Well as a childless adult, I feel like there’s also this idea that you MUST be 100% dedicated to your work and nothing else because what the hell else do you possibly have to offer to the world besides your job if you’re not having a kid? Nothing, that’s what.

No, but I remember when he got a lot of help from the media to sell that image.

I’m glad John McCain is doing his best to assure the American public his reputation of being a ‘maverick’ and ‘reasonable’ was a grave error of judgment on everyone’s part. Thanks, John.

And the government should pay the salary of the worker on leave, not the business... I think a lot of the opposition to paid family leave is coming from small business owners who can’t afford to pay for leave AND hire a temporary worker.

I really almost think that parental leave (both kinds) should just be required. That way there is no pressure to come back quickly or not take advantage of it, and no one looks "better" or "worse" for taking/not taking it. Just give everyone a "Congratulations, we will see you in X amount of time."

I’m an AfAm atheist. Much of our cultural is inextricably intertwined with Christianity. It’s so infused in the West, and by extension in us. Even though we weren’t formal members, community and social activities took place in churches. Dad doesn’t believe, but sings the old hymns. I even have copies of the Bible and…

Christians have the luxury of many of the religious traditions becoming such an incompassing part of dominant ‘American culture’ (Christmas, Sundays off, Mardi Gras, patriarchal structure) that there isn’t any way to get away from it either.

But there is no reason for this other than the fact that you say so. At the end of the day with the context of the times and everything else, it is absolutely possible to interpret all of this stuff in different ways. Scholars make a life out of interpreting ancient religious texts. These books are like life: they are…

Yup... All this mental gymnastics to get a religion to fit your life. It’s exhausting. May as well make up whatever you want and be happy with yourself. Maybe in 2000 years they’ll put some compilation of interpretations of your diary in all the hotel nightstands too!

I think that’s an unnecessarily dualistic view of the idea of holy texts. It is entirely possible to believe that a scripture is created by man but simultaneously allows the reader to, in some way, better understand the divine. A literal interpretation is probably a bad idea, but understanding the writings as the…

I’ve struggled with religion since I was a teenager and realized how much the Bible can be used to justify hate. When my pastors only made me feel their hateful interpretation was correct I bolted. I was agnostic for a very long time but in the last couple years I lean more atheist than not. I wouldn’t admit it to…

I have to be honest, some of the amounts donated by the NRA are SHOCKINGLY low in terms of buying policy. Over the weekend, https://twitter.com/igorvolsky was tweeting the amounts each Republican “thoughts and prayers” congressperson received from the NRA and some of them were like a couple thousand dollars.

I swear to god, there should be penalties for people whose guns are used by family members to commit crimes, and no one under 18 should be allowed to handle one.

Floridian here. There is literally no body of water larger than a bathtub in central Florida that does not have an alligator in it, except for swimming pools, and even swimming pools will eventually acquire an alligator or two if left unattended for a while. It’s hard to fully understand until you live down here, but…

the rule in florida is ANY body of water could have an alligator in it

Alligators can travel over land though. They get in people’s swimming pools all the time. I’m sure Disney didn’t put the alligators in the lake.

Even if it’s not connected, nature finds a way. And alligators can and do travel over land. We have manmade lakes all over the place where I live but they’re still full of native wildlife.

The sad thing is that Florida people know that you just don’t enter a body of water except your own bathtub without taking substantial risk. I wonder if “No Swimming” was an adequate warning? Maybe people think it’s about liability or just a hotel rule? Even wading stirs the water up.

This feeds the incredibly damaging narrative of “Good abortions vs. Bad abortions.” The whole point is that women should be allowed to access health care without having to prove they deserve it. The headlines isn’t click bait but it raises an interesting question : who are you to decide her decision oy to remain…

This article tells us what happens when women have abortions that late. This is why late-term abortion needs to remain legal. Women are not deciding on a whim to have abortions at 32 weeks. It is done for medical reasons.