So I said... #13 - March 5-12

Here we have the latest more-or-less weekly collection of my various musings and comments on things here, there, and everywhere, with context added where I thought it necessary for folks to get what was going on.

A note on style: If within a comment something is in brackets - [ ] - and it is in regular type, that’s how it appeared in my original comment. If it’s in italics, it’s something I’ve added here for additional clarity for those who didn’t see the original.

Onward.

2026-03-05
[A friend asked me via email where was the school that was bombed in Iran at the opening of the war and for a suggestion for keeping up with events. Unfortunately, I overlooked the mail for a couple of days.]

A little late for the purpose, I expect, but yeah, there was a school bombed in Minab, a small city in southern Iran on the Straits of Hormuz. I had heard about a second school, but now I don’t see any reference to it.

The US and Israel both deny responsibility (although the Pentagon is “investigating”), so I guess the place just spontaneously combusted - or engaged in what the Department of Death would probably call a “self-initiated rapid kinetic disassembly.”

It is possible the school wasn’t the target (there is a military site nearby) but al-Jazeera did an investigation showing that either the school was hit deliberately or that the US and/or Israel relied on intelligence that was 10 years out of date.

[To save you having to check the link: Intelligence images showed that 10 years ago the building where the school was had been physically separated from the rest of the base and facilities like a sports field had been added. As a footnote, major US media have started reporting the same thing - over a week later.]

Neither case changes the fact that it was hit and “oops, my bad, oh well,” is not an acceptable response - particularly in light of the fact that there have now been large-scale attacks on undeniably civilian targets including hospitals, residential buildings and schools across Tehran and other locations with repeated accounts of “double-tapping,” that is, bombing a site, pausing long enough for assistance to arrive, then bombing the same place again.

(As a sidebar, that’s a tactic for which the US has been known; for one example, the fire bombing of Dresden in WW2 involved a wave of bombing followed by a second one deliberately timed to catch fire-fighting equipment out in the open.)

For a general source of info beyond regular media (where I STRONGLY recommend non-US sources), two that are good on keeping up with events in the vicinity are Drop Site News and within that Jeremy Scahill because they have contacts within the Iranian government (and also Hamas) for perspectives we generally never see in US media. I’m usually very suspicious of partisan sources, but I’ve seen enough cases of something reported on Drop Site being confirmed - days later - in major media to give them a fair degree of credibility.

==

2026-03-05
[Indiana AG Todd Rokita has been compiling a list of his state’s trans people, apparently intending to copy Kansas in invalidating their IDs and maybe charging them with the felony of “falsified” documents.]

FWIW, “retroactively enforcing this would pose a significant legal question” is an understatement as it would appear to be a blatant example of an ex post facto law, trying to make into a crime an action that was not illegal at the time it was performed.

That may be why [Kansas AG Kris] Kobach, who has never shown any shyness about pursuing his own personal obsessions (including extremism in restrictive voter laws, being anti-choice, and xenophobia, the latter of which being where I first encountered him in 2004) didn’t try that route in Kansas.

==

2026-03-06
[This was about a video by Dave McKeegan about Bill Kaysing, considered the father of the “we never landed on the Moon” conspiracy theory. McKeegan is a professional photographer who uses that expertise to debunk photo and video “evidence” that the landing was faked.]

Something that struck me was in the clip about the interview that mentioned the [Werner] von Braun memo supposedly saying a Moon landing was impossible. Part of the answer got rather buried under the interviewer’s next question; that part being that the memo reported von Braun as saying there was a 1 in 10,000 chance of getting to the Moon on the first try.

Considering the idea of just shooting a rocket straight to the Moon and landing there was at one time on the table, the existence of such a memo is plausible. But since we didn’t do it that way, we first just went around the Moon and later sent a multi-stage rocket to end with a module orbiting the Moon with a lander that descended from that orbiting module to make the actual landing, that memo, even if real, is wholly irrelevant.

==

2026-03-06
[This is sort of out of sequence. In the previous issue of “So I said...” I posted my reaction to a video by the Friendly Atheist, Hemant Mehta questioning the report about a US military commandeer preaching “last days” theology to his troops. Subsequent to that posting, I got a reply to my comment; I think my response is worthy of including here. For the original, go here and scroll down to March 3.]

“Until it’s sourced, it’s just more smoke and that’s the last thing we need more of. Don’t you think?”

It’s not unsourced. It’s from a reputable source with access to the original material whose accounts have proven accurate in the past.

Should we dismiss as “smoke” accusations of Trump abusing a child because we don’t have the original source? In fact all we truly have is a paper reading that someone whose name we don’t know said that someone whose name we don’t know said it was so. But given the overall circumstances, I have no trouble giving a great deal of credence to that report even though a court could legitimately dismiss it as hearsay.

Same here. Lack of perfect knowledge does not prevent reaching justifiable conclusions. And my conclusion is that, given that Hegseth is a Christian nationalist who has conducted Bible study classes while in office and has opened the gates to proselytizing (plus the fact that right-wing religion being pushed in the military has been an issue before), yes, there was a commander preaching apocalypticism and yes, there are others preaching some flavor of fundamentalist Christianity to those under their command.

And I find Hemant’s doubts quite unpersuasive.

==

2026-03-08
[Still more on this. Jonathan Larsen, author of the piece Hemant questioned, replied to the critique. In comments there some suggested Hemant acted out of jealousy that he hadn’t broken the story himself.]

I don’t think jealousy is part of it. Hemant tends to work in the areas of court cases, public and organizational statements, and news accounts - that is, areas where questions about sources generally don’t arise. So I expect he’s not used to dealing with stories like this where you have to some degree make the call as to the trustworthiness of sources.

Jonathan touched on one of the reasons I found the story persuasive: MRFF has been reliable in the past, so it may be a single source, but it’s one that has demonstrated trustworthiness.

==

2026-03-08
Sam Ames (sames) recently posted an essay about forced outing of transgender students in schools.

He referred to his “least favorite line” in a recent SCOTUS action upholding at least for now an injunction against a California law barring the practice. (To be clear, this doesn’t mean California now has forced outing; it means that such outing can’t be banned statewide pending further court action.)

That line was “But those [student privacy] policies cut out the primary protectors of children’s best interests: their parents.”

“Least favorite” is a worthy description because a world of hurt can be found in that supposedly self-evident homily.

I started to say “because it assumes,” but that’s not strong enough. It doesn’t just assume, it sets as a baseline declaration not only that parents protect the best interests of their children but also that they know what those interests are, that parents by definition “know what’s best” for their kids.

And we do like to tell ourselves that. But in fact, in practice, we don’t say that, not by definition. Rather, it’s a “rebuttable assumption,” an assumed stating point that can be overcome by evidence - where possible before any harm arises. That’s why there are agencies like Child Protective Services, why there is such a thing as foster care, why there are custody battles in divorce proceedings, because we as a society recognize that parents don’t always know what’s best for their children, that sometimes they are even harmful to them.

Forced outing policies strip away a layer of protection for children, turning “rebuttable assumption” into “final decision” and opening LGBTQ+ (these days, mostly trans) children to risk of harm without the chance for questions to be raised until it’s too late and without providing them any benefit.

In fact, I wrote somewhere else recently that I can recall from my youth seeing PSAs saying that if there’s trouble at home, “tell someone,” with one specific example being “a trusted teacher.” With forced outing, a teacher becomes someone you must not trust, not just because they might out you but because they would have no true choice in the matter, not when silence risks their entire career.

Trans children get no benefit from forced outing and supportive parents effectively have no need for it. Rather, I would argue that the only people who benefit from such a policy - other than the trans-hating ideologues who just want to force all trans folks so far into the closet they couldn’t even find the door much less open it - are the hostile parents, those whose response to having a transgender child would range from fury to forced conversion therapy to total rejection and ejection from the home.

So to any parent who would say “Why didn’t the school tell me my kid says they’re trans,” my reply is that’s the wrong question. The right one is to ask yourself “Why couldn’t my kid tell me? What message am I giving out such that they felt they needed to hide this from me?” Or, both more philosophical and harsher, “Do I really love my kid? Or do I just love the idea of what I imagine them to be?”

Forced outing answers neither of those questions. It just provides a means to avoid them.

==

2026-03-09
On February 25, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said an “historic” agreement with the US was “within reach” ahead of renewed talks in Geneva. On the 27th, Oman’s foreign minister said a “breakthrough” had been reached in the negotiations.

On the 28th, the bombing began.

In the ST:TOS episode “The Savage Curtain,” one character is a reincarnated version of an Earth warlord named Colonel Phillip Green. Kirk says he was known for attacking his enemies in the middle of peace negotiations.

That description was used to establish Green as representative of historic evil.

Just a thought.

==

026-03-09
Wait - so Dep. UN Ambassador Tammy Bruce says “two times they voted for him,” that is, Trump? (About 7:15 at the linked video.)

So Bruce is saying The Orange Overlord lost the 2020 election? She better hope the The Boss doesn’t notice!

==

2026-03-11
[The 4th CCoA upheld a West Virginia law that denied Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming surgery, in so doing effectively extending the Skrmetti ruling allowing bans on transgender care from youth to adults.]

“It is not irrational for a legislature to forgo Medicaid coverage of arguably ineffective and dangerous procedures.”

The word “arguably” is doing a hell of a lot of work - in fact, all the work - in that sentence.

I suppose we can expect the same panel at some point in the future to rule that a state can ban the teaching of evolution because it is “arguably” (according to creationists) incorrect and ban the use of globes in schools because the planet is “arguably” (according to flat Earthers) a flat disc while asserting, as it did here, the state “did not have to take any third party at its word to find a good reason” for the bans - that is, “We don’t need to hear from no stinkin’ experts.”

It sometimes seems the 4th and 5th Circuits are in some private competition as to which can make the stupidest argument to support the cruelest outcome. This one will be hard to beat, but I’m sure the 5th will take up the challenge.

Oh, btw, for all the terfs and “LGB without the T” types out there who I’m sure are quite gleeful over this, who will you turn to when some court rules that a state’s authority to “encourage citizens to appreciate their sex” is interpreted to mean their “natural” sex, so “becom[ing] disdainful of their sex” by rejecting “normal reproduction” sex by being gay or lesbian can legitimately be outlawed?

Reminder: Niemöller’s poem was not just about Nazi Germany.

==

2026-03-12
[Under a new rule, the State Department will be able to revoke trans people’s visas over “misrepresentation,” giving ICE grounds to suspect all non-native born trans people of being in the US illegally. In response, someone asked “Why is our government so obsessed with the genitals of strangers?”]

Because they are trying to suppress the lurid, guilty fantasies the concept of being transgender stirs in them, an outgrowth of our on-going, Puritanical, gross immaturity about anything even remotely related to sex or sexuality.

So I said... for February 25 to March 4

Updated to include links, which I failed to include before posting.

The next issue of my irregular compilation of comments I’ve made at various places on various issues over the past week or so, with some added context as seemed needed.

2026-02-25
[In the SOTU, the Orange Overlord endorsed forced school outing of trans kids.]

What still seems so tragic to me that is I can recall from a good number of years ago PSAs on TV (okay, maybe it was radio; the words are what I remember) telling children that if there were problems at home and they needed help, to tell an adult, including, I remember this specifically, “a trusted teacher.”

Now, that’s simply no longer true. If you’re trans and home feels like a hostile environment, a teacher is someone you dare not trust. Not just because they might expose you to your parents but because they might have no choice in the matter, so you remain silent, feeling trapped and isolated and alone - and potentially suicidal.

Ignorance leads to fear (transphobia). Fear leads to hate (transmisia). Hate leads to inflicting suffering. And the infliction of suffering will be described as doing good - because the alternative is facing the reality of what it is being done and that is too much to bear.

[Footnote: “Tell a trusted adult” is still standard guidance. The issue is, if you’re a trans child, who could such a person be?]

==

2026-02-26
[H.R. 7661, introduced hours after the SOTU, would prohibit schools from “promoting” or “facilitating” anything involving “gender dysphoria” or “transgenderism” and codify the idea that anything to do with trans people is “sexually explicit.” The only thing other than being trans designated “sexually explicit” is depictions of sexual intercourse as defined in 18 USC §2256.]

This just goes to confirm what I’ve been saying for a long time: These are mentally disturbed, ethically warped people driven nearly mad by their obsession with sex such that they can’t conceive of being transgender as a matter of who a person is but only in terms of how they “do it” and “what’s in their pants” and all their attempts at disappearing trans folks are really attempts to repress their hidden, lurid, guilty fantasies.

==

2026-02-27
A simple question I have not seen asked regarding impending war on Iran:

WHAT THE FLAMING HELL IS “COMMERCIAL-GRADE ENRICHED WEAPONS MATERIAL??”

I have to assume the “enriched weapons material” refers to enriched uranium or plutonium. The only sense I can make of “commercial grade” is that it’s enriched to a degree useful for commercial applications - specifically, running a nuclear reactor.

That’s an enrichment level of 3-5% (i.e. 3-5% of the fuel is actual U-235 or Pu-239). Weapons-grade is >90% enriched.

So unless there is some explanation of which I am unaware, the administration of The Orange Overlord and his coterie of clowns and lickspittle liars is threatening to go to war because Iran is “a week away” from being able to operate a nuclear reactor.

[I made essentially the same comment just in a shorter form on another site on March 1 in reply to the observation that “they’ve been saying Iran is days away from producing nuclear weapons for decades. They’re probably hoping we don’t remember that so they can justify what he wants to do.]

==

2026-02-27
[In the Orange Overlord’s SOTU he said “The first duty of government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.” The same day, a nearly-blind, non-English-speaking Burmese refugee was found dead after being dumped by CPB at night, in a Buffalo winter, five miles from his home.]

“If he’s going to die, the better he do it sooner, so to reduce the illegal population!”

Seems to me I heard that or something like it sometime in I think it was December.

==

2026-02-28
So Secretary of “War is Peace” Pete “Manly Man” Hogsbreath says the Pentagon has made a deal with Scouting America to eliminate DEI programs and end tolerance of transgender scouts.

To the relief of some, the group declared it would still “have transgender people in our program going forward.”

For my part, I’ll hold my applause until I hear more details. The statement says that yes, trans kids are still welcome - but it does not say that they will not be programmatically segregated by birth sex nor does it say anything about the cutting back on or elimination of DEI programs.

Suppose some state said “Of course trans people are welcome to use our bathrooms or compete in sports - as long as they do it according to their sex assigned at birth.” Would that satisfy? Because it shouldn’t.

This may turn out better than I think it sounds, but I’ll need to be convinced it isn’t just a smokescreen over what is essentially a surrender.

In any event and personally, I think Scouting America should tell the Pentagon to, as I used to put it, “remove thyself to an alternate location, there to engage in autoerotic activities” - i.e., GFY. Crafts, outdoor camping, and sports should not be pipelines to the military.

==

2026-02-28
[In response to the same announcement, someone noted the Scouts are significantly dependent on the DOD, e.g., the Corps of Engineers maintains a lot of Summer Camp infrastructure.]

Yes, and why do they do it? Civic duty? Contribution to the public good?

Nah. It’s because Scouting America acts - whether consciously or by default - as recruitment for the military. The group will even brag about how many of its participants wind up in the military.

==

2026-03-01
[Robert Reich referred again to how offended he was by Randy Newman’s song “Short People.”]

Randy Newman’s song “Short “People” was intended as a satire about prejudice. Apparently he was unaware of the prejudice based on height, saying later he couldn’t see why people would think that anyone “was as crazy as that character” or something to that effect. It was not his only satirical song about bigotry where he spoke in the voice of the bigot, it was just the one that became well known. If you still wonder, you should read the lyrics to see that it is deliberately way over the top.

Just remember, Newman also wrote “Political Science” in which he said we should “drop the big one” on everybody because everybody hates us - except on Australia because we “don’t wanna hurt no kangaroo.” Failing to recognize obvious satire is a rookie mistake.

==

2026-03-01
So I see people saying “Iran is just another distraction from Epstein.”

NOT EVERYTHING IS A DISTRACTION, DAMMIT!

This is a real war with real people really dying, not a damn sideshow and I guarantee you it’s not a “distraction” to the people doing the suffering and dying.

Do you really think that there would be no war, no attacks on immigrants, no undermining of science and public health, no stripping of LGBTQ+, particularly trans, rights, no voter suppression, no pushing of white Christian nationalism, no assertions of near-dictatorial powers, no threats about Greenland or Canada, no the list just goes on and on and on, if it wasn’t for Epstein?

Get a flaming grip!

[This resulted in my being accused of being unconcerned with child rape so I’ll add this addendum, something I apparently should have included but didn’t because I thought it was apparent: When you label something as “a distraction,” you are saying it is unimportant, irrelevant, not worthy of attention and can be safely ignored; in fact it should be ignored so as to keep all focus on whatever is claimed in the particular case to be the singular “real” issue.

As horrific as the facts and the further implications surrounding the Epstein files are, I find myself incapable of letting pass without resistance all the other examples of heinousness coming from the court of the Orange Overlord. I will make no apologies for that and I reject the underlying suggestion that those actions would not have been undertaken, that is, were done only to serve as distractions, were it not for Epstein.]

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2026-03-03
[Hemant Mehta wrote about his doubts about a story that a combat-lever commander told officers under their command that Donald Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon,” leading to the Second Coming.]

I come to this as, if you will, a virgin, as while I had seen the headline on [Jonathan] Larsen’s story, I hadn’t read it. I still haven’t.

That said, I was put off by your “just asking questions” approach, one that despite your disclaimers came across much more as debunking the story than as expressing healthy skepticism.

For example, you took a couple of personal shots at [Mikey] Weinstein[, President and Founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the source of the story] - “he brags about being repeatedly nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize,” “every email publicized by MRFF reads more like an internal fundraising email,” the group “takes in a lot of donations on the backs of stories like these,” he personally gets paid about $375,000, about half the group’s total income - while insisting they’re not relevant or “not accusations, just observations.” Then why bring them up?

What’s more, some of your “red flags” aren’t even flags, much less red ones. So the theology expressed by this commander isn’t the same as that of Pete Hegseth? Okay, now that is irrelevant not only to the truth of the story but to the central issue of such “last days” theology being expressed in the military and how far it is being spread, if it is. 

You also said “If they’re actively editing the emails, then they need to admit that” just a few paragraphs before stating that he did precisely that when you asked for an original.

So do I think that some commander could have expressed that sort of “final days” theology to those under their command? Yes. Considering the number of examples of right-wing pastors declaring Trump was “anointed of God” to be president and “Jesus is returning,” I have no doubt.

Beyond that, I suspect that a lot of the reports were repeating scuttlebutt and that they didn’t “call a reporter” because beyond concern about being outed - seriously, how many reporters would be willing to deal with a report from someone who wouldn’t ID themselves, leaving no way know the source - they didn’t have additional info to offer and it was more a case of “I heard about this and I thought you should know.”

The question of how widespread the particular form of religious extremism involved is in the military and if it’s being promoted by higher-ups are important ones and wholly worthy of investigation. But neither was the question at hand; the reliability of the story and therefore the trustworthiness of the MRFF was.

Bottom line: At this point, do I have cause to doubt that basic story? No. And bluntly, neither do you.

==

2026-03-04
[In this case, literally “said.” A local Board of Education was considering revoking its guidance on dealing with transgender students, that is, stripping away their protections. Several folks spoke against it at the meeting; this is from what I prepared (which likely makes it seem more polished than it was as delivered).  In the end, the motion lost on a tie vote of 4-4.]

Good evening.

I come before the Board tonight to urge you to continue to support and indeed where possible to strengthen the Transgender Student Guidance.

I say this despite the fact that I am not trans, no one in my family is trans, and in fact as far as I know I do not personally know a single transgender person.

The point is, you don’t need to have a personal connection to be to be aware, to understand, to have empathy.

I was bullied growing up. A lot. I was a fat, shy, bookish kid, the kind who becomes a natural target for bullying, for mockery, being picked on, teasing, and “jokes.” The result was that I never felt connected, never felt I belonged.

It was bad enough that in my teen years I seriously considered suicide and a few years later I attempted it.

Looking back on that time, I can understand to some degree what it’s like to be trans, indeed how much harder to be trans than it was for me. Because if you’re trans, you’re not just made to feel apart, you’re actively set apart, tagged, marked  as the “other,” as the “not us” by the society around you - increasingly, even legally so.

Transgender children deserve support, protection, and encouragement sufficient to thrive of the sort that any child should be able expect in any public school.

I’m not an expert, but as a layperson I’m fairly conversant with the science involved here. But you don’t have to be an expert to know the difference between what is right and what is wrong, between fair and unfair, just and unjust, between what is kindness and what is cruelty, to recognize the difference between performative concern and concealed contempt.

So I want to again, call on the Board of Education to continue, and where possible deepen, the support. the protection, the inclusion for trans students in this school system.

What’s more, I call on you to not be deterred or stampeded by the fears, fables, and fairy tales likely to be thrown at you in the course of considering this issue but rather to adopt just some portion of the courage it takes to be transgender and embrace the right, the fair, the just, and the kind.

I want to thank the members of the Board for taking on this civic responsibility of being on the BOE and I thank you for your time.

The Mayflower Compact - the longer version of the story

A law in Louisiana requiring schools to to post the 10 Commandments in every schoolroom tried to head of Constitutional challenges by also including a list of potential "optional" documents to be put up in addition the required one. Among those was the Mayflower Compact

And in the previous post, I included as my reply a "VERY short version of the story" of the Mayflower Compact to explain why it should not be regarded as a foundational document. Just for anyone who might be interested, this is the somewhat longer version.

First know that a patent is legal authority to establish a settlement on “the King’s land.” Because of the practical issues raised by time and distance, they typically included the settlers’ right to govern themselves and their own local affairs “in accordance with the laws of England.”

Second, know that Jamestown is not the same as Virginia. Jamestown was one place within the colony of Virginia, the boundaries of which extended from about where Florida meets the mainland to about the mouth of the Hudson River.

Third, a then-recently developed route to the “New World” was to tack along the 40th parallel from Europe to Cape Cod and then skim the coast north or south, depending on your destination.

Okay. In 1620 a group left England with a patent for creating a settlement in Virginia and traveled that route, heading ultimately for the northern reaches of that colony. The reason for the move is that a number of the passengers and most of the leaders of the voyage had fled England to Holland 12 years earlier to escape religious persecution there. These people were Congregationalists (each congregation is independent and self-governing) while by law they had to be members of the national Church of England.

Unfortunately, they not only found religious tolerance in Holland, they also found poverty of a degree that convinced them their community was dissolving, leading to the determination to move again. Despite their religious resistance, they still thought of themselves as English, so backed by a group of investors hoping to make profit on the enterprise, they made arrangements to head for what they would agree was "the King's land" in "the New World."

The reason for heading for the northern most part of Virginia is that the main settlement in Virginia, Jamestown, was definitely Church of England and these settlers thought it safest to be nowhere near them.

But there were problems in leaving Europe. The biggest was that there were originally two ships going, the Mayflower and the Speedwell, the latter of which was to stay with the colonists (the Mayflower was hired for the voyage). Twice they set out and twice they had to return to port because the master of the Speedwell complained of leaks.

Ultimately they gave up on the Speedwell and the Mayflower left alone - six weeks late. Which also meant they arrived six weeks later than intended.

Upon arriving at Cape Cod and trying to turn south, it became apparent it was too late in the season (it was November) to safely sail the shoals on the cape’s south side and the master of the Mayflower refused to continue. He told them he’d take them back to England or if they’d rather, he’d stay until they found a place to settle where they were. Most of them had effectively nothing to go back to, so they chose the latter.

The Mayflower waited in what’s now Provincetown Harbor while the colonists searched the inside of Cape Cod until, with winter coming hard on, they picked the best place they’d found so far - which became the site of Plymouth. (There’s a great story about their discovery of the harbor, but I expect I’m already trying your patience.)

But that raised the issue that they were now north of the boundary of Virginia. Some dissension arose as some of the passengers began to say that because they were beyond the bounds of the patent, no one had any authority over them and they would do as they pleased. Fearing that would lead to the settlement dissolving into chaos before it ever began, with people bickering and scattering into the what they considered wilderness, the group (meaning the adult “free” men, i.e., not servants) agreed - with let’s call it the encouragement of “sign or you don’t get off the ship” - to form a “civil body politic” and govern themselves according to the terms of the now-invalid  patent they’d had.

That is, they essentially agreed to act as if they had a patent until they got a new one. And it was a wise decision. But it was a stopgap which broke no new ground; it claimed no rights or powers or freedoms which they were not otherwise granted by law or patent.

When the Mayflower got back to England with the news of where the settlement was, a new patent was obtained, one valid in what had become known as New England. It was delivered to the settlement - Plymouth - in November 1621, at which time the Mayflower Compact, having served its purpose, became void.

So. Wise governance? Yes. Foundational? No. 

So I said... for February 14-23

So herewith another collection of random bits and pieces drawn from comments I’ve made on various topics at various places, with context added where needed.

2026-02-14
[A trans woman was identified as committing a mass shooting, leading various right-wingers to declaim on the “violent nature” of trans people. A reply noted that the same rhetoric is never directed against white male mass shooters.]

That’s because what we’re seeing here is classic, definitional, bigot behavior, whether the bigotry is racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-trans, antisemitism, anti-Muslim, whatever.

If you are someone who is in some way “othered,” you are every person othered in the same way. If you do wrong or behave badly in any way or context, the bigot will say “That’s what those people do, that’s who they are.” But if you are not othered, the bigot will say “That’s what that one individual does, that’s who that one person is.”

So of course they don’t say the same about white men. White men are not “the other.” That’s why a trans shooter generates talk of “trans people are violent and dangerous” while every white male shooter generates talk of “one lone wacko.” It’s what bigots do. (And yes, I am aware of the irony there. But I will stand by my othering of bigots.)

==

2026-02-15
[About as non-political as something could be, this was from a YouTube discussion about “7 British Phrases That Completely Baffle Americans.” Not everyone was baffled. :-) ]
 

Coupla comments:

From one Larry to another, “Happy as Larry” [meaning “very happy” or “extremely content”] is very unlikely to have been for [Australian boxer] Larry Foley because there is a use of “happy as Larry” in print in an Australian newspaper in 1857 in a manner that indicates it’s a common phrase (The Illawarra Mercury, November 23, 1857) - at which time Foley, born December 12, 1849, was a month short of eight. Other options have the same difficulty of having the supposed source arise after first use. I expect the OED got it right: “Etymology uncertain.”

“Do the washing up” always to me meant doing the dishes.

I always thought “happy as a clam” referred to clams looking like they are smiling, but as others have noted, the original form was “happy as a clam at high tide,” that is, when it was most secure from predators.

I used to think the Mickey in taking same [i.e., in “taking the Mickey”] referred to a Mickey Finn, with the idea you were befuddled by what the other person was saying. Turns out the Mickey Finn originated in Chicago [and had nothing to do with the phrase, which means something like “pulling your leg”].

“Bob’s your uncle” always confused me, although I’d come to think it meant “You’re okay, everything’s fine, situation dealt with.” Which I suppose is close enough [to “and just like that”]. An apparently unresolved question is who the heck was Bob.

==

2026-02-16
Kristi No-one announced at a presser the DHS aims to take a major role in the midterms. “When it gets to Election Day, we’ve been proactive to make sure we have the right people voting, electing the right leaders to lead this country.”

Re-read that sentence very carefully and think about what she’s saying. The DHS intends to “make sure” the “right people” are the ones who vote and “the right leaders” are the ones they elect.

They’re (again and again) showing us who they are. Believe them.

==

2026-02-17
[Quoting ID state rep Clint Hostetler on passage of an extreme anti-trans bathroom bill.]

“I think is a noble and right cause…”

...said the slave owners in support of the Civil War.

Oh, and PS:

“protect our children and our ladies.”

“Our ladies?” The 1950s called; they want their sexism back.

==

2026-02-17
[CBS censored Stephen Colbert’s interview with TX candidate for US Senate James Talarico.]

This happened after [FCC chair Brendan] Carr said he was thinking about extending the Equal Time rules to cover late-night TV.

In other words, CBS censored the interview on the grounds of a rule that didn’t exist yet [and which Carr could not unilaterally impose].

This is what’s known as “obeying in advance,” or, in my own way of expressing it, “preemptive capitulation.”

==

2026-02-17
[A YouTube host referred to an article in The Independent describing Americans selling blood plasma to make ends meet.]

The Independent’s article notes that this rise is over the past four years, meaning it predates Trump 2.0, aka The Orange Overlord. And this is by no means the first time I’ve seen stories like these.

The point here being that this is not the result of Trump policies but of the structure of our economy, with a continuing increase in economic inequality spanning decades. Over the period 1980-2021, the average income of the poorest 20% among us grew by 31% while that of the richest 1% (not counting the richest .01%) grew by 574% and those of the richest .01% grew by 832%.

This is not a Trump issue. This is an economy issue. And we should always remember that - or we will fall into the old pattern of “If we just get rid of so-and-so, everything be fine” and then wondering another election or two down the line why “things” aren’t “fine.”

==

2026-02-18
[Comment: Since ‘68, Boomers have blamed the left for what the right does, bothsiding us to death. “Biden didn’t fix it so we’ll let Trump keep screwing up.”]

That’s utter BS but I suppose should be filed under “every generation blames the one before.”

But fact: Men over 65 voted for Harris (2024) at the same rate they voted for Biden (2020). Women over 65 voted for Harris a little more than they did for Biden. Together, those over 65 were about 2 points more supportive of Harris than they had been of Biden. Meanwhile, young (18-44) women supported Harris, but by five points less compared to 2020, while young men swung 16 points in The Orange Overlord’s direction, supporting him by an 8 point margin.

Blaming Trump on the all-purpose snide dismissal “boomer” will not wash.

==

2026-02-19
Democracy Docket reports that “Trump claimed that Republicans will never lose an election ‘for 50 years’ if they pass the SAVE America Act, which critics have called the most repressive anti-voting law in U.S. history.”

I don’t see any disconnect between the two clauses.

==

2026-02-20
1. According to our Orange Overlord, if SCOTUS ruled against his illegal, unconstitutional tariffs it would be “a body blow to the economy,” an utter disaster.

2. SCOTUS strikes them down, and the Spray Tan Who Would Be King says “No big deal, we’ll just do it this way instead.”

Some reporter willing to lose access should ask which of those two statements is a lie. Because one of them is.

Amend that: At least one of them is.

==

2026-02-21
[A commenter asked for background after another said Muslims fought in the US Revolution]

I did some looking and didn’t find anything definitive, but I did find one source, a Congressional resolution (H. Res. 276, April 1, 2019), that specifically named two Muslims who fought in the US Revolution and another source that named the same two as appearing on muster roles.

Beyond that, there are multiple sources about there being perhaps thousands of Muslims in the colonies at the time of the Revolution, mostly brought over as slaves. It doesn’t seem much of a stretch to suggest that certainly some (and more than two) fought in the war.

==

2026-02-21
[A commenter said one of his US Senators told him they would refuse to respond to any of his communications because he isn’t MAGA.]

I certainly hope in that letter [to newspapers] you described his refusal to respond.

I, however, would prefer that to my own burning-coal red Rep, who just doesn’t respond at all. The only two times I’ve ever heard back from his office was once when he wrongly thought I agreed with him on Israel’s genocide in Gaza and once with a one-size-fits-all attempt to defend the OBBB (the Obnoxious, Bilious, Bombastic Bill). Other than those two, total silence, nada, zilch.

At least your way gives you a means to publicly show his silence is a deliberate conscious snub by a partisan extremist, not just a case of not bothering to answer.

Footnote, purely as an irrelevant sidebar: I was trying to pick an adjective to apply to “red” in the second sentence. I thought of “ruby, but a ruby is a lovely gem and he most certainly is neither lovely nor a gem. I then thought of “fire engine,” but I think of fire engines as relating to rescue and genuine public service. Nope, that doesn’t fit him, either.

Then I thought of a glowing red goal, something that would burn you if you tried to deal with it directly. Right. Better. That will do.

==

2026-02-22
[A Louisiana law requiring posting the 10 Commandments in schools included the Mayflower Compact in a list of “optional” documents to be posted alongside the other.]

Personally, I’m tired of hearing the Mayflower Compact described as if it was some kind of founding document.

The VERY short version of the story is that they had a patent for Virginia but wound up beyond its northern border, which meant that technically there was no government. To avoid anarchy, they essentially agreed to govern themselves as if they had a patent until they got one, which they did the following November.

It was a wise decision, but the Compact broke no new political or philosophical ground.

[See this post for a more complete version of the story.]

==

2026-02-22
[A meme addressed a claim about hormones for transition causing violence by noting the same hormones are used to treat conditions among cis folks.]

Okay, read the following and then I have a question.

Ooh! Ooh! I see it now!

All those men committing all those school shootings must be on testosterone supplements!

Ban testosterone! OMG SAVE THE CHILDREN!

Okay, the question: I was going to post that as a sarcastic remark about how something intended as an attack on trans folks could be twisted into paranoia against cis folks.

Then I wondered if I should not, for fear that people wouldn’t get the sarcasm and think I was intending to mock the point being raised.

So should I have been worried or could I have just posted it without the explanation?

==

2026-02-23
From Chris Geidner (Law Dork) we get the latest brag from the regime of The Orange Overlord about its campaign of murder on the high seas.

It just (not for the first time on this) raises another of those questions that could be asked by some reporter prepared to break their addiction to the sweet, sweet narcotic of access.

Mr. President, just where do these “known narco-trafficking routes” lie? Show us a map so we can see that these routes aren’t being used for any legal activities. You can’t say it’s classified, because you can’t expect us to believe that these “narco-terrorists” don’t know where the “known narco-trafficking routes” these same “narco-terrorists” are using, are.

When you’re talking about bombing boats on open waters without offering any evidence, “Trust me, bro’” just isn’t good enough.

After that reporter is thrown off the plane while it’s still in the air, someone could ask about the deliberately dehumanizing language of “lethal kinetic strike.” Oh, and just what “Designated Terrorist Organizations” are we talking about? Name them. Speaking of which, why the plural? Is this some sort of joint enterprise? Why won’t you actually offer proof of your claims?

I really wish the media was as aggressive and (deservedly) hostile as the reactionaries and court jesters of the court of King Donald the Self would have us believe. 

So I said... for January 26 - February 13

Another collection of comments on various topics at various sites, with context added as needed to make sense of what was said.

2026-01-26
The White House gangsters, including Greg Bovine (not a typo) and Kristi No-one, have made much of the claim that Alex Pretti was not carrying ID while armed, which meant, they claim, he was breaking the law and that somehow proved he intended to “slaughter” the DHS thugs and deserved to be shot down.

YouTuber Jesse Dollemore bothered to look up the actual law. It turns out the penalty is a max fine of $25 and if you later show the court or the arresting officer your ID plus permit it goes away.

Truly a major crime worthy of instant death.

==

2026-01-27
So the face of The Orange Overlord’s repression regime in Minnesota is going to go from Greg Bovine (not a typo) to Tom Homan, well-named because he’s almost human.

Color me unimpressed.

==

2026-01-27
According to journalist Ron Filipkowski, John Fetterman says he’d like to see DHS funding separated from the mini-bus and voted on separately. But it it’s not (and it won’t be), he’ll vote for the full bill anyway. He ended by saying he’s “committed to being a voice of reason and common sense.”

A worthwhile goal. I hope someday he achieves it.

==

2026-01-29
[Background: Julia Serano did a video essay on “marked” vs. “unmarked” (that is, “othered”) people]

I watched the essay with appreciation. Thank you for doing it. I gave a little fist pump when you referred to part of being “unmarked” is not just what others think about you, it’s what they don’t think about you - having made the same point a couple of years ago in discussing white privilege.

Related to that is the idea that if you are “marked” and in some way misbehave, it’s taken as “that’s what ‘those people’ do” - but if you are “unmarked,” it becomes “that’s what that one individual does.”

Again, thanks for the essay.

==

2026-01-30
[A collection of 47 groups - including faux-Christian ministries, anti-choice twits, and state-based far-right outfits - have started something they’re calling the “Greater Than” campaign to push for overturning Obergefell based on the vacuous claim that children of same-sex parents have been “failed” by marriage equality.]

So I just checked out their website and three things struck me:
One: The first person they picture and quote is Charlie Kirk and they quote Barack Obama as if he is a supporter.

Two:  There is no hint they oppose divorce, which would be required to be consistent with "mother and father are never optional, they are essential." (Then again, when has ethical or logical consistency ever been a requirement for this crowd?)

Three: They equate children's "needs, rights, safety, [and] development" with no same-sex parents without a word about prenatal care, WIC, SNAP,  health care, educational and housing programs, the list would be quite long. (Repeat previous parenthetical.)

Conclusion: Exactly what you'd expect. A concoction of bigots, bozos, and buffoons united in their homophobic paranoia.

==

2026-01-30
[A poll cited by Erin Reed says voters prefer Democrats to GOPpers on trans issues, suggesting there is no need for Dems to shy away from defending trans rights. An objection was raised that trans issues rank low on lists of voter concerns, so extremists dominate on the issue.]
The answer, then, is to be loud. To show it matters to (the generic) you.

Political parties don't just look for voters, they look for motivated voters, not only because they're a source for campaign volunteers but more importantly because they're the ones most likely to turn out if they think the party is on their side and also are the ones most likely to say "the hell with it" and not vote at all if they think you're not.

That "extremely radical vocal minority" you cite fits that description: loud and motivated. So should we.
-
2026-01-30
[In response to a different person’s comment on the same poll.]

I expect the coming campaigns to be even more vicious than those to date and the wave of continuously more evil legislation to continue - in spite of the diminishing returns in elections.

Why? Because the most fanatical among the reactionaries know, they can't NOT know - that they are in the long run losing. They'll even say it; their constant desperate whining about the approaching collapse of civilization unless unless unless - it's not just posturing, it's a primal scream and they will fight to hold off the denouement as long as they can.

But at the same time, the rest of the right wing knows that's the only thing they've got. They are so far underwater that they have already essentially surrendered the House and are getting twitchy about the Senate. They can't hope to run and win on issues that people care most about and they know it, so they have to exploit our all-too common discomfort about anything elated to sex to arouse fear and then ride a social panic.

Combine the most fanatical with the merely ordinarily fanatical and you've got a recipe for a very very bad several months.

==

2026-01-31
[A post with a link I failed to record described anti-trans legislation as genocide.]

A bit under three years ago I compared what the right wing wants to do to trans folks with an oubliette (from the French oublier, “to forget”), a type of Medieval prison cell in which people would be stuffed and then, well, forgotten.

That’s what the right wing wants to do to trans people in this country. Not physically, at least not yet, but legally, socially, politically, psychologically, wants them to be disappeared and forgotten as if they simply do not exist, do not have the right to exist, do not even have the right to say "I exist."

I didn't use the word "genocide," but damn, it fits.

=

2026-01-31
CBS network news just this moment, on its Sunday evening broadcast, referred without comment to the new DHS policy that its agents can enter private homes without a judicial warrant.

NO THEY CAN’T! PERIOD TRIPLE-EXCLAMATION POINT ALL CAPS!!!

The masked thugs are claiming an administrative warrant is sufficient. T’S NOT! End of argument.  But I guarantee you there will be more smashed-in doors as a result.

Why why WHY do our major “news” media treat any claims to powers and authorities claimed by The Orange Overlord and his Brownshirted underlings as if they actually had them? Cowardice? Sloppiness? Incompetence? Indifference?

It really doesn’t matter. It’s just another example of how we are uninformed, misinformed, and malinformed by corporate media.

==

2026-01-31
[The following involves an exchange with another commenter. As always in such cases, I have edited their remarks to the points to which I was responding. If you suspect I may be being unfair, I urge you to check out the unedited exchange, which can be found at this link.

It began with a comment that defended the arrest of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort by citing 1 Corinthians 3:17: “If anybody should destroy the temple of God, God will destroy that person, because God’s temple is holy; and you are that temple.”]

I think I'm going to remember that quote. The next time some transphobe wants to deny needed health care to a trans person, I will tell them that they are destroying the temple of God.

As for its use here, I recall the line from "Pilgrims Progress" that says "The devil can quote Scripture for his purpose."
-
2026-02-01
[Reply: “Let’s be clear about targets and responsibility. I quoted Scripture to talk about physical intrusion into holy space and natural law fundaments of the Western legal tradition.” He also laid healthcare issues faced by trans folks on insurance companies, not the laws.]

Macbeth may have been referring to life, but he could just have well meant your argument.

So let's skip the attempts to change the subject (to "Who is REALLY to blame for trans people being denied care: profit-mongering insurance companies or the right-wing fundamentalist Christian Bible-thumpers behind the drives to legislate trans folks out of existence?") and get back to the point.

That point being that you quoted the Bible - you know, that book that "has been debated for two thousand years" without even reaching a consensus as to what should be included in it but with a plethora of sects claiming their particular interpretation of their preferred translation is THE TRUTH - as expressing "natural law" and therefore as the foundation of common law and the Constitution.

Which says at minimum that you don't understand the concept of natural law while indicting strongly that you would have our secular laws be "Bible-based," thereby rejecting the very Constitution you claim as backing - all in service of justifying the arrest of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort in contravention of the social contract that allows journalists to bear witness to and report on events.

That contention is given weight by you choice of of closing [Bible] quote [about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah], which bears no connection to anything certainly I and as far as I know anyone else has said but seems to be just a random rant threatening divine retribution for, well, for something from your imagination but not for anything here.

And since you brought up Sodom and Gomorrah, I'll reply with Ezekiel 16:49 (NIV): “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy."

I believe I've given you as much time as you deserve. Last licks are yours if you want them.
-
Except for this, which I separate to a reply to myself because it's more of a sidebar than part of the actual argument.

Would your contention that Lemon was an "appendage of the protest mob, an added feature ... part and parcel of the intimidation" and therefore deserves punishment be the same if the site had been, say, the HQ of one of those insurance companies you consider "the real enemy of trans people in health-care disputes?"

If yes, your argument about "sacred spaces" goes out the window.

If no, should it be assumed that you would likewise demand punishment for ICE or CBP agents who entered a "sacred space" to arrest a so-called "illegal immigrant?" (Note that the answer "yes, with the permission of those in charge of that space" by definition gives those same authorities the power to absolutely bar entry.)

Finally, who and what gets to define what is a "sacred space?" Does it include all Christian (including Catholic) sects? Does it include synagogues, mosques, Native American sacred lands, various shrines around the world where entry is only by permission? And note that using "a house of God" as a reference point only throws you back onto the already-rejected "'cause the Bible says so."
-
2026-02-02
[I got a reply but it didn’t address the first question and the answer to second was "societies define what is sacred."]

I said I wouldn't reply and it's taking considerable will to keep to that, but I can't resist noting your statement "The moment you redefine reporters as 'appendages' of a mob, you’ve justified the baton," etc.
That "redefinition" of Don Lemon was yours. No one else's. By your own words you have "justified the baton, the cuff, and the cell - forever."

And "societies" don't define sacred spaces - the dominant forces in a society do. Consider as illustration the cavalier treatment still accorded to sacred spaces of Native Americans.

One of the roles of government is - or, rather, should be - to protect the rights of those lacking the economic, social, or political power to protect them on their own. Which will of necessity at times involve a use of state power in a way that inconveniences the powerful or privileged.

==

2026-02-01
[Still defending Lemon’s arrest, this same person in a different thread cited Owen Shroyer, who pled guilty to trespass on 1/6 and was sentenced to 6 months: “He never entered the Capitol; he was there as a journalist” so Lemon deserved the same.]

I looked up Shroyer.

First, by trespassing he violated an earlier agreement he made after he disrupted an impeachment hearing.

He made speeches endorsing the claim the election was stolen.

On Jan 5, he put out a video saying "Are we just going to sit here or are we going to actually do something about this?”

On Jan 6, he joined a crowd in shouting "We aren’t going to accept it."

While he could have had some claim to being a journalist (even if it was for Infowars), the fact is, he was not there as a journalist. He was there as an advocate and a participant.

Equating the two cases - Lemon and Shroyer - is flatly false.

==

2026-02-05
["If you can't see a trans person without sexualizing the, that's your sin."]
Geez, how long have I been saying this? So much of the bigotry and social panic about trans folks is driven by our cultural discomfort with, our cultural immaturity about, anything in any way related to sex and for the transphobes, it’s all about sex. They can’t look at, hear about, or even consider a trans person without thinking about “how they ‘do it’” and “what’s in their pants” and desperately needing to reject the guilty fantasies such thoughts arouse.

==

2026-02-06
[In reacting to TOO's saying he'll release the money for a major NJ-NY project if Penn Station and Dulles Airport are renamed for him.]

He is acting like an Egyptian pharaoh, building monuments to make himself appear greater than all who came before and so in a sense immortal. He should check out the poem "Ozymandias."

==

2026-02-08

It's not proper to dismiss Niemöller as an antisemite; his story is much more complex than the single label.

He did indeed embrace that sort of presumptive antisemitism with which we are still afflicted but was even worse then - but he came to regret it and alter his views (while in a concentration camp for being insufficiently pro-Hitler) and the poem was intended not just as a warning but to express his own guilt and shame for his own silence in the face of oppression of others.

==

2026-02-10
From the Meidas Touch "Today in Politics" for Feb. 10 we learn that Binance now holds 87% of the total circulating supply of a stablecoin issued by a crypto outfit affiliated with the Trump family. That's a $4.7 billion investment. The partnership comes after Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao in Oct 2025.

The degree of corruption in this administration is truly phenomenal, phenomenal to the point that I just can't keep track of it.

If there is someone who is trying, please point me in their direction!

==

2026-02-10
[Idaho is considering the harshest anti-trans bill yet, making bathroom bans apply everywhere with violations for a 2nd offense a felony punishable by 5 years.]

I'd push back on one point or perhaps more on how a point is expressed. I'd say Idaho doesn't want to run trans folks out of the state. They're quite willing for you to be there - so long as you remain completely invisible.

So long as they can tell themselves you don't exist.

So long as they can smugly declare "there ain't none of that stuff here, not like [insert preferred locale for sneers]."

So long as you commit emotional suicide and live so locked in the closet that you can't see the handle.

There was a time, not that long ago in historical terms, when being gay or lesbian was "the love that dare not say its name." Now we might say the goal here is "the self that dare not admit it breathes."

I know it's small comfort, but know both that you are not alone and that the bigots and haters are so intent on their attacks because they know - they can't not know - that history says they are losing and, like King Canute in the popular version of the story, it will wash over them.

In the meantime, keep fighting and take care of yourself whatever way seems best to you.

==

2026-02-12
[A coalition of religious organizations has filed suit in federal court charging that TOO's "Religious Liberty Commission" violates federal law.]

According to the World Religion Database at Boston University, the world's five largest religious traditions by number of adherents in 2020 were, in order, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, agnosticism, and Buddhism.

Meanwhile, according to a 2023 The Economist/YouGov poll, the top five in the US are Christianity, "nothing in particular," atheist, agnostic, and Mormon.

I'm sure Trump's "Religious Liberty Commission" of 13 Xian nationalists and one Conservative Jew can be trusted to take a truly unbiased approach to the issue of religious freedom in the world.
-
2026-12
[Reply: I'm not sure about Hinduism, but Christianity, Islam and Buddhism all have multiple divisions, so lumping them together isn't really valid. Perhaps all the animist religions should be combined as well.]

That's how they were grouped in the source, apparently by general overall theology. The list also grouped "Chinese folk religions" and "ethnic or tribal religions (mostly in Africa)" seemingly in the same manner.

OTOH, decided by sects, according to the same source the top five are Sunni, Roman Catholicism, agnosticism, Protestantism, and Chinese folk religions (note the last is still a grouping).

Either way, it makes the same point: A panel of 13 Xian nationalists and one Conservative Jew cannot be trusted to approach world religious freedom on an unbiased basis.

Just as a footnote and not relevant to the issue at hand, I'll note that if we were to combine all the animist beliefs based on the single commonality of everything having a spiritual essence, to be consistent we'd have to combine all theistic beliefs as well, based on the single commonality of believing in a god or gods, which I'm not sure would yield a useful category.

==

2026-02-12
So in "a deliberate act of erasure," the administration of The Orange Overlord has removed the rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall Monument, having already removed the Trans Pride and the Progress Pride flags.

Hey, all you "LGB without the T" dunderheads: We told you so! We told you that you would be the next target. DO YOU GET IT YET?

==

2026-02-13
[A post wrote about US weapons used by the IDF in Gaza.]

Damn. I don't get shaken easily but I should have taken your advice about skipping the section about the, let's call it "the mist."

The thing is, I already knew about thermal bombs. I already knew what they do, I knew about the effects and what they're used for. I even already had a decent sense of just how they do it even if I couldn't lay out the chemical reactions involved.

Even so, I didn't catch on until you actually said "Israel used thermal bombs" - and oh god I sat with my head in my hands for what must have been 30 seconds before I could carry on to read the rest.

Unconscionable. Just unconscionable.

Target and ICE

A coalition of justice and religious organizations asked people to contact Target on February 11 to protest its cooperation with the assault on the people of Minneapolis by ICE and CBP. 

The following is my contribution, sent to the managers of the two Target stores closest to me. 

-

February 11, 2026

To the Manager:

I can remember a time just a few years ago when I spoke to the manager of my local Target to thank them for resisting the fear mongers and bigots who were demanding the chain strip down all its LGBTQ+ clothing and items on display for Pride Month. 

I wish I could still visit the stores of that corporation, the one that had a tradition of advocating for the rights of LGBTQ+ people, of Black and other nonwhite people, and of advocating for social and racial justice.

I don't know what happened to that company, I don't know just how or when the change occurred, but I do know it collapsed, it caved, as soon as the right wing and later the Trump White House turned its baleful glance in its direction. 

It scaled way back on its admired DEI programs. Its LGBTQ+ merch for Pride Month was stripped from the front of store, stuck all but hidden in the back - where there was any at all. (There was none in the particular store I mentioned at the top.)  

And now it has not only turned its back on those whose rights it previously championed, it has actively supported the denial of Constitutional and human rights to immigrants - including those lawfully present, not just the vilified "illegal aliens" - by allowing the violent thugs who have become the face of ICE and CBP to stage in its parking lots and standing silent in the harsh light of the racism and xenophobia of the current White House, as loudly declaimed by Stephen Miller, who in an undeniable echo of Hitler's henchmen, declared "America is for Americans and Americans only." 

I would wish to be able to add Target back on my list of places to shop. Right now, I can't. But you can help me take a step in that direction. I realize that you do not speak for the company but as a manager of a Target you are a, perhaps the, face of the company in this community. 

A number of organizations concerned with justice for immigrants have come together with a list of actions we wish to see Target take to disentangle itself from the noxious web of oppression in which it has ensnared itself. As part of that, people have been urged to express in some way on February 11 their concerns about Target's policies. This letter is my small act toward that end. 

I strongly urge you to pass on these demands (and if you wish a copy of this letter) to higher-ups in the company. Target should:  

- publicly call for an immediate end to the ICE “surge” into Minnesota and for ICE and the CBP to leave the state;
- affirm Target as a 4th Amendment Workplace, that is, exercise its 4th Amendment rights and publicly post signage denying entrance to immigration agents who do not have signed judicial warrants as required by law, as well train staff on how to respond when immigration agents arrive at stores;
- publicly call to shut down ICE and lobby Congress for no federal funding for ICE in the budget negotiations; and
- demand any federal officer who kills or harms a civilian be held legally accountable, starting with legitimate investigations and charges by local officials. 

I look forward to any response you wish to offer. My contact information is below.

So I said - semi-regular wrap-up

More comments on various topics posted somewhere online.

2026-01-18
Right-wing hate preacher Greg Locke claims his house was attacked by someone with a machine gun and played what he claimed was an audio of the attack, featuring the sound of 60 shots in three seconds.

Well, the incident was real (and police have arrested a suspect), but Locke's supposed audio was a fake.

It was supposedly from some home security system but sounded fake to me when I first heard it. Even so, I was prepared to chalk it up to the quality of the system’s recording ability until I looked up the info about the weapon.

See, the police said the weapon was a .40 caliber automatic pistol. That is a SEMI-automatic weapon - meaning the trigger has to be pulled for each shot - with a capacity of up to 15 rounds.

So if he did fire 60 shots, he had to fire 15 times, pause to reload (which police said he did), fire 15 times, reload, and so on. No flaming way in hell did he do than in, as Locke claimed, three seconds.

Why he felt it necessary to manipulate or manufacture the audio I can't say; maybe he thought the original didn't sound as scary as he wanted. Whatever the reason, is was a fake.

==

2026-01-18
I've asserted several times that much of the bigotry and hatred around trans folks is actually about discomfort and fear about sex, our societal sickness about the subject. For way too many of us, anything and everything about LGBTQ+ folks in general and trans folks in particular isn’t about who a person is, but about how they “do it," about "what's in their pants," with the unwanted lurid thoughts such notions arouse and the self-loathing guilt they produce turned outward as self-protection.

Here we have another example.

RJ May is - or was until he quit — a member of the South Carolina state legislature.

During his time in office he claimed that children are being "harmed" by "exposing" them to drag shows and "pushing sex changes on toddlers," ranting about “child exploitation.”

And to what should be no one's surprise he has been sentenced to 17.5 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to distributing child sex abuse material, including nearly 500 explicit videos featuring toddlers and young children involved in sex acts and incest between young children and their parents. (He has a seven-year-old child.) 

After his indictment in June, he claimed he'd been framed by his political enemies (of course he did) but wound up pleading guilty to five counts in exchange for the dropping of five others. 

From the article:

Moms for Liberty — the anti-LGBTQ+ extremist group that regularly seeks to ban LGBTQ+-inclusive children’s books as a form of “pornography” and regularly accuses LGBTQ+ people and their allies of “grooming” children for sexual abuse — honored May as their 2023 Legislator of the Year and had him speak at their 2022 event on “Reclaiming Education in America.”

I wonder if they'll take back the honor.

Actually, I doubt it. Just like I doubt there aren't a lot more just like May among the haters.

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2026-01-19
It is time for Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk to be disbarred for judicial misconduct for accepting and ruling on issues where he clearly has a profound personal bias.

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2026-01-21
A post suggested that The Orange Overlord's desire for Greenland is because the area distortions inherent to the Mercator Projection map makes it look much bigger than it actually is.

The post is interesting and worthwhile but have to contest that starting point as I rather doubt that has much if anything at all to do with it. I think it’s much more to do with TOO’s vision of a “greater America,” the same vision that drove the business of Canada being “the 51st state” - something that still sits in the back of his head; note that he recently referred to Greenland becoming the “52nd state.”

(And people in Puerto Rico went “um, hey!”)

What matters here is that he thinks in 19th-century sphere of influence terms, with one nation dominating it’s own: China in Asia, Russia in Europe, and the US in the Americas. In that view, each of those dominant nations should be free to do pretty much what it wants within their own sphere so long as it does not intrude into one of the others.

In that way of thinking, expanding our borders would be the ultimate establishment in the historical record of the US being a great power and him a great leader, something he so desperately desires (which, parenthetically, I think relates to his practice of plastering his name on things and his pathetic desire for a Nobel Peace Prize, ways to be seen and remembered as someone worthy of note). It’s not so much the size of the expansion per se (although it would be significant, increasing the area of the US by about 22%) as the sheer fact of it that provokes his dreams of grandeur.

Footnote: Post author Christopher Lockett protested (with a smile) that he didn’t say that’s why TOO was saying that, rather it was just an excuse to “nerd out about cartography.” To which I replied, that’s okay, I was doing the same thing: using a remark as a hook for my own rant. And that I enjoyed the article.

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2026-01-21
[To my Congressional reps after the release of the elated budget proposal to the floor of the House.]

The public, not to mention Congress, being given just days to consider and react to funding for DHS in general and ICE in particular is disturbing at best, evasive of public response at a time when those agencies are significantly unpopular more likely.

I call on you to vote NO on any appropriations for DHS or ICE until after - repeat, after - major reforms are agreed to and acted on.

DHS, a product of post-9/11 paranoia, should be dismantled. ICE should be stripped down and rebuilt from scratch with strict controls; to steal a phrase, it should be "repealed and replaced." Until then, they should  get nothing.

On this, I will not be satisfied with less.

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2026-01-23

[Background: A commenter on an article at Erin in the Morning said the people behind anti-trans laws should be imprisoned and fined and barred from seeking office “until they are as politically dead as the Whigs.”

NOTE WELL: The writer’s responses to me in this exchange have been edited. While I think they still reflect what was argued, to be completely fair, you should see the whole exchange, which can be found here.

 

I hate to be a downer, but what you're suggesting is an incredibly heavy lift.

 

The first citation [42 USC §1983] is about suing public officials, the second [18 USC §241] is about conspiracy, the third [18 USC §242] is about wrongful official actions under color of law. What all have in common is that they involve violations of rights secured either under the Constitution or by federal law.

There is no federal law establishing a right to GAC (or any health care, for that matter - note that Medicare, the ACA, and the like are about access to care, not a right to it). Even the Biden-era protections for trans folks were an Executive Order based on an interpretation of Title IX and rescinded by The Orange Overlord.

Nor is there any established Constitutional right to GAC or even just to being transgender. In fact, in US v. Skrmetti, upholding a Tennessee ban on GAC for youth, the Scurrilous Six majority said the ban is valid because it merely "removes one set of diagnoses," that is, gender dysphoria, "from the range of treatable conditions” so no violation of rights was involved. I expect any claim that denial of access to GAC violates a Constitutional right would likely be treated dismissively.

The closest I think we could come now is Bostock v. Clayton County, but since that was about employment, not health care and preceded Skrmetti (2020 vs. 2025) I doubt it would be persuasive.
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2026-01-24
[There are laws on state and federal interference with rights to property, commerce, etc. Rights don’t need to be in the Constitution; rather, there must be government power to limit them, otherwise they are plenary.]

 
On the first point, the established power of a state to regulate commerce, in this case the practice of medicine, is exactly what SCOTUS relied on in Skrmetti, arguing that's what Tennessee did: regulate the practice of medicine.

On the second, it's true that the 9th Amendment refers to "enumerated" rights and that a right not being listed does not mean it doesn't exist. But that does not mean that any given non-enumerated right exists legally, rather it must be discovered, usually by implication of those that are.

For example, a right of married couples to obtain contraceptives was found in to exist within the "penumbra" of the 4th Amendment's relation to personal privacy. The principle was later extended to cover unmarried couples and still later to strike down sodomy laws, but legally, that right didn't exist until 1965.

So it seems to me the only way to pursue the suits and prosecutions you suggest is to establish an overall right to health care and then have GAC be an accepted right within that, so that it could not be regulated out of bounds.

Like I said, an incredibly heavy lift.

And as a footnote, all this is without considering the impact of the Constitution's ban on ex post facto laws on your hoped-for prosecutions.
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2026-01-24

]These laws are constitutionally impermissible attempts to mandate that transgender youth be abused with their own sex. Child abuse is already illegal. Those in favor of these laws have no case. And you have no idea what ex post facto means.]

 
I was addressing the legal landscape facing the course you argued for. I stand by it.

Now you are arguing that laws barring GAC (particularly puberty blockers) are "constitutionally impermissible" even though Skrmetti, by virtue of upholding Tennessee's ban, said they are valid.
So at least you have to overcome that barrier. That alone makes it a heavy lift. Doesn't mean it can't be done, but do not pretend it would be anything short of that.

As for ex post facto, you are proposing criminalizing actions that were not considered criminal at the time they were performed, which at the least raises ex post facto concerns. While child abuse laws already exist, the application of them to deny access to GAC doesn't; in fact, it is far more common to hear the opposite, to hear the transmisics and reactionaries screaming that GAC is itself "child abuse" and some places - Texas, for example - have proposed prosecuting parents on just that basis.

Morally and ethically, as you say, "those in favor of these laws have no case."  But unhappily, as someone (I don't recall who) said, "The law is not about justice. The law is about the law." And that is what we're dealing with here.

Bottom line and I think the end from my side: Not impossible. But know how hard it will be to get there and the obstacles to be overcome.
 

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2026-01-24
[Background: Dr. Kirk Milhoan is the head of RF (my father would be ashamed of me) Kennedy Jr's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. He is also an evangelical Christian pastor with no background in immunology who says vaccination should be voluntary.] 

 
So Milhoan is "returning individual autonomy to the first order, not public health, but individual autonomy to the first order," even though "declin[ing] a vaccine may also affect others," is he?

How does he feel about speed limit laws? Sure, speeding "may affect others," but if "individual autonomy" can outweigh public health, why not public safety? 

By the way, is he a flat-Earther? I mean, he says “I don’t like established science” and “Science is what I observe.” Central arguments of flat-Earthers revolve around the "observation" that "Hey, it looks flat" and how you can't trust "the scientific establishment." Sounds pretty flerfy to me.

It's time.

I've been saying for a few months now that yes, it is time for civil disobedience but I kept getting told "after the election" or "after this Congressional vote" or "after" this or that or the other. But always after.

 

So I was heartened and moved by Robert Reich's declaration at the close of this video, when after referencing MLK Jr.'s campaigns, he said "It is time again for civil disobedience, an upheaval across this land."

 

Because yes, it is.

That doesn't mean we stop what we're already doing. So, yes, by all means lobby Congress. Yes, organize for and support progressive candidates in the primaries and the general. But we should be ready, we should be organizing, for more. To do more than lobbying, to go beyond protest¹ to an aggressive (in the social and political senses, not the physical) campaign of active nonviolent civil disobedience, to find the power of, as a '60s quote put it, "doing 'No,'" of stepping beyond "you should not" to "I will stand in your way," a category in which I include among the rest of the tactics a general strike.

My own organizing skills fall woefully short of the level needed to put together such a campaign, so all I can do is plead, argue, and hope. But I genuinely look to see one arise and to which I will pledge, to paraphrase a rather well-known document, my life, my (such as it is) fortune, and my sacred honor.

Footnote: Another response to the same video wrote of using CD "protect your communities." I replied in agreement: 

It is indeed time for organized civil disobedience. "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security" - Declaration of Independence.

While I don't think any of us are talking about overthrowing the government, I think we are talking about, if you will, "overthrowing" certain select parts of it.

 

¹I almost used the adjective "mere" here but there is nothing "mere" about either street protest or individual acts of conscience.