World is Falling Apart Thread (Locked forever)

[Ack]

The timing of this is also curious because of how much it has pulled the media discussion away from the Trump healthcare plan that passed through the House. Like Comey or not, the timing of this doesn't look good anyway to view it.

[Sarge]

Optics are king in politics these days. Sad, but true. It's a bad look.

[marurun]

It disturbs me that this early in his presidency, Trump is already mimicking Nixon at his most paranoid. And Trump isn't nearly as competent a statesman as Nixon was, which makes it all the more terrifying.

The US has, collectively, made a terrible mistake, and I fear the consequences will haunt us for some time.

[Ack]

Nixon, Hell. We've got an Andrew Jackson in the White House, and that terrifies me even more.

[marurun]

Putting this in here because I don't want more of these threads, and it kind of applies.

tl:dr A research study found multiple long-lasting negative consequences for spanking and not even a single positive. Spanking children really is just hitting your kids.

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/pa ... al-health/

[MrPopo]

I won't dispute the research, but there's a whole lot of parents who don't know how to reign in a child without it. Maybe switch people to spray bottles like you do with cats?

[Sarge]

So, I have to ask, is this a correlation or a causation? Because naturally kids that have behavior problems are going to be spanked more than those that are well-behaved.

I have been spanked, and it kept me from doing the sorts of behaviors that I didn't need to do. My parents were very sparing about it, though, only using it in instances where we had done something extremely bad or life-threatening. (I probably only received 6-7 in my lifetime from my parents.)

As I got older, that was less effective. Instead, taking away my precious TV and video games was a much better incentive to keep up my behavior. (That didn't happen much, either. I was a good kid, I guess.)

I really do think what is effective is going to change on a case-by-case basis, including within the same family. It's up to parents to know their kids well enough to know what will work and what won't.

[marurun]

There is ALWAYS a non-spanking alternative. Many parents don't know those methods or sometimes stumble trying to make them work. Spanking is definitely easier and faster. But research has never, to my knowledge, concluded spanking is effective AND harmless.

And yes, I was spanked as a child in rare occasions. That I consider myself OK as an adult doesn't mean I think it was good practice.

From a Chicago Tribune article about the study, "The evidence against spanking is one of the most consistent findings in the field of psychology," Gershoff said.

[MrPopo]

Who wants to see the Director of Mossad facepalm the President?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/ ... _east.html

[Pulsar_t]

22 dead in Manchester. Tragic, but hardly surprising anymore.