Wall Street was turned upside-down by President Donald Trump's tariffs, but now we've been through a few rounds of him posting then withdrawing threats and trying to shake down foreign governments, things are settling down. They have a nickname for him, "Taco," to remind them where the puck always ends up. — Read the rest
This is what happens when cruelty becomes policy. The right keeps scapegoating immigrants while quietly gutting healthcare for working-class Americans. Don’t let them gaslight the public with xenophobic distractions–this is class warfare in plain sight.
Destroying democracy was a campaign promise, I guess.
Trump officials just destroyed the federal government's voting rights watchdog. By transferring all senior managers in the Department of Justice's voting section to a backwater office and halting every active investigation, the administration has effectively shut down the unit tasked with protecting voter access nationwide, as reported in The Guardian. — Read the rest
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In a massive affront to the memory of all the people who died cleaning up the disaster at Chernobyl, Russia struck the two billion dollar "New Safe Confinement" with an explosive drone attack. — Read the rest
“Fear is a strange soil. It grows obedience like corn, which grow in straight lines to make weeding easier. But sometimes it grows the potatoes of defiance, which flourish underground.”
Great news, Americans! Thanks to your god-emperor and his loyal billionaire sidekick, your Freedom Milk, is now fortified with listeria and brain parasites!
The FDA just announced they're suspending their milk quality testing program because they fired too many people to actually do their jobs. — Read the rest
I think they were recreating the Citadel from HL2.
Around 83 miles northwest of Las Vegas lies Area 51, the classified military base where new aerospace technology is tested and—depending on your appetite for conspiracy theories—a high-tech facility where extraterrestrials chill on ice as their crashed craft are reverse engineered. — Read the rest
In 2019, Elisa Shupe, who at the time was detransitioning, was courted by the right-wing Christian group Family Policy Alliance. Spencer MacNaughton and Hope Pisoni report:
With an all-expenses-paid visit that included lodging at the five-star Ritz Carlton hotel, Shupe says she and her spouse received “rock star treatment” from Family Policy Alliance (FPA), the conservative Christian lobbying group hosting the event, who invited her to speak about her detransition.
Shupe, “attributes her decision to detransition… to a lack of family acceptance and her struggle with borderline personality disorder” – became a mouthpiece for the FPA’s anti-trans views and a witness they’d trot out to support anti-trans legislation. She became, in effect, an anti-trans activist – and her hands were held at every stage by anti-trans professionals who told her where to go and what to say.
Multiple of Shupe’s op-eds were written in collaboration with ADF. In one email, Roger Brooks, a senior counsel with the group, asked her to write an op-ed in support of the group’s lawsuit to overturn New York City’s ban on conversion therapy for gay and trans people. In the email, he offered points to raise in the proposed story, including that she was “horribly lied to and cheated” by doctors facilitating her transition. He also offered her writing support from ADF employees “familiar with the length and style that appeals to op-ed page editors.” Alliance Defending Freedom did not respond to a request for comment.
Shupe says that Bob Sullivan, an attorney who frequently liaised with ADF and planned to represent her in a medical malpractice lawsuit, helped craft her persona as a victim. In one email advising her on a potential autobiography, he said her story “could be modified to make it a quick-hitting intro into [her] nightmare of gender dysphoria.” He also discussed how they should strategically time the possible autobiography’s release “according to any litigation we pursue.”
(Sullivan says this was taken out of context.)
Unsurprisingly, Shupe was no longer welcome when she decided to transition after all.
Shupe faced a difficult journey after leaving this right-wing ecosystem. She says she has been harassed by her former right-wing allies and has had difficulty receiving medical care because of doctors’ fear of a media storm. …
MacKinnon says the weaponization of detransitioner stories by the far-right not only hurts trans people, but also detransitioners, making it harder for both groups to find the care that they need.
It is inevitable that people will detransition – no medical treatment has a 100% satisfaction rate. But 94% of trans people report being more satisfied with their life after transitioning.
People who detransition should have the help they need, and be treated with compassion. But they should not be taken as a reason to deny trans people medical and other help.
It’s also important to know that detransitioners aren’t a group mass-mind with a single story and motivation. People can detransition for a wide variety of reasons, including a lack of support and resources. From Transvitae:
Detransitioning is a nuanced and deeply personal process. While some individuals detransition because they were misdiagnosed or because they realize they are not transgender, many others do so due to external factors—social rejection, lack of access to proper medical care, family pressure, or discrimination. And, crucially, many who detransition do not regret transitioning but rather regret the circumstances that forced them to stop.
However, as I have witnessed in my work within the community, the Republicans and right-wing organizations hosting these events are not interested in this complexity. They have cherry-picked a small group of detransitioners—many of whom are professional activists funded by anti-LGBTQ+ groups—to push a narrative that gender-affirming care is dangerous, unnecessary, and should be banned for everyone.
People who transition – including the small minority who go on to detransition – need support and access to care. But what conservatives offer detransitioners is extremely conditional support that’s entirely dependent on willingness to be used as tools against trans people.
TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON
This cartoon has four panels, all showing two people standing on a mini stage in a public park. A small crowd is watching them. The first speaker is a grinning woman in a business suit. The second speaker, “John,” is bald with short hair on the sides, wearing a t-shirt and slacks. John looks nervous and unhappy.
PANEL 1
WOMAN: This is John. John used to be “trans” and called himself “Joan,” but he knows better now.
JOHN: It’s just been really difficult for me…
PANEL 2
WOMAN: The trans cult puts so much pressure on people to transition these days! But John knows his own mind!
JOHN: I got so much blowback when I transitioned… It’s hard not to let that pressure get to me.
PANEL 3
The woman keeps talking with a pious expression. “John” – now Joan – is suddenly very happy, spreading her arms wide in a gesture of acceptance.
WOMAN: What matters is that all of us respect John’s choice.
JOAN: I can’t do this anymore… I am Joan! I am!
PANEL 4
The woman, looking angry, kicks a surprised Joan off the platform.
WOMAN: No, you’re not.
CHICKEN FAT WATCH
“Chicken fat” is what an earlier generation of cartoonists called extras we’d now call “Easter eggs.”
PANEL 1 – Woodstock from “Peanuts” is perched on a tree.
People watching in the audience include Little Orphan Annie, Mr. Spock, and Spider-Man. A bald person has the planet sticking its tongue out from “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” tattooed on their head. Someone else is wearing a cap for the Portland Pickles (a real minor league baseball team with a pickle for a mascot). A woman has “this space for rent” tattooed on her shoulder.
PANEL 3 – An evil bunny, smoking a cig, is in the background. Way in the background, a gigantic squirrel is climbing the side of a skyscraper.
PANEL 4 – Someone in the audience is missing the top of their head, and we can see their brain (a call-out to an earlier cartoon by Grace and I).
A flyer taped to the stage says “LOST!” in big letters. Below that, in lettering that’s almost too small to be read, it says “innocence, generation, hope, the battle, my way, paradise, boys, steam, cause, virginity, my religion, and found, time, it, touch, in translation, tv show, no big, at sea, in space, for words, loved and, sleep, and my dog.”
T SHIRT IN ALL FOUR PANELS: In panel one, Joan’s t-shirt shows a snowman. In panel 2, the snowman has turned to look at the sun. In panel 3, the snowman is melting. In panel 4, the shirt just shows the sun and some puddles.
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Considering how long the world has been on fire, it's amazing that it hasn't burnt down to charcoal yet. It continues to worry us over what its sparks will jump to next. It feels we're only a virus, policy or racist bastard away from a new calamity, at any time. — Read the rest
Starting May 7, 2025, I'll need a REAL ID to fly from Houston to New Orleans. Apparently, my current driver's license — you know, the one issued by my state government — isn't "real" enough anymore.
Remember when we used to mock totalitarian regimes for requiring "internal passports?" — Read the rest
When the authors of "How Fascism Works" and "On Tyranny" feel it's time to get out of Dodge, you know things are bad.
According to a report from The Toronto Star, three standout professors, employed by Yale University are picking up stakes and moving North of the Wall. — Read the rest
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