Mid Term Elections- Lessons Learned

[nimbus]

You don't see why DeSantis is toxic? He is a much more competent version of Trump that is towing all the culture war issues of the right and wants to pwn the Dems as much as Trump does.

He is smarter than Trump but seems to be more angry and have even more grievances than Trump. He has an awesome life. He should just enjoy it.

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[UscGhost]

The latest was that he thanked Columbia (instead of Cambodia) for organizing the ASEAN meeting.

If only he would've told everyone to inject bleach and sunlight to cure covid...

Have you actually listened to any Trump says? Maybe fewer things stand out with Trump since the majority of it simply doesn't make any sense

 

[pgg]

U really think Putin would have invaded Ukraine if trump were president? No way. U wanna to know why? Because crazy people like Putin know not to mess with crazier people like trump who has access to bigger weapons. Crazies know crazies. That’s why Putin didn’t mess with trump. He knows Biden won’t do jack.

I think there's a stronger argument that when Trump was president, Russia was getting all it wanted without fighting, because Trump was constantly singing the praises of Putin. Why would Putin get in the way of Trump's efforts to weaken Ukraine with perfect phone calls?

It's wrong - horribly wrong - to pretend that Russia invaded Ukraine because Putin was afraid of Ukraine having closer ties with the west. It's part of the pretext and propaganda, but it's all a lie.

The simplest answer is the correct one. Putin was, and is, KGB to his core. He misses the glory days of the USSR. He badly misjudged Ukraine, but that one gigantic blunder doesn't mean he's dumb. He knows Russia is a sad pathetic shell of what it once was. An increasingly irrelevant petrostate, shunned by more and more of the world. His goal has always been to restore Russia's standing to pre-1989 levels.

Remember, Russia was forcibly expanding into former Soviet satellite states before Trump's presidency. It was 2014 when Putin took Crimea.

I don't know where people are getting this idea that Putin didn't invade Ukraine during the Trump years because Trump was a deterrent. Putin has had his heart set on recreating the USSR glory days since the day he succeeded Yeltsin, more than 20 years ago.

 

[pgg]

You don't see why DeSantis is toxic? He is a much more competent version of Trump that is towing all the culture war issues of the right and wants to pwn the Dems as much as Trump does.

Which makes it all the more funny that Trump is now targeting Desantis, and trying to rile up his cult in opposition to a guy who
1) is electable
2) is competent
3) would do 95%+ of the stuff Trump's base cares about

No wonder Trump feels threatened. Behind every narcissist's giant public ego is a deep sense of inferiority and insecurity. The last thing Trump wants is to see Desantis do the Trumpthing, but better.

 

[doctalaughs]

He is smarter than Trump but seems to be more angry and have even more grievances than Trump. He has an awesome life. He should just enjoy it.

Desantis is just pushing back on the excesses of the liberal/woke agenda in schools, workplace and social media. More effectively than Trump ever could - as he doesn’t throw narcissistic tantrums along the way. And that’s not a fringe agenda item as the left would like to frame it - it’s actually something that is important to the average moderate/ conservative voter.

Beyond that, yes he has the right policies for the border, immigration, taxes etc.

From what I see — he’s got my vote if he’s the nominee. I just hope Trump doesn’t mess it up.

 

[chessknt]

Desantis is just pushing back on the excesses of the liberal/woke agenda in schools, workplace and social media. More effectively than Trump ever could - as he doesn’t throw narcissistic tantrums along the way. And that’s not a fringe agenda item as the left would like to frame it - it’s actually something that is important to the average moderate/ conservative voter.

Beyond that, yes he has the right policies for the border, immigration, taxes etc.

From what I see — he’s got my vote if he’s the nominee. I just hope Trump doesn’t mess it up.

Gender affirming care is the woke agenda? Taking on billions in debt because Disney voiced an opinion is pushing back on an excess? So many more examples but he is not this centrist character fighting back against the crazy imaginary liberals of Florida.

 

[nimbus]

Desantis is just pushing back on the excesses of the liberal/woke agenda in schools, workplace and social media. More effectively than Trump ever could - as he doesn’t throw narcissistic tantrums along the way. And that’s not a fringe agenda item as the left would like to frame it - it’s actually something that is important to the average moderate/ conservative voter.

Beyond that, yes he has the right policies for the border, immigration, taxes etc.

From what I see — he’s got my vote if he’s the nominee. I just hope Trump doesn’t mess it up.

Desantis rode the Trump train to his current position. If you want Trump II, go ahead and vote for him. That’s your right.

 

[Arch Guillotti]

Desantis is just pushing back on the excesses of the liberal/woke agenda in schools, workplace and social media. More effectively than Trump ever could - as he doesn’t throw narcissistic tantrums along the way. And that’s not a fringe agenda item as the left would like to frame it - it’s actually something that is important to the average moderate/ conservative voter.

Beyond that, yes he has the right policies for the border, immigration, taxes etc.

From what I see — he’s got my vote if he’s the nominee. I just hope Trump doesn’t mess it up.

All this “woke” stuff is just a joke to cover for the republican party platform which is worthless.

 

[doctalaughs]

Gender affirming care is the woke agenda? Taking on billions in debt because Disney voiced an opinion is pushing back on an excess? So many more examples but he is not this centrist character fighting back against the crazy imaginary liberals of Florida.

If Desantis is so extreme, why did he just win the governorship in a landslide— in a state that was slowly but surely trending towards democrats in the last 30 years? The media is in a frenzy trying to figure out why Florida has suddenly shifted “hard to the right” in a change that will undoubtedly be pivotal in a large swing state for possibly the next several presidential elections.

But it’s really not hard to figure out. A significant majority of voters agree with the things he is saying and the pushback he is giving to liberal policies. Whether you want to call various policies “woke” or not, a large number of people in this country disagree with them. You can use the words “extreme,” “crazy” and “imaginary” all you want — but bottom line is that both republicans and a large number of moderates support his stances.

Mark my words - if Trump doesn’t derail his nomination - he will beat Biden and it won’t be even close.

 

[ucladoc2b]

If Desantis is so extreme, why did he just win the governorship in a landslide— in a state that was slowly but surely trending towards democrats in the last 30 years? The media is in a frenzy trying to figure out why Florida has suddenly shifted “hard to the right” in a change that will undoubtedly be pivotal in a large swing state for possibly the next several presidential elections.

But it’s really not hard to figure out. A significant majority of voters agree with the things he is saying and the pushback he is giving to liberal policies. Whether you want to call various policies “woke” or not, a large number of people in this country disagree with them. You can use the words “extreme,” “crazy” and “imaginary” all you want — but bottom line is that both republicans and a large number of moderates support his stances.

Mark my words - if Trump doesn’t derail his nomination - he will beat Biden and it won’t be even close.

DeSantis benefited from a fairly low turnout election. Nearly 300k fewer people voted in 2022 vs his first election in 2018 (even with significant state population growth). There were over two million fewer votes than in 2020.

Florida’s shift to the right is not new. It’s closer politically to Texas/the South now than its previous status as a swing state. It’s voted red in all but two presidential elections. There is one democratic level executive (the agriculture commissioner…who I think is now out). GOP registration outpaced democratic registration for several years. It’s demographics simply favor the right GOP voter. Overall, his positions are very far right of the median US voter and he will struggle in a national US election.

 

[vector2]

If Desantis is so extreme,

It's not an "If"

 

[Planktonmd]

The results of the mid term elections were pretty clear to me that the country is still moderate/centrist and for many states that is the candidate which will win elections. I hope the era of Trump is over and TOXIC TRUMP will go retire in his multiple homes.

Trump the person, isn't good for the GOP or this nation. While I voted for Mr. Trump 2 x in previous elections, I believe his time is past and the nation needs to move on from the man.

We can continue to debate policies, disagree on many issues, but we must work together for the good of the country.

Wow... Are you OK Blade? This probably is the most reasonable thing you have ever said here!

 

[Southpaw]

Desantis is just pushing back on the excesses of the liberal/woke agenda in schools, workplace and social media. More effectively than Trump ever could - as he doesn’t throw narcissistic tantrums along the way. And that’s not a fringe agenda item as the left would like to frame it - it’s actually something that is important to the average moderate/ conservative voter.

Beyond that, yes he has the right policies for the border, immigration, taxes etc.

From what I see — he’s got my vote if he’s the nominee. I just hope Trump doesn’t mess it up.

The woke agenda and CRT are make believe items that FoxNews creates to get the Republican base in line with their far right brethren. That nonsense exists in an extreme minority of the country. It also pushes Republicans farther away from supporting the American public school system, if that’s possible.

 

[deleted1147063]

If only he would've told everyone to inject bleach and sunlight to cure covid...

Have you actually listened to any Trump says? Maybe fewer things stand out with Trump since the majority of it simply doesn't make any sense

I have never voted for Trump.

Regardless, it doesn't matter. The solution to incompetent or corrupt politicians is not whataboutism.

Neither Trump nor Biden should have ever become the president of the United States.

 

[Southpaw]

As crazy as he was/is, trump is still a much better candidate than both Hilary and Biden. Hence, the lesser evil if you will. So you can’t fault blade for voting for him

Trump was/is the worst candidate in American history. Beyond the made up agenda items he created to breed divisiveness in the country, he encouraged racist white nationalism like no candidate since Strom Thurmond.

 

[deleted1147063]

Trump was/is the worst candidate in American history. Beyond the made up agenda items he created to breed divisiveness in the country, he encouraged racist white nationalism like no candidate since Strom Thurmond.

So did the woke, CRT and DEI.

I didn't almost vote for Trump because of Trump. I almost voted for him because of the left.

 

[Southpaw]

So did the woke, CRT and DEI.

I didn't almost vote for Trump because of Trump. I almost voted for him because of the left.

There will always be people on the fringe. And media will always stoke the fire for views and clicks. However I found it very abnormal, and dangerous, for Trump to play the fringe game for votes and personal gain (because Trump knew people like Blade will always hold their nose and vote for crazy R over sane D). When white nationalism became mainstream with Trump, along with playing footsie with Putin, I believe we had a very real and very dangerous problem on the world stage.

 

[deleted1147063]

There will always be people on the fringe. And media will always stoke the fire for views and clicks. However I found it very abnormal, and dangerous, for Trump to play the fringe game for votes and personal gain (because Trump knew people like Blade will always hold their nose and vote for crazy R over sane D). When white nationalism became mainstream with Trump, along with playing footsie with Putin, I believe we had a very real and very dangerous problem on the world stage.

I honestly don't see much difference between the two sides, except the fact that the left is self-righteous.

Voting for Fetterman in PA was the proof how crazy the left can be, too. And I can't stand Oz.

 

[BLADEMDA]

I honestly don't see much difference between the two sides, except the fact that the left is self-righteous.

Voting for Fetterman in PA was the proof how crazy the left can be, too. And I can't stand Oz.

Fetterman is far left which is why I wouldn’t vote for him. He is recovering from his stroke and honestly is in better cognitive shape than Biden. The voters decided they prefer a recovering stroke candidate to a TV doctor from NJ.

 

[deleted1147063]

Thank you for proving my point, @marr65.

 

[Splenda88]

I am not sure you read my posts. I am not for Toxic Trump but admit I voted for the man. I would like to see him retire rather than run for President in 2024.
I agree Trump is bad for this nation and hope the GOP voters see it that way as well. His MAGA backed candidates did very poorly in the midterms and if he runs again for President in 2024 he will lose by a lot.

Trump vs. Biden in 2024... Who would you vote for?

 

[Splenda88]

Most people would agree that Biden is less toxic than Trump.

Not a democrat... I really don't think Biden is a toxic politician. He is cognitively declining.

 

[nimbus]

Not a democrat... I really don't think Biden is a toxic politician. He is cognitively declining.

Agree. Yet he’s still getting a lot of his agenda through.

 

[nimbus]

Fetterman is far left which is why I wouldn’t vote for him. He is recovering from his stroke and honestly is in better cognitive shape than Biden. The voters decided they prefer a recovering stroke candidate to a TV doctor from NJ.

Fetterman actually did better than expected in red leaning small towns of Pennsylvania. Whatever his policy stances are, blue collar, small town Pennsylvanians could personally relate better to Fetterman than to Oz. Oz was a bad candidate for Pennsylvania.

 

[deleted1147063]

Trump vs. Biden in 2024... Who would you vote for?

Neither, as in 2020, or Biden, if he has a great VP candidate (not Kamala, not a militant, a person chosen based on their true talents and character, not visual diversity, DEI and BS). This ain't the place for affirmative action. Obama deserved to be president, Kamala did not to become VP.

And Sleepy Joe was way more "awake" during his vice-presidency.

 

[UscGhost]

Not a democrat... I really don't think Biden is a toxic politician. He is cognitively declining.

I would probably argue Trump is toxic and cognitively limited to begin with..

 

[Splenda88]

I would probably argue Trump is toxic and cognitively limited to begin with..

I would not disagree with you. I think the country could do better.

 

[GravelRider]

Anyone want to do an over/under on how many times prospective Republican candidates use the word “woke” in the next two years? If we limit the counting to social media, cable news appearances, and official speeches, we can probably come up with a number and place some bets. It could be fun. Maybe Vegas has already set some numbers?

 

[UscGhost]

I would not disagree with you. I think the country could do better.

That is definitely true.

We certainly can't do much worse haha

 

[vector2]

Neither, as in 2020, or Biden, if he has a great VP candidate (not Kamala, not a militant, a person chosen based on their true talents and character, not visual diversity, DEI and BS). This ain't the place for affirmative action. Obama deserved to be president, Kamala did not to become VP.

And Sleepy Joe was way more "awake" during his vice-presidency.

Would you vote for Buttigieg?

 

[pgg]

Anyone want to do an over/under on how many times prospective Republican candidates use the word “woke” in the next two years? If we limit the counting to social media, cable news appearances, and official speeches, we can probably come up with a number and place some bets. It could be fun. Maybe Vegas has already set some numbers?

About as often as Elon will tweet 420this 69that. Well, maybe not that often.

Look, I'll agree that "woke" is overused as a pejorative, but there's a reason it's overused, and that's because there's been so much ridiculous excess from the people who coined and unironically used it to flout their own moral superiority.

If you don't like your own terms being used against you in effective marketing (and that's what this anti-woke messaging is: effective marketing), maybe you should be less concerned about blathering Republicans and their anti-woke sound bites, and more concerned about your side nominating Lia Thomas for NCAA Woman Of The Year.

 

[Splenda88]

That is definitely true.

We certainly can't do much worse haha

Presidentially maybe.

But someone like Herschel Walker might say hold my beer.

 

[Splenda88]

Why cant we have someone like the outgoing Massachusetts or Maryland governor?

 

[deleted1147063]

Would you vote for Buttigieg?

As VP? I would need to learn more about him, but probably yes. I liked him as a candidate, and he seems to have been a decent secretary of transportation.

What I'd like, most of all, is a true moderate. And not the spineless kind, like Biden, who forgot he ran on a moderate platform the moment he became president.

 

[linkin06]

I planned to vote for Buttitieg in primaries, but he suspended his campaign. He is very articulate, and I trust him to make thoughtful decisions. He graduated first in his high school and even became a Rhodes Scholar. He also was deployed in Afghanistan and has first hand experience of what war is really like. Unfortunately, I doubt we’ll have a gay president any time soon when we are debating and legislating bills like “don’t say gay”

 

[deleted1147063]

I planned to vote for Buttitieg in primaries, but he suspended his campaign. He is very articulate, and I trust him to make thoughtful decisions. He graduated first in his high school and even became a Rhodes Scholar. He also was deployed in Afghanistan and has first hand experience of what war is really like. Unfortunately, I doubt we’ll have a gay president any time soon when we are debating and legislating bills like “don’t say gay”

Parents who don't want their K-3 children exposed to sex education may have no problems with electing gay people. It's not like there are no gay conservatives.

 

[vector2]

As VP? I would need to learn more about him, but probably yes. I liked him as a candidate, and he seems to have been a decent secretary of transportation.

What I'd like, most of all, is a true moderate. And not the spineless kind, like Biden, who forgot he ran on a moderate platform the moment he became president.

No, I meant for president. He may have that "something" since, even though we disagree on how far left the [elected] dems are when seen as a whole, he appears to be a dem who appeals to many independents and center-right regardless

 

[deleted1147063]

No, I meant for president. He may have that "something" since, even though we disagree on how far left the [elected] dems are when seen as a whole, he appears to be a dem who appeals to many independents and center-right regardless

He's probably one of the democrats I would most likely vote for, if he ran for president again. Especially now that he's run a big governmental agency, not just some small Indiana town.

He definitely has that "something", like Obama used to. Very articulate, indeed.

It may seem weird, but I would vote for him much easily on a presidential ticket, then if he partnered with Biden.

 

[GravelRider]

About as often as Elon will tweet 420this 69that. Well, maybe not that often.

Look, I'll agree that "woke" is overused as a pejorative, but there's a reason it's overused, and that's because there's been so much ridiculous excess from the people who coined and unironically used it to flout their own moral superiority.

If you don't like your own terms being used against you in effective marketing (and that's what this anti-woke messaging is: effective marketing), maybe you should be less concerned about blathering Republicans and their anti-woke sound bites, and more concerned about your side nominating Lia Thomas for NCAA Woman Of The Year.

At least numbers like 69 and 80085 are funny. Can you at least venture a guess at an appropriate over/under? 250? 500? 420…hehe?

Who is Lia Thomas? No, wait, don’t tell me. I already lost interest.

I really don’t know much about who coined “woke” or where it comes from, but the only people who I have ever heard use it are the same people who probably have Fox News on in the kitchen while they eat dinner. I guess on the bright side it has replaced “millennial” as the catchphrase of derision. But you are right, it’s all marketing. Using the word “woke” is the way to market yourself as a culture warrior against all those “elites” (even though millionaires and billionaires use it a lot).

 

[nopain1234]

Trump was/is the worst candidate in American history. Beyond the made up agenda items he created to breed divisiveness in the country, he encouraged racist white nationalism like no candidate since Strom Thurmond.

Quite ironic liberals claim Trump was the one creating divisiveness. I would say the constant race baiting pimped by democrats has created more divisiveness than any other party in recent history

 

[doctalaughs]

At least numbers like 69 and 80085 are funny. Can you at least venture a guess at an appropriate over/under? 250? 500? 420…hehe?

Who is Lia Thomas? No, wait, don’t tell me. I already lost interest.

I really don’t know much about who coined “woke” or where it comes from, but the only people who I have ever heard use it are the same people who probably have Fox News on in the kitchen while they eat dinner. I guess on the bright side it has replaced “millennial” as the catchphrase of derision. But you are right, it’s all marketing. Using the word “woke” is the way to market yourself as a culture warrior against all those “elites” (even though millionaires and billionaires use it a lot).

It is all marketing in terms of the word, yes. But there is substance underneath that matters highly to people on both sides.

DEI (as applied in current hiring practices at many/most corporate entities), affirmative action, anti-racist trainings/ideology in schools and workplace, transgender rules in athletic organizations — these all could fall under the “woke” umbrella.

They are all ideas/policies that are accepted as morally unambiguous / not debatable by the left (or dismissed as “not real issues that don’t matter and are not happening” when brought up) — but clearly they are pervasive in our society/ culture and are NOT agreed upon by a large % of the population.

Which is part of the reason there is so much polarization. If the left says these are just “boogeymen” brought up by Fox News, yet people on the other side do care — how can we even begin to discuss it?

 

[pgg]

At least numbers like 69 and 80085 are funny. Can you at least venture a guess at an appropriate over/under? 250? 500? 420…hehe?

I don't even know how you'd measure it. Are we counting ads? What if an ad runs 1000 times? Is that 1000 mentions? Who would even have the interest, much less the endurance, to try to keep score?

Who is Lia Thomas? No, wait, don’t tell me. I already lost interest.

This here is precisely the problem.

You're not interested in hearing why the left has a problem - but you sure are interested in talking about how stupid the right-wing mouthbreathers are about it. You're just knee-jerk assuming that all criticism from the right is just ... how did you put it? Oh that's right, "people who probably have Fox News on in the kitchen while they eat dinner", yeah, that was it.

Lia Thomas is the male-to-female transgender swimmer who competed at the University of Pennsylvania. After passing through male puberty, he competed without much success as a male swimmer of no special talent or ability at the collegiate level. After transitioning, she competed against women and won the Division I championship in one of her events, and finished near the top of several others. By winning and/or placing high in the standings, she bumped women off the podium. Women who'd trained and competed their entire lives to reach the peak of their chosen sport, only to lose to Lia Thomas.

Now, most of us don't care how she chooses to live, or what her pronouns are. But what she did, by denying women (who hadn't had a lifetime of testosterone shaping their bones and muscles) a fair field of competition, was awful. To me, it's forgivable - I won't pretend to understand her state of mind or the experiences that led her to make the ultimately selfish decision to compete as a woman.

But what isn't forgivable, and is even more awful, is how the sanctimonious woke have tried to normalize her participation in women's competition, and how the University of Pennsylvania thought her decision was actually commendable to the point that they nominated her for NCAA Woman Of The Year.

This is just one example of why there's such a backlash against the "woke" movement.

I'd go on with other examples, or bring up other topics (e.g. affirmative action) but I'm going to guess you're not interested in that either.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

Lia Thomas is the male-to-female transgender swimmer who competed at the University of Pennsylvania. After passing through male puberty, he competed without much success as a male swimmer of no special talent or ability at the collegiate level. After transitioning, she competed against women and won the Division I championship in one of her events, and finished near the top of several others. By winning and/or placing high in the standings, she bumped women off the podium. Women who'd trained and competed their entire lives to reach the peak of their chosen sport, only to lose to Lia Thomas.

The bold is completely false:

"Thomas began swimming on the men's team at the University of Pennsylvania in 2017, and during her freshman year, recorded a time of 8 minutes and 57.55 seconds in the 1,000-yard freestyle that ranked as the sixth-fastest national men's time, as well as 500-yard freestyle and 1,650-yard freestyle times ranked within the national top 100.[5] On the men's swim team in 2018–2019, Thomas finished second in the men’s 500, 1,000, and 1,650-yard freestyle at the Ivy League championships as a sophomore in 2019.[5][4][9] During the 2018–2019 season, Thomas recorded the top university men's team times in the 500 free, 1000 free, and 1650 free.[10]"

 

[Southpaw]

I don't even know how you'd measure it. Are we counting ads? What if an ad runs 1000 times? Is that 1000 mentions? Who would even have the interest, much less the endurance, to try to keep score?



This here is precisely the problem.

You're not interested in hearing why the left has a problem - but you sure are interested in talking about how stupid the right-wing mouthbreathers are about it. You're just knee-jerk assuming that all criticism from the right is just ... how did you put it? Oh that's right, "people who probably have Fox News on in the kitchen while they eat dinner", yeah, that was it.

Lia Thomas is the male-to-female transgender swimmer who competed at the University of Pennsylvania. After passing through male puberty, he competed without much success as a male swimmer of no special talent or ability at the collegiate level. After transitioning, she competed against women and won the Division I championship in one of her events, and finished near the top of several others. By winning and/or placing high in the standings, she bumped women off the podium. Women who'd trained and competed their entire lives to reach the peak of their chosen sport, only to lose to Lia Thomas.

Now, most of us don't care how she chooses to live, or what her pronouns are. But what she did, by denying women (who hadn't had a lifetime of testosterone shaping their bones and muscles) a fair field of competition, was awful. To me, it's forgivable - I won't pretend to understand her state of mind or the experiences that led her to make the ultimately selfish decision to compete as a woman.

But what isn't forgivable, and is even more awful, is how the sanctimonious woke have tried to normalize her participation in women's competition, and how the University of Pennsylvania thought her decision was actually commendable to the point that they nominated her for NCAA Woman Of The Year.

This is just one example of why there's such a backlash against the "woke" movement.

I'd go on with other examples, or bring up other topics (e.g. affirmative action) but I'm going to guess you're not interested in that either.

There's probably a lot we don't know, details wise, with regard to Lia Thomas and UPenn. Honestly, any swimmer competing collegiately has special talent and has achieved success. It's a tough sport, with the extreme large majority of collegiate level swimmers starting as a kid. I just wonder what the 'anti-woke', for lack of a better term, think should've happened to Lia? She obviously had an advantage. She was no longer competitive as a male after her transition and hormone therapy. She was too competitive as a female. There weren't good, solid rules in place on what to do with her. I believe the IOC, or perhaps one of the major swimming organizations, has stiffer rules in place to prevent Lia Thomas-like situations moving forward.

What if you're her parents? Suck it up kid, sorry but because you transitioned, you can't swim anymore. What if you're UPenn? You tell her she can't swim, or force her to swim with dudes now? Seems....not the best situation really for anyone. It wasn't good, obviously, for her female competitors either. And I wasn't on board with Lia swimming against females. I just wasn't sure what else she should do. She made it clear she wanted to continue swimming. Forcing her to swim against males after transitioning to a female doesn't seem fair either.

Anyway, if that’s ‘woke’ and that’s what the right is against, I just can’t help but laugh. Sure UPenn didn’t need to nominate her or put her on a pedestal for transitioning to a female. I just think there needed to be better policy in place to prevent the whole situation from occurring in the future.

 

[pgg]

The bold is completely false:

"Thomas began swimming on the men's team at the University of Pennsylvania in 2017, and during her freshman year, recorded a time of 8 minutes and 57.55 seconds in the 1,000-yard freestyle that ranked as the sixth-fastest national men's time, as well as 500-yard freestyle and 1,650-yard freestyle times ranked within the national top 100.[5] On the men's swim team in 2018–2019, Thomas finished second in the men’s 500, 1,000, and 1,650-yard freestyle at the Ivy League championships as a sophomore in 2019.[5][4][9] During the 2018–2019 season, Thomas recorded the top university men's team times in the 500 free, 1000 free, and 1650 free.[10]"

I stand corrected.

All the more reason she shouldn't have been allowed to compete against women.

 

[pgg]

There's probably a lot we don't know, details wise, with regard to Lia Thomas and UPenn. Honestly, any swimmer competing collegiately has special talent and has achieved success. It's a tough sport, with the extreme large majority of collegiate level swimmers starting as a kid. I just wonder what the 'anti-woke', for lack of a better term, think should've happened to Lia? She obviously had an advantage. She was no longer competitive as a male after her transition and hormone therapy. She was too competitive as a female. There weren't good, solid rules in place on what to do with her. I believe the IOC, or perhaps one of the major swimming organizations, has stiffer rules in place to prevent Lia Thomas-like situations moving forward.

What if you're her parents? Suck it up kid, sorry but because you transitioned, you can't swim anymore. What if you're UPenn? You tell her she can't swim, or force her to swim with dudes now? Seems....not the best situation really for anyone. It wasn't good, obviously, for her female competitors either. And I wasn't on board with Lia swimming against females. I just wasn't sure what else she should do. She made it clear she wanted to continue swimming. Forcing her to swim against males after transitioning to a female doesn't seem fair either.

Anyway, if that’s ‘woke’ and that’s what the right is against, I just can’t help but laugh. Sure UPenn didn’t need to nominate her or put her on a pedestal for transitioning to a female. I just think there needed to be better policy in place to prevent the whole situation from occurring in the future.

She could've kept swimming for fun. Or she could've quit. Or maybe 3rd and 4th categories for M-to-F and F-to-M should be made by the NCAA, even if the number of competitors is in the single digits.

I'm sympathetic to trans women - can only imagine what it must be like to have to live under those circumstances - but they're not women and they're not men, and it's not OK for them to ruin sports for women. Celebrating their athletic accomplishments, to the detriment of women, is demented.

Pretending they are what they're not, or even just wringing our hands about what to do - as if the fair and appropriate answer isn't obvious - is silly. This is the definition of peak wokeness: championing a cause for a vulnerable group to such an extreme that it damages another vulnerable group. That's the source of the backlash. Most of us look at this example with bewildered confusion that anyone could possibly be so detached from reality that they think it was reasonable to let Lia Thomas crush female competition - and then celebrate her for it.

 

[Southpaw]

She could've kept swimming for fun. Or she could've quit. Or maybe 3rd and 4th categories for M-to-F and F-to-M should be made by the NCAA, even if the number of competitors is in the single digits.

I'm sympathetic to trans women - can only imagine what it must be like to have to live under those circumstances - but they're not women and they're not men, and it's not OK for them to ruin sports for women. Celebrating their athletic accomplishments, to the detriment of women, is demented.

Pretending they are what they're not, or even just wringing our hands about what to do - as if the fair and appropriate answer isn't obvious - is silly. This is the definition of peak wokeness: championing a cause for a vulnerable group to such an extreme that it damages another vulnerable group. That's the source of the backlash. Most of us look at this example with bewildered confusion that anyone could possibly be so detached from reality that they think it was reasonable to let Lia Thomas crush female competition - and then celebrate her for it.

I see your point and mostly agree with you. I also don’t think she should have swam against females. I will point out though that I think her races were close and she didn’t win all of them. She didn’t crush the competition. Though, looking at her in comparison to her fellow female athletes was kind of ridiculous - she was huge!

I wonder what her viewpoint was. If she felt she was doing a disservice to all females. She may have just had a very narrowed viewpoint of ‘I’ve been swimming my whole life why should I let this stop me?’ I have no idea. I haven’t heard from her since but I’m sure a book is in the works. If you followed the situation closely you’d have seen that A LOT of people were against her desire to swim against females, and my guess is a lot of them were registered Democrats.

 

[Southpaw]

Hahaha Kari Lake. Hobbs won the independents 52% to 45% and the self-described moderates by 20 points. I haven’t been so happy to see someone lose since, well, Trump!

 

[RadOncDoc21]

Dems shouldn’t be celebrating and running victory laps in my opinion. Still need to overturn Trump’s legal system he installed, fix the redistricting that helped republicans gain seats and find a stronger candidate then Biden.

Where the hell is Kamala, Bernie and Warren? Is Beto and Abrams done?

 

[Arch Guillotti]

Where the hell is Kamala, Bernie and Warren? Is Beto and Abrams done?

Who cares. Beto is the only decent one out of that lot and he just lost.