Chit-Chat: The Feels

[bluegirl147]

5 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Then public universities started increasing their tuition to exceed what Pell grants paid per year while also starting to require more fees out of the students when it comes to housing and meal plans

The college I worked at the children of college employees were eligible for free tuition.  That did not include books or room and board including meal plans.  Those students had to pay cash or deposit money in a meal plan account.  Meals added up quickly.  Most of those students lived at home.  It was a small town (the college was pretty much the only employer) and they could walk to classes. 

10 minutes ago, ProudMary said:

Only because Republicans in Congress stood up to a rogue President and told him they would vote to remove him from office if he didn't resign.

You know I wonder how many of them wanted him gone not because he did illegal things but were afraid the blowback from voters would land on them.

 

[peacheslatour]

10 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

The college I worked at the children of college employees were eligible for free tuition.  That did not include books or room and board including meal plans.  Those students had to pay cash or deposit money in a meal plan account.  Meals added up quickly.  Most of those students lived at home.  It was a small town (the college was pretty much the only employer) and they could walk to classes. 

You know I wonder how many of them wanted him gone not because he did illegal things but were afraid the blowback from voters would land on them.

 

They sure don't need to worry about that anymore.

4 hours ago, heatherchandler said:

A lighter note?  That was a bombing.

Cybertruck batteries have shown a propensity to spontaneously combust without all of these other factors, so requires no additional assumptions
Gas and fireworks are extremely standard components of a NYE desert campout in Vegas, which many people do to get a viewpoint where they can view all of the valley's fireworks shows at once, so that requires no additional assumptions
No ignition method has been identified as of yet (I just woke up, so I may have missed it if it was IDd this morning), so we don't actually know that this was intentionally set off.

If this was a bomb, it wasn't just semi-poorly executed. It was an unmitigated failure, unless its sole intention was to kill the person in the driver's seat.

Either way, I will wait for official word, as Musk has a rather consistent habit of making pronouncements based on memes.

[Dimity]

4 hours ago, heatherchandler said:

A lighter note?  That was a bombing.

Context is everything.  That comment was made before there was any suggestion that this was anything more than an accident and before there were any announcements about people being wounded - and the driver being killed.

Frankly, snarking on Musk and Tesla is pretty fair game even from those on the right.  And that pre-dates him becoming your shadow president.

Edited Thursday at 05:54 PM by Dimity

[Dimity]

1 hour ago, PRgal said:

For high tuition, blame people being brainwashed into believing that trades were "bad" because of misguidedness on social class (see earlier posts about blue collar vs white collar. 

This is pretty outdated now though.  It was certainly prevalent when I was going through school - and I would mainly attribute this to parents who wanted more opportunities for their children then they had had and for them that meant getting a university education.

By the time my own kids were in high school there was a real move towards encouraging the trades and to accepting that a degree was not the be all and end all and there were other avenues that could be explored.  My son, for instance, went to a community college and did not pursue a university degree.  He now makes more money than his university educated sister.  Which isn't really as important as that they are both in fields they enjoy.

Edited Thursday at 06:12 PM by Dimity

[bluegirl147]

7 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Which isn't really as important as that they are both in fields they enjoy.

And that matters.  If someone can get a degree and get a job they enjoy good for them.  If someone learns a trade and gets a job they enjoy good for them.  If someone gets a job without furthering their education and they enjoy it good for them.   I'm not a fan of the gig economy but there are people who are doing it and they are paying their bills.  There is no right or wrong way to be employed. 

[Bookish Jen]

Metaphor for 2025, and maybe the next four years?

[bluegirl147]

2 minutes ago, Bookish Jen said:

Metaphor for 2025, and maybe the next four years?

It cannot be a coincidence it was Musk truck and Trump property.

[peacheslatour]

Trump regime II. Electric boogaloo.

[PRgal]

27 minutes ago, Dimity said:

This is pretty outdated now though.  It was certainly prevalent when I was going through school - and I would mainly attribute this to parents who wanted more opportunities for their children then they had had and for them that meant getting a university education.

By the time my own kids were in high school there was a real move towards encouraging the trades and to accepting that a degree was not the be all and end all and there were other avenues that could be explored.  My son, for instance, went to a community college and did not pursue a university degree.  He now makes more money than his university educated sister.  Which isn't really as important as that they are both in fields they enjoy.

Not if you're a child of Asian immigrants.  In fact, in my day, anyway, and into at least the 2010s, maybe even today, only certain majors were acceptable.  Almost EVERY SINGLE ONE of my cousins had business/finance or STEM-related majors.  I was the only one in arts (history/theatre, followed by a non-teaching M.Ed in the History of Education).  You DO NOT do trades.  Heck, you shouldn't even be like me!  But I swear, most were all like "hey, at least she has a bachelor's of some sort (this was before I went to grad school)."  My high school has a 100% university attendance rate (pretty standard for university preparatory schools.  If it goes down by a percentage point, it's because of gap years) and when I was there all those years ago, the STEM and certain business classes (like accounting) were usually majority Asian while history and other non-mandatory social sciences (basically anything beyond Grade 9 or 10) classes were majority White.  Keep in mind that the school was probably 30something% Asian at the time.  I don't know.  They didn't (and still don't) keep stats.

[ebk57]

2 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Related: Anytime I see You-Know-Who’s name with the middle initial, I figure the “J” stands for “Judas.”

Just me?

Randy Rainbow says it's "Jessica".

Someone else (or maybe a publication, but I can't remember right now) says it's "Jezebel".

I'll go with either of those, although "Judas" also works, but it's not as funny.

[peacheslatour]

12 minutes ago, PRgal said:

Not if you're a child of Asian immigrants.  In fact, in my day, anyway, and into at least the 2010s, maybe even today, only certain majors were acceptable.  Almost EVERY SINGLE ONE of my cousins had business/finance or STEM-related majors.  I was the only one in arts (history/theatre, followed by a non-teaching M.Ed in the History of Education).  You DO NOT do trades.  Heck, you shouldn't even be like me!  But I swear, most were all like "hey, at least she has a bachelor's of some sort (this was before I went to grad school)."  My high school has a 100% university attendance rate (pretty standard for university preparatory schools.  If it goes down by a percentage point, it's because of gap years) and when I was there all those years ago, the STEM and certain business classes (like accounting) were usually majority Asian while history and other non-mandatory social sciences (basically anything beyond Grade 9 or 10) classes were majority White.  Keep in mind that the school was probably 30something% Asian at the time.  I don't know.  They didn't (and still don't) keep stats.

It's not that much different in my WASPy family. I wanted to major in English Lit. and my parents refused to pay for college unless I majored in Business.

[Dimity]

3 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Not if you're a child of Asian immigrants.  In fact, in my day, anyway, and into at least the 2010s, maybe even today, only certain majors were acceptable. 

You keep generalizing your own experience.  The point I am making is that in Canada it has long been accepted that not everyone is going to go to university and there are alternatives out there which include 'the trades'. 

Just as not every family would embrace this idea there are also families that would never encourage their child to do anything other than get a job after high school.  The mind set of "we cease to have any obligation to our child once they hit 18" is out there too.

 

[PRgal]

8 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

It's not that much different in my WASPy family. I wanted to major in English Lit. and my parents refused to pay for college unless I majored in Business.

Or Jewish families.  I'm not sure if my MIL went to university (in Canada, "college" and "university" are different things. The former means community college while the latter grants degrees), but my FIL most certainly did.  I'm a second generation degree earner on both sides.

ETA:  @Dimity  This isn't my own experience.  It's my circle.  Like I said earlier, perhaps I need to expand more.  I don't know a lot of "typical" Canadians, I guess.  Perhaps you're right, I'm an "over-privileged brat."

Edited Thursday at 07:06 PM by PRgal

[Lantern7]

They’re having a press conference in Las Vegas. I didn’t know there was someone in the vehicle when it exploded. That’s a lot less funny.

Two incidents within the first day of the new year . . . and January 6 is closing in. Why am I feeling that this month is going to wind up feeling like a year by itself?

20 minutes ago, ebk57 said:

"Judas" also works, but it's not as funny.

It’s a reference from the British sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf. There’s a really insufferable character, and his middle name is “Judas.” The screencap that @tearknee shared is from that show.

[peacheslatour]

2 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

They’re having a press conference in Las Vegas. I didn’t know there was someone in the vehicle when it exploded. That’s a lot less funny.

Two incidents within the first day of the new year . . . and January 6 is closing in. Why am I feeling that this month is going to wind up feeling like a year by itself?

It’s a reference from the British sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf. There’s a really insufferable character, and his middle name is “Judas.” The screencap that @tearknee shared is from that show.

The driver was killed.

[fastiller]

According to AP:

 

The man who died in a Las Vegas Cybertruck was shot in head before explosion, sheriff sais (yes, the typo is on the page I'm viewing RN; dropping an image here so y'all don't think I can't spell):

 

 

 

 

[Dimity]

Getting back to the reason for this thread:

 

[tearknee]

[fastiller]

32 minutes ago, Dimity said:

I wonder why the word 'cancer' is redacted in the image above.  I also wonder whether it's redacted on the billboard or just on the photo.

[Dimity]

1 minute ago, fastiller said:

I wonder why the word 'cancer' is redacted in the image above.  I also wonder whether it's redacted on the billboard or just on the photo.

Oh interesting. I wondered why there appeared to be white out in that meme. 

[Kemper]

1 hour ago, bluegirl147 said:

It cannot be a coincidence it was Musk truck and Trump property.

Kudos! I hadn't thought of that.

[peacheslatour]

Guess who lost their blue check mark?

[Dimity]

1 minute ago, peacheslatour said:

Guess who lost their blue check mark?

Leopard and face comes to mind about now.

[fastiller]

6 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Guess who lost their blue check mark?

 

 

5 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Leopard and face comes to mind about now.

 

Circular firing squad was my initial thought.

[bluegirl147]

2 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Guess who lost their blue check mark?

So him being a white supremacist doesn't get him in trouble on X but disagreeing with Musk does. Yep that is the country we live in now.

58 minutes ago, fastiller said:

According to AP:

 

The man who died in a Las Vegas Cybertruck was shot in head before explosion, sheriff sais (yes, the typo is on the page I'm viewing RN; dropping an image here so y'all don't think I can't spell):

 

 

 

 

Authorities think it was a self inflicted gunshot wound. Whether he planned to do that or planned to get blown up we don't know.  He rented the truck so he must have been wanting to make a statement.  

 

2 minutes ago, fastiller said:

 

 

Circular firing squad was my initial thought.

The only thing these people can agree on is they hate Dems/Libs. 

Speaker vote is tomorrow right?  They say Johnson can only lose two Republican votes and one Congressman has already said he won't vote for him.  This will be a test to see just how much influence Trump still  has over the party.  Or maybe Musk will just pull out his checkbook again.

 

[peacheslatour]

4 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

So him being a white supremacist doesn't get him in trouble on X but disagreeing with Musk does. Yep that is the country we live in now.

Authorities think it was a self inflicted gunshot wound. Whether he planned to do that or planned to get blown up we don't know.  He rented the truck so he must have been wanting to make a statement.  

 

The only thing these people can agree on is they hate Dems/Libs. 

Speaker vote is tomorrow right?  They say Johnson can only lose two Republican votes and one Congressman has already said he won't vote for him.  This will be a test to see just how much influence Trump still  has over the party.  Or maybe Musk will just pull out his checkbook again.

 

And the Dems have said they won't help him out this time. But if they don't choose him who will they choose? Any scuttlebutt on that?

[bluegirl147]

15 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

And the Dems have said they won't help him out this time. But if they don't choose him who will they choose? Any scuttlebutt on that?

I've heard a couple people say Jim Jordan which would be even worse than Johnson.  I wonder which idiot will nominate Musk.

[nokat]

6 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

That is because they choose to be ignorant.

Oh yes, willful ignorance. I went to a not Ivy League level school, but I couldn't believe some of the people who made it there. But being willfully ignorant, not even trying, gets me so angry. So many opportunities to advance yourselves. (I mean intellectually, not  politically.)

Edited Thursday at 09:01 PM by nokat

[anony.miss]

7 hours ago, tearknee said:

So, over 40% don't have a degree?

...And that's nowhere the number needed to argue that people with degrees aren't "ordinary" Americans. If it were 65 or 70 percent? Sure, a degree would be a rare thing.  But it's not. My dental hygienist has a two year associate degree from a good college in my state - any argument that ends up painting her as out-of-step with the mainstream doesn't make any sense to me.

And even though I don't think a degree is proof of intelligence, I do think describing anyone with a degree as not being an "ordinary American" is anti-intellectual and classist (two of the xtreme right's favorite weapons against not just Democrats and Independents,  but their own voting base). We should celebrate anyone who ever graduated from high school and thought,  "Fuck it, I want that career" and pursued it.  We should make it financially viable for people to go to school - undergrad, associate degree, trade - and not be left robbing Peter to pay Paul. And we (as in society) should never treat anyone who pursued a degree as somehow abnormal. Generations of parents (all over the world) have fought to give their kids a better education - surely that's as normal as it gets.

[Ohiopirate02]

4 minutes ago, nokat said:

Oh yes, willful ignorance. I went to a not Ivy League level school, but I couldn't believe some of the people who made it there. But being willfully ignorant, not even trying, gets me so angry. So many opportunities to advance yourselves. (I mean intellectually, not  politically.)

It's been more than 20 years, but I still remember meeting people who spent more time and energy figuring out the optimal course schedule and the grade they needed to achieve in order to pass or maintain a specific GPA than what they would if they just showed up to class and applied themselves.

[peacheslatour]

26 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

It's been more than 20 years, but I still remember meeting people who spent more time and energy figuring out the optimal course schedule and the grade they needed to achieve in order to pass or maintain a specific GPA than what they would if they just showed up to class and applied themselves.

Lol, I'm sorry, it's not funny but it reminded me of the time in freshman year of college when my friends and I found a genius idea to make fake IDs. We were hard at work on the project (we were doing some of it at my parents house) and my dad walked by and said "If you kids applied yourselves half this hard at school, you'd all be straight A students."

[PRgal]

1 hour ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

It's been more than 20 years, but I still remember meeting people who spent more time and energy figuring out the optimal course schedule and the grade they needed to achieve in order to pass or maintain a specific GPA than what they would if they just showed up to class and applied themselves.

That’s very sad.  I can’t believe that some of the courses you mentioned are real, credit-granting degree electives.  An “easy/bird” course at my school - or any Ontario university - would be something like acting (priority given to theatre majors, of course) or choir (though at my school, one only got credit for being in an ensemble as a music major).  And maybe general environmental studies.  Anything starting with a 0 would be considered a bird course.  But you could only take so many because you needed 300s and 400s to graduate.  

[tres bien]

Elon is threatening to sue news outlets over coverage of the explosion of the Tesla truck in Las Vegas 🤣

The incident is strange. The man responsible was also a victim and was an active duty Green Beret on leave from Germany

In NOLA the guy was retired from the military 

Hard to make sense of these tragedies 

 

 

[Ohiopirate02]

4 minutes ago, tres bien said:

Elon is threatening to sue news outlets over coverage of the explosion of the Tesla truck in Las Vegas 🤣

 

In order for him to win that case, he would have to prove Teslas do not spontaneously combust.

[PRgal]

12 minutes ago, tres bien said:

Elon is threatening to sue news outlets over coverage of the explosion of the Tesla truck in Las Vegas 🤣

The incident is strange. The man responsible was also a victim and was an active duty Green Beret on leave from Germany

In NOLA the guy was retired from the military 

Hard to make sense of these tragedies 

 

 

PTSD?  If we don’t see mental health as a priority we’re going to see a lot more violence and bad things.  And crazy people. 

[bluegirl147]

13 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

In order for him to win that case, he would have to prove Teslas do not spontaneously combust.

It's also a newsworthy event. I think the fact it was a Tesla is relevant but even if it was a Ford it would still be newsworthy.  What is Musk going to do now?  Buy media outlets and censor them so they don't cover anything negative about him?

[Anela]

A woman I’ve been acquainted with online, for years, posted that she happily voted for trump, on election night.  She recently mentioned that she might move to Europe, but didn’t say why.  I don’t know if it’s to do with trump, but that was my first thought.  

[kittykat]

8 hours ago, Dimity said:

Leopard and face comes to mind about now.

His Twitter, Elon's choice! 

[Dimity]

God Republicans in Congress are stupid.  So Johnson says they will likely investigate the January 6th Committee.  So a year or two of pointlessness, just like when they investigated Hilary Clinton.  All to kiss Trump's feet.  Meanwhile what about those egg prices?

Edited Friday at 05:07 PM by Dimity

[bluegirl147]

I'm watching the Speaker vote and there are so far two no votes for Johnson which means unless a Democrat votes for him he isn't winning on the first vote.

 

[Dimity]

I would love for some Republicans to get a spine and join the Dems and vote in a Dem as Speaker of the House.  It won't happen but a girl can dream.

[bluegirl147]

4 minutes ago, Dimity said:

I would love for some Republicans to get a spine and join the Dems and vote in a Dem as Speaker of the House.  It won't happen but a girl can dream.

I thought about that. It would only take two votes.

[tearknee]

"We're going to investigate the 1/6 House Committee"

 

[fastiller]

1 hour ago, Dimity said:

God Republicans in Congress are stupid.  So Johnson says they will likely investigate the January 6th Committee.  So a year or two of pointlessness, just like when they investigated Hilary Clinton.  All to kiss Trump's feet.  Meanwhile what about those egg prices?

Let's hope for the same result as Clinton:

[Dimity]

Just now, fastiller said:

Let's hope for the same result as Clinton

I wonder if they've given any thought to it being perhaps not the best idea for them to spend the two years before the next election reminding the electorate of Jan 6th.  No matter how they choose to tackle their inquisition it will be pretty hard to completely whitewash what happened.  Trump, no matter what, will be gone in 4 years.  4 long years but even so there will come a point when being too closely connected with him may not be the best idea for someone vying for re-election.

[Lantern7]

46 minutes ago, Dimity said:

I would love for some Republicans to get a spine and join the Dems and vote in a Dem as Speaker of the House.  It won't happen but a girl can dream.

There’s no incentive. “We found a hidden clause in the Constitution where the Speaker has to be in the opposite party of the President so that person can bitchface and sarcastically clap during the State of the Union.”

11 minutes ago, Dimity said:

I wonder if they've given any thought to it being perhaps not the best idea for them to spend the two years before the next election reminding the electorate of Jan 6th.  No matter how they choose to tackle their inquisition it will be pretty hard to completely whitewash what happened.  Trump, no matter what, will be gone in 4 years.  4 long years but even so there will come a point when being too closely connected with him may not be the best idea for someone vying for re-election.

I want to get this out of my system: if anything were to happen to Obama, Republicans would wait a week at most before announcing that they’re chipping away at the two-term thing. I still feel that the GOP might do away with Trump because they got all three branches of government on lock, but there could be enough zealots that would keep him in power as his brain deteriorates further, and the thought of Obama stepping into the ring prevents them from demanding a third term.

In case you guys haven’t read between the lines, I am grateful to have a place to express my darkest fears about where this nation is heading.

Edited Friday at 07:18 PM by Lantern7

[Dimity]

2 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

the thought of Obama stepping into the ring prevents them from demanding a third term.

I'd never thought of that but likely this is one reason.  But really I think the main reason they won't go there is because of Trumps age - and whether they are willing to say it out loud or not, his obvious mental decline.  It wouldn't surprise me if at some point in the next 4 years Trump is sidelined either by his own choice (unlikely) or by the machinations of those around him.  They've gotten what they want from him.

[bluegirl147]

15 minutes ago, Dimity said:

I wonder if they've given any thought to it being perhaps not the best idea for them to spend the two years before the next election reminding the electorate of Jan 6th.  No matter how they choose to tackle their inquisition it will be pretty hard to completely whitewash what happened. 

Democrats and Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger investigated the insurrection.  So of course the Republicans are going to investigate the investigators.  We have passed farce and now reached stupidity and a colossal waste of time.

[peacheslatour]

23 minutes ago, fastiller said:

Let's hope for the same result as Clinton:

And who could forget the many fashion choices of Trey Gowdy?

 

[fastiller]

5 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

I want to get this out of my system: if anything were to happen to Obama, Republicans would wait a week at most before announcing that they’re chipping away at the two-term thing. I still feel that the GOP might do away with Trump because they got all three branches of government on lock, but there could be enough zealots that would keep him in power as his brain deteriorates further, and the thought of Obama stepping into the ring prevents them from demanding a third term.

In case you guys haven’t read between the lines, I am grateful to have a place to express my darkest fears about where this nation is heading.

Agreed, 100%.  The only bit of hope I have is that it'd require a Constitutional Amendment to repeal the 22nd Amendment and I don't think (wishful thinking maybe?) that would get three-quarters of the States ratification.