Thank you for your thoughtful response! I think you’re right that the current circumstances aren’t sustainable and we need to establish some systems to address our issues. I already talked to my boss about trying to keep our hours closer to the amount we’re actually being paid for. He’s an ostrich-style “conservative”, so of course he tried to gaslight me about how hard he’s been working me. I think we’re going to have a face to face talk when I get into town and, if we can’t set clear, reasonable boundaries, I’ll have to come up with a different solution…

Providing counter-arguments you clearly haven’t considered is not a bad-faith argument. Lobbing insults and strawman arguments (I never made the case that the majority of people have to drive) is arguing in bad faith.

I work in many different locations. Some of them remote. I often bring large equipment with me. More than that, my work days tend to be anywhere from 10 hours to 16 hours long, typically with a lot of manual labor included. Some of my commutes can be 2 hours one way. I’ve worked plenty of those 16 hour days with 4 hours of driving added on top. The thought of riding a bike or running the public transit gauntlet (which, will typically double or quadruple the commute times in my area) is repulsive.

I think you’re massively over-simplifying this issue.

You can live in a densely populated city and still need to travel long distances regularly though… Especially if you’re poor.

Oil products are used in a lot more things than just cars. But, you’re right. I’ll just ride a bike next time I have to travel 70 miles for one of my regular gigs.

Thank you! This is exactly what I needed to hear. We had a long talk last night and we agreed to give each other some grace for now. We have some stuff to work on but we’re going to focus on a little emotional triage for now, and continue to talk through the issues when things settle down a bit for me.

Yeah, grieving my girl has been the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through. She was my child. She was a very well trained and well loved dog, didn’t leave my side for the first 5 years I had her. I think I’ll be grieving her for a few years at least. I wish I could take a break from work to process that a little more but, unfortunately I work for a small company and I just moved from freelance to a salary position after working for 5 years to get this spot… I talked to my boss today about keeping my schedule closer to 40 hours. He offered a half-solution, so we’ll see how that goes…

As an American, so do I. Unfortunately, a lot of people are deciding it’s not worth it. The good thing is, the more skilled labor that leaves the US, the less GDP the US will have in the long run. In other words, skilled labor leaving is a good way to speedrun the collapse of a shitty empire.

I haven’t made any assumptions about you. I’ve only pointed out things I saw in your posts in this thread. I haven’t read your posts elsewhere, nor am I interested in doing so. Glad you got it thought!

if they feel that a random man is likely to be dangerous enough that they would prefer a random bear

There it is!

Let me try again: You’re adding a nonsensical element to a thought experiment that doesn’t fit the context of the world we currently live in. Polar bears aren’t likely to become forest dwelling animals in our lifetime, if ever (they’ll probably go extinct first), so that part is irrelevant, and you’re still missing the whole point of the thought experiment. You’re trying to warp something in a stupid way and you seem to believe that you sound really smart while doing it. Check yourself. Your ego is making a fool of you.

Not trying to be mean. Just pointing out that you have some egg on your face.

You didn’t correct it though. You added a random element to an existing thought experiment based on the way the world is as we currently know it. That’s like “correcting” the trolley problem by saying “but what if aliens appeared with a second switch that saved everyone!?”

I don’t think you understand the crushing reality of living in poverty in the US. Over 60% of the US lives paycheck to paycheck. That should make it clear that it’s a systemic issue. Some people live above their means by choice, or lack of thoughtful planning. Many people live above their means because the means they have access to don’t cover the cheapest of basics, so we go without. I lived off of one meal a day, all through my 20’s, because that’s what I could afford. Ignorant people lectured me on the importance of saving that whole time. We don’t have a problem understanding the importance of saving. You have a problem understanding the class system in the US.

They’ll just have to reduce their excess spending, get a job and pull themselves up by their bootstraps! /s

She’s a family member on my husband’s side. I don’t know what she’s done. She doesn’t talk details about her work. But, knowing her, she wouldn’t let someone get away with a felony just because she knows them. She’s not a police officer. She’s super smart, kinda nerdy, introverted, and very progressive. She’s horrified by the same things we’re horrified by, with the Trump administration, and she despises the current FBI leadership.

I think a lot of y’all have bought into the ACAB narrative a little too hard. Like, yes, are a lot of them bad? Absolutely. I was beaten by a group of cops when I was 18. I’m no stranger to that. But also, there are people that staff internal investigations offices and federal agents that only go after actual murderers. They’re not all corrupt street cops.

Everything exists on a spectrum. Given their training and mostly free reign to do crimes themselves, yeah, a lot of street cops are corrupt to some degree. But, I think FBI agents are held, and hold themselves, to a different standard and, they have a much higher level of training/vetting. It makes sense (to me) that they’re less corrupt.

It’s silly to demonize the organization, as a whole, because of their politically appointed leaders and because street cops generally suck. Is it really so hard to believe that some people at the highest levels of law enforcement actually want to uphold the law? I don’t think things are as cartoonishly black and white as you make them out to be.

These “kids” are the worst of the worst! They don’t eat their vegetables, and that two year old is always screaming about something. Truly terrible people. To the gulags, you little shits! /s

But seriously, what the fuck is the point in detaining children? I highly doubt they have somewhere to hold them that’s even remotely appropriate for children. If we make it through this, we’re going to have a generation of seriously traumatized kids.

Nah, I know someone that works in the FBI who is one of my favorite people. She’s probably the most stand-up, dependable person I know. There are plenty of people like her, who genuinely want to make the world safer, and are just as horrified with everything that’s going on. The person I know hunts down serial killers and shit. Her position is less likely to be politicized, but I know that if it was, she wouldn’t compromise her morals.

Basically, it’s silly to demonize them as a whole. They’re not like street cops who are largely trained to be attack dogs. The more good people we have in the FBI, the better. Those that follow unlawful orders though, deserve to be thrown in prison with the rest of the fascists.

Ah, I thought he was border patrol, but he’s ICE, and you’re right. ICE also doesn’t have jurisdiction over US citizens though. I think it’s pretty clear that there was no probable cause to believe she, or her wife, were potentially illegal immigrants, were aiding illegal immigrants, or were impeding the agent’s investigation in any way, given that she was initially trying to wave them to go around her.

If/When we have a functioning DOJ again, Ross is going to prison.

Elon is very skilled. Some of his great skills, just off the top of my head; riding the shit out of every coat tail, failing upwards, shooting himself in his bulletproof foot, looking like a complete dweeb/asshat to most of the world almost as much as the potus, and so much more! He’s truly remarkable… -ly foolish.

Border patrol agents have no jurisdiction over US citizens. They didn’t have the authority to stop her and try to remove her from her car in the first place so, what they were doing was unlawful from the start. That should disqualify him from using the supremacy clause, before we even get into debate on whether lethal force was justified or not.

I’m telling you that didn’t happen. I didn’t know a single gay person growing up. That’s part of why I was so confused when puberty came around and things were different for me. Also, I had a bunch of adults around me making it clear that being gay was the worst thing you could be. Those are the adults that damaged me the most. My family is like yours. They thought there were no gay people, they’re all homophobic. That didn’t stop me from existing, it just made it harder for me as a child. You’ve never met or known an actual gay person, have you?