CantTrip [she/her]

Torture is awful and should be abolished everywhere. What better place to start than at home? After all, isn’t our efforts best spent using our ‘democratic systems’ to see our desire to end torture realized? The U.S. doesn’t meet any of the published benchmarks for Vietnam in that link lmao:

1. Prohibition of the practices of holding prisoners and detainees for prolonged periods in incommunicado detention and solitary confinement, which not only facilitate and perpetuate the torture of detainees, but in some circumstances can themselves amount to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatmen . [U.S. has more people in solitary per capita than Vietnam]

2. Commitment to a timetable by which the government will authorize independent monitoring of all prisons, re-education centers, and other places of detention in Vietnam by both international and domestic monitoring bodies to investigate allegations of physical abuse and torture of prisoners and detainees and enforce the absolute prohibition on such abuses by police, security officials, prison and detention center staff, and other detainees. [We do not have oversight or follow- up for reported torture/ abuse in our prisons]

3. Acceptance of country visits by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and officials of the International Labor Organization, with unrestricted access to prisons, detention centers, psychiatric institutions, re-education camps, drug detention centers, jails, police lock-ups, and other places of detention. [No one gets unrestricted access to prisons in the U.S. for investigative/ oversight purposes]

4. Ratification and implementation of Work Convention No. 105 (Abolition of Forced Labor), which prohibits forced or compulsory labor of prisoners convicted of political offenses or because of racial, social, national, or religious discrimination; and publication of a list of all forms of work in which prisoners and detainees are involved (just lol)

As someone who hates torture, I can’t imagine spending any time lecturing Americans about the happenings in a SE Asian country i don’t even share a language with, when there is so so so much torture right here at home

You can shoot meth.

But why would you when you have a personalized pipe engraved with your first name?

And that’s like saying “There’s always going to be rape,” and then not being anti-rape or even being pro- rape.

But then they’ll turn around and say 'but greed isn’t always bad," which I mean lol

The guys on American Pickers are usually quite kind to the old, lonely, rural dudes who sometimes have mild hoarding disorders. At least the shows portrays them as being appreciative of their things and interested in their stories.

Which must be baffling and cringe to Chuck who finds those people gross and disposable.

Also: ugh women suck… always wanting to watch one of the most common programs on the channel you turned on… why aren’t they interested in the hypothetical history program you imagined could be on???

Existing in our heteronormative, transphobic society can breed a lot of self loathing. When dealing with that, there’s a fear that every good thought and feeling you have about yourself is self- delusion. This is compounded by watching the liberal, shallow exaltation of queer people in our culture. So it makes perfect sense when a fash says "I have nothing against you personally, but cmon your identity is ridiculous and is bad for society. " It’s a hard truth, but at least it’s not self- delusion.

And then there’s validation as well. They get to be One of the Good Ones. One of the ones that’s grounded and realistic, not delusional. It’s a toxic mix.

I’m not trying to frame any fascist as sympathetic - or do the “they’re racist because they hate themselves” thing. There’s of course a base of political ideology that’s ripe for far right radicalization. But I think the above is a big reason why there’s attraction to existing, transphobic groups.

Yeah, being in contact with someone you’re brokenhearted about is torture. I did that for a couple years after my college partner broke things off.

After we had a good amount of time and geographical distance, and I moved on and dated new people, we were able to rekindle a healthy friendship. It helps that I’m in a great healthy relationship with a guy I love and that my ex is trans and embraced her gender and I’m straight (although at the height of our romance I would’ve been with her no matter her gender).

Now I have a great friend and there’s zero pining. I wouldn’t have thought it possible 5 years ago, but things change.

There’s a special kind of emotional closeness in those friendships, they’ve usually seen you without the mask you put on for the world so you can be real with them. They’re also a great source for perspective with your new relationships - they know you’re habits and pitfalls - but don’t ask unless you’re ready to hear it lol

Damn that hurts to hear.

Good on you for putting up opposition.

Perhaps one day we can mount large, highly organized oppositions and turn this shit around.

I’m gonna say 54. I think it will be similar to, but slightly under 2016. There’s been no progress enfranchising people, and the situation is largely the same: uninspiring “less evil” vs “worst evil ever” with the latter having a dedicated minority fan base.

The pandemic/ mail ballots will decrease it by the ~1.5% (well, more than that but I’m offsetting it with how even more dangerous Trump is to people). The percentage of people who are too disinterested/ cynical/ exhausted/ unmotivated to vote will remain the same. Most leftists who swore they wouldn’t vote are coming around, the ones still holding fast mostly didn’t vote last time.

If I’m right, how many upbears are mine to keep?

Getting an IUD was such a load off my mind. Definitely increased my sexual happiness. Yes, insertion is painful and I wish my partner and I could trade off every 5 years. Actually, we’d both probably just get it because increased security is worth the 3 minutes of big ouch and 1 day of small ouch.

Condoms are not as effective as hormonal (or copper iud) birth control. Using them instead of birth control increases “fairness” but the least fair thing that can happen in consensual, healthy sex is an unwanted pregnancy and that happens to the AFAB person.

This argument is so stupid for the majority of people who have sex. Exception being AFABs with awful side effects.

Don’t apologize. My cats are indoor and only go outside on a harness. But as a cat lover, when people bemoan the ecological harm, I just aggressively agree. They want to sterilize all stray and feral cats and move as many inside into homes as possible as the street population dies out? Encourage owners to keep cats safe and happy indoors if possible? Yeah, me too. Who’s doing that work… people who love cats or hate cats?

Unless they just wanna kill all the cats, the only viable solution to ecological harm is the same goal that advocates have for the well being of cats.