Strings

Wolves ⚽️ & Denver Broncos 🏈, movies & sport. All views my own. 🇬🇧🇫🇰

[Dr Charlie Ward @DrcharlieWardQ]

MUST WATCH 🚨: Ainsley, a Minnesota volleyball athlete, testifies before the Minnesota House of Representatives on protecting women’s sports.

“My good friend was on the USA volleyball team last summer. She told me, quote, ‘I sat behind the 6'4 man serving the volleyball and thought, I could never receive that.’ My friend is a 6'3 guard..”

“What is the point of girls and boys teams if males can play on girls-only teams? Members, fellow Minnesotans, this isn't easy for me.”

“I'm a very agreeable person who hates controversy, but I love truth. I thought about my volleyball team, the little girls I babysit, my own hopes and dreams, and I thought about the little girls I babysit, my own hopes and dreams, and one day being a mother of daughters.”

“I want to say I fought for them and their future. Members, please preserve our safety and the opportunity we are entitled to under the law in women's sports, and pass House File 12.”

WOW.

[Jennifer Sey @JenniferSey]

When I spoke about abuse in gymnastics in 2008, people said I was a liar and a grifter and shitty gymnast even though I'd been a national champion. (Not sure why that would matter if I was shitty -- do shitty gymnasts deserve abuse? And I've said repeatedly I was the worst national champion that ever was so you're not hurting my feelings to say it.)

Then Dominique Moceanu spoke out a year later, an Olympic gold medalist, and they called her a grifter and a liar and an unwell person and an ungrateful former gymnast. The naysayers couldn't say she was a crap gymnast, she had a gold medal. So they went another route.

It wasn't until 2016-2018 that the cascade of Olympians spoke out.

And then everyone knew it was true.

When the trolls can't address your argument they call you names.

We are seeing this now in real time.

@Riley_Gaines_ spoke about men in women's sports in 2022. "You suck, you were 5th place."

Then Sophie Cunningham spoke in July and she is a grifter MAGA Barbie and bench player (with a firm grip on reality).

Now @SabalenkaA has spoken. She is #1 in the world in women's tennis. What do you have now people?? Seriously? Are you gonna say she sucks too? Is crazy? Is Russian? What??

Let the cascade begin.
We will win.
Because we speak the truth.

[Stephen A Smith @stephenasmith]

I'm not backing down from this one.

You can support people's rights AND believe biological men shouldn't compete in women's sports. Those two things are not mutually exclusive.

My issue isn't hate. It's protecting women, protecting girls, and asking why a WNBA coach chose to inject herself into a controversy that could hurt the very league she's supposed to represent.

Common sense still matters. That's where I stand.

My full remarks are on YouTube.

[Strings @Stringers76]

@melgibso4 A++++++

[Strings @Stringers76]

@UTDIMole cucarella

[FalklandsinUK @FalklandsinUK]

1/ On 18th July 1845, Stanley became the capital city of the Falkland Islands. 🇫🇰

A short thread on the extraordinary history of our wonderful capital. 🧵

[Michael Peters @PetersMich28437]

The fastest female, 100-meter sprinter in recorded history is American legend Florence Griffith Joyner. She set the world record of 10.49 seconds on July 16, 1988.

In 2026, there were over 1000 high school boys that beat this record! You read that correctly. In this year alone, there were over 1000 high school boys that beat the record of fastest woman in the world ever!

If just one of those boys, or a meager 1/10 of 1%, decided to compete as a woman, he would crush the women’s world record!

I’m not talking about a high school record or a college record or even an Olympic or professional record. I’m talking about the women’s world record that has held since 1988!

Remind me again, why you’re not supportive of women’s rights.

[Jon Root @JonnyRoot_]

Dear Stephanie White,

Since you said you weren't "educated enough from a scientific standpoint" to say whether men should compete in women's sports or not, let me "educate" you.

- Males have significantly more lean muscle mass.
- On average, men have 30-40% more upper-body strength.
- After puberty, men have up to 20x more testosterone, which leads to greater muscle development, higher power output, & faster strength gains.
- Males have higher bone density, wider shoulders, & typically longer reach.
- Men produce more fast-twitch muscle fibers, which helps with explosive movements
- Males generally have larger hearts & lungs, contributing to higher aerobic capacity.
- Men have, on average, a 10–12% higher hemoglobin concentration, allowing the blood to carry more oxygen during exercise, which is why WNBA games & seasons are shorter than the NBA
- Males typically have a 15–20% higher VO₂ max than similarly trained females, improving endurance performance.
- Men have larger & stronger tendons & ligaments, allowing them to tolerate higher force production.
- Males typically possess larger skeletal frames, including bigger hands and feet, which can improve leverage & force generation in sports.
- Men generally recover quicker between maximal power efforts because of greater absolute muscle mass & anaerobic power.

Now you have no excuse to not say "men don't belong in women's sports," I'm looking forward to you standing with Sophie Cunningham on this issue 🤝

[Toffee Tower ⚽️💙🛖 @toffee_tower]

Everton
2 breaches
8 points deducted (down from 18)
Sporting advantage
£13m loss - prize money
£38m loss - sued

Forest
1 breach
4 points deducted
Sporting advantage

Chelsea
74 breaches
0 points deducted (down from 15)
No Sporting advantage?
£10m EPL fine
£10m FA fine

🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

[Pro America Politics @proamericapol]

In 1998, Serena and Venus Williams said they could beat any man ranked outside the top 200 in the men's division.

So, little known and 203rd ranked men's player Karsten Braasch took them up on the challenge.

Braasch after a night of drinking and smoking with zero practice, destroyed Serena 6-1 and Venus 6-2 in straight sets.

The Williams sisters are the greatest female athletes of all time. And they barely made Braasch break a sweat.

It wasn't because Braasch was very good. He wasn't.

But, as a male, he possesses biological advantages even the best female athletes can't compete against.

That's the very reason we established women's sports to begin with.

To even the playing field.

That shouldn't be controversial. And you shouldn't need a biology degree to understand it.

[Sharron Davies HoL MBE @sharrond62]

Because someone thinks they are something, or wants to be something… doesn’t make it so. And I don’t believe going along with a lie or a fantasy does anyone any favours. It certainly does a disservice to females keeping rights & opportunities they’ve gained thru hard graft

[𝗦𝗧🐺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿¹⁸ @WWFC_ST21]

You’re telling me Argos costs the same as Morgan Rogers

[XX-XY Athletics @xx_xyathletics]

More and more girls are now emboldened to speak up.

Courage is contagious.

Thank you @sophaller

[Clive Peedell @cpeedell]

@Ghostofcynthia #MAGA Moron. Uneducated & ignorant.
Brave healthcare workers died or suffered long term consequences from COVID.
These dance TikTok’s were part of dealing with the trauma of it all, for a minority.
A sense of humour and community are essential to surviving a career in healthcare.

[UEFA @UEFA]

Statement on behalf of UEFA and its 55 National AssociationStatement on behalf of UEFA and its 55 National AssociationStatement on behalf of UEFA and its 55 National AssociationStatement on behalf of UEFA and its 55 National Associations

[Seb Stafford-Bloor @SebSB]

Infantino tells fans not to worry, because the game won’t change. But it already has, with adverts in the middle of each half, tickets that cost more than rent, and politicians influencing outcomes.

The game cannot remain in his hands.

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

The World Cup is not FIFA’s to sell. “Outside investors" should be nowhere near the greatest sporting prize on earth. "Outside investors" should be nowhere near a governing body, even a subsidiary of FIFA. The optics are terrible. The threat of interference is obvious. There was enough political interference in the sport at the World Cup over suspending Folarin Balogun’s suspension. Damaged the integrity of the game. There was commercial interference with the sponsored hydration breaks. Damaged the flow of the game.

FIFA insists that the billions raised by “outside investors” will help smaller national associations in the story first reported by the Financial Times and Times. That, coincidentally, should guarantee Gianni Infantino votes to continue as FIFA president next March.

FIFA also insists that these outside investors’ involvement in “FIFA Forward Enterprise” will not interfere with the “democratic” process of FIFA. But who are these private investors? What are their motives? Ego? Influence? Alarm bells should be ringing throughout world football about this deeply dangerous development.

[Purplereign @Angiemut]

GOOD POINT👇👇👇
To all the Supermarkets and big commercial stores that operate 'Self Check-outs'....... You are heading towards almost exclusively self-checkout now. Yesterday I went shopping at one such store and the lady checking receipts at the exit was stopping everyone.
I didn't choose to participate in that nonsense, I had already filled my trolly, emptied my trolly and scanned the items, refilled my trolly and so I just skipped the exit line and left.
I heard her saying "Umm - Excuse me “ as I kept walking and raised the receipt above my head, leaving the store.
You can either trust me to do self-checkout, or you can put your cashiers back in place like it used to be.
• I'm not interested in proving that I did your job for you.
• If you want me to be a cashier with no training then that's your problem not mine.
• Keep employing young people and give them job opportunities.
YOU DON'T PAY ME TO SCAN MY OWN SHOPPING.
YOU DON’T GIVE ME STAFF DISCOUNT FOR WORKING FOR YOU.
Signed ......All of us
People we need to share this statement its basically about PROFIT to the stores AND putting People out of a JOB....!!!

[Nicodemus @nicolito1979]

@FutboliPolitica estamos a un pelo de recuperar las Malvinas!! impresionante si seguimos con esos cartelitos y remeras pedorras seguro Inglaterra se rinde y nos entregan en las proximas semanas las Malvinas!! Sigan asi, que ya somos el hazmereir del planeta!

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

I’ve just seen a post from yet another man who thinks my position has shifted since I wrote my 2020 essay about gender identity ideology and the consequent clash of rights https://t.co/pasxBD1Hzl

For the avoidance of doubt, I stand by every word I wrote then. For instance: ‘woman isn’t a costume.’ If it surprises you that I say men don’t become women by wearing make up and dresses, you didn’t understand the essay. I’ve been crystal clear all along that I believe people are free to live and present themselves as the opposite sex if that’s what feels comfortable and authentic TO THEM. This appears to have been interpreted (most often, tellingly, by men) as ‘and it naturally follows that I, as a woman, will validate a man’s belief that he is now, to all intents and purposes, the same sex as me, and I will use only the speech he deems appropriate and will be very careful to protect his sensitive ego, no matter the cost to myself in pretending to believe a falsehood, or the loss of my own rights due to this pretence.’

Dress as you like within normal bounds of situational decency, wear lipstick, sequins and a beard if you want, call yourself whatever you like, have sex with any consenting adult you please: I wish you health, happiness and safety. What you don’t get is the power to compel my speech and belief.

When I call a man a man, I am speaking verifiable truth. It is essential to be able to accurately name sex when discussing fair sport, facilities and services for women and girls and the right of gay people not to be demonised for their same-sex attraction. In years to come, a lot of useful idiots are going to awake to the fact that they’ve been complicit in enormous harm done to women, girls, gay people who stood against the insanity, and some extremely vulnerable young people. I don’t doubt we’ll hear a lot of, ‘I thought I was just being kind.’ Such individuals, especially those in positions of power, should be asked why they never had anything to say about the loud, public, widespread unkindness directed against those who refused to adopt their fashionable, elitist beliefs, eg, the detransitioners being bullied and vilified by former ‘allies’, the whistleblowers who tried to stop an unregulated experiment on troubled children, the women who lost their careers and livelihoods by standing up for all women’s rights.

Some people appear to believe it a worse crime for a woman to call a man a man than for trans activists to call loudly and publicly for the assault and assassination of all women who refuse to bend the knee. I have never wished violence or any other kind of harm on a trans-identified person, but, like many other people who’ve defended women’s and girls’ rights over the past few years, I have received thousands of threats of death, rape and torture. The wilful blindness of those who bleat ‘both sides’ will rightly be judged harshly in times to come.

TL;DR Trans women aren’t women, and if that hurts your feelings, be grateful you live in a society where you are just as free to espouse gender ideology as I am to speak the truth. As Orwell said: ‘Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.’