Looks can be deceptive



She’s often been referred to as a sex symbol throughout her impressive career across music, film and TV, but Sophie Monk has now left fans stunned after making a surprising confession about her sex life.

During an appearance on 2Day FM’s breakfast show - Hughesy, Ed & Erin, the Beauty And The Geek host admitted that she thinks she’s “not great” in bed.

The X-rated topic of conversation came up when Sophie said she would never go back to a partner if they had slept with someone else after meeting her.

“I don't want to think about them with another chick, because what if she's hotter and better in bed?” she said, before adding, “Because I'm not great in bed anyway”.

Erin Molan was shocked by her remark, asking: “Do you genuinely think that?”

“Yeah, I have figured it out,” Sophie replied, leaving the hosts in stitches. “Because a lot of people go, ‘Oh my god, I burnt so many calories last night’. I feel like I put on weight during sex.

“I just lie there and get flipped around like a bit of a doll and enjoy it like a massage.”

Sophie, who is now happily married to Joshua Gross, went on to make fun of a rather awkward experience she had in the bedroom with a past lover.

“A guy said to me once, ‘Do you want to change it up a bit?’ And I said, ‘Do you wanna go to the spare room? How can we change this up?’,” she laughed.

https://au.yahoo.com/news/sophie-monk-sex-confession-214839069.html

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Can we ever be woke enough for the trans extremists?

What do we do with really difficult issues? In America we have them out. Because we have the right to do so — given to us by the Founders, and noisily exercised ever since. We discuss things, debate them and in the process hopefully solve some problems.

But today there are people everywhere trying to shut things down. People who want to pretend that their view is the only view it should be possible to hold.

It happened again several times this week on the fraught topic of trans issues.

There is almost nobody who actually hates trans people. Almost no one actually wishes them harm. Ours is a very live-and-let live society, and if people want to dress or present one way or another then that´s hardly new. New York alone must count as the most colorful society anywhere on earth.

Yet repeatedly activists pretend that to even discuss this area is to commit a terrible harm. They pretend not only that the evidence around “gender dysphoria” is completely clear, but that it has zero consequences. The trans extremists try to pretend, for instance, that there is no tension at all between some trans rights and some women’s rights. Despite the fact that such tensions — and worse — keep emerging everywhere from college sports to the nation’s jails.

As though to prove that you can never be woke enough, on Monday Representative Rashida Tlaib attacked The New York Times. The squad member did so because she claimed that the Times was publishing anti-trans content. It was, she said “providing a platform for transphobic hate and propaganda with horrifying consequences.” She went on to claim that “Texas just entered NYT articles into evidence to push for the TX Dept of Family & Protective Services to take trans kids away from their supportive parents.”

As is usually the case with Rep Tlaib there are so many problems in that statement that it is hard to know where to begin. Though I would note one in particular. What exactly is a “trans kid”? Does anybody really know? Our society pretends to be radically certain and knowledgeable about this. But in fact we know almost nothing about it.

We have almost no idea why some people believe they are born in the wrong body. We have very little idea of when this is a passing feeling and when it might be a permanent one. And we have almost no understanding at all about the extent to which claims by children that they are trans are in fact a demonstration of “social contagion,” where one kid in a school comes out as trans and a whole bunch of others start to follow suit.

Yet Tlaib pretended to know all of this and more. She speaks about “trans kids” as though it is as straightforward and obvious as saying “ginger haired kids.” Not only does she want to keep up that misplaced certainty. She wants others to keep it up too.

So she must attack the most woke newspaper for daring to publish anything (and it hasn’t published much) which raises the minutest question mark over any of this.

Are there questions marks to be raised? You bet. Considering that the consequences of getting this question wrong means the medical neutering of children and their physical mutilation I would say that the question marks are very real indeed. But everywhere people like Tlaib are busy pretending otherwise.

On Tuesday this week the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on abortion access and the law. One of the people invited to testify was a professor from UC Berkeley (of course) called Khiara M. Bridges. Her “specialist” areas of study are “race, class and reproductive rights.” A well-known and vital specialism. During the hearing Bridges repeatedly referred to “people with a capacity for pregnancy.” Hawley understandably asked about this curious phrase. “Would that be women?” he asked.

In her response Bridges was as patronizing and rude as it was possible to be. Taking on the manner of an elementary school teacher she Berkeley-splained to Hawley: “Many women, cis women, have the capacity for pregnancy. Many cis women do not have the capacity for pregnancy. There are also trans men who are capable of pregnancy, as well as nonbinary people who are capable of pregnancy.”

Of course this is all a modern form of Jesuitical nonsense. “Trans men” who are still capable of pregnancy are still biological women. Nobody really knows what “non-binary” means, other than “look at me.” But anyone identifying themselves as “non-binary” who is also capable of becoming pregnant is also in fact still — wait for the big reveal — a woman.

Laughing nervously as people often do when they don’t know what they are talking about, Bridges then said: “So, um, I want to recognize that your line of questioning is transphobic and it opens up trans people to violence by not recognizing them.” She then went on to say that one out of five transgender people have attempted suicide and that “denying that trans people exist” causes this and much more to happen.

This is the same logic used by Twitter which now suspends peoples’ accounts unless they agree to the latest trans orthodoxy. All based on the same falsehoods that Tlaib and Bridges rehearsed this week. Which is that if you do not go along with an orthodoxy invented a couple of years ago you are actually committing violence.

Bridges condescendingly told Hawley that he should join her class. “You might learn a lot” she said. Hawley was too polite back at her. But the truth is that we are all in her wretched, dim-witted class now. All of America is being told to shut up and just get with the trans program. Otherwise we are killing people. Or making them kill themselves, or something.

What a way to have a debate. Or rather what a way to shut one down. And what an appalling way to approach an issue which — as American parents know — we have the right to think about and discuss.

https://nypost.com/2022/07/14/can-we-ever-be-woke-enough-for-the-trans-extremists/

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Gavin Newsom’s Weird Idea of ‘Freedom’

In a run-up to what is likely to be a 2024 presidential bid, California Gov. Gavin Newsom hit upon the bizarre idea of boasting in commercials that California is America’s true “free” state.

Part of his ad campaign is to attack Florida—currently run by Newsom’s possible rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Yet, with the most burdensome regulations and high tax rates, Newsom’s California is arguably the most unfree state in the union.

In return for these steep costs, the state’s public institutions, infrastructure, and services are among the country’s worst.

California’s once-vaunted freeway system is near the bottom of all state comparisons. California’s Highway 99, which runs the length of the Central Valley, is one of the deadliest roads in America based on miles driven.

Over half the nation’s homeless crowd the state’s major cities. One-third of America’s welfare recipients have flooded into the state. A fifth of the resident population lives below the poverty line. Well over a quarter of Golden State residents were not born in the United States.

California public school test scores consistently fall among the bottom 10 states. San Francisco has the highest per capita property crime rate in the country.

The recently recalled San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin and his soon-to-be recalled Los Angeles counterpart George Gascon have nearly ruined their cities. Both are iconic of multibillionaire George Soros’ nationwide efforts to undermine the entire criminal justice system.

State residents are not free to drive safely because of their decrepit freeways. They are not free from filthy and toxic sidewalks or dangerous physical assault in their major cities.

Public school children are not free to enjoy competitive educations. San Franciscans are not free to park their cars without fearing that they will be vandalized or stolen.

The destruction of these freedoms is in direct proportion to the confiscatory taxes that the state collects the highest bracket of income and gasoline rates in the nation, among the highest sales taxes, and property taxes that soar due to inflated assessments in spite of a 1978 state constitutional amendment.

Currently, California faces brownouts due to the longstanding, deliberate curtailment of electrical generation plants.

Yosemite’s historic redwood forest is currently threatened with what are now customary California summer conflagrations.

The destructive, dirty forest fires reflect a deliberate state policy of not gleaning the forests of dead trees, but rather letting the flammable debris serve as “natural” fodder for bugs and birds.

The state has not built a major reservoir in nearly 40 years.

In rarer wet years, millions of acre-feet of runoff and snowmelt simply cascade to the sea. Releasing such vital water apparently enhances 19th-century riparian landscapes—and discourages its own agribusiness.

Amid Newsom’s anti-Florida ad campaign, the governor was vacationing at the upscale digs of his Montana in-laws—escorted by his ample state-paid security detail. That is odd, given Newsom’s California labels Montana a homophobic hellhole, and will not even reimburse state employees who dare to convention there.

Hypocrisy and elite virtue signaling, however, are now trademarks of California politicians—and illustrate how little elected officials care for the victims of their ideological agendas.

Newsom bragged about his tough California mask mandate although it did not lower COVID-19 deaths per capita in any measurable degree than did the policies of the red states he so often trashes. He violated his own COVID-19 mandates by dining at the upscale French Laundry restaurant and hanging out unmasked with Magic Johnson.

Newsom has done nothing to remedy his state’s soaring gas prices, terrible schools and infrastructure, or spiking crime. But he did virtue signal about giving illegal aliens millions of state dollars in COVID-19 relief.

Rather than develop California’s rich gas and oil reserves, Newsom promised strapped motorists that he would send them a one-time fuel gift of $400.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., likewise, hectors Californians to mask and quarantine—all the better for her to sneak around unmasked at her hairdresser’s, or to jet to the beaches of Tuscany.

Former senator and current Chinese government lobbyist Barbara Boxer retired to an estate in Rancho Mirage. Recent Gov. Jerry Brown isolated himself on his 2,500 acres in Grass Valley—idyllic locations far away from the education, infrastructure, and urban disasters that exploded under their tenures.

So it is Orwellian for Newsom to brag about a “free” California that supposedly will entice Floridians or Texans. In truth, over the last decades hundreds of thousands of Californians and billions of dollars of wealth fled the now inert California for a far freer Florida and Texas, among other states.

By voting with their feet and bank accounts, California’s expatriates considered these destinations far superior to their home state: safer, cheaper, better managed, and freer.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/07/15/gavin-newsoms-weird-idea-of-freedom/

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American Pride Is Out Here, Hiding in Plain Sight

As the sun dipped below the horizon of the Laurel Mountains off in the distance of the Evergreen Drive-In Theater, families with children were spread out on their sleeping blankets in front of their cars. A cluster of couples were sitting in folding chairs, enjoying each other’s company.

Then, they all stood and placed their hands over their hearts. They joined together in singing the national anthem as it was played across all three screens.

They remained standing and sang along with the images on the screen to Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American” immediately after that. Seasoned attendees can always tell who the newbies are to the experience — they’re the ones moved to tears and wonder on their faces.

It is a scene repeated over and over again seven days a week before each movie; I have been hard-pressed to find anyone, young or old, who refuses to participate. When the music starts, everyone immediately stands up and sings. It is and remains a truly remarkable and moving experience for anyone who consumes the news or social media on a regular basis.

Equally rare is a night, any night, when the Evergreen Drive-In isn’t packed. There are often several dozen cars waiting in line at dusk, hoping there will be enough room for their family or their group of friends to attend this night’s showing.

The minute you pull up with your family or friends, there is a sense of community all around you — very different from the sterile atmosphere at a traditional movie theater. Everyone here has bought into the experience of spreading out a blanket and chairs and taking in a movie under the stars, downing some concession food and even meeting some new friends during the show.

The Evergreen Drive-In got its start in 1947 as the Ruthorn Drive-In. Its opening made the front page of the local newspaper with the headline “Capacity audience at Opening Night; Drive-In Theater.” The story gushed that the first drive-in theater in Westmoreland County drew people from all points across this county and Fayette County, with ushers escorting each car to its space.

The Ruthorn Drive-In opened in the industry’s infancy just two years before Richard Hollingshead’s 1933 patent for “Drive-In Theater” was to expire. Subsequently, the drive-in industry exploded. In 1949, the same year Hollingshead lost his patent, Ruthorn became the Evergreen and has been so ever since.

It was here during the heyday of B-movies that splashed across the screens on pastures across the Midwest, Appalachia and both the Pacific and Atlantic coastlines; it was a rite of passage for the American family (as well as lusty teenagers) to spend at least a dozen weekends at a drive-in every summer.

The ’60s were the golden age of the drive-in, peaking with more than 5,000 outdoor screens across the country. Now, that number is at around 500, according to numbers calculated by the United Drive-In Theater Owners Association.

The Warren family, which has been in the drive-in business since 1949 and owns seven other such drive-ins in the area, purchased the Evergreen in 1999. Two years later, they added two additional screens, and they began showing first-run movies a year later.

This week, if you get here in enough time, you have your choice of “Thor: Love & Thunder” and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” on screen one, “Minions: The Rise of Gru” and “Elvis” on screen two, and “Jurassic World: Dominion” and “Top Gun: Maverick” on screen three.

Adults pay $10 for admission, ages 6 to 12 pay half-price and children under 5 are free. It’s cash only, and you must follow the rules: no cussing; the speed limit is 5 mph; no alcohol; and don’t even think about littering.

In an era filled with new stories and social media posts listing grievances and reasons to hate living in this country, places such as the Evergreen Drive-In, where they celebrate America, are more common than you think.

Last week’s Gallup poll showed that America’s love of country is at an all-time historic low. A dwindling number of Americans, just 38% now, are “extremely proud” to be Americans. That’s down from 70% just after 9/11 and before the boom of social media.

Perhaps the question lacks nuance. People’s views on politics and government and the current state of the nation may have muddled many people’s answers. But I’m guessing that the answers at the Evergreen Drive-in would be remarkably different if you asked the same thing. Even with love of country falling out of fashion with our cultural curators (the people in power in news organizations, Hollywood, corporations, government, politics, institutions, academia and Big Tech), many, many people out there remain deeply proud to be American.

https://stoppingsocialism.com/2022/07/salena-zito-american-pride-is-out-here-hiding-in-plain-sight

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My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

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