The video Premier Danielle Smith released today was remarkable. In it, she wrapped new restrictions on health care, privacy, and sports participation for trans kids in a velvet glove of kindness and words of inclusion. “I strongly believe that we as a society must support and reach out with kindness and inclusion to those who identify as transgender and work to eliminate the discrimination they often experience in their lives.”
It seems like almost everything this govt does is mean and limits the rights of individuals for minimal political gain.
Block investment in renewables? Block BC wine sales to AB? Take away rights from kids? Force party politics on munis? Insert prov in muni funding with feds? Continue to fight docs & nurses? Kick at unis? Etc etc
Once again, I'm saddened but not surprised. Daniele Smith is throwing raw meat to TBA and the far right of her caucus to ensure that she doesn't have to face a Jason Kenney like caucus rebellion. This doesn't mean waiting in the wings she has some progressive, enlightened, legislation on.....what IDK, to trade off, but that's moot, that's not how she works.
The worst parts of this are; the rights, lives, and mental health of young people mean nothing to these people, they're trinkets to be traded way to the ignorant and intolerant for political gain; and, we've got three and a half more years of crap like this to live through.
Who are the many? And what constitutes many? 50 people? This woman is overstepping her boundaries so badly! I'm just waiting for somebody to go after her and the lawsuit. And I may do so myself. Just diagnosed with cancer in my hips and if she tries to cause me grief for treatments on this, I will seek out a lawyer and I will go after her personally as well as the government for the negligence that this government and this leader have committed against the people in this province.
Cry freedom, yet restrict it for all but the RRR clan, (radical religious, right) . More smoke and mirrors and pretending to care. Goodness help us if we get Poilievre, Smith, Higgs, Moe and Ford
So what happens to the warm, loving and accepting family who happens to have a transgender child? Are they not allowed to help their child become who they should be? Can they not ask the school to use the proper pronoun? Can they not enroll their child in any sports of their choosing?
Astounding! With all the challenges facing AB (grid reliability, healthcare challenges, possible drought & wild fires, extraordinarily high electrical rates, etc ...) this non-issue is a Danielle Smith priority??!!
Of course ... she was just on the stage with 3 characters from elsewhere (Tucker & the bone heads) exchanging policy ideas right?? This performance is not about the needs of Albertans. This is just the Danielle Smith 'watch me' personality show.
I think the most dangerous thing with this woman is that she can turn on the charm and concern and dupe people into believing what she says. I, and many others are probably not well versed on the complexities of the topic and might need help deciphering what this really means for the kids( beyond its bad).
Gender Dysphoria is classified as a Mental Disorder by the American Psychiatric Association, is our Premier practising medicine without a licence by prescribing limitations on possible treatments?
This is a complex topic and it likely needs more discussion, and from a variety of perspectives. Most of us simply don't know enough about gender dysphoria or transgender issues...and the cases, though small in number are likely quite different as well. Hopefully, a majority of young people ready to come out as trans have parental support/knowledge, but in situations where this isn't the case, schools and teachers are in a difficult position. It would make more sense to spell out for educators the routes available to help a child present as they desire to do....if the home situation is not safe.
Simply legislating a series of laws and age limitations doesn't address the real issue....which is admittedly, a thorny one. As a society, we need much more understanding.........empathy.....and willingness to learn from these youngsters. They remain a minority population, but that doesn't mean their needs can be ignored....nor should they be policed.
The age of enforced heterosexuality is behind us....perhaps its time we considered that binary gender identification may not be universal.........or biologically dictated....either. Danielle Smith is doing what Danielle Smith often does......virtue signalling to the religious right. Hopefully, that's a smaller demographic than she imagines.
Bullshit baffles brains. I listen to Danielle Smith and she sounds so convincing that I almost believe her myself, then reality sets in and I realize the truth.
Thank you, Lisa. Ms Smith is a virtual track star when it comes to crossing the floor and other political shape shifting, so it's no wonder she's opting to play the magician here. As in, you know, "Watch the OTHER hand."
More to the point, this whole trans issue has me scratching my head a little. Why is the UCP so afraid of kids who aren't even a tenth of a per cent of the population? No wonder she imported Tucker Carlson for a media splash, she's adrift without watching him on TV every night. Her entire party is like a satirical comedy sketch I once saw, of the blind Samurai in a forest who can't tell if the trees are big or small, he just lashes out at all of them. The parallel here is that health care professionals are leaving the province in droves, and she's busy picking on a handful of confused kids, when she's not stirring the pot over plastic straws. UCP now apparently stands for the Ugly Culture war Party.
Not a shock that the Queen of QAnon did this. She is being coach by Tucker Carlson who encourages her to mirror the Narcissistic Authoritarian lying corrupt psychopathic criminal bully. The sad part is that she caters to the rednecks in Alberta who buy into this bullshit she shovels which is turning Alberta into to a banana republic run by a dictator and supported by her radical redneck army.
It was salient that Lisa pointed out Smith's communication skills - its the Ronnie Raygun tactic - go all soft, aw-shucks, shoulder dip and eye-twinkle - then pronounce in the warmest, most intimate low banal tones to lull and neuter critical judgement, wait for the audience to drop to their most bovine resting state, then calmly, in an unhurried pace, utter the most outrageous, far-fetched, bugf**k batsh*t crazy rightwing crap.
Most in the audience will continue their somnambulant mental snooze and miss the semantic payload. Most will nod along not being alarmed at all as they missed the content - being all lulled by the delivery. Too bad folks haven't cottoned on to these cheap rhetorical tricks and techniques.
That being said, when did we get to the point where teachers and parents of minor children have been put at each others throats? The whole issue has been conflated, overstated and full of sound 'n fury without much measured, calm discussion. Smiths cockamamie rush to solve this "problem" with the dubious provincial government social engineering bigfooting isn't going to help.
The thing is that kids mature differently and irrelevant of age so how can age be used to determine when treatment can take place?
Also, as she went on, I asked myself what if the abuse being suffered by kids is actually coming from the parents who can accept their kid might not align with their biological sex? … what happens then? I read an interesting article back when the controversy was whether to have GSAs (without parental consent) in schools: many kids who are outed to their parents before they are ready to confront their parents with the news end up kicked out, on the street and homeless. … and I might add, likely very confused and traumatized by it all.
It seems like almost everything this govt does is mean and limits the rights of individuals for minimal political gain.
Block investment in renewables? Block BC wine sales to AB? Take away rights from kids? Force party politics on munis? Insert prov in muni funding with feds? Continue to fight docs & nurses? Kick at unis? Etc etc
Once again, I'm saddened but not surprised. Daniele Smith is throwing raw meat to TBA and the far right of her caucus to ensure that she doesn't have to face a Jason Kenney like caucus rebellion. This doesn't mean waiting in the wings she has some progressive, enlightened, legislation on.....what IDK, to trade off, but that's moot, that's not how she works.
The worst parts of this are; the rights, lives, and mental health of young people mean nothing to these people, they're trinkets to be traded way to the ignorant and intolerant for political gain; and, we've got three and a half more years of crap like this to live through.
Who are the many? And what constitutes many? 50 people? This woman is overstepping her boundaries so badly! I'm just waiting for somebody to go after her and the lawsuit. And I may do so myself. Just diagnosed with cancer in my hips and if she tries to cause me grief for treatments on this, I will seek out a lawyer and I will go after her personally as well as the government for the negligence that this government and this leader have committed against the people in this province.
Cry freedom, yet restrict it for all but the RRR clan, (radical religious, right) . More smoke and mirrors and pretending to care. Goodness help us if we get Poilievre, Smith, Higgs, Moe and Ford
So what happens to the warm, loving and accepting family who happens to have a transgender child? Are they not allowed to help their child become who they should be? Can they not ask the school to use the proper pronoun? Can they not enroll their child in any sports of their choosing?
Astounding! With all the challenges facing AB (grid reliability, healthcare challenges, possible drought & wild fires, extraordinarily high electrical rates, etc ...) this non-issue is a Danielle Smith priority??!!
Of course ... she was just on the stage with 3 characters from elsewhere (Tucker & the bone heads) exchanging policy ideas right?? This performance is not about the needs of Albertans. This is just the Danielle Smith 'watch me' personality show.
Please tell me that the majority of Albertans are not being sucked in by this garbage.
I think the most dangerous thing with this woman is that she can turn on the charm and concern and dupe people into believing what she says. I, and many others are probably not well versed on the complexities of the topic and might need help deciphering what this really means for the kids( beyond its bad).
Gender Dysphoria is classified as a Mental Disorder by the American Psychiatric Association, is our Premier practising medicine without a licence by prescribing limitations on possible treatments?
This is a complex topic and it likely needs more discussion, and from a variety of perspectives. Most of us simply don't know enough about gender dysphoria or transgender issues...and the cases, though small in number are likely quite different as well. Hopefully, a majority of young people ready to come out as trans have parental support/knowledge, but in situations where this isn't the case, schools and teachers are in a difficult position. It would make more sense to spell out for educators the routes available to help a child present as they desire to do....if the home situation is not safe.
Simply legislating a series of laws and age limitations doesn't address the real issue....which is admittedly, a thorny one. As a society, we need much more understanding.........empathy.....and willingness to learn from these youngsters. They remain a minority population, but that doesn't mean their needs can be ignored....nor should they be policed.
The age of enforced heterosexuality is behind us....perhaps its time we considered that binary gender identification may not be universal.........or biologically dictated....either. Danielle Smith is doing what Danielle Smith often does......virtue signalling to the religious right. Hopefully, that's a smaller demographic than she imagines.
Bullshit baffles brains. I listen to Danielle Smith and she sounds so convincing that I almost believe her myself, then reality sets in and I realize the truth.
Thank you, Lisa. Ms Smith is a virtual track star when it comes to crossing the floor and other political shape shifting, so it's no wonder she's opting to play the magician here. As in, you know, "Watch the OTHER hand."
More to the point, this whole trans issue has me scratching my head a little. Why is the UCP so afraid of kids who aren't even a tenth of a per cent of the population? No wonder she imported Tucker Carlson for a media splash, she's adrift without watching him on TV every night. Her entire party is like a satirical comedy sketch I once saw, of the blind Samurai in a forest who can't tell if the trees are big or small, he just lashes out at all of them. The parallel here is that health care professionals are leaving the province in droves, and she's busy picking on a handful of confused kids, when she's not stirring the pot over plastic straws. UCP now apparently stands for the Ugly Culture war Party.
Not a shock that the Queen of QAnon did this. She is being coach by Tucker Carlson who encourages her to mirror the Narcissistic Authoritarian lying corrupt psychopathic criminal bully. The sad part is that she caters to the rednecks in Alberta who buy into this bullshit she shovels which is turning Alberta into to a banana republic run by a dictator and supported by her radical redneck army.
It was salient that Lisa pointed out Smith's communication skills - its the Ronnie Raygun tactic - go all soft, aw-shucks, shoulder dip and eye-twinkle - then pronounce in the warmest, most intimate low banal tones to lull and neuter critical judgement, wait for the audience to drop to their most bovine resting state, then calmly, in an unhurried pace, utter the most outrageous, far-fetched, bugf**k batsh*t crazy rightwing crap.
Most in the audience will continue their somnambulant mental snooze and miss the semantic payload. Most will nod along not being alarmed at all as they missed the content - being all lulled by the delivery. Too bad folks haven't cottoned on to these cheap rhetorical tricks and techniques.
That being said, when did we get to the point where teachers and parents of minor children have been put at each others throats? The whole issue has been conflated, overstated and full of sound 'n fury without much measured, calm discussion. Smiths cockamamie rush to solve this "problem" with the dubious provincial government social engineering bigfooting isn't going to help.
Time for adults to be in the room?
TBA is taking over the UCP. This is creating a dangerous precedent.
The thing is that kids mature differently and irrelevant of age so how can age be used to determine when treatment can take place?
Also, as she went on, I asked myself what if the abuse being suffered by kids is actually coming from the parents who can accept their kid might not align with their biological sex? … what happens then? I read an interesting article back when the controversy was whether to have GSAs (without parental consent) in schools: many kids who are outed to their parents before they are ready to confront their parents with the news end up kicked out, on the street and homeless. … and I might add, likely very confused and traumatized by it all.
And the whole transgender and sports thing … wow.