How do you conclude that the “worse off” is bad for Harris? Because most of us are affected a great deal more by our state governments, and a lot of us live in states where we’ve lost reproductive rights, have seen our schools and libraries under constant attack, suffer lack of mental health care and keep seeing the nursing home facilities neglect senior citizens with impunity. We’re already in the Project 2025 world and we hate it
The current GOP platform is based on 'hate'. There is no disagreement or discussion, it is 'phobic' and progresses directly to 'elimination', while considering themselves God fearing 'Patriots'.
A 1968 Mad magazine cartoon recently resurfaced (I remember it from when I read it as a kid) that described a 'Super Patriot'. It ended "He's someone who loves his country while hating 93% of the people who live in it".
Voters care way more about immense deficit spending on things that seem as wacky as spending federal taxpayer money on expensive surgeries and other related therapies to convert male felons into “female” felons, than they do about transgender people in general.
Most people I know are content to let trans people live their lives as long as genetic males aren’t competing against their daughters in sports (note that we don’t hear about genetic females competing against boys in sports), using female locker rooms or girls’ bathrooms in schools. Like it or not, the reality of putting tampons in boys’ bathrooms for boys who menstruate seems exceedingly far out there to a big majority of Americans. This is just reality.
Except, schools are NOT putting tampins in boys bathrooms, and the Minnesota law does not require anything like that.
The only exception I have heard about on this, and I don't recall if it was even put into practice, was that, in schools where visiting girls teams use the boys locker room, tampons may be available in the restrooms there.
I really dont see a problem with providing that to all students. Maybe you could explain it to me? Or is it all just about punishing and shaming children just for who they are?
"Oregon Rep. Ricki Ruiz, D-Gresham, served as chief sponsor and consulted with students across Oregon and other states before expanding the bill, he said.
“As we know, there’s a lot of our youth who don’t identify as female or male or are transitioning genders,” Ruiz said. “We wanted to respect that and make sure we provide these resources in all restrooms for folks who may be struggling to transition to a different restroom.”
(Also, sometimes a menstruating girl in need could ask her boyfriend to get them for her, is there something wrong with that? Or with having them available in boys locker rooms that visiting girls teams use? )
I don’t know if it is a problem. It depends on one’s perspective. What I do know is that a significant majority of voters think it is weird and that it may affect how they vote, among several other things.
Sure, people thought it was weird that cut-outs were put in on all sidewalks, and ramps at public buildings, for wheelchair access, but it did not change any significant number of votes. The majority of people do not base their vote on such insignificant things.
And, it is not a problem to provide necessary medical attention to inmates, that is what civilized and just nations do.
The gop are just harping on it on order to demonize a portion of our family and friends, and to create unjustified anger and hatred at "others", in order to scare people into voting gop, and as a distraction to the obvious and prolific lying by the gop about this and other more important issues.
The question is not one of larger theory and practice. It is only about impacts on the election in less than two weeks.
At this point neither candidate is focused on ethics or right or wrong. If that was the case Harris would be running away from what Israel is doing as fast as she can instead of cozying up with them.
Instead they are doing what is politically expedient trying to convince the last 60,000 voters who matter to vote for them rather than the other candidate.
The question we are addressing is not how you and I personally feel about the issue. The question is whether average voters think it is weird, and polling clearly indicates that a majority of them do think that. And, it may likely affect their votes, especially when the Trump campaign repetitively plays video of Harris unequivocally endorsing government funded transition surgery and other treatments for male felons to become “females“.
First, the problem is a very small number of people. Second, most do not need surgery, just access to their prescribed medications, which many prisons are denying access to.
"As of 2021, there were approximately 1.8 million incarcerated individuals in the United States. Of the total incarcerated population, approximately 5,000 of them identify as transgender."
"Access to this care is considered medically necessary to treat gender dysphoria. Without it, individuals can struggle severely with mental health issues such as heightened anxiety and depression, with some turning to self-harm and suicide.
In the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, 58% of respondents who were incarcerated in the prior year had been taking hormones before being imprisoned. Of those, 82% had a prescription for hormones. More than one-third (37%) of respondents who had been taking hormones before their incarceration said they were banned from continuing to take their hormones once in custody."
Sorry but it is a good thing for tampons in male bathroom. It's just a tiny thing, but nice.
Women will take over these bathrooms when there are issues with women's bathroom. Some do go out of order. At sports events, its horrible at women's bathrooms. I've heard the call from the stalls when temporarily converted from male to female, does anyone have a tampon? Option, add more women bathrooms, reduce the size of male bathrooms.
I don’t want to alarm anyone, but my home sports not one, but TWO gender neutral bathrooms. Not sure how a sinkhole hasn’t formed and just devoured the entire house.
In foreign countries it happens this way. Funny how they are not having these kinds of discussions on bathrooms. It's like Americans never ever trust Americans. This angst is part of why everything sucks under whomever is the president. I always chuckle at the economy measure by fellow Americans. They ain't asking the super poor in our country. It's middle class folks. My sister who earns far more than me complains in the jump in food all the time. She buys premium brands. We don't. We still find lots of sale items. It was harder after Covid supply chain issues, but much better now. Eggs were high due to bird flu. If Trump wins and removes all his supposed 25 million illegal immigrants and adds tariffs on everything, the prices will really go up. Law of supply and demand. I didn't go to Wharton, but I know hoarding will come again.
Having lived outside the country for considerable amount of my life, I’m familiar with things that happen in Europe and elsewhere. That is vaguely of interest, but we aren’t voting for the president of Switzerland or Denmark. This election is about the president of the United States and the question in front of us is how American voters in 2024 will react to such issues as they decide which candidate they will support for president. The view you espouse is clearly a minority view and likely to hurt Harris if it becomes a consideration for voters.
Thanks for mansplaining how tampons in men's bathrooms could determine an election and that I should just keep quiet. If that is the priority issue to change a vote from Harris to a Trump then Lord help us as a nation. I saw that you are following me on Substack. That is kind of creepy. Please stop.
Roll out the canned jargon. This is not about my views. It’s about the electorate at large, which, I’m sad to tell you, doesn’t conform with your views. I don’t know about mansplaining, but you appear need someone to explain things to you.
"People want change. They believe that things were much better four years ago. And they don’t want to keep going down this current track." I suspect this may be true. However, and I am saying the quiet part out loud, is it possible (probable?) that we have this many really stupid people in the USA? I don't normally insult folks like this, but these numbers astound me. Look at today's comments from world leaders about the US economy. Heck, look at your portfolio, your bank account, your net worth and your income. All of those things are LOTS better under the Biden administration. LOTS! If they are not lots better, you, your investment counselor, your broker and anyone else managing your income and your money has some serious 'splainin' to do!
That's all well and good for boomers and the upper middle class, but most Americans don't have a portfolio and net worth, much less an "investment counselor". According to Forbes, 78% of Americans lived paycheck to paycheck in 2023. Couldn't quickly find comp numbers for the Trump era, but suspect it was about the same. My guess is that the dollar went further living paycheck to paycheck during the Trump administration than it currently does. That's the negative attitude regarding the economy.
Well, you can cherry pick any article you want, but a 3 minute Google search finds tens of data driven articles that show that 70% of Americans have 401k’s, which means they actually ARE participating in the boom of this economy. Another article showed that 50% of Americans have a retirement account that includes “at least one 401k”, meaning 50% of Americans own a 401k. And unless you’re lousy at investing, you’ve been making money during the Biden-Harris administration.
While it’s true that *some* age groups aren’t doing as well, to say that only “Boomers” and the “upper middle class” are doing better than 4 years ago is offbase (remember when they parked refrigerated trucks outside of morgues, due to them already being at capacity? I have family members in the medical community and I remember the fear, every single day, that they wouldn’t come home alive)
That data is meaningless because it doesn't tell you how much money is in those 401ks. Yes, many employers offer 401ks, but if you're living paycheck to paycheck you're putting in the mandatory minimum or no contribution each month.
You've already disclosed a lot about yourself. You're white, a boomer, retired, live in CA, made over $200K year combined. You don't represent a typical American. I'm GenX almost 50, highly educated (two grad degrees), Midwestern, LGBTQ+, first generation college grad, and I have spent most of my life living paycheck to paycheck, paying off loans, and building some wealth as a modest home owner. I have a 401k, IRA, and (incredibly!) a pension account, but all combined is not enough for me to retire at 65. Probably not even 75. So according to Wayne above, I'm stupid, and according to you I must be a lower middle class person slipping through the cracks. You seem completely out of touch with my way of life.
Apparently, the data is valuable when it reinforces your beliefs but “meaningless” when it doesn’t. Your point was that “people don’t have 401k’s” but when I show you solid data from reputable sources that make it clear that 50% to 70% of Americans actually DO have them, you change your tune, and now the *amount* is what matters? Make up your mind, please.
I live in a very high cost-of-living area and come from a lower-income working class background. I didn’t think about retirement savings until I was 50 and realized I would never be able to retire if I didn’t do something right away. We chose to live within our means and put as much of our income into pre-tax investments as we could. I retired at 69, as I simply couldn’t afford to do it sooner. And we are *very* typical for suburban Angelinos.
I’ll make no comments about you and your situation, as I know nothing other than what you’ve chosen to say. I’d advise you that making assumptions about me would be fraught with error.
I never even said "people don't have 401ks". I challenged Wayne's assumption that Bidenomics is a gangbusters opportunity for everyone. According to him, Americans that don't have a portfolio, bank account, income, and net worth managed by a financial planner and broker thanks to Biden must be stupid. Maybe that resonates with many of the boomers and people that can afford to save/invest, but it certainly doesn't resonate with me.
Let's agree that 78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and 70% of Americans have a 401k. I'm fine with that. Probably true. If you want to assume those 78% living paycheck to paycheck are doing great because of Bidenomics and their 401ks, that's fine. If you want to dismiss Biden's low approval on the economy because economic metrics like unemployment, the stock market, and inflation prove people's feelings are wrong, that's fine. The 78% living paycheck to paycheck probably stretches from minimum wage workers all the way up to some in the upper middle class. I am one of those 78% and I have many professional GenX friends/colleagues (architects, nurses, professors, therapists, small business owners, etc) in that 78% and we are all unsure of how to retire. We're in the same boat as you were at 50, so your story resonates with us. We would love to just go all-in on retirement prep now, but we had kids late and still need to pay for child care and college. We spent two decades paying off student loans and saving for a house down payment. Now Biden and Harris want to forgive student loans and handout $25K checks to millennials and GenZ because they're in too much debt and priced out of the housing market? If the economy is so flipping great these kids should be paying for it themselves. Or asking their boomer grandparents to pay for it from their 401ks or IRAs.
This comments section is full of assumptions. We're all just a bunch of pundits like Chris. Everyone here believes whatever they want to believe, punching down on anyone that doesn't agree with them.
I appreciate your GenX perspective, so thanks. I don’t agree with your assessment, but it’s good to know where that comes from. From my own personal history, the working class were Democrats, as only the Dems stood up for working class concerns, supported unions, raised the minimum wage, etc. My father was a rough construction carpenter and there were *many* years where he barely worked, but he got support from his union. And when he retired, he got a pension that allowed him to live the end of his life in relative comfort, even able to travel with my mom and little bit. For the working class to skew Republican, as you see it, is simply counterfactual to who has historically and overwhelmingly supported the middle class.
I understand that there are many aspects of the current economy that are difficult for the “average American” to understand clearly, but the opinion that “Trump is better for the economy” just boggles my mind with the ignorance of basic economics that belies.
Trump took the Obama recovery (“75 straight months of job growth”) and when the ONLY crisis of his term happened, he showed his lack of leadership and basic policy knowledge and drove our economy into the ground. You simply can’t “memory-hole” a global pandemic! Sure, we had a global supply chain crisis and global inflation due to it, and businesses chose to maintain their prices even after their costs returned to more-or-less normal, ie “greedflation”, in order to make up for their loss of profitability early in the pandemic, and that complicates our current economy. I get it.
That said, I’m amazed that people choose to just ignore the factual indicators of a thriving economy: continued job growth; continued improvement in real wages; inflation at 2.5% and continuing to drop; prices returning to normal; etc. That Biden’s approval rating continues to be in the toilet seems strangely out of touch with the way he’s piloted us through this extremely tough period and given us the softest of landing of *any* of the G7 nations. Our economy is quite *literally* the envy of the developed world.
I think you're right that the change candidate wins. People are tossing out incumbents around the globe (Giorgia Meloni of Italy is the exception). She needs to find ways to say "Biden is a good guy but he got XX wrong and here's how I'd handle it.". People can argue about whether things are better than 4 years ago or not but it's a losing game to tell voters they're wrong.
If an opinion is subjective, facts won’t probably change it. All kinds of events can make one feel worse. Bad health, loss of a loved one, divorce, loss of a job, unanticipated expenses all can put one in a frame of mind that is negative and make one conclude I am worse off. However, if you look at your tax returns for the last four years and see a steady increase in income. If you compare your IRA balances or your bank account balances at the end of the past four years you might find a steady increase. Despite negative events you might not have control over, you might conclude that the economy is improving. My mother (and 4 others) died in an assisted living facility from Covid-19. My wife and I are in our 70’s, we were concerned about Covid until we were able to receive the vaccine. We are retired and more fortunate than many as we own our home and have sufficient assets to live without fear. We had to curtail some activities to avoid exposure to Covid but we learned that we could live more simply and didn’t need many things we thought necessary. We are Democrats and we’re very pleased when Trump was soundly defeated. Our financial condition is better than it was 4-years ago. We have not gotten Covid. The monster Trump was defeated. Efforts to curb climate change are beginning. We feel good about Kamala Harris and the prospect of another Trump defeat in a couple weeks.
That is so much BS. Democrats overwhelmingly voted in the primaries for delegates committed to the Biden/Harris ticket. When Biden stepped aside, those delegates voted to nominate Harris. There was nothing "undemocratic" about it. MAGAts making this argument want to distract people from Trump's insurrection.
Are you under the impression that the delegates are not Americans? Or that they were selected by dog-eating immigrants? Just how gullible are you MAGAts?
Funny how it is only maga who do not respect voters wishes who are bringing this up. Not one democrat has an issue with following the pre-approved rules of the DNC how, if necessary, to replace a candidate after the primaries and before the convention.
Leva, and other MAGA cult members, simply confirm that they’re not particularly knowledgeable of American political parties and how they are run, every time they mention that old discredited canard of the Democratic Party “undemocratically” choosing Harris-Walz. Spoiler alert: it’s not in the Constitution but IS in the DNC’s bylaws!
Instead, they continue to listen to their “influencers”, who have been *proven* to be on the Kremlin’s payroll, and regurgitate what they’ve heard, never bothering to do a bit of work to educate themselves.
Exactly. And this failure to know how elections are run in the US, and ceding their views to influencers and Russian propaganda, is a big reason we are so close to becoming an authoritarian state. That and their desire to, by force of law, impose their beliefs on everyone else.
I am hopeful tho that we will pull back from the edge before we fall for an authoritarian.....
Yes, calling out a party who forced their elected candidate to withdraw, replace the candidate with a new one prior to the convention and then blame any critique's on Russia.
It actually is in the DNC rules. The RNC have different rules. They are both legal rules and have been part of the rules for years.
They took the vote before the convention because 1, no one else stood uo to challenge Harris for the spot, and 2, the convention was weeks away and having no candidate during thar time would have been harmful to the democratic campaign snd having a fight during the convention would have harmed the eventual chosen candidate.
Yeah, the truth is usually the opposite of what the media narrative they are pushing. One party democratically elected their candidate from a pool of qualitied choices through a presidential primary. And that was the republican party. Harris was selected from a closed door smoky backroom, I hate that. There is a case against Trump for not conceding the election, and the riots on Jan 6. But clearly the GOP is the party of democracy
When Trump gets elected (sadly, I feel it's inevitable) and he's back in the White House, this time surrounded by only loyalists and yes-men, you'll see how much the Republicans are the party of democracy. Within a year, the U.S. will devolve into an authoritarian semi-fascist state, with left-leaning media being stifled and liberal politicians (like Schiff and Pelosi) being tried for imagined and falsified crimes. Mark my words, it's coming.
The democratic delegates then voted for Harris to replace President Biden after Biden endorseed her.
Not one other person stood up to challenge Harris or even expressed a desire to run for Prez in 2024 against djt.
Harris accepted the nomination. Not one dem has expressed any upset at following the legal and pre-approved process that played out putting her in place to run for President.
Just stop. The whole world knows that maga does not respect votes or voters choices, so your harping on this issue just highlights your extreme hypocrisy and/or ignorance of how electons are run.
Your statement is erroneous. How can a person challenge or run against Harris when she did not run as a candidate? Not a single democratic primary voter voted for Harris because she was not on the ticket. Party elites placed pressure on a sitting President to withdraw as the elected candidate. The DNC voted for a rule change to conduct an early electronic roll call prior to the actual convention. Ironically, Harris & Walz, who publicly oppose the electoral college were put in place by DNC delegates.
Once President Biden ended his campaign he released all of his delegates to vote for whoever they wished. When the delegates voted they did not have to vote for Harris, but she got a unanimous vote.
The primary voters elected Biden/Harris! She was on the ticket! If Biden died in office she would be prez and that's what primary votes chose.
The DNC did not change its rules. Thete are rules in place for almost every contingency and the candidate becoming unavailable after the primaries and before the convention was one of the contingencies thecrules coveted.
The SNC could have waited until the convention to chose the successor but that was a few weeks away during a critical time in tbe campaign whete it was critical for a candidate to be campaigning, AND not one other dem chose to run for the spot AND not one even expressed a desire to run for prez against djt, so waiting was pointless and would have harmed their campaign.
The DNC delegates dud not put Ealz in place, lol, the nominee chose him.
The DNC rules call for the delegates to choose the nominee in this type of situation, the RNC rules are different and do not let the delegates choose. Both ways are Kegan and part of how electiobs are run in the USA.
Unfortunately, Leva repeatedly shows her lack of knowledge of the history of American political parties nor does she have the *slightest* idea of what’s in the DNC bylaws.
When one side just regurgitates what they’ve been told (by known Russian-paid sources like Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin, and others), taking it in face value, there is no opportunity for actual discussion. Writing to Leva is a waste of time, as he/she hasn’t bothered to use critical thinking skills at all.
But there are times when I just can not let misinformation and lies just sit there and go unopposed. I like to think that even tho it won't change maga minds or even prevent them repeating the same old misleading content, that it will at least cause them some cognative dissonance by being confronted with some facts.....maybe call it 'bubble pricking' to let in a little light haha
This. Plenty of conservatives are worried about democracy in the context of a Harris administration. The majority of that 49% is D's, but a good chunk is R's as well.
And, plenty of D's feel worse off than 4 years ago due to having rights taken away by the SC, attacks and discrimination against our lgbtq+ family and friends, the advance of climate change and the excessive heat and flooding etc we are forced to endure, and the imminent prospect of our democracy turning into an authoritarian state
If you question the accuracy of the polling, this data makes complete sense. If polling in general is undermined, the media will be forced to do a better job to understand and explain what exactly is going on. So I think the wider story is the collapse of national media as story tellers and as an accurate source of impartial information. But perhaps Americans don’t want that. They enjoy the feuding to save themselves from the daily grind. Arguing pundits is very popular. Agreeing pundits are boring. So the media gives them what they want. Conflict drives all novels and movies after all.
But there are plenty of other data points out there (such as donations, for example) which can be used to tell a story. They are just more complicated to put together. Not as easy to understand. Not as easy to explain. So they don’t.
Republicans tend to believe that the economy is more important than a woman’s right to choose. A subject Democrats see as more important. And agreeing that the economy is improving to your MAGA friends may bring death threats if you say that in public.
So I think there is a lot of hidden views that polling isn’t uncovering. On both sides. It’s too blunt an instrument to tease out what Americans really think. Republican women may welcome voting in person for Harris, in a private voting booth, where voting by mail in front of the husbands pushes them to be in alignment with them, for the sake of family unity. The Germans, in the 1940’s for example, went along with what Hitler was doing, in part because they didn’t want to be next.
If you meet most Americans, MAGAs or Democrats, on their own, they are nice people. Get them in a group though, and they become tribal. To remain part of that tribe. So a lot of the views polling and TV interviews pick up is due to that.
The reality is very different. And we need a new way of getting more accurate information and a overhauled media to tell the stories they need to tell.
Yes, I also watched football over the weekend and was overwhelmed by the number of trans ads. Some were almost comical, if they weren't so utterly disgusting.
I'd like to know exactly how many felons in Federal prison want sex change operations?? Or maybe a guy will commit a crime & go to prison where he can get a free, paid by the government sex change operation.🙄🙄 It's just so ridiculous.
And the ads their running saying VP Harris has a policy allowing inmates in prison to get transgender surgery iis you guessed it another lie. This was a policy under Trump and he didn't do a damn thing about it. There are some good ads coming out to counter this from the Lincoln project. I don't find it odd they're throwing money into this in the final stretch. The base totally believes parents are sending Tommy to school and their coming home as Tammy. It's just more of the same of tge Republicans latching onto a lie that affects such a small percentage of the country but causes the base to completely lose their minds over. It stokes two very powerful emotions fear and anger. And that's the simple answer as to why
Chris, you are missing a BIG point…. Trump supporters think HARRIS is the threat to Democracy. One cannot say “Democracy is important” equals “good for Harris”.
If you are a democrat, Trump is the biggest threat to Democracy. If you are a Republican, Harris is the biggest Threat to democracy. 100%. I'm on twitter and Elon and friends have been saying that a Harris presidency would be the last Election
Sure, they are saying it as a counter-narrative, but do you truly believe it? Personally, I can't see Harris changing our election laws or drastically making moves to curtail our elections. But Trump? The guy who wouldn't concede when he truly lost? Yeah... that I can easily see.
I don’t see them as equal. Trump already tried to contest in 2021 is the difference. But seeing big name Dems use words like “fascist” or “Nazi” to describe Trump which I don’t agree at all. If Trump wins the electoral college, that is pretext for the ruling class to not give republicans control. Because he is too dangerous etc.
The transgender ads are intended to have a much broader impact than just reinforcing the anti-trans fixations of the MAGA base. Just like the Green New Deal ad the Trump campaign is running in Michigan and Pennsylvania, these spots seek to use clips of Harris (taken from her disastrous 2019 presidential campaign) strongly endorsing controversial left progressive positions to paint her as an out-of-touch progressive elitist and cultural alien. It's as much about the claim that she ardently supports TAXPAYER FUNDING of these surgeries for MURDERERS and MIGRANTS as it is about the anti-trans element.
I find these ads to be harsh and ugly, but I'm a college educated lib. They may well land differently with non-college educated voters of all races -- particularly younger men, it's not a coincidence that they're running these spots during sporting events -- and are having an impact in making Harris seem like someone who culturally just isn't a normie like they are. It's worth considering that they may well have been a factor in the small but clear polling shift towards Trump in the last couple of weeks.
My Pastor gave me the absolute best advice for living in this world...lead with love and have grace for others the same way Jesus does. The scare tactics and lack of truthfulness of the Trump campaign makes me sad for our country.
How do you conclude that the “worse off” is bad for Harris? Because most of us are affected a great deal more by our state governments, and a lot of us live in states where we’ve lost reproductive rights, have seen our schools and libraries under constant attack, suffer lack of mental health care and keep seeing the nursing home facilities neglect senior citizens with impunity. We’re already in the Project 2025 world and we hate it
The demonizing of transgender people is disgusting.
MAGAs are the most triggered snowflakes on the planet.
The current GOP platform is based on 'hate'. There is no disagreement or discussion, it is 'phobic' and progresses directly to 'elimination', while considering themselves God fearing 'Patriots'.
A 1968 Mad magazine cartoon recently resurfaced (I remember it from when I read it as a kid) that described a 'Super Patriot'. It ended "He's someone who loves his country while hating 93% of the people who live in it".
That's not the world I want to live in....
Voters care way more about immense deficit spending on things that seem as wacky as spending federal taxpayer money on expensive surgeries and other related therapies to convert male felons into “female” felons, than they do about transgender people in general.
Most people I know are content to let trans people live their lives as long as genetic males aren’t competing against their daughters in sports (note that we don’t hear about genetic females competing against boys in sports), using female locker rooms or girls’ bathrooms in schools. Like it or not, the reality of putting tampons in boys’ bathrooms for boys who menstruate seems exceedingly far out there to a big majority of Americans. This is just reality.
Except, schools are NOT putting tampins in boys bathrooms, and the Minnesota law does not require anything like that.
The only exception I have heard about on this, and I don't recall if it was even put into practice, was that, in schools where visiting girls teams use the boys locker room, tampons may be available in the restrooms there.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/16/politics/fact-check-trump-walz-minnesota-schools-tampons/index.html
This discussion is about the many states and the US, not only about Minnesota.
Au contraire. For example:
https://katu.com/news/local/oregon-mom-challenging-law-requiring-menstrual-products-in-boys-bathrooms-restrooms-in-schools-dignity-act-elementary-middle-high-school-oregon-department-of-education-district-students-eagle-point
Thanks, I did not know about the Oregon law.
I really dont see a problem with providing that to all students. Maybe you could explain it to me? Or is it all just about punishing and shaming children just for who they are?
"Oregon Rep. Ricki Ruiz, D-Gresham, served as chief sponsor and consulted with students across Oregon and other states before expanding the bill, he said.
“As we know, there’s a lot of our youth who don’t identify as female or male or are transitioning genders,” Ruiz said. “We wanted to respect that and make sure we provide these resources in all restrooms for folks who may be struggling to transition to a different restroom.”
https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2022/07/oregon-mom-challenges-statewide-rule-for-tampons-in-boys-bathrooms.html
(Also, sometimes a menstruating girl in need could ask her boyfriend to get them for her, is there something wrong with that? Or with having them available in boys locker rooms that visiting girls teams use? )
I don’t know if it is a problem. It depends on one’s perspective. What I do know is that a significant majority of voters think it is weird and that it may affect how they vote, among several other things.
Sure, people thought it was weird that cut-outs were put in on all sidewalks, and ramps at public buildings, for wheelchair access, but it did not change any significant number of votes. The majority of people do not base their vote on such insignificant things.
And, it is not a problem to provide necessary medical attention to inmates, that is what civilized and just nations do.
The gop are just harping on it on order to demonize a portion of our family and friends, and to create unjustified anger and hatred at "others", in order to scare people into voting gop, and as a distraction to the obvious and prolific lying by the gop about this and other more important issues.
The question is not one of larger theory and practice. It is only about impacts on the election in less than two weeks.
At this point neither candidate is focused on ethics or right or wrong. If that was the case Harris would be running away from what Israel is doing as fast as she can instead of cozying up with them.
Instead they are doing what is politically expedient trying to convince the last 60,000 voters who matter to vote for them rather than the other candidate.
Who cares about putting tampons in boys bathrooms? Why are people so triggered by women menstruating?
If they had tampons in my bathroom, I'd prob giggle and move on with my life.
The question we are addressing is not how you and I personally feel about the issue. The question is whether average voters think it is weird, and polling clearly indicates that a majority of them do think that. And, it may likely affect their votes, especially when the Trump campaign repetitively plays video of Harris unequivocally endorsing government funded transition surgery and other treatments for male felons to become “females“.
First, the problem is a very small number of people. Second, most do not need surgery, just access to their prescribed medications, which many prisons are denying access to.
"As of 2021, there were approximately 1.8 million incarcerated individuals in the United States. Of the total incarcerated population, approximately 5,000 of them identify as transgender."
https://www.law.georgetown.edu/gender-journal/online/volume-xxiv-online/improper-housing-and-inadequate-medical-treatment-for-transgender-prisoners/.
"Access to this care is considered medically necessary to treat gender dysphoria. Without it, individuals can struggle severely with mental health issues such as heightened anxiety and depression, with some turning to self-harm and suicide.
In the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, 58% of respondents who were incarcerated in the prior year had been taking hormones before being imprisoned. Of those, 82% had a prescription for hormones. More than one-third (37%) of respondents who had been taking hormones before their incarceration said they were banned from continuing to take their hormones once in custody."
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/25/1130146647/transgender-inmates-gender-affirming-health-care-lawsuits-prison
Sorry but it is a good thing for tampons in male bathroom. It's just a tiny thing, but nice.
Women will take over these bathrooms when there are issues with women's bathroom. Some do go out of order. At sports events, its horrible at women's bathrooms. I've heard the call from the stalls when temporarily converted from male to female, does anyone have a tampon? Option, add more women bathrooms, reduce the size of male bathrooms.
We should just go to bathrooms shared by both genders since the lines between male and female have gotten so fuzzy anyway? Perhaps that’s the answer.
I don’t want to alarm anyone, but my home sports not one, but TWO gender neutral bathrooms. Not sure how a sinkhole hasn’t formed and just devoured the entire house.
Not a public facility almost exclusively for children. Obvious, of course.
In foreign countries it happens this way. Funny how they are not having these kinds of discussions on bathrooms. It's like Americans never ever trust Americans. This angst is part of why everything sucks under whomever is the president. I always chuckle at the economy measure by fellow Americans. They ain't asking the super poor in our country. It's middle class folks. My sister who earns far more than me complains in the jump in food all the time. She buys premium brands. We don't. We still find lots of sale items. It was harder after Covid supply chain issues, but much better now. Eggs were high due to bird flu. If Trump wins and removes all his supposed 25 million illegal immigrants and adds tariffs on everything, the prices will really go up. Law of supply and demand. I didn't go to Wharton, but I know hoarding will come again.
Having lived outside the country for considerable amount of my life, I’m familiar with things that happen in Europe and elsewhere. That is vaguely of interest, but we aren’t voting for the president of Switzerland or Denmark. This election is about the president of the United States and the question in front of us is how American voters in 2024 will react to such issues as they decide which candidate they will support for president. The view you espouse is clearly a minority view and likely to hurt Harris if it becomes a consideration for voters.
Thanks for mansplaining how tampons in men's bathrooms could determine an election and that I should just keep quiet. If that is the priority issue to change a vote from Harris to a Trump then Lord help us as a nation. I saw that you are following me on Substack. That is kind of creepy. Please stop.
Roll out the canned jargon. This is not about my views. It’s about the electorate at large, which, I’m sad to tell you, doesn’t conform with your views. I don’t know about mansplaining, but you appear need someone to explain things to you.
It’s just real life.
"People want change. They believe that things were much better four years ago. And they don’t want to keep going down this current track." I suspect this may be true. However, and I am saying the quiet part out loud, is it possible (probable?) that we have this many really stupid people in the USA? I don't normally insult folks like this, but these numbers astound me. Look at today's comments from world leaders about the US economy. Heck, look at your portfolio, your bank account, your net worth and your income. All of those things are LOTS better under the Biden administration. LOTS! If they are not lots better, you, your investment counselor, your broker and anyone else managing your income and your money has some serious 'splainin' to do!
Exactly! BTW: we're not in the middle of a pandemic that Trump completely mishandled. How quickly people forget.
That's all well and good for boomers and the upper middle class, but most Americans don't have a portfolio and net worth, much less an "investment counselor". According to Forbes, 78% of Americans lived paycheck to paycheck in 2023. Couldn't quickly find comp numbers for the Trump era, but suspect it was about the same. My guess is that the dollar went further living paycheck to paycheck during the Trump administration than it currently does. That's the negative attitude regarding the economy.
Well, you can cherry pick any article you want, but a 3 minute Google search finds tens of data driven articles that show that 70% of Americans have 401k’s, which means they actually ARE participating in the boom of this economy. Another article showed that 50% of Americans have a retirement account that includes “at least one 401k”, meaning 50% of Americans own a 401k. And unless you’re lousy at investing, you’ve been making money during the Biden-Harris administration.
While it’s true that *some* age groups aren’t doing as well, to say that only “Boomers” and the “upper middle class” are doing better than 4 years ago is offbase (remember when they parked refrigerated trucks outside of morgues, due to them already being at capacity? I have family members in the medical community and I remember the fear, every single day, that they wouldn’t come home alive)
Here’s just one, with the data to back it up:
https://www.empower.com/the-currency/life/average-401k-balance-age#:~:text=Empower%20data%20shows%20that%20the,and%2076%25%20of%20Gen%20Xers.
That data is meaningless because it doesn't tell you how much money is in those 401ks. Yes, many employers offer 401ks, but if you're living paycheck to paycheck you're putting in the mandatory minimum or no contribution each month.
You've already disclosed a lot about yourself. You're white, a boomer, retired, live in CA, made over $200K year combined. You don't represent a typical American. I'm GenX almost 50, highly educated (two grad degrees), Midwestern, LGBTQ+, first generation college grad, and I have spent most of my life living paycheck to paycheck, paying off loans, and building some wealth as a modest home owner. I have a 401k, IRA, and (incredibly!) a pension account, but all combined is not enough for me to retire at 65. Probably not even 75. So according to Wayne above, I'm stupid, and according to you I must be a lower middle class person slipping through the cracks. You seem completely out of touch with my way of life.
Apparently, the data is valuable when it reinforces your beliefs but “meaningless” when it doesn’t. Your point was that “people don’t have 401k’s” but when I show you solid data from reputable sources that make it clear that 50% to 70% of Americans actually DO have them, you change your tune, and now the *amount* is what matters? Make up your mind, please.
I live in a very high cost-of-living area and come from a lower-income working class background. I didn’t think about retirement savings until I was 50 and realized I would never be able to retire if I didn’t do something right away. We chose to live within our means and put as much of our income into pre-tax investments as we could. I retired at 69, as I simply couldn’t afford to do it sooner. And we are *very* typical for suburban Angelinos.
I’ll make no comments about you and your situation, as I know nothing other than what you’ve chosen to say. I’d advise you that making assumptions about me would be fraught with error.
I never even said "people don't have 401ks". I challenged Wayne's assumption that Bidenomics is a gangbusters opportunity for everyone. According to him, Americans that don't have a portfolio, bank account, income, and net worth managed by a financial planner and broker thanks to Biden must be stupid. Maybe that resonates with many of the boomers and people that can afford to save/invest, but it certainly doesn't resonate with me.
Let's agree that 78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and 70% of Americans have a 401k. I'm fine with that. Probably true. If you want to assume those 78% living paycheck to paycheck are doing great because of Bidenomics and their 401ks, that's fine. If you want to dismiss Biden's low approval on the economy because economic metrics like unemployment, the stock market, and inflation prove people's feelings are wrong, that's fine. The 78% living paycheck to paycheck probably stretches from minimum wage workers all the way up to some in the upper middle class. I am one of those 78% and I have many professional GenX friends/colleagues (architects, nurses, professors, therapists, small business owners, etc) in that 78% and we are all unsure of how to retire. We're in the same boat as you were at 50, so your story resonates with us. We would love to just go all-in on retirement prep now, but we had kids late and still need to pay for child care and college. We spent two decades paying off student loans and saving for a house down payment. Now Biden and Harris want to forgive student loans and handout $25K checks to millennials and GenZ because they're in too much debt and priced out of the housing market? If the economy is so flipping great these kids should be paying for it themselves. Or asking their boomer grandparents to pay for it from their 401ks or IRAs.
This comments section is full of assumptions. We're all just a bunch of pundits like Chris. Everyone here believes whatever they want to believe, punching down on anyone that doesn't agree with them.
I appreciate your GenX perspective, so thanks. I don’t agree with your assessment, but it’s good to know where that comes from. From my own personal history, the working class were Democrats, as only the Dems stood up for working class concerns, supported unions, raised the minimum wage, etc. My father was a rough construction carpenter and there were *many* years where he barely worked, but he got support from his union. And when he retired, he got a pension that allowed him to live the end of his life in relative comfort, even able to travel with my mom and little bit. For the working class to skew Republican, as you see it, is simply counterfactual to who has historically and overwhelmingly supported the middle class.
I understand that there are many aspects of the current economy that are difficult for the “average American” to understand clearly, but the opinion that “Trump is better for the economy” just boggles my mind with the ignorance of basic economics that belies.
Trump took the Obama recovery (“75 straight months of job growth”) and when the ONLY crisis of his term happened, he showed his lack of leadership and basic policy knowledge and drove our economy into the ground. You simply can’t “memory-hole” a global pandemic! Sure, we had a global supply chain crisis and global inflation due to it, and businesses chose to maintain their prices even after their costs returned to more-or-less normal, ie “greedflation”, in order to make up for their loss of profitability early in the pandemic, and that complicates our current economy. I get it.
That said, I’m amazed that people choose to just ignore the factual indicators of a thriving economy: continued job growth; continued improvement in real wages; inflation at 2.5% and continuing to drop; prices returning to normal; etc. That Biden’s approval rating continues to be in the toilet seems strangely out of touch with the way he’s piloted us through this extremely tough period and given us the softest of landing of *any* of the G7 nations. Our economy is quite *literally* the envy of the developed world.
I think you're right that the change candidate wins. People are tossing out incumbents around the globe (Giorgia Meloni of Italy is the exception). She needs to find ways to say "Biden is a good guy but he got XX wrong and here's how I'd handle it.". People can argue about whether things are better than 4 years ago or not but it's a losing game to tell voters they're wrong.
If an opinion is subjective, facts won’t probably change it. All kinds of events can make one feel worse. Bad health, loss of a loved one, divorce, loss of a job, unanticipated expenses all can put one in a frame of mind that is negative and make one conclude I am worse off. However, if you look at your tax returns for the last four years and see a steady increase in income. If you compare your IRA balances or your bank account balances at the end of the past four years you might find a steady increase. Despite negative events you might not have control over, you might conclude that the economy is improving. My mother (and 4 others) died in an assisted living facility from Covid-19. My wife and I are in our 70’s, we were concerned about Covid until we were able to receive the vaccine. We are retired and more fortunate than many as we own our home and have sufficient assets to live without fear. We had to curtail some activities to avoid exposure to Covid but we learned that we could live more simply and didn’t need many things we thought necessary. We are Democrats and we’re very pleased when Trump was soundly defeated. Our financial condition is better than it was 4-years ago. We have not gotten Covid. The monster Trump was defeated. Efforts to curb climate change are beginning. We feel good about Kamala Harris and the prospect of another Trump defeat in a couple weeks.
The cognitive dissonance is astounding. Exactly zero American voters voted for Harris and yet, you believe “democracy” is favorable to Harris?
That is so much BS. Democrats overwhelmingly voted in the primaries for delegates committed to the Biden/Harris ticket. When Biden stepped aside, those delegates voted to nominate Harris. There was nothing "undemocratic" about it. MAGAts making this argument want to distract people from Trump's insurrection.
Party delegates, not the American People, voted for Harris during an electronic roll call.
Are you under the impression that the delegates are not Americans? Or that they were selected by dog-eating immigrants? Just how gullible are you MAGAts?
Harris and Walz = No votes by voters WHILE advocating for the elimination of the electoral college lol
The MAGAts are panicking when they're reduced to these bogus arguments.
Funny how it is only maga who do not respect voters wishes who are bringing this up. Not one democrat has an issue with following the pre-approved rules of the DNC how, if necessary, to replace a candidate after the primaries and before the convention.
Leva, and other MAGA cult members, simply confirm that they’re not particularly knowledgeable of American political parties and how they are run, every time they mention that old discredited canard of the Democratic Party “undemocratically” choosing Harris-Walz. Spoiler alert: it’s not in the Constitution but IS in the DNC’s bylaws!
Instead, they continue to listen to their “influencers”, who have been *proven* to be on the Kremlin’s payroll, and regurgitate what they’ve heard, never bothering to do a bit of work to educate themselves.
Exactly. And this failure to know how elections are run in the US, and ceding their views to influencers and Russian propaganda, is a big reason we are so close to becoming an authoritarian state. That and their desire to, by force of law, impose their beliefs on everyone else.
I am hopeful tho that we will pull back from the edge before we fall for an authoritarian.....
From your lips to God’s ears!
Yes, calling out a party who forced their elected candidate to withdraw, replace the candidate with a new one prior to the convention and then blame any critique's on Russia.
It is not in the DNC's bylaws which is why the actual vote was an electronic rollcall prior to the DNC convention.
It actually is in the DNC rules. The RNC have different rules. They are both legal rules and have been part of the rules for years.
They took the vote before the convention because 1, no one else stood uo to challenge Harris for the spot, and 2, the convention was weeks away and having no candidate during thar time would have been harmful to the democratic campaign snd having a fight during the convention would have harmed the eventual chosen candidate.
Yeah, the truth is usually the opposite of what the media narrative they are pushing. One party democratically elected their candidate from a pool of qualitied choices through a presidential primary. And that was the republican party. Harris was selected from a closed door smoky backroom, I hate that. There is a case against Trump for not conceding the election, and the riots on Jan 6. But clearly the GOP is the party of democracy
When Trump gets elected (sadly, I feel it's inevitable) and he's back in the White House, this time surrounded by only loyalists and yes-men, you'll see how much the Republicans are the party of democracy. Within a year, the U.S. will devolve into an authoritarian semi-fascist state, with left-leaning media being stifled and liberal politicians (like Schiff and Pelosi) being tried for imagined and falsified crimes. Mark my words, it's coming.
We all know thar maga does not respect votes or voters wishes, so why are you even bringing this up?
Great point comrade! Your omniscience on voter intention clearly negates the fact that no voter elected Harris. So simple.
Dems voted for Biden/Harris.
The democratic delegates then voted for Harris to replace President Biden after Biden endorseed her.
Not one other person stood up to challenge Harris or even expressed a desire to run for Prez in 2024 against djt.
Harris accepted the nomination. Not one dem has expressed any upset at following the legal and pre-approved process that played out putting her in place to run for President.
Just stop. The whole world knows that maga does not respect votes or voters choices, so your harping on this issue just highlights your extreme hypocrisy and/or ignorance of how electons are run.
You can tell how nervous the MAGAts are getting when they're reduced to these bogus arguments.
Yes! Just like djt, they soooo want to be running against President Biden and not Harris! Hahaha
Your statement is erroneous. How can a person challenge or run against Harris when she did not run as a candidate? Not a single democratic primary voter voted for Harris because she was not on the ticket. Party elites placed pressure on a sitting President to withdraw as the elected candidate. The DNC voted for a rule change to conduct an early electronic roll call prior to the actual convention. Ironically, Harris & Walz, who publicly oppose the electoral college were put in place by DNC delegates.
Once President Biden ended his campaign he released all of his delegates to vote for whoever they wished. When the delegates voted they did not have to vote for Harris, but she got a unanimous vote.
The primary voters elected Biden/Harris! She was on the ticket! If Biden died in office she would be prez and that's what primary votes chose.
The DNC did not change its rules. Thete are rules in place for almost every contingency and the candidate becoming unavailable after the primaries and before the convention was one of the contingencies thecrules coveted.
The SNC could have waited until the convention to chose the successor but that was a few weeks away during a critical time in tbe campaign whete it was critical for a candidate to be campaigning, AND not one other dem chose to run for the spot AND not one even expressed a desire to run for prez against djt, so waiting was pointless and would have harmed their campaign.
The DNC delegates dud not put Ealz in place, lol, the nominee chose him.
The DNC rules call for the delegates to choose the nominee in this type of situation, the RNC rules are different and do not let the delegates choose. Both ways are Kegan and part of how electiobs are run in the USA.
Unfortunately, Leva repeatedly shows her lack of knowledge of the history of American political parties nor does she have the *slightest* idea of what’s in the DNC bylaws.
When one side just regurgitates what they’ve been told (by known Russian-paid sources like Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin, and others), taking it in face value, there is no opportunity for actual discussion. Writing to Leva is a waste of time, as he/she hasn’t bothered to use critical thinking skills at all.
True.
But there are times when I just can not let misinformation and lies just sit there and go unopposed. I like to think that even tho it won't change maga minds or even prevent them repeating the same old misleading content, that it will at least cause them some cognative dissonance by being confronted with some facts.....maybe call it 'bubble pricking' to let in a little light haha
This. Plenty of conservatives are worried about democracy in the context of a Harris administration. The majority of that 49% is D's, but a good chunk is R's as well.
And, plenty of D's feel worse off than 4 years ago due to having rights taken away by the SC, attacks and discrimination against our lgbtq+ family and friends, the advance of climate change and the excessive heat and flooding etc we are forced to endure, and the imminent prospect of our democracy turning into an authoritarian state
If you question the accuracy of the polling, this data makes complete sense. If polling in general is undermined, the media will be forced to do a better job to understand and explain what exactly is going on. So I think the wider story is the collapse of national media as story tellers and as an accurate source of impartial information. But perhaps Americans don’t want that. They enjoy the feuding to save themselves from the daily grind. Arguing pundits is very popular. Agreeing pundits are boring. So the media gives them what they want. Conflict drives all novels and movies after all.
But there are plenty of other data points out there (such as donations, for example) which can be used to tell a story. They are just more complicated to put together. Not as easy to understand. Not as easy to explain. So they don’t.
Republicans tend to believe that the economy is more important than a woman’s right to choose. A subject Democrats see as more important. And agreeing that the economy is improving to your MAGA friends may bring death threats if you say that in public.
So I think there is a lot of hidden views that polling isn’t uncovering. On both sides. It’s too blunt an instrument to tease out what Americans really think. Republican women may welcome voting in person for Harris, in a private voting booth, where voting by mail in front of the husbands pushes them to be in alignment with them, for the sake of family unity. The Germans, in the 1940’s for example, went along with what Hitler was doing, in part because they didn’t want to be next.
If you meet most Americans, MAGAs or Democrats, on their own, they are nice people. Get them in a group though, and they become tribal. To remain part of that tribe. So a lot of the views polling and TV interviews pick up is due to that.
The reality is very different. And we need a new way of getting more accurate information and a overhauled media to tell the stories they need to tell.
Lots of good points here!
Yes, I also watched football over the weekend and was overwhelmed by the number of trans ads. Some were almost comical, if they weren't so utterly disgusting.
I'd like to know exactly how many felons in Federal prison want sex change operations?? Or maybe a guy will commit a crime & go to prison where he can get a free, paid by the government sex change operation.🙄🙄 It's just so ridiculous.
The bit that got me we're illegal immigrants getting sex change operations. I think they're just making stuff up at this point.
And the ads their running saying VP Harris has a policy allowing inmates in prison to get transgender surgery iis you guessed it another lie. This was a policy under Trump and he didn't do a damn thing about it. There are some good ads coming out to counter this from the Lincoln project. I don't find it odd they're throwing money into this in the final stretch. The base totally believes parents are sending Tommy to school and their coming home as Tammy. It's just more of the same of tge Republicans latching onto a lie that affects such a small percentage of the country but causes the base to completely lose their minds over. It stokes two very powerful emotions fear and anger. And that's the simple answer as to why
Chris, you are missing a BIG point…. Trump supporters think HARRIS is the threat to Democracy. One cannot say “Democracy is important” equals “good for Harris”.
If you are a democrat, Trump is the biggest threat to Democracy. If you are a Republican, Harris is the biggest Threat to democracy. 100%. I'm on twitter and Elon and friends have been saying that a Harris presidency would be the last Election
Sure, they are saying it as a counter-narrative, but do you truly believe it? Personally, I can't see Harris changing our election laws or drastically making moves to curtail our elections. But Trump? The guy who wouldn't concede when he truly lost? Yeah... that I can easily see.
I don’t see them as equal. Trump already tried to contest in 2021 is the difference. But seeing big name Dems use words like “fascist” or “Nazi” to describe Trump which I don’t agree at all. If Trump wins the electoral college, that is pretext for the ruling class to not give republicans control. Because he is too dangerous etc.
The transgender ads are intended to have a much broader impact than just reinforcing the anti-trans fixations of the MAGA base. Just like the Green New Deal ad the Trump campaign is running in Michigan and Pennsylvania, these spots seek to use clips of Harris (taken from her disastrous 2019 presidential campaign) strongly endorsing controversial left progressive positions to paint her as an out-of-touch progressive elitist and cultural alien. It's as much about the claim that she ardently supports TAXPAYER FUNDING of these surgeries for MURDERERS and MIGRANTS as it is about the anti-trans element.
I find these ads to be harsh and ugly, but I'm a college educated lib. They may well land differently with non-college educated voters of all races -- particularly younger men, it's not a coincidence that they're running these spots during sporting events -- and are having an impact in making Harris seem like someone who culturally just isn't a normie like they are. It's worth considering that they may well have been a factor in the small but clear polling shift towards Trump in the last couple of weeks.
My Pastor gave me the absolute best advice for living in this world...lead with love and have grace for others the same way Jesus does. The scare tactics and lack of truthfulness of the Trump campaign makes me sad for our country.
Reproductive rights/bodily autonomy are not among most important issues? Or is that subsumed by the SCOTUS one?
when your winning strategy is focusing on which hole folks pee out of, then you got serious problems.
sadly, it might be enough to scare folks into votes.
when all else fails, bring out the trans folks and blame everything on them.