Merry Christmas, if you’re into that sort of thing!

If the results of Trump’s physical are being made public, I suppose that means one of two things: either he knows that it won’t reveal anything bad, or he needs an exit strategy, and has been persuaded that the 25th amendment is the least humiliating way out.

By the 25th Amendment, I assume you’re referring to resigning citing poor health, rather than being removed from office for being unable to perform his duties? Because the latter seems more humiliating than the former.

Diptych:

By the 25th Amendment, I assume you’re referring to resigning citing poor health, rather than being removed from office for being unable to perform his duties? Because the latter seems more humiliating than the former.

Section 3 (resignation) and section 4 (removal) would both be humiliating. But I don’t see any way forward for Trump which doesn’t end in humiliation to some degree, so he may be at the point of choosing the least worst option. Imagine if he’s been offered a deal: “if you resign, Mueller can afford to pull his punches, but if you try to hang on, you and your family are going to jail”.

WhatWhatWhatWhatWhat?

Alabama Newspaper Publisher Admits to Spanking Employee, Believes He Has Served ‘Honorably’

A prominent Alabama newspaper executive has admitted he “spanked” a former employee in the 1970s. He has refused to step down. In a report in the Anniston Star, at least two former employees allege that H. Brandt Ayers, the Star’s former publisher and current chairman of Consolidated Publishing (which owns the Star), “spanked women against their will, with sexual overtones.”

When contacted by the Star, Ayers admitted to spanking former police reporter Wendy Sigal, who worked at the paper in 1973 and 1974. Former Star editor Trisha O’Connor recalled receiving a phone call about the incident, describing Sigal as “very, very upset,” and said Brandt had stopped by her home and “told her she had been a bad girl and she needed to be spanked—and he spanked her.”

Ayers admitted the alleged sexual misconduct to the Star, but justified his behavior:

Ayers on Tuesday said he did indeed spank Sigal—on doctor’s orders, he claimed.

Ayers claimed Sigal had been out of work because of a psychological ailment.

“I called the doctor and asked what should do, and he said ‘calm her down,’” Ayers said. He said he asked the doctor if spanking would work, and the doctor said yes.

Sigal left The Star shortly after the alleged incident. Sigal, later Wendy Beasely, died in 2006, and the Star was unable to reach her family for comment.

https://jezebel.com/alabama-newspaper-publisher-admits-to-spanking-employee-1821752726

In other news, the bluster-in-chief has dissolved the Commission on Voter Fraud Fantasy….

Good.

But, PLEEEEEEEEEZE don’t send Kobach back to Kansas… we don’t WANT him.

@Oogly, Mish, Shadow

I suppose using discord would prevent it from showing up in google, but it’s still a weird betrayal of her privacy. The WHTM discord is VoIP?

Welp, guess I’m going to hope that the anonymity of my screenname here isn’t too compromised. I’ll try to keep it as vague as possible.

My young teen daughter came out as gay to her friends. (She actually said queer, but reading the texts where she goes into detail, she wasn’t referring to her gender). Plus, the girl she likes is a very close friend, is dating my daughter’s bully, and my daughter’s already told me about this boy saying that he treated her friend badly. Although she was being way too emotionally invested in what her friend did; now I see why. (My advice at the time was that it’s great to express concerns to a friend, but that ultimately it is none of her business who her friend dates).

1. I had a little sympathy freak out for my daughter last night. I did not have a good time with this shit at her age. But that shit’s carried by me, and it should stay on me. My dad is mild to moderately homophobic though, and he’s said somewhat gross things in front of my kids before, I’m not sure how I’m going to get him to fuck-off without being the bad guy.

2. I’m not out to my children. Maybe I should come out? Of course, that means I have to explain why I’m not out to everyone.

3. I’m debating whether or not I should tell this girl’s parents about her boyfriend. I know them well, I think it would just create drama, and not have a positive outcome.

@mrex

Sounds like your daughter has a head on her shoulders, so easy task to talk about it, at least. Or easier – it’s never really easy going from parent to human being to your kids.

Anyways … if you are ever going to come out to your daughter, seems like the ideal time and situation has fallen into your lap, hasn’t it. She’s out to her friends and has now basically been outed to you (how much of her freakout was over the prospect of you finding out when she weren’t ready to tell you/sure she wanted to tell you?). Seems like honesty is the best policy – a fact of her life for a fact of yours.

As to why you’d be out to her but to very few others – blame your Dad? It’s not really her business, but it’ll also let her know that yes, he says some problematic things and has some rather bigoted beliefs – something you don’t want for her, and that your reason for not being open right now shouldn’t prevent her from living her life as she wills.

Your third point – you’ve already decided 😛 I’d stay out of it too – just keep a sharp eye on things for any change in circumstances but don’t stoke the drama.

Hope that helps some. Luck!

@mrex

mom of 17 yo daughter here, seconding Shadowplay’s advice. Do keep an eye on your daughter’s friend, if you can listen to what your daughter thinks about what’s happening, and talk with her about it, some of your words may get to that friend through your daughter. Time, patience, listening, and keeping confidence with your daughter so she feels safe confiding in you about the issue can be an effective way to handle the situation. Be there, love her, you’ve got that covered. 🙂

In other news, Lord Elrond’s bigoted cousin decides that states do not have the right to regulate marijuana….

They do, however, still enjoy the right to suppress voting rights….

@mrex

Glad to hear you’re cool about your daughter being queer. Really quite concerned about the fact that you snooped, though. As a queer daughter myself, I am not okay with that kind of thing. Also, as a human being, my stance is that what happens on a person’s phone is their own private matter, especially things like texts and internet history. Talking to your child about the dangers of the internet is good. Spying on what they do there is a breach of privacy and bad.

I realize it’s too late for you to un-snoop, and that admitting you did so would be a scary prospect, but I think it would be the best course of action. Would it make it harder for her to trust you? Maybe, but that’s kind of warranted, given that you broke her trust and read something of hers she didn’t give you permission to. But I think she has a right to know, and being honest about it will mean you two can be more open, communicative, and trusting in the future.

Re: bringing up queerness, why don’t you try mentioning queerness in media/the outside world/your stance on it? Talk about how you appreciate good queer representation in fiction or news, support events, be positive about queer people in your life you may know. You don’t have to mention it in the context of your personal life to make it clear you’re cool with it. (Anecdote: my parents once mentioned that it’s a shame this celebrity in a reality show is “a gay,” which was my cue never to mention my queerness to them.)

Once that door is open and she knows you’re queer-positive, she’ll feel a lot more comfortable with talking to you about herself. After all, queer people want more than anything to be accepted for who they are, and it’s often a matter of knowing who to trust with that information.

Mish, I’m with you. I like Twitter. It gives me the opportunity to mute users, which I wish *all* websites had the capability of.

(And you’re not a twit, anymore than I am…and I am not a twit. ?)

I’d use mute freely. If I don’t see their crappy opinions, I can’t be affected by them. I’ve had to leave more than one website because some users lack so much self-awareness, they do not realize that they are part of a website’s diminishing popularity, although websites come and go, as that is the nature of the ‘net.

Shrug, lol.

theres a lord of the rings quote from return of the king where sam and frodo see orcs arguing and fighting and sam says “we could just let them murder eachnother all over morder” and frodo says “they hate us more than they hate each other if they saw us here their quarrel would stop until we were dead” and it is applicable here

@Moggie Sam, Merry and Pippin all kill orcs. >:D (and a witch king, and a troll…)