Stupid shit in Medellin

[Mr Enternational]

That says something, but that says nothing. Do they generally know the people they are attacked by? Are people that are not in the LGBT community committing these violent crimes against trans or is is people from the LGBT community doing it? Why are they doing it? Is it because they just do not like the people or they have been deceived or maybe even had a crime committed against them by the trans person.

Yep. Good old fashioned 8 transvestite / transsexual robbing crew. Now if one of the victims would have knocked the shit out of one of these guys for trying to pick pocket them that would have been counted in the stats as violence against a trans.

https://www.h13n.com/ocho-mujeres-tr...-hurto/108410/

[Mr Enternational]

"Transgender people over four times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of violent crime".

That says something, but that says nothing. Do they generally know the people they are attacked by? Are people that are not in the LGBT community committing these violent crimes against trans or is is people from the LGBT community doing it? Why are they doing it? Is it because they just do not like the people or they have been deceived or maybe even had a crime committed against them by the trans person.

There are too many contributing factors, whereas the statement tries to get you to believe trans people are just walking down the street minding their own business and some stranger violently attacks them. The most abuse occurs in lesbian relationships, but if I just said lesbians are often violently attacked, it is not telling you they tend to be abused by their own mates and leads you to believe someone outside of their personal circle is doing the abusing or attacking. So are these trans having violence done to them purely because they are trans or is it for other reasons, and by whom?

[JustTK]

Everywhere there are bathrooms will now be required to have a third type?

Only a thrid type? Why not a 4th type. One for trans men, one for trans women. And while we are at it, what about one for homosexuals and another for lesbians. And another 2 for ex-convicts. Men and women. How about one for scary black people. One for terrorist Muslims. The whole world is going to be turned in to a huge allotment of bathrooms for differetn monority groups that we do not like.

[Huacho]

you have to spend the money to get women

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that you have to spend money to get women. No doubt whatsoever at all.

[Huacho]

Let's not act like the dems are the saviors of the poor / middle class and the repubs are the party of the rich. This isn't a freshman polysci course at a university. Both parties rob the country blind, both do insider trading, get kick backs from lobbys and contractors, especially this joke of a bill sending 40 bill to Ukraine to be slushed around among oligarchs and used to buy up all the cheap assets in a semi failed state.

The religious angle of the repubs like tom cotton and crew is annoying, but at least they have some moral standards left. The dems are in a race to see who can be the most "progressive" aka discarding any traditional family values be it the nuclear family, gender norms, and all pushing all the minority "oppression" garbage.

What does any of what you just posted have to do with my post you quoted? However, anyone who cannot see that the Republicans are the party of the rich is suffering from a pretty severe case of rectocranial insertion. Hello? Repeated tax cuts at the top of the brackets? Hello? Zero percent capital gains rates? Hello? Regressive taxation of SS and UI? Hello? Hello? Anybody home? Cutting food stamps? Hello?

[DontSayMuch]

I don't want to reply to a post that wasn't directed at me so I'll make one that addresses the topic in a more general way.

There have been trans people throughout history and they have figured out which bathroom and locker room works for them.

It seems that people who are against trans-women going to whatever facility that individual trans-woman wants to go into conveniently forget that if trans-women can't go to the facility of their choice, it also means that trans-men can't go into the facility of their choice.

So it's better to have a bearded trans-man who looks / acts / emotes as a man have to use the women's facilities? That doesn't make any sense to me and a lot of other people. And before anyone raises the impractical and non-real solution of making a dedicated trans bathroom, please think that through. Everywhere there are bathrooms will now be required to have a third type?

As far as trans people committing more violent acts than the general populace, I would really have to see some evidence for that.

I've read a Swedish paper that looks at this and it found =.

"The findings show that transsexual individuals were more likely to be criminal than non-transsexuals of the.

Same birth sex in the first cohort (1973-1988), and no different from their birth sex in the.

Second group (1989-2003)."

The first cohort (group) had hormones and surgery without adequate mental health provisions and the second cohort (group) had hormones and surgery with adequate mental health provisions.

So for the last forty years there hasn't been an increase in criminality from transgender individuals.

The study =.

Cecilia Dhejne, Paul Lichtenstein, Marcus Boman, Anna L. V. Johansson, Niklas.

Långström, Mikael Landéand (2011) Long-Term Follow-Up of Transsexual Persons.

Undergoing Sex Reassignment Surgery: Cohort Study in Sweden.

Now there are a lot of statistics showing violence AGAINST trans people is MUCH higher than average.

I'm going to pick just one from as neutral a site as I can find.

https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.e...press-release/

The study found.

"Transgender people over four times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of violent crime".

I like looking at non-anecdotal evidence. A lot of studies have issues and they can be addressed and scrutinized, but one random person isn't much of an indicator of anything.

[JjBee62]

You seem out of touch with the current zeitgest. It isn't 1987. Nobody is worried about straight guys dressing in drag. It's the actual trannies people are worried about, as seen in the gamestop video I posted below. You've seen the trans SW in Botero, you think they're right in the head? I'm actually wondering how many trans people you've spoken to in the states, 90% are bat shit insane and have some sort of mental issue / autism.

As an example, there are these things called "cons". World con, gen con, it's like a nerdy gathering for cosplayers and anime aficionados. The signs explicitly mention that anybody can use any restroom regardless of how much they look like that "gender", and there has been a lot of backlash because you have guys in drag who aren't "straight guys", but trans guys, with 5 o clock shadows, using the women's bathroom.

I'm wondering how many non-pros you talk to as well, ask any woman if they want a trans shitting next to them and 90% will say hell no.

This is another good example of the "morally superior, tolerant" left gaslighting an issue and moving goal posts.

I just never got around to building a shrine to the Fox News panic brigade. Otherwise, I'm sure I would see it the way you do.

In my younger days I went to a few of the various conventions, I have younger friends and relatives who go to several every year. From the view of people who actually attend the conventions, instead of someone who believes "the sky is falling" reports from the aforementioned panic brigade, it seems to be a rare occurrence and a minor issue.

Let's see. As far as trans people. I spent about 6 months, every night in a bar located next to what was the biggest gay, trans, lesbian bar in Medellin. Quite often, because that club was generally packed on the weekends, gay, lesbian and trans people would come in and hang out. Since the manager was a lesbian (apparently now a somewhat famous singer), they mingled freely amongst the gringos and other customers with no problems.

I've spent a fair amount of time both around the Veracruz alley and Parque Bolivar and have seen the trans who frequent those areas. Other than one who tried to hug me, I've never noticed anything particularly disturbing about any of them. I'm not really qualified to just walk past someone and accurately diagnose their mental health, especially if they are just standing around doing nothing.

I lived for a year in Hillcrest, the gay community in San Diego. You saw all types, almost all of them causing no trouble at all. Although, closing time at the Lesbian bar often featured arguments because of jealousy. I also spent 4 years volunteering with an art therapy project in San Diego, which was almost exclusively either gay or trans men with AIDS. Again, all just normal behavior.

Almost forgot, I went out in Nashville one night, on Elvis Presley's birthday (1998? With 2 girls I knew from the area, a guy I knew from Michigan and a trans, I think from North Carolina. The trans had a crush on me and I didn't know she was trans, until well into the night when she asked if it bothered me. It didn't. I had no interest in her, just wasn't my type, but certainly wasn't batshit crazy. She ended up making out with an Elvis impersonator.

90% seems to be a common theme with you. What a bizarre coincidence that everything is 90%. It's almost as if you pulled the number out of your ass.

Trans people are more likely to have mental health issues. No question about it. Gays and lesbians are more likely to have mental health issues. People with obvious deformities are more likely to have mental health issues. It's quite obvious you fail to understand why and you never will.

You also won't understand this, but it's about as simple as I can make it. Compare the behavior of 2 dogs. One dog was raised as part of a family, it was always treated well, well fed, cared for and loved. The other dog was always beaten, yelled at, mistreated, abused in every way. If you take both dogs after 2 years and put them in the same, normal, safe environment, do they behave differently? Absolutely. Without a doubt. The abused dog might damage things, attack children or hide from people. In the dog world it has mental health issues. Do you understand why?

Many LGBTQ children suffer some level of abuse, because they are different. Years of abuse inhibits normal social development. Even without overt abuse, society tells them they aren't normal. Normal social development is necessary to assimilate into society. Failure to assimilate results in mental health problems. You find the same patterns in all people who are subject to childhood abuse. Abuse doesn't have to be physical.

How many non-pros do I talk to? I can't tell you. Except when I am physically in the act of paying a woman for sex, I don't classify people in that way. Just as I don't classify people as black, gay, young, paralyzed. They're all just people. When I'm writing about someone I will apply labels for the readers. Otherwise I'm getting PMs asking how much did I pay her.

I can tell you that I've never asked anyone, male, female, trans, pro, whatever, how they would feel about having a trans person shitting next to them. I will never ask that. I won't ask someone how they feel about someone black, Jewish, Muslim, Latino, Gay, Lesbian, Disabled or Republican shitting next to them. And if any woman tells me that she wouldn't want someone shitting next to her because they belong to a particular group, I would no longer be talking to her. Seriously, who in the world, in normal conversation asks someone "would it bother you if a (fill in the blank) was shitting in the bathroom stall next to you?

I don't approve of bigotry. I won't. And all of this is nothing but bigotry. If you're going to be a bigot, own it. Don't pussyfoot around.

Maybe the problem is, you don't know what a women's restroom looks like. Perhaps, like the clitoris, women's restrooms are something you know nothing about. I'll describe one. There's a door, inside there are some sinks, with a mirror, soap dispensers and some way to dry the hands. There may be flowers. There are toilets. Each toilet is located in a stall. Usually, each stall has a door which can be secured from the inside. There's also toilet paper, trash cans and possibly a dispenser for sanitary napkins and tampons.

Unless a person is shitting, bent all the way over and their head pressed against the floor, there's no way to know who is shitting next to you. You can maybe see what shoes they are wearing. That's all. You can't tell whether they have a penis or vagina, whether they had one removed and the other installed, whether they have facial hair or 3 arms.

Unless the person in the next stall tries to crawl into the girl's stall, or, they try to reach through, or in some way engage in abnormal bathroom behavior, the girl will be just like you. She won't have a fucking clue what's going on in the next stall.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom and I don't want to keep you from displaying your bigotry.

[Osteoknot]

And I don't know if this point has been raised, but transgendering in public restrooms has been going on for decades, but no one was in a hissy fit about about it because everything was going along fine, until it became a political hot potato.

Reading some of this stuff I'm wondering WTF some of you guys are doing in public restrooms. It's a simple process. You go in, do what you need to do and walk out.

There aren't many things you can do in a public restroom without someone noticing something isn't right. If you're standing around in the women's room checking out little girls and trying to follow them into the stall you're going to quickly find yourself in handcuffs. It doesn't matter if you're male, female, trans or pretending to be trans.

In what world is some girl going to let someone grope her in the bathroom because they look like a girl? Would that work with you? If you're at the urinal and someone reaches around and grabs your junk are you okay as long as it's a man, or looks like one?

It's probably been 50 years since I was first warned to watch out for strangers in the restroom. I'm sure my sisters got a similar warning. It's nothing new, it's not a trans thing it hasn't changed anything and nobody is forcing you to change. You're just expected, as an adult to know how to behave in the bathroom. It doesn't matter who is also using the bathroom.

[Mr Enternational]

The whole thing about the best sex was this. If you found a woman who could stop traffic, was great in bed, really nice, and totally devoted to you, do you think it is possible you would not stray? It was not an appropriate question to ask of men who hang out in the slums. That was my bad.

Uhh yeah. A-Rod did it to J-Lo. Jay-Z did it to Beyonce. Donald did it to Melania. Nick Cannon did it to Mariah. Charles did it to Diana. JFK did it to Jackie. The list goes on forever throughout history. I guess the prince of England had been hanging out in too many slums.

The saying goes that no matter how fine you think a chick is, there is some guy somewhere that is tired of her shit. I wish the best for you though and that you continue down a blissful path.

[Elvis 2008]

I mean imaging you like to go to this popular restaurant and there is always this person stations in the restaurant telling everybody the food is terrible, don't eat there. LOL.

DF has taste. When I went to Colombia and Medellin, it was a huge disappointment. I went after having been in Argentina when it was hopping and Brazil. That said, if DF saw the Colombia I have, he would not have that attitude. When I saw the Monterrey, Mexico he saw, I changed my mind and liked it too. Routard's posts gave me hope I was missing part of what Colombia was about.

Do you think the argument here will turn out differently had you met with some of them before from the viewpoint of both sides? I remember you have met DF, that is why I posted.

The difference is that DF knows I do not lie and that you have to spend the money to get women. So he would be happy for me because he knows I am not full of shit like so many guys here are.

The two sides comes from guys who are hanging out in the gutter and think the gutter is the only place to be. This I have been scoped or attempted to be scoped or papaya where stealing is expected is being in the gutter. I will go into the gutter to get fucked but I do not want to hang out there. If I did, I would say as one guy did all of Colombia is a hustle.

So giving money to women during the lockdown on seeking, ("Hey, I know things are rough and that you cannot work, but I want you to know that I am real and I want to help you out") had an incredible effect. This trip when the lockdown ended was an unprecedented run through of beauties including a bonafide 10 in Medellin and the beauty queen in Cartagena.

So DF would be like I am happy for you, and the gutter dwellers said spending that money was dumb, the beauty queen was fake, and I could have the 10 for $50 instead of $100. At the time, all these guys were in their basements too scared to go to Colombia.

Then I go down again a few months later and I meet my current gal. Fast forward a year, and my last night in Colombia I was eating at a super nice place on the outskirts of Cartagena with her friends, a lawyer and architect talking about Colombia among other things. What cracks me up is some of these guys are thinking they know the real Colombia, and it is like you are going to the ghetto in Detroit and then saying you know all about the United States.

It is funny even my own mother was lecturing me on what is best saying my brother loved his family and would rather be with them than doing what I was doing. The day after meeting the beauty queen my brother called and told me his son shit on his carpet and he had to clean it up. He asked me how my trip was and I told him I got a personal tour of Cartagena by Miss Cartagena but do not worry because mom said your life is better, and he died laughing.

So these guys remind me of my mother. They want to think their lives are better than mine, and I am full of shit. The idea that there is a Colombia where women do not scope men, steal when they can, and are constantly trying to hustle does not exist in their mind.

The whole thing about the best sex was this. If you found a woman who could stop traffic, was great in bed, really nice, and totally devoted to you, do you think it is possible you would not stray? It was not an appropriate question to ask of men who hang out in the slums. That was my bad.

[JohnnyWalker55]

If you think some straight man (who isn't already a sex offender) is going to pretend to be trans to get into the girl's restroom, 2 things come to mind.

1. You must be extremely effeminate. For most of us men, we would need 2 hours with an expert makeup artist to pass as female from 10 feet away. Within the close quarters of a public restroom, forget about it. My size alone would make it impossible.

2. You have an unhealthy obsession with young girls in public restrooms. I've been obsessed with the female form since I was in diapers and that will continue until after I'm in diapers again, but all that sneaking into the girl's room fantasy ended after puberty..

You seem out of touch with the current zeitgest. It isn't 1987. Nobody is worried about straight guys dressing in drag. It's the actual trannies people are worried about, as seen in the gamestop video I posted below. You've seen the trans SW in Botero, you think they're right in the head? I'm actually wondering how many trans people you've spoken to in the states, 90% are bat shit insane and have some sort of mental issue / autism.

As an example, there are these things called "cons". World con, gen con, it's like a nerdy gathering for cosplayers and anime aficionados. The signs explicitly mention that anybody can use any restroom regardless of how much they look like that "gender", and there has been a lot of backlash because you have guys in drag who aren't "straight guys", but trans guys, with 5 o clock shadows, using the women's bathroom.

I'm wondering how many non-pros you talk to as well, ask any woman if they want a trans shitting next to them and 90% will say hell no.

This is another good example of the "morally superior, tolerant" left gaslighting an issue and moving goal posts.

[JjBee62]

Reading some of this stuff I'm wondering WTF some of you guys are doing in public restrooms. It's a simple process. You go in, do what you need to do and walk out.

There aren't many things you can do in a public restroom without someone noticing something isn't right. If you're standing around in the women's room checking out little girls and trying to follow them into the stall you're going to quickly find yourself in handcuffs. It doesn't matter if you're male, female, trans or pretending to be trans.

In what world is some girl going to let someone grope her in the bathroom because they look like a girl? Would that work with you? If you're at the urinal and someone reaches around and grabs your junk are you okay as long as it's a man, or looks like one?

It's probably been 50 years since I was first warned to watch out for strangers in the restroom. I'm sure my sisters got a similar warning. It's nothing new, it's not a trans thing it hasn't changed anything and nobody is forcing you to change. You're just expected, as an adult to know how to behave in the bathroom. It doesn't matter who is also using the bathroom.

If you've taken a leak at an airport bathroom in Colombia you've almost certainly had a woman in there, cleaning. Do you scream like a child, or just finish your business and leave?

If you think some straight man (who isn't already a sex offender) is going to pretend to be trans to get into the girl's restroom, 2 things come to mind.

1. You must be extremely effeminate. For most of us men, we would need 2 hours with an expert makeup artist to pass as female from 10 feet away. Within the close quarters of a public restroom, forget about it. My size alone would make it impossible.

2. You have an unhealthy obsession with young girls in public restrooms. I've been obsessed with the female form since I was in diapers and that will continue until after I'm in diapers again, but all that sneaking into the girl's room fantasy ended after puberty.

To sum it up:

If you need to piss, piss. If you need to shit, shit. When you're done wash your hands and get the fuck out. Don't try to figure out the gender, sexual orientation, or circumcision status of the other people. Unless they are behaving abnormally for a public restroom, assume they can figure out how to piss without your help.

[JohnnyWalker55]

Why is all of this an issue when Europe has unisex bathrooms and bathroom stall have cubicles? And of course, the only Democrats who were advocating tax cuts were a) the Southern Democrats or DINOs, and b) doing so when marginal tax rates were much, much higher. The Rs, in their never ending reverse Robin Hood tax cuts for the rich, love to talk about income tax cuts. Well, that is only one-third or less of the taxation story, along with sales and property taxes. Sales taxes used to be 2 or 3% and now they are 8 or 9%. And, of course, sales taxes are inherently regressive (and really fucking annoying). If the Rs wanted a fair tax cut that would help rich and poor alike, stop taxing Social Security. The income tax on that money has already been paid. Reagan, of course, did that (although Clinton added the 85% bit), as well as taxing unemployment which is unbelievably stupid and flat out mean.

Let's not act like the dems are the saviors of the poor / middle class and the repubs are the party of the rich. This isn't a freshman polysci course at a university. Both parties rob the country blind, both do insider trading, get kick backs from lobbys and contractors, especially this joke of a bill sending 40 bill to Ukraine to be slushed around among oligarchs and used to buy up all the cheap assets in a semi failed state.

The religious angle of the repubs like tom cotton and crew is annoying, but at least they have some moral standards left. The dems are in a race to see who can be the most "progressive" aka discarding any traditional family values be it the nuclear family, gender norms, and all pushing all the minority "oppression" garbage.

[JustTK]

I really would not want to let a strange creepy old tranny take a shit in the same room as a young school girl. Why ask 99% of society to change for the 1%?
And the uneducated sheep will purposely blind themselves to more "logical" and "beneficial" policies and just vote for the candidate who says things which make them feel better in the moment rather than open their fucking eyes and select a candidate who is actually going to provide effective solutions to the problems of society.
legislation to allow men dressing as women into women's bathrooms and allow men dressing as women to compete against women in sports. It's very concerning to think about where this will all end and when the line will be drawn or if this divisiveness and extremism will eventually lead to violent conflict which will teach us all a lesson that our leaders failed us and we failed ourselves. There is no reason for one of the richest most successful nations in history to be this divided at this point in history.

You touched on 2 very big subjects:

- Minority and specifically trans rights.

- Political parties representing the people.

Both are bigger subjects than we can address here but, since I am a great believer in the power of education and knowledge, I will comment here:

If we think about minorities in general, we can think of countless ways in which we already recognize and support minorities – not only to support their rights to prevent discrimination, but also to support them with their extra needs. Parentless children, people with physical and mental disabilities, the sick, people with different beliefs, people of different culture and racial roots, people with different political views, people with different sexual orientation, different skin colour. Why should trans be any different?

While I accept that people should rightfully recognize the need for personal safety, why do you think trans people in a ladies bathroom is any more of a threat than any other type of person in a bathroom? You wouldn't want a "strange creepy old" anyone around a "young school girl", or anyone else. So why discriminate against trans here? I hear your fear, but I don't view it as any different to the shift that society went through to rid itself of any other unfounded prejudice that was popular in the past – fear of women, fear of blacks, fear of homosexuals, I feel the fear of vegans. Now its fear of trans. It's an unfounded fear, it's borne of ignorance, and its discriminatory. It needs to be combatted through education and that's why it needs to be supported by government.

"There is no reason for one of the richest most successful nations in history to be this divided at this point in history. ".

This is a really interesting position bcos I feel the exact opposite.

To set the scene, the USA has always followed traditional mechanisms of rule inherited from the UK. This means that domestic and international politics is dominated by rich and powerful individuals and corporations – the oligarchs. These policies are designed to benefit the wealthy at the expense of the weak; it's a systematic exploitation of its own people and those of other nations. This is why we see a neglect of healthcare, of education, of housing, of infrastructure, and a lack of respect to the rights of people from weaker countries that hold natural resources. And it's why there is blanket control of mainstream media that represents the views of the oligarchs as if they are second nature. No other options exist, and other opinions are ridiculed as the views of extremists, dangerous madmen, or terrorists.

From 1820-1970 real wages in the USA rose without much pause due to economic prosperity caused by geographical, geological and political good fortune. From 1970 to date, real wages have fallen without break.

What caused this change in the 1970's? Various factors worked to reduce real wages:

• Prior to WW2, the USA was the New World in its golden age – a place of untold and readily available resources, huge expanses of undeveloped land – a country that was perfectly positioned to develop and deliver goods to a largely choked and overexploited Europe. Rapid economic expansion and the genocide of the indigenous people meant that there was always high demand for labour, meaning rising wages.

• The advent of computers in everyday life meant more automation – fewer jobs available.

• Aftereffects of WW2 – USA didn't enter the war until late and so was largely unaffected. All other super powers were destroyed. This meant USA had a free reign to dominate the world economy, which it did. This was a golden opportunity for the USA, but it was temporary and it changed in the 1960's-70's. Slowly Japan, Germany, later Korea, and now China, rose up to compete against and overcome US industry – initially motor vehicles, computers, entertainment systems, now pretty much everything bar war equipment. The US response was to move production overseas and buy imports – fewer jobs available.

• 1970's saw a cultural shift in the role of women. Encouraged to make a career, compete against men, be independent – greater demand for jobs.

• Due to global competition, foreign policy and imperialist exploitation of poorer nations, cheap labour flooded in to USA – greater demand for jobs.

But money didn't stop flowing in the economy. Rather, they caused a huge transfer of wealth from the people to the capitalists – they made enormous profits from automation and from cheap labour. Unfathomable sums of money were pushed up the ladder from the average Joe in to the hands of a few now- oligarchs.

How did the labour force respond to this reduction in wealth?:

• Working longer hours – since 1970's, average working hours has increased by 20%, whereas in Western Europe it has fallen by 20% over the same period.

• Taking on second jobs – there has been a huge increase in the number of people working 2 or 3 jobs, to make ends meet.

• Borrowing money – USA is now one of the most indebted countries in the world – right from student years, property ownership, through to hospitalization and death.

How did the capitalists respond?:

What to do when you have levels of wealth never seen before, yet a population that is increasingly unable to buy anything from you?

• Invested in the economy – they invested huge amounts of money in new tech companies. New companies that had never made a cent before but that promised a return in 10 years – the dot com bubble crashed the economy for years.

• Invested in financial support – they invested in financial institutions to lend money to the people to buy their products and property. The 1990's saw a removal of laws that prevented financial institutions from using customer deposits to make high risk loans – laws that were enacted to protect the public after the banking catastrophes that brought about the Great Depression. Within 8 years of repealing these laws – the housing loan bubble burst and the economy crashed again.

Now the economy is trapped in a systematic tailspin – the people no longer have the spending power to fuel the economy, and the oligarchs hold ever-increasing amounts of wealth with no positive options to use it, so they increasingly look externally for better market conditions. Ever greater numbers of people are swept up in the widening net, as the middle income classes crumble and join the poor as a resource to either exploit or neglect by the increasingly powerful oligarchs. Only a dramatic shift in state policy can change this, but the capitalists ensure the status quo is maintained by buying government policy. Corruption of the highest order. This is why we see a constant flip-flopping of policy between 2 parties that both represent the needs of the elites, not the people.

If that is not a reason to be divided, I don't know what is. But the divide should not Republican v Democrat; it should be the people vs the oligarchs.

[Huacho]

Why is all of this an issue when Europe has unisex bathrooms and bathroom stall have cubicles? And of course, the only Democrats who were advocating tax cuts were a) the Southern Democrats or DINOs, and b) doing so when marginal tax rates were much, much higher. The Rs, in their never ending reverse Robin Hood tax cuts for the rich, love to talk about income tax cuts. Well, that is only one-third or less of the taxation story, along with sales and property taxes. Sales taxes used to be 2 or 3% and now they are 8 or 9%. And, of course, sales taxes are inherently regressive (and really fucking annoying). If the Rs wanted a fair tax cut that would help rich and poor alike, stop taxing Social Security. The income tax on that money has already been paid. Reagan, of course, did that (although Clinton added the 85% bit), as well as taxing unemployment which is unbelievably stupid and flat out mean.