In the ongoing process of selecting the new leader for the Conservative and Unionist Party and thus for the next UK Prime Minister there appears to be two main issues. How much they want to lower taxes (much, very much or extremely much) and the war on woke. In particular trans rights (or rather the limitiation thereof) appears to one of the most pressing problems the UK faces.
Unless you are obsessed with UK politics you may have missed
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Enough Problems on this side of the Pond
Of course trans is a favorite go, no go football for politicians, MSM, and dang near everyone else. Common fodder for the tabloids, what else would they have to print about except the Kardashians. Detransitioning for trans has become the hottest fodder for gossip. Could politicians, doctors, counselors, teachers, almost everyone get it more wrong? Telling susceptible kids they are trans and destroying any hope of a normal life they might have had? Trans isn't a black and white issue. One doesn't need to be male or female even if they are trans. God bless them if cross dressing fills their desires. FtM can wear cargo pants, hiker boots, flannel shirt and that may be all they need. They don't need to have their breasts removed, grow a beard, take testosterone. MtF may only need to clean up, put on jewelry, sexy dress, and step out to the mall. They don't need to grow large breasts, take estrogen. have their water weasel removed.
Our world has got so out of kilter and the ones taking the brunt of this stupidity are the smallest minority. Sadly, many are being inducted into the trans community when they aren't trans. I can already sense the ignorance swinging back the other way and the political and public outrage, as no one is transgender it's all a lie. Ignorance and stupidity is a mental sickness of politicians and the public.
The answer is so simple no one can seem to find it. If a person has to be told they are transgender, then they aren't. If they are, hormones and surgery isn't always the right treatment. Transgender has degrees just like everything else in life. One might like cars but doesn't need a high performance racing machine. They like flying but don't need to own an airplane. Some women want breast implants, others are satisfied with what they have. And the world wants to make transgender an either male or female thing.
Hugs Bru, now about the multi colored coral dress with all the interesting swirl designs on it. The one you wore to the Metropolitan three weeks back. I'm pissed you didn't come and see me since you were on my side of the pond. Forgiveness can be traded. The dress and I'll forgive you.
Barb
When we finally know everything we realize we know nothing.
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
fuck that
There isn't any more "detransitioners" now than back when it was just walt heyer selling his story over and over again and the media acting like it was someone new each time
literally the only place "kids are being told they're transgender" is in the minds of people who're Openly hostile to ANY of us existing
What is happening is better access to the knowledge that "its a thing", non-binary people being able to exist openly, and people having better control of their endgoal instead of utter tool cis gatekeepers deciding what the outcome "should" be
The tory filth (and their cretinous friends who own the newspapers) are literally making their fight for the best spot at the trough about who can openly hate us the most
But yeah, its the angry TRAs (a term coined, and almost exclusively used, by the same people who want us dead) who're the real problem
Metropolitan mix-up
Just FYI the Metropolitan in question was an old Convair CV-440. Some extra swirling was needed to get it off the ground.
As for entering the US, it's no fun any longer. As opposed to the last time I entered, they now apparently insist on looking at your passport. And (GASP!) there they can see your age!
By the way: Is the "remote" hut when entering the US north of Lake of the Woods still the only check there?
Lake of the Woods
We Minnesotans have our borders up-to-snuff, you betcha.
We have to be ever vigilant or those Northist ideas about maple syrup, hockey, Dudley Do-Right, and mispronounced vowels will seep into our culture.
There have been a few good Canadians: Gretsky, Trebek, Neil Young, Pamela Anderson, Ryan Gosling, Drake, Celine Dion, Captain Kirk, The Rock, Michael Fox . . . but all are offset by Elon Musk.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Penny Mordaunt is off the
Penny Mordaunt is off the blocks quickly changing her stance on trans rights.
Penny Mordaunt has had a good start to the leadership race, storming into second place with 16 names, even though she is yet to declare. But is the Portsmouth MP worried about her past views coming back to haunt her? Mr S was surprised to see Mordaunt fire off a late-night ten-part Twitter thread shortly after midnight, in which the Royal Navy reservist tried desperately to prove that she really isn't woke.
Having complained that she wants to talk about 'how we get our economy growing', Mordaunt then shared a graphic captioned 'Do I know what a woman is?' Taking a sideswipe at the Times for using an image of her on a gameshow, the trade minister declared that 'Some people born male and who have been through the gender recognition process are also legally female. That DOES NOT mean they are biological women, like me.'
Mordaunt then listed her involvement in gender equality campaigns before declaring that in government 'I challenged the trans orthodoxy with real and genuine concern'. The bizarre thread ends with her moaning that 'Some want to damage my reputation for whatever reason. they want to depict me as "woke".' She concludes: 'I’ve fought for women’s rights all my life. I would NEVER do anything to undermine them. I will continue to protect them.' Penny Mordaunt: definitely, positively, 100 per cent NOT woke. Got it??
It's a far cry from March last year, when Mordaunt stood at the despatch box in the House of Commons and declared that 'trans men are men and trans women are women.' Clips of it have been circulating on Twitter with today's Mail on Sunday quoting campaign group Conservatives for Women which describes Mordaunt as a 'committed warrior for the trans lobby.' The paper also references a 2018 Cabinet discussion in which she reportedly described trans rights as 'the fight of our age.'
Mordaunt has many fans but if she wants to go far in this race, she will have to be a bit less rattled and a bit more clear about her stance on gender self-identificatio
Leeanna
This Country's In The Very Best Of Hands
When I was a child I dutifully read the paper every day, starting with Lil Abner.
I was schooled by Al Capp in the art of politics through his character Senator Jack S. Phogbound.
Unfortunately, Al Capp nailed it.
If you can get 68% of Republicans to believe the Big Lie, what chance does the truth about trans have?
Barbie is a nice person with more guts per inch than should be allowed. Yet her words above reflect what she hears and reads much more than the reality of her own experience.
She's right that no one had to tell me that I'm trans. My earliest memories include distinct trans thoughts. What her words ignore is the other fact. No one had to tell me to keep my mouth shut about it. So for years I suffered thinking I was mentally ill. For years I thought I was a unique freak.
No child should have that self-loathing and guilt.
Barbie is right in that teachers should not indoctrinate. However, teachers should TEACH. When a little boy asks questions about his trans feelings the teacher should be prepared to teach and refer.
That is how a compassionate society would respond.
The same people who are bending Barbie's mind on trans positions share her values in taxes, religion, abortion, welfare, etc. In her mind they're right in all those other things so why would they be so wrong on trans issues?
That is the backbone of demagoguery!
Despite what our Supreme Court just decided, I believe it's very dangerous to allow teachers to lead their pupils in prayer. My teachers and coaches led me in prayer but they were largely nuns and priests. A public school setting is filled with people who aren't Christian and it would be patently wrong for teachers to proselytize in school, even on the fifty yard line. Only a Supreme Court blinded by religious zealots would see It otherwise.
It gets confusing in that rogue politicians would have you believe the Golden Rule is a uniquely Christian concept. The Golden Rule is part of every major religion and also a part of a value structure adhered to by agnostics. It's right to teach the Golden Rule but wrong to teach it as a uniquely Christian value.
Please cut Barbie some slack. She is who she is and should be admired for many many things. To condemn her for expressing how she feels would be the height of hypocrisy in a community that demands the right of self-expression.
Barbie and I are 99.99% the same person. How can I not admire her?
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
The Missing Pieces
Angela brings to the discussion the unsaid and or misinterpreted left unspoken. She's my sister in this world as are so many others. What so many fail to comprehend is, although she was brought up in a different environment than me, we're not that different. She wants to put the flour in the bread maker before adding the yeast and water. I want to put the water in first. The bread turns out the same.
Face it Sis, those outside looking in will never understand. The majority who are trans never studied the reasons or the medical history, they don't understand themselves. That's pretty thin even for us who have lived it and researched it for more than fifty years. Why? Because basically the medical field hasn't spent a whole lot of time researching the stepchild of humanity and they don't know either. I'm not a hundred percent right about trans no matter what I think. Why? Because we're human, no two alike and there is always the odd man out.
Why are we such an enigma to the rest of humanity? Because we don't have a tumor they can cut out and say, "That was the cause she was transgender." For MtF we were born with a female mind. That mysterious part of the body medical science is mostly guessing at. They tried lobotomy, mind blowing drugs, electric shock among other things as a cure. Sure, when reduced to an imbecile they were "cured".
Sis, you and I both know the how and why trans are but society, including politicians aren't interested. Slap a bandaid on it and call it fixed since they no longer practice the medieval arts on us. If you're truly like me, you were also ordering hormones from Thailand, India, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, etc long before we could get a doctor to prescribe them. I pray no one is doing that today as the supply has become tainted with con artists and worse, counterfeit drugs.
Jill, share your life if possible, tell your stories. Whether you can see it or feel it you're making a difference Last week Walmart sent me a questionnaire wanting me to comment on their store..I responded, six years earlier I was receiving a lot of derogatory comments, snide remarks even though I always wore jeans, shirt, and seldom had studs in my ears. It was my long ponytail wore high on my head that bothered them. Now..., I'm in love with all the men and women in Walmart. They are all nice, pleasant, and a joy to visit with. I've changed as I wear skirts, blouses, dresses, jewelry, makeup and jeans and shirt. They accept me as a person the same as everywhere else. I'm proof we aren't monsters or anyone is going to die getting close to us. There are some minds I'll never change and that's okay too.
Barb
Life is meant to be lived, not worn until it's worn out.
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
John Deere Is Not an Inverted Goodbye Letter
Barbie, you can take the girl out of the country but. . ..
My lawn sprinkler for the last thirty years is a miniature John Deere tractor.
A row crop "A."
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
A minor detail:
How much they want to lower taxes... on the rich.
People Should Butt Out
Gender orientation and sexual orientation is a personal matter and no one's business. After 18 years I think that Transgender is a delusional state, because we are jealous of women being better looking, but they don't hurt anyone. The surgeries and drugs and all that is a real money maker, at least here in the USA. In Thailand it's cheaper. Years ago you could go to Iran, and India.