I signed a bunch of these petitions back in 2016. It didn’t accomplish anything.

I mean, sure, you could argue we’re already there.

That’s an odd thing to say. Did he forget that mashed potatoes are almost always made from russets? Try making it with Yukons and you’ll get potato glue.

These kinds of vague titles are not helpful. Every article is just the same fear mongering speculation.

What people misunderstand about the tax brackets is that your entire income doesn’t get moved to a higher bracket. It’s only the income in excess of it.

So for example, let’s say you had $50,000 of taxable income in 2024 as a single filer, you’d pay 10% on that first $11,600 and 12% on the chunk of income between $11,601 and $47,150. Then you’d pay 22% on the remaining $2,850 that falls into the next tax bracket. The total bill would be about $6,053 — about 12% of your taxable income — even though your highest bracket is 22%. And this example doesn’t take into account the standard deduction.

Bottom line, this won’t save people as much as they think it will. Usually the person in the example simply complains “I’m paying 22%” because it always feels like the paycheck isn’t enough.

Mormons have three tiers of heaven. According to some, even Hitler would make it into the lowest tier. I’m not sure what you’d have to do to actually go to hell, which is supposedly just lonely infinite darkness away from the presence of God.

There’s a $4000 credit for qualifying used EVs.

It sounds like you might not be ready for behavioral therapy just yet, especially in a group setting. Behavioral therapy, IMO, is sort of the last step in the process, where you already know what you’re doing wrong and are just trying to correct your behavior.

Before all that, you may need a period of validation. CBT is extra hard for people who have been invalidated their whole lives. You may need to figure out which of your behaviors are “you” and which are just maladaptive coping mechanisms. You need to be able to identify your emotions for CBT to work. It sounds like you don’t have the time/space to really feel and explore the emotions that are coming up in these group sessions.

I would ask the session leader if you could do some one-on-one sessions before going back to the group. Everyone’s different, and if it feels like this isn’t working for you it’s ok to step back and take a different approach.

Where did I say you should roll over and accept it or do nothing? The only thing I said was that protest won’t change anything, specifically right now. There are plenty of other things you can do besides protest.

Personally, if we get to a point where there’s an organized multi-state secessionist movement, I’ll join that army in a heartbeat to try to take back at least part of our country. We’re not at that point yet.

I understand wanting to protest, but what could it possibly accomplish? If you are protesting the incoming administration, they’re certainly not going to care. If you’re protesting the current administration, there’s nothing they can do. If you’re protesting the people who didn’t vote, I’m pretty sure they already know we’re mad at them. As of yet there’s no evidence of outright cheating (if it turns out there is, that would be a better time to protest). But protesting just because you don’t like the results of a race is a bit like throwing a tantrum.

Your premise is flawed. A question doesn’t beg an emotion, it begs a response. The response could be completely devoid of emotion.

I don’t want us to leave individually, because that way we are just handing them our country. They get everything. I want us to leave collectively, and at least take back a piece of what’s rightfully ours.

Russia wants to pit the US and China against each other to distract and destabilize them both. So all of this is great for Russia’s bottom line.

I grew up with people who talked like this. It’s all “just a joke” until suddenly it isn’t.

Democrats have to cater to like three different and mostly separate agendas to win. Republicans only have to cater to one. I think the problem is we’ve been expecting Dems to pull off what is essentially impossible.

Corps have been complaining for years already that people aren’t buying enough. Millenials are killing this industry and that industry because we don’t consume enough - “enough” being whatever level they’ve decided we should consume. They feel entitled to our dollars, whether or not their product or service is any good.

If they were smart, companies would lower prices to be more competitive and incentivize people to buy more. Instead they’ve doubled down and posted armed guards at the store exits to intimidate the customers they have left. They’ve slipped data collection into every interaction. It’s pretty obvious they’re not playing the long game anymore.

I first read that as “sheep medication” and… wasn’t even that surprised.

There’s a bit of a sugar replacement movement, which isn’t necessarily healthier. Most of the sugar replacements have been linked with stuff like dementia if consumed regularly for a long period. And most of them taste a bit off. The other part of the problem is that when you eat something sweet, your body expects sugar. When it doesn’t get the sugar it’s expecting, it will feel like you are still hungry even though you just ate something.

JubilantJaguar was telling you how it is, not how it should be. They didn’t say any of it was good or right or that they were happy about it in any way. You jumped to thinking they agreed with the poli-sci academics who said the parties were too democratic.

That’s why you flash your lights on and off at them, to get them to unfreeze before you get too close.