3 Questions from a Swing State Centrist

[@banzaibomb4980]

Great questions, specifically on the first question about tips, I think while maybe cash tips may not be affected, I think a lot of stores/restaurants that use digital payment may benefit as I'd imagine that those are by default recorded. Same goes for tips that may be added on to a receipt

[@paradox2767]

Thanks! I believe you're totally accurate on the automatic recording of credit card tips, and I know I personally add gratuity onto my bill that way all the time. I'd imagine we're talking 10's to 100's of dollars in credit card tips PER SHIFT for folks (depending on the industry), folks who would therefore certainly benefit from the proposed policy!

[@lydiabestul9490]

Hey! Interesting questions. 1. I can’t speak to the tip tax, but I definitely see your point. 2. I think it would be weird for them to name their kids like Mulan and Tarzan, but Ella and Cole seem pretty tame to me. I think they’re trying to honor a person that they really admire and respect and it shouldn’t matter what race that person is. I’d feel the same if it were Trump’s kids. Doug Emhoff, the Second Gentleman, is Jewish and the namesake is super important in Jewish culture. It’s not like a white kid dressing as Frozone for Halloween, it’s not a costume but it is an identity and an honor to whomever is chosen as the namesake. 3. I don’t personally feel threatened by trans women ever. Lots of lesbians do, because they feel like trans women are encroaching on their safe spaces, spaces that they want to be free of men. Trans women are women. The end, so it doesn’t matter to me if they can reproduce. Some biological women can’t, it doesn’t make them not women. Some biological women choose not to, it doesn’t make them not women. Some trans men have gotten pregnant and had babies. That would be more in your argument of men taking over pregnancy, since trans men are men. People will usually call that a “seahorse dad” because in nature, male seahorses are the ones who get pregnant. The first time I saw a bearded muscular dude with a big pregnant belly, I was like 😮 hmm I don’t know about that. But then I saw the joy on his face and I thought how special that there is a child coming into this world who will be so loved and accepted. So now I don’t really crimp on anybody’s happiness. But the point is, I could see that argument much easier but I still wouldn’t agree with it. I’m cool with whoever wants to reproduce consentingly doing it. The nuclear family is an old 50s curse, people weren’t really happier when they were in the closet and being beaten by their drunkard husbands.

[@paradox2767]

1. Speak to it! I don't live in the rainforest, on the Mexican-American border, or aboard the International Space Station, but I still get to have an opinion on those places. 2. I see it as VERY similar to a white kid in a Frozone costume. And why does that Halloween scenario bother me? Because, of the top 100 most popular super heroes, maybe 10 are non-white. For that reason, I think a lot of people would simply say that it's appropriate to reserve those costumes for the world's kids of color. Otherwise, doesn't that costume somehow feel unearned? After all - not that this is news to you -white kids often have a lot more opportunities than black kids growing up, are statistically more likely to live in a household with a higher income, presumably have to deal with very little racism, etc. Black kids don't get those benefits, so the least they can have is a Frozone/Black Panther/Falcon costume. And I feel the same is true of NAMING those kids. Of the top 100 most famous historical figures - again - maybe 10 are non-white. From Alexander of Macedon to Winston Churchill, the white history buff is GLUTTED with possible names for their children. The black history buff? Who might want to honor the achievements and struggles of black Americans in that way? The list is unfortunately much shorter (leave it to white dude historians, eh?). I stand by my belief that those names should be reserved, or at least are not to be PUBLICLY appropriated by a pair of white parents (I'm not anti all white girls named Ella over here). Why I bring the issue up at all, is that I believe it to be at least symbolically indicative Kamala and her husband's estimation of black America. 3. Haha, okay a lot of fair points. BUT, if you poll a restroom or locker room full of women, and even ONE of a hundred of them is uncomfortable having an XY-chromosome female in the same space, isn't that enough to keep that space restricted? It's certainly a matter of philosophy, as I stated. Is the "male gaze" chromosomal? Is "man-splaining" chromosomal? All interesting food for thought... I remember being in a crowded men's restroom at a concert a decade ago, waiting in the urinal line behind a biological female who was using one of those rubber apparatuses that allow women (I believe originally in the military) to pee standing up. I know this because you could see this person washing the apparatus off in the sink afterwards. The thing is, I believe a lot of men in the room were uncomfortable with having this person there, and I KNOW that parson was uncomfortable, because I STILL get stage fright trying to piss in a crowded restroom, and that's with decades of practice. So, who was benefitting there? Some politician, perhaps, as in some twist of logic that person uses their embarrassment to fan the Democratic fire in their hearts. Now, the answer to this whole public space question? Unfortunately, private/single-serve/unisex restrooms and other spaces. And I do say "unfortunately", because of the odd sense of historical community that exists when changing at a YMCA with a bunch of shameless men (I presume the same is true of the women's locker room), a la ancient Roman bathhouses. Also "unfortunate" because this trend, like so many others today, takes the world down an isolationist, individualist path. Also, in regards to the happiness of one trans man, what do you say to the su*cide rates in the his community? What about the laws and permissions that are penned, importantly, by non-trans politicians, without trans kids? "Hey, me and my kids ain't doing it, but sure go ahead and get a mouse's head grafted onto the side of your neck if society CURRENTLY suggests it will make you a happier person." And I do say "currently", because I believe that if you jump forward or back 20 years, giving an underage person a sex change will get their parents thrown in prison (I bring up the children aspect, of course, because it's an issue we're being made to vote on with Walz on the ticket).