2022 Midterm Thread

[Vitalsign]

4 minutes ago, TUFKAK said:

Oh the transphobe isn’t important enough to confuse with someone of consequence. He’s nothing, just like the flyover states his kind reside it. But curious he popped up again now.

 

But he’s still here being a bigoted troll.

 

name your price, 500? This community would be better without his kind here.

 

What he offers I'll double it to ban TUFKAK

[TUFKAK]

I’ll take that offer.

 

1k ban both of us my friend. For the trans people who won’t have to read this bigots Bullshit, hill I’m willing to die on.

[Vitalsign]

Just now, TUFKAK said:

I’ll take that offer.

 

1k ban both of us my friend. For the trans people who won’t have to read this bigots Bullshit, hill I’m willing to die on.

 

Stunning, brave.

[stepee]

5 minutes ago, TUFKAK said:

I’ll take that offer.

 

1k ban both of us my friend. For the trans people who won’t have to read this bigots Bullshit, hill I’m willing to die on.

 

The problem is we don’t actually want you to leave again, and if he keeps it up (and continues to escalate the crazy as they usually do) he will be gone before the weekend is over anyway!

[TUFKAK]

Nah, I missed my chance to die a hero. But, I’m still looking for that hill. 

you’re still a pitiable man.

 

I legit feel sorry for you.

[Vitalsign]

3 minutes ago, TUFKAK said:

Nah, I missed my chance to die a hero. But, I’m still looking for that hill. 

you’re still a pitiable man.

 

I legit feel sorry for you.

 

Likewise. 

[Spork3245]

56 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

Yeah, sure - why not?

 

Might as well get it over with.

 

Scoop: Trump team eyes Nov. 14 announcement to kick off 2024 presidential run

WWW.AXIOS.COM

---

Allies are blocking off days in their calendars for the week after the midterms.

 

 

 

Should wait until Jan 6th 2023

[Vitalsign]

1 minute ago, Spork3245 said:

 

Should wait until Jan 6th 2023

 

Is it me or did the font on his hat get bigger?

[stepee]

He should not even run for office but just plan  to become president on jan 6th.

[TUFKAK]

 

10 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

The problem is we don’t actually want you to leave again, and if he keeps it up (and continues to escalate the crazy as they usually do) he will be gone before the weekend is over anyway!

I feel loved 

 

but, it’s more of this, I’ve actually dated trans women, I’ve heard their stories. What this bigot is saying causes real world harm to real people. If I can minimize that even so slightly, I’m willing to.

 

we’ve had trans members in our community before, we’d not allow this phobia on any other topic. Why this one?

[stepee]

2 minutes ago, TUFKAK said:

 

I feel loved 

 

but, it’s more of this, I’ve actually dated trans women, I’ve heard their stories. What this bigot is saying causes real world harm to real people. If I can minimize that even so slightly, I’m willing to.

 

we’ve had trans members in our community before, we’d not allow this phobia on any other topic. Why this one?

 

Oh I agree with you 100%, I just don’t think Wade is going to put up with him for long, I’m sure they are already talking about it in their private luxury mod board.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

I've spoken with him and made abundantly clear as to what type of community we are now, a very different one than the one that he interacted with in the past.

[Vitalsign]

Yes my time here will be brief. But I wish everyone here the best going forward. Life is short. I hope everyone finds their little corner of happiness. 

[TUFKAK]

3 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

Oh I agree with you 100%, I just don’t think Wade is going to put up with him for long, I’m sure they are already talking about it in their private luxury mod board.

And right on cue lol

[TUFKAK]

I just donated my initial offer to the aclu

[SaysWho?]

18 minutes ago, Vitalsign said:

Yes my time here will be brief. But I wish everyone here the best going forward. Life is short. I hope everyone finds their little corner of happiness. 

 

I hope you come around on trans folk. I've met trans kids who were able to make that transition from middle to high school with few troubles because of a very supportive environment, but how they're being used in culture wars as gay people were in the 80s/90s/00s is heartbreaking for me. I watched as acceptance toward gay people became more mainstream and want the same for trans because it's hard enough when some people think you're a freak for existing.

 

I think many people are anti-trans because they don't know anyone trans or don't realize they know anyone trans. It's so much easier to support when you've met them and know they just want to be themselves.

[CastletonSnob]

I'm dreading the days after the election, where people will talk about how Texas, Florida, and Georgia are shitholes and should just secede (especially Texas).

The Democrats deserve some blame if Republicans win big in those states. Beto, Abrams and Crist aren't the kind of candidates that get Democrats in Texas, Florida and Georgia excited.

[Vitalsign]

8 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

 

I hope you come around on trans folk. I've met trans kids who were able to make that transition from middle to high school with few troubles because of a very supportive environment, but how they're being used in culture wars as gay people were in the 80s/90s/00s is heartbreaking for me. I watched as acceptance toward gay people became more mainstream and want the same for trans because it's hard enough when some people think you're a freak for existing.

 

I think many people are anti-trans because they don't know anyone trans or don't realize they know anyone trans. It's so much easier to support when you've met them and know they just want to be themselves.

 

I won't. I reject the premise, no one can become the opposite sex. My views were shaped by my experience with my daughter. When she was 15 she told me she was "trans", that she wanted to become a boy, dead name, talking about hormones, the whole thing. I told her I understand she's feeling off but I will not refer to her as a boy and there will be no talk of hormones or surgery or anything. When she is 18 she can do whatever she wants. 

 

She hated me for about a year. Now she's 18 and says that was a phase and she is very thankful I pushed back. Some of her friends had parents who went along with it and they are now dealing with the issues inherient with it. There are many examples of people now in their 20s wondering where the hell the adults were allowing them to get on hormones as teenagers. These people are viewed with hatred from the trans community. 

 

To be clear, I don't care what adults want to do, my issue is as it pertains to children, specifically teenagers. 

[TUFKAK]

Eaten any good books lately?

[SaysWho?]

11 minutes ago, Vitalsign said:

 

I won't. I reject the premise, no one can become the opposite sex. My views were shaped by my experience with my daughter. When she was 15 she told me she was "trans", that she wanted to become a boy, dead name, talking about hormones, the whole thing. I told her I understand she's feeling off but I will not refer to her as a boy and there will be no talk of hormones or surgery or anything. When she is 18 she can do whatever she wants. 

 

She hated me for about a year. Now she's 18 and says that was a phase and she is very thankful I pushed back. Some of her friends had parents who went along with it and they are now dealing with the issues inherient with it. There are many examples of people now in their 20s wondering where the hell the adults were allowing them to get on hormones as teenagers. These people are viewed with hatred from the trans community. 

 

To be clear, I don't care what adults want to do, my issue is as it pertains to children, specifically teenagers. 

 

But the premise is very real as more and more research shows gender exists on a spectrum; sex is simply who you're attracted to. 

 

Research on the Transgender Brain: What You Should Know

HEALTH.CLEVELANDCLINIC.ORG

---

Expanding knowledge of the brain and gender identity

 

Quote

“The brain and the body can go in different directions,” Dr. Altinay says. “Gender is not only in our genitalia; there’s something in the brain that determines gender.”

“The male and female brain have structural differences,” he says. Men and women tend to have different volumes in certain areas of the brain.

 

“When we look at the transgender brain, we see that the brain resembles the gender that the person identifies as,” Dr. Altinay says. For example, a person who is born with a penis but ends up identifying as a female often actually has some of the structural characteristics of a “female” brain.

 

And the brain similarities aren’t only structural.

 

“We’re also finding some functional similarities between the transgender brain and its identified gender,” Dr. Altinay says.

 

In studies that use MRIs to take images of the brain as people perform tasks, the brain activity of transgender people tends to look like that of the gender they identify with.

“Research in these areas is extremely limited, and more research needs to be done to find conclusive results,” Dr. Altinay notes. “But we’re already seeing definite trends.”

 

Though these differences in brain structure and function are important markers for gender determination, it isn’t always as simple as male or female.

 

Some research shows the brains of transgender people are somewhere in between, sharing characteristics of both male and female brains, Dr. Altinay says.

 

This is consistent with the growing understanding that gender exists on a spectrum, with people identifying not only as male or female but also as genderqueer, genderfluid or nonbinary. These terms refer to gender identities that incorporate a variety of gender characteristics.

 

Your experience is different, and that's okay; she would have needed parental consent anyway to get hormone treatment, which is fully within your right as a parent. Your daughter is a straight woman and that's who she is. I'm also the same straight dude you met 10 years ago.

 

But trans people have existed since forever; it's just now that we're starting to understand it. I used to not "get it,' thinking it makes no sense that someone is another gender, but that I should adopt a "live and let live" mentality where even if I don't get it, I won't get in someone's way about it. But I've come around on what it is and feel like if we just understand that it's real, it's a lot easier to accept that some people are different, and that's okay.

[TUFKAK]

Just now, SaysWho? said:

 

But the premise is very real as more and more research shows gender exists on a spectrum; sex is simply who you're attracted to. 

 

Research on the Transgender Brain: What You Should Know

HEALTH.CLEVELANDCLINIC.ORG

---

Expanding knowledge of the brain and gender identity

 

 

Your experience is different, and that's okay; she would have needed parental consent anyway to get hormone treatment, which is fully within your right as a parent. Your daughter is a straight woman and that's who she is.

 

But trans people have existed since forever; it's just now that we're starting to understand it. I used to not "get it,' thinking it makes no sense that someone is another gender, but that I should adopt a "live and let live" mentality where even if I don't get it, I won't get in someone's way about it.

My friend you’ve more tolerance than me 

[SaysWho?]

To go further, California protects people who leave their state to seek hormone treatment. But even California doesn't override parental consent.

 

Quote

“Senate Bill 107 attempts to reaffirm parental rights to make medical decisions for their child,” Gudeman said. “What Senate Bill 107 says is if a parent brings their child to California for gender-affirming care, and exercises their parental right to consent to that care, California will honor that decision.”

 

You said no to her and it ended up being a phase for her. Good! Then you did nothing wrong for her and you would have had the same experience in a more progressive state because in those states, minors still need parental consent.

[Vitalsign]

2 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

 

But the premise is very real as more and more research shows gender exists on a spectrum; sex is simply who you're attracted to. 

 

Research on the Transgender Brain: What You Should Know

HEALTH.CLEVELANDCLINIC.ORG

---

Expanding knowledge of the brain and gender identity

 

 

Your experience is different, and that's okay; she would have needed parental consent anyway to get hormone treatment, which is fully within your right as a parent. Your daughter is a straight woman and that's who she is. I'm also the same straight dude you met 10 years ago.

 

But trans people have existed since forever; it's just now that we're starting to understand it. I used to not "get it,' thinking it makes no sense that someone is another gender, but that I should adopt a "live and let live" mentality where even if I don't get it, I won't get in someone's way about it.

 

i don't disagree with that. Gender dysphoria has been recognized as a thing for a long time. I don't doubt some people may find relief living as the other gender and should be free to do so. 

 

I think the evil of the situation is not the trans people themselves, there is a industry forming around this that is pushing for medical and surgical intervention at what I believe is a pre mature stage. In my daughter's case, had I went with the what popular cultural says, I should have taken my daughter to a gender affirming therapist and doctor, gotten her on pills and on the track to transitioning. Had I done that, she'd be dealing with the effects of the hormones right now.

 

 

[SaysWho?]

10 minutes ago, TUFKAK said:

My friend you’ve more tolerance than me 

 

It's easier for me to talk to him since I met him. He never struck me as someone who had an axe to grind toward the world, so I don't think he formed his viewpoints due to hatred toward others. Always struck me as old-school Republican thinking a lot of the conservative movement lost its mind, which explains why he never ended up voting for Trump either time, and he eventually switched parties over it IIRC.

 

My guess speaking with him is that the focus on trans in recent years has been very strange and borderline incomprehensible. It probably won't matter if he came around right now since I expect things are gonna be bad in Florida for LGBTQ youth for a while and Republicans are gonna harden control, but I try to remember many people took a while to come around to gays/lesbians and understanding that they've always existed, and I hope the same happens with our trans friends.

 

I also realize if you are trans, it's hard to be patient with it, and it's not my place to tell them to be patient. I don't have a perfect answer past hoping to change minds.

[Vitalsign]

1 minute ago, SaysWho? said:

 

It's easier for me to talk to him since I met him. He never struck me as someone who had an axe to grind toward the world, so I don't think he formed his viewpoints due to hatred toward others. Always struck me as old-school Republican thinking a lot of the conservative movement lost its mind, which explains why he never ended up voting for Trump either time, and he eventually switched parties over it IIRC.

 

My guess speaking with him is that the focus on trans in recent years has been very strange and borderline incomprehensible. It probably won't matter if he came around right now since I expect things are gonna be bad in Florida for LGBTQ youth for a while and Republicans are gonna harden control, but I try to remember many people took a while to come around to gays/lesbians and understanding that they're always existed, and I hope the same happens with our trans friends.

 

Dialogue is the lost art in modern politics! I've always enjoyed people with opposing views as me. Screaming insults is a good way to get people MORE entrenched in their thinking. 

[Vitalsign]

7 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

To go further, California protects people who leave their state to seek hormone treatment. But even California doesn't override parental consent.

 

 

You said no to her and it ended up being a phase for her. Good! Then you did nothing wrong for her and you would have had the same experience in a more progressive state because in those states, minors still need parental consent.

 

That's true, for now. Do you think it will stay that way? How long till it is considered child abuse to not take your child for gender affirming care? 

 

There is a market forming around this issue and I don't believe doctors have the best interests of everyone in mind. Many are trying to make a buck. 

[stepee]

meh

[SaysWho?]

  

11 minutes ago, Vitalsign said:

 

i don't disagree with that. Gender dysphoria has been recognized as a thing for a long time. I don't doubt some people may find relief living as the other gender and should be free to do so. 

 

I think the evil of the situation is not the trans people themselves, there is a industry forming around this that is pushing for medical and surgical intervention at what I believe is a pre mature stage. In my daughter's case, had I went with the what popular cultural says, I should have taken my daughter to a gender affirming therapist and doctor, gotten her on pills and on the track to transitioning. Had I done that, she'd be dealing with the effects of the hormones right now.

 

 

 

But I think it's also possible the therapist would have said that she's not actually trans. Either way, if it was really just a phase, then you did your thing as a parent.

 

Now I'm speaking purely hypothetical, but I know people who were still confused into their 20s about their sexuality and some into their 30s and possibly early 40s about their gender, so I don't know if your daughter is certain it was just a phase or thinks she's convinced now that it was; it could be something she still struggles with but still hasn't come to terms with and doesn't want to articulate to you as of now. But again, I'm talking strictly hypothetical; end of the day, I've never met her, and you're the father, so you know her way better than I ever will, and she's going to talk to you in ways she'd never talk to me. So whether or not that were to happen years from now, I don't know; it could have really been a phase and she was growing and questioning her tastes and wants.

 

In the end, she's an adult now, so hopefully she's processed everything fully and all is good!

 

6 minutes ago, Vitalsign said:

 

That's true, for now. Do you think it will stay that way? How long till it is considered child abuse to not take your child for gender affirming care? 

 

There is a market forming around this issue and I don't believe doctors have the best interests of everyone in mind. Many are trying to make a buck. 

 

Is there much minors can do without parental consent in the medical world? I honestly don't know.

[stepee]

Sucks that Vital is such a shit father and probably threatened their child and verbally abused them to a point they felt they had to say it was a phase. Now his child has to be miserable just because he is a terrible parent, doesn’t seem fair. I hope eventually they cuts ties with him and they are able to live their life free of his failure.

[Vitalsign]

2 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

  

 

But I think it's also possible the therapist would have said that she's not actually trans. Either way, if it was really just a phase, then you did your thing as a parent.

 

Now I'm speaking purely hypothetical, but I know people who were still confused into their 20s about their sexuality and some into their 30s and possibly early 40s about their gender, so I don't know if your daughter is certain it was just a phase or thinks she's convinced now that it was; it could be something she still struggles with but still hasn't come to terms with and doesn't want to articulate to you as of now. But again, I'm talking strictly hypothetical; end of the day, I've never met her, and you're the father, so you know her way better than I ever will, and she's going to talk to you in ways she'd never talk to me. So whether or not that were to happen years from now, I don't know; it could have really been a phase and she was growing and questioning her tastes and wants.

 

In the end, she's an adult now, so hopefully she's processed everything fully and all is good!

 

 

Is there much minors can do without parental consent in the medical world? I honestly don't know.

 

We'll have to see. She's VERY influenced by others, like we all were at that age. Her identity shifts based on who she had a crush on. She says she's bi and she told me she thought girls would have liked her more as a boy.

 

I think some states allow abortions without consent with court approval in extreme situations. 

[Vitalsign]

2 minutes ago, stepee said:

Sucks that Vital is such a shit father and probably threatened their child and verbally abused them to a point they felt they had to say it was a phase. Now his child has to be miserable just because he is a terrible parent, doesn’t seem fair. I hope eventually they cuts ties with him and they are able to live their life free of his failure.

 

[stepee]

good image posting lmao

[Massdriver]

14 hours ago, Vitalsign said:

 

That's how I feel about the GOP. I'm not a fan of the abortion moves. I REALLY wish that issue would go away. However on things like taxation, modern day cultural issues, crime, I'm more on board with the GOP. I didn't vote Trump before and I won't in 2024. 

 

 

Where we disagree is the magnitude of the issues. Being authoritarian and trying to overthrow elections easily overrides my own concerns with Democrats on certain issues. 

 

With regard to some of these issues, on taxation, you are probably not getting a distorted picture. Democrats are certainly for higher taxation. However, On transgender issues with minors, as already pointed out, the vast majority of Democrats are not trying to take parental rights away. That's the GOP position. 

 

On crime, the majority of Democrats that hold office are not for defunding the police or being easy on violent crime. That is a small slice of the Democratic base that is noisy, nothing more. Polls have shown this consistently. 

 

But you already know this.

[Brian]

63% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck — including nearly half of six-figure earners

T.CO

---

With persistent inflation eating away at wage gains, more Americans are struggling financially. The share living paycheck to paycheck is near a historic high.

Good thing the Republicans can fix this by using trickle down economics. Elon has shown the rich are great at job creation 

[Vitalsign]

2 minutes ago, Massdriver said:

Where we disagree is the magnitude of the issues. Being authoritarian and trying to overthrow elections easily overrides my own concerns with Democrats on certain issues. 

 

That's fair