Gender Follies
February 10, 2025 — John Hinderaker

President Trump has issued an executive order that, in various ways, seeks to prevent men from competing on women’s sports teams. The state of California has announced that it will not abide by Trump’s executive order, and will continue to allow men in women’s sports. That has gotten quite a bit of publicity; what is less well known is that the Minnesota State High School League has said the same
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February 7, 2025 — Steven Hayward

I noted here a couple days ago that the Babylon Bee—America’s most trusted news source, partly because it receives no USAID funding—has an astonishing track record of prophecy. You’d almost think they had some Old Testament mojo going or something. Little did I know that the Telegraph would report on yet another Bee prophecy coming true: And the Bee, back in 2021: As someone—maybe Malcom Muggeridge was the first—once said,
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February 6, 2025 — John Hinderaker

President Trump’s executive order banning men from women’s sports has gotten a lot of attention, most of it positive. But, as with many of his orders, I had questions about what exactly it said. Does the president actually have legal authority to “ban men from women’s sports?” No. So what, exactly, did he do? And will it stand up in court? In my view, the order is impressively specific and
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February 2, 2025 — John Hinderaker

I remember this case, because it was so horrible: in July 2007, Steven Hayes and a younger accomplice invaded the Connecticut home of Dr. William Petit in Connecticut. They held the family prisoners for hours, after tying up Dr. Petit and beating him with a baseball bat. Hayes forced Petit’s wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, to withdraw $15,000 in cash from an ATM. He brought her back to the house, where he
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January 26, 2025 — Steven Hayward

A few propositions on the present moment: • Someday we’ll look back on this period as we do 1950, with some demagogue saying, “I have in my hand a list of 57 genders and pronouns. . .” (With the due caveat that the first guy was more right than wrong. . .) • What prompted this was an amazing self-own by Bruce Bartlett, a once-sound supply-side economist who succumbed somehow
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January 23, 2025 — Scott Johnson

In his inaugural speech on Monday, President Trump let the word go forth to friend and foe alike: “As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female.” In the video clip below Canadian Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre responds to questions about this controversial statement of policy in an interview with the CP24 news channel.
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December 26, 2024 — John Hinderaker

The Associated Press announced its awards for the top women athletes of 2024. Caitlin Clark won the title, as you would expect. But then you have this: Olympic gymnast Simone Biles was second with 25 and boxer Imane Khelif was third, getting four votes. What is odd about this is that Imane Khelif isn’t a woman. He is a man who boxed in the women’s division in the Paris Olympics.
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December 14, 2024 — Scott Johnson

The entire country met Minnesota’s own Tampon Tim Walz this past August when Kamala Harris selected him as her running mate. The more the country saw him, the less it liked him. Walz thrilled Democrats in convention assembled when he called Trump running mate J.D. Vance “weird.” That proved an unfortunate choice of words on Walz’s part. The more the country saw Walz, the weirder it thought he was. He
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December 6, 2024 — Lloyd Billingsley

In U.S. v. Skrmetti, the Biden-Harris administration seeks to strike down Tennessee’s law restricting “transgender” procedures for minors. As Steve noted the case has revealed that the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH), has taken direction from Admiral Rachel Levine, Biden’s Assistant Secretary For Health. The admiral is on record that cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, are gender reassignment surgeries are “medically necessary, safe, and effective for trans and non-binary youth.”
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December 5, 2024 — Scott Johnson

The Supreme Court hearing in United States v. Skrmetti featured several highlights. As framed by the Biden administration, the case raised the question: Whether Tennessee Senate Bill 1 (SB1), which prohibits all medical treatments intended to allow “a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex” or to treat “purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity,”
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December 4, 2024 — Steven Hayward

Oral argument is underway at this hour at the Supreme Court in the case of U.S. v. Skrmetti, in which the Biden Administration is seeking strike down a Tennessee law restricting transgender treatment of minors. The case will be argued along the traditional lines of whether minors suffering from “gender dysphoria” constitute a “protected class” under civil rights law, and related questions of whether “strict scrutiny” review applies, etc. I’ll
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December 4, 2024 — Scott Johnson

On the local front I have sought to draw attention to the case of JaycCee Cooper v. USA Powerlifting in several posts accessible here. Filed in Ramsey County District Court and assigned to Judge Patrick Diamond, the case raises the question whether USAPL’s separation of men from women in USAPL’s Minnesota competitions must yield to Cooper’s self-identification as a woman. Although a biological male, Cooper seeks to compete with the
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December 1, 2024 — Lloyd Billingsley

Actual women such as Riley Gaines, Paige Spiranac, J. K. Rowling, and the female Israeli soldiers Steve helpfully displays each week, just got the news from the New York Times that they should be known as “non-transgender women.” This drew flak from tennis great Martina Navratilova, British Olympian Sharron Davies, and Rep. Nancy Mace, among others. The dynamics going on here will be of interest to all people. NYT reporter
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November 27, 2024 — Lloyd Billingsley

Steve is right that stories about the mysterious San Jose State (SJSU) volleyball player are on the strange side. So is everything that takes place under the Dictatorship of the Subjunctive Mood (DSM), the imposition and enforcement of unreality, biological and otherwise. Under DSM, Elizabeth Warren can claim to be a Cherokee and continue her political career even after exposure as a fraud. William Thomas, a bust on the men’s
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November 26, 2024 — Steven Hayward

This has to be the strangest news headline and strangest-written news story I’ve seen in many an age, from Inside Higher Education: Judge Says Reportedly Trans Volleyball Player May Compete A federal judge has ruled that a San José State University women’s volleyball player, who some of her teammates and competitors have said is transgender, can continue to play on the team, ESPN reported. Players on other teams in the
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November 20, 2024 — Scott Johnson

If you don’t watch ABC News, you may need help identifying the gentleman whom Rep. Nancy Mace bludgeons on the issue of men using the ladies’ congressional bathrooms. His name is Jay O’Brien. O’Brien identifies as an Emmy Award-winning reporter currently covering Capitol Hill, where he has been since the November midterms. He’s covered notable stories, such as the transition of power to Republicans in the House. Speaking of trans…
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November 10, 2024 — Steven Hayward

You know things are bad for the identity politics faction of the Democratic Party when even Bernie Sanders is down on you. From the NY Times a few days ago: Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the longtime progressive standard-bearer, blamed what he called a party-wide emphasis on identity politics at the expense of focusing on the economic concerns of working-class voters. “It’s not just Kamala,” he said. “It’s a Democratic
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