283 Comments

I am over-the-moon happy for the prisoners who were released. I just wish Marc Fogel was among them.

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If only the Maga sphere knew how to use Google or Wikipedia perhaps we would have less stupid, ignorant, uninformed comments coming from them? But I doubt they ever will, overreacting to things before investigating just seems to be the Trump way!

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A recent article by Colin Wright provides a fuller description of the conflict between the IBA and the IOC than I have seen elsewhere. It also describes the various DSDs (𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 of sexual development, not 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴) that involve a genetic XY male individual having external genitalia that closely resemble or appear sufficiently similar to a female's to be mistaken for such.

https://open.substack.com/pub/colinwright/p/fact-vs-fiction-olympic-boxer-imane?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7x0

Wright concludes that

<<The final and most probably DSD for Khelif is 5-alpha reductase deficiency (5-ARD), which also prevented South African runner Caster Semenya from competing in the female category.>>

Here's a link to Medline's

Description of the condition:

https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/condition/5-alpha-reductase-deficiency/#resources

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AMAZING that you think the concerns about the Olympic women's wrestling were limited to the "online MAGAsphere." I don't think J K Rowling falls into that category.

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Sadly, I'm afraid Andrew has fallen into the trap dug by the radical trans ideologues who are careful to label any dissent or criticism or even a mild nuance of the trans ideology as Right Wing. The legislatures that have enacted restrictions on the quackery of sex change medical treatments for minors are invariably noted as "GOP dominated". It's classic "Fox News Fallacy". The activists often adduce DSDs as evidence that sex is indeed a "spectrum". It's an argument right up there with the Clown fish example.

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Sadly, I’m afraid that John Robert has fallen into the trap dug by lying republicans who label any dissent or criticism or even mild nuance of republican cultural ignorance as grooming. You wrote a lot but said nothing. You did squeeze in Quackery.

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Can we not make too much re Andrew. He is in the end just a reporter. Reporters are for the most part writers and not experts at all. But what did he get wrong? He is right that the athlete is not transgender. That is true... you seem to want to say that ideology has crept in on this issue. I agree. But I don't see much of the Fox News fallacy either. In fact the actual facts are not really known at least to support the right wing nonsense. YEs the issue has become politcized but I don't see much of that here. In fact it is a small story that is occurring in a landscape rich with stories.

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Disenfranchisement is the GOP key fromGA to TX

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Love the energy but GOP states like GS and others are purging voters and Elon has a fake "registration" PAC. Back to Georgia ( remember TX True the Vote), which private citizen can challenge 20000 votes? Well, they can in GS and people won't know. I don't know one person in Canada to report. It is abuse. Ted states will disenfranchise or suppress in other ways.

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That Kyle Rittenhouse video blew my mind. Almost a 10 out of 10. My only note is that he should have opened with "HI. I'm Kyle Rittenhouse, and when I'm not busy shooting protestors, I'm stumping for Ron Paul's write-in campaign."

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Isn’t Ron Paul 88 years old, that would make him at least 92 if he left office alive. What is wrong with that “boy”?

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founding

Kellie Harrington and Amy Broadhurst beat Imane Khelif in boxing in the past. Broadhurst wrote this: "Have a lot of people texting me over Imane Khelif. Personally I don’t think she has done anything to ‘cheat’ ". The issues should be with the rules as well, not the athlete who actually was approved by those rules.

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David Graham has a very satisfying column in The Atlantic today about DonOLD running scared. (If anyone wants a gift link let me know; only get a few a month so am careful w/ them.) Here are a couple of parts I particularly enjoyed:

"“I want to be nice,” Trump said Saturday at a rally in Minnesota. “They all say, I think he’s changed. I think he’s changed since two weeks ago. Something affected him. No, I haven’t changed—maybe I’ve gotten worse, actually.”"

And about his meltdown at TABJ gathering:

"Faced with widespread condemnation and warnings from Republicans that he’d gone too far, Trump stuck to the line later on Wednesday and yesterday. Finding himself in a hole, Trump tossed aside his shovel and reached for a jackhammer."

That last sentence is journalistic gold!

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Trump and his supporters have an ongoing issue with reality.

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Your commentary on chromosome makeup for Algeria's contestant is important, as it is a snapshot of the complexity of gender issues as currently understood. It would be helpful if right wing folks read this and understand that sexuality is not always straight forward and that some people are living with genetic and physical issues that are difficult to sort out in real life.

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For at least some Christians the Holy Bible is inerrant and modern genetics is a fable - they privilege the story of Adam and Eve as told in the book of Genesis. I am a traditional Cherokee Indian and my elders taught me that some people are two spirit - they consist of both flavors of humanity. I was also taught that every human being was worthy of respect unless they proved otherwise by their actions, not the color of their skin.

Another pointless ramble by a dumb old Indian living in the Oklahoma swamp, wave as you fly over.

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Re Kamala Harris’s choices: What a wealth of excellent choices! Josh Shapiro, Gretchen Whitmer, Mark Kelly, Tim Walz.

Pete Buttigieg! He speaks in full sentences, actually makes sense, is unflappable. And on the other side, Vance who is deeply weird … and Trump who is inarticulate AND YET repeats himself endlessly.

What happened to conservative eloquence? George Will moved over; William F. Buckley is debating Gore Vidal In the sky. Everyone else sounds dumb or delusional.

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Re Algeria's policies on gender and homosexuality, it sounds like a country made for tRump and MAGAs. I wonder if they've started checking airfares...?

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The bullet whizzing by likely caused enough friction to give Trump an ear nick. "Took a bullet!" Haha. The guy is impossibly disingenuous. And that is his best trait.

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I can’t be as sanguine about Khelef as you are. This person went through male puberty and has to know that confers a serious advantage in BOXING of all things. It should be perfectly possible to disqualify athletes with certain intersex conditions. Here’s a helpful explainer: https://x.com/fondofbeetles/status/1819402288789590246?s=46&t=n5aT7rYlze2UgFxCg6_HqA

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I don't think we know for certain what intersex condition Khelef has. Some render the person completely insensitive to testosterone, and that person does NOT experience male puberty even though they have XY chromosomes.

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Yes, I know. But XY people who compete in elite women's sports tend to be the androgen-sensitive type. Three such people won all three medals in one track event in the Rio Olympics, for example.

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OK, maybe that's not unreasonable (the weird lack of information and all the drama around this makes me doubt this explanation as well), but there's no reason that a boxing match between Italy and Algeria had to become fodder for the US culture war, with MAGA loons demanding that the Democratic candidate for president of the US should weigh in.

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The linked WAPO article about the Kamala embracing the heritage of two diverse cultures is very interesting. That upbringing must have had a profound effect on her ability to see "the other" in a positive light. Donald does not seem to have embraced any of his Scottish heritage - I doubt there are ANY gold toilets in that entire country - but he seems to have embraced some very specific aspects of his German background. Not the good ones that I enjoy (my grandparents on both sides were German immigrants).

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