#and I'm salary so it doesn't affect pay or anything

[saranitysstuff]

a defense of anti-surrogacy

i have complicated feelings around surrogacy based off of three beliefs i have - 1. that you cannot buy consent, 2. you are not owed biological children, and 3. it is always wrong to treat a person solely as a means for some particular end

my first point should be fairly simple. consent is freely given, without coercion and without deceiving somebody. this means either of two things for surrogacy - 1. this surrogate NEEDS the money you are paying them. therefore, consent CANNOT be freely given because you are coercing them with money, or 2. the surrogate does NOT need the money - consent is freely given, but i will get into this point later.

second, you are not owed biological children. nobody is inherently owed anything just by existing except for means of survival (you are entitled to your basic human rights, food, water, and shelter). you could argue evolutionarily that we need biological children because our species cannot continue without reproduction, however, if there were NO surrogates in the entire world, our population would not be affected to a great extent - there are more non-surrogate pregnancies than surrogate pregnancies.

thirdly, i subscribe to the ideas of immanuel kant, philosopher, who argued that we must always act in such a way that we treat humanity..."never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end" - basically, in essence, it is always wrong to treat somebody solely as a means for an end. so let's say that you have found a surrogate, and let's say this surrogate is a middle class person, not related to you, who does not need the money - sure, it would be nice to have the extra cash, but they are not in poverty and do not have to rely on your payments. however, wouldn't this just be treating them as a means to an end? there is no issue with consent in this scenario, but there is nothing they really gain out of this:

"they gain money" the average surrogate makes $30,000 to $65,000 (i could not find if this includes medical bills). using the lower estimate, they would make less than they need to survive and less than an average full time job (around $59,436 a year). let's say they already have a full time job - they have to take off work to take care of the pregnancy, and depending on the state, they may not have paid maternity leave - they are actively losing money at this point. at the very most, if they had a full time job that paid the average wage (rounding up to $60,000) and if they got paid the higher estimate for their surrogacy, they would make $125,000 that year. this is before taxes. if they are a single tax filer, they would fall in the 24% tax bracket. they would be taxed $30,000, making their total $95,000. they would not even break $100k despite using a higher estimate on how much they would be paid, and they are actively losing money because they are unable to work during and after the pregnancy. this isn't even getting into the medical costs and any complications (this estimate is assuming this is a normal pregnancy with no complications). if they did have complications, such as permanent disability, they would lose money paying for those complications - if in an extreme scenario they lose their job because of their disability and have to rely on disability payments, they would lose money indefinitely because they would be making less than what they did with their full time job.

so in an absolutely perfect scenario with someone with a full time job that makes an average wage, with no pregnancy complications during or after, who gets paid the higher estimate for their surrogacy and not including medical bills, they would make less than double their salary for birthing a child. while it is a lot of money, that does not seem very beneficial to someone who doesn't need that money.

"they benefit because they enjoy getting pregnant" i'm sorry but this just seems like a weirdly misogynistic viewpoint. people enjoy having children, and they may even get joy from seeing that they are pregnant, but they do not enjoy being pregnant. pregnancy is incredibly hard on the body, and even in a perfect scenario the pregnant person would still be at the very least incredibly uncomfortable. this is an incredibly common argument for those that support abortion, so to switch up your views (assuming you do support abortion) seems a bit disingenuous to me.

truly, what would the average person gain out of being a surrogate? if they gain nothing, they are being used as means for an end. because i oppose using people as means for an end, i have conflicting views around this topic. i don't think anti-surrogates should be treated as anti-feminist or anti-choice because of their viewpoints. i don't think we should ban surrogacy either, i do think there is a mid-point where we should all be able to agree on this topic. maybe stricter laws around surrogacy and who can become a surrogate + looking into alternatives to surrogacy.

[formula-fun]

https://www.tumblr.com/formula-fun/751930291808010240/i-have-so-many-thoughts-abt-mxiel-nearly-all-of

Would you be willing to expand on this?

I personally think L*stappen is the toxic shitty Max related ship, and find M*xiel quite agreeable, so I’m fascinated! 😊

(I am asking this is good faith. I love reading people’s takes on ships.)

Hi! Yes I can expand, but please don't click 'read more' if you think this post will make you angry

I'm taking this question in good faith that you're just curious, but this is a disclaimer to others: if I get hate anons for my shitty takes, they will be deleted and not responded to. If this makes you upset I'm really sorry but this post isn't for you. I'm not shitting on m*xiel, i'm just relaying my own read on it

I'm also not going to compare the two ships, I'm just talking about my read on this one. And obviously I'm not talking about real people, I'm talking about what we as a fandom consider to be these characters and their fictional, made up dynamic

It's been a little while since I wrote that post, but I believe it was around the time the sand racer video came out, because I was seeing a lot of people talking about that moment where Daniel wrote a 33 on Max's racer and Max crossed it out and wrote a 1. There were a couple posts circulating about how Daniel's view of Max has never changed and he still wants to be living in the time when they were still teammates and everything was good. And that's a perfectly fine read, but to me that moment was....kind of insane.

The fandom depiction of their early relationship is usually that Daniel took Max under his wing in F1 and mentored him through the first couple of years, and he's generally a happy-go-lucky person who maybe lacks a little maturity but overall knows what he's doing and what he wants out of life. It's a good story and there's nothing wrong with it. However, I have an alternate read that keeps me up at night with the need to write a depressing indie breakup fic about it (not going to actually do it):

Daniel wanted to guide Max through the sport and liked that dynamic because it put him firmly in the position of the #1 driver, and he liked that Max looked up to him. Max liked Daniel because he was funny and open and treated Max warmly when everyone else on the grid kind of iced him out, so within a few years they got together. Daniel likes the idea that Max needs him, but that was never really true in the first place. Daniel felt like he was guiding Max through the sport, but Max has Jos and Raymond and people call him the inevitable, he doesn't need guidance through the sport. He needed affection and maybe genuine praise, but he always knew where he was going. It's glaringly obvious to everyone from the start, but for Daniel it's only glaringly obvious after a few years, and by then he's so desperate not to be usurped at red bull that he convinces himself he can win a championship with Renault. He leaves, they break up, Max is hurt and doesn't know what he did wrong, Daniel is on a horrible path in his career

Is the massive spiral in his career his own fault? Probably. Is it Max's fault, in a way, in his head? Maybe

Max became what people always knew Max would be. To Max, nothing has changed. When Daniel comes back to the team Max expects expects them to maybe be able to pick up where they left off, but he doesn't expect it to be exactly the way it used to be. Within a few weeks it becomes obvious though: there are these instances though of Daniel forgetting anything has changed, or not wanting to believe it. He doesn't use Max's real racing number; he doesn't like acknowledging that he has friends his age within the sport who he grew up with; he teases him for his age even though Max is pretty much median age by now and offers to pay for things even though Max's salary is higher than his. When Max invites him over he's seemingly taken aback by the fact that Max has his own flat, and when they hook up it's always at Daniel's place even though it's smaller and the view isn't as good. Daniel drives him everywhere and Max convinces himself it's because Daniel knows he doesn't like driving road cars, but secretly he knows Daniel doesn't like driving them either

He still wants to see Max as a teenager who looks up to him and relies on him in some way, but from Max's perspective it makes no sense. He never relied on Daniel and his becoming a champion was as inevitable as him getting older every year. He wants his friend back, but his friend is uncomfortable unless he downplays Max's achievements because they remind him of his own mistakes, and that's no way to love someone. Max still wants to be taken care of in the way that Daniel used to take care of him, but he also wants to be praised for who he's become; he can't get both from Daniel. Daniel wants to give him what he needs, but he has no idea how to do that anymore because he can't wrap his head around past Max and present Max being the same person

im not even touching on their age gap which i think is so fucking sus actually but this is a positive post so i wont go there

theres honestly so much more that could be said for how this is a toxic doomed by the narrative vibe, and i know why people don't want to dive into it (it's a huge bummer) but it just fascinates me how much is there. In conclusion, not trying to piss anyone off with this, thanks for reading and if you want to talk about it more (in very neutral tones which will not get me assassinated) im here!

(there were a few other instances recently of daniel treating max like a kid, but i dont remember what they were. if you remember you can feel free to let me know)

[ceasarslegion]

Hey guys

I hate doing this i hate it i really do but, on my last day of work I watched someone get stabbed in the neck and his assailant sprayed bear mace all over the hallway at the security guards trying to tackle him. I've never seen that level of human fear and panic in public before as people scrambled for the exits, nor have I ever felt that suffocated before. Not even the delta variant of COVID made it hurt that much just to breathe. Bear mace is a special kind of agony that I hope none of you ever have to experience. I'm young and healthy and able-bodied so my lungs should be able to bounce back, but that doesn't make me invincible. My eyes are still watering and I still have a bit of a cough, but it seems to be getting better with time.

I'm lucky to live in a country with free physical healthcare if anything gets worse or goes wrong there, so I don't have to worry about that avenue. The main thing I'm having issues with is the mental toll that takes on a person. This incident occurred just days after I dealt with the cops for a different reason when I told off the wrong group of kids for being abusive to a service worker and they kept me holed up in a KFC for over an hour banging at me through the glass and threatening my life if I stepped outside. And after the stabbing incident, our head office wanted us to open up our store and start selling again as if nothing was wrong, as if we were making up excuses to leave early. They won't be covering their staff's mental health nor giving them any hazard pay or time off that our friends at the Starbucks are getting. Therapy isn't covered in Canada.

That was also my last day at that job, and while I have another way better one lined up soon, there's still a gap of unknown (but not long) length between positions during which I'm effectively unemployed while my new supervisor slots me into the next available training course. This was supposed to be a well-earned break for me to rest and relax, but I worry it will be overshadowed by the murky cloud of settling trauma. While I have savings, I have to make them stretch as long and far as possible since I have no income coming in and I don't have a set date for when I will again, just "very soon."

I haven't been able to sleep and I'm too nauseated to eat. I still feel numb and in shock to what I saw and experienced. The lingering bear mace isn't bad enough to be the culprit, as I've slept and eaten through worse colds at this point. I think I'm going to have to book an emergency session with my therapist, but his rates are a bit pricey. I'm going to ask the office about possible payment plans or if things can get at least partially covered under AHS in the event of something like this since it's a threat to my physical health if it's making me rapidly agoraphobic and affecting my ability to take care of my basic needs like sleep and feeding myself. Even if my old work would cover it (highly doubt it), I don't work there anymore. That was the exact date outlined in my resignation letter. It's just a shit situation all around.

But if you guys have the ability to kick me a few extra bucks that will all go towards therapy, I would be forever grateful for it. You don't have to, please don't feel obligated. I've gotten out of worse scraps than this financially, and if all else fails, I can beg my grandmother for some of the hoard of oil money cash that she sits on like a dragon. The problem is that she's incredibly psychologically abusive, but she's the only member of my family who could foot a bill like that on this short of notice. So you don't have to worry that I'll go bankrupt or anything. But for obvious reasons, I'd rather not compile onto the mental health problems I'm experiencing if I can avoid it.

And the job I'm onboarding onto has a fantastic salary and benefits, so I can pay everybody back once I have a reliable source of income again. With the amount of followers I have, even a dollar or a reblog helps immensely. And I won't accept anything that exceeds the amount a session costs if I get that much in cumulative assistance (180 CAD), so it's all going to therapy.

My canadian p**p** is .me/damodrawz if you can spare anything, but don't feel obligated.

Thanks everybody, I hope things get better soon.

[celestialnocturnes]

a message to my youth (reply 1988 thought dump)

warning: this isn't meant to be a coherent review or commentary on reply 1988. i literally just finished the kdrama a few moments ago and i want to preserve what i'm feeling through this entry. this is only a cathartic attempt to show how the kdrama had impacted me in so many ways. also, spoilers!

--

to the things that are already gone. to a time that has already passed, i want to say a belated farewell. goodbye, my youth.

watching a kdrama wasn't in my top priorities this year, but things that used to be a part of you would demand to be revisited sometimes. i'm glad that i did, and i'm thankful that it was reply 1988.

taking a nostalgic look at the year 1988, this kdrama tells about the story of five families in a humble block in ssangmun, seoul. for someone born 12 years after the setting, the plot is something strange, a history lesson in the lens of simple households. for someone in the limbo between careless youth and adulting, and someone born in an asian family, this kdrama will feel like home.

culturally speaking, reply 1988 was a beautiful exposition of how asian households run. what got me hooked to continue the drama was the endless saga of giving dishes to neighbors in the first episode. funnily enough, all families ended up having a feast of each house's dinner on their tables.

from a mouthwatering display of korean side dishes, to the trends of 1988 korea (back when jyp himself was a hit lolz jk), to the endless neighborhood gossips, to the flawed and conservative views on politics, and to the tight-knitted family dynamics — one would find this hilarious and relatable, informative even.

reply 1988 was a lot of things, but its casts hold a special place in my heart. the gang had so much love between them and it was so beautiful to see a pure friendship evolve through the years. i wish i could still have loud dinners and drunken nights with my friends when we get into our careers. I would love that.

sung deok sun, the optimistic figure in the group, was a ray of sunshine to me even as a viewer. i love deok sun because her spirits were never faltered by her failures and her status in life. my personality is sooo far from deok sun's, but she was relatable to me when she said she didn't know what to do in her life. she doesn't have a dream, i have a lot of them. even so, the uncertainty is there. i guess we all figure things out in the end. deok sun became a flight crew and was able to earn money for the family. i can't wait to figure out my own path, too.

dong ryong, being deoksun's self-proclaimed soulmate faced the same journey. despite not getting into a prestigious university, it's amazing how he was able to establish his own restaurant and even expand branches! makes you really think that not everything in life can be solved by good grades. honestly, i wish i have his street smarts and wisdom. what a powerful person i would be, then.

jung hwan was the man of few words in the group. he showed his affections not through words, but through his actions (and teases for deok sun). his love language would definitely be acts of service! i love jung hwan. he was a good son, brother, and friend. i aspire to have the kindness that he has. but oh dear heavens i would kill just to see how his love life would unfold had he faced the courage to confess to deok sun. i mean, come on! just be straightforward! they would honestly make a good pair, the ray of sunshine girl and the cold guy.

choi taek, the professional go-gamer, was the baby of the group. like jung hwan, he was a man of few words, except that taek was actually shy. his growth through the series was perhaps the most apparent. his innocent image was eventually changed by the way he picked up curse words from the gang, to his smoking, and to his openness of affection for his family and later on, deok sun. also, his character made me fall in love with park bo gum and his smile!

before i go to the next two characters that i associate myself with, i would also like to comment on the household parents of the block. the fathers here have different personalities, but their identities as providers of the house defined the way they act. they keep a tough act and may be distant to their children, but the love is there even though they don't really know much about the household.

and the mothers, oh dear, the mothers. my mom is not a working entity, but i've seen her struggle through the years. i think her burdens are even heavier than that of my dad's. the way this kdrama portrayed the stories of the mothers touched my heart so much that i couldn't stop my tears. never underestimate a woman's strength, i tell you.

from these figures, i learned so much about adulting and marriage. our parents miss their parents, too. our parents would always worry about us, no matter how old we are. our parents are trying to keep everything together, so they put up a tough front. our parents' wishes are devoted to their children. our parents just want the best life for us. not only us are growing old, but our parents, too. our parents want our attention, too. our parents do not have the perfect marriage, but they would do anything for their children. our parents love us deeply.

okay, here goes my reflection in the kdrama — sun woo and sung bora. initially, i was planning to write an entry only about bora, but i realized that i am in many ways alike to sun woo as well. both characters are the eldest children of the family and they face a lot of pressure in their respective families. both characters sacrificed their dreams because they are limited to what their families can afford. sung bora took math education despite her dreams as a prosecutor. sun woo took medicine because that was what his mom wanted. as for me, i chose a course that would promise a stable salary. i dreamed to work in the field of science or writing, but both paths have unstable pays in this country. i do not come from a well-off family, so i have to set my dreams aside.

bora and i do not share the same personality. hers was aggressive and frank, mine was the opposite. even so, i found a piece of my soul in her character because she was steadfast in her goals and was very understanding of her family's situation. she was the cream of the crop in the siblings, the only one who became a student in the premier university, the talk of the neighborhood. she had strong political stances that made her own parents almost disown her, but she was never sorry for it. when it comes to little things, bora had so much privacy over her things that she would get mad at the slightest unauthorized touch of it. oh dear, if that wasn't me.

sun woo, on the other hand, was nearing my male counterpart. he cares so much about his mom and his sister that he hated the thought of the former working. he was the model student, the one with the straight a's, and the one who acts professionally even with the internal turmoil of emotions. he never opposed his mother's wishes and he loved his sister dearly. he would always hold his feelings in, but gets weak in the arms of a loved one. based on his upbringing and firm values, you would also see how he respects women. i love it.

these two never worked out at first because they prioritized their dreams above romance, but i'm so, so happy that they got together in the end.

reply 1988 was perhaps one of the best slice of life shows that i've ever seen. i wish i had watched this when i was younger, because it would teach you so much about family, love, dreams, friendship, and growing up. the pacing would feel kind of slow because of its movie-length episodes, but i swear it was worth it.

to the youth that i was, thank you for building the youth that i am.

to the youth that i am, enjoy the uncertainty and strive to be a better version of yourself.

to the youth that will be, may you never lose the spark inside your heart no matter how old you are.

i will hear your reply in time.

most ardently,

grace

[reallystellacadente]

I made the HUGEST mistake ever a few weeks ago, posting on Facebook how much I love my job, because it's been all downhill since then. I love the work, but the boss has turned out to be ... a boss. Not the good kind; the self-centered capitalist kind.

Under a cut for ranting. And sadness.

I made a mistake and owned up to it, but I've been drubbed over and over and over again for it. It wasn't on purpose -- my internet and 5G were down and I missed an appointment the day after a bad storm came through and wiped out power for like 350,000 people. I was told the client hadn't paid her bill and to hold off on re-setting the appointment. Either I misheard or the person who told me this misspoke. And it was my fault for not following through to see if the client had paid. Anyway, the client walked and had to get a refund. This is the first mistake I've made in more than a year working here. The boss has repeatedly said in meetings that the dollar loss was higher than it was.

The thing is, the person who could back me up didn't and I suspect that's because the boss is riding her into the ground. She's a single mother and this is her only income. This person, like me, has multiple jobs at the company. Unlike me, she's a full-time, salaried employee. She's supposed to be the office manager, but the boss has gone full-on paranoid that the reason we aren't getting new clients is because we aren't working hard enough, so she's turned our office manager/her personal assistant/client success manager into another sales person. It's affecting how I do my job that the office manager can no longer help, you know, manage the office. The office manager can only speak with us on our recorded phoneline and for no longer than 15 minutes a day. As if she ever had time to spend more than that.

I work from home and am disabled, so "just come into the office if your internet is down" is a major undertaking for me. I am only getting paid for 30 hrs per week, and that's after taking on two additional roles -- I was getting paid for 20 hours per week for the job I was hired to do. I worked 37 hours last week over six days, including today because one client blew off two appointments on Thursday for a project with a deadline of tomorrow. I met with her this morning. We took her case/money Wednesday knowing of the tight deadline. There's no way to get compensation for extra time. We just get blamed for not buckling down hard enough. Oh, but I made the first and so far only sale on our new services platform and did I mention I'M NOT A FUCKING SALESPERSON I WOULD RATHER STAB MY EYES OUT WITH HOT FORKS.

Thing is, the company is suffering but IT'S THE FUCKING ECONOMY. We are in the financial services sector, which is always hard hit when consumer confidence is down and/because inflation is ridiculous. She complains about lack of leads and makes the office manager throttle old leads into the ground, when for a pittance a month we could be advertising. She could get some of the extra labor help we need by setting up an internship at the multiple universities in this city. She could get it for free or at least cheap. I have laid out multiple ad channels we could be taking advantage of but no, we are not working hard enough.

Oh, and even if I come into the office, I can't do anything but use the Internet. We have to work in Google drive and 90% of my job is creating documents in Word. (I pay out of my own pocket for MS 365, Canva Pro, and Adobe). I have a shared google drive on my desktop, but my laptop doesn't. It's a $200 potato machine -- but when the 5G is on, I can at least use my phone as a hotspot -- I even pay for extra bandwidth just in case. I pay for a lot out of pocket for what is still a poverty-wage position as I am the sole support for three people, not counting the princely sum of $575 a month my fully disabled husband gets. The boss doesn't accept anyone else's reality. She's the one who demands we only work on Google drive but doesn't get you need to work in Word and then post it to the drive, which is supposed to only be for document storage, not creation. Don't try telling her this as she always has some objection/excuse, "Well I can get it done, why can't you?"

I'm looking for another job but I have been looking for additional work the whole time I've been working here. I can't stand for more than 5 minutes tops. I just spent $300 for a walker with a chair that might help me do things like get in and out of an accessible building but I need a sit on my butt job. I would probably be a candidate for disability myself, but my husband had to wait 2 years and a court case to get his. I can't go 2 years without an income.

OUAT I respected my boss but when the chips went down, she proved she is not trustworthy, not nice, not reasonable, not rational ... just another well-to-do (she has a side business as a high-up insurance broker, taking half of the commissions of multiple people below her) boss. And since this is a PT gig, if the company goes down or she lets me go, I won't get unemployment.

[translucent-at-best]

Scatter-brained...

This JIF peanut butter recall is affecting me more than I ever thought it would. What I'm 'posed to eat my honeycrisp apples with? They keep trying to force me into buying Skippy, but it just don't hit like that JIF.

I got a job. It's not the one I interviewed for, but another position with the same company. I was a little bummed at first since I wouldn't be making as much as the other position, but once I did the math on what I would be bringing home (because even though it wasn't the director's salary, it was still well above what I made last school year) You know what? I'm good. That director position will be there next year.

It's crazy because a few months ago, my friend and I were talking about our finances when, in the middle of me explaining how hard budgeting was on my salary, she asked me how much I thought I'd need to be comfortable living in this city. The amount I answered is the exact amount I'll be making. And it's only going to go up from there.

When I think of how much I was making at the first job I worked after moving here to this new salary? The difference is staggering. I'm not rich, by any means, but I'll be making enough to pay my bills, put some away, and go out and enjoy the city I'm living in a lil bit, which was all I wanted. I'm alright.

God got jokes. I wasn't looking for this type of job at all. I was determined to be somebody's School Counselor next year, but when HR told me how long I'd be waiting before schools started reaching out to fill those positions for next year, I knew I had to make other moves.

One thing I've realized over and over again since living here - in a city with the 2nd largest school district in the country - a School Counselor is far from the only position that will allow me to help and support students. In the part of PA I'm from, a lot of schools were lucky if they had a counselor at all, let alone a School Psychologist, Psychiatric Social Worker, A-G counselor, College and Career Counselor, Pupil Services and Attendance Counselor, Specialized Student Services Counselor, in addition to multiple organizations and agencies that work to provide resources for students and families. Truly an unexpected surprise.

That gospel version of "A Thousand Years" making its rounds on TikTok has been stuck in my head all day. Black people so talented it's ridiculous.

I finally found (another) solid loctician I like out here. Fingers crossed she doesn't move away like the last one.

LA really be hard on folks. And although my move has definitely had its shares of twists and setbacks... so far, I'm still here and I'm still good. I'm grateful.

I think I've come to the conclusion that I don't want kids. At least, I don't want kids to come from my body. Being pregnant don't sound like nothing I need to or long to experience. And the thought of giving birth? Judging from the badassmotherbirther IG alone, I don't want them problems.

With the state of this country and the world I'd be bringing a child into... it just feels more selfish than anything else. I think I'll be just as content continuing to work in schools and caring for the children that are already here.

[kalashni-cola]

Damn the notes on this, really encapsulates the base of tumblr's political understanding of how our country works and why it is what it currently is.

Not one of those things would get done if biden would be elected. Either litigation or him being deemed mental unsound and Harris taking over would end that. And Harris is power hungry and has destroyed other minorities during her time within the courts.

Wages forget about it, unemployment will go back up if he goes to shut down the country again, it'll be corporations that give workers incentive to keep working. Surviving small businesses of the pandemic will be defunct or raise their prices. Corporations will be fine, but small town America will be gone.

He won't be able to scrap Marijuana convictions unless he completely makes it legal no restrictions. Impossible given the legal battles that would ensure that it can't be completed for years. I'm all for make it legal but unless more people demand it to be, it will be slow victories over the next 30 years or so before it's decriminalization is complete.

College and teaching salary, heart of the issue is Biden actually helped perpetuate today's horrible experience with loans leaving colleges with no risks if they loan to people who can't afford it. He put in place the ability for colleges to raise their tuition no issues because the government is going to give you loans for college, not the college itself. Giving money to the colleges to teach people for free isn't going to give them any incentives to give the students education value. Hell I think most teachers would be fine if they didn't help perpetuate their own debt. If their masters degree didn't cost them a arm and a leg because the colleges have no risks of offering government loans they'd mostlikely be financially stable. And underfunded schools are because of property taxes. Get rid of property taxes and create and different system to give schools their funds would be beneficial for students, like school choice.

Taxes are theft via extortion with threats of violence again you if you do not comply. The tax code alone in this country would have the founders of our constitution reeling at its rediculousness. Death taxes and inheritance taxes were created in mind to hurt rich families but it kills the ability for families to achieve generational wealth on their own. Some farmer for instance have to sell parts of their land just to keep their farms. You want to keep people poor you keep the death tax, the inheritance tax, and property taxes.

Besides the blatantly unconstitutionality of gun control, it's racist, and affects minority and has be created since its inception to affect minorities. I'll tie the drug war into this as well as putting the blame on the CIA for the cause of the crack epidemic in the 90's to raise untraceable funds and for keeping South America under cartel rule.

Anything energy or environmental impact is regional at best and anything short of nuclear energy causes more harm to the environment from getting the resources out of the environment via drilling/excavational wastes. Lithium mining is increasingly hazardous same with material for solar. A good thorium reactor will outpace wind/solar any day with virtual zero waste. And any international agreement that doesn't involve counties like China or India paying for their burdens is a bad deal.

Death penalty needs to exist and needs to be used on politicians more often. Politicians also need to be jailed more often instead of fined.

12 weeks paid leave? 0% chance. Maybe for government employees but not you.

Would love to get rid of prisons for profit. Can it happen ehh unlikely.

Now I see no reason why I shouldn't ask this so why are you and everyone else who supports Biden and I'll even include the Trump in this, why are they ignoring the national debt? Do you not think it's an issue? If you do why do you want to spend more?

reminder that biden wants to:

raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour

scrap past marijuana convictions

make college free for two years

increase the pay for teachers, particularly in underfunded schools

significantly increase taxes on the rich (both direct wealth taxes along with additional taxes on major corporations)

have universal background checks for firearm purchases

get us back into the paris agreement in order to switch to clean energy by 2035 (and his plan has been outlined already and the first few steps have been specified)

end the cocaine sentencing disparity (as it is deeply racist)

abolish the death penalty

support a government mandated 12 weeks of paid family leave for workers

eliminate private prisons

this man fully acknowledges the science behind climate change (unlike trump), wants to work to fix certain racist elements in american society (unlike trump), supports the lower and middle classes (unlike trump), is willing to put his money where his mouth is (unlike trump), and isn’t a full on fascist that ignores the global pandemic and takes the side of neo-nazis and white supremacists (unlike trump). biden is miles better than trump. is he the ideal candidate? no, but he is willing to work towards making the USA a more progressive place and that is the first step we need to take. vote blue.