Daily Archives: October 1, 2021

A learned scholar on TikTok has broken down why transphobia is rampant in the UK and why its now being called TERF island online.

One TikTok user asked if anyone knew why the UK became known as TERF island which prompted Daniel who goes by the username danieltalkstoomuch on the video-sharing app to share his insightful response on the topic.

The initialism TERF stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist and refers to people who describe themselves as feminists but who exclude the rights of transgender people

Daniel opened the video by sharing their list of impressive credentials including that they did a dissertation project on transphobia, is starting postgraduate studies looking at transphobic dehumanisation and plans to further their studies with a PhD on TERFism.

So he knows his stuff.

Daniel then spoke about a 2020 essay that they loved called Empire and Eugenics: Trans Studies in the UK by Ezra Horbury and Christine Xine Yao. They said the studys authors point out that trans studies are a marginalised discipline in the UK, a bit more so than in the US where it is to an extent, institutionalised.

What that means is that when we talk about trans issues in the UK, were not consulting trans studies scholars were consulting TERFs, Daniel explained.

And its very easy as a result of this for TERFs to say that trans studies scholars have no evidence and when evidence does come out, its also very easy for them to ignore it, deny it exists or claim that its biased despite no actual evidence to substantiate that claim.

Alongside the discipline just not being taken seriously in the UK, Daniel said the authors point out that there is a massive problem with intersectionality in the UK.

He explained, although the UK is the birthplace of the British Empire and eugenics, many people refuse to recognise that and refuse to recognise even to this day that there is racism and implicit bias in our society.

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And as a result of this, we have a lot of upper to middle-class white feminists in our public discourse in academia who a) have never spoken properly to a feminist of colour and b) have never had to look at something through an intersectional or post-colonial lens, they added.

He continued: And then when we have something like TERF-ism, which is a branch of white feminism that exploits narratives of white female vulnerability and has bioessentialism that has been likened to eugenicist racism, it does really well in this country under these conditions.

At the end of this amazingly thought-provoking video, Daniel also threw in their own conspiracy theory but cautioned that they had no evidence to back it up so said, please take it with a grain of salt.

He pointed out that British people have such a fixation with politeness culturally that it can be really hard to call people out for their transphobic prejudices and biases. And therefore, its difficult to get anybody to learn because its seen as really impolite to accuse someone of being transphobic, he said.

Its also not really polite to be a bigot though so people will find ways to express their prejudice in such un-implicit ways and they will lie to themselves about why they hold those biases, Daniel added.

And if you can substantiate your transphobic beliefs with feminism or concern for the safety of children, that is a great way to make yourself feel better about holding those biases and to prevent people from criticising you.

Daniel isnt the only one to point out that this anti-trans bias exists in the UK.

If you look up TERF island on Twitter, several people can be seen tweeting about the rise in anti-trans sentiment and hate in the UK.

Additionally, a damning report by the Council of Europe recently singled out the UK for its baseless and concerning anti-trans rhetoric. The UK is mentioned throughout the report and referenced the rise of anti-LGBT+ hate speech on social media.

The extensive report which also named Russia, Poland and Hungary as areas of rising hate against LGBT+ people also described a marked increase in anti-LGBT+ hate speech and hate crime.

The council, which is Europes leading human rights organisation, vehemently condemned the extensive and often virulent attacks on LGBT+ rights in the community.

Continue reading here:

Transphobia scholar explains in the simplest of terms why the UK became TERF island - Yahoo News UK

To most people, food production, home ownership, and energy don't have much in common, but in the hands of 'science is a corporate conspiracy' theorist Dave Goulson, humans are ruining the planet. The common cultural cancer underpinning of our problem, he believes, is capitalism.

Rachel Carson believed misuse of DDT was harming birds, Goulson claims our very existence is. And his solemn false dichotomy choice to prevent it is Draconian. Start culling the human herd or create a level of social authoritarianism that even John Holdren, Paul Ehrlich, and Anne Ehrlich didn't advocate in their book "Ecoscience." And they embraced eugenics.(1)

Goulson thinks capitalism is the overarching culprit. It's always easy for academics to bleat about capitalism because they are getting paid unless the world government they evangelize collapses. It's as disingenuous as some cranky old white guy in suburban Las Vegas claiming that minorities need to stop going on about racism and get jobs. Much of the book reads just like that kind of screechy polemic. It's solely for wealthy white people in developed countries, the poor and brown and black people in less fertile lands are just abstract notions. If they can't afford organic bread, let them eat organic cake.(2)

Using hand-picked papers - including his own, despite criticism from the more rational science community that his methodology wouldn't have gotten past a middle school biology teacher - he insists bees are dying thanks to science, humans are dying thanks to science, and scientists are evil. Unless they are trustees for Pesticide Action Network, like him. In his book, he endorses them yet never bothers to mention his conflict of interest.

In a miracle of time efficiency, it only came out yesterday and 7 people on Amazon have already stated they read it cover to cover and that it is a spectacular work of science. All 5-star reviews. If you believe that, you also may be willing to believe his backyard gardening techniques can feed a planet.

That will be unimportant to his readers (look for 'sales' of it to be primarily PAN buying them to give them away to donors) because this is not a science book, it is a quasi-evangelical one. His Star of Bethlehem in his religious quest to cull humanity is, of course, Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring", and while that book had very little science and a whole lot of anecdotes it came across as a lot more authentic. Goulson instead set out to create a defense attorney's plea for action to potential jurors, and the topics he chooses to include (and accept) are so overtly manipulated it screams opportunism.

For example: "5G promises to chronically expose every city dweller to a dose of higher-energy microwaves." What scientist believes this silliness? It's not microwaves, and while it is radiation - everything is - it is non-ionizing radiation. You get more "microwaves" from a light bulb. All-natural cosmic rays, 100 percent organic, are the only radiation we should worry about.

He dismisses kookier claims that 5G somehow caused COVID-19 but then immediately engages in 'but we don't really know what it does' inference.

And that is "Silent Earth" in a nutshell. It is the Denier For Hire playbook. We must obey the Precautionary Principle and all science Needs More Study. Unless it is things endorsed by the lawyers and groups that are paying him, where he has a reputation for producing papers with a promised, predetermined conclusion for activist organizations. He wants to use government to drive farmers out of business - except the farmers engaging in the process the activist organizations which support him approve.

It all sounds simple, and it is when your livelihood is an intangible like raging against the science machine. The problem is we live in the real world. His fellow progressives, from Malthus to Margaret Sanger, would applaud this kind of war on the poor and minorities, but compassionate people who want everyone to lead better lives see it for what it is - eugenics under the new name of sustainability.

The problem Goulson faces is one that activists always face - logic. They endorsed natural gas before it became popular, then they turned on it. Same for dams and hydroelectric power. Now they endorse solar and wind because, they claim, they accept climate science.

No, they accept any doomsday prophecy that helps raise money. Agricultural science instead feeds people.

Yet Goulson and his political allies claim government agencies and biologists are all being bought off by Big Ag. The problem with his reasoning is the problem with the book - a lack of reasoning. Goulson now claims he accepts vaccines, he claims he accepts climate science. Everyone in fields where he is a science denier has been 'bought off.' How is that climate scientists were not bought off but agricultural scientists have been when Exxon alone has enough money to bribe each climate scientist with $5 million each year? 20X the revenue of Bayer's chemical group? And that is just one oil company?

It makes no sense. It doesn't have to make sense. It is a dirge with no basis in facts, like that honeybees colonies are up 85% in the last 60 years and that wild insects are only impacted by pesticides if activists like Goulson create experiments where critters are poisoned at obscene doses for the equivalent of 5 straight years of their lives.

Yet activist groups that pay Goulson are where science facts go to die so I predict it will be a big hit among people who think all food that contains DNA should have a warning label.

NOTE:

(1)Ecoscience - 1977's Bible for Environmental Doomsday Preppers who favor compulsory abortion and world police.

(2) Modified from "Enfin je me rappelai le pis-aller d'une grande princesse qui l'on disait que les paysans n'avaient pas de pain, et qui rpondit: Qu'ils mangent de la brioche." - Jean-Jacques Rousseau "Confessions", p. 262.

Read the original:

'Silent Earth' Review: Scientists Have Been Bought Off, Organic Can Feed Everyone - It's Retro Creepy In 2021 - Science 2.0

Philip "Phil" Jerome Theisen

February 25, 1952 - September 26, 2021

Philip "Phil" Jerome Theisen, 69, of Forest, Va., passed away peacefully on Sunday, September 26, 2021, after spending several days in the hospital.

Phil was born in Madison, Wisconsin, on February 25, 1952, to Marie and Vincent Theisen. Phil tragically lost his father at the tender age of 6 months old and was raised by his mother. He was a graduate of the University of Southampton in Long Island, New York, with a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice. He served as a Lynchburg City Police Officer, Hospital Security Director for Centra, a Lynchburg City Social Worker, and was the Executive Director of The Lynchburg Area Center for Independent Living.

Phil was fiercely passionate about making a better life for people with disabilities and raising awareness about mental health issues. He dedicated his life to changing the community for the better. Three of Phil's biggest accomplishments were: 1. Winning the 1992 Governor's Gold Medal Award for Volunteering Excellence for mental health advocacy, which was awarded to Phil by Former Virginia Governor, Douglas Wilder, 2. Helping to get the Monacan Bridge & Parkway named after the Monacan Indian Tribe, and 3. Spearheading the 2002 Virginia Eugenics Program apology, which was issued by former Virginia Governor, Mark Warner. The apology issued by Virginia prompted a cascade effect of Oregon, North & South Carolina, and California to issue formal apologies for their eugenics programs.

Phil met his wife, Linda, at Riverhead Highschool, in Riverhead New York in 1971, and went on to have one son. Phil put family first, always, and was a dedicated father and husband. He was a strong, kind, loving, and supportive father. His knowledge and guidance were the foundation of his family.

After he retired as the Executive Director of LACIL, he mainly concentrated on home projects, wood-working, and learning about history, to cultivate and occupy his time.

Phil is survived by his wife of 48 years, Linda Theisen; son, Robert Theisen; daughter-in-law, Rachel Theisen; and his mother, Marie Theisen.

A celebration of life memorial service will be held in Phil's honor at Forest Presbyterian Church in Forest, Virginia, on Saturday, October 9, 2021, at 11 a.m. All family, friends, and people who were touched by Phil's life are welcome to attend. Face masks will be required.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Greater Lynchburg Community Foundation, specifically the "Heart of Virginia Fund (In memory of Dennis G. Theisen & Robert S. Haizlip)," at 1100 Commerce Street, Lynchburg, VA 24504.

Heritage Funeral Service and Crematory 427 Graves Mill Road (434) 239-2405 is assisting the family. Memories and thoughts may be shared with the family at http://www.heritagefuneralandcremation.com.

Published by The News & Advance on Sep. 29, 2021.

See the original post:

Philip Jerome "Phil" Theisen Obituary (1952 - 2021) The News & Advance - Legacy.com

Politicos play the race card with reckless abandon. As such, the words racist and racism are losing punch. These words are the crudest and most misused cudgels in English. Congressional Democrats are throwing them smack in the middle of the abortion conflict, which they do at the peril of their cause.

Bestselling author and Front Range resident David Horowitz reminds us in todays perspective section how the United States outlawed institutional racism with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If institutions exercise or promote racism, we have legal recourse.

The Gazettes editorial board routinely identifies vestiges of institutionalized racism. We talk about Colorados Ku Klux Klan-inspired Blaine Amendment and how it deprives minority children of receiving the educational options available to white children in high-income households.

We talk about the swiftly growing movement to promote racism with coursework that calls white children oppressors and nonwhite children victims. Among the remnants of institutionalized racism, one institution outperforms them all: the on-demand abortion practice.

This is not to rehash old abortion debates about the merits or pitfalls of Roe v. Wade and abortion rights in general. Lets face it, more than 90% of adults long ago took sides on this issue and will not be swayed no matter what.

Whether one agrees with a persons right to an abortion, most reasonable people believe abortions should be regulated for safety. We dont want fake doctors performing abortions and risking the lives of persons experiencing pregnancy.

We also dont want abortion providers to target demographics. People experiencing pregnancy in some cultures (see: China) blatantly use abortion to eliminate unborn girl babies so they can try for boys. The Boulder abortion clinic is a go-to institution for those who are told an unborn child has Down syndrome.

The largest abortion provider in the United States, Planned Parenthood, began as The Negro Project. It was an effort by eugenicist Margaret Sanger to reduce the Black population. She was a racist who pitched her message at a Ku Klux Klan meeting. To this day, based on Planned Parenthoods data, about 40% of the companys clinics are in neighborhoods where Blacks make up a majority of the population. This, in a country with a Black population of 13%.

A report by the Center for Urban Renewal and Education finds 79% of Planned Parenthoods surgical clinics those that conduct abortions are in predominantly nonwhite neighborhoods.

The difficult truth is that Margaret Sangers racist alliances and belief in eugenics have caused irreparable damage to the health and lives of Black people, Indigenous people, people of color, people with disabilities, immigrants, and many others.

These are not the words of a pro-life activist. That is a direct quote from a Planned Parenthood website. By Planned Parenthoods admission, this is an institution founded in racism.

Despite the fact that Planned Parenthood owns its racist past, and despite the fact it terminates disproportionately high numbers of minority children, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives want fewer state regulations on abortion. Thats no surprise, but the opening paragraphs of the bill should cause a collective eye roll. Democrats claim they want this law because they care about minorities.

HR 3755, introduced last week, would force anything-goes abortion on all states. It goes so far as forbidding requirements that only licensed physicians perform abortions.

The bill says abortion restrictions perpetuate systems of oppression, lack of bodily autonomy, white supremacy, and anti-Black racism. This violent legacy has manifested in policies including enslavement, rape, and experimentation on Black women; forced sterilizations; medical experimentation on low-income womens reproductive systems; and the forcible removal of Indigenous children. Access to equitable reproductive health care, including abortion services, has always been deficient in the United States for Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) and their families.

Somehow, laws that restrict abortion cause the forcible removal of minority children, medical experimentation on Blacks, and other monstrous outcomes.

Again, regardless of an individuals position on abortion rights, this bills justification language can be seen only as a blatant attempt to turn the truth upside-down. The Negro Project, now known as Planned Parenthood, pushed abortion and sterilization on Black persons experiencing pregnancy. Just ask Planned Parenthood. Access? Whether one believes Planned Parenthood or pro-life activists, minorities absolutely and beyond debate have easier access than whites to the countrys largest abortion chain, which taxpayers subsidize.

Great minds can have reasonable, intelligent, and honest discussions about abortion rights. We can debate whether states or the federal government have the authority to regulate abortion.

We cannot have a reasonable disagreement about the role abortion has played in reducing the population of minorities. The facts, as acknowledged by Planned Parenthood, speak for themselves. Those facts scream dont play the race card to advance abortion rights. The truth eventually prevails, meaning this deception stands only to backfire.

The Gazette Editorial Board

Originally posted here:

EDITORIAL: Don't play the race card to advocate abortion - Colorado Springs Gazette

The House of Representatives voted to approve the Women's Health Protection Act on Friday morning, a sweeping bill that pro-life advocates warn would wipe away state pro-life laws across the country. The measure passed with a vote of 218 to 211, so now it's up to the Senate.

President Biden says he'll sign the controversial pro-abortion measure if it comes to his desk.

Melanie Israel, a research associate for the Devos Center of Religion and Civil Society at the Heritage Foundation, told CBN News the bill is an attempt to overturn health protections for women and the rights of unborn persons that have already been upheld by legislatures and courts.

"It's really meant to roll back existing policies, many of which have been on the books for many years, litigated all the way to the Supreme Court and deemed constitutional," she said. "The goal of this bill is to enshrine unfettered abortion access into federal law across the country and take away the American people's ability to have a say at all."Israel also wrote about it in a new report from Heritage saying it's a danger to pro-life efforts of any kind, even efforts to prevent eugenics and gendercide.

"The bill would prevent state protections for children from abortion based on their sex, race, or diagnosis of a genetic abnormality such as Down Syndromepolicies that, in the words of Justice Clarence Thomas, 'promote a State's compelling interest in preventing abortion from becoming a tool of modern-day eugenics'," she wrote.

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Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) opposed the measure in Congress saying, "This bill is far outside the American mainstream and goes far beyond Roe v Wade."

"For the first time ever by congressional statute, H.R. 3755 would legally enable the death of unborn baby girls and boys by dismemberment, decapitation, forced expulsion from the womb, deadly poisons, or other methods at any time until birth," Smith warned.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) praised the pro-abortion measure saying it's about people's medical choices."This is about freedom. About freedom of women to have a choice about the size and timing of their families - not the business of the people on the court or members of Congress. It's about themselves. But it's also about freedom from the danger of vigilantes."

Pro-life leader Lila Rose from Live Action says the proposed law will lead to the killing ofunborn children and will use taxpayer dollars to do it, funding government facilities that are used for abortions.

"This is the most extreme pro-abortion law Congress has ever proposed," Rose said. "Pelosi's law would destroy all regulations or restrictions, permit sex-selective abortions, abolish waiting periods, attempt to coerce medical professionals to participate in the killing of children, and force Americans to pay for the murder of those children. America's abortion law is already on par with China and North Korea. It is more extreme than virtually all of Europe. This law would codify that federally."

The bill doesn't have as much support in the Senate where the Democrat margin of control is razor-thin at 50-50. A Republican filibuster of the bill is expected in the Senate, so the Democrats would need 60 votes to move ahead with it. They don't appear to have those votes since Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is considered to be pro-life, and even a prominent pro-choice Republican is opposing the bill.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the pro-choice Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), an occasional Democrat ally, rejects the bill saying, "I support codifying Roe. Unfortunately, the bill goes way beyond that. It would severely weaken the conscience exceptions that are in the current law," Collins said. She went on to call the measure "extreme."

Heritage analyst Melanie Israel further warned, "Rather than take away the American people's ability to have a say in pro-life policymaking, Congress should pursue policies that protect innocent unborn human lives."

See the article here:

House Passes 'Extreme' Pro-Abortion Bill to Wipe Out State Pro-Life Laws and Permanently Enshrine Roe - CBN News