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Oceans are warming at the same rate as if five Hiroshima bombs were dropped in every se... - 0 views

shared by tongoscar on 20 Jan 20 - No Cached
  • An international team of 14 scientists examined data going back to the 1950s, looking at temperatures from the ocean surface to 2,000 meters deep.
  • The study shows that while the oceans warmed steadily between 1955 and 1986, warming has accelerated rapidly in the last few decades. Between 1987-2019, ocean warming was 450% greater than during the earlier time period.
  • That's equivalent to dropping roughly four Hiroshima bombs into the oceans every second over the past quarter of a century. But because the warming is speeding up, the rate at which we are dropping these imaginary bombs is getting faster than ever.
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  • Oceans serve as a good indicator of the real impact of climate change. Covering almost three quarters of Earth's surface, they absorb the vast majority of the world's heat. Since 1970, more than 90% of the planet's excess heat went into the oceans, while less than 4% was absorbed by the atmosphere and the land, the study said.
  • But just because people live on land doesn't mean they are immune from the effects of the warming waters. Ocean warming has a profound impact on the entire world.
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Psychology vs Sociology: What's the Difference? - 0 views

  • Although these disciplines often attract students of similar mindsets and inclinations, the subjects are often confused with one another.
  • Both fields provide researchers with insight into inherent human attributes such as emotions, relationships and behaviors.
  • And both areas have the same ultimate goal: to improve people’s lives and work toward the betterment of society.
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  • Students seeking to make informed decisions about their career path must understand the nature of each subject in order to make the proper choice about their course of study.
  • Asks questions about comprehensive issues, such as “How will ‘x’ affect the continued development or wellness of the community?”
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Donald Trump's 'bunker' story tells you everything you need to know about him - CNNPoli... - 0 views

  • "Well it was a false report. I was down during the day and I was there for a tiny, little short period of time. And it was much more for an inspection. There was no problem during the day."
  • "I've gone down two or three times, all for inspection. And, you go there, some day you may need it. I went down. I looked at it. It was during the day, and it was not a problem. And I read about it, in like, a big thing. There was never a problem ... nobody ever came close to giving us a problem."
  • This re-framing of history is remarkable solely for the gall it takes to attempt it. After all, every single major media organization reported over the weekend -- with NO pushback from the White House -- that Trump had been taken into the bunker for his own protection, not to, uh, "inspect" it.
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  • "As protesters gathered outside the White House Friday night in Washington, DC, President Donald Trump was briefly taken to the underground bunker for a period of time, according to a White House official and a law enforcement source.
  • "A law enforcement source and another source familiar with the matter tell CNN that first lady Melania Trump and their son, Barron, were also taken to the bunker.
  • So, why would Trump describe it falsely to Fox? Especially when there are a few other things going on in the country -- most notably ongoing protests over the murder of a black man at the hands of police in Minneapolis and a global pandemic that has killed 106,000 Americans and is projected to kill 135,000 by early August.
  • There is nothing Trump hates more than weakness. And the image of him cowering in an underground bunker while protesters stood outside the gates of the White House is simply not something he cannot accept. This is a man who has been telling himself a story of his life -- one in which he is always the toughest, the smartest and the winner-est -- for, well, his entire adult life.
  • He could have gone anytime, of course! It was just a coincidence he was down there amid the protests outside the White House! Just going down to make sure all the buttons worked! All the brass was sufficiently polished! And the like.
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What my Florida town can teach us about racist policing (opinion) - CNN - 0 views

  • Nine days before George Floyd died an agonizing death under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer while others watched, law enforcement officials broke up what has been described as a massive block party in my Florida hometown of DeLand and the surrounding unincorporated Volusia County.
  • this local example has lessons for all of us looking for ways to facilitate effective community policing of African American communities during the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • The mostly African American neighborhood known as Spring Hill is one of five historically underserved communities in the DeLand area where freed slaves settled to live separately after the Civil War. My elementary school — once heralded as a sign of this area's progress toward racial reconciliation when in the 1970s white students from the suburbs were bused there to implement the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education desegregation order — is still a neighborhood school for mostly black and brown students.
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  • Figuring out exactly what happened that Saturday night will take time and require generous listening to reveal important details about exactly what events took place, how law enforcement became involved and whether permitting and operational procedures were followed.
  • I'm convinced that the depiction of the event and the actions of law enforcement is contrary to what was initially reported. This was not a pop-up Spring Hill block party that spontaneously became massive, disruptive and violent. Instead, it involved groups gathered for a series of events (including, among others, a car show, a concert and memorial for a former Spring Hill resident who in 2008 was a victim of gun violence) that were promoted successfully enough to attract attendees from as far away as Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville.
  • And instead of becoming yet another incident where unarmed African Americans were shot by law enforcement officers who felt threatened based on preconceived fears and racist assumptions, there have been no reports or claims that these law enforcement officers shot, killed or inflicted life-threatening injury on any residents or visitors
  • law enforcement officers claim they were hit and injured that night by a sucker punch and the hurling of bottles, a bar stool and a mason jar; that they recovered one loaded Ruger 9 mm and other guns, some narcotics and $3,840 in cash; that they made seven arrests and issued five traffic citations. It remains the subject of further investigation and reporting to resolve community complaints in social media posts about undue provocation, escalation and unlawful business interruption. Videos of the incident shed some light but do not capture all aspects of a crowd this large -- the Volusia sheriff's office estimated it at 3,000 -- moving across multiple locations.
  • To facilitate effective community policing during this pandemic crisis, law enforcement leaders and African American leaders and residents need to further discuss and endeavor to reach consensus on four practical steps: suspending plans for any large gatherings until public health officials say they are safe; advocating for national and state leaders to put health over politics by warning about the continuing risks of asymptomatic virus transmission as the economy reopens; using social media to promote a consistent message about the danger of asymptomatic spread, especially given that the African American community is experiencing a disproportionate number of Covid-19 deaths, and ensuring that when large events are permissible organizers comply with local permitting requirements, which should be consistently enforced in ALL communities, not just in African American neighborhoods.
  • Ironically, on the same morning as the Spring Hill neighborhood events in question, I was part of a group of 19 racially, politically and socially diverse individuals from eight states and 11 cities gathered for a virtual "Color Line Roundtable."
  • participants thoughtfully discussed what values, beliefs and principles would guide their votes -- or abstentions -- in the November election. Each of us had a slightly different way of articulating those foundational beliefs, but, as one first-time participant emailed me after the discussion, it was "affirming to hear the commonality of beliefs and principles amongst a group of people who obviously also have some significant differences in opinions and positions."
  • upon further reflection, I have come to appreciate the value of our community's years-long series of roundtable discussions. Covid-19 restrictions and Floyd's murder might have complicated relations with law enforcement officials, but they offer yet another opportunity for us to talk candidly about the complex issues of effective community policing, racial diversity, equity and inclusion.
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Opinion | Does Math Make You Smarter? - The New York Times - 0 views

  • Various studies point to the conclusion that subjecting the mind to formal discipline — as when studying geometry or Latin — does not, in general, engender a broad transfer of learning. There is no sweeping increase of a general capacity for tasks like writing a speech or balancing a checkbook.
  • Many reasons have been advanced for this poor showing, including the lack of relevance of such an abstract exercise to people’s daily lives.
  • Most people reflexively eliminate the cards not explicitly specified in the rule (the F and the 2) and then continue with slower, more analytic processing only for the E and the 5. In this, they rely on an initial snap judgment about superficial similarity, a tendency that some scholars speculate evolved in humans because in most real-world contexts, quickly detecting such similarities is a good strategy for survival.
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  • I propose we start to teach the Wason selection task in mathematics courses at the high-school level and higher. The puzzle captures so much that is essential to mathematics: the nuts and bolts of inference, the difficulty of absorbing abstract concepts when removed from the context of real-world experience, the importance of a slow, deliberative cogitative process and the pitfalls of instant intuitive judgments.
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Trailblazing Scottish Mountaineer and Poet Nan Shepherd on the Transcendent Rewards of ... - 0 views

  • To place one foot in front of the other in a steady rhythm is to allow self and world to cohere, to set the mind itself into motion. We walk for different reasons and to different ends — for Thoreau, every walk was “a sort of crusade”; for artist Maira Kalman, it is “the glory of life.” “Nature’s particular gift to the walker,” Kenneth Grahame wrote in his splendid 1913 manifesto for walking as creative fuel, “is to set the mind jogging, to make it garrulous, exalted, a little mad maybe — certainly creative and suprasensitive.”
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Create Dangerously: Albert Camus on the Artist as a Voice of Resistance and a Liberator... - 0 views

  • To create today is to create dangerously… The question, for all those who cannot live without art and what it signifies, is merely to find out how, among the police forces of so many ideologies… the strange liberty of creation is possible
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These small business owners got Paycheck Protection loans, but they're afraid to use th... - 0 views

  • Many small business owners who received loans from the federal Paycheck Protection Program say the program's rules are forcing them to make a difficult decision: Either take on more debt or spend money in ways that don't actually benefit their business.
  • At issue is a key rule that says in order for a PPP loan to be forgiven, a small business owner must spend at least 75% of it on payroll expenses in the first eight weeks of the loan. The remaining 25% may be spent on mortgage interest, rent, utilities and interest on other business-related debt obligations.
  • That means for businesses that had to shutter and let employees go, they must rehire their workers -- many of whom just started receiving unemployment benefits -- and pay them for eight weeks even though there is no work for them to do. Then one of two things will happen: the business won't be allowed to reopen yet and its employees will have to go back on unemployment; or the business may reopen, but have a hard time paying employees because it's unlikely to turn a profit quickly.
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  • Lisa Ashton had the same problem. She received a PPP loan for her business, Northern Lights Holistic, a wellness center in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. But she quickly realized she wouldn't be able to spend it in eight weeks, especially since her business won't be allowed to open before June 1. She called her bank and asked to give the money back.
  • Kurt Huffman, who owns the restaurant group ChefStable in Oregon, sees the PPP loan as a welcome lifeline but says the eight-week window to qualify for forgiveness is much too tight for restaurants.
  • "We'd rather survive and live to fight another day, even if eventually we owe the government some money," Huffman said.
  • "I told them the situation and I told them that it's going to be too much money for me to spend," Ashton said. Her bank agreed to take half back -- and she can now pay her 16 freelancers and rent through July 1, without accruing loan debt. "I won't have to worry about the interest or everything accumulating ... and being stuck with that payment. So I feel really good about that."
  • It's unclear whether either will happen. But a new report from the inspector general overseeing the Small Business Administration recommends that the SBA review its 75/25 rule for divvying up how the money must be spent. The IG noted that the law that created the program does not create any such restriction.
  • "The Paycheck program is underperforming because Treasury unilaterally required that 75% of the funds be used for payroll within eight weeks of receiving the loan," Seiberg wrote in a note to clients. "The frustration in Washington is that Treasury could unilaterally fix the problems tomorrow because it created them. ... If Treasury won't fix Paycheck, expect Congress to change the terms in the next stimulus."
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Carl Sagan on Mystery, Why Common Sense Blinds Us to the Universe, and How to Live with... - 0 views

  • “We are bathing in mystery and confusion on many subjects, and I think that will always be our destiny. The universe will always be much richer than our ability to understand it.”
  • In our recent On Being conversation, NASA astrophysicist and exoplanet researcher Natalie Batalha said something that stopped me up short: as sentient beings endowed with awareness, we are “the universe itself becoming aware.” Echoing poet Diane Ackerman’s lovely notion of “the plain everythingness of everything, in cahoots with the everythingness of everything else,” Dr. Batalha added: “It took 13.7 billion years for the atoms to come together to create the portal to the universe which is my physical self. So in that statement is this idea, or the fluidity of time and space. And I kind of see it all at once. And I don’t know what ‘me’ is. I just feel part of everything. And I feel such deep gratitude for being able to take this conscious look at the universe — at myself as being part of the universe.”
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The Habits of Light: A Celebration of Pioneering Astronomer Henrietta Leavitt, Whose Ca... - 0 views

  • “Nothing is fixed. All is in flux,” physicist Alan Lightman wrote in his soaring meditation on how to live with our longing for absolutes in a relative universe, reminding us that all the physical evidence gleaned through millennia of scientific inquiry indicates the inherent inconstancy of the cosmos.
  • This awareness, so unnerving against the backdrop of our irrepressible yearning for constancy and permanence, was first unlatched when the ancients began suspecting that the Earth, rather than being the static center of the heavens it was long thought to be, is in motion, right beneath our feet. But it took millennia for the most disorienting evidence of inconstancy to dawn — the discovery that the universe itself is in flux, constantly expanding, growing thinner and thinner as stars grow farther and farther apart.
  • If the universe is constantly expanding, to trace it backward along the arrow of time is to imagine it smaller and smaller, all the way down to the seeming nothingness that banged into the somethingness within which everything exists.
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Goldman Sachs issues warning about US unemployment - CNN - 0 views

  • The unemployment rate in the United States will peak at 25%, rivaling the worst period of the Great Depression, Goldman Sachs warned on Wednesday.
  • The unemployment rate spiked to 14.7% in April as the economy lost more than 20 million jobs during the self-imposed shutdown to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
  • Goldman Sachs previously projected the unemployment rate would peak at 15%. The new forecasts are based on government statistics, the first glimpse of the reopening process and new big data sources, the bank said.
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  • Annual data, which go back to 1929, show that the unemployment rate peaked during the Great Depression at an average of 24.9% in 1933.
  • Goldman Sachs warned Wednesday that the real jobless rate will peak at 35%, up from the bank's previous projection for a peak of 29%.
  • , told CNN last week that the real jobless rate could hit 25% before "hopefully" falling following a transition period this summer.
  • Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said Tuesday that the "consequences could be really serious" if states reopen ahead of the guidelines issued by the White House.
  • Goldman also upgraded its GDP forecasts, predicting a "somewhat more V-shaped path" as states relax lockdown orders. The bank now expects rapid annualized growth of 29% in the third quarter, up from 19% previously.
  • And Goldman noted several "serious health risks": "insufficient testing and contact tracing" in some states, reopening high-risk sectors and limited evidence of how effective measures like social distancing and will be.
  • "Prolonged weakness could cause severe scarring effects such as permanent layoffs and business closures that delay the recovery," Goldman Sachs economists wrote.
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In Hong Kong, the coronavirus outbreak is deepening the political divide from the 2019 ... - 0 views

shared by tongoscar on 19 Feb 20 - No Cached
  • Rumors had spread that toilet paper supply would be cut off due to new border closures with mainland China, implemented in an effort to contain the novel coronavirus outbreak.
  • The government's reassurances and calls for order went unheeded as millions of residents, gripped by fear and suspicion, descended on stores citywide to panic buy.The novel coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan, China, was first detected in Hong Kong on January 22. Since then, there have been 62 confirmed cases and two deaths in the city.
  • The numbers are far lower than in mainland China, where at least 1,868 people have died so far -- but Hong Kong carries the memories of the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003, and people aren't taking any chances.
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  • By the time she withdrew the bill -- that would have allowed criminal suspects to be extradited across the border to mainland China -- protesters' demands had expanded to include action on deeper social grievances.
  • In January, many Hong Kongers across various sectors, including elected lawmakers, called to shut Hong Kong's borders with mainland China to contain the virus. But these demands also reintroduced familiar strands of localism, an ideology focused on preserving Hong Kong's autonomy.
  • This is why closing the Chinese borders is a politically significant and symbolic act -- and perhaps why Lam resisted doing so for weeks.
  • The 2019 protest movement may appear to have fizzled out -- but it educated an entire city and generation of youth on organized resistance. Now, this spirit of political action has been redirected toward the outbreak, as people protest for a stronger government response.More than 7,000 health care workers participated in a week-long union strike in early February to demand closed borders; that's nearly 10% of all medical staff of Hong Kong's Hospital Authority.The labor union that organized the strike was one of several born from the 2019 unrest, founded during the tail end of the protests.
  • Hong Kong's schools are shut until at least mid-March, and many businesses have closed or have instructed employees to work from home.With cases of community transmission confirmed, many people are staying at home for weeks at a time to avoid infection, only venturing out for groceries or quick strolls.
  • Fear and anger are palpable in the city, especially earlier this week with the disappearance of two people who violated quarantine after returning from mainland China. They were found after being added to a police wanted list.
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Germany: Half of refugees find jobs within five years | News | DW | 04.02.2020 - 0 views

shared by tongoscar on 19 Feb 20 - No Cached
  • A new study published on Tuesday found that 49% of refugees who have come to Germany since 2013 were able to find steady employment within five years of arriving.
  • "This means that labor market integration is somewhat faster than for refugees from previous years," said the Insitute for Labor Market and Vocational Research (IAB), who carried out the study.
  • While 68 percent reported having a job, this included both full and part-time. Moreover, 17% of this group are involved in a paid training scheme and 3% have a paid internship, a form of employment that often does not pay enough to live off.
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Three quarters of refugees feel welcome in Germany | News | DW | 18.02.2020 - 0 views

shared by tongoscar on 19 Feb 20 - No Cached
  • Around three-quarters of refugees in Germany feel welcome in the country, according to a recent survey conducted by Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). The survey, which was published on Tuesday, claimed that key factors determining overall life satisfaction for refugees in Germany depended on their family situation and health, residence status and housing, employment status, and the extent of social interaction with local Germans.
  • "All in all, the refugees assessed their living conditions in Germany rather positively," project manager Nina Rother said. "The feeling of being welcomed in Germany also plays an important role."
  • The joint study was conducted in collaboration with Germany's Institute for Employment Research (IAB). The report interviewed a total of 7,950 refugees who came to Germany between 2013 and 2016. According to the researchers, a good level of German is a central prerequisite for professional and social integration.
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  • The survey stated that 44% of the refugees now rate their German language skills as "good" or "very good." In 2017, the figure stood at 35% and in the first survey in 2016, at only 22%. The proportion of respondents without any knowledge of German has fallen to 5%.
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Social Philosophy - Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology - University of Exeter - 0 views

  • We draw on all these areas to address a variety of contemporary and urgent themes that are philosophically challenging, and at the same time also have immediate relevance for our lives as social beings, in our daily interactions as well as in relation to broader economic, scientific, technological and cultural events.
  • Traditional understandings of the human-nonhuman relationship are being questioned,
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J.K. Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues - J.K. ... - 0 views

  • For people who don’t know: last December I tweeted my support for Maya Forstater, a tax specialist who’d lost her job for what were deemed ‘transphobic’ tweets. She took her case to an employment tribunal, asking the judge to rule on whether a philosophical belief that sex is determined by biology is protected in law. Judge Tayler ruled that it wasn’t.
  • All the time I’ve been researching and learning, accusations and threats from trans activists have been bubbling in my Twitter timeline. This was initially triggered by a ‘like’.
  • On one occasion, I absent-mindedly ‘liked’ instead of screenshotting. That single ‘like’ was deemed evidence of wrongthink, and a persistent low level of harassment began.
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  • Months later, I compounded my accidental ‘like’ crime by following Magdalen Berns on Twitter. Magdalen was an immensely brave young feminist and lesbian who was dying of an aggressive brain tumour
  • Magdalen was a great believer in the importance of biological sex, and didn’t believe lesbians should be called bigots for not dating trans women with penises, dots were joined in the heads of twitter trans activists, and the level of social media abuse increased.
  • ‘TERF’ is an acronym coined by trans activists, which stands for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist. In practice, a huge and diverse cross-section of women are currently being called TERFs and the vast majority have never been radical feminists
  • why am I doing this? Why speak up? Why not quietly do my research and keep my head down?
  • I’ve got five reasons for being worried about the new trans activism, and deciding I need to speak up.
  • Firstly, I have a charitable trust that focuses on alleviating social deprivation in Scotland, with a particular emphasis on women and children. Among other things, my trust supports projects for female prisoners and for survivors of domestic and sexual abuse. I also fund medical research into MS, a disease that behaves very differently in men and women
  • I’ve wondered whether, if I’d been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition. The allure of escaping womanhood would have been huge.
  • The second reason is that I’m an ex-teacher and the founder of a children’s charity, which gives me an interest in both education and safeguarding
  • The third is that, as a much-banned author, I’m interested in freedom of speech and have publicly defended i
  • The fourth is where things start to get truly personal. I’m concerned about the huge explosion in young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning (returning to their original sex), because they regret taking steps that have, in some cases, altered their bodies irrevocably, and taken away their fertility
  • ten years ago, the majority of people wanting to transition to the opposite sex were male. That ratio has now reversed. The UK has experienced a 4400% increase in girls being referred for transitioning treatment. Autistic girls are hugely overrepresented in their numbers.
  • American physician and researcher Lisa Littman set out to explore it. In an interview, she said: ‘Parents online were describing a very unusual pattern of transgender-identification where multiple friends and even entire friend groups became transgender-identified at the same time. I would have been remiss had I not considered social contagion and peer influences as potential factors.’
  • her career took a similar hit to that suffered by Maya Forstater. Lisa Littman had dared challenge one of the central tenets of trans activism, which is that a person’s gender identity is innate, like sexual orientation. Nobody, the activists insisted, could ever be persuaded into being trans.
  • The argument of many current trans activists is that if you don’t let a gender dysphoric teenager transition, they will kill themselves.
  • the new trans activism is having (or is likely to have, if all its demands are met) a significant impact on many of the causes I support, because it’s pushing to erode the legal definition of sex and replace it with gender.
  • I want to be very clear here: I know transition will be a solution for some gender dysphoric people, although I’m also aware through extensive research that studies have consistently shown that between 60-90% of gender dysphoric teens will grow out of their dysphoria
  • As I didn’t have a realistic possibility of becoming a man back in the 1980s, it had to be books and music that got me through both my mental health issues and the sexualised scrutiny and judgement that sets so many girls to war against their bodies in their teens
  • The current explosion of trans activism is urging a removal of almost all the robust systems through which candidates for sex reassignment were once required to pass. A man who intends to have no surgery and take no hormones may now secure himself a Gender Recognition Certificate and be a woman in the sight of the law.
  • We’re living through the most misogynistic period I’ve experienced. Back in the 80s, I imagined that my future daughters, should I have any, would have it far better than I ever did, but between the backlash against feminism and a porn-saturated online culture, I believe things have got significantly worse for girls.
  • From the leader of the free world’s long history of sexual assault accusations and his proud boast of ‘grabbing them by the pussy’, to the incel (‘involuntarily celibate’) movement that rages against women who won’t give them sex, to the trans activists who declare that TERFs need punching and re-educating, men across the political spectrum seem to agree: women are asking for trouble.
  • I’ve read all the arguments about femaleness not residing in the sexed body, and the assertions that biological women don’t have common experiences, and I find them, too, deeply misogynistic and regressive
  • It’s also clear that one of the objectives of denying the importance of sex is to erode what some seem to see as the cruelly segregationist idea of women having their own biological realities or – just as threatening – unifying realities that make them a cohesive political class.
  • It isn’t enough for women to be trans allies. Women must accept and admit that there is no material difference between trans women and themselves.
  • ‘woman’ is not a costume. ‘Woman’ is not an idea in a man’s head. ‘Woman’ is not a pink brain, a liking for Jimmy Choos or any of the other sexist ideas now somehow touted as progressive. Moreover, the ‘inclusive’ language that calls female people ‘menstruators’ and ‘people with vulvas’ strikes many women as dehumanising and demeaning.
  • I’ve been in the public eye now for over twenty years and have never talked publicly about being a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor. This isn’t because I’m ashamed those things happened to me, but because they’re traumatic to revisit and remember.
  • the scars left by violence and sexual assault don’t disappear, no matter how loved you are, and no matter how much money you’ve made. My perennial jumpiness is a family joke – and even I know it’s funny – but I pray my daughters never have the same reasons I do for hating sudden loud noises, or finding people behind me when I haven’t heard them approaching.
  • I believe the majority of trans-identified people not only pose zero threat to others, but are vulnerable for all the reasons I’ve outlined. Trans people need and deserve protection
  • So I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe. When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman – and, as I’ve said, gender confirmation certificates may now be granted without any need for surgery or hormones – then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside. That is the simple truth.
  • On Saturday morning, I read that the Scottish government is proceeding with its controversial gender recognition plans, which will in effect mean that all a man needs to ‘become a woman’ is to say he’s one. To use a very contemporary word, I was ‘triggered’
  • I forgot the first rule of Twitter – never, ever expect a nuanced conversation – and reacted to what I felt was degrading language about women. I spoke up about the importance of sex and have been paying the price ever since. I was transphobic, I was a cunt, a bitch, a TERF, I deserved cancelling, punching and death. You are Voldemort said one person, clearly feeling this was the only language I’d understand.
  • Huge numbers of women are justifiably terrified by the trans activists; I know this because so many have got in touch with me to tell their stories. They’re afraid of doxxing, of losing their jobs or their livelihoods, and of violence.
  • But endlessly unpleasant as its constant targeting of me has been, I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode ‘woman’ as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it
  • I stand alongside the brave women and men, gay, straight and trans, who’re standing up for freedom of speech and thought, and for the rights and safety of some of the most vulnerable in our society: young gay kids, fragile teenagers, and women who’re reliant on and wish to retain their single sex spaces
  • The supreme irony is that the attempt to silence women with the word ‘TERF’ may have pushed more young women towards radical feminism than the movement’s seen in decades.
  • All I’m asking – all I want – is for similar empathy, similar understanding, to be extended to the many millions of women whose sole crime is wanting their concerns to be heard without receiving threats and abuse.
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People with at least two Northern Isles grandparents needed for genetics study - BBC News - 0 views

  • People with at least two grandparents who were born in Orkney or Shetland are being sought for a genetics study aimed at improving health.The research aims to better understand the causes of conditions such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease and cancer, and in turn find treatments.Those taking part in the University of Edinburgh study-led Viking II project will complete an online questionnaire about their health and lifestyle.
  • The team believes the "unique genetic identity" of those with Northern Isles ancestry offers a "rare opportunity" to give a detailed picture on how genes are implicated in health
  • It is believed this information could be useful in terms of their future healthcare, including taking preventive actions to reduce the impact of health conditions.The study is being backed by the Medical Research Council.
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Amazon's best sellers list is dominated almost entirely by books on race right now - CNN - 0 views

  • As of Wednesday, 15 of the top 20 bestselling books are about race, racism and white supremacy in the US. Sales surged following the last eight days of protest after George Floyd's death in police custody.
  • "White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism," novel "The Vanishing Half" by black author Brit Bennett and the children's picture book "I Am Enough," are in such high demand that many of them are temporarily out of stock or only available in ebook or audio form.
  • "This doesn't happen every day," Kendi tweeted Tuesday. "It is fitting it happens on the day we are Blacking Out for Black lives and hopefully supporting our local independent bookstores too."
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  • Educating yourself on the history and current state of racism is one way to show positive allyship, as reported in CNN's guide to being an ally.
  • Influencing the people in your circle is another -- and part of that can include sharing books about racism with friends and family and discussing how oppression affects marginalized groups.
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Lawmakers around the nation are proposing bills for -- and against -- vaccinations - CNN - 0 views

  • At a time when almost everything is politicized, vaccination has planted itself squarely on the national stage.
  • On one side of the debate are parents who are rebelling against settled science and calling on states to broaden vaccine exemptions. They cite their faith or believe vaccines pose danger to their children, even though no major religion opposes them and claims of vaccines' link to autism has been long debunked.
  • "I won't be surprised if we see many pro-vaccine bills this year," said Dr. Sean O'Leary, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases. "The measles outbreaks were really a wake-up call, showing legislators that maintaining high vaccination rates is not just a theoretical goal."
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  • An overwhelming majority of American adults (88%) say the benefits of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine outweigh the risks, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.And last year, 14 states proposed eliminating religious exemptions for vaccines -- a marked increase from years past, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
  • "When you choose not to vaccinate, you're putting your child at risk of disease, but you're also putting other people at risk," O'Leary said.
  • "We need to have the ability in our country, if we find a commercial pharmaceutical product is not as safe and effective as we're being told it is, we should have the right to make informed consent to use the product," she said.
  • "When vaccination rates fall, we see disease, and people suffer. Protecting children in schools is a worthy goal of government, regardless of political affiliation," he said. "There's really no good reason to exempt your child from vaccination -- only medical."
  • "Science is really on the side of vaccinations," said O'Leary, who is an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "They're one of the best public health interventions in history in terms of the numbers of lives saved. The benefits far outweigh the risk."
  • New York, California and Washington state took action after massive measles outbreaks in 2019, a year that saw the highest reported measles cases since the disease was declared eliminated nationwide in 2000.
  • Many of the religious exemption laws are not new. Several states first passed them in the 1960s and 1970s, thanks to an influx of lobbyists from the Christian Science Church, which doesn't ban members from using vaccines but encourages healing through prayer.
  • Supporters of vaccine exemptions see laws like those passed in New York and Washington as "fundamentally a threat to their ability to make informed consent about vaccinations," said Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center.
  • Proponents on both sides of the debate have found allies across the political spectrum. Republican lawmakers have sponsored stricter bills, and Democratic governors have drawn the line at mandating vaccines.
  • "It's a tough balance, but you're using a public -- and private -- resource in conjunction with lots of other kids," Harris told CNN. "There are other venues where they can be educated, they can still have their freedom, but they're not going into a public school and spread their disease."
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Pope Francis condemns death of George Floyd, calls US unrest 'disturbing' - CNN - 0 views

  • Pope Francis has called the death of George Floyd at the hands of US police officers "tragic" and said he is praying for him and "all those others who have lost their lives as a result of the sin of racism."
  • "Dear brothers and sisters in the United States, I have witnessed with great concern the disturbing social unrest in your nation in these past days, following the tragic death of Mr. George Floyd," Francis said.
  • "My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life.
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  • "At the same time, we have to recognize that the violence of recent nights is self-destructive and self-defeating. Nothing is gained by violence and so much is lost," he urged.
  • Over the past few days, some Italian soccer teams have knelt in solidarity with US protestors over the killing of Floyd.
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