A shoddy Oklahoma University essay went viral. Cis people think this is about conservatives whining for better grades. Trans people see a planned attack on a trans academic. (Note for free subscribers: TODAY ONLY, you can get 20% off the first year of annual subscription to my Patreon. For as
I'll be back tomorrow with a longer post and then a recap post Wednesday this week. I wish you all safe travels this Thanksgiving week. I just wanted to make sure you all saw the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale going on right now on my Patreon. From
I was an early critic of the Delaware Representative, I've since come around on her actions defending trans rights. Yes, I know this won't be a popular take. This week, 213 House Democrats sent a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson condemning "the use of anti-transgender
She seamlessly landed a plum role at Vanity Fair and got a sweetheart book deal after breaking a fundamental journalistic ethics rule. When my co-host Christine Grimaldi and I recorded our October 2024 episode of Cancel Me, Daddy titled "Sexting with Mr. Brainworms," I had hoped it would
Content Warning: This post will have light discussion of trans-related suicide, please take care of yourself. Here is a recap of my last two weeks! Apologies again for not getting out a recap last week. Every time there is an election, the week after election day is my busiest of
The trans girl murder victim's mom has turned her death into an unrelated political crusade against teenage phone use. Note: I want to be clear upfront that I have no issue with Esther Ghey, mother of murdered UK trans girl Brianna Ghey. Brianna Ghey's brutal murder
Democrats asked voters to weather short term pain from the shutdown to get long term gains in extending the ACA health insurance subsidies. Then they threw it all away. So, what was the point of all that? This morning we find ourselves on the cusp of the end to the
I asked my BlueSky followers to send me the funniest election night posts and boy howdy did they deliver. Enjoy! The Post having a normal one — Kate Burns (@katerqburns.bsky.social) 2025-11-05T03:50:04.633Z "The day NYC elects a Muslim Mayor will be the day I die."
While SNAP benefits are slashed, a recession looms, and farmers watch their crops fail, Trump hosted an obscene display of wealth. Over the weekend, images of an obscenely wealthy Gatsby-themed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago hit social media. Half naked dancers dressed in plumes of feathers and sparkles gyrated and wriggled
Hello all! First of all, I'd like to apologize for not getting this out on Friday. I was on deadline for a Teen Vogue piece you'll see next week and had absolutely no time to get this out and yesterday I was too exhausted. This week&
The Democratic party must move on from the same old stale, carefully poll-tested politics and get back to solving voters' problems. There are only three certainties in life: death, taxes, and Democratic party consultants saying the party needs to moderate. This was their advice when Al Gore and John
In medieval times, lords would pay tribute to the ruling monarch in order to collect money from local merchants and the peasantry. Under Trump, it's corporations gladly paying that bill. If you were a merchant in the middle ages and you wanted to conduct business on the Mongolian
The New York Times this week ran a magazine feature about a group of cis women who take testosterone for to get a more active libido. It got me thinking about the double standards we have for trans people who seek gender affirming care. Sick Burns - 10/24/2025
"I am not accusing Platner of being a Nazi or a white supremacist. I am accusing Platner of being unfit for the US Senate. He is not irredeemable, he just isn't suited for one of the most powerful jobs on the planet." This piece was supposed
Before this weekend, I couldn’t stop thinking about fleeing the country. No King’s made up my mind. Readers of this newsletter know that, for the last year or so, I've been weighing whether or not I should flee the country for my own safety. As a
sick burns
It's been a busy week over here at Burns Notice HQ. Here's a recap of everything you missed, what I've been thinking about lately, and what caught my eye this week What I've Been Watching: I spent last night watching the New
For Republicans and their international counterparts, the advancement of their ideology takes precedence over their own neighbors. A news item that caught my eye this week was President Donald Trump conditioning his recently announced $20 billion aid package to Argentina on whether or not far right president Javier Milei gets
Who needs the National Guard when your state troopers are perfectly willing to crack protester skulls all on their own? Listen, Illinois governor JB Pritzker is not perfect, but he's my guy. Or at least he was. I disagree with a lot about him, including his support for
I wasn't planning to post anything today. I dislike working and writing on weekends in general, but this was too important to ignore. You have to see this Zohran Mamdani campaign ad that came out this morning: It's an entire political ad, from a major Democratic
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Sick Burns - 10/10/2025 Coming into this year, I had 509 paid Patreon subscribers and I set the ambitious goal of hitting 1000 paid supporters by the end of the year. Currently between the new Burns Notice newsletter and my Patreon, I have 802 paid members. If you
A timely interview with Chastity Bowick, the new Executive Director of the Marsha P. Johnson Institute. This interview has been edited for clarity and may differ slightly from the audio version. I've been asked a lot by my friends lately what I think of the state of trans
Trump's ICE agents are wantonly breaking the law across the country, while he sends the national guard to forcibly occupy blue states. It's up to the good citizens of this country to oppose this unconstitutional oppression. Every day I log on to the internet and see
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The Conservative personality and activist was killed about three weeks ago and everyone has already moved on from caring about his death. What I've Been Watching: Last night I made the mistake of watching the new AppleTV movie The Lost Bus, starring Matthew McConaughey. The film is based
Oh Bill Burr... What are you doing man? You were the chosen one. You were supposed to destroy the Sith, not join them! I'm referencing, of course, the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia this week and next. Burr, one of my favorite lefty comedians decided to accept