I feel pretty good about the state of the Presidential race as we head into the final week, almost as good as I felt about Barack Obama's chances heading into the 2008 race (which seems like a lifetime ago) but I had also felt pretty confident that somebody as awful and crass and unqualified as Donald Trump couldn't possibly beat Hillary Clinton, disliked by many as she was. Because of the stunning and seemingly unexpected outcome of the race in 2016, it seems impossible to feel good about this election without somebody jumping in with some kind of caveat and/or reminder about 2016 seemingly being in our favor- until it wasn't. Most of my friends here and elsewhere on social media are fairly optimistic about Biden's chances but can't help throwing in caveats as well. I just don't think that, until the voting is done and Biden is proclaimed the winner of the race that I- or anybody else- can feel any kind of sense of relief. How is everybody else coping right now?

One of my friends posted on FB short time ago that Trump is gaining steam in PA? Is there a new poll out or something?

Cases seem to be trending upwards just about everywhere but nobody is talking about the possibility of more lockdowns or restrictions. It's going up here in Indiana but our Governor just moved us to Stage 5 (less restrictions). Republicans seem to be getting restrictions overturned in the Courts in places like Wisconsin and Michigan and Republican Leaders in those states, Ohio, and others (and of course Trump) just seem to be telling us that we have to "learn to live with it." Plus, they are fighting just about every plan to ensure safe voting in November. So, are most of our leaders (not all of them but a lot of them) just giving up and adopting sort of a tolerance where we're not really fighting it anymore, at least until we have new leadership (hopefully) and a vaccine next year? What is going on? Are there no other strategies for dealing with this rise in COVID cases being contemplated or looked at? I'm starting to see a lot more reports of potential exposure in my job and among my Facebook friends too. It feels like it is getting worse and worse.

but prebubescent children get NOTHING in terms of medication, hormones, surgery, etc.
Pubescent children can get put on blockers in order to delay the onset of puberty. These have no known serious side effects for children and just put the brakes on natal puberty. Natal puberty produces some changes to ones body that can exacerbate gender dysphoria for Transgender people and be costly to address via surgery and other procedures. It is undeniably ideal for Transgender children to not have to go through their natal puberty. Cross-sex hormones, which DO cause changes in the body are not typically introduced until age 16 or so recommended by their doctors and nobody is getting surgery until adulthood. There will always be some people for whom transition may have been the wrong choice and desire to detransition. They should be supported and affirmed in that choice. However, what I am most concerned about is people freaking out about a handful of detransitioners or people regretting their choice and imposing new and unreasonably stricter rules on others whom literally are going to die if their dysphoria is not addressed. Bigotry against Transgender people, especially in the UK, is a serious problem and people like JKR are promoting ideas and theories and information that is harmful to the cause of Transgender equality and access to transition-related care.

So, if I seemed a little concerned about that in this thread, this is why. Thank you for being supportive and trying to understand.

And let me emphasize that I support people whom choose to detransition as long as they're not in turn trying to make it harder for people seeking transition to get the care they need.

No system of care is going to be perfect. De-transitioning is still very rare. Very few people de-transition or experience regret (and a lot of those people who do do so because of adverse social circumstances). I feel like some people would rather 10 Transgender people be denied or delayed gender affirming care instead of having 1 person make a mistake regarding transition and have to deal with the consequences thereof.

You pretty much either identify with your gender assigned at birth or you don't. If you're actually gender dysphoric, the recommended course of treatment is to transition. Anti-depressants or other psychotropic medications or counseling aren't going to change those feelings.

but they are generally even more restrictive with transition-related care than the US. From what I have heard from my Trans brethren across the pond there are usually long waiting periods and require trans people to live in their identified gender for up to two years before they are given cross-sex hormones, surgery, etc. Here in the US, transition care for children is generally pretty conservative and heavily monitored by doctors, endos, and psychologists throughout the process. Cross-sex hormones aren't usually approved until children are about 16 or so and are often prescribed blockers (which are used for non-Trans related reasons as well) around the onset of puberty. This case seems to be more like a case of transition regret (which does occasionally happen) but the problem that I have with it is that it could have adverse consequences on the majority of children whom are gender dysphoric if it becomes more restrictive as a result. There is a lot of misinformation put out there and information not supported by evidence by people like JKR and TERFs whom are simply bigoted towards Transgender people.

is that Pence sort of "cleans up" Trump's mess left by the last debate and/or helps normalize Trump and some of his policies. Pence is dull and sort of dumb but he cleans up well and won't be showing up spouting a bunch of conspiracy theories or talking over and interrupting Kamala. The main problem for him, I suppose, is that he will be put in a position of having to either defend Trump or repudiate him, which has got to be an unenviable place to be. My guess is that this debate will neither help or hurt either candidate much or really move anything. I have full confidence in Kamala to present herself well.

He's another reason to vote out Trump in November because he will probably be looking to retire or will probably have to work himself to death during the next 4 years to try to avoid having his seat filled with ANOTHER right-winger!

And if everybody wants or needs another reason for 4-8 years of Biden/Harris, Thomas' seat could *potentially* come up as well during that time, which could help shift the balance of the court back towards the center. While Thomas would probably not purposefully resign under Biden, he may still get sick and be forced to retire and/or pass away since he *is* getting up there in years. If Trump wins, he would likely retire and Trump would get yet another pick.