It’s okay. I still peruse reddit sometimes because the subs here aren’t sufficient enough. Also, reddit has more variety. Lemmy is a bit too political. Like /c/news seems to only post political stuff. And it’s mostly liberal leaning (which I am), but too liberal occasionally. People hate nazis here but curiously, they also hate Israel. I’m looking for more communities that are less intense and charged. Stuff about crafting, plant rearing, literature, etc. The other big fediverse site, Mastodon, has a similar prevalence of charged stuff, but I’ve found a bit more silly things both on my own and with suggestions over there. I suppose I could start some new communities here but I’m doubtful I have the fortitude to make them get increased traction.

Can he just be quiet for once? Why is he even saying that? It’s a death threat but I think he’s too stupid to realize it. This is probably why so many of your family members don’t want to help on your campaign. Melania, Barron, Ivanka, Jared… and Tiffany and her husband. You don’t have to talk every time you are interviewed. You can ignore or decline requests to talk. Lord knows you do that enough with invoices.

I almost feel bad how little personal emotional and/or spiritual time he takes for himself. He continues posting this crap after his brother died, after his first wife/mother of his three eldest died, while he was getting ready to attend his younger daughter’s wedding, and more recently, after his sister died. He’s so relatitory. Just be happy or somber in these landmark occasions. His sister Maryanne who just died even seemed to be pretty important to him. He wanted to transfer colleges and Maryanne had a friend who was on their admissions team, so she set up an interview for him, and even drove him to the interview. Not to mention her being a circuit judge in New Jersey helped his casino get its gambling and liquor licenses issued quickly. She really looked out for her little brother, and he’d rather post about how due process is against him than how much she meant to him on the day she died. She’d said in Mary L. Trump’s book that Donald’s comments on how the death of their older brother Fred inspired his sobriety was emotional manipulation. Now that more impactful events have come in his life and he’s only focusing on the ones that effect him directly, I realize she was right.

For real. I’m really jealous that the courts in Brazil have already banned Bolsanaro from running for office for the next 10 years and Pakistan’s parliament ousted Khan for being ungenerous to the Ukraine conflict and then later the police arrested him for bribery. Those are supposedly developing countries but they are doing a better job of controlling their tyrannical despots than we are. Fortunately, like I keep saying, Trump has too much work cut out for him to effectively campaign with so many charges. He’s been in the lead, but I don’t know if he can stay that way.

That was actually Major, their younger dog at the time. Champ was their elderly dog who died a couple years ago. They since got a younger pup, Commander, and he too, has been biting staffers, but I don’t know if they revealed which agencies the victims work for. Maybe Commander is copying what his elder brother does, but iirc Major doesn’t live in the White House too often nowadays. He might just have the same intuition.

Trump may be in the lead now, but he cannot campaign effectively with so many legal problems looming. He’s already planning on skipping the first debate this month and instead doing an interview with Tucker Carlson. Although I am unsure how that will be done. Fox News told Tucker to stop doing his Twitter show because he’s violating contract by doing such. Also, why would Trump still want to appear on any Tucker Carlson appearance now? While Tucker flirts with him in public, his texts to colleagues said he hated him and was sick of talking to or about him in the Dominion lawsuit evidence. I hope as part of sentencing for his indictments, the judge or jury really throws the book at Trump and tells him he must forfeit the presidential race. I’m not even sure if that’s a punishment they can issue, but I hope they can.

I suppose I mean it is mostly Catholic as in the church has a large present in Massachusetts (where I live as well). Lots of people here grew up in the church, were baptised in Catholic tradition, did Catholic sacraments like confession, communion, or confirmation as children. Catholic charities play a large part of a lot of the social services here too. This survey is unusual because it doesn’t seem to check off the qualities of religiosity. What are they praying about, what kind of God do they believe in, and how do they behave when they attend services? I’m quite skeptical since the supposedly most religious states are Southern red states, which are often religious in hallow, discriminatory ways. In the northeast culture, people are uncomfortable being seen as highly religious because we also want to seem rational, but that doesn’t make us completely non-practicing. My point is, the judges, lawyers, and/or witnesses this couple will encounter likely also have a familiarity with Catholicism and can just as well find a doctrinal rebuttal to their bigotry in addition to legal ones.

I don’t get why they think this is discriminatory when Massachusetts is mostly Catholic to begin with. Because they have a superiority complex, they are “true Catholics” I suppose? I mean even the papacy, USCCB and other large Catholic regulators have shifted their views on LGBTQ people. While a lot of dioceses still aren’t yet uniamious on marriage equality or performing same-sex marriages within church premises and with church tradition/clergy, I think most now say the queer community at least deserves love, respect, and tolerance. Being trans or nonbinary is tricky, yes, but if you foster a child who considers a transition it’s important to give them spaces to really evaluate the choice. Take them to therapy, support groups, and maybe some medical consultations to evaluate their options. With children especially but people in general shouldn’t transition completely on a lark. Make sure they are confident in their choice. Still, these people couldn’t even have a nuanced approach like that. What a shame.

I feel you about the sane middle. I am a Democrat and likely will vote for Biden regardless, but even the prospect of having a republican nominee like Trump, Pence, or DeSantis terrifies me. I really hope unenrolled, independents and moderate Republicans vote for almost anyone else in the primary. I think the mayor of Miami and someone from North Dakota (a senator?) are running. Don’t know a ton about them but they seem less mean-spirited as far as I know. I just have this horrible imaginary scene in my head where the Republican National Convention has a remote telecast set up from Donald Trump’s cell block. Or maybe there’s an announcement that says “Our candidate must leave the convention early because he has a curfew with his house arrest.” Or even Trump just excusing himself several times throughout the convention to return correspondence from his lawyers, the courts, or publicists. It would be so embarrassing for the party and to the country to allow a convict or near-convict to compete so closely for the highest office in the land.

Good call. I think rudimentary is the word I was looking for.

I’m hardly an expert, just someone who loves studying law by myself until I can afford formal law school, and I did a little PR work during my internship, but despise my rudimentary exposure, Trump, his spokespeople, and legal team are approaching these indictments in the completely wrong way. They are too adversial and argumentative. Speaking little and gently would be much more helpful, and maybe even opting for a guilty plea. Trump needs to stop whining about how much he hates being prosecuted and the publicists and attorneys on his payroll need to stop regurgitating his bellyaches. It’s not like I think he won’t be sentenced for being agreeable. He likely will, but maybe they’d be able to make some compromises. Now I know why Ivanka will not work on her father’s current campaign. Her style of arguing is much more reserved, while her two eldest brothers have an aggressive style which seems to be the only one their father seems willing to emulate. I bet Trump did not listen to his daughter’s advice often enough. Edited a word.