09/06/2026
Hormones, Hot Tamales, Ballrooms & The Art of War: Sunday on Mamaw’s Porch Well, pull up a chair and refill that coffee, because Mamaw covered enough territory today to require snacks and possibly a map.
We started somewhere very different from Washington politics—with a story I wrote and wanted to share.
And then we wandered into Washington.
Lord help us.
First Up: Hormones — File This Under “NUNYA”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon has issued new clinical guidance involving hormone screening for service members.
Under the guidelines, men age 30 and older are to receive testosterone testing. For female service members, the guidance addresses evaluations involving fatigue, hormonal imbalance and menstrual irregularities.
Reuters reports that some medical professionals have questioned the scientific basis for broad testing and warned about unnecessary testing or treatment.
Now, Mamaw had a somewhat less clinical reaction:
NUNYA.
As in NUNYA BUSINESS.
There are legitimate questions about military health and readiness. There are also legitimate questions about medical privacy and whether every biological function of a woman wearing the uniform needs to become somebody else's policy discussion.
Women have been serving this country for generations.
Somehow they have managed menstruation, hormones, deployments, careers, families and military service without Mamaw needing a monthly Pentagon status report.
Imagine that.
Meanwhile, Washington Is Getting a Makeover
President Trump continues pushing major architectural projects in Washington, including the enormous White House ballroom project and a proposed monumental arch.
These aren't little landscaping projects.
The ballroom project alone has become the subject of legal, financial, historical-preservation and political fights.
And Mamaw keeps coming back to one question:
With everything happening in this country and around the world, how did BALLROOM become such a prominent word in American political conversation?
We're dealing with military operations overseas, trade disputes, economic questions and Americans trying to figure out what their grocery bill is going to look like next week.
And somehow we're discussing arches and ballrooms.
Washington has always been weird.
Apparently it has decided to become architecturally weird, too.
Then Mamaw Got Angry
This part wasn't funny.
President Trump was recently asked about the continuing U.S. conflict with Iran.
Eighteen American service members have been killed.
Trump defended Vice President JD Vance's contention that the situation shouldn't necessarily be called a war and described it instead as a “military conflict.”
Then he called it “small potatoes.”
Trump's argument was that the number of American deaths was comparatively small when measured against wars such as Vietnam.
Mamaw didn't hear statistics.
Mamaw heard:
18 American service members.
Eighteen families.
Eighteen empty chairs.
Eighteen people who put on the uniform of the United States of America.
Whether politicians call what's happening a war, a conflict, an operation or something dreamed up by a communications department doesn't change the fact that American military personnel have died.
And that was where Mamaw's temper showed up today.
Please LIKE, Comment, Follow, and SHARE!
