Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday announced the creation of peace prize in honor of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, and said he was awarding it to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

I actually agree. If anybody deserves to be compared to that dumb fuck Chavez, it’s Putin. It would be nice to think that Maduro is trolling but I’m afraid that he’s serious about honoring the peaceful Putin who declared that bombing Syria is a wonderfully cheap practice for the Russian army. 

Fuck it, I was right! He did blame Hillary in his apology! 

Hilarious. 

It looks like the world is eagerly awaiting a video message from Trump about his nasty comments. But it’s clear what he’s going to say: Hillary was the one who groped the women and persecuted a married woman in between founding ISIS, signing NAFTA, and starting the birther movement.  

After Trump’s lewd comments surfaced, his support among Republicans will grow. They’ll say that his gross remarks show that he knows what to do south of the border in both literal and metaphoric terms. 

Next week we might see a report that says, “Trump eats a bucket of shit on camera. His ratings skyrocket.”

The idea that “gender is fluid” that people repeat these days with the smugness of those who have finally found the Fount of Truth in a desert of ignorance only exists because it serves the needs of capital to get us to buy more crap and embrace fluidity. 

It is not a coincidence that the idea only arose when and where gender stopped meaning anything but the stuff you buy. In the places where gender means more than consumer choices, nobody is embracing its fluidity. 

The more eager we are to believe that everything is fluid, the more useful we are to liquid capital.

I always feel dumbfounded whenever I encounter the typically American conviction that you can mess with your body in any way you want, fill it with all kinds of garbage, interfere with natural processes to your heart’s content, and then just go back to whatever was there before if you change your mind. I can’t even imagine the degree to which you need to be alienated from your body to think this way. 

The ease with which people stuff themselves – and what’s really tragic their miserable children – with drugs, medications, substances, all sorts of crap – in a conviction that bodies are as infinitely malleable and renewable as a plastic toy you buy at Walmart shows that the Capital has taken full possession even of their relationship with their physicality. 

I put some broccoli slaw in a heavy ceramic dish and added some shredded carrots. Then I arranged some heirloom tomato slices over the slaw. On top of tomato slices, I placed boneless skinless chicken thighs. I seasoned the whole thing and added some rosemary. Over the chicken I placed some peeled lemon slices. 

I baked the dish in the oven first with a lid closed and then after 30 minutes I removed the lid. 

There is no photo because the dish was devoured very fast. The lemon slices caramelized very nicely and the meat was extremely juicy. If you aren’t into baked lemons, you can remove them before serving. 

I’m starting get to get seriously angry. Now I’m not getting funded for my Texas conference because the administration doesn’t believe that it’s a serious conference that will count for my tenure. Of course, I’m already tenured but who cares about a small detail like that. Also, I would never try to use conferences to seek tenure or promotion. My CV leaves no doubt as to my very active research agenda. 

The conference is very respectable. And I mean VERY. But it’s a feminist conference, so I’m guessing that is what makes it sound not good enough to attend. 

I’m not angry about the money. I’m fortunate to have a good financial situation. What angers me is the complete lack of support for what everybody I know considers to be a spectacular scholarly achievement on my part. 

I know I’ll get the funding eventually but it’s the attitude that is so annoying. 

“State May Add Coverage for Transgender Therapy” reads a headline in NY TIMES, and I got warm and fuzzy feelings when I saw it. It is only right that transgender people, who often live in dire poverty, should get coverage for the treatment they seek.

When I started to read the article, however, I discovered that it has nothing to do with therapy or transgender people. Medicaid coverage will be introduced to give puberty- arresting hormones and hysterectomies to prepubescent children. Because, apparently, it’s easier to sex-modify them now than after they become adults and can make these decisions for themselves. I’m guessing the next step will be to cut up and remodel babies whose biological sex their parents don’t happen to like. 

It’s really cute that an 11-year-old kid who is not allowed to imbibe alcohol, no matter how much she might want to, should be permitted to take substances that will impact her body at least as badly. And all for what? Simply to allow their parents to avoid the onerous task of having actually to parent? How is this different from a parent who gives a baby a piece of clothing soaked in scotch to shut him up and make him sleep?