San Francisco protest photo from Softail
Warren Senders in Waltham, MA
I don’t know if you’re going to be posting these over the coming week but I figured I’d send them anyway. I’m the dude in the broad-brimmed hat; my sign has two sides (enjoy the Orwell reference, which most people didn’t get). IDK what Kurt Vonnegut is doing over there on the right; I could have sworn he’s been dead for a while.
So Very Small (Self Aggrandizement Post)
Baud
Old guy with hat speaks nothing but truth.
ETA: Oh, that’s Warren! Figures it would be a jackal.
Jackie
Moving from earlier thread so it catches some eyeballs :-)
O/T Good news! (for now, anyway)
The link is to the actual ruling. The heroine is Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney, Federal District of Colorado.
WaterGirl
@Jackie: Yay!
ewrunning
So now Kennedy’s creating a national “register” of people with autism by drawing on government and private health care industry sources. Speaking as a parent of such, I find this both incredibly alarming and creepy as hell.
WaterGirl
@ewrunning: As a parent of neither, me too.
Armbands with yellow stars
edit: they really are nazis.
Melancholy Jaques
We attribute so much of the Republicans’ asshole behaviors to Trump & his cult, but Republicans are just assholes with or without him.
The latest from the petulant children on the Ohio Supreme Court: They move the portrait of former Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, the state’s first woman chief justice, to a lower hall because she sided with Democrats in the redistricting cases. The supreme court’s rulings in those cases were ignored by Republicans who held the elections with the unconstitutional districts because nothing much fucking matters anymore.
RICH GARDNER
Latest photo-essay, last Monday’s Monday’s@McCormick’s
https://pastphotoessays.blog/2025/04/22/rally-mondays-mccormicks/
sab
@ewrunning: As a grandparent of such me too! YIKES!!!
Why can we not have a register of societally dangerous sociopaths? Predators, as his cousin reluctanctly admitted he is.
I have another snide joke that would get me arrested.
Sister Golden Bear
@ewrunning: The national register of those of us receiving trans healthcare won’t be far behind. In the next week or so we’re expecting HHS to release a junk science hit piece report on trans healthcare—similar to the infamous Cass Report in the UK. Despite being denounced by medical organizations worldwide, the Cass Report was used to effectively end all trans healthcare for minors, and restrict it for adults.
JoyceH
Perhaps a good sign? Went to my garage for an oil change and the three Trump signs that were in the grass there are gone. Disillusionment or spring cleaning?
UncleEbeneezer
@WaterGirl: Speaking of “they really are Nazis”, Irish rap band Kneecap, who have a history of praising/re-tweeting Neo-Nazi’s and chanting “Up Hezbollah, Up Hamas” shortly after the 10/7 massacre, put up an image and got the Coachella crowd to chant “Fuck Israel, Free Palestine” over the weekend. For a movement that insists it isn’t antisemitic, Free Palestine sure does seem to attract a lot of Nazis.
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
they really are nazis.
I’m not sure they are. They WANT TO BE, but as big of assholes as they seem to be, they still aren’t nazis.
They aren’t smart enough.
Which of course is why they are who they are.
sab
@Sister Golden Bear: My niece already had to leave her birth state because so toxic. Now she is supposed to leave her country? She is bilingual probably trilingual but she is a homebody and a joiner with lifelong friends. The first move across country was bad enough.
What is wrong with these people who demand such? I bet their own children hate them.
zhena gogolia
I love “Make ‘Disappear’ Intransitive Again”
ewrunning
@Sister Golden Bear: Yes, I’m with you there. We share the concern of our trans friends and a family member’s trans partner as well.
Ruckus
@sab:
When they can’t get what they want they will start hating each other.
Humanity takes all forms, intelligence, emotional levels, and just because someone has an IQ of less than 80 (my last dog had a higher IQ…..) doesn’t mean they are not humans. We’ve had wars over bullshit that cost millions of lives for no other purpose than to give one human the keys to everyone else. I’m an old, I served in the US military during one of those wars, and I can honestly say that if a few million people refuse to grow the fuck up and learn not to be a pompous, arrogant asshole, among millions of other pompous, arrogant assholes, this humanity thing isn’t going to work very well.
Dog Dawg Damn
@Sister Golden Bear: live by the sword, die by the sword.
The studies in the field are all fairly low quality, and we know that studies that don’t reach approved outcomes don’t see the light of day.
When it comes to minors, it is a true ethical dilemma. Providing drugs that cause irreversible change to children who are too young to drive, often with lifelong health consequences, is fraught. To do so requires clear evidence and proof that the care provided is safe and effective. Don’t take my word for it though! Take it from a trans man, and trans healthcare provider, (and personal friend) who is interviewed in this piece.
No I have *no* doubt that RFK and HHS will push out a turd (what can we expect), but the assault on science is coming from both the left and the right. Our politics have completely taken over our scientific sensibilities. Dems can change that. I don’t expect Trump’s MAGA movement to do so.
me
More market manipulation.
Bessent says he expects ‘de-escalation’ in U.S.-China tariff fight in the ‘very near future’
Suckers respond positively.
Stocks rallied Tuesday on hopes that U.S.-China trade tensions could ease soon, as investors recovered the steep declines suffered in the previous session.
sab
@Ruckus: Yes. I remember when Catholics and Evangelicals despised each other. As a sensible Protestant I owas sort of stunned. Now they are running the country together.
sab
@me: China thinks it can outlast us. Of course it can. Is this even a question?
WaterGirl
@UncleEbeneezer: It’s ridiculous and disingenuous and dangerous and wrong that being for humane treatment of a people is now considered being against a different group of people.
WaterGirl
@me:
They’re not suckers if they are in on the game.
Ruckus
@Sister Golden Bear:
Some humans need to justify their shitty behavior because they think they are the top of the heap. They might be, but they do not seem to understand that the heap they are top of is pure crap. They cannot justify their own crap if anyone else has less of it. The problem is they keep making more and more, till it leaks/speues out their mouths.
Live and let live? Naw they can’t do that, because to them it suggests that they may not be human. Which of course they then act exactly like some humans have for eons/since time started – purely crapy. They have to justify their lives by being what they consider better than others. But they have zero concept of actual humanity. That someone being gay, (or actually any concept but their purity tested bullshit) is WRONG. And of course they can’t conceptualize that they just might be full of shit. I was a mental health counselor a WHILE back and this was one of the foundation concepts of being a counselor – that we would have clients that could not conceive in any way anything but that all humans have to act and believe in exactly the same way. The only foundational concept I found rational was do not harm others, physically, or mentally, live and let live. To many humans that is absolutely incorrect because it doesn’t allow them to be pompous, arrogant, utter assholes.
prostratedragon
From Caballos de Vapór [Horsepower Suite], 1932:
III. “El trópico,” Carlos Chávez
Trollhattan
@sab:
“Hate women?”
“Hate women.”
“Love them babies?”
“Love them babies.”
“Besties!”
“Besties it is.”
Scout211
But wait, there’s more good news (for now)!
Citizen Alan
@sab: I think they still despise each other. They’ve just decided that “the enemy of my enemy is my ally,” the “enemy” in this case being modern, pluralistic, post Enlightenment society, which both the Catholic Church and the Evangelical community despise much more than each other.
Jackie
@Scout211: I love these federal judges who are strongly clapping back against a tyrant!
Doc Sardonic
@JoyceH: Maybe the signs were starting to have an impact on the profitability of said business. There are certain things that when I see them are a determining factor on where I spend money. Religious iconography, over-the-top patriotic stuff and anything that says MAGA, don’t spend there because they will screw you over.
Another Scott
@Jackie: Someone actually reading the legislation and recognizing that we’re not actually at war, and that war is a well-defined state of affairs, well, That’s just C R A Z Y talk!!1
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
WTFGhost
@Dog Dawg Damn: Usually, when people are “asking questions” about transfolk, it’s because they haven’t done the research. Prior to major changes being made (like puberty blockers), doctors follow the science, and do their best to weed out people who have issues other than gender dysphoria.
Remember, there are parents, and doctors, and other support folks, and the children, and they’re all involved in this decision, and other people have the same sense of skepticism that you have, and have to be dragged to the decision with data.
No one wants bad outcomes; and no one wants people forced to undergo irreversible changes that (in their case) can, and should, be prevented.
But sometimes, preventing irreversible changes means puberty blockers are the proper course of treatment; and, gender transition is the right course of treatment for a lot of people for whom puberty blockers isn’t (or is no longer) an issue.
You’ll hear a lot that says differently – if you dig in, and do real research, you’ll learn the truth. I’m sure there are bad outcomes, even with everyone’s best, most hopeful, guidance. But geez, we’ve been studying this type of crap for a long time. And it actually has not a whit to do with ideology.
Matt McIrvin
So far has Trump obeyed a single one of these court orders or is he just ignoring them all?
Sandia Blanca
San Francisco
prostratedragon
@WTFGhost: Thank you. From what I know, not only are these decisions rigorously vetted, but no one reputable is putting minors through irreversible changes or anything more than the puberty blockers, which are reversible, period.
Jackie
And, once again Sarah Palin loses her defamation lawsuit to the NYT. Hahaha!
Ruckus
@Matt McIrvin:
shitforbrains is top of the pile, just ask him. Of course you’ll have to translate anything that comes out of his mouth from asshole to human. Do remember that he has aged a lot in the last few years. Now I know (as an old fart myownself) that life as old farts is different than someone 1/3 your own age. I know because I’ve been an adult at both 1/3 my current age and now that I’m OLDER, believe me there is a difference. And just like everyone ages differently, as in some are old farts at 30-40 yrs and some aren’t until much later. But if one lives long enough, one gets oldfartitus. (ask me how I know….) Doesn’t mean you aren’t a viable human being, it does mean you slow down, in most every possible way. Because as one of my docs said not all that long ago – “Slow The Fuck Down.”
Jackie
Worse news for N. Carolina:
Annnd, Red state Arkansas was denied federal emergency resources for the devastating tornadoes they were hit with last month…
The leopards are coming…
WTFGhost
@sab: Abortion brought ’em together. Plus, ritual (with which the Catholic Church is stuffed) can be powerful and meaningful, even in the service of hate.
I wonder what kind of hymns Christians sing. I remember “make me a channel of your peace,” and “let their be peace on earth” and songs about the beatitudes, and all this stuff that reminded me, it was important to be a good person – not just doing the “Vatican Rag” (“… bow your head with great respect, and… genuflect, genuflect genuflect!” – I don’t think multiple genuflections are ever appropriate, but, the song was written by a Jewish man so I give him leeway).
Now, the evangelicals are all “hate the migrant, hate abortion, hate gays, hate trans, hate Democrats,” and I’m sure there’s more hate.
And it’s like, what do they sing? I’m afraid to hear it.
I remember something like
“Banish fear and ignorance,
“Hunger thirst and pa-a-ain,
“Banish hate and neediness,
Let no one live in vain.”
You know, don’t treat anyone like they were nothing – that’s what it means to let no one live in vain.
Just like, “do not take the lord’s name in vain” so if I said “by god, I want to smack you upside the head!” and they say “do not take the lord’s name in vain,” when I smack them (gently) upside the head, I can say they quite literally asked for it – they told me not to say “by god” without followthrough. If you say “by God,” you should mean it.
(NB: “God” is capitalized when talking about the god of Abraham, because it’s become a proper name, “God”. The “god” of Abraham shouldn’t be capitalized, but it usually is, because any reference to God, even a He or a His, should be capitalized because Christians, amirite? Anyway: when I said “by god, I’d like to…” I was not taking their Lord’s name (see? Capitalized) in vain. I was just using a common expression. Also, when I call out during sex, it’s to the spirit of joy, love, and sexiness – people don’t always say “oh god oh god”. One lovely lass would chant your name while you made her come, “Joseph, Joseph, Joseph, OH JOSEPH”. So, next time someone asks what atheists say when orgasming, say “whatever they want to – I reckon it’s only Christians who feel they have to say ‘oh god’.” Then, tell them you’re kidding, if you’re kind, like me.)
Where was I? Right! IN VAIN! Let no one’s LIFE be lived IN VAIN. Make each life mean something. That’s the kind of thing that a couchfucker would never understand, and would say “no, I love Americans and don’t care about Chinese ‘peasants’ and stuff!”
What? I didn’t call Vance a couchfucker, I just said that a couchfucker… oh, never mind.
Anyway: shitting on someone, and sending them to El Salvador’s professional gulag, and saying “whoopsie poopsie, I can’t get them back!” that’s the sort of thing that is letting people live IN VAIN – where their very lives are rendered meaningless.
“We promised millions of deportations,” a couchfucker might say, “and we won’t get that with due process! Why doesn’t the pope understand that?” but, again, the pope grew up singing hymns about not letting people live “in vain,” and had it explained, no, it’s not a blood vessel, to live in vain is to mean a life is meaningless, just like the commandment, taking the Lord’s name “in vain” would make it meaningless… am I going too fast for any couchfuckers in the audience?
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: Now can we get rid of the war on drugs?
WaterGirl
@Sandia Blanca: Oops! Thanks for the correction.
WTFGhost
@Matt McIrvin: He’s not “ignoring” them, in the sense of, he is sending his attorneys to hearings and such, and saying what he wants them to argue, but, he is clearly breaking the law, and refusing to perform the actions the judges say he needs to do to stop breaking the law.
He’s hoping if he stalls long enough, some SCOTUS decision will render it moot, or, it will get off the front pages.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@WTFGhost: Thank you for this response.
Sandia Blanca
@WaterGirl: Thanks–didn’t mean to be so abrupt, was on the move but just wanted to let you know. Appreciate the correction!
Steve in the ATL
@Jackie: of course he wrote his op ed for the New York Post….
WaterGirl
@Sandia Blanca: I looked at what you wrote and thought, that’s what I typed. But then I copied your SF and pasted it in next to mine and I saw the problem. :-)
The Audacity of Krope
@UncleEbeneezer: Love the guilt by association performed through nutpicking. Fasc 101 tactic right there.
It’s almost like you’re more interested in protecting the perpetrators of an active genocide than considering a fair reading of the facts.
The Audacity of Krope
@The Audacity of Krope: Missed edit window. Just adding that there’s also never any consideration of power dynamics involved. Who is the US funding, what side are virtually all the politicians on? No, apparently some random musicians in Ireland whom few if any of us have heard of before today and the attitudes of listeners who likely didn’t have the full background on this group matter more.
Meanwhile; Trump, who is vehemently on your side on this issue, is setting up concentration camps in El Salvador. Take that association.
Dog Dawg Damn
@WTFGhost: it has quite a lot to do with ideology, though. But let’s actually suppose it doesn’t. Do you think the medical literature justifies the off-label use of puberty blockers in children for whom it will render them sterile and inorgasmic for life? (Children at tanner stage 2 and prior).
From the literature we have, there isn’t good evidence that watchful waiting isn’t just as effective without the risks of early intervention. This is quite an ethical dilemma but we need more data than we currently have. We are still just beginning to understand outcomes and contributing factors and comorbidities over time.
I do not doubt that people mean well, but meaning well isn’t actually a meaningful data point.
UncleEbeneezer
@The Audacity of Krope: If your
barmovement attracts Nazis and does nothing to repel them, now you have a Nazibarmovement.It’s really fucking simple to advocate for Palestinian rights without attracting Nazis. People like John Aziz and Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib do it all the time. Here’s the One Weird Trick: affirm Israel’s right to exist, the fact that Jews are ALSO indigenous to the land and acknowledge that the Palestinian Liberation cause has just as much blood on its’ hands as the IDF, condemn Hamas/Hezbollah, 10/7 and speak out passionately about antisemitism. Do just a couple of those things and I guarantee that Nazis will want nothing to do with your movement, in fact they will hate you for it. But the most ardent supporters and leaders of “Free Palestine” refuse to do any of them (and get panty-twisting mad at even the suggestion that they should). Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Mehdi Hasan, Al Jazeera, Glen Greenwald, and even prominent commenters here simply can’t bring themselves to do so. So Nazi’s feel very comfortable around you all. That should make you deeply question what you are doing that makes them feel that way.
If you stand up for women, misogynists will want nothing to do with you.
If you stand with Black People, racists will hate you.
If you advocate for Palestinian self-determination and a Palestinian State, the worst Likudniks will hate you.
If you stand up for Jews, Nazis will hate you.
I’m sorry you can’t seem to swallow the last one, but it’s not anyone else’s fault for noticing and drawing some obvious conclusions based on your chosen silence.
The Audacity of Krope
@UncleEbeneezer: Look around you. American Nazis support Israel and whatever rhetorical cudgel you invent about what people supposedly won’t say (flagrantly untrue, by the way) won’t make it otherwise.
They won’t be bullied into reciting our homilies. Must be anti-Semites!!!
Fuck off with that shit.
Kayla Rudbek
@sab: when I let my inner tacky mean girl out about RFK Jr, I say “they gave the wrong Kennedy the lobotomy”
The Audacity of Krope
@Kayla Rudbek: Insufficient Kennedys, perhaps…
Kayla Rudbek
@sab: in my arrogant opinion, the two biggest mistakes of Vatican II were the birth control issue and lifting the ancient ban on eating meat on Fridays. The dietary restrictions kept Catholics and Protestants apart, and we can see in modern times that the right-wing nut jobs in Christianity are now influencing and corrupting each other across the denominational lines.
(although a counter argument is that the tradCaths aka the people who want to pretend that Vatican II never happened may still be following the old rules about no meat on Fridays ever, and they are right wing to the core; then you have the sedevacantists who think that they are more Catholic than the pope and who think that the papacy was left vacant pre-Vatican II, and probably also doing meatless Fridays)
Kayla Rudbek
@The Audacity of Krope: from what I remember about the Kennedys, Rosemary didn’t deserve to be lobotomized (she was wilder in her behavior than her parents preferred, but if she had been born twenty years later, or had been born a boy, she wouldn’t have been that much out of the ordinary, is the impression that I had).
Kayla Rudbek
@Doc Sardonic: yeah, I avoid businesses with MAGA signs or merchandise, Christian fish icons, or too much biblical references. (In-and-Out and Sierra Trading Post seem to be okay despite their biblical citations).
Kayla Rudbek
@prostratedragon:
@WTFGhost:
yes, when I saw that doctors use puberty blockers on cisgender children who are developing too young (and I think that’s why the puberty blockers were invented in the first place) any argument about those being bad for trans kids (and not bad for cis kids) is invalid in my opinion.