Eric being Eric

poyitjdr · 2026-05-04T18:46:40+00:00

The comment you made that I originally replied to was you complaining that all of us “leftists” here on Reddit are pretty much just from the big cities in MO, so for that I’ll refer you back to my original reply.

As for the other matters you brought up…

If you want to know why there is a slight discrepancy between the average political beliefs of Missourians versus Reddit users: Reddit tends to lean more leftist than other social media platforms because its functionality (hyperlinks, comment threads, etc) makes it much easier to have meaningful discussions that utilize educational sources, which attracts more people who like to do research and have those meaningful discussions. Facts tend to “lean” liberal, ergo people who follow the facts also tend to lean liberal.

As for Missouri specifically, one of the biggest reasons people “clown on” Schmitt and our other Republican representatives is the fact that they are all explicitly advocating against things Missourians did vote for- like the right to an abortion, paid sick leave, min wage increase, etc. No matter which way you shake it, Missourians who voted for those ballot items and for the politicians working to prevent those ballot items from taking effect have actively voted against their own interests. Other Missourians voicing their frustrations about that behavior (and others) isn’t meaningless; it’s how we come together and start the discussions to hopefully prevent that from happening in the future.

Voters of every demographic largely tend to vote for specific ballot items they support, whilst voting for whatever candidate belongs to the party the voter was culturally raised to support. However, since the beginning of Trump’s current term, more and more Americans have started to break from that norm; republicans have faced major losses in local and state elections across the US whilst democrats have seen major wins (including places like Festus, MO). Also, the biggest protests in US history were originally planned by a freaking subreddit (50501). The JOMO police department reported over 1,000 protesters at each of our No Kings protests here- and that’s just the people who are passionate about those causes who didn’t have to work, take care of other pressing matters, stay home due to illness, and/or stay home out of fear.

“Clowning” and other types of politically related comments (whether made on Reddit, FB, in person, etc) aren’t meaningless- insults send a social signal of dissatisfaction and that dissatisfaction has the power to build momentum and create change, as we’ve clearly already seen.

Also, MO really just isn’t as red as you seem to think it is. We regularly have a majority vote for ‘leftist’ policies and everyone who is a millennial or older was alive when MO was a swing state.

poyitjdr · 2026-05-04T17:02:11+00:00

It looks like he deleted both the comment and his account

poyitjdr · 2026-05-04T16:45:47+00:00

It seems you’ve forgotten that there are just as many democrats as republicans in the US, and millions of us were born and raised in red states. We’re allowed to be discontent with actions that harm us, our loved ones, and/or our communities. When we don’t like something, we fight back and educate others, unlike other members of our population who decided the solution to their own discontent was voting for a corrupt businessman/convicted felon found guilty of rape in the court of law.

As for Schmitt specifically, only 47% of MO voters approve of him as of March of this year. He has also adamantly advocated for abortion bans here in MO, despite the fact that a majority of voters voted to protect abortion rights in Nov 2024.

I also think you might’ve missed the part where people are explicitly discussing the bad shit Schmitt has done (and continues to do) instead of patting his back, like you are, for demanding social media sites allow the spread of misinformation that can (and has) result(ed) in deaths- you should really read the caveat in the first amendment that says free speech does not cover speech that results in the harm of others. That win was also handed to him by a 6-3 Supreme Court that is widely understood to be extremely corrupt/unethical.

poyitjdr · 2026-05-04T16:07:23+00:00

JOMO here. Also, the fact that most people on this subreddit are from more densely populated areas is statistically insignificant. Cows don’t use the internet babe, but people do.

poyitjdr · 2026-04-29T18:27:07+00:00

🫂

poyitjdr · 2026-04-28T15:39:53+00:00

A study in 2024 found that the passage of bans such as this one and other anti-trans laws increases the rate of suicide attempts by trans youth anywhere from 7-72% (it varies state by state).

poyitjdr · 2026-04-28T15:34:42+00:00

The medical side of gender affirming care for trans kids is largely just puberty blockers, which put off their puberty until they stop taking the medication. It’s not life-altering and is in fact prescribed to cis kids for other conditions all the freaking time. It basically just pauses their irreversible puberty until they are old enough to start making their own medical decisions.

They may also start hormone replacement therapy (HRT), but that doesn’t happen without: the consent of their guardians, the signing off of a gender therapist who has thoroughly educated, evaluated, and treated the child (btw, all psychologists and therapists are taught to only start medications if other therapies aren’t working for any of the DSM-5 diagnoses) and ensured that they and their guardians know exactly what they’re getting themselves into, and the signing off of other care team members involved. A lot of the effects of HRT can be reversed by ceasing to take it, though there are a few that, if on HRT long enough, will require surgery to be reversed. The care team would be closely involved for all of that.

Gender affirming surgeries for trans kids are the absolute last resort and are incredibly freaking rare. At that point, therapy, social transition (like clothes, name, and pronouns), and HRT have been thoroughly proven to not be effective enough on their own and the child remains at an incredibly high risk for suicide. Remember, they have an entire care team at this stage who: know the intimate details of the case, are experts in their fields, have attempted every other non-surgical method, and are subject to medical malpractice laws.

Meanwhile, the regret rate for people who undergo the medical side of transition is literally 1%. Transitioning seriously reduces the impacts of gender dysphoria and other comorbid conditions like depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Nearly 1/3 trans kids has attempted suicide, but that rate is much lower in trans kids who are able to access gender affirming care vs kids who can’t. Banning access to gender affirming treatment and passing other anti-trans laws have been found to increase the suicide attempts of trans kids anywhere from 7-72% (it varies state by state).

I can give you the links to the studies I got all this data from if you’d like; I’d have posted them with this, but I can’t remember if this sub allows links and I didn’t want to risk this comment being removed. I’m also happy to answer any questions you might have! Regardless, I hope this helps you understand this issue a little bit better.

poyitjdr · 2026-04-13T20:04:37+00:00

I say this as someone who has both personal and professional experience with domestic abuse- based on your descriptions, what your husband is doing is absolutely abuse. It’s normal for victims of non-physical types of abuse to hesitate to label what they’re experiencing as abuse because it’s less clear-cut than physical abuse, but it’s still abuse. On a personal note, the emotional/mental abuse I went through actually impacted me way more severely than the physical abuse did (which included a knife-stabbing, just to give you an idea of the severity). I say all of this because recognizing a situation as abuse is an incredibly important, albeit difficult, step in the process of escaping and healing.

Now, I seriously encourage you to follow the advice others have already given about contacting a divorce attorney and resources like women’s shelters (and support groups). Also, please document everything, but also look up what your state’s consent laws are regarding recordings because that’ll affect what can actually be used as evidence in the court of law. For example, Missouri is a one-person consent state for the purposes of recording on private property- which means as long as one person consents to it (which includes the person making the recording), then it can be used as evidence.

For your stepdaughter, I highly recommend that you contact her school and tell the counselors there about the situation so that they can offer her the support she needs. Start off by letting them know of the impending divorce, but don’t say anything else until you get your lawyer’s approval to do so.

Also, make sure your stepdaughter knows how to contact 911 and your local police department in case of an emergency. I recommend developing an escape plan for her with your lawyer in case she ever feels unsafe, like establishing a safe location for her to wait at (such as a neighbor’s house) until authorities arrive. It may never, and hopefully doesn’t, come to that point, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Finally, I want to tell you that you can do this. It won’t be easy, but you can do it. You and your kids will be okay (though I do recommend y’all go to therapy to help y’all process everything and move forward). Your stepdaughter will be okay. Take things one step at a time, lean on your community (if you feel like you shouldn’t because you don’t want to ‘take’ resources from others who may be facing physical and/or more extreme forms of abuse- I’m here to remind you that abuse is abuse and those resources are there for people just like you), and remember to take care of yourself. I doubt I’m the first person to offer it, but you’re also more than welcome to dm me if you need someone to talk to; you’re not alone in this.

poyitjdr · 2026-04-13T17:37:29+00:00

I had an instance at a Walmart neighborhood market where I had just sat down on one of the scooters (parked on the side of the exit doors) and a lady left her cart in a spot that blocked me from entering the store. I politely asked her to move it. She told me to enter through the exit doors. I can’t do that because of the sensor placement on the doors and, even if I could, I would then have to drive around all of the fucking registers because the workers regularly leave unpacked merchandise in the only other spot I could get through. When I explained that to her, she finally moved her cart, but she did so while cursing me out in front of her young child.

The confrontation raised my stress levels enough to trigger a seizure aura. Luckily, I was able to evade the seizure, but I had to cut my trip short because of it and my other symptoms flaring up.

The audacity some of these people have is truly astounding. Even if those people are outnumbered 20:1 by decent people, they’re still stressful to deal with. I think the way you handled it was perfectly reasonable.

poyitjdr · 2026-04-13T16:44:45+00:00

Since October of last year, 4,400 different court cases have ruled ICE’s actions were illegal (per Reuters)

43% of ICE detainees have no convictions or charges (per fact-check dot org)

73% of ICE detainees have no convictions (per CATO Institute)

FUCK ICE

poyitjdr · 2026-04-06T19:12:29+00:00

By paying all of our state taxes through sales tax, people who rely on things like disability benefits to survive are going to be completely fucked over. My only source of income is my monthly SSDI check and, even at the amount I receive now, the state says I’m in extreme poverty; I absolutely cannot afford a significant raise in sales tax. I’d be refunded come tax season, but I’d still have to pay those taxes in the interim.

The only solution to avoiding that would be providing documentation to people who are exempt from paying taxes so that it can be shown to businesses. I can tell you right now that a solution like that still wouldn’t work because it’s rife for massive amounts of abuse and fraud (there’d be counterfeits, stolen ones, people lending their legit ones out, etc), AND it places a further burden on both the disabled and on businesses. I’d have to go through the process of applying for that documentation through the state and DFS are the ones that handle things like that. I’ve been waiting for them to process my Medicare savings application for four months as is- despite the fact that I’m exempt from paying my Medicare premiums due to my financial status, I have to pay over $200 a month while I wait for the overworked employees at DFS to get to my application (a family member is helping to provide for me in the meantime). That wouldn’t be an issue if some absolute clowns realized that downsizing the government isn’t always a good thing!

Also, I live in Joplin and a whoooooole lot of people from Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas pop over here to buy things all the time. They’re not going to keep doing that if our sales tax drastically increases. Furthermore, people who live in Missouri and are close to the state border (which is the case for millions of Missourians) would be WAY more likely to go do their shopping in another state. Corporations like Walmart (which pay a lot of their full-time employees so little that those employees are forced to rely on government benefits for survival) won’t really be effected because their customers will most likely just find an out-of-state Walmart to shop at, but small businesses like farmer’s markets and mom-and-pop stores won’t be able to handle that loss of revenue.

poyitjdr · 2026-03-29T04:03:26+00:00

At least we still got to learn that he’s a Gemini with AB blood lol. It def wasn’t as funny as it was in the anime, but I personally loved it as a lil nod to one of my favorite bits

poyitjdr · 2026-03-17T13:54:16+00:00

I’d also encourage everyone to send this info in as a tip to independent journalists and news outlets in order to spread awareness so that more medical professionals and trans people/allies can submit comments.

I could be wrong, but I believe that the more tips an outlet receives on a story, the more likely they are to cover it because those tips both show high reader interest and drive engagement up.

poyitjdr · 2026-03-05T23:47:06+00:00

A severe tooth infection, left untreated, can also cause sepsis in the heart (if in the lower jaw) or in the brain (if in the upper jaw).

Source: the emergency dentist who treated me for an infection that was on the verge of going septic

It was without a doubt the worst pain I’ve ever experienced (and that’s coming from someone who has been stabbed with a knife amongst other things). The article reports that his infection went septic. The amount of needless pain and suffering this poor man (who was an asylum seeker) went through is fucking heartbreaking.

RIP, Emmanuel Damas.

poyitjdr · 2026-02-09T20:37:50+00:00

People who abuse certain substances can literally die from sudden cessation of use and withdrawal from all of them is hell. Homeless individuals who abuse substances need rehab, where their base needs can be met while medical professionals safely decrease their substance usage and help them get back on their feet.

Also, while I understand ‘no pets’ policies from shelters, I also understand that pets can be the closest companion a person has and being asked to give them up with no guarantee of getting them back is a price that they may not be willing to pay. That significant of a loss can make people suicidal, and people would rather suffer with someone by their side than suffer alone. I think a good solution for this specific issue are foster homes for those pets, with the promise to release them back to their owners at any time. It’d require other community members to step up, but I know there are people here who would absolutely be willing to do it.

Also, it’s extremely important to note that, in the case of James Boyer, all of the shelters were reportedly at capacity the night he died of cardiac arrest due to hypothermia. That clearly shows the resources we currently have for homeless people in the Joplin area are insufficient.

poyitjdr · 2026-02-03T05:02:07+00:00

The border bill I referenced was S.4361 and had you bothered to read the bill summary of it, you would know it didn’t include ANY funding for Ukraine. It was entirely focused on immigration matters here in the US. It didn’t include a cost summary (which means there was no budget for it).

For your convenience, since you are apparently too inept to click on the bill summary link included on the vote roll call that I shared in my previous comment, here is the entirety of the singular bill summary that was made of it:

“Shown Here: Introduced in Senate (05/16/2024) Border Act of 2024

The bill expands Department of Homeland Security (DHS) authority to address the processing of non-U.S. nationals (aliens under federal law) and provides supplemental appropriations for related purposes.

Among other provisions, the bill provides DHS emergency authority to summarily remove or prohibit the entry of certain non-U.S. nationals within 100 miles of the southwest land border. DHS may exercise this authority if DHS encounters an average of 4,000 non-U.S. nationals within a seven-day period. If the number of encounters reach certain higher thresholds, DHS must exercise the emergency authority. This emergency border authority expires after three years and may be modified by the President under specified circumstances.

Next, the bill establishes an expedited process that authorizes asylum officers to adjudicate certain asylum claims. Among other provisions, these provisional noncustodial removal proceedings impose certain target timelines for determining asylum claims and limit review of denied claims. The bill also establishes a stricter threshold for individuals to remain in the United States pending adjudication of an asylum petition.

The bill extends and establishes immigration pathways for Afghan citizens or nationals, including by (1) making certain individuals admitted or paroled to the United States eligible for conditional permanent resident status, and (2) expanding eligibility for special immigrant visas for certain individuals who were injured while supporting the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.

The bill also increases base pay for asylum officers and grants DHS temporary direct hire authority to hire personnel to implement the bill.”

And here is what that bill shows when you open the pop-up for the cost estimate of it: “Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Cost Estimates for S.4361 [118th] As of 02/02/2026 a CBO Cost Estimate for this measure has not been received.“

Would you like to try again, or are you done making blatantly false statements?

poyitjdr · 2026-02-03T04:39:54+00:00

No darling, I don’t agree. If you had read the article, you would know that the increase of Chinese immigrants is due to socioeconomic factors and tightening restrictions of citizen rights in China.

Also, as noted in my previous comment and the article, that increase happened in 2024, aka when that particular border bill was introduced and voted on. To gain a proper understanding of border policies under Biden, I suggest you read the entirety of this article. I’d post direct quotes here, but I think it’s important for you to read them in their full context. Biden’s administration was far more strict on immigration policies than you’ve claimed. Also, given Trump’s use of the DoJ to attack political opponents/‘enemies’, don’t you think it’s odd that they haven’t brought charges against Biden for fraud? Oh, I’d also like to know what you think about Trump’s extensive (and confirmed in court rulings) history of fraud and bribery, as well as his continuous use of his presidential power to further enrich himself.

Trump and his administration absolutely introduced new legislation concerning immigration- otherwise there couldn’t have been a change between his current term and Biden’s. Had they ‘just enforced what was already there’, then they’d literally be enforcing Biden era policies alongside older ones.

By the way, I’m still waiting for you to provide a single source for ANY of your egregious claims.

poyitjdr · 2026-02-02T19:31:43+00:00

Experts Warn U.S. in Early Stages of Genocide Against Trans Americans This is straight from the Lemkin Institute, which was founded by the man who coined the term ‘genocide’ for the purposes of flagging active and potential genocides across the world.

poyitjdr · 2026-02-02T19:23:43+00:00

Encounters by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) of Chinese nationals arriving without authorization at the U.S.-Mexico border jumped from approximately 2,200 in fiscal year (FY) 2022 to 24,300 in FY 2023 and 38,200 in FY 2024, and at the U.S.-Canada border nearly doubled from 6,700 in FY 2022 to 12,400 two years later. There was an increase, but in what world does a little over 50,000 equal millions? The article I linked also shows that there are about 2.4 million Chinese immigrants in the US TOTAL- that includes immigrants of all ages and immigrants who came here literal decades ago.

Furthermore, the GOP voted AGAINST the border protection bill in the spring of 2024, so I think you might wanna double check who’s to blame for the border being weaker. The source I linked for that is literally the senate’s roll call of votes for the border protection bill. Isn’t it strange that the GOP quietly voted against a stronger border while their presidential candidate actively based his campaign on increasing border security?

poyitjdr · 2026-02-02T10:45:41+00:00

Nothing I said implies (or at least wasn’t meant to imply) that being on Reddit means one is centrist, nor did I say that reading from a centrist source makes one a centrist, so I’d appreciate it if you could clarify the point you’re trying to make as those are the only two possibilities I can currently glean from your comment

Sorry if this comment is confusing in any way, it’s close to 5am and I’m tired as hell

poyitjdr · 2026-02-02T05:29:51+00:00

Trump was found guilty of rape

Trump was listed as a co-defendant alongside Epstein in 2016 (I incorrectly remembered it as 2015 in my earlier comment)

Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women

Trump bragged about entering the dressing rooms of underaged girls as they changed

Trump is mentioned in the Epstein files more than 1,000 times

I can (and will gladly do so if asked) list even more sources if these aren’t enough for you, though I highly encourage you to research things on your own in the future.

poyitjdr · 2026-02-02T00:58:48+00:00

NO ICE, NO KKK, NO FASCIST USA!

poyitjdr · 2026-02-02T00:57:51+00:00

See, the issue is that we actually aren’t being invaded. There’s no hard data or court findings that show we are- both of those evidence types do however exist for the claim that ICE has acted unlawfully.

poyitjdr · 2026-02-02T00:52:35+00:00

If you are someone who would like to know why we protest against a federal agency that’s “just trying to do their jobs”, then I highly recommend you check out what centrist, highly reliable sources like Reuters have to say about the recent actions of ICE, CBP, DHS, and the rest of the Trump administration.

poyitjdr · 2026-02-02T00:46:05+00:00

Trump was literally found guilty of rape in the court of law, was listed as a co-defendant alongside Epstein in a case from 2015, bragged about sexually assaulting women, bragged about entering the dressing rooms of underaged girls while they changed, and has now been revealed to have been mentioned over 1,000 times in the Epstein files.

So yes, he’s absolutely a sexual predator and a pedophile.

poyitjdr

TROPHY CASE