The Goat Pen

My town is hardly hipster but we've had Greenlight for about 8-9 years now with free WiFi downtown.

Mack Beggs came here to wrestle. And wrestle he did, manhandling four opponents over two days as he captured a Class 6A girls state championship Saturday.

The 110-pound gold medalist also captured something else: The attention of a nation increasingly polarized by transgender issues.

Beggs, a 17-year-old transgender boy from Euless Trinity High School, didn’t come to the state tournament seeking to carry the transgender torch, or to become a lightning rod, or to be the target of a lawsuit that could end his high school wrestling career.

But those subplots all played out during the two-day UIL Wrestling State Tournament at the Berry Center in Cypress, where Beggs defeated Chelsea Sanchez of Katy Morton Ranch 12-1 to win the championship.

His victory was greeted with a smattering of boos, but those were quickly drowned out by an outburst of cheering, which grew louder when Trinity coach Travis Clark put the gold medal around Beggs’ neck.

“I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for my teammates. That’s honestly what the spotlight should have been ... my teammates,” said Beggs, who led the Trinity girls to a second-place finish in the team standings.

“The hard work that I put in in the practice room with them beside me — we trained hard every single day. ... That’s where the spotlight should have been on. Not me. All of these guys. Because I would not be here without them. Hard work ethic pays off.”

Then, lifting his gold medal, he said, “Just saying.”

Beggs was born a girl, yet from as early as 3 years old, his parents remember, he has considered himself a boy. Now more than a year after starting testosterone treatment that is transforming his physical appearance and increasing muscle mass to that of or near a boy of similar age, Beggs is required by the University Interscholastic League to compete as a girl and against girls.

He would prefer to wrestle boys, but lacking that option, he follows the rules set by the UIL, the state’s governing body for public school sports.

“This is about Mack wanting to do what Mack wants to do,” said Marco Karam, Beggs’ father. “Mack has a very strong passion about wrestling. People make assumptions that ... and I don’t want to get into it.”

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local ... rylink=cpy

Right smart thinking there, University Interscholastic League.

And yet there are still dumbasses who will insist that he's a girl.

Most conservative types (the ones who voted Cruz) in Texas absolutely held noses and voted for Trump because of the Supreme Court. Argument mentioned all the time. The ones who voted Trump even in the primary are the main bloc of immigration voters.

For a huge number of people, SCOTUS was their justification for voting Trump. They couldn't tolerate the idea of Hillary packing the court with libs.

For a huge number of people, playing another spiteful joke was their justification for voting for Trump.

In other words, we can append a third category to the two classically understood division of Trump supporters:
1) Generally older people who naively believe Trump will “make America great again”, that is to say, return it to its 1950s ideal evoked by both Trump and Clinton.
2) The 1 percent, who know this promise is empty, but also know it will be beneficial to short term business interests.
3) Younger members of the 99 percent, like Anon, who also know this promise is empty, but who support Trump as a defiant expression of despair.

Saint wrote:In other words, we can append a third category to the two classically understood division of Trump supporters:
1) Generally older people who naively believe Trump will “make America great again”, that is to say, return it to its 1950s ideal evoked by both Trump and Clinton.
2) The 1 percent, who know this promise is empty, but also know it will be beneficial to short term business interests.
3) Younger members of the 99 percent, like Anon, who also know this promise is empty, but who support Trump as a defiant expression of despair.

so who voted for Hillary?

4. Those who couldn't Stomach looking at that gaping maw laugh of the above-the-law PAH.

Did you read the story, eCat?

you're putting alot of faith in an article written on a so-so url about anonymous people

I am telling you the main reason people voted for trump was because the middle class worker (black, white, american, latino, martain, etc..) were tired of all these "groups" telling them how bad things are, how the "man" was out to get them, and that if you thought any different from them, you were a racist scumbag.

BigRedMan wrote:I am telling you the main reason people voted for trump was because the middle class worker (black, white, american, latino, martain, etc..) were tired of all these "groups" telling them how bad things are, how the "man" was out to get them, and that if you thought any different from them, you were a racist scumbag.

Trump's entire campaign was based on how bad everything is for the middle class and how the man (the elite) was responsible for this. It seems strange that people who are sick of that message would vote for a guy who was voicing that message.

Cletus wrote:

BigRedMan wrote:I am telling you the main reason people voted for trump was because the middle class worker (black, white, american, latino, martain, etc..) were tired of all these "groups" telling them how bad things are, how the "man" was out to get them, and that if you thought any different from them, you were a racist scumbag.

Trump's entire campaign was based on how bad everything is for the middle class and how the man (the elite) was responsible for this. It seems strange that people who are sick of that message would vote for a guy who was voicing that message.

you'd rather them vote for Hillary that was saying everything is great when its clear she wasn't talking to them?

eCat wrote:you're putting alot of faith in an article written on a so-so url about anonymous people

I'm not putting any faith in anything other than I thought it to be an interesting read about this group that has been maligned. The author identifies himself but either way, he makes some good points where no one else has been able to make about why younger people voted for Trump.

Yes. She's not dangerously incompetent. Trump will make things much worse for pretty much everyone.

BigRedMan wrote:I am telling you the main reason people voted for trump was because the middle class worker (black, white, american, latino, martain, etc..) were tired of all these "groups" telling them how bad things are, how the "man" was out to get them, and that if you thought any different from them, you were a racist scumbag.

I'm not the one saying how bad things are, at least from the perpsective that it was created by Obama. Shit actually got a little better under him but you wouldn't know it from all the whining that goes on. Overall, shit has sucked for some time and that's because we've sold our soul to megacorporations and the mentality that we A) have a free market and B) it will fix everything.

Yes, the Man is out to get us all. Learn it and set yourself free.

Fuck all the little shits and old shits and every shit in between who are racists and call people racists.

The bottom line is that we can tear down our system and we may find more chaos or we may find a better life but Trump is not the guy that needs to be in charge. That will be evident to everyone within due time.

heres tuckercarlson vs Dem strategist on the transgender issue--gets pretty good 1/2 way through defining why flyoveramerica voted republican instead of democratic if this guy is indeed a democratic strategist

Cletus wrote:Yes. She's not dangerously incompetent. Trump will make things much worse for pretty much everyone.

well then they win by subtraction.

Saint wrote:

BigRedMan wrote:I am telling you the main reason people voted for trump was because the middle class worker (black, white, american, latino, martain, etc..) were tired of all these "groups" telling them how bad things are, how the "man" was out to get them, and that if you thought any different from them, you were a racist scumbag.

I'm not the one saying how bad things are, at least from the perpsective that it was created by Obama. Shit actually got a little better under him but you wouldn't know it from all the whining that goes on. Overall, shit has sucked for some time and that's because we've sold our soul to megacorporations and the mentality that we A) have a free market and B) it will fix everything.

Yes, the Man is out to get us all. Learn it and set yourself free.

Fuck all the little shits and old shits and every shit in between who are racists and call people racists.

The bottom line is that we can tear down our system and we may find more chaos or we may find a better life but Trump is not the guy that needs to be in charge. That will be evident to everyone within due time.

how did it get better for the average Joe who has maybe $1K in savings and nothing in a 401K?