Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
@janetbufton.ca
Canadian mum, 3D liberal in Babylon
Writing collected at janetbufton.ca
diversity dynamism democracy Detroit Lions
Elbows up.
Writing collected at janetbufton.ca
diversity dynamism democracy Detroit Lions
Elbows up.
Pinned
Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
@janetbufton.ca
· Jan 8
Democracy for liberal people
Market liberals need liberal democracy
www.janetbufton.ca
I've been working on a market liberal case for democracy. That case now spans four pieces, all of which are linked in my latest blog post.
ft most prominently Don Lavoie, Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social, Benjamin Constant, Adam Smith, and James Buchanan...
ft most prominently Don Lavoie, Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social, Benjamin Constant, Adam Smith, and James Buchanan...
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
here's the thing:
What these detransitioners are experiencing is *gender dysphoria*. They need therapy, not a fucking political platform. What this person experiences now, being in a body that doesn't suit them, is what every single trans person goes through when they experience puberty.
What these detransitioners are experiencing is *gender dysphoria*. They need therapy, not a fucking political platform. What this person experiences now, being in a body that doesn't suit them, is what every single trans person goes through when they experience puberty.
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Feb 12:
WSJ continues assault on GAC w/ anomalous lead op-ed by detransitioner who realized top surgery at age 19 was wrong bec. "there was no way to be born in the wrong body at all." Her lawsuit before TX Supreme Court seeks to overturn 2-yr statute of limitations.
WSJ continues assault on GAC w/ anomalous lead op-ed by detransitioner who realized top surgery at age 19 was wrong bec. "there was no way to be born in the wrong body at all." Her lawsuit before TX Supreme Court seeks to overturn 2-yr statute of limitations.
Opinion | What I Suffered Being ‘Transgender’
I’m suing the people who did this to me, and the Texas Supreme Court heard my case this week.
www.wsj.com
February 12, 2026 at 3:18 PM
here's the thing:
What these detransitioners are experiencing is *gender dysphoria*. They need therapy, not a fucking political platform. What this person experiences now, being in a body that doesn't suit them, is what every single trans person goes through when they experience puberty.
What these detransitioners are experiencing is *gender dysphoria*. They need therapy, not a fucking political platform. What this person experiences now, being in a body that doesn't suit them, is what every single trans person goes through when they experience puberty.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
really interesting to me how many professional political commentators have basically retconned the draconian immigration enforcement policies of Obama and Biden out of existence and have completely swallowed the right wing narrative of immigration enforcement
Not going to read them all because jesus fucking christ but this is nasty work from Friedersdorf
February 12, 2026 at 4:29 PM
really interesting to me how many professional political commentators have basically retconned the draconian immigration enforcement policies of Obama and Biden out of existence and have completely swallowed the right wing narrative of immigration enforcement
A lot of median voter dunking but isn't this just habitually Republican voter?
“Everything he was doing to make America great I was cool with up until he started messing with the immigrants,” said Andre Lewis, 32, who lives in White Bear Lake.
Gotta love the American voter
www.startribune.com/minnesotas-s...
Gotta love the American voter
www.startribune.com/minnesotas-s...
Minnesota’s suburbs are an election battleground. Trump’s immigration surge is unpopular there.
A new poll shows suburban residents and independents aligning more with Twin Cities residents in opposing Trump’s crackdown and immigration agents’ tactics.
www.startribune.com
February 12, 2026 at 2:51 PM
A lot of median voter dunking but isn't this just habitually Republican voter?
"For all of them, leaving the U.S. wasn’t better than staying in the U.S., but it was better than remaining detained here."
February 12, 2026 at 2:34 PM
"For all of them, leaving the U.S. wasn’t better than staying in the U.S., but it was better than remaining detained here."
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
TV. They've just reinvented TV.
February 12, 2026 at 11:13 AM
TV. They've just reinvented TV.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
The Bell Curve to Pedophile Island pipeline isn't the most obvious thing but neither is it totally surprising.
I parsed through some of the emails in the Epstein files, and it’s very clear that Epstein was a eugenicist weirdo. Something he very much had in common with the billionaire class à la Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Donald Trump. New for @motherjones.com.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Epstein couldn't stop emailing people about eugenics
In the latest files, the trafficker gives it a Silicon Valley–pilled name: "genetic altruism."
www.motherjones.com
February 10, 2026 at 9:10 PM
The Bell Curve to Pedophile Island pipeline isn't the most obvious thing but neither is it totally surprising.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
The problem I have with "see, we said DHS was a bad idea" and the like is not that it's wrong. The status quo did have lots of problems and weakened guardrails, of course. But it's absurd to minimize, especially now, how radically different Trump is as a fundamentally lawless anti-constitutionalist.
February 9, 2026 at 6:19 PM
The problem I have with "see, we said DHS was a bad idea" and the like is not that it's wrong. The status quo did have lots of problems and weakened guardrails, of course. But it's absurd to minimize, especially now, how radically different Trump is as a fundamentally lawless anti-constitutionalist.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
It's also pretty spurious to claim vindication on Trump when your own argument is mostly that he's just more of the same and a difference only in degree and not in kind, which is not a perspective that's actually been vindicated. It's been proven utterly wrong.
February 9, 2026 at 6:09 PM
It's also pretty spurious to claim vindication on Trump when your own argument is mostly that he's just more of the same and a difference only in degree and not in kind, which is not a perspective that's actually been vindicated. It's been proven utterly wrong.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
Unlike Radley and Shikha I was never at Reason (I only wrote a piece for them once). But having been in the similar orbit at Cato: some libertarians have been good on strongly opposing Trump as a uniquely dire threat, but it was firmly a minority. To claim vindication writ large is... unmerited.
February 9, 2026 at 6:09 PM
Unlike Radley and Shikha I was never at Reason (I only wrote a piece for them once). But having been in the similar orbit at Cato: some libertarians have been good on strongly opposing Trump as a uniquely dire threat, but it was firmly a minority. To claim vindication writ large is... unmerited.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
Some admirable exceptions obviously (Andy among them), but a full accounting of the libertarian movement in the Trump era has to acknowledge it's a story of a team with all the best coaches striking out in tee-ball.
For so many of us, the issue is not "ha ha see libertarians were right," it's how the hell did libertarians fail so badly at opposing such overt authoritarianism. And there are answers to why, I don't really care much to rehash it all at this point. But it sure ain't a mood of vindication.
February 9, 2026 at 6:48 PM
Some admirable exceptions obviously (Andy among them), but a full accounting of the libertarian movement in the Trump era has to acknowledge it's a story of a team with all the best coaches striking out in tee-ball.
Setting aside everything else*, the preoccupation with the _federal_ government does not seem particularly libertarian to me. The U.S. federal government forcing states to repeal Jim Crow was a win if what you care about is individual freedom from government coercion.
Yes, some of us did, but the libertarians at Reason were not prominent among them, except for the one who got fired for it.
February 9, 2026 at 5:57 PM
Setting aside everything else*, the preoccupation with the _federal_ government does not seem particularly libertarian to me. The U.S. federal government forcing states to repeal Jim Crow was a win if what you care about is individual freedom from government coercion.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
Yes, some of us did, but the libertarians at Reason were not prominent among them, except for the one who got fired for it.
February 9, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Yes, some of us did, but the libertarians at Reason were not prominent among them, except for the one who got fired for it.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
People complaining about not understanding what Bad Bunny’s saying.
Death metal fans:
Death metal fans:
February 9, 2026 at 4:08 AM
People complaining about not understanding what Bad Bunny’s saying.
Death metal fans:
Death metal fans:
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
This kind of smart, walkable, mixed-use urbanism is illegal to build in most American cities.
February 9, 2026 at 3:50 AM
This kind of smart, walkable, mixed-use urbanism is illegal to build in most American cities.
This sparks so much joy.
February 9, 2026 at 3:28 AM
This sparks so much joy.
Fight MAHA culture, just wear the bikini.
February 9, 2026 at 12:35 AM
Fight MAHA culture, just wear the bikini.
It's a Super Bowl ad guys get a goat.
February 8, 2026 at 11:58 PM
It's a Super Bowl ad guys get a goat.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
This needs to be a t shirt
February 8, 2026 at 11:04 PM
This needs to be a t shirt
Husband has explained to me, earnestly and many times, that most people do not think Sam Darnold's comment about seeing ghosts is as important a moment in his career as it is in my brain.
It does not matter. For me, he is Mario playing in a ghost level forever.
Anyway go Seahawks.
It does not matter. For me, he is Mario playing in a ghost level forever.
Anyway go Seahawks.
a video game shows a character with the letter p on their chest
Alt: SUPER MARIO 3 (I think), Mario is carrying power up and dodging the ghosts that chase you when you don't look at them.
media.tenor.com
February 8, 2026 at 11:41 PM
Husband has explained to me, earnestly and many times, that most people do not think Sam Darnold's comment about seeing ghosts is as important a moment in his career as it is in my brain.
It does not matter. For me, he is Mario playing in a ghost level forever.
Anyway go Seahawks.
It does not matter. For me, he is Mario playing in a ghost level forever.
Anyway go Seahawks.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
This, from @kenwhite.bsky.social in @theunpopulist.net, is a genuine must-read. If the current state of free speech discourse interests you—and especially if it infuriates you—this is a critical reframe steering us away from the idea that bad-faith actors are actually our free speech heroes.
The Fashionable Notion of 'Free Speech Culture' Is Justifying State Censorship, Ironically
It'll convince people that free speech is a sham
www.theunpopulist.net
February 2, 2026 at 9:55 PM
This, from @kenwhite.bsky.social in @theunpopulist.net, is a genuine must-read. If the current state of free speech discourse interests you—and especially if it infuriates you—this is a critical reframe steering us away from the idea that bad-faith actors are actually our free speech heroes.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
Your comprehensive guide to the far right.
Your Comprehensive Guide to the Far Right: Part I
Understanding this rising threat to liberalism across the world is the first step to defeating it
www.theunpopulist.net
February 7, 2026 at 9:01 PM
Your comprehensive guide to the far right.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
We’ve been freaking out about this over here. Not least because HOW they figured it out is so cool.
Humans mastered the art of creating fire 400,000 years ago, almost 350,000 years earlier than previously known, according to a groundbreaking discovery in a field in Suffolk in the UK. buff.ly/1miYEUJ
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Humans made fire 350,000 years earlier than previously thought, discovery in Suffolk suggests
Groundbreaking find makes compelling case that humans were lighting fires much earlier than originally believed
buff.ly
February 7, 2026 at 2:55 PM
We’ve been freaking out about this over here. Not least because HOW they figured it out is so cool.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
Annoyingly, this doesn’t specify what exactly is happening. But it sure seems like DHS filed a “motion to pretermit” the asylum application. Which it is doing in countless cases around the country.
There’s been a little reporting on this; there needs to be a bunch more. I’m working a piece myself.
There’s been a little reporting on this; there needs to be a bunch more. I’m working a piece myself.
BREAKING: The federal government has filed a motion seeking to end asylum claims for the family of Liam Conejo Ramos, according to the lawyer representing the family.
DHS has requested expedited deportation proceedings against family of Liam Conejo Ramos
The federal government has filed a motion seeking to end asylum claims for the family of Liam Conejo Ramos, according to the lawyer representing the family.
www.mprnews.org
February 6, 2026 at 3:21 AM
Annoyingly, this doesn’t specify what exactly is happening. But it sure seems like DHS filed a “motion to pretermit” the asylum application. Which it is doing in countless cases around the country.
There’s been a little reporting on this; there needs to be a bunch more. I’m working a piece myself.
There’s been a little reporting on this; there needs to be a bunch more. I’m working a piece myself.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
The nothing-to-see-here from some pundits to the Epstein files, and their tisc-tisc-ing at those calling for social consequences for the men who cozied up to him after it was clear to everyone what he was, show how political factionalism and rank contrarianism can stamp out discernment and humanity.
February 5, 2026 at 10:33 PM
The nothing-to-see-here from some pundits to the Epstein files, and their tisc-tisc-ing at those calling for social consequences for the men who cozied up to him after it was clear to everyone what he was, show how political factionalism and rank contrarianism can stamp out discernment and humanity.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
This is why I keep banging the drum that maybe the most important choice we make in deciding whether we’ll lead an ethical life is who we surround ourselves with. www.aaronrosspowell.com/3m2xqaxqypk26
Surround Yourself With Those Who Are Admirable, and Distance Yourself From Those Who Aren’t. - Aaron Ross Powell's Blog
The most overlooked—but most important—ingredient of an ethical life.
www.aaronrosspowell.com
February 5, 2026 at 10:48 PM
This is why I keep banging the drum that maybe the most important choice we make in deciding whether we’ll lead an ethical life is who we surround ourselves with. www.aaronrosspowell.com/3m2xqaxqypk26