Welcome to a Hump Day (“День горба” in Russian ): Wednesday, April 23, 2025. It’s National Cherry Cheesecake Day, the only viable alternative to plain cheesecake.
Camel sez (from Jesus of the Day):
It’s also National Picnic Day, Talk like Shakespeare Day, English Language Day, German Beer Day, National English Muffin Day, World Laboratory Day, and Spanish Language Day. Here’s a glass of Weizen, or German wheat beer, which I hope to be enjoying in Germany this fall. Its caption is “Augustiner Weißbier, a naturally cloudy Bavarian wheat beer“. I’ll have it mit Schuss.
Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the April 23 Wikipedia page.
If the Nooz is shorter today, it’s because I spent much of the day yesterday dealing with my “writing piece”, which should appear soon in a venue near you. Stay tuned. It was hard and complicated.
Da Nooz:
*Colleges are striking back at the Trump administration’s attempt to blackmail them into behaving the way Trump wants by threatening to withhold government funding. I think Harvard’s refusal to kowtow to the government has heartened other schools. (Harvard has sued the administration; more tomorrow).
A day after Harvard sued the Trump administration over its decision to freeze billions in federal funds to the school, more than 180 higher education leaders from around the country released a joint statement on Tuesday condemning the administration’s efforts to control universities.
The government’s “political interference” and “overreach” is “now endangering higher education in America,” they wrote.
The signers come from a variety of colleges and universities from across the country, as well as higher education associations, illustrating the breadth of the threat they say President Trump poses to academia. Joining in the statement were officials from large public research universities like the University of Virginia and the University of Wisconsin-Madison and smaller private colleges such as Amherst and Kenyon.
The statement, circulated by the American Association of Colleges and Universities and signed by a total of 187 people as of Tuesday morning, focuses on concerns that the Trump administration is attacking academic freedom.
“We must oppose undue government intrusion into the lives of those who learn, live and work on our campuses,” the statement said.
Many of the presidents who signed, including Alan M. Garber of Harvard, also face financial risks as a result of the administration’s deep cuts to research contracts and grants. Dr. Garber on Monday said his school had chosen to sue the administration after it issued a list of demands that included auditing its professors for plagiarism and appointing an outside overseer to ensure its departments were “viewpoint diverse.”
Harvard refused to comply with the demands, and the administration said it would freeze $2.2 billion in federal money.
The link above to the joint statement may not work, but this one should. The University of Chicago, for reasons I’m unclear about, did not sign the statement. It may be because the statement, while rejecting the Big Stick approach, still is timorous in agreeing to “constructive reform” and “constructive engagement,” which to me means “bargaining with the Administration”. Two paras from the statement (my bolding):
As leaders of America’s colleges, universities, and scholarly societies, we speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education. We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight. However, we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses. We will always seek effective and fair financial practices, but we must reject the coercive use of public research funding.
. . . The price of abridging the defining freedoms of American higher education will be paid by our students and our society. On behalf of our current and future students, and all who work at and benefit from our institutions, we call for constructive engagement that improves our institutions and serves our republic.
*I knew it and the Wall Street Journal agrees: Trump is fixing to blame any recession or economic downturn on the Federal Reserve Bank and its Chairman Jerome Powell. As usual, he’s claiming that Powell is on a witch hunt against him, even though Trump APPOINTED Powell, who’s a Republican.
President Trump is signaling that he will blame the Federal Reserve for any economic weakness that results from his trade war if the central bank doesn’t cut interest rates soon.
In the process, he might also be seeking to delegitimize the historically independent institution in a way that could undermine its effectiveness.
In a social-media post on Monday, Trump repeated last week’s demand that the Fed reduce interest rates now. “There is virtually no inflation,” he said, blasting Fed Chair Jerome Powell as “Mr. Too Late” and “a major loser.”
He also accused the central bank of lowering interest rates last fall to influence the 2024 election. “Powell has always been ‘To [sic] Late,’ except when it came to the Election period when he lowered in order to help Sleepy Joe Biden, later Kamala, get elected,” he wrote.
His Truth Social post developed one of Trump’s longstanding beliefs about the Fed: that it should be more responsive to what the president wants. His statement and those of other advisers allege that the institution, far from being above Beltway politics, has already become politicized.
By Trump’s account, Powell worked to help Biden during his term and is now unwilling to provide the same support to his own second-term agenda. He put no weight on the fact Trump appointed Powell to the role in 2018, that Powell worked closely with his administration in 2020 to provide unprecedented support when the pandemic hit, or that the Fed was prepared to saddle Biden with a recession in 2023 by raising interest rates sharply to bring inflation down.
Powell and his colleagues have said that the central bank doesn’t take political considerations into account when setting policy. Powell has spent much of his seven years as chair trying to shore up the institution’s apolitical DNA after bruising political attacks following the 2008 global financial crisis.
All of this gives me hope that Trump is going down. If there’s a recession or big-time inflation, will the Democrats win “bigly” at midterm, and will the Republicans still vote for Vance (who I’m sure is going to run) in 2028? I’d like to see a poll of how those who voted for Trump feel now. UPDATE: I understand that Trump has backed off on his intention to try to fire Powell.
*I’ve always been leery about young kids being exposed to things like “Drag Queen Story Hour” or “affirmative care” information, because it seems to me like forcing an ideology on people are too young. Now the Supreme Court has signaled that they agree, at least about LGBTQ stories:
At issue for the justices is whether public schools in Montgomery County, Maryland, illegally burden the First Amendment rights of parents to freely exercise their religion when they require children to participate in discussions that touch on gender and sexuality that conflict with their faith. The case, which has implications for public school nationwide, involves the type of diversity and inclusion efforts the Trump administration has targeted on college campuses, and in government and private businesses.
In recent years, the court’s conservative majority has been highly receptive to religious rights claims and expanding the role of faith in public life.
During more than two-and-a-half hours of argument on Tuesday, several justices read aloud from the text of the disputed storybooks, some of which referred to drag queens and same-sex marriage. Conservative justices repeatedly pressed the lawyer for the Maryland school system on why it could not easily accommodate the religious parents and allow their children to opt out of objectionable curriculum.
“What’s the big deal about allowing them to opt out,” asked Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
“I’m not understanding why it’s not feasible,” added Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, who said he was “mystified” by the school board’s actions in the Maryland county where he grew up in and still lives.
Now I don’t see why there shouldn’t be a normalization of things like homosexuality or gay marriage, but it shouldn’t lapse into an ideology that is forced upon children. What I looked for in this article were some opinions of the liberal justices, but there were none given.
*The next government department to be torn apart is, of all things, the State Department, at least according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled a massive overhaul of the State Department on Tuesday, with plans to reduce staff in the U.S. by 15% while closing and consolidating more than 100 bureaus worldwide as part of the Trump administration’s “America First” mandate.
The reorganization plan, announced by Rubio on social media and detailed in documents obtained by The Associated Press, is the latest effort by the White House to reimagine U.S. foreign policy and scale back the size of the federal government.
“We cannot win the battle for the 21st century with bloated bureaucracy that stifles innovation and misallocates scarce resources,” Rubio said in a department-wide email obtained by AP. He said the reorganization aimed to “meet the immense challenges of the 21st Century and put America First.”
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce echoed that sentiment, saying the “sweeping changes will empower our talented diplomats” but adding that it would not result in the immediate dismissal of personnel.
“It’s not something where people are being fired today,” Bruce told reporters Tuesday. “They’re not going to be walking out of the building. It’s not that kind of a dynamic. It is a roadmap. It’s plan.”
There will be a “reimagined” office focused on foreign and humanitarian affairs to coordinate the aid programs overseas still left at the State Department. The reorganization was driven in part by the need to find a new home for the remaining functions of the U.S. Agency for International Development, an agency that Trump administration officials and billionaire ally Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have dismantled.
The State Department reorganization plan appears to eliminate an office charged with surging expertise to war zones and other erupting crises and scale back work on human rights and justice.
Yes, but how can he cut the staff by 15% without firing anybody, without people “walking out of the building”? One way is not to replace people who retire, but that doesn’t seem to be what is going on here. I’m a bit worried about this not only because I don’t think Rubio is so great as a Secretary of State (Blinken wasn’t so great either), but because foreign affairs is going to be a big deal in the next few years. However, I can’t name a department that the sticky tentacles of DOGE hasn’t touched.
*In its “oddities” section, the AP tells us how Marshmallow Peeps are made. Although most people find them disgusting, they are one of my favorite sweets; I like to cut the package open and leave it for a week or more so they become slightly stale and have a crunch. If you don’t want yours, send them to me! They have their own Wikipedia page, too!
How many Peeps are made each year?
On average, about 5.5 million are made each day.
That adds up to 2 billion a year — or roughly 6 Peeps for every man, woman and child across the U.S.
How many different varieties and colors are there?
First hatched in yellow, the sugary chicks and bunnies come in nine colors for this Easter season, including pink, blue and lavender. And there are even more flavors — 14 for Easter — from cookies and cream, to fruit punch and sour watermelon. The varieties and colors vary throughout the year with different holiday seasons.
How long does it take to make a Peep?
Before the early 1950s, making the candies by hand took 27 hours.
Bob Born, who became known as the “Father of Peeps,” came up with a way to speed up the process. He and a company engineer designed a machine to make them in less than six minutes. The same process is used today.
How are they made?
The main ingredients — sugar, corn syrup and gelatin — are cooked and combined to create marshmallows, which are then shaped and sent through a “sugar shower.”
A whopping 400 pounds (181 kilograms) of sugar is used per batch for Peeps’ colored sugars.
Freshly made Peeps — each chick weighs one-third of an ounce — then move along a conveyor so that they can cool before being packaged.
Do not denigrate them at the risk of being banned! Here is how they’re made; 5.5 million Peeps are made every day:
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is uber-pessimistic again:
Hili: Everything is falling apart.A: Yes, we are living in times of decadence.
Hili: Rozpada się to wszystko.Ja: Tak żyjemy w czasach dekadencji.
And a bonus photo of baby Kulka:
*******************
From The Dodo:
From Things With Faces: a sad 3-liter milk carton:
From Strange, Stupid, or Silly Signs:
Masih is still silent, and so we have JKR, also fighting for women’s spaces. Here she excoriates Prime Minister Keir Starmer for his cowardice (he said nothing for a long time after the UK Supreme Court decision on sex):
Imagine being such a coward you can only muster the courage to tell the truth once the Supreme Court has ruled on what the truth is. https://t.co/FyixwulF7c
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 22, 2025
From Malcolm: tweets about the most beautiful places on Earth:
6. Namibia, where the desert meets the ocean 🌊 pic.twitter.com/eYMIIxESIW
— Raghu (@IndiaTales7) April 19, 2025
From Simon. Simon says, “OMG it’s already a meme.” (Remember, the Pope died after the day that J. D. Vance met him.) Has J. D. Vance become Oscar the Death Cat?
JD Vance last person seen with the Beatles.
— weisselberger (@weisselberger.bsky.social) 2025-04-21T16:52:34.423Z
From my feed: can you guess what this is? Put your answer in the comments.
What the heck is this thing? pic.twitter.com/Yfv4QhUrup
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) April 22, 2025
From the Auschwitz Memorial, one that I reposted.
If this Hungarian girl had not been gassed upon arrival at Auschwitz, she would be 92 today. But she was gassed at 10 or 11.
— Jerry Coyne (@evolutionistrue.bsky.social) 2025-04-23T10:28:00.336Z
Two from Matthew: the Powers twins, who are like conjoined twins but not conjoined. They speak the same thing, and almost simultaneously. Amazing! Do watch the whole video.
More from the twins youtu.be/MtEdP267TZ0
Matthew says of this one, “Probably right.”
Love the EarthIt’s the only planet that has cats.Happy Earth Day 😻
— MissyBBBobtail (@missybbbobtail.bsky.social) 2025-04-22T11:26:13.822Z
I think “this thing” is some type of turtle…
Namibia is quite beautiful. If you haven’t seen it: https://www.youtube.com/@NamibiaCam shows several wildlife cams at watering holes in the Kalahari and Namib deserts.
I agree! I think is a kind of long-necked turtle
Headline from The Guardian (ever so slightly satirical) sums up the Zeitgeist in Europe: “The next Pope must be Muslim else there will be violence on the streets of Europe”.
Demography is destiny.
Indeed it is.
Westerners have been running full steam ahead to achieve their goal of cultural suicide.
Diversity is rarely a strength – it is generally an impediment.
Perhaps the altruism exhibited by Europeans is some sort of genetic aberration that will ultimately lead to our extinction, to be brought on by those who are genetically inclined to promote their own self-interest.
You really think Europeans are altruistic, which I presume to mean more so than other peoples? And you seriously think this “fact” might be genetic?
Current European policy is certainly hugely, hugely altruistic towards third-world migrants. All the evidence is that migrants from poorer countries benefit hugely from migrating to Europe whereas the host population does not benefit, and that, overall, it is much to their detriment.
For example, data from Denmark, Holland, Sweden and the UK show that third-world migrants are a net fiscal cost of about $10,000 per person per year (cost in benefits and to welfare state outweighing taxes paid), and that figure is for during their working-age lifetime, never mind after they’ve retired. Also, this pattern of net fiscal cost persists to their children (and perhaps even to the third generation, though data on that are as-yet sparse).
And yet politicians allow or even welcome mass migration at many millions per year. How is that not hugely altruistic?
Easy. Data picking?
Surely diversity can be a strength when otherwise diverse individuals share some core values and a sense of unity.
The “melting pot” U.S.A., despite its problems, hung together and did pretty well until it became fashionable to denigrate the West and Enlightenment values.
I live in a polyglot, multicultural neighborhood in Los Angeles, full of (mostly legal) immigrants — hard-working family people who are happy to be here. As I write this, I’m sitting in a McDonald’s and overhearing conversations in three different languages. I really love my neighborhood.
(I’m not arguing for unfettered, mass immigration.)
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
This above all: to thine own self be true, / And it must follow, as the night the day, / Thou canst not then be false to any man. -William Shakespeare, poet and dramatist (23 Apr 1564-1616)
And because I was unable to contribute a post for the 22nd here is
A THOUGHT FOR YESTERDAY:
On this 4th [of July], look beyond fireworks, parades, and pretentious patriots. Instead, celebrate whistleblowers and lamplighters who warn the people, speak truth to power — risking their lives and fortunes defending our inalienable rights and independence against those who take our liberties away. -Thomas Drake, veteran and whistleblower (b. 22 Apr 1957)
That thing is a turtle of some sort, probably one from outer space.
Maybe an albino, but probably a leucistic soft-shell turtle.
Agreed. Probably one of the big south Asian species, although it is a bit pug-nosed.
FWIW from a geezer who graduated from a small liberal arts university-style college (U.S.) in 1970, I see some value in the administration forcing the issue of higher ed institutions re-evaluating their policies and clarifying their mission. The situations on the ground as they have surfaced, particularly since Oct 7, are dire with university presidents negotiating with ad hoc student groups, the weight by numbers of studies-area faculty – how many years does it take for a studies area to define itself into a department with a clear fundamental and defining curriculum? – and physical interruptions of the classroom learning process. The incarnation of many of the DEI structures and programming, focussed as they were on equal outcome based on identity criteria versus equal opportunity based on criteria of merit was and is wrong. But there seemed to be often well-meaning policy boards in support and plenty of organized and funded organizations with access to social media to cast opprobrium on anyone who dare say otherwise. It has only been in the last year or so that some faculty has organized to oppose these overshoots of original aims for racial fairness, justice, and equality.
The government has every right to try to influence university policy…it has done so for many years, at least since WW2 and Vannevar Bush’s Endless Frontier writings, through its generous support of universities through the grants programs of numerous agencies such as nih, nsf, nasa, noaa, and the like, the vast majority of which are in the STEM arena, but lend broader support by way of indirect costs attached to each and every grant. The focus of these grants is determined by the agencies that fund them. I happen to think that support for infectious disease surveillance at the border between civilization and jungle in Africa and Asia is both an early warning system in defense of the U.S. population and an altruistic endeavor to limit sickness and death in those countries themselves. This administration seems to see it as only the latter and has cancelled it. I see science as our savior from needless death from disease, while lunatics and anti-science luddites (it ain’t opprobrium if its true) make insane policy in this administration and a compliant congress raises no objections. So this is what the people have elected in two major branches of our government and the only thing we can do for now is work within the university, if we can, to get the university policies and behaviors back on track. Of course, as my late Physics Dept chair would likely respond: “Yes, but whose track?”. I certainly have my preference.
The New Reich is not stopping with its own agencies, universities and secondary school curricula. This from Forbes;
In the Trump administration, even academic journals of medical research are being scrutinized for being too woke.
On April 14, the peer-reviewed medical journal CHEST, which focuses on respiratory diseases and sleep medicine, received a letter from Edward Martin, Jr., the U.S. Attorney General for the District of Columbia, probing whether the publication is “partisan,” and asking a series of questions about its acceptance of “competing viewpoints.”
The letter was posted on BlueSky and on X by Dr. Eric Reinhart, a social psychiatrist based in Chicago, on Thursday. The American College of Chest Physicians, which publishes CHEST, confirmed to Forbes by email on Friday afternoon that it had received the letter, which it said was posted online without its knowledge.
“Legal counsel is currently reviewing the DOJ request,” spokesperson Laura DiMasi told Forbes by email. “We have no further comment on this issue at this time.”
(Otherwise, I want my green avitar back.)
Thanks. Would not expect anything else…disappointed but not surprised. The little shits at Project 2025 (again, not opprobrium in my book if true) ran open-loop for a full and isolated year or more creating their plans and now have force multipliers throughout government for implementation. I would compare this situation with the DEI identity filters in some RFP grant criteria and faculty openings announcements of the recent past…somewhat of a tit for tat from polar opposite extremes.
Apparently you can change your WordPress avatar at Gravatar.com.
Thanks Frau. Looking at it though I might not.
I have an (inactive) wordpress account/page where I used to keep various articles I’ve written for my column. https://davidandersonweb.wordpress.com/about/
I don’t’ use it now though.
D.A.
NYC
“… support for infectious disease surveillance at the border between civilization and jungle in Africa and Asia is both an early warning system in defense of the U.S. population and an altruistic endeavor to limit sickness and death in those countries themselves.”
This is such a great point, Jim. I love how you state it and how it ties the funding of science to “bigger things” outside of the laboratories that everyday people might not consider.
Latest Trump nuttiness:
The government Covid website has been changed from an information site to dramatic new Trump promotion: features a huge “lab leak” display and another one attacking Anthony Fauci.
It used to be Covid.gov. Now redirects to:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/lab-leak-true-origins-of-covid-19/
from The Administration of Blame!
Thanks. Such utter bullshit, but given a choice, this is what the people elected.
Clearly upgraded the graphic/marketing department.
DJT, not a dictatar, he’s a Social Media Influencer!
Has to be the center of attention all the time!
What will he endorse (take credit for) next?
Das amerikanische Wirtschaftswunder ?
The American economic miracle? Not just- everything the President does is miraculous! Just ask him! Ask his advisors! Ask Fox News! All agree! /s
And they’re not entirely wrong; turning wine into water would be just as miraculous as the inverse. (Also: turning an abundance for a multitude into a pittance, performing “Lazarus, drop dead”, the virgin abortion, etc.)
I advise against ordering a Bavarian wheat beer “mit Schuss”. On the contrary, the Bavarians would look at you very strangely (or with horror) if you ordered your wheat beer that way. 🙂
The only beer that is drunk “mit Schuss” (raspberry or woodruff syrup) is “Berliner Weisse”. The alcohol content is so low that it is also served to children.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Weisse
If J.D. Vance wants to take a visit to Morris, Minnesota, I’m happy to chip in 50 cents.
He might. The demographics would be acceptable to him. But he would surely avoid UMM, or a town-hall with Minnesota’s largest dairy milking operation.
Count me in for whole dollar (soon to be worth 50¢ of PPP).
I was also a little freaked out at the ongoing kerfuffle at the Dpt of State: Republicans seem to not understand soft power or its value traditionally.
Yesterday Marco Rubio gave a defense and explanation of the moves afoot there in an interview (youtube) with Bari W. at the Free Press. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEaWHzzdRE0&ab_channel=TheFreePress
It is worth listening to.
I’m not terribly convinced but a bit of what he said made some sense and it is good to hear their ideas directly.
D.A.
NYC
The case the Supreme Court heard arguments on yesterday seems like it could be a very big deal to me. At issue, as you say is whether parents can pull their children from public school lessons with LGBTQ+-themed books. This would be based on supposedly illegally burdening the First Amendment rights of parents to freely exercise their religion. One can easily see the slippery slope here, no? What is next? Why not Evolution? I find this extremely upsetting. And no, students are not being indoctrinated, the only thing that is happening here is that included on the list of books for story time are a couple of books that that have in one case a little girl attending the wedding of her uncle to another man and in the other a little girl who has a crush on another little girl at school. That does not seem like indoctrination to me. But what do I know.
“I don’t see why there shouldn’t be a normalization of things like homosexuality or gay marriage, but it shouldn’t lapse into an ideology that is forced upon children.” Um… How on earth will homosexuality and same-sex marriage be normalized if acknowledging it’s existence is stigmatized? That’s exactly what “opt-out” processes do. Sorry, but as someone who needed therapy to overcome my hatred of myself for being gay, I find statements such as that appalling. It’s basically the same as Christians’ guilt-inducing “love the sinner, hate the sin” and one reason why so many gay/lesbian adolescents kill themselves.
I honestly think this wouldn’t have been such a problem ten years ago, Don.
The kind of books which probably helped you years ago are… very old.
Currently there’s a lot of trans “encouragement” which has irked people WAY more than just “So you’re gay, not a big deal” literature of old.
I live in Chelsea, NYC, probably the “gayest” place on earth (though personally I’m not).
Many of my LGBT neighbors and friends here are pretty mad about how trans rights activists have ruined so much. (See the work of Andrew Doyle, Katherine Stock, et al) The movement WAS, in the past, “This is about consenting adults only” and now is “Your kid is born in the wrong body, let’s hormone/blockers him/her.”
In the past half decade acceptance of gay marriage has gone from 75% to around 60%.
Trans is the reason for this. And I believe why this case is at the Supreme Court.
best regards,
D.A.
NYC
Homosexual activists made a choice to advocate for the “rights” of people who call themselves the opposite sex to enforce compliance by people of good will who would be happy to otherwise ignore homosexuals. Why did they do this? After all, if a “transwoman” who must be regarded with the force of law as a woman in every respect, is attracted to men, “she” is a heterosexual woman and of no interest to the Pride crowd, no? Yet gay rights activists — almost all homosexual men, with a smattering of addle-pated leftist straight women — are now trans rights activists, pushing the demand, on its face entirely unrelated to tolerance of gay adolescents, that parents submit to indoctrination of their children that their sons might really be girls. Of course no one is fooled, not you or the general public. We all know perfectly well that male-attracted transwomen are homosexual men with just the most outrageous way of expressing their homosexuality. Interesting that lesbians don’t play along. They don’t give uptake to the demands of “transwomen” who are attracted to women to be regarded as lesbians. It’s only homosexual men who do. Why is that? Why this casual misogyny against women?
This controversy is all about noticing and nurturing social transition in young children and hiding it from parents, Don, regardless of what books you might point out that have only straightforward adult homosexual themes. Why did homosexual activists get behind the drive to confuse children about what sex their parents told them they are? How is that good for homosexuals?
As David writes, support for same-sex marriage is slipping as enforced trans ideology takes over more and more of our lives, adding to the number of things an ordinary Joe or Amy can get in trouble for with her job and with the law. Gay people could have chosen to regard trans ideologues as pseudoscientific kooks, like antivaxxers, and shunned them. Yet you embraced them as of your own. Now pay the political price.
Do not see where the discussion of trans people comes into play here. At issue is the ability of opting out of classes because at reading time there are two books that have plots that involve, a little girl attending the wedding of her uncle to another man and in the other a little girl who has a crush on another little girl at school.
The concerning thing here for people who believe in science and education should be that a slippery slope is obvious and if freely exercising a religious right allows for opting out of these classes, why would it not allow for opting out of science/biology class when evolution is the subject?
Agreed, Armando. The Supreme Court already has given too much deference to “sincerely held” religious beliefs. Anti-discrimination laws are on the chopping block next, then it’s quite possible they will “re-visit” the ruling on same-sex marriage. Allowing religious people to “opt out” of everything they disagree with is nonsense in a secular society.
Leslie, you have NO idea about whether I support the current trans hysteria (I don’t). Your blaming me and lumping all gay men into that group is completely uncalled for. If you can’t reply to me without being rude and making contemptible sweeping assumptions, please find something else to do.
Pretty sure that is the same twins as yesterday, just 11 years ago. I still suspect they are mirror twins too.
The part of the video about their identical wardrobes convincingly shows this.