unicorn

Pretty shameful.

That posting was probably a joke. But what an asshole for being that fucked up, and not even ordering a Lyft or Uber. The cost would have been insignificant for him. And now he's going to pay big-time. Why endanger others' lives when it would be just as easy for you not to? 😤 Seriously messed up.

These questions can usually be answered quickly by Wikipedia or Google: "Anchorage (Tanaina: Dgheyay Kaq'; Dgheyaytnu), officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Matanuska-Susitna Borough, had a population of 398,328 in 2020, accounting for more than half the state's population. At 1,706 sq mi (4,420 km2) of land area, the city is the fourth-largest by area in the U.S...".

Whenever I hear about the Aleuts, this song always pops in my head:

We went to a drag show in Anchorage last Saturday, and I encountered a couple of customs I hadn't encountered before, certainly not in the US. The first was that the entry fee was listed as $5 for those identifying as LGBTQ+, and $20 for those identifying as straight/allies. I wonder if such practices are even legal. This practice does bother me somewhat. It certainly doesn't seem to promote a spirit of equality. Most of the crowd were clearly LGBTQ+, but there were three couples in which the men made a point to lavish their female guests with PDA's. I wonder if they paid the higher fee, just to avoid identifying at LGBTQ+. The 2nd thing I'd never seen before (but my fiance had), was a drag king, who hosted the festivities. Basically, it was a lesbian with a painted-on beard, and a hair muscle chest plastic board which covered the breasts. Have any of you seen either of these customs before? https://madmyrnas.com/events/diva-variety-show The drag king was Hank Van Dickerson: https://madmyrnas.com/divas

While I think it's always a bad idea to have sex with anyone under 18, apparently the law only makes it illegal if the sex is "commercial" for ages 16 and 17, or in any case if the person is under 16: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_Act_of_2003#:~:text=In the case United States,still faces an obscenity charge. "...For the purposes of this law, illicit sexual conduct is defined as commercial sex with or sexual abuse of anyone under 18, or any sex with anyone under 16...".

Well, some may recall the string I posted several months ago when the hotel receptionist carded my then 30 year-old fiance because he thought I might be involved with a minor! 😤

I feel a song coming on...

Laws vary from country to country and state to state. I'm not interested in having sex with anyone under 18, but if I were, I would research local laws very carefully. The age of consent may be under 18 in most places, but it may depend with whom and/or under what circumstances. It may be legal to have sex with a 16 year-old, but if he were to complain he was pressured, one could find oneself in deep doo-doo. Just stick to men 18+, and don't stay up all night worrying. I was certainly willing and able to consent when I was 16, but the law can get tricky.

It looks as though a native tribe has won the right to kill whales in the northwestern US. They claimed that killing whales is "central" to their identities. To me, this sounds like a load of crap. What do you think? https://apnews.com/article/makah-tribe-whale-hunt-9b2e4a699431cc144f826dfbf6a9172a “Whaling remains central to the identity, culture, subsistence, and spirituality of the Makah people, and we regard the Gray Whale as sacred,” Makah Tribal Council Chairman Timothy J. Greene Sr. said in a written statement. Yes, of course. You consider the whales sacred. So you must kill them.

There are basically four treatments for ED. The most common, working for most men are the PDE5 inhibitors (avanafil, sildenafil, tadalafil, and vardenafil). If those don't work, or have undesirable side-effects, there are injections which go directly into the penis, little pellets one can put up the urethra (not too popular), or vacuum/rubber band devices, such as Erec-Aid. The last three usually work if the first doesn't. TRT is not really a treatment for ED. It should be used only for testosterone deficiency, and then only with informed consent, since it has both risks and benefits. Any other treatments for ED aren't supported by factual evidence.

😁

Well, all opinions aside, the debates certainly should be a showcase to demonstrate which candidate is more demented. Biden certainly seemed to be able to hold his own at the State of the Union address about 4 months ago.

I agree that it's probably unfair, but most countries have similar rules. For all practical terms, passports are useless for travel 6 months before their "expiration" date.

Outrage?? Why would anyone care what KR thinks?

I'm happy to change my opinion when presented with new information. 😃 You're the first responder to refute the source I'd originally used to form my prior opinion. Since I don't have first-hand knowledge, I'm open to the new idea. Are you also saying that kathoey are more likely to be bulliers than to be bullied themselves in Thailand? If so, that's probably a unique situation globally. In most countries, even some rather enlightened ones, trans people, especially FTM, are prime targets for bullies.

I was making fun of the article, not the trans people. That should have been obvious from the text of my post. I found the use of that term silly and insulting. You're kind of slow on the uptake. And you posted nothing to discredit my investigation that such terms, as used by the article, are offensive. You simply misdirect, which is not a way to discredit a posting. And you certainly don't appear to feel foolish about being proven factually wrong.

No, you're factually wrong. I have been there. 😄 I'm no expert as to trans lingo there, which is why I looked it up, as you saw in my prior posting. Written by a Thai person, as I previously quoted, "The term of ladyboy is a foreigner thing, Thais don't use that term. Equivalent is kathoey, and almost all trans woman find it derogatory and hate to be called kathoey...".

You're right. I haven't been there since Thais switched to speaking English instead of Thai. 😉

The elections are not decided by Democrats or by Republicans. Republicans will vote for Trump regardless of how obvious it is that he's a fraud. Elections are decided by independents. One would think that anyone with an independent mind would be ashamed to have our country represented by a convicted felon.

Neither of us knows all of the facts. I'll be the first to admit it. That being said, the article you paraphrased was clearly biased, as evidenced by using a slur to describe the trans women/girls. It's something Fox News would do--are you a fan of theirs? While the facts need to come out--as they did with Trump--one can certainly make rational inferences from what we do know. Cohen's a sleazebag, and certainly not an ideal witness. That being said, only a fool would believe that he spent $130,000 of his own money simply to protect Trump (certainly none of the jurors bought that story). Likewise, only a fool would believe that this was some random attack which came out of the blue. Obviously, people shouldn't take the law into their own hands, especially with violence. However, trans people have extremely high rates of being bullied at school, and are multiple times more likely to be bullied rather than the bullier: https://www.hrc.org/news/new-cdc-data-shows-lgbtq-youth-are-more-likely-to-be-bullied-than-straight-cisgender-youth "...43% of transgender youth have been bullied on school property..." Hopefully, the facts will come out during the legal process. I'm curious as to what those facts are. If, as I suspect, the 17 year-old who was beat up had repeatedly bullied one or more of her attackers (especially if the bullying was physical), then my sympathy for her goes down. That goes double if some of the attackers in this incident had tried the legal route to obtain protection, but failed. If you were never bullied, how fortunate for you. However, there comes a point when the bullied person has enough. Better this than suicide, another huge problem, as that article discusses: "...29% of transgender youth have attempted suicide, compared to 7% of cisgender youth...". I want to make clear that I'm not saying I know for a fact that the attackers had been victims themselves. However, neither do I buy the right-wing press narrative that trans gangs are going around attacking people out of the blue. It doesn't take too much brains, in my view, to find that news organization's inferences unlikely. Or maybe you're one of those who believes Trump's the victim, as presented by Fox News.

When will he be sentenced, typically?

Well, certainly in the US the term "ladyboys" would be considered offensive. I've never lived in Thailand, obviously, but I looked it up, and it looks as though that term comes off as offensive there as well: "...most of them see themselves as woman, especially post-ops. Even at Tinder you can see post-ops saying "I'm %100 woman", and they sincerely believe that. Also when a Thai begins to dress as woman in public, you can see that they immediately change their gender to female on Facebook. More educated/west oriented ones see themselves as transgender woman and fight for trans rights. For example for the right to change their gender to female at their IDs, which is currently forbidden. Also male to transgender/gay marriages are not allowed, this is a big issue. The term of ladyboy is a foreigner thing, Thais don't use that term. Equivalent is kathoey, and almost all trans woman find it derogatory and hate to be called kathoey. Also if you ask a post-op if she is ladyboy, she will most probably and say "no I'm a woman".".. As for the 17 year-old "victim" of the attack, it looks as though she went to the same high school as some of the other apparent participants in the attack. I strongly suspect that this "victim" probably did similar stuff to one of the members of the group, who likely responded in kind when he had supporters with him (as I suspect the 17 year-old did when the trans high school student was by herself). The Thaiger article you paraphrased seems to merely fuel transphobia, rather than provide a complete picture of what was really going on. That being said, there was a hint: "...The 17 year old daughter of the woman, Ruay, sustained the most severe injuries in the attack, suffering multiple bruises and wounds across her face and body, with her left eye particularly swollen. The other victims suffered only minor injuries. The 14 year old Burmese girl, Ae, told Channel 3 that the transgender teenagers study at the same school as her and her siblings, Borrai Wittayakhom School...". My sense is not that a bunch of trans women suddenly attacked the family for no reason. I would bet that the trans women saw the opportunity for revenge, and that the minor injuries were sustained by those who attempted to assist the 17 year-old. I'm not sure that one can condone violence, but if school and/or legal authorities don't help trans women when they're being bullied, such reactions are hardly surprising.

Which party is the most gay-friendly?