The Question of Transgender

You probably need a doctorate in psychiatry or psychology to understand what Gender Dysphoria is but I'm not going to let that stop me. I am simply amazed by the misinformation going around on both sides of this argument. 

 You cannot change your sex. Sex is a physical attribute that is unchangeable. You can't go into every cell and flip an X chromosome into a Y chromosome nor is there any surgery that I'm aware of that can give someone with XX chromosomes the ability to produce sperm or someone with XY chromosomes the ability to produce ovum. Then again there are some males that can't produce sperm and some females that can't produce ovum so it's not that simple. 

 But gender is not the same thing as sex. Gender defines societies expectations about the attitudes and actions associated with a given sex. When you have the physical characteristics of a male but the psychology of a female (sorry feminists but men and women do have different psychologies) or vice versa that causes all sorts of stress and psychological issues. 

 Some people decide to go with their psychology and have reconstructive surgery to change their physical attributes to line up more with their psychology. Others simply accept gender non-conformity as their normal. Honestly, as long as someone isn't negatively impacting someone else, I don't care what they decide to do.

Note that "as long as someone isn't negatively impacting someone else." I think allowing athletes that have gone through puberty as males to compete against athletes that went through puberty as females is negatively impacting female athletes. 

The same goes for people who still have male plumbing invading female privacy areas such as locker rooms and rest rooms.

Mike Johnson Becomes 56th Speaker

Well the Republicans finally managed to agree on a Speaker and have elected Mike Johnson. 

I don't think this is a good pick but I suppose we'll have to see how things work out. Honestly, I wouldn't be thrilled with Hakeem Jeffries either.

Let's face it; I'm old and grouchy and nothing makes me happy anymore.

The Republicans Pick Mike Johnson

The latest pick by the Republican Party for Speaker is Mike Johnson of Louisiana. Johnson is an asshole Republican which may be redundant these days.

He claims expertise in Constitutional Law yet signed an amicus brief in 2020 signed by 100 Republican congressmen supporting the Texas Lawsuit attempting to overthrow the 2020 election. 

You remember that lawsuit right? The one the Supreme Court drop kicked out the door? The one not even the SCOTUS conservatives could stomach?

Signing that brief alone should be enough to disqualify him.

The Republicans Select Tom Emmer

From the nine candidates the Republicans selected the majority whip Tom Emmer from Minnesota as their choice for Speaker of the House.

This makes sense. After all many people consider the majority whip the number two guy.

He didn't come close to getting the required votes.

Reportedly six new challengers have entered the lists.

• Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida
• Rep. Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee
• Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee
• Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma
• Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana
• Rep. Roger Williams of Texas

We shall see what we shall see.

Speaker of the House

 The House of Representatives has been without a Speaker for about three weeks now. How did this happen you ask? Well, I'll tell you.

Kevin McCarthy was Speaker and, in order to prevent a government shutdown, came to a temporary solution with Democrats to keep the government operating for 45 days.

A number of the right wing caucus types didn't like this and essentially put a motion to kick McCarthy out. It was essentially a no confidence vote. The Democrats gleefully jumped on this and went along with. I think this was a big mistake but there's not much we can do about that now.

First the Republicans put up Steve Scalise but he couldn't get enough votes because the Republicans are hopelessly fractured and the Democrats all voted got Hakeem Jeffries so no one could get an absolute majority. Scalise then withdrew.

Next Jim "The Traitor" Jordon threw his hat in the ring but even the Republicans aren't that far gone so he couldn't get enough votes either. Finally, in a secret ballot the Republicans voted to remove his name from consideration. Again the Democrats all voted for Hakeem Jeffries.

Now nine Republicans have stepped up for the job. eight white guys and one black dude. Apparently there are no women in the Republican Party.

This is happening because the Republicans have a very small majority and a right wing caucus that played hooky when the brains were given out. The rules are also stupid. If simply the person with the most votes, rather than an absolute majority, won then the Republicans would be forced to vote for the guy their party put up or accept a Democrat Speaker.

I have a solution. We rent out MetLife Stadium. We put these nine guys on the field with socks packed with horse manure and let them fight it out. The last man standing becomes Speaker. We could sell tickets plus put it on pay per view and take a big chunk out of the budget deficit.

A Tale of Two Wars

The war in the Ukraine continues to drag on. As far as I can tell it's bogged down into a stalemate. Casualties are serious with estimates nearing 500,000. 

I can see no end in sight especially now that the Israelis are looking for weapons from the same US stockpiles as the Ukrainians.

Now that McCarthy has been kicked out as Speaker and the post remains vacant I don't see any new appropriations any time soon either. To make matters worse the Republicans would probably strongly support aid for Israel but for Ukraine not so much. 

I don't think the Democrats are stupid enough to hold up aid for Israel if aid to Ukraine isn't included but the Democrats have surprised me before with their ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

In Gaza civilians and foreigners are trying to get out of the way of a possible Israeli ground invasion by fleeing south. Unfortunately the Egyptians have closed the Rafah crossing from Gaza into the Sinai.

This is causing multiple problems. First people with foreign passports, including a number of Muslim Americans, are unable to leave Gaza; second, Palestinians refugees fleeing the fighting have no place to go and third, aid supplies can't get into Gaza. There is a long line of trucks waiting to bring relief supplies into Gaza but the crossing is closed.

Whether the Israelis will actually launch a ground invasion remains to be seen. It could be a big bluff intended to get civilians out of the area so more airstrikes can be launched without worrying about extensive collateral damage.

There continue to be reports about fighting in the north between Hezbollah and Israel and the Israelis have reportedly bombed airports in Damascus and Aleppo to prevent their use for ferrying in supplies from Iran.

The US has dispatched Strike Group 12 with the USS Gerald R. Ford to the eastern Mediterranean. Strike Group 2 with the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is also enroute to the Mediterranean but its ultimate destination hasn't been announced. Britain has dispatched a Royal Navy task force to the area to help in "humanitarian efforts" or at least that's the official word.

That's a whole lot of firepower moving into the area.

You Have to Know When to Fold Them

Democrats in general, and so-called Progressives in particular, do not seem to understand when they have a loosing hand and should just fold.

Supporting the Palestinian cause after the horrific terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians is a loosing hand.

That doesn't mean people can't express humanitarian concerns about the impact of the war on Gaza civilians. Israel is apparently preparing a ground invasion and has warned about 1.1 million civilians to vacate southern Gaza within 24 hours. That may not be logistically feasible.

The UN feels it is not feasible and a number of Democratic Representatives have chimed in as well. Leading the charge are Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The former has already demonstrated that she's a traitor and really should STFU. The latter has no iron in this fire and should just sit quietly in the corner and allow the adults to handle things.

I understand that people are concerned that this could become a humanitarian crisis but war sucks and Hamas started the killing. Maybe they should have thought of the consequences before they went around murdering children?

Actions have consequences and Gaza has happily allowed Hamas to rule the area for over a decade. Now they're about to pay the price for that.

However, Israel needs to be a little careful. An all out assault with little or no concern for the welfare of civilians, including large numbers of woman and children, would not only be morally wrong but could backfire on them in the International Court of Opinion big time.

I don't think Netanyahu has the intelligence to realize this but hopefully smarter, and calmer, heads in the Israeli government understand the danger. I doubt delaying any planned assault for 48 hours to give civilians a chance to get out of the way is going to matter all that much.

If you are sensing a bit of uncertainty on my part that's a good call. I'd like to see Hamas eradicated but not at any cost.

Hamas Attacks Israel

 Hamas has launched a massive terrorist attack from Gaza against the people of Israel. I say the people of Israel because they appear to be more interested in targeting helpless women and children than in taking on the Israeli military.

This isn't a military operation. It's an exercise in terrorism.

Israel has responded with extensive military operations against the Gaza strip. Unfortunately the extent of the reprisal insures that many Palestinian women and children will die as well.

Here's a fucking idea. Let a battalion of the Hamas cowards meet a battalion of the IDF in the Negev and see how things work out.

There have been reports of exchanges of gunfire in the North between Hezbollah and Israel as well so there is the danger of a widening of the conflict.

There are several questions that need to be asked.

First, who's actually behind the attack? Is it all Hamas or are the Iranians involved? Early US intelligence reports seem to indicate that Iran as surprised as anyone else.

That's brings us to our second question. How did Israeli and other western intelligence services miss this?

Finally, what impact will this have on the Israeli-Saudi Arabia negotiations?

So-called Progressives haven't covered themselves with glory over this with Representatives Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib actually calling for the US to END Israeli assistance.

Now I have another reason for hating those two and they can go to Hell.