Azal

Having come from Arkansas moving to Missouri.

Yup.

So I found a honey cheese at Aldi that when you slice it with apple... gah... I want to find that stuff again.

Cosmic Crisp actually! Fuji's seemed to have lost the tartness I love but the cosmics have REALLY taken over that spot.

I can forgive the ones who say “I don’t know what I was thinking”. I can forgive the ones who say “I was tricked” or “I was not paying attention” or “I believed he blah blah blah”. I can forgive the ones who are remorseful, and the ones who work to undue the damage they caused.

Nah.

First time around with Trump, sure.

Second time around. Anyone who was under 18 at the end of Trump's first term are the only people that get the pass. I was a dumb kid in high school who didn't pay attention either when I couldn't vote. But anyone after, he wasn't some "dark horse" or "outsider" or all the dumbass lies they sell.

But then again, I live in a state that's been red over a decade, who voted in the least educated governor in the union, that is about to get rid of income tax "because it's what Texas does" despite the fact our neighboring state did the same thing and nearly went insolvent until a Dem governor got elected for the first time in decades and fixed it, that our traitor of a Senator got voted as Senator before he finished his first term as AG despite campaigning as AG for not using it as a ladder to further political aspirations, then his protege did the EXACT same thing, and Hawley got re-elected. I've watched Republicans get shocked EVERY time they got fucked over, then promptly voted the same people who fucked them over because it'll hurt someone else.

I'd even say the people who were remorseful and work to undo the damage... but #1 Republican before Trump, McConnell SPECIFICALLY ranted and raved about how guilty of Trump was of trying to overturn the election and that he wasn't above the law... then did everything to stop justice. Republicans are only out for Republicans. If things get too bad they'll dial back the damage just enough to stop hurting themselves, then start hurting again.

It's why I can understand what we need to do to go forward as a nation is forgive... but I also cannot do it.

This is going to be the problem. If the country is going to come together we have to be able to forgive and start building bridges together.

But I've watched Republicans say that too many times then stab us in the back by tripling down on partisanship I don't see the path forward because I'm VERY much in the same boat.

I don't have an answer to make it better unfortunately.

I know that we're not to celebrate death of Graham so I'll say the nicest thing I can think about him.

Today for breakfast I had two eggs and an apple.

I can't write up a better TLDR than one of the other responses, they hit the major base points, there's just so much more.

What I'll explain is the level of power he wielded because frankly, a lot of US citizens don't realize the mechanisms he used so I'm not sure being out of the US would know.

McConnelll was essentially the leader of the Republican Party all throughout Obama's administration, and with such he pushed the Republicans to be pure oppositional on EVERYTHING because he noted that Dems working with Bush on No Child Left Behind and Medicare Part D helped Bush get reelected. So McConnell's statements were "the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president." and "if [Obama is] willing to meet us halfway on some of the biggest issues, it's not inappropriate for us to do business with him." The man literally said about our debt "it's a hostage that's worth ransoming"

I'd like to note that when Trump became President, suddenly McConnell was all about putting politics aside and working together as unity to help (his view of) the country.

Now when he got Senate Majority Leader, that meant he had a lot of power. With our system, a law has to go through both Congress and Senate before being signed by the President. And when the President picks positions like judges, the Legislative branch also confirms them. The Senate Majority Leader gets to choose what comes to the floor. So Obama wants some judges... nah, we're not going to vote on them and let that expire so we can stack it when a Republican President comes in power. This is why Obama became a big user of Executive Orders (essentially the President creating orders that aren't laws in that the next President can just tear them down, which Trump did, but since the Executive Branch enforces them they essentially become laws in their own way. It's more complicated than that but by that point I don't have the law degree to explain better) which the Republicans whined SO MUCH about... and went strangely silent when Trump started using them.

I'd also like to note, McConnell voted to convict and remove Bill Clinton in his impeachment trial, but when Trump's first one came up he actively denied four witnesses from coming to the floor "I'm not an impartial juror [in this impeachment trial]. This is a political process. There's not anything judicial about it." And despite being outspoken about Trump's attempt to overturn the election for Biden (only after Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol) and stating that he supported Trump's impeachment, he refused to call an emergency meeting of the Senate for the trial, calling for delaying it after Biden's inauguration, then voted to acquit Trump by stating it was unconstitutional to convict a President who was no longer in office. He went on a 20 minute tirade about how he thought Trump was guilty "If President Trump were still in office, I would have carefully considered whether the House managers proved their specific charge." and stated that Trump didn't get away with it because he'd still be subject to the US criminal and civil laws.

Of course McConnell would filibuster and vote against an independent commission to investigate the Jan 6 US Capitol attack.

And back throughout Biden's administration, it was back to pure obstructionism, nothing else.

McConnell became a senator a year before I was alive, and has wielded an entire party of our country until it took a demagogue who hated him to turn the party against him. According to his biographers, Alec MacGillis, McConnell went "from a moderate Republican who supported abortion rights and public employee unions to the embodiment of partisan obstructionism and conservative orthodoxy on Capitol Hill."

... well this was supposed to be a short writeup... but that didn't work. And I still feel like a lot got left out.

I couldn't do a better write up myself. And I love that's the "17 worst things" because... there's... so... so much.

The thing is... from the beginning the man was a snake. Look up his early politics in his state, he jumped in to get the unions to support him, gladhanded them, shook their hands, said he supported them. Then the second he took power he immediately stabbed the unions in the back, with an attitude of it's just a cost of doing business.

He's the opposite side of the coin from Trump of as a man with zero scruples, but where Trump's entire desire is to make himself richer and more powerful, McConnell was a True Believer of his world view of the Conservative Christian view, and would do anything no matter how slimy if it pushed his world view forward.

Moscow Mitch is possibly the man who did more damage to our country than anyone else. The Trump administration is his victory, just with someone he couldn't control and actually turned his constituency against him.

Trump is an evil SOB and the US is worse for having him as a president... but I'll at least say one good thing about him. If you poke your head in conservative circles, they have as much respect for the turtle as the left. And I love that for Mitch. May his legacy forever be mired in shit.

#1 CEO skills: Selective Hearing and Selective Amnesia.

This was my reaction. I read the question and thought "Optimistic much?"

It’s been pointed out to me a few times recently that a lot of hospitality staff don’t actually want the system to change as they usually don’t declare their full income from the tips to the taxman.

While this is true amongst some, it's again that minority that finds the really nice places to work.

I've done waiter at a tex mex place, my current coworker the same, we talk about the bullshit one has to jump through to be able to pay rent. Working multiple jobs to make ends meet for a job that cuts your hours or has you work a double without any forwarning.

And when it comes to the group action, unfortunately wait staff at the shittiest of places still exist because someone needs money to survive. And if you can get out of the hellhole to a real job, you do it the first chance you can. Doesn't really give enough time to create group action.

I don't have an answer for it, we should get rid of tipping. I don't eat out really at all, that's my fix. But I'm far far out of the restaurant business now and if I'm back in it then my life has gone absolutely horribly wrong.