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Purge

I somehow missed this at the time, but Trump got very busy erasing women from all the things too. I knew about the big picture “get rid of all DEI blah blah blah” but I’m not sure I knew women were included in the purge.

As President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI agenda comes to bear on NASA, we’re getting a revealing look at what his administration considers to be too woke: women.

In a directive sent out just days after Trump’s inauguration, NASA personnel were commanded to excise all mentions of anything “specifically targeting” women on the space agency’s public websites, 404 Media reports.

And by “targeting” they don’t mean harassing or mocking, they mean mentioning.

“Per NASA HQ

… Read the rest

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Purge
By Ophelia Benson, February 3, 2026

I somehow missed this at the time, but Trump got very busy erasing women from all the things too. I knew about the big picture “get rid of all DEI blah blah blah” but I’m not sure I knew women were included in the purge.

As President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI agenda comes to bear on NASA, we’re getting a revealing look at what his administration considers to be too woke: women.

In a directive sent out just days after Trump’s inauguration, NASA personnel were commanded to excise all mentions of anything “specifically targeting” women on the space agency’s public websites, 404 Media reports.

And by “targeting” they don’t mean harassing or mocking, they mean mentioning.

“Per NASA HQ

… Read the rest

Archives
Bad Moves
Articles
Flashback
In Focus
Latest News
Letters
Notes and Comment Blog

Purge 

I somehow missed this at the time, but Trump got very busy erasing women from all the things too. I knew about the big picture “get rid of all DEI blah blah blah” but I’m not sure I knew women were included in the purge.

As President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI agenda comes to bear on NASA, we’re getting a revealing look at what his administration considers to be too woke: women.

In a directive sent out just days after Trump’s inauguration, NASA personnel were commanded to excise all mentions of anything “specifically targeting” women on the space agency’s public websites, 404 Media reports.

And by “targeting” they don’t mean harassing or mocking, they mean mentioning.

“Per NASA HQ

… Read the rest
Whitewash in every sense 

Take down that information!

A week after taking down signs at Independence National Historical Park referencing George Washington’s ownership of slaves, the National Park Service has been ordered to remove signs and displays pertaining to climate change and Native Americans at a handful of national parks in the West.

“The moves are the latest actions by the Trump administration to whitewash and sanitize history at National Park Service sites by removing or changing signage about slavery, climate change, Native Americans, transgender rights, and other issues,” the Sierra Club said Tuesday in a statement.

[How did “transgender rights” get in there? What can such undefined rights have to do with national parks?]

“The Trump administration continues to politicize our national parks

… Read the rest
Likely to raise new worries 

In Rush Toward Dictatorship news, Trump is pushing the Steal All the Elections effort as hard as he can.

Trump called in a new interview for the Republican Party to “nationalize” voting in the United States, an aggressive rhetorical step that was likely to raise new worries about his administration’s efforts to involve itself in election matters.

During an extended monologue about immigration on a podcast released on Monday by Dan Bongino, his former deputy F.B.I. director, Mr. Trump called for Republican officials to “take over” voting procedures in 15 states, though he did not name them.

“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over,’” he said. “We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many

… Read the rest
Ok then itemize them 

She does say that.

https://twitter.com/OkayBiology/status/2018434359292756071

She helps herself to take that passionate stand by not saying what she means by “the rights of trans people.” Her passionate stand sounds generous and righteous if you have no idea what purported “rights of trans people” actually are.

If she spelled them out, it would be obvious what a joke it is for her to claim to be a feminist. Trans activists claim the right to be in women’s spaces, steal women’s prizes, compete in women’s sports, take women’s jobs, demolish real feminism.

She sounds as if she’s talking about human rights for trans people, but she’s not, she’s talking about special new creative “rights” to take everything women have and punish women … Read the rest

Never heard of him, he sucks 

Imagine voting for obsessive illiterate rants about media celebrities. People are weird.

https://twitter.com/MAGAVoice/status/2018209054758506630

I love the part where he says how bad Trevor Noah is immediately after claiming to have no idea who Trevor Noah is. That is truly joined-up thinking right there.

There are only crumbs of his brain left.… Read the rest

Guest post: Risk assessment 

Originally a comment by iknklast on How do we know?

I think to make a moral, rational decision, the ‘is’ column would need to include a few things about what difference this makes to other groups; in short, a risk assessment. We know that men are larger than women (on average). We know that men have held most of the power through the ages, and only recently deigned to share with women (and only after women put in a lot of time, money, and pan to get that). We know that there have been abuses by TiMs in women’s spaces. We know that TiMs on women’s sports teams create a huge advantage for one side over the other. We know … Read the rest

Some interesting things 

Trump intends to take over the elections.

Trump urged Republicans to seize control of elections and place voting under national authority Monday — one of his most explicit signals yet that he plans to interfere with the workings of democracy. 

In a radio interview on The Dan Bongino Show, Trump framed voting itself as corrupt, claimed elections were stolen from him and argued that Republicans should take over how ballots are cast and counted.

…

Trump went on to reassert his long-standing false claim that he won the 2020 election, attacking states by name.

“We have states that I won that show I didn’t win,” he said. “Now, you’re going to see something in Georgia where they were

… Read the rest
Agents 

Yes but let’s be clear about this.

It’s not that “the Kennedy Center is (or isn’t) closing.” It’s that Trump is closing the Kennedy Center. It’s not a thing the Kennedy Center is doing, it’s a thing that Trump is doing to the Kennedy Center, and to all of us.

It’s really important never to lose track of the direction of causality here.… Read the rest

Guest post: Is and ought 

Originally a comment by Artymorty on How do we know.

Sometimes I like to imagine the moral-philosophical questions surrounding transgender as a debate between Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk.

We’d ask each of them to break all the variables down into that great moral philosopher David Hume’s two columns: what “is” and what “ought”. Everything in the “is” column is a morally neutral statement of fact, or what’s close enough to fact based on the evidence. Everything in the “ought” column is a prescription for behaviour that rests on value premises and moral sentiments.

The primary difference between the gender criticals and the gender zealots is the order in which the table gets filled in. Do you start by … Read the rest

Changes 

Oof. Watch this.

He’s so different it’s startling. Not better, of course, but very different. Fast, sharp, New Yawk energy type different. He doesn’t come across as stupid. Evil, yes, but stupid, no.… Read the rest

East wing all the things 

So anyway. This business of grabbing the Kennedy Center only to shut it down.

What about that, eh? What next? Is he going to grab the Metropolitan Museum of Art so that he can shut it down? The Art Institute of Chicago? The National Gallery of Art right there in DC?

It was revolting and vomit-inducing enough when he slapped his name on the Kennedy Center, but now that he’s admitted (aka bragged) that he did it in order to demolish it, we have to wonder how many items of this kind will be turned to rubble over the next three years.

Litigators also wonder.

… Read the rest
Time for distractions 

Sounds like a fun evening.

In a frenetic presidency that has been marked by jarring contrasts, he added another Saturday night: suiting up in black-tie regalia and telling jokes about invading Greenland and bombing Iran even as demonstrators assembled across the nation to rebuke his aggressive roundups of noncitizens in Minneapolis.

In one sense, Trump’s appearance put him inside one of official Washington’s longtime traditions: the annual dinner of the Alfalfa Club, an exclusive organization of CEOs, politicians, and other Washington luminaries. But it was done in characteristic Trumpian fashion, at once unapologetic and awkward, with barbs aimed at political adversaries, grievances over perceived slights and punch lines that at times fell flat before a bipartisan audience.

Ah yes, … Read the rest

Booby wrote a Nessay 

Oh gawd.

The writing. It gets worse every day.

“many Highly Respected Experts”

Just go back to kindergarten. Go. They will give you milk and cookies.… Read the rest

How do we know 

A question asked in a gender critical Facebook group:

How do we know we are on the right side?

I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve become extreme and captured…Are we on the right side? How do we know?

I think about that often. I’m sure all gender-skeptical types do.

One of the first things I think when I ask myself that question is the fact that I couldn’t believe in it if I tried. Even if I decided kindness or compassion or basic decency required me to, I couldn’t. The best I could do is fake it. Am I wrong not to fake it? Am I on the wrong side because I can’t fake it?

There are at least two … Read the rest

A foreign labor class 

Miller says the quiet part out loud.

… Read the rest

Take take take 

I haven’t so far found any more details on this but I expect they will be forthcoming. Meanwhile: siiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

It’s International Women’s Day; you have to include some men.… Read the rest

Going with the woowoo guy 

Why though?

RFK Jr. is now a wellness guru for Republicans

Why? Why him? Why not someone with actual medical training who is nevertheless a “wellness” crank? That would at least improve your odds. Bad Kennedy is just so random.

The GOP’s embrace of nutrition and wellness stands in sharp contrast to its position less than 15 years ago, when Republicans sharply criticized then-first lady Michelle Obama’s push for healthier meals and more exercise as nanny state nonsense.

That’s a sharp contrast all right. White man crank attacking vaccination versus Black woman pushing for healthy food and exercise.… Read the rest

A proposed new definition 

Oh gawd they’re talking about “Islamophobia” again.

For the billionth time: Islam is a religion, and we are allowed to dispute religions. Theocracy is bad, and making one particular religion immune from dissent is a bad form of theocracy.

Islam treats women like shit, and we do get to say that.

A proposed new definition of Islamophobia is being considered by the Government, with the intention of helping combat hostility and discrimination to Muslims.

However, representatives of Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs have written to Steve Reed, the Communities Secretary, urging him not to place one group above others.

They have also warned that the proposed definition was so vague that it could have a “chilling” effect on

… Read the rest
Reviews are brutal 

Maureen Dowd reviews that Melanie movie:

Some theaters showing “Melania” were so empty that wags suggested that undocumented immigrants should hide out there. Reviews are brutal: The Independent said the first lady came across as “a preening, scowling void of pure nothingness in this ghastly bit of propaganda.” The Guardian dismissed the movie as “gilded trash,” and Variety asked, “Why would Amazon spend $75 million on a movie this boring?” (I think we all know the answer to that.)

Can you say “baksheesh”?

We knew everything we needed to know about her in the wake of Jan. 6. In the memoir of Stephanie Grisham, Melania’s former aide and confidante, Grisham told a chilling story about the chilly first

… Read the rest
Guns out 

Well, they’re still doing it.

They walk in front of her car WITH GUNS DRAWN.

The local police chief, in Saint Peter, zoomed up to intervene and prevent her arrest.… Read the rest