#sense my parents are telling me that its rude or disrespectful to be angry at them

[vani-ash]

In response to this post by @emberfaye

I have forgotten what i was originally talking about, but i think my point was kim isn't rude to people for no reason. (this will probably become off topic sorry in advance 😔🙏)

When Big first goes to see Kim, when Kim asks who it is Big doesn't say ' its Big' he says 'its me' which if they were at least somewhat close/friendly/on good terms would make sense. I don't imagine you would usually introduce yourself with 'its me' to your boss which is part of the mafia, seems a little disrespectful/too informal?

Also Kim is clearly aware of Big's feelings of Kinn so unless Big is going around being very obvious to the point where even Kim who does not interact with the mafia side that often to the point Kinn says they haven't seen each other in ages knows about it (like before big clearly no one is giving Kim information on what is happening inside the compound so he would have to be going there himself) (you cant tell me if Tankhun knew about Big's feelings he wouldn't make a whole thing about it. if he did know, i have completely forgotten it)

I think Kim has to have possibly been paired with big at some point before as his bodyguard (Kim doesn't seem to have had any bodyguard previous to big showing up so maybe like when Kim lived at the compound?) also big doesn't seem shocked to know Kim knows his feelings more just resigned to Kim's comments. Kim has probably teased Big like this before (or Big has just been teased with this before in general not necessarily from Kim, but I feel Big would have more of a reaction if this was the first time Kim has said something like this).

Kim clearly trusts Big enough to ask Big to get him information on the Kittisawats next time we see Big and Kim, Kim dismisses Big as soon as he hands the folder on Porsche over, but I think in this moment Kim's probably a little angry that his Wik stuff is being mixed up with the mafia (cause he thinks Chay is a spy and he clearly sees Chay's picture before dismissing big)

-side not the only time we really see Kim like angry is when he finds Chay about to take drugs. I think Kim isn't someone who doesn't really outwardly display he is angry unless he is already bottling stuff up for a while. I don't think he really shows big emotions that frequently. The main times I remember are when he kisses Chay, when he is in the recording booth and runs out, when he stops Chay taking drugs, crying over Chays polariods, finding out Chay (and Porsche) are missing, and singing why dont you stay.

Back to Big, next is when Kim asks him to investigate Porsche and Chay's parents, Kim isn't really rude or anything to Big this entire scene, Kim says/(asks if) Big watches too many movies but thats it, Kim makes 'jokes' but they arent about Big they're about Porsche and Chay possibly being their fathers mistresses children, which is a wild accusation to make to just a random bodyguard.

Kim and Bigs last scene, Kim doesn't do anything else to prep for going in to rescue Chay, no going to the compound to stock up on guns/ammo/bullet proof vest(that we see but if he did i assume he would've told Kinn and they would've gone together), but he does bring Big with him. (which Big wasn't at Chay's house, so Kim had to have directly messaged Big at some point, Kim didn't bother with getting any other help than Big, that's a pretty big level of trust?)

Then Big gets stabbed by Tawan and you hear Kim curse at Tawan for it and then he (tries) to shoot him, misses and leaves with Chay cause his gun is empty. That's the last interaction of Kim and Big.

Overall I think Kim and Big are maybe not friends, but something resembling it. For someone so gaurded and stand offish and cold to others (in the mafia) Kim seems to trust Big a lot. Kim being mean/rude to Big seems more like playful teasing to me,(that doesn't sound right but I can't think of another way to word it) Rather than actually trying to maliciously hurt Big. Yes he is a dick to Big, but there is way more to their dynamic than just 'Kim is an asshole to Big'.

Kim with other bodyguards: The first time we see Kim and Chan Kim is snooping through Korn's office. Chan walks in with Korn but neither interact with each other in this scene. Their next interaction is when Kim finds out Chay is missing but Chan stops him from going to find Chay (by saying Korn wants to see him) Kim stops when Chan calls his name, something he would probably just ignore if it was any other guard calling out to him, Kim doesn't try to argue or refuse Chan when he clearly does not want to go see his father at the moment (During this scene Kim does roughly shove his car keys into one of the bodyguards standing at the doorway once Chan calls him inside.) Chan presumably sits in on this meeting but the audience never find out what it was about.

Next is when Korn 'dies'. Kim is pretty stoic during this scene, he comforts his brothers but doesn't really show much emotion himself (compared to Tankhun and Kinn). Until he looks at Chan. The reason for the look he and Chan share is unknown, but I like the theory they both knew Korn was faking it.

I don't think theres a lot to say with Chan, Kim probably has to respect him as head bodyguard, since Kim is so good at fighting it's possible Chan trained him, but overall their relationship isn't really shown. Kim is never disrespectful/rude to Chan unless you count not interacting with him that first scene.

The part about where Kim 'rips Pol off Khun's arm' I assume you are talking about when Kim finds out Chay is missing? Kim just kinda pushes Pol back not really off of Tankhun specifically, it seems more like Pol was just in the way and Kim was trying to talk to Tankhun about Chay missing, Kim doesn't try to move Arm away from Khun at all and Arm and Pol were holding him the same way. There's not really anything to say about this as it's more about Kim and Tankhun than Pol. I mean it is rude to push someone like this but again Kim is clearly having a bad time right here and he seems to already be annoyed/angry even before he hears about Chay missing. So while I would count this as Kim being rude, he is also clearly agitated here but it's nothing to do with Pol.

The 'Filmania Kim coming to swap cars and the guards look happy to see him and then dissapointed when he leaves as soon as he swaps the cars' is funny, cause in BOC version I think someone states Kim is the worst brother to work for. (or was this a fanfiction and i am making things up?) Beause we never got that filmania version I don't really know what to think but I am choosing to believe some bodyguards are Wik stans.

I think Kim thinks he is above the bodyguards (he was most likely raised to think this way), he clearly has no problem pushing/shoving them out the way or insulting them/being direspectful to them, but he doesn't do that all the time. He pushes Pol cause Pol is in the way of him talking to Tankhun, he forcibly shoves the keys back at another bodyguard when he is angry about not being about to rush to find Chay, but he isn't just going around shoving and pushing them all the time. He speaks to Big rudely but its not like Kim is insulting Big during their every interaction, it's mainly just their first interaction, after that Kim doesn't seem as mean when they interact, probably cause he has decided he can trust Big after that first interaction.

Kim is a rich mafia heir, he likely grew up not really respecting the bodyguards and then also grew up to resent and dislike them as being part of the mafia, and being surronded by them reminds him who he will always be no matter how hard he tries to not be. But to any other bodyguard outside the ones mentioned Kim probably just ignores them, only interacts if he has to, and despite how nosy he is doesn't bother learning about them enough to insult them, I think Big is just a special case cause he was Kinn's head guard.

Inspector Manop: The first thing Kim does is interrupts Manops blessing. Kim is straight to the point about why he is there. Kim doesn't talk to the monks who explain Manop has Alzheimer's. Kim doesn't directly say he will do something to Manops daughter but there is an implied threat he will do something if Manop doesn't cooperate with him. Manop says it was Kim father. The scene ends. Kim is rude here, he clearly doesn't mind threatening people. He knows Manop is covering something up and he wants answers so of course he is rude.

Kim's uni friends: The guy who introduces him at the open day, they do one of those bro hugs and then Kim preforms. (During the quiz portion he looks at Kim every time to see if the answer is right, so like did Kim pick the questions? If the other guys did would he not have also already gotten the answers from Kim?)

After the quiz the guy is clearly teasing Kim about something, he nudges Kim and asks 'So?' and Kim smiles and says 'What?' like how you would deflect when a friend is teasing you. When Chay walks up Kim's friend speaks for him. We don't see Kims friends reaction to Kim signing Chay shirt except for the end where Chay walks away he is smiling at Kim.

I think it's implied this friend is who Chay gets Kim's address from.

We see this friend again when Kim comes to uni for once. Kim seems to be walking straight to this guy so I'd assume when he does show up this is who he hangs out with. The guy teases Kim about actually showing up to class and Kim calls him nosy. The friend then asks about the kid Kim tutored, but he clearly was there when Kim initially turned him down so Kim had to have explained something about why he changed his mind to this guy, they have to talk somewhat often for him to know Chay is being tutored by Kim but not often enough that he had asked outside of uni why Chay never came back after passing the interview. We never see this guy again, Kim seems comfortable and friendly with him, he isn't rude beyond playfully calling him nosy.

The guy playing piano. Kim greets him with 'what's up bro' weird thing to say to a stranger but this is the only time we see piano guy so I'd assume they are friends but probably not as close as the other guy. Kim says that this is his personal rehearsal room, which I took to mean that he lets the other guy use it cause they are friends (but if that's the case why does Kim explain he is putting more guitars in there? why does the other guy need to know?) They seem close calling each other 'bro'. Kim isn't rude.

I'm also going to include when Kim first meets Chay at the open day cause at that point Chay is a random fan.

Chay walks up to Kim and his friend and Kim looks unsure of what to do and look to his friend for help? Kim sighs heavily when his friend says there are no more shirts, Kim seems disappointed for this fan who knew a lot of details not getting a prize. When Chay goes to walk away Kim is quick to offer him something else. Kim seems happy to offer this. Until Chay asks for Kim to tutor him, Kim is taken aback. Chay goes to leave, upset again. Kim stops him again. Kim writes his signature on Chays uniform with no warning. Chay seems shocked. If this is cause Wik is touching him or cause Wik just made his uniform dirty and unwearable without washing the signature off it is unclear. Kim says he hopes Chay gets into the uni. Once Kim finishes writing Chay is excited and giggles walking away. Kim has a big grin as Chay walks away.

Kim is very generous here. He technically doesn't need to reward Chay, it isn't his fault there were only three shirts. Chay was going to walk away twice. Kim offers him 'something else' and lets Chay pick. Chay chooses something Kim can't agree to, and before he can walk away Kim stops him again. It is rude to draw on someone's clothes without asking especially when its a school uniform that will need to be washed. Kim is (mostly) not rude here. I think it is safe to say this is how he would treat his fans in general.

Outside of his brothers and Chay I think this is all his interactions(not including when he goes to rescue Chay from Tawan and shoot at Vegas, or when he hits Chays clubbing friends).

Kim can be seen as rude in specific situations (interacting with friends/whatever he and Big are/when he is angry/when he wants something/information during his investigation -which is what i would call his first time tutoring Chay when he keeps trying to leave) but I don't think Kim is generally rude. I think Kim is mainly rude when it comes to situations involving the mafia. Outside of the mafia Kim seems like a pretty friendly and somewhat playful guy.

[yaizl]

me: *is visibly and rationally angry overs something my parents do cuz it genuinely pisses me off and im tired of their shit*

my parents: Dont Be Mad That Is Disrespectful And Rude uwu

also my parents when i make a minor mistake or am slightly not understanding a task or slower with a task than specifically expected:

[sevysnep]

Severus Snape x Female Reader

By request of @beebofrank13

This is my first fic ever! Sorry if there is any mess ups or grammatical errors. 

I hope you all like it!!

(Y/N) = your name / (Y/L/N) = your last name 

(F/N) = friend name

(Y/H) = your house

(Y/O/N) = your owl name

Seventh year student, (Y/N) (Y/L/N),  had been quietly reading in the (Y/H) common room while listening to the dying crackle in the fireplace until (Y/O/N) had came and landed onto the back of the couch she was laying down on. (Y/O/N) dropped a letter onto the arm of the couch that her head had been laying on before she got up to check the letter.  (Y/N) grabbed the letter and opened it as quickly as possible seeing that it was from her best friend, (F/N), who goes to a muggle school back where (Y/N) grew up. (Y/N) opened the letter and read it with a smile until she couldn’t smile any longer. 

(Y/N), I know you haven’t heard from me in a long time and I’m sorry for not writing you sooner.  Its just tough keeping up with everything going on at home and at school lately that I forget a majority of the time.  Anyway, I have some bad news that I wish I didn’t have to be telling you right now.... well here goes nothing.... my parents told me that I can no longer be your friend.  They banned me from writing letters, calling you when you go into London, seeing you when you are on breaks, or anything for that matter.  They said you were dangerous and could hurt me if you ever got mad at me because of your wand and the knowledge you know that the muggle communities don’t. I hope you know that I want absolutely no part of this and I haven’t stopped crying during the day and especially while writing this.  I’m so sorry that I have to do this and I will fight them everyday until i’m finally old enough to make my own decisions and talk to whoever I want.  So this will be my last letter for a long while and I’m so sorry. I love you (Y/N).  Please don’t forget that or me.                                                                                                                                     Love,                                                                                                                       (F/N)

The first thing (Y/N) thought to do was run and keeping running until she felt far enough away from their problem.  So she did.  She ran and ran until she was down in the dungeons crying in the darkest corner they could find.  So many thoughts had been streaming through her mind that she didn’t hear how loud she was crying and it had seemed to invite some company that may not have been wanted at that time.  

“Ms. (Y/L/N), what do you think you are doing out of your dormitory after hours?” 

(Y/N) didn’t even have to look up at the mystery person because she could recognize that dark and silky voice from anywhere.  She let out a huge sigh of sadness and irritation before looking up and meeting the deep onyx eyes of none other than the Slytherin head of house and the most feared professor in Hogwarts. Professor Severus Snape.  (Y/N) felt a little bit of comfort knowing that Snape had found her there instead of another teacher, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t scared to be around him.  She wasn’t scared for the reasons of him being cruel, but for the reason that she had come to grown feelings for the professor. (Y/N) had excelled in potions since her third year so in her fifth, Snape had asked her to come to after class lessons to learn some more advanced potions and to help him keep his classroom as clean as it could be.  She was reluctant at first because of his notable reputation and actions towards other students, but decided to accept because it could help her in the future and would give her more time to do something she loved.  Over the two years that they have shared together, Snape has always kept up his cold and hard barrier even in a private setting, but (Y/N) had come to appreciate him for his potion making skills, intelligence, and his remarkably handsome looks that no one else ever seemed to notice.  So to have Snape be the one to find her, was a little intimidating and had her heart pounding harder than it was before. 

“I am sorry professor, I just received some very upsetting news and my body took over and started to run.  I just found a dark place and started to let everything out,” (Y/N) said with a cracking voice while looking at her professor and waiting to see if his scowl ever went away which it didn’t.  “What is so upsetting that made you feel entitled to break school rules?” Snape said with a raised eyebrow to show he was very serious about his question and conviction towards her.  (Y/N) didn’t like how her professor had no sense of empathy towards anyone and that was always one thing about him that seem to really get her mad. “Well if you must know professor, I don’t think I am entitled or better than anyone else for that matter which I know you are probably thinking as well. I just got a letter from my best friend back home and she told me she couldn’t talk to me again.  Her parents have banned her from having any type of communication from me because they said I was...” (Y/N) had to stop talking to take a deep breath before continuing because she didn't want to start crying and seem more like a child than she knew she already seemed. “Her parents said I was dangerous and I think that they think I am going to hurt (F/N) which I would never do.  So there professor, there is my bad news that you probably think is so unproblematic that you can’t understand why I would cry and better yet, run to where I could,” (Y/N) said basically spitting venom saying the last part of her statement.  She was staring at him before she dropped her gaze and just stared at the ground with clenched fists and tears in her eyes.  

“Ms. (Y/L/N), you will not speak to me in the way ever again or you will be serving detention with me for the rest of your last year at Hogwarts and I’m sure you wouldn’t enjoy that now would you?” Snape said with a sternness in his voice that you could tell he wasn’t joking around about it, as if he ever would. (Y/N) had never felt worse about herself for acting like that and disrespecting the professor she cares about the most. Through a cracking voice she was able to respond with a simple “Yes sir,” before she had tears spilling onto her cheeks. She got up off the ground and turned to walk away from the looming professor.  (Y/N) wasn’t too far away from the professor when he called to her with his dark voice. 

“Ms. (Y/L/N) stop walking and come back here. You can’t just walk away from your superiors,” Snape said with power, but never once did he raise his voice. (Y/N) stop walking, but she didn’t turn around or walk back to him. She stayed facing the way she was walking and didn’t plan doing anything besides that.  “Ms. (Y/L/N) do as you’re told and come back so we can finish this conversation,” Snape said once again obviously not letting his guard down.  (Y/N) didn’t move out of fear and anger.  She was crying because she hasn't been talked to like this by him in so long which scared her because she didn’t know if he wouldn’t let her study with him anymore or tell Professor Dumbledore that she was out of bed after hours.  Yes, she was scared, but her anger was keeping her feet glued to the floor. She hated when he made her seem much worse than she is or the situation worse so she didn’t want to see him and definitely not speak to him anymore.  She continued to ignore him and his calls to her until he said something that has never made her heart pound so hard.

“(Y/N), turn around right now and come to me or I will make you do it.” Professor Snape said with such anger in his voice. (Y/N) didn’t know whether she should be scared by his tone or doe eyed from the use of her first name, but she knew to do one thing.  She turned around to look at him with dried tears on her cheeks and fresh ones about to spill over. “Professor, I am sorry for leaving my room and the attitude. You can yell at me, give me detention, or tell Professor Dumbledore, but please don’t stop our lessons. They are the only thing that get me through my usual terrible days. I enjoy potions to lose it all. I’m sorry prof..” “(Y/N) stop it. Now.  Just come back and talk to me before I make any decision of the sort,” the angry professor said after cutting (Y/N) off from finishing her sad ramble.  She started walking back towards her professor and when she reached him, she looked at the floor and didn’t say anything. “Look at me. I know you aren’t afraid of me,” Snape said while looking down at her waiting for a response.  (Y/N) looked up and her professor and almost started crying again when she could see the disappointment in his dark eyes.  “Sir, why did you call me back just to belittle me? Your eyes say it all,” she wanted to slap herself for saying that out loud because she basically just told him that she has looked and studied him enough to know his moods by looking into his gloomy eyes.  “I didn’t call you back to “belittle” or be rude to you. I told you to come back so I could tell you that you need to talk to her no matter what her parents say.  I know that I am your teacher and I should be telling you to defy superior’s rules, but I know how difficult it is to lose a friend,” Snape said and (Y/N) could tell that he was getting upset and she wanted nothing more than to give him a hug even though he wasn’t capable of emotions. “Professor, you don’t have to tell anything personal if you do not feel comfortable about it,” she stated truly feeling bad for the man she cares about it.  “(Y/N) please stop talking and listen to me.” “Yes sir,” she replied as he continued his story. 

“When I was going to school at Hogwarts, I was never the liked kid in school and It didn’t help that I was a Slytherin and everything thinks that we are all terrible people and destined to become Death Eaters.  I had one friend and she was always loyal to me and would stand up to people who would belittle me.  One day, people had been saying things to be and for some reason I snapped.  I lost her and I had been too afraid to apologize to her and she died before I ever could.  Go talk to your friend and never let her go because you never know when either of your last days will be.”  Professor Snape looked at the ground with clenched fists as well as anger and sorrow in his eyes.  (Y/N) didn’t know what came over her, but she reached out and grabbed his hand.  She expected him to pull away and yell at her for even think about touching him, but he didn’t.  He flinched a little bit, but relaxed under her touched and gave a small squeeze back to hers.  “Professor I am so sorry for what you had to go through.  No one should ever go through that especially someone like you,” (Y/N) said with all of this newly found courage.  “Thank you for the advice and I will go right back to my dormitory and send her an owl telling her I feel about all of it. Thank you so much professor,” (Y/N) said as she gave one last squeeze to his hand and started to walk quickly back to her dormitory.  “(Y/N), always tell everyone the truth of how you feel and from now on, call me Severus in private.  I think we see each other to be on a first name basis,” Snape said and he turned around the head back to his quarters.  “Thank you again and goodnight... Severus,” (Y/N) called back to him and watched him walk away in to the shadows where he always tends to lurk before she headed back to write the letter back to an important person she can’t stand to lose. 

[cienie-isengardu]

I still find it kind of strange that Frost respects Bi-Han, despite Bi-Han telling her he would never allow Female Lin Kuai. Which leads me to my next though. I’m not fully familiar with the lore of the Lin kuai, but when Bi-han’s brother became the grandmaster, was that the first time female Lin kuai were integrated?

Frost is the most known female Lin Kuei warrior, the one given name, face and special part of story as Sub-Zero’s skilled yet rebellious student, but she wasn’t the only one woman in the clan, not even the first one to join. We just never saw / notice them, especially since Lin Kuei background characters wear full gear, with masks and usually heavy clothes to protect against cold & harsh environment they live in. What makes even harder to tell for sure who may be under the hood. And to be fair, from the mass of modern masked Lin Kuei warriors, we know barely what? Nine or ten named characters? Not that much to make assumption about whole assassin clan whose roots go back to ancient times.

Of course, since Mortal Kombat is already decades old franchise, some histories (timelines) may be different from each other, but female clan members were mentioned in some sources like:

Mortal Kombat novel (1995):

They [Lin Kuei] would kidnap children when they were five or six and raise them in secret caves or woods to become superb athletes, great scholars, and unparalleled fighters, able to use all weapons and to improvise arms from common objects such as paper rolled to a knife-point or sand packed into a sock. They would train the children, boys and girls both, to be masters of many trades: carpenters, fishermen, priests, and even beggars, so they could blend in and make themselves useful in different towns as they traveled on missions for their lords.

Many young people died during training: some could not hold their breath for five minutes and drowned, others weren’t fast enough to avoid the weapons of the masters, some starved or froze or dehydrated when they were stranded, naked, in deserts or on mountaintops and told to make their way home. But those who survived were the Lin Kuei.

Oh, and let’s not forget about Sareena, a female demon that Kuai Liang accepted into clan, like here:

Armageddon Bio Kard: “Once one of Quan Chi’s elite lieutenants, the demon Sareena had a change of heart, offering to help Sub-Zero to defeat her sorcerer master. This betrayal cost her human form and brought her years of suffering in the Netherrealm. Now free, she has regained her mortal form and has pledged to Sub-Zero and the Lin Kuei.”

And Mortal Kombat X intro:

Sonya Blade: Why no female Lin Kuei?

Sub-Zero: There are. Frost chief among them.

Sonya Blade: I’ll kick her ass next.

MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero game guide did not specified female warriors but did not call Lin Kuei “only male” clan either:

Somewhere in the northern most parts of Asia, there exists a secret clan of assassins and thieves known as the Lin Kuei. This group has existed for centuries and thrives on the evil intention of the people who pay for their services. Its warriors are chosen at birth to be raised apart from the workings of day to day civilization and are stripped of their former lives. Only the clan knows their existence. Each of them posses certain skills and abilities that set them apart from normal men. These abilities are passed on from generation to generation and honed throughout the experiences of life.

So, Lin Kuei chose its warriors at birth; once again no specified as “only boys”, so all the children with special abilities that usually are passed down from one generation to next; from parents to children. Bi-Han himself was a fourth generation of Sub-Zero, who get the mantle after his father’s death. Lin Kuei were interested only in special genes to utilize, so the gender should matter little, since girls are born as often as boys. Looking at Lin Kuei inhuman approach to its own people, any child born with special DNA is good tool to use.

So, there is old source about little girls being kidnapped and trained to be Lin Kuei, one newest about female warriors, Sareena as other female Lin Kuei (even if temporary but still), and one that does not specific girls but at the same time, does not exclude them either. In all fairness, I don’t remember any source that would claim Lin Kuei took and trained only boys. Like I said, the clan is here to make great assassins and thieves so not “using” women does not make sense, since Lin Kuei is all about utilize all means toachieve the goal.

That said, I wouldn’t take Noob’s words as the true claim or manifest of his misogyny, because A) Lin Kuei took and trained women for centuries B) Bi-Han was shaped by Lin Kuei traditions, thus his morality is a product of it, C) he never showed in past that attitude, D) during his life and in death, he met a lot strong and dangerous women and E) he is dead and death does not discriminates.

So, I personally do not look at Noob’s line as any deep statement because the context of intro is what count the most:

Frost: You should have been Grandmaster.

Noob: I would not allow female Lin Kuei.

Frost: You’re worse than Kuai Liang!

In which I think Noob’s words are just rude, jerk-ish response meant to hurt Frost, as a way to say pernament “fuck off”. And I’m not joking. The only one thing Noob is interested in Lin Kuei, is for Kuai stop using his name, that should died with him. He isn’t interested to be grandmaster or to dwell what should have been. He barely tolerate other shadows in his intros, not wanting another brother / companion and here is his lil brother’s angry student trying to drag him back into mess of clan he does not belong for years. Of course he is gonna act like the last asshole. You want me to be Grandmaster? Cool, but I wouldn’t take you in, if I was, no get lost. Seriously, Noob just want be left in peace to do his evil stuff, not being drag back into the mess who should be leader that last for what, two decades already? Yeah, good luck Frost.

As for why Frost respect so much Noob? Bi-Han was once the most cunning warrior, and incredible talented cryomancer (whose power developed much faster than it was usually, according to Mythologies: Sub-Zero), and a man that went to Netherrealm and come back alive. I’m pretty sure there is a lot Frost knows, either from Kuai Liang or clan records. But above everything, Bi-Han was the best product of Lin Kuei training, a true assassin and master thief but Kuai Liang is trying get far away from what Lin Kuei should be. There is also matter of his death, and how by befriending Scorpion, Sub-Zero disrespect Bi-Han’s memory.

So, there is a lot stuff to dwell on and I wish there were more interaction between them. That said, Noob does not have any reason to look down on Frost for being woman, since most likely he grew up along with other female warriors. It’s just that trying to drag him into Lin Kuei mess is never good idea and well, he may be biased toward her cause she betrayed his lil bro.

[cuddliestbear]

Okay, so kinda rant-y, scroll if you don't wanna read.

So, when I was 16, I was promised a sweet sixteen b day party at a roller skating rink. My step beast and sperm donor were going to send rsvp stuff via facebook to my friends' parents. Make sense, organization, figuring out who would need a ride who could or couldn't make it.

My b day was on a thursday so unfortunately i did have school. (Im in florida, no feb vacay 😞) but, the guardians in question said i could have the party after school and that they would tell all the parents such. I said cool and went to school on my b day. I was understandably excited.

I mean you only have one sweet sixteen. I had gotten a dress from Bealls that looked really cute for the day. (I was still genderfluid back then, but I wasn't allowed to wear a binder or even identify to anyone other than my real mom and fam and my friends. Otherwise I would totally have worn wicked cute suspenders and a button up, dress pants and a bow tie to be snazzy.) I had been good with my chores and not giving attitude. (For the most part) so, I was ready.

The day goes by, a few people wish me a happy birthday, but not one of my friends mentions seeing me later at my party. So I asked them if their parents told them about it. They looked confused and concerned, because they know how my 'rentals be. They texted/called their parents and none of the parents received rsvps or messages from the people who house me. So, now I am upset, angry and furious with myself for thinking I could rely on those people to be normal fucking parents for once.

You know, the ones that care about the kid? Not the ones who get your hopes up and even that morning swear up and down that they were going through with something and then not doing it. It's one thing if we couldn't afford it. They usually told me when they couldn't afford something. That's one of the only things they did right. Here's the thing. Idc if we were poor. Oh, well, I don't get a skating rink, but I could still have had a smaller party at my house or a local park.

That is not what happened though.

What ended up happening was me going home, and asking them what was going on and saying that none of my friends' parents got their rsvp. Or even heard about the party from their parents. They simply said they decided not to do the party because they weren't sure I deserved it. Pardon? I don't deserve to be with people who actually give a shit about me on my birthday? Really?

Anyways, so I go to my room, all upset and such, because come on. I am a sixteen year old who simply just wants a party, doesn't have to be big or expensive just SOMETHING. (I am 20 now and still not fucking over this bs, luckily I am no longer in their home and haven't been since 2017, sooooo.)

A little while later, my step beast knocks on my door then opens it without waiting for an answer, like usual. Rude bitch. Anyways, she comes in and tells me to put on the nice dress I got and do my hair because we have company over.

A last glimmer of hope that will be shortly crushed ran through me and I got ready, thinking that she invited my friends to my house last minute and a few were able to come.

Nope.

What happened was that I walked out of my room and saw my two male younger cousins sitting at the dinings table with little birthday crowns on their heads. Not party hats, crowns with plastic and fake jewels and "Birthday Boy" molded into the plastic with the color blue. Confused I asked what was happening and she said that my cousins love me so much they wanted to share THEIR birthday with me.

For one, it is february 19th, MY birthday, theirs are later in the month. So, she's wrong. It is not THEIR birthday today, it is MY birthday. And this may sound whiny and everything and sort of selfish, but tbh Idc.

Second, they love me so much? They are fucking terrible gremlins to kick and bite my little sisters and constantly break or damage things of mine with no repercussions. So, no. They do not LOVE me so much, they enjoy seeing me and my sisters miserable, thats what they LOVE so much.

I didn't say all of this, but merely pointed out that their birthdays weren't even for another week or two. Of course, as per usual, I was seen as the instigator. So, I was the one reprimanded for trying to make my cousins feel bad on THEIR special day.

What the ACTUAL fuck?

Seriously, she's going to keep going on this?

So, as I usually did, I sat quietly, stewing in my steadily increasing upset. They hadn't even gotten a cake meant for me or a cupcake or anything. No presents at all. Not that i give a shit about presents but no cake?

They said that it was because the boys wanted to share their cakes with me. Yes, cakes. The fuckers bought a 6 and 7 year old individual large fancy cakes and not the person who was actually born on this day. Let that sink in, okay got it?

What the fuck?!?!

I aam so furious and betrayed and upset at this point that I am trying tooth and nail not to cry.

Then, my angel comes to save me.

Great Tante/Aunt. (Tante is french for Aunt, this fam was REALLY into the whole calling grandparents and aunts the equivalents in french even though they knew no other words in french than those) she walked in with a pretty ice cream cake with pink roses and creamy white frosting with my name written in beautiful caligraphy icing in the center. It was beautiful.

Immediately, my step beast and step aunt started a fight with Great Tante. Evidently, Aunt T had texted Great Tante and told her about what my horrible family members were trying to do and came to the rescue with a present and cake.

Basically it went something like this.

The aunt who bore the two heathens starts off on my savior.

"How dare you disrespect this household by insinuating these things!?" Because Great Tante had pointed out that they've always been unecessarily cruel to me and the least they could do was throw me a halfway decent birthday party.

"Watch your tone, young lady." was all my saint of a great aunt-by-marriage said to this cow of a woman. The aunt gasped and turned red in the face.

Then my step beats stepped in again.

"That's because she's a spoiled brat who was so used to getting away with everything with her mom. That's why she has to share her birthday and a cake with the boys." She insisted, trying to prevent Great Tante from giving me the present and placing my cake in front of me. Then, my lil sister, we'll call her E, bless her heart walks into the room with the wonky looking stuffed bear I made for her and asks why everyone is yelling so much.

She runs right up to me and hugs me. Even if she's seen me all day, if she ends up in a separate room from me, she'll eventually find me to hug me again. I love her and miss her so much, I haven't seen her in over three years.

"Why is everyone being mean to my Jazz?" She told everyone sternly, stamping her little four year old feet and putting her hands on her hips. Now, because her baby, her precious darling has seen her show her ugly side, the Step Beast backs away and allows Great Tante to place the cake and give me the present.

So, I got to have my cake and eat it, too. Lol sorry bad joke.

Anyways, moral of the story is if you are a parent and you do THIS SHIT to your kid, you shouldn't fucking reproduce. I have years of mental abuse to account for several things like ptsd, anxiety and depression.

This is a relatively minor story compared to the multitudes of bs that they have done to me or to my mom over the nearly seven years I lived with them.

I may post more of the major stuff at some other point, but venting like this helps. Even if its been years since the incident. I know I am right to be angry and hate the way I was treated, but sometimes you have to hear youself say it or have others validate it.

[bts-svt-mx]

Maid For You (Part 2) Taehyung x Reader

Author: bts-svt-mx

Taehyung x Reader

Jungkook x Reader

Rating: Fluff, M, eventual smut if i get to it lol

Tags: Slow burn, Enemies to Lovers AU, Idol! Taehyung, Taehyung x Reader, Jungkook x Reader, Hoseok, mentions of other members

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (M), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Word Count: 2,000

Description: Wanting to get out of your parents house and experience what the world had to offer is way more expensive than people tell you it will be. So when your glamorous “manager to the stars” cousin Hoseok hooks you up with a  job as the live-in maid for a hillside, massive mansion, you feel as though life might actually be looking up. That is until the mansion’s absentee high profile celebrity owner surprises you by moving back in leaving you to wonder if this mansion is big enough for you and his huge ego. 

“Not that I’m not enjoying the show… but may I ask,” Kim Taehyung, Grammy winning world famous pop star, looks you up and down as his features twist into something more stern, angry even. “Who are you and what are you doing in my house?”

You were going to kill Hoseok.

Chapter 2:

They say to never meet your idols, and after today, you think you know why.

There you are, in front of one of your favorite singers in the whole world and all you can do is stand there looking like a cat caught with his hand in the fishbowl.

The utter look of displeasure plastered on his face made you feel uneasy.  You can’t help but stare blankly at him taking in his rude tone of voice.

Is this real? Have the chemicals just gotten to your head? You thought you had read the labels and made sure they were safe but you probably should have opened up a window or- “Hello?” Snap, snap, snap. Kim Taehyung’s hand is now directly in front of your face snapping repeatedly.  “What, are you suddenly mute now?” He scoffs moving out of your immediate personal space once again.

Curse your awkward staring. You always knew you had a bad habit of staring off into space. And today that space just happened to be occupied by your favorite idol in the world. “Y-you hired me.” It comes out kind of like a squeak but you speak up again, voice a little shaky from the surprise he just gave you. “I’m Y/N…” His face is still blank. Zero recognition going through his brain. “The live in maid...” You continue. Shouldn’t he know who he hired to take care of his home? Or at least know your name if he didn’t know your face? This whole situation is so awkward. You were in your pajamas still for goodness sake!

You blame stupid Hoseok.

Taehyung’s stare that once made your knees weak a year ago makes your stomach settle weirdly now that it’s actually directed towards you. He’s like a photograph come to life. A beautiful, rude picture. God, why did he have to open up his mouth and ruin it?

“I didn’t hire you.” Taehyung spits. “My manager did.”  He leisurely walks around the room picking up random things and analyzing them. It’s odd. He looks as though he’s never seen this place before. He looks... out of place.

“Just like he does everything without my permission,” he mumbles, almost as an afterthought. Looking over to you, a slight smirk creeps over his once unreadable expression. “And where did he find you? Craigslist?”

Your jaw literally drops. How dare he ask you a question like that? You would think he’d be a little bit more considerate since you’re pretty much strangers. Obviously he doesn’t know his basic manners or how to be a decent person for that matter.

If there’s one thing you hate, it’s blatant rudeness. It’s like a light switch. 0 to 100. Your blood begins to boil.

It’s official, you’re pissed.

Well this is definitely not what you always imagined meeting him would be like. More like you imagined you’d run into him on the side of the street, him knocking you over. And he’d catch you before falling to the ground, look into your eyes and- well.. that fantasy popped like a pink bubblegum bubble stretched too far. The initial shock and excitement of coming face to face with your favorite idol had subsided and now you were just angry at his disrespect and quite frankly, kind of offended for Hoseok’s sake too.

He’s back on the other side of the kitchen, analyzing a red and olive colored ceramic rooster and for a moment, you think you see a look of relief and soft eyes before he picks up a similar ceramic frog next to it and cringes at it’s ugly yellow/green color. There he is, looking so nonchalant, not even caring how blunt he is being in the moment. Not even caring how his words might hurt you.

Standing up straighter you find your voice again. You don’t care who he is. You weren’t going to take this disrespect from him. “Your house would have looked like the Haunted Mansion by now if it wasn’t for me cleaning this massive place while you were out for months wasting money and partying it up in a different country every day.”

His gaze quickly snaps back to you, surprise reflecting in his face from your more than un-lady like tone of voice. What? So he can talk to you like you’re nothing but you can’t do the same back to him?

“And Hoseok’s a good man,” you continue.  “He works his ass off to make sure you’re happy every day which I’m sure can’t be an easy job.”

It’s true. Hoseok can’t really talk about his clients but he does tell you about how exhausted they make him. Hoseok never really lets it get to him though and you know he bounces back quickly, but still. No one disrespects your family like that.

“So who are you to blame him for hiring a damn housekeeper for you while you’re away?” you sputter out quickly. Woah Y/N. Where did all of this aggression come from? He had only really said 3 or 4 things to you. Granted, every one of those things was something insulting. Your confidence began to falter again. His hard gaze on you was making you self conscious. Tearing your eyes away from his for the first time, you look down and toy with the hem of your Mickey Mouse pajama shirt.

Wait, no. Look up again Y/N, you can’t give him the feeling he’s winning here.

“And who are you to make me feel like I’m the one intruding here?” You add, trying to fake more confidence. Voice raising to a yell. “You know nothing about me or this house. You look like you’ve never even seen this place before!”

Your own words hit your ears with a boom as they bounce off of the marble walls. Shit.. that was probably too far. Ugh. Why can’t you ever keep your mouth shut? You were so going to be fired after this. Goodbye to the freedom of the city, hello Mom and Dad’s house. Again.

Using both of his hands to push himself off of the edge of the countertop he’s leaning on, he scoffs. Expression once again unreadable. A closed book with no title.

“Of course I know you,” He speaks, eyes narrowing.

Slowly, he makes his way over to the refrigerator where you stand. You don’t know how, but he’s clearly taken back the control in this conversation.

Suddenly you feel small again. Obviously he isn’t used to being questioned and you just had to go ahead and run your mouth. 

“You’re just another fangirl desperately pulling any strings she can to get close to me.” He explains laughing slightly, but devoid of any real humor. It’s at this point you realize how tall and broad he is. Towering over you in the physical sense and also in the metaphorical sense. Closer and closer he walks. Suffocating you like a snake coiling around its prey.

His lips curl into a condescending smirk as he places his hand flat against the freezer door effectively trapping you in. “What? Do you actually believe in your insane, obsessed mind that you would have a chance with me if you got close to me?” His eyes scan your face, assessing just how much his words are affecting you. There’s hatred in his voice. Though for you or for himself, you’re not quite sure.

His face is so close. You could feel his breath on your cheek. Surprisingly very minty with a hint of jasmine, you think. And his cologne… Not too overwhelming but definitely distinct enough where you were certain you’d be able to pick it out anywhere from now on. It melted through the air, wrapping around you slowly until it was all that you could focus on.

Woah... it was really messing with your brain.

His other hand reaches out to move a strand of your hair that had fallen out of your bun while dancing just a few moments ago. Effectively ripping you out of your former lifestyle being the pseudo owner of this huge mansion and thrusting you into your reality of being a full time maid.

Because really, that was all you were.

Sure, you had your fun living in this house by yourself with all the freedom in the world at your fingertips. But did you expect it to last forever?

You don’t want it to, but your heart chooses this moment to start beating like it’s about to pop out of your chest. The look he’s giving you right now.. you know it well. And you’re sure it’s the one he uses to get any girl he wants, whenever he wants.

The only thing connecting the two of you physically is his fingers threaded around the strand of your hair. You might as well have been fully pressed against each other with the amount of heat you feel creeping up inside of you. And though you don’t really want to admit it, you have to physically restrain yourself from pushing yourself into him by gripping firmly onto the refrigerator door handle behind you.

“Well, you are quite pretty,” You didn’t know it was possible but his voice drops to an even lower octave. Vibrating through your chest as he speaks. 

He’s considering his next words carefully. Gaze following the lines of your face. Eyes meeting eyes, moving across the map of your face to your nose, your reddened cheeks, then finally landing on your lips.

“Maybe if you don’t turn out to be a complete psycho I might actually fuck you.” His eyes dark, smirk still plastered on his face. “You know, to get you out of my way and save us both some time.”  

What you thought was your heart about to burst out of your chest turned out to be a fit of laughter causing Taehyung to recoil quickly, pulling his hands from the side of your head and away from your hair out of surprise. His face contorting into something of a mix between confusion and disgust as you cackled in his face. You almost couldn’t get your next sentence out as you doubled over laughing.

“See...” More laughing. Any feelings of lust caused by his entrancing scent now replaced with amusement in an instant. “That’s where you’re wrong,” Even more laughing. Wow, it’s been a while since you laughed this much.

“I could give less of a fuck about who you are.” You say mocking his vulgar word choice. A few more giggles leaving your lips. Okay, it was a lie. You’ll admit that. The you of last year would have been freaking out about who was in front of the present day you right now. But the situation you were in is just so ironic! You had dreamed about meeting Taehyung for a couple of years now and now that it has actually happened, it’s so completely the opposite of what you had always played out in your head that it was almost… well, yeah actually it was just hilarious.

Who would've thought the world’s sweetheart would be such a complete and total douchebag?  

“Hoseok didn’t even tell me who owned this place.” You tried to catch your breath as the giggles finally subsided.  “I just needed easy money and a place to sleep. Hell, I don’t even know what you do for a living!” Okay, that’s another lie but honestly, who really cares at this point. Clearly the respect and love for him you had before was just of the image he portrayed to the media. 

That was not the man standing in front of you right now. And it made you more than a little angry. What’s a little white lie at this point when he’s been lying to the whole world for who knows how long?

“Now if you’ll excuse me,” You push yourself away from in front of the refrigerator putting the mop in the small cleaning supply closet a few steps away. Taehyung hasn’t moved an inch. Now it’s his turn to be speechless. “I have a job to continue doing seeing as I’m the main person making sure your house doesn’t end up looking like an abandoned dump with all the dust the piling up from no one EVER USING ANYTHING HERE,” You practically scream the last part in his direction, words reverberating off the walls once again as you turn swiftly on your heel to head rather quickly to your room on the West side of the mansion.

You had a phone call to make.

<-- Previous Chapter | Next Chapter -->

[sweet-xoxo-thatcares]

I quit online dating...ok dating in general

Definitely taking a long hard look in the mirror, my new job starts soon so I can start seeing a therapist and finally figure out wtf is going on with me mentally but also

I NEED BETTER HELP WITH FIXING MY ATTRACTION OFF OF TOXIC MFS WHO CAN LIE WAY TOO GOOD AND ME ACTUALLY BELIEVING IT BECAUSE THEY LOOK GOOD AND I LIKE THEM LIKE AFTER BEING VULNERABLE

WTFFFF

I met Jay at work, so now I'm worried about blocking myself off too much if I happen to meet someone new and they sound like a nice person, good fit, but then the relationship and family trauma history comes up....wtf do i do? Run?

Like everything that I went through wasn't all my fault, but still I think it would be unfair for me to neglect someone as a potential date if they have everything that I'm looking for, looks good, but they have this, this, and that mental health disorders from trauma or they're just surviving....

But Idk, I think it would be best to get some guidance off the horny, desperate, need somebody to talk to because I can't come out to my parents about what happened to me with Jay and Ayunna because they're not cool about their kids being gay...

Its like "hey, dad I was sexually, mentally, and emotionally abused by someone..."

"Wow...why would you stay in something like that? By the way was it a girl or a boy?"

I think my dad knows. But I did not like the way he responded and said that it was my fault for having sex with them...Like wow, how was I supposed to know they would have took advantage of me and did stuff to me that I wouldn't even like...without consent?

Wtf Dad.

And this is why I never talked to my mom about it either...they think alike to victim blame and doing the oh, well you should have known better way of talking down to their kids about being fucked up by their best friend...

Yea great role models.

I told him and he didn't even hug me. Cause he thought I was going to far when I said I wanted to fight her and get revenge.

He just said you should find a way to release that aggression and looked at me crazy as if nothing bad had happened to me and everything I was feeling still after, was all in my head, blown out of proportion.

Why didn't I tell him I was disappointed in the way he handled that?

It just made me close up on him and mom even more after he said that. Its like why should I have to debate out why it was so wrong of my friend to hurt me to somebody who would rather talk about something else, being all nonchalant and passive as usual.

I don't wanna talk about it until after I move out, cause I feel like he would explode on me if I was to say Dad, I don't like what you said and it hurt me to know that my own father didn't have my back when I was looking for support.

Cause I've been in pain all year, thinking, and being reminded of Jay and Ayunna's actions towards me. I hate them officially to this day. And I'll never love or trust the same since them.

They'll never know what its like to be me, not Jay, not Ayunna, not my mom or dad...so why even bother discussing, then later on debating about why I even stayed in an abusive relationship like that where I people pleased and didn't say stop. I just took the pain, like the good girl-sex-slave/doormat Jay wanted me to be.

He'll never understand it, and thats why I don't like the idea of telling my parents everything that happened, because I don't wanna lose my parents.

Cause I feel like even if I was to open up to my crazy bipolar mom and my passive ass dad, none of them would overreact about wanting to kick Jay and Ayunna's ass like I do right to this very day.

They would have got hard on me, tell me their disappointed in me, and told me everything that I did wrong in the matter instead of actually asking me "are you okay" which Dad never did after I told him the snippet.

Never would have asked me "how are you feeling" "do you need a hug" cause yea, its all my fault huh? For staying with a dumbass abusive friend who was already engaged to someone who treats them like a child too?

Yea they would have judged the fuck outta me...so I don't say anything. And every time I feel a ptsd episode spiraling or mom triggers me, I stay locked up in my room and scream and cry silently until I hear my voice crack. Shrilling the sound like, broken metal guitar strings cause I've been suffering in silence all year long. Hiding my depression from my sisters and my parents, because mom and dad want us to be happy about being alive and living in this house that I stopped giving a fuck about, because well grandma's dead and you can't make people happy about it when it was literally in July and her dead body was carried down our living room steps.

This bitch is crazy, you act like everything is supposed to just go back to normal? After everything that I've seen and been through this year? You think I'm supposed to be happy after finding out your a crazy, selfish, asshole who wanted me to fall down the steps just for pissing you off, my grandma was miserable and depressed all the way up in that house and delusional about healthcare that she didn't visit a doctor for years until it was too late, my dad hides everything he feels from us and mom unless it comes out in an aggravated assault on my little sister when she pissed him off, and now mom is basically forcing us to get back on cleanup schedule and act like everything is normal.

WHEN ITS FUCKING NOT

I bet deep down this is why Grandma moved to live in a cabin in the woods, for idk how long. She even painted the house she bought later on, the exact same colors. Burgundy and Sea Mint Green. Cause she loved how peaceful it was and there was nobody there but just her. Her family, her abusive ex, her abusive baby daddy, her children, and her friends all drove her nuts trying to be there and take care of them....when nobody was there to take care of her.

Except when I was there, it felt like we had the whole house, the whole world to ourselves, and we could be just as still and silent as the wind passing us as we sat on the couch, watched movies, ate popcorn, and enjoyed a hard lemonade with her. She missed being by herself after I moved in and so did I.

No wonder we kept butting heads. We don't like being disappointed by our family and friends, and we sure as hell don't like people making us work for them, and not caring about our emotional, mental, and physical stability.

I would prefer to go to the library for hours and just watch movies on the internet, than to live with my family while I'm still digesting the pain and drama I went through.

And realizing just how toxic, abusive, and crazy your family really is...really made me hate reality. Once the research on why I felt like I was suffering so bad with jay and ayunna started to add up, it all made sense why I didn't see some of the things that actually hurt me, as not as bad. Because I'd been through it already with my mom and my dad. Where I'm forced to take every negative comment or action they said and did, and just deal with it without retaliating against them or I was punished or told I was too sensitive to be told the truth. Gaslighting me.

Like I'm not allowed to feel pain if my mom tells me that my stomach is poking out too much in that dress and that I need to go change or wear some spanx. Then if I didn't want to change there was pinches on my skin from when she would force my shirts into my pants and make me feel stupid for not knowing how to tuck in my pants.

I'm supposed to always appreciate everything my parents did for me, even when the person standing in front of my face wants to be right all the time and I'm supposed to not get upset, not get angry, not cry, not whine or complain when my parent, my guardian does something unfair to me, says something rude, disrespectful, and controlling to me that they know that if I did the same thing to them, then they would slap me across the face, flick me in the head, knock me back to being a kid, just because they said so and just because I still live here.

I hate this place. And I thought Athena would be my escape. I thought I found someone to build real love with after going through so much trauma and realizing the crazy I've been living in for all these years.. The facade is over.

And I don't know what to do except cry and scream for myself in my room, and now I can't even talk to them about me losing my faith and trust in God because everything bad that happened and keeps happening. And why in the hell did he decide giving my grandma cancer was the best way for her to go? She was in so much pain all these years and it was from cancer. Her head and her body was twitching from lack of oxygen. And she was unresponsive as I sat upstairs with her all night on the very same couch I'm sitting on right now.

Its September now. She passed on July 30th and dad called me from upstairs after I had stayed up there till like 11:30 cause we were writing down how much morphine to give her each hour. And the nurse had just told us that she might not have that long left to live. Like maybe saturday or monday, cause it was already friday the 30th.

But after the nurse left, Dad told me to go through her pictures and find his favorite photo of her. I didn't even cry like he did, I had already cried at 10am when I saw no matter what I did, she was still shaking and not responding to me talking to her like before. Still grunting. It was like me being on nurse mode, made my heart, my emotions feel numb. But after I left the room and called Hospice, I finally let it out.

Grandma passed at around 1:30 or 2pm. And two of my aunts and my cousins were over. My cousins playing a game of Uno in the dining room as if nothing traumatic was going on upstairs. None of them reacted at all until they all joined us in the living room as she being carried down the stairs by the funeral service guys. It was amazing to see how insensitive at 1st the kids were, then to see my mom cry about not being strong enough for my dad, when I was sorta pissed off and confused and still in shock about grandma. LIKE WTFFF MOMMM FUCKING CRYYY THAT'S THE REASON WHY YALL HAVE PROBLEMS IN YALL RELATIONSHIP AND OUR RELATIONSHIP NOW

STOP HIDING YOUR FUCKING SADNESS, ANGER, AND GRIEF FROM YOUR FAMILY BY BEING A CRAZY ASS PSYCHOPATH WHO EXPECTS PEOPLE TO ACT NORMAL AND BE HAPPY WHEN SOMETHING SHITTY LIKE THIS HAPPENS

GODDAMN IT MOM FUCKING CRY. YOU'RE HUMAN. IM HUMAN. WE'RE ALLOWED TO FUCKING CRY. WE'RE ALLOWED TO GRIEVE. WE'RE ALLOWED TO FEEL OUR PAIN AND SUFFERING.

AND IM ALLOWED TO BE DEPRESSED AND UNSATISFIED WITH MY LIFE AND MY RELIGION THAT DOESN'T LET ME DO WHAT I WANT AND BE HAPPY WITH WHOEVER I WANT TO BE WITH.

AND MOM IM GAY. I FELL IN LOVE WITH WITH A GIRL WHO LATER ON DECIDED TO BE A THEY, AND NOW A HE AND I'LL NEVER SEE HER AGAIN AS A THEY, CAUSE NOW HE'S GROWING A BEARD, A DICK, A NEW VOICE AGAIN, AND SHE'S GETTING MARRIED TO ANOTHER CONTROLLING PSYCHOPATH THAT REMINDS ME OF YOU AND I HAD SEX WITH HER TOO, BUT I WAS UNCOMFORTABLE CAUSE I DON'T KNOW IF ME AND HER WANNA KILL EACH OTHER OR IF SHE'S ACTUALLY A COUSIN OR NOT WHO REMINDS ME OF MY TRAUMA WHEN I WAS A KID. AND WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T ANYBODY SAY ANYTHING ABOUT INCEST POSSIBLY BEING A GENE OF TRAUMA IN THIS FAMILY.

I LITERALLY WATCHED MY COUSINS WHO WERE FAMILY, HAVE SEX AND THEY WERE KIDS JUST BECAUSE THEY WERE WATCHING PORN AND NOBODY BROUGHT IT BACK UP TO EVEN EXPLAIN WHY OR WHAT HAPPENED. AND ALL I SEE IS FLASHBACKS OF SHIT WHENEVER SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS TO ME IN MY LIFE. CAUSE I KNOW INCEST IS BAD.

AND THATS WHY I STILL AM GROSSED OUT BY THE IDEA OF AYUNNA AS A WHOLE BECAUSE SHE SMELLS WEIRD AND HAS GROSS MORNING BREATH, SHE SNORTS FOR 45 MIN TO AN HR EVERY MORNING SHE WAKES UP LIKE ITS NORMAL TO NOT BE ABLE TO BREATHE NORMALLY LIKE THAT IN YOUR SLEEP AND SHE'S ABNOXIOUS AND GROSS AND IMMATURE BUT JAY PRETENDS LIKE SHE'S MATURE AND IM NOT EVEN THOUGH IM SMARTER, IM BETTER, MORE EMOTIONALLY CAPABLE TO HANDLE THEM BEING DEPRESSED TO NOT JUDGE THEM FOR IT, CAUSE I KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO WANNA DIE TO ESCPAE MY PAIN AND MY REALITY CAUSE ITS NICE AND EASIER TO HAVE AFRIEND WHO WANTS TO GO BACK TO BEING TAKEN CARE OF LIKE A BABY AND HAVE FUN JUST LIKE YOU TOO.

I feel like i lost a lot this year...including my sanity...thanks a lot Athena for triggering me. Now going back to talking to grandma as if she was here like I did when i was on the flight for the very 1st time after 911 and I had a silent panic attack because I was holding it in for the kid and the obnoxious older black lady next to me on my flight.

I cried my tears out and everything felt tight up on my back, making me scared and numb and tingly like I was on a rollercoaster. and mom thought I was just overreacting.

I need someone who understands me and knows exactly how it feels to be me, and I thought that person was this crazy bitch on the internet, who's gay and trans and lost a bunch of her family due to trauma. Because she's autistic, and not the one where they cant talk and do things for themselves. She talks to me just like I would to myself when I wasn't feeling good.

And idk, if I might have some sort of autism or spectrum thing too. Or did my family brainwash me into thinking nothing was wrong with me, the way they treated me, and how I was behaving...just because they didn't wanna believe it either.

I wanna know what's wrong with me, my life, my family and how do I fix it so it doesn't keep happening. I wanna know how can I avoid becoming like my parents and ending up in a controlling, aggressive, petty relationship like my dad who became passive just so he could deal with it and hide his pain from her.

I dont know what a healthy relationship looks like with no confrontations that leads to fights, arguing that leads to yelling at each other's faces and getting distracted with emotions to where we throw things at each other or just walk out without saying anything...

Because I dont know how to be angry. Cause I was never allowed to. and the people who birth me, don't know how to control theirs either without hurting the person they care about, someway or some sort.

I still to this day don't know how to communicate when I get angry. Because I feel like I was adopted from all the daycare people who used to take me in at night time when mom would drop me off and I never knew when she was coming back cause she didn't tell me.

[conditionbox]

everything i’ve always wanted to tell you

- you tell me to tell anything to you, and communicate about everything. though, you dont give me an environment to communicate in. you’re only respectful, accepting, and understanding to me whenever you agree with something i do, or whenever i agree with something you do. though, when i disagree with you and simply try to explain how i view a situation differently, you see it as arguing with you, you see it as disrespectful, you see it as me hating you, and you’re annoyed and you want me to shut up. so you raise your voice at me. and if i stay quiet, try not to say anything, and simply say “okay” so that i don’t make the situation worse, you see it as me giving you an attitude. and if i get on your level by also raising my voice, you see it as me giving you an attitude. and then when i try and tell you that you’re raising your voice at me and yelling at me, you see it as “i’m not raising my voice at all. you’re too sensitive.” i can’t communicate things at all if you’re not understanding towards me being a different person than you are. i can’t communicate things at all if you judge me for not being the perfect daughter that you want me to be. i can’t communicate things at all if you don’t give me an environment to communicate in.

- you speak for me. you don’t allow me to speak for myself. for example, when it comes to food, you say “ohhhh this is micah’s favorite food.” or with music, “ohhhhhh, this artist is micah’s favorite.” no. its not my favorite food and no that person is not my favorite artist. i am my own person. i speak for myself. for example, EVERY SINGLE TIME i go to the doctor’s office for an appointment, they hand me a clipboard with a bunch of things to write down and check off. this is what you do. when the paper asks me “who do you go to when you want to talk about something?” i say my best friends. you tell me to scribble that out and to put “my parents”. when the paper asks me “are you concerned about your weight?” i put yes. and you tell me to scribble it out and put no. when the paper asks me “do you believe you have a low self-esteem?” i say yes. you tell me to scribble it out and say no. do you see anything wrong with what you’re doing?

- do you say that to encourage me to do better or to just feel depressed? because 90% of the time, your speeches are more degrading and less encouraging.

- when i’m doing something wrong, teach me how to do it correctly. teach me. don’t punish me or get angry at me for doing it wrong, saying “you don’t know how to do anything”. i don’t know how to do anything because you. never. taught. me. don’t do the task yourself and take over and yell at me for not doing it. you decided to do it yourself. for example, when i wanted to water the front lawn. let me do it, and then teach me how to do it in the best way possible.

- do you believe mental abuse is just as bad as physical abuse? or do you think mental abuse is okay?

- i do the best i can until i know better. only when i know better, will i do better. SO TEACH ME HOW TO DO BETTER BECAUSE YOU ARE MY MOTHER. DONT PUNISH ME FOR NOT KNOWING HOW TO DO BETTER. i am doing the BEST I CAN. MOTHERS AREN’T ONLY MEANT TO PUNISH AND DISCIPLINE, MOTHERS ARE MEANT TO GUIDE AND TEACH.

- you just said “no parent will love their daughter that lounges around with their boyfriend all day.” this is wrong. all parents are supposed to love their children unconditionally, at all times, and forgive them for their wrongs. you just dont love me. you LOVE ME only when i am your PERFECT DAUGHTER. you DONT LOVE ME when i am a HUMAN.

- im so tired of trying to find commonground with someone who so desperately wants me to give up.

- you dont even realize how mentally abusive you are. you are the queen of lying to yourself. you are the queen of hypocrisy.

- i poured my HEART out to you. and all you did was ask me the day after “are you done being mad at me?” i wasn’t mad at you. i was EXHAUSTED of your ways of discipline. you see them as ETHICAL, but you know youve done something wrong when your daughter has suicidal thoughts because youve fucked up her head too much. im done. im so done. i cant argue with you anymore. i cant communicate with you anymore. you dont get it. you just dont fucking get it.

- ive realized that by the time i bring up all the things you say to me that just dont make sense, you claim that you never said them or that im rephrasing what you say to change the story. no. youre just used to putting yourself in a state of denial to make yourself feel better for the mental damage you didnt even realize you were causing

- have you ever though of why you think im a drama queen and always seeking attention? if you raise your child never acknowledging her efforts to improve herself and only acknowledging that what shes doing is still not good enough, that shes always been a burden, and that she has been nothing and will always be nothing her whole life, shes kinda going to be depleted of any self esteem, or validation that shes good enough for anyone. you see me as obsessed with cody? i see me as seeing cody as someone who actually helps me know what i deserve and tells me how much im worth, since my own mother tells me i am worth nothing to this world.

- i think we have different definitions for the word disrespect. you see the things i say as disrespectful to you and me trying to hurt you. i see the things i say as efforts to get you to open the eyes and reflect on whether the things you say or do are going to benefit her or not. i know you guys do so much for me in terms of paying for our education, giving us all this money, gadgets, and food to enjoy, and all of that. im so thankful for that. but, to me, all of that physical stuff doesnt really help you be happy, let alone help your own daughter be happy. to me, happiness starts with being internally healthy and having a clear state of mind. and its very hard for me to get those things when my own mother is telling me that i am a burden and that i have been nothing to this world since birth.

- your toxic trait is that you will say ANYTHING to win an argument, whether what you say is a lie, or didnt happen, or is the absolute worst thing a mother should say to her daughter, or anything else. youll say ANYTHING. SOMETIMES IT DOESNT MATTER WHOS RIGHT AND YOU NEED TO REALIZE THAT. SOMETIMES IT ONLY MATTERS HOW TO MOVE FORWARD AND YOU NEVER DO. YOU BRING UP MY MISTAKES OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN NO MATTER HOW MUCH IVE GROWN OR HOW OLD I AM OR HOW MUCH IVE LEARNED FROM MY MISTAKES.

- the reason why i dont open up to you is because you never “listen” like you said you would. you either make assumptions, invalidate my feelings, try and force me to feel feelings you want me to feel, don’t take me seriously because i’m too young, or all of the above.

- well im sorry that every single emotion, problem of mine, problem in the house, or anything else that i try to communicate is considered “teenage hormones.” the reason why i dont communicate is because all of the stress, anxiety, and depression in my life is caused by you. you say i can be open to communicate to you but you’re only open when it has nothing to do with you or doesnt hurt you whatsoever. IM NOT TRYING TO HURT YOU, IM TRYING TO GIVE YOU A RUDE AWAKENING TO HOW MUCH MENTAL DAMAGE IM GOING THROUGH BECAUSE EVERY TIME I GET LIKE THIS YOU NEVER TAKE ME SERIOUSLY, YOU LAUGH IN MY FACE, YOU THINK IM BEING TOO SENSITIVE, YOU SEE NO REASON FOR ME TO CRY, AND YOU TRY AND FORCE ME TO CHANGE HOW I FEEL AND DONT TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE FEELINGS I ACTUALLY FEEL.

- i can’t “just pray” anymore. i can’t hide things from my doctor anymore. i need therapy or medicine or something because i cant deal with the problems im thinking at night because you guys dont give me a support system or environment to communicate to at home.

- your ignorance is your downfall, not mine.

- its not having a tantrum, its not teenage hormones, its not me hating you. IT IS MY ATTEMPT TO COMMUNICATE

- https://www.instagram.com/tv/CGVJJEfjECW/?igshid=hsnu67whwpuj

- theres just so much for me to say. im done.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJX5xHEC/

[icarus-tirade]

4.29.2021

Oh boi, do I have a shit tonight

1.) My mom pissed me off so badly cause HOW ARE YOU GONNA WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE TO TELL ME THE PLAN FOR PAYING FOR MY HOUSING FOR COLLEGE?! I ASKED FOR THAT SHIR LAST WEEK AND WE WENT THROUGH LIKE A 3 DAY PROCESS (something that should only take 1 day mind you) SO YOU COULD GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!! I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEEDED AND YOU HOLD IN YOUR PLAN UNTIL I FUCKING CALL YOU* AND ASK ABOUT IT AND I FIND OUT THAT YOU HAD DAD DOING IT BUT NEVER TOLD HIM THE FUCKING PLAN?! AND THEN HAVE THE GALLLLLL TO ACT RIMID LIKE IT'S NOT YOUR FUXKIN FAULT THAT NO ONE BUT YOU KNOWS THE PLAN!! AND WHY ARE YOU ACTING BRAND NEW??? Usually what happens when I need money for school is, parents put money on my credit card and then I pay for stuff but this time MOM IS TRYING TO PAY DIRECTLY THROUGH THE SCHOOL?! AND NOT INVOLVE ME, which would be fine IF SHE DIDN'T FUXK IT UP COMPLETELY!!! She tells me it's all been taken care of by dad when I call her today and so I ask to talk to dad cause he sent me some snacks and I wanna say thank you right? So after talking to dad about the snacks he asks me for a link to the school so he can pay for the housing... meaning it hasn't been done yet. And I'm like, well... I'll just type out the convo

Dad: I need a link to the payment thing so I can pay for housing

Me: What link?

Dad: You sent me all your info, and thank you for that, but I need the link too. I don't know what to do and where to go

Me still confused: mom asked for that stuff so I sent it, I don't know why she wanted it and I don't know what link you're talking about

So finally dad calls mom into the room because we BOTH don't know what's happening and that's when mom has a small voice all of a sudden and is like "I thought we could just pay through the school" AND SO NOW IM PISSED AND STRESSED CAUSE IM DESPERATELY LOOKING THROUGH MY EMAIL ANS THE SCHOOL WEBISTE FOR A PAY DESTINATION WHILE TRYING TO KEEP THE ANGER OUTTA MY VOICE AND MY ANGRY/STRESSED TEARS AT BAY DURING MY CONVERSATION WITH THEM BECAUSE THEY'RE STILL TALKING TO MEEEE!!! THEN I FIND IT AND THEY ADD THE MONEY TO MY CARD (my card that's in the truck cause I left it outside by accident) so I put them on hold and run around looking for the keys that papa had in his pocket and Jammie is trying to get me to calm down and explain but I'm pissed and stressed so that's just making it worse* so I pay (and send them a picture of the receipt that mom wants cause I guess she don't trust me now even though I've done nothing to deserve this lack of trust with school money so fuxk her) after getting my shit and go back to talking to dad who I don't wanna talk to anymore cause I'm fed up and trying not to cry

2.) YOU*: they usually call me at least once a week but they been mad silent since last week which is no Bueno cause I need to know if I have the money or not to pay for the fucking fee OR if they have paid for it SO FUXKING CALL ME CAUSE I AINT TRYIN TO CALL YOU! THEY ALWAYS LACKIN WHEN IT COMES TO DOING SHIT FOR ME. I asked mom WEEKS ago if she could get a refill on my medicine and so when I check in today she NOW wants to tell me that there's been complications cause I'm 18 so I kinda need to do it. AGAIN I'd be fine with that IF SHE AINT WAIT THIS LONG DURING ALLERGY SEASON!! THIS IS SHIT I GOTTA KNOW SO WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING THIS LONG TO SAY SOMETHING?!

3.) Worse*: Jammie LOVES to talk about how trash my dad is depressed or bipolar (he's fuckin not so I really wished she'd stop saying that, IM bipolar so I know he's not she doesn't even know what she's talking about and it irritates me). So when she had me explain what's happening and I rant about mom fucking everything up she starts blaming dad??? She says that they planned what to say when I called and how to act and that my dad is orchestrating the whole thing like,,, no? Were you even listening to me??? So I repeat that MOM is acting brand new and dad and I don't understand what's happening but she continues to tell me that it's dad who's the blame. I tell her dad is not the only bad guy and is not ALWAYS the bad guy, I know he's shit alot of times but he's not always bad he was a good dad once and he still has his good dad moments, but she REFUSES to listen to me! And keeps blaming him and I KNOW it's cause she doesn't wanna view mom, he daughter, as a bad person and wants to put all the blame on dad BUT THATS NOT TRUE AND IM TIRED OF HER PRETENDING!! LISTEN TO WHAT THE FUXK IM SAYING AND STOP LIVING IN YOUR DELUSIONS!

4.) Dad and I were talking and it was fine UNTIL HE SAID HIS DUMBASS STATEMENT ABOUT ME BEEING TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE!!! Ever sense I've gotten diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder he's taken that and RAN with it. But he uses it in the sense that sometimes I'm calm and sometimes I'm angry and just negative (disrespectful, argumentive, defiant, indifferent, and rude) BUT THATS NOW WHAT BIPOLAR IS. Its basically on and off depression and mania. But his favorite statement is "I don't know which you I'm getting" LIKE BITCH SHUT THE FUXK UP YOU CANT EVEN TELL WHEN IM SAD EVEN WHEN I HAVE TEARS IN MY EYES YOUR DUMBASS THINKS I HAVE AN ATTITUDE AND THEN YOU GET MAD AT ME AND MAKE IT WORSE! He's never said his "favorite statement" UNTILL I got diagnosed so I KNOW IT'S CAP. YOU DONT KNOW ME SO DONT PRETEND YOU UNDERSTAND ME ALL OF A SUDDEN! YOU'RE FAKE AS FUXK! And this was all sparked because I asked if I could watch a show now that I'm 18 and he was like "Wow! She's respectful!" BITCH IVE ALWAYS BEEN RESPECTFUL IM JOT ACTING NEW IM ACTING THE SAME SO WHY ARE YOU TRIPPIN' ??? He said he was surprised I asked because he didn't think I cared about their opinion but literally thats all I cared about!? I acted and behaved in a way that would make them happy and praise me because I constantly wanted validation that I was a good kid, that they loved and cared for me, and that I wasn't a problem and inconvenience because I was alive. SO HE'S FUCKIN STUPID AND THAT PISSED ME OFF AFTER I CALMED DOWN. "I dOnT kNoW wHaT yOu Im GetTiNG" LIKE BITCH AHUT THE FUXK UP!! YOU SOUND MAD STUPID

5.) Broski if you see this, I wanna explain my "cowardice" earlier today. Look bro, I view my rant Tumblr as a diary of some sorts. That's why I changed my little description/bio to a quote joke about Journaling from my therapist cause I view this as my Journaling so I can better manage my feelings and get them out in a way that's not harmful to me. With that being said, announcing "Lets read ______ tumblr" is gonna immediately activate my fight or flight. These rants are private and personal to me. I've literally described it as like take a trip or look into the doors of my mind. Sharing my feelings and opinions are always scary to me because I'm afraid of being looked at in a negative light you know cause childhood trauma. You know I'm afraid to share my feelings bro. Let's uh, go back to the question "How much do you trust your friends" and I trust yall a Hella lot but I don't trust ANYONE 100% with my feelings except me. NO ONE. So with that being said, knowing that'd you he actively reading my rant Tumblr with me there was too much and I didn't like it at all. I find that extremely stressful and it made me wanna instantly draft all my recent shit. The main reason I let you look at this Tumblr is because I DONT KNOW WHEN you're looking at it. You might not see it until weeks later so I don't worry about it, you might forget all about it, but if you tell me you're currently reading it or when you're going to read it, then my anxiety kicks in and I panic and fight the urge to edit everything and hide anything that might stand out as weird or bad to anyone else. So yeah, please never let me know you're about to read my rant Tumblr again unless I tell you to specifically look at a post :) also the reason I didn't text you this was because 1.) I never really planned to explain myself cause I didn't feel like I owed anyone an explanation and it was hard/long to type out or say anyways and 2.) Because of the stuff that happened in sections 1, 2, 3, and 4. I didn't feel like talking to anyone after that.

[algarithmblognumber]

Business Women are angry at Trump and his party. And it’s not just about Kavanaugh

Business Women are angry at Trump and his party. And it’s not just about Kavanaugh Business Women are angry at Trump and his party. And it’s not just about Kavanaugh http://www.nature-business.com/business-women-are-angry-at-trump-and-his-party-and-its-not-just-about-kavanaugh/

Business

Santa Clarita, California (CNN)On a recent evening in the suburbs of Los Angeles, two dozen women gathered to talk about sexual assault.

They did so at the campaign office of Katie Hill, a Democrat running in a district that has been held by Republicans for more than two decades, and amid the drama unfolding thousands of miles away in Washington, DC, over the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who stood accused of sexual assault himself.

In this culturally tumultuous moment when Donald Trump seems to believe that Republicans can win the midterm elections in part by stoking a backlash to the #MeToo movement, the most intensely personal experience for 31-year-old Hill — and for so many other women across the country — has suddenly entered the realm of the political.

Hill was sexually assaulted as a teenager, and watching the testimony of Kavanuagh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, she and her campaign decided to invite a group of women together to talk about why so many stay silent after a sexual assault.

“It brought up a lot of trauma. … I decided, if we’re reacting like this, if this is happening for us, and you’ve got millions and millions of people across the country who are glued to the TV, then this is happening across the board,” Hill said. “Regardless of what happens with Kavanaugh, this is here. Right? We have to deal with this.”

In interviews with dozens of women in competitive congressional districts across the country, the frustration with Trump — and the impression that Republicans have simply yielded to his whims — has built steadily over the past year and hardened during the Kavanaugh fight as the midterm election approaches.

The prime time ceremonial swearing in of Kavanaugh at the White House on Monday night highlighted a crowning achievement for Trump and conservatives — tipping the ideological balance of the Supreme Court potentially in their favor for generations. Republicans say that the achievement — particularly after the bitterly partisan confirmation fight — will mobilize their base heading into November.

But Kavanaugh’s confirmation battle has also been a galvanizing force for Democratic, independent and even some Republican women and not a singular one.

Long before Trump

mocked Ford’s testimony on stage at a rally in Mississippi

and pronounced the #MeToo era a “very scary time” for young men, his support among women was cratering, dragging the image of the GOP along with it. In CNN’s latest polling, Democrats top Republicans among white female likely voters with college degrees by a 67% to 31% margin.

It is most palpable here in the more than a half-dozen California Congressional districts that could determine control of the House: a convergence of the long-roiling anger at Trump among Democratic women, and the deepening disdain for the President among independent and moderate women, who were once willing to give the GOP a chance but now want change in Washington.

Women historically are less likely to turn out in midterm elections. But they are springing from the sidelines to canvass and activate less engaged female voters at campaign headquarters like Hill’s in California’s 25th district, and that of Katie Porter, an Irvine law professor who is challenging Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in the 45th district in Orange County.

Hill, surrounded by young men and women from the University of Southern California who drove north to canvass for her, said, “We have the power right now. This is literally how we change everything. So let’s freakin’ do it.”

Voters like Meryl Cook, a marketing director from Foothill Ranch, describe a new sense of urgency. For her the tipping point was Trump’s tweets about Ford, the California research psychologist who testified that Kavanaugh assaulted her in high school.

“It put me over the edge, I said, ‘Ok, game over, I’m totally behind getting rid of him,’” said Cook, a Democrat in Walters’ district who had tuned out of politics for much of the year due to what she calls “post-election stress trauma.”

“There was a long period of time where I couldn’t even put the news on, because I was so depressed. Now I’m paying more attention,” Cook said during an interview at an Irvine mall. “My goal is to pick candidates and help them campaign.”

That same level of disgust brought Michelle Thomas, 52, and her 23-year-old daughter Brenna to Porter’s headquarters on a recent Saturday where they were trained as first-time canvassers.

In the year of #MeToo, Thomas found Trump’s rhetoric on women appalling. When asked about the drift of female voters away from the GOP, she answered in a word: “Trump.”

“It’s the lack of stability (in the White House). It is the disrespect for women that is incredibly polarizing, and frankly a little bit scary,” said Thomas, a clean energy strategist from Orange, California. The Kavanaugh nomination “just keeps reminding women that he doesn’t have respect for women,” she said. “He doesn’t see women as equal. Anything he does say in support of women is just lip service. His actions do not support it.”

Brenna Thomas, who recently graduated from University of California-Santa Barbara, decided to join her mother on the midterm campaign trail in part because of her regret that she didn’t vote in the 2016 presidential election.

The last two years under Trump have been “a rude awakening, specifically for my generation,” she said, noting the low turnout among millennials in 2016.

“It’s exciting, coming to this place of — you do have the power to actually do something,” Brenna Thomas said after listening to Porter kick off a day of canvassing. “But at the same time, it’s power that needs to be wielded in order to actually do something.”

Here in Orange County, once a Republican stronghold, the excitement is being fueled, in part, by the closeness of the race and the sense that flipping control of the House could come down to a few seats. A recent New York Times Upshot/Siena College poll conducted in late September showed Porter leading Walters 48% to 43% with a 4.5% margin of error.

“I think Trump’s rhetoric just rubs everyone in this community the wrong way,” Porter said in an interview outside her garage-like headquarters. She noted the rich diversity of Orange County (which is now more than a third Hispanic and one fifth Asian): “It’s just not who we are as people.”

Pocketbook issues still rule, however, in close congressional districts across the country, including this one.

But Democrats here have also been helped by Trump’s taunting attitude toward California. In conversations with independent and moderate voters, Porter often argues that Trump and Walters are backing policies at odds with the state’s interests. The Republican tax bill is deeply unpopular here because it reduced state and local deductions.

In a politically nimble move to show independence from her party, Porter said she opposed the state’s Democratic-led increase in the gas tax and that she will support the Republican-led ballot measure that would repeal it.

When asked why women are leaning away from Republican control of Congress, Porter, who has spoken openly about her own history of domestic violence, quickly steered the conversation back to pocketbook issues.

“You want to talk about women’s issues? Let me tell you how hard it is as a parent to make ends meet and try to save for college while I’m paying for daycare,” said Porter, a single mother of three. “It’s not enough to just check the ballot for anyone who has a name that’s a woman. It’s about making sure that you know what that person is doing and what they are fighting for.”

How the GOP lost women

Under the shadow of Trump, the shift among women away from the GOP is stark.

That tilt toward Democrats is stunning when compared against the long-term trend of how white women with college degrees voted in House races.

Exit polling from 1980 to 2016 shows that the best that Democrats have ever done with that group is 53% (twice in 2006 and in 1990).

One of the most prescient observations about the GOP’s troubles with women came earlier this year from former White House strategist Steve Bannon who told Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman that “the Republican college-educated woman is done. … Trump triggers them.”

Countless national polls this year have traced how female support for Republicans tumbled off a cliff after Trump won the White House in 2016. Even before the Kavanaugh nomination became the central focus in Washington, the yawning gender gap was evident.

Sixty percent of women likely voters

polled by CNN recently

said they were leaning toward the Democratic candidate in their congressional race, compared with 36% who said they were more likely to support the Republican. (Among men, 49% were leaning Republican, while 44% were leaning Democrat).

Trump was a negative driving force behind those numbers: 60% of women voters said they were more likely to vote for a congressional candidate who opposes Trump (compared with 30% who said they’d favor a candidate who supports Trump).

While Trump is clearly repelling many college-educated female voters, UCLA political science professor Lynn Vavreck, notes that antipathy toward the President overlays two longer-term trends that spell trouble for Republicans.

“White women are moving away from the Republican Party, that’s been happening. And white college-educated people are moving away,” said Vavreck, a co-author of “Identity Crisis,” a new book about the 2016 election.

“People have created this character out of college-educated women, because they seem to be the leading indicator of this decline for the Republican Party,” Vavreck said. “But the story is about white college-educated people and white women.”

Still, Trump’s role as a driving force in Republican problems at the polls has been evident in interviews over the last year. Many Democratic women were immediately activated by the GOP vote against Obamacare shortly after Trump took office.

First-time female activists protested outside the offices of conservative members of Congress like Darrell Issa, the congressman representing parts of Orange and San Diego counties who ultimately announced he would retire and leave an open seat in California’s 49th district (where the Democratic candidate is now leading, according to the NYT Upshot/Siena College poll).

In interviews late last year, many moderate or independent women who supported Trump — or skipped the presidential line of the ballot altogether in 2016 — said they were exasperated with the President’s tweets and the atmosphere of chaos he sows within his administration.

This year, the mood notably soured on Republicans at various inflection points. Some women were unnerved by Trump’s standoff with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un of North Korea. Then this summer, alarm seemed to peak among women who had a visceral response to children being separated from their parents at the border as a result of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Donna Oberg, a 67-year-old retired secretary from Aurora, Colorado, who is an independent, said she got goosebumps when she heard the recordings of young children crying after being separated from their parents.

“He just thinks he can bully everybody,” Oberg said of Trump in an interview earlier this summer in Colorado-6, a closely divided district in the suburbs of Denver. Of Republicans, she added: “I think they are afraid of him. There’s got to be a better way.”

(In a telling move, the Republican super PAC known as the Congressional Leadership Fund recently pulled out of Colorado-6 where they had intended to help GOP Incumbent Mike Coffman in his race against Democratic newcomer Jason Crow).

In Utah-4, where Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams is challenging Republican Congresswoman Mia Love, 72-year-old independent voter Loraina Anderson said she was leaning away from Love for similar reasons, even though Love has openly criticized Trump’s immigration rhetoric and some of his policies.

“I’m just frustrated, not so much with her, but with Trump,” Anderson said in an interview this summer after McAdams showed up at her door while canvassing undecided voters.

“It’s just devastating, just him as a person. The lies,” Anderson said of the President. “The kids being separated. I don’t quite understand why he’s so into Un and (Russian Leader Vladimir) Putin. To me they are horrible men, they torture and do this and that. In my opinion, he wants to become a dictator. He’s following in their footsteps if you ask me.”

Trump’s cavalier attitude during the fight over Kavanaugh’s nomination has become the latest — but perhaps most powerful — rallying cry for women determined to rebuke to his agenda at the polls in November.

Strategists from both sides say the winners in November will be determined by which party has the better turnout game. What’s clear is that Democrats have a lot of female energy on their side.

Pausing outside Hill’s headquarters after picking up her 14-year-old daughter Emma, who attended the discussion on sexual assault, 41-year-old Sara Tisdell described the Kavanaugh debate as “scary” and said she was discouraged watching “our President stoop to the lowest common denominator constantly, and it gets glossed over somehow.”

“When I was her age, I didn’t have the same fears that we were drifting backwards,” said Tisdell, a Democrat who owns a local brewery. “I think we have an opportunity for change. We have an opportunity to continue on a path of moving forward, as opposed to regressing backward as a society.”

Tisdell had been texting her sisters from the parking lot about Katie Hill, and how she’d organized the closed-press event on sexual assault. She doesn’t plan to help canvass, but Emma (who can’t yet vote) is organizing her friends from Valencia High School to knock on doors for Hill.

“It’s easy to be comfortable as a white person in suburbia,” Tisdell said. “We really blew it collectively as a group in the previous election,” she added, referring to women. “Nobody said anything and everybody just kind of went along. … I hope this time people get out and vote.”

Read More | Maeve Reston, CNN,

Business Women are angry at Trump and his party. And it’s not just about Kavanaugh, in 2018-10-09 06:42:07

[blogcompetnetall]

Business Women are angry at Trump and his party. And it’s not just about Kavanaugh

Business Women are angry at Trump and his party. And it’s not just about Kavanaugh Business Women are angry at Trump and his party. And it’s not just about Kavanaugh http://www.nature-business.com/business-women-are-angry-at-trump-and-his-party-and-its-not-just-about-kavanaugh/

Business

Santa Clarita, California (CNN)On a recent evening in the suburbs of Los Angeles, two dozen women gathered to talk about sexual assault.

They did so at the campaign office of Katie Hill, a Democrat running in a district that has been held by Republicans for more than two decades, and amid the drama unfolding thousands of miles away in Washington, DC, over the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who stood accused of sexual assault himself.

In this culturally tumultuous moment when Donald Trump seems to believe that Republicans can win the midterm elections in part by stoking a backlash to the #MeToo movement, the most intensely personal experience for 31-year-old Hill — and for so many other women across the country — has suddenly entered the realm of the political.

Hill was sexually assaulted as a teenager, and watching the testimony of Kavanuagh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, she and her campaign decided to invite a group of women together to talk about why so many stay silent after a sexual assault.

“It brought up a lot of trauma. … I decided, if we’re reacting like this, if this is happening for us, and you’ve got millions and millions of people across the country who are glued to the TV, then this is happening across the board,” Hill said. “Regardless of what happens with Kavanaugh, this is here. Right? We have to deal with this.”

In interviews with dozens of women in competitive congressional districts across the country, the frustration with Trump — and the impression that Republicans have simply yielded to his whims — has built steadily over the past year and hardened during the Kavanaugh fight as the midterm election approaches.

The prime time ceremonial swearing in of Kavanaugh at the White House on Monday night highlighted a crowning achievement for Trump and conservatives — tipping the ideological balance of the Supreme Court potentially in their favor for generations. Republicans say that the achievement — particularly after the bitterly partisan confirmation fight — will mobilize their base heading into November.

But Kavanaugh’s confirmation battle has also been a galvanizing force for Democratic, independent and even some Republican women and not a singular one.

Long before Trump

mocked Ford’s testimony on stage at a rally in Mississippi

and pronounced the #MeToo era a “very scary time” for young men, his support among women was cratering, dragging the image of the GOP along with it. In CNN’s latest polling, Democrats top Republicans among white female likely voters with college degrees by a 67% to 31% margin.

It is most palpable here in the more than a half-dozen California Congressional districts that could determine control of the House: a convergence of the long-roiling anger at Trump among Democratic women, and the deepening disdain for the President among independent and moderate women, who were once willing to give the GOP a chance but now want change in Washington.

Women historically are less likely to turn out in midterm elections. But they are springing from the sidelines to canvass and activate less engaged female voters at campaign headquarters like Hill’s in California’s 25th district, and that of Katie Porter, an Irvine law professor who is challenging Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in the 45th district in Orange County.

Hill, surrounded by young men and women from the University of Southern California who drove north to canvass for her, said, “We have the power right now. This is literally how we change everything. So let’s freakin’ do it.”

Voters like Meryl Cook, a marketing director from Foothill Ranch, describe a new sense of urgency. For her the tipping point was Trump’s tweets about Ford, the California research psychologist who testified that Kavanaugh assaulted her in high school.

“It put me over the edge, I said, ‘Ok, game over, I’m totally behind getting rid of him,’” said Cook, a Democrat in Walters’ district who had tuned out of politics for much of the year due to what she calls “post-election stress trauma.”

“There was a long period of time where I couldn’t even put the news on, because I was so depressed. Now I’m paying more attention,” Cook said during an interview at an Irvine mall. “My goal is to pick candidates and help them campaign.”

That same level of disgust brought Michelle Thomas, 52, and her 23-year-old daughter Brenna to Porter’s headquarters on a recent Saturday where they were trained as first-time canvassers.

In the year of #MeToo, Thomas found Trump’s rhetoric on women appalling. When asked about the drift of female voters away from the GOP, she answered in a word: “Trump.”

“It’s the lack of stability (in the White House). It is the disrespect for women that is incredibly polarizing, and frankly a little bit scary,” said Thomas, a clean energy strategist from Orange, California. The Kavanaugh nomination “just keeps reminding women that he doesn’t have respect for women,” she said. “He doesn’t see women as equal. Anything he does say in support of women is just lip service. His actions do not support it.”

Brenna Thomas, who recently graduated from University of California-Santa Barbara, decided to join her mother on the midterm campaign trail in part because of her regret that she didn’t vote in the 2016 presidential election.

The last two years under Trump have been “a rude awakening, specifically for my generation,” she said, noting the low turnout among millennials in 2016.

“It’s exciting, coming to this place of — you do have the power to actually do something,” Brenna Thomas said after listening to Porter kick off a day of canvassing. “But at the same time, it’s power that needs to be wielded in order to actually do something.”

Here in Orange County, once a Republican stronghold, the excitement is being fueled, in part, by the closeness of the race and the sense that flipping control of the House could come down to a few seats. A recent New York Times Upshot/Siena College poll conducted in late September showed Porter leading Walters 48% to 43% with a 4.5% margin of error.

“I think Trump’s rhetoric just rubs everyone in this community the wrong way,” Porter said in an interview outside her garage-like headquarters. She noted the rich diversity of Orange County (which is now more than a third Hispanic and one fifth Asian): “It’s just not who we are as people.”

Pocketbook issues still rule, however, in close congressional districts across the country, including this one.

But Democrats here have also been helped by Trump’s taunting attitude toward California. In conversations with independent and moderate voters, Porter often argues that Trump and Walters are backing policies at odds with the state’s interests. The Republican tax bill is deeply unpopular here because it reduced state and local deductions.

In a politically nimble move to show independence from her party, Porter said she opposed the state’s Democratic-led increase in the gas tax and that she will support the Republican-led ballot measure that would repeal it.

When asked why women are leaning away from Republican control of Congress, Porter, who has spoken openly about her own history of domestic violence, quickly steered the conversation back to pocketbook issues.

“You want to talk about women’s issues? Let me tell you how hard it is as a parent to make ends meet and try to save for college while I’m paying for daycare,” said Porter, a single mother of three. “It’s not enough to just check the ballot for anyone who has a name that’s a woman. It’s about making sure that you know what that person is doing and what they are fighting for.”

How the GOP lost women

Under the shadow of Trump, the shift among women away from the GOP is stark.

That tilt toward Democrats is stunning when compared against the long-term trend of how white women with college degrees voted in House races.

Exit polling from 1980 to 2016 shows that the best that Democrats have ever done with that group is 53% (twice in 2006 and in 1990).

One of the most prescient observations about the GOP’s troubles with women came earlier this year from former White House strategist Steve Bannon who told Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman that “the Republican college-educated woman is done. … Trump triggers them.”

Countless national polls this year have traced how female support for Republicans tumbled off a cliff after Trump won the White House in 2016. Even before the Kavanaugh nomination became the central focus in Washington, the yawning gender gap was evident.

Sixty percent of women likely voters

polled by CNN recently

said they were leaning toward the Democratic candidate in their congressional race, compared with 36% who said they were more likely to support the Republican. (Among men, 49% were leaning Republican, while 44% were leaning Democrat).

Trump was a negative driving force behind those numbers: 60% of women voters said they were more likely to vote for a congressional candidate who opposes Trump (compared with 30% who said they’d favor a candidate who supports Trump).

While Trump is clearly repelling many college-educated female voters, UCLA political science professor Lynn Vavreck, notes that antipathy toward the President overlays two longer-term trends that spell trouble for Republicans.

“White women are moving away from the Republican Party, that’s been happening. And white college-educated people are moving away,” said Vavreck, a co-author of “Identity Crisis,” a new book about the 2016 election.

“People have created this character out of college-educated women, because they seem to be the leading indicator of this decline for the Republican Party,” Vavreck said. “But the story is about white college-educated people and white women.”

Still, Trump’s role as a driving force in Republican problems at the polls has been evident in interviews over the last year. Many Democratic women were immediately activated by the GOP vote against Obamacare shortly after Trump took office.

First-time female activists protested outside the offices of conservative members of Congress like Darrell Issa, the congressman representing parts of Orange and San Diego counties who ultimately announced he would retire and leave an open seat in California’s 49th district (where the Democratic candidate is now leading, according to the NYT Upshot/Siena College poll).

In interviews late last year, many moderate or independent women who supported Trump — or skipped the presidential line of the ballot altogether in 2016 — said they were exasperated with the President’s tweets and the atmosphere of chaos he sows within his administration.

This year, the mood notably soured on Republicans at various inflection points. Some women were unnerved by Trump’s standoff with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un of North Korea. Then this summer, alarm seemed to peak among women who had a visceral response to children being separated from their parents at the border as a result of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Donna Oberg, a 67-year-old retired secretary from Aurora, Colorado, who is an independent, said she got goosebumps when she heard the recordings of young children crying after being separated from their parents.

“He just thinks he can bully everybody,” Oberg said of Trump in an interview earlier this summer in Colorado-6, a closely divided district in the suburbs of Denver. Of Republicans, she added: “I think they are afraid of him. There’s got to be a better way.”

(In a telling move, the Republican super PAC known as the Congressional Leadership Fund recently pulled out of Colorado-6 where they had intended to help GOP Incumbent Mike Coffman in his race against Democratic newcomer Jason Crow).

In Utah-4, where Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams is challenging Republican Congresswoman Mia Love, 72-year-old independent voter Loraina Anderson said she was leaning away from Love for similar reasons, even though Love has openly criticized Trump’s immigration rhetoric and some of his policies.

“I’m just frustrated, not so much with her, but with Trump,” Anderson said in an interview this summer after McAdams showed up at her door while canvassing undecided voters.

“It’s just devastating, just him as a person. The lies,” Anderson said of the President. “The kids being separated. I don’t quite understand why he’s so into Un and (Russian Leader Vladimir) Putin. To me they are horrible men, they torture and do this and that. In my opinion, he wants to become a dictator. He’s following in their footsteps if you ask me.”

Trump’s cavalier attitude during the fight over Kavanaugh’s nomination has become the latest — but perhaps most powerful — rallying cry for women determined to rebuke to his agenda at the polls in November.

Strategists from both sides say the winners in November will be determined by which party has the better turnout game. What’s clear is that Democrats have a lot of female energy on their side.

Pausing outside Hill’s headquarters after picking up her 14-year-old daughter Emma, who attended the discussion on sexual assault, 41-year-old Sara Tisdell described the Kavanaugh debate as “scary” and said she was discouraged watching “our President stoop to the lowest common denominator constantly, and it gets glossed over somehow.”

“When I was her age, I didn’t have the same fears that we were drifting backwards,” said Tisdell, a Democrat who owns a local brewery. “I think we have an opportunity for change. We have an opportunity to continue on a path of moving forward, as opposed to regressing backward as a society.”

Tisdell had been texting her sisters from the parking lot about Katie Hill, and how she’d organized the closed-press event on sexual assault. She doesn’t plan to help canvass, but Emma (who can’t yet vote) is organizing her friends from Valencia High School to knock on doors for Hill.

“It’s easy to be comfortable as a white person in suburbia,” Tisdell said. “We really blew it collectively as a group in the previous election,” she added, referring to women. “Nobody said anything and everybody just kind of went along. … I hope this time people get out and vote.”

Read More | Maeve Reston, CNN,

Business Women are angry at Trump and his party. And it’s not just about Kavanaugh, in 2018-10-09 06:42:07

[internetbetterforall]

Business Women are angry at Trump and his party. And it’s not just about Kavanaugh

Business Women are angry at Trump and his party. And it’s not just about Kavanaugh Business Women are angry at Trump and his party. And it’s not just about Kavanaugh http://www.nature-business.com/business-women-are-angry-at-trump-and-his-party-and-its-not-just-about-kavanaugh/

Business

Santa Clarita, California (CNN)On a recent evening in the suburbs of Los Angeles, two dozen women gathered to talk about sexual assault.

They did so at the campaign office of Katie Hill, a Democrat running in a district that has been held by Republicans for more than two decades, and amid the drama unfolding thousands of miles away in Washington, DC, over the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who stood accused of sexual assault himself.

In this culturally tumultuous moment when Donald Trump seems to believe that Republicans can win the midterm elections in part by stoking a backlash to the #MeToo movement, the most intensely personal experience for 31-year-old Hill — and for so many other women across the country — has suddenly entered the realm of the political.

Hill was sexually assaulted as a teenager, and watching the testimony of Kavanuagh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, she and her campaign decided to invite a group of women together to talk about why so many stay silent after a sexual assault.

“It brought up a lot of trauma. … I decided, if we’re reacting like this, if this is happening for us, and you’ve got millions and millions of people across the country who are glued to the TV, then this is happening across the board,” Hill said. “Regardless of what happens with Kavanaugh, this is here. Right? We have to deal with this.”

In interviews with dozens of women in competitive congressional districts across the country, the frustration with Trump — and the impression that Republicans have simply yielded to his whims — has built steadily over the past year and hardened during the Kavanaugh fight as the midterm election approaches.

The prime time ceremonial swearing in of Kavanaugh at the White House on Monday night highlighted a crowning achievement for Trump and conservatives — tipping the ideological balance of the Supreme Court potentially in their favor for generations. Republicans say that the achievement — particularly after the bitterly partisan confirmation fight — will mobilize their base heading into November.

But Kavanaugh’s confirmation battle has also been a galvanizing force for Democratic, independent and even some Republican women and not a singular one.

Long before Trump

mocked Ford’s testimony on stage at a rally in Mississippi

and pronounced the #MeToo era a “very scary time” for young men, his support among women was cratering, dragging the image of the GOP along with it. In CNN’s latest polling, Democrats top Republicans among white female likely voters with college degrees by a 67% to 31% margin.

It is most palpable here in the more than a half-dozen California Congressional districts that could determine control of the House: a convergence of the long-roiling anger at Trump among Democratic women, and the deepening disdain for the President among independent and moderate women, who were once willing to give the GOP a chance but now want change in Washington.

Women historically are less likely to turn out in midterm elections. But they are springing from the sidelines to canvass and activate less engaged female voters at campaign headquarters like Hill’s in California’s 25th district, and that of Katie Porter, an Irvine law professor who is challenging Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in the 45th district in Orange County.

Hill, surrounded by young men and women from the University of Southern California who drove north to canvass for her, said, “We have the power right now. This is literally how we change everything. So let’s freakin’ do it.”

Voters like Meryl Cook, a marketing director from Foothill Ranch, describe a new sense of urgency. For her the tipping point was Trump’s tweets about Ford, the California research psychologist who testified that Kavanaugh assaulted her in high school.

“It put me over the edge, I said, ‘Ok, game over, I’m totally behind getting rid of him,’” said Cook, a Democrat in Walters’ district who had tuned out of politics for much of the year due to what she calls “post-election stress trauma.”

“There was a long period of time where I couldn’t even put the news on, because I was so depressed. Now I’m paying more attention,” Cook said during an interview at an Irvine mall. “My goal is to pick candidates and help them campaign.”

That same level of disgust brought Michelle Thomas, 52, and her 23-year-old daughter Brenna to Porter’s headquarters on a recent Saturday where they were trained as first-time canvassers.

In the year of #MeToo, Thomas found Trump’s rhetoric on women appalling. When asked about the drift of female voters away from the GOP, she answered in a word: “Trump.”

“It’s the lack of stability (in the White House). It is the disrespect for women that is incredibly polarizing, and frankly a little bit scary,” said Thomas, a clean energy strategist from Orange, California. The Kavanaugh nomination “just keeps reminding women that he doesn’t have respect for women,” she said. “He doesn’t see women as equal. Anything he does say in support of women is just lip service. His actions do not support it.”

Brenna Thomas, who recently graduated from University of California-Santa Barbara, decided to join her mother on the midterm campaign trail in part because of her regret that she didn’t vote in the 2016 presidential election.

The last two years under Trump have been “a rude awakening, specifically for my generation,” she said, noting the low turnout among millennials in 2016.

“It’s exciting, coming to this place of — you do have the power to actually do something,” Brenna Thomas said after listening to Porter kick off a day of canvassing. “But at the same time, it’s power that needs to be wielded in order to actually do something.”

Here in Orange County, once a Republican stronghold, the excitement is being fueled, in part, by the closeness of the race and the sense that flipping control of the House could come down to a few seats. A recent New York Times Upshot/Siena College poll conducted in late September showed Porter leading Walters 48% to 43% with a 4.5% margin of error.

“I think Trump’s rhetoric just rubs everyone in this community the wrong way,” Porter said in an interview outside her garage-like headquarters. She noted the rich diversity of Orange County (which is now more than a third Hispanic and one fifth Asian): “It’s just not who we are as people.”

Pocketbook issues still rule, however, in close congressional districts across the country, including this one.

But Democrats here have also been helped by Trump’s taunting attitude toward California. In conversations with independent and moderate voters, Porter often argues that Trump and Walters are backing policies at odds with the state’s interests. The Republican tax bill is deeply unpopular here because it reduced state and local deductions.

In a politically nimble move to show independence from her party, Porter said she opposed the state’s Democratic-led increase in the gas tax and that she will support the Republican-led ballot measure that would repeal it.

When asked why women are leaning away from Republican control of Congress, Porter, who has spoken openly about her own history of domestic violence, quickly steered the conversation back to pocketbook issues.

“You want to talk about women’s issues? Let me tell you how hard it is as a parent to make ends meet and try to save for college while I’m paying for daycare,” said Porter, a single mother of three. “It’s not enough to just check the ballot for anyone who has a name that’s a woman. It’s about making sure that you know what that person is doing and what they are fighting for.”

How the GOP lost women

Under the shadow of Trump, the shift among women away from the GOP is stark.

That tilt toward Democrats is stunning when compared against the long-term trend of how white women with college degrees voted in House races.

Exit polling from 1980 to 2016 shows that the best that Democrats have ever done with that group is 53% (twice in 2006 and in 1990).

One of the most prescient observations about the GOP’s troubles with women came earlier this year from former White House strategist Steve Bannon who told Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman that “the Republican college-educated woman is done. … Trump triggers them.”

Countless national polls this year have traced how female support for Republicans tumbled off a cliff after Trump won the White House in 2016. Even before the Kavanaugh nomination became the central focus in Washington, the yawning gender gap was evident.

Sixty percent of women likely voters

polled by CNN recently

said they were leaning toward the Democratic candidate in their congressional race, compared with 36% who said they were more likely to support the Republican. (Among men, 49% were leaning Republican, while 44% were leaning Democrat).

Trump was a negative driving force behind those numbers: 60% of women voters said they were more likely to vote for a congressional candidate who opposes Trump (compared with 30% who said they’d favor a candidate who supports Trump).

While Trump is clearly repelling many college-educated female voters, UCLA political science professor Lynn Vavreck, notes that antipathy toward the President overlays two longer-term trends that spell trouble for Republicans.

“White women are moving away from the Republican Party, that’s been happening. And white college-educated people are moving away,” said Vavreck, a co-author of “Identity Crisis,” a new book about the 2016 election.

“People have created this character out of college-educated women, because they seem to be the leading indicator of this decline for the Republican Party,” Vavreck said. “But the story is about white college-educated people and white women.”

Still, Trump’s role as a driving force in Republican problems at the polls has been evident in interviews over the last year. Many Democratic women were immediately activated by the GOP vote against Obamacare shortly after Trump took office.

First-time female activists protested outside the offices of conservative members of Congress like Darrell Issa, the congressman representing parts of Orange and San Diego counties who ultimately announced he would retire and leave an open seat in California’s 49th district (where the Democratic candidate is now leading, according to the NYT Upshot/Siena College poll).

In interviews late last year, many moderate or independent women who supported Trump — or skipped the presidential line of the ballot altogether in 2016 — said they were exasperated with the President’s tweets and the atmosphere of chaos he sows within his administration.

This year, the mood notably soured on Republicans at various inflection points. Some women were unnerved by Trump’s standoff with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un of North Korea. Then this summer, alarm seemed to peak among women who had a visceral response to children being separated from their parents at the border as a result of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Donna Oberg, a 67-year-old retired secretary from Aurora, Colorado, who is an independent, said she got goosebumps when she heard the recordings of young children crying after being separated from their parents.

“He just thinks he can bully everybody,” Oberg said of Trump in an interview earlier this summer in Colorado-6, a closely divided district in the suburbs of Denver. Of Republicans, she added: “I think they are afraid of him. There’s got to be a better way.”

(In a telling move, the Republican super PAC known as the Congressional Leadership Fund recently pulled out of Colorado-6 where they had intended to help GOP Incumbent Mike Coffman in his race against Democratic newcomer Jason Crow).

In Utah-4, where Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams is challenging Republican Congresswoman Mia Love, 72-year-old independent voter Loraina Anderson said she was leaning away from Love for similar reasons, even though Love has openly criticized Trump’s immigration rhetoric and some of his policies.

“I’m just frustrated, not so much with her, but with Trump,” Anderson said in an interview this summer after McAdams showed up at her door while canvassing undecided voters.

“It’s just devastating, just him as a person. The lies,” Anderson said of the President. “The kids being separated. I don’t quite understand why he’s so into Un and (Russian Leader Vladimir) Putin. To me they are horrible men, they torture and do this and that. In my opinion, he wants to become a dictator. He’s following in their footsteps if you ask me.”

Trump’s cavalier attitude during the fight over Kavanaugh’s nomination has become the latest — but perhaps most powerful — rallying cry for women determined to rebuke to his agenda at the polls in November.

Strategists from both sides say the winners in November will be determined by which party has the better turnout game. What’s clear is that Democrats have a lot of female energy on their side.

Pausing outside Hill’s headquarters after picking up her 14-year-old daughter Emma, who attended the discussion on sexual assault, 41-year-old Sara Tisdell described the Kavanaugh debate as “scary” and said she was discouraged watching “our President stoop to the lowest common denominator constantly, and it gets glossed over somehow.”

“When I was her age, I didn’t have the same fears that we were drifting backwards,” said Tisdell, a Democrat who owns a local brewery. “I think we have an opportunity for change. We have an opportunity to continue on a path of moving forward, as opposed to regressing backward as a society.”

Tisdell had been texting her sisters from the parking lot about Katie Hill, and how she’d organized the closed-press event on sexual assault. She doesn’t plan to help canvass, but Emma (who can’t yet vote) is organizing her friends from Valencia High School to knock on doors for Hill.

“It’s easy to be comfortable as a white person in suburbia,” Tisdell said. “We really blew it collectively as a group in the previous election,” she added, referring to women. “Nobody said anything and everybody just kind of went along. … I hope this time people get out and vote.”

Read More | Maeve Reston, CNN,

Business Women are angry at Trump and his party. And it’s not just about Kavanaugh, in 2018-10-09 06:42:07

[magicwebsitesnet]

Business Women are angry at Trump and his party. And it’s not just about Kavanaugh

Business Women are angry at Trump and his party. And it’s not just about Kavanaugh Business Women are angry at Trump and his party. And it’s not just about Kavanaugh http://www.nature-business.com/business-women-are-angry-at-trump-and-his-party-and-its-not-just-about-kavanaugh/

Business

Santa Clarita, California (CNN)On a recent evening in the suburbs of Los Angeles, two dozen women gathered to talk about sexual assault.

They did so at the campaign office of Katie Hill, a Democrat running in a district that has been held by Republicans for more than two decades, and amid the drama unfolding thousands of miles away in Washington, DC, over the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who stood accused of sexual assault himself.

In this culturally tumultuous moment when Donald Trump seems to believe that Republicans can win the midterm elections in part by stoking a backlash to the #MeToo movement, the most intensely personal experience for 31-year-old Hill — and for so many other women across the country — has suddenly entered the realm of the political.

Hill was sexually assaulted as a teenager, and watching the testimony of Kavanuagh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, she and her campaign decided to invite a group of women together to talk about why so many stay silent after a sexual assault.

“It brought up a lot of trauma. … I decided, if we’re reacting like this, if this is happening for us, and you’ve got millions and millions of people across the country who are glued to the TV, then this is happening across the board,” Hill said. “Regardless of what happens with Kavanaugh, this is here. Right? We have to deal with this.”

In interviews with dozens of women in competitive congressional districts across the country, the frustration with Trump — and the impression that Republicans have simply yielded to his whims — has built steadily over the past year and hardened during the Kavanaugh fight as the midterm election approaches.

The prime time ceremonial swearing in of Kavanaugh at the White House on Monday night highlighted a crowning achievement for Trump and conservatives — tipping the ideological balance of the Supreme Court potentially in their favor for generations. Republicans say that the achievement — particularly after the bitterly partisan confirmation fight — will mobilize their base heading into November.

But Kavanaugh’s confirmation battle has also been a galvanizing force for Democratic, independent and even some Republican women and not a singular one.

Long before Trump

mocked Ford’s testimony on stage at a rally in Mississippi

and pronounced the #MeToo era a “very scary time” for young men, his support among women was cratering, dragging the image of the GOP along with it. In CNN’s latest polling, Democrats top Republicans among white female likely voters with college degrees by a 67% to 31% margin.

It is most palpable here in the more than a half-dozen California Congressional districts that could determine control of the House: a convergence of the long-roiling anger at Trump among Democratic women, and the deepening disdain for the President among independent and moderate women, who were once willing to give the GOP a chance but now want change in Washington.

Women historically are less likely to turn out in midterm elections. But they are springing from the sidelines to canvass and activate less engaged female voters at campaign headquarters like Hill’s in California’s 25th district, and that of Katie Porter, an Irvine law professor who is challenging Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in the 45th district in Orange County.

Hill, surrounded by young men and women from the University of Southern California who drove north to canvass for her, said, “We have the power right now. This is literally how we change everything. So let’s freakin’ do it.”

Voters like Meryl Cook, a marketing director from Foothill Ranch, describe a new sense of urgency. For her the tipping point was Trump’s tweets about Ford, the California research psychologist who testified that Kavanaugh assaulted her in high school.

“It put me over the edge, I said, ‘Ok, game over, I’m totally behind getting rid of him,’” said Cook, a Democrat in Walters’ district who had tuned out of politics for much of the year due to what she calls “post-election stress trauma.”

“There was a long period of time where I couldn’t even put the news on, because I was so depressed. Now I’m paying more attention,” Cook said during an interview at an Irvine mall. “My goal is to pick candidates and help them campaign.”

That same level of disgust brought Michelle Thomas, 52, and her 23-year-old daughter Brenna to Porter’s headquarters on a recent Saturday where they were trained as first-time canvassers.

In the year of #MeToo, Thomas found Trump’s rhetoric on women appalling. When asked about the drift of female voters away from the GOP, she answered in a word: “Trump.”

“It’s the lack of stability (in the White House). It is the disrespect for women that is incredibly polarizing, and frankly a little bit scary,” said Thomas, a clean energy strategist from Orange, California. The Kavanaugh nomination “just keeps reminding women that he doesn’t have respect for women,” she said. “He doesn’t see women as equal. Anything he does say in support of women is just lip service. His actions do not support it.”

Brenna Thomas, who recently graduated from University of California-Santa Barbara, decided to join her mother on the midterm campaign trail in part because of her regret that she didn’t vote in the 2016 presidential election.

The last two years under Trump have been “a rude awakening, specifically for my generation,” she said, noting the low turnout among millennials in 2016.

“It’s exciting, coming to this place of — you do have the power to actually do something,” Brenna Thomas said after listening to Porter kick off a day of canvassing. “But at the same time, it’s power that needs to be wielded in order to actually do something.”

Here in Orange County, once a Republican stronghold, the excitement is being fueled, in part, by the closeness of the race and the sense that flipping control of the House could come down to a few seats. A recent New York Times Upshot/Siena College poll conducted in late September showed Porter leading Walters 48% to 43% with a 4.5% margin of error.

“I think Trump’s rhetoric just rubs everyone in this community the wrong way,” Porter said in an interview outside her garage-like headquarters. She noted the rich diversity of Orange County (which is now more than a third Hispanic and one fifth Asian): “It’s just not who we are as people.”

Pocketbook issues still rule, however, in close congressional districts across the country, including this one.

But Democrats here have also been helped by Trump’s taunting attitude toward California. In conversations with independent and moderate voters, Porter often argues that Trump and Walters are backing policies at odds with the state’s interests. The Republican tax bill is deeply unpopular here because it reduced state and local deductions.

In a politically nimble move to show independence from her party, Porter said she opposed the state’s Democratic-led increase in the gas tax and that she will support the Republican-led ballot measure that would repeal it.

When asked why women are leaning away from Republican control of Congress, Porter, who has spoken openly about her own history of domestic violence, quickly steered the conversation back to pocketbook issues.

“You want to talk about women’s issues? Let me tell you how hard it is as a parent to make ends meet and try to save for college while I’m paying for daycare,” said Porter, a single mother of three. “It’s not enough to just check the ballot for anyone who has a name that’s a woman. It’s about making sure that you know what that person is doing and what they are fighting for.”

How the GOP lost women

Under the shadow of Trump, the shift among women away from the GOP is stark.

That tilt toward Democrats is stunning when compared against the long-term trend of how white women with college degrees voted in House races.

Exit polling from 1980 to 2016 shows that the best that Democrats have ever done with that group is 53% (twice in 2006 and in 1990).

One of the most prescient observations about the GOP’s troubles with women came earlier this year from former White House strategist Steve Bannon who told Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman that “the Republican college-educated woman is done. … Trump triggers them.”

Countless national polls this year have traced how female support for Republicans tumbled off a cliff after Trump won the White House in 2016. Even before the Kavanaugh nomination became the central focus in Washington, the yawning gender gap was evident.

Sixty percent of women likely voters

polled by CNN recently

said they were leaning toward the Democratic candidate in their congressional race, compared with 36% who said they were more likely to support the Republican. (Among men, 49% were leaning Republican, while 44% were leaning Democrat).

Trump was a negative driving force behind those numbers: 60% of women voters said they were more likely to vote for a congressional candidate who opposes Trump (compared with 30% who said they’d favor a candidate who supports Trump).

While Trump is clearly repelling many college-educated female voters, UCLA political science professor Lynn Vavreck, notes that antipathy toward the President overlays two longer-term trends that spell trouble for Republicans.

“White women are moving away from the Republican Party, that’s been happening. And white college-educated people are moving away,” said Vavreck, a co-author of “Identity Crisis,” a new book about the 2016 election.

“People have created this character out of college-educated women, because they seem to be the leading indicator of this decline for the Republican Party,” Vavreck said. “But the story is about white college-educated people and white women.”

Still, Trump’s role as a driving force in Republican problems at the polls has been evident in interviews over the last year. Many Democratic women were immediately activated by the GOP vote against Obamacare shortly after Trump took office.

First-time female activists protested outside the offices of conservative members of Congress like Darrell Issa, the congressman representing parts of Orange and San Diego counties who ultimately announced he would retire and leave an open seat in California’s 49th district (where the Democratic candidate is now leading, according to the NYT Upshot/Siena College poll).

In interviews late last year, many moderate or independent women who supported Trump — or skipped the presidential line of the ballot altogether in 2016 — said they were exasperated with the President’s tweets and the atmosphere of chaos he sows within his administration.

This year, the mood notably soured on Republicans at various inflection points. Some women were unnerved by Trump’s standoff with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un of North Korea. Then this summer, alarm seemed to peak among women who had a visceral response to children being separated from their parents at the border as a result of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Donna Oberg, a 67-year-old retired secretary from Aurora, Colorado, who is an independent, said she got goosebumps when she heard the recordings of young children crying after being separated from their parents.

“He just thinks he can bully everybody,” Oberg said of Trump in an interview earlier this summer in Colorado-6, a closely divided district in the suburbs of Denver. Of Republicans, she added: “I think they are afraid of him. There’s got to be a better way.”

(In a telling move, the Republican super PAC known as the Congressional Leadership Fund recently pulled out of Colorado-6 where they had intended to help GOP Incumbent Mike Coffman in his race against Democratic newcomer Jason Crow).

In Utah-4, where Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams is challenging Republican Congresswoman Mia Love, 72-year-old independent voter Loraina Anderson said she was leaning away from Love for similar reasons, even though Love has openly criticized Trump’s immigration rhetoric and some of his policies.

“I’m just frustrated, not so much with her, but with Trump,” Anderson said in an interview this summer after McAdams showed up at her door while canvassing undecided voters.

“It’s just devastating, just him as a person. The lies,” Anderson said of the President. “The kids being separated. I don’t quite understand why he’s so into Un and (Russian Leader Vladimir) Putin. To me they are horrible men, they torture and do this and that. In my opinion, he wants to become a dictator. He’s following in their footsteps if you ask me.”

Trump’s cavalier attitude during the fight over Kavanaugh’s nomination has become the latest — but perhaps most powerful — rallying cry for women determined to rebuke to his agenda at the polls in November.

Strategists from both sides say the winners in November will be determined by which party has the better turnout game. What’s clear is that Democrats have a lot of female energy on their side.

Pausing outside Hill’s headquarters after picking up her 14-year-old daughter Emma, who attended the discussion on sexual assault, 41-year-old Sara Tisdell described the Kavanaugh debate as “scary” and said she was discouraged watching “our President stoop to the lowest common denominator constantly, and it gets glossed over somehow.”

“When I was her age, I didn’t have the same fears that we were drifting backwards,” said Tisdell, a Democrat who owns a local brewery. “I think we have an opportunity for change. We have an opportunity to continue on a path of moving forward, as opposed to regressing backward as a society.”

Tisdell had been texting her sisters from the parking lot about Katie Hill, and how she’d organized the closed-press event on sexual assault. She doesn’t plan to help canvass, but Emma (who can’t yet vote) is organizing her friends from Valencia High School to knock on doors for Hill.

“It’s easy to be comfortable as a white person in suburbia,” Tisdell said. “We really blew it collectively as a group in the previous election,” she added, referring to women. “Nobody said anything and everybody just kind of went along. … I hope this time people get out and vote.”

Read More | Maeve Reston, CNN,

Business Women are angry at Trump and his party. And it’s not just about Kavanaugh, in 2018-10-09 06:42:07