have the power to carve public opinion into the shape they want by their promotion and omission of certain voices and points of view. For you to believe that only governments can pose a risk to the freedoms people have is staggeringly blind.
Me: what technocratic innovation are you referring to? Did he call himself a leader?
Are you calling big tech technocrats? Technocrats are government officials
I never said big tech didn't pose a risk to freedoms. I said governments posed real risks and big tech less
A: nobody can infect 1,000 people. That’s a false assumption to begin with. You’re argument (if that’s what you call that) is based on a false assumption.
Me: 1,000 is just a number thrown out for the sake of argument. It's not an assumption. The term is hypothetical
Presumably you agree that if someone can infect 1,000 people, that person should be quarantined
But if someone can infect 200 people, should he be quarantined?
A: nobody can infect 1,000 people ever. You can’t use something completely unrealistic like that and then expect a realistic reply. Make your argument realistic and then I’ll entertain the idea of a reply.
Me: I guess you've never done philosophy before. Thought experiments are standard in philosophy
But I'll humour you
As I mentioned before
"if someone can infect 200 people, should he be quarantined?"
A: philosophy? This is not a philosophical debate it’s a real one with a real disease. Quarantine should be voluntary period. If you think government forcefully isolating people is ok then you’ve just exposed yourself as a communist. You’re either for government force against the citizen or you’re against it, there is no “but” in there.
alright laughing at my comment just makes you a giant douche bag. You’re not worth my time at this point. So you’re a douche bag and a commie. Even more not worth my time.
You’re basically siding with communist China that forced people into quarantine and locked them in their homes. That makes you a gigantic piece of shit as well.
Me: I see you equate philosophical to useless
Not realising that the tradeoff between different rights is an integral part of political philosophy
And I see you use the term "communist" to mean "bad person"
Ah well
Ironically, I'm pretty sure you think the government is justified in forcefully preventing a woman from getting an abortion...
A: uhmmm you don’t “see” anything. I didn’t equate anything. You said that not me.
And yes if you’re a communist you are by default a bad person. Anyone who believes government has a right to force people to do anything and take away their freedom is a bad person by default. That’s common sense. So you’re not all that bright either on top of everything else.
Me: This is why the US is going to be the worst hit country by the coronavirus
*GIF: freedom intensifies*
A: and it’s also exactly why we’ll always be a country with more freedoms.
Posting a gif like that because I’m against government using force against its citizens just exposes you as nothing more than a clown. You think you have a high intellectual capacity and are witty when in fact you’re quite the opposite, and you just proved it.
Me: Too bad.
Your country is illegitimate because taxation is theft and the government has a right to force people to do things. Paying taxes for one.
What's worse - most of your countrymen believe the government has this right. So most of your countrymen are bad people.
58% of Americans have a favourable view of the IRS, which forces people to pay their taxes.
Only 33% of Americans have an unfavourable view of the IRS.
58%-67% of Americans are bad people.
Majorities Express Favorable Opinions of Several Federal Agencies, Including the FBI | Pew Research Center
A: so now you’re resorting to insulting the people of my country? That’s just pathetic.
Me: "Anyone who believes government has a right to force people to do anything and take away their freedom is a bad personal by default. That’s common sense."
You said it, not me!
A: [To someone else:] people can just voluntarily stay on their homes if they are scared nobody is going to force them to leave. No force is required to deal with this. A study done by the journal Science, funded by the National Institute of Health found that 6 out of 7 people either show no symptoms and have only very mild symptoms. The mortality rate is much much lower than people are being told and the media is reporting. So the collateral wouldn’t be as high as you think. Millions die every year from many diseases. 60,000 died from H1N1 and government did not do any of this. The media is also to blame for this. It could all be done voluntarily and should be done voluntarily.
Government screwed this up from the very beginning. I’ve had to explain this so many times that I actually just saved in my note pad so that I can just copy and paste it when needed. The very same government that is overreaching is the same government that screwed it all up from the beginning.
South Korea has the lowest numbers of infected and deaths out of any country. They had their numbers drop steeply in a matter of 6 weeks and in fact have the lowest number of infected and deaths. They also didn’t have to close a single business. How is this possible? Because the got the help of the private sector to create and pump out thousands of test kits a day. They aggressively tested EVERYONE, and then quarantined those that tested positive. South Korea never had to shut down a single business or restaurant. A study done by the journal science and funded by the National Institute for Health concludes that 6 out of 7 people have the virus and are either asymptotic (show no symptoms) or only have very mild ones. These people spread the virus exponentially. South Korea weeded them out as well by testing everyone.
The first case of covid-19 was found in Washington state in January 20th the exact same day that South Korea found theirs. A private Institute was testing using their own test kits and found this person. They began testing others and found more so they could quarantine themselves. The CDC and FDA ordered them to stop. They refused and continued testing. The CDC then threatened them so they had to stop. Other companies also came out with their own test kits. The CDC ordered them all destroyed. Then the CDC came out with their test kits (which took forever because they are incapable of mass production unlike the private sector) and they all failed.
If the CDC hadn’t stopped the private sector from making test kits and continue testing they could have kept it all contained in one area, quarantining everyone that tested positive, and the level that it has now reached in the US would have never happened because we would have reacted soon enough to prevent it.
The CDC and the FDA are solely responsible for the mass infection we are experiencing in the US because they prevented the private sector from getting a jump on things early enough to stop it from spreading, like South Korea did, we are now at epic levels in the US.
When this is all over there need to be hearings about the way the CDC and FDA completely screwed this entire thing up from the very beginning when it was needed the most and allowed it to become what it is right now. The CDC and the FDA have both failed miserably. The public deserves to know and those failures need to be pointed out so they don’t screw up something this badly again in the future costing thousands of lives.
[To me:] calling them bad people is your opinion. Keep it to yourself jack ass. We’re also the most heavily armed country in the world. Making up 40% of the entire worlds gun ownership. So if we need to we can actually fight against our government if it gets to that point. Can you smart ass? Oh wait you can’t. You’re government basically took that right away. The only thing you can do is use colorful language. Huh...
Me: "People in South Korea who don't stay home are going to be tracked.
Responding to a new surge in coronavirus cases, South Korean officials said Saturday that electronic wristbands will be strapped on citizens who disobey self-quarantine rules."
South Koreans breaking quarantine rules to be strapped with electronic tracking wristbands | Fox News
A: If your reaction to my explanation of how government agencies screwed up the handling of covid-19 from the beginning was to laugh at it, then not only have you exposed yourself as a gigantic piece of shit, but you’ve also exposed yourself as a person of very low intelligence as well.
Gabriel was just as bad [as another person who made snide remarks] if not much much worse. I guess since he can hide behind a computer screen he’ll be as obnoxious as possible. No way he would do this shit to my face in person.
B: yeah I know what you mean. Today he’s called me a hypocrite who indulges in rants and tirades. That’s all very well on a public page but this is my own timeline. I wonder if he’d say that to me if he was in my home? I’ve known forever that he thinks like a leftist in some ways but today he’s hit a new low. It’s prob lockdown having this effect on him. Too much stewing in his own juice 🤣
A: yeah most people like him would never have the balls to actually say this to anyone’s face. They hide behind a computer screen like a complete fucking coward and do it.
Who in their right mind actually has to ask if communists are bad people? Communism is responsible for over 100 million deaths in the last century and strips people of their freedoms and private property. I personally think he is a sick asshole who thinks way too highly of himself.
B: yeah he totally gave himself away tonight. His talking down to you about philosophy was laughable 🤣...especially in light of his being a communist apologist.
A: oh the whole “I’m a philosopher” bit was a joke. Again he thinks way too highly of himself. Not to toot my own horn (but I’m going to in this case because it’s justified) but my IQ puts me in the top 6% of the worlds intelligence. So he can go eat a dick. When his IQ is higher than mine than I might actually consider anything he has to say and take it seriously. Everyone is a philosopher.
B: yeah, everyone is a philosopher...true! And for sure you’re intelligent. But character can’t be bottled. That’s what I think. Nothing else matters as much as character. Not even intelligence because plenty of nefarious people have been outstandingly intelligent.
A: [To someone else:] no government enforcement would be necessary for the testing. People were and still are scared shitless. Plenty of people want to get tested but they are making it ridiculously hard to even get tested for it. You basically have to walk in on deaths door. Unless you are massively sick they will absolutely not test you. Which is absolutely ridiculous because if the study I mentioned where they concluded that 6 out of 7 people have it and are either asymptotic and only show mild symptoms. Those are people you want to test. So yeah getting people to get tested would not be hard at all. People here would happily volunteer to get tested and tested often to be honest because they are all scared of getting infected.
As far as China goes their market economy is pure capitalism, and of course stealing everyone’s intellectual property, and then turning around and selling cheap knock offs. But yeah they are absolutely purely capitalist economy not necessarily free market however because a lot of their companies are very heavily government subsidized which is why it makes it so hard to compete with them and their companies there.
How aren’t communists bad people? Simply reading through a standard history book will tell communists are horrible people. Marxist communism is harmful because it rejects private property and ownership. That in itself completely contradicts freedom. Man is born to be free. Marxism does not allow that. It absolutely requires a dictatorship to work. Again by default it’s evil. That’s we can attribute 100 million deaths to it.
The Iraq war is comparing apples to oranges. The Iraq war isn’t an economic or socio economic theory put into practice. Was it a huge mistake? Of course it was. But again that’s what government does. Governments and communism has killed more people then any free market capitalist system ever could a million times over...
Government systems like The VA, a specific health care and hospitals that are government run for military veterans is absolutely horrible. The horror stories you read it about would blow your mind. Veterans dying because of long wait times. The hospitals are filthy and the treatment is horrible. That’s as good as it gets just for the tens of thousands of veterans. Imagine how horrible it would be if government tried to run and provide health care for 320 million people?! It would be a complete and total disaster.
Me: And yet us healthcare is expensive and yet doesn't perform well
Oh well, the price of "Freedom"
A: it’s not expensive at all. I have the best health care you can get and I pay $40 a month for it.
My step father used to be a head of engineering for the military he is now retired but still has top level security clearance. He helped design the SR-71, worked in the Star Wars project, when someone tried to shoot down Bill Clinton’s chopper with a shoulder mounted rocket launcher he designed the special flares that where deployed that saved Clinton’s life. He also worked on upgrades for the Saturn V rocket, designed the Nuclear Tomahawk missiles and so many other projects it’s not even funny. Half of them he can’t even tell me about.
He looked at my health care and told me I have better health care then he did while being an engineer, and all I pay for it is $40 a month. I get covered for everything.
Every comment you make is so wildly misinformed, it’s mind boggling to me.
The reason health care is expensive if you don’t get it through your job is government laws. Government made it illegal to be able to purchase health from any other company in any other state in the country. You’re limited by the 5-7 companies in your state. They have neutered competition which would drive the prices down. Once again the government that you praise has fucked the citizens again with their laws and the unintended consequences of those laws.
If you have a decent job that isn’t pumping gas though you’re most likely to have cheap health insurance. Our medical by the way is number one in the world. It’s our health insurance that some people are unable to get because, we’ll again, government won’t just let the free market work likes it’s supposed to.
so you’re just literally going to every single one of my comments and making sure you laugh at them just to be a douche bag keyboard warrior. You wouldn’t dare laugh in my face if we where having a debate in person, you’re too much of a pussy little coward, so you do it sitting behind a computer screen. Probably in mommy and daddies basement.
Me: Tons of organisations have done studies on US healthcare and found that it sucks. For example the OECD (The US Healthcare system from an international stance - OECD), Harvard University and the London School of Economics (U.S. pays more for health care with worse population health outcomes – Harvard Gazette) and Johns Hopkins (U.S. Health Care Spending Highest Among Developed Countries - 2018 - News Releases - News - Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)
But I'm sure all of them are ignorant and you, a random person on Facebook, are the one who's right
If inter-state restrictions for healthcare were really what made healthcare expensive, you'd expect that at least one state would have affordable healthcare, and that insurance companies from states with cheap healthcare would set up subsidiaries to penetrate the market in other states and steal some of that fat profit.
To say nothing of how the US Health Insurance Industry's profit margins are consistently in the low single digits, so these profits you imagine are illusory (National Association of Insurance Commissioners: U.S. Health Insurance Industry | 2018 Annual Results)
Strangely, though you claim your healthcare is great, New Jersey health care affordability is ranked 35 and health insurance enrollment is ranked 26 (Best States for Access to Health Care | US News Best States). So clearly it's not due to your state offering fantastic plans that are not available out of state.
Also I'm sure that inter-state healthcare restrictions have nothing to do with state rights. Though I've a hunch that if the restrictions were lifted, you'd be complaining about state rights being infringed
I see that for someone who accuses me of being a keyboard warrior you're incredibly hypocritical - it's fine for you to insult me but when I laugh off your puerile jibes I'm the one who's in the wrong
Presumably you are not a "pussy" and would happily insult me to my face
For someone who claims to welcome debate, you're incredibly thin skinned. Not to mention the joke of calling it a "debate" when you ignore points that you don't like or are unable to address
A: lol!!! Is that why when every world leader gets so much as a sniffle they come here for their medical care? Lol!!! Man you are such a dumb ass. Go search google some more for articles that back up your own biases. What you did is called “confirmation bias”. Google that phrase if you don’t know what it means as I have a feeling you probably don’t.
you keep laughing at my comments yet I continue to thrash you about like an intellectual chew toy making you look silly every time to everyone reading through the comments. Let me know when you’re finally ready to yield and admit that you’re just intellectually inferior in every way compared to me.
oh and I’m also far better looking to boot.
Me: For all my merits, I don't consider looks to be among them
Other points of error I noticed:
1) "South Korea never had to shut down a single business or restaurant."
Well, actually...
"company offices that are at risk to be closed and public venues and events be canceled. All schools that should have started a new semester on March 2 are now postponed until March 22. " South Korea’s drastic measures against the coronavirus offers a glimpse of what the US may need to do - ABC News
"He... said he would shut down several thousand welfare centers." South Korea Adopts Tough Measures To Stop The Coronavirus As Cases Break Out In Church And Hospital
2) "People here would happily volunteer to get tested and tested often to be honest because they are all scared of getting infected."
Coronavirus and carers: ‘I am so scared right now’
"I am at the stage I don’t want to know"
[Archived] Bogleheads community discussion - Coronavirus - Page 32 - Bogleheads.org
"Personally I don't want to be tested because I don't want to take 2 unpaid weeks off of work."
Dani Richard's answer to If it costs $3,000 to get tested for the corona virus, how many Americans are going to vote for universal healthcare? - Quora
"If I have symptoms of the corona then, I don’t want to get tested"
3) "Government systems like The VA, a specific health care and hospitals that are government run for military veterans is absolutely horrible"
"The VA health care system performs similar to or better than non-VA systems on most measures of inpatient and outpatient care quality" VA Health System Generally Delivers Higher-Quality Care Than Other Health Providers | RAND
A: that’s from March 4th. They began everything on January 20th. There was a peak in infected and then a very very sharp drop within 6 weeks. All this article does is talk about how they are still fighting it. Of course they are still fighting it. Duh, but they have under better control then every other country in the world because of the measures I already explain in a very long previous comment. You’re article doesn’t disprove anything I explained. You’re grasping at straws now and scraping the bottom of the barrel because you are so desperate to prove me wrong for some reason. It’s pathetic at this point. Why are you so desperate to prove me wrong about my valid and well researched explanation of how South Korea handled covid-19 from the beginning? It serves no purpose. At this point it’s just an ego battle for you that you’re desperate to try and “win”. That’s truly sad and pathetic. Seriously man, just look at yourself. You think people have any respect for you after reading through your comments and seeing how you act? No they don’t, it at all. You really are making yourself look pathetic and stupid. I can actually smell the desperation through my phone. 🙄🤦🏻♂️
Me: The lady doth protest too much, methinks
A: I protest to much? You’re kidding right? That is so rich in irony That’s literally what you’ve been doing the entire time with every comment I make. You should go look in the mirror. You’re ego is completely out of control. You’re unwilling to accept facts because your ego is so large and you think so highly of yourself that you think there isn’t anything you could possibly be wrong about. It really is just pathetic to watch at this point. And to laugh at every single one of my comments, you make sure you do that, you’re so childish on top of everything else as well. It’s truly just pathetic to watch. You don’t see it? It’s like you have narcissistic personality disorder, I’m not even joking, or maybe (but highly unlikely) you’re a sociopath. They are also extremely narcissistic. Either way man you really need to check yourself.
actually you may just be a sociopath. You do seem to be fond of communism which involves controlling other people’s lives, property etc. So there may actually be some truth to that.
keep pathetically laughing at everything I say, I’m the one that gets the last laugh anyways. Enjoy it while you can. It truly does expose you as an egomaniac to everyone reading this thread. It amazes me that you continue to do so. It’s as if you have zero self awareness.
Post ID: 2943153676891462097
Links - 14th April 2020 (1)
The Simpsons Voice Actor Will No Longer Play Apu - "Hank Azaria, the voice actor responsible for iconic Simpsons voices like Moe, Chief Wiggum, and Comic Book Guy, will be dropping one famous character from his repertoire: Apu... Apu is an Indian immigrant in The Simpsons who runs the Kiwk-E-Mart convenience store in Springfield. The character has come under controversy since comedian Hari Kondabolu released his 2017 documentary, The Problem with Apu, which dove deep into the character and representation... it’s unclear whether Apu will be phased out of the show or if someone else will be voicing the character going forward."
If you can't achieve anything, you can still be known for destroying something else
mirax on Twitter - "Deeply unfunny comic with self-esteem issues uses race card to silence a fictional character who was not only loveable but witty and funny. #slowclap."
Wisconsin students walk out to protest racial slur firing - Los Angeles Times - "Students at a Wisconsin high school skipped class Friday and marched through the streets of the state capital to protest the firing of a black security guard who was terminated for repeating a racial slur while telling a student not to call him that word... Madison schools have a zero-tolerance policy on employees saying racial slurs"
Meanwhile white academics who use the word in an academic context get fired and everyone cheers
Kathy Bates: 'I told Clint that after 50 years, I feel like I've hit the big time' - "“About people like Weinstein and the casting couch and all of that,” she says, “I have a confession. In my day, if you went up to a guy’s hotel room, you knew exactly why you were going and in those days it was consensual... I’m not happy about the men who are being accused falsely"... “I hate to complain about it, but never being considered the romantic lead – which is fine, I’m over that, been there, done that – means they look at me in a different way. But then I look at my friends who are beautiful girls but not working after 40 – very few of them. Well, Nicole Kidman is … She is the spokesperson for the Lymphatic Education & Research Network. “I spoke before the American Society of Breast Surgeons and it’s so hard to convince them – Nobel laureates! I gave them these statistics and there were gasps in that room.” Though she likes Twitter, she mostly uses it for getting the word out about the condition. “I joined in 2011 and initially used it to engage with fans and then it got to be so time-consuming that I had to cut back. Then after a couple of unpleasant experiences with fans I rarely use it and I don’t get sucked into provocative tweets.”"
The Most Successful Ethnic Group in the U.S. May Surprise You - "Today, 29 percent of Nigerian-Americans over the age of 25 hold a graduate degree, compared to 11 percent of the overall U.S. population, according to the Migrations Policy Institute. Among Nigerian-American professionals, 45 percent work in education services, the 2016 American Community Survey found, and many are professors at top universities. Nigerians are entering the medical field in the U.S. at an increased rate, leaving their home country to work in American hospitals, where they can earn more and work in better facilities... [they are] confidently emerging as one of the country’s most succesful immigrant communities, with a median household income of $62,351, compared to $57,617 nationally, as of 2015... Nigerians have also achieved a lot in their country of origin... Anyone from the Nigerian diaspora will tell you their parents gave them three career choices: doctor, lawyer or engineer"
The power of white supremacy!
Laurence Fox broke up with ‘too woke’ girlfriend for supporting Gillette toxic masculinity advert - "Laurence Fox has revealed he once broke up with a girlfriend for being “too woke” and said women like her are “primed” to be victims... he and his ex also argued because she was a vocal supporter of Christine Blasey Ford, who in 2018 accused the then-US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in high school in 1982... The actor’s comments come days after he came under fire for accusing a woman of racism for calling him a “white privileged male” on Question Time. Fox also described the race row surrounding the Duchess of Sussex as “boring”."
The ‘anti-woke’ backlash is no joke – and progressives are going to lose if they don’t wise up | Ellie Mae O’Hagan - "a significant chunk of the audience groaned as soon as the phrase “white privilege” was uttered. Fox was not the only person in that studio who was weary of contemporary antiracist discourse, and he wasn’t the only person willing to show it... The progressive tendency to regard “anti-woke” crusaders as aberrations is a hangover from the liberal consensus established in the late 90s... The reason liberals still believe this consensus holds is that the politics New Labour ushered in was so dominant and all-encompassing that almost every opinion that existed outside of it was dismissed as the view of cranks... social liberalism was not merely a popular point of view: it was the new normal. It was also fundamentally modernising. The idea of these newly founded values being contested would have seemed like time going backwards... Progressives need to wise up to the fact that they are losing this argument and decide what they are going to do in response. If they don’t, they may soon find that the future they always assumed was theirs is being made without them. Or as Florian Philippot, senior strategist to Marine Le Pen, tweeted after Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton: “Their world is collapsing. Ours is being built.”"
She ignores the fact that Gen Z is more conservative than milennials, or that the newly founded values were indeed contested - as not being liberal enough, resulting in a backlash to the excesses of liberalism (but then, this is The Guardian after all - that there is even a degree of reflexivity is surprising)
Why warm milk is getting a cool reception - "Shelf-stable milk, also known as ambient or UHT (ultra high temperature) milk, is a grocery staple in Europe and other parts in the world where fridge space is often limited. Unopened packages of the stuff can be kept at room temperature for months without spoiling, since the milk is heated to extremely high temperatures and packaged in aseptic containers.In Canada, ingrained cultural preferences make shelf-stable milk a tough sell. We tend to like our milk cold, fresh, and bought from a refrigerated dairy aisle... "The freshest form of milk that you can find in the world, which comes right out of a cow, is warm."... Just because shelf-stable milk can be stored at room temperature doesn't mean it must be consumed lukewarm. Mr. Djamgouz says one of the challenges is making consumers think of it as they would beer; most wouldn't hesitate buying beer at room-temperature, then chilling it before serving. But with shelf-stable milk, he says, "They automatically think that they need to drink it warm." Another major obstacle is consumers' distrust of dairy that doesn't deteriorate."Somehow, shelf-stability in consumers' mind can be associated with chemical treatment"... An influx of immigrants who grew up on shelf-stable milk has made it easier for the brand to grow in Ontario, Mr. Sheehy says, noting that in Europe, roughly 98 per cent of the milk market is UHT... Those who've grown up on the stuff, however, tend to prefer it"
Linguists Hear an Accent Begin - Scientific American - "“Accent development is the first step in language change. Fifteen hundred years ago, languages like English, Dutch and Swedish were actually all dialects of the same language. But of course, then they diversified over time.”... Harrington and his team turned to members of the British Antarctic Survey, who speak with a variety of English accents.“When you are in Antarctica during the winter period, then there’s no way in, and there’s no way out. So they were isolated together, and they interacted with each other, and they have to cooperate with each other.”Harrington’s team recorded the winterers reciting a list of words before they left for Antarctica. Then, while there, the winterers recorded themselves saying the same words four more times. The linguists then analyzed the recordings—in particular, resonances: the way airflow shapes sound."
How much do we really know about why we give to charity? - "One recent study estimates the British, for example, donate 54p in every £100. That's three times more than the Germans but three times less than Americans give.By my reckoning, that's also roughly what Britons spend on beer, not much less than they spend on meat and three times what they spend on bread.In economic significance, the charity fundraiser is up there with the butcher, brewer and baker... advertising executives interviewed for the Guardian newspaper. Images of starving children don't rack up many "likes" on social media, they say, build your brand instead, engage and entertain. Economists have also studied what motivates donations. One theory is called "signalling": we donate in part to impress other people. That might explain the enduring popularity of wristbands, ribbons and stickers: they display not only the causes that matter to us but our generosity too... attractive young women who asked for donations fared much better - about as well as the lottery sellers. As the study drily acknowledges: "This result is largely driven by increased participation rates among households where a male answered the door."That's evidence for the signalling theory of altruism - and you can see exactly what kind of pretty young lady these gentlemen were keen to signal to... if charities are selling a warm glow and the ability to send social signals, that doesn't give them much incentive to do anything useful. They just have to tell us a good story... The economists Dean Karlan and Daniel Wood wondered whether evidence of effectiveness would improve fundraising, and worked with a charity to find out.Some supporters got a typical mailshot, an emotional story about an individual beneficiary called Sebastiana. "She's known nothing but abject poverty her entire life," it read.Others got the same story but with an additional paragraph noting that "rigorous scientific methodologies" confirmed the charity's impact.The results? Some people who'd previously given big donations seemed impressed and gave more. But that was cancelled out by small donors giving less. Merely mentioning science seemed to have punctured the emotional appeal and cooled the warm glow.And this may explain why GiveWell hasn't even tried to assess the household names of the charity world - the likes of Oxfam, Save The Children, and World Vision.In an exasperated-sounding blog post, the organisation explains such charities "tend to publish a great deal of web content aimed at fundraising but very little of interest for impact-oriented donors". "
The accidental Singer sewing machine revolution - "Gillette adverts stand against toxic masculinity. Budweiser makes specially-decorated cups to encourage non-binary and gender-fluid people to feel pride in their identity.These examples of so-called "woke capitalism"- of corporations promoting progressive social causes - may feel ostentatiously up-to-the-moment. But woke capitalism is not as new as you might think."
Part of Real Paleo Diet: It's a Tuber - Scientific American - "I think the people who assume the paleo diet was based on protein simply haven’t done their homework properly"
Gift-Wrapping Effects on Product Attitudes: A Mood-Biasing Explanation - "Two questions were addressed. First, does gift wrapping an item have a favorable influence on attitudes toward owning what is received? Results of all four experiments consistently support an affirmative answer to that question. Second, what explains the attitudinal results? I argued that gift wrapping, through repeated pairing with joyous events in people's lives, has utility in cuing a happy mood which, in turn, positively biases attitudes. Results of the last three experiments support this mood biasing position by demonstrating that a happy mood consistently mediates gift-wrapping effects on attitudes"
Moths Flee or Face Bats, Depending on Toxicity - Scientific American - ""those species which were really toxic—so when the bats captured them, they almost never ate them—those species were much more likely to be what we call nonchalant, species that do not perform evasive maneuvers very often. On the other hand, species that were really palatable were much more likely to perform those evasive maneuvers, almost, in a sense, sort of hedging their bets. Be"cause if they don’t make that escape, if they are captured by a bat, those species are more likely to be eaten.”Another factor is that evasive maneuvers have their own set of risks, which may be why unpalatable moths tend to avoid them. For example, diving away from bats burns fuel, gives the insects less time to seek out mates and could expose them to other perils, such as getting stuck in water.“Or there could be predators on the ground like mice and other mammals... Dowdy is now trying to identify the chemical compounds responsible for making some tiger moths taste bad. Once those findings are in, chemical analysis of museum specimens could help reveal how rare, endangered or even extinct insects have behaved around predators. “We can still study animal behavior even without a living organism. That’s, I think, pretty amazing.” Other animals with conspicuous warning signals, such as garishly colored poison dart frogs and foul-smelling skunks are also known to be slow movers”
Certain Zip Codes Pick Losers - Scientific American - "people who buy products destined to fail—like Crystal Pepsi—also buy other duds... certain customers kept buying products most other people didn’t want. In a follow-up experiment, they found that those people also tended to purchase more unpopular, niche items at a clothing retailer. But it goes further. These same people bought homes that appreciated less than other homes. And what’s more, they were more likely to support political candidates who lost. All of which indicates that these people—who, based on zip codes, also tend to live near each other—consistently pick losers... the neighborhoods tend to be suburban, with lower household income, less educated residents and more single parents. People there also use a lot of coupons, and more of them are white than are the residents of other zip codes. As to why these zip codes pick losing candidates or products? It’s possible they’re just not as engaged as other consumers. “One of the things we looked at is: Are these people less likely to write product reviews? The answer is yes. If they write reviews, do they tend to be shorter reviews? And the answer is yes.”"
If you can't achieve anything, you can still be known for destroying something else
mirax on Twitter - "Deeply unfunny comic with self-esteem issues uses race card to silence a fictional character who was not only loveable but witty and funny. #slowclap."
Wisconsin students walk out to protest racial slur firing - Los Angeles Times - "Students at a Wisconsin high school skipped class Friday and marched through the streets of the state capital to protest the firing of a black security guard who was terminated for repeating a racial slur while telling a student not to call him that word... Madison schools have a zero-tolerance policy on employees saying racial slurs"
Meanwhile white academics who use the word in an academic context get fired and everyone cheers
Kathy Bates: 'I told Clint that after 50 years, I feel like I've hit the big time' - "“About people like Weinstein and the casting couch and all of that,” she says, “I have a confession. In my day, if you went up to a guy’s hotel room, you knew exactly why you were going and in those days it was consensual... I’m not happy about the men who are being accused falsely"... “I hate to complain about it, but never being considered the romantic lead – which is fine, I’m over that, been there, done that – means they look at me in a different way. But then I look at my friends who are beautiful girls but not working after 40 – very few of them. Well, Nicole Kidman is … She is the spokesperson for the Lymphatic Education & Research Network. “I spoke before the American Society of Breast Surgeons and it’s so hard to convince them – Nobel laureates! I gave them these statistics and there were gasps in that room.” Though she likes Twitter, she mostly uses it for getting the word out about the condition. “I joined in 2011 and initially used it to engage with fans and then it got to be so time-consuming that I had to cut back. Then after a couple of unpleasant experiences with fans I rarely use it and I don’t get sucked into provocative tweets.”"
The Most Successful Ethnic Group in the U.S. May Surprise You - "Today, 29 percent of Nigerian-Americans over the age of 25 hold a graduate degree, compared to 11 percent of the overall U.S. population, according to the Migrations Policy Institute. Among Nigerian-American professionals, 45 percent work in education services, the 2016 American Community Survey found, and many are professors at top universities. Nigerians are entering the medical field in the U.S. at an increased rate, leaving their home country to work in American hospitals, where they can earn more and work in better facilities... [they are] confidently emerging as one of the country’s most succesful immigrant communities, with a median household income of $62,351, compared to $57,617 nationally, as of 2015... Nigerians have also achieved a lot in their country of origin... Anyone from the Nigerian diaspora will tell you their parents gave them three career choices: doctor, lawyer or engineer"
The power of white supremacy!
Laurence Fox broke up with ‘too woke’ girlfriend for supporting Gillette toxic masculinity advert - "Laurence Fox has revealed he once broke up with a girlfriend for being “too woke” and said women like her are “primed” to be victims... he and his ex also argued because she was a vocal supporter of Christine Blasey Ford, who in 2018 accused the then-US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in high school in 1982... The actor’s comments come days after he came under fire for accusing a woman of racism for calling him a “white privileged male” on Question Time. Fox also described the race row surrounding the Duchess of Sussex as “boring”."
The ‘anti-woke’ backlash is no joke – and progressives are going to lose if they don’t wise up | Ellie Mae O’Hagan - "a significant chunk of the audience groaned as soon as the phrase “white privilege” was uttered. Fox was not the only person in that studio who was weary of contemporary antiracist discourse, and he wasn’t the only person willing to show it... The progressive tendency to regard “anti-woke” crusaders as aberrations is a hangover from the liberal consensus established in the late 90s... The reason liberals still believe this consensus holds is that the politics New Labour ushered in was so dominant and all-encompassing that almost every opinion that existed outside of it was dismissed as the view of cranks... social liberalism was not merely a popular point of view: it was the new normal. It was also fundamentally modernising. The idea of these newly founded values being contested would have seemed like time going backwards... Progressives need to wise up to the fact that they are losing this argument and decide what they are going to do in response. If they don’t, they may soon find that the future they always assumed was theirs is being made without them. Or as Florian Philippot, senior strategist to Marine Le Pen, tweeted after Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton: “Their world is collapsing. Ours is being built.”"
She ignores the fact that Gen Z is more conservative than milennials, or that the newly founded values were indeed contested - as not being liberal enough, resulting in a backlash to the excesses of liberalism (but then, this is The Guardian after all - that there is even a degree of reflexivity is surprising)
Why warm milk is getting a cool reception - "Shelf-stable milk, also known as ambient or UHT (ultra high temperature) milk, is a grocery staple in Europe and other parts in the world where fridge space is often limited. Unopened packages of the stuff can be kept at room temperature for months without spoiling, since the milk is heated to extremely high temperatures and packaged in aseptic containers.In Canada, ingrained cultural preferences make shelf-stable milk a tough sell. We tend to like our milk cold, fresh, and bought from a refrigerated dairy aisle... "The freshest form of milk that you can find in the world, which comes right out of a cow, is warm."... Just because shelf-stable milk can be stored at room temperature doesn't mean it must be consumed lukewarm. Mr. Djamgouz says one of the challenges is making consumers think of it as they would beer; most wouldn't hesitate buying beer at room-temperature, then chilling it before serving. But with shelf-stable milk, he says, "They automatically think that they need to drink it warm." Another major obstacle is consumers' distrust of dairy that doesn't deteriorate."Somehow, shelf-stability in consumers' mind can be associated with chemical treatment"... An influx of immigrants who grew up on shelf-stable milk has made it easier for the brand to grow in Ontario, Mr. Sheehy says, noting that in Europe, roughly 98 per cent of the milk market is UHT... Those who've grown up on the stuff, however, tend to prefer it"
Linguists Hear an Accent Begin - Scientific American - "“Accent development is the first step in language change. Fifteen hundred years ago, languages like English, Dutch and Swedish were actually all dialects of the same language. But of course, then they diversified over time.”... Harrington and his team turned to members of the British Antarctic Survey, who speak with a variety of English accents.“When you are in Antarctica during the winter period, then there’s no way in, and there’s no way out. So they were isolated together, and they interacted with each other, and they have to cooperate with each other.”Harrington’s team recorded the winterers reciting a list of words before they left for Antarctica. Then, while there, the winterers recorded themselves saying the same words four more times. The linguists then analyzed the recordings—in particular, resonances: the way airflow shapes sound."
How much do we really know about why we give to charity? - "One recent study estimates the British, for example, donate 54p in every £100. That's three times more than the Germans but three times less than Americans give.By my reckoning, that's also roughly what Britons spend on beer, not much less than they spend on meat and three times what they spend on bread.In economic significance, the charity fundraiser is up there with the butcher, brewer and baker... advertising executives interviewed for the Guardian newspaper. Images of starving children don't rack up many "likes" on social media, they say, build your brand instead, engage and entertain. Economists have also studied what motivates donations. One theory is called "signalling": we donate in part to impress other people. That might explain the enduring popularity of wristbands, ribbons and stickers: they display not only the causes that matter to us but our generosity too... attractive young women who asked for donations fared much better - about as well as the lottery sellers. As the study drily acknowledges: "This result is largely driven by increased participation rates among households where a male answered the door."That's evidence for the signalling theory of altruism - and you can see exactly what kind of pretty young lady these gentlemen were keen to signal to... if charities are selling a warm glow and the ability to send social signals, that doesn't give them much incentive to do anything useful. They just have to tell us a good story... The economists Dean Karlan and Daniel Wood wondered whether evidence of effectiveness would improve fundraising, and worked with a charity to find out.Some supporters got a typical mailshot, an emotional story about an individual beneficiary called Sebastiana. "She's known nothing but abject poverty her entire life," it read.Others got the same story but with an additional paragraph noting that "rigorous scientific methodologies" confirmed the charity's impact.The results? Some people who'd previously given big donations seemed impressed and gave more. But that was cancelled out by small donors giving less. Merely mentioning science seemed to have punctured the emotional appeal and cooled the warm glow.And this may explain why GiveWell hasn't even tried to assess the household names of the charity world - the likes of Oxfam, Save The Children, and World Vision.In an exasperated-sounding blog post, the organisation explains such charities "tend to publish a great deal of web content aimed at fundraising but very little of interest for impact-oriented donors". "
The accidental Singer sewing machine revolution - "Gillette adverts stand against toxic masculinity. Budweiser makes specially-decorated cups to encourage non-binary and gender-fluid people to feel pride in their identity.These examples of so-called "woke capitalism"- of corporations promoting progressive social causes - may feel ostentatiously up-to-the-moment. But woke capitalism is not as new as you might think."
Part of Real Paleo Diet: It's a Tuber - Scientific American - "I think the people who assume the paleo diet was based on protein simply haven’t done their homework properly"
Gift-Wrapping Effects on Product Attitudes: A Mood-Biasing Explanation - "Two questions were addressed. First, does gift wrapping an item have a favorable influence on attitudes toward owning what is received? Results of all four experiments consistently support an affirmative answer to that question. Second, what explains the attitudinal results? I argued that gift wrapping, through repeated pairing with joyous events in people's lives, has utility in cuing a happy mood which, in turn, positively biases attitudes. Results of the last three experiments support this mood biasing position by demonstrating that a happy mood consistently mediates gift-wrapping effects on attitudes"
Moths Flee or Face Bats, Depending on Toxicity - Scientific American - ""those species which were really toxic—so when the bats captured them, they almost never ate them—those species were much more likely to be what we call nonchalant, species that do not perform evasive maneuvers very often. On the other hand, species that were really palatable were much more likely to perform those evasive maneuvers, almost, in a sense, sort of hedging their bets. Be"cause if they don’t make that escape, if they are captured by a bat, those species are more likely to be eaten.”Another factor is that evasive maneuvers have their own set of risks, which may be why unpalatable moths tend to avoid them. For example, diving away from bats burns fuel, gives the insects less time to seek out mates and could expose them to other perils, such as getting stuck in water.“Or there could be predators on the ground like mice and other mammals... Dowdy is now trying to identify the chemical compounds responsible for making some tiger moths taste bad. Once those findings are in, chemical analysis of museum specimens could help reveal how rare, endangered or even extinct insects have behaved around predators. “We can still study animal behavior even without a living organism. That’s, I think, pretty amazing.” Other animals with conspicuous warning signals, such as garishly colored poison dart frogs and foul-smelling skunks are also known to be slow movers”
Certain Zip Codes Pick Losers - Scientific American - "people who buy products destined to fail—like Crystal Pepsi—also buy other duds... certain customers kept buying products most other people didn’t want. In a follow-up experiment, they found that those people also tended to purchase more unpopular, niche items at a clothing retailer. But it goes further. These same people bought homes that appreciated less than other homes. And what’s more, they were more likely to support political candidates who lost. All of which indicates that these people—who, based on zip codes, also tend to live near each other—consistently pick losers... the neighborhoods tend to be suburban, with lower household income, less educated residents and more single parents. People there also use a lot of coupons, and more of them are white than are the residents of other zip codes. As to why these zip codes pick losing candidates or products? It’s possible they’re just not as engaged as other consumers. “One of the things we looked at is: Are these people less likely to write product reviews? The answer is yes. If they write reviews, do they tend to be shorter reviews? And the answer is yes.”"
Post ID: 6421529830294302525
Thursday, April 09, 2020
Links - 9th April 2020 (3) (Trans Mania)
Jesse Singal on Twitter (on "Neither male nor female: Why some nonbinary people are 'microdosing' hormones") - "Outlets have completely, completely given up on covering this like they would any other health or science subject. It's just astounding how radical the journalistic shift has been."
"It is a completely bizarre way to cover females taking steroids for essentially recreational reasons - given what we know from state-sponsored doping programmes."
"For those of us who see wanting to look more masculine or feminine as essentially fashion choices and don't accept trans metaphysics it does indeed look astonishing. Basically us oldies see wanting to look a particular way as essentially trivial. For many young people it's the very essence of their being. I blame post modernism, free market capitalism and the Internet."
"I blame shit music. Music used to be the centre of youth culture. Now it’s gender."
"For most people, taking hormones is very closely regulated."
"The testosterone is being prescribed for cosmetic reasons. I'm not in position to know whether or not this is a sanctioned use of such treatment and I feel like whoever wrote this piece ought to have delved into that seemingly glaring issue at least a little bit ya know."
"I read this and now believe we're redefining dysphoria."
"The only good thing is that these people cannot reproduce. The worst thing is that because they can't reproduce, they ideologically kidnap the young generation and brainwash to make them like them."
"Reporting on science & medicine ought to be balanced and thorough. This was one-sided and superficial.There is no discussion of the medical case against elective hormonal treatments. Or of the more serious side effects (like osteoporosis, thrombosis, some forms of cancer...) And that's not even addressing the elephant in the room: questions of when such treatments are elective versus therapeutic, what exactly they are treating if it's the latter, whether medical standards need any revision.Good exposition would acknowledge those questions exist."
"Whatever happened to "First do no harm?""
"They've been taken over by the TRA's. That and they can't ignore the cash machine this has created. Why else would the medical community give girls double mastectomies?"
"The use of “they” for a singular person makes teaching HS English difficult. Close reading a narrative with imprecise pronouns is not fun."
The document that reveals the remarkable tactics of trans lobbyists | Coffee House - "The document is the work of Dentons, which says it is the world’s biggest law firm; the Thomson Reuters Foundation, an arm of the old media giant that appears dedicated to identity politics of various sorts; and the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Youth & Student Organisation (IGLYO)...‘It is recognised that the requirement for parental consent or the consent of a legal guardian can be restrictive and problematic for minors.’
You might think that the very purpose of parenting is, in part, to ‘restrict’ the choices of children who cannot, by definition, make fully-informed adult choices on their own. But that is not the stance of the report. Indeed, it suggests that ‘states should take action against parents who are obstructing the free development of a young trans person’s identity in refusing to give parental authorisation when required.’ In short, this is a handbook for lobbying groups that want to remove parental consent over significant aspects of children’s lives. A handbook written by an international law firm and backed by one of the world’s biggest charitable foundations... This is an issue that is ‘difficult to win public support for’ and best hidden behind the ‘veil of protection’ provided by a popular issue such as gay rights. Again, anyone who has even glanced at the UK transgender debate will recognise this description. Another recommendation is even more revealing: ‘Avoid excessive press coverage and exposure.’ According to the report, the countries that have moved most quickly to advance trans rights and remove parental consent have been those where the groups lobbying for those changes have succeeded in stopping the wider public learning about their proposals... Although it offers extensive advice about the need to keep the trans-rights agenda out of the public’s gaze, the report has rather less to say about the possibility that advocates might just try doing what everyone else in politics does and make a persuasive argument for their cause. Actually convincing people that this stuff is a good idea doesn’t feature much in the report... I started my first job as a researcher in the Commons in 1994. I’ve been studying and writing about politics and policy ever since. And in my experience of how changes in the law are brought about, the approach described in that report is simply not normal or usual. In a democracy, we are all free to argue for whatever policy or position we wish. But normally, anyone who wants to change the law accepts that to do so they need to win the support or, at least, the consent of the people whose authority ultimately gives the law its force. The approach outlined, in detail, in the Dentons report amounts to a very different way of lobbying to get the laws and policies you want. Even more notably, it suggests that in several countries people have been quite successful in lobbying behind a ‘veil’ and in a way that deliberately avoids the attention of the public. That, I think, should interest anyone who cares about how politics and policy are conducted, whether or not they care about the transgender issue... no policy made in the shadows can survive in sunlight."
Defining trans accurately now gets you banned from Twitter - The Post Millennial - "The trans debate on Twitter is basically insane. While Twitter claims that its “mission is to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information, and to express their opinions and beliefs without barriers,” that’s only true if you toe the progressive party line on trans. If you don’t, you’re out, with barely an explanation. 4th Wave Now was banned... The tweet in question referenced an article by Pique Resilience Project founder Chiara Canaan, who came to believe she was trans after a bad break up at 15 years old. Now 22 and a lesbian, she has spoken out about her experience to help other girls from making the mistake she did. Apparently, tweeting about the biological reality of sex is a no-no, worthy of account suspension...
'People who have threatened me with death or violence have faced fewer disciplinary sanctions from Twitter than 4thWave is for referring to someone's natal sex. IT REALLY MAKES YOU THINK.'
“Parent-skeptics who question medicalising gender-atypical youth,” 4th Wave Now speaks out in favour of the “watchful waiting” approach to trans questioning kids, as opposed to the instant medical transitioning that many advocate for. .. how exactly is the term “natal male” hate speech?... Meanwhile, the person who was referred to as a “natal male,” calls the LGB Alliance a hate group for advocating for same-sex attracted persons’ rights. Claims that trans women are not male. And that sex is a social construct. It’s odd that making the claim that women don’t actually exist isn’t hate speech, but saying that they do exist, is. Twitter clearly has no idea what it’s doing, or how to establish standards. Either that, or they are making a distinct foray into misogyny."
No wonder liberals love Twitter so much
Michael Canup on Twitter - "Liberals: young people make poor, rash decisions. lets raise the smoking age to 21.
Also liberals: my 4 year old says he's a girl so we're transitioning him."
At least three gender-transitioning children have been taken into care because of their parents' objections - "The cases raise fears that parents are powerless to act if they think their child is making a wrong decision. Social workers at one council — Hillingdon in west London — say they placed two children in foster homes over the rows. Another — Ealing, also in west London — said it had done the same with “less than five” kids. It refused to say how many. Not all councils responded to the Sun’s Freedom of Information request for figures. Tory MP Peter Bone said: “I’m very shocked. Often parents and children do not see eye-to-eye but that is not a reason to be placed into care.” And Stephanie Davies-Arai of Transgender Trend, which campaigns against kids transitioning, said: “Parents who see how their children are being sucked into this are being punished.”"
Transgender man gives birth to non-binary partner's baby with female sperm donor - "Proud dad Reuben Sharpe today tells how HE gave birth to a miracle baby in Britain’s most modern family.The 39-year-old transitioned to a man 12 years ago.But he still had maternal instincts and six years ago stopped taking testosterone in the hope of one day having a child.And that dream came true when he and partner Jay had a bouncing baby.Jay is non-binary – so does not identify as male or female.The sperm donor was a trans woman... and even the DOCTOR was transgender."
What a convoluted way of describing heterosexual reproduction
Melbourne youth gender clinic in data row - "Victoria’s Andrews government has been slammed for claiming it does not routinely collect basic data about risky medical treatment of vulnerable children and teens at Australia’s biggest youth transgender clinic in Melbourne... She asked for the data in August following reports in The Australian about the safety and ethics of medical treatment amid a worrying global spike in troubled teenage patients, mostly girls, sent to gender clinics. Last year at RCH there were 269 new referrals, 1394 per cent higher than in 2012, when Dr Telfer took charge. RCH has refused requests for interviews, data and comment... The clinic has trained these school GPs in “gender-affirming healthcare” or the pro-trans “affirmative model”, which views children as “experts” in their trans identity... In parliament, Ms Crozier raised the case of Melbourne mother “Clair”, featured on Neil Mitchell’s 3AW radio program this month, who said she had been called by a school counsellor “out of the blue” to be told her 14-year-old “socially awkward” daughter was a trans boy. The counsellor had been seeing the girl for three weeks without her mother knowing and had given her information about gender clinics and trans websites. Clair said she had been advised to avoid the RCH clinic, where her daughter might be put on the path to trans medical treatment, and instead took her to a psychologist who diagnosed high-functioning Asperger’s syndrome. “Apparently Asperger’s children sometimes have gender confusion”"
Is the tide beginning to turn on trans lunacy? - "2019 may, with luck, go down as the year when the tide began to turn against the bizarre worldview of transgender activists. In the run-up to the General Election, Jo Swinson found herself flummoxed by the question ‘What is a woman?’. Days later, she was unceremoniously dumped by voters. Meanwhile, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was busy introducing himself to the crowd at the Pink News Awards: ‘My name is Jeremy Corbyn, pronouns he/him.’ That was met by a big fat ‘no’ from the electorate, too. Despite this recent pushback, 2019 has also shown what happens when senior members of the medical, educational and legal professions not only succumb to the demands of trans activists, but use transgender ideology to shore up their own moral authority. The victims are children... One in 50 prisoners – 1,500 inmates – now identifies as transgender. This is massively more than the number in the general population. Transgender prisoners not only get perks, such as being able to shower alone or have their own cell – crucially, they can also apply to switch between male and female jails. One woman prisoner – assaulted by a transgender inmate while incarcerated in the same institution – is now taking the government to court over this policy... Tragically, women are still prevented from freely discussing the impact of gender self-identification upon their lives. In universities, debates and conferences have been shut down following threats from transgender activists. Gender-critical professors have spoken out about the threats and abuse they have received for raising concerns that sex is being conflated with gender. Posie Parker, a women’s rights activist and leading critic of the transgender movement, was permanently banned from Facebook. The social-media giant cited ‘safety and security reasons’ for kicking her off the platform and, in the process, denying thousands of people an opportunity to discuss Posie’s views... despite all the attempts to curtail debate, common sense has – on occasion – won out in 2019. Two major BBC programmes, Newsnight and Radio 4’s File on 4, reported on the experiences of people who detransition, as well as raising serious questions about the treatment of children who question their gender identity and the dangers of doctors prescribing puberty-blocker hormones. Parents raised concerns about changes to school sex and relationships classes that will mean very young children are taught that gender is how they think and feel. To challenge this, author Rachel Rooney has written an excellent book, My Body is Me, which aims to teach children to be comfortable with their bodies as they are, rather than looking to change their bodies to bring them in line with their brains. Inevitably, this benign message has been labelled ‘anti‑trans extremism’. Elsewhere, the High Court ruled that a woman who gave birth could not be named as the father on her child’s birth certificate despite having transitioned to a man post-partum."
Apparently saying biological sex is real is hate speech and traumatising to trans people, but trans critics getting censored, death threats and being attacked is a good thing
"It is a completely bizarre way to cover females taking steroids for essentially recreational reasons - given what we know from state-sponsored doping programmes."
"For those of us who see wanting to look more masculine or feminine as essentially fashion choices and don't accept trans metaphysics it does indeed look astonishing. Basically us oldies see wanting to look a particular way as essentially trivial. For many young people it's the very essence of their being. I blame post modernism, free market capitalism and the Internet."
"I blame shit music. Music used to be the centre of youth culture. Now it’s gender."
"For most people, taking hormones is very closely regulated."
"The testosterone is being prescribed for cosmetic reasons. I'm not in position to know whether or not this is a sanctioned use of such treatment and I feel like whoever wrote this piece ought to have delved into that seemingly glaring issue at least a little bit ya know."
"I read this and now believe we're redefining dysphoria."
"The only good thing is that these people cannot reproduce. The worst thing is that because they can't reproduce, they ideologically kidnap the young generation and brainwash to make them like them."
"Reporting on science & medicine ought to be balanced and thorough. This was one-sided and superficial.There is no discussion of the medical case against elective hormonal treatments. Or of the more serious side effects (like osteoporosis, thrombosis, some forms of cancer...) And that's not even addressing the elephant in the room: questions of when such treatments are elective versus therapeutic, what exactly they are treating if it's the latter, whether medical standards need any revision.Good exposition would acknowledge those questions exist."
"Whatever happened to "First do no harm?""
"They've been taken over by the TRA's. That and they can't ignore the cash machine this has created. Why else would the medical community give girls double mastectomies?"
"The use of “they” for a singular person makes teaching HS English difficult. Close reading a narrative with imprecise pronouns is not fun."
The document that reveals the remarkable tactics of trans lobbyists | Coffee House - "The document is the work of Dentons, which says it is the world’s biggest law firm; the Thomson Reuters Foundation, an arm of the old media giant that appears dedicated to identity politics of various sorts; and the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Youth & Student Organisation (IGLYO)...‘It is recognised that the requirement for parental consent or the consent of a legal guardian can be restrictive and problematic for minors.’
You might think that the very purpose of parenting is, in part, to ‘restrict’ the choices of children who cannot, by definition, make fully-informed adult choices on their own. But that is not the stance of the report. Indeed, it suggests that ‘states should take action against parents who are obstructing the free development of a young trans person’s identity in refusing to give parental authorisation when required.’ In short, this is a handbook for lobbying groups that want to remove parental consent over significant aspects of children’s lives. A handbook written by an international law firm and backed by one of the world’s biggest charitable foundations... This is an issue that is ‘difficult to win public support for’ and best hidden behind the ‘veil of protection’ provided by a popular issue such as gay rights. Again, anyone who has even glanced at the UK transgender debate will recognise this description. Another recommendation is even more revealing: ‘Avoid excessive press coverage and exposure.’ According to the report, the countries that have moved most quickly to advance trans rights and remove parental consent have been those where the groups lobbying for those changes have succeeded in stopping the wider public learning about their proposals... Although it offers extensive advice about the need to keep the trans-rights agenda out of the public’s gaze, the report has rather less to say about the possibility that advocates might just try doing what everyone else in politics does and make a persuasive argument for their cause. Actually convincing people that this stuff is a good idea doesn’t feature much in the report... I started my first job as a researcher in the Commons in 1994. I’ve been studying and writing about politics and policy ever since. And in my experience of how changes in the law are brought about, the approach described in that report is simply not normal or usual. In a democracy, we are all free to argue for whatever policy or position we wish. But normally, anyone who wants to change the law accepts that to do so they need to win the support or, at least, the consent of the people whose authority ultimately gives the law its force. The approach outlined, in detail, in the Dentons report amounts to a very different way of lobbying to get the laws and policies you want. Even more notably, it suggests that in several countries people have been quite successful in lobbying behind a ‘veil’ and in a way that deliberately avoids the attention of the public. That, I think, should interest anyone who cares about how politics and policy are conducted, whether or not they care about the transgender issue... no policy made in the shadows can survive in sunlight."
Defining trans accurately now gets you banned from Twitter - The Post Millennial - "The trans debate on Twitter is basically insane. While Twitter claims that its “mission is to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information, and to express their opinions and beliefs without barriers,” that’s only true if you toe the progressive party line on trans. If you don’t, you’re out, with barely an explanation. 4th Wave Now was banned... The tweet in question referenced an article by Pique Resilience Project founder Chiara Canaan, who came to believe she was trans after a bad break up at 15 years old. Now 22 and a lesbian, she has spoken out about her experience to help other girls from making the mistake she did. Apparently, tweeting about the biological reality of sex is a no-no, worthy of account suspension...
'People who have threatened me with death or violence have faced fewer disciplinary sanctions from Twitter than 4thWave is for referring to someone's natal sex. IT REALLY MAKES YOU THINK.'
“Parent-skeptics who question medicalising gender-atypical youth,” 4th Wave Now speaks out in favour of the “watchful waiting” approach to trans questioning kids, as opposed to the instant medical transitioning that many advocate for. .. how exactly is the term “natal male” hate speech?... Meanwhile, the person who was referred to as a “natal male,” calls the LGB Alliance a hate group for advocating for same-sex attracted persons’ rights. Claims that trans women are not male. And that sex is a social construct. It’s odd that making the claim that women don’t actually exist isn’t hate speech, but saying that they do exist, is. Twitter clearly has no idea what it’s doing, or how to establish standards. Either that, or they are making a distinct foray into misogyny."
No wonder liberals love Twitter so much
Michael Canup on Twitter - "Liberals: young people make poor, rash decisions. lets raise the smoking age to 21.
Also liberals: my 4 year old says he's a girl so we're transitioning him."
At least three gender-transitioning children have been taken into care because of their parents' objections - "The cases raise fears that parents are powerless to act if they think their child is making a wrong decision. Social workers at one council — Hillingdon in west London — say they placed two children in foster homes over the rows. Another — Ealing, also in west London — said it had done the same with “less than five” kids. It refused to say how many. Not all councils responded to the Sun’s Freedom of Information request for figures. Tory MP Peter Bone said: “I’m very shocked. Often parents and children do not see eye-to-eye but that is not a reason to be placed into care.” And Stephanie Davies-Arai of Transgender Trend, which campaigns against kids transitioning, said: “Parents who see how their children are being sucked into this are being punished.”"
Transgender man gives birth to non-binary partner's baby with female sperm donor - "Proud dad Reuben Sharpe today tells how HE gave birth to a miracle baby in Britain’s most modern family.The 39-year-old transitioned to a man 12 years ago.But he still had maternal instincts and six years ago stopped taking testosterone in the hope of one day having a child.And that dream came true when he and partner Jay had a bouncing baby.Jay is non-binary – so does not identify as male or female.The sperm donor was a trans woman... and even the DOCTOR was transgender."
What a convoluted way of describing heterosexual reproduction
Melbourne youth gender clinic in data row - "Victoria’s Andrews government has been slammed for claiming it does not routinely collect basic data about risky medical treatment of vulnerable children and teens at Australia’s biggest youth transgender clinic in Melbourne... She asked for the data in August following reports in The Australian about the safety and ethics of medical treatment amid a worrying global spike in troubled teenage patients, mostly girls, sent to gender clinics. Last year at RCH there were 269 new referrals, 1394 per cent higher than in 2012, when Dr Telfer took charge. RCH has refused requests for interviews, data and comment... The clinic has trained these school GPs in “gender-affirming healthcare” or the pro-trans “affirmative model”, which views children as “experts” in their trans identity... In parliament, Ms Crozier raised the case of Melbourne mother “Clair”, featured on Neil Mitchell’s 3AW radio program this month, who said she had been called by a school counsellor “out of the blue” to be told her 14-year-old “socially awkward” daughter was a trans boy. The counsellor had been seeing the girl for three weeks without her mother knowing and had given her information about gender clinics and trans websites. Clair said she had been advised to avoid the RCH clinic, where her daughter might be put on the path to trans medical treatment, and instead took her to a psychologist who diagnosed high-functioning Asperger’s syndrome. “Apparently Asperger’s children sometimes have gender confusion”"
Is the tide beginning to turn on trans lunacy? - "2019 may, with luck, go down as the year when the tide began to turn against the bizarre worldview of transgender activists. In the run-up to the General Election, Jo Swinson found herself flummoxed by the question ‘What is a woman?’. Days later, she was unceremoniously dumped by voters. Meanwhile, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was busy introducing himself to the crowd at the Pink News Awards: ‘My name is Jeremy Corbyn, pronouns he/him.’ That was met by a big fat ‘no’ from the electorate, too. Despite this recent pushback, 2019 has also shown what happens when senior members of the medical, educational and legal professions not only succumb to the demands of trans activists, but use transgender ideology to shore up their own moral authority. The victims are children... One in 50 prisoners – 1,500 inmates – now identifies as transgender. This is massively more than the number in the general population. Transgender prisoners not only get perks, such as being able to shower alone or have their own cell – crucially, they can also apply to switch between male and female jails. One woman prisoner – assaulted by a transgender inmate while incarcerated in the same institution – is now taking the government to court over this policy... Tragically, women are still prevented from freely discussing the impact of gender self-identification upon their lives. In universities, debates and conferences have been shut down following threats from transgender activists. Gender-critical professors have spoken out about the threats and abuse they have received for raising concerns that sex is being conflated with gender. Posie Parker, a women’s rights activist and leading critic of the transgender movement, was permanently banned from Facebook. The social-media giant cited ‘safety and security reasons’ for kicking her off the platform and, in the process, denying thousands of people an opportunity to discuss Posie’s views... despite all the attempts to curtail debate, common sense has – on occasion – won out in 2019. Two major BBC programmes, Newsnight and Radio 4’s File on 4, reported on the experiences of people who detransition, as well as raising serious questions about the treatment of children who question their gender identity and the dangers of doctors prescribing puberty-blocker hormones. Parents raised concerns about changes to school sex and relationships classes that will mean very young children are taught that gender is how they think and feel. To challenge this, author Rachel Rooney has written an excellent book, My Body is Me, which aims to teach children to be comfortable with their bodies as they are, rather than looking to change their bodies to bring them in line with their brains. Inevitably, this benign message has been labelled ‘anti‑trans extremism’. Elsewhere, the High Court ruled that a woman who gave birth could not be named as the father on her child’s birth certificate despite having transitioned to a man post-partum."
Apparently saying biological sex is real is hate speech and traumatising to trans people, but trans critics getting censored, death threats and being attacked is a good thing
Post ID: 2091198483970275290
Meghan Murphy and Trans Mania
Toronto's Meghan Murphy Meltdown: A Case Study in Media-Driven Social Panic
"According to CBC radio host Carol Off, Murphy is someone whose extremism summons to mind comparisons with “a Holocaust denier or a white supremacist.” A Globe & Mail writer dedicated a column to branding Murphy an agent of “fear and meanness.” Toronto Mayor John Tory was so concerned by Murphy’s apparently horrifying message that he publicly called out his city’s chief librarian for permitting Murphy to deliver a speech on library premises. Hundreds of angry Torontonians gathered to protest that speech on Tuesday, telling at least one Murphy supporter to “go kill yourself, go bleed out and die.” The next day, Toronto’s governing council voted to review library policies, with a view toward ensuring that such a shocking spectacle would never again blacken the city’s reputation. For good measure, a pair of drag queens named Fay and Fluffy announced they would no longer come to the library to read books to children.
Is Murphy a Nazi? A war criminal? Perhaps a hooded KKK leader who appeared at the podium under a burning cross? Well, not quite. Meghan Murphy is a young Vancouver-based feminist activist and writer who says out loud what most Canadians think: that the rights of trans women must be balanced against the rights of girls and women as a whole, and that the admission of male-bodied individuals into spaces where women are vulnerable is an issue that can’t be resolved by screaming slogans or Tweeting emojis. As National Post columnist Chris Selley wrote after he attended Murphy’s Toronto event, the substance of her speech wasn’t even that controversial. The true scandal was out on the street, where progressive hypocrites yelled at Murphy’s feminist supporters in the way that Westboro Baptist Church members berate women entering an abortion clinic...
The notion that only one side of this argument has legitimate points to make is unsustainable, which is why a full-fledged schism now is developing within the wider LGBT movement.
In fact, it is this development that so alarms ideological enforcers within orthodox gender circles, as they (rightly) fear that they are losing their monopoly position. This, in turn, helps explain their fanatical desire to shut Murphy down—since the spectacle of her speaking common sense may invite other people to imagine that they can do the same without suffering punishment. And then, eventually, as with all cultish movements that rule by fear instead of persuasion, the whole house of cards will come tumbling down.
As a man, I have no personal stake in this battle—because the entire weight of gender-ideology extremism is borne by girls and women. (There are no women demanding access to my health-club locker room, or making a mockery of male athletic competitions.) But I do have a stake as a journalist. For I know of no other issue that has had such a mind-warping effect on the work of otherwise intelligent writers and broadcasters.
Not only is it now considered perfectly normal (even admirable) for state-funded journalists to compare gender-crits to Holocaust deniers. One also sees the opposite phenomenon at work: Male-bodied individuals are praised as “shining examples of what humans can accomplish with training and effort” when they take medals away from biological women. In some cases, genuine sociopaths from among this group are even lauded by the media for their “courage.” This includes Rachel McKinnon, a cycling “champion” who dominates much smaller (female) competitors, told critics to “die in a grease fire,” and recently celebrated the death of a 36-year-old feminist from brain cancer. Throwing people into grease fires seems a lot closer to Nazi talk than anything Meghan Murphy ever said. And yet this would be the very same Rachel McKinnon who is regularly celebrated on the CBC in sunny features with titles such as We Have to Promote Inclusive Sport.
To any normal observer, it must seem like the media has lost its collective mind. The question is: Why?
When conservatives try to provide an answer, the focus often centers on the ideological distortions contained within orthodox gender studies. But that explanation doesn’t satisfy, because campus cults exist in all corners of academia, often without their dogmas metastasizing into mainstream culture and politics. What’s unusual about radicalized gender activism is that it has imposed itself not only on policy-making, but also on the way that policy-making is debated and critiqued in the media. And so even as some measure of sanity seems to be returning to this issue, it’s worth taking the opportunity to understand how mainstream journalists turned themselves into cheerleaders for dogmas that few people actually believe...
The whole arc of left-wing activism over the last century has created a spirit of triumphalism in regard to every cause premised on an expansion of asserted rights—including anti-sexism, anti-racism and anti-homophobia... There is no acknowledgment that social-justice campaigners now have scraped up against the bare-metal limits of the rights that can be vindicated by society without biting into other, older rights won by previous activist cohorts.
A third factor is the role of social media, including within the LGBT community, where a healthy debate might once have occurred. In the pre-Twitter past, different factions of the queer movement often were able to assert themselves within a patchwork of different media. But Twitter now allows the angriest and shrillest voices to coalesce into a de facto ideological inquisition. Britain’s PinkNews, in particular, has become a notorious enforcer (and is now dismissively referred to as Penis News by exasperated lesbian critics). Canada’s Xtra is moving in the same direction...
As early as 2011, Toronto’s Star newspaper showed you could set the internet on fire with this sort of article [on "trans" kids]. And the established form of writing these pieces is such that they are presented more as celebrations than actual profiles. Crucially, stories about detransition are effectively taboo—because even acknowledging the existence of de-transitioned youth serves to impugn the media’s own sunny approach to the issue (which is why detransitioned youth increasingly are bypassing the mainstream media and setting up their own web channels). All told, the media has a natural incentive to act as a one-way filter in regard to news about trans issues.
A fourth factor is the economic decline of traditional journalism as a whole, which has affected the way newsrooms now are run and staffed.
As recently as the late 1990s, which is when I began my career in journalism, media organizations were able to insulate themselves against social panics and fads through the employment of a large corps of experienced, risk-averse, highly professional desk editors and middle managers. They supplied a sort of ideological ballast, so that a small number of activist journalists within the organization couldn’t exert veto power on controversial issues. Over the last 20 years, that entire stratum of professionals has been packaged out, and the editorial staffing in these organizations generally consists of just two groups: (a) a small corps of managing journalists in their 50s and 60s who are desperately trying to make it to retirement; and (b) a larger corps of poorly paid 20-somethings. Because members of this latter high-turnover group (rightly) feel have little expectation of long-term employment, their primary ideological loyalties are to social media, not to their nominal bosses.
In some cases, media bosses no longer even pretend that their staffers are anything but in-house social-justice activists...
Fifth and finally, there is the extraordinary classism that infects the woke media"
Canadian literary editor fired after supporting free speech - The Post Millennial - "Will Johnson, a Canadian literary editor, was fired from his position at the Humber Literary Review for supporting Meghan Murphy’s right to freedom of speech... “I didn’t know what the word TERF meant. All I saw was internet trolls screaming at feminists.” Johnson said, noting that he did consider himself a feminist—especially on the issue of sexual violence, one of the main themes of his upcoming memoir... “I posted that I love trans people, but I find the activists who claim to be representing them to be petulant, small-minded shitheads. That tweet went a little bit viral, inspiring a cavalcade of conversation on both sides”... Johnson notes the irony in that he has an extensive history of pro-LGBT editing. As far back as 2017, Johnson was interviewing a non-binary man for the Nelson Star, featuring his narrative on parenting as part of an exclusive."
"According to CBC radio host Carol Off, Murphy is someone whose extremism summons to mind comparisons with “a Holocaust denier or a white supremacist.” A Globe & Mail writer dedicated a column to branding Murphy an agent of “fear and meanness.” Toronto Mayor John Tory was so concerned by Murphy’s apparently horrifying message that he publicly called out his city’s chief librarian for permitting Murphy to deliver a speech on library premises. Hundreds of angry Torontonians gathered to protest that speech on Tuesday, telling at least one Murphy supporter to “go kill yourself, go bleed out and die.” The next day, Toronto’s governing council voted to review library policies, with a view toward ensuring that such a shocking spectacle would never again blacken the city’s reputation. For good measure, a pair of drag queens named Fay and Fluffy announced they would no longer come to the library to read books to children.
Is Murphy a Nazi? A war criminal? Perhaps a hooded KKK leader who appeared at the podium under a burning cross? Well, not quite. Meghan Murphy is a young Vancouver-based feminist activist and writer who says out loud what most Canadians think: that the rights of trans women must be balanced against the rights of girls and women as a whole, and that the admission of male-bodied individuals into spaces where women are vulnerable is an issue that can’t be resolved by screaming slogans or Tweeting emojis. As National Post columnist Chris Selley wrote after he attended Murphy’s Toronto event, the substance of her speech wasn’t even that controversial. The true scandal was out on the street, where progressive hypocrites yelled at Murphy’s feminist supporters in the way that Westboro Baptist Church members berate women entering an abortion clinic...
The notion that only one side of this argument has legitimate points to make is unsustainable, which is why a full-fledged schism now is developing within the wider LGBT movement.
In fact, it is this development that so alarms ideological enforcers within orthodox gender circles, as they (rightly) fear that they are losing their monopoly position. This, in turn, helps explain their fanatical desire to shut Murphy down—since the spectacle of her speaking common sense may invite other people to imagine that they can do the same without suffering punishment. And then, eventually, as with all cultish movements that rule by fear instead of persuasion, the whole house of cards will come tumbling down.
As a man, I have no personal stake in this battle—because the entire weight of gender-ideology extremism is borne by girls and women. (There are no women demanding access to my health-club locker room, or making a mockery of male athletic competitions.) But I do have a stake as a journalist. For I know of no other issue that has had such a mind-warping effect on the work of otherwise intelligent writers and broadcasters.
Not only is it now considered perfectly normal (even admirable) for state-funded journalists to compare gender-crits to Holocaust deniers. One also sees the opposite phenomenon at work: Male-bodied individuals are praised as “shining examples of what humans can accomplish with training and effort” when they take medals away from biological women. In some cases, genuine sociopaths from among this group are even lauded by the media for their “courage.” This includes Rachel McKinnon, a cycling “champion” who dominates much smaller (female) competitors, told critics to “die in a grease fire,” and recently celebrated the death of a 36-year-old feminist from brain cancer. Throwing people into grease fires seems a lot closer to Nazi talk than anything Meghan Murphy ever said. And yet this would be the very same Rachel McKinnon who is regularly celebrated on the CBC in sunny features with titles such as We Have to Promote Inclusive Sport.
To any normal observer, it must seem like the media has lost its collective mind. The question is: Why?
When conservatives try to provide an answer, the focus often centers on the ideological distortions contained within orthodox gender studies. But that explanation doesn’t satisfy, because campus cults exist in all corners of academia, often without their dogmas metastasizing into mainstream culture and politics. What’s unusual about radicalized gender activism is that it has imposed itself not only on policy-making, but also on the way that policy-making is debated and critiqued in the media. And so even as some measure of sanity seems to be returning to this issue, it’s worth taking the opportunity to understand how mainstream journalists turned themselves into cheerleaders for dogmas that few people actually believe...
The whole arc of left-wing activism over the last century has created a spirit of triumphalism in regard to every cause premised on an expansion of asserted rights—including anti-sexism, anti-racism and anti-homophobia... There is no acknowledgment that social-justice campaigners now have scraped up against the bare-metal limits of the rights that can be vindicated by society without biting into other, older rights won by previous activist cohorts.
A third factor is the role of social media, including within the LGBT community, where a healthy debate might once have occurred. In the pre-Twitter past, different factions of the queer movement often were able to assert themselves within a patchwork of different media. But Twitter now allows the angriest and shrillest voices to coalesce into a de facto ideological inquisition. Britain’s PinkNews, in particular, has become a notorious enforcer (and is now dismissively referred to as Penis News by exasperated lesbian critics). Canada’s Xtra is moving in the same direction...
As early as 2011, Toronto’s Star newspaper showed you could set the internet on fire with this sort of article [on "trans" kids]. And the established form of writing these pieces is such that they are presented more as celebrations than actual profiles. Crucially, stories about detransition are effectively taboo—because even acknowledging the existence of de-transitioned youth serves to impugn the media’s own sunny approach to the issue (which is why detransitioned youth increasingly are bypassing the mainstream media and setting up their own web channels). All told, the media has a natural incentive to act as a one-way filter in regard to news about trans issues.
A fourth factor is the economic decline of traditional journalism as a whole, which has affected the way newsrooms now are run and staffed.
As recently as the late 1990s, which is when I began my career in journalism, media organizations were able to insulate themselves against social panics and fads through the employment of a large corps of experienced, risk-averse, highly professional desk editors and middle managers. They supplied a sort of ideological ballast, so that a small number of activist journalists within the organization couldn’t exert veto power on controversial issues. Over the last 20 years, that entire stratum of professionals has been packaged out, and the editorial staffing in these organizations generally consists of just two groups: (a) a small corps of managing journalists in their 50s and 60s who are desperately trying to make it to retirement; and (b) a larger corps of poorly paid 20-somethings. Because members of this latter high-turnover group (rightly) feel have little expectation of long-term employment, their primary ideological loyalties are to social media, not to their nominal bosses.
In some cases, media bosses no longer even pretend that their staffers are anything but in-house social-justice activists...
Fifth and finally, there is the extraordinary classism that infects the woke media"
Canadian literary editor fired after supporting free speech - The Post Millennial - "Will Johnson, a Canadian literary editor, was fired from his position at the Humber Literary Review for supporting Meghan Murphy’s right to freedom of speech... “I didn’t know what the word TERF meant. All I saw was internet trolls screaming at feminists.” Johnson said, noting that he did consider himself a feminist—especially on the issue of sexual violence, one of the main themes of his upcoming memoir... “I posted that I love trans people, but I find the activists who claim to be representing them to be petulant, small-minded shitheads. That tweet went a little bit viral, inspiring a cavalcade of conversation on both sides”... Johnson notes the irony in that he has an extensive history of pro-LGBT editing. As far back as 2017, Johnson was interviewing a non-binary man for the Nelson Star, featuring his narrative on parenting as part of an exclusive."
Post ID: 4775525028688537814
Links - 9th April 2020 (2) (Trans Mania)
‘Many unanswered questions’: Swedish church removes LGBT-themed altarpiece… but NOT for the reason you may think - "After two weeks of deliberation, a church in Sweden decided that a newly-acquired LGBT-friendly painting was too problematic to serve as its altarpiece. Its depiction of Adam and Eve as two same-sex couples was not the issue. The St. Paul’s Church in the southern city of Malmo accepted the painting as its altarpiece on the first day of Advent two weeks ago. The artwork by Swedish photographer and artist Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin was meant to symbolize inclusivity. It predictably generated a lot of buzz, attracting both praise and controversy online... The pastor, however, had an issue with the serpent that tempted Adam and Eve to try the forbidden fruit. In the painting, it was depicted as a transgender person. “The serpent traditionally symbolizes evil, and turning it into a transgender person can mean that a transgender person is evil or is the devil,” Svensson explained. “The Church of Sweden certainly cannot stand by that.” Furthermore, the painting contains apples, a Biblical symbol of knowledge, the pastor added. This invites a question about the kind of knowledge the painting portrays, along with “so many different interpretations” that make the imagery problematic, Svensson said."
After dancer strips at Seattle conference on homelessness, agency director suspended - "Performer Beyoncé Black St. James danced topless in a sheer bodysuit, gave lap dances and kissed attendees... Zylstra was paid about $123,000 a year, according to a county spokesperson. The performance was in the same room as a catered lunch at All Home’s annual conference, this year at South Seattle College with the theme of “Decolonizing our Collective Work.” The only note on the agenda was “Lunch with Cultural Presentation”... In a short video, St. James, a Spokane-based entertainer who identifies as a trans woman on her Facebook page, can be seen doing high kicks in a revealing bodysuit and with silver pasties. “No one expected it,” the staffer said. “So I think some people felt uncomfortable.” The first person St. James kissed seemed surprised, according to the staffer, but the ones following seemed more enthusiastic."
Transphobia!
The Oracle of Delphi is a cryptid - "Three women with penises
The Louvre, Paris Fr"
"oh i’m sorry were you saying something about me being an “artifact of the modern patriarchal medical-industrial complex” cause I was too busy looking at this photo of a 2000 year old classical greek marble statue of three transgender women just sorta chilling and being gorgeous."
"lmao @appropriately-inappropriate some freak photoshopped it
making it ever so clear that 1. we’re dealing with fetishists and 2. no one on tumblr bothers to fact check anything, especially if it suits their agenda"
"It’s hella stupid that only one of the figures would have pubic hair and im fucking cackling, yeah, they really just photoshopped David’s dick onto one of the three graces"
Maya Forstater loses employment tribunal after backlash over trans tweets - "A researcher who lost her job after tweeting that men cannot change their biological sex has lost an employment tribunal after her opinions were ruled “absolutist”.The Central London Employment Tribunal upheld the firing of tax expert Maya Forstater, 45, over a series of tweets questioning government plans to allow people to self-identify as another gender.Ms Forstater was a visiting fellow at the Centre for Global Development (CGD), which is a think-tank based in London and Washington that campaigns against poverty.She was accused of using “offensive and exclusionary” language on Twitter for saying “men cannot change into women”. Her legal dispute against her former employer was seen as a test on whether a “gender-critical” view – that there are only two biological sexes – was a protected philosophical belief under the 2010 Equality Act. Judge James Tayler decided that Ms Forstater’s view was “incompatible with human dignity and fundamental rights of others”... Judge Tayler said the tax expert was not entitled to ignore the legal rights of transgender people and the “enormous pain that can be caused by misgendering a person”. He concluded: “If a person has transitioned from male to female and has a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), that person is legally a woman. That is not something Ms Forstater is entitled to ignore. Ms Forstater’s position is that even if a trans woman has a GRC, she cannot honestly describe herself as a woman. That belief is not worthy of respect in a democratic society."
"In times of universal deceit, to tell the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell (attr)
Segments of Random Thoughts - Posts - "Dress however you please.Call yourself whatever you like.Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you.Live your best life in peace and security.But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real?#IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill"
"JK Rowling dared say that biological sex is real and is now being cancelled by the very woke outrage mob she helped create. The world's tiniest violin plays. #TERF #IStandWithMaya"
"Maya Forstater, a researcher who lost her job after tweeting that men cannot change their biological sex, has lost an employment tribunal after her opinions were ruled “absolutist”. She was accused of using “offensive and exclusionary” language on Twitter."
Science is transphobic. But of course only "right wingers" deny science
ripx4nutmeg on Twitter - "Without any sense of irony, TRAs are calling for JK Rowling's books to be burned because they believe she is a Nazi"
Appalling Apostolic Memes for Liberty-Minded Teens - "Man, this just keeps getting better and better. The left screeches about Trump being a Nazi and trying to burn books and such, but then they go and do it to their own possessions.
imagine having to burn the only book you have ever read must be tough being a liberal today"
On a 2017 JK Rowling book burning exchange - but equally applicable today
In Unexpected Plot Twist, Far Left Now The Ones Burning Harry Potter Books | The Babylon Bee - "Unfortunately, many on the left could not figure out how to get a fire going. There are books on the subject, but they've only ever read Harry Potter."
Star Wars Mark Hamill apologises for liking JK Rowling's 'TERF' tweet'
Science and freedom of speech are 'transphobic'. How radically must society be transformed to appease a tiny minority?
OLIVIA ☭ HILL on Twitter - "Psst. Rowling wasn't some amazing writer who uniquely helped you through a hard time in your youth.
She was pushed in your face as the only viable entertainment option by a bigoted culture. You weren't blessed to read her. You were robbed of the chance to read diverse voices.
You didn't read her books because of merit. You read her books because of a powerful marketing machine. Be mad that it fed you a cis het white antisemitic TERF and told you that was progress and representation."
The perils of being an 'ally' - you get thrown to the wolves as the slightest perceived infraction by people who despise you for even existing
Comment: “She has all our money at this point, so I’m going to stand here and scream in the middle of cyberspace because I can’t cancel a billionaire who already ended the series.”
Sophia (Narwhal) Narwitz on Twitter - "Tranny here. And yeah, Rowling & the researcher are correct. Hormones dont change my biology. I will forever have male chromosomes, & more. I am biologically male. If I wasnt then I wouldnt need to transition. Is the fringe left/woke community really becoming this anti-science 🤦🏻♀️"
In just a few words, JK Rowling has changed the transgender debate | The Spectator Australia - "One of the (many) frustrations of writing a lot about sex and gender is knowing that there are a lot of people who are concerned about these issues but who do not, for various reasons, say so... Many are fearful of the backlash, the accusations of transphobia that could follow. Some of these women are prominent and famous and rich and powerful. The fact that such people keep quiet gives you some idea of the power of fear here... the broader effect of the Forstater case is that issues of sex and gender, the implications of transgenderism for society and individuals, are now going to be talked about by more people."
I write LGBTQ-inclusive books for children. JK Rowling's tweet breaks my heart | The Independent
The Independent: ""No one tells us what to write, so we'll never tell you what to think."
Also The Independent: This article
Germany′s Cabinet approves ban on gay, transgender ′conversion therapy′ - "The German Cabinet approved a bill to ban the advertising or offering of "conversion therapy" to transgender and gay people. The proposed legislation was expanded to include 16- to 18-year-olds... Under the bill, parents or caregivers would also be punished for making a 16- to 18-year-old undergo the therapy, which often uses conditioning techniques considered psychologically abusive by medical professionals. Bärbel Bas, the chair of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) parliamentary faction, pushed for the bill to go further. "I wish to see a comprehensive ban for the so-called conversion therapy for adults, however, this would be difficult to implement legally""
Trans mania is about to explode in Germany. So all the lawsuits in 10-20 years time will have foreign Anglo precedents to draw upon
Looks like the SPD doesn't think adults should be able to make their own decisions
Trans Contestant Sues Miss USA Over 'Natural Born Woman' Rule - "Anita Green of Clackamas, Oregon, holds the title of 2019 Miss Earth Elite Oregon, and competed in the 2018 Miss Montana contest but failed to compete in last year’s Miss United States of America pageant due to her application being rejected.Her lawsuit, which was filed last Tuesday, says she was denied her the full and equal advantages and privileges of the defendant’s services in violation of Oregon’s public accommodations law and is therefore discriminatory... Green has had a trailblazing pageant career, being the first transgender contestant in the Miss Montana USA pageant and only the third openly transgender contestant to compete in a Miss Universe pageant competition. Transgender competitors in female beauty pageants are becoming more of a regular feature. Miss Spain’s winner, Angela Ponce, became Miss Universe’s first ever transgender entry in its 66-year history."
Married women need to sue about the rule banning them from taking part
Emilia Dimitrova - "Lol @ "Slippery slope"
2005: We just want tolerance! ️
2010: We just want to get married! ️
2015: Bake the cake, bigot! ️
2018: Suck the lady's dick, transphobe! ️
2019: Convicted pedophiles twerk for toddlers in the library under police protection. ️"
Keywords: Suck the dick, bigot
When You Say “I Would Never Date A Trans Person,” It’s Transphobic. Here’s Why.
Lesbians who would never date men are sexist
Former Nike contractor sues company for not using the right pronouns - The Post Millennial - "A computer engineer and employee of Nike’s has filed an official civil rights lawsuit against the company for what the disgruntled employee says is gender identity-based discrimination... Lyles would eventually take medical leave due to the amount of stress Lyles experienced working with those who misgendered her, and following the end of her contract with Nike, filed her lawsuit, claiming that Nike failed to protect Lyles’s civil rights, disabling her from being able to obtain a full-time job at the company... “Lyles was a mediocre [contractor] with a limited skill set”... An independent investigation by BOLI investigators, though, found that Nike employees working with Lyles’ stating that Lyles’ account of the events support Lyles’ story, noting that Nike was not fully prepared to integrate a non-binary transmasculine worker. Two managers told BOLI that no one was “aware of [Lyles’] preferred pronouns.”"
I guess this proves the company never really gave her realy problems, since she didn't have anything real to sue them for
Transgender woman accused of 'hate speech' after wearing t-shirt stating she is still biologically male - "Debbie Hayton, a physics teacher in the Midlands, lives as a transgender women after changing her gender from male to female in 2012. But unlike many people in the trans-community, she does not believe her sex can be changed and is vocal about the fact that she will always biologically remain a man. She is now potentially facing expulsion from the LGBT committee of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) for wearing a top adorned with the slogan: “Trans women are men. Get over it!”... 12 members of the LGBT committee wrote to Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, a federation of unions representing 5.5m working Britons, saying that by wearing the T-shirt Ms Hayton had “gone beyond discourse, and the expression of alternative viewpoints, and is now propagating hate speech against the trans community”. The case against Ms Hayton comes after fellow transgender woman Kristina Jayne Harrison told an employment tribunal in November that attempts to “legally coerce society” into treating males as females in all circumstances is “inevitably doomed to fail”... “The process of having surgery or hormone treatment cannot ultimately transform your sex. Every cell in my body has male chromosomes. I have a prostate. These things cannot be completely deconstructed. It is not possible to be biologically female. But that does not mean I can’t live a fulfilling life being treated as a woman.” Nicola Williams, founder of Fair Play for Women, said: “Accusations of transphobia are thrown at women so often for so little that the word has lost all meaning. When even trans people can get called transphobes, I hope people now understand how ludicrous and far-fetched these attacks have always been. The trans movement has been hijacked by gender extremists.”"
Trans mania means silencing trans people who don't hew to the party line - even when they talk about themselves
After dancer strips at Seattle conference on homelessness, agency director suspended - "Performer Beyoncé Black St. James danced topless in a sheer bodysuit, gave lap dances and kissed attendees... Zylstra was paid about $123,000 a year, according to a county spokesperson. The performance was in the same room as a catered lunch at All Home’s annual conference, this year at South Seattle College with the theme of “Decolonizing our Collective Work.” The only note on the agenda was “Lunch with Cultural Presentation”... In a short video, St. James, a Spokane-based entertainer who identifies as a trans woman on her Facebook page, can be seen doing high kicks in a revealing bodysuit and with silver pasties. “No one expected it,” the staffer said. “So I think some people felt uncomfortable.” The first person St. James kissed seemed surprised, according to the staffer, but the ones following seemed more enthusiastic."
Transphobia!
The Oracle of Delphi is a cryptid - "Three women with penises
The Louvre, Paris Fr"
"oh i’m sorry were you saying something about me being an “artifact of the modern patriarchal medical-industrial complex” cause I was too busy looking at this photo of a 2000 year old classical greek marble statue of three transgender women just sorta chilling and being gorgeous."
"lmao @appropriately-inappropriate some freak photoshopped it
making it ever so clear that 1. we’re dealing with fetishists and 2. no one on tumblr bothers to fact check anything, especially if it suits their agenda"
"It’s hella stupid that only one of the figures would have pubic hair and im fucking cackling, yeah, they really just photoshopped David’s dick onto one of the three graces"
Maya Forstater loses employment tribunal after backlash over trans tweets - "A researcher who lost her job after tweeting that men cannot change their biological sex has lost an employment tribunal after her opinions were ruled “absolutist”.The Central London Employment Tribunal upheld the firing of tax expert Maya Forstater, 45, over a series of tweets questioning government plans to allow people to self-identify as another gender.Ms Forstater was a visiting fellow at the Centre for Global Development (CGD), which is a think-tank based in London and Washington that campaigns against poverty.She was accused of using “offensive and exclusionary” language on Twitter for saying “men cannot change into women”. Her legal dispute against her former employer was seen as a test on whether a “gender-critical” view – that there are only two biological sexes – was a protected philosophical belief under the 2010 Equality Act. Judge James Tayler decided that Ms Forstater’s view was “incompatible with human dignity and fundamental rights of others”... Judge Tayler said the tax expert was not entitled to ignore the legal rights of transgender people and the “enormous pain that can be caused by misgendering a person”. He concluded: “If a person has transitioned from male to female and has a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), that person is legally a woman. That is not something Ms Forstater is entitled to ignore. Ms Forstater’s position is that even if a trans woman has a GRC, she cannot honestly describe herself as a woman. That belief is not worthy of respect in a democratic society."
"In times of universal deceit, to tell the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell (attr)
Segments of Random Thoughts - Posts - "Dress however you please.Call yourself whatever you like.Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you.Live your best life in peace and security.But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real?#IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill"
"JK Rowling dared say that biological sex is real and is now being cancelled by the very woke outrage mob she helped create. The world's tiniest violin plays. #TERF #IStandWithMaya"
"Maya Forstater, a researcher who lost her job after tweeting that men cannot change their biological sex, has lost an employment tribunal after her opinions were ruled “absolutist”. She was accused of using “offensive and exclusionary” language on Twitter."
Science is transphobic. But of course only "right wingers" deny science
ripx4nutmeg on Twitter - "Without any sense of irony, TRAs are calling for JK Rowling's books to be burned because they believe she is a Nazi"
Appalling Apostolic Memes for Liberty-Minded Teens - "Man, this just keeps getting better and better. The left screeches about Trump being a Nazi and trying to burn books and such, but then they go and do it to their own possessions.
imagine having to burn the only book you have ever read must be tough being a liberal today"
On a 2017 JK Rowling book burning exchange - but equally applicable today
In Unexpected Plot Twist, Far Left Now The Ones Burning Harry Potter Books | The Babylon Bee - "Unfortunately, many on the left could not figure out how to get a fire going. There are books on the subject, but they've only ever read Harry Potter."
Star Wars Mark Hamill apologises for liking JK Rowling's 'TERF' tweet'
Science and freedom of speech are 'transphobic'. How radically must society be transformed to appease a tiny minority?
OLIVIA ☭ HILL on Twitter - "Psst. Rowling wasn't some amazing writer who uniquely helped you through a hard time in your youth.
She was pushed in your face as the only viable entertainment option by a bigoted culture. You weren't blessed to read her. You were robbed of the chance to read diverse voices.
You didn't read her books because of merit. You read her books because of a powerful marketing machine. Be mad that it fed you a cis het white antisemitic TERF and told you that was progress and representation."
The perils of being an 'ally' - you get thrown to the wolves as the slightest perceived infraction by people who despise you for even existing
Comment: “She has all our money at this point, so I’m going to stand here and scream in the middle of cyberspace because I can’t cancel a billionaire who already ended the series.”
Sophia (Narwhal) Narwitz on Twitter - "Tranny here. And yeah, Rowling & the researcher are correct. Hormones dont change my biology. I will forever have male chromosomes, & more. I am biologically male. If I wasnt then I wouldnt need to transition. Is the fringe left/woke community really becoming this anti-science 🤦🏻♀️"
In just a few words, JK Rowling has changed the transgender debate | The Spectator Australia - "One of the (many) frustrations of writing a lot about sex and gender is knowing that there are a lot of people who are concerned about these issues but who do not, for various reasons, say so... Many are fearful of the backlash, the accusations of transphobia that could follow. Some of these women are prominent and famous and rich and powerful. The fact that such people keep quiet gives you some idea of the power of fear here... the broader effect of the Forstater case is that issues of sex and gender, the implications of transgenderism for society and individuals, are now going to be talked about by more people."
I write LGBTQ-inclusive books for children. JK Rowling's tweet breaks my heart | The Independent
The Independent: ""No one tells us what to write, so we'll never tell you what to think."
Also The Independent: This article
Germany′s Cabinet approves ban on gay, transgender ′conversion therapy′ - "The German Cabinet approved a bill to ban the advertising or offering of "conversion therapy" to transgender and gay people. The proposed legislation was expanded to include 16- to 18-year-olds... Under the bill, parents or caregivers would also be punished for making a 16- to 18-year-old undergo the therapy, which often uses conditioning techniques considered psychologically abusive by medical professionals. Bärbel Bas, the chair of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) parliamentary faction, pushed for the bill to go further. "I wish to see a comprehensive ban for the so-called conversion therapy for adults, however, this would be difficult to implement legally""
Trans mania is about to explode in Germany. So all the lawsuits in 10-20 years time will have foreign Anglo precedents to draw upon
Looks like the SPD doesn't think adults should be able to make their own decisions
Trans Contestant Sues Miss USA Over 'Natural Born Woman' Rule - "Anita Green of Clackamas, Oregon, holds the title of 2019 Miss Earth Elite Oregon, and competed in the 2018 Miss Montana contest but failed to compete in last year’s Miss United States of America pageant due to her application being rejected.Her lawsuit, which was filed last Tuesday, says she was denied her the full and equal advantages and privileges of the defendant’s services in violation of Oregon’s public accommodations law and is therefore discriminatory... Green has had a trailblazing pageant career, being the first transgender contestant in the Miss Montana USA pageant and only the third openly transgender contestant to compete in a Miss Universe pageant competition. Transgender competitors in female beauty pageants are becoming more of a regular feature. Miss Spain’s winner, Angela Ponce, became Miss Universe’s first ever transgender entry in its 66-year history."
Married women need to sue about the rule banning them from taking part
Emilia Dimitrova - "Lol @ "Slippery slope"
2005: We just want tolerance! ️
2010: We just want to get married! ️
2015: Bake the cake, bigot! ️
2018: Suck the lady's dick, transphobe! ️
2019: Convicted pedophiles twerk for toddlers in the library under police protection. ️"
Keywords: Suck the dick, bigot
When You Say “I Would Never Date A Trans Person,” It’s Transphobic. Here’s Why.
Lesbians who would never date men are sexist
Former Nike contractor sues company for not using the right pronouns - The Post Millennial - "A computer engineer and employee of Nike’s has filed an official civil rights lawsuit against the company for what the disgruntled employee says is gender identity-based discrimination... Lyles would eventually take medical leave due to the amount of stress Lyles experienced working with those who misgendered her, and following the end of her contract with Nike, filed her lawsuit, claiming that Nike failed to protect Lyles’s civil rights, disabling her from being able to obtain a full-time job at the company... “Lyles was a mediocre [contractor] with a limited skill set”... An independent investigation by BOLI investigators, though, found that Nike employees working with Lyles’ stating that Lyles’ account of the events support Lyles’ story, noting that Nike was not fully prepared to integrate a non-binary transmasculine worker. Two managers told BOLI that no one was “aware of [Lyles’] preferred pronouns.”"
I guess this proves the company never really gave her realy problems, since she didn't have anything real to sue them for
Transgender woman accused of 'hate speech' after wearing t-shirt stating she is still biologically male - "Debbie Hayton, a physics teacher in the Midlands, lives as a transgender women after changing her gender from male to female in 2012. But unlike many people in the trans-community, she does not believe her sex can be changed and is vocal about the fact that she will always biologically remain a man. She is now potentially facing expulsion from the LGBT committee of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) for wearing a top adorned with the slogan: “Trans women are men. Get over it!”... 12 members of the LGBT committee wrote to Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, a federation of unions representing 5.5m working Britons, saying that by wearing the T-shirt Ms Hayton had “gone beyond discourse, and the expression of alternative viewpoints, and is now propagating hate speech against the trans community”. The case against Ms Hayton comes after fellow transgender woman Kristina Jayne Harrison told an employment tribunal in November that attempts to “legally coerce society” into treating males as females in all circumstances is “inevitably doomed to fail”... “The process of having surgery or hormone treatment cannot ultimately transform your sex. Every cell in my body has male chromosomes. I have a prostate. These things cannot be completely deconstructed. It is not possible to be biologically female. But that does not mean I can’t live a fulfilling life being treated as a woman.” Nicola Williams, founder of Fair Play for Women, said: “Accusations of transphobia are thrown at women so often for so little that the word has lost all meaning. When even trans people can get called transphobes, I hope people now understand how ludicrous and far-fetched these attacks have always been. The trans movement has been hijacked by gender extremists.”"
Trans mania means silencing trans people who don't hew to the party line - even when they talk about themselves
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