Even if you don't care about trans rights, this might be the best name of a lawsuit ever.

An app intended as an “online refuge” for women became the site of alleged gender identity discrimination, a court has heard in a landmark case that will test the meaning and scope of the Sex Discrimination Act.

Roxanne Tickle, a transgender woman from regional New South Wales, is suing the women-only social media platform Giggle for Girls after being blocked from using the app.

In a lawsuit filed in December 2022, Tickle claimed she was unlawfully barred from using Giggle in September 2021 after the firm and its CEO, Sall Grover, said she was a man. Tickle is seeking damages.

Former Liberal party candidate Katherine Deves, representing Giggle, failed to have the case thrown out of court.

The case is the first time alleged gender identity discrimination has been heard by the federal court and goes to the heart of how gender identity – and being a woman - is interpreted.

On Tuesday, federal court justice Robert Bromwich heard Tickle has lived as woman since 2017, has a birth certificate stating that her gender is female, had gender affirmation surgery and “feels in her mind that psychologically she is a woman”.

In her opening remarks, Tickle’s barrister Georgina Costello KC said that “Ms Tickle is a woman” but that “the respondents flatly deny that fact”.

“The respondents have insisted on describing Ms Tickle as a man and using ‘he’,” she said. “Persons can change gender and that is what happened here.”

Tickle gave evidence late on Tuesday afternoon. When asked to detail what “living as a female” meant, the accountant described taking hormones that changed her body, having gender affirmation surgery and undergoing social transitions.

She has changed her gender markers on government documents and spent time and money on her wardrobe and removing her facial hair, as well as using female changing rooms and playing in a female hockey team, she said.

“Up until this instance, everybody has treated me as a woman,” she told the court.

“I do from time to time get frowns and stares and questioning looks which is quite disconcerting … but they’ll let me go about my business.”

Giggle and Grover’s barrister, Bridie Nolan, said the focus must be on biological sex.

“Sex is discriminatory, it always has been and always will be … biological sex must prevail,” she said, referencing the legislative intention of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women’s insertion into the Sex Discrimination Act.

Changes to the act in 2013 made it unlawful under federal law to discriminate against a person on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status.

The court heard that Grover started the app after receiving trauma therapy for social media abuse while living in the US.

“It would be a place without harassment, mansplaining, dick pics, stalking, aggression … the vision was to create an online refuge,” said Nolan.

Onboarding to the app required the user to upload a selfie, which was verified as female by KairosAI gender detection software and then a human. It was intended to be an unobtrusive way to verify gender, the court heard.

Tickle claimed the software identified her as female in February 2021, but that her membership was later revoked.

The court heard that from its nascency, the app came under attack. Grover was labelled a trans-exclusionary radical feminist, or Terf, and received thousands of applications from men who attempted to join.

By September 2021, the app had 20,000 users but was shut down in August 2022.

In a social media post in 2022, Grover described Tickle as a “trans identified male” and alleged Tickle wanted her to be “re-educated”.

The defence is expected to call evolutionary biologist Colin Wright to give evidence in the trial.

The Australian Human Rights Commission, including the sex discrimination commissioner, is acting as a friend of the court, assisting by providing submissions about the scope, meaning and validity of the Sex Discrimination Act. Tickle made a complaint about Giggle to the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2021.

Giggle for Girls’ legal costs are being covered by a crowdfunding campaign which as of Tuesday morning had raised $471,300.

Supporters of both Giggle and Tickle gathered outside the federal court on Tuesday morning, some wearing the colours of suffrage.

The trial is scheduled to run for four days and is not being live-streamed because of unacceptable online behaviour during an interlocutory hearing in April 2023.

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We caught an episode the other night and were hooked. Good read below about how the director was determined to recreate the time, place, and people of the era.

Authenticity didn’t only matter to Levy when it came to the details of décor and uniforms, however. “I wanted the representation of that world in that time to be authentic just as I wanted the representation of this protagonist who is blind to be authentic,” he says. “And that means including details that might surprise people.” That meant that almost every day, Aria Mia Loberti, who stars in the series as Marie-Laure LeBlanc, would explain something to her colleagues about living without eyesight.

“That was surprising and often different than the tropes and cliches of how sighted actors have portrayed blindness,” Levy says. “I am really proud of the fact that in this portrayal of Marie-Laure, a character that I fell in love with on the page and had the privilege of bringing onto the screen, the details of her behavior are the result of the real thing, whether it's how she walks through a cobblestone street with a cane, or how she navigates an interior domestic space. I would never know that if I wasn't on set every day with these performers who were themselves blind. That’s the aspect of the show's authenticity that I'm most proud…

The Iran attack on Israel should show you how the world works. Iran launched enough missles to appease the idiots in that country that want war. They let the US and Israel have enough time to prepare to shoot the vast majority down, limiting casualties in Israel, which will give the doves there enough power to blunt the response from the Israeli hawks. It eventually simmers back to the underlying mutual hatred of the common citizen in each country while the political leaders of each accept the detente and continue on with the status quo.

Throw in a couple of years of relative peace until the common folk in Gaza or the Weat Bank figure out a way to make some noise.

Rinse. Repeat.

Not saying that’s a bad thing.

All he does is fight Tomato Cans!

Tonight he was a joke

Trying to upstage The Masters.

Has she ever commented on the Hawks and Caitlin Clark's career?

1. First quarter of NCAAW championship game. 4.75/5
2. Shogun. Two episodes remaining in season, watched first 8. 4.25/5
3. Civil War. 4/5. Very well done
4. Fallout 3.5/5. Will watch season 2
5. Bad YouTube algorithm diet 2/5
6. Last 3 quarters of NCAAW championship game. Zero point zero gif

Severance rules

Last week they were talking about her in the cold open, now he's on Weekend Update in the flesh... quite a few weeks for Caitlin.

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Off to a banging start. Miller is going to need plastic surgery after that one…

Florida Woman also died in the crash


Grady Judd: Florida woman accused of going 100 mph before triple fatal crash

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Who pissed all over them? It’s been so stupidly unreliable lately. Budget cuts hitting them hard?

Sadly, kills one person and injured several more.

Really, just think about it.

In 2024 there is still fighting and killing all over the world. For what?

And much of it is religious conflict. How ****ing stupid is that?

Just a shame.

Had to do this as a kid and pretty sure I stopped after college.

If we make the bed it's sometime during the day when we're cleaning up the room. But most days we don't.
Oddly, I always make it the day the maids arrive.

Four-time indicted former president Donald Trump suffered arguably his worst loss(es) in any criminal matter this week when, in his New York trial for alleged falsification of business records, Judge Juan M. Merchan ruled against him in virtually all of his motions to exclude evidence. By contrast, the judge largely granted Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s motions to exclude evidence for trial that Trump believed might be exculpatory. That does not bode well for Trump’s chances to avoid conviction when the case goes to trial, likely in a few weeks.


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Trump, for example, moved to exclude testimony of former fixer Michael Cohen on the grounds Cohen is “a liar.” The court rebuked this desperate move: “This Court has been unable to locate any treatise, statute, or holding from courts in this jurisdiction, or others, that support Defendant’s rationale that a prosecution witness should be kept off the witness stand because his credibility has been previously called into question.” Trump’s lawyers can cross-examine Cohen at trial.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...d=mc_magnet-optrumpindict_inline_collection_1

Fair’s fair: Trump should be able to appeal the judgment against him

Jack Smith and Fani Willis have a secret weapon: Donald Trump
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...=mc_magnet-optrumpindict_inline_collection_20

Trump also tried to keep back evidence of his intent to influence the 2016 election (a material part of Bragg’s case) and his intent to defraud. Having already ruled on these issues, Merchan scolded Trump’s counsel: “Rearguing this Court’s prior rulings in this manner is procedurally and professionally inappropriate and a waste of this Court’s valuable resources.” These motions were denied.



Trump also wanted to exclude evidence regarding a meeting in which Cohen, Trump and David Pecker (onetime head of American Media Inc.) discussed the “catch and kill” scheme to keep evidence of Trump’s sexual transgressions from voters. Since this evidence is directly germane to the issue of Trump’s intent to defraud, this motion also failed.


Merchan rebuffed Trump’s attempt to block the testimony of two people with damaging stories to tell about him. While excluding any of the lurid details of Trump’s interaction with them, Merchan nevertheless found: “The steps taken to secure the stories of [Dino] Sajudin and [Karen] McDougal complete the narrative of the agreement ... stemming the flow of negative information that could circulate about Defendant before it reaches the public eye.” He continued, “Locating and purchasing the information from [Stormy] Daniels not only completes the narrative of events that precipitated the falsification of business records but is also probative of the Defendant’s intent.” Evidence of Daniels’s polygraph test was excluded (although there is no indication Bragg intended to use it).
Likewise, the judge rejected Trump’s effort to exclude evidence including the “Access Hollywood” tape (the scandal that precipitated Trump’s effort to silence other women), Trump’s violation of federal campaign finance law (one rationale for elevating the crimes to felonies), Cohen’s guilty plea (although it cannot be used to prove Trump’s intent) and classification of the hush money as “promotional” expenses for AMI. Merchan also rejected Trump’s attempt to reargue that he and his organization were distinct entities.



Most important, Merchan refused to exclude more than 100 Trump statements since these can be classified as “admissions against interest.” Despite Trump’s plea, he will also allow in Allen Weisselberg’s notes, if the prosecutor shows they are business records.
In sum, the lion’s share of the evidence that Trump views as damaging will be heard by the jury. This underscores the quantity and strength of the facts that implicate Trump. It surely explains why he has been desperate to avoid trial.
Even worse for Trump, the judge granted the prosecutor’s key motions to exclude evidence and arguments that Trump hoped would sway the jury in his favor. Merchan knocked out most of Trump expert Bradley Smith’s potential testimony. “The People’s motion is granted to the extent that Smith may not testify as a lay (fact) witness; offer opinion testimony regarding the interpretation and application of federal campaign finance laws and how they relate to the facts in the instant matter, nor may Smith testify or offer an opinion as to whether the alleged conduct in this case does or does not constitute a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act.” (He can testify generally about what the law does.)



In addition, Trump will not get to introduce evidence that the Southern District of New York prosecutors and the Federal Election Commission declined to bring charges against him. Nor will he get to air his complaint about “selective prosecution” (a favorite excuse from Trump, who whines he is singled out by left-wing prosecutors). He will be barred from offering hearsay evidence about federal prosecutors’ opinions about Cohen’s credibility and from presenting evidence in support of a “reliance on counsel” (or “presence of counsel”) defense. The judge reserved for later the determination as to whether to admit evidence of Trump’s efforts to intimidate and harass witnesses as “consciousness of guilt.”
It is hard to see how the proceedings could have gone any worse for Trump (although some issues regarding “prior bad acts” were reserved for trial). Although commentators critical of Bragg knocked his case as “novel” or doubted he could introduce evidence of violation of federal campaign, Merchan found otherwise. Merchan’s orders confirm that this in many ways is potentially a traditional white-collar crime, in which falsification in furtherance of other crimes elevates the charges to felonies. The upshot is that Bragg will get to put on his case with evidence he thinks will support a guilty verdict. The jury will not hear some of Trump’s familiar excuses.
Merchan showed himself to be a serious judge who will not indulge Trump’s antics nor allow the trial to devolve into a spectacle. The case will be tried on straightforward law, and on the mound of evidence Bragg has accumulated. Based on these rulings, Trump should be quaking in his boots.

The draft is only for those age 25 and older. Between draft dodging and Ukraine's unwillingness to draft 18-24 year old men, it will be hard for other countries to convince their populace to send their own troops to fight.

Republicans will bear the blame if Putin wins, and the west will be forced into WWIII to stop his next conquests. Deplorable does not begin to describe their irresponsibility. Their cowardice and betrayal are beyond reprehensible:

As Ukrainian officials plead for more Western arms and a U.S. aid package remains stalled in Congress, Russia is advancing on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine, seizing new territory and intensifying attacks to capture the town of Chasiv Yar and others in the Donetsk region.

Away from the front line, Ukraine’s dwindling air defense capabilities are showing vulnerabilities, as more Russian missiles and drones are able to hit targets such as critical infrastructure facilities.

Outside Kyiv — considered Ukraine’s best-protected city — the largest power plant serving the capital was destroyed Thursday, stoking concerns that Ukraine might be running out of surface-to-air missiles to counter the Russian airstrikes.
“We need air defense systems and other defense assistance, not just turning a blind eye and having lengthy discussions,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.


For months, Ukrainian military personnel have described the battlefield situation as dire due to a shortage of weapons and soldiers amid a renewed Russian offensive. They have reported increased Russian bombardment using guided air bombs, dropped from their planes onto Ukrainian military positions.



With resources running low, this assault in eastern Ukraine could threaten larger towns and cities such as Kostiantynivka, just west of Chasiv Yar — potentially advancing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s goal of seizing the entire Donetsk region, which he has already declared, illegally, to be annexed by Russia.

Chasiv Yar — west of the city of Bakhmut, which Russia’s Wagner mercenaries captured and occupied nearly a year ago — is now the new focus of Moscow’s forces, commanders fighting in the area said.
“They systematically try to advance,” said a deputy battalion commander in the 24th Separate Assault Battalion, better known as Aidar. The Washington Post agreed to identify the commander by his call sign, Chichen, in keeping with Ukrainian military protocol.

“We now see, due to their assaults, a large number of [Russian] armored vehicles knocked out on the outskirts,” Chichen said, adding that on Friday morning, some 20 units of heavy equipment were part of the Russian assault.


“Literally six months ago, this did not happen here,” he said. “Now there is a lot of burned-out

Ukraine’s worsening battlefield situation has coincided with Republicans in Congress blocking, for more than six months, $60 billion in security aid for Ukraine proposed by President Biden. During that time, Russia has regained the offensive initiative, initially by overtaking the town of Avdiivka in February.

Moscow’s forces have continued to advance past Avdiivka in the southern part of the Donetsk region. And on a separate axis, they are now encroaching on Chasiv Yar — a two-pronged attack.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials are concerned that Russia is preparing to mobilize hundreds of thousands more soldiers for another potential offensive in the northeast, toward Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. Kharkiv in recent weeks has been pummeled repeatedly by missiles, and strikes on energy infrastructure have disrupted electrical service.


Elsewhere in the southeast, Ukrainian forces have been fighting to maintain the few gains they made during a counteroffensive last summer, towns such as Robotyne, south of the city of Zaporizhzhia.



Ukrainian and Western officials have warned that without the U.S. support — particularly in providing air defense and artillery ammunition — Ukraine’s defense along the front line could crumble
Gen. Christopher Cavoli, the top U.S. general overseeing military operations in Europe, warned U.S. lawmakers this week that Russia is expected to hold a 10-1 advantage on artillery shells “within weeks.”
Oleksander, a Ukrainian battalion commander fighting on the left flank of Chasiv Yar, said Russians are now assaulting the town directly as well as other villages at its edges. He spoke on the condition that only his first name be used because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

In recent days, the Russians had reached the outskirts of the town, he said, and he predicted that if Ukraine does not withdraw from Chasiv Yar the end of the month, fighting will probably already be taking place in the town’s center.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan appeared deeply skeptical during a hearing Monday morning about claims by Donald Trump’s defense lawyers in his hush money criminal trial, and said the case would go to trial April 15.

Trump’s lawyers said a late release of more than 100,000 pages of potential evidence should delay the case significantly, and they asked that the prosecutors be sanctioned. Merchan, raising his voice at times, admonished Trump’s attorneys for making what he called very serious allegations without legal backup. He also questioned why the defense did not seek the records from federal officials sooner.

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Here's what to know​

The trial, which had been scheduled to start Monday, was pushed back until at least mid-April after the judge said lawyers needed more time to review the large number of documents turned over this month.
Prosecutors argue that no more than 300 pages are significant to the Trump case, in which the former president is accused of using his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, to pay for the silence of adult-film star Stormy Daniels about an alleged past sexual liaison.

True scale of US retail bloodbath revealed: How a 5,500 shops have closed in just one year... and even big names Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond and Nike have suffered.​

• Stores like Signet Jewelers announced closures amid poor sales after Covid
• Some major home and office retailers went into bankruptcy and shut locations
• Others like Walgreens pointed to escalating theft to explain poor sales

US retailers shut a total of almost 5,500 stores in 2023 - with major brands like Bed Bath & Beyond, Walgreens and Rite Aid leading the pack.

The closures affected a whole range of sectors, from clothing stores to discount stores and drugstores, as American commerce increasingly takes to the internet.

But the home and office sector was hit hardest, accounting for more than 30 percent of all closures - more than twice the amount in 2022.

Driving the high tally was that many retailers, such as Bed Bath & Beyond and Tuesday Morning, went bankrupt in 2023 and closed almost all stores as a result. Other retailers, like Signet Jewelers, announced closures amid generally poor sales.

Many retailers, like Walgreens, pointed to escalating theft as an explanation for their dwindling profits and decision to close locations.

Total closures were 5,463, according to the latest estimates from advisory firm Coresight Research. That is a 30 percent increase on 2022.

Bed Bath & Beyond reported it would shut 866 stores, far more than any other retailer, according to the report.

That high count is because it filed for bankruptcy in April and liquidated all locations within months.

Its closures accounted for around half of the total that affected the home and office sector.

Walgreens came in second, having closed some 505 stores and bringing its total down to 8,880.

In June, the drugstore reported poor earnings in the face of reduced consumer spending and revenue from Covid vaccines.

CEO Rosalind Brewer said at the time the company would be 'taking immediate actions to optimize profitability for our US healthcare segment,' which would include the shutting of stores.

Rite Aid also closed 470 locations last year. Like Bed Bath & Beyond, those came shortly after a bankruptcy filing in October.

CVS shut 279 stores, bringing its total store count to 7,501. Almost 100 of last year's closures were made by wedding dress seller David's Bridal.

Other major retailers to have closed stores include: 7-Eleven, Foot Locker, Signet Jewelers, Christmas Tree Shops, Party City, Office Depot, Big Lots, Bath & Body Works, Sally Beauty, Save A Lot, Petco and Shoe City.

All three of the mainstream dollar stores shut significant numbers of stores last year.

Family Dollar and Dollar Tree, both owned by Dollar Tree, Inc., closed a total of 209 stores. Separately-owned Dollar General shut 99.

However, their closures were overshadowed by an avalanche of openings. The three retailers together accounted for 1,599 openings last year.

While closures in 2023 reached their highest level since the pandemic, openings were also well up. Last year, retailers opened a total of 5,837 - more than the total closures.

Bed Bath & Beyond - 886 closures​

After Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy early last year, its intellectual property was purchased by Overstock.com for $21.5 million, which said it would continue operating the brand as a digital operation.

Around 120 Buybuy Baby locations were also affected in the process.

Bed Bath & Beyond sold the brand to New Jersey-based babywear designer Dream on Me Industries - which has one small store and an e-commerce site.

Since the sale only included intellectual rights to the company, Buybuy Baby's brick-and-mortar locations closed.

Christmas Tree Shops - 82 closures​

Party City - 65 closures​

Signet Jewelers - 95 closures​

Walgreens - 505 closures​

RANKING OF MAJOR US STORE CLOSURES IN 2023



The Bden economy is worsening by the minute.