The internet hijacked how we get info. What today are called “legacy media” never were perfect, but they adhered to journalistic standards. Stories were based upon facts. A fact, if disputed, had to be validated by at least two independent sources. 1/19

On 4/28/26, “Mark Schmitz” [FN1] posted a “challenge to any Democrat....Explain how any of this makes sense without TDS tendencies... and when you realize you can't please explain how you can support it?” I thought it spiffy to accept this person’s challenge! 2/19

A few preliminary matters.
A) I have numbered the 18 unnumbered paragraphs of his “challenge” for clarity.
B) He expends 482 words w/o a cite to any authority. [FN2]
C) “He who asserts must prove.” [FN3]
Irony: his challenge is to “make sense” point-by-point. 3/19

D) 4/28's presumptions are rooted in ignorance or prejudice or both. So not only does he (i) fail to meet a burden of proof, (ii) the facts go against him. I’ll note 4/28's specific assertion, then reply with citation to one or more authorities. 4/19

E) Some of his assertions only can be addressed by citations to comprehensive studies after four years of undergrad with a focus on liberal arts to acquire skills in critical thinking. I’ll do my best, but we have to address these diatribes. Let’s go! 5/19

4/28: 1) “If a guy pretends to be a woman, you are required to pretend with him.”
Human physiology has not changed the past few centuries, but science has broadened our understanding. [FN4] Gender dysphoria: “clinically significant distress caused when a person's 6/19

assigned birth gender is not the same as the one with which they identify.” [FN5] A person’s self-perception is pretty important. If someone pretends to be a Christian, do we have to pretend, too, and let his church donations give him groovy tax advantages? 7/19

4/28: 2) “Somehow it’s un-American for the census to count how many Americans are in America.” 4/28, intellectually lazy, expects others to fill in blanks. That the census is not limited to citizens was a compromise reached at the Philadelphia convention. [FN6] 8/19

The Framers “believed that concessions on slavery were” necessary for “support of southern delegates” or else they would refuse to join the Union.” [FN7] Southern States wanted slaves to be counted as people for the census thus getting more House seats & more electors. 9/19

The three-fifths clause gave slave States “at least a dozen additional congressmen, and a like number of additional electoral votes.” [FN8] We still count everyone in the census. After the Civil War, former slaves were denied basic rights. [FN9] Non-citizens still are counted. 10/19

4/28: 3) “Russians influencing our elections are bad, but illegals voting in our elections are good.” The Russians did not just influence our elections. They placed Putin’s boy where Putin wanted him to be. [FN10] And can we stop with the crap about “illegals” voting? 11/19

A “review of the Heritage database counted 77 instances of non citizen voting between 1999 and 2023.” [FN11] Non-citizens cannot vote. The stats show it. I shall be back tomorrow to carry on this analysis, w/citations to relevant authorities. You have the syndrome. 12/19

Footnotes:
FN1. I’ll refer to Mark Schmitz as “4/28" to save space.
FN2. A footnote: “a note of reference, explanation, or comment placed usu at the bottom of a page.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 1974 ed., p. 282. The usu place for authorities to be cited. 13/19

FN3. Determination of the burden of proof falls is a matter of plain common sense. “‘Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat’” means “he who asserts must prove.” Law Web, 3/2/14, accessed 4/28/26. 14/19

FN4. See, “Understanding transgender people, gender identity and gender expression,” American Psychological Association, 3/9/23, last updated 7/8/24, accessed 4/28/26.
FN5. HRC Foundation, “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Definitions,” accessed 4/28/26. 15/19

FN6. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was where the Constitution was written and then sent to the States for ratification by special conventions. See, Collier and Collier, Decision in Philadelphia, pp. 351-52. 16/19

FN7. Mintz, Steven, “Historical Context: The Constitution and Slavery,” The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History,” accessed 1/10/25.
FN8. Stewart, David O., “The Summer of 1787,” (2007), pp. 81-82. 17/19

FN9. They were “beings of an inferior order, unfit to associate with the white race, “and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect...” Dred Scott v Sanford v Sanford, 60 U.S. 393, 407 (1857). 18/19

FN10. See, Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, 8/9/25; civildiscoursenow “Navalny's murder shows the direction trump would take us,” 2/17/24.
FN11. “How Many Non Citizens Have Voted in U.S. Elections?” Factually, 3/25/26, accessed 4/28/26. 19/19