This is just one more topic for my future nightmares. Thanks, science. Thanks loads.

How many times do you suppose a Florida police chief says that sentence over a career? I’m guessing at least nine times.

Pssst. Jeff? Sessions? I hate to tell you this but government, too, is becoming a shelter for fragile egos. Have you met the guy in the Oval Office? Because he is delicate like a chihuahua made of finest spun glass. University kids, on the other hand, seem to be pretty hardy.

For me this confirmed how complex this whole topic is. There are no easy answers—both these dialogues are layered and I can see two sides. On a personal level, I was not very supportive of the guy in the second story and made some snap judgments at first, but then changed my mind. So that part was successful in…

Thank you.

Yes, at the Y once you called 911 you paged director on duty to let them know, because we did have a defib unit and a lot of people who knew CPR etc. But we weren’t a medical provider so did not want to be in the position of ever making medical evaluations. Reading your comment I can imagine that a medical provider…

Ah, a fellow Watergate nerd! Pull up a chair. Would you like some tea? Cookie?

Every place is different, of course. I would have called both 911 and Scott (if I had his number). No question that the nursing home made some dumb choices. That said, it’s elderly people without power or AC. Governor Scott should have handed it off to someone to follow up on and get something done. The fact that he…

It was his secretary, Rosemary Woods, who took the blame. And it wasn’t deleting, it was erasing. Back in the day, tapes could be erased, but audio on an erased tape (erased by taping over) could still be restored by experts. The experts testified at the time that they had to be erased using a powerful magnet or other…

That is not in doubt. They do know that.

I can’t answer for management (they should know better) but I wonder if the staff was afraid to lose their jobs. I used to work at a YMCA and I had to do training updates for staff (all managers did, we took turns). In one training, a front desk clerk raised her hand and asked me who she had to clear a 911 call with.…

Yes. I know, but this is my only personal interaction with foster care and it was bad enough. I don’t disagree with anything you are saying.

Most mommy bloggers make my skin crawl. I assume it’s because I’m a childless hag.

I’ve never been in foster care, but I remember a hometown scandal about a couple who got foster kids and then had them (essentially) remodel their home. These kids were miserable. Eventually the state stepped in. I was a peer watching peers and I knew it was no good. I don’t think foster care is a good idea for most…

I did find her credible. But troubling.

Solid point.

I agree. In the second story, she does a good job talking about how this felt from her perspective but a poor job discussing how it affected her child at the time. Was he happy? Did he have a good environment? How did he respond to being taken away? etc. The first story features a mom who speaks clearly about the…

This second story was much harder for me to read. On the one hand, it seems that you should be able to make a mistake and sometimes kids are NOT better off in foster care. That being said, she only talked about the impact of her son being take on her, highlighting her emotions. She never addressed how it impacted him…

Why aren’t you kids getting fucked up and having meaningless sex? Also, driving under the influence? You are RUINING America.

Probably? I mean, I started earning through babysitting but who hires a kid to babysit nowadays? I used to babysit for 50 cents an hour when I was 11. Who the hell would hire an 11 year old now? (The people lived just about five houses away, I think they assumed I would have good Mom and/or Dad back up, but still...)…