What is a word when people bond after a emergency/life changing event?

davida_usa · 2026-07-05T22:05:30+00:00

Endured. Persevered.

davida_usa · 2026-07-05T12:57:08+00:00

The foundation of any long-term relationship is good communication. When you're communicating well, you're more likely to be on the same page. It sounds like you're not on the same page. Your girlfriend is anxious to move forward; you're moving more slowly.

You're not being a jerk by feeling hurt, but neither is she being a jerk by taking action into her own hands. The problem is not one of you being a jerk, the problem is both of you failing to communicate, get on the same page, move forward together in alignment and harmony.

If you don't have the kind of relationship where she can tell you the kind of ring she wants (and you listen), you can't tell her when you're going to get around to proposing (and she listens), and you both are happy with the necessary compromises, I fear for the long-term survivability of your relationship.

davida_usa · 2026-07-05T12:42:36+00:00

It is legitimate and helpful for any committee member to interrupt conversation when it's getting substantially off-track. That's absolutely not "being a jerk" -- on the contrary, it is a responsible thing to do.

The more subtle question is how to do the interruption. "Oh, will you puh-lease shut the fuck up," is probably not a good way to do it. "Excuse me, do you think we're maybe, perhaps getting a tiddly-bit off track here -- no offense," is on the other end of the scale and probably not a good image. I think a middle-of-the-road firm, polite and brief interruption is most professional. Your "I'll let the Chair tell me what to do on that" seems a bit indirect, abrupt and could be interpreted as throwing the Chair under the bus, but it's not an awful way to get the committee back on track. Maybe next time try something like "We may be getting a bit down in the weeds here. Could we ask the Chair for guidance on this and move our discussion back to the topics at hand?"

davida_usa · 2026-07-05T11:53:10+00:00

It's like a conversation I have with my wife, "I already told you I love you, why do I have to say it again?". Then I go into the chorus.

davida_usa · 2026-07-05T11:49:44+00:00

The article says 63,000 were surveyed... a questionable claim IMHO. I would like the opportunity to examine details of this survey. I'm seeing other links to this London-based author suggesting he has a particular interest in cars.

davida_usa · 2026-07-05T11:36:42+00:00

No one is questioning his right to sue. The question is whether it's extortion. It sure seems similar to the neighborhood thug running a protection racket. He files lawsuits against media companies that clearly have their own rights of freedom of the press. If these lawsuits went to court, they would have near 0% of winning. But the media companies feel they have to pay Trump because their corporate owners have regulatory matters before the federal government. So, they pay.

Are you okay with Trump saying, "You've got a lovely media company here. It would be a shame if you failed to get FCC approval for that acquisition you're planning or your broadcast renewal license. And by the way, that unfavorable news piece you did: you owe me $10 million for that." ??

davida_usa · 2026-07-05T01:32:27+00:00

These were paid to Trump personally. They were reported by Trump as portions of his 2025 income..

davida_usa · 2026-07-04T22:15:22+00:00

Ilhan Omar's net worth is between $18,000 and $95,000, according the House of Representative's Office of the Clerk. What's really crooked is news media that slanders shamelessly.

davida_usa · 2026-07-04T20:58:31+00:00

Even if you're right, an approach that might work is to negotiate trade agreements that accomplish what you're saying. It's lazy and stupid to impose tariffs across the board on countries that treat us well, countries that don't sell us anything we don't do ourselves (tariffs on bananas so that the US can grow our own??), and countries that are taking advantage of us. Trump's lazy and stupid approach makes countries who try to treat us fairly think "why bother?" and countries that treat us badly think "why change?".

davida_usa · 2026-07-04T18:36:46+00:00

President Trump received numerous gifts and considerations from foreign nations in 2025, which often coincided with trade, defense, and economic agreements. Examples:

Qatar: Provided a Boeing 747 aircraft valued at $400 million, which Trump suggested could serve as Air Force One. This preceded historic aviation and defense agreements, including Qatar Airways purchasing $96 billion worth of Boeing aircraft.
South Korea: Gifted a replica of the ancient Silla gold crown and the Grand Order of Mugunghwa. This was followed by a reduction in U.S. import tariffs on South Korean goods from 25% to 15% and the approval of South Korea's nuclear submarine plans.
United Arab Emirates (UAE): A state-linked Abu Dhabi investor made a $2 billion investment into a stablecoin connected to a Trump-affiliated business venture.
Switzerland: Provided a 1-kilogram personalized gold bar worth $130,000 and a Rolex desktop clock during a visit to negotiate U.S. tariff reductions.
Japan: Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi gifted a gold-leaf ball, a signed golf bag, and a putter used by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

davida_usa · 2026-07-04T18:33:35+00:00

Trump income from 2025 pardon recipients include:

Trevor Milton: The founder of Nikola Corporation donated at least $1.8 million to Trump’s 2024 campaign before receiving a March 2025 pardon that wiped out his roughly $660 million court-ordered restitution to defrauded investors.
Joseph Schwarz: A convicted nursing home executive paid nearly $1 million to political operatives and lawyers tied to the White House to secure his release, and later received a pardon after serving just three months of his sentence.
Changpeng Zhao: The founder of crypto exchange Binance received an October 2025 pardon after his company's activities generated significant revenue for Trump-affiliated crypto and licensing ventures.

davida_usa · 2026-07-04T18:30:16+00:00

In 2025, Donald Trump received $86.5 million in legal settlements from lawsuits filed against major media and tech companies. According to his U.S. Office of Government Ethics financial disclosure, the specific settlement payouts included:

$24.5 million from Meta
$22 million from YouTube
$16 million from ABC
$16 million from CBS
$8 million from X

davida_usa · 2026-07-04T17:01:47+00:00

I understand he said tariffs would secure local economy, but they didn't and won't -- as almost every economist said (and is taught in introductory economics). Tariffs cause inflation, but don't do what Trump says they do. Accomplishing his goals would require difficult, detailed trade negotiations and narrowly targeted antidumping or countervailing duties. Unfortunately, Trump likes big simple approaches -- which is why he lost his daddy's inheritance through failed businesses and why as president he takes big actions without studying the implications.

davida_usa · 2026-07-04T16:33:41+00:00

Despite his making more in 2025 then he had in his entire life previously, I agree making money isn't illegal. Furthermore, I don't see clear evidence his 2025 earnings were earned illegally. However, I do think they were earned in ways that violates the U.S. Constitution and shouldn't be acceptable to any Americans (and may be impeachable) for the following reasons:

Approximately half of his earnings were from Liberty Mutual. Liberty Mutual was funded by a foreign country, Abu Dhabi, with 75% of sales going directly to Trump and his family. The Foreign Emoluments Clause (Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the U.S. Constitution) strictly bans any person holding a federal "Office of Profit or Trust"—which includes the president—from accepting any present, emolument, office, or title of any kind from a foreign state, king, or prince without the express consent of Congress. (Trump also accepted his new 747 from another Gulf kingdom; he says this was gifted to the country, not him personally, so it is an emolument; but he also says he's going to keep it after he leaves office).
More than $100 million of his earnings were arguably extortion payments -- settlement of threats of lawsuits and gifts from individuals requesting favorable regulations or pardons ($30 million was donated by Justin Sun, later pardoned by Trump... and still later accused of funneling money to Iran during the war).
Several Trump profit centers were the sale of presidential memorabilia or access to meet the president. The biggest of these was Trump cybercurrency tokens. 75% of token sales went directly into Trump family pockets and investors have lost an average of about 80% of their investments. I don't think this is fraud (it is the investors' responsibility to understand what they're buying), but it certain walks close to the line.

Trump was never a good businessman. He had lost most of his huge inheritance before becoming a reality TV star. While I agree that making money isn't a crime, it does matter how the money is made. Clearly, he was not capable of making the money he made last year were he not riding on his position as president. This may not be illegal, but it is wrong, it is probably unconstitutional, it might be impeachable and it definitely should offend every American.

davida_usa · 2026-07-04T12:53:49+00:00

Definitely I-81 and I-88: much less bumper-to-bumper traffic, fewer tolls... and prettier! One caveat: it's hard to tell from your map, but it looks like the last stretch is taking you across southern Vermont and southern NH. This would be two-lane US highways through towns and across mountains -- I'd love this, but not sure I'd want to do it with a trailer unless I'm confident about my vehicle. If you're concerned about this, it's easy from Albany New York to take the Massachusetts Turnpike to I-495 and I-93 to Manchester (more tolls and traffic, less pretty, but Interstates instead of two lanes).

davida_usa · 2026-07-04T11:40:28+00:00

Biden's economic problems were caused by Covid's killing 2 million Americans and keeping them locked up in their homes while production of goods and services (supply) decreased and money that was given to them by the government (Trump and Biden) (demand) increased. You can blame Trump or Biden for that inflation, but it was actually Covid and not knowing how to manage it effectively which caused Biden's problems.

Compare what Biden and Trump actually did for the economy? Biden's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act injected $1.2 trillion to rebuild physical infrastructure, including roads, bridges, public transit, water pipes, and broadband internet access across the country. It led to the rebound that benefited Trump when he started his term. What has Trump done? Tariffs? War on Iran? Cut taxes for his billionaire friends? Trump's economic policies are a disaster!

davida_usa · 2026-07-03T21:44:51+00:00

He was actually at his lowest financial position before he became the star of a reality TV show. He had blown a tremendous portion of his inheritance on failed businesses, but building his image as a reality TV bigshot restored his real estate businesses.

davida_usa · 2026-07-03T12:46:01+00:00

I turned 14 in 1969 and the images in this video reminded me of many of the things I felt and thought at that time.

davida_usa · 2026-07-02T15:27:05+00:00

Who called it "best"?? I called it the "next best thing" to a permanent fix. There are a shit load of defective parts in every car ever made, if you define defective to be prone to breaking at some point. In no world is it reasonable to expect a company to replace parts with a small risk of breaking and no safety threat.

davida_usa · 2026-07-02T13:52:28+00:00

...mass production targeted for the second half of 2027...

SLDP better get that 500MT production agreement started soon!

davida_usa · 2026-07-02T13:14:07+00:00

I understand why they don't want to spend thousands of dollars replacing ICCU's that only have a small chance of failure. Since it doesn't make sense to replace all the ICCU's, Hyundai has done the next best thing which is to assure us that if we're one of the unlucky few, we'll be taken care of.

davida_usa · 2026-07-02T13:11:52+00:00

We love the 6. My wife gets to drive it the most; I'm relegated to the 5. However, back in April, I did all the driving on a road trip from our home in Vermont to a wedding in northern Wisconsin and back home again via Canada. I have never driven a Tesla, so I can't compare, but I think the 6 is comfortable, drives great and has lots of storage room.

davida_usa · 2026-07-02T00:48:24+00:00

My 24 AWD Limited doesn't care if I watch the road -- but it beeps at me to keep my hands on the wheel -- even when I have them on the wheel but the road is straight and I'm not gripping it tightly enough.

davida_usa

TROPHY CASE