I have the Ladurée macaron cookbook and I look at it frequently, and then go buy a lesser version of the cookie and pretend I’m happy.

Go read the news yourself then. It’s all out there. People have lost access to health benefits, water hygiene standards are being relaxed, critical cybersecurity initiatives are being cut, national parks will be less accessible to all (some of Colorado’s have already announced they’ll be closed two days a week), the impacts are both immediate and longer term, and far reaching. If you want to hear about immediate direct impact, a critical domestic violence center in Colorado that has been providing cross-departmental case management and victim advocacy since 2016 will likely have to shut down because its federal funding was cut by DOGE and victims are currently being turned away. The immediate, very real, impacts are EASY to discover with a minimal amount of research effort. The larger ones are just starting to make themselves known.

Yeah, there may be more that hadn’t made the published list yet. sigh Hard to keep up…

ETA: I don’t think the IRS is on there either. DOGE is cutting their funding too.

• Department of Education (ED)
• U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
• Department of Defense (DoD)
• National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
• General Services Administration (GSA)
• Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
• Department of Agriculture (USDA)
• Department of Commerce (DOC)
• Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
• Department of the Treasury (TREAS)
• Department of Labor (DOL)
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• Department of Justice (DOJ)
• Social Security Administration (SSA)
• Department of State (DOS)
• Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
• Small Business Administration (SBA)
• Department of Transportation (DOT)
• Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
• U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
• Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
• Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
• National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
• Department of Energy (DOE)
• National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
• Railroad Retirement Board (RRB)

From the official DOGE website.

I think to some extent people realize folks may have bought a regular Tesla before it was as obvious how shitty Musk is. However, cybertruck owners definitely bought as his behavior was becoming obvious and have no excuse. So while there’s certainly some derision towards Tesla, it’s “safer” to target cybertrucks, so they get the vast majority.

This would be preferable.

While I’m not a political scholar to understand the limits of their power, their leaders can certainly express their own stances.

And like most things in the US, some states have more money, power, and influence than others. It’s complicated.

It’s more to show the ability to do something widespread than the one day being the catalyst. Get people talking about it, bonding over it, and send a message that we have a cohesive communication network when needed.

This post stated “…as depressed as me” that implies they are looking for kids to pull them out of some level of depression.

That’s a terrible strategy for everyone involved, but especially the kids. If this was your chosen depression coping strategy three times over, PLUS in the US, I guess good for you, but generally speaking it’s not supported by broad societal studies.

The article I chose was just a quick search, but there are quite a number of studies that support not using childbirth as a mental health coping mechanism.

You sound a bit defensive and passive aggressive to me. I hope you are truly, deeply fulfilled and are just having an off day.

Not really. Judge for yourself, and follow the legit studies. If you’re already happy, in a good relationship, and in a country (not the US) that heavily supports parenthood, and you’re the father, then at least you might break even.

(tl:dr) “Parents will always be quick to proclaim the gifts and blessings their children provide, but a more detached appraisal calls into question this conventional wisdom.”

https://ifstudies.org/blog/does-having-children-make-people-happier-in-the-long-run

Having kids will not help your happiness level…