Subj : Re: Weakling To : Angela Walker From : Dennis Katsonis Date : Mon Oct 19 2020 06:25 am -=> Angela Walker wrote to Dennis Katsonis <=- AW> Re: Re: Weakling AW> By: Dennis Katsonis to Lee Lofaso on Tue Sep 08 2020 09:16 am AW> I can list a few ways that Trump being president has tangibly and AW> negatively affected my life in a real way! AW> Under Obama, LGBT individuals such as myself had federal legal AW> protections against discrimination. LGBT students could feel safe in AW> public - they could use public restrooms without fear of legal action AW> being taken against them - something that should be a basic human right AW> for all Americans. LGBT employees had federal non-discrimination AW> protections. Transgender persons could participate in the Armed AW> Services. I could go on. Thanks to Trump, all of that has been AW> reversed and then some. He's actually gone as far as to legally AW> "disappear" transgender people by redefining gender in the legal AW> context as an un-changeable binary determined by a doctor's glance at AW> birth that can never be changed or modified on any legal documents AW> recognized by his government. While I haven't been arrested for using AW> a public restroom nor have I been discharged from service or fired AW> because of who I am, knowing that those are the rules of the land has AW> profoundly affected my psyche and self-esteem. I feel vastly less-safe AW> as an LGBT American than I did under Obama - I feel at-risk when I go AW> to work, when I go shopping, when I pay my bills, when I fill out AW> forms, and very much so when I see a doctor or seek any sort of medical AW> care. When Trump was elected, I knew it would be bad for LGBT Americans AW> but he's done more to hurt us than I'd even imagined. His words when he AW> asked the Supreme Court to rule that LGBT Americans have no legal AW> protections against discrimination - and lost the case - "It's AW> unfortunate. It's very unfortunate." So I have to live with knowing AW> that the leader of my country believes it's very unfortunate that he AW> couldn't officially legalize discrimination against people like myself. AW> ... and now that he's installed his pet, Amy, into the Supreme Court, AW> that decision is likely to be overturned - along with dismantling the AW> Affordable Care Act that protects 30 million Americans with health care AW> in the middle of a pandemic, not to mention women's rights. Roe vs. AW> Wade? Gone, just a matter of time. Regardless of how you feel about AW> abortion, I submit that taking away the right of every woman to make AW> that decision for herself after decades of the status quo represents a AW> monumental step backwards in terms of personal rights and freedoms - AW> well, rights not pertaining to straight white men, that is. But I'm AW> getting off-topic so I'll return to my premise and conclude that yes, AW> my life is much worse than it was when Obama was in charge. I think AW> that actually applies to the vast majority of Americans, as COVID does AW> not represent an anomoly - it's not an external event that has nothing AW> to do with Trump's leadership as he'd like you to think - it's a direct AW> result of his empowerment! Consider this: China tried to hide the SARS AW> outbreak of 2008 just as they tried t hide COVID but American agents AW> and the CDC played a major role in exposing the truth in time to stem AW> the spread. However in 2019, the president of the United States was AW> praising China's leadership and even in early 2020 he was on TV AW> commending China's efforts in dealing with the virus - assuring us it AW> was not threat to America. Forget everything he's done to hamper the AW> efforts to get the virus under control since it exploded in America... AW> I submit that it's the fault of himself and his global influence that AW> this thing ever got out of control worldwide in the first place! He's AW> done a 180 on China by calling it the "China virus," well I say we call AW> it the "Trump virus!" To that end, Trump has made all of our lives SO AW> much worse, worldwide! --- SBBSecho 2.27-Win32 I worry greatly that people will use their feelings to impact others. We see people being cancelled, being fired because of how people "feel". I have a real problem with this. I have a problem with action taken against others because some people think that this or that could happen. That is why I asked for tangible and real outcomes. Because its easy to say that this or that changes makes me feel bad. But does it impact you? Is there anything more to it than you fear and how you feel about it? If as a result of Trump, you were fired, denied a job, attacked, lost out financially, whatever, I can understand. That is what I wanted to know, and why I asked. You yourself admitted that these things you fear haven't actually happened. .... MultiMail, the new multi-platform, multi-format offline reader! === MultiMail/MS-DOS v0.29 --- SBBSecho 3.11-Linux * Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (1:124/5016) .