I hear you. Will also note aloud that the rules and consequences for an account named Pedal Pusher and one with a public figure's actual name are not always the same.
Into riding, writing and complex carbohydrates. Every opinion stated here is mine—and mine alone.
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I hear you. Will also note aloud that the rules and consequences for an account named Pedal Pusher and one with a public figure's actual name are not always the same.
I realize you don't follow me, but I have spent years advocating for the rights of trans people as they face a variety of existential threats. And I understand the wimpy ass civility that many on the center-left have articulated in recent times. Have a great day.
I agree.
I agree. I am trying to talk about the nuances of how to talk about it on social. The issue remains a huge problem.
I think transphobia and all sorts of bigotry are huge problems right now in our culture. I'm only talking about the nature of the discourse, especially about how I choose to talk about it.
I don't think I'm offering a typical kind of both sides framing. I don't think you should accept hateful points of view or engage in conversations with people unwilling to have a good faith exchange. I'm just saying that advocating by slinging insults back doesn't really advance your position.
My position is that everyone has a right to express their opinions and advocate for what they think is just, and that it's possible to do it more civilly than often happens. There's a ton of nuance to how that actually happens without conceding your values and I'll be thinking about that a lot.
Like I said, I'll focus on what I can control. Hopefully other folks realize that characterizing trans people as mentally ill cheaters, deadnaming them, amplifying bigoted posts, or calling all people who are advocating for trans rights misogynists is participating in the same kind of toxicity.
I can't control what other folks on either side do, but I am going to be more mindful of the language I use, especially when talking about a large swath of people who have varying positions. People have said a lot of toxic shit about me that I find painful and I'm sure they have felt that sting too.
You have folks on both sides using weaponized language—one group calling everyone associated with a movement bigots and fascists and another group slinging terms like misogynist. Folks making nasty generalizations about people they don't know. My opinion is that it's counterproductive & exhausting.
I've had some interesting private conversations this week with folks in the Save Women's Sports world. My views on trans folks haven't changed but in the wake of Charlie Kirk, Jimmy Kimmel et al, I'd like to de-weaponize discourse. I can't control what other folks do but I can adjust my own tactics.
For those who don't think this is fascist autocracy, I'd be curious what it would take to cross that line. Like does it have to negatively impact your life personally to cross that line?
Troubled even
Shocked but not surprised to learn how many ~titans of industry~ who probably think of themselves as brave ballsy businessmen are actually cowardly pieces of shit when it counts.
My first half-marathon was on a warm drizzly day and I was wearing a brand new technical t-shirt that the race provided and my left nipple got chafed so bad that I truly thought I might be having a cardiac event because in 25 years of exercising I had never experienced anything like that.
Maybe people will have more respect for dad jokes since now you can get deported for telling one.
Would be cool if Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries did something.
I don't think the suspension really has anything to do with Kirk or his death beyond that being an excuse that the administration is choosing to escalate repression.
Did you actually watch the segment that got Kimmel suspended? He doesn't treat Kirk's death with disrespect; the bit makes fun of Trump mostly by just playing what Trump replied when asked about Kirk's death on the White House lawn. If that is all the FCC needs, it's very chilling.
I am in an airport and wanted a snack and got a Wendy's Frosty for the first time in more than a decade. Definitely the best decision I've made all day.
As someone who has wound up microwaving hot pockets by the front desk at 11pm, I feel that regret 110%.
Just to elaborate on my convo with Inga, our common ground is that we both accept our views on this issue are totally different but feel that each of us can advocate in a way that is authentic without resorting to personal attacks or allowing other people to draw us into counterproductive hostility.
Had a really great phone conversation with Inga Thompson this morning. To be clear, we definitely don't agree on the issue of trans people in sports. But also to be clear, there's no beef between us and I think we both appreciated being to talk about our positions in a civil manner.
Same. Not seeing that vile discourse has improved my life measurably.
I think the bottom line is that there's a demographic who feel strongly that trans people are a pathological abomination—that makes them angry/disgusted/afraid/confused—who want to exist in spaces that this demo feels are binary in a divine way. I wish they could be more honest about their outrage.
The Save Women's Sports chuds who target trans bike racers don't give a shit that two of the most promising women American cyclocross racers of the last decade retired because there are vanishingly few financially viable paths. You want to "save" women's bike racing? Help it grow. Make it equitable.
Like if you talk to women who are pro bike racers. They want and deserve equal economic opportunities as their male counterparts. They deserve an equal platform. They want to be safe and treated fairly in an ecosystem that historically has been plagued by harassment and discrimination (by cis men).
I'll ask aloud how authentically someone cares about women's bike racing if they are way more passionate to post photos of a local cat 4 podium with the intent to direct outrage at someone trying to exist instead of sharing photos and enthusiasm about world-class female athletes in televised races.
If you truly care about women's bike racing, the best thing you can do is watch women's bike racing. Arguing about culture war issues is a distraction from the hard-fought battle for economic equity that these amazing athletes deserve. PS savvy win from Shari Bossuyt!
FYI there is a very good women's bike race on right now—15km to go in the Grand Prix de Wallonie Dames.
I have not
Incredible 5-year winning streak. (FWIW Three Days of the Condor is my favorite spy movie of all time)
My man took a very long and strong pull.
Yes. And in that vein, it triggers people who feel like the role of cis women in that patriarchy is being disrupted. I think about how there was a long period where people were so disgusted and enraged about Black men having sexual relationships with white women that lynchings were very common.
It makes me think of how people, mostly in a previous era, felt strongly that homosexuality was a pathological choice that could be reprogrammed. A refusal to believe and accept that people who don't conform to their binary perceptions are just existing in a way they can fathom.
That is a good explanation of the "how" IMO. I suspect the why is rooted in how many people are DEEPLY invested in perpetuating structural conformity in their culture. The current persecution of trans folks is like example #147 in history that emerges from this.
Do you ever stop to think exactly why the existence of trans folks frighten and enrage other people so intensely?
Shout out to everyone staying on top of their responsibilities and their sanity as our republic is being dismantled.
I wasn't suggesting you made it up
Especially after the trans bullet insanity I am not paying close attention to all the allegations
Who knows what's true and what's BS—certainly not me—but I think the idea that a big Nick Fuentes supporter might have a trans roommate/friend or a romance with a trans person is totally unsurprising, and anyone who would find that shocking is naive.
I think McNulty earned that victory, with tireless and repeated service to Pogacar over the years. He animated the race today twice and dispatched Simmons after dispatching everyone else. Plus Pogacar will enjoy many dividends from Brandon's victory, arguably worth more than a 3rd win in Montreal.
Alex, I'll take Things That Eddy Merckx Would Never Do for $400
The only thing that could make this sweeter is Powless getting third.
Harder than normal to find joy in road racing but found some watching McNulty drop Simmons like a phone call in the Lincoln Tunnel.
Halting a large sporting event is an infinitely more effective form of protest than killing someone you disagree with.
Fitting end to the Vuelta.
I don't agree with people who feel strongly that trans women shouldn't play sports with other women but I'd urge them to use their brain and push back on the hysteria being firehosed online. The idea that these folks are violent extremists deserving brutal repression is insanely dangerous fiction.
LOL author of Lance Armstrong's "It's Not About the Bike"
There are many aspects of the disinfo campaign that are unsurprising—like how non-insane GOP folks in congress and centrist media owned by billionaires just shrug. But I'm surprised by folks who are obsessed with one issue that aligns with MAGA who are willing to overlook the dissolution of reality.
Like of course this was total bullshit. It always was total bullshit. The point is to nudge the Overton Window so far that everyone just shrugs as a fictional reality is presented to you.
It's a firehose of absurd shit. Trans ideology on casings. Trump is an FBI informant. You don't pay for tariffs. Fed governor cheated on taxes. Federal armies must keep cities safe. Wind power doesn't work. Professors are the problem. Due process is for citizens only. The point is to melt your brain
Sadly, I can see it working. Like I see Lutnick go on CNBC and say the most absurd counterfactual things about tariffs and the economy and I'm already just shrugging at the theatrical idiocy and how all our media is this blend of facts and totally made up bullshit. I can see how this shit works.
I think a lot of people remain confused about the motives of the tidal wave of disinformation that drowns us daily. The point is to annihilate the whole notion of truth. The point is to end the existence of independent media. The point is to exhaust the public's competence at critical thinking.
I'm fascinated by the constant discourse about the radical left. I'm not saying a radical left doesn't exist but most of what's given that title are basic, reasonable left-of-center folks. Opposing bigotry of all kinds and wanting more economic equity and caring about the environment is not radical.
Amazing to see how the revolution was postponed once it was just a basic gun-loving cis white dude from a red state.
This is a perfect example of the current insanity. It doesn't matter that it never was plausible or that it's already been retracted. bsky.app/profile/wsj....
National discourse in US is wild right now. The torrent of toxically violent bad-faith BS from the right is at an all-time high and the biggest media entities are parroting it like they have lost their minds or souls. This is going to get worse before it gets better.
My kids have apparently seen video of the shooting. There are so many fucked up elements of our culture.
I've seen a lot of both
I don't want anyone to get shot. I want it to way harder to get guns so way fewer people get shot. Apparently a fringe opinion in halls of power.
I have been in Austria this week and wanted to mention one thing I've seen that delighted me. There are a TON of riders who look 65+ pedaling mixte city bikes and many of them do these rolling sidesaddle dismounts that are quietly stylish.
So desperate to own the libs but they can't even iron a t-shirt.
Blueskyism is knowing in your heart that this is fucking bullshit.
I don't think there's a professional sport with a consistently vibrant history of protest like bike racing.
"I'm seeing things I haven't seen before in 40 years because I'm ignorant and not actually paying attention." www.espn.co.uk/cycling/stor...
Bob Roll is literally wrong about everything. I don't know how anyone can listen to him. www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/j...
That's like half of the last week.
I am still watching sports as an attempt to escape this reality but it is hard to fully have my heart in it because of this shit show.
Our government invading our own cities. Kidnapping innocent people to foreign regimes. Helping billionaires get richer—and screwing everyone else. Helping the president avoid consequences for sexual assault. Purposeful destruction of public health, the environment, the economy, critical foreign aid.
This is an incredible story of perseverance. Kate has been through a bunch of ups and downs and I'm very very happy for her success.
If you're keeping score at home. National Rifle Association 1 USA Cycling O
This is the digital stasi. Social media influencers utilizing tips from followers for content that they monetize while working with state actors to target the people they want. It's all a spectacle packaged as content. Destroying people's lives for profitable ideological bloodsport.
Saying you're going to make women's sport safer by purging trans women is ideologically similar to the logic of arguing that you'll make America safer by purging immigrants from big Blue cities.
How do the people determined to ruin the lives of the eight trans athletes who wish to compete on the NCAA level reconcile their obsession with their disinterest in the president's sexual predation (or all the actual abuse carried out by coaches, priests, and millions of straight men)?
When you really think about how dumb and unconvincing Trump and so many of his proxies are, and actually listen to the gibberish that FoxNews and NewsMax platform daily, it can get overwhelming trying to digest how much we are a nation populated by boneheads.
It's just a sports ban. It's just a bathroom ban. It's just a healthcare for kids ban. It's just a military service ban. It's just a federal jobs ban. It's just a university housing ban. It's just a passport & visa ban. It's just one Constitutional right. It's just your status as free citizens.
I just thought the whole point of getting a $43 million annuity was that you were insulated to make a boatload of poor choices.
Thanks Skip. I'm always happy when I see folks like Gravel Influencer and Tom Flood fighting hard for the cause now and I'm likewise watching and learning how folks like Doug Gordon and Sarah Goodyear and the Bruntletts find ways to evolve effectively.
That's an awfully nice thing to say.
LOL I have found peace moving on from all things Twitter.
Best documentary of the century.
“I think that they’re scared shitless of Trump— period. Every Republican is.”
Reminder that this lunatic cause is not about saving women's sports or keeping schools safe or protecting people in restrooms. It's an attempt to erase and harass people.
I was uncomfortable watching the protests that disrupted the Vuelta but I think that's the intent and I also think the lack of similar protest—about the lawless, bigoted fascism that is festering here—at big US sporting events is really striking.
On many of the big east-west boulevards in LA riders share space with huge city buses, many of them these articulated monstrosities, and having a throttle allows casual riders to safely establish position when the light turns green with an impatient bus driver on your ass.
Callie's sister lives 3 blocks from us and she's always very happy to hang out with Chloe for about 45 seconds.
My lab, Callie, is the same.
That dude is always smiling when he's the only dog in the photo.
I never would have guessed that Idiocracy would come true.
Paul Weiss, Columbia University, Intel and USA Cycling What a time to be alive.
There's a lot to mull over here but I would call out that USA Cycling indicates that they are doing this to comply with one of Trump's executive orders and avoid negative consequences.
The best thing to do about Nate Silver and Matt Yglesias and like half of the Atlantic staff is just to fucking ignore them. Don't give them and their mealymouthed ideas oxygen.
Oligarchy is a big word but I think more people are coming to realize that nearly all of the people who have amassed the most power, the most wealth, and the most influence do not give a shit about the health of humanity, democracy, the environment, or public health.
I am not a fan of conspiracy theories but if a guy who is truly obsessed with holding inane press conferences and doing propaganda on TV wanted to kill off weird rumors it would be incredibly easy to do so.
Although the Oct. 15 deadline for Pulitzer Prize submissions remains in effect, no further entries in the fiction category will be accepted at this time.
I get the sense that Gus is happiest when there aren't other labs hovering about.
One thing that's hard to digest but very clear: When Trump proxies go on TV to say obvious counterfactual things—that RFK is a medical genius, that LA wouldn't be standing, that trans people anything—the point isn't to convince the MAGA faithful. The point is a nihilistic campaign to undermine truth
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