Without getting too deep into the revolting details, let’s talk a little about the Cornell rape case.
I think we have been conditioned to think of gang rape in a certain way. Unless we’ve experienced it ourselves (shudder), we may think of it in a porn-y way (a woman held down by two or more men, who cries until she really gets into it, etc. etc.). Or we may think of it the way Jodie Foster and her colleagues acted it in “The Accused.” Again, a woman lifted onto a barroom pinball machine, assaulted by a series of men until she runs out, screaming.
We may have heard whispers of “gang bangs,” with the high-school slut or a prostitute, perhaps arranged for a party. She’s drunk — you’d have to be — and never says no.
Or we may be skeptical in general. The infamous Rolling Stone rape story about the University of Virginia turned out to be hooey. It’s unwise to believe everything before you know all, or at least some, of the facts.
There are men, and a few women, who are denying the claims made in the Cornell case by saying that she was willing until she wasn’t, and was she even unwilling, toward the end? She started out by saying yes to a threesome, then yes to a different arrangement, and it was only days later that she decided she’d been raped. So how can it be rape? How can you say no once you’ve said yes?
Simple: By saying no, but more critically, by men recognizing that a woman who is insensate or semi-conscious IS NOT CAPABLE OF GIVING CONSENT, EVEN IF SHE SAYS OK. We’re not talking tipsy or a little high. This woman reported being 10 drinks in before she even showed up at the frat house, then had more to drink plus ketamine.
Next week we’ll cover how to get her some help when no one else will. A big step, I know.
Let’s move on to an issue that really matters: Susan Dell’s face.
I’ve seen a million comments on it, and don’t really feel the need to add my own. She is entitled to do what she wants to her body, and I’ve reached the point I no longer trust photography. Here is her photo on her own foundation’s website:
And here’s a photo from Yahoo Finance:
I think I’ve told the story here before, when I was dating a news photographer and watched him printing and reprinting a photo of Jeane Kirkpatrick, burning and dodging to emphasize her wrinkles. He didn’t like her, and I’m sure the photographers who work the White House have no great love for the people they shoot there. But I’ve looked through a bunch of recent photos of her, and the second image seems closer to reality than the first. All I really have to say is: It’s too bad. She was so pretty once, and in what seems to be a misguided effort to hang on to pretty as long as possible, she…made some mistakes. It’s taken this long, but I am honestly grateful not to have been a knockout in my youth, or even much beyond average-looking, because the alternative seems to be the panic over its inevitable fading that leads to faces like this.
Also, Madonna looks terrible. Just gotta say that.
Plastic surgery seems to be a mixture of many volatile elements — the surgeon’s skill, the material s/he has to work with (bone structure, mainly), luck (will the skin stretch evenly?) and the most unstable of all, i.e., the client. Will s/he be satisfied with the result? Can s/he even see it? What do we see when we look in the mirror? That’s the real mystery.
Finally, Hoosiers: Jeff Gill tipped me off to these groyper pieces of crap the other day. If you spend any time online, you may recognize “heritage” as right-wing code for white, and Heritage Indiana does not disappoint:
We’re friends who realized the world we grew up in is being destroyed.
We each came to this in different ways. Maybe you went back to your hometown and it was filled with strangers or you’ve noticed kids don’t play outside anymore.
We asked: “Who represents Hoosiers who want to preserve our way of life?” No one. If we don’t, our home will be erased. We are banding together to take back our state. This is what thousands of patriots are waiting for.
Their current beef is that Fort Wayne’s biggest hospital has an internal-medicine resident class of 15, and 14 are FOREIGN. Why won’t the media cover this story? they ask. Maybe because it’s not new, and who gives a shit. You want your kid to become a doctor, ride them every day of their lives the way south Asian, Asian and Middle Eastern parents do their own.
Enough with these racists. Time to upload and get the week going.
Mark P said on October 11, 2026 at 1:12 pm
The first image is of a (much) younger person, or it has been photoshopped. Probably both.
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Deborah said on October 11, 2026 at 1:20 pm
Do billionaires get weird because they’re constantly surrounded by sycophants who tell them how great they are and how great they look, because our society worships wealth and the wealthy? I don’t get it. The Mar-a-Lago face looks so clownish to me, is it a status thing? If you have those giant sloppy lips it means you’re a member of a special club and you’re better than women with normal aging lips? They can’t be doing it because they think they look better with them. Susan Dell’s lips aren’t so bad but her excessive thinness and her startled eyes look bizarre.
I know that Melania and Ivanka have had a lot of work done but they don’t seem to have fallen prey to bad plastic surgeons yet. Maybe it’s just a matter of time.
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Alan P Stamm said on October 11, 2026 at 1:44 pm
The racist rot reaches into Indiana state government, I see from a recent Journal Gazette column:
“Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith endorses this [Heritage] organization, and told its mass deportation rally that immigrants should ‘become like us.’ He warned of a ‘foreign hostile faith.'”
Figures this yahoo is originally from Hillsdale, Mich., and spews Islamophobia on podcasts and X.
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alex said on October 11, 2026 at 3:08 pm
American medical students saddled with hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans aren’t interested in working 80 hours a week for shit pay in a podunk hospital. I knew a Stanford medical grad in Chicago who’s now close to retirement age who only just recently paid off his student loans. But these “heritage” neo-Nazis aren’t interested in facts. They just want to advance and normalize the narrative that any female or person of color in a professional role is an underqualified DEI hire who’s usurping the rightful place of a white man.
The local media, with their bare-bones staff, can rightfully be criticized for failing to investigate all sorts of things, but to their credit at least they don’t take the bait from a racist fringe group claiming that they’re hiding a scandal.
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Colleen said on October 11, 2026 at 3:53 pm
Do people not get that time marches on? Kids aren’t playing outside because they’re inside on some computerized device or another, or their parents won’t let them play outside the way we used to, in that “be home when the streetlights come on” kind of way.
I’m so sick of xenophobes. I got into it on Threads today…told I was speaking like a true lefty…”probably supporting Palestine, loving Muslims and “illegals”, and hating America”.
Then I was told Muslims had taken over Michigan and Texas.
Meanwhile, those shrieking about Sharia Law want the Ten Commandments in school and public executions. Do these people have no critical thinking skills? Any semblance of logic in their walnut sized brains? Sheesh.
I,too am glad my beauty wasn’t my value in my younger days…I am only freaking out a tiny bit about my 60th next year, and I know I look pretty good for that age, thanks to good wrinkle genes. I’ll admit to some vanity projects, like hair color, lash lifts, and powdered brows,but I still look like me. Just me if I’m always wearing mascara.
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Mark P said on October 11, 2026 at 4:09 pm
From the male perspective, I always said that if I lost the hair on top of my head, and was left with a fringe, I would shave my head. Well, I’m close to a bald pate, and I’m cutting my own hair very close to the skin. Not quite shaving, but … close. It’s really convenient. I don’t have to comb my hair when I put on a t-shirt, and drying it after a shower is almost an afterthought. Does it look good? No one has offered an opinion one way or the other. I take that to mean that I have polite friends.
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A different Connie said on October 11, 2026 at 4:57 pm
Probably the white residents with choices didn’t want to work/live in Fort Wayne.
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Jim G said on October 11, 2026 at 6:06 pm
There’s nothing quite so dog-whistley as “preserve our way of life.” Ugh.
As for Susan Dell, the second picture looks like someone who is 62 and desperately trying to look like she’s 19.
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linda said on October 11, 2026 at 7:18 pm
The older I get, the more grateful I am that I did not get the tremendous power of beauty and the Clive in the fear of losing it. It’s a gift that can withdraw at any time, and you can’t do a damn thing about it.
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Pam H said on October 11, 2026 at 8:26 pm
Regarding Susan Dell, she could have looked a lot better without any plastic surgery if she had 1. ditched the very bad brassy highlights, 2. stopped putting on makeup with a trowel, it looks really gunky, 3. we don’t outline our lips any more and choose a better shade. After that she can get all the surgeries she wants because that neck definitely had to go, although it probably wouldn’t have looked so bad if she just gained about 10 lbs. I’m taking your word for it that the before/after is really the same person. The change is very dramatic.
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Julie Robinson said on October 11, 2026 at 8:47 pm
Most of our doctors, both in Fort Wayne and here in Orlando, have been non-white. I always figured it was because they wanted to put in the work, unlike most white kids. I’ve been really happy with them for the most part.
But that’s the whole game plan with these people, isn’t it? Keep the citizenry inflamed instead of looking for real solutions. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, there’s a woman with green skin so she must be the cause of all our problems.
Anyway, to me Susan Dell looks dangerously skinny, as in anorexic. Maybe some plastic surgery but I don’t pay enough attention to that whole scene to know.
I don’t think I was ever pretty in the conventional sense, because in my day the standard was tiny, blonde, and straight hair. I was not only tall but have a large frame, and had black, unruly curls. But on a good day I might have been striking. I gave up coloring my hair and would never harness myself to that yoke again. So I guess I don’t give a flying fig. But I do still wear makeup and I pretty much don’t leave the house without it.
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alex said on October 11, 2026 at 9:17 pm
Pic #1 is obviously airbrushed to the hilt, but she’s got the kind of face that some guys love — the shorter the mandible, the deeper the throat. It must be a horrible experience for her, though, to have her face go viral and be universally mocked. Ouch.
As for going back to my hometown and noticing kids don’t play outside anymore, that was the case when I relocated from Chicago in 2005. In fact, I noticed mothers in their cars with their kids waiting for the school bus at the ends of their driveways lest some bogeyman jump out of the bushes and abduct their sweet darlings into White slavery. It isn’t just screens keeping kids inside, but paranoia churned by demagogues and right-wing media. It’s been building for decades, and now the white supremacists have their marks right where they want them.
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ROGirl said on October 12, 2026 at 5:37 am
She may have had a brow lift, excess skin removed from the eyelids and below the eyes, filler in her cheeks, lip enhancement, botox in her chin.
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David C said on October 12, 2026 at 5:54 am
Sure, let’s get rid of the foreign doctors. We want longer waits to see a doctor or something. At the practice we use, there are twelve providers. Four are MDs or DOs. Two of those are foreign born. The other eight are PAs or NPs. Just from the names, it looks like all eight are Americans and six are women. My parents used to complain when they’d get treated by a PA or NP. I imagine the Heratage Indiana folk are the same way. They want to see an MD for their stupid little colds and a white, male MD at that. Seeing a woman PA or NP is so beneath them and all they can do is bitch. It isn’t 1974 anymore.
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Jeff Gill said on October 12, 2026 at 8:13 am
To my discredit, I’m only just now getting to “The Warmth of Other Suns” (2010) by Isabel Wilkerson, which isn’t giving me new information as much as she rearranges the story so effectively, about how the failure of Reconstruction in the 1870s, and our national tolerance for Jim Crow & lynching through the 1920s, led to a truly unprecedented migration — actually, as Wilkerson outlines so well, a series of three migrations from the South to the North and West, by African Americans within the nation but across vast distances. It was a fragmented fulfillment of promises which took a hundred years to even begin to keep in the spirit in which they were first made, and in the course of the broken promises and breaches of faith, remade our culture. And like a bone poorly set, the break healed, but with a loss of function we’re still trying to work past.
No one needs to be told we still have racism in American society, least of all racists. What Wilkerson does is explain in narrative how we got to the particular patterns of racism we have, which is further explained in her more recent book, “Caste.” But I recommend you not do what I did, and read “Other Suns” first, then “Caste.” It makes sense of much.
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Pam H said on October 12, 2026 at 10:32 am
David C @ 14: I prefer the PA with some of my doctors. The PAs are generally women and they listen. With the MD I can hear the clock ticking and their desire to move to the next patient is palpable. Maybe those people in Indiana can get their healthcare from Amazon or ChatGPT. That way they can demand a white male avatar and get exactly what they want.
After reading a little more about Susan Dell, I feel badly for her. In one photo her arms were definitely those of an anorexic or resident of a concentration camp. I hope she’s receiving help. The photo posted above appears to be her when she was a younger woman.
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Jeff Gill said on October 12, 2026 at 1:49 pm
Susan Dell, twenty years ago:
https://tritobefunny.wordpress.com/2008/02/12/my-apology-to-susan-dell/
I have a professional acquaintance who is using Ozempic who was not overweight to start with, and I understand there are medical reasons to do so, but if those don’t exist… anyhow, there’s a similarity to my eyes in how they are looking now, except for the makeup which seems to be accentuating the wrong things, if I may say so.
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Deborah said on October 12, 2026 at 2:59 pm
Susan Dell must have a mental illness like anorexia and if that’s the case I feel bad for her. I hope she’s getting help. It must be hard for her to know so many people are making fun of her these days. The bad plastic surgery I don’t get though because she has enough money for the best of the best.
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Brandon said on October 12, 2026 at 3:39 pm
Also, Madonna looks terrible. Just gotta say that.
At least she doesn’t look like Kimberly Guilfoyle, who, in some photos, resembles David Lee Roth after a bender.
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Dorothy said on October 13, 2026 at 11:59 am
Jeff since I alrealdy read “The Warmth of Other Suns” about ten years ago, I can’t read “Caste” before it. But I’ve put your recommendation on my list of books people have suggested I read. Speaking of which I’m taking a poll. Anyone here read “Theo of Golden” and if so, what are your thoughts? Just reading comments from others who have read it lead me to believe I’ll dislike it. A friend from Latrobe told me she LLLOOOOVVVEEEDDDD it and that made me even more convinced that I’ll hate it. But last night I texted one of my sisters to ask if she’d read it, and she has, and she loved it. My tastes usually align with hers so now I don’t know what to do. Maybe I’ll keep thinking about it.
I just started another Colson Whitehead book this weekend “The Underground Railroad” and I”m already squeamish about the kind of cruelty he’s only just begun to describe. But I love his writing so I’ll stay with it. My favorite book I’ve read this year was “Whistler” by Ann Patchett. I have yet to read an Ann Patchett book that I did not enjoy.
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nancy said on October 13, 2026 at 12:16 pm
“The Underground Railroad” is great, Dorothy. Yes, uncomfortable at times, but what book worth reading isn’t, at least sometimes?
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Dorothy said on October 13, 2026 at 12:52 pm
That’s exactly what I thought, too, Nancy!
I forgot to ask another question. For any of you who have been Roster Judges at elections. This will be my first year as a Roster Judge. Four times I’ve been a Paper Ballot Judge. Any tips? I had training on Friday and I’m a little nervous – there are so many possible scenarios for the people who walk up to the table! I have to really study my guide book to be sure I’m informed. Also I know we’re not allowed to wear anything that shows your political leaning, but they can’t make me go home and change my outfit if I’m in blue from head to toe, right?
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Dave said on October 13, 2026 at 1:38 pm
The Underground Railroad, a fantastical story, creating a fictional railroad underground, and yes, cruelty throughout, as I recall. It’s been a few years since I read it.
I read The Warmth of Other Suns but not Caste, I need to put that on my list, I keep getting distracted by books, was anyone here ever a Greg Iles fan, who wrote books set in the south, primarily his Natchez trilogy? I’ve been reading the final book but I stopped midway through and wondered why it had a rushed feeling, the same feeling I had reading Sue Grafton’s final book, which was Y, she never made it to Z. I didn’t know that Greg Iles had passed away and he did everything he could to finish the book, he had the same disease he gave his main character. I just picked it up yesterday to start where I left off.
I see that Kimberly Guilfoyle has been asked to resign, sure, I wonder had she been male would she have been asked to resign, he’s run off his female attorney general and his female Homeland Security secretary.
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Julie Robinson said on October 13, 2026 at 4:01 pm
Yes to Underground Railroad and The Warmth of Other Suns. I still need to read Caste. I’ve intended to but other books keep popping up on my queue.
No to Theo of Golden unless you like your theology shallow yet heavy-handed. I could tell right away where it was going, and sure enough, it went there. Read only if you loved the Mitch Albom book about the people you meet in heaven or the show where Della Reese was an angel.
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JodiP said on October 13, 2026 at 4:04 pm
Keeping with books recs: The Lost Brontë by Minnesota writer Catherine Friend. It’s a really fun Gothic novel about a lost manuscript by Emily Brontë. Perfect if you are trying to divert yourself from the current situation. I’m almost done with The Sisterhood: The Secret History of the Women at the CIA by Liza Mundy. Excellent storytelling about the contributions of women despite incredible misogyny. They began tracking Osama bin Laden in the late 80s but their warnings were largely ignored.
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tajalli said on October 13, 2026 at 4:18 pm
Dorothy, I served as a poll inspector several times so had to be on top of all the protocols.
First, you have to have the details of the sign-in requirements down cold; these vary from state to state, of course. Out here on the left coast, we cannot ask for ID, but voters have to have the exact form of their name as they are registered with – their signature is analyzed to confirm their identity and they’ll be contacted if there’s an issue.
The objective is to allow folks to vote without a hassle while maintaining the integrity of the election process.
So, if they don’t recall the proper format used with the elections office, the roster clerk can ask them a few questions to figure out where the discrepancy is in order to identify the correct voter and ballot type they need.
So, is it “Mc” or “Mac” with or without a space; did they use a middle initial or middle
name; some variant in the spelling; etc using imagination and problem solving skills all the while remaining cheerful and reassuring.
Worst comes to worst, there is the option of submitting a provisional ballot, which process is performed by an experienced clerk or the poll inspector if we’re short handed.
I’ve had voters thank me profusely for for being so calm and confident that I could assure that they would be able to vote despite difficulties.
So, you’ll be fine if you get the procedures down cold and can maintain your poise if someone gets opstreperous (sp?) to bully etc.
Go for all blue but don’t wear a blue hat or blue makeup/face paint so you have plausible deniability. :-). Maybe bring a red shawl or cardigan if there’s a complaint.
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Julie Robinson said on October 13, 2026 at 4:29 pm
Oops, too late for editing but Greg Iles’ books had too high a body count for me. I thought they were well written but I’m such a softy I don’t like reading violent scenes.
I just finished Heartland and it kept me interested even though I’m not a sports fan. Larry Bird matriculated at IU the same semester as I did, along with Evan Bayh, not that I knew either of them. I’m thinking that French Lick must be even more hardscrabble now than it was in Larry’s days.
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tajalli said on October 13, 2026 at 4:29 pm
I enjoyed Theo of Golden, although I suspected part of the story’s outcome, plus I enjoyed the overall writing style.
Placed a reserve on Caste and the Ann Platchet (recall liking some of her other books). Always appreciate when we get onto the good books topic.
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Deborah said on October 13, 2026 at 4:40 pm
Read Underground Railroad and The Nickle Boys, thought both very very good.
I’m on an Anita Brookner kick again, read some of her books back in the 80s and 90s and decided to read Hotel Du Lac (Booker Prize winner) again a few months ago, was gobsmacked how good it is so I recommended it for our book club. We meet Sunday but I’m expecting it to get bonged, 2 of our members are writers and I’m afraid they’ll hate it. Brookner is an acquired taste I think. I’m reading another of her’s now, Dolly also very good.
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Suzanne said on October 13, 2026 at 6:04 pm
I just finished Heartland a few weeks ago, but slight correction here Julie, Larry Bird graduated from ISU not IU. I picked the book for the book club I am in and was quite anxious about how it would be received as it’s out of the book club norm. But it was well received, even by the women that don’t watch sports. We all agreed that it was a story about a world that is now gone and that college sports have changed so much that there will never be another Larry Bird.
I read The Warmth of Other Suns but not Caste yet, and also the Nickle Boys. Both covered historical things that I was ignorant about and I realize that’s because I grew up in a white suburban bubble that I didn’t need to know these things, unlike the people in the books. It gives me pause.
I have not read Theo of Golden and doubt I will. Too many people whose opinions I respect gave it a thumbs down.
And if life isn’t crappy enough, the Pope has lung cancer.
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Heather said on October 13, 2026 at 6:48 pm
I just saw a report that a woman was assaulted at a frat house at the University of Chicago over the weekend while men cheered. I didn’t expect sexual assaults to end, but I thought these horrible college guys might have toned it down for a few weeks at least.
But who am I kidding. We live in a world where last weekend’s host of SNL called women whores for wearing revealing clothing at…the gym.
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Sherri said on October 13, 2026 at 8:55 pm
I want to read the new Michael Lewis book, but I’m not sure my mental health can take it.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/03/elon-is-my-prophet-how-musks-doge-team-took-a-wrecking-ball-to-washington
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Julie Robinson said on October 13, 2026 at 10:20 pm
Suzanne, it was more of a what if kinda thing. What if Bird hadn’t been so unhappy at IU and dropped out after three weeks. Also that he is my age and of my cohort.
Another tough read I just finished is The Vanishing Family by Robert Kolker. The mother and most of the nine kids have a variant of early frontal temporal dementia. My husband’s family has Alzheimer’s running through it and I’m hoping research on dementia in general can be of help.
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Mark P said on October 13, 2026 at 11:02 pm
I have a feeling that a lot of college students don’t actually keep up with the news.
Also, I heard on the news that Cornell fraternities cannot have parties for the rest of the academic year. That’ll teach ‘em.
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michael said on October 14, 2026 at 11:36 am
Let us not blame right-wing media alone for parental anxiety. Opraaaaaaaah! spent many an hour telling moms that their babies were going to be snatched off the street and duct-taped in the back of a drifter’s Trans Am.
Then she gave us Drs. Phil and Oz.
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