Ruth

@mariposafolk The changes to the BOHO stage this year are ridiculous!! Line up to get in, no bathrooms, so you have to leave and then line up again?? Please revert to what has worked for the past many years. Please!!

The first day of the 2024 Mariposa Folk Festival was incredible... Let's give a roaring round of applause to all the festival folkstars - from the lively attendees and talented vendors to the amazing artists, and of course, our fabulous volunteers! Saturday, here we come!

1. I had a conversation with a gay friend yesterday about the Trans debate and was reeling by the end of it. I wanted to address some of the commonly used arguments he used with confidence and which are often used;

@RudyCuzzetto is the event at Lakefront Promenade sponsored by your office? If so great, if not, I hope they have a permit.

A duck walks into a pub and orders a pint of beer and a ham sandwich. The barman looks at him and says, "Hang on! You're a duck." "I see your eyes are working," replies the duck. "And you can talk" !! Exclaims the barman. "I see your ears are working, too," Says the duck. "Now if you don't mind, can I have my beer and my sandwich please?" "Certainly, sorry about that," Says the barman as he pulls the duck's pint. "It's just we don't get many ducks in this pub. What are you doing around this way?" "I'm working on the building site across the road," Explains the duck. "I'm a plasterer." The flabbergasted barman cannot believe the duck and wants to learn more, but takes the hint when the duck pulls out a newspaper from his bag and proceeds to read it. So, the duck reads his paper, drinks his beer, eats his sandwich, bids the barman good day and leaves. The same thing happens for two weeks. Then one day the circus comes to town. The ringmaster comes into the pub for a pint and the barman says to him "You're with the circus, aren't you? Well, I know this duck that could be just brilliant in your circus. He talks, drinks beer, eats sandwiches, reads the newspaper and everything!" "Sounds marvellous," says the ringmaster, handing over his business card. "Get him to give me a call." So the next day when the duck comes into the pub the barman says, "Hey Mr Duck, I reckon I can line you up with a top job, paying really good money." "I'm always looking for the next job," Says the duck. "Where is it?" "At the circus," Says the barman. "The circus?" Repeats the duck. "That's right," Replies the barman. "The circus?" The duck asks again. with the big tent?" "Yeah," the barman replies. "With all the animals who live in cages, and performers who live in caravans?" says the duck. "Of course," the barman replies. "And the tent has canvas sides and a big canvas roof with a hole in the middle?" persists the duck. "That's right!" says the barman. The duck shakes his head in amazement, and says; "What the hell would they want with a plasterer" ??? 😁😁

This is a genuine plea, David. NOT an attack. You’re a highly regarded actor with a huge reach &, rightly, a vast audience. Whats “common sense”, is to actually attempt to comprehend that there ARE real life consequences to one group demanding immediate access to ALL the hard fought-for & won rights of another group. Of course, people can “live their lives as they wish to & be free to be who they are”, but the MOMENT that desire impacts, concerns & overrides OTHER groups of people, those groups have a perfectly legitimate & reasonable right to take issue & have THEIR SAY. We were told “No Debate! It’s happening whether you women, gays, transsexuals or detransitioners like it or not!” What did you think would happen? They’d just roll over & acquiesce?? Perhaps you should rejoin social media, instead of relying on others, & actually HEAR the thousands & thousands of personal testimonies by those who ARE DEEPLY affected by changing rooms, sports, toilets, prisons, hospitals, r*pe shelters , the right to self assembly, etc. Are you aware that gays & lesbians are no longer permitted to have their own bars, clubs, apps, ANYTHING of their own, without being picketed, screamed at & threatened? Are you aware that women are intimidated, attacked & called the most wretched things when they gather together to discuss issues pertaining to THEM? Are you aware of the distinction between transsexuals & TRA’s, and that the radicals refer to transsexuals as “truscum”? Are you aware of the huge increase in detransitioners, their lives irreparably damaged, who are also treated as traitors & apostates by many Q+/TRA’s? Because until you TRULY understand what the consequences are, your “allyship” is doing more harm to so many, than you could ever realise. And directly to many of us, who are now on the receiving end of the worst homophobic & misogynistic abuse I’ve encountered since the AIDS crisis of the 80’s. Being “critical” of something does NOT equate to “hate”. It’s simply being critical because they’re are legitimate reasons. This fight is NOT about taking away anyone else’s rights. We’re all agreed that trans rights are human rights. However, there is NO AUTOMATIC HUMAN RIGHT to impinge, intimidate, threaten the rights of others. This is about PRESERVING & PROTECTING women’s rights. Their privacy, their spaces & their dignity. And just so you know, watching YET another man publicly telling a woman to “shut up” comes across as familiar, unpleasant & just misogynistic. I’m not saying this to put the boot in. I’m saying it because I know you believe you are doing this with the best of intentions & you’re not st*pid. But I, respectfully, ask you to REALLY consider & research the other side of this debate & the consequences for many others. We didn’t all suddenly become “right wing bigots” overnight. There are very good reasons to question decisions made by a lobby group, which achieved its aims back in 2014, & now suddenly treats as “pariahs”, females, gays, lesbians, transsexuals, whomever, who vigorously championed their cause until their new direction caused the very unease they themselves predicted publicly. (See Ruth Hunt). I wish you well. Congratulations on your award. Please RT. 🙏 @andrewdoyle_com @FredSargeant @Martina @Glinner @jk_rowling @FraserMyers @AndrewGold_ok @Jebadoo2 @MrMennoTweets @FFS_WhatNow @QueensSpeechUK @bindelj @Docstockk @suzanne_moore @Belstaffie

Calling a man a man is not 'bullying' or 'punching down.' Crossdressing straight men are currently one of the most pandered-to demographics in existence, and women are under no obligation to applaud the people caricaturing us.

@madamajab @TalulaSha White feminist??? I just threw up in my mouth.

@TalulaSha I have loved her writing since I was a kid (actually had 2 lines of her poetry tattooed on me in my youth) but she is very much a white feminist sell out on this subject and it still disappoints every time, probably moreso because of some of her non THT works.

Back in 2010 despite requests from the BDS movement, Margaret Atwood accepted the Dan David Prize in TLV University. She babbled about cats and watched on as students who unfurled a sign were tackled by police and dragged out. Crossing this picket line is her signature move.

@jordanbpeterson Notes made from Dr. JBP in the past on the social justice Algorithm:

One of the key assumptions of the left is that statistical disparities are suspicious, if not sinister, especially if these are differences in income and wealth. But if people differ radically in performance, why is it surprising that they also differ radically in the rewards they receive? And if we are determined to equalize, can we equalize upward or only downward? Can you make a mediocre golfer another Tiger Woods or only penalize Tiger Woods for being better? Where the desire for equality turns from a quixotic hope to a dangerous gamble is in politics. To create even the semblance of equality requires a concentration of power in the hands of political leaders. And, as the history of the 20th century has shown repeatedly and tragically, in countries around the world, once concentrated power is put into the hands of political leaders, they can use it for whatever purpose they have in mind — regardless of what others had in mind when they granted them that power. Becoming the pawns of politicians is a high price to pay for letting demagogues stir up our envy and beguile us with promises to equalize.

@mattgallowaycbc Love you and most of CBC reporting . Here is a cautionary story...please don't let CBC fall into the same pit as NPR. open.substack.com/pub/bariweiss/…

🎉🌼🌸April Fools! 🌸🌼🎉 Only kidding. Obviously, the people mentioned in the above tweets aren't women at all, but men, every last one of them. In passing the Scottish Hate Crime Act, Scottish lawmakers seem to have placed higher value on the feelings of men performing their idea of femaleness, however misogynistically or opportunistically, than on the rights and freedoms of actual women and girls. The new legislation is wide open to abuse by activists who wish to silence those of us speaking out about the dangers of eliminating women's and girls’ single-sex spaces, the nonsense made of crime data if violent and sexual assaults committed by men are recorded as female crimes, the grotesque unfairness of allowing males to compete in female sports, the injustice of women’s jobs, honours and opportunities being taken by trans-identified men, and the reality and immutability of biological sex. For several years now, Scottish women have been pressured by their government and members of the police force to deny the evidence of their eyes and ears, repudiate biological facts and embrace a neo-religious concept of gender that is unprovable and untestable. The re-definition of 'woman' to include every man who declares himself one has already had serious consequences for women's and girls’ rights and safety in Scotland, with the strongest impact felt, as ever, by the most vulnerable, including female prisoners and rape survivors. It is impossible to accurately describe or tackle the reality of violence and sexual violence committed against women and girls, or address the current assault on women’s and girls’ rights, unless we are allowed to call a man a man. Freedom of speech and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological sex is deemed criminal. I'm currently out of the country, but if what I've written here qualifies as an offence under the terms of the new act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment. If you agree with the views set out in this tweet, please retweet it. #ArrestMe #AprilFools #HateCrimeActScotland 11/X

@binishahmed Build a bridge and get over yourself. Since when is praying in the middle of a road an act of grace?? They were prayfully provoking and if someone got hurt...oh well, too bad!!

@Joe_Roberts01 I smell bullshit. TPS did their job...y'all should go home.

Once the lies start, they never stop. ‘Zionism is racism!’ ‘There’s a genocide in Gaza!’ ‘Toronto police are trying to kill Palestinians!’ The destruction of the Jewish state is the real goal here, and they’ll say anything if they think it will advance their mission.

The word ‘transphobic’, as used here, does not mean an irrational fear or dislike of trans people. It means refusing to use gender identity ideology’s jargon, refusing to parrot its slogans, refusing to accept that sex doesn't matter when it comes to sport and single-sex spaces, refusing to believe a bearded heterosexual man becomes a lesbian when he declares himself one, and refusing to believe an abusive, misogynistic male is a woman because he likes to wear mini-dresses and pout in selfies. Like every other gender critical person I know, I believe everyone should be free to express themselves however they wish, dress however they please, call themselves whatever they want, sleep with any consenting adult who wishes to sleep with them, and that trans-identified people should have the same protections regarding employment, housing, freedom of speech and personal safety every other citizen is entitled to. But this isn’t nearly enough for the dominant strain of trans activism, which asserts that unless freedom of speech is removed from dissenters, unless trans-identified men are permitted to strip away women’s rights, with particular reference to single sex spaces like rape crisis centres, prison cells, hospital wards, changing rooms and public bathrooms, until we all bow down to their neo-religion, accept their pseudo-scientific claims and embrace their circular reasoning, trans people are more oppressed, and more at risk, than any other group in society. This is nonsense. 99.9% of the world knows it's nonsense. The emperor is naked. He might be wearing lipstick, but his balls are swinging in plain sight.

Female-only support services can be life saving for women who've suffered domestic abuse and sexual violence. This report exposes the current silencing of sector leaders and the dire consequences for victims.

‘I Have a Dream’ coauthor Clarence Jones on color blindness, Ibram X. Kendi, Black-Jewish relations, and why MLK ‘wouldn’t permit what’s going on.’ thefp.com/p/mlk-speechwr…

@RogersHelps is there an outage in Mississauga?