All entries by this author
Jan 23rd, 2026 11:22 am |
By Ophelia Benson
What I still keep wondering is why Kennedy thinks he knows better than the people who have actual education in the subject. He does not have that education.
The Trump administration announced new dietary guidelines on Wednesday, including an inverted food pyramid that places red meat and whole-fat dairy at the top alongside fruits and vegetables.
“We are ending the war on saturated fats,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said during a press conference at the White House this week. “My message is clear. Eat real food.”
But saturated fats—cholesterol. Why is Bad Kennedy telling us to up our cholesterol?
The new guidelines encourage research-backed practices like eating more whole foods including fruits, vegetables
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Jan 23rd, 2026 10:31 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Rob Henderson in the Times:
In recent years, casual contempt for white women has come mostly from the left. On May 25, 2020, the same day that George Floyd was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, a white woman called the police on a black man who was birdwatching in Central Park. Derek Chauvin went to prison for murdering Floyd, and Amy Cooper was given an insulting nickname for her supposedly racist reaction.
She was dubbed “the Central Park Karen”.
Since then, many conservatives have complained about the left’s attack on white people and the “values” of white supremacy, which apparently include perfectionism, urgency, individualism and objectivity. All of this helped fuel a political backlash against diversity,
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Jan 23rd, 2026 9:15 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Sigh.
No, the argument cannot “then develop to” whatever scenario you dream up. Knowing that men are not women does not “develop to” or lead to or prompt or motivate or allow random extreme remarks along the lines of “you’re out because you have blue eyes.” Saying, pointing out, underlining that men are not and cannot be women is not random the way “because blue eyes” is. What sex people are is not random and it’s not always or automatically irrelevant. It’s not random and arbitrary to say that men should not be in women’s … Read the rest
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Jan 23rd, 2026 3:11 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Trump big mad at Canada.
Trump rescinded on Thursday his invitation for Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada to join his “Board of Peace,” an organization that he had founded to oversee a peace deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza but that he has now tried to broaden into an institution to rival the United Nations.
Which is like trying to square the circle, because the United Nations is what it says on the tin – a grouping of nations – while Trump’s “Board of Peace” is one deranged man’s plaything. There’s no rivalry because there’s no commonality.
In a high-profile speech at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, Mr. Carney had urged leaders of smaller nations to
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Jan 22nd, 2026 6:12 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Well, does he?
Trump Shows ‘Unmistakable’ Signs of Advanced Dementia, Experts Say
[M]any U.S. mental health experts have been warning for years that Trump not only fits the profile of a dangerous psychopath, but has numerous hallmark signs of dementia. Today, we revisit their findings – a reminder that the future of the world is at risk if we continue to deny that the emperor has no clothes.
A psychopath with dementia is an alarming prospect. You know who else is an alarming prospect? Trump. What a coincidence!
[T]he authors did not just warn that Trump was dangerously callous, mentally disturbed and showing clear psychopathic tendencies. In later interviews, petitions and editorials, Bandy Lee and others pointed out
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Jan 22nd, 2026 12:10 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Originally a comment by Bjarte Foshaug on Ownership.
I’m getting increasingly annoyed when people make a point of how America already has military bases on Greenland and are free to pretty much do what they want. So if they didn’t have have the Danish government’s permission to act as if they owned the place, that would indeed be a legitimate reason to invade? There’s a reason why negotiating with terrorists is considered such a terrible idea. If it were up to me, the American forces on Greenland would be given 24 hours to get the hell out the moment Trump put forth his threat (at the very latest).
As embarrassing as it must be (or at least should!) to … Read the rest
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Jan 22nd, 2026 11:32 am |
By Ophelia Benson
The Battle of Minneapolis continues.
Federal agents deployed smoke and chemicals on Jan. 21 as they clashed with protesters and observers at two spots in south Minneapolis.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino lobbed a smoke canister at Mueller Park in the Whittier neighborhood. “I’m gonna gas. Get back. Gas is coming. Gas is coming, second warning. Second warning,” Bovino can be heard saying in a video captured by Ben Luhmann. “Gas on film! Gas on film!” Luhmann shouts in response.
“Third warning. Gas, gas, gas,” Bovino says, before tossing the canister and pushing people away from the street. Plumes of green and gray smoke burst over the crowd as protesters and observers run from the scene.
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Jan 22nd, 2026 10:49 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Broken beyond repair.
Trump’s posturing over Greenland has irrevocably changed the transatlantic relationship, even after he backed away Wednesday from his threats of a US takeover of the Danish autonomous territory, European officials told CNN.
One European diplomat, speaking anonymously, described the last week as a “whirlwind of absurdity that damages transatlantic relations, distracts from Ukraine, and makes China and Russia very happy.”
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Trump ruled out using military force to annex Greenland in his keynote speech at Davos on Wednesday, and he went on to drop his threatened tariffs and announce “the framework of a future deal” over the island after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
But the diplomatic chaos he unleashed over the last
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Jan 22nd, 2026 10:30 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Ah yes the old “It was another guy, you don’t know him, he doesn’t go to this school” alibi.
The judge in the Sandie Peggie Employment Tribunal case has laid blame on a “judicial colleague” for the numerous errors in his ruling.
Cool cool.
Wait a second.
What?
Aren’t judges kind of expected to do their own homework? If they consult colleagues isn’t it still their responsibility to get it right? Kind of like the military, where the top brass is not supposed to blame the troops for failure?
Judge Sandy Kemp insisted that he did not us AI to help him write his 312-page judgment in the case, which has now been corrected a number of times.
His claim
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Jan 22nd, 2026 9:17 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Your basic local extortionist speaks to the world:
Trump said Wednesday that he had reached the framework of a deal with NATO over Greenland’s future, hours after alliance officials separately discussed the possibility of the United States obtaining sovereignty over land for military bases, according to three senior officials familiar with the talks.
Mr. Trump’s announcement was among a series of moves on Wednesday that appeared to draw the United States back from the possibility of military and economic conflict with his allies over Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
Mr. Trump also withdrew the threat of additional tariffs for European allies that had resisted his insistence on owning Greenland, and said he would not use force to assert
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Jan 22nd, 2026 4:32 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Dictator blocks speech.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has said he was blocked from speaking at a World Economic Forum event in Davos and blamed the Trump administration.
Newsom’s office said on X that USA House, the official US pavilion at the global event, denied his entry to speak there on Wednesday despite being invited as part of an event by media partner Fortune.
The Democratic governor, whose state has the fourth largest global economy, wrote on X: “California was just denied at the USA House. Last we checked, California is part of USA.”
I didn’t know that about the fourth largest. Google says it’s true: right up there with Germany and Japan.
But wait, it gets worse.
The
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Jan 21st, 2026 5:13 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Naomi Cunningham on “the dolls”:
So in plainer words, “dolls” refers to men who say they are women. And “protect the dolls” means “protect men who say they are women from being faced with the reality that they are men, and the consequences of that reality”.
Ok, that’s clarifying. I’m not going to protect those men. They don’t protect us so why should we protect them?
“Trans women” are a subcategory of men. They are men who for whatever reason (and we are not privy to their individual reasons) either wish actually to be mistaken for women, or would like other people at least to pretend to mistake them for women. They go to a variety of different lengths
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Jan 21st, 2026 4:42 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
They’re trying to tell us he didn’t say it. Child we heard him.
“His written remarks” she said, as if we were born yesterday. His written remarks were written by people who are not quite as bad at writing (and talking) as he is. His blurted remarks said Iceland. What you wrote down for him to say is not the same thing as what he did say.
Lying for Trump isn’t going to look good on your resume forever.… Read the rest
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Jan 21st, 2026 4:09 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Scottish Daily Express:
Ross Greer questioned the “reliability” of Sandie Peggie as he complained that the employment tribunal involving her had “ruined” the life of Dr Beth Upton. The Scottish Greens co-leader also doubled down on his refusal to call trans double rapist Isla Bryson a man, hitting out at [rebuking] this line of questioning by the BBC.
So the Scottish Greens co-leader thinks Sandie Peggie is the one who messed up someone’s life, and that it wasn’t at all “Beth” Upton who messed up Sandie Peggie’s life. Women must always comply when men tell them to, even (or especially) when the men in question are pretending to be women and forcing themselves on women in the rooms … Read the rest
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Jan 21st, 2026 9:27 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Oh darn, Trump fucked around and found out.
The European Union’s legislative body on Wednesday halted work on the formal approval and implementation of the trade deal it reached last summer with President Donald Trump.
“Given the continued and escalating threats, including tariff threats, against Greenland and Denmark, and their European allies, we have been left with no alternative but to suspend work” on the deal, said Bernd Lange, the chairman of the European Parliament’s international trade committee.
Wait that’s not supposed to happen. Everybody is supposed to say “we bow before your superior wisdom Sir” – not “ok then no trade deal for you, Donny from Queens.”
On Thursday, leaders of the 27 E.U. countries will meet to
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Jan 21st, 2026 8:57 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Trump is on a calling-other-people-stupid roll.
Trump on Tuesday accused Britain of “an act of great stupidity” for agreeing to end British sovereignty over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, in a blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s attempts to cultivate the president.
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In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday morning, Mr. Trump abruptly reversed that position and argued that the decision strengthened the case for the United States to acquire Greenland.
“Shockingly, our “brilliant” NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER,” he wrote.
He added: “The UK giving
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Jan 21st, 2026 8:42 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Trump calls other people stupid.
“If they don’t get this done, they are stupid,” Trump says of President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia reaching a peace deal. Trump, who is now speaking with Borge Brende, the World Economic Forum president, then caveats, “I don’t want to insult anyone,” prompting one person in the crowd to cackle.
Only one?
Many of President Trump’s comments about energy in his speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, were not grounded in reality…And China and the United States get a similar share of their electricity from wind turbines — about 10 percent as of 2024, according to data from the research firm Ember Energy and
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