This is such a bad take. Take them to a shelter so they at least have a chance at adoption. If that's not an option available in your area, find out if there's a TNR program that can fix the adults so they don't do more ecological damage by continuing to reproduce.
They're feral, not wild. Wild cats (servals e.g.) live in wild areas of places like sub-Saharan Africa. You're referring to feral domesticated cats. They're out there because they've escaped or been released and continued to breed or were raised semi-feral like barn cats. We as a society are responsible for them.
Nature is a cold hearted bitch. Worse than any person you have ever encountered.
Starvation, hunger, exhaustion, untreated injuries, fear, pain, and death.
Humanity is what we bring to the table. This whole fiction you and I get to inhabit where everything’s warm, everything’s clean, the store is full of food, someone comes to help you and take care of you if you’re sick or injured, humans made all that shit up, piece by piece.
Keep it going. Wild place is wild place. Human place is human place, and it’s pretty fuckin far from perfect so far. It’s good enough now that if you’re from the lucky countries you can see the heartless inhumanity in the natural world by way of contrast. But it’s for damn sure not done yet.
Sounds dumb but I watch my backyard ecosystem a lot. Like a LOT. I smoke on the back porch so like I say. A lot. I’ve carefully cultivated this nice little nature preserve and have watched the birds raise families. All families that return year after year and grow their own families. I recognize them and know their patterns and that’s helped me to feed them and their young at the times needed and in a way that minimizes their vulnerabilities. Same with squirrels, possums, etc.
It hurts when you see one of your babies fall prey to something bad. Hawk, neighborhood cats, nature, and worse, humans.
But I began to recognize that’s the price I have to pay to be involved. Realistically I shouldn’t be involved and in an ideal world humans would leave all animals be, but I live in suburbia and animals are sometimes dependent on us here.
But being involved is a precious thing and sometimes it just hurts. Remember that you’re likely right about the kitty falling prey to another animal. But don’t fault that animal as they are simply doing what they know. Just be ultimately grateful that nature recognized you as a safe person/safe place and that’s a pretty awesome thing. Let that thought lift you up when the dark underbelly of nature shows itself.
Next time they say something like this, respond with something like "if I'm dating someone, I'll let you know. If you continue to assume things about my friends, or comment on their appearance, I'm going to stop sending you pictures."
If you introduce your next girlfriend to them and they don't seem to care, have an explicit sit-down conversation about it. Tell them how it makes you feel, point out the inconsistency, and tell them you're going to stop introducing them if their behavior doesn't change
I've tried it and I can't seem to phrase it politely enough that it doesn't upset them (and boy can they get upset) but also firmly enough for them to actually listen. Kinda think I'm gonna try blurring my friends' faces so they can't tell me how beautiful they are anymore.
Dude, sorry about your parents. I see 3 options here...go no contact, assert boundaries that condition contact on their behavior, or do nothing and let them keep acting like this. There may be other options I don't see, but it's important to recognize they're probably going to act like this for the rest of your life, so it'll be best to be intentional about how you interact with them. They sound like the kind of people who'd try to interfere/fuck up your relationships if they don't like who you're with, and it sounds like they're going to be really good at finding fault. A therapist could help you unpack all their bullshit and figure out how best to communicate with them
Saw your comment in the new comment feed. Thought it was rude so I double checked what it was in reference to. Saw who you were responding to. It's a troll account that I'd blocked ages ago. So I'm all for your rudeness on this blessed day.
Not American, but am anti-fascist so anyone is better than Trump. However it’s wrong to say that there is no other option.
The New Zealand Labour Party (centrist-left) won the election in 2017 by switching leaders much closer to election day:
On 1 August 2017, just seven weeks before the 2017 general election, Ardern assumed the position of leader of the Labour Party, and consequently became leader of the Opposition, following the resignation of Andrew Little. Little stood down due to the party's historically low polling.
And if America had ranked-choice voting you might be right that there's another option; unfortunately though things don't work like that here so there is indeed no other option.
We don’t have ranked choice voting either and don’t directly vote for prime minister. It’s a proportional system. If anything this should reduce the effect that a leader has on the popularity of the party compared with first past the post jurisdictions.
Given that the US does directly vote for President, personality and popularity have much more weight, and therefore a more popular candidate could turn it around. How likely that is I’m not sure, as I don’t know a huge amount about the alternatives other than AOC and Sanders, but Jacinda did show that it’s possible.
That’s splitting hairs. Notice I said “vote” rather than “elect”. I’m well aware of how the electoral college functions and that you can lose the “popular vote” but still become president (e.g. Bush Jnr and Trump).
The fact remains that on ballot you directly cast a vote for the president.
Hey, you got any openings there in the New Zealand? Heck - Old Zealand, whatever, something with less heavily armed, grossly unhealthy authoritarian fetishists? Looking to start, say, in about five months?
Unfortunately we’re no socialist utopia and we recently swung to the right in the election last year. The deputy prime minister is a noted xenophobe, pay-to-play corruption is on the rise, and most of the social policies of the last 6 years are being rolled back and then some.
These changes aren’t necessarily popular, lots of people voted against the incumbents rather than for the new government, but the next election is 2 years away and the electorate has a short memory.
It’s also worth knowing that much of our international reputation is a smokescreen. We’re not clean and green despite what our tourism marketing says. Almost every party in our parliament subscribes to neoliberalism to varying degrees and thinks deregulation will solve our productivity problems. We have one of the worst housing markets on the planet which is more like a Ponzi scheme thanks to a lack of capital gains tax and incentives for speculators. Finally the cost of living is extreme due to a lack of competition in the food, banking, petrol, electricity and water markets.
We have been falling in the OECD rankings on most metrics since the late 80s when we embraced Thatcherism/Reaganomics.
B-but terminally online Redditors Lemmy users (Lemmists?) tell me that every single country in the world has a perfectly functioning election system and that the US is the only one with problems??
The premise of OP’s post is that it is not possible to win an election by changing the party’s candidate close to an election. I provided evidence that it is possible.
Whether the DNC has someone capable of doing so is another question.
No I think they're just old-fashioned. My parents waited a while to have kids; they're in their 60s/70s now, so a bit older than most people are probably imagining. I don't think they actually believe a man and a woman can really be friends, so it's like they're trying to "call it" in a way.
I definitely wouldn't trade it for parents who didn't give a damn about what I was doing, at any rate. I guess I just wish they were a little more interested in what I'm doing and less interested in who I'm with is all.
Thanks for the comment/perspective. Not sure what's up with the downvotes on yours in particular.
They are just excited for you that you are traveling around and hanging out with people, and they love you so much that imagining you happy with this pretty girl as your girlfriend is overpowering
It is ok
I get why it bothers you, but out of all the sins a person’s parent can commit this one is pretty fuckin minor. Life is not forever, nor parents. I would let it go.
My parents were all up in my business about my work, what I was doing, who I was seeing, and I felt smothered. Now I can see they just missed me and wanted to know about my life. Since we weren't sitting around the table taking about our day the only way they could catch up was calling me. I didn't realize how much their lives changed as I and my siblings moved out. All I could see was my future ahead, moving forward, out of the nest. Their entire lives and routines were being upended after 20 years.
They're in their 80s now. Dad's on the decline, I don't think we'll have him much longer. I hope OP can get some balance and perspective. Life is too short to hold into resentment
You're right, I know it's harmless at the end of the day. The biggest issue it creates is that it makes me want to not talk about my friends with them, but I can get over it. Who cares if they think I'm getting a lot more action than I actually am anyway
I'm sick of hearing that Biden is the only person who has beat Trump as an equivalence to the only person who can. Out of 2 people who tried? Trump is a super weak candidate. Weaker than he was in 2016 and 2020. Anyone could beat him. But, here we are.
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