What to call this thread?

Trump excuses the butchery Musk / Hegseth are about as cost cutting.
What dire peril is Trump heroically rescuing the world from w/ trans ban?

Thank you to this guy ....

In fairness, in some languages "things" do have a gender but that's grammatical gender, not sexual gender.

Yep

Shiftless2 said:

"In fairness, in some languages "things" do have a gender but that's grammatical gender, not sexual gender." #563

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French, Le & La, among others.

Even a tinge of it in English. The pronoun for a nautical vessel is "she".
In the U.S. Constitution the word she is not present. The pronoun "he" is.

Shiftless2 said:

Yep

https://i.giphy.com/3ornkbofzj8NTJthmw.gif

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Men In Black is a well made movie.
But there's a twist at the very end some viewers may have missed.

In the final half-minute or so the camera zooms out farther and farther and farther ...
to the scale where entire galaxies are mere tiny baubles.
The final few seconds show strange aliens gambling with these cosmic baubles, as if poker chips.
The message:
not only is the game you perceive in life not the real game, a fundamental plot premise of the bulk of the movie. Even the real game isn't the real game.
Will Smith starred in this movie before he dope-slapped Chris Rock at the Academy Awards.

This article is behind a paywall - if anyone has access can you share


This one isn't

New research suggests trans athletes could experience physical disadvantages​

A new study has suggested that trans athletes may actually be at a physical disadvantage compared to cisgender athletes.

New research suggests trans athletes could experience physical disadvantages

A new study has suggested that trans athletes may actually face physical disadvantages compared to cisgender athletes.

www.gaytimes.com

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Shiftless2 said:

"A new study has suggested that trans athletes may actually be at a physical disadvantage compared to cisgender athletes." #567 *

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It's silly to present this issue as a single profile.
Properly applying established analytical techniques some statistical predictions can be accurately made with decimal precision.
But among individual competitors such mathematical precision is illusory.

Weather forecasters may be able to accurately predict how many sunny days there will be in 2026.
They cannot as accurately predict whether any one specific day in 2026 will rain or shine.

One of two things is true.
Either both sides of this debate seek legitimate utilitarian solution, or not.
If so, the question is how best to serve the needs of the many, without sacrificing the rights of the few.

Imposing the will of the few, or of one, on the many is rarely perceived as utilitarian.

"I think you can have it all. You can't have it all at once." Oprah

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* Advocates of either side of this debate may perceive their position to be decisive.
Some may have argued competition should be allowed because there's no difference, a position perhaps seeming more plausible before this "new research" #567.

The following is not a final conclusion, but an objective inquiry.
If high school student wishes to transition, but first had to decide to choose only one of two, which would any one of them choose?
- to transition? Or
- to join a school sport team?

If they want both, more choice,
then shouldn't such generosity with choice be extended to the others in the league? If trans-competitors are unanimously accepted, where's the problem?
If not, whose preference shall prevail? That of the many? Or that of the few?

From Roe v. Wade:

Could have posted this under the "Second Term ...." thread but figured it belonged here as well

Shiftless2 said:

"PBS has removed a series of videos about LGBTQ history from its website ..." #569

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PBS obtains minor funding from congress.

“Any time money is involved, strings are attached.” Bill Maher

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It's a continuing debate, whether the government subsidy PBS & NPR receive worth the burden.

If I read #569 correctly, that debate has just been revised.

Shiftless2 said:

"Boys can dress however they want." #571

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Within wide latitude, yes.
But U.S. culture is more forgiving of women cross-dressing than men.

A woman showing up at work in suit & necktie may be tolerated, if not welcomed.
A man showing up at the same office in a woman's dress, likely not.

#571 depicts school-aged children.
That means "public" school, a euphemism for "government" school.
And here to fore that's included restrictions on a variety of legitimate student presentations:
reported violations include:
- one female student providing Midol to a schoolmate
- repercussion for hair style violation
- etc

There's a plausible institutional argument to be made, to restrict female oriented (style) clothing to females.
The principal, superintendent, or school board may believe such cross-dressing may increase risk of playground injuries.

Or it may simply prove a distraction during classroom instruction.

Our society, or culture is not static. It's a dysequilibrium.
Contesting such issues helps solidify, substantiate the limits, the boundaries we challenge, & thus determine, define. "Calm seas do not a skillful mariner make."

sear said:

- repercussion for hair style violation

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There are any number of reports on line of girls and boys being punished because their hairstyle was deemed "inappropriate". The school's actions range everywhere from sending the student home until they change things to a teacher coming up behind them and hacking off things like ponytails, etc.

The only experience I have had with that - during the summer between her sophomore and junior year she died a strip of hair fire engine red (about an inch and a half wide and running from her forehead to the end of her hair (which was halfway down her back). A couple of days after school started the headmaster came up to her in the hall and asked her to tone it down a bit. Unfortunately the only way to do that was to bleach all of her hair and then die it midnight black - she liked it so no harm done.

The next summer she died the bottom two inches of her hair bright blue so when she started her junior year a slight trim solved the issue.

And as a senior she ended up with bright multi-colored highlights in her hair and nobody said a word to her. Not sure how much of that was due to the fact that seniors had a relaxed dress code (a lot more flexibility - polo shirts with the school logo, slacks or skorts if they wanted, didn't have to wear their blazers, etc)

Shiftless2 said:

"... a teacher coming up behind them and hacking off things ..." S2 #573

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Yes. We may have read some of the same headlines.

Shiftless2 said:

skorts

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You make me feel like Rip Van Winkle. I didn't know "skorts" was a word, even though I've dined with a spork at Taco Bell before.
Skorts not culottes? I am soooo glad I'm not a chick !

On the broader topic of inculcating social standards into our successive next-gens:

"The Devil's in the details."
My English teacher told the class slackers, if you don't care, if any passing grade is good enough, aim for a B.
That way, if you miss, you've still got some room, a C will be good enough.

So it is in life.
Some reports indicate home-schooled children score on scholastic achievement tests about as well as their public-schooled grade-mates. BUT
those test results may not reveal other important parameters of public school attendance, social skill development necessary to succeed in our hierarchical, densely populated society.

All that means setting limits, educating our budding citizens on how to keep it in bounds.

Humans are messy.

Pull up your pants Bradley !

While the article says he harassed and discriminated against, it never does tell us what exactly his coworkers were doing. Whether that's because he (and his lawyers) aren't willing to make that information public (at least at this time) or whether there's another reason remains to be seen.

Fired Starbucks manager claims he faced ‘egregious’ discrimination for being heterosexual​

Exclusive: Christopher Thevanesan’s straightness was “weaponized” against him, attorney Neil Flynn claimed to The Independent​

Justin Rohrlich in New York

A longtime Starbucks manager is suing the coffeehouse chain for discrimination, retaliation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, accusing his bosses of ignoring the “extreme and outrageous” harassment he claims he suffered on the job because he is straight.

Christopher Thevanesan, a “heterosexual, gender typical man” in Rochester, New York, claims supervisors at his location treated him “in a materially different manner” than employees who were “not heterosexual and/or gender typical men,” according to a lawsuit filed under New York State’s Human Rights Law and obtained by The Independent.

The suit, which was served on Starbucks in late February, describes the 47-year-old Thevanesan as “a model employee who performed the essential functions of his employment in an exemplary fashion.” However, it contends, his LGBTQ+ coworkers created a “hostile” work environment for Thevanesan due to ....

Re #567

Shiftless2 said:

"... first known clinic to offer gender-affirming surgeries ... destroyed by Nazis." #579

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Hitler's Nazis gained global scorn for their eugenics experiments.
Reportedly the Nazis got the idea from the U.S., in the era of the precedent setting Buck v. Bell ruling.

“It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind...
Three generations of imbeciles are enough.” Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. in Buck v. Bell - May 2, 1927

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