10 hours ago, NoneIsEnough said:

Not only has God cleared all the obstacles for us to come to Zambia, He has also provided us a place to live a year before we arrive permanently!

They're paying a year's rent in advance? I can totally see that if they're not they'll possibly turn up to find it's been rented.

This is so weird to me. Personally I'd be more inclined to try and rent furnished and keep stuff in storage for the first year at least.

I’m reading this conversation from the couch where I’m watching my daughters (9 and 6) and nephew (will be 3 in a month) playing with a bunch of colourful silicon straws. After talking about which colours they each wanted, they’re now walking around holding them on the sides of their heads as “pigtails”, on the tops of their heads saying “I’m an alien”, on their mouths saying “I’m a walrus”, pretending to use them as drumsticks, and waving them in the air like streamers. When one of them wanted the green one that another one had, they offered a swap. They’re copying each other, and building on each other’s ideas. The creativity, problem solving, and social skills involved in simple pretend play are too often underestimated, but even for older kids I think they’re so important. My girls don’t realise as they’re giggling with their cousins that they are practicing skills that will serve them long into the future, but so much comes from the capacity to ask “what if?”

Anyway. Play is absolutely essential work in child development, and kids have so many years of sitting at a desk ahead of them, no need to rush that. Also fwiw my 6yr old literally would not have opened her mouth to answer one of those questions when she was 2.5, and if she had, she would have “failed” that test too. She certainly couldn’t write all her letters and didn’t do any formal extra curricular activities at that age. Then we had 2 years of pandemic interrupting preschool before she started school in 2022. She settled in just fine and is now thriving there both academically and socially.

12 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

The thought of him actually getting his comeuppance and paying for his crimes makes me chortle with anticipation. So bring on the indictment cakes! I’m getting hungry.

I'll believe the comeuppance when I see it, though efforts are clearly being made.  I'm wondering, and kind of hoping, that the documents case takes center stage soon since (IMO) it holds much more potential jeopardy for him than the payoff case.

He's amping up the aggressive rhetoric and his base doesn't appear to be biting.  He has nothing else that I know of that might entice them.  On Jan. 6th the mob may have believed that he had the votes to be President but that has been debunked enough that even they should get it.  If some of them were willing and able to muster up something awful again there's no guarantee he'd become the R nominee or go on to win the election but a decent chance they'd end up in prison - it has happened before.  So why bother?

4 hours ago, PraiseRufus said:

Log time lurker. I don’t know why, but Austin letting Joy use a hair remover on him as an ad on Insta is cracking me up. So far from what I would have imagined years ago. 

It’s weird isn’t it? So self righteous about their modesty standards, but there’s money to be made so let’s shave our legs and video it for Instagram! Joy shaving her own legs is a long way from Michelle having her knees blurred out on TV.

The Jan 6 mob was the just about the entirety of people willing to fight for him— and they lost. That crowd consisted of organized (white supremacist) groups like the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Three Percenters. Most of their leaders have been charged and sentenced, so there is nobody left to organize anyone who is left that would consider attacking for Trump again.

There is no one else who is going to physically stand up for him, except a lone idiot here and there. That part of his base that is willing to do more than vote and feel aggrieved for him, may turn up to protest. And if you look at the size of the crowd who actually turned up in Manhattan last Tuesday, the day he was supposed to be arrested, it was rather pitiful.

No, Trump is slowly finding out that for all intents and purposes he’s on his own. Big donors are leaving him. His attorneys and conies are testifying against him. It looks like Ivanka and Jared will have to.  And as soon as his MAGAt helpers in Congress realize the jig is up, they’ll start abandoning him as well. Only those with direct ties to Trump’s crimes will sputter and shout until they get away with what they’ve done or they too are charged for their part in knowingly and willingly aiding and abetting the crimes of Trump.

The thought of Trump all on his own, realizing that what he feared all along is true and that nobody really likes him, makes me smile sardonically. The thought of him actually getting his comeuppance and paying for his crimes makes me chortle with anticipation. So bring on the indictment cakes! I’m getting hungry.