My SIL's family exclusively does gag gifts for the adult siblings and parents. They are super, super close so I guess it ends up being a big endearing inside joke fest for them. I guess I can see how a gag gift tradition would be fun for a close family in this regard. I'm adamantly anti-junk, though, so I agree with…

My husband gives the best gifts. We have too much stuff, so he always gifts me either services (yoga classes, pilates lessons, spa treatments) or things that deplete quickly like bath products. I love it. I'm hoping for horseback riding lessons one of these years.

This part of the story was the worst for me, like this "gift" was so indicative of the abuse pattern. Merry Christmas: go do my laundry. Ugh.

I actually think that onion goggles are a great gift, provided that the person actually cooks with onions. Practical, but not something that one would buy for themselves.

How else is the prison industry supposed to grow?

LOL at "furthering the ceiling." The mixed metaphor was the best part of this!

Yikes. Sorry again. I had a hunch that this happened on public transit. Your experience reminded me of this article:

I'm really late here, but I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry that this happened to you. I'm the mother of a 3 year old son, and I can't even imagine how sick, afraid, and angry this comment must have made you feel.

I suspect that they might also be talking/thinking about different people/scenarios here. Crusader seems to be evoking conversations with folks who have some redeeming qualities, and/or with whom s/he wants or feels the need to preserve a relationship. In these instances, the compassionate approach seems like a good…

Yuck. I'm sorry. MIL in the guesthouse sounds like the icing on a shitty cake.

When does he see this woman? Are you home when he returns from seeing her? Do you ask him how the dates were, or do you talk about/address the hook ups? These are the parts that would weird me out.

I have known scores of these people. Very common, unfortunately.

Yup. My child-free friends have formed their own little circle now, even though I can still engage on all of the same topics. Sucks.

Yeah, pretty much all of this. If leaving him is not an option for whatever reason(s), this is the perspective that one needs to adopt.

The anti-choice agenda is about punishing women and ensuring social control and poverty. They could care less about women, or fetuses/babies for that matter.

So? The point of protests, especially these days, is to garner attention and visibility for the cause that is impossible to ignore. Even if some of them had ulterior motives, mission accomplished.

At least you are using protection, to raise awareness about safer sex.

Definitely the former. I suspect it's more dementia/some sort of mental deterioration than outright innate stupidity.

Have you watched the Dick Cheney documentary? Frightening, and absolutely confirmed this suspicion for me.

I think that there is an element of truth to this. Intellectually weak, willfully ignorant, and simple, certainly. Perhaps also overly loyal in a misguided way. He was complicit in a lot of awful things and should be held accountable, or at least called out repeatedly. However, I think the real evil presences in that…