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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#258101: Oct 19th 2018 at 9:50:35 AM

How about average?,as in "Your average person" or is that offensive as well?

I don't know, but it just seems unnecessary. We already have words that don't risk offending or alienating anyone, why not use them?

Cis like trans isn't a bad word.

"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn
Ultimatum Disasturbator from Second Star to the left (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Disasturbator
#258102: Oct 19th 2018 at 9:53:50 AM

because It's not immediately obvious what Cis even means,as far most people are concerned it's jargon hence why regular and normal are the go to as just about everyone knows what those terms mean

New theme music also a box
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#258103: Oct 19th 2018 at 9:56:00 AM

Then we teach them, that doesn't justify using imprecise language.

It's not like cisgender is some crazy complex jargon that the lay people can't understand, as previously demonstrated it's rather easy to explain.

"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#258105: Oct 19th 2018 at 10:03:16 AM

They're either lying or have no idea what they're talking about, there is zero chance of Hillary Clinton running again. She's been extremely clear that she's done with elections and anyways there's no reason to believe that the base would support her.

Sounds like they just want attention and know that this is a cheap way to get it.

Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Oct 19th 2018 at 1:03:43 PM

"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn
BlueNinja0 The Mod with the Migraine from Taking a left at Albuquerque Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
The Mod with the Migraine
#258106: Oct 19th 2018 at 10:04:03 AM

A lot had no idea that Christians existed in Africa in my church until we had a big week long lecture on it (and took in about a dozen refugees from Darfur to settle in our city).
When I lived in central Californianote  there were several families of Somali christians in my neighborhood. Even after being explicitly told that they were Christian, some neighbors still complained about the Muslims in the neighborhood because the women liked to wear headscarves.

It's not totally isolated to the Evangelicals either; I can remember plenty of moderate, Democratic Methodists like my mom who thought that Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses had more in common with Scientology and the Branch Dividians than they did "real" Christians like them.

How about average?,as in "Your average person" or is that offensive as well?
If you're using the term mathematically, in a peer-reviews research paper, yes. If you're using it to a random guy off the street, no. Too many people in the US live the term Ignorance Is Bliss when it comes to statistics, and someone being an outlier on a bell curve is absolutely cause for discrimination and hate, because that's what they deserve for being an outlier in the first place.

To get somewhat back on US Politics, the ACLU is suing Georgia over their signature rejections on ballots, in no small part because most of the rejected ballots are coming from minorities who won't even know their vote was denied until after the election. Just a coincidence, I'm sure.

    Full article text 
Emphasis mine.
Say you live in Georgia. You’re eager to vote in this year’s election—a tight race between Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Trump acolyte Brian Kemp—so you fill out an absentee ballot and mail it in. Then, days or weeks after the election, you receive a notice in the mail. The signature on your absentee ballot, it explains, looked different from the signature on your voter-registration card. So an election official threw out your ballot. There is nothing you can do. Your vote has been voided.

If Georgia’s signature-mismatch law remains in effect through the November election, this fate will befall thousands of would-be voters. The statute directs elections officials to apply amateur handwriting analysis to voters’ signatures and reject any potential “mismatch.” Nearly 500 ballots in Gwinnett County alone have already been rejected for mismatch, a disproportionate number of them cast by minority voters. Now the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia is suing, demanding that the state give all citizens an opportunity to cure ballots rejected for mismatch. Its suit will help determine how successfully Georgia will suppress minority votes in the upcoming race.

Signature-mismatch laws are a scourge of American elections. The very premise makes no sense: In a similar lawsuit filed in New Hampshire, a forensic document examiner testified that effective signature comparison requires 10 signature samples “at a minimum” to account for variability. Even then, experts may struggle to verify a signature, because our signatures often change over time. Voters who are disabled or elderly, or are nonnative English speakers, are especially likely to have variation between signatures. That’s one reason why New Hampshire’s mismatch law disproportionately impacted seniors, California’s disproportionately impacts first-generation Asian Americans, and Florida’s disproportionately impacts Hispanics.

But there’s likely something more insidious going on here too. The extreme racial disparities among those affected by mismatch laws may also reflect the broad discretion that election officials have to toss ballots. In states with stringent mismatch rules, a handful of election officials are frequently responsible for the vast majority of ballots voided for mismatch. And those officials routinely work in counties with large minority communities.

That’s the case in Georgia. The epicenter of the current mismatch crisis is Gwinnett County, the most diverse county in the state. While Gwinnett has just 12 percent of the state’s total mail-in ballots, it’s already responsible for 40 percent of statewide rejections this election cycle. Voters who cast absentee ballots very early may receive their rejection letters before Election Day, which allows them to try again by voting in person. But there is no requirement that the state send these letters speedily, so many receive them far too late. And even worse, there is no procedure by which a voter can cure her ballot—by, say, verifying her identity to an election official. If she wants to cast a ballot that counts, she must start from the beginning. And if the election is over, she has no ability to exercise her right to vote.

The ACLU argues that this scheme violates due process. It’s well established that qualified voters have a liberty interest in casting a ballot that counts, and so the government must provide some process before depriving citizens of that right. Georgia grants them none. Under long-standing Supreme Court precedent, courts must decide “what process is due” by weighing the interests at stake, the risk of violating those interests, the value of additional safeguards, and the burdens they will impose on the government.

Here, all these factors weigh heavily in the ACLU’s favor. The interest at stake is monumental—the fundamental right to vote. And the risk of Georgia infringing upon that interest is astonishingly high: The state does not even require election workers to learn rudimentary handwriting analysis, leaving the job to the whims of untrained (and potentially politically motivated) county officials. They may use their limitless discretion to nullify ballots, and victims have no chance of redress.

To remedy this constitutional flaw, the ACLU has urged a federal district court to impose a backstop for voters whose ballots are voided for mismatch. Sean J. Young, legal director of the ACLU of Georgia, told me on Thursday that “we aren’t insisting on some hyper-elaborate formal proceeding.” Rather, “We’re asking that voters be able to resolve the discrepancy by emailing or mailing extrinsic evidence to confirm that they’re the same person,” like similar signatures on other documents. A voter should also be able to send over a copy of her ID, Young said, or even chat with officials on the phone to verify her identity. A federal district court ordered these kinds of backstops in New Hampshire, and the state has had no trouble implementing them.

Sounds reasonable enough, right? The problem is that Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp—the same guy running for governor—is a ruthless voter suppressor who is already keeping 53,000 voters, mostly minorities, off the rolls. Kemp is an expert at deploying legally dubious maneuvers to disenfranchise minorities, and he has gone all out for this election. He will surely fight any lower-court decision injecting some fairness into the signature-mismatch mess, since his own shot at the governor’s office is on the line.

The situation is a distressing but helpful reminder that signature-mismatch laws are useless at best and dangerous at worst. In the hands of a maestro vote thief like Kemp, they can be deployed to quash votes for your opponent. But even in the hands of well-meaning but hapless election officials, mismatch rules are anathema to equal suffrage. The ACLU’s proposed safeguards are an excellent way to reform them, but they really need to be abolished altogether. There is no rational defense of signature-mismatch laws—unless you’re a politician trying to swing an election.

I wonder what steps Georgia will take next to block minorities from voting? Maybe they'll bring back the poll tax, which before 2016 I would have PotHoled to Beyond the Impossible. But with Kavanaugh on the court now, anyone want to bet this case will get fought by the GOP all the way up to SCOTUS just to enshrine their ability to limit voting to white people?

As for the signatures changing over time, I looked at my initial contract to join the Navy and compared it to my signature now. I don't think anyone would think they were written by the same person.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
Ultimatum Disasturbator from Second Star to the left (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Disasturbator
#258107: Oct 19th 2018 at 10:04:14 AM

Or they've got someone in mind who'll she'll back

we'll see

edit:> If you're using the term mathematically, in a peer-reviews research paper, yes. If you're using it to a random guy off the street, no.

I meant the average person to the street not related to the mathematical term

Edited by Ultimatum on Oct 19th 2018 at 10:06:51 AM

New theme music also a box
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#258108: Oct 19th 2018 at 10:05:39 AM

Or they've got someone in mind who'll she'll back

we'll see

That's much more reasonable, but that's not what they said.

Hillary challenging Trump again in 2020 can only really mean one thing, backing some candidate just doesn't fit with it.

"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#258109: Oct 19th 2018 at 10:07:59 AM

I mean at the risk of sounding like a real asshole your mother is pretty spot on about Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses.

Mormonism is more cult like than just about anything you'd see in any mainstream denomination of Christianity

Oh really when?
BlueNinja0 The Mod with the Migraine from Taking a left at Albuquerque Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
The Mod with the Migraine
#258110: Oct 19th 2018 at 10:08:39 AM

Hillary challenging Trump again in 2020 can only really mean one thing, backing some candidate just doesn't fit with it.
There's a small, tiny chance, that this "former top aide" meant that Hillary intends to be out, canvassing for voters and drumming up support for Democratic causes. But really, it sounds like someone trying to get some free publicity by hyping a "Trump v Hillary 2: The Rematch" that Hillary herself has already rejected as an option.
Mormonism is more cult like than just about anything you'd see in any mainstream denomination of Christianity
With the number of followers they have worldwide, Mormonism is a mainstream denomination. You can argue about whether their "new revelation" makes them Christian or not; you can't really call a religion that numbers over a hundred million people a "cult." And it's honestly kinda discriminatory to do so. Would you refer that way to Bahai? Or the Shriners?

Edited by BlueNinja0 on Oct 19th 2018 at 10:10:49 AM

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#258111: Oct 19th 2018 at 10:14:05 AM

Can't say I'm familiar with their practices but if they do the same type of proselytizing that Mormonism does along with it's deeply controlling and abusive treatment of it's members then yes I probably would.

The way they conduct themselves is much more like a cult than a usual church congregation is what I mean.

And where are you getting a hundred million from? That's a third of the entire American population right there.

Edited by LeGarcon on Oct 19th 2018 at 1:17:57 PM

Oh really when?
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#258112: Oct 19th 2018 at 10:24:47 AM

It's more like 16 million worldwide.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Ultimatum Disasturbator from Second Star to the left (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Disasturbator
#258113: Oct 19th 2018 at 10:24:51 AM

Example of a cult:Scientology,which is deeply controlling and abusive to it's members,therefore is it fair to compare the above religions to 'cults?'

The answer is hell no

New theme music also a box
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#258114: Oct 19th 2018 at 10:25:39 AM

Not really sure it's "fair" to equate some abusive practices automatically with being a cult, as weird as that sounds.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#258115: Oct 19th 2018 at 10:27:10 AM

A lot of Christians also take issue with acknowledging Mormonism as a Christian sect due to the whole Book of Mormon thing. The LDS thinks it's legit and super important being the cornerstone of their faith. Most Christians...don't.

Complicating things further is that Mormonism is hardly united and has its own splinters and schisms.

Edited by M84 on Oct 20th 2018 at 1:29:03 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#258116: Oct 19th 2018 at 10:27:44 AM

I've met practicing Mormons and I know people who are former Mormons and I know people who aren't Mormons and are from the Midwest.

It's seriously a cult with how it grooms and abuses and controls and collects from it's members, it's downright terrifying.

At least the big churches and schools in the Midwest and the leadership behave as such.

Edited by LeGarcon on Oct 19th 2018 at 1:28:46 PM

Oh really when?
Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#258117: Oct 19th 2018 at 10:31:37 AM

Hm, we should probably discuss mormonism and cults on the religion thread? I wanna talk a bit about it but I don't wanna get too off topic.

"Any campaign world where an orc samurai can leap off a landcruiser to fight a herd of Bulbasaurs will always have my vote of confidence"
Ultimatum Disasturbator from Second Star to the left (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Disasturbator
#258118: Oct 19th 2018 at 10:31:41 AM

> Not really sure it's "fair" to equate some abusive practices automatically with being a cult, as weird as that sounds.

What you mean exactly?

New theme music also a box
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#258119: Oct 19th 2018 at 10:35:04 AM

[up]Not really sure what's hard to understand. It's just a comment on what Garcon is doing now.

Ultimatum Disasturbator from Second Star to the left (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#258121: Oct 19th 2018 at 10:39:40 AM

Remember a few days ago when Ben Carson announced that one of his HUD aides, Suzanne Tufts, was leaving her position to take over as Interior Department Inspector General.

Well, it turns out the White House has even said the announcement by Carson was 100% false information.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#258122: Oct 19th 2018 at 10:47:14 AM

My opinion of anti-Mormonism is that there's numerous things about the church I disagree with and I do not believe in them as a new revelation. Nevertheless, comparing them to a cult is wrong as people do have the freedom to leave the religion and LDS can be directly compared to the actual cults which broke off from them to say why they aren't.

No True Scotsman is one of the worst things in Christianity as it prevents people from addressing issues versus saying, "They don't count."

Re: Hillary

It'd be unprecedented if she ran again but I fully believe since she won the popular vote that she is entirely possible as a candidate against Trump. Also, bluntly, the Democrats don't necessarily have anyone better.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Oct 19th 2018 at 10:49:37 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#258123: Oct 19th 2018 at 10:56:12 AM

I would be surprised to see Clinton run again. Losing to Trump was the electoral equivalent to Mr. Sandman getting taken out in one punch by Glass Joe. It was a loss to someone who never should've been taken seriously. There's no real coming back from that and if she tries that loss with haunt her and taint her throughout.

Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Hello, I love you
#258124: Oct 19th 2018 at 11:00:43 AM

Not to mention, do you want to make sure that the Republican base is as energized as humanly possible?

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#258125: Oct 19th 2018 at 11:03:33 AM

[up][up]The idea that Trump was some weak candidate that had nothing going his way is something that really should've been told to the electoral fundamentals and the American electorate because they obviously disagreed.

The assumption that Trump could never win and it's all on her is part of the reason he won, it bred complacency.

[up]No one wants her to run, the fact that anyone took that aide seriously is shameful. It's a blatant attempt to get publicity.

Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Oct 19th 2018 at 2:04:15 PM

"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn

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