In my job, I have some dealings with private healthcare, and I have it as well. I have seen how pre-existing conditions are not covered and how insurance companies try to avoid paying out (not an issue with me when I had to use it). So far, that has not been to the levels seen in The Rainmaker, but I have had to word referrals to make it easier for people to be covered at times. But here, when someone is not covered, we still have the NHS.
The Affordable Healthcare Act has meant that people are covered in the USA and while I understand that the GOP want to ensure that Americans are covered for pre-existing conditions, I do not understand why they wish to remove cover before they reinstate it with a bill that no one has seen. A cynic would say they want to return to the situation before the ACA, but I am sure that they would not do that...
I love this film and have just watched it with my daughter. It is a lot more serious than Mallrats, though still has many laughs and appeals to my twisted sense of humour. Watching it this time, I realised that I had not noted the name of the club where part of the film is. One of my favourite characters in the film is Hooper LaMante a.k.a. Hooper X. The film touches on the homophobia that he faces and for nerds like I was when younger, helps to educate many about how this is wrong. But that is not the core message of the film. While the plot is engaging and not conventional, like with the other films in this universe, it is the dialogue which makes it.
I am not sure that my daughter would want to watch Clerks, but it will be interesting to see Dogma with her. I just need to find the other films though!
I am still suspended from Twitter. The frustrating part of this is that I still get notifications. I have made my second appeal and they have stated that they will get round to looking at it, but that I can regain access to my account by deleting the offending tweet. I suspect that this will be a game of chicken and that after a long period of time, my appeal will be rejected. So I will have to make to with the frustration of getting an alert about a tweet and not being able to read it. Saying that, going without Twitter may be better for me as I was/am addicted to it.
My son has had an interesting time. Since my last post, he has strived to be banned form his phone for a long time. His issues with not putting away clothes for the house continued since my last post. Not only had he not put away clothes as required, but he had tried to hide them under mess in his room which was meant to be clean. A day after he was busted, a more in depth inspection of his room found yet more clothes that he had not put away! On the bright side, he appears to have learned to flush the toilet, though occasional issues are still present.
I am hopeful that the phone and television ban that he has been subjected to will focus his mind. Considering that his sister had a ban for a month a while ago, he knows that things can get worse.
I love The Thick Of It. Malcolm Tucker was apparently based on Alistair Campbell, but the comparisons now to Dominic Cummings cannot be avoided. Saying that, I think Malcolm Tucker had more ethics!
I am still suspended from Twitter. I was told that my tweet had been reviewed and was felt to violate the terms and conditions of the site. I am an advocate of free speech but also I believe that people should obey the terms and conditions of any website they sign up to. Twitter is right to police what is posted and hate speech should be acted on, as it violates the terms and conditions of what people agree to when they sign up to the site.
My daughter does not think that I violated the rules. My wife thinks my suspension is hilarious and is hoping that I can be suspended from Pokémon GO.
My son is in he doghouse. He is meant to put away clothes once my daughter has washed and dried the clothes. Yesterday I woke him up when I was not able to find any socks. Today, I had no jeans or jumpers. In addition, he is not able to flush the toilet anymore.
Woke up this morning to find that I had been suspended from Twitter for violating the rules. In the thread, someone referred to Stormy Daniels as a whore. I pointed out that she was a Porn Star and was not a whore, as well as pointing out that Melania Trump used her sex appeal in the past as well. I did not post any of the pictures that have been shared about Melania Trump on-line as I feel that doing so would be Slut Shaming her.
I can accept the suspension, or appeal. I do not think that I have done anything wrong, so even though it means I may be suspended from Twitter for longer, I will be appealing.
The issue of rights for trans-people is not not a binary one.
Despite this, discussions about trans rights appear to be so. I have been blocked on Twitter over my views on this matter despite trying to be civil when discussing this. Which is a shame as I would like to learn more about this.
My views, as noted before, were shaped after listening to an interview with Piers Morgan. In the interview, the issue that there were many genders was discussed, and it was then that I realised that having a binary attitude towards safe spaces based on chromosomal sex was limited. While I have come across unisex toilets before and also, in one restaurant/bar in Colchester, toilets for male, female and anyone, this is not an option for all locations and services. So I feel, that such facilities should be genitalia based. I know that my view on this is not going to be liked, and as many have pointed out, cannot be enforced with ease, but it is the least unfair option in my view.
But back to what JK Rowling has written about. She has referred to Magdalen Burns being viewed as transphobic for refusing to label lesbians who do not date a women with a penis as being bigoted. I am a man and would not wish to date a women with a penis either. I have not looked at all the views that Magdalen Burns has. From a cursory glance, I would consider her to be transphobic, but just as my children have not read what JK Rowling has read, I have not looked at all the view of Magdalen Burns on this matter either.
Another issue that she discusses is that of detransitioning. This is where a person changes back to the gender matching their chromosomal make up. The exact figures when it comes to this are not available to view, but it appears that those who are younger when it comes to this are more likely to change their minds. This does not mean that we should deny the right to transition to those who are young, but JK Rowling is right in that we should look into this in more detail. With the wait for such services on the NHS being so long, the importance of supporting the psychological health of those seeking to transition is even more paramount (as is the help that is needed following it). But this is not just to support people in the process of transitioning, but helping them to decide if that is the right choice for them.
Women do face more sexual assault than men, and when they do, almost all of it is at the hands of those with a penis. That is not to ignore the psychological and physical pain that the trans population face, but much of what they face when it comes to physical assaults is mostly from those with a penis. Just as most of those who transition (or wish to) are not sex offenders, most of those with a penis are not. However, I understand the desire of those with a vagina not to share safe spaces with those with a penis.
Allowing those who self identify into safe spaces without checks carries great risks. I have treated sex offenders and the victims of them. I know how some are predators who will exploit any loophole to offend. There are examples of offenders born with a penis who identify as women and it is hard to determine if they are doing so because they want to prey on women (CIS &/or trans) or if they are offenders who are genuine about being a different sex.
The argument that those found to be offenders can be banned carries no weight to me as many offences when it comes to sexual assault are not brought to court and the rape conviction rates in the UK are low.
