November 24, 2019

I am confused about the Navy Secretary's resignation/firing

I have read that Spencer threatened to resign if Trump interfered and restored Eddie Gallaghers Seal status

but then I read in the Washington Post that Spencer privately asked Trump to restore the Seal status.

"Esper asked for Spencer’s resignation after learning that he had privately proposed to White House officials that if they did not interfere with proceedings against Gallagher, then Spencer would ensure that Gallagher was able to retire as a Navy SEAL, with his Trident insignia."

So which is it? I'm so confused by all the spins

September 1, 2018

The problem with "veiled" insults at Trump

Is that he won't get that they are about him.

So many headlines have been about how Meghan McCain insulted 45 without mentioning his name...which is why he won't get that they were directed at him.

This is the idiot who has to have his name sprinkle several times through his one page briefings in order to hold his attention. If he doesn't hear his name at least once an hour by the news, he goes insane.

Plus he is too stupid to understand subtlety and the same goes his for his cult of deplorables.

Granted he wasn't the target audience...it was the rest of us watching. He would be more upset that he wasn't mentioned by name than any of the digs and criticisms that were directed towards him.

The man is a narcissistic moron.

July 30, 2018

GOP candidate accused of being 'devotee of Bigfoot erotica'

what the actual f?

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/republican-accused-of-being-devotee-of-bigfoot-by-democratic-opponent-in-virginia-house-race/

the link is to Raw Story and I know some people have issue with them as a source, I didn't see any other links

A Virginia Democrat is accusing her Republican opponent of being a “devotee of Bigfoot erotica” based on screenshots he appeared to have posted of a Bigfoot with a large penis.

I mean I am at a loss

and then the Democrat was attacked for "kink-shaming"

This has to be the Onion right - I mean Raw Story has got to be joking.

June 23, 2018

Those babies (under 2) will never be re-united with their families IMHO

They have no way of tracking (ugh that's a horrible term - like an Amazon package) those little babies. They will get adopted out to white families. Their birth parents are seen as something less than human so of course they will be better off with white families.

It is disgusting, but that is what my fear is. Those babies have no voice, no way of saying "hey that's not my mom or dad"

Think of how many children will grow up believing their parents abandoned them? Didn't love them?

This has happened before in our country

The Orphan Trains of the late 1800's and 1900's - literally grabbed kids (whether they had parents or not) off the streets of large cities like New York and shipped them off to homes in the midwest.

In Arizona - this scene met horrific consequences all the way to the Supreme Court

In 1904, New York nuns brought forty Irish orphans to a remote Arizona mining camp, to be placed with Catholic families. The Catholic families were Mexican, as was the majority of the population. Soon the town's Anglos, furious at this "interracial" transgression, formed a vigilante squad that kidnapped the children and nearly lynched the nuns and the local priest. The Catholic Church sued to get its wards back, but all the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, ruled in favor of the vigilantes.

April 28, 2018

Joy did what her RW counterparts are incapable of

She didn't make it about her...she made it about how what she did hurt others. And how to use that as teaching point to heal...not divide.

I understand her not wanting to believe she wrote those things 10 years ago, or how they can seem so foreign to her....when I think of things I've said and views I had years ago, I cringe.
And frankly, given the RWNJ habit of dirty tricks, she wouldn't be doing her due diligence if she didn't have her blog investigated for hacking.

But she didn't play the victim, she didn't make it about her and how dare people try to bring her down. She didn't rail against enemies or do the "what about when person X said this"

She didn't back down or give in either.

She used her platform (and knowing as Mr. Capeheart correctly called it...people wanting to see her eviscerated) to talk about others, how words can hurt and the importance of evolving.

We cannot pretend our actions haven't hurt others even as we continue to grow and learn, nor can we judge people solely on their past. We are imperfect...the beauty is we can help and heal each other.

We cannot continue to tear down those on the left, searching for purity..because we will never find it. We need to stand together and help each other when we stumble.

April 23, 2018

My husband bought us tickets to see the Gipsy Kings!

Sept 13 - day after my birthday. Oh please don't let world explode until after.

I'm so excited my squeal made my dog flee...he's a shepherd and all around baby anyway.

Yay!

April 4, 2018

Should teachers stop spending their own personal funds on classroom supplies?

I am not a teacher. I am not a parent. Just want to make sure that my opinions are based as someone without a personal stake (other than the mutual benefit of living in a society with well educated children who grow up to be productive members of society).

A common comment I have heard throughout all the teacher strikes and comes up every time ther is talk of public school funding is how much personal money teachers spend on classroom supplies.

And it's almost always teachers who can't really afford to do this and almost always in schools that are (imo) negligently underfunded.

I get the reasoning: teachers, for the vast majority, are caring compassionate people who aren't in the profession for fame and fortune. They see a need and want kids ... who through no fault of their own cannot afford basics..to have the tools necessary to learn.

Hearing that some schools ration paper...ffs..is crazy.

But the problem is, once you start spending your own money 1) you are in essence lessening your take home pay 2) setting a precedent to continue spending your own money 3) putting other teachers in an awkward position of being expected to do the same.

If every teacher says fuck this rationing paper bullshit, I'm bringing my own cuz Costco has a sale..then pretty soon the lawmakers are gonna say...see we don't need to put that in the budget.

GOP has no problem holding kids, basic necessities like supplies, school lunch, etc hostage and threatening to defund because they know progressives will cave. They know that good people don't want to see the kids suffer for the sins of the "adults" and will continue to fill the gap.

This isn't sustainable and everyone suffers: kids, parents, teachers, those of us without kids still live in a world where they will be our next generation of leaders and it benefits us all to have them well prepared.

I know teachers will say that if they don't spend their own money, their classroom will suffer. But when I worked as a cashier - I didn't have to provide register tape and grocery bags, as a waitress I didn't have to buy silverware for my guests, I wouldn't expect nurses to use their own funds for bandages, needles, or gauze. When I worked for a nonprofit battered women's shelter I would make anonymous donations feminine supplies when we ran low but I wasn't expected to provide the bedding or office furniture. No other profession puts the onus on providing basics tools of the job on the employee like teaching does.

Teachers do it because they care, I get it. I 100% understand and know in my heart I would probably do the same. But the big picture developing from watching the coverage of teacher strikes is that now school boards and politicians are basically budgeting with the expectation that teachers will personally fill the gaps.

March 31, 2018

I think the daughter had something to do with poison attack in England

Watching the Richard Engel on assignment piece...
Mentioned that that the man had lost his wife and son, he was kinda estranged from his daughter...who had remained in Russia while he moved to England.

Then just a month ago she comes to visit, they go to pay respects at the wife's grave, and then get sick?

The Russian guy who was familiar with the nerve agent said even if recovered, the person would remain in life support yet she is recovering well?

I can't say if she knowingly or unknowingly had a part in it, but I find the timing suspicious. Because everything in the news is out of some weird spy novel.
Or slapstick comedy
Or horror film.

March 27, 2018

Can I vent for just a few minutes?

So a little background info about me: I'm in my 40's, am a survivor of childhood sexual, physical, emotional and psychological abuse. I have seen therapists off and on since I was 8. For 15 yrs I was actively self-harming (I still struggle with urges and "relapsed" a few months back) and I have been diagnosed by licensed therapists, psychologists and psychiatrists with major depressive disorder, borderline personality disorder and PTSD. For the last 10 yrs I have been unable to work because I basically had a breakdown and I am struggling every day with basic tasks of living.

I say this all so that I can convey that my mental health is a constant struggle ever since I was a child and I understand the stigma and difficulties such as access to affordable care, being believed, getting consistent treatment etc that come with mental illness.

I have a friend who is very wealthy - I say that only because it will be relevant in a second and also because I try to actively check myself from my bias "you are a millionaire-how are you struggling" ...I know mental illness does not see $$ and it's my own personal bias.

My friend is a few years older than me and college educated. But she throws out terms and diagnosis that, in my opinion minimize mental illnesses. Like when someone says they are OCD when they really are just a neat and organized person. She says this about PTSD..first she said she had PTSD about calling a doctor, at first I brushed it off exaggeration. But then she said it again, this time she has PTSD of abandonment because she has had to change doctors.

After internally screaming, I said...I don't want this to come across the wrong way, but that is not what PTSD is. She got defensive and said well I get sick to my stomach so what do you call it..I explained it sounded more like panic (but stating one isn't "better or worse" just treated differently) and attached in a text some explanations from medical websites.

A few days later she was talking about the medications she takes, the cost and that she has "survivor's guilt" that she can afford it. I bit back the urge to say no..that's privilege, survivors guilt is what some of the Parkland students are facing.

The thing is she states she has some serious mental health issues : PTSD, bipolar, bipolar depressive (which I don't think is it's own thing), and some others I have forgotten. But I don't think she has been diagnosed (at least not in the last 15yrs) by her own admission, she has a doctor that she just tells she has a specific diagnosis (never mentions symptoms) and gets some heavy medications that she sometimes takes. It sounds like her doctor is not very ethical..just one that passes out free samples and doesn't do any follow up.

She has been talking about going to a new doctor for medications (not talk therapy) and she needs to get straight all her diagnoses from the last 18 yrs so she can tell them what pills she needs.

I told her to focus on the symptoms of what she is feeling not labels (because it feels like she has a new thing every month). I explained that being on some of the hard core antipsychotic meds if you don't have the chemical imbalance that needs it to begin with, can make things worse.

We have never met in person, we met online in crafting group over 8 yrs ago, but talk nearly every other day via texts and long winded emails.

I am worried that because she doesn't have insurance and can just pay cash, she has had some unethical advice from her pill doctor over the past years. I am frustrated with how flippant she is tossing out diagnoses that she gets from whatever website she was on last because I feel like it minimizes the seriousness of something like PTSD (which I have and is no joke).

Sorry this is so long... I just really needed to vent. I want to be a supportive friend and not judge her.

March 26, 2018

The real victim here is Barron - that poor young man

I mean how gross - how gross to hear about your dad getting spanked by an adult film actress while your mom was pregnant with you (or had just had you), having an affair with a playmate, etc.

I mean Melania knew what she was getting into when she married the ickster.

But for a boy to hear about how awful his dad treated him mom, how little regard his dad had for him, to hear that his dad compared his sex partners to his half-sister (just eww) - and the world knows all of it.

But all trump cares about is how the interview makes him look to his fans -not the impact on his son. Does he even remember he has a young son? Could he pick him out of a line-up of several boys Barron's age?

On edit: I am talking about the sex scandal specifically, not the whole reign of orange terror. Obviously the ICE families torn apart are just one example of true victims.

I was just thinking that tonight all trump cares about is himself, while this poor kid has to hear all this gross stuff. And yes his mom was a nude model, etc etc. I can still feel that tonight the victim here is a kid.