Yeah No

Sounds like an oxymoron.

Can you share what brand it is? Thanks.

Anyone that knows me, even here on this board, knows that I am a big proponent of personal responsibility. Just because I think it's only fair to consider a person's circumstances, which may involve victimhood to some degree, doesn't mean I excuse away their ultimate responsibility for their actions. I just think it can be mitigated somewhat in light of those circumstances and how they felt about them. I don't believe in throwing out one aspect in favor of the other. But of course the moderate "middle of the road" position is not popular these days. Either you're labeled a "bleeding heart" that excuses away all responsibility or you're 100% for blaming real victims for their problems. I'm not and never have been either one. I do understand your frustration with people that excuse away all personal responsibility but I don't believe that the answer is to go in the opposite direction and I just felt from what you have written that you were getting close to doing that. Just my opinion!

As a believer in God this would not describe me at all. I have theories about why Trump fed into the mentality of the Southern fundamentalist cultish "Christian" denominations. I think they are especially susceptible to a cult mentality thanks to their religion being one, and all the denial of reality and idolatry that it involves. And that's what you're seeing here. And for them God is basically used as a drug that rules their lives like a despot rules their kingdom. Please note that healthy Christianity from the major mainstream traditions such as Roman Catholic, most Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Lutheran, etc. would not come from that mentality at all. The only "master" anyone serves in those faiths is God and no human is ever given that authority. And even God himself is conceived in very non-human terms. We are not talking about a punishing, authoritarian God here of fire and brimstone, but a God of love and compassion who puts themself at the service of mankind in the person of Jesus, who humbles himself by washing sinner's feet. This is about as far removed from the Trumpian cult mentality as you can GET. And it also shows you how diametrically opposed the Southern Fundamentalist religions can be from mainstream Christianity.

Respectfully, a lack of morality and ethics is a symptom caused by something else. In and of itself it does not make someone commit crimes. A lack of morality and ethics have root causes that need to be looked into to explain why people do the things they do. And for some people those reasons may come back to poverty. Of course poverty isn't the only reason someone might commit a crime. But in many cases it can be a major contributing factor in their choice. And it may lead them to believe they had no other choice. I'm not even saying they had no other choice, just that they believed that they didn't, or that they saw the other choices as too difficult for them to make. Of course this is not true of the Trump family but it's just proof that the causes of compromised morality and ethics are many and varied, and that makes all the difference.

What I would say to Tom is that the guest judges wouldn't be likely to know who cooked the dishes so his objection only goes so far. I too wish this show had more blind tasting after watching TOC for so many seasons where women have won with blind tastings. LOL yeah, I loved that. Being an Italian American, I'm with him. You go to the risotto capital of the world and the word "rice" is even in the title of the dish and you don't use rice? That's even worse than being asked to make a Bolognese and using spaghetti squash. I understand that Americans often take liberties with the "rules" when it comes to Italian food, but when you go to Italy some things about food are sacrosanct. Same thing in France, too.

I resisted the lure of Samsung and LG when I was appliance shopping 5 years ago. LG got better user reviews but Samsung was usually cheaper and had more attractive features. I did notice that some Samsung owners raved while others were very unhappy. So I figured the products aren't consistent. My 20 year old Whirlpool was/is a workhorse. When it needed a small part replaced about 6 years ago (the only service it ever needed) the repair man made a great case for sticking with Whirlpool (and no he didn't work for Whirlpool). And he told us never to get rid of the old fridge if we could help it. When we got a new Whirlpool we put the old one out in the garage where it still works well. The new one has been fantastic. We've had no issues with it so far in 5 years (knock on wood). It's easy to clean and still looks great. It's very solidly built. Although we haven't been able to use the ice maker unfortunately (see above post for why). I hesitate to give recommendations like that because what if you get a lemon, LOL? But I can't help it because I like it that much. BTW in case you aren't aware, Whirlpool used to make most Kenmore appliances. They still make a few but not all (not sure which ones either). So if you miss the "Old Kenmore" they might have been Whirlpool products anyway. Yeah, that's how people get sucked into Samsung and LG. The prices and choices are very attractive. Interesting that your repairman said pretty much what mine did. I didn't mention in my previous response how my repairman said to avoid Samsung and LG and made a very good case for why although I forget exactly what he said now as that was 6 years ago.

That's a big pet peeve of mine too. I have a favorite brand of blow dryer that I've been using for about 20 years now. It's expensive but it's the only one that will tame my wild frizzy mop. Without fail the motor blows out at just about the 4 year mark, of course after the 3 year warranty is up and I end up having to replace it, although I have had a few blow out within the warranty period and have had them replaced. I have tried many other brands but this is the only one I like, although I don't know if I'd have better luck with any of them either. Coincidentally my current dryer just blew out this week and I have another one on order. I get them much cheaper on Ebay "new in box" and so far I haven't had a problem ordering them that way. But they still cost around $150 on Ebay! We have a 5 year old Whirlpool fridge with an inside ice maker in it. We were intending to get the plumbing put in for it but 2 different plumbers told us that would be difficult because of reasons I don't even remember now. They said that even if we did do it it would cost a LOT of money. We didn't anticipate that because the fridge isn't that far from the sink, but it is on the other side of the wall from the garage. So we scrapped that. Then a couple of weeks ago I saw separate ice makers at Home Depot just by chance. I might look into them. I didn't even know they existed! You lived on 8th Street? Over 40 years ago I was down there so often that I might as well have lived there!

Thank you. I am just so over the Massimo bashing. So he has a big personality, big whoop. I feel like people are picking on him just to find something wrong with him. How do they know he'd be hard to live with? I don't care anyway. I don't have to live with him! Does everyone have to be my best friend for me to like them? And I agree with you that Tristen has a big ego. I also agree with @mlp that he seems to have a chip on his shoulder. Massimo's energy is generally positive while Tristen's is not. Of course, we're seeing things they haven't until after the competition. There are a lot of things we never saw about Tristen that I suspect would be less than flattering if we were shown them but no one has ever done that. I was very happy to see that the judges will miss Massimo because I knew he was better than people seemed to think. I don't think they're blind and deaf to what someone is all about even if they don't see everything about him. The way Kristin cried was especially touching.

I'm very happy for Bailey and I definitely think she deserved to go to the finale. No offense to Cesar as I like him too but I do think in general she was the right choice and it has nothing to do with her gender. I was never on board with the Bailey bashing. She is genuinely quirky and offbeat but there's nothing wrong with that. And from what the judges said it looks like her food also fits that description and it's also good. At this point I'm OK with any of them winning.

Don't hate me for saying this but I will be 67 in a couple of months and my skin is pretty smooth for my age and people are always floored when I tell them how old I am. They think I look at least 10 years younger. When I talk to 50 something women in public they all think I'm Gen X and I let them think it. That said, SJP in my opinion has not aged well. Meanwhile I think Kristin Davis looks great for her age as does Cynthia Nixon, but who knows what they have to do to look that way? We already know the disaster of Kristin's lip filler so she must do other things. Where I'm concerned all I can thank is good genes, taking care of myself, eating right, sleeping right, exercise taking the right supplements and Oil of Olay, LOL.

Thank you. I was beginning to think I was alone in that opinion anymore. At the very least he was informed that he was going to be murdered and given the opportunity to take himself out first, which means there will be no trace. I know that this is not political but I have always thought the same about Anthony Bourdain. I do not buy that his death was purely a suicide and that's in spite of knowing he had a history of suicidal ideation. I was a fan of his going way back to "A Cook's Tour" on Food Network a LONG time ago. There were rumors that he had info. on a pedophilia ring that have supposedly since been debunked but I still think he had the goods on someone for something and that someone was out to get him. In the last few months of his life he looked like total crap. I think he was afraid of someone. He was traveling in some social circles at that time because of his then girlfriend that put him in contact with some sketchy people. So even if he did commit suicide it might have been for that reason. I know it's just a theory but it's one I can never shake. And for some reason I do think that he and Epstein's deaths are either related or might concern the same people.

What gets me is that if there weren't so many tax cuts and shelters for the very rich, the rest of us wouldn't be squabbling about whether citizens are being cheated out of services in favor of non-citizens or who really deserves Medicaid, etc. There would be enough public money to make everyone feel adequately addressed. Trump is telling his base that he's looking to take money from people that don't "deserve it" and give it to them when he's really not doing that at all. He's taking it from anyone that isn't rich and giving it to the rich. Why his base is blind to this can only be explained by the cult of Trump.

I don't agree that Elon would already have a video up and running. If he has one he'd rather keep it for leverage and power over Trump for the time being. It's more valuable to him as a threat right now. And just because Trump barred someone from Mar-a-Lago for hitting on an underage girl isn't proof that he wouldn't do something like that in private on an island away from the prying eyes of the public. Trump may be a lot of things but first of all he's almost 80 and no threat to anyone at this point I'm sure. But also I don't get the sense that his tastes run to young boys either. And Elon may know more about that than we do!

I think there's a big difference between helping citizens first and leaving out in the cold anyone that isn't a citizen. And that's what it's come down to with Trump and MAGA. When you help everyone no one is left out in the cold. You can't be picky and choosy about who gets helped because in the end we all pay for it one way or another. Hospitals don't turn injured people away no matter what their immigration status is so in the end we all pay. Not to mention the ethics of turning people away based on citizenship, which aren't good either. The Founding Fathers were very clear that anyone on US soil had rights and right now it looks very clear to me that Trump wants to take a lot of those rights away from non-citizens whether they are legal here or not. I don't think anyone should feel left out or cheated, especially citizens, but I'm not convinced that there has been any favoritism shown to non-citizens. In fact I have read that the facts wouldn't support that. And I'm sure one of our "bullet point" people here can enumerate them. I don't know if it's a myth that non-citizens get favored so I can't speak to that. I just think that any help to non-citizens is being taken as depriving citizens of better help. But again this is a big picture thing and denying non-citizens help comes back to hurt us all in the end. I just think what MAGA has become leaves people out in the cold that need help and I'm not for that no matter what their immigration status. Maybe some creative solutions need to be found.

Yeah, despite my better instincts I'm going to respond to this.... You do realize that many criminals come from fine families where they were taught good values... Being taught good values at home is no guarantee that any person is going to turn out with those same values. And also, many people with fine values that find themselves in desperate circumstances can go against those values when they feel like they have no better choice. And theft and drug dealing are not an "easy road" either. Would anyone choose to do those things if they felt they had better legitimate opportunities? Maybe some, but not most. These are people that don't see another way. Whether they're right about that or not is another question, but the point is they wouldn't choose to do those things if they thought they had better options. They may not think those options would work for them even if there were better options. They may not feel like they could do them justice or that the world would let them succeed at them. Poor decisions don't happen in a vacuum. Disadvantaged people don't have a wealth of opportunity right in front of them to choose from. If all they see are drugs and violence for them that's the world and the only way to succeed in it is to learn how to survive in it. And that doesn't exactly put you at the top of Maslow's hierarchy in terms of self-actualization. You can't even imagine a world where there are such high level pursuits and satisfactions, especially ones that YOU can choose to do. That's way too much to expect of them. I come from a similar family. We were actually pretty fortunate even if poor. We're talking about people that are much less fortunate than we were. The only culture they know is one where no one gets anywhere and makes very much money, and just surviving is almost impossible. So their attitude becomes why even bother if the best I can do is that bad? I can understand why they'd want to escape somehow. These are people that don't learn the skills necessary to pull themselves up. But when you're starting from that far down it's a very long way up. I came from a culture where we were taught to pull ourselves up. But we are talking about people that even if taught that at home don't see how to make it happen in their own lives when they are out in the world. Everything and everyone they see only leads to nothing and nowhere. None of their peers give them any hope either. So of course they look for an way to escape that tragedy. Because there doesn't seem to be any other choice. And looking at things from their perspective, can I blame them? No. I can't. And people loot for many reasons, one of which is actually survival after a natural disaster. Other reasons can be because they feel wronged and that they deserve things they haven't gotten legitimately. This usually happens in the context of some kind of social issue that brings up those feelings, like a racial issue where someone they identify with was in their view wronged and it devolves into demonstrations and unrest. It can be motivated by retribution for those wrongs. And yes it can be motivated from not having enough money to make ends meet. So it's not just people helping themselves to things because they're entitled and have enough but life's just not perfect enough for them. Not by a long shot. Also, I can assure you that I have never come from a "cushioned class" nor have I ever believed in any form of moral relativism. In fact, I grew up lower middle class in terms of income. And I know a lot more about moral relativism than the average person because I specialized in Ethics while majoring in Philosophy in college at a Jesuit University. So you can take it to the bank when I say that my position on this does not come from any form of moral relativism whatsoever. And it does not excuse bad behavior either. It seeks to understand bad behavior by understanding people, their feelings and their circumstances. It was the major focus of my graduate studies in Counseling Psychology. And usually when you understand what people are facing you have empathy for them. You don't judge them and blame them. You have compassion. It doesn't mean you excuse their bad behavior, but it does mean you want to help them see that they can find ways to make better choices. In some cases that's much harder and even more impossible than in others. I thought I was jaded and cynical but it appears that I'm not as bad as I thought I was!

I think everyone has their limit and whatever it is that Elon has on Trump makes Trump nervous. Which makes me think it's got to be pretty bad and pretty ironclad. I know I've posted this theory before pages back way before Elon's comment. So if Elon has stuff on Trump that Trump doesn't want made public he might treat Elon with kid gloves rather than fight back and dirty at this comment. That's not to say he won't do some nasty things to Elon, he just won't respond to this Epstein thing in kind. We'll have to see how he reacts. If he just lets the Epstein file comment roll that will lead me to believe that Trump is really afraid of Musk and that Musk has some really bad shit on Trump that he is worried about being made public. I've actually been wondering this all along and I know I've posted this theory pages back. This theory would explain why Trump was so accommodating of Elon and took him on the way he did with DOGE. So for me this whole feud is absolutely NO surprise and only gives more credence to my earlier theory! I knew all that had to happen was Trump pissing off Elon and there would be a nasty falling out and hints about dirt. I just can't believe it actually happened! Yes, this is an alternate theory. Yes, could be. Unfortunately Vance might be even worse than Trump because he actually knows how government works! Yeah it could be a faked feud designed to distract. That wouldn't surprise me either. Like a scripted reality show. And it would be consistent with Trump for that to be the case. Everyone thinks Trump's base wouldn't care about anything he did, but pedophilia is one thing that no one can come back from, not even Trump. I have been thinking for months now that whatever Musk has on Trump it has to be very bad to make Trump kiss his ass the way he did up to now since he took office in January. But we know Trump couldn't keep that up. Eventually he got negative with Elon and Elon struck back. Yes it's not news to me at all but so far it's all been hearsay with no proof so it's easy to dismiss. I think whatever Musk has must be irrefutable evidence or else Trump wouldn't have been letting Musk do what he was doing with DOGE for all these months. I think whatever it is makes Trump worry. I have felt that Trump was humoring Musk because he knew he had to appease him for some reason. And this may be the reason. Although, if one wants to go even further into theories, even conspiracy theories, I have sometimes wondered if Epstein was murdered to keep him quiet (I know people have debunked that but whoever had it done would have to be rich and powerful enough to make it possible). If so, Musk takes a risk talking like he knows about dirt on Trump because others with power, money and something to hide re: Epstein might worry he has dirt on THEM too.

Yeah the only thing is that My machine looks like it's seen better days. The controls are all yellowed from age and I don't think it's working up to the level it once did. But it's still not worth getting rid of at this point. My dryer isn't as old as the washer and it's a Whirlpool. It's probably about 20 years old (I don't really know because it came with the house). But it looks and works great and I have no desire to replace it. I know I've previously posted about my old fridge which was first purchased in 2005. It's now out in my garage and still working very well. Knock wood but we've had virtually zero issues. The new one in the kitchen is from 2020, manufactured pre-pandemic and also a Whirlpool. So far so good. Sorry about the capitalized "M" in "my" above, I just don't feel like editing it, lol.

Republicans will go against their preferences to remain in power. They are not idealists as a whole. They don't stand on principle even when it is a crime against humanity not to do so. Or they're unable to recognize their denial about compromising their principles and find ways of rationalizing what they're doing. But among the voters there's a kind of "quiet quitting" going on if the statistics are any indication. I read somewhere and posted the stats here that most Republicans are against privatization of the Post Office. I couldn't find stats. on the Dept. of Education but I'm sure many are not on board with that but just don't care enough to stand against it. So in order to keep their party in power or out of some misguided sense of loyalty in spite of so many of these things that should turn them off, some of them are still willing to vote Republican. But that number seems to be shrinking as more of them reach their limit of tolerance. We can only hope it continues. We complain about how outrageous Trump and MAGA are getting, esp. with the "BBB", but it may be the best thing to come along from our point of view to get Republicans to WAKE UP!

Yeah, I saw that. This is one reason I still have my 25+ year old Maytag washer. From what I read in reviews and what friends are telling me, as long as the machine still works I shouldn't get rid of it.

Yes, it has been MAGA and the ultra-Right's plan all along, but I don't believe all Republicans were on board with all this privatization before Trump and MAGA. My husband was not on board with it and still not on board with it. Before Trump there were "middle of the road" Republicans that supported some government-run things. They didn't want to do away with the Dept. of Education and the Post Office. And many of them still don't but refuse to vote against it or acknowledge that the Ultra-Right has taken over their party. At least my husband is not one of them. But if the trend toward more people identifying as Independent is any indication, many of them are like my husband that have become disaffected by their own party. I know this has happened with Democrats too but I'm sure many Republicans are doing it as well.

Little known fact about me - After grad. school I counseled disadvantaged kids in a Federally funded program at a college. It broke my heart. I ended up leaving the job after a year for unrelated reasons but it made me think about this situation a lot. Once you know people first hand and up close, things look very different. The problem is it's hard to find Republicans that will allow themselves to get that close to this to think differently about it.

I know Linda McMahon from way back in 2010 when she ran against Dick Blumenthal for Senate in CT and lost, and then again a couple of years later to Chris Murphy. Interestingly even when my husband was voting Republican he detested her, not that he voted for any of the above either. But what I don't understand about the lock-step Republicans is that just because of the cult of personality surrounding Trump, they've allowed themselves to become on board with THE most wacko Right Wing opinions and platforms like the privatization of Education. They claim that the Democratic party has been taken over by very far left wing Progressives, but that is FAR less the case than it is with the Republican Party being taken over by the ultra-far-Right. And it's scary that they don't even see it. They are so blinded by their allegiance to Trump that they don't even recognize what they're doing.And suddenly they're miraculously on board with doing away with public Education, Post Office, cutting every government program that helps anyone (including THEM), criminalizing poverty, etc., etc., etc. It's just amazing to me that they have been used like this and yet project all of that onto Democrats as if we're all the same and all want what the ultra Left wants, and that we all support that and would vote for that. They couldn't be more wrong. For better or worse, Democrats stick to their principles even if they become divided over it. But most Republicans have been "convinced" thanks to Trump's power over them to support THE most wacko right wing policies. And then they wonder why we compare them with Nazi Germany??? Unbelievable!

I see that point of view as very short-sighted. Many criminals become so because they see no way out of their poverty and can't find legal ways to climb out of it. And it's often not because they refuse to choose available legal ways. It's because they're in a no-win situation and once they believe that it's all the harder to get them to accept legal alternatives even when presented to them. I'm sure depression is a big factor here and no one can climb out of any personal rut when chronically depressed. The situation in individual cases is always more complicated than it looks. Helping them would not necessarily involve inviting them into anyone's home. Maybe concentrating on improving ways for poor people to climb out of poverty might be a better way to do it. Maybe give them a reason to see a way out. I don't think we as a society in general have been too good at that no matter who is setting public policy, and better solutions need to be found, but blaming the poor for their problems is very unfair and again, short-sighted. And I don't see what Trump and MAGA as trying to help the poor. No, in fact just the opposite. They are leaving the poor out in the cold. Up shit's creek without a paddle. And this is somehow going to improve society as a whole? Society needs to be looked at as a whole, not only in terms of "what's good for me" because the stuff you don't care about will come back to bite you in the butt in in the form of more crime and poverty, which affects us all. The very rich like Trump don't GAF if we have to put up with more crime. He'll just insulate himself with his money. As long as he gets out his revenge on whoever he's scapegoating he's good. But we ALL pay for that in the end. Turning one's back on the poor and blaming them comes back to us eventually. We're all in this together. One would hope, but I don't have the confidence you do that Trump isn't going to call someone like my friend "able bodied". I believe the goal is to deny Medicaid to people that really deserve it in the name of "cutting the fat" or whatever they want us to believe they're doing. They want to claim that anyone except quadriplegics are "able bodied". After all, paraplegics can use their hands to push keys on a keyboard - so they're "able bodied" enough for a job doing that, right? 🙄😏 I'm being sarcastic to make a point here. In whose opinion is someone "able bodied"? A lot of people suffer from mental conditions that go undiagnosed too. More money would have to be spend deciding just who is and isn't "worthy" of receiving such benefits and in my opinion if the Right has any say in the matter more excuses will be found to deny people truly in need than to grant them coverage.

Awww, that's too bad. Speaking of pet peeves, that's one of mine - That they discontinue things that were very useful like that. These days it's often the case that when something gets redesigned it isn't an improvement at all. If you could get used to a few less cubic feet this one is short enough to fit. 2.7 Cubic Foot Washer at Best Buy