Day: November 15, 2025

Categories
Articles and Tweets

Vladimir Putin is a repressed homosexual and the state of the gay rights in Russia There is no credible evidence to support the claim that Vladimir Putin is a “repressed homosexual”. Such claims are largely based on speculation and satirical or critical imagery, which the Russian government has actively suppressed. [1, 2] The current state of gay rights in Russia is dire, with extensive legal and social persecution of the LGBTQ+ community. [3] Vladimir Putin’s Stance and Actions Vladimir Putin has consistently aligned himself with the Russian Orthodox Church and promoted “traditional family values,” explicitly opposing same-sex marriage and what he calls Western “gender fluidity” ideas. His

Spread the love


Spread the love
Categories
Selected Articles

Vladimir Putin is a repressed homosexual and the state of the gay rights in Russia There is no credible evidence to support the claim that Vladimir Putin is a “repressed homosexual”. Such claims are largely based on speculation and satirical or critical imagery, which the Russian government has actively suppressed. [1, 2] The current state of gay rights in Russia is dire, with extensive legal and social persecution of the LGBTQ+ community. [3] Vladimir Putin’s Stance and Actions Vladimir Putin has consistently aligned himself with the Russian Orthodox Church and promoted “traditional family values,” explicitly opposing same-sex marriage and what he calls Western “gender fluidity” ideas. His

Spread the love


Spread the love
Categories
Selected Articles

Vladimir Putin is a repressed homosexual and the state of the gay rights in Russia There is no credible evidence to support the claim that Vladimir Putin is a “repressed homosexual”. Such claims are largely based on speculation and satirical or critical imagery, which the Russian government has actively suppressed. [1, 2] The current state of gay rights in Russia is dire, with extensive legal and social persecution of the LGBTQ+ community. [3] Vladimir Putin’s Stance and Actions Vladimir Putin has consistently aligned himself with the Russian Orthodox Church and promoted “traditional family values,” explicitly opposing same-sex marriage and what he calls Western “gender fluidity” ideas. His

Spread the love


Spread the love
Categories
Selected Articles

Mom Who Worked From Hospital Post Labor Has Message for Other Parents

Spread the love

“It used to feel iconic. Now? It just makes me ache,” Sophie Sherief shared on TikTok.

Spread the love
Categories
Articles and Tweets

Vladimir Putin is a repressed homosexual and the state of the gay rights in Russia There is no credible evidence to support the claim that Vladimir Putin is a “repressed homosexual”. Such claims are largely based on speculation and satirical or critical imagery, which the Russian government has actively suppressed. [1, 2] The current state of gay rights in Russia is dire, with extensive legal and social persecution of the LGBTQ+ community. [3] Vladimir Putin’s Stance and Actions Vladimir Putin has consistently aligned himself with the Russian Orthodox Church and promoted “traditional family values,” explicitly opposing same-sex marriage and what he calls Western “gender fluidity” ideas. His

Spread the love


Spread the love
Categories
Selected Articles

Vladimir Putin is a repressed homosexual and the state of the gay rights in Russia There is no credible evidence to support the claim that Vladimir Putin is a “repressed homosexual”. Such claims are largely based on speculation and satirical or critical imagery, which the Russian government has actively suppressed. [1, 2] The current state of gay rights in Russia is dire, with extensive legal and social persecution of the LGBTQ+ community. [3] Vladimir Putin’s Stance and Actions Vladimir Putin has consistently aligned himself with the Russian Orthodox Church and promoted “traditional family values,” explicitly opposing same-sex marriage and what he calls Western “gender fluidity” ideas. His

Spread the love


Spread the love
Categories
Selected Articles

We go to weekly dinners at Grandma’s house. It’s a tradition we prioritize, and it keeps me grounded.

Spread the love

The author's family having dinner.
The author and her family have weekly dinners at her parents’ house.

Courtesy of Rebecca Nevius

  • Our weekly family dinners started as a simple invitation when I needed it most.
  • As a busy mom, it’s the one night all week I can fully relax.
  • We’ve set boundaries around this night, and it’s been going on for seven years.

I’ve been reflecting lately on my life as a working mom — thinking about what drains me vs. what fills me up. There’s one thing that gets me through the week more than anything else: our Wednesday night dinner at Grandma’s house.

An invitation became my lifeline

Years ago, when we moved closer to my parents, accepting an invitation to dinner was a no-brainer. But it wasn’t always so easy. In fact, for a while, we lived overseas in England, so visits to and from family were few and far between. So, when an opportunity arose to move closer to my parents, we took it!

That first dinner invitation was followed by another. And without even realizing it, it became something special — a tradition — and the one night a week when I didn’t hear my name called 50 times a minute. I was a guest!

We’ve been having our weekly dinners for seven years now. I’m working more, and the kids have commitments, homework, and tournaments, so setting a nice table and practicing our manners isn’t exactly a priority.

But on Wednesday night, during a busy week, when the good snacks are gone and the meat drawer is empty, we leave our own homework-laden, finger-painted table behind and step through my mom’s front door (Nama to my kids). It’s the one night we know for sure that we won’t be having the leftover chicken nuggets I found in the back of the freezer and that questionable bag of leafy greens, because on Wednesdays, I get a night off.

A card game called
The family often plays games while they’re at the author’s parents’ house for dinner.

Courtesy of Rebecca Nevius

One-word answers turn into real conversation

When we open the door to my parents’ house, instead of that familiar sweaty scent emanating from my boy’s gym shoes, it smells like cinnamon and roast turkey. Nama puts my kids to work with jobs, filling glasses and getting forks. And on the table filled with actual side dishes, is a half-gallon of Chick-fil-A sauce she bought at Costco earlier that day “just for the kids.”

We practice table manners, and she lets her grandkids pick out question cards that everyone has to answer. Even my middle schoolers, who often give me one-word answers on the ride home from school, start talking about their day. Everyone listens and takes turns. Even my youngest gets a moment to shine.

We’ve kept the ritual alive despite other commitments

It hasn’t always been on Wednesday. It’s shifted depending on soccer practice, school, and work. At one point, we couldn’t find a free night at all, but instead of canceling dinner, we cut back on youth sports. That was a hard choice but a worthwhile sacrifice, because this dinner wasn’t just about food. It is about my parents opening their home and my mom showing her love with food and hospitality — the night I get to just be.

The author with her family out for ice cream.
Sometimes, they also go out for ice cream together.

Courtesy of Rebecca Nevius

And every once in a while, we return the love — not with a beautiful table or a three-course meal, but with a scoop of ice cream from Salt and Straw, a morning coffee with my mom, or by taking my dad along to a pro-soccer game.

The rhythm of our Wednesday dinner, the hospitality it’s taught our kids, and the rest it has given me in the middle of the week — it’s irreplaceable. I hope that someday, if I’m lucky, I’ll get to set my own table for my kids and their families, just as my mom does for us now.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Spread the love
Categories
Selected Articles

At least nine die as confiscated explosives detonate inside police station

Spread the love

The blast happened in Srinagar in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Spread the love
Categories
Selected Articles

It’s official: Members of Congress won’t get a pay bump this year

Spread the love

House Speaker Mike Johnson
The bill to reopen the government kept lawmakers’ salaries frozen at $174,000 a figure that hasn’t budged since 2009.

Tom Brenner/Getty Images

  • The salaries for most members of Congress will remain frozen at $174,000 for another year.
  • The bill to reopen the government included a provision that prevents a cost-of-living increase.
  • Lawmakers almost enacted a modest pay bump last year, but were thwarted by Elon Musk and others.

If you’re a member of Congress hoping for a raise, you’ll have to wait at least another year.

The vast majority of House and Senate members will continue to earn an annual salary of $174,000 — a figure that hasn’t budged since 2009 — after President Donald Trump signed a bill to fund the government and end the longest shutdown in American history.

While the bill only keeps the entirety of the government funded through January 30, it includes funding for the legislative branch for the entire fiscal year, which ends after September 30 of next year.

That portion of the bill contained language that blocked an automatic cost-of-living adjustment — something most other federal employees receive each year.

“I would like to see how well that would go over if we did that to all federal employees,” Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia told BI in July. “I mean, do you think that would survive?”

A version of that provision has been included in every annual government funding bill over the last 16 years.

On the one hand, it’s to be expected. It would be an optics nightmare for lawmakers to allow their salaries to increase on the heels of a shutdown that left hundreds of thousands working without pay, caused air travel chaos, and eventually threatened SNAP payments.

At the same time, it means that lawmakers’ salaries will continue to not keep pace with inflation, which some argue limits the pool of people who run for office and incentivizes lawmakers to leave Congress to cash in on their service.

Something Mike Johnson and AOC can agree on

Members of Congress from both parties have acknowledged, in one way or another, that they may not be getting paid enough.

Earlier this year, House Speaker Mike Johnson — who, due to his title, makes $223,500 rather than the $174,000 earned by his rank-and-file colleagues — indicated his sympathy to the argument while discussing his opposition to stock trading in Congress.

“Look, you know, the salary of Congress has been frozen since 2009,” Johnson said in May. “Over time, if you stay on this trajectory, you’re going to have less qualified people who are willing to make the extreme sacrifice to run for Congress.”

That puts him on the same page as Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

“If we want working class people who don’t rely on independent wealth, to represent people in Congress, we have to make it work,” Ocasio-Cortez told BI last year.

If Congress hadn’t proactively blocked cost-of-living adjustments each year since 2009, the salary for rank-and-file lawmakers would be $221,600, according to the Congressional Research Service.

That’s despite the unique demands placed upon lawmakers, especially having to maintain two residences: One in their home state, and another in Washington, DC.

Last year, lawmakers almost got a modest pay bump. A package of government funding bills would have allowed the cost-of-living increase to go through for the first time since 2009, which would have increased rank-and-file lawmakers’ salaries by up to $6,600.

Then, Elon Musk and others helped tank that bill, in large part by arguing that it gave members of Congress a larger raise than it actually did.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Spread the love
Categories
Selected Articles

What pension changes is Rachel Reeves considering in the budget?

Spread the love

One possible alteration was thought to be tax-free cash drawdowns, but the chancellor may have turned to salary sacrifice schemes

Rumours about what Rachel Reeves may, or may not, do to pensions in the budget continue to swirl.

One much-debated possible change – cutting the amount of tax-free cash that people can take from their pensions – is said by some to be off the table, but reports have emerged that the chancellor has “salary sacrifice” pension schemes in her sights.

Continue reading…


Spread the love