hypochondriac

I was on Saintslist and saints forever from 2001. Not sure about the time prior to that.

He's said some very ridiculous things and some very sensible things. There's no doubt that some of the shit they put in American foods are contributing to their poor health and life expectancy. Hopefully he leaves vaccines to the states or to personal choice and just goes after the big pharmaceutical companies which is what he says he is going to do.

Given the views Levine espoused after being appointed I would find that incredibly unlikely but we can agree to disagree.

I didn't mention anything about qualifications. Clearly both Democrat and Republican make a number of appointments at least in part for ideological reasons. It's not even a criticism it's just a fact of government.

"The highest ranking transgender official in U.S. history will give a speech in Texas Saturday, urging physicians-in-training to fight political attacks against young trans people and their families." "In Levine's new role, LGBTQ youths have been at the forefront of her mind, she said, as dozens of bills targeting transgender youths have been introduced in statehouses across the country — a reality that she said was "unfortunate and disturbing." "After all, Levine’s central claim – that ‘gender-affirming care… is not in scientific or medical dispute’ – is fundamentally false. ‘Gender-affirming care’, in which clinicians are expected to simply ‘affirm’ a child’s chosen gender identity, has indeed been the norm in recent years across the West. But there is growing criticism of this drastic approach." "Levine declined to comment on the West tweet, but she calls the recent flurry of anti-transgender rhetoric and legislation “disturbing,” including the North Carolina law. “It just fuels my desire to do my job and to advocate,” she said." Plenty of other examples. Like I said, it doesn't necessarily make them unsuitable but it's clear that the political activism was a big reason why they were given the role.

Just looking for a bit of balance really. I wouldn't expect Democrat picks to be castigated for something they haven't been found guilty of. I don't think he's a good choice and happy to have my mind changed should some more evidence come to light but as it stands, I wouldn't exclude him based on something that is not yet proven. Normally you're the first to call something a non story and say that no one cares.

Was he found guilty then?

Didn't jfk appoint his younger brother to the same position?

I see Hamas gave said they are ready to agree an immediate ceasefire. Hopefully that involves the surrender of those in charge and giving up the hostages. If that's the case then it will be a pretty easy ceasefire to achieve.

That's where you're wrong. Sam Briton is in fact non binary. Not very inclusive of you to assume someone is trans based on how they look. I used Rachel levine as an example of someone being appointed for political reasons as I already pointed out. I don't know how true this is but supposedly Pete buttigieg was appointed secretary of transportation because he liked trains. So that would be another example if true.

How disappointing that you'd arrogantly suggest that I have a dislike of all trans people. Extra funny because the post above yours contains a video with a Democrat voting trans woman who I found to be very interesting with perfectly reasonable views. There's no dislike there whatsoever.

Interesting video from a lifelong Democrat and a trans woman. Soggy would do well to watch it and listen. He won't though obviously.

not sure how I've missed the point as I wasn't disputing that, merely pointing out that both sides have indulged in that practice so it's not exactly something new or unique to Trump. In many ways, the fact he's outside of the establishment is probably the biggest reason he has been appointed- and arguably that's the exact mandate Trump has been given.

Not sure I've offered any opinion on Trump's picks but as you've asked no I think it's a purely political pick and I am not sure he will be able to get it through at any rate. Plenty of Biden picks I thought were similarly political picks and there wasn't anything like the hysteria from some.

Guess you missed the "or people with a history of political activism" bit.

Who said anyone was bothered? I was just challenging the idea that Trump's picks are unique because some appear to have been picked for their activism and political views.

The fact you have no idea who they are speaks for itself somewhat. They have both been appointments by the current Democrat administration.

To be fair, if I were soggy I'd be angrily denying that now is the greatest time to ever live because my life is mostly shitty and it would magnify my failures as a person were I to admit that to myself.

You're right. It's not like there's ever been lesser qualified individuals or people with a history of political activism hired by an administration before.

That's only true if he bought it for financial reasons which he didn't. You could also look at his other businesses and say the opposite.

Have you seen some of the things the US government spends money on? Whatever side you are on hopefully everyone can agree that getting rid of some of that isn't a bad thing.

Not sure he ever claimed to buy X because it worked financially. Pretty sure he's said consistently that it was a terrible deal.

Personally I'll be interested to see if they can have some success from making government departments more efficient. There's undeniably an obscene amount of waste. I'm an interested observer as I'm not directly affected by thing like their education policy

Agree with this 100%. We absolutely do not need to be spending more money in January to make the problem worse.