Doormat...

When your partner cancel plans with you when something better comes up with his buddies? Or she picks up a non-urgent work call while you two are out to dinner celebrating your birthday. It might be a sign.

On bad days, weren't  be the best versions of ourselves,  cranky or short-tempered. But when bad behavior is the rule, it may be a problem.

If, more often than not, your partner is having emotional outbursts, or exhibiting narcissistic behaviors, it may be a warning.

You don’t want to be the understanding spouse for the rest of your life, or soon you’ll start feeling like a doormat. People get married for lots of reasons, it’s not always for love. Just a thought.

Shadow...

Federal agents descended on the suburban Maryland house with the flash and bang of a stun grenade, blocked off the street and spent hours questioning the homeowner about a theft of government documents that prosecutors  described as “breathtaking” in its scale.

The suspect, Harold Martin, was a contractor for the National Security Agency. His arrest followed news of a devastating disclosure of government hacking tools by a mysterious internet group calling itself the Shadow Brokers. It seemed to some that the United States might have found another Edward Snowden, who also had been a contractor for the agency.

The case against Martin is scheduled to be resolved in Baltimore’s federal court. But the identity of the Shadow Brokers, and the leak with national security implications, will remain a public mystery.

Flipped...

The DA race flipped on its head Wednesday night when Katz unexpectedly took the lead by a mere 20 votes after some 6,000 paper ballots were counted.

Lawyer for Katz said the shifting narrative on how many ballots should be counted shows Cabán’s campaign is only interested in getting votes for her counted while "stoking conspiracy theories” about an establishment takeover.

Lawyers for Cabán said they believe another 114 ballots should be counted that were invalidated because voters had failed to list their party affiliation.

The fate of those votes will be decided in Queens Supreme Court, where lawyers for both sides will square off Tuesday.

Poll-1...

In a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Wednesday  showing the former vice president leading the pack of 2020 Democrats and the California senator tied for third place.

The poll was conducted using different methodology than some of the other surveys 

released since last debate. 

Respondents were asked for whom they would vote in the Democratic primary or caucus in their state.

For that question, Biden leads Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders among respondents who identified as Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents, 25 percent to 18 percent, with Harris and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren tied for third place at 9 percent.

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (3 percent) is the only other candidate earning more than 1 percent on the open-ended question.

Since this isn't WrestleMania, attacking a candidate shouldn't be a poll boost.

Picnic...

Valentine...

Some of us think we’re going to end up as cat ladies; others fret about being alone on Valentine’s Day. Whatever your worry, don’t let it drive you to get married for the sake of being coupled.

According to Psychologist and relationship coach Linda Young, Ph.D., people who fear that they can’t be happy without a partner often end up making decisions out of “security-seeking” instead of a healthy ability to depend on other people.

The problem with such reasoning is that, if you aren’t happy on your own, there’s little chance that another person’s company is going to change you. Before you tie the knot, remember that the most important relationship in your life is your relationship with yourself.

Belonging...

In America today, it’s easy to believe that marriage is a social good that our lives and our communities are better when more people get and stay married. There have, of course, been massive changes to the institution over the past few generations, leading the occasional cultural critic to ask if is marriage becoming obsolete?

More often the question functions as a kind of rhetorical sleight of hand, a way of stirring up moral panic about changing family values or speculating about whether society has become too cynical for love. 

In popular culture, the sentiment still prevails that marriage makes us happy and divorce leaves us lonely, and that never getting married at all is a fundamental failure of belonging.

What is lost by making marriage the most central relationship in a culture?

When a couple talk about whether or not they want to get married, friends tend to assume that they are trying to decide whether or not they are “serious” about the  relationship.

But many aren't expressing doubts about the relationship; many are doubting the institution itself.

Cost...

While marriage is often seen as an essential step in a successful life. 

Getting married is still “the most prestigious way to live your life.”  

Justice Anthony Kennedy once wrote, “Marriage responds to the universal fear that a lonely person might call out only to find no one there.

 It offers the hope of companionship, and assurance that while both still live there will be someone to care for the other.” 

The notion that marriage is the best answer to the deep human desire for connection and belonging—is incredibly seductive.   But whatever its benefits, marriage also comes with a cost."

 Sociologists found that marriage actually weakens other social ties. Compared with those who stay single.

Married folks are less likely to visit or call parents and siblings and less inclined to offer them emotional support or pragmatic help.

Single people, by contrast, are far more connected to the social world around them. On average, they provide more care for their siblings and aging parents. They have more friends. They are more likely to offer help to neighbors and ask for it in return. This is especially true for those who have always been single. Single women in particular are more politically engaged—attending rallies and fundraising for causes that are important to them—than married women

Struggling...

Fox News has been the most-watched cable news network for 70 consecutive quarters after finishing the second quarter of 2019 ahead of MSNBC and struggling CNN in both total day and primetime viewers -- as Sean Hannity crushed Rachel Maddow's show in the 9 p.m. ET hour.

Fox News averaged 2.4 million primetime viewers to rank as the most-watched network in all of basic cable from 8-11 p.m. ET. MSNBC came in second place with an average of 1.7 million, while TNT, ESPN, and HGTV rounded out the top five.

The lowly CNN finished fifteenth, averaging only 761,000 primetime viewers and finishing behind channels such as Discovery and the Food Network.

Fox News was the only basic cable network to average more than one million total-day viewers, finishing with 1.3 million to win the category for the 12th straight quarter. MSNBC finished second with 900,000, followed by HGTV, Nickelodeon and Investigation Discovery. CNN averaged only 525,000 to finish eighth overall.

Pledge..

With this ideology, not enough taxes collected from the rich and the poor Americans. So get ready for more taxes and less services.