Chit-Chat: The Feels

[Eri]

5 hours ago, bluegirl147 said:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/elon-musk-doubles-down-on-salute-controversy-with-a-bunch-of-nazi-jokes_n_67925d50e4b07025a739deef

Musk making Nazi jokes.  This time the ADL didn't defend him.

Reminds me of an experience writer Michael Tager had shared back in 2020 that still resonates and bears repeating today:

I was at a shitty crustpunk bar once getting an after-work beer. One of those shitholes where the bartenders clearly hate you. So the bartender and I were ignoring one another when someone sits next to me and he immediately says, "No. Get out."

And the dude next to me says, "Hey I'm not doing anything, I'm a paying customer." and the bartender reaches under the counter for a bat or something and says, "Out. Now." and the dude leaves, kind of yelling. And he was dressed in a punk uniform, I noticed.

Anyway, I asked what that was about and the bartender was like, "You didn't see his vest but it was all Nazi shit. Iron crosses and stuff. You get to recognize them." And I was like, "oh ok," and he continues.

"You have to nip it in the bud immediately. These guys come in and it's always a nice, polite one. And you serve them because you don't want to cause a scene. And then they become a regular and after awhile they bring a friend. And that dude is cool too. And then THEY bring friends and the friends bring friends and they stop being cool and then you realize, oh shit, this is a Nazi bar now. And it's too late because they're entrenched and if you try to kick them out, they cause a PROBLEM. So you have to shut them down."

And I was like, 'Oh damn.' and he said "Yeah, you have to ignore their reasonable arguments because their end goal is to be terrible, awful people."

And then he went back to ignoring me. But I haven't forgotten that at all.

Edited 17 hours ago by Eri

[Yeah No]

7 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

My client's son is helping her set up her on-line log in and sitting with her while she waits to talk on the phone.  You can't predict when SSA decides to screw up with error messages.  That happens.   We are in the NY area.  Maybe much busier than other areas. 

That's interesting. I don't know if this was kosher, but my Medicare counselor/broker applied for me online while on the phone with him. Set up the online account for me and filled out the application form while on the line with him, asking me the pertinent questions, then gave me the login and password and after the call I changed it. I could have done it myself but he was willing and being somewhat intimidated by gov't. forms, I let him do it. I trusted him because he came highly recommended by one of my best friends.

[Yeah No]

On 1/22/2025 at 8:05 PM, Anela said:

Yep. They want to see our heads explode, and to see us be worrying about everything.  The things that had me crying, were the removal of information about women’s rights and healthcare, and the ICE raids. Everything promised in project 2025.  Today, I heard about the civil rights bill he repealed.  He’s evil.  

  So much of this is unconstitutional and done just to get his enemies' goat, meaning everyone that didn't vote for him. He knows damned well that most of it won't get anywhere. He just wants his base to continue to think he's on their side and to get the rest of us all riled up. For him it's all a big reality show in the way so many of them are, meaning nothing is "real" and everything is done just for show to get a reaction out of the audience. I'm sure there are fans of his right now who slough off some of this stuff as "Trump being Trump" or more of his "bluster". As if all of this is nothing but a big game. The people they think are preferred by the "liberal" government don't have feelings or rights to anything and "deserve" to be worried and upset at what he is attempting to do. Even if he doesn't get anywhere with it, if it just jerks our chains they'll be happy with him for it because they'll think he was doing it for their benefit. What a bunch of sorry, selfish, racist, sexist suckers. They fell for it hook, line and sinker

On 1/22/2025 at 11:00 PM, Annber03 said:

Nice to see sanity still prevails in some areas of the internet. 

Yeah, like here!

[EtheltoTillie]

3 hours ago, Yeah No said:

That's interesting. I don't know if this was kosher, but my Medicare counselor/broker applied for me online while on the phone with him. Set up the online account for me and filled out the application form while on the line with him, asking me the pertinent questions, then gave me the login and password and after the call I changed it. I could have done it myself but he was willing and being somewhat intimidated by gov't. forms, I let him do it. I trusted him because he came highly recommended by one of my best friends.

I believe that was not kosher. It would have been different if you were performing the actions and he was coaching you through it. I don’t think these brokers are accessing some special channel to Social Security. I don’t think such a thing exists. 

Edited 13 hours ago by EtheltoTillie

[anony.miss]

The only thing MAGA knows how to do: spread hate.

For a woman who spoke only of treating people with empathy, kindness, and love.

 

Edited 12 hours ago by anony.miss

[bluegirl147]

2 hours ago, anony.miss said:

For a woman who spoke only of treating people with empathy, kindness, and love.

Another reason to celebrate this woman.

Edited 10 hours ago by bluegirl147

[DrSpaceman73]

2 hours ago, anony.miss said:

The only thing MAGA knows how to do: spread hate.

For a woman who spoke only of treating people with empathy, kindness, and love.

 

Is he being serious?  

Empathy is not a sin

[Annber03]

And once agian, this is why peopel in this thread are so angry and have no time or patience for Trump/the GOP and their supporters. I don't understand how people think it's okay to treat someone this way, or don't have a problem with elected officials or other people treating someone this way. 

[bluegirl147]

9 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Is he being serious?  

Empathy is not a sin

This is the church he belongs to. He is a deacon. They seem like a fun bunch.   Not. 

https://www.refugeutah.org/

[fastiller]

29 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Is he being serious?  

Empathy is not a sin

 

19 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

This is the church he belongs to. He is a deacon. They seem like a fun bunch.   Not. 

https://www.refugeutah.org/

 

From the link @bluegirl147 dropped:

 

Seems they 'love' (to read) the Bible, but don't (love to) live the Bible.

[Yeah No]

32 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

And once agian, this is why peopel in this thread are so angry and have no time or patience for Trump/the GOP and their supporters. I don't understand how people think it's okay to treat someone this way, or don't have a problem with elected officials or other people treating someone this way. 

I don't think I've ever used the angry emoji as much as in the past couple of days. The one silver lining is that my church is getting some press for being a truer version of Christianity, more in keeping with the message of Christ than the right-wing fundamentalists, especially the southern ones. I'm just so sorry and upset that it had to happen in the context of this situation. 😢

32 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

This is the church he belongs to. He is a deacon. They seem like a fun bunch.   Not. 

https://www.refugeutah.org/

I guess empathy is a sin in their churches if you direct it toward people that aren't straight, white, cisgender and from certain areas of northern Europe. And yet this is very much opposed to the example of Jesus, who showed mercy and empathy to everyone. There is no way to get around this without corrupting one of the basic messages of Christ. He sat down with prostitutes, tax collectors and all those that were shunned by society and told his followers that he came to show mercy, not judgment.

[Yeah No]

This was news to me - Elon Musk has a transgender daughter that he is estranged from because of her transition. He has said publicly that she is "dead to him" since then.

She has also come out to say that we should "just call a spade a spade" in reference to the suspiciously Nazi-esque gesture he recently made, meaning that she agrees that it was what people thought it looked like.

Quote

In regards to the two arm gestures given by Musk at Trump's inauguration, Wilson said "I'm just gonna say let's call a spade a f***ing spade. Especially if there were two spades done in succession based on the reaction of the first spade." Implying that she agrees with commentators who have called Musk's movements a "Nazi salute."

https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-daughter-attacks-trump-executive-order-addresses-salute-2019456

[PRgal]

16 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

I don't think I've ever used the angry emoji as much as in the past couple of days. The one silver lining is that my church is getting some press for being a truer version of Christianity, more in keeping with the message of Christ than the right-wing fundamentalists, especially the southern ones. I'm just so sorry and upset that it had to happen in the context of this situation. 😢

I guess empathy is a sin in their churches if you direct it toward people that aren't straight, white, cisgender and from certain areas of northern Europe. And yet this is very much opposed to the example of Jesus, who showed mercy and empathy to everyone. There is no way to get around this without corrupting one of the basic messages of Christ. He sat down with prostitutes, tax collectors and all those that were shunned by society and told his followers that he came to show mercy, not judgment.

And not to mention, the “wrong kind of Christianity.”  I remember a crazy proselytizer  talking about how bad Catholics are in a public square in downtown Toronto.  

[PRgal]

And meanwhile in Ontario, the premier has confirmed an early election this year.  And since we're going to have a federal election as well, we'll be inundated with attack ads for the next while!!

[bluegirl147]

17 minutes ago, PRgal said:

And not to mention, the “wrong kind of Christianity.”

And this for me is one of the problems with religion. People always think their religion is the "right" religion.  Meaning other people's religion is wrong.

I'm so glad I'm an atheist.

[Cementhead]

7 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

And this for me is one of the problems with religion. People always think their religion is the "right" religion.  Meaning other people's religion is wrong.

I'm so glad I'm an atheist.

And most wars are fought because of religion.  But religion brings us together, right?  If only. 

[fastiller]

44 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

I don't think I've ever used the angry emoji as much as in the past couple of days. The one silver lining is that my church is getting some press for being a truer version of Christianity, more in keeping with the message of Christ than the right-wing fundamentalists, especially the southern ones. I'm just so sorry and upset that it had to happen in the context of this situation. 😢

I guess empathy is a sin in their churches if you direct it toward people that aren't straight, white, cisgender and from certain areas of northern Europe. And yet this is very much opposed to the example of Jesus, who showed mercy and empathy to everyone. There is no way to get around this without corrupting one of the basic messages of Christ. He sat down with prostitutes, tax collectors and all those that were shunned by society and told his followers that he came to show mercy, not judgment.

Again I quote John Fugelsang.  If you're not familiar with him, he's been a stand-up comedian, hosted ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos w/ Daisy Fuentes.  Before they married, his parents were a Carmelite nun and a Franciscan friar.

 

[bluegirl147]

5 minutes ago, Cementhead said:

And most wars are fought because of religion.  But religion brings us together, right?  If only. 

And so much hate and bigotry comes from religion.  I understand someone having faith.  That is their business and if it brings them comfort good for them.  But this movement we have to bring this very fucked up version of Christianity into our government is dangerous and if history is any indication will not end well.  For anyone. 

[Ohiopirate02]

1 hour ago, fastiller said:

 

 

From the link @bluegirl147 dropped:

 

Seems they 'love' (to read) the Bible, but don't (love to) live the Bible.

I have found that these types of Christians love to read the Bible and proclaim they love Jesus, but never seem to get around to reading the Gospels. If you try to debate them using scripture, they will always use verses from the Old Testament or the letters of Paul to refute any verse from Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.

Just now, bluegirl147 said:

And so much hate and bigotry comes from religion.  I understand someone having faith.  That is their business and if it brings them comfort good for them.  But this movement we have to bring this very fucked up version of Christianity into our government is dangerous and if history is any indication will not end well.  For anyone. 

I do wonder what is going to happen within this new administration with the Rad Trad Catholics and Protestant Fundamentalists. Both groups have common enemies but deep down hate each other. This marriage made in hell can only survive as long as they are persecuting LGBT+ people and outlawing abortion. Once those goals are achieved, they will turn on each other.

[Dimity]

14 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Once those goals are achieved, they will turn on each other.

I for one am counting on it.  I also think it's just a matter of time before Trump knifes Elon in the back.  He has a few loyal disciples who have moved on from his last adminstration (ugh Miller comes to mind) but not many.  And he has to be the alpha male.  Something will happen to break up the Bro-Mance eventually.

[Absolom]

9 hours ago, Yeah No said:

  So much of this is unconstitutional and done just to get his enemies' goat, meaning everyone that didn't vote for him. He knows damned well that most of it won't get anywhere. He just wants his base to continue to think he's on their side and to get the rest of us all riled up. For him it's all a big reality show in the way so many of them are, meaning nothing is "real" and everything is done just for show to get a reaction out of the audience. I'm sure there are fans of his right now who slough off some of this stuff as "Trump being Trump" or more of his "bluster". As if all of this is nothing but a big game. The people they think are preferred by the "liberal" government don't have feelings or rights to anything and "deserve" to be worried and upset at what he is attempting to do. Even if he doesn't get anywhere with it, if it just jerks our chains they'll be happy with him for it because they'll think he was doing it for their benefit. What a bunch of sorry, selfish, racist, sexist suckers. They fell for it hook, line and sinker

Have you been talking to my daughter?  That's almost what she said last night.

[peacheslatour]

17 minutes ago, Dimity said:

I for one am counting on it.  I also think it's just a matter of time before Trump knifes Elon in the back.  He has a few loyal disciples who have moved on from his last adminstration (ugh Miller comes to mind) but not many.  And he has to be the alpha male.  Something will happen to break up the Bro-Mance eventually.

Right? He's already got one pet Nazi. If Elon turns off the money spigot, he's out. Or if he truly owns Trump, we'll see if he stays bought.

[Absolom]

7 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I believe that was not kosher. It would have been different if you were performing the actions and he was coaching you through it. I don’t think these brokers are accessing some special channel to Social Security. I don’t think such a thing exists.

I think somewhere in the creating account instructions the person creating it affirms that it is for themselves.  So having a relative sit beside you and help you would be acceptable or even having a broker say hit tab and the birthday field should come up for example is OK, but for someone to get the password and give it to you and rely on you to change it is very likely not acceptable to the agency.  They'll never know in this case, but the person is exceeding their allowed assistance, IMO.

[bluegirl147]

23 minutes ago, Dimity said:

I also think it's just a matter of time before Trump knifes Elon in the back.  He has a few loyal disciples who have moved on from his last adminstration (ugh Miller comes to mind) but not many.  And he has to be the alpha male.  Something will happen to break up the Bro-Mance eventually.

Musk is going to do what is best for Musk and Trump is going to do what is best for Trump. And there will be conflict.  And of course neither one of them is going to do what is best for this country.

5 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

If Elon turns off the money spigot, he's out. Or if he truly owns Trump, we'll see if he stays bought.

If Musk oversteps and he will because he won't be able to help himself and Trump allows it then we know Musk is actually the one in charge.

[Bookish Jen]

5 hours ago, anony.miss said:

The only thing MAGA knows how to do: spread hate.

For a woman who spoke only of treating people with empathy, kindness, and love.

 

Empathy is a sin? I certainly never learned that in CCD.

[AgathaC]

40 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I have found that these types of Christians love to read the Bible and proclaim they love Jesus, but never seem to get around to reading the Gospels. If you try to debate them using scripture, they will always use verses from the Old Testament or the letters of Paul to refute any verse from Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.

I remember in a sermon once, our pastor (I’m mainstream, progressive United Methodist) told the story of a man in prison who read the Bible cover to cover multiple times. He counted references to certain themes, how many times a word was used, all sorts of data. Many people praised the guy. My pastor said he thoroughly missed the point. It’s not just reading the book — it’s understanding it and living it. If you don’t do that, reading it doesn’t matter, really.

I think of that every time I hear about these fundies. Read and carry their Bibles around until they’re falling apart. Talk about Jesus nonstop. But they demonstrate zero understanding of what Jesus said.

[EtheltoTillie]

15 minutes ago, Absolom said:

I think somewhere in the creating account instructions the person creating it affirms that it is for themselves.  So having a relative sit beside you and help you would be acceptable or even having a broker say hit tab and the birthday field should come up for example is OK, but for someone to get the password and give it to you and rely on you to change it is very likely not acceptable to the agency.  They'll never know in this case, but the person is exceeding their allowed assistance, IMO.

Agreed!  I've read their instructions before.  There are all kinds of cautions against this. 

[Yeah No]

1 hour ago, PRgal said:

And not to mention, the “wrong kind of Christianity.”  I remember a crazy proselytizer  talking about how bad Catholics are in a public square in downtown Toronto.  

Yeah, they hate any mainstream religion, and any that doesn't follow their very narrow and often hateful view of things. What gets me is how they hate us for all that we stand for that's RIGHT, not anything arguably imperfect about us. It's a very cultish mentality and one that scarily parallels the cult of Trump. It's no wonder they were ripe for being taken in by him. He took advantage of their tendency toward cultish behavior. The cult mentality was already prevalent in certain parts of the South, Midwest and West via fundamentalist cult religion, which has been "normalized" in those areas. But I refuse to sugarcoat it. It's a cult mentality and I thought that WAY before Trump ever went into politics. 

[annzeepark914]

10 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

That reminds me . . . Tuesday, I spoke with my therapist. Not because of current events . . . I'm a bit of a wreck in sane times. Anyway, there's a movie theater near me. It's small but nice, and matinee pricing is great. My therapist told me that there was a cardboard cutout of Trump in the theater for people to take pictures with. No movie tie-in. It wasn't the Winter Solider in business drag . .  .just Trump. And now I'm wondering if I should ever go back to that theater.

Ok--the devil, sitting on one of my shoulders, just told me to advise you to go to that theater lobby (mid day, no one around) & have a friend take a picture of you flipping the bird to "SIR".  Or...of you sticking your tongue out (the ol' Bronx cheer) Childish? Yeah, but that's what he is. So, is this theater playing The Apprentice? 

[EtheltoTillie]

I spoke to a Trump voter last night.  We are in a situation where we have to associate so we don't usually discuss the election, etc.  But she was upset about the January 6 pardons.  Well, did you not hear this was coming?  She's in NYC, so her vote didn't make a difference.   Still.  She just sputters with cognitive dissonance and saying how Harris would have been worse.  She "likes" Trump's "policies." 

[Yeah No]

25 minutes ago, Absolom said:

I think somewhere in the creating account instructions the person creating it affirms that it is for themselves.  So having a relative sit beside you and help you would be acceptable or even having a broker say hit tab and the birthday field should come up for example is OK, but for someone to get the password and give it to you and rely on you to change it is very likely not acceptable to the agency.  They'll never know in this case, but the person is exceeding their allowed assistance, IMO.

Interesting, I had no idea about that. He said he did it especially for people that weren't so good at navigating the internet or had other issues like vision, etc. I think he had good intentions because he did mention that a lot of those people would have to endure the 9 circles of Hell of dealing with Medicare on the phone. He said he would only enter what I told him to enter and told me to make sure afterward, which I did. 

11 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Agreed!  I've read their instructions before.  There are all kinds of cautions against this. 

I don't know about that but he also did this when choosing a supplemental plan. I don't fully remember but I think there were boxes to check as to whether you had help from anyone filling out the forms and we were honest about that and he put in his name and code so I thought it was on the up and up.

[bluegirl147]

6 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

She "likes" Trump's "policies." 

When someone says that I want them to explain what polices.  Because some of his policies are horrifying. And if someone doesn't want to say what policies then I'm going to assume it's the horrifying policies. 

Once again I'm hearing people on the left give Trump props for doing what he said he was going to do with regard to releasing the files on the JFK assassination.  Will they give him props when he keeps his word and puts outrageous tariffs on everything from Canada Mexico and China?  I mean sure it will probably tank our economy but he kept his word.

[EtheltoTillie]

33 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

Interesting, I had no idea about that. He said he did it especially for people that weren't so good at navigating the internet or had other issues like vision, etc. I think he had good intentions because he did mention that a lot of those people would have to endure the 9 circles of Hell of dealing with Medicare on the phone. He said he would only enter what I told him to enter and told me to make sure afterward, which I did. 

I don't know about that but he also did this when choosing a supplemental plan. I don't fully remember but I think there were boxes to check as to whether you had help from anyone filling out the forms and we were honest about that and he put in his name and code so I thought it was on the up and up.

The part about filling out forms and so on is different.  That's where the broker is doing something for you that he is legally allowed to do--he's enrolling you in a private policy.  I wish SSA were easier to deal with, but it is not.  They don't recognize a power of attorney.  And even the appointment of representative form is not meant for designating someone to do this enrollment stuff.   They want everyone to use the on-line portals now, and the oldest recipients aren't set up for that.  As that population ages out, the younger population will have established on-line logins earlier.  And if the on-line portal decides not to work one day, then you have to call, as my client did. 

31 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

When someone says that I want them to explain what polices.  Because some of his policies are horrifying.

I've tried that in the past but now I don't even bother.  The people I'm talking about can't or won't explain it because they know it's bad racist stuff.  They're not proud racists.  They're racists who know better and are ashamed deep down. It doesn't change their minds.  I also think they are counting on tax or other policies that boost their wealth.  These are well-to-do professionals. 

The person I referenced earlier is Jewish.  There are many Jewish voters in NYC who are of a certain bent and vote for Trump because they think he will protect Israel.  When I mentioned Musk's Nazi salutes, she shut down and did the figurative fingers in ears and "NO NO NO." 

Edited 6 hours ago by EtheltoTillie

[DXD526]

Quote

This marriage made in hell can only survive as long as they are persecuting LGBT+ people and outlawing abortion. Once those goals are achieved, they will turn on each other.

They're already starting to turn on each other. Hate and division is all they've got. If conservatives can't find a way to stick it to 'the libs', then they'll stick it to each other.

I've been saying for years, those of us with a working conscience and empathy should give a couple of states to the cons (several to pick from!), and let them run everything according to their antisocial agenda, with no pushback. Without the libs to pick on, they'd cannibalize themselves within a generation. Then we take back those states, and run them properly.

[Absolom]

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I spoke to a Trump voter last night.  We are in a situation where we have to associate so we don't usually discuss the election, etc.  But she was upset about the January 6 pardons.  Well, did you not hear this was coming?  She's in NYC, so her vote didn't make a difference.   Still.  She just sputters with cognitive dissonance and saying how Harris would have been worse.  She "likes" Trump's "policies." 

::smh::  I wonder what it takes to get through to people like that.  Soon we'll probably all have a similar story.

[Absolom]

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

They don't recognize a power of attorney.  And even the appointment of representative form is not meant for designating someone to do this enrollment stuff.   They want everyone to use the on-line portals now, and the oldest recipients aren't set up for that. 

I ran into that as SSA, IRS, DoD, Medicare, etc. all have their own form for appointing a representative and the departments do not recognize the documents from each other.  SSA made me Mom's representative payee.  They didn't even ask me to get a doctor's statement.  They filled out something where they had made a determination she was not competent.  I have only vague memories of doing that for a client who threatened to kill us all.  However, Tricare didn't care about that.  They wouldn't even take a change of address from me without her signature.  Their love of paper was to our advantage as Mom could still sign her name when I asked.  She never knew what she was signing, but since it was by mail they'd never know.

I kind of laugh because I still remember some of my first week working for SSA and how nothing much made sense.  After a few years working there their bureaucracy still doesn't phase me now.  I guess one can learn to work within almost any system.  

I recently filed for benefits for the first time with the new law rolling back the public pension offsets.  I kept thinking thank goodness I'm not any older and I'm still computer literate enough to do this.  I'm sure a lot of people need help or even computer access.

I have a notebook with all the online accounts I have to have and my kids know about it, but I think it's time I do a new expanded notebook with instructions for them for the various sites.  Like the you.gov account is used for two places not just one and I know that, but it isn't annotated for them yet.  

Edited 5 hours ago by Absolom

[Ohiopirate02]

16 minutes ago, DXD526 said:

I've been saying for years, those of us with a working conscience and empathy should give a couple of states to the cons (several to pick from!), and let them run everything according to their antisocial agenda, with no pushback. Without the libs to pick on, they'd cannibalize themselves within a generation. Then we take back those states, and run them properly.

The only problem with this is there are no true Red states. And things would look a lot different if the Republican Party were to stop cheating by gerrymandering districts on both the state and local level or disenfranchising voters of color in the South or making backroom deals to get elected Democrats to switch parties after winning elections or setting fire to ballot collection boxes. I could go on.

[Dimity]

3 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I could go on.

The big one for me is the way Trump has his cult convinced the mainstream media is out to get him despite all evidence to the contrary. 

[DXD526]

What I'm proposing is basically un-doable, but it would be interesting to see what happens. Give a state to the cons to run like their own country. All the sensible people would move first, leaving just cons to run things their way. Without libs to pick on, they'd take out their hate on each other, because there would be no other outlet. They'd be responsible for their own extinction, most likely pretty quickly. 

Hate and division is all they've got. If they couldn't force it on all those who think differently, they'd take each other apart. 

[bluegirl147]

25 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

The only problem with this is there are no true Red states. And things would look a lot different if the Republican Party were to stop cheating by gerrymandering districts on both the state and local level or disenfranchising voters of color in the South or making backroom deals to get elected Democrats to switch parties after winning elections or setting fire to ballot collection boxes. I could go on.

The reason they do all that cheating is they know they have nothing of value to offer voters. Their policies are deeply unpopular and all they have is hate and division.  And demographically they know some states and the country as a whole is changing and not in their favor.  Without cheating they would already be a dying party.  Trump gave them a lifeline but once he is gone and we still have a democracy hopefully things will right themselves.

[peacheslatour]

18 minutes ago, DXD526 said:

What I'm proposing is basically un-doable, but it would be interesting to see what happens. Give a state to the cons to run like their own country. All the sensible people would move first, leaving just cons to run things their way. Without libs to pick on, they'd take out their hate on each other, because there would be no other outlet. They'd be responsible for their own extinction, most likely pretty quickly. 

Hate and division is all they've got. If they couldn't force it on all those who think differently, they'd take each other apart. 

It's been tried and failed dismally, they are incompetent at running anything and would be reduced to begging blue states for sustenance.

Case in point, North Idaho College. From Teen Vogue Oct. 16, 2024.

The charter violations that kicked off this accreditation scandal four years ago never had anything to do with academics. The two-year community college offers a solid education and features the top nursing program in the state. Their finances are stable too. No, NIC might go under because the Board of Trustees has existed in a state of toxicity, chaos, and dysfunction ever since the far right gained a board majority four years ago.

 

NIC’s accreditation troubles began in 2020, but the events that led to those troubles began all the way back in 1964 — the last time Idaho voted for a Democratic presidential candidate, when arch-
conservative Barry Goldwater lost in a rout. Ronald Rankin, one of the architects of Goldwater’s campaign in Orange County, California, moved to Coeur d’Alene a few months later with the express intent of transforming the sparsely populated, mostly-white state into a bastion of hardcore conservatism. Richard Butler, a white supremacist also from California, followed suit in the 1970s when he built his Aryan Nations compound just north of the city. For the next several decades, cheap land, fertile soil, and the promise of a like-minded community attracted both conservatives and white nationalists, a trend that accelerated as the state’s politics moved increasingly rightward. Between 1970 and 2020, the population of Kootenai County, where Coeur d’Alene is located, quadrupled. Idaho experienced the second-largest population increase of any state in 2022, and one of every three of these new Idahoans hails from California.

[PRgal]

This is why we need to pay teachers better  (well, that and why we need to redefine masculinity)

[Anela]

My friend who was told she'd lost her job, the other day, received an email telling her that she'd been reinstated. 

[fastiller]

A colleague messaged the team yesterday that he was going to hospital.  Earlier today he messaged to me alone that he was being kept in and asked for a call back.  He had a stroke yesterday morning.  He's young; like 40.  Speaking w/ him he sounded strong, with a bit of slurring.  Said he's going to start PT for issues with his right hand.  

Don't take shit for granted, y'all.

[peacheslatour]

Whatever happened to "the buck stops here"?

 

FLETCHER, N.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump has ended the federal security detail for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert who advised him on the COVID-19 pandemic, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.

Fauci is the latest in a string of former Trump aides-turned-critics to see their federal protection canceled despite ongoing threats to their lives.

Speaking to reporters in North Carolina on Friday, Trump said he wouldn’t feel any responsibility if harm befell the former government officials. A person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security issues, said that Fauci’s federal security detail was ended on Thursday and that he has since hired private security.

When asked about Fauci and former national security adviser John Bolton, Trump said, “They all made a lot of money. They can hire their own security, too.”

 

 

[Annber03]

1 hour ago, fastiller said:

A colleague messaged the team yesterday that he was going to hospital.  Earlier today he messaged to me alone that he was being kept in and asked for a call back.  He had a stroke yesterday morning.  He's young; like 40.  Speaking w/ him he sounded strong, with a bit of slurring.  Said he's going to start PT for issues with his right hand.  

Don't take shit for granted, y'all.

Damn, that's scary. Gald he's sounding a little better now, though, all things considered - wishing him well with his therapy and recovery. 

6 hours ago, AgathaC said:

I remember in a sermon once, our pastor (I’m mainstream, progressive United Methodist) told the story of a man in prison who read the Bible cover to cover multiple times. He counted references to certain themes, how many times a word was used, all sorts of data. Many people praised the guy. My pastor said he thoroughly missed the point. It’s not just reading the book — it’s understanding it and living it. If you don’t do that, reading it doesn’t matter, really.

I think of that every time I hear about these fundies. Read and carry their Bibles around until they’re falling apart. Talk about Jesus nonstop. But they demonstrate zero understanding of what Jesus said.

My dad used to tell me a story about my grandma - she was a devout churchgoer and could quote you Scripture and verse in the Bible like nobody's business, that sort of thing. 

She stopped going to her church because she dound out the money that they took from parishoners was going towards things that it was not meant to go towards. Somebody who attended that church with her said that they'd lost a great parishoner, because she walked the walk and talked the talk when it came to her faith. 

I am not religious, either. I have no problem whatsoever with people having their personal faith and living their individual lives by a particular set of beliefs if that is what they wish to do. I absolutely see the benefits of having a place of worship to go to, where those who are religious can find solace and comfort among fellow worshippers, and can be inspired by their respective religious texts. And I know there are plenty of religious individuals who actually do live by the tenents of their faith, or try to, at least, and do a lot of good for their community and for various groups of people, not because htey need to show off how good a reiligious person they are, but because it's simply the right thing to do as a human being. I have all the admiration and respect for those people and wish they got far more attention in the news than those who seek to use religion to divide people. 

I also think that the religious right's influence in politics highlights so clearly precisely WHY we desperately need to ensure we keep church and state as separate as possible. I do not care what one's religious beliefs are, there is no reason they need to be making laws based off them. That's not how we do things here, or not how we should do things here. 

And if religious people are going to stick their noses in the government's business, then it's only fair the government get to do the same. That's the thing a lot of religious people who want the church and state to mix don't seem to get - that whole "separation of church and state" thing protects them just as much as it does the state. If they don't want the government up in their business, then they need to stay he hell out of the government's business. 

7 hours ago, Dimity said:

I also think it's just a matter of time before Trump knifes Elon in the back.  

That can happen anytime now, as far as I'm concerned. The quicker Musk gets tossed to the trash heap, the better. 

[Spartan Girl]

If anything happens to Dr. Fauci, I’ll go to Marie Laveau’s grave myself.

[peacheslatour]