supposebly

I don't think I've ever seen a more succinct summary of the reasons why Trump was elected president. From the article: I would add: they didn't care enough.

After the establishment of Guantanamo Bay in 2002 and the stupid war on terror, not even mentioning the Iraq invasion because of nonexistent weapons of mass destruction after 9/11, I have no difficulty whatsoever believing this. Just on US soil now, no more pretending and doing shit somewhere else. I've felt that stuff has been a long time coming. From where I'm sitting, the US has been committing human rights violations all over the place for a long time. My Canadian friend who was born in Iran and had a job teaching at Syracuse University for a few years while his family was still in Toronto, almost every time he crossed the border, he was held up. He always added about 2 hours to his travel time because of that. Despite his Canadian passport. Because he was born in Iran. Now this shit is just happening on US soil. And border crossings get scary for white Canadians and Europeans too. For me, your country has been a scary place to visit for over 20 years now. Last time I went to visit for fun was in 2009.

This article gives a summary/history with links to the primary writing of one J K Rowling. https://www.thecut.com/2023/02/heres-what-j-k-rowling-has-really-said-about-trans-people.html

This is quite interesting. And explains a lot, I think. About 80% of the major online podcasts and media are on the right. Even the ones that aren't overtly political. Considering where people get their news and just general outlook on society from, that makes a lot of sense to me.

Good news in March. And yes, there are some from the US.

I utterly adore Keanu Reeves. But I always found the John Wick movies very boring. And I watched three of them, just to find out what the hell I was missing. Well choreographed action does not a movie make in my opinion.

She told him to stop talking. And he seemed to understand that to mean the room was bugged. It could have been a performance by him.

Not that I have any experience raising children but this story with the stepson reminds me of the situation with my ex, his ex and their son. She was overall not capable of setting boundaries and felt children are capable of taking care of themselves (don't get me started) and just really didn't know or seemed to care what to do (a lot came from her own upbringing, I think). I'm also judging from what I hear from my ex, which, if course is also just one side of the story. So, eventually, they decided the son would live with my ex instead. After a bit of arguing, she actually agreed and things eventually got better after my ex was able to take over, set some boundaries and introduced consequences when son wouldn't do his homework, come home late, skip school, etc. They seem to have a good relationship now and went on vacations together. I don't know if this is going to be an option but it feels like that might even be something the mother wouldn't hate too much since she seems in way over her head. Keep in mind, I'm probably projecting and applying their situation to yours but, to make this short: would it be possible to have the son move in with you?

Not that I care. But apparently, nothing about St. Paddy's Day is Irish.

Seriously. You guys need a new constitution. 😲

Gross. And I can only echo the sentiment. Don't explain. Just tell him, no. Not interested. No, not now, not ever. And don't explain, don't try to explain to him why, don't explain that he is being creepy. Just, NO.

As a born German, I think people in Europe (and I'm projecting here, since I really can only speak for the Germans to some extent) don't usually expect the Canadians, so they hear a North American accent and default to American. But yes, Canadians are, on average a lot more welcome than Americans. I'd say that started slowly around the war in Iraq. To be fair, most Germans know a lot more about the US than they do about Canada. So, yes, don't treat our flag as camouflage. Not cool.

Not really. It's more my issue, I think since I'm the antihoarder in the family. I declutter at least once a year.

Regarding all the stuff, my mother said something funny the other day when I said that all the stuff that accumulates in my parents' house is bothering me. She said, well, she doesn't feel it's her responsibility to make my life easier after she's gone. If she wants her stuff around her, that's her business. I actually think she has a point. Although my worry was also that she sometimes seems overwhelmed with having all this stuff around and is actually bothered that she doesn't have the energy to get going with decluttering.

I had the measles in Germany mid-late 1970s when there wasn't a vaccine yet. Me and half of my 2nd grade. I remember being sick for about 2 weeks, infecting my little siblings who were 1 and 1.5 years old (my 1.5 year old brother almost died because he had such a high fever for so long). During those 2 weeks, my friend brought me homework and then the other half of second grade in my small town school got sick, and it was our turn to bring them homework. I don't remember if it spread through the whole school but all things considered, I'd be surprised if it hadn't. A year before that, I almost killed my little brother when he was less than 6 months old, when I got the mumps and infected my mother and him. He always got such high fevers when he got sick with anything. Luckily, I had chicken pox before my siblings were born. Again, no vaccines for this stuff back then, so no choice but to hope for the best. So, yes, we had a measles party. And a mumps party. Unintentionally. Parents who think it's a good idea to play with their children's health that way deserve what's coming. Unfortunately, their children don't. But then, a lot of people are just not qualified to raise children. This is not new. Current parents just need to listen to their elders who might have been around during the times when there were no vaccines.