What to call this thread?

Rigby5 said:
I don't see how the Post Office could reduce mail in voting for only one side?
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If ICE manages to discourage Democratic supporter from turning up to vote at the polls they're more likely to vote by mail. Republican supporters are less likely to be deterred from voting in person.

"As of December 24, 2025, the USPS officially changed its policy so that postmarks reflect the date a mailpiece is processed at a facility, not the date it was deposited or handed to a carrier. This change means mail dropped in blue collection boxes may receive a later postmark date than expected, potentially impacting deadlines for bills, taxes, and ballots. "

Customers who wish to obtain a postmark aligning with the date of mailing may request a manual (local) postmark at a retail location.
 
Rigby5 said:
"I don't see how the Post Office could reduce mail in voting for only one side?" R5 #1,280
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Difficult to get 100%.
But long tenured postal patrons can become familiar to, recognized by their local postal workers.
And those postal workers know whether the individual subscribes to Better Homes & Gardens, or American Rifleman.

BUT !

Ballot suppression needn't only be perpetrated illegally at the post office.
Those mail-in ballots are tallied elsewhere, and may be easier to suppress than ballots cast in person at conventional election polling places.
 
sear said:
Fairness means applying rules equally.
Would it not then be 100% fair to prevent all women from athletic competition?
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It's not that long ago that white female athletes were complaining about black competitors - seems they had an unfair advantage because they weren't "feminine enough".
 
Shiftless2 said:
It's not that long ago that white female athletes were complaining about black competitors - seems they had an unfair advantage because they weren't "feminine enough". S2 #1,285
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We have a shameful history. Some of the most famous political rhetoric in our culture: "All men are created equal ...". The man that penned them, a slave owner.

After Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox April 9, 1865 both Confederate and Union troops rode trains to return to their homes. But due to the persistent racism of the day, victorious Negro Union troops were required to ride in the back of the train, while defeated White Confederate troops rode in front. Escaped slave / abolitionist /journalist / influential lecturer Frederick Douglass responded:

"We Negroes love our country. We fought for it. We ask only that we be treated as well as those that fought against it." Fredric Douglass

Makes sense.
So by WWII we had that all ironed out. Right?
The U.S. military was still segregated during WWII.

Truman didn't desegregate the U.S. military until 1948.

Regarding athletic competition:
it's competition.

Reducing the number of competitors may seem to improve the prospect of winning, among the remaining competitors.
 
Shiftless2 said:
And some competitors will be better than others. After all we don't see many (any?) 5'6" NBA players.
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Understood.
For sake of analysis, if the pool against which an athlete must compete is reduced by 20%, I suspect that tends to make success more probable.

In the Trump era, doing what is right is subordinate to winning.
"We will have so much winning if I get elected, that you may get bored with winning." Republican leading presidential candidate Donald Trump - September, 2015
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It is interesting trying to decide what is fair?
When I see Chaz Bono, clearly he should be using the men's bathrooms.
But sports are more complicated.
Tall people could be said to have an unfair advantage in basketball, but then again is being tall what we want society to select for?
We do not want women to start looking like Arnie Schwarzenegger.
So I have to wonder what our goals actually are?
 
sear said:
😲 #1,291
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- sanity check -
Objective analysts recognize the detrimental consequence of extremist derision of political opponents. In more sensible times, it can cloud rather than clarify.

And part of the problem, while by definition hyperbole exaggerates, accurate objective reports of exceptional cases can be mistaken for exaggeration, hyperbole.

Shiftless2 said:
View attachment 3889 #1,291
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The meme in #1,291 draws analogy to "conservatives" and "the mentally ill".
We might reflexively imagine that to be partisan hyperbole. BUT !
The Trump administration is apparently party to multiple murders, including Renee Nicole Good, & Alex Pretti.
In these two cases Trump administration officials claim self-defense, though evidence available to the public demonstrates the government agents on scene were not in danger.

The term this meme insinuates: "mentally ill" raises questions about whether these deadly malefactors and their political defenders are in touch with reality.

Is meme #1,291 an exaggeration, hyperbole? Or is it objective observation of a dangerous dynamic?
 
There are two issues here.
- Establishing enforceable, quantifiable rules,
- enforcing those rules equitably.

The distinction between natural & artificial seems rather obvious. If that distinction were entirely ignored, then for the 100 meter sprint a competing nation could simply enter a rocket with a small locket of human hair taped to the nose-cone.

The question is, where do we draw the line? Shall we ban male competitors that have been circumcised? Ban female competitors with metal dental fillings?

Where does Olympic competitor Lindsey Vonn fit in this analysis? She's got titanium in there.

How Lindsey Vonn’s new titanium knee helped her become Olympic-bound once again​

January 21, 2026
The New York Times highlights Lindsey Vonn’s remarkable return to elite ski racing after a partial knee replacement by Martin W. Roche, MD, knee surgeon and director of arthroplasty at HSS Florida, using an innovative, robot-assisted technique. By replacing only the damaged portion of her knee and preserving key structures, Dr. Roche helped restore the stability and strength Vonn had lacked for years—allowing her to withstand the extreme forces of World Cup downhill skiing. Her unprecedented performance is giving Dr. Roche valuable insights into implant durability under extraordinary conditions and setting new expectations for what patients can achieve after partial knee replacement.
news.hss.edu

How Lindsey Vonn’s new titanium knee helped her become Olympic-bound once again

The New York Times highlights Lindsey Vonn’s remarkable return to elite ski racing after a partial knee replacement by Martin W. Roche, MD, knee surgeon and director of arthroplasty at HSS Florida, using an innovative, robot-assisted technique. By replacing only the damaged portion of her knee...
news.hss.edu news.hss.edu

Doesn't matter?
The prostheses South African double amputee, former professional sprinter, and convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius wore may have been deemed an unfair advantage.
 
sear said:
There are two issues here.
- Establishing enforceable, quantifiable rules,
- enforcing those rules equitably.

The distinction between natural & artificial seems rather obvious. If that distinction were entirely ignored, then for the 100 meter sprint a competing nation could simply enter a rocket with a small locket of human hair taped to the nose-cone.

The question is, where do we draw the line? Shall we ban male competitors that have been circumcised? Ban female competitors with metal dental fillings?

Where does Olympic competitor Lindsey Vonn fit in this analysis? She's got titanium in there.

How Lindsey Vonn’s new titanium knee helped her become Olympic-bound once again​

January 21, 2026
The New York Times highlights Lindsey Vonn’s remarkable return to elite ski racing after a partial knee replacement by Martin W. Roche, MD, knee surgeon and director of arthroplasty at HSS Florida, using an innovative, robot-assisted technique. By replacing only the damaged portion of her knee and preserving key structures, Dr. Roche helped restore the stability and strength Vonn had lacked for years—allowing her to withstand the extreme forces of World Cup downhill skiing. Her unprecedented performance is giving Dr. Roche valuable insights into implant durability under extraordinary conditions and setting new expectations for what patients can achieve after partial knee replacement.
news.hss.edu

How Lindsey Vonn’s new titanium knee helped her become Olympic-bound once again

The New York Times highlights Lindsey Vonn’s remarkable return to elite ski racing after a partial knee replacement by Martin W. Roche, MD, knee surgeon and director of arthroplasty at HSS Florida, using an innovative, robot-assisted technique. By replacing only the damaged portion of her knee...
news.hss.edu news.hss.edu

Doesn't matter?
The prostheses South African double amputee, former professional sprinter, and convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius wore may have been deemed an unfair advantage.
Click to expand...

The Oscar Pistorius case is interesting because of the spring prothesis is an advantage.
 
It strikes me that the main reason for sports competition actually is to encourage and reward improvement of the human race.

The reason artificial hormones then are not allowed is because while they may make a person stronger, they are very dangerous and harmful.

I was wondering about swimming competition, and it could be that is a tribute to our aquatic past?
 
Rigby5 said:
"The Oscar Pistorius case is interesting because of the spring prothesis is an advantage." R5 #1,296
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It's a practical application of reductio ad absurdum, following a proposition to its logical extreme to test its validity.
If there was not one single example of any artificial deviation from an Olympic competitor being a competitive advantage, the argument would be moot.

As R5 #1,296 suggests, the Pistorius case may be such an example, though it does not necessarily bear directly on the trans issue.

Rigby5 said:
"It strikes me that the main reason for sports competition actually is to encourage and reward improvement of the human race." R5 #1,297
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It may help settle rivalries, solidify resentments among contestants.

NASCAR was reportedly born of Prohibition, the Constitution's 18th Amendment.
The idea was to have an automobile fast enough to deliver moonshine from distillery to customer, with the ability to outrun the "revenuers", government agents enforcing Prohibition law.

But drunken rednecks arm-wrestling at the neighborhood bar is different from nation States participating in international competition.

Rigby5 said:
"The reason artificial hormones then are not allowed is because while they may make a person stronger, they are very dangerous and harmful." R5 #1,297
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This can happen when winning becomes a higher priority than the competition itself, an explanation for why 12 year old Soviet gymnasts had to shave their beards before competition.

Rigby5 said:
"I was wondering about swimming competition, and it could be that is a tribute to our aquatic past?" R5 #1,297
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You've reminded me of Kevin Costner's Waterworld.

You may be right R5. I suspect it's more likely to be the more obvious braggadocio of the self-impressed, not content merely to believe themselves superior, but to demonstrate it.
 
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