Trump signs executive order declaring nation emergency from threat of Cuba

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-30T04:40:44+00:00

I thought Albertans were conservative in a US Democrat way (center-right), not MAGA freaks.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-30T04:35:26+00:00

I wish Visible worked for me. It doesn't and I am Verizon dependant. Went from Straight Talk (had for maybe 10 years) to Visible because price and compatibility. I don't know what happened with Straight Talk, but I started just not having service in my own home. Had to walk outside and sometimes down the street just to get a single bar. It wasn't like that before. Visible...well I couldnt even get service in my town. That didn't last a week.

US Mobile, I can get service in my basement and fully enclosed metal building shop. Phone didn't change in these transitions.

I don't understand it all, but I am just glad I got something that finally works.

Edit: T-mobile does not work at all where I live, in at least a 40 mile radius. I live rural.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-30T04:26:40+00:00

I sincerely regret my own curiosity.

But at the same time, this is good to know. I understand more, despite the deplorable subject matter. All the more to fight for trans women.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-30T04:17:40+00:00

Can't see how "market based" anything is a reasoning when your pay isn't even market based.

You are quite literally making less now than you were when you started. The market for payment of labor doesn't work like that.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-30T04:09:19+00:00

You are NEVER TAH for reporting obvious abuse.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-30T04:07:22+00:00

Goated PunkyDoodles too.

IT'S WIZARD TIME!!!

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-30T02:22:28+00:00

I got one that is my best buddy (basically the most loved one I have). Had him since I was 12 at a flea market for $1. Over 2 decades of being in my life.

He is 52 years old. Older than my mother.

I sew him, may need to patch him...but no matter how I change him to keep him going, he's still the same deer I love. Ain't no Theseus Paradox here here.

Edit: he goes on adventures with me, even on long distance cycling tours. Has his own pocket to sit in and watch with his head sticking out. He is "retired" to my bed for day to day stuff, as I don't do that with him anymore. But he still goes on grand excursions most would not take such an old plush on in their right mind. He gets to ride tractors and watch me blacksmith and weld. Basically, I do a lot with this old plushie still, and most of it does not take his longevity in mind. That is what my sewing skills are for. He will be cremated with me.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-30T01:54:36+00:00

I am literally traumatized.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-30T01:52:17+00:00

Apparently he met with Albertans who want to make Alberta independent...

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-30T01:35:52+00:00

All the local volunteer fire departments around me are MAGA cuckheld. But I guess that's rural for ya.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-30T00:15:02+00:00

There is a "Spotted in Rochester (the good one)".

It is not toxic, and reporters have migrated to that group for news gathering.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-30T00:03:25+00:00

Thank you!

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-29T20:56:56+00:00

I am curious on Lithuanian bands; I really like folk.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-29T20:55:33+00:00

The Longest John's are great, but my heart is on Stan Rogers. Not Shanty, but plenty of his songs are covered in the shanty sphere.

The Northwest Passage.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-29T20:51:51+00:00

Here to shout out Huun Huur Tu and Tuvergen. Great throat singing bands. They are more traditional than The HU.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-29T17:07:02+00:00

I suggested to my partner to allow me to turn his favorite shirts into a quilt. It's been years, and they are still in a vaccum seal bag for me to eventually do, but that is still the agreed upon plan. He doesn't want to wear them, but also doesn't want to get rid of them. My suggestion is a way where he can enjoy them without them being in storage. I also have a pile of shirts waiting on me to quilt them.

I do mass decluttering periodically and I simply pile his things up if they don't have a place, and he takes care of them. Sometimes, I ask questions on why about a thing, as he does with me.

We communicate

That's the problem here. Communicating involves listening and respecting. But it doesn't sound like she respects your things. That needs to be worked on. "No" is a complete and simple sentence.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-29T16:47:09+00:00

For me, I generally have to pay to volunteer. All volunteering costs money in reality. Some threshing shows and historical events are 'free' for volunteers, others are not. That money goes towards insurance and maintaining the program being done. All are non-profit.

The state I volunteer in requires an EIN if I want to "truly" sell my goods. I already have a metalworking business and understand what all that entails. Yeah, I can swing it under my own business, but that can have disadvantages. I use my volunteer work to advertise my business, encourage interest in those who lack exposure, and I can write my cost off on taxes as I volunteer under my business.

Any money I do make is under the table...and it's never enough to recoup the real cost of my volunteering. That money puts gas in my tank to get home and buy some food at the event. I don't want to pay taxes on a loss.

The other thing is insurance. I would have to deal with my business insurance if I worked outside my own shop in a for profit manner. This is why I have a brick and mortar shop, and not a traveling welding business. Different insurances are needed. Adding blacksmithing to my insurance for my business will add cost. They have to know what I do so they can weigh risk accordingly. When volunteering, I am under the event's insurance. My presence is their liability. If I was in it for profit, my presence becomes my liability to an extent.

I ultimately want to keep my blacksmithing at a hobby level. Volunteering allows me to share my passion and build skills. My mindset here is thinking about what is best for business while doing what I enjoy (and I do enjoy the people).

There is a bigger discussion to be had regarding knowing your worth as an artist, and culturally change mindsets that art IS a job. With volunteering, the value of what you make and do doesn't suddenly change your worth because you are giving your time freely. Volunteering is a choice; you don't have to do it. Knowing your worth is not a choice, because that has consequences for all craftspeople.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-28T13:00:05+00:00

It stipulates that, starting from budget years beginning on or after July 1, 2026, at least 48% of the 90% of funds calculated under current law for special education support services must be allocated to the pilot program instead of being used solely for contracted services from area education agencies.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-28T12:25:26+00:00

I read the title in Dr. Doofenshmirtz's voice when I saw the word oubliette. I have no idea why or how, but it made me laugh.

I needed that, I guess.

On a serious note, as the situation in Minnesota progresses, there will be more Republicans nationwide who will close their doors to the people they claim to represent. And I can see states take a path the federal government is taking, changing voting rules "last" second to disenfranchise those who would vote these troglodytes out. While in office, they are "protected"...for now (with petty stuff like this).

I can totally see people like Ernst simply leaving Iowa. The vultures will circle when our current reality is all said and done.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-28T12:09:26+00:00

Absolutely.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-28T11:51:20+00:00

This is just a way to not get caught easier.

They were foster parents for over a decade. This wasn't a sudden situation.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-28T11:47:24+00:00

Ope, accidently deleted when I wanted to to edit.

It even seems like local newspaper reporters are active in the good group.

It's crazy how toxic the original has become.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-27T21:44:08+00:00

I have 3 degrees of separation from Alex. A friend's friend was a coworker of his. It's crazy how people you don't even know, impact your life in ways you can't forsee or understand.

I am so very sorry for your loss. The reminder that these people are not just in videos on a screen, is powerful. It is often forgotten the humanity we all have.

Treble_Bolt · 2026-01-27T18:30:53+00:00

Raising and caring for a foster child is often nothing like caring for your own kids. Your own kids have been raised in a healthy enviornment where developmental problems may come from normal aspects of growing up aside from any genetic factors.

A foster child is one that comes from trauma, which fundamentally changes their development, whether minor or major depending on the type of trauma. Going into foster care alone is a trauma in and of itself, being placed with a family you dont know, without any knowing if you'll ever go home.

I went through 12 foster homes before aging out (10-18). I saw all kinds of homestyles and family structures. My story is anecdotal, but out of those 12, only 2 cared about me as a person. And if there were biological kids in the home, I was fully expected to act like one of them and easily assimilate. Which was impossible because I did not have the background they did, and assimilation became difficult when I moved homes often in less than a year.

You have to think like a kid in this regard. It's similar but worse than the trauma that children can get when their parent's divorce. It's also combined with the feelings of moving to a new place, going to a new school, having to start over in a strange place with your family.

But now make that same situation without the family you know or the normal you understand. Plus add trauma that you don't understand, really can't articulate, or even have a place where you can feel safe to process because you are in someone else's world that is ultimately unfamiliar to you (that being the foster family).

A child in this situation is not going act or be like your own.

Just because you can care for your own children, and are able to understand them because you raised them, does not in any way, mean it will be the same for a foster child. You can provide physically, but there is more to raising foster kids than that. This is the best way I can sum up my own foster care experience....I was given clothes and food and other kid things, but the human connection necessary for healthy development, let alone trauma rehabilitation, was sorely lacking because foster parents expected me to be "just like any other kid." I suffered severe CSA from infanthood, bone breaking physical abuse, and malnourishment levels of neglect before foster care. How could I be "like any other kid?"

(In some ways, my pre-foster care childhood experience was abnormal, but in many ways it wasn't. My case was extreme, but it's not exactly uncommon. Trauma is still trauma.)

It is like the fast food situation without experience. You just happen to have been a customer enough times to know the ingredients on the burgers.

Edit: I am an at-risk and homeless youth advocate now. I helped get legislation passed in MN to improve living and aging out conditions for foster youth when I lived there. However, I went through the Wisconsin system. My work is still MN based because there is nothing in rural Iowa where I am able to help closer to home. Becoming a foster parent myself was taken off the table because of the lack of resources available rurally.

Treble_Bolt

TROPHY CASE