I am not doing well today. I know I have been slacking at work, so I am feeling very guilty. It seems like I forgot to do or did everything wrong that either of my bosses asked me about today, which holy fuck made me panic like a panic thing.

I took a walk with the dog and I worked, then I sat for a couple of minutes in the sun and then I worked some more.

I fixed the thing that was wrong. I did the thing I forgot to do. I made a reminder in my calendar so I do not forget the thing again.

I made a list of all I am working on for main boss and have now addressed two issues that popped up today and almost completed a backlog of data entry for one area, but doing that at the expense on the backlog of things to process for another area.

UGH. I am not over-worked. This is not more than one person can do. I am stressed and scattered and the undone work is frustrating because 1) there is no deadline, so no pressure 2) it was done wrong and I am having to fix it 3) it is tedious and tedium feeds my anxiety 4) I don't wanna.

figuratively slapping myself with a get over yourself and do it stick.

Because even if he signed it the validity of it would get challenged because it violated the Constitution. And since it would be struck down Trump wasn't actually violating the Constitution.

Ok yeah, that's bullshit. Trump is TRYING to violate the Constitution but because people are fighting him it makes it ok?

Your friend seems to think that because we cannot read minds we cannot judge people. But we can judge them on their actions, can't we? If that's all we have.

Trump has, among many other things, broken a treaty with allies in Iraq & Syria; taken the US out of the climate accords without doing anything to help fight climate change; validated the dictator of North Korea without getting anything in return; rejected the findings of his own intelligence community on the international stage; asked foreign governments to investigate American citizens without going through the proper diplomatic process (and there is a proper process); lied about easily-verifiable facts like how many people were at his inauguration; refused to respond to legitimate Congressional subpoenas (even if Congress is being political they have the right to ask questions, that's part of their oversight); told the American public that the coronavirus was just going to disappear when he'd been warned multiple times by his own staff that this was a major public health crisis; seized private property on the border to build a wall even his own experts say won't do much good; insisted on spending multiple millions of taxpayer dollars to repaint the wall black because he likes the color better even though it will cost more to maintain; hired his own child as a WH advisor despite her complete lack of experience; overrode the WH's security review process to give top secret clearances to people the FBI said shouldn't get them; claimed without evidence that 3 million people voted illegally in 2016; pardoned multiple war criminals against the advice of his own military; and spent hundreds of thousands of tax-payer dollars at his own privately-owned properties.

None of those things require knowing what's going on Trump's mind: it's material reported by mainstream press and fact-checked. I'm pretty sure I don't need to read Trump's mind to have an opinion about him.

Similarly, I can look at the statistics about traffic stops and other kinds of policing and determine that black Americans are subject to police action far beyond their proportion of the population. And in the absence of being the kind of racist who thinks blacks are just naturally criminal, I can then decide that there's something racist about the system itself.

Looking for intent doesn't get you anywhere: look at the system, look at the outcomes.

[/end rant]

Any time somebody brings up the "states' rights" thing with the Civil War, I just ask them sweetly about the Fugitive Slave Act, and shouldn't that have meant that if a slave escaped to Ohio were they or weren't they a free person?

If they then say something about retrieving ones property, I then ask them if they think that a human being should be property. Or if a state has the right to declare that a human being is property.

Usually I end up getting called names when it's clear their logic is so many false assumptions, but hey, fun times.

If they then say something about retrieving ones property, I then ask them if they think that a human being should be property. Or if a state has the right to declare that a human being is property.

A woman told me with 100% sincerity that some slave owners treated their slaves well. I pointed out that literally owning another human being as chattel was the very definition of treating a person horribly. She didn't understand. Holy balls.

Oh, yeah, Theo, the Fugitive Slaves Act was the classic example of the ideological justification (state's rights!) being undercut by the actual thing. Why should slaveowners from Georgia be entitled to help from Massachusetts law enforcement to capture people who are free in Mass?

msbelle, try not to be so hard on yourself. You started this job right at the beginning of the craziness. You have stepped up under really tough conditions. You are working on solving the issues, and that is all that can be expected.

Well, more charges filed, and murder charge changed to 2nd degree. Stuff is happening. Maybe things will quiet down as far as the looting and so forth. The peaceful protests will no doubt dwindle as that is the normal course of events.

What has not been the normal course of events is anything taking place in the White House. I feel I am always holding my breath in fear of what he is going to do next.

"Some" slave owners. There was no laws about what you could do to your slaves, btw -- there was nothing even like the ASPCA to charge you with cruelty if you cut off their toes or ears (a common punishment for running away btw), whipped them to death or burned them alive (all recorded historically) to "encourage" the others.

Some slaves got treated like family because, well, they were, though it was more common to not acknowledge the relationship. But in the end, they were property that would outlive the master, and then would most likely be sold off to pay off debts or settle the estate among the heirs. Or, since chattel slavery was largely agricultural, it could take just one crop failure for the plantation to go bankrupt.

(This is why I don't get invited to parties in the South, I guess.)

askye, my dude, no. Look, I dated that guy. For YEARS. Your feelings are irrational, but his are just good logic. It is not worth your time and aggravation. We have all had various experiences in our lives. His, apparently, have not done a damn thing to make him less self-centered, and it IS NOT YOUR JOB to fix it. As you have now seen, it is basically unfixable. This is a guy who will have a "fun debate" about things that affect you personally and emotionally, and then get butthurt when you point out that it's upsetting to you.

You do not have the spoons for this at this time. If you want to send him a message, go with something short and unarguable, and then be DONE.

really, everyone who crosses your path does not deserve or require your time. Right now - stick with the friends you already know and be happy for any brief shallow pleasant experience with others.

Even if New Friend is a friend. He's still in probationary period. It doesn't hurt to try out a friendship and decide to back off to acquaintance.