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Nov 11, 2022Liked by Matt Welch

Happy Veterans Day to all the other vets in the Fifdom! I served in the 1st Brigade Reconnaissance Troop (C 1 CAV), 3rd Infantry Division, US Army 2002-2004 and went to Iraq in 2003. (Fuck, 20 years goes by quickly!)

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Are we not all veterans of the culture wars? (I kid, I kid.)

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Yes, but we celebrate tht on Thanksgiving when we fight with our relatives.

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Thanksgiving: Annual Civil War reenactment (or.. rehearsal, I suppose)

Note: This is just a joke. I don't subscribe to the histrionics that the second Civil War is imminent.

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Me either. There isn't the same homogeneity now that there was when it was North vs South. I can't imagine any militias trying to start such a conflict that don't get destroyed by the police and/or National Guard.

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Yes, thank you for your service.

I had a great experience this afternoon when I went to a local BBQ restaurant that caters to military people and first responders (veterans ate free today). An old woman ahead of my friend, a Navy veteran, and myself in line was wearing a hat with a submarine name emblazoned across the front. My friend recognized the name of the submarine and asked her about it. She was very frail, either from old age, or possibly cancer treatment, but she lit up when she got to tell us about her father and his service. He had done 10 different tours of service as a doctor on that submarine. I could see the tears welling up in her eyes as she told us about his service, but she also had a smile on her face that let us know how much she appreciated that someone was interested enough to ask.

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That's a heartwarming story. The thing I really love about getting to interact with other vets as opposed to the general public is not having to try to dial back the crazy since many of them are as nuts as I am. Getting to interact with the family members of deceased vets, like you described, is also a special sort of experience. It's very meaningful to them to get to share those kinds of things and for me, it's an honor to get to participate in a remembrance of the now-gone servicemember whom they loved. There are a lot of ugly moments in war and also some quite beautiful ones that stem from it.

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Thanks for your service Kevin.

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Wisconsin voter here. I’ve been a registered Democrat for all my life and I voted blue down ballot again. I’d imagine my vote my 2024 will be more purple if the GOP moves away from Trumpism, hard lines on abortion, and idk, gives even the faintest glimpse of moving in a socially liberal direction. I really didn’t care for anything on my ballot this cycle, I just know I didn’t want any Trump related garbage taking over the state i hold dear to my heart.

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Nov 11, 2022·edited Nov 11, 2022

If it makes you feel any better, I've always leaned right of center and rarely participate in elections but if Biden is still drawing breath two years from now I will be voting Dark Brandon with perfect confidence. I have no idea who is responsible for our foreign policy at the moment, which is the only issue compelling enough to move me toward the ballot box, but I find the overall direction prescient and competent. So often the US is reconciled with responding to events taking place, it is refreshing to see people acting ahead of the curve and anticipating emerging realities. Rarer still to see them doing so well. Such éclaircissement is simply too precious to squander.

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True story- I was just listening to the start of the episode while I was walking my dog when Moynihan brought up the idea of Trump debating Fetterman in the next presidential election and I did a combination laugh/choke/gasp/spit-up as I was walking past one of my neighbors. She gave me a look as if she didn’t know whether to call 911 or run away screaming.

Thanks for costing me a chance at a friend Moynihan.

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I want a Fetterman vs Walker debate.

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Fetterman vs Trump vs Walker no holds barred pillow fight, brought to you by MyPillow.

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Woke up at 5, still drunk from yesterday’s Daddy Yankee concert. A notification popped up and I proceeded to listen to this.

Zero retention. Nothing. Am now listening again.

I need to correct myself.

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I think you have written this message before.

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Maybe I got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, but I was a bit ticked off by a couple things on the Fifth this morning. Listening to the latest pod is usually a highlight of my day.

First off, elections are under local control! Not much Biden can do about that. He may not know what day it is, but come on man.

The delays in counting and the resulting confusion are a feature, not a bug. Where I live the Republican state legislature made it illegal to count absentee ballots before the polls close on election day. They work furiously to get such ballots thrown out.

And the other thing: trans stuff. I don't get how everyone doesn't have their hair on fire about this. Somehow mass medical experimentation is being allowed to take place on kids. These treatments- which have no evidence backing them up- include sterilization, removal of penises, testicles, breasts, a complete re-configuring of the urinary tract, and giving cross-sex hormones. Oh yeah- and these kids are also often left with an inability to orgasm. The complication rate of these treatments is huge!

My husband is a former Olympic women's coach. He sees that letting men compete with and against women will mean the end of women's sports. Women worked for so long get their own teams and athletic programs going, and Title 9 changing from sex based protections to gender based is going to destroy that.

Writing honestly about these things is like walking into a buzz saw, I get it, and I feel for you.

But I honestly think this thing is a a bigger scandal than the forced sterilizations and lobotomies that occurred in the past. It's just a huge story.

Sorry- I did say I was crabby. I'm much more pleasant on the blocked and reported threads!

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Sarah & Meghan over at Special Place recently observed that a lot of men just DGAF about this stuff. And I get that it's not the most important thing going on, but it still matters, especially for girls and women. It is infuriating that the same people who act like it's a consent violation if a stranger winks at you think nothing of forcing teenaged girls to accept someone with a dick - who everyone understood to be a boy last Tuesday - into their intimate spaces like changing areas (yes, this does happen). And if they dare to object to this thing they did not consent to, they are punished, shamed, and socially ostracized. What a lesson.

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I have a feeling what I am going to say may not be well received. . .But for any victory in this particular arena to be deemed legitimate it needs to be won by women.

As for guys not caring. . .most of us have been hearing our entire lives that issues which only effect women are none of our business. That women want to be regarded and treated as equals. That girls get it done. It shouldn't be any surprise that guys who have never heard anything else choose to accept it. To be honest, a lot of us would like to believe it. I mean, every dude has their own interests and being liberated not to give a shit about things which don't effect us is a win for men everywhere. Don't take any of that personally, its just that apathy is sort of zen for middle aged men.

If women are willing to fight for the things they care about they will inspire others to support them but you gotta lead the way if you want people to fall in behind you.

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I think this is unfortunate, but also true. I have discussions along these lines with my wife quite a lot. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and sometimes it's not expected nor is it desired. She'll often talk about the pay gap, and I'll bring up several factors that go into why said gap exists. I'll then get kicked out of bed when I bring up the workplace mortality gap...

As the father of two daughters though, the changing area thing does drive me insane. So we're supposed to be sensitive towards the discomfort of one over the discomfort of many? The many are just supposed to "get over it" while the one individual gets special treatment? BlueAnon fanatical nonsense...

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Nov 11, 2022·edited Nov 11, 2022

The great thing about principles is that they are general. Integrity, respect, humility, understanding, responsibility. . .What they lack in specificity they more than make up for in resilience. They don't offer any certainties, not even that the effort will be recognized or appreciated, but by and largely their very presence can improve whatever situation they are applied to.

Situations like these? Which do you apply, where, and to what degree? I'm with you. I really don't know. I think how we approach this question really matters though. Right now the question is a simple one, it is simply a matter of gender and identity -for the individual, and also for society. In another century people may be able to play with their genes the same way we play with our chemistry today and we may have far more serious questions to wrestle with.

Sport was once a dominantly male expression, it grew to become a human one. That is growth worth being proud of and a tradition worth preserving. Good sportsmanship isn't about winning or celebrity but about fair play and competition, we have divisions by sex in order to honor that spirit and we tore down divisions by race because they didn't. To my eyes this situation is more like the former than the latter.

My opinion is that trans people need to build their own shit the same way women did. Suggesting that, however, is a silent acknowledgement that these individuals are not what they wish they were in spite of their efforts and regardless of how hard they try. It seems unnecessarily cruel to force that acknowledgement upon people already troubled by so much. . .But I also think there is an uncomfortable grain of undeniable truth to that observation. In time we may be able to grant any individual seamless transition into the gender of their choice and leave them indistinguishable from anyone else but we aren't there yet and until we are we will have to deal with the reality as it is in the way which is most equitable for everyone.

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So glad to see someone I know from Blocked and Reported here! I feel exactly the same way.

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Just finished the Megyn Kelly episode. She doesn’t have the smartest callers, does she?

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Nothing on the 5th's drunken emails, that's for sure.

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Yeah, I’ve sent in some incoherent, embarrassing shit—which I begged them to not read. Sometimes I go full on C-SPAN caller and blame everything on the Rothschilds. It’s shameful. I’m a filthy drunk.

My favorite email was from a dude named Forest in Sacramento. He was smoking weed and drinking liquor straight from the bottle, because fuck cups, while roasting in a sauna. Dude was hilarious. I think he made some audio messages, too.

What happened to that guy?

p.s. don’t drink in the sauna, don’t even go in when you’re still drunk from the night before. Most deaths associated with saunas are due to being a fucking filthy alcoholic / Fifth Columnist.

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How many drunk emails does Dreyfuss send that we just never hear about because 10% of them end up on twitter?

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author

You misspelled 100%.

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I had the opportunity to talk to a bunch of blue-collar guys from rural Connecticut, two days after the election. All of them thought Trump was a liar and all of them expressed admiration for John Fetterman. These were guys who hated Hillary Clinton and voted for Trump in 2016. I found it interesting that they would be aware of a race in another state.

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Fetterman def has a lot of populist supporters.

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The dismissal of people cheering at protecting women's sports based on the perception of people's enthusiasm for volleyball seems to miss the point. I'm sure the people simply being pulled in by the giant vacuum that is the culture war issues around trans issues are legion, but there are actually a lot of people who believe in the spirit of Title IX and the ability of girls and young women to compete in sport. Whatever your opinion on the issue, dismissing people who claim support of "protecting women's sport", even through applause, seems to be the exact type of illiberalism regularly decried on the Fif'.

Besides, volleyball is fucking awesome.

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Was just a joke. Michael is the father of a female athlete, and none of us cheer on people born dudes beating girls in girls' sports.

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That's actually something that's come up a few times in the National Fifdom League WhatsApp: would you be in favor of truly co-op sporting events?

For me, my favorite sport is hockey. I would love to see speedy wingers and other women with more vision than most 6'5 245 lbs monsters with stone hands in the NHL. Same with Candace Parker types entering the NBA, and I'm sure there's softball to MLB crossovers that could happen.

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I saw some baseball 5, and they have fully 50/50 teams

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Kmele only has young kids so I doubt that he's really aware of the massive increase in sports participation and serious competition by girls and women in the last decade or two.

My (13yo & 9yo) daughters do between four and six separate sessions every week across soccer, tennis & swimming which would have been v uncommon among girls when I was growing up in the 90s.

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I have officially realized (yes it is embarrassingly late) that punditry is like the guys on the NFL Sunday shows picking winners, or Jim Kramer picking stocks; Everyone is always wrong except the people who were right out of sheer dumb luck. Then everyone tells a story after the fact: "abortion was bigger than we thought...Trump lost big....Dr Biden and Dr Oz are both real doctors." Yet, somehow, the fact that people are all wrong all the time does not stop them from reading tea leaves and saying more idiotic crap. And we eat it up. It's all made up and the points don't matter. Call me when the results are in. Oh and I still won't care because what the fuck can I do about it.

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I'm behind on my Fif' listening but I'm gonna move this to top of the list while it's still fresh.

And speaking from Georgia, I'm glad I was able to do my part to extend the madness for another month.

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Speaking from Pennsylvania, I'm very happy with my VPN subscription which lets me escape the deluge of swing-state political adverts. I can't imagine how much worse GA must be than even PA.

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Yesterday, my wife received a text message on her phone: "Hey, It's Herschel. . . ."

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Maybe he was just offering to pay for an abortion?

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Oh wow, that’s a great idea. Next time...

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As a Brit who has been under a deluge of midterm coverage, I'm wondering if there are any Americans who care about British politics, and what sort of media coverage we get. Is there someone in Buttfuck, Idaho who stayed up all night for the result of the Chesham and Amersham by-election?

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Yes, I love Parliamentary systems! I love the idea of elections that don’t take two years. And your PM doesn’t have to represent the nation like our president does.

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I think we're all just waiting for your next PM to be announced. You Brits do tend to run through them.

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One of the advantages of our system is that we can quickly get rid of a PM when they start failing or are just obviously not up to the job. It's a good job recent American Presidents have been top notch so you guys don't have to worry about that.

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Ummm...

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Nov 13, 2022·edited Nov 14, 2022

If Pharma & "people" they purchased in Congress have their way, Brandy Melville will soon have an aisle for Plan B, puberty blockers and x-sex hormones.

Pharma presents the "unique opportunity" of adolescent transgender market growing from $300mm in 2010 to $1.9 billion in 2021 to $5.3 billion in 2030. This is a US 11.9% CAGR from 2022-2030.

Only Purdue Pharma had better CAGR projections.

Who among us, wasn't capable at 14 of deciding to become a life long Pharma patient while simultaneously giving up our sexual functionality?

At 14, I definitely understood the consequences of a decision that included, giving up healthy bones, healthy eyes, inability to experience and provide sexual gratification, inability to have an orgasm and inability to reproduce. Because the immediate affirmation I am getting in return from all my peers who celebrate me as a courageous hero, makes it all worthwhile.

Imagine how happy I will be when I turn 22 and realize I am a functional Eunuch? Thank god, I'm a lifelong Pharma patient for companies with a 11.9% CAGR.

For the last 100 years transgender was MTF and represent 0.01% of the population.

As a social contagion since approx. 2015, it is 2-5% of the adolescent population with the overwhelming majority being female-to-male (FTM). What we see in adolescents is NOT being repeated in adult women. 2-5% of 30, 40 & 50 year old women are not transitioning from FTM.

Transitioning teen's, has nothing in common with being gay, except in the billion dollar activist community who need a pivot after settling gay marriage (all those jobs and billions in donor money needed a new home)..

Perhaps the hosts don't care about single sex sports. Their prerogative.

But is Kmele okay when some dude who identifies (not transitioned, but merely says "I am therefore you most accommodate me") as a women, hanging out in a female only locker room with his wife and 4 year old baby girl? Or worse, if your adolescent or young female adult child, is sexually assaulted and she is forced to be examined & get counselling from a biological male, who identifies as a female.

We aren't supposed to ask what kind of fucked up dude wants to hang out naked in a locker room full of kids or listen to a women repeat the horrors of her rape? No, we can't ask that question. We are only allowed to ask what MM asked; why are we are so bigoted that we don't see that sexual orientation and transitioning teens are the same thing?

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I can confirm that the majority of Michiganders are indeed insane.

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FYI as a Michigander, its good to remember that the reason the election looked like it did is because conservative folks vote for people they LOVE, and apparently liberal folks will vote against people they HATE but in the case where neither measure is met, folks stay home on a relative scale. Could just be my little cross section (villiage of like 4k people) but most folks were "meh" about the whole vote thing this election. I for one am sad we lost Mr. Meijer, I just hope he sticks around in any capacity that he is able. A smart guy tied down to the land like the Meijer family is to me surely something we could all get behind. But what do I know, I did afterall go to Michigan public schools, which should be a recognized disability in the DSM.

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It still blows my mind that the same dude who was able to convince my mother-in-law to spend hundreds of dollars on a substance called 'raspberry ketones' was a candidate for the United States Senate in PA.

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I enjoy Matt pronouncing the Michigan gal’s name like he’s introducing the latest Kia coupe

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