Day: February 4, 2019

And… we are back to not-so-good news. A feminist is censured for defendingwomen’s right not to get raped:

“I got kicked off of the Baltimore mayor’s LGBTQ Commission as the only lesbian, simply for stating biological facts,” she said. “After a months’ long witch hunt, I was found guilty of ‘violence.’ My crime? Using male pronouns to talk about a convicted male rapist who identifies as transgender and prefers female pronouns.”

Beck went on to complain that the commission seemed to care more about the trans woman’s pronouns that about what Beck herself saw as the real danger: the rapist’s placement in a women’s prison.

As the article aptly suggests, the LGB are being sacrificed to the T. And female convicts – who are powerless by definition – are simply of no interest at all to the rabidly progressive crowd.

For something good to dilute the negativity of today’s posting, here’s really cool art by hair artist Laetitia Ky. I detest Instagram but if you have it, she’s definitely somebody to follow.

I’m very shocked that this doesn’t exist yet:

The legislation, cosponsored by dozens of Republicans, would create criminal penalties for doctors who allow infants to die rather than providing medical care after attempted abortion procedures. It mandates that a child born alive in an abortion clinic be transported to a hospital for further care. Health-care practitioners must report any violations of the law, and the bill institutes penalties for intentionally killing a newborn, including fines and up to five years’ imprisonment.

Up to five years? For murder? I’m not getting this. How is it different from any other murder?

I don’t see how anybody can be against this bill at all:

The bill’s text doesn’t mandate any particular kind of care at all; it requires that physicians “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age.”

Let’s see how things develop but I hope the bill passes unanimously.

Virginia can’t seem to catch a break. In a weird replay of the Kavanaugh debacle, Fairfax has been accused of sexual assault by a college professor. Now Democrats have to decide what’s worse, racism in 1984 or sexual assault in 2004.

Cuomo says he’ll legalize surrogacy in New York. Barring a federal ban, I don’t see what can stop this. I’d vote for any presidential candidate who’d fight for such a ban because I don’t know what’s worse than selling children to the highest bidder. Everything else is trivial compared to this issue.

I need to write 2,000 words per week on the new book to get done when I need to get done. It would be a piece of cake if that’s the only thing I had to do. I also need to finish an article by the end of February and another by the end of April. Both are invited, and I couldn’t say no to the wonderful people who invited me. But I also want to impress them, so that they don’t regret asking. I also have to write a conference talk by the end of March. And this is just what I’m doing this semester.

In my first couple of years on the tenure track, I thought it was perfectly reasonable to spend the time from now to the end of March working on nothing but the conference talk. And my conference talks kind of sucked. It takes time to figure out how research works and to find your stride.

If only I didn’t feel compelled to take on completely new topics all the time. What kind of a crazy person goes into a completely new field all of a sudden? I mean, I do know somebody like this, so I’m not alone. But it’s scary and sometimes takes my breath away with the feeling of, “gosh, what if the real specialists in the field rip me into pieces for this?” And I love that feeling.