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

[Starter Set]

The cruelty is the point. Given the poverty most transgender people exist in, this is essentially banning transition in Florida.

Don't worry, though! I'm sure our local conservatives will make excuses for how DeSantis is totally okay to vote for.

That's an interesting question though. Should public money be used for something like that?

I can't say i really agree with that.

[Tendrin]

That's an interesting question though. Should public money be used for something like that?

I can't say i really agree with that.

It is not an 'interesting question', unless I suppose you're a transphobe looking for an excuse to ban transition care for transgender people in poverty and think their identities and conditions are illegitimate.

I mean, seriously? Who the hell do you think you are?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Oh, of course he waited for June too, as you said, the cruelty is the point.

Damn! Pride Month! No way in hell that was a simple coincidence on his part. Qpublicans like DeSantis are nasty bastards.

[Panfoot]

Damn! Pride Month! No way in hell that was a simple coincidence on his part. Qpublicans like DeSantis are nasty bastards.

If I remember correctly I think last year he also introduced some anti LGBT legislation on the anniversary of the pulse nightclub shooting.

[Panfoot]

It is not an 'interesting question', unless I suppose you're a transphobe looking for an excuse to ban transition care for transgender people in poverty and think their identities and conditions are illegitimate.

I mean, seriously? Who the hell do you think you are?

Agreed, the *only* reason to ban it is for bigotry.

[Gray Lensman]

Oops, I was responding to the wrong conversation...

[Ragged Maw]

That's an interesting question though. Should public money be used for something like that?

I can't say i really agree with that.

I don’t see tax dollars getting vacuumed up for the transitioning process itself, but the emergency procedures employed in the event that something during or after the process goes south could be a different story. I doubt too many would object to making publicly available care that literally saves them from imminent death (eg. chemotherapy; tracheotomies; etc.).

[Tendrin]

I don’t see tax dollars getting vacuumed up for the transitioning process itself, but the emergency procedures employed in the event that something during or after the process goes south could be a different story. I doubt too many would object to making publicly available care that literally saves them from imminent death (eg. chemotherapy; tracheotomies; etc.).

HRT and blockers are extremely safe, and HRT has all kinds of uses in Cis women and men. Surgery on transgender people doesn't carry any more risk anything else, so something going wrong in the process isn't really a factor in the cost. Besides, we're talking about a fragment of a fragment of the population. We spend more on riskier things for cis people that are far less effective for their health than we do on transgender people.

There are only 9000 floridians who are transgender and on state health plans. DeSantis' willingness to target them is because they're a vanishingly small minority with people very willing to debate whether or not they should be allowed to exist in peace and their basic humanity, like Start Set here.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Saw this on Twitter:

Last week it was arm the teachers. This week it's arm the doctors. But when that white supremacist shot up the black grocery store, guess what they didn't say:

Arm the black people.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Biden's approval ratings are now lower than trump's. I hope the dems have a plan.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Biden's approval ratings are now lower than trump's. I hope the dems have a plan.

Well, it can be said that the Qpublicans certainly had a plan that resulted in those low ratings: Block everything Biden proposed, then loudly blame him for everything that went wrong, even things that weren’t in his power to control (rising gas prices, the baby formula crisis), and that strategy worked. The problem with the Dems is their inability, or unwillingness to get down and dirty with the GQP, and that includes Biden who either doesn’t, or won’t use the bully pulpit he has as president to lay waste to the terrible things the GQP have done to destabilize the country in their mindless thirst for power. The Dems need to take off the kid gloves, ball up their fists and use the same dirty tricks the GQP uses to get their points across, they have to scream bloody murder about how Qpublicans will turn the clock back over half a century when it comes to civil rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, the whole nine yards. Dems have to expose Qpublicans for the insurrectionists they are. That’s all I got.

[Iron Maiden]

Well, it can be said that the Qpublicans certainly had a plan that resulted in those low ratings: Block everything Biden proposed, then loudly blame him for everything that went wrong, even things that weren’t in his power to control (rising gas prices, the baby formula crisis), and that strategy worked. The problem with the Dems is their inability, or unwillingness to get down and dirty with the GQP, and that includes Biden who either doesn’t, or won’t use the bully pulpit he has as president to lay waste to the terrible things the GQP have done to destabilize the country in their mindless thirst for power. The Dems need to take off the kid gloves, ball up their fists and use the same dirty tricks the GQP uses to get their points across, they have to scream bloody murder about how Qpublicans will turn the clock back over half a century when it comes to civil rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, the whole nine yards. Dems have to expose Qpublicans for the insurrectionists they are. That’s all I got.

I wish the Dems had someone younger and more aggressive to take on Trump and his ilk. But I don't see anyone on the horizon. We have a local guy here in Indiana named Thomas McDermott who is trying to win the Senate seat but it's an uphill battle here. It's hard to believe that Indiana had a Democratic Governor and senators when I was younger.

[babyblob]

Well, it can be said that the Qpublicans certainly had a plan that resulted in those low ratings: Block everything Biden proposed, then loudly blame him for everything that went wrong, even things that weren’t in his power to control (rising gas prices, the baby formula crisis), and that strategy worked. The problem with the Dems is their inability, or unwillingness to get down and dirty with the GQP, and that includes Biden who either doesn’t, or won’t use the bully pulpit he has as president to lay waste to the terrible things the GQP have done to destabilize the country in their mindless thirst for power. The Dems need to take off the kid gloves, ball up their fists and use the same dirty tricks the GQP uses to get their points across, they have to scream bloody murder about how Qpublicans will turn the clock back over half a century when it comes to civil rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, the whole nine yards. Dems have to expose Qpublicans for the insurrectionists they are. That’s all I got.

That is the biggest issue I have had with the Dems and one I have posted many times. The Dems let the GOP spin every narrative. Let them have the talking points. Play nice and rarely call them out.

If I had a nickel for every time Biden said "Well we are going to get with the GOP and see what they have to say and work with them." I would be a millionaire. He ran on being the great uniter and never evolved out of that sound bite when it became clear that the other side had no intention of working with him any way shape or form.

It hurt him and it hurt his party, The Democrats are so busy taking the high Road the GOP is destroying the supports from that road.

The Gop has a clear message and a clear path on where they want to go. And it is a very bad path but they have pretty much everyone in their cult on board. This is how its going to be. Get with the program. And they have.

The Democrats dont have that unity.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I wish the Dems had someone younger and more aggressive to take on Trump and his ilk. But I don't see anyone on the horizon. We have a local guy here in Indiana named Thomas McDermott who is trying to win the Senate seat but it's an uphill battle here. It's hard to believe that Indiana had a Democratic Governor and senators when I was younger.

Well, other than Beto who’ll have his hands full unseating Greg Abbott down in Texas, I can’t think of any young Dem firebrands off the top of my head. AOC might’ve filled that prescription once, but I haven’t heard much from her lately, perhaps her once rising star has dimmed. Here in Pennsylvania, Conor Lamb showed promise, but then, he was routed for the state Senate nomination by Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, he of the reported stroke that hospitalized him a week before the election and haven’t heard from since he won the nod. Hopefully other up and comers will throw their hats in the ring, and soon.

[Kevinroc]

Biden's approval ratings are now lower than trump's. I hope the dems have a plan.

I don't have much hope on this front. American voters have notoriously short term memories.