Yeah No

Often when Republicans claim there is corruption, there is far less of it than they think. They have just been pumped up and made paranoid by their TV, radio and online mouthpieces to see conspiracies everywhere that don't exist. And Trump and Musk are doing some of the pumping themselves. It's what keeps their base loyal to them in thinking that Democrats are all corrupt and letting money go to people that "don't deserve it". It's a main part of their platform. Meanwhile a lot of what they are claiming is not something only Democrats even have control over much less have taken control of to any degree to give to "people that don't deserve it". It's amazing how Republicans tend to believe in it, though, despite that. When my father died in 2020 you'd better believe that SS was notified POST HASTE and he was IMMEDIATELY cut off from receiving benefits. As soon as a death certificate is signed the gov't. is notified and they are cut off. I was actually surprised at how efficiently and quickly this happened.

LOL, you must be just around my age because of the Luke and Laura thing. In NYC GH came on at 3:00 p.m. so it was usually after most classes, and the year I lived on campus my suitemates all congregated in the suite room to watch it. In fact that's how I got hooked on GH in the first place. Only I got my entire family hooked on it including my mother, my father AND my husband to be, LOL if you can believe that. And we used to videotape it and watch it together for years. My very first Psych. class was like that, that's how I recognized it. I didn't major in it as an undergrad. so I took that kind of course myself. Looking back on it, it wasn't much of a real Psych. class. That's interesting and it actually might prove something I've talked about on this thread, and that's that many Republicans are not part of the whole MAGA white male grievance thing. My husband was one of them. He was more of a "fiscal Republican". But because he keeps his ears open to what's going on around him he could not ignore or not be aware of who was supporting Trump and why either. He listened to the TV, radio and online mouthpieces and heard the inherent racism and sexism from them first hand. And so did I, unfortunately. I still shudder when thinking about how Tucker Carlson all by himself stoked fear in white people that the Dems. were coming for their jobs and their money to give it all to minorities in the form of gov't handouts and DEI. I saw this first hand and there was NO MISTAKING what he meant by what he said. And even I remember hearing all over the news about how Trump won in 2016 because the Democrats didn't appeal to the lower middle and poor whites, especially white men, who felt that Democrats didn't care about them and thought they were "privileged" when they didn't feel privileged themselves. Meanwhile Trump somehow convinced them that he was on their side and would make sure they got their due. He also stoked their grievances in the process. And white men are all over online ranting about how Democrats have demonized them and turned their backs on them in favor of minorities and DEI, etc.... Incidentally this is why DEI is such a pin in their livers - because they feel that THEY are on the receiving end of racism and that positions that they should be getting are going to minorities who "don't deserve them". This has been all over the news for years now too. I have even been vocal about how the Democratic party needs to find a way to reach these white men and convince them that they are on their side and that Trump and MAGA isn't. But it feels too late for that now, unfortunately. Oh the MAGA guys made it a "white male thing", at least for them. White men were far more likely to vote for Trump than any other group in this election as far as I remember from looking at the statistics. And while some Trump gains were made among Hispanics it did not amount to changing the fact that as a group they still tended to vote Democratic. The gains only prove that slightly more of them were voting based on what they thought Trump would do for their wallets this time and not on other factors. I really have no idea how Republican women feel about all of this white male MAGA grievance stuff. Maybe I was right when I posted a while back that Trump supporters take what they want from what they THINK Trump represents to THEM and don't care about the rest or what it means. Again, I really don't know. Thank you. This is precisely what my husband could not ignore anymore and why he no longer considers himself a Republican.

REALLY? You can't swing a dead cat without hitting one of these "horrible" Republicans, seriously! All you have to do is listen to the TV and online pundits and MAGA mouthpieces and it's a constant torrent from them. And I was referring to Republicans in general, not you directly about what I think is implied by what they say. If that's not you I'd like to know why because I seriously don't understand. I am pretty good at reading the hidden messages in things and many of them are meaning just what I said. This business with the grievance mentality that poor whites are being ignored and Democrats are giving everything to minorities is one of their biggest axes to grind. I have been around many Republicans in my life who have not held back their real opinions around me, thinking I sympathized with them and let me tell you, I am NOT imagining this by a long shot! I don't live in a Democratic bubble. Remember, my husband was a Republican for a long time. But this stuff is mostly a white male thing and I think a lot of Republican women are not really aware of what it's all about or how it's driving their party. I am, unfortunately all too aware of it. YMMV. Yes, I have an M.S.Ed. in Counseling Psychology. It sounds to me like you took what we used to call at my school a "gut" class, meaning that it was barely a real Psychology class, or Psych. for people not interested in Psych. but just need the credits to fulfill their degree requirements. It's not really what I would consider a true Psych. class. But I am far from not being a scientifically oriented type either. Well, if what he's been saying and doing is any indication I'll believe that when I see it. And so far I don't believe that he's not going to try to mess with my Social Security. I think Republicans have too much faith in these people. They are not looking out for your good. You are not special to them. One day they will cut your money and then how will you feel about them? Republicans have had it in for Social Security for a long time. Musk has called it a "Ponzi Scheme". That doesn't sound like someone that wants to protect my SS benefits. Believe what you want, though.

You know, for the first time in my life I'm worried about collecting my Social Security money. Last month I JUST put in to receive it because I am going to turn 66 and 8 months soon which is my full retirement age. With all the cuts to the gov't. employees now I worry that it will not be processed in time and there will be a delay in receiving it. But I also worry that Musk will mess with SS and I won't receive my full benefits. And forget about my retirement accounts. I don't even want to look at them after hearing about the dip the stock market has taken. My husband is going to be 69 soon and is still working full time. I don't know how long he can manage to keep that up safely as he drives for a living (I worry about him all the time), and how well we will do if he has to fully retire. This shit is real for a lot of people and I didn't have these worries when Biden was president. And I shouldn't have to worry about this crap on the eve of my full retirement either. Even if I just think about my own interests there are a LOT of reasons for me not to be happy with Trump and the Republicans right now.

The thing is that if you continue to support Trump and his MAGA crew those who really need it aren't going to get it either. Instead of finding ways to make sure it goes to who needs it, they'll make everyone pay for it by cutting it for those who need it too without distinguishing them from anyone that might be getting it unfairly. But knowing how hard it is to qualify for that kind of aid I don't even know if I'd believe there are that many receiving it that don't deserve it. I have personally known a few people who DID deserve it that didn't get it. And of those people I knew exactly how many times they went before a judge to substantiate their need but despite a lot of proof still didn't get it. So it's not as easy as all that to get in the first place and the judges are programmed to say "no" much more than "yes". So again, I don't know if I believe that there's that much corruption with that.

It's about as funny as a crutch, as my Dad used to say 😉....But actually very similar to what my husband did with his globe one day a couple of weeks back. If we didn't laugh about it, we'd cry. It's not just the time it takes to make them. Even healthy "quick" food costs more. Like organic rotisserie chicken which costs over $10.00 in the supermarket. It's MUCH lower in sodium than the non-organic variety and the quality of the chicken is better. I have had to switch to that because of my blood pressure. Otherwise I'd have to cook my own chicken, which can be just as expensive. I used to see this at the beach in NY 40+ years ago and it shocked me then. It was being done by poor people. Really? So I'm too damned lazy to cook anymore? Look, I'm old and have less energy than I used to thanks to my age and medical conditions, etc. And I can't afford a maid so I have to have energy to take care of my house and my life so I have to rely on shortcuts more often. And BTW I keep track of these things and most of the rotisserie chickens are LESS expensive than the raw whole chickens! You and me both, sister. I'm about your age so I get it. I feel like we just went way backward. All of that progress that started 50+ years ago is down the drain now. It's depressing for those of us that were so happy to see these changes when we were young. Thank you SO MUCH for this! I am going to have to look into this because it's very much like what I've been experiencing as I get older. I don't know how I used to do all I did in a day when I was younger. Now I have to pick and choose carefully and I still don't feel like I get everything accomplished to my satisfaction anymore. It's not just about chronic illness but applies to getting older, especially after 60-65. I see it with all of my friends and my husband in my age bracket too. It's just a fact of life as we get older. Don't forget people now in their 60s, many of whom are later Boomers. We are woefully underrepresented in politics in high profile positions of power. Just about the only people from MY general age bracket that have achieved any position in that category was Obama, who is now 63, and Kamala Harris who is now 60. We often get lumped in with people like Trump who straddle the line between Boomer and Silent Generation. There is NO WAY that man is from MY generation, sorry. Thanks to the movie "Field of Dreams", there's a saying about people like Trump. He "had two '50s and moved right into the '70s". If you lived through the '60s and '70s you would understand that phrase. Some people never progressed with all the societal changes of the 1960s. They seemed to pass right by them and ended up in the 1970s unchanged. That's Trump to a T. Again, Hillary and Eliz. Warren are both older Boomers, practically straddling the line to the generation before them. People in my age bracket don't identify with their generation. Amy Klobuchar is in my age bracket (64) and I would hope not be considered "too old" to still be active in politics. But she never got as far as she should have either for the same reasons as the younger generations - because the really old guard won't let go and somehow keep getting elected. But people in my age bracket are routinely passed over and are already being put out to pasture as people call for Gen X and Millennials to replace the people in their late 70s and 80s. Kamala Harris is a younger Boomer at 60 and again, didn't get her fair shake either thanks to Trump, the oldest candidate to ever run for president that should have never run much less won. So we too are being affected by the phenomenon but people forget about us and want to pass right over us to the younger generations.

Sorry to be answering old posts but I'm still catching up after my week away. It's not a performance review when you're being asked to justify your existence or be fired. A performance review isn't done for the express purpose of deciding whether you stay or go. It might be used as part of a justification for letting you go but it's not done for that purpose. And often if they want to let you go it might not have anything to do with your performance or how you did on your performance review. This is one thing that boggles my mind. What kind of mental gymnastics have to be done to explain this away? That Trump can't help it if Nazi's support him and that he doesn't sympathize with them or encourage them to support him? Because he obviously does encourage them and never speaks out against those that follow him. One would think he'd try to distance himself from them but he doesn't. And they support him for a reason and it's not because Trump doesn't represent them. Obviously he does or they wouldn't be supporting him. But it's crickets from Trump supporters on that subject. Either they don't mind it or they're lying to themselves about it. I don't think DOGE is qualified to know what these employees should be doing. They are not their supervisors and if they think they're going to get any real information from the answers they are delusional or just using it as an excuse to get rid of whoever they want by claiming they did so based on answers they found "unsatisfactory". If these people's supervisors are not consulted then it's totally bogus and designed to justify axing whoever they want for whatever reason they want. Sometimes we can't help our own country if we don't help other countries. We're not in this alone. We are all interdependent upon one another. Hunkering down and isolating ourselves from the rest of the world comes back to bite us in the rear end. So it's not even just done out of the goodness of our hearts to aid other countries, but to protect our own interests too. But Republicans often forget that. And Republicans are always complaining about Democrats helping the poor and downtrodden Americans, so I don't get this stuff about helping Americans first. They think the poor should all pull themselves up by their bootstraps and tough it out. So I don't know where this "help Americans first" stuff is coming from. Oh, that's right, I forgot that it's about helping white, non-ethnic Americans first. White Republicans don't even like it when we help non-white Americans. Also, I keep hearing about the massive deficit. Incidentally under Republican presidents the deficit has continued to grow and so I don't know why this is always chanted like it's some kind of malaise we are under thanks to Democrats. I don't see any solutions coming from Republicans in office about this. Their solutions are to lower taxes for the rich meanwhile the deficit continues to grow. Exactly, and what I would have said myself! That's something that was written by Stephen Covey, who was not a psychologist but a businessman and popular author. I wouldn't take that as any kind of gospel truth of Psychology or human nature. Coming from him it's what I would consider "pop schlock" motivational speaking and I wonder why anything of that nature would be part of a Psychology class. Of course everyone thinks they're an expert. But what do I know, I only have a master's degree in Psychology? This is what I don't understand. Republicans are always down on Democrats for helping our own citizens too. Now suddenly they're on board with helping them? Usually they're carping on how much money is "wasted" on helping poor Americans who should be helping themselves but are "lazy". Unless they're really talking about helping Americans who aren't poor and just want more money spent on them because they somehow think they deserve it more than the poor and downtrodden. I still don't get it.

Wow, it's already been a year since last season premiered, I can hardly believe it. Not that I'm complaining, mind you! And I love that it's set in Canada this time!

I just caught up with this episode and haven't had a chance to read the whole thread yet, but I just wanted to say that whether or not Ellie's overdose was a reaction to losing custody of Alfie, I'm sure that given the circumstances and timing surrounding it Matty still felt to blame for it and hence Ellie's death. And that's why she was so eager to launch a crusade against the drug company and the law firm for potentially hiding evidence - because it would help her feel less guilty if she could find evidence to show that both of them were ultimately responsible for her daughter's death. If ultimate responsibility can be pinned on them it would make her feel less to blame for what happened.

I've considered their perspective but it's woefully uninformed and unrealistic. We can't go back to being completely self-sufficient without creating consequences that none of these people would be willing to face. It would be almost impossible to achieve to anyone's satisfaction. Part of the reason we have such sophisticated technology at pretty reasonable prices is because certain components are being made very cheaply overseas. If they were to be made here it would cost a fortune even with workers making minimum wage. No one, not even MAGAs would want to spend that kind of money on things just because they were made in the US. And tell me which MAGAs would be willing to work in sweatshop conditions for minimum wage or less in the first place? Do they even have any idea what it would be like for them if the companies were to be profitable? They wouldn't even want those jobs and yet they want them back, thinking that they would be at a fair wage with benefits, capable of supporting a family - in other words, they're in a dream world! And we don't even have all the necessary resources and materials here in the US to make those things at a reasonable price. Some of those things would have to be imported. Now granted, there may be a limited number of things that can be brought back to the U.S. but it won't be anywhere near on the grand scale these people think it will be. They're living inside of some kind of 1950s fantasy if they believe that. But sadly, they do, and all because they believe the lies.

I know this post is a week old by now, but this is something I've gone through too. We've had this anti-intellectual thing going on in the U.S. for quite a while now but it found legitimacy and a "proud" identity through Trump. Now people are defiantly ignorant and act snobby toward anyone with any class/culture/knowledge/education. Now anyone with a YouTube channel considers themselves an "expert" in just about anything and will tell genuine experts they're wrong. Going on a cruise is an interesting experience. I've been on 3 so far now and the vibe is different on every ship and destination. You see a cross section of society. On this cruise we met people from all over the U.S. and even Canada and the U.K. And the ship staff and service workers were from all over the globe. On this particular cruise we felt that there was a population of those anti-intellectual types. Nice people and not poor or even close, but just average people in every way. But I'm seeing that average is so much less sophisticated and informed than it used to be. I think people's opinions are being more affected by other people's opinions than they are by facts. And the facts are twisted by those other people. So in the end many of them are being misled and don't even realize it. My husband and I booked a class of cabin that came along with eating in a special dining room that was exclusive to people in that class. The food and service was billed as slightly more upscale and gourmet than the main dining room. One night we decided to eat in the main dining room because it was offering a menu we liked. We were seated next to a very nice couple and began a conversation. We were talking about our experiences on the cruise and how much we liked it and my husband happened to mention how good the food was in the other dining room and how we were going to eat in the sushi restaurant. They were frequent cruisers and knew what that meant. The woman looked at me and said, "Oh we're NOT food people", like she took mentioning those things as a sign that we were "food snobs" or as a snub of the regular dining room (which it wasn't, because obviously we chose to eat there on occasion). But the way she said it cut me off in mid sentence. It made me feel like she was snubbing US for mentioning it, while we had no intention of making them feel "less than" by mentioning it. After that I couldn't help but notice how many people on this cruise gravitated toward typical fast food fare like burgers and fries to the exclusion of everything else. I really hadn't seen too much of that on my previous two cruises to be honest. Look I love burgers and fries too, but when I go on a cruise I want to eat food I can't get at home that easily or that's expensive or very involved to cook or order in a restaurant. I'm definitely not a food snob. But I guess now even mentioning that you eat certain things or go to certain restaurants will bring on a defensive attitude in some people. I don't care what other people eat but please don't think that just because I like gourmet food and sushi that I'm a "food snob" and trying to make you feel "less than" Anyway that's just another example of the defiant defensiveness of some people toward anything they perceive as outclassing them.

Thank you all, it was the opportunity of a lifetime. I never thought I'd ever be able to do this so it was even more wonderful because of that. And yes, it was just the thing we needed after the last few crazy months. Oh sure, there's no way anyone can completely escape the freak show thanks to intrusive news feeds and newspaper headline emails, but it was much easier to minimize our exposure to it than it is at home. I didn't realize how much it all was bothering me until this trip. But now it's unfortunately back to reality. And it's always good to be home and back with all of you here.

Hi All, I just got back from a week long Caribbean cruise that passed through the Gulf of Mexico (yes, MEXICO) and before I catch up on a week's worth of posts I just thought I'd share with you a couple of faith restoring maps I saw on both my flight and cruise ship's tracking features: Good for them for not giving into changing the name! By the way we had a fantastic time and visited Mexico and other Caribbean destinations for the first time in our lives. It was really tough to have to come back to weather in the 30s Fahrenheit!

Yes that was me. It almost feels like Jim doesn't want to do any work. The way he acted about Georgie's ideas felt like he wanted to put himself out of business. You'd think he had a secret bank account somewhere. Yep, and I'm one of them. I just can't get over it.

Yeah it could happen that that more gun toting nuts like the one that made the recent assassination attempt on him might band together. Most of those fanatics are not willing to turn against their dear leader any time soon, though, but the crazier he gets the more people might get fed up. My fear is that those nuts that are most devoted to him can be turned against anyone that isn't "one of them". They'll defend the tyranny from anyone who isn't on board with Trump. A very scary thought.

That's interesting. In case you haven't heard, the show has recently been canceled.

We can only hope! The MAGAs will take a bullet for him but I don't know about the rich because $$ is everything to them. Preferably way back to before the 2016 election when there was still a chance that he could have lost the first time. If that could have been prevented in the first place we wouldn't be here right now. That's when the most pain and suffering could have been averted. But how someone in their time machine could go back and prevent it is the question. What could they have done to change the outcome? Told Hilary to campaign in the fly-over states more? I really don't know.

I didn't hate this episode but I didn't love it either. I'm more focused on the realistic car repair shop sets, LOL. I feel like they're not putting much effort into this and the situations and characters are boring. Although I did like the scenes at the competitor's tire shop and Audrey's interactions with Fred. They could have done so much more to make this laugh out loud funny.

I love Matthew Broderick and this episode but I have a minor nitpick with the way he played this role. Pretty much no one in admissions is "stuffy". Most are gladhanding, outgoing "people people", similar to a salespeople. Now sinister is something I have witnessed in college admissions. The director I worked under was a malignant narcissist that favored certain candidates over others based on how much money their parents contributed to the school, etc. The admissions committee had to be made up of people that would defer to that. And they did. I saw grades and SAT scores that never should have been accepted. He later went to another university and when he was fired from there went into business for himself doing just what Matthew Broderick was doing here. I saw him interviewed online a couple of years ago talking about how ethics is very important in that business but why do I not believe him? I could have seen him play this role very easily. No offense to Matthew but I can't get that out of my head.

If they do they're being very, very quiet about it. Or rationalizing why it's not so bad, or telling themselves that it would have been worse with a Democrat in office. I felt that way and posted that here on this thread the day after election day. I called it "Biff's World" after "Back to the Future Part II". The writer of that movie actually once said in 2015 that he was thinking of Trump when he wrote it. This is Biff's world if taken to it's worst nightmare extreme. Someone needs to get in their DeLorean to correct this because this was NOT the timeline we were supposed to get. My husband didn't vote either but at least his non-vote wouldn't have changed anything because Harris was a sure bet to win in CT. But I'm still mad at him. Love him but still mad. Oh for sure. I could even see them staging another January 6 but this time worse if Biden had done even half of this shit. Interestingly I think Trump would pass a cognitive test. He is demented emotionally, only I don't know if there's a test for that, at least not one that would give him a diagnosis. My father was like that at 90. He was sharp as a tack about current events and could ace a cognitive test, but suddenly he started telling fibs, making bad decisions and acting more like a rebellious teenager than the honest, responsible guy I knew all my life. But that was on a much smaller scale than with Trump. He didn't start out a decent, nice guy like my father did with good common sense and caring about others. So when his emotional maturity becomes compromised it's much, much worse. I seriously think this might be happening with Trump. This is on a new level, even for him. It's seriously wackadoodle. And yes, it is crickets. The few I've heard are either not aware of what's really going on and avoid learning about it or seeing it and still in denial about how bad it has gotten. My husband is avoiding the news because every time he sees something new it makes him very upset. He just found out about their intentions with the Post Office and he told me it made him very mad but he didn't want to talk about it.

True but I don't even think he represents the MAGA people past what they're doing for HIM. As we all know, he doesn't care about anyone but himself. We have MAGA here in CT too, mostly in the rural areas. One town in particular about 10 miles from here out in the country has a big TRUMP sign right next to the welcome sign to their town. And both neighbors on either side of us are Republican, although not necessarily MAGA types. One was the fire chief in our town for a while and works as a supervisor for the local power company. Lovely people but I think misguided politically. So I am well acquainted with them. There are also MAGA out in the Bronx, Queens and the boroughs other than Manhattan in NYC. A different animal but similar in many respects. And I know what they're like well too.

You know, I have to laugh about the MAGA bunch. Many of them are poor and lower middle class whites. You know, the ones that live out in the back woods and are "doomsday preppers". Well, they might have to dip into their doomsday stash sooner than they thought and for totally different reasons after Trump and Musk get through with taking down our entire government. Because all of this is going to hurt people like THEM the most! Oh, but they'd take a bullet for Donnie, because he "lurves" them so much. Gag me!

Oh sure, the MAGA base is open to anything he does, but we have stuffy Northeastern/New England Republicans that aren't MAGA at all, especially the educated, moderate ones. And I don't necessarily mean school educated either. These are people that don't want to see the total privatization of the Post Office or Medical Plans under the ACA and a whole host of other things. They want some government, just a little snipping to eliminate waste. Not this big crude and misguided gutting of everything that's going on. But I don't get why they're just letting it all happen just because of Trump. It's getting harder and harder for me to see how he really represents the average non-MAGA Republican anymore. This is one of the BIG problems my husband has with MAGA other than the social justice issues. As we get older we realize the importance of government to protect the little guy. The average non-MAGA Republicans who aren't rich and can't weather this stuff financially should care about that but they're just so happy a Democrat isn't in office they're hand waving a WHOLE LOT. More and more every day. And the MAGA crowd, many of whom are poor don't even realize they're cutting off their noses to spite their faces. But anything for Trump because he "loves them and has their back, unlike Democrats", LOL. I have news for them, Trump is FOS and those Democrats cared about them more than they knew. But it's all what's on the surface anymore for people. They can't even see two layers deep to know what's in their best interests.

OK that's a hairless cat, though. The cat in the photos didn't look completely hairless to me but what do I know? It appears that there are several haired breed of cat that don't produce allergic symptoms in people with cat allergies. Good to know! https://www.petmd.com/cat/general-health/hypoallergenic-cat-breeds

It's become a running joke of the show. I guess her son was kidding because he'd heard of the other firemen in other cases she was on that flirted with her. As for this episode, I liked it. I wondered if that was City College they used for the college set. I worked for 10 years in college admissions so I know how competitive it can get. Although back when Matthew Broderick and Elsbeth were young Philosophy was still not seen as a great major for a career. I oughta know, I'm older and majored in it. Even then it was seen as not the best career prep. But U. of Illinois is nothing to feel down about. I'm glad Elsbeth realized that her son did right by himself and she accepts him and his choices. It made me shed a tear because my parents were like that. I never felt like I failed them or myself. I didn't know there was such a thing as a "hypoallergenic cat". I'm not allergic to cats but that was news to me.