I went to a private elementary school where I was pretty picked on. One of my parents grew up poor and was an immigrant, the other grew up poor and rural, so neither really understood why I had a hard time socially in a suburban private school with mostly wealthy kids.They didn’t know how to help.

I transferred to a public middle school where I was neither popular nor unpopular. My elementary years taught me to avoid relationships so I just tried to blend in and keep things very surface level with other kids. I had no close friends but I was not being picked on.

In high school I developed a couple of closer friendships, but I would not say that I ever completely let my guard down. Like middle school, I wasn’t really picked on but I was certainly not one of the popular kids. I did let myself join athletics so I developed more self confidence, but social relationships were still superficial.

I’m now in my 40s and have been confronting myself about the fact that other than my wife and kids, I’ve not let myself have too many close relationships. I know it was self protective, but it also kept me isolated. My wife cannot and should not be the one person who meets all my needs.

I’m putting myself out there a bit more but man is it hard to make new friends at this age. Better late than never I guess.

I only remember French, Spanish, or German (this was back in the 90s). My kids have all those plus Japanese, Mandarin, and ASL to choose from

I hear this a lot, and part of me understands the sentiment. But it’s important to keep in mind that these are state level politicians, not national. Representing their districts is a part time job. Most of them have jobs like attorney, doctor, business owner employing other people, etc. To stay absent would mean not only leaving these responsibilities, but it’s also leaving their spouses and kids. On top of that the state government started imposing $500/day fines. Then they sued and froze the accounts of Beto O’Rourke’s fundraiser to help them meet their expenses (that was just overturned by a judge this afternoon).

When it became clear that other states were willing to redraw their maps to cancel out Texas’s naked power grab, it changed the calculus. They achieved the objective of drawing attention to the issue and they got other states to commit to action so that even if Texas redraws the map, it won’t matter on a national level. They’ve already paid significant personal cost. How much should they be expected to pay? Should their families/clients/patients/employees also suffer?

I don’t know that there’s a right answer. Maybe this is the sort of tough call that defines real rebellions from performative ones. I do think that it’s easy to criticize from a distance because for most of us the principles and ideas are abstract. But for them the costs are already being felt in concrete ways.

I read elsewhere that they never sold it. I read the article but it seems to contradict itself. It says Costco “stopped selling” it, but it also quotes Costco as saying “Our position at this time not to sell mifepristone, which has not changed, is based on the lack of demand from our members and other patients, who we understand generally have the drug dispensed by their medical providers,” (emphasis mine).

So either Reuters is wrong when it says they stopped selling, or Costco is lying when it says it’s position never changed

Oh you’re thinking of the OTHER NYC

CREAM as the background music is just perfect

Here in San Antonio we have zero rail so…

Russophobia! /s

The “pro-life” party

Steve Hou of Bloomberg LP, found the same phone on Amazon. Trump is selling his phone for $499, but it can be purchased on Amazon for $169. It can also be purchased in gold

Everything is a fucking grift

I can’t speak for every group, but from reading about the incident at the Salt Lake City protest it was an armed guard that shot the would-be shooter and unfortunately killed the bystander

The Death of Stalin

https://youtu.be/E9eAshaPvYw

So if they want to use their influence for political ends, why are they tax exempt?

Thanks for the taxpayer expense of having this obviously unconstitutional law immediately challenged, appealed, and ultimately settled by SCOTUS. Won’t it be fun if it turns out this is a new norm?

Just hoping my kid can graduate before this is officially a thing

I think we are reading it differently. From the article, emphasis added:

"[Their day] includes rising at 4:30 a.m., cleaning their room, keeping the public areas spotless. There are Alcoholic Anonymous meetings at 6 a.m. and work hours run from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. four days a week. Life on the farm involves grooming the horses, getting them out of their stalls and into the pastures daily, visits from veterinarians and farriers, and farm maintenance.

The other days the men attend therapy offsite or visit doctors in an effort to build their sobriety. Stable Recovery partners with an outpatient treatment program that provides classes and therapists and both sides keep in constant communication."

So work is a part of the program, not something that comes afterwards. I did not see anything saying they are not paid for the initial year. It says they are not paid until they start working (but neither are they charged). How soon they start working probably depends on going through some training and whether or not they have prior experience in the industry, but the point is that it doesn’t say anything about a year before they can work. It says the goal is to have them in the program for a year, but work is part of the program.

And as the second paragraph points out, they partner with therapists and doctors in outpatient treatment. It’s not just AA meetings.

One thing I missed until I reread this was that their work week is 4 days. Another reason I don’t think this is about taking advantage of anyone.

For what it’s worth 30 days of sobriety is a minimum standard for most sober living programs. It improves the odds of success and reduces the chances that someone will bring a substance into the community. It’s not like they are fine after 30 days, it is a bare minimum standard needed to make the rest of treatment effective.

Idk, seems like they are genuinely interested in the well-being of the participants.

They’re working and receiving room, board, and around $35k/yr. And a stable, supportive environment where they get transportation to outpatient counseling services, where the counselors stay in regular communication with the folks who run the program. You’re making this sound like it’s a grift

Geez, the cynicism runs deep with this one.

The wages you’re quoting is on top of the fact that they don’t charge anything for any of this until the men start working at which point it is $100 a week for food, shelter, clothing, and transportation. Do you know how much the average recovery program costs a patient? About $6k a month. The purpose, community, and stability these men are finding here is priceless.

If there’s one thing that the last 4 years proved its that the systems we have in place to check abuses of power are woefully slow to respond or to change. The only justice he might ever face is the Mangione variety.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4660008-donald-trump-hannibal-lecter-wonderful-man/

Was it Hannibal Lecter?