I have a friend and former client of mine who is a very outspoken, small town, country girl. She was paralyzed from the waist down at age 20 fifteen years ago. I represented her then and helped her and her new husband (who lost control of their vehicle and flipped it) to get her an adapted vehicle and barrier-free home. I’ve always been proud to have played a role in that. She’d been through a lot.
She and I couldn’t be much different, other than both growing up in rural southern Michigan. I’m an atheist, she and her husband (who I like very much and who works harder than anyone I know) are devout Christians. She was told pregnancy was still possible, but unlikely due to the paralysis of her lower extremities. She is currently pregnant with baby #5. The house I helped them get built is large, designed with several bedrooms because it was her faith that told her she would be a mother, and more than once. She is feisty, partly because she feels she’s ignored and people look past her due to her disability. She calls me every year or two, with a legal question or to say hi.
She recently told me she believes her 2 young boys are hyper and possibly neurodivergent, and she suspects childhood vaccinations are the cause. Her third son, age 2, has had no vaccines. She and her husband decided to skip them, refuse them. She said it’s too soon to say if the proof will become evident, but she didn’t sound unsure about their decision. My only comment was, “I certainly hope your son doesn’t catch measles or Covid or flu, etc.”
It’s a strange situation. I actually like her and her husband. The believe in faith and prayer and they don’t trust certain established practices or institutions. They aren’t stupid people. They know that polio and small pox and typhoid and other diseases have been eradicated or nearly eliminated due to widespread vaccination. They know it. Yet, they choose to doubt or let doubt creep in about science and medicine, enough to roll the dice on a child. They also live in the country, and their kids play outside in barns and on farm equipment and are exposed to lots of things. You’d think at least a tetanus shot might be a wise choice.
It’s complicated when the people who are typically conservative, as these folks surely are, aren’t always dumb, uneducated, cross-eyed hillbillies with no redeeming qualities. I don’t have many conservative friends. Too often the ones I knew embraced at least one or two Trumpy values that were deal breakers for me, like hating people for being gay, or trans, or black.
On a Christian podcast once, years ago, she thanked God, and me, for being able to raise a family in the home they currently live in. God, and an atheist, liberal attorney who believes in science and not drinking raw milk.
That’s a very honest, and refreshing comment worthy of respect. I was always certain I wasn’t cut out for fatherhood. I met my wife, who was 10 years younger than me, and she didn’t want them either. So we made a perfect match and everything was perfect and we lived child-free happily ever after, the end.
Except she changed her mind over the years. I knew 100% that I didn’t want to lose her, and I got to about 50% on wanting to be a dad. I was never sure, but I was curious. It must be rewarding and magical and fulfilling and worth the tremendous sacrifice, I told myself. And, more than that, I wondered if I’d regret not having a family, no child to watch grow up and then later help take care of me. So after 15 child-free years together, we married and had our son, our only child. I told him, “They can be a great people, Kal-El; they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you... my only son.”
Oh, sorry, I got distracted by my
childhood obsession with Superman.
Our son is 7 now. It’s been every bit as hard, frustrating, exhausting, and demanding as I feared it would be. I’ve somehow found a way to
Nonetheless be a good dad, and his mother is amazing. We teach him that kindness, above all else, is vital. Sure, there are thousands of other little rules and lessons. But kindness, honesty, compassion, those are essential, or you are lost, and we’d be wasting the one opportunity we had to add a positive contributor to the human race.
So I respect your choice. And my wife and I agree after nearly 8 years since she became pregnant, the most difficult question to answer is, would we do it again?
Aren’t vibes how we ended up with a generation of peanut allergies? Pregnant moms were told to avoid peanuts, which is the exact opposite of what they should have done?
The antivaxxers are truly just cooked. Anyone under 50 dies? There's gonna be so many comments snarkily speculating if they were "jabbed." In 2026. For fucks sake.
Tip for any high schoolers out there: your school might just have requirements for a minimum number of years of science, but *not* require specific classes. This is how I avoided dissecting any frogs. I picked up biology from reading a lot of SF written by people with science backgrounds.
I had to dissect a dead frog in biology. It sucked. We had partners, 2 students per table and per frog. Fortunately, my partner was a country boy who wasn’t the least bothered by removing a frog’s spleen. The biology teacher was an old-school, cantankerous old biddy straight out of some old novel who would slowly creep around the room and eyeball each person and make sure they were doing their part. I was a great actor. I’d lean toward the metal tray with our frog and point to stuff and pretend to be super engaged. But I don’t think I ever touched that frog.
We were allowed to bring hard candy to suck on during class because it would mask the stench of frogs in formaldehyde. Each table had to name their frog and label it. Our frog was “Lemon Drop.” That was 36 years ago. RIP, Lemon Drop.
The folks who debate "legitimate rape" and the efficacy of an aspirin between your knees as birth control have wrong ideas about vaccines? That is shocking! I am for shocked! Ow!
From the dipshits who told us that a female rape victim can't get pregnant because: (a) everything "drys up" upon rape; and/or/also/too (b) the rapist's jizz gets drowned in a tsunami of toxic fluids.
'Scuse my silly ass if I go elsewhere for medical advice. :D
On a vaccine related note, a recent video from SciShow (bite sized science briefs from the good guys at Complexly, owned by Hank Green) shared a study that showed that tattoos actually may function similar to a vaccine adjuvant.... but only for some vaccines. It can actually cause interference for the more delicate mRNA vaccines like COVID.
So if you're planning to get your shots, delay that tattoo for a month. Or if you're planning to get a tattoo, delay your shots for a month. (Or better yet, get them a month early.)
I will never forget the horror story of a pregnant woman who didn't get the shot. She awoke from months in a coma to learn the baby was born dead, and she was missing half of ALL of her limbs since they had to be amputated because of gangrene.
I don’t know much but I do know this. Trump is going to serve an unconstitutional third term. It’s going to happen.
How do I know this? Because no one on the left is objecting to it. We told Biden he was too old to serve a second term at 82. And yet NOT ONE PERSON on the left has said, “hey wait a minute, didn’t we just tell Biden 82 was too old to be president?” NOT ONE.
Why am I the only one on this planet stating the obvious?
So I guess the other thing I hvae to point out here is that if people are feeling like "nobody is saying something" because they are NOT LISTENING TO THE WELL-CREDENTIALED BLACK PEOPLE WHO ARE TALKING ...
that perpetuates exactly the SAME MINDSET and SAME MISPLACED EMPHASIS that got us where we are right now
Now -- honestly? If what you meant was "I don't hear anybody'mainstream' and WHITE talking about this' ... then that's a legitimate point and important discussion ... so what have "we" planned to do about THAT?
Do you mean prominent liberals in public life? 'Cause I, a random internet nobody, objected plenty to what was a coordinated media terrorist attack to kill Biden's presidency.
You are correct in that $hitler will be prezinazi until he dies, but it's because the US is a kleptocratic failed state trapped inside a shopping mall, not because of anything 'liberals' did or didn't do. Our ruling Epstein class is completely rotted out.
This is a "WHITE Democrats plus captured media" problem
If it really matters to you, the question would be what needs to be done to work around it
To me, the relatively easy answer is "Listen to qualified Black people who are legislating and/or have worked in politics and mainstream media for DECADES (even if they have now had to go out on their own because of that same bigotry in billionaire-owned mainstream media)" --
but, I mean -- is this an "if it were easy, everybody would do it" moment?
/shrug
And if people don't understand what all of this has to do with racism when everyone in the current White House is a white nationalist terrorist Great Replacement Theorist -- then you (universal "you") have been missing the point literally for at least a decade and at that point I don't know what to tell you OTHER THAN it seems that that would be an even MORE compelling reason to listen to people who know more than you about it because they not only have practical professional experience with it but also literal EMPIRICAL experience with it
But -- I mean,, the tragic part of that is that that's what some of us have been trying to tell the YT Democratic establishment for decades and when we turn to our YT compatriots who also claim to be pro-democracy and are like
"Please go talk to them; this is an audience issue; we're on the same page but they'll listen to you when they won't listen to us" -
My son gave us all COVID at five months old and honestly I think the antibodies I made for him worked better than the ones I made for myself.
I have a friend and former client of mine who is a very outspoken, small town, country girl. She was paralyzed from the waist down at age 20 fifteen years ago. I represented her then and helped her and her new husband (who lost control of their vehicle and flipped it) to get her an adapted vehicle and barrier-free home. I’ve always been proud to have played a role in that. She’d been through a lot.
She and I couldn’t be much different, other than both growing up in rural southern Michigan. I’m an atheist, she and her husband (who I like very much and who works harder than anyone I know) are devout Christians. She was told pregnancy was still possible, but unlikely due to the paralysis of her lower extremities. She is currently pregnant with baby #5. The house I helped them get built is large, designed with several bedrooms because it was her faith that told her she would be a mother, and more than once. She is feisty, partly because she feels she’s ignored and people look past her due to her disability. She calls me every year or two, with a legal question or to say hi.
She recently told me she believes her 2 young boys are hyper and possibly neurodivergent, and she suspects childhood vaccinations are the cause. Her third son, age 2, has had no vaccines. She and her husband decided to skip them, refuse them. She said it’s too soon to say if the proof will become evident, but she didn’t sound unsure about their decision. My only comment was, “I certainly hope your son doesn’t catch measles or Covid or flu, etc.”
It’s a strange situation. I actually like her and her husband. The believe in faith and prayer and they don’t trust certain established practices or institutions. They aren’t stupid people. They know that polio and small pox and typhoid and other diseases have been eradicated or nearly eliminated due to widespread vaccination. They know it. Yet, they choose to doubt or let doubt creep in about science and medicine, enough to roll the dice on a child. They also live in the country, and their kids play outside in barns and on farm equipment and are exposed to lots of things. You’d think at least a tetanus shot might be a wise choice.
It’s complicated when the people who are typically conservative, as these folks surely are, aren’t always dumb, uneducated, cross-eyed hillbillies with no redeeming qualities. I don’t have many conservative friends. Too often the ones I knew embraced at least one or two Trumpy values that were deal breakers for me, like hating people for being gay, or trans, or black.
On a Christian podcast once, years ago, she thanked God, and me, for being able to raise a family in the home they currently live in. God, and an atheist, liberal attorney who believes in science and not drinking raw milk.
Ta, Robyn. I'm so glad I never had children.
That’s a very honest, and refreshing comment worthy of respect. I was always certain I wasn’t cut out for fatherhood. I met my wife, who was 10 years younger than me, and she didn’t want them either. So we made a perfect match and everything was perfect and we lived child-free happily ever after, the end.
Except she changed her mind over the years. I knew 100% that I didn’t want to lose her, and I got to about 50% on wanting to be a dad. I was never sure, but I was curious. It must be rewarding and magical and fulfilling and worth the tremendous sacrifice, I told myself. And, more than that, I wondered if I’d regret not having a family, no child to watch grow up and then later help take care of me. So after 15 child-free years together, we married and had our son, our only child. I told him, “They can be a great people, Kal-El; they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you... my only son.”
Oh, sorry, I got distracted by my
childhood obsession with Superman.
Our son is 7 now. It’s been every bit as hard, frustrating, exhausting, and demanding as I feared it would be. I’ve somehow found a way to
Nonetheless be a good dad, and his mother is amazing. We teach him that kindness, above all else, is vital. Sure, there are thousands of other little rules and lessons. But kindness, honesty, compassion, those are essential, or you are lost, and we’d be wasting the one opportunity we had to add a positive contributor to the human race.
So I respect your choice. And my wife and I agree after nearly 8 years since she became pregnant, the most difficult question to answer is, would we do it again?
Aren’t vibes how we ended up with a generation of peanut allergies? Pregnant moms were told to avoid peanuts, which is the exact opposite of what they should have done?
The antivaxxers are truly just cooked. Anyone under 50 dies? There's gonna be so many comments snarkily speculating if they were "jabbed." In 2026. For fucks sake.
It's actually quite amazing how 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥 before the COVID vaccine, isn't it?
Tip for any high schoolers out there: your school might just have requirements for a minimum number of years of science, but *not* require specific classes. This is how I avoided dissecting any frogs. I picked up biology from reading a lot of SF written by people with science backgrounds.
I had to dissect a dead frog in biology. It sucked. We had partners, 2 students per table and per frog. Fortunately, my partner was a country boy who wasn’t the least bothered by removing a frog’s spleen. The biology teacher was an old-school, cantankerous old biddy straight out of some old novel who would slowly creep around the room and eyeball each person and make sure they were doing their part. I was a great actor. I’d lean toward the metal tray with our frog and point to stuff and pretend to be super engaged. But I don’t think I ever touched that frog.
We were allowed to bring hard candy to suck on during class because it would mask the stench of frogs in formaldehyde. Each table had to name their frog and label it. Our frog was “Lemon Drop.” That was 36 years ago. RIP, Lemon Drop.
I puked my guts out from the smell of formaldehyde on the first day and had to switch.
I learned a lot of physics that way!
Wonder weed. https://obnox12xu.bandcamp.com/album/boogalou-reed
Inadvertent genesis of Homo Superior?
Notice they love to refer to the Covid vaccine as “experimental” but will insist ivermectin is a panacea based on zero studies.
But I read an article about someone who “died suddenly” which never happened before the covid vaccine was introduced so checkmate eggheads!
Mumble mumble numbers mumble mumble statistics mumble mumble facts but VIBES!
The folks who debate "legitimate rape" and the efficacy of an aspirin between your knees as birth control have wrong ideas about vaccines? That is shocking! I am for shocked! Ow!
They also think raw milk is safe.
From the dipshits who told us that a female rape victim can't get pregnant because: (a) everything "drys up" upon rape; and/or/also/too (b) the rapist's jizz gets drowned in a tsunami of toxic fluids.
'Scuse my silly ass if I go elsewhere for medical advice. :D
Why would I believe a bunch of eggheads, when my Aunt Trixie taught me everything I know about being pregnant?
Once again, libs are Trumped.
Fuck Trump.
Aunt Trixie and your 14 cousins?
Edited to add: Fuck Trump
On a vaccine related note, a recent video from SciShow (bite sized science briefs from the good guys at Complexly, owned by Hank Green) shared a study that showed that tattoos actually may function similar to a vaccine adjuvant.... but only for some vaccines. It can actually cause interference for the more delicate mRNA vaccines like COVID.
So if you're planning to get your shots, delay that tattoo for a month. Or if you're planning to get a tattoo, delay your shots for a month. (Or better yet, get them a month early.)
I will never forget the horror story of a pregnant woman who didn't get the shot. She awoke from months in a coma to learn the baby was born dead, and she was missing half of ALL of her limbs since they had to be amputated because of gangrene.
Franklin Graham Tells Roaring CPAC Crowd To Get Trump ‘Reelected’ To Unconstitutional 3rd Term: ‘I Love Him!’
https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/franklin-graham-tells-roaring-cpac-crowd-to-get-trump-reelected-to-unconstitutional-3rd-term-i-love-him/
But does he love Trump as much as he loves watching the pool boy servicing his wife? I have the correct God-bothering nitwit, right?
TBF, that was Jerry Falwell Jr.
Right wing trading cards! I scream right wing trading cards, but no one listens.
Is there a difference between the two?
They’re both fundagelical nepo babies, so no.
That's as far as we know. Ol' Frankie may have a similar fetish, or he may just fuck goats. We don't know for sure.
Trump 20.28 per Gallon
My reply to Pulpit Pimp Franky Graham--FUCK YOU PULPIT PIMP!
Fucking cultists
“Show me a sign!”
ZZZZZZZAP
I don’t know much but I do know this. Trump is going to serve an unconstitutional third term. It’s going to happen.
How do I know this? Because no one on the left is objecting to it. We told Biden he was too old to serve a second term at 82. And yet NOT ONE PERSON on the left has said, “hey wait a minute, didn’t we just tell Biden 82 was too old to be president?” NOT ONE.
Why am I the only one on this planet stating the obvious?
I doubt Shitler is going to live that long.
"Because no one on the left is objecting to it. "
Wrong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfSvbP98RqM
So I guess the other thing I hvae to point out here is that if people are feeling like "nobody is saying something" because they are NOT LISTENING TO THE WELL-CREDENTIALED BLACK PEOPLE WHO ARE TALKING ...
that perpetuates exactly the SAME MINDSET and SAME MISPLACED EMPHASIS that got us where we are right now
Now -- honestly? If what you meant was "I don't hear anybody'mainstream' and WHITE talking about this' ... then that's a legitimate point and important discussion ... so what have "we" planned to do about THAT?
https://substack.com/@m123718294/note/c-233383032
https://substack.com/@m123718294/note/c-233332442
Do you mean prominent liberals in public life? 'Cause I, a random internet nobody, objected plenty to what was a coordinated media terrorist attack to kill Biden's presidency.
I hear a whole lot of hand wringing about how Biden fucked us by running again and how he should have never run in the first place.
But I haven’t heard a single goddamned person say 82 is too old for Trump to serve an unconstitutional third term. NOT ONE.
You are correct in that $hitler will be prezinazi until he dies, but it's because the US is a kleptocratic failed state trapped inside a shopping mall, not because of anything 'liberals' did or didn't do. Our ruling Epstein class is completely rotted out.
https://www.wonkette.com/p/studies-say-covid-vaccines-during/comment/233834213
The only reason it doesn’t happen is if the conservative controlled media gets bored of him. Not because of anything Democrats do.
This is not a "Democrats" problem
This is a "WHITE Democrats plus captured media" problem
If it really matters to you, the question would be what needs to be done to work around it
To me, the relatively easy answer is "Listen to qualified Black people who are legislating and/or have worked in politics and mainstream media for DECADES (even if they have now had to go out on their own because of that same bigotry in billionaire-owned mainstream media)" --
but, I mean -- is this an "if it were easy, everybody would do it" moment?
/shrug
And if people don't understand what all of this has to do with racism when everyone in the current White House is a white nationalist terrorist Great Replacement Theorist -- then you (universal "you") have been missing the point literally for at least a decade and at that point I don't know what to tell you OTHER THAN it seems that that would be an even MORE compelling reason to listen to people who know more than you about it because they not only have practical professional experience with it but also literal EMPIRICAL experience with it
But -- I mean,, the tragic part of that is that that's what some of us have been trying to tell the YT Democratic establishment for decades and when we turn to our YT compatriots who also claim to be pro-democracy and are like
"Please go talk to them; this is an audience issue; we're on the same page but they'll listen to you when they won't listen to us" -
when we place THAT ask?
CRICKETS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4aP1pUkEPA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUZojjI3Cq8