Fuming in the car

Jan 5th, 2026 10:02 am | By

Bahahahaha Willz is enraged because the BBC reports on the prosecution of people who claimed that Brigitte Macron is a man and how awful it was for her, YET THEY DON’T DO THE SAME FOR MEN LIKE WILLZ!!!

https://twitter.com/IndiaWilloughby/status/2008222927142203460

Also, he consistently mispronounces her name. It’s not MACKronn, it’s MacRON.



Standpoint epistemology

Jan 5th, 2026 9:36 am | By

Needing something is not automatically a right to have that something. That applies to everyone, not just everyone except Donald Trump.

Donald Trump has again proposed annexing Greenland, after Denmark’s leader urged him to “stop the threats” over the island.

Speaking to reporters, the US president said “we need Greenland from the standpoint of national security”.

We need a lot of things from the standpoint of a lot of things, but that doesn’t mean we get to have them, nor does it mean we get to take them by force.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had said “the US has no right to annex any of the three nations in the Danish kingdom”.

Frederiksen added that Denmark “and thus Greenland” was a Nato member and covered by the alliance’s security guarantee, and said a defence agreement granting the US access to the island was already in place.

The Danish prime minister released her statement after Katie Miller – the wife of one of Trump’s senior aides, Stephen Miller – posted on social media a map of Greenland in the colours of the American flag alongside the word “SOON”.

The Danish ambassador to the US responded to the post by Miller – a right-wing podcaster and former aide to Trump during his first term – with a “friendly reminder” that the two countries were allies and saying Denmark expected respect for its territorial integrity.

But right-wing podcasters know best. We are mere tenants in their world.

The Trump administration’s recent move to appoint a special envoy to Greenland prompted anger in Denmark.

Greenland, which has a population of 57,000 people, has had extensive self-government since 1979, though defence and foreign policy remain in Danish hands.

While most Greenlanders favour eventual independence from Denmark, opinion polls show overwhelming opposition to becoming part of the US.

Trump does not care.



Bluster

Jan 5th, 2026 6:13 am | By

Circling the wagons.

Keir Starmer has publicly backed the Danish prime minister over Donald Trump after she demanded that the US stop its threats to forcibly take over Greenland.

Speaking after Mike Tapp, the migration minister, repeatedly dodged questions about threats by Trump and his allies to seize Greenland, Starmer told broadcasters that he supported Mette Frederiksen after she criticised US rhetoric.

“Well, I stand with her, and she’s right about the future of Greenland,” Starmer told Sky News.

We don’t know that it was just “rhetoric” that Frederiksen criticized. From here it looks more like threats or promises. Trump is threatening and promising to annex Greenland. He’s not just talking; that’s been made shockingly clear.

Speaking on Sunday, Frederiksen said: “It makes absolutely no sense to talk about the US needing to take over Greenland. The US has no right to annex any of the three countries in the Danish kingdom.” The third part of the kingdom is the Faroe Islands.

Shhhhh, don’t mention the Faroes, Trump will be wanting to grab them too.



Face the wall

Jan 5th, 2026 6:02 am | By

So we’re going to war with Denmark now. That seems very sensible and useful.

Denmark is in “full crisis mode” after U.S. President Donald Trump once again set his sights on Greenland, following the strike on Venezuela.

“We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security and Denmark is not going to be able to do it, I can tell you,” Trump said Sunday on Air Force One, echoing similar remarks made separately to The Atlantic magazine.

It has raised alarm in Denmark, which is responsible for the defense of Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory.

“I have to say this very directly to the United States: It makes absolutely no sense to talk about the need for the United States to take over Greenland,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Sunday in a Facebook post.

“The Kingdom of Denmark – and thus Greenland – is part of NATO and is therefore covered by the alliance’s security guarantee. We already have a defense agreement between the Kingdom and the United States today, which gives the United States wide access to Greenland,” Frederiksen said.

“I would therefore strongly urge the United States to stop the threats against a historically close ally and against another country and another people who have said very clearly that they are not for sale,” she added.

Has anybody sat Trump down and explained to him that Denmark is an ally not an enemy? That going to war against allies is a rooky error? That everyone will laugh at him?

The U.S. president, who has previously refused to rule out the use of military or economic force to take Greenland, named Louisiana Republican Gov. Jeff Landry as special envoy to Greenland last month.

The appointment was condemned by both Denmark and Greenland. Landry has publicly endorsed Trump’s push to bring Greenland under U.S. control.

That’ll be why he got the job.



A very big price

Jan 4th, 2026 4:11 pm | By

The Genghis Khan de nos jours, but minus the charm.

In a telephone interview this morning, President Donald Trump issued a not-so-veiled threat against the new Venezuelan leader, Delcy Rodríguez, saying that “if she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” referring to Nicolás Maduro, now residing in a New York City jail cell. Trump made clear that he would not stand for Rodríguez’s defiant rejection of the armed U.S. intervention that resulted in Maduro’s capture.

As if she were a toddler making too much noise while Daddy is reading the paper. As if he had any right whatsoever to make any head of government do what he orders. We know he has the guns and bombs to do it, but that is not by any stretch of the imagination the right to do it. If a pack of freedom fighters grabbed Trump and ran off with him, he wouldn’t conclude they had the right to tell him what to do.

During our call, Trump, who had just arrived at his golf club in West Palm Beach, was in evident good spirits, and reaffirmed to me that Venezuela may not be the last country subject to American intervention. “We do need Greenland, absolutely,” he said, describing the island—a part of Denmark, a NATO ally—as “surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships.” 

Sure and I need Trump’s money and his penthouse overlooking Central Park, but that doesn’t mean I get to have them.

The prospect of Maduro’s government continuing to resist the U.S. raised the risk of a protracted fight for control of Venezuela that would require increased U.S.-military involvement and even occupation. Trump yesterday signaled his willingness to order a second wave of military actions in Venezuela, should he deem it necessary.

“Rebuilding is not a bad thing in Venezuela’s case,” he said. “The country’s gone to hell. It’s a failed country. It’s a totally failed country. It’s a country that’s a disaster in every way.”

In a speech in December 2016, Trump declared as president-elect that the U.S. will “stop racing to topple foreign regimes that we know nothing about.” He had campaigned that year in opposition to “nation building,” arguing that the country needs to focus on rebuilding at home instead of in nations such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Well sure but Venezuela is completely different. 100%.

When I asked this morning why nation building and regime change in Venezuela would be different from similar efforts he previously opposed in Iraq, Trump suggested posing the question to former President George W. Bush.

“I didn’t do Iraq. That was Bush. You’ll have to ask Bush that question, because we should have never gone into Iraq. That started the Middle East disaster,” Trump said.

Really? What a colossally stupid thing to say. We’re not talking about Iraq, we’re talking about Venezuela. We don’t have to ask Bush anything, because he’s not president and he didn’t invade Venezuela and kidnap Maduro yesterday.



Guest post: Take your own advice

Jan 4th, 2026 3:21 pm | By
Guest post: Take your own advice

Originally a comment by maddog on It’s just common sense.

As to common sense, I laughed out loud when I was reading Rene Descartes’ “Discourse on the Method,” and ran across his assessment of common sense. He wrote something to the effect of, “Common sense must be the most abundant thing in the world, because nobody ever wants more of it than they already have.”

Also reminds me of my favorite Rene Descartes joke: Rene Descartes is drinking in a bar. Eventually, the barman calls for closing time. Barman: “Would you like one more for the road?” Descartes: [hesitates] “I think not.” And =POOF!= he disappears.

The Sinn Fein leader criticised a ­“limited but loud” group in society that had sought to “divide, to demonise and ­marginalise” others . . . .

Golly, who does that sound like? T and their allies are a small, very vocal group, who have done nothing but divide society and demonize women and anyone who supports women’s rights, and have done their damnedest to marginalize anyone and everyone who dared to dissent from the trans religion. Heretics are to be excommunicated from society.

. . . rhetoric which she said sparked a growing sense of fear within Ireland’s LGBTQ+ community.

Wait a minute . . . WHAT “LGBTQ+community”? Forced teaming strikes again. There is no community of interest between LGB and T+++. T+++ are antagonist, downright hostile to LGB. And T+++ deserves to feel a little fear. After the campaign of terror they have conducted against the whole of society, for over a decade, they should be concerned. It’s the fear that bullies feel when their victims fight back.

“Any policy-making has to be cognisant of the legal and of the medical advice, the advice from a chief medical officer. You have to be because you’re dealing with children,” McDonald said, highlighting concerns about the drugs’ effect on bone density and cognitive and reproductive function as central to policy development.

Well, duh. By all means, think of the children. Think of the medical expertise that has called into question the trans medicalization of children, and the drugs’ deleterious effects on kids’ bone density, cognitive development, and sexual function. Be cognizant of legal advice, too, such as the UK Supreme Court decision, that sex means sex. Make policy based on those things.

On contentious topics such as trans people’s access to single-sex bathrooms or appropriate placement in prisons, McDonald advocated a case-by-case approach focused on safety: “The first concern has to be the safety of the person and the people who are being detained by the state. I think if you come through that prism on a case-by-case basis, that’s how you get that right,” she said.

Take your own advice. Focus on safety. Check. Take a case-by-case approach: okay, let’s do that. Here’s a “trans person” who wants to access single-sex bathrooms or prisons. Case-by-case — in this case, which sex is the “trans person”? Is the trans person of the male sex? Ok, in this case he should use the men’s room or be sent to the men’s prison. If there’s an issue of safety, (1) have the man (“transgender woman”) call upon allies for support if he fears being attacked in the men’s room, or (2) have the department of corrections make a separate unit for trans-identified male prisoners, just as they put child molesters or former law enforcement prisoners in protected units. Presto! Case-by-case determination. Is the “trans person” of the female sex? Okay, in this case, the “trans person” should use the women’s bathroom or be incarcerated in the women’s prison. There you go: case-by-case decisions, with safety as the main consideration. Job done.



What exactly do we say?

Jan 4th, 2026 10:54 am | By

So…yeah.



It’s just common sense

Jan 4th, 2026 4:56 am | By

Sigh.

People need to cop on over trans issue, urges Mary Lou McDonald

Mary Lou McDonald has urged “calm, cop-on and common sense” on transgender policy, warning against division as Sinn Fein prepares to revise its gender identity stance.

The Sinn Fein leader criticised a ­“limited but loud” group in society that had sought to “divide, to demonise and ­marginalise” others — rhetoric which she said sparked a growing sense of fear within Ireland’s LGBTQ+ community.

Ah, ok, that kind of calm, cop-on and common sense – the kind that says men are women if they say they are, and women have to shut up and welcome them as sisters. I don’t really consider it common sense to think that men can be women, but whatever. (If it’s really common sense why hasn’t everyone always known it?)

“Any policy-making has to be cognisant of the legal and of the medical advice, the advice from a chief medical officer. You have to be because you’re dealing with children,” McDonald said, highlighting concerns about the drugs’ effect on bone density and cognitive and reproductive function as central to policy development.

Well which is it? Common sense, or being up to speed with the legal and medical advice? They’re hardly the same thing.

On contentious topics such as trans people’s access to single-sex bathrooms or appropriate placement in prisons, McDonald advocated a case-by-case approach focused on safety: “The first concern has to be the safety of the person and the people who are being detained by the state. I think if you come through that prism on a case-by-case basis, that’s how you get that right,” she said.

Wtf does that mean? Why would letting some men be in women’s prisons be the straight and narrow path to getting that right? How about no?

McDonald said her leadership style was to avoid rushing decisions. “I’m extremely assertive, I can take things on. I’m no shrinking violet at all, but I’m also a very thoughtful person, I reflect on things, and I assess things, and in my long political experience, I would say that, for the most part, the most essential ingredient in getting to the right position is actually around taking a bit of time and coming at things calmly.”

You bet. As the man’s hands tighten on your throat you must take a bit of time and come at things calmly. You must also be very smug about your own getting to the right position skills.



Rattling the can

Jan 3rd, 2026 4:27 pm | By
Rattling the can

Amnesty International still intent on destroying women’s rights.

Trans people should have the same human rights as everyone else has. There are no special rights for trans people. Nobody has a right to be constantly affirmed as a planet or a porcupine or trapped in the wrong body. Men who pretend to be women are a threat to women’s rights in too many ways to list.

It’s interesting how careful Amnesty is not to spell out these purported rights that have been dealt a blow. What rights? There is no right for men to use women’s spaces or take jobs reserved for women or accept prizes for women or force people to call them women.

Trump on the one hand, Amnesty on the other. Bad times today.



Call it “smoothing”

Jan 3rd, 2026 10:31 am | By

From the Telegraph a couple of weeks ago:

Journal of Medical Ethics article defends female genital mutilation

The British Medical Journal Group has published an article defending female genital mutilation (FGM).

Researchers from 25 different global institutions claim the widespread condemnation of the practice is based on “misleading, often racialised, stereotypes” and “Western sensationalism”.

FGM involves the partial or total removal of a female’s external genitalia, or other cutting of the organs, for non-medical reasons.

Like the “Because Mohammed said so” reasons.

More than 230 million girls and women around the world have had their genitalia mutilated, mostly commonly in Africa, but also in parts of Asia and the Middle East, usually on historic religious or cultural grounds.

But they look like Barbie dolls between the legs, so it’s fine.

However, writing in the BMJ Group’s Journal of Medical Ethics, researchers from around the world, including the UK, have defended FGM and “rejected” the use of the word “mutilation”. Instead, they label it “female genital practices” so they can “refer inclusively and descriptively to a diverse set of practices without prejudging their ethical, medical or cultural status”.

Not all that “inclusively”. Not inclusive of girls and women who struggled and screamed, for example.

“Most affected women themselves rarely use the word ‘trauma’ to describe their experiences of the practices. If they describe the experiences in negative terms, they may use words such as ‘difficult’ or ‘painful’,” the authors write.

“Even if women report unwanted upsetting memories, heightened vigilance, sleep disturbance, recurrent memories or flashbacks during medical consultations, a prior genital procedure may not be the primary cause for their distress,” they add.

Stop right there. It’s not a “procedure”. It’s not medical. It’s an intrusion, a removal, a stitching up, a scraping – a mutilation. There is no medical reason to tamper with girls’ genitalia. There is no “procedure”.

The essay also blames the “mainstream media coverage of female genital practices in Africa” for relying on “sources from within a well-organised opposition”.

Mmmyeah. How dare opponents of slashing female genitals be an organized opposition.

“In North America, Australia and European countries like the UK and Sweden, such coverage has frequently fallen short of journalistic standards of impartiality, often using stigmatising and denigrating language that fuels suspicion and surveillance of migrant communities,” the authors write.

They add that the press has “played a central role” in the “abolitionist narrative of ‘FGM’”, and call out the Guardian newspaper’s “Global Media Campaign to End FGM”, as well as the BBC and CNN’s “advocacy-driven coverage focused on eradication, often lacking cultural nuance”.

Some cultural nuance needs to be lacked.



Most MSPs are run ragged

Jan 3rd, 2026 9:23 am | By

With all its faults, twitterx is still a great place to find terrible people bluntly informing us on how terrible they are.

For Women Scotland are quoting Nicola Sturgeon:



With dignity and respect

Jan 3rd, 2026 4:58 am | By

Yes yes yes by all means protect women’s rights, that’s important, yes indeed, BUT – first you gotta protect trans people, and then if there’s any protect left over, you can give that to women. Clear?

It’s the women and equalities minister again.

Bridget Phillipson has warned her critics that transgender people must not be used as a “political punchbag” amid accusations that she is blocking guidance on single-sex spaces.

The women and equalities minister’s comments come in the face of criticism that she is delaying the publication of the draft guidance, which was submitted to the government by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in September.

She’s told you: she has to read it first. That obviously takes way more than a mere five months.

Phillipson told the Political Currency podcast this week that her own experiences of running a women’s refuge informed her view of “how important it is that women have spaces that are women-only”.

She continued: “Feminists and campaigners fought for a very, very long time to establish that principle and it is an important principle, but it’s there for a good reason because it’s about safety for women and about having the space and the time to really heal after trauma.

“But I don’t see that as being in conflict with making sure you can treat trans people with dignity and respect as well. We have had the Supreme Court ruling, which I welcome.”

But it’s gone way beyond dignity and respect. It’s more like worship and submission.

“I’ve now received the code of practice from the EHRC. We’ve got to go through that properly and thoroughly.

“But in recent times trans people have been used as a political punchbag in order to make an argument. We’ve got to take a step back from this and do it responsibly.”

In order to make what argument?

It’s a good deal more the other way around: trans people use women as a punchbag, political and otherwise.

Phillipson said the “majority” of the public accepted the need for female-only provision, and that there were valid questions of “fairness” on issues including women’s sport.

She added: “I think that’s where the majority of people are but at the same time we’re a compassionate nation, commonsense in their approach. We don’t abuse or target trans people because of who they are, that’s not … in keeping with what people would believe.”

No, we don’t abuse or target trans people, but they abuse and target us. Check out India Willoughby and Sophie Molly and Sarah Jane Baker to name just a few.

“But you do need to make sure you’ve got fairness in areas like sport and good access for services for women.”

She says, grudgingly. Ok ok those stupid women want fairness in sports and “good access for services” – whatever that means – so they can have it, but then they need to sit down and shut up. Trans people are much more important, and, dare I say it, more interesting.



Guest post: A strange chain of logic

Jan 2nd, 2026 2:40 pm | By

Originally a comment by Artymorty on New York New York.

Israel is a political entity, a nation, one that is currently led by a far-right political apparatus that is unabashedly racist, and which is actively opposed by a large number of the citizenry under its present leadership.

Anti-semitism is a worldview, an ideology, that is held in deep disrepute — rightly — because it generalizes a heterogeneous group of people — those who identify as Jewish — as universally subhuman or evil. Antisemitism is almost superstitious in that it attributes negative forces to a group of people based on nothing but the almost-arbitrary line between who counts as Jewish and who doesn’t. The fact that the defining line between a Jew and a gentile is virtually impossible to police is just the beginning of a long chain of logical absurdities behind that reasoning.

But ironically, the Israeli state, as it’s seen by its current far-right leaders, actually works to empower antisemitism because it actively works to harden the fuzzy line between Jewishness and non-Jewishness, and, so it believes, between Israeli-ness and non-Israeli-ness.

The argument against anti-semitism in today’s climate rests largely on the fact that Jewishness is NOT synonymous with political alignment with the far-right Netanhayhu regime. Naturally, the Jewish extremists have sought to associate opposition to their strain of Jewishness with antisemitism as a concept because in the confusion around boundaries in the present political situation, that’s the angle that gets them the most clout.

It’s the exact same playbook as the Islamists who plotted to position Muslim identity itself as synonymous with a legal right to segregate males and females and to discriminate against gays. We all saw the fallout when the Southern Poverty Law Centre took the position that liberal Muslims were the enemy: they framed moderate Muslims as active bigots for dissenting with, and therefore undermining, the hardline conservative Muslim movement. The uninspected assumption was that more hardline Muslims were more “oppressed” somehow. It was a strange chain of logic that they kinda sleepwalked into, which would not withstand serious scrutiny. (They paid millions in damages after facing lawsuits.)

Same shit with the activists who insist that far-right Israeli Netanyahu-ism is directly analagous to Jewish identity.

I now work in the Jewish neighbourhood in my city, and pretty much all of the Jews I interact with have nothing to do with the Netanyahu-ists. It seems so strange that in broader politics the far right have succeeded in co-opting my friends’ identities for their political goals. They don’t identify with that mess, and it appalls me that they should face any kind of splashback discrimination because of it. They’re innocent.



New York New York

Jan 2nd, 2026 11:56 am | By

Day one.

Israel’s foreign ministry has accused the New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani, of pouring “antisemitic gasoline on an open fire” after he reversed a recent order by the outgoing mayor, Eric Adams.

“On his very first day as @NYCMayor, Mamdani shows his true face: he scraps the IHRA definition of antisemitism and lifts restrictions on boycotting Israel. This isn’t leadership. It’s antisemitic gasoline on an open fire,” the foreign ministry said in a post on X.

Mamdani revoked an Adams-era order that adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which the previous administration said included “demonizing Israel and holding it to double standards as forms of contemporary antisemitism”.

Israel is not the same thing as being Jewish, but that’s not to say that hatred of Israel has no connection at all to hatred of Jews.



Medicine medical medical

Jan 2nd, 2026 10:49 am | By

From Mother Jones last September:

Colleagues call Gordon Guyatt the “godfather” of evidence-based medicine.

Guyatt, a distinguished professor of medicine at McMaster University in Canada, has had sweeping influence on medical research: GRADE, the framework he helped pioneer to assess the evidence behind clinical recommendations, is a standard at more than 100 medical organizations, including the WHO. Before Guyatt, medicine relied much more on the judgment calls of senior clinicians; today, standardized research is increasingly central.

Guyatt was also, until August, a reluctant icon of the movement against trans health care.

Hang on. Let’s be clear. What are we meaning by “trans health care”? Health care for people who idennify as trans? Or health care that cures the disease of being trans? Or “health care” that assists people who are trying to look like the other sex?

His was by far the biggest name associated with the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM), a group known for casting doubt on the safety and efficacy of gender-affirming care by framing it as risky and supported only by “low-quality” evidence within the GRADE framework.

There, that’s clearer. Gender-affirming care is not the same thing as trans health care, which can mean just standard health care used by/for people who idennify as trans.

Speaking to me on a video call, the bespectacled doctor emphatically called it “an unconscionable use of our work to deny people gender-affirming care”—insisting that, until student activists at McMaster spoke out about the collaboration, he hadn’t been fully aware of SEGM’s involvement with the university’s research on transgender health care.

Good, that’s clear. Now all we have to wonder about is an adult doctor claiming there’s such a thing as “gender-affirming care.” Does lipstick count as gender-affirming care?

A key argument advanced by opponents of gender-affirming care is that its treatments are only supported by “weak” or “low-quality” evidence, as the SEGMaffiliated reviews and others have found.

The thing is, so are a lot of standard—and essential—medical interventions. Cancer drugs have a notoriously low-quality evidence base, including many FDA-approved treatments. Almost all nutritional guidelines are supported by what Guyatt’s system labels poor evidence. About five million youth have asthma in the United States—yet the evidence for medical guidelines for pediatric asthma care is regularly rated “poor” or “weak,” as are many of the treatments, which have indisputably saved countless lives. 

Ahhhh but there’s a crucial difference here. “Gender-affirming care” is not the same kind of thing as medical interventions. It’s an intervention, but not a medical one. It’s a thoughts intervention, a psychic intervention, an ideological intervention, an emotional intervention. It’s a fantasy-endorsing intervention, which is a pretty bizarre concept.

Mother Jones of course would not dream of admitting that.



Beeb v science

Jan 2nd, 2026 9:16 am | By

John Cleese terfing like a boss.



A sweeping content review

Jan 2nd, 2026 5:03 am | By

Trump wants to control what we are allowed to know.

The Trump administration escalated pressure on the Smithsonian this week, threatening to withhold federal funds if it does not submit extensive documentation for a sweeping content review. President Donald Trump earlier this year set out to purge what he called “improper ideology” from the nation’s most prestigious museum system, efforts that are expected to intensify as his administration tries to shape the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations next year.

Ah yes improper ideology, meaning history that Trump doesn’t want to hear about and doesn’t want us to hear about.

In a staff email obtained by The Washington Post, sent Friday evening after the funding threat, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III said the Smithsonian had sent information to the White House in September and intended to submit more that day. He asserted that “all content, programming, and curatorial decisions are made by the Smithsonian.”

Well it sounds as if Trump is going to change that.

“Funds apportioned for the Smithsonian Institution are only available for use in a manner consistent with Executive Order 14253 ‘Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,’ and the fulfillment of the requests set forth in our Aug. 12, 2025 letter,” Haley and Vought wrote. The letter specifically referenced the Museum of American History, the Museum of Natural History, the Air and Space Museum, the Museum of African American History and Culture, the Museum of the American Indian, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Museum of African Art and the National Portrait Gallery.

Trump and his enforcers are not the right people to be “restoring truth and sanity” to anything, let alone to the Smithsonian.

An earlier letter, in August, called for an aggressive review of eight museums to ensure they align with the president’s directive to “celebrate American exceptionalism” and asked the Smithsonian tosubmit all requested materials within 75 days and “begin implementing content corrections” within 120.

It’s very totalitarian, this stuff. Normal presidents, even very conservative ones, don’t do this telling all the government institutions what to do thing – it’s not their job, it’s not their territory, it’s not what they’re hired to do. Trump doesn’t have the authority to do these things, but he’s doing them anyway.

The Trump administration amplified its rhetoric over the summer, with the president posting on social media that the nation’s museums are “essentially, the last remaining segment of ‘WOKE’” and that the Smithsonian is too focused on “how bad Slavery was.” 

Ah. Is that so. How focused is the right amount of focus, I wonder? Should we ignore it entirely? Should we pretend it just plain never happened, and that if it did happen it was a good thing? Do we all wish our grandparents and their grandparents had been enslaved? Do we think that’s a proud bit of our history? Do we buy the old Southern myth that slavery was a good thing for the enslaved?



Punch

Jan 1st, 2026 3:28 pm | By

Trans people must not be used as political punchbag, says Phillipson

Eh? Who is using trans people as any kind of punchbag?

From where I sit it’s much more the other way around – women are constantly and relentlessly pushed around and told to shut up and deprived of our rights by the trans lobby.

Transgender people must not be used as a “political punchbag”, Bridget Phillipson has said, after she was accused of blocking guidance protecting safe spaces for women. The minister for women and equalities said the debate surrounding gender issues should be conducted more responsibly by those in public life.

Ms Phillipson made the remarks after it emerged she was blocking the publication of trans guidance that would force business and public bodies to protect women-only spaces.

In other words she’s using women as a punchbag.



Psych

Jan 1st, 2026 10:42 am | By
Psych

Source currently unknown.



More questions than they answer

Jan 1st, 2026 10:37 am | By

Dude is unfamiliar with the concept of going for a walk.

President Donald Trump told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Thursday that he takes a higher dose of aspirin than his doctors have recommended, blaming that for the visible hand bruises that have generated renewed questions about his health.

“They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don’t want thick blood pouring through my heart,” Trump, 79, said of why he takes a larger dose. “I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart. Does that make sense?”

“They’d rather have me take the smaller one,” Trump added. “I take the larger one, but I’ve done it for years, and what it does do is it causes bruising.”

Good. Keep doing that. Ignore what the medics advise and act on your own superior wisdom.

Aspirin helps thin the blood, which can prevent clots from forming, but it also comes with the risk of excessive bleeding. In recent years, medical guidelines stopped recommending daily aspirin for many adults because the risks outweigh the benefits, and some suggest halting aspirin therapy entirely when patients are in their 70s.

Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor at George Washington University’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences who was a longtime cardiologist for former Vice President Dick Cheney, said the latest updates from Trump and his team raise more questions than they answer.

“It’s uncommon to see that kind of bruising with one aspirin a day,” Reiner said. “My question is, ‘Does the president take any medications that have not been disclosed by the White House?’”

Reiner said 325 milligrams of aspirin each day is not a very high dose, but there’s no medical reason to take that much on a daily basis. When someone sprains an ankle, he said, they might get a 325 milligrams of aspirin every four hours, which would be considered a high dose.

“Aspirin has been studied in varied doses, and the reason why 81 milligrams is given to people is that’s the dose which appears to have the best combination of protection from clotting events and bleeding caused by the drug,” Reiner said. “In other words, 325 milligrams increases the bleeding risk but doesn’t increase the efficacy. So we never use that.”

But Trump does, because he knows better.

Trump also addressed steps he has taken to treat other conditions, including swelling in his lower legs that the White House announced in July was due to chronic venous insufficiency — a common condition frequently found in older people.

Trump told the Journal he tried compression socks but “didn’t like them.” He also suggested he was not interested in taking up regular exercise.

“I just don’t like it. It’s boring,” Trump said. “To walk on a treadmill or run on a treadmill for hours and hours like some people do, that’s not for me.”

There it is – there’s the idea so stupid that no one else could have come up with it.

He can’t possibly walk somewhere scenic and interesting, no no, it’s a treadmill or nothing.

Granted there are security issues but other presidents have managed to go for walks or runs all the same. Trump would rather squat in a golf cart than walk 100 yards.