Do You Know My Poetry?
Update 412 Float Like A Butterfly Special #BeMorePorcupine
I have looked at and listened to lots of interesting items over the last few days but, I hope understandably, I am concentrating tonight on women’s sport.
Obviously I am aware that most of the 'heroes' in the Westerns are male, so I am moving on to a general Heroes ( to include Heroines) series which can encompass all different categories of film ( including Westerns). We really need our heroes as we face the nightmare of a Labour Government (JK Rowling, Kellie-Jay Keen, Graham Linehan etc), so please get your suggestions for movies in, especially involving women heroes.
So our final Western tonight is one of my favourites, Dead Man.
William Blake, an accountant from Cleveland, Ohio, rides by train to the frontier town of Machine to take up a promised accounting job in the town's metal works. Arriving in town, Blake then discovers that the position has already been filled, and John Dickinson, the ferocious owner of the company, drives Blake from the workplace at gunpoint.
Jobless and without money or prospects, Blake meets Thel Russell, a former prostitute who sells paper flowers. He lets her take him home. Thel's ex-boyfriend Charlie surprises them in bed, shoots at Blake, and accidentally kills Thel when she shields Blake with her body. The bullet passes through Thel and wounds Blake, who kills Charlie with Thel's gun before climbing out the window and fleeing the town on Charlie's horse. Company owner Dickinson is Charlie's father and hires three killers — Cole Wilson, Conway Twill, and Johnny "The Kid" Pickett — to bring Blake back "dead or alive".
Blake awakens to find aa American Indian man trying to dislodge the bullet from his chest. The man, calling himself Nobody, reveals that the bullet is too close to Blake's heart to remove, rendering Blake effectively a walking dead man. When he learns Blake's full name, Nobody decides Blake is a reincarnation of William Blake, a poet whom he idolizes but of whom Blake is ignorant. He decides to protect Blake. They head towards the Pacific Ocean pursued by the killers.
So, in the end, the hero in this film is not William Blake but Nobody!
Johnny Depp is William Blake, Gary Farmer is Nobody, Lance Henriksen is Cole Wilson and Robert Mitchum is John Dickinson.
Thanks as ever to two wonderful readers for their suggested pieces.
The Woolympics and Women’s Sport
So on Thursday and Friday two larping men are going to fight two women in the women’s boxing at the Olympics. I am sure Muhammad Ali will be spinning in his grave - so let’s start with ten minutes of ‘The Greatest’. 😎
Alex Davies in GB News ( JK Rowling blasts Paris 2024 'insanity' as boxers who failed gender eligibility tests compete: 'End this!' 31 July) reports:
JK Rowling blasts Paris 2024 'insanity' as boxers who failed gender eligibility tests compete: 'End this!'© GB News
JK Rowling has pleaded with Olympics rule-makers to "end this insanity" after it was revealed the International Olympic Committee [IOC] was allowing two boxers who've previously failed gender eligibility test to take part.
The two boxers from Algeria and Chinese Taipei had both been disqualified from the world championships last year after being previously tested.
Algeria's Imane Khelif will take to the ring this week to face Italy's Angela Carini in the 66kg category while Chinese Taipei's Lin Yu‑ting fights an opponent in the 57kg category on Friday.
Both competitors were banned from world championships last year under the authority of the International Boxing Association [IBA].
Its president claimed the pair were disqualified as DNA tests showed "they had XY chromosomes" and the ban was to protect the "fairness and integrity" of the world championships, according to the Guardian.
However, the IBA isn't in charge of implementing the laws at the Paris 2024 games with that responsibility now lying with the IOC's Paris 2024 Boxing Unit [PBU].
Algeria's Imane Khelif© GB News
The unit has decided Khelif and Lin are eligible to compete despite the IBA's previous ruling.
The move has proved controversial with several critics slamming the PBU's call - including Harry Potter author and vocal women's rights campaigner JK Rowling.
The author took to X to share her thoughts on the PBU's decision, fuming: "What will it take to end this insanity?
"A female boxer left with life-altering injuries? A female boxer killed?" she questioned.
The full article is here:
Over to Kara Dansky on her substack, The TERF Report:
Male Violence Against Women is Now an Olympic Sport
Jul 29, 2024
On July 27, 2024, the feminist publication Reduxx broke the news that two male boxers would be competing in the women’s category in Olympic boxing. Boxing.
There is no way to say this other than that the Olympics are allowing two men to beat up women, on a global stage, for sport and entertainment.
Or maybe there is another way to say it. As one X user put it, men punching women is now officially an Olympic sport.
On Thursday August 1st, Italy’s Angela Carini, a 25 year old from Naples, will step into the ring to face a man named Imane Khelif in the Olympic Boxing Arena. This is him:
Photo: International Boxing Federation
This is nothing short of disgusting, and I honestly have no idea how much abuse women will ultimately be expected to take at the altar of men’s “woman gender identities.”
The full piece is here:
https://karadansky.substack.com/p/male-violence-against-women-is-now?r=7ogxh&triedRedirect=true
Aap in The Daily Mail ( Australian boxer slams Olympic Games for controversial call to allow Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting to compete in Paris despite failing gender tests: 'Incredibly dangerous' 31 July) reports:
Caitlin Parker believes the Olympics' approval of two boxers who had failed gender eligibility tests is 'incredibly dangerous' ahead of a potential showdown with one of her teammates in Paris.
Australian boxing captain Parker led from the front on Wednesday, dominating Mexico's Vanessa Ortiz with a unanimous points decision to reach the quarter-finals of the 75kg division.
It followed an earlier loss for Shannan Davey to Bulgaria's Rami Mofid, with Charlie Senior still to fight later in the day.
Marissa Williamson will make her Olympic debut on Wednesday in a women's 66kg division now in the spotlight after the International Olympic Committee confirmed two boxers who were disqualified from the world championships last year for failing gender eligibility tests will be allowed to fight in Paris.
Imane Khelif (66kg) of Algeria and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting (57kg) were thrown out by the International Boxing Association that has since lost sanctioning power of the Olympics due to integrity concerns.
The IBA claimed the boxers' chromosome tests came back as XY, which is typically the male chromosome, rather than a female's XX.
The IOC is in charge of Paris's boxing program and have instructed the sport to find a new sanctioning body by early next year to ensure the future of the sport in the Games.
Caitlin Parker © Provided by Daily Mail
Williamson and Khelif will meet in the quarter-finals if they both win on Wednesday.
'I don't agree with them being allowed to compete in sport, especially combat sports,' Parker said.
'It can be incredibly dangerous. I don't agree with it.
'It's not like I haven't sparred men before. But you know it can be dangerous for combat sports and it should be seriously looked into.'
'Yes, biologically ... genetically they are going to have more advantages and in combat sports it can be dangerous.
'I really hope the organisations get their act together so that boxing can continue to be at the Olympics.
'It's the oldest Olympic sport. Women's boxing was only introduced in 2012 and I want to see it for the next 100, 200 years to come.'
The full article is here:
Meanwhile Andrew Doyle looks at this on his substack:
Men do not belong in women’s sports
Two male boxers are competing in the women’s category at this year’s Olympic Games. This madness has to stop.
Jul 30, 2024
It is a curiosity of our times that so many writers and commentators have little alternative but to continually state the obvious. Books have been written to remind us that free speech is worth preserving, that segregating people by skin colour in the name of progress is not a good idea, and that there are only two sexes in the human race. One may as well write a book about how a tiger might not respond positively if you tug on his scrotum.
Ten years ago, who would have thought that Olympic athlete Sharron Davies would feel compelled to argue the point that men should not compete in women’s sports? And yet for some reason her book Unfair Play: The Battle for Women’s Sports was not only necessary, but considered somehow controversial. Richard Dawkins must have felt much the same way when he wrote The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, in which he outlined in painstaking detail the irrefutable proof for an argument that most of us assumed had already been settled.
This week Reduxx magazine broke the news that two male boxers are competing as women in this year’s Olympic Games. Both athletes – Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan – had previously been disqualified from the Women’s World Boxing Championships in India in March 2023 when tests revealed that they had XY chromosomes. And yet for some reason the International Olympic Committee has decreed that it is perfectly acceptable to put female boxers at risk by forcing them to fight against men.
It is utterly exhausting to point out that this is completely unfair, recklessly dangerous, and should never have been allowed to happen. Activists and their supporters in the media often try to engage in elaborate casuistry in an attempt to complicate what is actually a very simple matter. Modifications to hormones will never eliminate the inherent advantage that men incur through the process of male puberty, whether that be in regard to muscle mass, bone density, heart and lung size, longer limbs, greater height and so on.
For those in any doubt, here are some specific statistics from Helen Joyce’s book Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality:
“The average adult man has 41 percent more non-fat body mass (blood, bones, muscles and so on) than the average woman, 50 percent more muscle mass in his legs and 75 percent more in his arms. His legs are 65 percent stronger, and his upper body is 90 percent stronger. The overwhelming upper-body advantage is nowhere near accounted for by differences in size – as can be seen in weightlifting competitions, where competitors are banded by weight, and the male world champion in each category lifts around 30 percent more than the female one.”
The full piece is here:
https://andrewdoyle.substack.com/p/men-do-not-belong-in-womens-sports
The Countess in Ireland have organised an excellent letter to the IOC:
Open letter to IOC about Women’s Boxing
July 31, 2024
31 July 2024
Dear President Bach,
We, a diverse group of individuals and organisations who advocate for women’s rights, call upon the International Olympic Committee (“IOC”) to urgently investigate the eligibility of two boxers (Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting) to compete in the women’s Olympics boxing events, which commenced this week in Paris.
These two boxers were previously deemed ineligible to compete in women’s boxing events by their sport’s governing body, the International Boxing Association (“IBA”). We understand the IBA excluded the two boxers based on the results of sex/hormone screening, which deemed that they are not eligible to box in the female category.
The IOC has undertaken the role of boxing governing body for the Paris Olympics and we would presume would retain the same eligibility criteria for participation in women’s boxing events. Instead, however, the IOC has deemed the two boxers, Khelif and Yu-ting, eligible to compete against women. This seems impossible to justify, especially if any meaningful risk assessment was conducted. Dr Emma Hilton, a well-respected developmental biologist, has conducted research that shows a male boxer’s punch is 160% more powerful than a woman’s punch. There is a very real risk of death or serious injury to these women boxers. We, therefore, find this decision to include two males in women’s boxing extremely concerning for both the safety and well-being of women boxers.
We call on the IOC to reverse the decision to permit Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting to compete in the women’s Olympics boxing events and to abide by the IBA’s eligibility criteria instead.
In addition, we call on the IOC to immediately reinstate the cheek swab sex screening for all athletes participating in the Paris (and future) Olympic games to ensure fairness, dignity, and integrity in women’s Olympic competitions.
Kind regards,
Sorcha Nic Lochlainn, Sports Spokeswoman, The Countess
Laoise de Brún BL, CEO and Founder of The Countess
Sharron Davies, MBE
Riley Gaines
Martina Navratilova, OLY
Donna de Varona, OLY
Nancy Hogshead, J.D., OLY
Donna Lopiano, Ph.D.
Mariah Burton Nelson, M.P.H.
Tracy Sundlun
Inga Thompson
The Countess
AFCC-French Association of Women Cyclists
Alianza Contra el Borrado de las Mujeres
Fair Play for Women
For Women Scotland Sport
Gaels for Fair Play
Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS)
Independent Women’s Forum
Lobby Europeo de Mujeres en España
Movimiento Abolicionista de Segovia
Mujeres Progresistas de Retiro
Partido Feministas al Congreso
Save Women’s Sport Australasia
Sex Matters
Women’s Declaration International (WDI)
Women’s Space Ireland
Women Won’t Wheest
Women’s Sports Policy Working Group
Meanwhile Rex Landy has a lovely serenade for the IOC 😊
Excellent interview on Free Speech Nation with Joan Smith following on from Lisa Nandy’s statement that sports bodies can decide whether to allow in larping men or not:
https://andrewdoyle.substack.com/p/has-labour-betrayed-women
Excellent piece from a parent on Parents with Inconvenient Truths About Trans:
The ABC of My Trans Adventure, Part Three
Jul 31, 2024
This is the third segment of an essay in four parts. Part one and part two.
C is for Creepy and Confused Cheaters, Cruelly and Callously Creating Craziness and Complete Chaos in Competition
In an episode of his podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience" with guest Ice Cube (rapper and founder of the BIG3, basketball league), Joe Rogan stated, quite accurately, that when it comes to men (trans "women") competing in women's sports, biological females are basically forced to comply or give up.
He added, "It's fucking up women's sports in a huge way...If you care at all about biological women, you should be against that". I'd like to pause for a moment on that last statement "if you care at all about biological women". It's actually the very essence of the issue with gender confused men. Trans "women", aka males competing against real women, don't give a damn about female competitors. These men know that they have significant physical advantages which aren’t negated with hormones and that these physical advantages will propel them from mediocre in male sports to the top of women’s sports. On top of depriving hard working female athletes of the fruit of their labor, they are, at times, responsible for injuries sustained by female athletes, due to their superior male strength. Some of those trans athletes have no problem admitting that they actually enjoy hurting women in the process. A trans MMA fighter, Fallon Fox, said in an interview in 2020: "For the record, I knocked two out (women). One woman's skull was fractured, the other not. And just so you know: I enjoyed it. See, I love smacking up TEFS in the cage who talk transphobic nonsense. It's bliss". By TEFS, he meant TERFS. You know, those women who fight for the right to not be erased and discarded as women...
Trans athletes (all of them males, of course, how many women could compete against men in most sports?) are also very aware of the societal support they get and the nasty public excoriation any dissenter gets for criticizing their "victories" and "accomplishments" and exposing them as the blatant frauds they are (thank God for women like Riley Gaines). The ultimate proof that they are not in it for the competition is that no one ever signs up (or very rarely) when an open trans category is made available to them. They are not in for the game but to compete against women and win. Plus, how many men identifying as trans women compete in sports where they can’t excel, like women’s gymnastics?
The full piece is here:
Turns out that Monty Python were not only great at satirical comedy but were also prophets!!
James Cohen in The Mail Online ( British female darts star Deta Hedman forfeits ANOTHER tournament as she refuses to face a transgender player... one week after she called for a 'fair and level playing field' in the sport 30 July) reports:
British female darts star Deta Hedman has refused to face another transgender opponent after she withdrew from a tournament.
Hedman, 64, a three-time World Championship finalist, hit the headlines in May when she forfeited a match at the Denmark Open after refusing to take to the oche to face trans player Noa-Lynn van Leuven.
She defended her controversial decision by telling German outlet Bild: 'I'm not playing against a man in a women's event'.
Hedman is evidently not budging from her stance on the matter after pulling out of yet another tournament after being drawn against a transgender opponent.
On Saturday, 'The Heart of Darts' decided to withdraw from a women's singles tournament run by the United Kingdom Darts Association.
Deta Hedman
Sam Lewis
Hedman had won her opening two matches of the tournament - against Patricia Roberts and Barbara Legge - before being matched up to face Sam Lewis and then withdrawing.
Explaining the decision in a post on social media, she said on Facebook: 'Re my forfeiting my match on Saturday, not much was discussed about my being right or wrong in my decision not to play a transgender person. But more of an attack on my literacy skills and choice of words!'
The full article is here:
Stop Press
Luke Andrews in The Mail Online ( EXCLUSIVE Female volleyball player, 17, left paralyzed with brain damage by transgender opponent who 'cackled with delight' after knocking her to ground 31 July) reports:
A volleyball player left partially paralyzed by a transgender opponent has slammed the Olympics over its boxing controversy.
Payton McNabb was 17 when a ball spiked by a trans opponent with force struck her in the face, threw her to the ground and shut off her consciousness.
The 5ft 11in trans player cackled in delight, Ms McNabb said, after sending her to the floor. As did other players in the opposite team.
Ms McNabb was left with brain damage and paralysis on her right side, which ended her dreams of getting a volleyball college scholarship and has made it difficult to walk without falling.
She told DailyMail.com it was 'disgusting' that two boxers who failed gender tests had been cleared to fight women at this year's Games in Paris.
She fears women could suffer injuries worse than hers.
Payton McNabb
The full article is here:
Stop Press 2
EDI Jester has done a piece on the boxing madness this morning (01 August)
https://edijester.substack.com/p/the-madness-continues
It is not too late for these two men to be excluded! If it goes ahead, best of luck to the two women who are facing the men in the boxing this week and hope they are not hurt!
Endpiece by Liz
Ooh, spot on again, Liz!!
#BeMorePorcupine
Dear readers
I have added in a second Stop Press since EDI Jester has done a piece about the boxing (and other things)
Dusty
I am fearful for those women boxers. I hope they pull out.