SEEN in Journalism: The lessons of Minneapolis

We do have a female governor, one female Senator (but it’s Susan Collins so…) and one female Representative though. Sadly our governor is a bit of a trans handmaiden, despite being a good egg in other respects.

You drove me to go and look it up, and it seems that Maine's proposed new flag was rejected in a referendum last year. The existing flag is quite benign, but one notes that it features a male moose between a male farmer and a male sailor. So I suppose the state depends on the farms, the ocean and the forest, but it's clear who's in charge everywhere.

Great article, thanks for sharing!

What a great article!

I'm not surprised this thread pretty swiftly attracted a gender stereotype loving scold desperate to distract from it.

The FBI's list of concerning behaviours to look out for in order to prevent* more attacks is informative. I think I'd become too used to trans rights ideology's violent rhetoric, but it's quite chilling to see how many behaviours are exhibited by the activist extremists the movement refuses to reject.

• I don't pay that much attention to USA talking about preventing attacks. For whatever reason, gun ownership doesn't work for them (I know there are countries where gun ownership doesn't = countless mass shootings. I don't know what makes that possible. In general, removing opportunity is a good way to prevent crime. Hence why single sex spaces exist).

Maine's new flag is lousy. It hangs from flagstaffs, most of it not visible unless the wind is blowing strongly, and looks like a dishrag. It's now repeated on license plates, except the image is supposed to be a pine tree and looks more like a spruce. Bah.

My DH and I read An Instance outloud to one another and we barely make it through the first account* it was so boring. Later we realised that the dullness was intentional and actually a brilliant first-person representation of how that character wanted to appear, which was nothing like what he was actually like or was really up to. It's a terrific novel.

*For those who haven't read it, there's a sort of Rashomon thing going on.

It's amazing. And 1663 seems like yesterday.

Loved that book! I think I have forgotten it enough to read it again.

Thanks for the archived version @nauticant Good for Justin Webb, he's been plugging away quietly on Radio 4 for years.

@SeinfeldsMom what do you have to say about that?

I'm currently reading An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears, which I got about halfway through when it was first published nearly 30 years ago and which resonates like crazy now. It's set in Oxford and London in 1663 and it's about all the chicanery and in-fighting of the Stuart succession. It's also about the old meeting the new — old religion being challenged by the new evidence-based science and maths and new technology coming up against true believers of all varieties, all plotting and scheming and sharing information and disinformation and trying to affect their ends. I'm constantly brought up short by parallels and echoes of what we're going through today: the Gender ideologues and anti-vaxxers are today's true believers whom nothing can shake, the scientific and philosophical developments echo the impact of our tech revolution. And still the aching awful depths of misogyny. Very mindful that the UK exported a lot of its religious extremists to the US and that their religiosity is still visible today. Highly recommended for those who love a good (accurate and reality-based) historical novel with a touch of the whodunnit about it. Can't believe it hasn't been turned in to a Netflix series.

I read that this morning and thought it was excellent.

You might be interested in this article by Justin Webb in today's The Times @Pluvia:

https://archive.ph/57INs

Donald Trump didn’t start this quiet war on woke

Like his Republican Party takeover or social media use, the president’s attack on universities simply tapped into a growing mood

You would have thought Trump, sociopathic trans teen shooters with their own gun collections, kids in schools pledging allegiance to the flag each day and all the GI insanity kick-started by John Money, Judith Butler and US billionaire TWs might have given @SeinfeldsMom second thoughts. But no.

As other posters have said, we're informed, we're good at arguing. You have to have something better than that if you're going to come at us.

Oh, and here's Kathleen Stock's latest, explaining why America just makes things worse:
https://unherd.com/2025/08/america-youre-not-helping/

I have been very shocked by Tim Walz, he projected well in the VP campaign and it is appalling to see what he really is and has done. Poor children and young people of Minnesota. The topsy-turvey dissonance of Trump being the adult in the room when it comes to gender is an ongoing surprise.

Are we talking about the same United States of America?

Do they not do flags any more? I thought it was kind of their thing?

I think there are some excellent observations in that article. Thanks @SionnachRuadh

Yes we have a few houses and businesses with flags and signage describing their part or showing what that business or family did on the original V-J day.

And people stuck up flags on the road over passes etc. that haven’t come down.

Yes, a distinct possibility.

Thinking about it, I did see one flag in a shop window recently, but it was a Crystal Palace one left over from the community shield final, and not going to cause riots round here.

Offering sanctuary to persecuted minorities or allowing pharmaceutical companies to profit from healthcare that has been banned in other counties because of ethical concerns?

There is still bunting and flags up for V-J Day. I wonder how much some people from outside of the country are reading all the conflicting stories and just assuming the worst.

Maybe it was a reference to white paint being thrown on the ULEZ cameras in London?

Well I was out in my local area this morning and there wasn't a red painted road in sight.

No flags either, as it goes.

I assume the "red paint" comment is about this:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62nmrm5n05o