Hey now. Adults have been borrowing against their children's futures for generations. It's something of an American tradition at this point.

Maybe that is connected to each subsequent generation having less wealth, lower life expectancy, lower standard of living and generally being more miserable than the previous...

Nah I'm sure it's just coincidence.

Well this is where it's headed. First it will be teachers, parents, doctors, therapists.

Then they'll want to register trans adults as sex offenders. Then all LGBTQ people.

Like so much of the government in the US, the infrastructure is there, ready to be abused. Change one line and it applies to all of us.

Anyone not realize just how awful it would be to get labeled a sex offender? It makes it almost impossible to find a place to live, or a job. People will seek you out and harass you in public. This is an extremely serious classification that shouldn't have anything to do with "culture wars". It should be reserved only for the worst classes of convicted criminals -- if it's not actually cruel and unusual and unnecessarily punative.

No that can't be.

Conservatives are always telling us how Nazis were actually left-wing... it's in the name, socialists?!

How quickly they forget, once the racist and antisemitic nonsense circulates.

And if anyone is wondering:

• Human rights for Palestinians = not antisemitic
• Nazis at CPAC = 100% antisemitic

Internet in 2024 (for me):

1. Service unavailable in your country (VPN)
2. Confirm you're a human (VPN)
3. Blank page (noscript)
4. Obscure error (fingerprint / cookie blocking)
5. Page not found (https required)

The percentage of websites that "just work" with privacy measures in place is depressingly small.

For me, Sandy Hook was the moment I realized we aren't going to collectively do anything about gun violence.

Ah yes formal business attire, the universal dress code for those who accomplish nothing while looking very important. Very appropriate

Ya know gym shorts and a t-shirt besides being infinitely more practical and comfortable would lead to confusion with actual hard working Americans who don't have the luxury of getting paid to do nothing.

Boomers don't need guns.

Dementia + lethal weapons. Terrible combination.

looks up from reading "The Conquest of Bread"

Reaally? O_o

My mom did assure me of that, 10-20 years ago.

By age 40, I trans'd my gender and now I'm ready to smash capitalism and seize the means of production. Let's gooooooo

Rural America is mostly a wasteland. It's either where people of means deliberately choose to live away from society, or it's people who are too ignorant, poor and/or drug-addled to have much choice. Neither group is going to be left-leaning... and that's why when you look at electoral maps, you see all that red.

Pick a highway, any will do, travel along it and tell me what you see. I already know. One little failed town after another. They might have a dive bar or ancient gas station, but most commercial buildings will be long abandoned. If you need anything, you'll have to find a decent city with a generic walmart, dollar general, mcdonalds, etc. Long gone are the mom-and-pop grocers, general stores, etc.

The irony is these are solid red Republican districts. Cities have major problems too, but they are full of action; plans, projects, hopes of a better future. There is no future for the average rural American.

They are frustrated and angry, as well they should be. Too bad they can't see the forest through the trees.

Honestly. I think that's what many of the nutjob protestors and "commentators" do. Why work a real job when you can be paid by suckers to jetset around the country/world spouting controversial views.

"Failure to comply"

There it is, that's the entire purpose of the modern education system, to beat us into submission to arbitrary socioeconomic roles, to curtail independence and creativity, rendering us fodder for corporate masters. Mind all the rules and maybe tomorrow you'll get the extra nice table scraps.

Good for them not complying, they literally harmed nobody including themselves. The suspension is clearly a punitive measure to heal the administration's wounded pride, which is also an essential aspect of the education system.

Introducing Google Pay-I.

Revolutionary AI learns from your habits and personality to make payments on your behalf! It will buy things you didn't even know you needed!

It's OK. When the Moral Majority elects him president for life, all the evidence and anyone who leaked it, will be conveniently erased.

full disclosure: I'm trans - my story at the end.

It doesn't really work that way... if she was told "you're trans" and wasn't, she would experience the opposite type of gender dysphoria over time and would want to express masculine/boy identity in line with her birth gender and physical traits.

She's young enough that it's not infeasible she might change her mind. Ideally she has been to a licensed therapist and/or psychologist who verified she met the latest DSM diagnostic criteria for gender dysphoria (the only successful treatment for which involves transition), and they are helping the parent manage this process. They'll be in no hurry for medical intervention since puberty would be 4-5 years away most likely.

That being said, if you meet enough trans people, it's not uncommon to hear stories about "knowing since I was 4". Oftentimes it's accompanied by a regret that their feelings were suppressed and they had to go through the torments of puberty "in the wrong body" as it were.

My own story is different. I didn't "know" until my thirties, even if I can see signs going back to childhood in retrospect. Apparently at three years old I told my mom "I'm a butterfly and I'm going to be a girl". She never told me that, I found out after she died last year, looking through her old notes. She assumed I meant reincarnation. Ironic considering I have adopted a butterfly metaphor to express my transition to a woman.

Anyway, yes, an eight year old can absolutely tell adults they are a different gender than they were assigned at birth. Whether they literally say "I'm trans" is kinda beside the point.

Terrorism is something minorities and foreigners do, likely as part of a Marxist Plot™. Everyone knows a white man on a killing spree is a lone wolf.

I have to admit, one of my first emotional responses was anger. I want vengeance. When will we see the day the bullies, abusers, murderers, and their enablers receive justice?

Not civilized "justice" in court rooms, on pieces of paper, with well-dressed men and women arguing politely over legal arcana.

Blood for blood. There should be a mortal fear that if they harm one hair on our heads, something worse will happen to them by far.

Don't tell me this won't bring anyone back. Don't tell me to be better than our enemies. If you will assault someone over their skin color, gender, sexual orientation, you don't deserve the breath of life.

So they have no rules, any content is acceptable?

Anything less is "censorship" after all

To put it in perspective... I inherited my mom's house, retirement, life savings, car, etc. And I am still very limited in buying a new home where I actually want to live, bc of how outrageous prices are. Just imagine... almost 70 years of her life, and I can't do what my dad and his first wife easily did at age 20 working as a restaurant manager. Insane.

So here is what I've noticed.

The acceptance of sweat BO is partly a cultural thing. At my workplace we have people from all over the world, and there are certain parts of the world where it is clearly uncommon to wear deoderant. Both men and women, although I have noticed it far more with men. I guess if everyone had natural BO, it wouldn't seem so unusual.

This is not to be confused with uncleanliness, I'm sure these people shower, the scent is purely one of sweat from hard physical labor. It is never better or worse, but always the same and in fact, you can identify people by their particular unique scent.

Great! Now whenever someone finds all my secret nudes, I'll just claim they're deepfakes

More ideas from the Taliban playbook.

Remember kids, a boy is a boy and a girl is a girl, and three witnesses saw Katie get raped so we're going to stone her to death!

Pffft that font hardly qualifies as gay.

Take it from me, a gay.

Single page websites with only a few marketing blurbs, stock photos/meaningless graphics elements.

I want to know actual details about your product or service, so naturally I explore the menu... and every link takes me right back to anchors on the single page with its useless blurbs. Aaaaagh!

extremist organization

Of course, why did nobody ever think of targetting the President of Homosexual International?! Perhaps a drone strike? I bet he's hiding in a school or hospital somewhere in Ukraine.

(Continuing:)

"So you care about people with jobs?"

Conservatives: Hah! Unions shouldn't be legal, workers are lucky to get paid. We should eliminate minimum wage, let the free market decide what you're worth, if anything.

"You support the free market... So you don't mind my selling pride accessories and clothing?"

Conservatives: Pride is pornographic, and endangers children. We need to restore morality and decency in society, keep children safe!

"In that case, you surely condemn child trafficking, abuse and pedophilia?"

Conservatives: hey it's fine for adult men to have relationships with teenage girls, that's when they're most fertile! Plus the Bible has no problems with it.

"The Bible also says to love your neighbor, turn the other cheek."

Conservatives: That's weak minded effeminate liberal nonsense, we should rule with iron fists and show no mercy.

"Are you saying you do know how to rule?"

Conservatives: lol we can't even decide who to elect as our leader, much less govern effectively. Honestly we're just here for the grift and free healthcare.

"..."

It's easy for me to judge living in anonymity in a progressive city with a supporting network around me (I'm trans).

More likely she was raised conservative, built a career and family around it, in a small southern town where maintaining that facade is the only way to be accepted, then realized "oh shit I'm trans" and panicked.

At that point, I can totally understand how difficult it would be to escape decades of baggage. Many trans ppl are reluctant to come out for precisely those reasons: career, family, lack of acceptance. The result is turmoil.

I view her more as a lost trans sibling who was born into a cruel world and should be mourned, while not excusing her poor choices of political affiliation. I'm sure it was a daily struggle trying to reconcile what conservatives were saying about people like her, with her own identity.

Not everyone is strong enough to fight this fight.

Just a heads up that certain trans people, and not a small number, will never trust or like you for admitting this.

I, however, am not one of those people. I would much rather someone be honest and talk about how they've changed, than to hide it all or even worse, being a secret LGBTQ nazi.

I know first-hand how they go after disaffected youth. The loners, the outcasts, the frustrated and angry.

Everyone talks about "groomers" these days. What could be worse than convincing kids and young adults to hate others simply for being different: minorities, inmigrants, Jews. That's like the epitome of evil. That is true grooming, and the far-right are experts at using a variety of tactics. In-person grooming, using peer pressure, gangs, to online via social media, cartoons, memes, jokes.

They deflect responsibility for your own life, it's all somebody else's fault, who if eliminated will make everything better and set it back to rights. They take your interests (art, music, books, whatever) and turn it into propaganda, telling you what to think and how to think it.

Anyway thanks for your story, and I'm glad you were able to break free and find your true self :)

I was once tumbling down that same rabbithole, thankfully escaped before I hurt anyone. Now I have a score to settle with those bastards.

I gotta confess. Cuz the guilt is overwhelming.

In my teens and early twenties, I committed A LOT of sacrilege on a daily basis.

We're talking millions of coulda-been-babies that ended up wrapped in tissue and tossed into trash cans.

Parody's nuts

Damn inflation is everywhere now, even the transcendentals :'(

Wilders wants to ban mosques

That's cool, as long as we ban churches, cathedrals, synagogues, and temples at the same time.

I really didnt know this guy was still around, he hasn't been making the world headlines so much in recent years.

I really think these MAGAt types are feeding off Boomer-era Cold War trauma, milking geriatric delusions for all they're worth. Think about it, how many Americans under 50 are daily concerned about communism? For most of our lives it has been a complete joke, there has been literally no reason to think communism was going to supplant capitalism in America, in any way. It's always like "oh communism, yeah sure I'd love to live in Cuba, China, or North Korea heh".

I think a more valuable and relevant lesson would be the history and dangers of authoritarianism, anti-democratic politics and gestures, but maybe that hits a little too close to home for the MAGAts?

Wait, that's ADHD? 😶

I do that kinda stuff all the time. I always assumed it was somehow caused by anxiety.

Basically yes. Enby here, anyone who finds me attractive is instantly, irrevocably, and fabulously gay.

Have you seen the price of boots these days? More like pull yourself up by your dirty socks (cost probably $15 to wash) and then get kicked out of any building you walk into for being in your socks then go find a hole somewhere without anti-homeless spikes to crawl into and die then your next of kin get the outrageous bill for the ambulance that was called, the cycle repeats and basically everything will be fine haha!

If it were me, I'd be wearing thigh highs and/or panties under my boyclothes >:)

But to answer your question:

Painting nails, a classic.

Cleaning, trimming and filing nails to make them look nice.

Relaxing in a nice long bath.

Shaving or otherwise removing body hair.

Put a ribbon or flower in your hair!

I need a friend like this in my life <3

That was quite the pivot

Hadn't flown in like a decade. I was in group 4 and by the time I got on the plane, there was almost no space left in the overhead bins. I only needed space for a backpack, it was a tight fit. There were still at least 2 groups left plus anyone who arrived at the gate last minute.

So yeah, you better believe I'm gonna be first in my group, put my bag away and relax while the rest take 20 minutes to file in because it's a very complex process...

True they will check your bag if it doesn't fit, that adds a delay in leaving and as others say, increases risk of things going wrong (misrouting, theft).

No, I'm sorry, if a person was bullied for a year, that was the time for "due process" to protect them and society by preventing further harm. Now it is too late.

They caused someone to die by their violent actions, I am fully in favor of violent retaliation here, and as I said not looking to be convinced otherwise.

There are some things our society gets right, and some things it gets wrong. Passivity in the face of violence is a mistake IMO.