ESCAPE FROM WOMANHOOD:

Helena Kerschner is a 23-year-old detransitioned woman who identified as transgender during her teenage years and was prescribed testosterone shortly after her 18th birthday. After being on testosterone for a year and a half, she realized that transitioning was a misguided way of dealing with her social and emotional struggles. Now, years later, she is interested in exploring the cultural and psychological factors that contribute to the sharp rise in the number of adolescent girls identifying as transgender and choosing to medically transition with hormones and surgeries.

In my efforts to understand the personal factors that led me to identify as transgender and eventually decide to mistakenly transition, I’ve always been struck by the overwhelming role the internet has played in my life.

Online pornography, which studies show most kids are now exposed to by the age of 13, has become virtually inescapable. Faster than we can even measure its impact, this new world of porn is drastically changing how young people form their perceptions of sexuality and adult relationships. It would be foolish to think that it wouldn’t have major consequences. In my own life, I can see how being inundated with pornographic imagery as a young woman, much of it violent, and being repeatedly told that this was normal and even cool led me instinctively to look for an escape from womanhood.

Read the whole thing.

WELL, GOOD: Study: Cancer drugs might be able to target tuberculosis.

OKAY, GROOMER: Disney Severely Miscalculated — and Republicans Shouldn’t Forgive and Forget.

The consternation over the Parental Rights in Education bill, passed by the legislature in Florida, continues apace. As RedState reported, the falsehoods being perpetrated about the bill are mind-numbing, including the idea that it bans saying the word “gay,” when that term is not even mentioned in the text.

Of course, because major corporations think being woke is profitable, Disney decided to jump into the fray, denouncing the legislation. Gov. Ron DeSantis responded by essentially telling them to go jump in a lake. Now, Disney Corp. has retaliated by pausing all political donations, of which about 80 percent in Florida supposedly went to Republicans.

That the false “Don’t Say Gay” moniker continues to be used by the mainstream media as a factual label in regards to this bill is an astonishing breach of journalistic ethics, but I digress. Water is indeed wet.

As to Disney, I think they’ve severely miscalculated here. There was no widespread backlash regarding this bill among its employees. That was a completely manufactured narrative pushed mainly by CNN, which corroborated its claim of a supposed outcry by citing two social media posts. Further, the bill does not even do what its most vocal opponents claim. Disney could have easily remained neutral, pointed out what the bill actually says, and kept its relationship with Florida Republicans intact.

Instead, they wired up that bridge and blew it to smithereens. And for what? To make a woke mob that can never be appeased happy for a brief moment? Now, what happens the next time Disney wants another tax cut or legal carve-out from the state? All those friendly GOP faces aren’t going to be there, and DeSantis has made it clear he will not be brought to heel by private companies trying to throw their weight around.

Further, Disney now has to explain to normal parents, of which many of their customers are, why they are against a bill that simply stops teachers from sexually indoctrinating small children. Who was more likely to go to Disney World? A young, Florida couple with children they want to protect or your average, purple-haired woke warrior? In other words, from a financial standpoint, Disney’s move to go to war with DeSantis and the Parental Rights in Education bill was incredibly stupid.

No to mention having to explain Disney’s hypocrisy regarding China: Disney Defends Mulan Filming Near [Uighur] Internment Camps In China.

And then there’s the Shanghai Disneyland itself:

Earlier: Florida’s ‘don’t Say Gay’ Bill Plays Into DeSantis’s Hands. “In refusing to kowtow to Democratic histrionics — which DeSantis has been doing since early in the pandemic — the governor adopted a signature rhetorical move of his own: he set the political frame and never bended to faux emotionality or backtracked once committed to a position. DeSantis understands that if you don’t fall for Democrats’ emotional blackmail, eventually they’ll have to defend the inconvenient facts. If they scream ‘don’t say gay,’ you counter with ‘are you okay with a random teacher talking to little kids about sexuality?’ and let them attempt to sell that line to normal Americans. As a Floridian, it’s been fascinating to watch DeSantis become a smooth political operator ready for primetime.”

UNTIL THERE’S A BATTERY BREAKTHROUGH, I REMAIN SKEPTICAL: Interest in electric aircraft grows as NASA nears test of X-57 Maxwell.

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF TRUNALIMUNUMAPRZURE: Angry Biden Shouts, ‘I’m Sick of This Stuff,’ Lashes Out at Those Who Blame Him for Inflation.

Fortunately though, Kamala feels America’s pain. Or not:

This is real.
Unedited.
Actually happened.
pic.twitter.com/VKMjKQnI2s

— Rising serpent 🇺🇸 (@rising_serpent) March 11, 2022

EXCEPT FOR THE ONES WHO ARE ALLERGIC TO DOGS: Therapy dogs may bring relief to emergency room patients.

STAR TREK: PICARD SERVES UP SOME EPIC CHEESE: If you’ve already seen it, or you’re okay with spoilers, a recap of the second season’s second episode can be found here: Picard Is Just Diving Right Into Some Classic Star Trek Good and Evil.

But I wonder if one element of the plot was inspired by Jeri Ryan’s own real-life history: The Woman Who Changed the World.

OKAY, GROOMER: Chasten Buttigieg Leads Kids in Pledge to the Gay Flag.

MSNBC GUEST TORCHED FOR ‘REHABBING HITLER’ DURING PUTIN TALK; CLAIMS HITLER ‘DIDN’T KILL ETHNIC GERMANS:’

A guest on MSNBC was torched by critics making a comparison between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Adolf Hitler, providing a more favorable view of the Nazi dictator.

Appearing on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” former U.S. Ambassador to Russia [under President Obama — Ed] and Stanford University Professor Michael McFaul highlighted “interesting” remarks a commentator made on Ukrainian television about “how horrific” the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has been.

But he also targeted disabled people, which included ethnic Germans. About 70,000 disabled Austrians and Germans were killed in “Operation T4” between 1941 and 1940, per the museum. His programs also involved medical experimentation on disabled citizens — which led to the creation of the Nuremberg Code. Other targets included gay people, alcoholics, and political rivals.

Hitler’s actions, particularly his invasion of Poland, triggered World War II. An estimated 5.5 million German soldiers and between 6.6 and 8.8 million German civilians were killed during that conflict, per the museum.

“I think people need to remember that we’re talking about cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol and Kyiv, there are large populations there, you know, up to a third and sometimes as much to a half that are Russian speakers and are ethnic Russians. And yet Putin doesn’t seem to care about that. He slaughters the very people he said he has come to liberate,” McFaul said.

The comments were then shared by the Maddow Blog, tweeting, “One difference between Putin and Hitler is that Hitler didn’t kill ethnic Germans, German-speaking people. Putin slaughters the very people he said he has come to liberate.”

The clip went viral with critics taking McFaul to the woodshed for his fact-challenged commentary.

And was subsequently deleted by MSNBC:

Or to put it another way:

UPDATE: Former US Amb. to Russia Michael McFaul’s MSNBC take about Hitler and Putin was so bad Maddow Blog deleted it (and they’re backpedaling).

OUCH: Harsh, but fair.

WELL, THAT’S NOT THE NARRATIVE: Filling a gas-powered vehicle can still be cheaper than charging an electric one.

THE POWER LINE WEEK IN PICTURES: Biden Degringolade Edition.

STILL POPULAR: Made in USA Can Opener. #CommissionEarned

QUESTION ASKED: Could Putin Attack Britain? New video by war historian Mark Felton:

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: ‘Removing virtual college class options is ableist’: Students demand more online access amid COVID.

HERE’S A HEADLINE THAT WILL MAKE PUTIN TREMBLE:

I hope this ends better than the last time the White House got involved with a “TikTok Star:”

Related: The Ukraine invasion is the first social media war.

More: WWW: World War Woke. Tweets don’t beat tanks.

Flashback: ‘Adults,’ ‘Progress,’ and Disaster.

DIVERSITY PROBLEM: 2022 Midterms: 20-1, North Carolina university employees are donating to Democrats over Republicans.

Seriously, we’re always told that universities should represent the entire community. Yet it’s quite clear that they’re political monocultures whose members often actively favor a single political party. Why should taxpayers support them? We were told that we needed affirmative action because citizens wouldn’t want to support institutions made up of people who didn’t look like them. Well?

MAO MOUSE:  Disney: China Is Great, Parents Rights Are Bad.

OLD AND BUSTED: The 1619 Project.

The New Hotness? The 1917 Project! Russians Wanted the Soviet Union Back. They Got It. “Sure, Moscow hasn’t secured any of its strategic objectives in Ukraine, and Russia is sure to emerge from this conflict an isolated and diminished global power wholly dependent on rogue states for its survival. But Putin has the visuals he wanted. Today, the flag of the Soviet Union once again adorns tanks rolling into Europe, and the 1945 victory banner flies over Ukraine. The sound of dissent arising from the streets is muted amid the terrified screams of the brutalized and oppressed. The market has been tamed, and the Russian people have been rendered placid and governable once more. This is the ‘greatness’ Russians supposedly longed for. Now they have it.”

DEMOCRATS SAY THOSE MINORITIES ARE ALL WHITE SUPREMACISTS: ‘Election integrity’ turns white-hot, and all minorities favor voter ID laws.

THE CORBYNIZATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONTINUES APACE: Israel ‘shouldn’t exist as a Jewish state,’ Amnesty USA director tells Democratic group.

Following Amnesty International’s recent report that accused Israel of “apartheid” in its treatment of Palestinians, the group’s USA director appeared to go a step further on Wednesday, suggesting to a Women’s National Democratic Club audience that the bulk of American Jews do not want Israel to be a Jewish state, but rather “a safe Jewish space” based on “core Jewish values.”

Paul O’Brien said one of Amnesty’s goals in publishing the report, which was roundly criticized by Israeli and American officials, is to “collectively change the conversation” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “It needs to start first and foremost with the Jewish community,” O’Brien, who is not Jewish, said.

The Amnesty official rejected a 2020 survey conducted by the Ruderman Family Foundation that found that eight in 10 Jewish Americans identify as “pro-Israel,” and two-thirds feel emotionally “attached” or “very attached” to the Jewish state.

“I actually don’t believe that to be true,” O’Brien said regarding those figures. “I believe my gut tells me that what Jewish people in this country want is to know that there’s a sanctuary that is a safe and sustainable place that the Jews, the Jewish people can call home.”

Flashback: Amnesty Pulls Aleksei Navalny’s ‘Prisoner Of Conscience’ Status Over ‘Hate Speech.’

Amnesty International has reportedly withdrawn its recent designation of Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny’s as a “prisoner of conscience” over his alleged advocacy of violence and discrimination and comments that included hate speech.

Aleksandr Artemyev, the rights watchdog’s media manager for Russia and Eurasia, confirmed the decision to Mediazona on February 23 after the news was first reported by U.S. journalist Aaron Mate.

RFE/RL was unable to independently confirm the reports.

Artemyev wrote that Amnesty, which named Navalny a prisoner of conscience after his arrest in Moscow in January, decided to retract the designation “in light of new information” stemming from “old videos and social media posts in which Navalny made controversial pronouncements.”

The comments attributed to Navalny in the mid-2000s were not specified, but Artemyev said they were made as Navalny’s activism and challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin was gaining momentum and that their reemergence “appears to be another tactic to delegitimize Navalny’s work and criticism and to weaken public outcry about his detention.”

Back in 2003, the late Steven Den Beste compared the ACLU with Amnesty International, after the latter forgot its original mission (remember those “to freedom!” ads that ran on MTV in the 1980s?) over how its members (read: fundraisers) viewed the Iraq War:

It’s not going too far to say that many of Amnesty International’s members have approximately as strongly negative of feelings now about America and George Bush as the ACLU’s members had about the Nazis when the ACLU defended them in Skokie.

The ACLU made the principled decision and weathered the downturn in contributions. When condemnation of Iraq didn’t make AI look as if it was aligning with America, Amnesty International was willing to try to shine a spotlight on the abuses there. But now AI has suddenly gone silent. The abuses against the citizens of Iraq have not stopped; indeed they’ve gotten worse. In addition to ongoing violent repression of Iraq’s civilian population, various Iraqi military and para-military units have been directly violating the Geneva Convention by, for instance, abusing the white flag of truce, and by using protected humanitarian facilities to hold military equipment, and by using “human shields” in combat, and by directly firing at refugees, and in numerous other ways.

And what we’re seeing is that AI seems unwilling to make more than oblique mention of these things, while at the same time explicitly condemning the US for what are at best minor transgressions by comparison. Why is it more important to strongly focus attention on “censorship” while ignoring mass slaughter of refugees?

In retrospect, Conquest’s second law of politics (“Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing”) dictates that it was only a matter of time before the ACLU would similarly lose the thread.

DEAL OF THE DAY: Valano Men’s Long Sleeve Shirts UPF 50+ Sun Protection. #CommissionEarned

IT’S NOT A REAL NORDIC DIET UNLESS IT INVOLVES BEER, AND PROBABLY VODKA: Blood Tests Show a ‘Nordic Diet’ Improves Key Health Markers – Even Without Weight Loss.

WORSE, THE VICTIM WILL BE FORCED TO SHARE A CELL WITH HIS ATTACKER: Hillary Clinton Donor To Serve Jail Time for Hate Crime Against Gay Black Man.

MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN: Don’t pretend that high prices and American suffering are a ‘bug’ for the establishment — it’s a historic feature. “Yes, the record of those establishment hacks seems pretty bad. Of course, that assumes they want cheap gas, cheap food, energy independence and to promote America’s interests. There’s every reason to think the opposite: We’re not getting cheap gas, cheap food, energy independence, etc. because that’s not what the establishment wants. What we’re getting is what the establishment does want; if we don’t like it, tough. Don’t take my word for it, ask the establishment.”