What books have been banned?  Well, over 50, but here's a few:

"And Tango Makes Three," The true story of two penguins at the NYC zoo.

"The Infinite Moment of Us," A book written for teens.

"How to Be an Antiracist",  We certainly wouldn't want children to be antiracist, would we?

"I Am Jazz,"  Another true biographical story.

"We Are the Ants,"  "The Truth About Alice," "Almost Perfect," . "Speak," "Dear Martin," "The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives," "Sold," "Monday's Not Coming,"

That's just a very short list of the many, many, books banned and pulled from shelves at public and school libraries.  They cover everything from relationships (including a non-sexual relationship.

between a black teen and a white who face a traumatic event together--pretty dangerous, huh?)

The national abortion ban has been proposed by Lindsey Graham.  You can do your own research.  Since he's one of your people, I suspect you knew that.

History doesn't so much erase things as it omits a great deal and whitewashes a lot.  Take a look at a high school text covering Christopher Columbus then see if you can find a mention of 1619.  

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Yes exactly.

As I'm not a medical professional, I have wondered in what situations surgery would be appropriate before 18. The needs for hormones and puberty blockers for some selected people is obvious. For surgery, all I could think of are people born with ambiguous genitals who are declared a gender at birth and then it turns out the person doesn't think they are that gender at all! That would likely happen very early in such a child's life. I assume that in such cases surgery to make their genitals fit their gender identity would be a huge benefit to them socially and psychologically as they grow up. 

But hey, these right winger demogogues really don't care about these children. Let's make it all illegal! That'll make them a maga-rific winner. 

There are some case studies involving young children that clearly suffering from dysphoria.  I'll see if I can find a link to it.  I know one was a young boy, who at 2, tried to cut his penis off because it didn't belong there.  There is also the case of an infant boy whose penis was badly injured in a botched circumcision.  The decision was made to change the sex to female and raise him as a girl.  The upshot of that case is that he spent his life identifying as male.  No amount of hormones, puberty blockers or surgeries could change his perception of himself.   

One of the more definitive methods of determining gender-identity is through brain scans.  The brain operates differently between males and females.  Those with gender dysphoria will show a scan that identifies with a gender different from the one assigned at birth.   

But, hey, surely a legislature has more insight than neurologists, neuro psychiatrists, endocrinologists, psychologists, the patient and the parents.  

12 minutes ago, Longwood50 said:

Whoa hold on.  I know this can't be true. 

The news media and several posts on this forum said that Biden had consulted with his military adviser on the first Chinese balloon and determined it was TOO RISKY to shoot it down over areas like Alaska, Canada, or Montana.  Also they had to let it travel 3,700 kilometers to dunk in in the ocean rather than perforating the balloon with small holes to let it make a gentle descent on to land because retrieving that balloon on the open ocean hoping it doesn't sink gave a better chance of recovery. 

So this obviously can't be true. 

So, a few holes and it gently lands?  Where?  On top of cars driving down the road?  Maybe on a hospital?  Maybe it could take down some major power lines before 'gently' landing.   

And that silly Kim guy from N. Korea is spending a fortune shooting off missiles when he could just fill a balloon, let it go and scare the <deleted> out of everyone.

The only people who should be involved in approving or denying gender-affirming care are the parents, the doctors and the medical ethics committee.  

Gender dysphoria is a diagnosable condition.  There is treatment for it, and laws like this are both discriminatory toward a mental condition and a denial of treatment.  

9 hours ago, bendejo said:

Biden should make a statement, and SMS it out to all the people in Russia that if Putin ends the war in Ukraine he will let McDonalds reopen in Russia and on it's first day everything will be free.  It will ignite the Second People's Revolution.  The billion dollars it would cost would be much more effective than spending it on weaponry, let Defense Dept cover it.

 

 

All he has to do is offer free Vodka!

The half-time show was spectacular.  I am not a big fan of hers, but it's hard not to like some of her music.  The dancers were exceptional.  

9 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Not really 'good' though, is it?

 

Many of these soldiers have families and will have signed up for the Army before they knew anything about an invasion. Others would have been drafted into the Armed forces against their will. Their violent deaths can hardly be described as 'good'.

In war, there are no good metrics.  

44 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

No, they apparently didn't know that Pence and Biden had those documents.

Neither Pence nor Biden, as Vice Presidents, would have had original documents.  NARA would have the originals.  We now know that one document with Trump was copied onto another person's laptop.

This is a deficiency in the Executive Branch.

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

It's obvious that the US government has a problem with tracking classified documents. If they paid as much attention to solving that problem as they are with some balloons the problem would be solved already.

No, the US government doesn't have a problem.  The 'government' has actively pursued any missing documents.  It is the Executive Branch that has the problem.  That's a big difference.   

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Quote any poster that has been saying renewables are "horrible"!

I haven't seen any poster "anti climate" or anti renewables, though some of us point out that there are many problems with them, they are not yet able to replace oil/ coal based generation and that the biggest polluters are nowhere near to phasing out oil based generation. Also they will probably make electricity more expensive to the consumer.

 

 

Plenty of anti-climate posters.  But since you haven't seen them, they don't exist?  

Years ago, I held a full-time job and was also farming.  My main source of income was my job and my main source of deductions was farming.  Some years, I was even able to get earned income credit.  I had two new vehicles -- tax-deductible.  I had nice equipment, all tax-deductible.   I planted new shelter belts around my home -- the trees were all free.    

When I turned the entire farming operation over to one of the kids, quit my job and got ready to move overseas, it was the first time I ever got nailed with a significant tax bill.  I was not working for several months and then took a part-time job while awaiting approval for an overseas job.   It was the most money I ever paid in taxes.  

42 minutes ago, Hanaguma said:

The problem being that puberty blockers don't just delay puberty, they destroy it.  There is no long term research to suggest that the effects can be reversed.  Kids who are experiencing insecurity over gender can be treated with therapy and compassion until they are mature enough to decide what to do.  

A massive and unnecessary overreach by government.  Young people are not given puberty blockers or other interventions without a careful and full assessment by an array of medical providers.   Medically, puberty blockers are used on a number of conditions that have nothing to do with being trans, such as precocious puberty.   

Here's a little more:

• South Dakota lawmakers voted Wednesday on a bill that would make it criminal for doctors to provide puberty-blockers, hormones, or any gender-affirmation surgeries to anyone under the age of 16. 
• The bill is supported by social conservatives in the state's Republican-controlled legislature who say that transgender people under 16 are "too young" to make medical decisions about their gender identity. 
• A recent study found that trans kids have a firm grasp of their gender identity. Another found gender-affirming care reduces rates of suicide among transgender youth.
  
  https://www.insider.com/south-dakota-bill-transgender-youth-gender-affirmation-2020-1

20 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

News to me. Isn't that what Trump was doing with his "remain in Mexico" policy while their requests were being processed?

Their request is to enter the US.  If you request to enter the US in order to get to Canada, you will not be allowed to remain.   The remain in Mexico policy is a special agreement we have with Mexico.   

16 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Obviously I wasn't being clear enough. They should apply for legal entry to Canada in the first safe country they come to, not enter without a visa to the US and transit all of the US to get to the Canadian border.

You can't do that.  You can't request asylum in one country and 'apply' for a different one.  

24 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

He was good as the Saint, but played Bond for chuckles.

Do we have no one that has the ability of Bond to sort stuff like the balloon, or are western governments all just floundering around making it up as they go along?

I suspect there is a lot of floundering around and making it up as they go. 

On 2/7/2023 at 7:21 PM, thaibeachlovers said:

How nice of the US to be so helpful to those that arrived without going the legal route. Does the US help US citizens that are homeless as much?

They are not illegal.  They have been processed and given paperwork that allows them to be in the US.  The US government does not directly deal with homeless people, that is a responsibility of the state and city in which they are homeless.