Yeah No

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My state's attorney general, William Tong, is my hero of the day for speaking out on Trump's attack on children of immigrants and moving to sue him for blocking birthright citizenship. Both he and my husband's boss are born in the U.S. to immigrant parents so this issue is personal for them: https://portal.ct.gov/ag/press-releases/2025-press-releases/attorney-general-tong-sues-to-block-unconstitutional-attack-on-birthright-citizenship

Trump's followers conveniently tune out stuff like this and act like it's not Trump's fault if racists like Neo Nazi's follow him. He is a master of putting out vague statements that leave people free to interpret in any way they like. They will conveniently latch on to what they want to hear, interpret it to suit their own particular grievances and tune out the rest. He has contradicted himself many times, claiming to want to bring unity to our divisions and honor MLK's legacy, but then 5 minutes later he's saying and doing things that directly contradict those promises. So his followers can hear what they want to hear and claim he's all about what they want and everyone else is just wrong about him. And he does this on purpose, too. He has his followers wrapped around his finger and they can't even see it. And he will never come out to disassociate himself from the white supremacists and Neo Nazis that love him, but his followers don't even think about that. A lot of them still want to believe he doesn't condone them despite all evidence to the contrary. And he won't do anything to make them think otherwise.

Don't get me wrong, I love Sheldon, and don't mean to insult him, but his social cluelessness and other issues went beyond that to the devious and diabolical. He didn't understand racial or women's issues either and repeatedly insulted them in a racist and sexist manner. His purely logical way of approaching things could be cold and completely dismissive of social convention and people's feelings. BUT, the thing that made him somewhat loveable and tolerable is that if he was corrected by others on these things he usually deferred to their wisdom. Usually is the operative word there. There were times he did not. And he did make some progress in 12 seasons on the show. But Sheldon in Elon's current position would be almost as scary. He had friends, though, that would correct him and rein him in. But his ego wasn't as big as Elon's. Elon's ego is so big that's not the case. Oh, and Sheldon didn't think he needed to be diagnosed with anything. He always said "his mother had him tested" and there was nothing wrong with him, lol.

Just an FYI, that "nasty" Washington Bishop, the Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, is an Episcopalian. I feel that this needs to be underlined because this is the church I am VERY proud to have been raised in and still belong to today. This is the church that stands out among protestant denominations as being on the opposite end of the spectrum on social issues from the religious right, and is not afraid to say it. She is my hero today! I shouldn't be surprised but it just galls me how Trump can demand an apology from and call a bishop that asks him to show mercy and compassion for people "nasty". What a freakin' baby.

They've gone up even since yesterday near me! They're around $6.99 a dozen now. At Walmart they're something like $4.29. I think they're lower at Trader Joe's but I'm due for a visit there so I don't know how much they are today. That is truly scary. It's like we have Sheldon Cooper behind Trump's "throne". And even Sheldon had more of a conscience. You know those executive orders Trump just signed? Those were to undo a lot of stuff Biden did. I have been watching pre-code movies and Harold Lloyd silents on TCM for comic relief.

I forgot to add that my husband had to work 11 hour days without lunch for decades with no extra pay. It was just what was expected in his position (service writer and later assistant manager) in car dealership service departments. Talk about lack of work/life balance! When he was laid off with most of his department during the 2008 recession they hired young people to do the job but paid them less and didn't expect them to know anything about cars. And they weren't expected to work 11 hour days either. When he worked it out by the hour he was actually paid less than they were. He is still shocked by how little the service people know about cars anymore.

I feel bad for the "kids nowadays" but it wasn't that different for the average worker when I worked either, which ended about 9 years ago. We older people just didn't used to complain about it as much. We accepted it as part of our lot in life or just a fact of life like death and taxes. If anything, bosses and companies were more likely to crack the whip and be stingy with raises and benefits in some fields, especially with women. Maybe if you had a union it was a little better, but most people haven't had the benefit of those for a long time now. It's been a long, long time since things were that much easier, and when they were, they definitely weren't easier for women in general. In many of my jobs I was expected to work frequent overtime and if I had personal issues that made that difficult, too bad. The only women that were given any slack at all with that were mothers and I wasn't one. And even then it wasn't much. Also pensions have been going away for a long time and decent retirement and health benefits too. My husband never got any retirement benefits and actually had to rely on coverage through my health insurance because he never got much as an automotive service writer/manager. If they offered anything the premiums were sky high. This issue is one I'd say is getting a lot of attention because the young people today have higher expectations, but it's really nothing all that new. Also, and this is something I noticed in my last few years on the job is that the younger employees (mostly Millennials) were given more perks and advantages than the older ones. They were seen as more desirable by management so they were catered to in terms of being given preferential treatment for promotions and raises, even when older employees were more deserving. And being the exec. assistant in my department I saw everything that was going on and this effect was striking to me. We older workers knew that management would love to get rid of us and in my company's case they found "creative" ways to do that. In my case they terminated me after I fell in their parking lot thanks to their negligence after construction was done. I was on workers' comp. but they didn't care, they just decided to terminate me with no justification, which in my state is OK. They just didn't factor in that it's against the law to terminate someone collecting workers' comp. so I won a lawsuit against them for that. And I knew many other older, valuable employees that were also terminated for no reason. And this was a big Fortune 500 product company, too. A household name. And they got away with it. My law firm told me it would be very difficult to prove what they were doing even though there was a LOT of evidence. Anyway, my point is it's not just young people that have something to bitch about in the working world.

How about after the war? I think the period after WWII straight through the 1950s was one of the most talked about eras of unity in the US thanks to an economic boom and the unity still felt after fighting a common enemy. That period lasted for more or less a decade. It's one reason why they named a show "Happy Days", LOL. I was born in the late '50s so I don't remember much of that decade but I do remember enough about it to know how things were, and learned more thanks to my parents who were both WWII vets and talked about such things a lot. My political friend is insistent that things will turn blue in 2 years. So I'm going with that! Oh for sure, but he's the profane instrument that God is using to bring good out of, remember? They've deliberately twisted things in their minds to forgive his profane ways.

Are wars considered tragedies? Because if allowed I'd say during WWII after Pearl Harbor before the death of FDR. Actually right after WWII might qualify too.

That's similar to the way my mother and I almost bumped right into her in NYC in the '70s, although it wasn't after a protest. We gushed like fangirls about how much she inspired us and how we subscribed to Ms. Magazine, so we weren't much better, lol. And my mother was rarely at a loss for words, either. Thank you SO much, your entire post resonates with me as I have been in that position myself, quibbling over minor things and being made to feel like I might as well be a Trump supporter. Only it was right here on this board, LOL. But that was months ago now. Since then I am feeling much better heard and understood. My very political friend has been chanting just this for months now and I believe him (and you). Exactly. Again, been there over similar stuff, have the T shirt. As one who has felt "knifed" in a discussion about something minor, I wholeheartedly agree!