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Post by Merge on Sept 6, 2024 15:34:33 GMT
Yes, I was just going to post this same thing. They've been around for a while! I had one of these stickers on my little red Mini. |
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Post by Merge on Sept 6, 2024 13:25:35 GMT
Just make sure you get the one that includes the most recent variant. The one going around right now is not pleasant.
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Post by Merge on Sept 6, 2024 12:24:04 GMT
Let's be honest here, the reason they don't have an answer for childcare is that they don't think we should work. Period. Absolutely. And you know what? I would have loved to have stayed home with my kids longer than I did. We've not built an economy that allows for very many single-income homes, especially for younger adults of childbearing age. We couldn't really afford for me to stay home while I did, but we also couldn't afford to pay for two in daycare on what I was making. I went back to work as soon as my oldest was old enough for kindergarten and started on paying off the debt we'd accumulated while I was not working. (Trust me, we were not living high on the hog. My kids were mostly dressed from Goodwill and I learned to cook from scratch at home. No vacations. My kids never went to Disney or anywhere but Grandma and Grandpa's house, which was a 15-hour drive away. Even had they lived closer, both of my parents still worked full time and couldn't be our childcare system. FIL had moderate dementia by that point and MIL had all she could do to take care of him.) And as long as Trump, Vance, and the GOP insist on maintaining the systems that benefit the very wealthy at the expense of the working and middle classes, very few parents will be able to stay home with their kids (or grandparents or aunties stay home to help, for that matter). Affordable childcare is a necessary component of a modern capitalist economy (just like excellent, free public schools should be, but that's another thread). They want people to have kids, but they make it impossible for many people to afford good childcare or schooling. They want women to stay home, but most families can't afford that, either. And I do have to wonder how well our economy would fare if every working mother suddenly left her job. |
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Post by Merge on Sept 6, 2024 0:28:05 GMT
I would knock at least a star off the review and be very clear about why. Imagine the uproar if sellers included pamphlets about all religion being fairy tales in their deliveries. Imagine how a Jewish or Muslim family feels receiving unsolicited Christian proselytizing in a country where there are already plenty saying awful things about them.
We tend to think of Christian proselytizing as benign and no big deal because Christians are the majority and mainstream. It's not benign. It's disrespectful at best and threatening at worst. People need to be told to knock it off.
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Post by Merge on Sept 6, 2024 0:09:11 GMT
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Post by Merge on Sept 6, 2024 0:07:01 GMT
A perspective from the side of "you have to get over it." x.com/AP/status/1831844851567985070Noted that Apalachee HS had a security officer and it was, in fact, the security officer who took the shooter into custody. Props to him. But he couldn't prevent four people from being killed. |
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Post by Merge on Sept 6, 2024 0:00:10 GMT
Trump is good for the media. He sells subscriptions and generates clicks. The media - even the media that leans left - wants him around for as long as possible because he puts food on their tables. That's why they don't talk about his obvious mental decline.
If our political landscape goes back to being fairly boring and routine, all media suffers financially.
Isn't that lovely?
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Post by Merge on Sept 5, 2024 23:54:37 GMT
Interesting I just saw on CNN this. Father of school shooting suspect told investigators he purchased gun as holiday present for son, sources say From CNN’s Mark Morales and Ryan Young The father of Apalachee High School mass shooting suspect Colt Gray told investigators that he purchased the gun used in the killings as a holiday present for his son in December 2023, according to two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation. That would put the gun purchase months after authorities first contacted Gray and his family as they investigated a school shooting threat. Colt, who was 13 during the May 2023 interview, said that “someone is accusing him of threatening to shoot up a school, stating that he would never say such a thing, even in a joking manner,” Jackson County sheriff’s investigator Daniel Miller Jr. wrote. The teen’s father, Colin Gray, told investigators at that time he had hunting rifles in the house and said, “Colt is allowed to use them when supervised but does not have unfettered access to them,” the report said. The Jackson County, Georgia, Sheriff’s Office closed the investigation because a tip about the threat could not be substantiated. CNN has made several attempts to reach Colin Gray by phone and in person at the family home. It is unclear if he has an attorney. Good. I hope they throw the book at him. |
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Post by Merge on Sept 5, 2024 19:56:30 GMT
How about lying to law enforcement? Harboring/covering for someone who made terroristic threats? Any of those against the law in Georgia? What did he lie about? I had not seen that mentioned anywhere? He lied and said that the boy did not have unsupervised access to the guns in his house, when the LEO asked him point blank. |
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Post by Merge on Sept 5, 2024 19:53:18 GMT
A possible future next door neighbors politics would not have any influence on my choice of buying a home. I don't really understand how it would. They have signs up so at least you know which way they lean. How about all of the neighbors that don't have signs up? It wouldn't affect the home value, only your potential ability to get along with the neighbor. It's not their politics. It's the banners and flags that cover their house and garage 365 days a year. |
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Post by Merge on Sept 5, 2024 18:11:49 GMT
I’ve been walking by this house for years and it’s been similarly festooned the whole time. Not just during election season. When one flag/banner gets too faded, they change it for a new one, so that’s something, I guess.
Snow removal is not an issue here. We get very excited for a dusting once every few years.
Many in our neighborhood who have corner lots have the house facing one street and the garage facing the other, with a covered pass through between house and garage. That takes care of yard privacy from the street. I like that setup also because it gives you more footprint for a second story - we envision having DH’s hobby room above the garage.
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Post by Merge on Sept 5, 2024 18:04:02 GMT
Giant eyelashes and giant sleeves.
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Post by Merge on Sept 5, 2024 17:13:46 GMT
 Dad has guns, claims son (who was suspected of terroristic threats last year) doesn’t have “unsupervised access” to them. Clearly that was a lie. Will dad be charged? No the Dad won't be charged. According to GA law he didn't commit any crime. Guns there do not have to be secured/locked up. How about lying to law enforcement? Harboring/covering for someone who made terroristic threats? Any of those against the law in Georgia? |
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Post by Merge on Sept 5, 2024 16:18:07 GMT
DH and I have been considering finding a lot to build our retirement home on, possibly in the same neighborhood where we live now. So out on my walks I'm always looking. We know we want a large lot, preferably a corner lot. There is a house for sale on such a lot being sold as a tear-down. The price is about what we'd expect to pay.
The house next door is literally festooned in political flags, signs, and banners for a particular candidate. HOA can't do anything about it because everything is attached to the house and not in the yard - apparently the bylaws about political signs only cover yard signs.
We're not seriously considering that plot or any other right now, but it led me to wonder if these poor people will have a lot of difficulty selling their house/lot. Would you buy a house next to one so decorated? Would it make a difference if you supported the candidate in question or not?
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Post by Merge on Sept 5, 2024 16:13:27 GMT
Oh, I was just coming here to see if anyone was talking about this yet. This is GREAT. Millions of MAGAs are going to have to admit that they've been gulping up Russia-funded propaganda on Trump's behalf all this time.
What pisses me off is that it took the DOJ this long to figure it out.
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Post by Merge on Sept 5, 2024 16:07:36 GMT
I'm so very sorry. I know Europe isn't as (sadly) accustomed to these events as America is, so I'm sure it's hitting people hard. Wishing for peace for Munich.
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Post by Merge on Sept 5, 2024 13:44:12 GMT
I fucking hope so. In the last month, here in Utah, there have been three incidents of children shooting themselves with their parent’s gun. Two of those children (5yo and 8yo) died. Only the third case, where a 3yo shot himself in the foot, resulted in charges against the parent. It’s ridiculous. Maybe LE thought deceased kids was punishment enough... In no other situation is a parent whose child dies due to neglect or abuse let off the hook because “they’ve suffered enough.” Only with guns. If leaving guns where your minor child can access them isn’t a form of neglect, I don’t know what is. |
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Post by Merge on Sept 5, 2024 2:08:31 GMT
In my area we have "guardian schools".... now that does not make me feel any better about student/staff safety... to know that the health teacher is packing heat... or whoever feels capable... i don't think that is the answer... But i live in the land of god guns n trump I can virtually guarantee you that the teacher who signed up to carry is the one who definitely shouldn’t be. No teacher in their right mind would carry at school. I have to say that of all the reasons I’m glad to be done with school teaching, this is high on the list. Especially with the new state-appointed superintendent who requires teachers to keep their doors propped open at all times. People feel very vulnerable. Despite what Republicans claim, being the most heavily armed state in the country has not made Texas safer. Not one bit. |
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Post by Merge on Sept 5, 2024 0:53:33 GMT
Dad has guns, claims son (who was suspected of terroristic threats last year) doesn’t have “unsupervised access” to them. Clearly that was a lie. Will dad be charged? |
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Post by Merge on Sept 4, 2024 23:19:23 GMT
I'm kicking myself because my 18-year-old is registered in WA, but in college in Ohio, where their vote would count a lot more! Is it too late for them to register in Ohio? |
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Post by Merge on Sept 4, 2024 23:18:31 GMT
There also simply weren’t as many guns sitting around people’s houses. Going to the range to shoot weapons of war wasn’t good family fun for most people. I grew up in a suburb that was 90% military families, and never once did I see a gun in any friend’s house or hear anyone talk about guns. The number of guns sold per person per year is six times higher now than it was in 1960, and about five times higher than it was in 2000 (when GenX had long since graduated). www.thetrace.org/2023/03/guns-america-data-atf-total/#:~:text=In%201960%2C%20some%201%2C130%20firearms,6%2C785%20guns%20per%20100%2C000%20people. Troubled kids in our generation came to school and started fights, or they skipped school and went out and got in trouble some other way. (My husband got mad and lit off bottle rockets in the hallway of his middle school.) They didn’t have easy access to semiautomatic rifles as so many do today and they didn’t live in a culture where guns are glorified both as super cool toys and as the way a man proves himself a man. Every underage school shooter ever got his gun at some point from an adult. Kids have guns because adults have more guns, and adults fetishize those guns. We’ve (sadly) hashed through this before. You and I are a similar age and clearly we had different upbringings. I grew up with guns in my parents house (not secure and loaded.) My Uncles’ homes, my grandparents homes. My friends homes. We DID go shooting regularly (at a minimum 3X a year to sight in different weapons.) I was a military brat, in the military and married to a guy in the military. Guns were everywhere. My dad bought me my first gun at 16. My sister too. They also bought my son his first gun (about 8yrs old.) Before anyone goes batty… we didn’t get to keep our guns in our personal possession until we moved out. And.. for the record, the gifted to my son was fired from time to time for target practice while supervised. To this day, I have it in my safe. He’s an adult now, and he still doesn’t have possession of it- I don’t think he’s all that interested. It isn’t taboo, and it isn’t exciting. I think my parents approach toward guns is a huge part of the problem. Not having them. Not teaching us how to use them. Not gifting them to us. My issue is 100% with having them not secured in their home (and many loaded) for the last 50 years. For the record…. None of us, my parents, siblings, extended family…. Not one person, has shot a person (other than in wartime situation.) We have also never encountered a firearm that managed to fire itself. It’s heartbreaking that far too many families are dealing with these tragic shootings. And we just keep talking around and around and around the problem. Banning anything, regardless of what scary name it is given isn’t going to change this. The guns aren’t the problem. The problem is hopelessness, despair, mental illness, emotional distress, violent culture, anger, fear, and a host of media and social media attention seeking behavior. Yeah, no. We can share anecdotes all day long, but the statistics don't lie. The US has a homicide rate up to six times that of our peer countries. We are the only one where mass shootings occur on a very regular basis, and the rise of them correlates strongly with the increased proliferation of guns among American families. Our peer countries have all the same social issues that we do, so that's clearly not the problem. It's the guns. We'd be fools to think otherwise. |
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Post by Merge on Sept 4, 2024 21:35:48 GMT
Another thought I have, but don't have an answer to, is why no one gave a shit about our "resilience" and kindness, etc yet we didn't routinely shoot each other and need trauma counseling etc etc etc Gen X, definitely a different mindset nowadays. So many kids are indeed much kinder, but they also just seem less equipped to handle life, setbacks, disappointments, and emotions. I wish there weren't so many of them clearly struggling. There also simply weren’t as many guns sitting around people’s houses. Going to the range to shoot weapons of war wasn’t good family fun for most people. I grew up in a suburb that was 90% military families, and never once did I see a gun in any friend’s house or hear anyone talk about guns. The number of guns sold per person per year is six times higher now than it was in 1960, and about five times higher than it was in 2000 (when GenX had long since graduated). www.thetrace.org/2023/03/guns-america-data-atf-total/#:~:text=In%201960%2C%20some%201%2C130%20firearms,6%2C785%20guns%20per%20100%2C000%20people. Troubled kids in our generation came to school and started fights, or they skipped school and went out and got in trouble some other way. (My husband got mad and lit off bottle rockets in the hallway of his middle school.) They didn’t have easy access to semiautomatic rifles as so many do today and they didn’t live in a culture where guns are glorified both as super cool toys and as the way a man proves himself a man. Every underage school shooter ever got his gun at some point from an adult. Kids have guns because adults have more guns, and adults fetishize those guns. |
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Post by Merge on Sept 4, 2024 19:27:04 GMT
Have a good thought for college kids from Texas. Abbott's government loves to reject absentee voter applications if they don't have their ts crossed just right.
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Post by Merge on Sept 4, 2024 19:23:50 GMT
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Post by Merge on Sept 4, 2024 16:48:50 GMT
Please parents of the oldest Gen Z generation, please encourage them to register to vote and to vote early. On it. Those kids have been doing active shooter drills since they were in elementary school. |
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Post by Merge on Sept 4, 2024 16:39:14 GMT
Cue the calls to arm teachers. Our country is insane.
My best thoughts going out to the families of those killed or injured. But since thoughts and prayers don't actually change anything, the best thing I/we can do for those families is to VOTE in November.
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Post by Merge on Sept 4, 2024 15:23:41 GMT
Not a fan of the show, but I love her. I hope she does well!
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Post by Merge on Sept 4, 2024 15:23:09 GMT
I'm like you. If I'm up and moving around, I want a bra on.
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Post by Merge on Sept 4, 2024 13:26:50 GMT
I share some things. Far from all. As someone else mentioned above, people here keep spreadsheets and will use things against you later. We've seen peas run off the board for sharing a lot and then someone thinks they found a hole in the story, and all of a sudden the entire Altoona police department is on the case.
Of course, not sharing can get you in trouble, too, as people make assumptions about you based on the little they do know.
Such is life, I suppose. TBH I don't share much that is very personal with anyone except DH.
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Post by Merge on Sept 4, 2024 1:49:05 GMT
Well I mostly don't care if my hair and makeup are done, or if I have on nice clothes, so sure. Come on over. I almost always put on a bra first thing so that's not an issue.
I do quickly make myself more presentable (if I haven't done so already) before the first of my students arrives at 4:00.
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