Oh yes. I had indeed forgotten about them.

People in Minneapolis and the rest of the country may be depressed by casual murders at the hands of ICE but the Trump family is dressing up for a party.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump on Saturday night hosted a private screening of “Melania,” a new documentary about the first lady — drawing criticism from Democrats who questioned the president’s priorities hours after another fatal shooting in Minneapolis upended domestic politics and raised the possibility of a government shutdown.

So there’s a new documentary about Melania Trump.

Why?

What on earth is there to say? She’s a blank space.

The documentary “offers unprecedented access to the 20 days leading up to the 2025 Presidential Inauguration — through the

It takes so much lying and concealing and manipulation to keep this ideology going.

Some of you will have had this BBC response to complaints about its claim that Jammie Booker was ejected from America's Strongest Woman because he's 'trans'.

No. Send it right back. It was because he's a man.

Never mind 'disagreement': what the BBC said is simply not true. pic.twitter.com/YT8e5owMjS

— SEEN in Journalism (@JournalismSEEN) January 26, 2026

Yes we know you’re happy to do this manipulative wording, but your happiness is not the issue here. The issue is that saying “transgender” instead of “a man” carefully and with malice aforethought hides the fact that the man in question is a man. We know you’re happy to … Read the rest

The New Republic:

Trump is doubling down in Minnesota following the murder of nurse Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents on Saturday by sending his immigration czar to the state. 

In a Truth Social post Monday morning, Trump announced that he is sending Tom Homan to the state “tonight,” calling him “tough but fair” and saying he “will report directly to me.” The president made no mention of Pretti’s death, and instead repeated exaggerated claims of fraud in the state and attacked Representative Ilhan Omar. 

Reporting directly to Trump is not going to make anything better. Trump would love it if ICE simply opened fire on every Somalian it could find.

Trump’s other Truth Social posts from the weekend

The bit where they say it and the bit where they take it back.

Etcetera Theatre: Women Writers Festival

Wait for it.

OPEN CALL: WOMEN WRITERS FESTIVAL 2026

We’re now programming Women Writers Festival 2026 — a month-long celebration of new writing by women and female-identifying writers, this March 2026 at The Etcetera Theatre, Camden.

Oh. So not a women writers festival then. “Female-identifying” is the opposite of women, so it’s a people writers festival – which is fine, but you shouldn’t call it a women writers festival.

This is about removing barriers and getting bold new work in front of audiences.

Not really. It’s about putting up new barriers to women. You can’t have it both ways. If … Read the rest

Respect law enforcement.

BREAKING: This is some 1930s Germany rhetoric by Greg Bovino.

He’s claiming that Alex Pretti was killed because he made the choice to listen to politicians and journalists who vilified ICE after they murdered Renee Good.

Bovino warns the media that there’s consequences if they… pic.twitter.com/SUxWsjIvCB

— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) January 25, 2026

Bovino warns the media that there’s consequences if they say bad things about ICE. This is what happened in Germany. Don’t let it happen again in America.

Law enforcement is sacred. ICE is sacred. Nobody must ever criticize anything ICE does.… Read the rest

Trump tries to row it back.

After drawing a wave of backlash in Britain by saying U.K. forces stayed “off the front lines” in Afghanistan, President Donald Trump abruptly reversed course this weekend, praising British soldiers who fought in the U.S.-led war.

Oops. He forgot he likes to schmooze with the royals? Or he thought they would be fine with his lies and insults?

The retreat, according to a British newspaper, followed a low-key intervention by King Charles III, whose son Prince Harry served on the front lines as a helicopter pilot and lost friends in the fighting. The United Kingdom was second only to the United States in total number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

Low key as … Read the rest

Very crap news.

Professor Deborah Cameron (1958-2026)

Worcester College is deeply saddened to learn of the death of Fellow Emerita Professor Deborah Cameron.

Professor Cameron held the post of Rupert Murdoch Professor of Language & Communication at Worcester from 2004-23.

Debbie’s research and ideas were foundational in the fields of sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, feminist theory and discourse studies. As her work examined the politics of speech, media and the construction of gender, her books captured the public’s interest throughout her career. These included, among many others, The Myth of Mars and Venus, Verbal Hygiene, The Feminist Critique of Language, and most recently The Rise of Dogwhistle Politics – published in November 2025.

At Worcester, Debbie will

When universities lose their tiny little minds.

A Scottish university has issued guidance stating that it is “not just women” who menstruate and experience the menopause.

Oh has it now. Any other jokes? It is not just men who experience testicular cancer?

The advice from the University of Strathclyde states that “trans men and women” may have “actual or pseudo menopause symptoms”. It adds that non-binary and intersex people can also be affected. It reiterates this guidance for menstruation, stating again that it is “not only women” who have periods.

So an actual university doesn’t know the difference between people claiming something and the reality of that something. An actual university thinks that saying=absolute unquestionable truth – at least, … Read the rest

Sad. Even the Telegraph can’t get it right.

The Green Party is being sued by a former member who was suspended for mocking “fairy” pronouns.

Emma Bateman, who was co-chairman of Green Party Women, was found to have breached diversity rules by making “clearly antagonistic” comments about “fae/faer” pronouns used by people who believe they are mythical beings.

…

In March 2022, Ms Bateman was suspended for three months over a speech she made to gender-critical activists in Speaker’s Corner, Hyde Park, in which she mocked those who believe “that every time someone says men are not women a person with fairy pronouns literally dies”.

She also challenged fellow members on how far they were willing to go to

Updates on the latest ICE murder:

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that federal officers were conducting an operation as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

She said officers fired “defensive shots” after a man with a handgun approached them and “violently resisted” when officers tried to disarm him. O’Hara said police believe the man was a “lawful gun owner with a permit to carry.”

Are Trump and allies going to go all anti-guns now?

An angry crowd gathered after the shooting and screamed profanities at federal officers, calling them “cowards” and telling them to go home.

One officer responded mockingly as he walked away, telling them: “Boo hoo.”

So we should be … Read the rest

Via Mosnae in comments:

White House posts digitally altered image of woman arrested after ICE protest

I’m sure the fact that the woman is Black has nothing to do with this whimsical bit of forgery from the Trump goons.

The captions are wrong: the one on the left is the fake, obviously.

Pretty unabashedly racist, if you ask me. In the real image she looks calm and resolved; in the fake one created and posted by the government she looks a mess.

They get worse every day.… Read the rest

Another kill.

A Minneapolis man was shot and killed by federal agents today, according to city officials. The man is believed to be a US citizen, police said.

DHS says agents defended themselves: The Department of Homeland Security said the man had a handgun and approached Border Patrol officers during a targeted operation. He “violently resisted” when officers tried to disarm him, and an agent shot him in self-defense, according to DHS.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said videos show masked agents “pummeling one of our constituents and shooting him to death,” and he denounced the “impunity” of federal agents operating in the city. Gov. Tim Walz called on President Donald Trump to pull ICE out of Minneapolis and

God damn them all to hell.

The National Park Service has taken down an exhibit on slavery at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, the Interior Department said on Thursday, following President Trump’s directive to remove materials that promote “corrosive ideology.”

What corrosive ideology would that be? The one that doesn’t try to deny the fact that the US was a slaveholding nation for its first three centuries? Is it really more corrosive to admit it than it is to lie about it? No, it damn well is not.

The outdoor exhibit, called “Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation,” memorialized nine people enslaved by George Washington at the President’s House Site, where the first

The bullying continues.

Trump on Saturday threatened to slap 100% tariffs on Canadian imports if America’s second-biggest trading partner makes a trade deal with China.

…

Trump mockingly referred to Carney as “governor,” a term he has also used for former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, playing off his call for Canada to become the 51st US state.

“Playing off” nothing. They always have to sugar-coat it. Don’t sugar-coat it.

“It sounds like Trump is lashing out at Carney for stealing the limelight at Davos. (Trump) didn’t get his tariffs over Greenland, so now he’s searching for another target to threaten,” said Inu Manak, senior fellow for international trade at the Council on Foreign Relations.

That’s more like it. Trump … Read the rest

Not just women

A Scottish university has issued guidance stating that it is “not just women” who menstruate and experience the menopause.

The advice from the University of Strathclyde states that “trans men and women” may have “actual or pseudo menopause symptoms”. It adds that non-binary and intersex people can also be affected. It reiterates this guidance for menstruation, stating again that it is “not only women” who have periods.

Silly party trick. “If you use different words to label women then it’s “not just women” who do things only women can do. Very impressive; even adorable; now stop talking and finish up your vegetables.

For Women Scotland (FWS) described the guidance as “misleading, deeply stupid and, quite frankly, offensive”.

Fairy pronouns a step too far?

The Green Party is being sued by a former member who was suspended for mocking “fairy” pronouns.

Emma Bateman, who was co-chair of Green Party Women, was found to have breached diversity rules by making “clearly antagonistic” comments about “fae/faer” pronouns, a type of “neopronoun” inspired by the mythical world.

So there are “diversity rules” that require solemn respect for bullshit like “neopronouns” “inspired by” “the mythical world”? Have we reached peak stupid yet?

Ms Bateman, 58, is suing the party for discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 after being repeatedly suspended and eventually expelled for her gender-critical views.

Speaking to The Telegraph, she claimed to have been labelled an “anti-Semitic, eugenicist, fascist,

To wash out our brains from the Minneapolis dirt.

The Freedom Singers, Newport 1964.… Read the rest

Medical doctor is nostalgic for the days when people died in their thousands of cholera, diphtheria, typhus, tb, smallpox.

Offering a startlingly candid view into the philosophy guiding vaccine recommendations under the Trump administration, the leader of the federal panel that recommends vaccines for Americans said shots against polio and measles — and perhaps all diseases — should be optional, offered only in consultation with a clinician.

Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist who is chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, said that he did have “concerns” that some children might die of measles or become paralyzed with polio as a result of a choice not to vaccinate. But, he said, “I also am saddened when people die

Originally a comment by Bjarte Foshaug on The asteroid doesn’t care.

I’m terrible at remembering who said what and when, but someone at a recent podcast made the point that many European leaders lack the confidence to take a strong bold stance against Trump because their popular support is so weak. Well, maybe their popular support is weak precisely because they’re perceived as so feeble and pathetic and spineless and lacking in character. They’re sure as hell not doing anything to earn my support. At least we can all stop pretending to be baffled by how the Germans could go along with the the Nazis and still manage to live with themselves: We’re seeing the same collective failure play … Read the rest