Ink, Bottled

22 July - 17 August 2025

Aug 17, 2025

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Every month or so, I publish a link post to everything I have written or podcasted around the internet lately. Use this button to get a 50 percent discount on premium annual subscriptions to Osborne Ink.

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Osborne Ink

If Hollywood Lets Taika Waititi Ruin 'Judge Dredd' I May Set Things On Fire

My happiest memory of the 1980s is discovering Judge Dredd. Before Sylvester Stallone removed the iconic helmet to reveal his famous face, blowing his chance to start up a film franchise, Dredd was a comic book superhero with a difference. For unlike the…

a month ago · 5 likes · Matt Osborne

The Distance

Vincent Deboni Explains How South Africa Got Sick With Gender Ideology

Vincent Deboni, a South African-born therapist living in Sweden, works with detransitioners “transcending gender,” in his words. We had a wide-ranging, far-reaching, and ultimately mind-blowing conversation about ideology, doctrine, and the hero’s journey as the cure for young men in a society sickened by genderwoo…

Listen now

a month ago · Matt Osborne

Osborne Ink

If Stephen Colbert's Show Lost $40-50 Million A Year Then No Wonder It's Gone

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert lost $40 million a year, according to the New York Post. A New York Times article reports the losses at $50 million a year. Of the people who still watch the show, “only 219,000 of those viewers—roughly 9%—fell within the coveted 18-49 demographic, a critical group for advertisers,” reports…

a month ago · 6 likes · Matt Osborne

This essay is a premium subscriber exclusive at Polemology.net

Polemology Positions

How The Camel Conquered The Early Muslim World From India To Spain

For their own reasons, majorities of the fundamentalists of Islam and the sectarian critics of Islam both maintain that faith alone made the Arab conquests possible; they merely disagree whether the faith of Islam is itself good. This narrative has little material evidence to support it and is in reality a metaphysical disagreement that cannot be resolved by any scientific historical method…

25 days ago · 1 like · Matt Osborne

Osborne Ink

Rahm Emanuel Still In Denial: Genderwoo 'Not The Dominant Issue' For Him

On the one hand, Rahm Emanuel appreciates how cancel culture has hurt the Democratic Party, telling Megyn Kelly that voters respond to “authenticity” rather than authority. He seems to understand that genderwoo in the classroom, the gym, the pool, and on the track is a massive political loser for Democrats. Asked whether men can become women, Emanuel an…

25 days ago · Matt Osborne

This essay is exclusively available to premium subscribers of The Distance until September.

The Distance

Pride Goeth Before The Fall Of Gender

“Can a man become a woman? Not — no…

24 days ago · Matt Osborne

Osborne Ink

Bonfire Of The Hollywood Vanities

Pedro Pascal is the perfect avatar of the postmodern, post-Harvey Weinstein Hollywood fetish for non-toxic masculinity and girlboss ‘empowerment’ narratives. He confirms it with every interview. He will not be quiet about his fringe political views or his hatred of J.K. Rowling. He consciously embraces and emulates loudmouth Rachel Zeigler of the late, ill-fated…

24 days ago · 8 likes · 1 comment · Matt Osborne

The Distance

The Books In Mahmoud v Taylor Are Absolute Trash On Their Own Terms

T.Q. Townsend is “a book nerd,” in her own words. Her podcast specializes in childrens’ literature. In a recent video version of her podcast on YouTube, Townsend read the nine books at the center of the recent Supreme Court ruling, Mahmoud v. Taylor, to see what the fuss was about…

23 days ago · Matt Osborne

The Distance

Miles Yardley And The Detransition Wave

“They very quickly put me on hormones without really any discernment,” Miles Yardley tells The New York Post of his medical transition at the age of fifteen. “Looking back, if I were a doctor, I would think this is a much larger decision than the kid thinks that it is.” Indeed. None of us is the same person we were twelve years ago, so how on earth is a 15-year-old supposed to ‘know who they really are’ in the future, when they will be 27, like Yardley…

20 days ago · 6 likes · Matt Osborne

Osborne Ink

Are The Trump Tariffs Actually Working?

According to the US Treasury Department, American taxpayers enjoyed a revenue surplus of $27 billion in June, sharply rising after a $316 billion deficit in May. It was a 13% increase in receipts over the same month in 2024. Jeff Cox explains at CNBC…

20 days ago · Matt Osborne

This essay is available exclusively to premium subscribers of Polemology.net until September

Polemology Positions

The Wild Rumors About Xi Jinping And The CCP Are Just Brand Management

It has been clear for months that something is going on in China. But what? Rumors of change have been rampant. Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, was said to have lost power in a bloodless coup; he was under house arrest, and being forced from office this September; a meeting of the politburo in June turned into a struggle session, with a tearful confession from Xi, who had to miss the BRICS summit in July because he is no longer allowed to leave the country. And so on…

20 days ago · Matt Osborne

The Distance

The FTC Wants Your Information On 'Trans' Medical Fraud. All Of The Fraud

The Federal Trade Commission has published an appeal to the public for information related to potential fraud in ‘gender medicine’. While the FTC is mainly interested in pediatric cases, they are accepting information related to potential fraud perpetrated on adults as well. The deadline is 26 September 2025…

19 days ago · 1 like · 1 comment · Matt Osborne

Osborne Ink

Fantastic Flops: The Best Marvel Film Of The Year Is A Box Office Loser

Put away the champagne. Fantastic Four: First Steps took in just $118 million at the domestic box office over the weekend, underperforming Superman’s opening. It was not at all the result that Disney-owned Marvel Studios wanted. “Especially not after the previous two MCU releases this year underperformed,” Mark Hughes…

19 days ago · 1 like · Matt Osborne

Polemology Positions

Ukraine Is Systematically Shutting Down Russia's Transportation Network

Long-range strike drones reportedly hit a fuel and lubricants depot, an equipment train, and the Dvoynaya traction substation at the station in Orlovsky village on the Salsk railway, last night. “Tankers, tracks, and buildings are burning,” according…

19 days ago · Matt Osborne

Skeptic Spirit

Inventing Space Jesus: The Urantia Book And Extraterrestrials In American Religion

Matt Osborne

Jul 30

Inventing Space Jesus: The Urantia Book And Extraterrestrials In American Religion

During the 18th century, Emanuel Swedenborg published a series of volumes about the progress of the human soul in the afterlife through a universe filled with worlds covered in people. Swedenborg claimed that, by means of spirit-communication and astral travel, he had visited with extraterrestrial beings, living and dead. He described Mercury, Venus, the moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and extrasolar worlds as well as their humanoid inhabitants.

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Polemology Positions

Stop Talking About Regime Change In Iran

I am already tired of seeing Reza Pahlavi celebrated as the new shah of Iran. He will never live long enough to see the inside of the country again. The regime is not going anywhere for him, and he has no real domestic support base to speak of. Former president Mir-Hossein Mousavi too…

17 days ago · Matt Osborne

Osborne Ink

'Fantastic Four' Box Office Crashes

Box office receipts show that the new Fantastic Four: First Steps is falling behind its competition. “This Monday haul falls short of DC Studios’ Superman, which grossed $12.9 million on its first Monday, July 14, 2025,” Marvin Montanaro reports. In fact, the film is now doing worse than the worst recent releases from Marvel…

17 days ago · 7 likes · Matt Osborne

Skeptic Spirit

Extraterrestrials Are An Old Time Religion In America: Your Free Weekend Listening

Matt Osborne

Aug 1

Extraterrestrials Are An Old Time Religion In America: Your Free Weekend Listening

On Wednesday, I published my latest essay on the history of people believing in aliens on other planets. Inventing Space Jesus: The Urantia Book And Extraterrestrials In American Religion is exclusively available to premium subscribers right now. If you are not already a premium subscriber, consider upgrading to learn this forgotten story of the America…

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The Distance

Beauty Is Back, Boys

I will spare the reader a highlight reel of intersectional feminists melting down on TikTok about white supremacy. I have nothing original to add to the commentary on American Eagle baiting ‘progressives’ in order to sell blue jeans and make a billion dollars. I just feel the need to mark this occasion…

17 days ago · 3 likes · Matt Osborne

The Distance

Prosecution Of 'Non-Affirming' Dad Ends In Exoneration By Human Services Judge

Minnesota Human Services Judge William B. Madsen has recommended Sherburne County CPS reverse its finding that Brent Bowlby maltreated a minor by mental injury. Madsen’s findings are an absolute embarassment to CPS officials at the County Government Center…

16 days ago

Available exclusively to premium subscribers of Polemology.net until September.

Polemology Positions

How To Defend Taiwan