LGBT rights in the USA today...

[iris lilies]

Yes. One can pick out a marginalized group, repeatedly accuse them of all sorts of outlandish things, introduce (and perhaps pass) legislation that attacks their very existence, use the group as a focus point to rally your supporters, and then...

... look shocked, shocked I tell you, that some crazy went off and decided that because the group was abducting Christian children and sacrificing them to demons in the basement of a pizza parlor that it was time to act...

And if anyone complains, why, they're just trying to shut down free speech, right? Probably they too are enemies of society....

Repeat as necessary.

Everyone can tell anyone else to STFU as far as I’m concerned, whatever. You are not the boss of me, to continue the playground rhetoric of sticks and stones.

It’s when the government gets involved that we all need to pay attention. The Democratic Party operatives in the white House have been flirting with that for years. Frankly, I’m shocked that Trump didn’t make a big effort to tamp down free speech, specifically anti-Donald speech. Maybe he did and we just don’t know about it. It seems right up Donald Trump’s alley.

[LDAHL]

You could establish a Disinformation Governance Board and staff it with Oberlin graduates and NPR senior correspondents. You could adopt Canadian style Human Rights Tribunals. You could send Dave Chappelle to a Supermax facility and carpet bomb Fox News.

But crazy people will still do crazy things.

[bae]

I was pleased to learn this, as a USAF firearms instructor once advised me that my most effective use of an M-16 would be as a club.

The buffer tube assembly is generally considered too fragile for that.

The M1 Garand rifles the US Army provided me are considerably stouter, have a solid hardwood stock with a gnarly metal butt plate, and the M1905 bayonet, which they also provided, has a 16" blade (*). Perhaps a wiser choice for use as an impact tool.


(*) I find the later-model M1 bayonet, which is a M1905 cut down to 10", balances better and is handier as a camp tool. Grandpa told me though the M1905 was preferred when he was in the Pacific in WWII, as the foes faced had longer rifles and bayonets themselves.

[bae]

It’s when the government gets involved that we all need to pay attention.

Well, you better start paying attention. It's been a record several years for the introduction of anti-LGBTQ legislation by political leaders. Most of the bills aren't getting anywhere, yet, but the introduction and debate process does seem to be great red meat being thrown to the base to attract votes and $$$ donations.

https://www.aclu.org/legislation-aff...across-country

[iris lilies]

You could establish a Disinformation Governance Board and staff it with Oberlin graduates and NPR senior correspondents. You could adopt Canadian style Human Rights Tribunals. You could send Dave Chappelle to a Supermax facility and carpet bomb Fox News.

But crazy people will still do crazy things.

This piece of ridiculousness was not only laughable, it was scary. It was one step beyond Obama’s website set up for people to tattle on others who dissed the President.

Again, I am shocked that DJT didn’t adopt these efforts. This lack certainly was not due to his principled stance.

[iris lilies]

Well, you better start paying attention. It's been a record several years for the introduction of anti-LGBTQ legislation by political leaders. Most of the bills aren't getting anywhere, yet, but the introduction and debate process does seem to be great red meat being thrown to the base to attract votes and $$$ donations.

https://www.aclu.org/legislation-aff...across-country

speech? This is about the feds limiting speech? How so?

About the trans kid medicalized treatment thing, I honestly do not understand how a physician “treats” trans kids without drugs or surgery.

I once asked the question of someone on the MMM site who claimed to have experience in this realm and never got an answer, but I did get lots of unhelpful attitude. My context in asking was: if I were a parent I would want to know about treatment i.e. surgery and medications.

[LDAHL]

The buffer tube assembly is generally considered too fragile for that.

The M1 Garand rifles the US Army provided me are considerably stouter, have a solid hardwood stock with a gnarly metal butt plate, and the M1905 bayonet, which they also provided, has a 16" blade (*). Perhaps a wiser choice for use as an impact tool.


(*) I find the later-model M1 bayonet, which is a M1905 cut down to 10", balances better and is handier as a camp tool. Grandpa told me though the M1905 was preferred when he was in the Pacific in WWII, as the foes faced had longer rifles and bayonets themselves.

I think if you were to ask him the poor man would say I was deadlier with a pool noodle than anything involving pulling a trigger.

[JaneV2.0]

I understand that one of the good guys was an Army veteran who used the attacker’s gun to bludgeon him.

I was pleased to learn this, as a USAF firearms instructor once advised me that my most effective use of an M-16 would be as a club.

[JaneV2.0]

Yes. One can pick out a marginalized group, repeatedly accuse them of all sorts of outlandish things, introduce (and perhaps pass) legislation that attacks their very existence, use the group as a focus point to rally your supporters, and then...

... look shocked, shocked I tell you, that some crazy went off and decided that because the group was abducting Christian children and sacrificing them to demons in the basement of a pizza parlor that it was time to act...

And if anyone complains, why, they're just trying to shut down free speech, right? Probably they too are enemies of society....

Repeat as necessary.

Except the perpetrators aren't crazy; they know exactly who they're attacking, and why.

[LDAHL]

This piece of ridiculousness was not only laughable, it was scary. It was one step beyond Obama’s website set up for people to tattle on others who dissed the President.

Again, I am shocked that DJT didn’t adopt these efforts. This lack certainly was not due to his principled stance.

I think the guy thrives on hate speech, both his and others’ directed at him.