Is deleting history is unhelpful?

12,322 Views | 166 Replies | Last: 4 mo ago by Beer Baron
Zobel
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AG
I think you're mistaking cause and effect. Friedman won a Nobel prize for observing that inflation is everywhere and always a monetary phenomenon. Price increases are only viable because the money was injected into the system. It's no different than I wrote above - when you add stimulus, the recipients and the early receivers of that money benefit the most. Apparently fast food restaurants are early in the chain. The person who gets the money last benefits least.

So money flows in, demand is increased, output remains the same, and prices must increase.

Blaming fast food and other corporations is silly. You want to know why prices went up? Look at our Covid stimulus activities.
Macarthur
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I don't think anyone is arguing that the stimulus was the catalyst for the inflation. But I think there's sufficient evidence out there that shows inflation is actually down the last year or year and a half yet prices and corporate profits continue to go up and up and up.

I mean, there's evidence of earnings calls where CEOs of numerous companies have said as much. They're simply using the inflation to continue to drive prices.
ramblin_ag02
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Macarthur said:

I don't think anyone is arguing that the stimulus was the catalyst for the inflation. But I think there's sufficient evidence out there that shows inflation is actually down the last year or year and a half yet prices and corporate profits continue to go up and up and up.

I mean, there's evidence of earnings calls where CEOs of numerous companies have said as much. They're simply using the inflation to continue to drive prices.
I think that's true in a lot of industries. Competition is rare or non-existent in those industries, and collusion is rampant in many others. Our regulators have been very lazy for decades at preventing monopolies and prosecuting collusion. Now, I don't think fast food is the best case scenario for this. There's still plenty of competition from other chains, regular restaurants, and quickly prepared home food. If people keep paying the higher prices even when they have other options, then I don't see much to be upset about
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
Zobel
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AG
How does a company drive up prices?
88Warrior
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Zobel said:

How does a company drive up prices?


Agreed…..Especially industry wide…..I don't think Wendy's, McDonald's and Burger King are secretly meeting and colluding to drive up burger prices…all of this is a result of our "propped up" economy…residual from Covid payments…paying people to stay home…shutting down businesses…increased/accelerated deficit spending …forcing businesses to pay unskilled workers $20+ an hour….etc..etc…etc….the roosters have come home to roost…
Macarthur
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lol

Everyone is so fixated on burger joints as that was one example that was given.
Zobel
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AG
What industry is anything I've written about not true for?
BusterAg
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AG
Macarthur said:

McDonald's gross profit is up 30% since 2020.


https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MCD/mcdonalds/gross-profit


And youre focusing on one thing and not seeing the overall picture.
Food inflation has been right around the same as gross profit growth. Real gross profit growth in that sector is about even.
BusterAg
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AG
Sapper Redux said:

I think the current bull**** moral panic of which this post is a great example is due to conservatives losing the culture war over acceptance of homosexuality.
See, but that is just the thing.

The argument about the acceptance of homosexuality was never the objection. It was the second tier affects that people were worried about.

"We just want to get married" is not the same as:

1) We will teach your kids that gender is not binary
2) We will teach your kids that they can choose to be any gender you want.
3) We will start treating kids with irreversible gender changing treatments when they are still way younger than the age of consent for any sexual activity or entering into any legal contract
4) We will expose kids to drag shows
5) We will force you to call us by the pronouns we choose

The whole point of the argument is that state sponsored acceptance of homosexual marriage was going to lead to a lot of second-level affects that were not being argued for at the time. I don't think you can say with a straight face that this hasn't been the case.

And, any amount of acceptance of pedophilia whatsoever is unacceptable.
BusterAg
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AG
Beer Baron said:

No one is saying sexualizing kids is ok, and no one is doubting that you're really worked up over this. As usual, the right has invented something and then gotten very upset about it (again, see: satanic panic. Where did all those cults go by the way? Despite our society's alleged slide into moral depravity, it seems like they haven't been blamed for a murder in decades).

Also, your "example," which no one here (or in your article for that matter, if you ever bother to read it) is defending, isn't actually an example. you didn't address that at all by the way, just like you ignored your falsehood that Germany decriminalized child porn. In fact, it's a great example of a community rejecting the very thing you don't want. In the United Kingdom of all places!
The satanic panic? Really? I would more closely associate the satanic panic with wearing masks during COVID. Both are completely irrational.

Are you really implying that teachers out there AREN'T teaching kids about gender swapping without their parents consent? Because, if that is your argument, I can supply links. The concern is not made up or irrational. It actually is happening. And we were promised it wasn't going to.

And, reducing child porn distribution from a felony to a misdemeanor is pretty much decriminalizing it, in my book.

BusterAg
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AG
88Warrior said:

Zobel said:

How does a company drive up prices?


Agreed…..Especially industry wide…..I don't think Wendy's, McDonald's and Burger King are secretly meeting and colluding to drive up burger prices…all of this is a result of our "propped up" economy…residual from Covid payments…paying people to stay home…shutting down businesses…increased/accelerated deficit spending …forcing businesses to pay unskilled workers $20+ an hour….etc..etc…etc….the roosters have come home to roost…
Also, in the fast food industry, you are really exposed to two things:

1) Energy prices, and their impact on food prices
2) entry level wages

Both have skyrocketed.
Beer Baron
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AG

Quote:

The satanic panic? Really?

Yes, really. Both are examples of Christians getting worked up and hysterical over something that isn't actually happening.


Quote:

Are you really implying that teachers out there AREN'T teaching kids about gender swapping without their parents consent? Because, if that is your argument, I can supply links. The concern is not made up or irrational. It actually is happening. And we were promised it wasn't going to.

I can't wait to see your examples from sources like patrioteagle.truthnet or whatever. So far you've produced one link from the UK about an event that was immediately harshly criticized and shut down, that seemed like a case of incompetence in scheduling more than anything. I'm sure there are examples from somewhere of teachers going over the line on what they discuss and how they discuss it. I don't think isolated incidents are proof of any larger conspiracy to swap the genders of millions of children though.


Quote:

And, reducing child porn distribution from a felony to a misdemeanor is pretty much decriminalizing it, in my book.
Again, they didn't do that. The lowered the minimum penalty the account for cases that don't justify a mandatory harsh sentence. Again, those cases include teenagers sending pictures of themselves to other teenagers. Again, the maximum penalty was left untouched. It is not in any way accurate to say they decriminalized anything. Murder convictions in Texas can be punished by a sentence anywhere from five years to life or even the death penalty. If the lower end were reduced to 2 years or probation, it would not be accurate to say we decriminalized murder.

This is a great example of an intelligent person making a really stupid claim because they're dug in.
Sapper Redux
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BusterAg said:

Sapper Redux said:

I think the current bull**** moral panic of which this post is a great example is due to conservatives losing the culture war over acceptance of homosexuality.
See, but that is just the thing.

The argument about the acceptance of homosexuality was never the objection. It was the second tier affects that people were worried about.

"We just want to get married" is not the same as:

1) We will teach your kids that gender is not binary
2) We will teach your kids that they can choose to be any gender you want.
3) We will start treating kids with irreversible gender changing treatments when they are still way younger than the age of consent for any sexual activity or entering into any legal contract
4) We will expose kids to drag shows
5) We will force you to call us by the pronouns we choose

The whole point of the argument is that state sponsored acceptance of homosexual marriage was going to lead to a lot of second-level affects that were not being argued for at the time. I don't think you can say with a straight face that this hasn't been the case.

And, any amount of acceptance of pedophilia whatsoever is unacceptable.


You seem obsessed with maintaining a very specific conservative Christian view of people and sexuality as some sort of legal bedrock. Funny enough, most of what you're claiming is an after effect of gay marriage has been around long before gay marriage was ever a possibility. I mean, hell, Romeo and Juliet was originally a drag show about sexually active teenagers. What's happening is that conservatives are piling attention on small groups (extremely tiny in the case of transitioning transgender people) or events and declaring it a national trend. Ironically, you're probably making certain things like choosing pronouns more common by hyper-fixating on it.
Rongagin71
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AG
BusterAg said:

Sapper Redux said:

I think the current bull**** moral panic of which this post is a great example is due to conservatives losing the culture war over acceptance of homosexuality.
See, but that is just the thing.

The argument about the acceptance of homosexuality was never the objection. It was the second tier affects that people were worried about.

"We just want to get married" is not the same as:

1) We will teach your kids that gender is not binary
2) We will teach your kids that they can choose to be any gender you want.
3) We will start treating kids with irreversible gender changing treatments when they are still way younger than the age of consent for any sexual activity or entering into any legal contract
4) We will expose kids to drag shows
5) We will force you to call us by the pronouns we choose

The whole point of the argument is that state sponsored acceptance of homosexual marriage was going to lead to a lot of second-level affects that were not being argued for at the time. I don't think you can say with a straight face that this hasn't been the case.

And, any amount of acceptance of pedophilia whatsoever is unacceptable.
That is a great answer though of course the Left will ridicule it.
Beer Baron
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AG
The out-of-proportion attention on a tiny group of peoples' pronouns is just crazy to me, and I think in a lot of ways all the focus stems from just wanting to do the opposite of whatever the subject individual would prefer that you do. For example, I know a trans man who all through junior high and high school presented as what most of us would see and assume is a butch lesbian. She went by female pronouns, wore a dress to prom (which of course, she hated, and she got lots of comments in the process), and was clearly a girl, but she had a kind of masculine demeanor and haircut, clothing style, interests, etc. At the time, people had a ton of fun calling her "he/him" as an insult, telling her she was using the wrong bathroom, etc.

Flash forward 20 years post-high school, and this person was like "you know what, actually I'm trans." Changed names and full-on presents as male now and generally passes. The same people cannot use she/her fast enough and with enough emphasis now. Just one anecdote, but I find it interesting.
Rongagin71
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AG
So what % of trans commit suicide?
It can be "just what the doctor ordered", but it can
also be a big mistake to cut off your reproductive parts
especially at an early age.
Why are we celebrating this risky procedure?
Sapper Redux
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Rongagin71 said:

So what % of trans commit suicide?
It can be "just what the doctor ordered", but it can
also be a big mistake to cut off your reproductive parts
especially at an early age.
Why are we celebrating this risky procedure?


Do you assume suicide is just inherent in being trans, or could the way they are treated by family and community have a huge role?
Rongagin71
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AG
Sapper Redux said:

Rongagin71 said:

So what % of trans commit suicide?
It can be "just what the doctor ordered", but it can
also be a big mistake to cut off your reproductive parts
especially at an early age.
Why are we celebrating this risky procedure?


Do you assume suicide is just inherent in being trans, or could the way they are treated by family and community have a huge role?
You are where I was until it seemed to me that more and more
transing was being SOLD as a solution, when it in fact it may cause
even more abuse combined with the pain, expense, and child barrenness.
Sapper Redux
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Rongagin71 said:

Sapper Redux said:

Rongagin71 said:

So what % of trans commit suicide?
It can be "just what the doctor ordered", but it can
also be a big mistake to cut off your reproductive parts
especially at an early age.
Why are we celebrating this risky procedure?


Do you assume suicide is just inherent in being trans, or could the way they are treated by family and community have a huge role?
You are where I was until it seemed to me that more and more
transing was being SOLD as a solution, when it in fact it may cause
even more abuse
combined with the pain, expense, and child barrenness.


Abuse by whom? Transitioning has higher satisfaction rates than almost any other surgery I've seen.
Rongagin71
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AG
Sapper Redux said:

Rongagin71 said:

Sapper Redux said:

Rongagin71 said:

So what % of trans commit suicide?
It can be "just what the doctor ordered", but it can
also be a big mistake to cut off your reproductive parts
especially at an early age.
Why are we celebrating this risky procedure?


Do you assume suicide is just inherent in being trans, or could the way they are treated by family and community have a huge role?
You are where I was until it seemed to me that more and more
transing was being SOLD as a solution, when it in fact it may cause
even more abuse
combined with the pain, expense, and child barrenness.


Abuse by whom? Transitioning has higher satisfaction rates than almost any other surgery I've seen.
You are the one who brought up treatment by family and community,
then turn around and ask "abuse by whom?" - but I think abuse
is not hard to find whether trans or straight - my point is
that transing to avoid abuse is not going to work - unless
the government elevates the protection of transed people
even higher than their already protected class.
QBCade
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AG
Sapper Redux said:

Pro Sandy said:

Where I live

Medium Fries = $4.39 (not $2.89 nor $4.19)
McChicken = $3.49 (not $1.99 nor $3.89)
Big Mac = $6.49 (not $4.99 nor $7.49)
10 McNuggets = $6.59 (not $4.99 nor $7.58)
Cheeseburger = $3.19 (not $1.59 nor $3.15)

But the high schoolers are making $20/hr
About 30% of fast food workers are teens. That kind of salary can help a lot people move from truly dire poverty.


That's a fallacy. They've implemented higher minimum wage here in CA. Unemployment is up, workers hours are down, prices are up. Working in fast food is supposed to be an on ramp to the workforce or a bounce back. Not a resting place. As such, will never really be a living wage - the economics don't work.
Rongagin71
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AG
Sapper Redux said:

Rongagin71 said:

Sapper Redux said:

Rongagin71 said:

So what % of trans commit suicide?
It can be "just what the doctor ordered", but it can
also be a big mistake to cut off your reproductive parts
especially at an early age.
Why are we celebrating this risky procedure?


Do you assume suicide is just inherent in being trans, or could the way they are treated by family and community have a huge role?
You are where I was until it seemed to me that more and more
transing was being SOLD as a solution, when it in fact it may cause
even more abuse
combined with the pain, expense, and child barrenness.


Abuse by whom? Transitioning has higher satisfaction rates than almost any other surgery I've seen.
Statistics show 1/3 of transgender children have attempted suicide
and 1/2 have considered it.
Sapper Redux
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QBCade said:

Sapper Redux said:

Pro Sandy said:

Where I live

Medium Fries = $4.39 (not $2.89 nor $4.19)
McChicken = $3.49 (not $1.99 nor $3.89)
Big Mac = $6.49 (not $4.99 nor $7.49)
10 McNuggets = $6.59 (not $4.99 nor $7.58)
Cheeseburger = $3.19 (not $1.59 nor $3.15)

But the high schoolers are making $20/hr
About 30% of fast food workers are teens. That kind of salary can help a lot people move from truly dire poverty.


That's a fallacy. They've implemented higher minimum wage here in CA. Unemployment is up, workers hours are down, prices are up. Working in fast food is supposed to be an on ramp to the workforce or a bounce back. Not a resting place. As such, will never really be a living wage - the economics don't work.


Except it hasn't been for years and years. Claiming it is doesn't make it so.
Rongagin71
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AG
Sapper Redux said:

QBCade said:

Sapper Redux said:

Pro Sandy said:

Where I live

Medium Fries = $4.39 (not $2.89 nor $4.19)
McChicken = $3.49 (not $1.99 nor $3.89)
Big Mac = $6.49 (not $4.99 nor $7.49)
10 McNuggets = $6.59 (not $4.99 nor $7.58)
Cheeseburger = $3.19 (not $1.59 nor $3.15)

But the high schoolers are making $20/hr
About 30% of fast food workers are teens. That kind of salary can help a lot people move from truly dire poverty.


That's a fallacy. They've implemented higher minimum wage here in CA. Unemployment is up, workers hours are down, prices are up. Working in fast food is supposed to be an on ramp to the workforce or a bounce back. Not a resting place. As such, will never really be a living wage - the economics don't work.


Except it hasn't been for years and years. Claiming it is doesn't make it so.
I'm going to agree with you about food service being permanent work these days. But legally forcing up wages has not worked well as a solution.
If I was young enough to be in that low paid job with no prospects trap, I would probably get a student loan and pick up a tech education - but not everybody has the learning/physical ability to do that.
Sharing a room with working family or working roommate is the traditional "solution".
This brings home how unneeded the massive border migration is - we have too few good jobs for laborers at the same time as we have a shortage of workers for more demanding jobs.
QBCade
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AG
Sapper Redux said:

QBCade said:

Sapper Redux said:

Pro Sandy said:

Where I live

Medium Fries = $4.39 (not $2.89 nor $4.19)
McChicken = $3.49 (not $1.99 nor $3.89)
Big Mac = $6.49 (not $4.99 nor $7.49)
10 McNuggets = $6.59 (not $4.99 nor $7.58)
Cheeseburger = $3.19 (not $1.59 nor $3.15)

But the high schoolers are making $20/hr
About 30% of fast food workers are teens. That kind of salary can help a lot people move from truly dire poverty.


That's a fallacy. They've implemented higher minimum wage here in CA. Unemployment is up, workers hours are down, prices are up. Working in fast food is supposed to be an on ramp to the workforce or a bounce back. Not a resting place. As such, will never really be a living wage - the economics don't work.


Except it hasn't been for years and years. Claiming it is doesn't make it so.


And, raising min wage on the average hurts the workers in that field. Look what just happened in CA? Prices are up, fast food locations are closing. Rubios just announced that they're closing ALL of their CA locations - 48. And, that's after the results we've seen recently with hours down, total wages down, prices up.
Sapper Redux
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They couldn't afford to survive on what they were making. I'm not sure how much changes by losing a ****ty job where the pay doesn't cover living expenses and taking another one as wage and job growth in the lower income sectors continues.

https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/economy-blue-collar-wage-increases-a71e5eee
Rongagin71
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AG
The economy is concerning, and not just in the U.S.
I fear war is coming back around as it seems to do periodically.

QBCade
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AG
Sapper Redux said:

They couldn't afford to survive on what they were making. I'm not sure how much changes by losing a ****ty job where the pay doesn't cover living expenses and taking another one as wage and job growth in the lower income sectors continues.

https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/economy-blue-collar-wage-increases-a71e5eee


Pull up the article about CA. It doesn't align with that.
AGC
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AG
Sapper Redux said:

They couldn't afford to survive on what they were making. I'm not sure how much changes by losing a ****ty job where the pay doesn't cover living expenses and taking another one as wage and job growth in the lower income sectors continues.

https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/economy-blue-collar-wage-increases-a71e5eee


That's not how it works professor. You've been out of the game for too long.
ramblin_ag02
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AG
https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/05/your-price-named/#privacy-first-again

Plugging Cory Doctorow again. This time he has an essay about price fixing through middle men, and the use of digital surveillance and apps to raise prices across the board.

Quote:

Take Agri Stats: the country's hyperconcentrated meatpacking industry pays Agri Stats to "consult on prices." They provide Agri Stats with a list of their prices, and then Agri Stats suggests changes based on its analysis. What does that analysis consist of? Comparing the company's prices to its competitors, who are also Agri Stats customers:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/04/dont-let-your-meat-loaf/#meaty-beaty-big-and-bouncy
In other words, Agri Stats finds the highest price for each product in the sector, then "advises" all the companies with lower prices to raise their prices to the "competitive" level, creating a one-way ratchet that sends the price of food higher and higher.
Quote:

Landlords, for example, have tapped into Realpage, a "data broker" that the same thing to your rent that Agri Stats does to meat prices. Realpage requires the landlords who sign up for its service to accept its "recommendations" on minimum rents, ensuring that prices only go up:
Quote:

For example, Plexure boasts that it can predict what day a given customer is getting paid on and use that information to raise prices on all the goods the customer shops for on that day, on the assumption that you're willing to pay more when you've got a healthy bank balance.
Quote:

And where we see the price of goods shooting up, there's abundant evidence that this is the result of greedflation companies jacking up their prices and blaming inflation. Interest rate hawks say that greedflation is impossible: if one company raises its prices, its competitors will swoop in and steal their customers with lower prices.

Maybe they would do that if they didn't have a toolbox full of algorithmic twiddling options and a deep trove of surveillance data that let them all raise prices together:

Good stuff from him like always that seemed appropriate for this conversation. Just because it is the US in 2024, I don't endorse his politics. Only his information and analysis
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
Macarthur
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Another datapoint. Apparent rent fixing by largest Multifamily companies


BusterAg
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AG
https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/california-teachers-union-pushing-to-keep-students-gender-identities-hidden-from-parents-temecula-valley-unified-school-district-rob-bonta-lgbt-transgender-crisis-in-the-classroom

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11677513/Teacher-admits-helping-students-change-gender-identity-without-parents-knowledge.html

https://intellectualtakeout.org/2022/06/teachers-explain-how-they-push-gender-lessons-on-young-children/

https://www.foxnews.com/media/nonbinary-teacher-good-laughs-hiding-kids-gender-changes-parents-claims-adim-supports

https://www.city-journal.org/article/transgender-secrecy-policies-at-public-schools

https://yaf.org/news/san-diego-school-pushes-transgender-agenda-on-first-graders-during-library-reading-time/

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article279615099.html

I can list a whole lot more. If you don't think this is happening, you have been living under a rock.

These are not just isolated incidents. These include teacher's unions advocating for and suing in order to protect this practice, and school districts adopting district wide policies.
BusterAg
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AG
Beer Baron said:

The out-of-proportion attention on a tiny group of peoples' pronouns is just crazy to me, and I think in a lot of ways all the focus stems from just wanting to do the opposite of whatever the subject individual would prefer that you do. For example, I know a trans man who all through junior high and high school presented as what most of us would see and assume is a butch lesbian. She went by female pronouns, wore a dress to prom (which of course, she hated, and she got lots of comments in the process), and was clearly a girl, but she had a kind of masculine demeanor and haircut, clothing style, interests, etc. At the time, people had a ton of fun calling her "he/him" as an insult, telling her she was using the wrong bathroom, etc.

Flash forward 20 years post-high school, and this person was like "you know what, actually I'm trans." Changed names and full-on presents as male now and generally passes. The same people cannot use she/her fast enough and with enough emphasis now. Just one anecdote, but I find it interesting.
Kids are cruel to eachother.

That doesn't mean we should be encouraging them to get life-altering, irreversible elective surgery.

The incidence of male homosexual activity in boys that go on to become straight men is much higher than most want to admit. Kids have enough to figure out without undue pressure to be "special" by confusing gender issues.

Leave the kids alone. Transitioning a minor is not only a crime in Texas, it is exceedingly immoral from almost any perspective you can think of.

Johnny the Walrus is some down-to-earth logic on the subject.
Beer Baron
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AG
None of that had anything to do with what I posted. The person I'm talking about didn't transition until well into adulthood.
BusterAg
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AG
I'll just leave this right here:



 
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