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<title>Bratfree Board - The Patio</title>
<description>General Discussion</description><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/list.php?7</link><lastBuildDate>Thu, 16 Jul 2026 19:30:29 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,451743,451743#msg-451743</guid>
<title>Happy Rapture Day Everyone! :)o (1 reply)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,451743,451743#msg-451743</link><description><![CDATA[Hey guys, a little bird told me today was the almighty Rapture Day! I'm on the far west coast. Is everyone east of me still here?<br /><br />Kidding...lol.<br /><br />Can you imagine how many of these fake Xtian families have traumatized their kids over this? They're going to need major therapy after the 24th.<br /><br />If I was a little kid and I was thinking that the end of the world was now, I'd be pretty messed up over it. I remember being terrified of nuclear war in the 80s and I can't help but feel a little sorry for those kids who have these deranged faux xtian moos and duhs that eat, breathe, and crap out the Bible at them, along with a lot of them home schooling which keeps them isolated where no other opinions or perspectives are offered than what their mad moos are espousing.<br /><br />Yes. Kids annoy the hell out of me, but these crazy fake fundie breeders piss me off royally.]]></description>
<dc:creator>mumofsixbirds</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Sat, 27 Sep 2025 04:52:34 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,449783,449783#msg-449783</guid>
<title>What should I do? (no replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,449783,449783#msg-449783</link><description><![CDATA[I play an online game, ants underground. I do fairly well. The alliance I am in is rather powerful, we have several satellite alliances. But as such we do attract enemies and I, myself, made a mistake because I raided an anthill (only once.. mainly to mitigate damages if I do make a mistake).. but in my defense the 'enemy' alliance had not been added to the NAP (non aggression pact) list when a raiding I did go. (sorry for the background because I think it is related to why what is going on, is)..<br /><br />One of the members of ANOTHER alliance when batshit crazy (imo). to put it mildly, his reaction was far out of proportion to the mistake. He whined to me about what I had done, something about a garrison (not a clue what he meant) and acted as if I had wiped out the entire alliance. It was ONE. HIT.<br /><br />Now there is an anthill in the middle of our territory with the nickname psychopancake.. but it is an alliance with one member, and called SHTstain. the problem is the message marquee below the name. Reads 'harder daddy.'.. may be it comes from being 71 and a lifetime of experience but this disturbs me. I also have a bad habit of a train of thought. I'll start from point A, think through several possibilities, iterations, escalation and conclude with point G, eliminating the steps between and then get called judgmental. If I lay out step by step my thinking process, sometimes it helps.. but I digress..<br /><br />I don't know what you guys think of this but I am wondering if you all think alike... This is a threat and a potentially destructive 'bomb' of sorts. The 'daddy..' strikes me as suggestive, pornographic overtones, and even more despicable, pedophilic. With this.. abomination sitting in the middle of the alliance I fear someone could possibly complain that we are tolerating some pedo somewhere... I've spoken with one of the clan leaders who has spoken to the server clan alliance leaders, all the top leadership in our server, regarding this problem. I have even said I'd go and outline why this guy needs to be zeroed at the very least and sent packing wherever. (won't eliminate him, would just send him somewhere else). I could perhaps report him to the developers.. that is my next step (I think) because they have the power to ban a player.<br /><br />I am at something of a loss. I don't know if I'm over reacting. I asked a friend from a trivia game giving her the same information and she has the same 'vibes'. it isn't a joke. was wondering what you guys think. I think my only option is to point it out to the developers and just hope they recognize it for the problem it is..]]></description>
<dc:creator>twocents</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Fri, 28 Jun 2024 18:24:29 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,446671,446671#msg-446671</guid>
<title>Thoughts on conspiracy theories? (2 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,446671,446671#msg-446671</link><description><![CDATA[How do y'all feel about conspiracy theorists/conspiracy theories as a whole?]]></description>
<dc:creator>antisprog</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Sun, 06 Aug 2023 19:53:57 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,446493,446493#msg-446493</guid>
<title>How did I forget about this delightful rant on MST3K? (3 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,446493,446493#msg-446493</link><description><![CDATA[If you haven't seen Mystery Science Theater 3000, it's ostensibly about a man stranded in space with only robots for company as part of an evil science experiment to break his will. In reality it's about making fun of terrible movies. I've been rewatching some old episodes, and just stumbled across one where one of the robots is pretending to be pregnant because he wants a baby shower and attention. After he gives them a "list of demands" and he's confronted with the fact that he can't possibly be pregnant, he goes on a stellar rant:<br /><br /><blockquote class="bbcode"><div><small>Quote<br/></small><strong>Crow T. Robot</strong><br/>
That means I don't get a big free ride. "Oh, my ankles are swollen. My back hurts. Carry me, I'm pregnant. Carry me!" Well, I want a cut of the action too, damn it! Yeah, well who wouldn't want to be pregnant, huh? Who wouldn't want to be a big load on the rest of the world? Hey everybody, I'm queen of the world because I'm pregnant! Then the whole world is supposed to bend over and smooch your ever widening ass!</div></blockquote><br />Really makes me wonder which one of the writers was working something out, there.]]></description>
<dc:creator>kittehpeoples</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Tue, 08 Aug 2023 15:24:33 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,445409,445409#msg-445409</guid>
<title>New Gynecologist:S (3 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,445409,445409#msg-445409</link><description><![CDATA[Does anyone know a National website to find a Gynecologist only doctor?<br /><br />My gyne is retiring, and I always told myself I would try to find a non-obstetrics gyne if I could once he did, so I don't have to sit in there w/ the million preggo bellies, the dumbass new-duhds, huge strollers, and screaming children.(I've been going to same clinic since the 70s and believe it or not, it actually was NOT like that back in the day)<br /><br />Googling gyne w/ OB, doesnt work, nor does Gyne Only. Some stuff does come up but it is not local even if I put my city in. It is very frustrating becuz you go to these websites that refuse to put their address in an obvious location on the website. Finally u find out thet are in AZ, far far away from IL. I looked on ZOCDOC and any Gyne that was listed as Gyne (w/o OB word) was in the 'burbs and a pop-up came up and said they weren't in my Insurance network.<br /><br />Even clicking Gyne for Seniors (which I'm not) gives you the same ol' stuff becuz Docs just pay to be on top of the Google lists.<br /><br /><br />I want a doctor who treats me as a woman, not as a babyee making machine, and if their clinic is listed as "Family Planning Clinic" I'm not so sure it is me, the non-mom, they actually have in mind, plus a pic of a babyee in the ad doesnt help me either.]]></description>
<dc:creator>cfuter</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Tue, 02 May 2023 17:49:11 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,445100,445100#msg-445100</guid>
<title>Is it ever too late to try to learn to play an instrument? (11 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,445100,445100#msg-445100</link><description><![CDATA[I have NEVER been musically inclined. Never played an instrument in school, I don't know how to read music, you get the idea. But part of me always wanted to learn to play the saxophone. Always loved sax solos in songs, and recently learned that the saxophone is considered a relatively easy wind instrument to learn and that it's good for people with short fingers, which I have on my small mutant baby hands.<br /><br />Mind you, I don't want to play professionally or anything like that. I want to try to learn to play saxophone covers of cartoon theme songs. I just worry that I might invest a lot in an instrument that I get tired of, can't play, or have no energy to play. Plus just about every single thing I see about learning to play recommends lessons, and with my unpredictable work schedule, I don't know if I could commit to lessons, not to mention the cost.<br /><br />I know we have at least a couple musically-inclined folks on here. What say you? Am I reaching for something I can't possibly achieve? :shrug]]></description>
<dc:creator>Cambion</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Fri, 24 Feb 2023 17:57:31 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,444932,444932#msg-444932</guid>
<title>Is it weird that I’m CF and I’m into mpreg? (4 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,444932,444932#msg-444932</link><description><![CDATA[Isn’t it odd how I’m really into mpreg/male pregnancy(ever since I was 9) and yet I NEVER want to get pregnant or have children? I dislike/hate kids(particularly toddlers/preschoolers), I prefer my freetime, and I don’t want to fuck up my body even more by getting pregnant(My body’s already fucked up enough by obesity). I kinda feel like an outcast… :huh]]></description>
<dc:creator>touzokuou</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Sat, 21 Jan 2023 17:27:38 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,444160,444160#msg-444160</guid>
<title>Should I watch Bones (TV show)? (13 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,444160,444160#msg-444160</link><description><![CDATA[OK, I didn't seen a forum for TV so here I am.<br /><br />I'm watching Bones for the first time. And there seems to be at least 2 CF women on there, Sure they are treated like women w/ horns coming out of their heads or dysfunctional bcuz they don't want kids. Now, I got to the part where Cam adopts a stepchild she used to know and Bones suddenly wants a kid out of the fucking blue. I also saw a Halloween one where suddenly Bones is domesticated, and you can tell she had a babyee IRL becuz here face looks matronly and puffy suddenly. Is this show worth watching anymore? Or, will I just be aggravated by the typical TV Tropes and did they ruin yet another show w/ introducing a fucking kid...actually two from some spoilers I read? I figure the only ppl who would understand my plight is my BF buddies here.<br /><br /><br />Let me know if I should continue w/ this show, or maybe just fast forward thru any of the future sickening kids stuff when I get to it. I was so excited to see a show which initially had treated two CF women in a good light, until they didn't. argh!]]></description>
<dc:creator>cfuter</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Wed, 18 Jan 2023 18:28:36 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,443078,443078#msg-443078</guid>
<title>FINALLY starting school. (1 reply)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,443078,443078#msg-443078</link><description><![CDATA[You don't remember me, but a few years ago I made a post regarding going to school and my hesitancy and indecision on that subject. Well, the good news is I finally got over my fear and picked a course. Aviation Maintenance. The bad news is I was intending to start in the fall, but my family's moving plans put the kibosh on that. I think. They still haven't decided on a new house. My main motivation for signing up for classes is my parents' swift descent into madness following Trump's election, and the attack on the Capitol. They just can't get enough of that pig carcass in a suit, and they insist that Obama is doing all the bad things. I've mostly learned to keep my mouth shut, and they conveniently confine the crazy to when I'm out of the room.I also got bitched our for "not spending enough time with your family! It's like you don't want to be part of this family!" Well, frankly, I don't. It's disappointing, but I don't like you very much, blood ties be damned. You're disgustingly spiteful and ignorant people beneath those smiles, and I live with you because I can't to live independently. For the moment.<br />As soon as I know where the family's moving, I'm signing up for a new course- Diesel Technician. I throw myself into my classes for the 18 months, I get a new job, and in a few months, I move out of my family's home, never to see them again, if I so choose. Of course, in the meantime, I keep a low profile and hope they don't turn terrorist during the next election. If that does happen, I'm reporting the shit out of them and disowning them. My freedom is coming, I wanted to report it here. I'm also planning on getting snipped, if the savages haven't taken that away by the time I finish school. I can't do it now, I don't want to deal with my family's judgement.]]></description>
<dc:creator>golden commando</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Mon, 25 Jul 2022 22:22:48 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,440923,440923#msg-440923</guid>
<title>My Sperm Donor died of COVID....what do I do now? (1 reply)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,440923,440923#msg-440923</link><description><![CDATA[Apropos of nothing, I've noticed there seems to be a rash of "my husband the breadwinner died of COVID and Moo/Wifey needs financial advice" articles in various publications.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/her-husband-died-of-covid-now-she-needs-a-new-financial-plan-11611504000?page=1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">This one</a> is from the WSJ. (Requires a subscription to the WSJ to view.)<br /><br />Wife/Moo who stayed out of the workforce for 16 years to raise three boy brats lost her 53 year old husband last July. She is currently working a $66,000/year job that she's lucky to have. I've noticed in many of these situations the husband did not have life insurance to maintain the lifestyle, and this one is a perfect example. I don't know whether it is being cheap, or having health concerns and not being able to afford the premiums or whether they do not care what happens to Wifey after they are gone in a passive-aggressive way. Life insurance is not mentioned in this particular story.<br /><br />HOWEVER, note this Moo is not hurting AT ALL. She's currently living in a $650,000 house. Of course, this did not stop her friends from starting a $15,000 GoFleeceMe account to help with college expenses for one of her sons.<br /><br />Stories like these are a prime reason I do no contribute to individual GoFleeceMe drives unless I absolutely know the person in question is hurting financially. (I still remember Jennifer Perillo, who got $190k under the pretense that she was about to lose her home when she was widowed, but didn't have the smarts to not Instagram the pricey food and Marc Jacob boots she was buying during that time.)<br /><br />I wonder if anyone who contributed to this GFM knew this woman had $200,000 in cash lying around, various retirement accounts, four cars and a net worth (including house equity) of around $520,000, not counting college funds.<br /><br />Here is the financial info, copying from the article:<br /><br /><blockquote class="bbcode"><div><small>Quote<br/></small><strong></strong><br/>Ms. Kelly currently lives with her three sons, ages 22, 20 and 17. For 16 years, she stayed home to care for them. In 2013, she began working at a real-estate investment trust and now earns $66,000 annually.<br /><br />Ms. Kelly has three separate individual retirement accounts: $12,000 in her own IRA, and $94,000 and $48,000 in two that used to belong to her husband. Currently, she isn’t contributing to her IRA. She also has $45,000 in a 401(k) as well as a tax-deferred annuity worth $52,000. In addition, she has $77,000 in an investment account—mostly containing individual stocks—and $200,000 in cash.<br /><br />A significant expense she faces right now is her sons’ college bills. Her late husband’s friends raised $15,000 via a GoFundMe campaign to help with the costs. In addition, she has two UGMA college-savings accounts.<br /><br />The account for her youngest son—who graduates from high school in 2022—has $25,000. The one for her middle son, a student at the University of Arizona, has $15,000. That sum, along with a $3,000 academic scholarship and $2,500 in tuition assistance he hopes to receive from his employer, should be enough to pay for his final year at the school, she says. Her oldest son currently attends community college and works 25 hours a week. But he hopes to return to the University of Arizona next year, and Ms. Kelly is considering paying part of the tuition.<br /><br />Ms. Kelly pays $300 monthly for health insurance through her employer. She has $1,500 in a health-savings account (HSA) and a life-insurance policy worth one year’s salary. She also purchased a supplemental life-insurance plan with $50,000 in coverage.<br /><br />Ms. Kelly says the family’s home is worth about $610,000 and has a $467,650 mortgage with a 2.99% interest rate. She has no other debt and owns the family’s four cars outright.</div></blockquote>]]></description>
<dc:creator>bell_flower</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Sun, 16 May 2021 15:03:40 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,439171,439171#msg-439171</guid>
<title>Family businesses, Nepotism, Why? (Can't stand my family!) (3 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,439171,439171#msg-439171</link><description><![CDATA[At several of places where I have worked there are people who are in the same family who work with each other, almost as if it is encouraged. I also many restaurants are family businesses and other businesses hire in their own family. My mother also tells me she lived on a farm with 11 siblings - a family farm.<br /><br />Maybe it is just me, but I CAN"T STAND my family! Why would I want to work with them? Anybody here in that situation? I'd like to know how you deal with it.]]></description>
<dc:creator>mr. neptune</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Fri, 01 Jan 2021 20:26:56 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,438596,438596#msg-438596</guid>
<title>Reddits Nuclear Revenge is back... (1 reply)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,438596,438596#msg-438596</link><description><![CDATA[Found a damn good story on it... If it isn't true it's a good read. If it is true, man is it one piece of sweet revenge.<br /><br /><br />Subreddit Icon<br />r/NuclearRevenge<br />•Posted byu/Lanatheavenger<br /><br />Karen takes advantage of when I'm vulnerable and steals from me. Best friend gets her slapped with a sex offender label and prison time.<br /><br />Hello! I just learned of this delightful sub from some Youtube videos and boy, do I have a doozy to tell from twenty or so years ago. I was the victim and my friend Lana was the nuclear avenger towards the perpetrator (hence the username), but she’s given me permission to post it as long as all names were changed.<br /><br />I’ve been telling this story for years so some details are still clear as day. Buckle in, ladies and gents and all of you in between, it’s a long and wild ride.<br /><br />Background<br /><br />My hometown was a very small town. There were no corporate businesses in town, everything was family-owned and run. Those who didn’t work in the town usually drove about 15 min. to an hour away for work. We had a local sheriff instead of police. As you can imagine, the town was pretty much dying. I’ve moved out of the country since then and from what I hear, it’s completely gone now.<br /><br />My friend Lana and I grew up as next door neighbors and we were best friends. Lana was Chinese, scary smart, and the calmest person alive. All the kids in our town (there weren’t a lot of us) went to the same school which was about 30 minutes away by bus. Neither of us were popular but at the very least we weren’t hated. Lana was loved by the teachers for her respectful attitude and good grades, and she was always offering to tutor our classmates or younger students who needed it, including me for English Lit. She was so successful at it that she started her own little business for it. It was part of how she got revenge for me.<br /><br />The town we grew up in was small enough where everyone at least knew each other by last name. So everyone was acquainted. If gossip happens then it spreads fast. Part of this was thanks to the one bar in town run by Frank, a cool old biker dude who was loved by everyone as the local grandpa. Frank was nosy and gossipy as heck but we all loved him anyway because he was a genuinely good person. He was the type of guy to volunteer to go to parent-child meetings if the parent couldn’t make it for any reason.<br /><br />Yup, we had a lovely place to grow up in with lovely people. Then Karen moved to town.<br /><br />Karen was an utter b*tch in many ways for her own reasons, but like I said, gossip spread fast. One neighbor heard the story from an out-of-town relative and eventually the whole thing was known: Karen’s husband had cheated on her and they had a nasty divorce. They had one son, Nick, who was the same age as us and Karen got custody (somehow). She had moved here a year later because her job (waitress) found out that she was stealing money. Her husband had jumped on that opportunity to announce to their mutual friends that the reason he cheated was because Karen was manipulative in every way under the sun. She had financially, physically, and emotionally abused him and he had run into the arms of a woman who, while perhaps not completely moral as she was knowingly cheating with a married man, was not abusive.<br /><br />At first Karen had attempted to save herself by claiming he was making it all up because he was just upset that he didn’t have custody rights. Her son, Nick, however, was on his father’s side and secretly confirmed his father’s words to his classmates who told their parents. Eventually the pressure and hate on all sides became too much and she fled the city and came to our town where no one knew her.<br /><br />Everyone did try to befriend Karen at first, but a Karen is a Karen. She responded to our friendliness with waves of entitlement and subtle racism. Nick was fine. He was the type who was used to cleaning up after his mother’s messes through apologies and baked goods (his specialty was cookies). Lana and I befriended him and brought him into our friend group at school. While Nick loved baking, our school didn’t have the equipment for a Baking Club so he joined the Drama Club instead.<br /><br />I didn’t like Karen. She had screamed at me for more than one occasion and made me cry. She also poked fun at me for being a little overweight, which for a thirteen-year-old translated to me being a hippo.<br /><br />She had money from her life savings and pretty much lived off of that without working. The only good thing about her was that any child support money went into Nick’s education and health. Nick would later tell me though that she was grooming him to be her next cash cow so he needed to get a good job to pay for all of her crap and to "grow up quickly" so she wouldn't have to take care of him. Not like she did anyway.<br /><br />Two things to know about Karen: the first was that she hated Frank for being her exact opposite (well-liked and respected). Frank hated her equally and gave her shitty service at the bar, which she couldn’t complain to the manager about because he was the manager and owner and nobody would back her. But Frank’s bar was the only place in town licensed to sell booze and Karen was pretty much an alcoholic after the divorce.<br /><br />The second thing was that she hated Lana. Neither of us are entirely sure why. It was probably racism, but Lana had also taken Nick under her tutoring wing and Karen kept insisting that she was sabotaging his grades. Joke’s on her, his grades got better. Then Karen insisted that Lana only got good grades because her father was a teacher at our school. Again, racism. Mr. Chang was Chinese, but was definitely not Lana’s dad.<br /><br />TBH, I think another reason Karen hated Lana was because Lana has always been extremely chill, and so has never appeared to quake in fear at Karen’s mercy. In Lana’s own words, her own tiger grandmother was scarier (I’ve since met them and she’s right; Karens try to attack like they have some sort of high ground and tiger grandmothers just flat out attack).<br /><br />The Incident<br /><br />Senior year of high school and suddenly my dad was ill and bedridden. The local clinic (neighbor’s house two doors down) was doubtful about his long term survival if he didn’t get help from a real hospital. Lana was my rock in my emotional storm that was depression. I temporarily moved in with her while my father was moved to a big hospital in the city and my mother followed after him by staying with a cousin who lived there. I was given the choice to go, but I didn’t want to because it was just painful seeing my father like that. My mother didn’t blame me at all. Lana’s parents were absolutely wonderful, if a little stricter than what I was used to.<br /><br />There I was, a lone 17-year-old who was more emotionally fragile than average, when Karen decided that if Lana wasn’t a responsive enough target then she’d just switch to me.<br /><br />Karen laid her trap by appearing to suddenly be very sympathetic and kind towards me. She told me that she was sorry about what had happened to my father and to contact her if I ever needed help. Lana and Nick were immediately suspicious. I was too, initially, but the longer my parents stayed in the city the more sad I got and any friendliness was a welcome blessing. I was convinced that maybe she had changed. Nick gradually came around too, and I think it was because deep down he was always hopeful that his mother had some good in her. Lana was the only one who remained suspicious, and Frank was too. Frank often dropped by to check up on me and told me not to get taken in by her.<br /><br />I learned of this later but Lana was suspicious because while Karen was nice to me and Nick, she was still vicious towards Lana. I didn’t know about this until after the incident.<br /><br />Eventually Lana and I got into a huge argument about Karen. Lana pointed out that Karen was probably up to something and I snapped back that she was just jealous since Karen had always been mean to her. Thinking back on it my argument sounded scarily like Karen’s and I still kick my teen self for not realizing it.<br /><br />Due to this argument I move back into my own house. But being alone in the house was really difficult. Nick always dropped by to help me with any chores that needed doing. Even though Lana and I weren’t talking, she would still leave me some leftover food from her parents on my doorstep. Frank tried to get us to make up, but I was stubborn.<br /><br />One weekend Karen shows up instead of Nick and Karen says that Nick was taking care of yard work at their house so she’d help out instead. I thanked her for the help and this was where my naive stupidity came in. This was the time of month my family usually did a deep clean of the house and I was nervous about having to do it all myself, so I was glad that extra help showed up. I show her around the house and explain how my family cleaned things (dusting, vacuuming, wiping down, etc). Karen’s nodding and commenting on my family’s nice stuff (red flag).<br /><br />We go downstairs and while I’m vacuuming, Karen’s wiping down the windows. She eventually tells me that she’s done all the ones on the first floor so that she’d go up to the second. I say okay and ask her to clean the banister after she was done with the windows. She says okay and goes up and out of my sight.<br /><br />I didn't notice until Monday that my mother’s jewelry was missing and the stash of emergency money my dad kept in his drawer was gone. I only learned about it when Frank suddenly dropped by after I got home from school and asked if I had given Karen my mother’s silver bracelet. To my horror, I discovered that Karen had taken my mom’s jewelry, sold some of it to a pawn shop in the city, and used both that and my family’s emergency money to load up on booze. Luckily I got the money back because Frank had put it all to the side to ask me about it (it was the only reason he actually sold booze to her). But I was badly shaken, betrayed, furious and felt stupid for trusting her.<br /><br />Frank warned me not to confront her alone and I promised I wouldn’t. He told me to wait for Lana or Nick or Lana’s parents. He said that he would go himself but he had left with his bar still open for business with the sheriff watching the register. But after he left my fury got the better of me and I went right to her house to confront her.<br /><br />She was wearing my mother’s bracelet still. She just laughed nastily in my face and called me a stupid and gullible little girl. She told me that I deserved it because I had been dumb enough to believe her and then she dropped a horrible lie that hit me like a bombshell. She told me that my father was just faking his sickness and he and mom were living in the city without me. When I asked her what that meant she gave a dramatic sigh and said, “They abandoned you, you stupid little c*nt, they didn’t want you anymore! They dumped you on that *insert racist word towards Chinese here* family so that they didn’t have to deal with your fat ass! Everyone knows about it but you!” Then she slammed the door in my face and I heard her laughing to herself.<br /><br />Now, that was a lie, my parents didn’t abandon me. But I was 17, alone at home, and admittedly suffering from minor abandonment issues because they had been gone for so long and because dad was dying. I completely broke on Karen’s doorstep and started sobbing my eyes out. Nick found me there (he had been at Lana’s for tutoring) and he immediately carried me home before going back to confront his mother. I cried so hard that I passed out on my couch. When I woke up, it was night time and both Lana and Nick were quietly discussing something in the kitchen. They stopped when I stepped into the room. I hadn’t heard anything they said, but Nick looked noticeably pale. Lana was as unflappable as ever and merely gave me a big hug and told me that she’d take care of things.<br /><br />Cons: This was the night that Nick started to avoid Lana a little bit. He would admit to me later that this and revenge that would follow would forever change his perception of her. He still went along with her plan but it was the fact that she had devised it and accurately calculated the results that scared him. In his own words, “Her mind works in ways that terrify the shit out of me.”<br /><br />Pros: Nick confessed to me that night (Lana had left). He told me that the reason Karen had changed her target from Lana to me was because he had admitted to having a crush on me. Karen had deemed me unfit for her son and decided to destroy my self-confidence. I was seething… but I did get my first kiss :) And I got my mom’s bracelet back.<br /><br />I've gotten this question before, so I'll just answer it: Why didn't we tell the sheriff? Nick, on Lana's instruction, had pleaded on his mother's behalf and truthfully said that he had gotten my bracelet back and he'd go with me to get back the stuff from the pawnshop. The sheriff always felt really sorry for Nick so he agreed. Frank was reluctant to let it go, but he didn't want to give Nick a tougher time. We got back all my mother's stuff and I'm pretty sure she still doesn't know about what happened to this day.<br /><br />The Revenge<br /><br />For the next few days I would barely see Lana around. She always seemed to be working on something, but she assured me that we were cool and that she’d explain later. Sometimes I’d catch her talking about something with Nick, with Nick looking noticeably uncomfortable.<br /><br />Then the thefts around town started. Everyone was suddenly missing something. Some people lost prescription drugs, some lost money, some lost jewelry. The major thing was when Frank’s bar was broken into repeatedly and bottles of alcohol kept going missing. It only stopped after he installed a deadbolt on all doors. The sheriff was running everywhere, investigating all he could. Lana’s parents cautioned me about living alone and told me to come back to their house. Lana instead volunteered to sleep at my place and her parents seemed uncomfortable with the idea, but they gave in because they knew their daughter was responsible enough for the two of us.<br /><br />Those nights were really fun. Lots of girl talk and giggling and me talking about Nick. Lana was very happy for Nick and I. I felt so happy not having to be alone in my own house anymore that I slept soundly every night and had to be shaken awake by Lana when it was time for school.<br /><br />After nearly everybody had been burglarized, including Lana’s house (some silverware) and mine (it happened while I was at the supermarket. My mother’s bracelet went missing again D:), suddenly everything went quiet for a week. Then it was Nick’s turn to suddenly disappear, but he came back after a few days and gave the school a signed note from his father. Karen hadn’t seemed to notice that he had left, as she was still chugging on the alcohol she had bought from Frank with my family’s money. That should have been a sign for me about what Lana had done; alcohol at her place usually didn't last that long.<br /><br />One week later we wake up to sirens and we go to the window to see actual police cars lined up in front of Karen’s house. Before our eyes, Karen gets dragged out by two cops in handcuffs while she’s kicking and screaming profanities. Nick was following behind her, uncuffed. We watched as the sheriff gave Nick a hug and said something to him. Nick just shook his head.<br /><br />I remember Lana smiling.<br /><br />I never saw Karen again, but Nick came back. He was 18 at the time and able to live in their house alone. Police came to question everyone, including me, the "first victim" in the crime spree. I refused to give testimony in court because at the time I was super confused and didn't want to be involved anymore, and Nick said he'd do it for me. He, Frank, and a couple of other people from town left one day to give witness statements for Karen’s trial. She was being charged with theft, resisting arrest, assault of a police officer… and child sexual abuse.<br /><br />The last one was a major what. When Karen was judged guilty of all crimes and put in jail, Lana sat me down and told me what she had done.<br /><br />So it turns out that Lana was not just book smart. She was scary smart. She knew how to pick locks and how to wipe away traces. She practiced sleight of hand tricks with Nick until she could pretty much pickpocket anybody. She was the one that had been going around stealing things through two methods. The first was breaking and entering. The second was simply walking in as a tutor and slipping items into her bookbag when her students and their parents weren’t looking.<br /><br />She stashed all of these things in Nick’s room, who would stuff everything into Karen’s room when it was time. But that wasn’t all. No wonder Nick was so scared of her now (he still is).<br /><br />As it turned out, during that time period when Nick suddenly disappeared, Nick had gone to find his dad and “confessed” a horrible “truth”; that Karen had been sexually abusing him ever since the divorce (at this point) 5 years ago. He told his father that it was because Nick looked a lot like him (Nick actually does resemble his father quite a bit) and when she was drunk she would attempt to have sex with him. When she was more sober she would grope him and make comments about him being as handsome as his father and that she hoped he would grow up quickly. Both Nick’s father and his girlfriend (the one he cheated on Karen with) were understandably horrified. The girlfriend had a lawyer brother who was damn good at his job and he immediately jumped on the case.<br /><br />Nick told me that being in the Drama Club really paid off. None of it was true, except for her wanting him to grow up quickly (remember the cash cow thing). Everything he told the lawyer had been devised by Lana, and she had purposefully devised it so that it fit into Karen’s public behavior.<br /><br />Everything just fit in so well that it was hard to believe that 2/3s of the story was a lie. Frank told his story about how Karen had come into his bar with money she had made from stealing from my house, and how she used it to buy alcohol. Nick told his story about confronting his mother after carrying me home and how she freely admitted that she had stolen my things and he had to fight her for the bracelet. The lawyer reasoned that Karen was the only person who didn’t have a job in town, so she had the most free time to go around to people’s houses and steal things. Plus the alcohol that had disappeared from Frank’s bar, which obviously went to the town alcoholic. She had stolen money before from her old waitress job. And she had admitted to stealing stuff from me and selling it for booze money, so it was likely that she had the intent to do so again and had put her crimes on a wider scale and meant to eventually hock all the items she had illegally acquired.<br /><br />It turned out that Karen really had drank that alcohol too. Nick just refilled her bottles with the stolen alcohol and she never noticed. They found the empty bottles all over the house, including under her bed with all the other stuff she "stole".<br /><br />Lana's ultimate card though was that there were plenty of eyewitnesses who listened to Karen shit talk in the bar. Stuff about how Nick was going through a rebellious phase and she had to "discipline" him and had drunkenly contemplated tying him up so that he wouldn’t run to his “asshole father”. About how other children in the neighborhood were stupid brats (especially me and Lana) and how she would love to “discipline” them too. Karen’s “discipline” was most likely violence, but coupled with Nick’s sexual abuse story it was taken as an admittance to pedophilia.<br /><br />Lana had heard about this previously from Frank ranting about what a shameless b*tch Karen was and decided that it was perfect to use for her purposes. She had crafted everything to have at least a grain of truth.<br /><br />In other words, Karen got sent to prison under the label of a sexual offender. All because she stole some of my mom’s jewelry and lied to me about my parents.<br /><br />Epilogue<br /><br />Just to get it out of the way:<br /><br />My dad unfortunately passed away after a very long fight. My mother went through her own bout with depression and ended up moving out of that town. I was in university in the next state over at the time so she found a place nearby for the both of us to live in starting from my junior year (I was in the dorms before that). We both moved out of the country after I graduated. She’s a lot better now, but she refuses to date anyone else. Wears her silver bracelet everyday because it was a gift from my father.<br /><br />Lana would go on to get a degree in education and then moved out of the country to teach overseas. Her parents eventually also moved out of that town and eventually went to live and take care of Lana’s tiger grandmother on the west coast. Her grandmother was the only other person she revealed this revenge story to. Her grandmother was pleased and would call her “My general” in Chinese. Her parents still don’t know why. We're still in touch.<br /><br />Nick would leave town almost immediately after Karen went to jail to live with his father and eventual stepmother. We kept a long-distance relationship before he finally broke it off and admitted that he was too scared of Lana and what she could do if he ever disappointed me. After what she had just done to his mother I didn’t blame him and said I was fine being friends. He runs his own bakery now, married with a daughter and another child on the way.<br /><br />Frank passed away at the ripe old age of 80. He was about 68 when this whole event occurred. RIP old friend. You were my grandfather in spirit.<br /><br />I’m fairly certain that Karen’s dead. Nick and her father and entire family cut her off and never visited her and even if she’s still alive they don’t know and don’t care. I don’t live in the States anymore so I don’t care either.<br /><br />This is another question I've gotten: Why did Nick's stepmother's lawyer brother do nothing to help when Nick's parents were divorcing? Long story short it was because her brother disapproved of infidelity. Yes, Karen was an asshole, but yes, they were still married. But he immediately jumped on board when he heard that there was a kid being sexually abused, so he's a good guy.<br /><br />Hope you enjoyed my story! It’s made Lana something of a celebrity among my friends and they’re gobsmacked when I put her on Skype or Zoom (these days at least) to talk to them. I don’t think they ever quite believed that she was real before that.<br /><br />EDIT: I realized that I forgot to add something about the sexual abuse before a couple comments reminded me. Already made a responding comment below but I'll put it up here too.<br /><br />At that time, Nick told me that none of what he told the lawyer was true. About a year afterward (we were already broken up) he called me up and told me that there was some partial truth to the sexual abuse, but it was more like sexual harassment. When Karen got really piss drunk, she'd mistake him for her ex-husband (again, they look very alike). She'd either fly into a rage and try to hit him, or she'd attempt to seduce him. She had pushed him down a few times. He always managed to escape and it never quite clicked in his mind that it was something abusive or predatory because he just thought it was one of her drunk episodes. He never told me because "that's not something you tell your crush", but he had told Lana. And he probably regrets it.<br /><br />He told me about it because he was starting therapy and had only come to the realization that drunk or not, it was still abusive.]]></description>
<dc:creator>twocents</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2020 16:05:45 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,438199,438199#msg-438199</guid>
<title>A weapons thread:) (no replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,438199,438199#msg-438199</link><description><![CDATA[Foreword: I apologize if I posted this in the wrong forum.<br />If I have, let me know I'll try to move it to the appropriate forum.<br /><br />I'm curious as to whether or not any bratfreers here have weapons of any kind, be it brass knuckles, baseball bats, knives, whatever. If so, have you named any of them.I've only got myself a knife (a pretty damn good one too, or so I think). That's about it, really. My mom, who I live with due to being disabled, has a small box filled with knives (one of them was made from a railroad spike), a compound bow with a quiver filled with real arrows, a vintage fireman's axe, and two hatchets lying around somewhere.<br /><br />Here's my knife. (The pack of marlboros is for scale).<br />I named him rat bastard.]]></description>
<dc:creator>Anonymous User</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Fri, 09 Oct 2020 20:44:35 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,437067,437067#msg-437067</guid>
<title>Americans protesting mask mandates by wearing mesh ones (10 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,437067,437067#msg-437067</link><description><![CDATA[I have always felt a slight shame about being American. Americans tend to be entitled assholes. We are the most selfish people on the planet.<br /><br />But this...I am practically speechless. The fury and shame I feel is overwhelming.<br /><br />https://www.wthr.com/article/news/investigations/13-investigates/13-investigates-anti-mask-protestors-turn-to-mesh-yarn-crochet-masks-covid-coronavirus/531-5350260c-d6b1-4bd8-857e-860fe84e0f52<br /><br />People are wearing mesh masks now to show compliance while retaining their ability to spread virus. Because everything is about THEM, not the public health.<br /><br />The governor of my own state has banned mask mandates while Alabama has a statewide mandate. We have been shown up by ALABAMA.<br /><br />My brother in law just waited 24 hours in an ER (heart problems) because there were no beds, while my sister waited in the car.<br /><br />The baboon in chief refuses to lead. It will be up to retailers to stop the spread.]]></description>
<dc:creator>toraneko</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Tue, 21 Jul 2020 10:34:32 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,436828,436828#msg-436828</guid>
<title>People don't care if the elderly live or die (5 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,436828,436828#msg-436828</link><description><![CDATA[Once again, people reveal just how nasty they can get with the glorification of children. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jun/30/covid-19-intensifies-elder-abuse-globally-as-hospitals-prioritise-young" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Elder abuse is on the rise</a> in many places in the world, because so many people have just decided to write off older people in the covid-19 era.]]></description>
<dc:creator>yurble</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Wed, 12 Aug 2020 14:43:48 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,436825,436825#msg-436825</guid>
<title>Prince Harry doing his part to help climate change (10 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,436825,436825#msg-436825</link><description><![CDATA[...by only having 2 brats!<br /><br />I can't remember the source, but Harry and Me-gain are reportedly doing their part for the planet by creating only 2 resource mega-suckers. The same article said they upstaged cousin Eugenie by announcing their pregnancy to the family at her wedding.]]></description>
<dc:creator>toraneko</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2020 15:37:00 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,435984,435984#msg-435984</guid>
<title>Extreme climate change is already here (4 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,435984,435984#msg-435984</link><description><![CDATA[https://www.theverge.com/21252174/heat-humidity-human-survival-climate-change-science-advances<br /><br />Many places are seeing temperatures too hot to survive, which were not expected until the middle of the century. The article does not mention overpopulation, but we all know that is the ultimate cause.]]></description>
<dc:creator>ondinette</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Mon, 11 May 2020 03:01:38 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,435761,435761#msg-435761</guid>
<title>Noise-cancelling headphones (3 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,435761,435761#msg-435761</link><description><![CDATA[I've been wanting noise-cancelling headphones for a while, because I really cannot stand the sound of children and sometimes I'm stuck in public areas where I really cannot avoid them. But are there any headphones that block out those high-pitched shrieks? I know noise-cancelling headphones used to be crap at irregular noises, but I don't know if that has improved. And they're not cheap, so I don't want to just take a chance.<br /><br />I don't mind low-pitched repetitive sounds like plane engines which is what most of them seem to focus on blocking. It's those shrill sounds that give me a headache and make me feel murderous. Right now I use earplugs, but even then, I can still hear the little fuckers shrieking and wailing.<br /><br />Suggestions, short of becoming a hermit or inducing deafness?]]></description>
<dc:creator>yurble</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Sat, 02 May 2020 17:22:19 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,435693,435693#msg-435693</guid>
<title>Catchall thread: COVID deniers, anti maskers, and Bonus! Now President Chump and cronies are positive after hosting super spreader event (49 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,435693,435693#msg-435693</link><description><![CDATA[Oh look, another <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8249463/Wife-coronavirus-denier-died-COVID-19-says-retracted-claims.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Faux-News Watching Trumpophile Who Called COVID a "Political Ploy"</a> is now dead.<br /><br />His wife released a statement that he would have retracted his statement as time went on. Nice try, Honey. PLENTY of people who USED THEIR BRAINS and comprehended the AMPLE EVIDENCE FROM REPUTABLE NEWS SOURCES took the virus seriously.<br /><br />Not these Right Wing Nutjobs, who have zero brain power, understanding or empathy of anything unless it affects them directly.<br /><br />He would have kept on spewing his nonsense on Farcebook and probably would have been one of those stupid protesters.]]></description>
<dc:creator>bell_flower</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Fri, 05 Mar 2021 10:44:52 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,435359,435359#msg-435359</guid>
<title>Spotted on facebook (no replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,435359,435359#msg-435359</link><description><![CDATA[Friend of mine just posted a meme:<br /><br />"Pregnant people: demand $500 in stimulus money for your fetus. You either get paid or get a republican to admit that a fetus is not a child"<br /><br />I was amused. :)]]></description>
<dc:creator>kittehpeoples</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Fri, 03 Apr 2020 13:06:15 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,434988,434988#msg-434988</guid>
<title>Corona virus - the situation where you live (5 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,434988,434988#msg-434988</link><description><![CDATA[For most of last week, things were normal here. Then yesterday the lines in the grocery stores were extremely long, and there were a lot of gaps on the shelves. I'm still not sure why people want so much toilet paper, given that it is a lung infection.<br /><br />All schools are closed. Libraries are going to be closed after today. People who can work from home will probably be doing so from next week. I think pretty soon larger companies will shift into mandated closures because there's no point in keeping offices open when most of the people don't come in.<br /><br /><br /><hr class="bbcode"/><br /><br />Interesting, from the perspective of this board, is the government advice to not visit people in nursing homes and to not turn to grandparents for childcare. So, the answer to the bingo about who will look after you when you're old is "Hopefully, not your family", and breeders are going to have the dubious pleasure of looking after their own children.<br /><br /><br /><hr class="bbcode"/><br /><br />As for me, I generally have a well-stocked pantry. Remote work is possible with my job, so I'm planning to hole up in my apartment for a few weeks. Mostly this is due to the recommendation to avoid people, which is something I feel like I've been preparing for my entire life as an introvert. However although I am overall fairly healthy and young enough to not be in the at-risk group, I do have a history of lung illnesses and asthma. I've started using my steroid inhaler as a preventative measure and I'm testing my peak air flow nightly, and temperature every morning.<br /><br />I am more worried on behalf of friends and relatives. For older people, especially one who is undergoing cancer treatment, for the medical risk. For younger people, it is mostly financial concern as more of them are gig or shift workers who won't get paid if they aren't working. There isn't much I can do to help out the older friends/relatives, like bringing them supplies, because none of them live near me. I gave some money to people in more precarious financial positions so that they can get supplies in case they need to self-isolate. But it really feels like there's very little that I'm able to do, beyond trying not to get it and trying not to spread it.]]></description>
<dc:creator>yurble</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2020 19:28:35 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,432830,432830#msg-432830</guid>
<title>Fuck women, man's right to sex more important (1 reply)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,432830,432830#msg-432830</link><description><![CDATA[<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/oct/03/man-who-does-not-understand-consent-has-right-to-pursue-sex-court-rules" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">This is outrageous.</a> A court has ruled that a man with autism, who has impaired cognition and "cannot understand that a woman's consent is relevant in sexual situations, nor that attempting sex without consent is likely to be a criminal offense" has a "fundamental right to sex" so his care plan cannot prevent him from pursuing sexual relationships. He is classed as being a "moderate risk of sexual offending to women, particularly to those who are vulnerable" but the care plan was imposed in the first place due to his historic behavior toward women which "lacked appropriate social inhibition."<br /><br />If that doesn't sum up rape culture in a nutshell. A vulnerable woman's right to not be raped ranks below a man's "right" to sex. And presumably the rest of us are just supposed to shut up and let people like this molest us in public? Because if he ever does assault someone, he'll no doubt get off on diminished responsibility. Oh, and the judge mentioned sexuality in the context of reproduction, as if the fact that bodies "want" to breed is supposed to justify any of this.]]></description>
<dc:creator>yurble</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Thu, 03 Oct 2019 10:08:46 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,432427,432427#msg-432427</guid>
<title>Austin Texas is cool (1 reply)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,432427,432427#msg-432427</link><description><![CDATA[https://www.yahoo.com/news/abortion-austin-texas-funding-111503019.html<br /><br />I think it is like that because it is a huge "college town" surrounded by crazy conservatives in the rest of the state.]]></description>
<dc:creator>cfdavep</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Fri, 13 Sep 2019 01:05:41 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,431729,431729#msg-431729</guid>
<title>Good riddance to Jeffrey Epstein (12 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,431729,431729#msg-431729</link><description><![CDATA[So it seems that creepy rapist of teenagers, Jeffrey Epstein, killed himself in prison. Which is a shame, as I was looking forward to seeing how many other disgusting people came out of the woodwork as the trial progressed. Aside from who else might be incriminated, I'm sure the world is better off with him dead.<br /><br />He was also a super creepy wanna-breed who had a eugenics plan that involved widespread use of his sperm. Fortunately those genes are now as dead as he is. :dp]]></description>
<dc:creator>yurble</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Sun, 04 Aug 2024 04:10:49 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,431497,431497#msg-431497</guid>
<title>Anybody Miss A Good Troll Roast? :lol (4 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,431497,431497#msg-431497</link><description><![CDATA[The gist of it is that this troll and its sock puppets started a thread on childfree calling the members there evil and vile. Hilarity ensued until the mods woke up and nixed the trolls in the balls, and locking the thread. If you want to see the removed parts, use ceddit or remove.<br /><br />Sometimes I miss the good ol' troll roasts on Bratfree. :lol<br /><br /><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/childfree/comments/cjxgan/i_gotta_say_this_subreddit_is_full_of_someone_of/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">clicky linky</a><br /><br /><br />For reference: https://www.reddit.com/r/childfree/comments/cjxgan/i_gotta_say_this_subreddit_is_full_of_someone_of/<br /><br /><b>ETA:</b><br /><br /><b>ceddit:</b> https://www.ceddit.com/r/childfree/comments/cjxgan/i_gotta_say_this_subreddit_is_full_of_someone_of/<br /><br /><b>remove:</b> https://www.removeddit.com/r/childfree/comments/cjxgan/i_gotta_say_this_subreddit_is_full_of_someone_of/]]></description>
<dc:creator>Peace</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Wed, 31 Jul 2019 20:38:45 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,430519,430519#msg-430519</guid>
<title>Preachers ripping off poor people (no replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,430519,430519#msg-430519</link><description><![CDATA[https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-47675301<br /><br /><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-47675301" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-47675301</a><br /><br /><blockquote class="bbcode"><div><small>Quote<br/></small><strong>BBC News</strong><br/>
Televangelist Todd Coontz has a well-worn routine: he dresses in a suit, pulls out a Bible and urges viewers to pledge a very specific amount of money. "Don't delay, don't delay," he urges, calmly but emphatically.<br />It sounds simple, absurdly so, but Coontz knows his audience extremely well. He broadcasts on Christian cable channels, often late into the night, drawing in viewers who lack financial literacy and are desperate for change.<br />"I understand the laws that govern insurance, stocks and bonds and all that is involved with Wall Street," he once said, looking directly into the camera. "God has called me… as a financial deliverer."<br />Crucially, he always refers to the money as a "seed" - a $273 seed, a $333 seed, a "turnaround" seed, depending on the broadcast. If viewers "plant" one, the amount will come back to them, multiplied, he says. It is an investment in their faith and their future...<br /><br />...The Fardette family was going through a tough time. Larry's daughter was seriously ill and he had health problems of his own. His construction business was struggling, and to make matters worse both his van and his car broke down irreparably within the same week. When a local junkyard offered him $600 for the van, he thumbed the bills thoughtfully and remembered Coontz's rousing speech.<br />Maybe he should invest the sum as a "seed"?<br />He instantly recalled the specific number that Coontz had repeated again and again: $273. It was a figure the preacher often used. "God gave me the single greatest miracle of my lifetime in one day, and the numbers two, seven and three were involved," he once said. It is also - perhaps not coincidentally - the number of Coontz's $1.38m condo in South Carolina, paid for by his church, Rockwealth, according to local TV channel WSOC-TV.<br />Larry has now come to realise there was no foundation to Coontz's promises that donated cash would multiply, but at the time the stirring speeches gave him hope. He did not see any other way out.<br />He sent off two cheques: one for $273 and another for $333, as requested. Then he waited for his miracle...<br /><br /></div></blockquote><br /><br />I have to admit, to be able to bullshit people like that, these preachers have got be really good. I completely forgot that they existed and forgot that they even ask for money.]]></description>
<dc:creator>Techie</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Fri, 31 May 2019 23:22:25 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,428591,428591#msg-428591</guid>
<title>Vegetative woman raped in AZ (6 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,428591,428591#msg-428591</link><description><![CDATA[https://news.yahoo.com/woman-vegetative-state-14-years-195334875.html<br /><br />Pro-liars probably enjoyed hearing this]]></description>
<dc:creator>cfdavep</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Tue, 15 Jan 2019 20:49:08 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,428311,428311#msg-428311</guid>
<title>My Wife Is a Freakin' Breeder-Pleaser (8 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,428311,428311#msg-428311</link><description><![CDATA[Before my wife left to go home to moomie and duhdie, she got all bent out of shape because I called her family breeders. Moomie isn't going to get grand brats from her real children, so she's saying that skanky SIL's brats are her grand children. They're not.. this person was a foster-child. They never got to adopt her, so I point out that Skank isn't Anna's real sister. Then Mrs. Herne got further bent out of shape because I'm pissed that MIL's Fakebook photo isn't one of her REAL children with her. Nope, it's Wannabe Grandmoo and her fake :"grandchildren". The fact that she doesn't see anything wrong with it makes her a breeder-pleaser in my book.<br /><br />And does anyone think it's bad that I told her that if she kept this suicide BS up she end up in the state hospital? It's the damn truth. She says it was unforgivable and when I said that I snapped any connection we might have had. I think it was high time that she heard the truth. She says she came close to suicide, so she checked herself into a local mental health triage center. Of course her idiot therapist and a bunch of people claim I was abusive to her. Why? For telling her to grow up and quit being an oblivious little snow flake. That's not being abusive--that's telling her the truth instead of coddling her.<br /><br />Anyhow, so nice to know that she's a breeder-pleaser. And yes, most people with children are breeders. Her parents raised two utterly useless children...neither of them are worth the powder to blow to hell. She's mentally-ill and so's her brother. And she's epileptic on top of it all.I almst wish she had committed suicide.]]></description>
<dc:creator>MerlynHerne</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Sun, 29 Dec 2019 18:27:03 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,428286,428286#msg-428286</guid>
<title>Resources for people estranged from family (4 replies)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,428286,428286#msg-428286</link><description><![CDATA[I know several of us have made posts in the past about experiencing at least some level of estrangement from family, either voluntarily and initiated by us, or involuntary and initiated by them. I found a list of cool links today that may be handy for those of us in that situation. There's some good stuff in there and I hope somebody finds it helpful!<br />_________________________<br /><br /><br />Surviving the holidays with estrangement:<br /><br />https://londoncentralcounselling.com/2017/12/05/going-no-contact-family-estrangement-at-christmas-and-other-major-holidays/<br /><br />http://www.standalone.org.uk/guides/festive-guide/<br /><br />https://www.rewriting-the-rules.com/self/rewriting-rules-festive-season/<br /><br />https://londoncentralcounselling.com/2014/11/25/surviving-the-festive-season-part-one-what-makes-it-so-stressful/<br /><br />https://londoncentralcounselling.com/2014/12/16/surviving-the-festive-season-part-two-strategies-for-getting-through-it/<br /><br />A general article about cultivating "chosen family" and some of the challenges and pitfalls in that:<br /><br />https://londoncentralcounselling.com/2017/11/12/chosen-family-10-pitfalls-to-be-aware-of-when-creating-one-of-your-own/<br /><br />________________<br /><br />A support site for people who are estranged from family:<br /><br />http://www.standalone.org.uk<br /><br />________________<br /><br />Academic papers and studies I found on the subject of estrangement:<br /><br /><br />https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1066&context=commstudiespapers<br /><br />http://standalone.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/HiddenVoices.FinalReport.pdf<br /><br />https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5261&context=etd<br /><br />https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0093650217715542<br /><br />https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15267431.2015.1111215<br /><br />______________________<br /><br />https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1066&context=commstudiespapers<br /><br />http://standalone.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/HiddenVoices.FinalReport.pdf<br /><br />http://www.standalone.org.uk/guides/festive-guide/<br /><br />https://www.rewriting-the-rules.com/self/rewriting-rules-festive-season/<br /><br />https://londoncentralcounselling.com/2014/11/25/surviving-the-festive-season-part-one-what-makes-it-so-stressful/<br /><br />https://londoncentralcounselling.com/2014/12/16/surviving-the-festive-season-part-two-strategies-for-getting-through-it/<br /><br />https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2018/11/19/holidays-family-estrangement<br /><br />______________<br /><br />https://www.monbiot.com/2012/12/10/the-gift-of-death/<br /><br />https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5261&context=etd<br /><br />https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/dec/15/becca-bland-estranged-parents<br /><br />https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0093650217715542<br /><br />https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5261&context=etd<br /><br />https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15267431.2015.1111215<br /><br />https://londoncentralcounselling.com/2017/11/12/chosen-family-10-pitfalls-to-be-aware-of-when-creating-one-of-your-own/<br /><br />http://www.standalone.org.uk/guides/festive-guide/]]></description>
<dc:creator>cosmictraveler</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Sun, 30 Dec 2018 18:58:22 +0000</pubDate></item>
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<guid>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,427740,427740#msg-427740</guid>
<title>Hey all, long time no see! (1 reply)</title><link>http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?7,427740,427740#msg-427740</link><description><![CDATA[Hi folks, I haven't posted in probably a few years! I'm still with my CF husband who is awesome, I'm about to finish my degree, and I found a part time job in my field which I'm hoping to eventually turn into a full time job as they are wanting to develop me for eventual promotion. I lost 70 lbs and kept it off fpr 2 years, then managed to put about 25 of it back on while I was in school, but I have a degree so it was worth it! I've gotten back in to music bigtime and hope to gather a band of sorts together at some point. So how has everyone else been doing?]]></description>
<dc:creator>cosmictraveler</dc:creator>
<category>The Patio</category><pubDate>Fri, 23 Nov 2018 19:08:59 +0000</pubDate></item>
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