There's a WOMAN in the White House (nearly)

@Delphinium20

“ What you think is dementia is really Joe Biden's stutter which he has struggled with his whole life. Go listen to his speeches from 20-30 years ago and you will heart the same pauses and falters as he struggles not to stutter.”

I’m afraid I disagree. A stutter does not cause one to mistake his dead son for his granddaughter, nor claim said son ran for senate (Beau never ran for senate, he was the attorney general for Delaware) as seen here on this clip from Nov 3:

While Biden claims to have had a stutter since childhood, the first such mention I can find in the New York Times archive is during his failed presidential run in 2007:

www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/us/politics/09biden.html?searchResultPosition=10

By this point Biden has been a senator for four decades.

If anyone is interested, I suggest listening to Biden’s speech in 1994 in favor of passing the Crime Bill to hear Biden in his prime.

I’m not a medical professional; my experience with dementia only extends to the two members of family who had it. I don’t know if Biden has dementia, but I do see similarities between his behavior and speaking with those of my family, certainly a cognitive decline between the man in 1994 and 2020. In the US, Biden would certainly not be the first president propped up behind the scenes due to his failing health: Reagan, of course, had Alzheimer’s, Wilson had a stroke that left him greatly incapacitated. So it’s not out of the realm of possibilities.

Can I also take issue with the suggestion that we should not discuss American politics. The people looking to push through self ID here look around the globe for support, oft citing Canada as a model. The USA passing a federal mandate that gender identity is a Civil Right would have massive implications over here.

Here's a passage from the BBC about Congressman Doug Collins of - you guessed it - Georgia, on the issue:

Congressman Doug Collins of Georgia warned that the act could force athletic competitions to allow transgender participants.

"Never before in American history has one political party tried to so dramatically rewrite federal civil rights laws to include an undefined, self-referential, ideologically driven term - 'gender identity' - in the US Code, applicable to literally any entity that receives federal financial assistance, including elementary schools, colleges and health care centres nationwide," he said during a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Well that GLAAD link seems to be confirming what I said (thanks for linking, Escapeplanning ). Any thoughts on this Turnitonagain ? Once gender identity is protected at federal level, how can Christians' entrenched views have any relevance?

If the military can not guarantee a timely shipment of insulin to service members in Afghanistan, they certainly cannot do the same for hormones.

Exactly, though we are not just talking about soldiers neatly located in overseas bases. We are also talking about soldiers who are having to route march forty miles over rough terrain, pinned down by enemy combatants, potentially taken prisoner or held hostage for months. Places where there is no chance medication could be delivered, in stressful situations where even those with good mental health will find themselves stretched to their limits, where having to ‘carry’ a weak member of the team could be the difference between life and death of the whole team, or the success of the mission.

Here's GLAAD talking about the Bill's journey

www.glaad.org/amp/equality-act-how-we-got-here-and-how-we-move-forward

@BlueCatRedCat haha! We must have both have been typing the same time!

Delphinium I cross posted with you, thank you for trying to clarify my clumsy words. I'm not great at getting thoughts onto page.

This is incorrect. Only residents of the state can vote on their senators. These run-off elections are limited to Georgia voters and Georgia voters only.

Sorry, I didn't want to give the impression it was. That was clumsy wording on my part. I was trying (and failing) to reference the fact that this is not an election of state legislators only, but gives the winners a national platform, and therefore their actions will effect people nationally.

The democrats are already mobilising - Andrew Yang (stood in the Democratic primaries, seems like a decent bloke) announced today he is moving to Georgia for the duration, to start door to door canvassing and signing up voters. I have no doubt that there will be an intense focus and effort from national democratics in Georgia.

I don't really understand how trans rights not being a thing in the US squares with the latest Equality Bill and all the previous attempts by the Democrats to amend the Civil Rights Act to make gender identity a protected class at federal level. The democrats have been attempting to do this for many years (since Clinton). It's partisan politics that has stopped this from happening thus far. The Supreme Court has already ruled that gender identity is a protected class under the CRA as far as employment is concerned (ironically in a case that was against Clayton County in Georgia, the county that voted heavily democrat). The latest Equality Act bill, which includes making gender identity protection a federal Civil Rights law, passed in Congress by quite some margin (it had bi-partisan support). It is currently sat in a dusty pile in the Senate. I assume Mitch McConnell is ignoring it. What happens to it if the Dems get control of the Senate, and MM is no longer head honcho? Will it be heard? Will it be passed into federal law? If it is, where does that leave women?

BlueCatRedCat
Just wanted to add, in case it wasn't clear, the Georgia Senate run off elections are national ballots, not just for the citizens of that state. It's potentially huge!
This is incorrect. Only residents of the state can vote on their senators. These run-off elections are limited to Georgia voters and Georgia voters only.

Both of these have some truths. 1. Yes. It's only Georgia residents voting for their 2 senators. 2. Yes while limited to Georgia voters, it's huge because it WILL have national impact as it can tip the balance of the Senate to Dems which means we'd have House/Senate and Executive under Dem control.

Also, if Biden hadn't brought some religion into his speech, he'd be generally seen by a majority of Americans as immoral. I personally don't like religious creep into politics but claiming atheism or any religion not Abrahamic is political suicide here. Many Evangelical Christians here don't think Biden's a real Christian because he's Catholic. France's secularism would never fly in the US (which I think a shame as we were founded on the principles of the separation of church and state).

In some parts of the country, a regular question when you meet someone new is "what church do you go to?"

Thank you, so you've said. This is why we we're asking questions.

Here's another: How does this lobbying of Democrat candidates happen? For example, there is lobbying by vested interest groups in the UK too, but a lot also happens through local constituency parties. Also the candidate and party members go door-to-door canvassing before an election, which means they have to talk to voters who don't share their views and, provided they listen, they can get a feel for what policies are and aren't popular. Are there similar processes for Senate candidates?

I don’t know what point you’re arguing.

America is not Britain.

America is deeply religious and conservative.

Fighting Democratic candidates in Georgia on behalf of women’s rights is nonsensical. Focus on your own country and let Americans vote based on their own concerns.

I have lived in the US and UK, trust me when I say if you haven’t lived there you have no idea how deeply entrenched Christianity is in how people view sex and gender issues. It’s part of why they’ve never had a woman president and just barely elected a woman VP.

are deeply against trans rights to the point of banning them from the military.

Banning people with a reliance on medication from the military seems a sensible thing to do whatever the condition. And given factors like dysphoria, surgical complications, need to dilate ‘neovaginas’ and high rates of suicide/suicidal thoughts, it would suggest they are exactly the sort you do not want in your fighting unit where men’s lives depend on each other’s actions. That is before you add in things like requiring commanders to ensure the usage of ‘correct’ pronouns when issuing orders in extremely tense/extreme risk situations.

Oh yes it was, I just checked www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna966061

Wasn't Sarah McBride the one that Posie Parker and Julia Long interrupted and asked lots of questions of on their controversial visit to America last year?

Would the results as things stand favour the republicans in the senate race? In that anyone with republican leanings would be keen to have a check on the democrates? If you are a swing voters then you might well decide you want to ensure democratics do not have a free hand? The republicans can’t make changes by controlling the senate alone can they?

FWRLurker, I'm just an interested Brit, I'm afraid. I've learned from watching and reading, but have no direct knowledge. I don't know what groups are on the ground in Georgia, sorry.

Just because Britain sleepwalked into complicated trans issues doesn’t mean America will. One of the most influential political blocs - evangelical Christians - are deeply against trans rights to the point of banning them from the military.

I don’t think MNers with limited knowledge of American government should act as though their issues are the same. They are not.

Just that whatever the state of Georgia decides, the balance of the Senate will be the prize. The whole nation will have their eyes on this. I imagine the coverage will be massive.

BlueCatRedCat

Thanks for your informative post re: Georgia! I hadn’t quite clocked that GA could hang the senate (really hand to Dems) if it went totally blue.

Alas, I suspect there will be massive $$$pumped into this race from lobbying groups, and well funded womens groups in the US are likely to lobby for Dems due to the contraception and abortion issue alone.

Are you aware of any organized lobbying efforts on the GA runoff from womens groups supporting sex based rights?

I tend to think option 2 is better because we can continue our efforts, and this is how the current dogma got into the party - by the back door lobbying efforts of TRA groups (sadly the lobbying money that was raised to help get marriage equality is now being used to abolish all rights based on sex including gay rights! Now everyone can be “queer”!)

I wonder if this appointment will help inform the proposed changes to the Equality Act in America?

www.out.com/politics/2020/8/12/kamala-harris-picks-out-lesbian-karine-jean-pierre-chief-staff?fbclid=IwAR2oaTit4GPClXS4A5LsmVtjYjUEoyaNZYOY5oEm-9fuWRwrpaRqAYpEpwk

Thanks Blue, excellent insight and explanation on that, and your earlier post. Thank you.