All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Tendrin]

According to the NYT, the three most frequently threatened members of Congress, you’ll be shocked to hear, are Nancy Pelosi, Ilhan Omar, and AOC.

:surprisedPikachuface:

[hyped78]

There are scumbags of all political stripes. And this is also what happens when you find yourself in bubbles where you dehumanize the other side and see them as not just wrong or misguided but truly inhuman and in need of correction or even punishment. Rational people should be able to see criticism of some of their political group and not see it as a condemnation of all.

As many on the left like to say when centrists or right-wingers push back on charges of racism or homophobia when it comes to the criticisms of some in their Parties, "if you're not the one expressing racist or homophobic views then you shouldn't need to defend against those charges". If you're not the kind of scumbag that wishes harm on others because they check a different box on their ballots than you, don't feel the need to defend them.

1. Nobody, Trump and his family included, deserves to have their lives or homes destroyed by a hurricane because you disagree with them. 2. Not everyone in Florida is either A. Republican or B. Wealthy.

100%, agree with all this

I agree in general. But Trump deserves to have his life destroyed. As well as his criminal family. People like DeSantis and Abbott too, for what they are doing to immigrants and women.

Yes, but always do it legally - through the police, in courts and in elections (this isn’t opposite to what you’re saying!)

To Qpublicans, socialism is evil as hell….until they need a bailout, then it’s not so bad. The hypocrisy is staggering.

I think that in a post pandemic world, we’re seeing parties of all colors and spectrums asking for the state to step in and help. Interesting, no? There goes the free market dogma.

I didn't say it was ok.
But there is also a reason why people say never to read the comments section. The fact that there are horrible things in the comments section is hardly newsworthy.

Agree. In most sites, from left to right, if a topic is somewhat controversial, there is always trolling in the comments section.

Liz Truss is making history.

Putting a Reagonomics fanatic in power during a time that requires, well, a kind of socialism is certainly fascinating from an academic viewpoint, but I am worried about all the people in the UK affected by this.

This is something:

Unless she does a u-turn (and I guess she can’t fully do that, as this is what she promised during her campaign), she won’t stay in power for long. Starmer only needs to wait, he’s got everything going for him. People here are extremely worried about their mortgages, on top of being already previously worried about inflation, especially energy prices. Bank of England have signalled they will raise interest rates, many observers are forecasting up to 6%, this will be devastating for folks who have mortgages.
And - We’re not even considering Brexit effects on UK commerce with its main EU partners.

Truss is doing so badly, that even a Labour MP (Rupa Huq) doing a very racist statement this week about the Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, was something that was dealt with fast (Labour have suspended her) and efficiently, without much political fallout for Starmer and Labour.

[Tendrin]

I can't imagine the Tories controlling the government for much longer.

[hyped78]

Lol, I knew someone would try to bring up famously transphobic ‘journalist’ Jesse Singal.

https://twitter.com/rottenindenmark/...vN8Wmb1vqSoCcQ

https://twitter.com/epistemophagy/st...vN8Wmb1vqSoCcQ

https://twitter.com/atinygreencell/s...OYUObxAwWCJPhQ

Here is the most important link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/...9.2022.2100644


Jesse Singal has been concern trolling and lying about trans issues for actual years. Anyone still indulging the Huge Spike In Transgender People is just ridiculous at this point and Singal has been relentlessly wrong for actual years.

Of course, anyone - even folks in the scientific community - who dare question and/or criticize are automatically branded as “transphobes”. But linking a Vox opinion article written by a trans woman, with zero scientific background, is automatically absolute truth! Well done, Trump would approve that type of approach.

[CaptainEurope]

I can't imagine the Tories controlling the government for much longer.

My worry: They will have done so much damage to the economy by then that the next government won't be able to stabilize as quickly as the electorate wants, and then it's decades of instability. And the EU cannot help anymore.

[hyped78]

I can't imagine the Tories controlling the government for much longer.

I agree. The thing is - they are not forced to call for a general election now. The same way they replaced Boris with Liz, they can get rid of Liz and replace her with someone else. The next General Election needs to be called before Jan. 2025, so they can stay in power until then, with whoever they internally elect.

Now, these are the rules. The political reality is a bit different and I don’t see Liz hanging on for much longer, if this continues as it is, and if she goes I don’t understand how politically the Tories could get away without immediately calling for a General Election. In other words: even though they can stay in power, I think that when/if she goes, they should call for an election and there will be tremendous pressure for them to do so.

There is a terrible mismatch between fiscal policy and monetary policy right now, I don’t remember another recent example like this in a country where the central bank operates independently.

[hyped78]

My worry: They will have done so much damage to the economy by then that the next government won't be able to stabilize as quickly as the electorate wants, and then it's decades of instability. And the EU cannot help anymore.

Good point. But if you’re Starmer you probably want an election when things are at their worst, and you can win a lot of seats (polls this week - 46% to 55% Labour and a staggering number of seats), vs. having an election at a time when things are potentially a bit better

45% is likely about 385 to 390 seats.

Side effect is the Liberal Democrats having a terrible result in terms of seats, because of first past the post system.

[Tendrin]

Of course, anyone - even folks in the scientific community - who dare question and/or criticize are automatically branded as “transphobes”. But linking a Vox opinion article written by a trans woman, with zero scientific background, is automatically absolute truth! Well done, Trump would approve that type of approach.

It helps when they have a very long history of transphobia and Singal absolutely does.

[hyped78]

It helps when they have a very long history of transphobia and Singal absolutely does.

I will acknowledge I have no idea who Singal is, never heard of him

[PaulBullion]

I will acknowledge I have no idea who Singal is, never heard of him

I totally admire your confidence to insert yourself in the conversation anyway. Good job!

[hyped78]

I totally admire your confidence to insert yourself in the conversation anyway. Good job!

Huh, I wasn’t commenting on Singal, I was making a wider point. This “conversation” that you allude to has been going on and off on this thread since at least July.

Besides commenting more generally that anyone who criticizes is immediately branded a “transphobe” (not just Singal, who I don’t know, like I said; again - I made a general point), I also checked St. James’ background and her obvious lack of qualifications to authoritatively talk about a topic that should be embedded in science rather than strong feelings (one way or the other).

Thank you for your completely clueless comment, unaware that this is part of a long standing discussion on this thread. Good job!

PS - also, this is a forum, people are free to drop in and out of conversations as they see fit, as long as they don’t violate the forum’s guidelines. You should’ve known that by now.

[Tendrin]

I will acknowledge I have no idea who Singal is, never heard of him

We can add this to the list of things you don't know about trans issues. Dude has been criticized for his transphobic hit pieces in the Columbia Journalism Review and the Harvard Law Review. GLAAD and the HRC both have cited him as a purveyor of transphobic narratives -- and transphobies like AG Ken Paxton cite his 2018 piece in the Atlantic about trans kids (which did not cite a single trans child that had not desisted despite them making up an amazingly small number of a small number) to affirm that gender affirming care is child abuse. The WPATH and the Endocrine Society have recently issued 2022 guidance on standards of care (SOC 8) for transgender children which directly rebuts Jesse Singall's flimsy arguments in numerous ways and are founded on the vast perponderance of actual scientific and clinical research by medical professionals working on endocrinology and trans patients.

What Singal has done is present a *veneer* of science to essentially anti-trans arguments. As stated in the Harvard Law View:

In April 2021, Harvard Law Review cited Singal’s Atlantic piece as an example of “desistance” claims used to support anti-transgender legislation. Singal’s work had been previously cited favorably by a consortium of conservative attorneys general seeking to curtail trans health services. Passages in bold cite Singal.

The argument that trans youth should not receive gender-affirming medical care must be vigorously discredited on its own terms as a fallacious rationalization of ingrained prejudices that contradicts both empirical data and the experiences of thousands of children. For one thing, the bills’ central justification, that trans youth lack the capacity for self-reflection necessary to accurately perceive their gender identities,
is flatly untrue. Trans youth are quite secure in their gender identities by the time hormonal interventions become physiologically appropriate. A related claim, that trans youth should have to wait until adulthood to transition because many young children who display gender nonconforming behavior “desist,” or do not grow up to be transgender, has questionable empirical support and, more fundamentally, equivocates gender expression with gender identity. There is a meaningful difference between a child who exhibits gender-atypical behavior and a child who persistently identifies as another gender, and the fact that the former child may not be transgender does nothing to invalidate the latter child’s entitlement to access medically necessary gender-affirming care. And gender nonconforming children who later “desist” from expressing the binary gender opposite to their assigned sex may not necessarily identify as cisgender; they may be nonbinary or possess another gender identity. Presuming that all of these persons are cisgender thus erases nonbinary experiences. Second, the implied premise that trans youth have unilateral control over whether and when they transition is empirically untrue because the current standards of care recommend both parental consent and a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria before a minor can receive puberty blockers or HRT. This “gatekeeping” model, far from uncritically acceding to trans youths’ wishes, privileges caution and deliberation over ease of access. Finally, even if one accepts that a certain number of cisgender youth will mistakenly transition if gender-affirming healthcare is available (which is itself a dubious proposition), that number is likely dwarfed by the number of trans youth who will suffer the opposite, equivalent harm — being unable to transition even though transition is right for them — if gender-affirming healthcare is not available.

[hyped78]

We can add this to the list of things you don't know about trans issues. Dude has been criticized for his transphobic hit pieces in the Columbia Journalism Review and the Harvard Law Review. GLAAD and the HRC both have cited him as a purveyor of transphobic narratives -- and transphobies like AG Ken Paxton cite his 2018 piece in the Atlantic about trans kids (which did not cite a single trans child that had not desisted despite them making up an amazingly small number of a small number) to affirm that gender affirming care is child abuse. The WPATH and the Endocrine Society have recently issued 2022 guidance on standards of care (SOC 8) for transgender children which directly rebuts Jesse Singall's flimsy arguments in numerous ways and are founded on the vast perponderance of actual scientific and clinical research by medical professionals working on endocrinology and trans patients.

What Singal has done is present a *veneer* of science to essentially anti-trans arguments. As stated in the Harvard Law View:

I honestly don’t care about him (but I’ve read what you’ve just posted) let Mister Mets “defend” him/ his posts. I was talking generally. And, again - the Vox article you posted is written by someone with zero scientific background, someone who is trans herself (and there’s nothing wrong with being trans - but obviously that makes her biased towards this topic)

[Tendrin]

I honestly don’t care about him (but I’ve read what you’ve just posted) let Mister Mets “defend” him/ his posts. I was talking generally. And, again - the Vox article you posted is written by someone with zero scientific background, someone who is trans herself (and there’s nothing wrong with being trans - but obviously that makes her biased towards this topic)

Oh no, I centered a trans voice.

[hyped78]

Oh no, I centered a trans voice.

Oh no, you made something a trans voice says an absolute truth. And all others are automatically wrong