Samir Hussein/WireImage via Getty Images © 2024 Blaze Media LLC. All rights reserved. ‘Happy Birthing Parent Day’: JK Rowling trolls gender ideology proponents with funny Mother’s Day message March 11, 2024 J.K. Rowling trolled radical leftist gender ideology proponents with a Mother’s Day message on Sunday, which was the date on which the U.K. marked the occasion this year. “Happy Birthing Parent Day to all whose large gametes were fertilised resulting in small humans whose sex was assigned by doctors making mostly lucky guesses,” the writer quipped in a post on X. In another post, Rowling wrote, “Devastated and bewildered that my embrace of inclusive language has angered its most enthusiastic devotees, so let’s just say: Happy Mother’s Day to all females who’ve raised children.” Rowling, who authored the “Harry Potter” book series, is outspoken on her views of the transgender movement and in emphasizing the importance of protecting females and female spaces from males who claim to identify as females. “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,” Rowling has noted. “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,” she wrote. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here! Want to leave a tip? We answer to you. Help keep our content free of advertisers and big tech censorship by leaving a tip today. Want to join the conversation? Already a subscriber? Alex Nitzberg is a staff writer for Blaze News. alexnitzberg more stories Sign up for the Blaze newsletter By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content that may sometimes include advertisements. You may opt out at any time. © 2024 Blaze Media LLC. All rights reserved. Get the stories that matter most delivered directly to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content that may sometimes include advertisements. You may opt out at any time.
Archives for March 2024
Analysis | You’re not crazy. Spring is getting earlier. Find out how it’s changed in your town.
Spring is getting earlier. Find out how it’s changed in your town. Readers told us how spring has changed where they live. Our map shows where leaves are sprouting sooner. Ken Lyons, 77, knows when strawberry plants used to bear fruit in Lebanon, N.J. In the 1980s, strawberries came within a few days of his son’s birthday on June 11. These days, Lyons’s strawberry plants peak in May. When his son, now 45, visited home for his birthday a few years ago, he was disappointed to find the strawberries already gone. Michael Dornbrook, 71, knows when the magnolia trees used to bloom in Boston. As a student at MIT in the early 1970s, he remembers seeing their pink and white petals on his way to take his final exams in the second and third week of May. Now the magnolias often bloom in April. As global warming nudges temperatures higher, memories of the past offer an informal account of how the seasons have changed. A formal account comes from the USA National Phenology Network — phenology is the study of seasonal change — which reports the annual appearance of spring’s first leaves in the contiguous United States since 1981. Spring is trending earlier across a vast U-shaped area of land stretching from coast to coast, according to my analysis of their data. Spring’s arrival appears especially accelerated at higher elevations. In parts of California’s Sierra Nevada, for instance, trees that used to sprout leaves in mid-May now tend to do so in early April. The reason is unclear, climatologists told me, but it could be that snow has grown scarcer in the mountains, which To know when leaves appear, it is not necessary to hire a million people across the country to vigilantly monitor trees all day. As winter fades, plants respond to the gradual accumulation of heat. So instead of watching trees, phenologists track temperature, waiting for “a set of conditions that are associated with the biological start of spring,” said Theresa Crimmins, the director of the National Phenology Network. The data reveal broad trends in spring’s arrival time, but there is too much annual variation to forecast when leaves will appear in any given year. In a little less than half of the country, there is no clear trend at all. In some parts of the Midwest and Northwest, leaves tend to show up later than they used to. Yet earlier springs have become more likely than later ones. In the contiguous United States, the area of land where spring leaves tend to appear earlier is four times the size of the area where leaves are trending later. And leaves’ average arrival date roughly matches When people describe how spring has changed, they often talk about things other than leaves. Hilton Dier III, 62, of Middlesex, Vt., talks about sap. To make Vermont’s famous maple syrup, you collect sap through a tap inserted into the trunk of a sugar maple tree. But you can’t tap a tree at any time of year. You need to wait until the temperature is above freezing during the day but below freezing at night. Those specific conditions act like a pump, bringing sap up from the tree’s roots and into its trunk. Here’s how Dier knows that people tap their trees earlier than they used to. Vermont has a tradition called town meeting day, where everyone gathers to argue with their neighbors about things such as budgets and zoning. It’s held every year in the first week of March. “You used to be considered kind of kooky,” Dier said, “if you tapped your trees before town meeting day.” But now, daytime temperatures rise above freezing throughout the winter. Dier knows people who tap their trees in January and February. Some years, people get sap runs in December. “Sugaring season is completely off,” Dier said. In Dallas, the whole growing season is off. When I talked to Stan Aten, 67, president of the Rainbow Garden Club of North Texas, he was preparing for this weekend’s big flower show at the Dallas Arboretum. The show is held every year in mid-March, but Aten reckons that might change. Daffodils are blooming earlier and earlier. “It’s getting so warm that we might have to move it up a week or two to hopefully have something to show,” Aten told me. It seems nearly everything about growing plants in Dallas has changed since Aten moved there in 1986. He used to always plant his tomatoes on March 17, but this year he planted them in February. His Japanese maples, Chinese fringe flowers, and day lilies leaf out earlier than they used to. He knows gardeners who erect shade cloths to protect their plants from late afternoon heat. “You never would have heard of such a thing years ago,” Aten said. It’s enough to exasperate even a vigilant gardener. As Aten put it: “I’m seeing all kinds of stuff that shouldn’t be, that is.” Check my work I downloaded the annual leaf index gridded data from the USA National Phenology Network and calculated the linear regression in each grid cell, filtering out cells with p-value at least 0.5. I got the list of U.S. city coordinates from this GitHub repository and joined them to the gridded data, filtering out coordinates that did not fall inside any grid cell. Historical temperatures are from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and historical leaf index dates are from Mark D. Schwartz of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, who emailed me the data file. I published the code to make versions of the graphics in this article in three computational notebooks: the map of leaf index trends, the chart comparing leaf index trends in selected cities, and the chart comparing leaf index and temperature from January to May. You can use the code and data to produce your own analyses and charts — and to make sure mine are accurate. If you do, email me at harry.stevens@washpost.com.
Tom Cruise, 61, flashes a smile as he arrives at a Heliport in London
Tom Cruise, 61, flashes a smile as he disembarks his helicopter after flying to London… where he’s filming Mission Impossible’s eighth installment Tom Cruise looked to be in good spirits as he arrived at a Heliport in London, England, on Sunday, via a helicopter. The Mission Impossible hunk, 61, rocked a disheveled hairdo along with a navy sweater and blue jeans. The Oscar nominee — who is a trained pilot — completed the look with a pair of white Nike sneakers, and held a dark green coffee tumbler in his hand. Before disembarking the helicopter the actor, who’s known for performing his own stunts, was pictured giving a thumbs up while landing. It comes following news that Cruise is prepared to channel a movie hero and fly his Mission Impossible cast and crew to Longcross Studios amid the M25 closure, to continue making progress on filming of the eighth Mission Impossible movie. Tom Cruise looked to be in good spirits as he arrived at a Heliport in London, England, on Sunday, via a helicopter The Mission Impossible hunk, 61, rocked a disheveled hairdo along with a navy sweater and blue jeans Before disembarking the helicopter the actor was pictured giving a thumbs up while landing Cruise has been working at the filming location this week to try and meet a 2025 deadline for the next movie, where he will reprise his role as agent Ethan Hunt. Longcross is near junctions 10 and 11 of the M25 – where the motorway is closed this weekend. ‘The M25 closure is a headache for most people but not for Tom. He is so keen to keep Mission: Impossible 8 in production that he’s got helicopters on standby in London to fly his crew over to Longcross,’ a source told the The Sun. ‘It sounds excessive but delaying work on the film is a bigger problem and Tom is such a professional — he’d move heaven and Earth to keep the show on the road.’ ‘Staff on the movie or stars who are needed for filming have been told if they can’t get to Longcross because of the M25 closures they’ll be flown in by chopper,’ the insider added. ‘It’s a feat that is just like a scene out of one of Tom’s films.’ Cruise was seen filming last week in Derbyshire along with co-stars Simon Pegg and Hayley Atwell. MI:8 was supposed to hit cinemas this summer, but production has already been delayed due to the Hollywood writers’ strike. The seventh film, Dead Reckoning Part One came out last year. The Oscar nominee — who is a trained pilot — completed the look with a pair of white Nike sneakers Tom had a friendly encounter with one of the employees The actor held a dark green coffee tumbler in his hand The Hollywood legend gave a friendly wave He appeared in good spirits on the outing It comes following news that Cruise is prepared to channel a movie hero and fly his Mission Impossible cast and crew to Longcross Studios amid the M25 closure, to continue making progress on filming of the eighth Mission Impossible film Cast and crew had been prepping for the huge shoot in Derbyshire, lasting around a week. The Mission: Impossible film series, beginning in 1996, is based on a 1966 television series of the same name. Production on the eighth film had originally halted so that the cast could promote Part One, and then the strike began causing further delays. Along with Mission: Impossible, Tom is flying back into action for a new Top Gun sequel after the massive box office success of the previous entry. Tom will be back as Captain Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell, and Paramount, which will be producing again, is hoping to reunite him with his recent costars Miles Teller and Glen Powell. The news that Tom is back in business with Paramount — where he has released many of his recent films — comes just days after he signed up for a deal with Warner Bros. to produce and develop new films for that studio, including movies he’ll star in. According to Puck News, Maverick co-writer Ehren Kruger is writing a script for the third entry in the series. Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that director Joseph Kosinski is also expected to return after proving himself with the critical and commercial smash success. Cruise has been working at the filming location this week to try and meet a 2025 deadline for the next movie, where he will reprise his role as agent Ethan Hunt Longcross is near junctions 10 and 11 of the M25 – where the motorway is closed this weekend ‘The M25 closure is a headache for most people but not for Tom. He is so keen to keep Mission: Impossible 8 in production that he’s got helicopters on standby in London to fly his crew over to Longcross,’ a source told the The Sun ‘It sounds excessive but delaying work on the film is a bigger problem and Tom is such a professional — he’d move heaven and Earth to keep the show on the road’ ‘Staff on the movie or stars who are needed for filming have been told if they can’t get to Longcross because of the M25 closures they’ll be flown in by chopper,’ the source added ‘It’s a feat that is just like a scene out of one of Tom’s films’ Tom will return as Impossible Mission Force agent Ethan Hunt, in the saga (pictured in Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning) Tom’s last deal with Paramount ended in 2006, despite his continued work with the studio, and the new deal with Warner Bros. is nonexclusive, which will allow him to still work with other studios. However, he’s expected to be getting his own office on the Warners lot. Tom and his costars helped lead the long-awaited sequel Top Gun: Maverick to nearly $1.5 billion in grosses, and the action film’s months-long stint in theaters help revive the theatrical business amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Although news of the high-flying sequel struck some as an attempt to blunt the positive publicity Warner Bros. was getting for scoring a Tom connection, THR reports that it has been quietly in development since the late fall. Paramount didn’t comment on the development.
Watch: Hur Can’t Help but Laugh When He Finally Gets to Admit ‘Yeah’ Biden Lied
Watch: The Priceless Look on Hur’s Face as He Finally Admits Biden Lied Is there anything more satisfying than when lies begin to crumble? On Tuesday, former Special Counsel Robert Hur testified before the House Judiciary Committee, where he elaborated on his report about the investigation of Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents he had access to while serving as vice president in the Obama administration. During the hearing, several Republicans questioned the former Department of Justice employee as to why no criminal charges were filed against the sitting president, according to The Federalist. Many noted the differences between the investigation done by Hur and the one conducted by Special Counsel Jack Smith into former President Donald Trump over the mishandling of classified documents. Smith ultimately decided to levy charges against the former president, while Hur decided not to file any charges against Biden. Representatives at the hearing questioned why Hur decided not to charge the aging president, despite the charges being filed against Trump. Hur claimed, “No matter the role, no matter the administration, I have applied the same standards and the same impartiality.” He noted his investigation “identified evidence that the President willfully retained classified materials after the end of his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.” As for why he chose not to bring any formal charges against Biden for doing so, his report claimed, “It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.” California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa questioned the special counsel, getting Hur to admit clearly that the idea that Biden was “outright innocent” was “not reflected in my report.” Hur further clarified later, when he interrupted Washington Democrat Rep. Pramila Jayapal, to emphasize that “I did not exonerate [Biden].” He also further discussed the extent to which Biden went to cover his tracks, while being questioned by Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz. Gaetz quoted Biden’s Feb. 8 statement, in which he told the news media, “I did not share classified information. I did not share it. I guarantee I did not.” He then addressed the special counsel. “That’s not true, is it, Mr. Hur?” Hur responded with a mouthful of bureaucratese: “That is inconsistent with the findings, based on the evidence in my report.” Gaetz translated Hur’s remark: “Yeah, so it’s a lie, is just what regular people would say, right?” The investigator couldn’t even keep a straight face. Looking down and chuckling, he replied, “Yeah.” Special Counsel Robert Hur admits Biden was, in fact, LYING when he insisted he did not share classified information with his ghostwriter pic.twitter.com/K5qctTB4K4 — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 12, 2024 It’s almost as if Hur had been waiting for that moment, hoping someone would finally come right out and ask plainly whether Biden had lied. There were no chuckles, however, when Gaetz probed Hur about his decision not to charge ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer, who allegedly deleted audio recordings of Biden discussing classified documents with him while the two were working on his memoir, “Promise Me, Dad.” .@FoxNews: Matt Gaetz presses Hur over not charging Biden ghostwriter: ‘What does somebody have to do?’ “What does somebody have to do to get charged with obstruction of justice by you?” Gaetz demanded of Hur, suggesting that the special counsel let Mark Zwonitzer – the… pic.twitter.com/lEZfIDjjwB — Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) March 12, 2024 “What does somebody have to do to get charged with obstruction of justice by you?” Gaetz asked Hur, according to a Fox News report. “If, like, deleting evidence of crimes doesn’t count, what would meet the standard?” Hur explained that, although the writer deleted the recordings, he had kept the transcripts. “Oh, so, if you destroy some evidence but not other evidence that somehow absolves you of the evidence you destroy,” Gaetz responded. The congressman summed up the hypocrisy of the investigation. “Like, here’s what I see,” Gaetz said. “Zwonitzer should have been charged, wasn’t. Biden and Trump should have been treated equally. They weren’t. “And that is the double standard that I think a lot of Americans are concerned about.” Gaetz is absolutely correct here. Even if Hur attempts to claim there’s no favoritism in the Justice Department, opting to not charge Biden shows a leniency toward the sitting president that wasn’t afforded to Trump. Smith’s investigation of Trump established a precedent that, when former elected officials mishandle classified documents, they receive criminal charges for it. Hur did not follow that precedent, creating a look of a biased justice system. Truth and Accuracy We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
John McCarthy appalled by Mike Tyson boxing Jake Paul: ‘It drives me crazy’
You want to know what John McCarthy thinks of Mike Tyson boxing Jake Paul? Here you go. “I hate it. I can’t stand it,” McCarthy said on MMA Junkie’s “Spinning Back Clique.” “It drives me crazy.” The fight, which is scheduled for July 20 at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium and will live stream on Netflix, is taking sideshow boxing to a new level of ridiculousness in the eyes of many, considering YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul (9-1) is 30 years younger than former heavyweight champ Tyson (50-6), who will be 58 when he steps into the ring. When he thinks about this fight happening, “Big” John, a former MMA referee who now works as an analyst for Bellator/PFL, can only call it like he sees it. “I love Mike Tyson. And Mike Tyson was a great fighter, but what do you think is gonna happen if you put Joe Montana on a football field right now? How good do you think it’s gonna look?” McCarthy said. “There is speed in sports that Mike Tyson has lost – a ton of his speed. … “I don’t care how good of condition you get in as a 57-year-old, almost 58 when that fight happens – you cannot maintain that conditioning. Anything happens, it goes right out the door, and it takes you forever to kind of get it back. When (he goes) into that ring, he’s gonna get tired. He will get tired much faster than he ever did before based upon his age. Yes, he will have some power, but he doesn’t have the speed to get that power to the target in the same way. I look at this and I go, man, shame on everyone for this whole thing.” To emphasize his stance, McCarthy recalled Evander Holyfield’s 2021 boxing match with former UFC champ Vitor Belfort, which ended with Belfort winning by TKO. McCarthy said he told Holyfield not to fight Belfort, who was 15 years younger than Holyfield in his late 50s. “I love Vitor, but he’s not a better boxer than Evander Holyfield, but he could beat an old man that was 50-something years old,” McCarthy said. “I really hope that (Paul vs. Tyson), in the end, doesn’t come about.” Bottom line for McCarthy is that anywho who is looking forward to Tyson fighting again is simply enamored with the dominant force from years long ago. “Everyone is seeing Mike as the Mike Tyson that we all fell in love with, the Mike Tyson that was just an animal, would go out there with huge power, and just annhilate people,” McCarthy said. “That Mike Tyson is gone, that Mike Tyson doesn’t exist anymore, and that Mike Tyson is what’s needed to put Jake Paul on his ass. We’re not gonna see that Mike Tyson, so unfortunately you’re gonna see Jake Paul win this fight. And I just hope Mike doesn’t get hurt.”