Thursday Thoughts rising

1. Do people talk to their kids about internet behavior? One of the culprits behind the insane clown bullshit in Philadelphia is a 13 year old girl. A 13 year old girl, threatening to shoot and stab and kill people as a PRANK. Lesson: pranks typically do not involve police and the Department of Homeland Security.  We're failing kids at home or in school or in our communities or all of the above. We think violence and threats and tough guy behind a keyboard behavior is okay or funny or entertaining - in the last two weeks alone I have seen adults invite other adults to physically meet up to discuss political differences. Have we lost our minds? Look what we are teaching our children. All they see is adults enamored with the goddamn internet, so they think life is happening there. It's not happening there. It's happening in real time and there are real consequences. Get their asses off of social media until they learn how to use it and the implications of using it incorrectly...which in order to fully enforce would require adults themselves to learn those things. If you wouldn't say it to someone's face - and be honest with yourself about what you actually would say to someone, okay ? - don't say it online. Christ almighty. p.s. clowns are fucking creeps. Stop it.

2. I was about to throw myself a ticker tape parade because I had nothing political to include in this week's Thursday Thoughts...until I saw people start to make comments like, "I like Pence" online. Which of these things do you like best about him?

• The fact that last month he said he'd like to "send Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history"
• That during his 12 years as a congressman, he voted against nearly every piece of environmental legislation?
• That he advocated the use of public funds for conversion therapy, a discredited and harmful form of anti-gay therapy
• That he won't pardon an innocent man? 
• That he slashed Planned Parenthood funding as governor and coincidentally a county had an HIV outbreak...because PP is not the abortion mill he'd like you to believe it is, but instead a health center the community relies on
• That he signed a 2015 bill permitting Indiana business owners to cite religious beliefs as a reason to refuse service to gay and lesbian customers (remember when you could do that based on skin color and everyone was like nooo that's illegal? mm hmm)
• That he advocates for the teaching of creationism in public schools - which is in opposition to the separation of church and state this country abides by

I could go on, but I'll refrain. If you click above Mother Jones will bring it on home. Pence would like this country to go back to the 1950s in all the bad ways - women under the thumb of men, gays in hiding, etc etc - and too often we see politicians share beliefs and say "but they won't act on that." He has acted on these things and he will continue to. Keep that in mind. He's not boring, he's not ho hum, he's a power hungry control freak man who need not be involved in policy or law in this country. If you like him, please, do tell me why in the context of the above. 

3. Today is National Depression Screening Day. It began in 1990 as an effort to reach individuals across the nation and connect them with support services. Today it has expanded to thousands of colleges, community-based organizations, and military installations.

4. I got my first pair of LulaRoe leggings a few weeks ago. I wore them for the first time this weekend. I liked them a lot more than I thought I would. Since then, I've been trolling LulaRoe pop ups for patterns I like. It's a problem. I bought these two this weekend. They really are very comfortable and, as they say, like butter.

5. One of my favorite kitchen hacks remains the lining of a bowl with tin foil to catch bacon grease, so it can just be thrown out or frozen.

6. You will very rarely hear me ask someone what they do. I'd rather hear about what makes them laugh, what makes their blood boil, what issues they vote on, what song makes them think of college, the things they love most in the world. If their profession comes up in any of those topics, fair play.

7. Just over three weeks until our Ireland trip, so my preparations are ramping up. Those preparations include writing a post for things I typically do before a trip...both things I should do and things I shouldn't do but do anyway. Like buy shoes.

8. Tuesday is Show Us Your books, the second anniversary! There will be giveaways. Hope to see you as a linker upper or as a reader and giveaway enterer or both!

9. Reminder: humans make things so difficult. They're actually usually quite simple.

10.  E-card of the week: 

Linking up with Kristen & Gretch  & Kristin