Taliban Goes Even Farther off the Deep End

If other groups of people were treated in a country as women are under the Taliban, the world community would object strongly, but when it is women, oh well, it is just the privilege of hierarchical religions. 

New Taliban laws that prohibit women from speaking or showing their faces outside their homes have been condemned by the UN and met with horror by human rights groups.

The Taliban published a host of new “vice and virtue” laws last week, approved by their supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, which state that women must completely veil their bodies – including their faces – in thick clothing at all times in public to avoid leading men into temptation and vice.

Women’s voices are also deemed to be potential instruments of vice and so will not be allowed to be heard in public under the new restrictions. Women must also not be heard singing or reading aloud, even from inside their houses.

“Whenever an adult woman leaves her home out of necessity, she is obliged to conceal her voice, face, and body,” the new laws state.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/aug/26/taliban-bar-on-afghan-women-speaking-in-public-un-afghanistan

Mormon Church Bans Transgender People

In the Mormon Church, the new guidance prohibits those pursuing gender transition from working with children, and bans baptism for those who have transitioned both medically and socially.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints expanded its discrimination by baring people from being baptized even if they have transitioned only socially, by changing their appearance, name or pronouns.

So many hierarchical religions use discrimination to create and maintain hierarchies, this one based on gender orientation. Of course all in the name of Jesus Christ who taught people to accept others and not be judgmental. 

In a typical fashion of clueless people building hierarchies, a spokesman for the church, Doug Anderson, said the updates “seek to help Latter-day Saints follow Jesus Christ’s example of ministering with love, patience and respect.”

ttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/27/us/mormon-church-transgender.html

USA Women's Basketball Players Bring Children to Paris

With families and nannies helping, the members of the USA Women's basketball team have their children in attendance in Paris. 

Chelsea Gray and her wife have a baby boy. Britney Stewart will be hosting a birthday party for Stewart’s daughter Ruby, who turns 3 on Friday. Stewart also has a baby boy Theo with her wife, retired Spanish basketball player Marta Xargay.

Diana Taurasi and wife — former Australian Olympian and WNBA All-Star Penny Taylor — have two children, a boy and and girl. Napheesa Collier brought her two-year-old daughter, Mila Bazzel.

Two-time gold medalist Brittney Griner prefers to be called "Pops" as the newest member coming into parenthood with her wife giving birth to a boy just a couple weeks before the team headed to Europe.

For U.S. coach Cheryl Reeve, this is part of basketball’s evolution of supporting women on and off the court. The coach of the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx has seen that league and players negotiate for better policies helping players with maternity leave and child care.

“We’re evolving as a society I think in terms of what’s acceptable, what women can do, and women are obviously showing us that we can be anything,” Reeve said. “And we do. The harder it is, the more women are stepping up and doing it.”

https://apnews.com/article/2024-olympics-basketball-us-c453eac15895b5dfed2c134a73c6a065

Raven Saunders Exhibits Alter Ego in Paris Olympics

Raven Saunders made a creative impression during the shot put qualifiers at the Paris Olympics. Saunders, who uses they/them pronouns and is gay, said they are in full form using their Hulk alter ego.

They wore a full-face black mask and sunglasses as they attempted to make the final. Their hair was also dyed green and purple, set off with gold grills over their teeth.

Saunders donned a black face mask and a pair of colorful visor sunglasses while competing, and later said the outfit was all about inspiring people to be themselves.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/aug/08/raven-saunders-shot-put-usa-mask-sunglasses-olympics-outfit 

Two Humpback Whales Photographed Having Sex and Both are Males

Two humpback whales were photographed having sex for the first time in their species' history — and both partners happened to be male.

The British news agency SWNS Media Group shared the news of the surprising encounter, which was first reported in a new study by a researcher at the Pacific Whale Foundation (PWF) on Tuesday. National Geographic, Live Science,  and The Guardian also reported on the study's findings. 

https://people.com/male-humpback-whales-photographed-having-sex-first-time-in-history-8603047

Alice Milliat, Who Fought for Women's Inclusion in the Olympics, is Now Being Recognized

Alice Milliat welcomed the world to Paris as founder of the International Women’s Sports Federation, known in her native France as the Fédération Sportive Féminine International. In 1922, she said, “I hereby declare the first female Olympic Games open,” she said.

The male-dominated world of the mainline Olympics, busy preparing for the Paris Games of 1924, ignored the 1922 event, other than to complain about Milliat’s unauthorized use of “Olympics.” They dismissed the rising idea that women should compete at all.

Milliat, 100 years after the last Paris Olympics, is finally getting recognition as a pioneer, Billie Jean King of sorts for her age. Biographies are being published in France. A new documentary has been shown in theaters and on television. In Nice, The National Sports Museum has a temporary exhibit highlighting her achievements. A plaza outside a new Olympic arena was named for her.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/10/olympics-women-milliat.html

The Top, Christianity, Assumes Laws Only Apply to Them, But Wait!!

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is pushing for more religion in education. Of course he and his followers assume that means more Christianity in schools. 

However, dark messengers of satanism could soon be walking the hallways of Florida’s public schools. Members of the Satanic Temple say they are poised to act as volunteer chaplains.

Although HB 931 leaves the implementation of chaplain programs to individual school districts, and only requires schools to list a volunteer’s religion “if any”, DeSantis has made clear its intent is to restore the tenets of Christianity to public education.

A terrific way to counteract privilege that the top expects is to demand the same situation for other groups too. 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/08/florida-satanic-temple-ron-desantis