344 Comments

I find it interesting that Long Trail had no problem with having a trans athlete on their team, nor did their other opponents, yet MVCS decides to get all huffy about it (big surprise, right? 🤦‍♂️). Honestly, it's gotten to the point where there is no stupid thing a Christian organization could do that would surprise me anymore.

And if they can't adapt to new situations like this, they'll simply be left behind.

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If christian schools are that unhappy, they can still form their own league.

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that was my thoughts....just play other "christian" ie bigoted schools. I am glad VPA held the line since I see this as a slippery slope. If they win this one..then the next will be we don't want to play if you have a gay person on the team or what other flavor of hate/bigotry the RW fundies are being all smug and self-righteous about ...

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IANAL but I don’t think so. Private schools are not a public accommodation such as a hotel.

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I know they won't, they wouldn't be able to cry persecution otherwise. About your question I am not American, I don't even live on this continent.

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Left behind? Y'all mean we maht miss that big ol' raptcher? Oh, say it ain't so!

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Who is “them” in your comment?

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Certain Christians are always going to claim they're being persecuted for their faith any time they're prevented from persecuting the people they hate. There isn't much you can't justify once you become convinced you're operating under divine sanction.

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Mar 16, 2023·edited Mar 16, 2023

No different than creationists claiming they're being persecuted for their faith and beliefs every time they're being barred from forcefully imposing their creation lies on others. Same thing happens every time a science teacher marks a science paper swamped with pro-creationist answers wrong and gives it a bad grade, also.

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You don't like being called a homophobe, then the solution is to stop spouting homophobic bullshit like the above

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"Former agnostic" – probably because they haven't got the balls to be "former atheist". Usual story, they're all former atheists or something. It's just one of those weird Christian tropes.

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Assuming he's what he claims, this simply means he willfully abandoned his intellect and embraced superstitious twaddle.

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Ah, the God of the gaps. Always a Christian go to that fallacy.

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Would you say that the god of the One Commandment doesn’t exist?

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What a poor comment. Being an atheist isn’t a matter of ‘knowing everything’ (who first came up with this nonsense?), because atheism is, by definition, relevant to belief not knowledge (the agnostic label). Hence an atheist is simply saying that I don’t believe a god exists, not positively that a god doesn’t exist (though it can lead to this). I would avoid throwing around terms like ‘idiot’ and ‘fool’ because these tend to come and bite you, albeit you’d have no idea it was happening.

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So you cling to the quaint, pig-ignorant claim that the one, the only one, the absolutely solely only single one biological difference between males and females is who has a dick and who has a vagina, right? I'd suggest you enroll in a good middle school biology course, but I suspect that boat sailed longer ago than the Titanic.

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You really needed quotes around "science"....you taught magic at Hogwarts.

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Too bad you don't.

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There are also many documented instances of trans athletes losing to cis women. Not that I'd expect someone like you to know or acknowledge that. By the way, did you teach science at the same school where David Barton taught history?

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Ze also has zir facts wrong. The US team lost a scrimmage to an Under-15 boys team 5-2. The Australian team lost 7-0 to an Under-15 team. The women were practicing and apparently frequently practice against teenage boys because they can't field enough women's teams. Ze only cares about the *one* time they lost in 2017.

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His claim of teaching science is an unverifiable personal assertion.

That makes it worthless and we have no obligation to take it seriously.

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citatiion fucking required

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Of course, they're lying about the score.

https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/a-dallas-fc-under-15-boys-squad-beat-the-u-s-womens-national-team-in-a-scrimmage/

"Of course, this match against the academy team was very informal and should not be a major cause for alarm. The U.S. surely wasn’t going all out, with the main goal being to get some minutes on the pitch, build chemistry when it comes to moving the ball around, improve defensive shape and get ready for Russia."

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Do you think repeatedly posting the same b.s. in multiple spots makes it true? This ain't Fox News, a-hole.

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Big difference, though. The clowns on Fox don't actually believe the rubbish they spew. This jerk obviously does.

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Please don't disparage assholes, no animal would survive without them.

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Credible citations needed.

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Forget it. He cited Michael Behe elsewhere on this thread.

That should illustrate his "thought" processes.

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Don't use words he doesn't understand.

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I suspect that if people like you made all the decisions in society, women wouldn't be allowed to play sports at all.

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They wouldn't be allowed to get out of their home, except for their forced wedding day and funerals.

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Homophobia and transphobia are treatable illnesses. Please consult with a licensed mental health care professional for more information and help. You don't have to suffer.

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Unfortunately, they are carrier diseases, the carrier doesn't suffer from them, everyone around them suffers.

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It bothers me how often we see things like this. How often we see some Christian person or group going on about how their rights are being trampled, or how their being persecuted, or how whatever law being enforced shouldn't apply to them. For years now, we've listened as this same group of people has shouted about 'personal responsibility' to everyone who would listen, but for some reason that 'personal responsibility' just doesn't apply to them.

I'm tired of this double standard. Society cannot have two sets of rules that it applies differently depending on the individual in question's race, creed, color, religion, sexual orientation, or whatever other insane standard comes to mind. Mid Vermont Christian School knew - or at least should have known - the policies involved, and also should have been aware that those policies did NOT align with MVCS's views on transgender kids. They ignored those policies, and now seem to expect to be allowed to be some sort of exception to the rules for no better reason than that's what they want. No. Truth be told, the school should want out of the association anyway, since it's clear the policy and the school's Christian views do not align. This isn't Burger King, they don't get to have it their way right away just because they said so.

Kudos to Vermont Principals' Association for making the right decision. Here's hoping they stick to it.

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Unless they receive death threat, they would probably stick to it since it was unanimous.

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O/T: Evangelicals embraced MAGA out of desperation over their 'demographic slide': expert

https://www.rawstory.com/evangelicals-embraced-maga-out-of-desperation-over-their-demographic-slide-expert/

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Translation: "Oh, shit, what if the new majority treats us as badly as we treat the present minorities?! Quick, treat them worse, treat them worse!"

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'Demographic slide' is that the new dance craze?

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Mar 16, 2023·edited Mar 16, 2023

I once rode a demographic slide at a waterpark. My swim trunks came off halfway down.

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Your swim trunks came off halfway or halfway down the slide your trunks came off?

:-)

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The latter. :)

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"In terms of its racial and religious composition, the Democratic Party looks like 20-year-old America, while the Republican Party looks like 80-year-old America."

Ain't THAT a mouthful!

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There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. --Galatians 3:28

Wow. In Christ there is neither male nor female. Oh, hang on a sec--that's from that silly old Bible. Only the bits we agree with are inerrant and immutable. The rest of it is just woke or something. Praise God!

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I recommend not feeding the trolls.

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Mar 16, 2023·edited Mar 16, 2023

Reported it for misinformation and rank stupidity.

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His name is Japanese for "teacher." He's in dire need of an education.

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Maybe he mistaken "Sensei" for "Baka".

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Do we have to stop using bridges ? 🤔

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The bridge is too far.

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I reported him. He'll be gone soon.

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But watching them contort themselves and do tricks for us is so entertaining.

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Would they allow Eve to play? She was the first trans.....😉

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Given Adam's origins, he'd be out, too, because he was a dirty player.

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And a clone.

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Mar 16, 2023·edited Mar 16, 2023

This bullshit culture war is so 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 tiring. It compels me to learn about things I've got no interest in, simply because (𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺) has become a favored wedge issue for bigots to attack my community with.

I don't give a shit about sports. I don't even know what the bloody rules of basketball are, and yet- here we go again- I have to know what kind of physical attributes make a good basketball player, and what percentage of cisgender athletes tend to have those attributes, in order to debunk the propaganda line that trans women are going to be the death of women's sports. Fact: there are more exceptionally tall, fit cis women playing basketball, by at least two orders of magnitude, then there ever will be trans women of any body type. Trans women will never dominate women's basketball. There aren't nearly enough of us, even if we 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 all the 6'+ chiseled goddesses transphobes seem to imagine we are, to displace the 6'+ 𝘤𝘪𝘴 women who are already dominating the sport.

𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. It shouldn't be my damned problem. I should be able to live my life blissfully ignorant of the 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 of basketball, much less how it's played or by whom.

To reiterate, I couldn't be any less interested in sports if I tried. I am exactly as interested in basketball as I am in any other kind of sportsball. An inflated rubber toy bouncing around an arena and getting chucked into sport-specific designated points-gathering zones interests me about as much as the fate of my last bowel movement (if we're being truthful, I care slightly more about the latter, if only because the septic tank will eventually need to be pumped out again). The hows and whys about who's allowed to bounce the ball where, and when, and with which appendage, what those squiggly lines on the floor mean... I very deliberately forgot that crap after I graduated high school; I'd have been happy to never need to engage with any of it again. Never wanted to in the first place.

But, because the Reich Wing cares 𝘴𝘰 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘺 about "fairness in women's sports"- y'know, because they were just 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 to fight for fairness in pay, fairness in media coverage, fairness in access to play spaces, or in many cases 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯'𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭- now I have to care about fucking basketball. Because, if I don't force myself to care about 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭, then some shithead in the Statehouse (whichever one is playing with fascism that week- or worse, Congress) will eventually pass a law prohibiting me from playing a sport I would never voluntarily play. And, if they pass that law, they're coming for my right to use the bathroom next. And then my right to seek transition care. And then my right to get my documents amended.

And, ultimately, my right to 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵. Because that's where this shit leads.

So, I have to make myself care about 𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑡𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑙. I'd rather be reading a good novel (or trying to write one), having spirited debates about science fiction, fixing the back door latch that's been sticking, or doing almost anything else in the world besides talking about 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍, but here we are again. Next time, it'll probably be soccer, or track and field, or something equally uninteresting, and I'll have to spend my afternoon (or evening, or both) researching something I don't give half a flaming rat's ass about and won't get paid for, because if I don't, the lies just get to stick and fester.

𝓕𝓾𝓬𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓰. 𝓑𝓪𝓼𝓴𝓮𝓽𝓫𝓪𝓵𝓵.

Ugh.

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"I don't even know what the bloody rules of basketball are,"

If there is blood, someone probably committed a foul. : )

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I'm pretty sure that other than boxing and MMA that's true of every sport.

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Ice hockey? Cricket? Rugby?

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Too bad you can't split the work with Foxglove anymore. (A couple of cis people did spit back at the AI troll about soccer)

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Mar 16, 2023·edited Mar 16, 2023

Wasn't there a third one on Patheos ? I don't remember which nym she used and if she followed on substack and os.

I miss Foxglove too.

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Yeah, I'm pretty sure there was a third transwoman fighting these battle on Patheos, but I can't think of her nym either.

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*Virtual Covid safe hug*

Stephanie Nicot*, I would be shocked if her height is more than 5'5 feet.

* French transwoman, famous for achieving the first gay mariage in my country before it was legal due to an antitrans law (abolished since) 🙂

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What's unsafe?

As for fairness, then the split should be along similar skill levels rather than by gender.

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Congratulations to Long Trail school, the VPA and Vermont State for admitting that transpeople are humans.

PS : mark driscool I had a pair of "lesbian" dogs. So what ?

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I wanted to write that Mark Driscoll remains a moron but I realized that was an insult to morons.

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Once at the TBT, I called someone a mental amoeba. Thirty minutes later, I posted an apology to all amoebas for maligning them by comparing a consewertive to them.

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It's even an insult to unicellular organisms.

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Instead of shooting hoops, MVCS opted to shoot themselves in the foot.

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With or without cancan music ?

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I think it is more entertaining with cancan music, but that's just my opinion.

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Jesus is my pick and roll...The Lord is my 2-man game...Jesus doesn't do well with transition...

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He needs to stop with the hook shots from halfcourt, though. He stinks at it.

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But..but...Jesus creates miracles--all the time.

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Mar 18, 2023·edited Mar 18, 2023

If only he'd done the wiggle-wag and rid his land of every last Roman soldier and Centurion. Or freed all the slaves. Those would've been genuine miracles.

Water into wine? Cursing fig trees? A conjuror's tricks.

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founding

Fine. Bye. Yet another Christian institution eliminates itself from yet another aspect of American life because of its fear-and-ignorance-driven bigotry. PLEASE let religious organizations of every kind keep doing this. For the sake of their precious "sincerely-held religious beliefs" they can refuse to play sports, refuse to serve the needy, refuse to teach accurate science, refuse to teach accurate history, and refuse to engage in any way with anybody they don't like. Let them disappear one piece at a time by their own volition.

They won't be missed, and soon they won't even be remembered.

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Would you care to share any observations on today's troll du jour?

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founding
Mar 17, 2023·edited Mar 17, 2023

I generally refuse to feed trolls, and I wish nobody would. They don't comment here to persuade us to their beliefs. It's pathetically obvious how bad they are at persuading. In fact, they actually push people further away from their viewpoint. No, they comment here simply to turn the focus off of the topic and onto them. They're narcissists with low standards for the quality of the attention they get. Whether it's praise or withering criticism, it's attention, and that's all they care about. If some of those who argue with them get frustrated, that's just a bonus of sadistic pleasure for them.

Imagine if today's troll wrote his original drive-by religious spiel and condemnation, and NOBODY REPLIED AT ALL. He would feel disappointed, and then he might try something even more antagonistic. If he consistently got absolutely no acknowledgement that he even exists, he'd eventually go away to get his narcissistic fix somewhere else.

Don't let trolls sucker you into an endless and futile series of responses where YOU are doing most or all of the work. You can't hurt their feelings with insults or change their minds with rational ideas; you can only starve them with inattention.

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Mar 17, 2023·edited Mar 17, 2023

I get your point; however, messing with this troll has given me a day full of amusement. 😂

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^ This. Bopping a troll around might be silly and ultimately pointless, but it's a decent enough way to get some cheap giggles. It's not as though anybody around here is honestly going to get sucked into a serious debate with the thing.

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I prefer Bishops for my bopping.

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OT

For our trolly troll and its brain turds...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sRS1dwCotw

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Is that from the Book of Luke: Chapter 8? ; )

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Book of Armaments (he's got a lightsaber). :)

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Oh the cries of of christian persecution you'll hear.

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Never one to miss an opportunity to jump on a bigot bandwagon, notorious spiritual abuser Pastor Mark Driscoll screamed, "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! WHY AREN'T YOU PAYING ATTENTION TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEE?"

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Driscoll is a sociopath.

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OT. Just cut ties with my favourite political blog, because the blog owner is leading climate change deniers and vaccine deniers spout their rubbish all over the place. It's awkward, because I'm sort of addicted to it but sometimes you just got to make a stand. Voices of reason have been dropping out a bit over the years, and eventually it's just going to be him and the lunatics. Good luck to the man.

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Moderation is hard work. That's why OS tried to employ a not-even-half-baked AI to do the job. An AI that took it's etiquette lessons from little old ladies in church pews.

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A couple of hours ago, I tried logging in to the most recent OS article. It says that the log in was successful, then when it got to the article, it told me I needed to log in.

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I gave up trying to log in from my phone for that reason months ago. And then I gave up even going to OS on my phone because I was begged for money every time I touched the screen.

Things are different on my iPad.

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Not the first time it happens, starting with you.

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Yup. Hemant bailed me out.

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