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Regarding the movie Lady Ballers, I can report that it is another movie on the rotten tomatoes site that demonstrates a schism between the public at large and members of the elite class of which professional movie reviewers generally are members. Currently, on rottentomatoes.com the audience score is 92%, while the "tatometer" score representing the professional reviewers is zip. My husband and I have noted a similar divide regarding movies that fail to conform to -- or (everyone clutch their pearls now!) actually push back against -- the "rules" of woke . . . but this is the most dramatic sign of "those who know better" disapproving of the unwashed masses via rotten tomatoes that I've seen yet. Personally, I suspect this movie is less art than a useful time capsule depicting the insanity of the times . . . but, who am I to judge (I've not even watched it . . .yet)? If it makes people laugh rather than marinate in helpless steely rage, I'm all for it!

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just reading the description it reminds me of what would pass as a wholesome family film in the 80s--good old slapstick men in dresses trying to get ahead by bending the rules. wigs! falsies! lipstick! I guess its controversial bc the idea of men dressing as women to get ahead in sports is presented as ludicrous and plainly silly. I wish all sports were taken more lightly but where there is big money and serious stakes it stops being a joke

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None other than Tom Hanks got his big break with "Bosom Buddies" in 1980, remember that? Back when drag was funny because, of course man can't actually become women, right?

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I also want to underscore Kate’s encouragement to those who don’t yet do so to subscribe to Broadview, as a paid subscriber if you can. As one of many, many examples of Broadview’s importance, I have already received a response from someone to whom I sent the detrans lawsuit post. He asked whether I thought it would be useful for him to share the post with his Congress members (who are Dan Goldman, Schumer, and Gillibrand). Here is what I wrote to him, and I welcome other suggestions for actions we might recommend to people:

“Yes, to your question. If you decide to do it, it might be good to make a suggestion for action, eg, that the folks actually have a meeting directly with some detransitioners, no matter what their perceived political affiliation, listen with an open mind to what their concerns and needs are, and work to find ways to address them. It’s possible that Lisa Selin Davis will have contact information—she knows and has spoken with a number of detransitioners. Lisa lives in Brooklyn, may even be in Goldman’s district, and is a Democrat.

“You may get pablum as a response, if you get any response at all, but until more D voters become aware of this, and there is a structure on the Democratic side to make a more concerted push, all we really have to save the Ds from themselves is reaching out to our D reps on an individual basis as opportunities present themselves.

“Until then, it’s as Amos Oz wrote:

“Bring a bucket of water and throw it on the fire, and if you don’t have a bucket, bring a glass, and if you don’t have a glass, use a teaspoon, everyone has a teaspoon. And yes, I know a teaspoon is little and the fire is huge but there are millions of us and each one of us has a teaspoon.”

Thanks in advance for any practical suggestions for action anyone here may have.

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OMG, Kate, I love your wicked sense of humor! Altogether now,

Or perchance,

When the last little star has left the sky,

Shall we still be together

With are arms around each other

And shall you be my new romance?

On the clear understanding

That this kind of thing can happen,

Shall we pass?

Shall we pass? Shall we pass?

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Glad I'm not the only Rodgers and Hammerstein nut left :)

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The Wolf survey is pretty interesting but realize that 70% of the respondants are over 50. So I'm not sure if it primarily a generational thing. Also unsure why a random sample would be so skewed. are they sampling people by landline phone? Answers are probably in the survey so I'll look but not celebrating just yet.

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In California we are pushing back on gender ideology with a ballot initiative:

https://protectkidsca.com

If we can get the signatures to get this on the 2024 ballot, it is very likely to pass.

And if it passes, it will be an earthquake in Democratic politics nationwide.

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The fact that they explicitly made a law in which only children of certain races (read: white) will get disciplined for behavior problems is mind-blowing. Why don’t they ever do a little “check for racism” test by just imagining how it would sound if they implemented a policy to “only punish students of color?”

This doesn’t “even the playing field” for past harms...it will only backfire, divide us, and cause resentment for ALL students. You are teaching black kids that their race is the most important thing about them...and that they can’t be trusted to behave well due to their own merits. They need a little “help” from the system to control their behavior. It is actually viciously racist, in my view.

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I actually don't think it will legally stand up. Student discipline does occasionally end up in court, and it will wind up in court very fast if one student is expelled because of his sex or skin color and another is not after misbehaving the same way.

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AAP won’t publish guidelines? A few weeks ago they were advertising guidelines for what they call gender affirming care.

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Dec 10
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They’re getting sued by a detransitioner.

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I feel as though I've watched Lady Ballers from dropping in on various reaction videos, and I also see it as a slice of our time's culture shifts. Matt Walsh as a dippy New Ager is funny the first couple of times, but wears thin as the reactions go on. Meanwhile, to very little reaction, Finnish researchers published a paper on long term in patient hospitalizations/intense psychiatric interventions in the patients who had wrong sex hormones and or sex trait modification surgeries from 1996 to 2017. The major flaw in the study of 3,665 diagnosed patients and 29,292 age and origin place matched controls is that the patients' sex is not quite clear due to "self ID." The increased incidence of these psychiatric interventions, interpreted variously, but with 52.9% increase over controls, pretty much tells us that long term satisfaction is not guaranteed. And this is Finland, where "minority stress" is minimal. My take on the Nov. 8, European Psychiatry 66 (1):1-20 peer reviewed but Finnishly English study:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxJhFbqL_KU&t=1s

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Many have waited for months for more news about the murder of brian ghey aka biranna ghey. the news that has come out is sad. the male alleged perp is autistic. the girl alleged

perp had an interest in serial killers and stuff like that. or maybe they both did. so far neither of them appear to be "transphobic". they even used his preferred pronouns and trans name in the written murder plan.

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