Your personal judgements about others are not "an elephant in the room" that needs to be talked about. They are not objective facts. Ask yourself, when you think someone is unattractive, why is it so important to you that they know you think they are unattractive? What do you think you are accomplishing by bringing it up?

If it chipped, then it is likely some kind of vinyl or composite made to look like wood. Nowadays the fake wood looks realistic enough to fool people! But real wood doesn't chip like that.

I don't go places with people for social validation. I do it because doing those things by myself is incredibly boring.

I grew up with people who talked like this. It's all "just a joke" until suddenly it isn't.

Your first sentence, yes I agree. The next two, not so much. In my town in 2020 we had groups of these chuds roaming around downtown, armed, hunting for "antifa," meaning anyone wearing black or looking slightly punk. Some of them really do want to shoot us with impunity.

But yeah, it's also my parents, who probably wouldn't turn me into the gestapo, but the cognitive dissonance where they simultaneously believe I'm their family but I'm also "the enemy within" doesn't seem sustainable. At some point, it's got to be one or the other. Getting them to agree on small things hasn't changed their overall loyalty to the party, their disdain for Dems, or our relationship.

This is from 2021. Don't know why we're giving him attention by posting it again now.

Which pundits actually said that? Most of what I've read, people were saying she did pretty well. But you sure got people here believing this meme.

A lot of cities have started regulating (or even outright banning) Airbnbs. Get your neighbors on board and start a dialogue with your city council members.

There's not a lot you can do about corporations, but you can encourage other owners not to sell to shell companies.

... Nah. As a woman, this is not a question I would ever think to ask anyone, regardless of how unsafe I felt. How does agreeing to murder someone AFTER something happens to you help you feel more safe? It doesn't, at all. Besides, she could have called him from the Uber when she didn't see him outside. It's not like they just kick you out of the car immediately.

OP described this behavior as "the usual," which means this is a thing she does regularly. I would say this isn't normal for most people to do regularly. If the location is actually not safe, then the conversation should be centered around "when are we going to move somewhere safer?" rather than "how would you murder someone if they hurt me" and especially getting into the specifics of "what would you do with the cat while doing the murder...?" I think this might be some kind of recurring "daycare" or maladaptive fantasy that keeps playing out in her imagination. There are certainly steps she could take to keep herself safe. But because she doesn't, she feels powerless and then blames OP for her perceived lack of safety. OP cannot be responsible for her safety 24/7. That is an unfair expectation to have of anyone.

I'd say it's not even capitalism but the rabid anti-tax people/movement. Third spaces like libraries and parks are paid for by tax money, and if people keep voting against raising taxes, well guess what. No more public spaces.

If you tell a job you have savings, they're going to think you'll just leave the job whenever you want. They don't want that. They want dependable workers, as in, the workers depend on the job to live.

Hey, I'm an editor too. I'm disappointed I can't use reddit to network with authors anymore. Hopefully Lemmy will start some writing & editing communities soon!