Republican presidential wannabe Chris Christie may have just come up with the single weirdest argument I've heard about where transgender kids should go to the bathroom. CNN reports:
Claudia Reott, a California woman, asked Christie about a California law "which means that children from K-12 can use any bathroom that they choose, at the time, if they feel like they're a girl, if they feel like they're a boy."
Christie responded by joking that life is simpler in New Jersey, "Men go to men's rooms, women go to women's rooms and there really shouldn't be a whole lot of confusion about that—public accommodations. And I don't think we should be making life more confusing for our children."
He quickly pivoted to his bigger concern that terrorism is making growing up too confusing for children.
"Life is confusing enough right now for our children," Christie said. "Think about those kids in Los Angeles who last week had their entire district closed because of a threat. Think about what they felt like the next day when they went back to school. Did they feel completely comfortable, did they feel like they were safe? How did their mothers and fathers feel when they sent them to school that day? And now today the Nashua schools are closed, based on a threat as well. How are those kids going to feel when they go back to school?"
He then cited the San Bernardino attacks as proof that "every place in America is a potential target for terrorism" before coming back to his broader point that "children learn better, grow up better, mature better when they live in a safe and secure and loving environment."
"The fact though is that we want our kids not to have to decide which bathroom they get to go in. And not to be subject to peer pressure about which one to go in. And not to be subject to the embarrassment that could come with going in a bathroom where somebody maybe doesn't agree that they should be in there or not," Christie said.
So trans kids shouldn't get to pick which bathrooms they use because they might be embarrassed, and also TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM. Um…thanks for the thoughts, Governor.
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This transgender stuff is really out of control. Your sex is biological and that is the bathroom you should go to. What nonsense this is, what sex do you feel like.
Why limit it to "sex"? What if I feel like a dog today? I expect YOU to take me for a walk where I can shit wherever I like and YOU have to pick it up and put it in a plastic bag.
I've decided that I want to be a black bear named Bearnita. My workplace must respect that. When I go into a meeting, when asked a question, I will just wave my paw and say 'grrrrrr', because bears cannot speak. And I can't do any real work because bears don't have opossable thumbs. And I need a raise because I'm an oppressed minority in the workspace and someone needs to pay up for their privilege. Also, I hibernate for 6 months of the year, so don't expect me to show up for work at that time. Also, everywhere is the bears restroom.
This bathroom segregation stuff is really out of control. Why do we need separate facilities according to gender when it's all the same waste and it all ends up in the same place?
The whole bathroom thing is bizarre and regressive. Surely we can repurpose some NASA tech so people can go when and where they need, without dedicating whole facilities to that purpose.
It's hard to puzzle out what he's saying, but I would assume that, like a good politician, he uses a question on subject A to pivot to subject B, where subject B is a key theme of his campaign.
Technically, I think he's saying that kids have enough to worry about with terrorism to have to worry also about bathroom issues.
But I think I see where Christie is trying to go, in his clumsy way. Hype the terrorist threat and his proposed remedies (fewer civil liberties, if any).
To be fair to the big guy, there are more important things the candidates should be discussing than "what gender do I feel like today". I dunno if "terrorism" is necessarily one of those things but I think he's right to mock the recent obsession with this bathroom stuff.
Also, considering the police state Christie envisions is necessary to keep us safe and secure, assuming "learn better" means to learn your place and submit to your overlords, and "grow up better" refers to submitting yourself as a compliant servant of the State.
Don't you worry about a thing, Uncle Christie Creme is gonna make America a Safe Space by doing away with all those nasty liberties that give terrorists too much opportunity to ATTACK YOU AT ANY TIME; BE AFRAID AND VOTE FOR ME.
"Having enough food and being able to go out without being worried about being killed or kidnapped and stuff like that is good"
Certainly, but being accustomed to a safe environment is the opposite of conditions likely to disincline one to worry about being killed or kidnapped and so forth. My father was of the mind that children should be raised in an environment where risk and insecurity was emphasised. We grew up aware that there is no security, there is no magical force which may cancel the ability of others to use their freedom of action against us. For what it's worth, in my recollection at least, this did not replace an infantil delusion of safety but rather simply continued the natural sense of danger present from the beginning, so I'm inclined to think that fantasies of safety are learned rather than the other way round. But the result of this all was that we are much less inclined to fears of threats to security and pretty much never have to worry about other people attacking us. Since it's impossible to control others or obliterate their freedoms, we don't worry about what they may do to us but rather remain prepared to respond to whatever they might do in whatever way common decency demands of us.
My only real worry or "fear" about interactions with other people is that I may find myself forced into a situation where common decency requires of me some response or other that will inevitably lead to some averse consequences.
But people raised this way are not subject to being controlled by threats and intimidation. Everything gets reduced to pretty simple ethical principles if one avoids the entanglefooting morass of delusional security. Furthermore, it actually leads to social conditions less favorable to violence than worrying about what other people might do does.
I've had a lot of experience with bomb threats. And based on this, a bomb threat seems to be the most reliable indicator of there not being a bomb. There was never a bomb any of the times a bomb threat was received. There have been bombs when there was no bomb threat. Which rather makes sense, since making a bomb threat sort of eliminates the benefit of having a bomb.
I honestly could care less how/where people piss/shit as long as it isn't on the floor of my house. That being said if this debate results in the end of urinals and piss troughs we have failed as a species and deserve to be removed from the top of the food chain. I will not wait in line to piss for a stall to open like a common women at a concert venue everywhere I go.
Personally, I am firmly opposed to the piss-trough at the public venue because I always get stuck next to the sloppy drunk dude who is stumbling around and is either going to piss on me or try to cross swords.
Well the bathrooms at Wesleyan were coed in coed dorms, but showers were divided into stalls, so I don't think you could quite call the showers coed. Unless you could convince a coed to join you in one. Didn't seem to cause any problems for anyone.
Kids shouldn't have to worry about which bathroom to use. Neither should adults. In fact, we should all just let daddy government make all the tough choices for us.
Think about those kids in Los Angeles who last week had their entire district closed because of a threat. Think about what they felt like the next day when they went back to school. Did they feel completely comfortable, did they feel like they were safe? How did their mothers and fathers feel when they sent them to school that day?
How do you think Art Bell's 8 YO daughter feels about the threats to their family? And why haven't those incidents made news more widely?
Has Jersey the Hutt managed to get a refund for that weight loss surgery?
Jersey the Hutt. I like that.
I keep hoping an attractive chick in a bikini will throttle him with a chain.
🙂 This reminds me.
Some
Star Wars
Fun
I can recall that grade school restrooms could be terrifying, but not because of terrorists. More because of the threat of swirlies.
This transgender stuff is really out of control. Your sex is biological and that is the bathroom you should go to. What nonsense this is, what sex do you feel like.
Why limit it to "sex"? What if I feel like a dog today? I expect YOU to take me for a walk where I can shit wherever I like and YOU have to pick it up and put it in a plastic bag.
We used to institutionalize people who made these claims, now we celebrate them at gunpoint.
On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog.
If you can find someone willing to pick up your shit like that, I'm OK with it.
Suggesting a move to Germany.
+ 1 otherkin.
I've decided that I want to be a black bear named Bearnita. My workplace must respect that. When I go into a meeting, when asked a question, I will just wave my paw and say 'grrrrrr', because bears cannot speak. And I can't do any real work because bears don't have opossable thumbs. And I need a raise because I'm an oppressed minority in the workspace and someone needs to pay up for their privilege. Also, I hibernate for 6 months of the year, so don't expect me to show up for work at that time. Also, everywhere is the bears restroom.
Reminds me of this.
Fucking black bears. Running from campers (instead of eating them like a real bear would). Everyone knows that us brown bears are superior.
And dont get me started on panda "bears"!
(Polar bears don't count, they are just freaks)
Genderfluid is the new Goth.
Genderqueer or GTFO.
Genderfuck
Wouldn't that be more...."emo"?
It's a rich tapestry.
This bathroom segregation stuff is really out of control. Why do we need separate facilities according to gender when it's all the same waste and it all ends up in the same place?
Indeed. Whatever you think about transgender stuff, which bathroom a person uses or ought to use has nothing to do with biology or genetics.
Dogs and cats shitting together!
They already do. And I, for one, don't have an issue with men and women digging holes in the same lawn to shit in.
Holes are holes!
Just ask all those dudes in prison and/or at sea.
The whole bathroom thing is bizarre and regressive. Surely we can repurpose some NASA tech so people can go when and where they need, without dedicating whole facilities to that purpose.
the superdiapersuit
It's hard to puzzle out what he's saying, but I would assume that, like a good politician, he uses a question on subject A to pivot to subject B, where subject B is a key theme of his campaign.
Technically, I think he's saying that kids have enough to worry about with terrorism to have to worry also about bathroom issues.
But I think I see where Christie is trying to go, in his clumsy way. Hype the terrorist threat and his proposed remedies (fewer civil liberties, if any).
I propose legislation that will ensure that no one ever has to share a bathroom with Chris Christie.
That's bathroom segregation I think we can all get behind.
Can you imagine the smell?
Like Warty's foreskin post-time-travel.
*applause*
"FOR THE CHILLUNZ!"
Pretty sure he'll drag out the flag if it looks like his applause lines aren't working.
He's going to need a car dealership sized flag if he plans to wrap himself in it and not look like he has a pocket hankie on his shoulder.
*opera applause*
I can't believe he changed the subject from the most important thing in the world to terrorism. These candidates have no priorities.
Getting truck loads of crony bucks for themselves and their buddies is not a priority?
I heard that Chris Christie was once a U.S. Attorney.
I heard that Chris Christie once ate a whole turkey on a dare.
Why would a turkey accept or make a dare like that?
the lulz, presumably.
I heard Chris Christie once sued Xbox 360 for guessing his weight.
That guy so fat, when he sits around the house, he sits around the house!
He has to pay tax in 2 states because when he sits in his chair, parts of his fat folds hang over into New York State.
I heard that Chris Christie once tried to get on the TV show 'Survivor',
but they said "Sorry, we already have an island."
I heard that Chris Christie has a pet parakeet named Sasha that he lets bathe with him.
To peck the lint out of his bellybutton?
I'm just imagining Christie Chris in a birdbath.
To be fair, most human tubs would look like birdbaths if you take scale into consideration.
To be fair to the big guy, there are more important things the candidates should be discussing than "what gender do I feel like today". I dunno if "terrorism" is necessarily one of those things but I think he's right to mock the recent obsession with this bathroom stuff.
Honey buckets for everyone!
*ahem*
Chamber pot.
Let us keep our dignity about us, as we crap and piss in a can!
Which is why the New Jersey school system leads the nation!
Also, considering the police state Christie envisions is necessary to keep us safe and secure, assuming "learn better" means to learn your place and submit to your overlords, and "grow up better" refers to submitting yourself as a compliant servant of the State.
That statement strikes me as the opposite of reality.
"Safe, secure, and loving environment" = helicopter parenting = stunted maturity.
Don't you worry about a thing, Uncle Christie Creme is gonna make America a Safe Space by doing away with all those nasty liberties that give terrorists too much opportunity to ATTACK YOU AT ANY TIME; BE AFRAID AND VOTE FOR ME.
Well, there's safe and secure and there's safe and secure.
Having enough food and being able to go out without being worried about being killed or kidnapped and stuff like that is good.
Not being exposed to any risk or uncertainty is not good.
"Having enough food and being able to go out without being worried about being killed or kidnapped and stuff like that is good"
Certainly, but being accustomed to a safe environment is the opposite of conditions likely to disincline one to worry about being killed or kidnapped and so forth. My father was of the mind that children should be raised in an environment where risk and insecurity was emphasised. We grew up aware that there is no security, there is no magical force which may cancel the ability of others to use their freedom of action against us. For what it's worth, in my recollection at least, this did not replace an infantil delusion of safety but rather simply continued the natural sense of danger present from the beginning, so I'm inclined to think that fantasies of safety are learned rather than the other way round. But the result of this all was that we are much less inclined to fears of threats to security and pretty much never have to worry about other people attacking us. Since it's impossible to control others or obliterate their freedoms, we don't worry about what they may do to us but rather remain prepared to respond to whatever they might do in whatever way common decency demands of us.
My only real worry or "fear" about interactions with other people is that I may find myself forced into a situation where common decency requires of me some response or other that will inevitably lead to some averse consequences.
But people raised this way are not subject to being controlled by threats and intimidation. Everything gets reduced to pretty simple ethical principles if one avoids the entanglefooting morass of delusional security. Furthermore, it actually leads to social conditions less favorable to violence than worrying about what other people might do does.
Um...my high school had bomb threats all the time.
I guess it's moar scary when it's brown people potentially making the bomb?
Someone set us up the bomb!
My high school never had one. What kind of shithole did you grow up in 🙂
It was awesome. You got out of school early!
The 80s
Me too. To be fair, my school was nothing whatsoever like any school depicted in any 80s movies (in case yours was).
Oh, mine was. Albeit smaller.
#microaggression
I've had a lot of experience with bomb threats. And based on this, a bomb threat seems to be the most reliable indicator of there not being a bomb. There was never a bomb any of the times a bomb threat was received. There have been bombs when there was no bomb threat. Which rather makes sense, since making a bomb threat sort of eliminates the benefit of having a bomb.
I hate this issue itself and everyone involved in this issue. That includes myself for commentating on this today.
"Yeah, sorry we brought it up."
/SoCon sarc
SoLibs: "A girl should be able to use the girls' room, even if she has a penis!"
SoCon: "Wait, what? That's ridiculous!"
Moderate: "Stop it, both of you!"
I honestly could care less how/where people piss/shit as long as it isn't on the floor of my house. That being said if this debate results in the end of urinals and piss troughs we have failed as a species and deserve to be removed from the top of the food chain. I will not wait in line to piss for a stall to open like a common women at a concert venue everywhere I go.
Personally, I am firmly opposed to the piss-trough at the public venue because I always get stuck next to the sloppy drunk dude who is stumbling around and is either going to piss on me or try to cross swords.
I want Rand Paul to be the next president.
I'm seriously starting to think the country deserves Donald Trump to be the next president.
At least we could no longer deny as a culture that we have gone full retard.
Hey, if we can still deny that after 8 years of Bush and 8 years of Obama, why couldn't we deny it under President Trump?
Though at least President Trump's reign of terror will be followed by President Lisa Simpson.
Point taken, but I feel like a Trump presidency would signal something much different in our culture, IQ-wise.
But Trump's refusal to leave the White House after he is impeached would be comedy gold.
Irrational, as per usual?
NSFW
Obligatory.
Sadly, the reality of unisex bathrooms will be somewhat different than that.
They used to (probably still do) have co-ed showers at places like Oberlin and Wesleyan.
Well the bathrooms at Wesleyan were coed in coed dorms, but showers were divided into stalls, so I don't think you could quite call the showers coed. Unless you could convince a coed to join you in one. Didn't seem to cause any problems for anyone.
And somewhat disappointingly, there weren't a lot of naked girls wandering around in the bathroom.
Oh, okay. I thought I had read somewhere that they had actual co-ed showers.
Thank you for clarifying.
Kids shouldn't have to worry about which bathroom to use. Neither should adults. In fact, we should all just let daddy government make all the tough choices for us.
For most of us character commenters we pretty much crap wherever it suits us.
*points to pulsating multi-colored Agile Cyborg pile*
I think going forward all toilets should be designed to look like Catlin Jenner with a gapping mouth. You know for deposits.
Partly OT: Oh boy, here we go again, in France. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/wo.....ns-n272866
See, no guns = no crime.
How many more senseless acts of Carmageddon will have to take place before we as a country can talk seriously about common sense car-control?
Huh? That's from last year.
Looks like it is being reposted on several websites today as if it's new.
Enh, it's probably a regular occurrence in France now anyway.
Wow, it is. I didn't see the 2014.
We have to ban cars.
Oh pissboy, pissboy...
Count De Monet: Your Majesty- you look like the piss boy!
King Louis: And you look like a bucket of shit!
+1 Wait for the shake.
How do you think Art Bell's 8 YO daughter feels about the threats to their family? And why haven't those incidents made news more widely?
The Forbidden City solved New York's problem by only employing eunuchs.
It's simple. If you got a Y, you're a guy.
Thank you for sharing your views on what's disgusting, Mr. Creosote.
+1 Wisconsin or Central Illinois tavern.