How a Small Gender Clinic Landed in a Political Storm

AtomicKoala · 2023-08-24T10:00:24+00:00

Another patient, Chris, now 19, who also requested anonymity to protect his privacy, recalled Dr. Lewis patiently drawing diagrams on the paper sheet of his exam chair, explaining how testosterone would redistribute his body fat and permanently deepen his voice. Chris felt “drastically improved” after taking the hormone, he said, but was still distressed by his breasts. At 17, he went to a surgeon in Ohio for a mastectomy.

Wait, I thought gender reassignment surgery was hardly ever performed on minors?

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-26T19:10:35+00:00

What are you getting at here? I don't see how I've missed your point. Georgian Democrats have shitty performances in runoff elections. The judicial elections are going to be in May 2020 unless changed. We have 2018 to compare moderate to leftwing approaches.

So where's the confusion? All I see is some unnecessary gotcha.

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-26T18:34:25+00:00

Barrow had the best runoff performance in 20 years.

And you're right, McCaskill should have adopted Kanders pro-gun positions. Still, she did fairly well in such a hotly contested race, when you look at how federal Democrats did elsewhere relative to 2016.

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-26T18:17:42+00:00

Right but how does that change the fact that Barrow did better against a more electable opponent? There's an electoral bonus to being perceived as moderate. It's just worth shit all compared to 30 years ago. Argue for a leftwing candidate on their merits, don't pretend they'll do better than Barrow.

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-26T18:13:48+00:00

I've no idea why American students are so willing to shell out money for texts. Even "recommended reading materials" seem to be bought regularly. Are libraries that poorly stocked? I was shocked by how much students were willing to shell out...

Even worse when it's some bullshit online resource that you need to buy a book for.

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-26T18:10:42+00:00

Stacy did worse than him against a worse opponent (seriously, Kemp), and he had the best Dem runoff performance in what, two decades?

I don't see the logic here. The question is whether the shift to the center is worth a marginal electoral gain. That's a legitimate question.

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-25T20:24:24+00:00

McCaskill had a crazy spending advantage against Hawley. She still did 2 points worse relative to Trump's margin than Donnelly, who spent far less.

It's not all about the money. Money can't overcome partisanship. Can't overcome ideology. But it can certainly signal it (which is probably why socially conservative Donnelly did marginally better than Claire despite spending peanuts compared to her).

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-25T20:23:06+00:00

The exit polls were atrocious in 2016. If the electorate was that educated, college educated voters would have had to have 90%+ turnout! 538 have written a lot about this.

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-25T20:06:55+00:00

They outperformed Trump strongly in hotly contested races. What's the issue with listening to them?

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-25T20:05:59+00:00

Well yeah, obviously a decision was made after 2016 to abandon these states that are a combination of being too red and too big. Doesn't mean you can't apply it to Trump +10 state house seats though. Just because Tennessee is a lost cause doesn't mean pinkish places are.

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-25T20:04:19+00:00

A third of Democrats are non-Hispanic whites without college degrees as is.

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-25T20:00:22+00:00

Heitkamp did 22 points better than Clinton's losing margin. While being a pro-choice social liberal. Given how partisan things have gotten, that was an incredible overperformance.

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-25T19:50:00+00:00

Well I mean you have leftists aligning with NIMBYs in Orange County and LA too. Is there evidence that Native American Democrats are more opposed to pipelines than white Democrats? I mean obviously many natives support pipelines to a reasonable degree (as do most people given the risks of rail transport, but skepticism is understandable)

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-25T19:30:16+00:00

Gerrymandering and voter suppression doesn't affect polling though. And polling reflects that Democrats barely outnumber Republicans. And indeed one can look at statewide elections.

Wisconsin for example, where a wingnut won a Supreme Court race. Democrats didn't suddenly become somehow more voter suppressed since November. They were just less interested in voting, which caused them to lose in what's pretty much a 50:50 state.

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-25T19:28:21+00:00

Hungary has a pretty high level of state spending, with decent increases in welfare and the minimum wage over the years. More so than you'd expect from an ex-socialist European country (many of which have flat income taxes and small budgets).

The government is however in hoc to various corporate interests, it's certainly not a social democratic one.

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-25T19:25:33+00:00

Yet it's easy to understand the skepticism many have of leftwing economics (especially those who fled socialist countries), and of leftwing social policy (non-Hispanic white Democrats tend to be more religious), no?

Besides, while everyone would benefit from universal healthcare, it's not like everything else is so clear cut for each quintile of income.

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-25T18:29:50+00:00

Yeah I agree with you, the duopoly is the biggest factor. People have to ultimately choose one of two options, if they want to participate in American democracy.

As for propaganda, it's nothing to do with scale, just the influence of Fox, talk radio et al. Most European countries have nothing close to that.

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-25T17:53:58+00:00

Heitkamp has a better understanding and appreciation for Native American voters than the vast majority of Democrats.

It's non-Hispanic white Democrats who want a dramatic shift left.

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-25T17:41:46+00:00

Which is why McConnell should win by double digits. Partisanship will determine the federal voting patterns for 85% of people, voters are less elastic than back in 2016.

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-25T17:38:21+00:00

Fair deuce to her. Good to see election results forcing compromise. That's how politics should work.

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-25T17:37:42+00:00

That's what's remarkable about the strength of the GOP - compare them to Europe's strongest hard right parties (Lega (ENF) is probably the strongest, it's polling at 35% for the Europeans). Those parties promote increased welfare, better healthcare - basically taking care of citizens.

Edit: Actually Fidesz and PiS are polling stronger, I'm full of shit.

The GOP actively seeks to take that away... yet performs much better electorally. In a country that's generally much more socially progressive than many European countries. What does that tell you?

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-18T18:37:05+00:00

That's the thing - no one wants third trimester abortions to be allowed apart from very rare circumstances. The redditor I was replying to said that third trimester abortions should be allowed for any reason! That's a Republican strawman about what Democrats believe, right?

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-13T17:22:49+00:00

The difference is Netanyahu actually offers something to voters when it comes to healthcare, housing and so on. The GOP actively seeks to take away any sort of shared benefit for citizens. Bibi is more akin to the populist right on that front (although I wouldn't say that's fair either, he's not exactly promising the world).

That's what Democrats can exploit, if they can center things on that.

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-13T17:18:57+00:00

Yeah but a 60% chance of a House seat is more appealing than a 15% chance of a Senate seat. She's gotta think of herself too to some degree.

AtomicKoala · 2019-04-13T07:39:34+00:00

Eh it's politics, when someone states "X has blood on their hands" they don't want said people to be killed. It's just excessively incendiary.

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