Reminds me of a guy who came to my door to get me to sign a survey to stop an ice cream shop from opening up down the street. Except, he started with the argument that he thought would get agreement and ended with the way it would affect him.

He started by talking about how dangerous it would be for children because the ice cream shop was going to be next to railroad tracks.

I pointed out that the kids who would cross the tracks occasionally for ice cream were already crossing the tracks every day to get to the elementary school. He then shared his true reason: he lived next door to the proposed ice cream shop and didn’t want to deal with the crowds or trash.

When I suggested his “think of the children” argument was dishonest, he got a bit angry with me. I might have ended the discussion by telling him to fuck off.

He didn’t prevail. Ice cream won out as it often does. When we moved here a few years before, the first thing we said when we saw that little building was that it would be perfect for a little ice cream shop.

He only cares about the people he depends on. It’s not empathy, it’s self-interest. That’s nothing to give him credit for, and there’s no reason to believe that he’s redeemable based on that.

That’s my plan.

I’m sure all the people in our government why care about the law are very upset.

Just cover the entire floor with a layer of kitty litter.

Another story, same cat:

I was installing a window unit air conditioner. Step one, pull the unit out of it’s shell. Step two, mount the empty shell in the window. Step three, install the unit back in the mounted shell.

Later as we were enjoying the new coolness of the house, we discovered the cat was missing. I figured out pretty quickly that the little pain in the ass jumped through the empty shell and out the window when I turned around to pick up the unit and finish the install.

Both our cats were indoor-only cats. The older cat would have been able to feed himself, but he also wouldn’t have been stupid enough to go outside in the first place. She in particular did not know how to survive. She got her ass kicked by a beetle once.

We were leaving on vacation the next day. We printed up signs, put them around the neighborhood, and I figured she was gone for good.

When we got back, there was a message on the answering machine that someone had found her, and put her inside our enclosed side porch with a bit of cat food.

We checked, and she was there on the porch. Skinny, dirty, and stupid, but alive.

That’s pretty lucky. Years ago I was adding a ceiling fan and opened a wall in the attic to run the electrical line.

That led to meowing coming from the walls. Luckily we were able to convince her to come out an access panel in the other end of the house.

Because they are dishonest assholes?

“And again, I don’t think you intended this, but you essentially destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership what I need to. It’s really frustrating,” Martin said.

It’s the DNC chair whose credibility has been destroyed, not Hogg.

If the people who stand against him stay home and stay quiet, then to him it looks like everyone is on his side.

You can’t just have “no optics”. If protestors aren’t there, then it means no one objected.

We need to show him that we don’t support his dictatorship.

My childhood cat, Gimpy, used to steal rolled up socks. He’d carry them around, chirp at them, and give them drinks of water (by dipping them in the toilet).

If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask a question

I’ve never been in the military, but I’m horrified by how Trump treats veterans.

My question is, why do so many veterans support Trump?

I recently purchased an incredibly shitty hand truck for a move.

Apart from the not unexpected need to beat a part into shape with a hammer, it also included a “wrench”. Really just a vaguely wrench-like shape stamped out of a piece of 1/8" thick sheet metal.

There were three different sizes of nuts and bolts required for assembly, and the “wrench” didn’t fit any of them.

If we scream into the void, how will we hear it when it calls?

In the age of zero tolerance, my son discovered that the school security will respond to fights, but not punches.

He had someone bullying him in high school, making fun of him for having a big nose. Told the guy he was done, and didn’t want to hear it anymore, and said if he said one more thing, there’d be trouble.

The guy opened his mouth again, my son stood up, punched him in the face, and sat back down. There was a security guard walking by at the time, and he saw it, and just kept walking.

I’ve felt my son’s punches in karate class, so my first reaction when he told me about it was to ask if I should prepare for a visit from the police, but he said he pulled the punch.

No one ever said anything about his nose again.

It amazed me that anyone would ever consider bullying him. 6’5" tall, solid muscle, about 12 years of Karate classes. It seemed like bullying him would be obviously suicidal, but he is a good kid who didn’t want to hurt anyone, so bullies irrationally thought he was an easy target.

There were hallucinations in the first episode, and definitely some grandiose ideas in both the first and second episodes.

I have some concerns, because some aspects of his care after the first episode were neglected because he was felt he was experiencing too much anxiety to deal with it. That left him without any therapy, and because the psychiatrist had weaned him off the meds, he was unmedicated.

I don’t believe he would have stopped the meds without the psychiatrist saying he should. However, we do need to make sure he has ongoing care, therapy, and group meetings.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I appreciate the information.

Thank you for your response!

That sounds absolutely terrible for you as well as her.

The one thing everyone agrees on with my son is that he would never hurt anyone else. We’re all only concerned that he could hurt himself.

Thanks for your reply.

There were definitely signs leading up to this. As I’ve mentioned, we were a bit too hopeful that the diagnosis was wrong, so we deluded ourselves into thinking it wasn’t happening. Which is strangely comforting because now that we have no basis for believing the diagnosis was wrong, we WILL pay closer attention.

The biggest sign was he wasn’t sleeping. That would be bad for anyone, but he never has trouble sleeping.

Thanks for sharing!

The thing that makes me most hopeful is his attitude. He really seems to be dedicated to making the treatment work.