Chit-Chat: The Feels

[kittykat]

1 hour ago, anony.miss said:

How that "choice" is shaped and made is the crux of it for me, and allowing a generation of teenage girls/young women to consume trad wife content & marketing without any pushback is dangerous, imo. Many trad wives are promoting the idea that young women don't need an education, work history (before marriage/children) or financial protection in case of divorce, because if you "pick the right provider" he will never leave or abandon you. I think it's crucial for feminists to dissect such a dangerous fantasy, and present the reality of where that might actually lead. And thank god ex-trad wives  (divorced,   left without any income, work history or means to survive) are getting on social media to explain the reality of thinking "a man is the only plan" a woman needs. It's also very political; Project 2025, served up in an attractive social media package.

Oh absolutely.  It's sad that many of these women are indoctrinated at such a young age. To be told their greatest worth in life is to be a mother and wife and acquiesce to her man's needs and usually this education is done by other women.  It's why our side needs to inform them more than ever about the consequences of said life. Again if they're going in eyes open into this life that's fine but as others above have said there are downsides. What if the husband dies? Loses his job? Divorces her?  I'm not against the idea of a woman choosing to stay at home but do it with a back up plan in place.

43 minutes ago, Dimity said:

This does her no favours, of course, but it's also a tremendous burden to place on a young man.  I will be interested to see how many of these marriages stay so 'traditional' when job losses, illness, and other of life's unexpected twists and turns come their way.

Right.  It reinforces that the man's rightful place to be the provider but that it should be taught that there's no shame if a man takes a low paying job or his wife is the higher earner.  All feminism has ever wanted  to promote is the abolishment of antiquated "places." And that doing so liberates both sexes.

I guess I'm just sick of this country falling victim to a party who believes my own personal worth as a person is to be a breeder that is subservient to a man.

Edited 7 hours ago by kittykat

[peacheslatour]

[ProudMary]

11 hours ago, tres bien said:

I also read an article yesterday that was a case for democrats to start running hard for 2026 now. Except for Senator Chris Murphy (D CT) I never see or hear from the democrats 

Many are way too quiet, but Chris Murphy, whom I've respected for years, is not the only Democrat fighting for us. I hear a lot from Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders (yes, I know he's an Independent,) Ron Wyden, Brian Schatz. Both Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar of MN have been very vocal against Musk recently.

From the House, AOC has been leading the charge, with Jasmine Crockett neck and neck, but also Jamie Raskin, Pramila Jayapal, Maxwell Frost, and Ayanna Pressley. Also of interest, Rep. Raul Ruiz, MD and Lauren Underwood, RN have been working together against the Republican threat against Medicaid.

I agree that more need to step up, but I'm hearing a lot more voices than I was in the first couple of weeks.

6 hours ago, tres bien said:

I wonder if I’ll vote in 2026 because if the Democrats back down and get nothing pretty much like in the last congress ( Mike Johnson wouldn’t be speaker today without them) then yeah I’m staying home.

My rep Ilhan Omar has a snowball’s chance in hell of loosing to a republican so it’s not much of a threat from me but it’ll be a personal statement 

Please don't set this precedent. Voting is our civic duty. In addition to the House seat, MN will also have a Senatorial Election in 2026. Is Tim Walz up for re-election then too? Not to mention your local elections and any ballot questions. Staying home is not a good option. Please vote. 

1 hour ago, ebk57 said:

Anyone posted yet about how they're going to pick which reporters get to ask questions during briefings?  We're doomed... 

Gift link from the NYT

First amendment lawsuit coming, I'm sure.

Also related, but not yet mentioned, MSNBC's cowardly cancellation of the shows hosted by Joy Reid, Katie Phang, Ayman, Jonathan Capehart, and Alex Wagner, all POC. 😡 Some of them may still be with the network but in lesser positions or less important time slots.

I haven't watched any broadcast news in at least a year. I get my news through long-trusted sources on new media, most all of whom were once mainstream, but are now independent. 

[Blergh]

Did her folks actually name their daughter 'Peachy' or is that a nickname Ms. Keanan chose for herself to make it sound like 'peachy keen'. .[another derivative of 'hunky dory']?

IMO, she seems quite the loon. .

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, suomi said:

DOGE Quietly Deletes the 5 Biggest Spending Cuts It Celebrated Last Week

The cuts, highlighted on an earlier version of the “wall of receipts” posted by Elon Musk’s team, contained mistakes that vastly inflated the amount of money saved.

The last of the original top five disappeared from the site in the early hours of Tuesday, even as the group claimed in its latest update that its savings to date had increased to $65 billion. The website offered no explanation for why it removed some items or how it arrived at the higher total. Neither the U.S. DOGE Service nor the White House responded to questions Tuesday morning.

The “wall of receipts” is the only public ledger the organization has produced to document its work. The scale of that ledger’s errors — and the misunderstandings and poor quality control that seemed to underlie them — has raised questions about the effort’s broader work, which has led to mass firings and cutbacks across the federal government.

So:

- Taking its own data at face value <pause for laughter>, about 35% of the federal contracts DOGE has canceled are expected to yield no savings (of the 2,300 contracts terminated, 794 had already been fully paid or legally obligated)

- The major "error" of claiming an $8 billion cut at ICE, which was actually $8 million, was not an anomaly -- there was also a single $655 million USAID cut listed three times.  A $560,000 Social Security cut reported as $232 million.  A new addition to its list of "receipts", a $1.9 billion Treasury cut, predates DOGE’s existence.

[Is Everyone Gone]

Speaking of trad wives, the other day I was watching Jana Duggar fixing up the house her husband bought. She was serious, bossy, with an imperious air about her. No doubt from the years and years of taking care of such a large brood of siblings.

But kept thinking about how in another non-trad-wife life, she might have made a great manager.

[peacheslatour]

27 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Did her folks actually name their daughter 'Peachy' or is that a nickname Ms. Keanan chose for herself to make it sound like 'peachy keen'. .[another derivative of 'hunky dory']?

IMO, she seems quite the loon. .

I think it's a perfectly cromulent name! 😎

[Dimity]

[Blergh]

5 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

I think it's a perfectly cromulent name! 😎

Except for being completely unfair to the peaches of the world.

 I mean what did they do to deserve her being their namesake.

[PRgal]

2 hours ago, Dimity said:

My grandparents came through the Depression and World War II and they made sure their daughters could support themselves.  Even though their daughters came of age in that supposedly golden time when you could live well on one income and most women became SAHMs.  

Now we're in an economic era when this choice seems out of reach for most people and yet we've got this push for girls to forego higher education and to marry young, pop out babies and be totally dependent on a husband.

This does her no favours, of course, but it's also a tremendous burden to place on a young man.  I will be interested to see how many of these marriages stay so 'traditional' when job losses, illness, and other of life's unexpected twists and turns come their way.

My grandmother never allowed my mom to cook so my mom never learned.  And she never really taught me, either.  So the whole idea of being able to cook ancestral cuisine?  Nope, not me.  I'm not ashamed, but I always feel that I SHOULD.  And there's a toxic woman, a girl I went to high school with who constantly tells me that I shouldn't have to justify myself.  But when you're ALWAYS being told that your experiences are weird/different/odd with no positive vibe at all, then yes, you have to over explain!  You can't ignore that.  Especially these days.

[Bliss]

Perhaps off topic...

I sincerely hope I'm still alive when AOC becomes POTUS.

(Currently watching the Liberal debate in Canada and I know I'm biased, but any one of these candidates has more intelligence in their little finger than tRump has in his entire bloated bod.)

[peacheslatour]

2 minutes ago, Bliss said:

Perhaps off topic...

I sincerely hope I'm still alive when AOC becomes POTUS.

(Currently watching the Liberal debate in Canada and I know I'm biased, but any one of these candidates has more intelligence in their little finger than tRump has in his entire bloated bod.)

She's the only one I've been donating to.

[Kemper]

I am going to donate to Ossoff's campaign; in addition to AOC's.

[fastiller]

2 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

2024/2025 update to "... but her laugh!"

[LexieLily]

BREAKING: House Republicans just passed their budget resolution 217-215 that would virtually guarantee deep cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, all to fund a major tax break for the ultrawealthy... and still add trillions to the national debt.

I honestly don't understand what the overall point of this administration IS other than making Trump and Co. (even more) obscenely rich. 

Edited 4 hours ago by LexieLily

[Eri]

44 minutes ago, LexieLily said:

BREAKING: House Republicans just passed their budget resolution 217-215 that would virtually guarantee deep cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, all to fund a major tax break for the ultrawealthy... and still add trillions to the national debt.

Oh dear, I was afraid that would happen. At least all Democrats voted against it and just one Republican (Massey-Kentucky) opposed it. I believe the Senate is going to try and bypass Dem support with the reconciliation effort. For those who may not know, it's a special process that allows, a budget (not the actual spending) to be passed, by only 50 votes in the Senate. However there are still a number of steps the spending plan (which needs more negotiation and details ironed out) must go through in order to become law. I hope the Senate Dems are ready to reject this without a moment's hesitation.

74 million low-income people have Medicaid as their health insurance. 50% of children are covered by either Medicaid or CHIPS, 40% of people with an opioid addiction have Medicaid - this cut would damage so many lives.

Making healthcare inaccessible is not the way to go in a country this stressed out.

Edited 4 hours ago by Eri

[Makai]

2 hours ago, LexieLily said:

I honestly don't understand what the overall point of this administration IS other than making Trump and Co. (even more) obscenely rich. 

Same. Do they not realize this is exactly the kind of shit that radicalizes people? They clearly learned nothing from the reaction to Luigi. 

[anony.miss]

"Apple said it is working on repairing a glitch after some iPhone users noticed that speaking the word “racist” into the voice-to-text feature causes it to write “Trump” before quickly switching to “racist.”

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/national-international/apple-glitch-voice-to-text-trump/3682989/

...it really is a smartphone ; )