DL Open Thread: Thursday, October 20, 2022

Britain’s Prime Minister Resigns!  Trussed on her own petard. Or something like that:

Embattled U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss has resigned following a tumultuous few weeks in office now distinguished as the shortest term in history.

Truss announced her resignation Thursday in a short statement outside her office at 10 Downing Street.

“I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the conservative party,” she said.

She said she informed King Charles she would resign, but plans to remain prime minister until a successor has been chosen.

Former Top US Military Officials Rode The Gravy Train–To Saudi Arabia’s Murderous Prince:

More than 500 retired U.S. military personnel — including scores of generals and admirals — have taken lucrative jobs since 2015 working for foreign governments, mostly in countries known for human rights abuses and political repression, according to a Washington Post investigation.

In Saudi Arabia, for example, 15 retired U.S. generals and admirals have worked as paid consultants for the Defense Ministry since 2016. The ministry is led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, who U.S. intelligence agencies say approved the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Post contributing columnist, as part of a brutal crackdown on dissent.

Saudi Arabia’s paid advisers have included retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, a national security adviser to President Barack Obama, and retired Army Gen. Keith Alexander, who led the National Security Agency under Obama and President George W. Bush, according to documents obtained by The Post under Freedom of Information Act lawsuits.

Oh, well. At least now they can shoot a round (of golf) with Phil Mickelson or Greg Norman.

Russians Kill Ukrainian Conductor B/C He Wouldn’t Perform In a Propaganda Concert.

Predictably, Rethug leaders promise to side with Russia:

Ukrainian officials have expressed “shock” over Republican suggestions that future assistance for Kyiv could be limited if the party wins the House of Representatives in November’s US midterm elections, calling on Washington to continue providing bipartisan support. In comments that raised eyebrows, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy said earlier this week he anticipates difficulty in passing additional aid for Ukraine, should his party win the lower chamber of Congress — a result predicted by current polling. “I think people are going to be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank cheque to Ukraine,” McCarthy told Punchbowl News.

Everything You Know About Hydration Is Wrong!  8 glasses of water a day? Nope.  Caffeine dehydrates you? Nope.  You need sports drinks to rehydrate?  A qualified nope. And so on.  Good read.

(Warning: Sensitive Topic, But You Can Handle It):  Doctors (Most Of Whom Are Men) Have Ignored Clitoral Health Forever.  ‘Some’ would say that men have overlooked the clitoris forever. To everyone’s detriment:

Some urologists compare the vulva to “a small town in the Midwest,” said Dr. Irwin Goldstein, a urologist and pioneer in the field of sexual medicine. Doctors tend to pass through it, barely looking up, on their way to their destination, the cervix and uterus. That’s where the real medical action happens: ultrasounds, Pap smears, IUD insertion, childbirth.

If the vulva as a whole is an underappreciated city, the clitoris is a local roadside bar: little known, seldom considered, probably best avoided. “It’s completely ignored by pretty much everyone,” said Dr. Rachel Rubin, a urologist and sexual health specialist outside Washington, D.C. “There is no medical community that has taken ownership in the research, in the management, in the diagnosis of vulva-related conditions.”

Thankfully, Drs. Rubin and Goldstein are seeking to make amends:

Today, Dr. Rubin has appointed herself Washington’s premier “clitorologist.” The joke, of course, is that few are vying for the title — out of embarrassment, a lack of knowledge or fear of breaching propriety with patients. “Doctors love to focus on what we know,” she said. “And we don’t like to show weakness, that we don’t know something.”

This oversight has the potential to harm women, as well as trans men and other people with vulvas. There have been documented injuries to the clitoris in procedures including pelvic mesh surgeries, episiotomies during childbirth and even hip surgeries. When performed poorly, a labiaplasty — a procedure to reduce the size of the labia minora, and one of the fastest-growing cosmetic surgeries worldwide — can also damage nerves, leading to genital pain and loss of sexual sensation.

Many of these injuries could be prevented, Dr. Rubin said, if doctors just spent more time getting to know the clitoris. In January, she made this point to a roomful of mostly male doctors at the annual convention of military urologists in Palm Springs, Calif., during a lecture on female sexual health. Practical, animated and unflappable, she was voted as having the best lecture at the conference.

The solution is obvious:  More female physicians specializing in sexual health.

What do you want to talk about?