That’s pretty much my stance as well. And it’s what current law in California seems to be.
So then what exactly are you and Bill Maher melting down about? What is the “extreme” woke position that Patton Oswald and the rest are pushing that you enlightened centrists are saving us from?
I don’t know about today, but in Virginia, 18 years ago, I sure did have to prove it to get the F on my driver’s license as well as federally on my Social Security file. I had the misfortune to be born in Ohio, which refuses to update sex on birth certificates for trans people, but fortunately I wasn’t held to that. Ugh!
I agree with you, I think that gets closer to the core of what this is about. And I think that in a way, it actually goes back to what Bill Maher was saying right before the bit that Andy found objectionable enough to resurrect this pit thread for; before he gave the example of gender, he was talking about how the left goes “too far” in trying to get rid of the default.
Having your sex assigned at birth be on the birth certificate as the default option does work for the vast majority of people, and it benefits society to act accordingly. But there does exist the view that simply having a default is inherently harmful to anyone who isn’t of that default.
I think that’s a fair argument to make when it comes to the default being, for example, male. When 51% of the population is female, that doesn’t make a lot of sense and clearly stems from historical bias rather than any actual benefit to society.
But in other situations, it makes more sense to have a default, and then make accomodations for people for whom the default doesn’t work.
The one argument I can see for removing the default is that just having a default “others” anyone who doesn’t fit the default. But that’s not an argument that anyone here seems to have made so far.
Seriously, what are you smoking and where can I get some??? I don’t think that Patton Oswald is pushing an “extreme woke position”.
The purpose of identification documentation is, inherently, to ensure compliance with laws and regulations. Otherwise, we’d just take people’s word for every thing.
Is there a law that schools have to see a birth certificate before they can enroll a child? Or is it just school policy? Because if it’s the latter, that’s a system I’m not in any way a part of, and I don’t have any responsibility to comply with their rules.
Okay, so… when I said you have the stronger opinion on this subject, I meant relative to me. I genuinely don’t care that there are people out there who care more than you do. That’s not relevant to anything I’ve said in this thread, and doesn’t change any of the arguments I’ve made here.
Another quick Maher update and another example of why I watch the show.
The interview guest was Tristan Harris, a computer scientist and futurist who’s become a well-known critic of social media and, more recently, of AI, which is what the interview centered on. Harris believes that the only way that the incredibly enormous investments the tech companies are making in AI can ever be recouped is essentially through a mass displacement of human workers from job markets, and that this is their end-game.
It was a very worthwhile discussion and I also got two movie tips out of it – The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, not yet released, and The Day After, the groundbreaking 1983 ABC drama about nuclear apocalypse that had apparently deeply affected President Reagan. A couple of years later, he signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty with Gorbachev.
The panelists on the show were Anna Paulina Luna, Republican Congressional Rep from Florida’s 13th district and member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and CNN commentator and Democratic strategist Paul Begala. It was a very informative hour.
An update on a Maher claim from 2005, when he told Larry King that repeated vaccination against influenza made your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease 10 times higher.
Not only did that get debunked, but a new study shows decreased Alzheimer’s risk in older patients who received high-dose flu vaccine compared to standard strength.
No doubt, Bill will publicize this study on his show and admit he was wrong. 
Maher says Trump needs a big beautiful ballroom at the White House and you’re stupid if you don’t think we should be spending taxpayer money on it.
In recent weeks Maher has grumbled about Donald turning on him, despite Maher’s kind description of Donald’s conduct at their infamous dinner.
Apparently Maher truly pines for a return to the (imaginary) days when Donald liked him…
I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a person more idiotic convinced that he’s a genius. And that includes Trump himself. Maher is such a self-fellating moron.
In the process, he completely forgets that said ballroom, should it ever actually be built, will not necessarily be lent out to whichever group wishes to host an event involving the President. But with Trump, I guess that’s a feature rather than a bug. They can have the White House Correspondent’s Dinner at the Ballroom at whatever premium price Trump demands or else Trump will forbid the venue it is held at from ever doing business with the government again.
Watching Maher and Fetterman was more than I could stomach. We don’t need the fucking ballroom. So a couple times a year tops they put up tents for big gatherings. BFD. If they had gone through channels and didn’t design a monstrosity and gotten input and approval before turning the wrecking ball loose it would be one thing. But to have a maniac do so on a whim and destroying the character of a national monument is another. Fetterman needs to be primaried and Mahar needs to be put on an ice floe and set off to sea.
Agree. Having a suitable space for events isn’t the issue, and both of these geniuses know it (or should). If they’re too obtuse to see the real issue, they ought not be making decisions for the country nor spanging off on tv.
There is enough pollution in our ocean already.
Trump had the opportunity to first make a case to the American people for the need and then go through the proper steps of assessing, planning, and going through Congress to get it built. Obviously we need something now, but only because of Trump’s clumsy efforts to rule by fiat. And to top it all off, Trump claimed there was no need to spend taxpayer dollars on it. So maybe a lot of us are pissed off at Trump for some good reasons. Goddamn, Maher can miss the mark sometimes.
A few weeks ago Maher was saying that it would be paid for by donors anyway so you shouldn’t object to it.
Maher is really off base here as he sometimes is, and I mostly agree with the comments here about the ballroom thing. But let’s not overstate the case. What Maher actually said is that making a big deal about the ballroom is stupid because there are more important things to worry about, This is wrong, too, but not as flagrant as what he’s being accused of.
In any case he misses the point that the issue isn’t whether or not there’s a need for a large space for state events; the issue is that Trump has been barreling ahead like a bull in a china shop without getting the necessary approvals from Congress, the National Capital Planning Commission, or three other oversight bodies that have advisory input into major changes to the White House. And even if he did get approval from the NCPC, he stuffed that agency with his own cronies.
Furthermore, Trump lied about not needing taxpayer dollars for the project, and now the taxpayer is on the hook for hundreds of millions, which fact alone would seem to require a Congressional appropriation.
Maher appears to have been starstruck by that infamous dinner with Trump, and has been whining ever since about the need for “dialog” with those we disagree with, because the Orange Peril was nice to him during that dinner. Maher was conned by the master con man, and it’s a sad thing to see his occasional semi-defense of Trump’s continuing arrogant stupidities.
But none of this invalidates the informativeness of other parts of the show.
I can certainly see that there are other, more important things to worry about. But when it comes to Trump, any time he tries to do something illegal or otherwise buck norms there needs to be a fight. Make it crystal clear that he tasks us. He tasks us and we shall have him. We’ll chase him 'round the moons of Nibia, 'round the Antares Maelstrome, and 'round Perdition’s flames before we give him up. Vex him every single time he tries to do something shady.
You do realize that’s what makes people into MAGA. You’re watching it happen to Maher in real time.
They get conned, start getting defensive about their support for him, next thing you know they’re wearing a red hat and a “Let’s Go Brandon” shirt.