Salty Octopus

In Defense of Effeminate Boys If anyone had suggested that I might really be a girl, I don’t know how I would have responded. By Ben Appel

If medical authorities have a rigorous way of distinguishing effeminate boys from transgender kids—or of distinguishing transgender kids from proto-gay kids—they aren’t saying. I have met a number of detransitioned gay men who tried to live as women for a time because they and their families were so averse to homosexuality. According to a 2019 report in The Times of London, staffers at Britain’s foremost gender-identity clinic joked darkly that, as a result of the facility’s work, “there would be no gay people left.” A statement last month by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons noted that there is no validated way to assess whether a child’s gender distress will persist over time or disappear without medical intervention. A lack of good research and recordkeeping means that we may never know how many patients who would have been considered effeminate gay boys not so long ago have undergone medical treatments for gender dysphoria.

Absolute trash. The author did not speak to a single medical professional and the article does not contain a shred of evidence that effeminate gay boys are being bamboozled into thinking they're trans.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Well

The Epstein files have dropped from the news

So if you were wondering how far they would go, now you know

Shark Biology and Ecology Online Course — Center for Wildlife Studies

www.centerforwildlifestudies.org/courses/p/bi...

She’d Never Changed Her Gender Marker. Kansas Invalidated Her License Anyway. — Assigned A trans Kansas resident recently changed her name but not her gender marker on her license, fearing what Kansas may do if she did. The Kansas DMV still flagged her ID.

This story, from @natezuke.bsky.social, is absolutely wild. A trans woman who never changed her gender marker was issued a letter invalidating her license. At the DMV they cut up her license, which had an "M" marker.

www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

A shortage of large passenger charter planes due to DHS paying 10x the usual rates to ferry kidnapped migrants is threatening NCAA Tournament travel plans

CNN will soon be controlled by David Ellison. If democracy is to survive, a vibrant independent media ecosystem is critical.

My ask: cancel your Paramount/Warner subscriptions and sign up for as many pro-democracy outlets as you are able.

You can start with Democracy Docket: bit.ly/4qmEiFz

Columbia student detained by ICE is abruptly released after Mamdani meets with Trump Federal immigration agents have detained a Columbia University student in her campus apartment. But hours after she was taken into custody on Thursday, the student was released, after New York City Ma...

Kudos to Mamdani, but maybe whether someone gets disappeared shouldn't depend on the charm of each city's mayor

Columbia student detained by ICE is abruptly released after Mamdani meets with Trump
apnews.com/article/colu...

Dispatches from MN: it's getting really hard, guys. The media has left, the donations are drying up, and ICE is still here kidnapping people. It's hard not to be resentful that other people have the option of setting this aside for.other things.

Anti-cat people have never experienced the joy of a cat curling up next to you and purring contentedly. They miss out on so much

They won't start with banning birth control. First they'll lie about it. Then dictate who can prescribe it, use it, fund it, in what forms, and for how long. Suddenly, your doctor won't call you back. I know this is what they'll do because it's what they're doing to transgender healthcare right now.

A photo of Alice Milliat. She is wearing a white shirt, with a striped button down shirt over it. She has dark hair, pulled back in a bun.

That's a wrap on another Olympics! Women athletes owned these Games: Alysa Liu, Breezy Johnson, Hilary Knight to name a few!

And there's one woman, from 100 years ago, who is the real reason women are here. She was written out of history and buried in an unmarked grave. This is a 🧵 about her!

If that Trump-US Hockey phone call didn't sicken you, you are the problem.

All those men raucously laughing with a rapist. They like the rapist. They want to hang out with the rapist.

What should we assume except that each and every one of them is a rapist? At the least, they don't care.

Sarah, you are so wonderfully creative and insane in all the best ways!

This is true

a man with a beard is smiling with the words well done written on his face Alt: a man with a beard (Mr miyagi) is smiling with the words 'well done' written below his face

You have mastered the true spirit of #2026MMM

IT'S TIME FOR #2026MMM

GET YOUR BRACKET READY!

THERE WILL BE #CARNAGE! ALSO PROBABLY NAPS!

DOG AT THE OLYMPICS
FULL COMPETITION HIGHLIGHTS

A photo of an ice cream machine with a sign reading, "Anything is possible with ice cream." Beneath that is a hand lettered sign reading, "No ice cream".

2026 basically

How is it possible that Kristi Noem still has this job. Imagine if you’re a family member or a shipmate of this guardsman.

www.nbcnews.com/politics/imm...

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

—FDR, 1937

Someone has sure already made this observation but the fact they can convert all those empty warehouses into prison camps means they could have converted them into housing, community centers, job training centers or, hell, libraries or schools all along. It’s always a matter of will not resources.

The NFL Owners and Olympic Organizers in Epstein’s Inbox The sports media is ignoring the story, but wealthy sports figures are all over the Epstein files.

NFL franchise owners in the EPSTEIN e-mails & assorted docs

Partial list:
*Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots
*Steve Tisch, co-owner of the New York Giants
*Stephen Ross, owner of the Miami Dolphins
*Zygi Wilf, owner of the Minnesota Vikings
*Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons

Roses are Red Violets are Blue Defund ICE

Well done, bipeds

Gorgeous!

Sometimes very hard not to feel like the rest of the country has abandoned Minnesota. We STILL have ICE everywhere. Our schools, businesses, and economy are in profound crisis. But without Bovino here throwing tear gas, much of the country seems to not care at all what’s being done to us.

F.D.A. Refuses to Review Moderna Flu Vaccine

Being in New Zealand has been glorious, and I’ve been trying to bring joy to our world that needs more joy and less rage posting.

But this is a rage post. You need to read this gift article because you need to be enraged.

Ducking brilliant!

Perfect for #2026MMM

OK "god bless america" and then naming every country in the americas from south to north is absolute king shit

What?? It's the same federal agents. The entire operation is still a terror campaign against my city and state. They're still brutalizing observers for offenses they can't even charge. It all wasn't some big misunderstanding rooted in a lack of professionalism. www.kare11.com/article/news...