Hey kids it’s time for Ontology Gymnastics!

Biological sex is an “artificial parameter” for deciding where prisoners should be held, Scottish National Party (SNP) ministers have told a court.

Gerry Moynihan KC, acting for the Scottish Government, argued that there should be flexibility to allow transgender women, who are biological men, to serve their sentences in female jails.

He told the Court of Session in Edinburgh that defining “a man as a man and a woman as a woman, without exceptions” was “artificial”.

I know I’ve already made fun of this, but it’s just so rewarding. Defining an X as an X is not so much artificial as it is a tautology. It’s the very opposite of a definition, because … Read the rest

Meanwhile Trump is continuing his unlovely campaign to plaster his filthy name all over everything.

Donald Trump has told the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, that he will unfreeze funds for major infrastructure projects in New York City if he supports renaming Dulles international airport and Penn Station after him.

The demand, which was first reported on Thursday by Punchbowl News, comes after the president in October halted $18bn in funding for a major subway line expansion in New York City as well as a new rail tunnel connecting the city to New Jersey. The funding freeze was announced on the first day of a 43-day government shutdown in which Schumer, who represents New York, played a major

No but it was a staffer, how many times do we have to tell you it was a staffer???

Following an intense backlash this morning, the White House has now taken down Trump’s Truth Social repost of a video showing a racist clip depicting the Obamas as apes.

Multiple outlets cite a senior White House official as saying:

A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down.

The post was up for 12 hours.

So they’re telling us there’s a staffer whose job it is to post torrents of obnoxious drivel and insults and lies in the middle of the night???

Ok, news media: you know what you have to do now. Ask them why. … Read the rest

And then there was the spin.

The White House one hour ago: It's a meme video of the Lion King, stop with the fake outrage

The White House ten mins ago: It was erroneously posted by some staffer*

* a staffer apparently is allowed to post videos directly to Trump's account at all hours through the night?… https://t.co/Ik0kxypq1b

— Sam Stein (@samstein) February 6, 2026

When Leavitt was asked about it, she defended it & said there was nothing wrong with it.

Now after huge backlash they took it down & are blaming a staffer.

Because it’s always the staffers & advisors, never Trump himself. Even when it’s up on his personal account for 12 hours.

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski)

Knowing that men are not women is just so random, ya know? What’s the point? Relax, enjoy the ride!

Biological sex is an “artificial parameter” for deciding where prisoners should be held, Scottish National Party (SNP) ministers have told a court.

They have? Really? Surely they meant “arbitrary”? Calling it artificial seems deranged even for them.

Gerry Moynihan KC, acting for the Scottish Government, argued that there should be flexibility to allow transgender women, who are biological men, to serve their sentences in female jails.

We need that flexibility so that men can have opportunities to beat up and rape women, right? It’s just common sense.

He told the Court of Session in Edinburgh that defining “a man as

I tried to find a news outlet for this one but it turns out the swift image-first version does the job much better. The image is the story.

BREAKING: Trump just posted a video on Truth Social that includes a racist image of Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys.

There’s no bottom pic.twitter.com/zPEGa94dYO

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) February 6, 2026

… Read the rest

I didn’t know this.

Jeff Bezos's devastation of the writing staff of The Washington Post has been noted. But its photographers have also been fired, all of them. Photographers are incredible journalists, often taking greater risks than we writers do, and the WashPost has had many brilliant ones. https://t.co/TqCbVG9WQ3

— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) February 6, 2026

Did he literally buy the Post in order to destroy it? Is it that simple? … Read the rest

Trump throwing more toys out of the playpen:

The U.S. ambassador to Poland is lashing out at the country’s parliament speaker for the offense of not supporting President Trump’s Nobel Prize aspirations.

Ambassador Tom Rose raged at Parliament Speaker Wlodzimierz Czarzasty in an X rant on Wednesday. In the post, Rose threatened that the US would “have no further dealings, contacts, or communications” with Czarzasty, due to his “insults directed against President Trump.”

What did he say?

Czarzasty made the alleged “outrageous and unprovoked insults” toward Trump on Monday while speaking to journalists.

The 65-year-old chairman of Poland’s New Left party said he would not support U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Israeli Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana’s campaign to

Oh good, we’re making Columbus great again.

Trump is taking steps toward installing near the White House a replica of a statue of famed explorer Christopher Columbus that had been tossed into Baltimore’s harbor during his first term amid protests against institutional racism.

It’s all this political correctness, you see, paying attention to the fact that Columbus was not an unmixed blessing to all the inhabitants of the landmass he bumped into on his way to China.

The White House declined to comment to the AP on plans for the statue but reaffirmed Trump’s affinity for Columbus, whose legacy has shifted as historians and educators amplify how white European figures and their descendants treated Native Americans and enslaved Africans

It seems that Trump has blown past some major milestone or barrier – whatever it is that inhibits people from jabbering nonsense in public.

Trump at the National Prayer Breakfast: "I don't know how a person of faith can vote for a Democrat. I really don't. *crowd groans* I know we have some here today. I don't know why they're here, because they certainly don't give us their vote … they cheat." pic.twitter.com/lIQDisyjK1

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 5, 2026

The bit of transcript sounds coherentish. Trump talking does not. He’s fallen off a cognitive cliff.… Read the rest

People don’t believe me when I say Joyce Carol Oates is stupid. No, really: she is stupid. Dense. Thick as two short planks. She does not thinkk good.

Like so:

Yes she is that stupid. She doesn’t even get that “random men” and “transgender persons” can be one and the same. She doesn’t even get that “random men” can idennify as women and proceed to commit violent acts against girls and women.… Read the rest

The UN’s Reem Alsalem speaks up:

GENEVA – A UN expert today expressed serious concern over the United Kingdom’s failure to ensure the effective implementation of a landmark Supreme Court judgment clarifying that the term “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refers to biological sex.

“The continued absence of clear, updated guidance and effective enforcement measures has resulted in widespread non-compliance with the Supreme Court’s ruling,” said Reem Alsalem, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls. “This situation undermines legal certainty with particularly serious consequences for women and girls.”

The Special Rapporteur welcomed the ruling in her report following her recent visit to the United Kingdom. She recommended that the UK Government ensure that all public and

Welp it seems the genie is out of the bottle.

Trump: I hate even talking about ICE. 2 people out of tens of thousands and you get bad publicity.

Host: But it was 2 Americans who died—

Trump: We have the smallest trucks. We've been very tough on the waters

Host: The waters?

Trump: The waters where we knock out boats pic.twitter.com/BPTA7MBMeE

— FactPost (@factpostnews) February 5, 2026

The twelve of us

Exciting announcement from Jeff Bezos's reimagined Washington Post! pic.twitter.com/b5mSviIwEk

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) February 5, 2026

… Read the rest

They haven’t thought this through.

Sermon says men can ‘physically discipline’ rebellious wives “as a last resort”

Last month, Birmingham mosque Green Lane Masjid and Community Centre (GLMCC) live streamed a sermon in which Aqeel Mahmood (pictured) said “discipline in the case of rebellion” is one of the “rights of the husband over the wife”.

He said: “The husband is a leader. He has his responsibilities. Physical discipline is a last resort on the condition that it doesn’t cause pain, injury, fear or humiliation”.

Quick question: if physical discipline doesn’t cause pain, injury, fear or humiliation then what does it cause? What’s it for? What’s the point of it?

It’s a ridiculous claim. The whole point of “physical discipline” is … Read the rest

Oh you celebrate, do you? What next? Celebrating bound feet? Girls married off at age ten, eight, six? FGM? Slavery? Rape? Sati?

February 1st is #WorldHijabDay! Today, we celebrate the faith, identity, & pride of Muslim women & girls around the word who choose to wear the hijab, a powerful symbol of devotion & celebration of Muslim heritage. pic.twitter.com/66YMVosNfT

— NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (@NYCImmigrants) February 2, 2026

All of that, plus it implies that women are slutty hoors who lure men to their doom, as opposed to being subordinated by men who think women are slutty hoors.… Read the rest

Gut punch.

When historians write the chronicle of this scoundrel time (not in the Washington Post, obviously) they will point to what Bezos did for Melania while gutting his own newspaper as the most glaring symptom of cultural collapse in a democracy hanging on to truth and knowledge by… https://t.co/Y9hui43nPx

— Simon Schama (@simon_schama) February 4, 2026

… Read the rest

Guest post by Jonathan Gallant

Below: an excerpt from an article  in the Democratic Socialists of America website:

We should support an immediate cease fire, large-scale humanitarian aid, global support for rebuilding Ukraine, and negotiations to  achieve a compromise settlement of what is an underlying conflict between the United States and Russian  imperialist interests.   In a future socialist world there should be no role for spheres of interest for large  countries. However, in the capitalist world we live in,  a viable settlement of this conflict  would have to accept Russia’s right to have security guarantees in its neighborhood. A Ukraine  settlement that includes neutrality for Ukraine along with U.S. and Russian guarantees of  Ukraine’s independence and security could avert further

The big question:

I don't understand why her fellow journalists allow Trump's behaviour to go unchallenged. Just out of a sense of their own basic dignity https://t.co/laEtjrAYXW

— David Aaronovitch (@DAaronovitch) February 4, 2026

Why the fuck did no other media member in the room stand up for @kaitlancollins? This has been going on forever. Trump, the coward, is constantly throwing ugly sexist insults at female reporters. When the fuck will White House media members defend their female colleagues? https://t.co/GYdQBSmiJ7

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) February 4, 2026

I agree with everything you said @davidaxelrod.

But we have to go further.

Where is the White House press corps?

Where is their statement about the serial abuse by Donald Trump

Heather Cox Richardson January 31:

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted on social media this morning:

“Plenty of countries in history have experimented with importing a foreign labor class. The West is the first and only civilization to import a foreign labor class that is granted full political rights, including welfare & the right to vote. All visas are a bridge to citizenship. In America, for generations now, the policy has been that anyone who would economically benefit from moving to the US can do so, exercise the franchise in the US and their children, the moment they are born, will be full American citizens with all the rights and benefits therein.”

After his call for