My parochial school nuns were not in favor of obfuscation, quoting Scripture: But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. They argued that unnecessary verbal flourishes disguised bad arguments, not only from the hearers but from the teller. Given the penchant of the incoming maladministration, it’s gonna be a long four years…
genuinely thought he didn’t personally care about this. not great!
— post malone ergo propter malone (@proptermalone.bsky.social) December 22, 2024 at 3:03 PM
Even if he doesn't, he knows it's a great applause line for Turning Point Action, & that alone is enough for him to make it law
— Chatham Harrison is tending his garden (@chathamharrison.bsky.social) December 22, 2024 at 5:16 PM
He said similar stuff on the stump during the campaign. You’ll note he still seems to have very little familiarity with what the concept *is*. He’s gonna sign executive orders, sure, but he clearly doesn’t actually know what they’re going to say or what the issue is
— ellie lockhart (she/they) (@eleanor.lockhart.contact) December 22, 2024 at 3:08 PM
I would also just throw out, because I actually do try to pay pretty close attention to what Trump is saying on trans issues, that I went to Aaron’s feed and this is one of a dozen or so clips from this speech where he is literally doing the laundry list of conservative complaints/promises
— ellie lockhart (she/they) (@eleanor.lockhart.contact) December 22, 2024 at 3:10 PM
So I’m not telling anyone worry or don’t worry, but what I am telling you is what he said here is nothing new vs. the campaign trail, and by all appearances this speech was him running through basically what he said at his rallies during the campaign (which I did watch)
— ellie lockhart (she/they) (@eleanor.lockhart.contact) December 22, 2024 at 3:10 PM
I'll simplify even more. If Trump sounds like he's reading from the teleprompter and detached – like he does here – you can assume it isn't his priority, it's something he's been told is important to say. If he rants on Twitter, it's what he really thinks and will personally try to do.
— Third Thoughts 🏳️🌈 (@thirdthoughts.bsky.social) December 22, 2024 at 8:48 PM
The other alternative is that he really is just deciding to be Musk’s puppet, which is not great for similar but not identical reasons.
— Xmas Steven (@lessdismalsci.bsky.social) December 22, 2024 at 3:58 PM
Hope this is just right wing ASMR, soothing noises for the faithful
— clawfoot.bsky.social (@clawfoot.bsky.social) December 22, 2024 at 3:08 PM
The Audacity of Krope
Democrats are far too fixated on trans people and other obscure rights, not the basic needs of their constituents…
Seriously not serious, I’ll come in again.
Trivia Man
He likes applause. Substance is way down the lust if things he cares about.
Baud
@The Audacity of Krope:
Perfect.
John S.
I’m totally stealing that.
Dan Myers
No more circumcisions ?
Steve LaBonne
He’s not just president of the Fox News Club for Fascists, he’s a client!
Quaker in a Basement
Seems like he thinks (or pretends to think) that an Executive Order can do anything.
zhena gogolia
I can’t believe this is where we are in the year of Our Lord 2024.
The Audacity of Krope
Elon Musk?
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
We’ve been locked in this battle for civilization since 2008. At least now we know we’ve lost.
Peke Daddy
@Dan Myers: No, just more circumlocutions.
Gin & Tonic
@Dan Myers: I’ve wondered about that.
Geminid
@Dan Myers: Not exactly a circumcision, but reports are that surgeons will cut out Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s prostate gland tomorrow.
A lot of Israelis likely hope there will be complications. The PM may hope so too; he doesn’t want to take the stand again in his corruption trial.
The Audacity of Krope
This is still just the cold phase of the Civil War. It never truly ended.
Scout211
Somewhat related, I read this first on CNN and now many news site are covering it.
It’s good to see a company pushing back against the pressure to roll back their DEI policies.
ETA: fixed typos and paragraph breaks
Baud
@Scout211:
Costco is awesome.
rikyrah
@Scout211:
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Starfish (she/her)
@Scout211: A lot of corporate DEI was not real so it is refreshing to see that there is a place where it was real.
John S.
@Baud:
Agreed.
Also, Costco is one of the good companies with HQ in Washington. Most of the others suck something awful.
The Audacity of Krope
So you’re saying DEI is the problem? /wingnut
Nukular Biskits
Good evening, folks!
And, for the record, I don’t give a flying fuck what anyone’s gender identity is and I don’t understand why so many so-called “small government conservatives” get their panties in a wad over someone else’s gender identity.
MagdaInBlack
@Scout211: I saw that earlier but I seem to have trouble understanding why this “think tank” involved itself in this?
trollhattan
And how many divisions does [takes deep breath] the National Center for Public Policy Research have?
Who the fig do they think they are, and good for Costco, a functioning American corporation, telling them to fuck right off.
trollhattan
@MagdaInBlack: Leonard Leo bucks? That’s all it takes, him or the hundred billyunaires like him.
matt
He gonna put moils in prison?
Starfish (she/her)
@The Audacity of Krope: You are not supposed to use those microaggression training videos to learn how to do microaggressions against your coworkers.
The Audacity of Krope
Hope this helps.
The Audacity of Krope
@Starfish (she/her): But seriously, can I touch your hair?
MagdaInBlack
@trollhattan: See? that was my question you asked in #23: “Who the fig do they think they are?”
You just phrased it more succinctly.
KatKapCC
Oh! “End child sexual mutilation”! Great, does that mean doing away with surgeries performed on intersex babies when the doctor and parents decide to choose what gender they think the child should be? Good news!!!
Oh. Oh, that’s not what he meant. Ah.
Nukular Biskits
@The Audacity of Krope:
What you just described is nothing short of hypocrisy. Surely you can’t be serious.
;>)
The Audacity of Krope
@Nukular Biskits: I am serious and my name is not Shirley.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Bullshit. We lost a battle.
The Audacity of Krope
And we appear to have gained quite a bit of militancy as a result.
I mean I’m sure I have, I’m reasonably sure I’m not the only one.
laura
@trollhattan: they are quite the right wing public policy chop shop- like the Pacific Legal Foundation, but parked in DC. Scratch the surface and it’s a white christian nationalist project- but with just enough skirts and Black People to provide sufficient cover and “diversity.” While they accept donations, I’m going to guess that they have some deeply pocketed funders. In short, a pack of shite-bags.
Nukular Biskits
Notice that those asshats blathering about “child genital mutilation” never seem to get asked by members of the media to provide specific examples of their claims.
And they’re also never asked why it’s their business when the parents of a child, in consultation with health care providers, decided the best course of treatment is, for example, puberty blockers.
WTF are these other folks who want to interfere? And why?
KatKapCC
@Nukular Biskits: These are the same people who say “I’m not coparenting with the government” when it comes to sex ed class mentioning gay people or telling them they’re not allowed to beat their child.
lollipopguild
I worked at Lowes part time after I retired from full time. We had everybody on staff at the one I worked for(I am a white male) at one point we had three people in wheelchairs working. Any skin color, nationality, etc.
RevRick
@zhena gogolia: Well, here we are and we need to figure out how we’ll respond. I, for one, will not throw up my hands, because that will just empower the worst people.
But I truly feel your despair.
RevRick
@Baud: We may have lost this battle, but that never can mean surrendering or that the war is lost.
Shalimar
No one ever admits to being in favor of genital mutilation, but I’m guessing a judge who ran on a platform of castrating rapists would win easily.
Another Scott
@Baud: Piling on, the war isn’t lost yet.
ICYMI, Gary Legum at Wonkette:
Maybe they’ll surprise us, but these are mostly the same folks who blew up a carefully negotiated – over months – CR. Better have your popcorn bin stocked up.
Hang in here.
Best wishes,
Scott.
KatKapCC
@Shalimar: Considering there are a lot of men in this country who think rape isn’t a crime, I highly doubt that.
Shalimar
@Another Scott: I was surprised Johnson got enough votes. It didn’t look like anyone would get within 10. I thought there was a real possibility they either accepted McCarthy back with some face-saving fake compromise or nominated Trump because no one had the guts to vote against him.
Poe Larity.
While I realize there will be much debate about who to throw under the bus for 2026, did we give up after the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
Kayla Rudbek
@Shalimar: not if they were a woman or a Democrat
mrmoshpotato
OT – Snoop doesn’t want to be in a helicopter again. He doesn’t like being that high. 🤣
Citizen Alan
@The Audacity of Krope: Where’s Harry to tell us we shouldn’t make fun of his followers who approve of this?
The Audacity of Krope
@Citizen Alan: Only showed up in that one thread, mercifully.
I really just can’t with the notion that we need to bend over backwards to soothe the feelings of people who constantly lie about the world and demonize us.
karen marie
@Scout211: I am beyond delighted by this news. I would be really sad to have to cancel my Costco membership.
I’m not going to renew Prime when it comes up for renewal in three months. Between Bezos being an ass and the ridiculous slow-boil of the rising cost of membership, Bezos and Amazon can fuck off.
The Audacity of Krope
I reevaluated Trump’s statement because of a response I got and my outlook on it completely changed.
Why doesn’t this man know the difference between an adjective and a noun?
karen marie
@Shalimar: If Musk had kept his fucking mouth shut, House Republicans could have elected him. But nooooo …
lol
Nukular Biskits
OT:
Looks like it’s gonna be a rough night here in the Deep South again. Nasty thunderstorms rolling into MS and into Jackson now.
I’ve got my eye on something that’s currently just SW of Lafayette, LA, headed our way … and I don’t like the look of it.
schrodingers_cat
In other news, India’s last decent and able PM passed away yesterday. I will miss him. RIP Manmohan Singh.
kalakal
@Nukular Biskits: Thanks for the heads up. Looks very nasty
different-church-lady
Vote for a chaos Muppet, get a chaos.
different-church-lady
@Shalimar:
…but it’s early yet.
different-church-lady
@Baud:
“Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?”
“Well, it was for the Germans. It just took a few years…”
Melancholy Jaques
@Nukular Biskits:
They really do not care about someone else’s gender identity, but they know that the ignorant, hateful bigots who vote for them do.
Nukular Biskits
@Melancholy Jaques:
Tim Walz had it right: “Mind your own damned business.”
West of the Rockies
@Geminid:
So… he has prostate cancer?
The Audacity of Krope
@West of the Rockies: He is prostate cancer. Though I know nothing about his health.
Geminid
@West of the Rockies: That’s unclear. Israeli journalist Noga Tarnopolski gave a screenshot today of a statement from the PM’s office saying Netanyahu was being treated for a urinary tract infection and would have his prostate removed. That seemed like a non-sequiter to Tarnopolsky but as she often says, Netanyahu “lies as he breaths” and that condition seems to be contagious among those around him.
West of the Rockies
@Geminid:
Seems like a super invasive procedure just for a UTI.
West of the Rockies
@The Audacity of Krope:
Yes, he is a fucking cancer.
Sister Golden Bear
@Nukular Biskits:
“Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all the unifying agents. Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a god, but never without a belief in a devil.”
― Eric Hoffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements
@KatKapCC: You’ll be shocked, shocked I tell you, that non-consensually “fixing” intersex infants is specifically exempted from bans on trans healthcare. Also that the medications/treatments banned for trans kids are specifically allowed for use on cis kids. (Puberty blockers were originally developed to treat precocious puberty in cis children.)
The Audacity of Krope
Supposing it was a UTI, I can envision a scenario where bullshit bravado led him to ignore it until the point where it caused permanent damage.
Not a clinician, just conjecture. At least partially based on my own experience with appendicitis and ignoring it led the entire region to be infected.
Shalimar
@KatKapCC: A lot of men who don’t think what they have done should be a crime. But those same men do like hurting people, and nothing hurts men more than losing their balls. I’m saying I think a lot of those horrible people will be conflicted.
The Audacity of Krope
Let me resolve that conflict.
What I did, that was a misunderstanding/overreaction, just like that fine clean cut young man they railroaded for this. These other folk, who happen to have less in common with me, they’re rapists who deserve brutal punishment.
UncleEbeneezer
@Nukular Biskits: I do care as far as I want to make sure I respect it.
West of the Rockies
@The Audacity of Krope:
You must have a crazy high pain tolerance. 😢
UncleEbeneezer
Went to a Barnes & Noble today to buy some belated gifts for family and the cashier up front, appeared female-presenting to my eye but wore a name-tag that said “Persephone: They/them” on it. I made a mental note, their gender never came up in our short conversation and I went about my fucking day. No big deal.
KatKapCC
@Sister Golden Bear: Yeah, it’s kind of amazing that they don’t all suffocate under the weight of their hypocrisy.
The Audacity of Krope
@West of the Rockies: OMG the pain was ridiculous. The day my appendix apparently ruptured I took my boyfriend and sister to a triple feature at the drive in. I spent the whole time writhing in pain in the backseat of my car thinking there was something wrong with my shitter.
I appropriated some Ibuprofen 800 I shouldn’t have had access to. I understand now why that is prescription only strength. It is too good at alleviating pain. It literally let me sit there and ignore the fact I was dying for about three days.
KatKapCC
@UncleEbeneezer: This is the thing about pronouns. You almost NEVER use someone’s pronouns when you’re talking to them. If I’m having a conversation with someone, I’m using either their name or “you”. And yet the transphobes are so dedicated to being rude to someone’s face that they act like “I’ll refuse to talk to this person because I don’t agree with their pronouns” or whatever. It makes no sense.
Not to mention, as has been pointed out endless times, every single person uses a singular they all the dang time. No one has an issue with it when it’s a hypothetical, but somehow hypothetical nonexistent people deserve more respect than actual people.
Nukular Biskits
@UncleEbeneezer:
Agreed. And something I should have stated as well.
Geminid
@West of the Rockies: We might find out more after the surgery. Netanyahu will want his doctors to say he’s well enough to fulfill his duties as Prime Minister but too sick to testify in his trial.
Testifimony has been been a challenge. An honest man could just tell the truth and rely on his attorneys to keep the prosecutors from overreaching. But Netanyahu tells so many lies it’s hard for him and his lawyers to keep them straight. So his testimony tends to run along the lines of, “Well everyone does that!” “I don’t remember” or, “That was my wife’s doing and I knew nothing about it!”
The prevaricating PM would like to postpone the trial long enough for his henchman to figure out a way to replace the Attorney General with someone who will sidetrack the case. She has a five year appointment and will not budge.
NotMax
It’s cudlips all the way down.
.//
mrmoshpotato
@KatKapCC: Unfortunately, the Kremlin party doesn’t know hypocrisy.
UncleEbeneezer
@Nukular Biskits: Oh I know you weren’t suggesting otherwise. I was more expanding on your comment not trying to tut-tut you, at all.
West of the Rockies
@NotMax:
Cudlips! Who was that who slung that epitaph around her quite regularly? She was a kind of obnoxious hoot.
West of the Rockies
@KatKapCC:
Honestly, unless I were pursuing a physical relationship with someone, what they’re packin’ in their britches is of no concern to me.
Eduardo
@Scout211: Have thought of getting a membership for years but I live alone and never been sure it is worthy. Tomorrow I will bite the bullet. Not for their stance on DEI itself but for standing up to fascists.
Nukular Biskits
@UncleEbeneezer:
Thanks but I didn’t interpret your reply that way at all.
In fact, I thank you for pointing out I should be me more assertive and clear.
dm
Off topic, but:
is the Biblical justification for digital communication.
The Audacity of Krope
@dm: Cute.
West of the Rockies
@West of the Rockies:
But as the father of a gender-fluid kid, I absolutely respect pronouns.
UncleEbeneezer
@KatKapCC: Yup. And we do it all the time when we don’t know a person’s gender.
Like “Holy shit, someone just threw an egg at (celebrity name) on the red carpet! Nobody knows why they did it, but isn’t that crazy?”
UncleEbeneezer
@Nukular Biskits: No you shouldn’t!! We MUST FIGHT! /sarcasm ;)
KatKapCC
@UncleEbeneezer: I was one time unfortunately overhearing someone at a table near mine in a cafe ranting about nonbinary people (though he said “nongender” people which…hey, not a bad term for some!) and at one point he said “If someone has pronouns in an email signature, I know they are not someone I want to know”. I had to bit my lip to keep from laughing.
Steve LaBonne
@KatKapCC: “Believe me, they don’t want to know you either.”
UncleEbeneezer
@KatKapCC: It’s so freakin’ silly.
UncleEbeneezer
@Steve LaBonne: Good for THEM!
KatKapCC
@UncleEbeneezer: It really is. I will never understand the freak-out over the concept of people existing outside a gender binary. I can only hope by the time we reach Star Trek years, this crap will be an embarrassment of history.
West of the Rockies
@KatKapCC:
I hope we do reach “Star Trek years.” As someone born in the 60’s, I fully believed we’d one day have a federation of planets, that humanity would (Kirk voice) learn to overcome our differences. I’m a smidge less certain now.
Bill Arnold
@Geminid:
Reuters: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will go into hospital to have his prostate removed on Sunday after he was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection resulting from a benign prostate enlargement, his office said. (December 28, 2024) (That’s it; that’s the text of the article.)
Prostate cancer is sort-of consistent with that, e.g. with a subsequent re-diagnosis that his office forgot to mention. The public may never know.
Bill Arnold
@dm:
Christ Jesus would have scowled at anyone who cited this paper. Or maybe laughed. (The section is about oaths and that yes/no is quite sufficient (affirmation, in the USA constitution)).
The physical limits of communication or Why any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from noise (2004, Michael Lachmann, M. E. J. Newman, Cristopher Moore)
JeffH
@Nukular Biskits: I think it’s not so much that people are trans, so much as they are different. Those that are angry were brought up in a culture that was very rigid about how people should live their life (on many different fronts.) Those expectations are incredibly restrictive and almost impossible for most people to live up to in every way, but they try. So when someone basically says “Nope, that’s bullshit, I’m living my life the way I want to” the folks who are trying to match the ludicrous expectations get angry, feeling that if they have to do it, so should everyone else.
Another Scott
@Bill Arnold: The physics of information theory makes my head hurt.
Physics.Berkeley.edu:
Etc., etc.
Yikes!
;-)
Best wishes,
Scott.
Gloria DryGarden
@JeffH: that explanation makes sense.
it reminds me of the crabs in the pot.
I’ve gone up against the values of more restive relatives, and their judgement is like a solid wall.
I think we only reached escape velocity in my family because both of my parents were the odd duck, black sheep not fitting in types.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@Nukular Biskits: Late to this, but there are far too many conservatist Xtianists who think trans means the freedom to act out their pervy fantasies of dressing in drag to molest little girls in bathrooms.
It’s what they
dreaddream of, after all.Kathleen
@Scout211: Costco is also a very profitable company. Just googled most profitable grocery retailers and it comes in #4 after WalMart, Kroger and Albertsons.
Kathleen
@Eduardo: This is not the first time a Costco CEO stood up to the Board. Several years ago the Board wanted to reduce excellent employee benefits even though Costco was making handsome profits. CEO refused. The former CEO had a small office filled with files. No fancy corner CEO office for him. He has retired and I don’t know if his successor maintained that office.
divF
@JeffH: The thing that has given the trans issue traction is the assertion that fake women (really men) are going to go rape our pure (white) daughters because the former can go in the girls’ bathroom. That line of sexual terror worked for a long time as an argument for racial segregation: “All they are concerned about is to see that their sweet little girls are not required to sit in school alongside some big black bucks.” (Dwight Eisenhower, speaking to Earl Warren, around the time Brown vs. Board of Education was being decided).
artem1s
IIRC Uniform Code of Military Justice cannot be changed via executive order. Congress has constitutional discretion to establish laws concerning qualification to serve in the military. If this becomes TCF’s priority then the GOP Congress needs to make it happen. It was milquetoast Rob Portman (predecessor to JV) who decided LGBTQ rights were important to him when he discovered members of his family might be affected by homophobic legislation. DADT was the 90’s solution to the military leaders who were sick of having gay witch hunts disrupt their commands because that was the best a GOP majority congress could come up with at the time. This will be a thing to deal with but it’s going to put the worst GQPer House members front and center. Remember how popular Gym Jordan’s witch hunt was with military leaders? They will overreach and accomplish little or nothing because that’s what they do. And while this performance art is taking up all the O2 in the room. It’s going to be four long years of the Congress, Elmo, TCF all hopping from one grievance to another while we all root for injuries.