Happy thread:

Reflecting on the random people in my 55 years who live in my memory forever for their routine kindnesses:

1) The elderly lady in my working-class Baltimore neighborhood whose entire tiny row house yard was flowers - every inch. No grass. She'd lean over her... ...chainlink fence when you - a complete stranger - walked by & offer a bouquet of flowers. I was a child & never knew her name, but still see her beaming face & her glorious garden decades later. My sister remembers her too. We both started gardens this year, thinking of her.

If you think masks or learning about racism is traumatizing, try training to hide from a school shooter.

Did you know in shooter drills some kids are purposefully locked out of their classrooms to bang on doors pleading for help to see if their classmates will open the door? Kids don’t always know the drills aren’t real, either.

Has anyone here experienced a hypnagogic hallucination? Over the past year, I've experienced this 6 times & it creeps me out so much I'm almost afraid to go to sleep.

It's a type of dream hallucination you experience as you fall asleep, often associated with sleep paralysis. In my case (&, apparently, this is the same for many who have them), I believe I am still awake & feel a presence on the side of the bed. I turn over, thinking it's one of my kids who needs me, to see a scary humanoid figure with a face I can't quite make out. It's terrifying.

The Right is pushing the idea of Civil War again. What if this time we let them go? Give them a couple of states down South (like Florida since they think climate change isn’t real) & say “good luck with your govt, you’ll need a visa to visit us again.” We will issue no visas. If we do this, then I’m changing my stance on the wall.

If you remain registered as a Republican at this point in time, please know that you are an evil bastard on par with Nazis. Your party has embraced white supremacy. They are fascists who want to control women, ban books, starve immigrant infants, criminalize being gay. You are in the party of hate. Just look around you at your next Trump rally. Your fellow Republicans are now sporting swastika tattoos & carrying Confederate flags. You know what that stands for & it sure as hell isn’t “state’s rights” or “history.”

Infuriating to hear pundits say Trump can't be charged w/ mishandling classified info because he has power to declassify.

Did he declassify top-secret docs before taking to Mar-a-Lago? What is process?

Can he show classified docs to anyone? What if he decides to share w/ Putin? What if we were to discover he shared classified info w/ Putin or MBS & received payment for it? Would that be under his presidential authority?

It's likely Kushner gave MBS classified intel to help him consolidate power even tho our intel says that was against US interests.

I’m confused by those who get angry when comparisons are made between extremist Christians & extremist Muslims (like calling GOP American Taliban). They say it’s insulting to Islam, but the Taliban doesn’t represent Islam any more than extremist Christians represent Christianity. To me, it’s insulting to imply Taliban equals “Islam.” Extremist religion is dangerous no matter the religion & there are notable similarities between extremists of all stripes. Respectfully, I think it’s vital to call those out & not pretend this is unique. Thoughts?

I worked as a writer & editor for ACOG (American College of Ob-Gyn) in the late 90s/2000s when anti-abortionists were bombing clinics & murdering doctors. I can tell you they were not civil.

They were domestic terrorists. Literally. They used terror to try to shut down clinics. Doctors wore bullet-proof vests to work. They weren't being dramatic or irrational. A "protestor" executed Dr. David Gunn outside his clinic in 1994. Nine months later, 2 receptionists were killed & 5 others wounded at Boston clinics.

Red states are competing to see who can come up with the most fascist, reprehensible bills to pass now that they own SCOTUS - everything from banning condoms & IUDs to requiring doctors to let women with ectopic pregnancies die. They're dropping hints about ending gay marriage & interracial marriage. They want to force Hollywood to tag shows with LGBTQ characters so children can't watch them. They want to criminalize teachers teaching about racism or gender or librarians recommending certain books.

One vote on SCOTUS is a religious cult. Barrett belongs to "People of Praise," an extremist Christian cult that makes members seek permission on everything from whom to marry to household budgets. They believe women must submit to men & LBGTQ is sinful

How can we trust her vote? She literally belongs to a cult that requires her to seek advice & permission before making decisions.

Other conservative members of SCOTUS are also deeply religious. Being religious is fine, but religion should play no role in decisions about government. And you KNOW it does.

I want to see pundits start talking about the consequences of abortion being made illegal - women will be prosecuted for miscarriages.

Women are going to be made to be afraid of contradicting their doctors in any way. We will lose all bodily integrity. This is what happens in countries where abortion is illegal.

Doctor told you to quit your job because it's too demanding & you didn't? You continued to exercise against medical advice? Had a drink? Had too much coffee? Had a miscarriage? We're going to charge you with murder.

My husband's former high school classmate has contacted him out of the blue 3 decades later to tell him she is privy to God's economic plan & MUST share it with him & will drive 8 hours from NC to MD to do so.

AND HE GAVE HER OUR ADDRESS. WTAF

She's coming to breakfast tomorrow I can't believe he gave her our address. You don't give religious nuts your actual address so they can make 8-hour drives to talk to you about crazy shit.

Coverage of the slaughter in Ukraine feels unreal. For one, what differentiates a "war crime" from war itself being a crime? This idea we have that "war" has rules & some people - like those with guns defending their country - are within bounds to kill...it's absurd. So I guess the idea is that a country can invade & kill the young men & women with guns protecting their own country ("soldiers") & it's "war" & not a crime. Bombing & burning the country down - also not a "war crime" as long as you don't intentionally target certain buildings.

“I was screaming that it was time for us to protest, to go to rallies, to write complaints to deputies – instead, people went shopping on IKEA’s last business day,” Veronica said. “I don’t want to live with people like that, they broke my heart.” cnn.com/2022/03/30/eur… "“In the first days of the war, my friends & I went to protest & hundreds of people were detained,” Nikolai told CNN. “Policemen stop people on the streets, people just walking, going to shops & ask to see their phones, their Telegram & social media & then police take them.""

Putin is now warning Western nations to not respond to his invasion, hinting at the possibility of nuclear war. I can't help but think back to that Russian security meeting the other day where one of the oligarchs was clearly terrified of Putin.

Teen daughter tested positive for Covid today & is very sick - throwing up, feverish, horrible muscle pain, sore throat. I fear my teen son & I are next. We're feeling tired & headachy.

We avoided it for so long! All of us are vaxxed & boosted. How long do symptoms usually last? We tested her, btw, using the free Covid tests mailed to us. So that was a good thing to have.

Another recommended reading list courtesy of the Texas Taliban. nbcnews.com/news/us-news/t… TX wants to ban "White Bird," a graphic novel about a Jewish teen living in France after Nazis seized power, because it's "biased" & could lead to the "skewing of a young child's mind."

"Biased" against Nazis and genocide.

My personal knowledge of "mild" Covid:

* Fit, healthy friend in 30s has "mild" case, recovers, has stroke month later
* Aunt can't smell or taste right a year later. Food tastes wrong/sour - no joy in eating
* Daughter suffers brain fog, memory loss. Has to withdraw from college Covid is no mere "cold" that you recover from & nothing is changed. It's causing significant long-term symptoms in even mild or asymptomatic cases. My daughter's neurological symptoms are profound.

I can't imagine how bad it will be when we discover millions of us are messed up.

When they heard about a school shooting, the Crumbleys knew IMMEDIATELY it was their son. They had been told the day before he had searched for ammunition online in school. His mother's reaction - she sent him a text saying "LOL...Learn not to get caught." Day of the shooting, kid drew a picture of gun w/ words "blood everywhere" & "the thoughts won't stop. Help me." Parents were called in, shown the pic & told he needed counseling. They refused to take him home & didn't tell school he'd been given a gun for Xmas & might have it.

As abortion rights are poised to be taken away, it's a good time to remind you all about the genesis of the anti-abortion movement and what it was really about - racial segregation.

Yup. You heard right.

Once upon a time many Protestant Christians had no problem with abortion. The Bible says life begins with breath and - for many Evangelical Christians - abortion was a "Catholic issue." They largely ignored the topic or, in the case of the Southern Baptists and the highly-influential magazine "Christianity Today," actually supported it in some cases.

Once Roe v. Wade is overturned, you're going to see multiple cases of women on trial for murder following miscarriage. This is how it goes in countries that make abortion a crime. Did you express reservations about being pregnant? Did you keep going to the gym? Did you drink alcohol when you shouldn't have? Did you refuse to quit work even tho your conservative doctor told you to? Did you drink too much coffee? Did you miss prenatal appts? Murder.