red750

Donald Trump was speaking about Donna Arthur, estranged mother of Democratic nominee Amy Acton, who has been charged with killing 3 kittens by leaving them in a hot vehicle. I missed the first part of the conversation but he commented on the poor bringing up of Acton, "not like my mother." Then he looked up and said :thank you,Mum." The camera switched back to Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. He looked up and repeated, "Thank you,Mum.", then looked down at the floor and said, "You too, Dad."

Every nation is affected economically by the wars in Iran and Ukraine. Then how come the UK has had zero interest rate rises this year, USA has had 1, Canada zero, New Zealand 2 and the EU 2, but Australia has now had 5?

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1167549079294119

Hollywood has lost another beloved star. Elke Sommer, the German-born actress who became one of 1960s Hollywood’s most recognizable faces in comedies and espionage films, has died at 85. Speaking to the German news outlet Bild, her stepson Sebastian Walther said Sommer died at home in Bel Air, in Los Angeles, on Wednesday, OCtober 28.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/2842812786114906

Click the emoji icon in the text box toolbar and search Groan.

Correct.

Potsy on Happy Days.

This collection of potholes at the end of Mahoney's Road Forest Hill, where the buses turn off Canterbury Road to go to the bus terminus in Forest Hill Chase, have been there for at least two months. If they get much bigger, a bus will be swallowed up.

General interest.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/29130341663283120

My fault I know, but this is thread drift. I have started a new thread to continue the topic.

Many of the adopted children have gaps in their history as they grow older. Did they love me? Why was I given away? Was I not wanted? What happened to my birth parents? Were they married? Was I the result of a one-night stand? Are they still alive? Did I have any siblings or half-siblings? It's very hard for someone to discover that their parents were married and they had older and younger siblings. Why would parents give away a middle child? The reasons for giving up a child are many. The mother may only have been 15 or 16 and too young to care for a child. Casual relationships that broke up, with no support for the child. Strict parents not wanting the shame. Religious attitudes to unmarried mothers. Mixed races or religions (Catholic and Protestant in Ireland). Relationships with foreign servicemen reposted to their home country. Even for married couples, if the father is out of work or in prison. And the list goes on. Another consideration is genetic disorders passed from generation to generation. There was a couple who had to surrender their child because they couldn't afford to feed themselves, let alone a baby. They stayed married for a couple of years, then divorced. The father suffered a heart condition and then discovered it was a genetic disorder. The race was on to locate the son. The parents searched together, through the program, and located the son. He was tested and found he had the disorder. He was only months away from a heart attack, but was treated in time and saved. Mothers forced to give up their child `through parental pressure, social stigma or economic circumstances pine for their lost child for the rest of their lives, wanting to know if they had a good life, loving adoptive parents, and have made good as they grew up.

I have seen lots of stories like this, as I am kind of addicted to a program called Long Lost Family. It is an English program that has run for a number of years, but there is an American version, and there was an Australian version for one season. The program acts on behalf of people who were adopted at birth or an early age, or parents forced to give up their children, but have wanted to find out that they have a good life. In the UK in the 50's, 60's and 70's, having a child out of wedlock was a family disgrace, and many parents refused to have their illegitimate grandchild brought up in the family, putting the mother in a mother and baby home till the child was born, then having it adopted. Often these adopted babies grew up to be adults who looked nothing like their adoptive parents or siblings, and wondering where they came from. The program uses DNA databases and special intermediaries to trace their parents because the details of adopted children were usually changed and protected. It is very emotional when an adoptee is reunited with their birth mother or father, or when birth siblings who did not know about each other finally meet. Family is often located in other parts of the world. The most difficult ones are foundlings, who were dumped by their mother on doorsteps, phone boxes, even railway luggage racks. They have no record of where or when they were born, just a baby in a cardboard box or shopping bag. The program airs on Channel 2 and is available on ABC Iview.