Any male body is much closer to Napoleon's, than it is to a female body.
Wow, you know nothing about genetics or biology, do you? Two unrelated people are much more dissimilar than fraternal twins, one of whom happens to be male and one female. Secondly, false analogy again: Someone who isn't Napoleon but claims he is has no biological basis for that claim. I am not claiming to be someone that I'm not. Quite the opposite: I am expressing my true gender identity as it is forged in my brain.
I contend, that "his own life" and "pushed onto others" are inseparable, if formulating and/or executing public policy is the person's very job.
You can contend that all you want, but it's false. Our former Prime Minister Stephen Harper was a religious Christian personally very opposed to abortion, but he did not force his views on the electorate, mostly because he knew he'd lose, but partly because Canada in recent years ironically has more of a tradition of keeping religion out of political discourse than the US. In the US, the Religious Right has been extremely successful in pushing policy changes that implement its religious views.
Likewise, your claim of facing high risk visiting a wrong bathroom because of Evangelicals remains unsubstantiated.
It was Evangelical pressure that got the North Carolina anti-LGBT bill passed, and there are bills pending in several states that are both explicitly anti-LGBT and claiming to be in support of "freedom of religion", just so long as your religion happens to be Christianity.
You can contend that all you want, but it's false. Our former Prime Minister Stephen Harper was quite religious and was personally opposed to abortion. However, he refused to reopen the abortion debate in Canada because most Canadians are pro-choice and he knew he could not force his religious beliefs on others. In the US, unfortunately, the religious right has been much more successful in forcing its beliefs on others.
BTW, you are yet to explain, why you single out Evangelicals so fervently?
We're talking about Donald Trump. If you want to see me to write nasty things about Islam, try looking at some postings I've made on Slashdot where Islam is a relevant part of the discussion. I assure you that I am an equal-opportunity religion-basher and think that Islam is one of the worst out there. But that's not the issue in the USA; evangelical Christianity is the issue there.
And if you must know, I'd certainly take Donald Trump over Ted Cruz, who is a poster-child for the dangerous religious extremist politician.
Which is a completely false analogy. First of all, there's growing evidence for a biological basis for transgenderism. Secondly, human males and females are not all that different; our bodies are originally undifferentiated and have the potential to develop either way, depending on what hormones are or are not present, and how our hormone receptors react. For example, I take estradiol and it has given me breasts because my body still has some potential to develop either way. There is no potential whatsoever for my body to turn into a zebra.
Ok with religious beliefs as long as they don't manifest themselves.
Yes, precisely. If religious beliefs manifest themselves in how a person conducts his or her own life, that's completely fine. But if the beliefs are pushed onto others via public policy, then it's not fine at all. How is it so hard to comprehend?
Distinction without difference...
You are welcome to remain ignorant; doesn't bother me.
In North Carolina, it is illegal for me to use the women's restroom even though I am a transgender woman and look completely female. And transgender people face enormous rates of harassment when forced to use the wrong washroom with 9% reporting assault.
but would like to ban religious people from running for office?
Where on earth did I say that? Religious people are quite welcome to run for office. What they should not do is push their religious beliefs on others by making public policy.
I'm afraid, your understanding of laws and ethics is just as messed up as your sexuality.
My sexuality? Where did I mention my sexuality? Oh right, you're among the many ignorant people who conflate gender identity with sexual orientation... I forgot that there are a lot of you out there.
Absorbing immigrants takes resources. But I dispute that it's a net loss for a country; immigrants to a country tend to over-contribute to the economy once they get established. The actual cost/benefit analysis is much more complex (PDF) than you seem to be stating.
Note the qualifier in certain respects, by which I mean imposing religious beliefs on others and forcing women who want to terminate their pregnancies to come to term.
Well, OK, banning the flag probably was a stupid decision. On the other hand, had violence erupted, the school district might have faced huge lawsuits, so they were stuck between a rock and a hard place.
And I'm not sure you can blame this on "diversity". It seems to me the real culprit is intolerance coupled with intense fear of litigation.
Where you can pee? If that is the worst suffering you go through for being transgender, then that just shows the US people are pretty tolerant.
Most US people are very tolerant. It's the batshit crazy Evangelicals who are bigoted. And hey, why don't you try going to the "opposite" restroom for the next couple of months and see how you fare?
It doesn't matter that it's legal.
Yes, it does. It's perfectly fine to oppose abortion and even to agitate to make it illegal. It's not perfectly fine to subvert the law with restrictive regulations. That's doing an end-run around democracy because it doesn't involve the political process.
Thanks to the Evangelicals, if I go to certain parts of the United States, I must put myself at risk of harassment, assault or murder just to use a public washroom. Thanks to the Evangelicals, in certain parts of the United States it's totally fine to deny LGBT people housing, employment and service.
Religion mixed into politics is totally, unquestionably evil.
Look, I happen not to agree with banning the flag... but seriously? That's the best you can come up with? Isn't banning the flag just a form of protected expression? Freedom of expression doesn't mean anything if only expression we approve of is allowed.
It wasn't an American public school that banned the flag. It was a university student government. And most student governments are about as batshit crazy as the Evangelicals, except to the Left. Luckily, most of the students eventually grow up.
Oh, and I missed answering your question. Canada's a great place to live. Having spent time in both the USA and Canada, not to mention many other countries in the world, I'd definitely pick staying in Canada over anywhere else. My resolve may weaken in mid-February, but then I just look at US politics and it makes me feel better.
Excuse me? Where did I blame "a religion" for "all" my problems?
I happen to think that religion (all religion, not just Christianity) is evil and a huge source of injustice in the world. But it's certainly not a cause of all problems in the world... just a lot of them.
And yes, parts of the United States are no better than ISIS-ruled territory in certain respects; the US is mostly a democracy but increasingly, parts of it are dangerously theocratic.
Abortion in the United States is legal, whether or not you like it. Yet states like Texas introduce regulations that make it all but impossible for a woman to obtain that which is perfectly legal.
The "where I can pee" thing refers to the North Carolina law that says I have to use the men's room even though I'm a transgender woman and don't look even vaguely male. Amusingly, it would force this guy to use the ladies' room because he has XX chromosomes.
Sneaking religion into public schools refers to the teaching of Creationism in biology class.
I haven't made a billion, it's true, but I took much less than a million and turned it into a nicely-profitable software company with 12 employees and annual sales in the millions.
Contrary to the widely-known meme, diversity is not strength. It is a weakness
It depends. It certainly can cause society to fracture as it is in Europe where immigrants are not assimilated. On the other hand, the United States' "melting-pot" approach has been quite successful in creating a cohesive society, and I think it's definitely something Canada can learn from the USA. Our "multiculturalism" approach is, I think, quite dangerous and does risk Canada fracturing along ethnic lines, though we're not (yet) quite as bad as Europe.
Waterloo may be further south than Seattle, but it's a hell of a lot colder in winter. Seattle's on the coast and Waterloo is about 60km from Lake Ontario and about 800km from the ocean.
The batshit insane Evangelicals in Canada have essentially zero impact on public policy, unlike in the United States where they're preventing access to abortion, telling people like me where we can and can't pee, sneakily introducing religion into the public school systems, etc.
If you think Trudeau is a batshit insane leftist politician, well... we have very different ideas of what "insane leftist" means, then.
Legalizing marijuana makes perfect sense if your goal is to reduce harm. If your goal is to fill your jail cells and waste police resources, then sure... keep it illiegal.
Not to mention we here in Canada have a relatively functional political system and we lack batshit crazy evangelical Christian politicians who foam at the mouth every time they hear the words "same-sex marriage". That's worth the price of admission.
Trump is actually a really shitty business man who happened to get lucky with one of his ventures. You already knew that. But John Oliver summarizes it nicely..
Trump's an idiot, but people don't up and move countries unless there's a serious economic reason to do so, or their safety or lives are at risk. And I don't think that'll happen with Trump... at least not for the first four years.
The Trump ad is a publicity stunt, not anything serious.
I mean, no-one has ever faked ID. Or paid a kid $20 to go buy a couple of phones.
And where will it end? ID to buy box-cutters to close the box-cutter loophole? ID to buy nails because they're used in nail bombs? ID to buy pressure cookers?
I strongly suspect the editors of Progress in Human Geography have been hoaxed. Either that, or the journal is one of those fake journals that will publish anything if you pay them.
Bell and Rogers are forced to lease some of their infrastructure to others, but that still puts newcomers at a disadvantage because Bell and Rogers, as owners of the infrastructure, can undercut them.
I'm sorry, even though I'm basically a free-market capitalist, it's obvious to me that in this case pure free-market capitalism is not going to work. Be pragmatic, not dogmatically ideological.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't know, what such "biological basis" can possibly mean.
Well, here's some reading for you: Transgender: Evidence on the biological nature of gender identity. And Science in transition: Understanding the biology behind gender identity. And Structural Connectivity Networks of Transgender People
Any male body is much closer to Napoleon's, than it is to a female body.
Wow, you know nothing about genetics or biology, do you? Two unrelated people are much more dissimilar than fraternal twins, one of whom happens to be male and one female. Secondly, false analogy again: Someone who isn't Napoleon but claims he is has no biological basis for that claim. I am not claiming to be someone that I'm not. Quite the opposite: I am expressing my true gender identity as it is forged in my brain.
I contend, that "his own life" and "pushed onto others" are inseparable, if formulating and/or executing public policy is the person's very job.
You can contend that all you want, but it's false. Our former Prime Minister Stephen Harper was a religious Christian personally very opposed to abortion, but he did not force his views on the electorate, mostly because he knew he'd lose, but partly because Canada in recent years ironically has more of a tradition of keeping religion out of political discourse than the US. In the US, the Religious Right has been extremely successful in pushing policy changes that implement its religious views.
Likewise, your claim of facing high risk visiting a wrong bathroom because of Evangelicals remains unsubstantiated.
It was Evangelical pressure that got the North Carolina anti-LGBT bill passed, and there are bills pending in several states that are both explicitly anti-LGBT and claiming to be in support of "freedom of religion", just so long as your religion happens to be Christianity.
You can contend that all you want, but it's false. Our former Prime Minister Stephen Harper was quite religious and was personally opposed to abortion. However, he refused to reopen the abortion debate in Canada because most Canadians are pro-choice and he knew he could not force his religious beliefs on others. In the US, unfortunately, the religious right has been much more successful in forcing its beliefs on others.
BTW, you are yet to explain, why you single out Evangelicals so fervently?
We're talking about Donald Trump. If you want to see me to write nasty things about Islam, try looking at some postings I've made on Slashdot where Islam is a relevant part of the discussion. I assure you that I am an equal-opportunity religion-basher and think that Islam is one of the worst out there. But that's not the issue in the USA; evangelical Christianity is the issue there.
And if you must know, I'd certainly take Donald Trump over Ted Cruz, who is a poster-child for the dangerous religious extremist politician.
Which is a completely false analogy. First of all, there's growing evidence for a biological basis for transgenderism. Secondly, human males and females are not all that different; our bodies are originally undifferentiated and have the potential to develop either way, depending on what hormones are or are not present, and how our hormone receptors react. For example, I take estradiol and it has given me breasts because my body still has some potential to develop either way. There is no potential whatsoever for my body to turn into a zebra.
Ok with religious beliefs as long as they don't manifest themselves.
Yes, precisely. If religious beliefs manifest themselves in how a person conducts his or her own life, that's completely fine. But if the beliefs are pushed onto others via public policy, then it's not fine at all. How is it so hard to comprehend?
Distinction without difference...
You are welcome to remain ignorant; doesn't bother me.
In North Carolina, it is illegal for me to use the women's restroom even though I am a transgender woman and look completely female. And transgender people face enormous rates of harassment when forced to use the wrong washroom with 9% reporting assault.
but would like to ban religious people from running for office?
Where on earth did I say that? Religious people are quite welcome to run for office. What they should not do is push their religious beliefs on others by making public policy.
I'm afraid, your understanding of laws and ethics is just as messed up as your sexuality.
My sexuality? Where did I mention my sexuality? Oh right, you're among the many ignorant people who conflate gender identity with sexual orientation... I forgot that there are a lot of you out there.
Absorbing immigrants takes resources. But I dispute that it's a net loss for a country; immigrants to a country tend to over-contribute to the economy once they get established. The actual cost/benefit analysis is much more complex (PDF) than you seem to be stating.
Note the qualifier in certain respects, by which I mean imposing religious beliefs on others and forcing women who want to terminate their pregnancies to come to term.
Well, OK, banning the flag probably was a stupid decision. On the other hand, had violence erupted, the school district might have faced huge lawsuits, so they were stuck between a rock and a hard place.
And I'm not sure you can blame this on "diversity". It seems to me the real culprit is intolerance coupled with intense fear of litigation.
Where you can pee? If that is the worst suffering you go through for being transgender, then that just shows the US people are pretty tolerant.
Most US people are very tolerant. It's the batshit crazy Evangelicals who are bigoted. And hey, why don't you try going to the "opposite" restroom for the next couple of months and see how you fare?
It doesn't matter that it's legal.
Yes, it does. It's perfectly fine to oppose abortion and even to agitate to make it illegal. It's not perfectly fine to subvert the law with restrictive regulations. That's doing an end-run around democracy because it doesn't involve the political process.
"harmless" Evangelicals? You must be joking.
Thanks to the Evangelicals, if I go to certain parts of the United States, I must put myself at risk of harassment, assault or murder just to use a public washroom. Thanks to the Evangelicals, in certain parts of the United States it's totally fine to deny LGBT people housing, employment and service.
Religion mixed into politics is totally, unquestionably evil.
Look, I happen not to agree with banning the flag... but seriously? That's the best you can come up with? Isn't banning the flag just a form of protected expression? Freedom of expression doesn't mean anything if only expression we approve of is allowed.
It wasn't an American public school that banned the flag. It was a university student government. And most student governments are about as batshit crazy as the Evangelicals, except to the Left. Luckily, most of the students eventually grow up.
Oh, and I missed answering your question. Canada's a great place to live. Having spent time in both the USA and Canada, not to mention many other countries in the world, I'd definitely pick staying in Canada over anywhere else. My resolve may weaken in mid-February, but then I just look at US politics and it makes me feel better.
Excuse me? Where did I blame "a religion" for "all" my problems?
I happen to think that religion (all religion, not just Christianity) is evil and a huge source of injustice in the world. But it's certainly not a cause of all problems in the world... just a lot of them.
And yes, parts of the United States are no better than ISIS-ruled territory in certain respects; the US is mostly a democracy but increasingly, parts of it are dangerously theocratic.
Abortion in the United States is legal, whether or not you like it. Yet states like Texas introduce regulations that make it all but impossible for a woman to obtain that which is perfectly legal.
The "where I can pee" thing refers to the North Carolina law that says I have to use the men's room even though I'm a transgender woman and don't look even vaguely male. Amusingly, it would force this guy to use the ladies' room because he has XX chromosomes.
Sneaking religion into public schools refers to the teaching of Creationism in biology class.
I haven't made a billion, it's true, but I took much less than a million and turned it into a nicely-profitable software company with 12 employees and annual sales in the millions.
Contrary to the widely-known meme, diversity is not strength. It is a weakness
It depends. It certainly can cause society to fracture as it is in Europe where immigrants are not assimilated. On the other hand, the United States' "melting-pot" approach has been quite successful in creating a cohesive society, and I think it's definitely something Canada can learn from the USA. Our "multiculturalism" approach is, I think, quite dangerous and does risk Canada fracturing along ethnic lines, though we're not (yet) quite as bad as Europe.
Waterloo may be further south than Seattle, but it's a hell of a lot colder in winter. Seattle's on the coast and Waterloo is about 60km from Lake Ontario and about 800km from the ocean.
The batshit insane Evangelicals in Canada have essentially zero impact on public policy, unlike in the United States where they're preventing access to abortion, telling people like me where we can and can't pee, sneakily introducing religion into the public school systems, etc.
If you think Trudeau is a batshit insane leftist politician, well... we have very different ideas of what "insane leftist" means, then.
Legalizing marijuana makes perfect sense if your goal is to reduce harm. If your goal is to fill your jail cells and waste police resources, then sure... keep it illiegal.
Not to mention we here in Canada have a relatively functional political system and we lack batshit crazy evangelical Christian politicians who foam at the mouth every time they hear the words "same-sex marriage". That's worth the price of admission.
"someone with a billionaire’s mindset"
Trump is actually a really shitty business man who happened to get lucky with one of his ventures. You already knew that. But John Oliver summarizes it nicely..
Trump's an idiot, but people don't up and move countries unless there's a serious economic reason to do so, or their safety or lives are at risk. And I don't think that'll happen with Trump... at least not for the first four years.
The Trump ad is a publicity stunt, not anything serious.
I mean, no-one has ever faked ID. Or paid a kid $20 to go buy a couple of phones.
And where will it end? ID to buy box-cutters to close the box-cutter loophole? ID to buy nails because they're used in nail bombs? ID to buy pressure cookers?
I strongly suspect the editors of Progress in Human Geography have been hoaxed. Either that, or the journal is one of those fake journals that will publish anything if you pay them.
I dunno. I don't subscribe to cable, so for me a fair market value is $0. (Actually negative; you'd have to pay me to watch that crap...)
Yes, in away the big Canadian telcos were subsidized. But it was the only way to get telecommunications infrastructure going in a country like Canada.
Bell and Rogers are forced to lease some of their infrastructure to others, but that still puts newcomers at a disadvantage because Bell and Rogers, as owners of the infrastructure, can undercut them.
I'm sorry, even though I'm basically a free-market capitalist, it's obvious to me that in this case pure free-market capitalism is not going to work. Be pragmatic, not dogmatically ideological.