Crazytown.

Anyone who’s knows a person with bipolar disorder knows how hard it is to treat — how hard any mental illness is to treat. Medication is imperfect, dosages have to be tweaked and adjusted regularly, and in the case of bipolar, often patients don’t like how they feel when they’re free of the cycles of the illness, at least the manic, “good” parts.

Many people heading into a full-blown manic episode go through a phase called hypomania. Here are some of the symptoms: Elevated mood, increased activity, decreased need for sleep, feelings of creativity and power. If you could bottle that, I’d buy it, and I bet you would, too. Who would want to cut it short with some dumb old drug that makes you feel like everyone else?

I was thinking about Kanye West over the weekend, and what bothered me about the Oval Office shitshow last week. West has said he was “mistakenly” diagnosed with bipolar disorder after a breakdown last year. In a New York Times story early this summer, he had this to say:

…(O)ver time, he began “learning how to not be on meds,” adding proudly, “I took one pill in the last seven days.” …On “Yikes,” from “Ye,” he announced the bipolar disorder diagnosis. “That’s my superpower,” he scream-rapped. “Ain’t no disability/I’m a superhero! I’m a superhero!”

Yeah, that person is most definitely of sound mind. I mean, it’s so obvious.

So WTF was he doing meeting face-to-face with the president of the United States, a man with plenty of more important things to do, and in front of a mob of cameras to boot? I can only conclude West was feeding POTUS’ bottomless need for approval, to cozy up to his true peers (celebrities), to feel like he has black friends. Why the media covered it like it was some sort of light, whoa-check-out-this-daffy-artist episode and not a mentally ill man off his meds, well, you’ll have to ask the people in that room. If he were in a full-blown schizophrenic episode, raving to unseen demons, I doubt the coverage would have been the same.

And while I know this is utterly prejudiced and speculative, I simply can’t believe Barack Obama would have allowed such a thing. I have to think his staff would have advised against it, instead of capering for selfies with the celebrity:

Every day, a new bottom.

So how was everyone’s weekend? Mine was pretty good, although I am working on Sunday and probably will be until the election is over. Have an assignment coming up at the end of the week that should be fun, so that will enliven things. We had friends over last night to watch “The Romanoffs,” the new series by Matt Weiner, the “Mad Men” creator, so that prompted us to get the house tidied up and all the weekend chores done. Alan is off at the marina stripping the boat before it’s pulled from the water week after next. It’s a beautiful day, and I should be on a bike ride, but the doughnuts have to be made, and make them I will.

As we draw closer to the election, I warn you, I’m going to find very little politically oriented news to post here. Of course the comments are your playground, but honestly, at this point? It’s mostly just a distraction. Locally, the coverage is all about horserace-y stuff — ad buys, polling nuances, endorsements. And I simply Do Not Care. I probably should vote absentee and get it over with, but I expect we’ll be covering stuff at Deadline Detroit, and that involves going to polling places, so I might as well start with my own. Nationally, it’s beginning to blur — this House race, that Senate seat — and I figure there will be time after it’s all settled to figure it out. Right now, I’m focused on November 6, and I’m mostly skimming past stories that don’t grab me with the headline.

The story I’m most looking forward to today? Tom & Lorenzo’s examination of the outfits worn to Princess Eugenie’s wedding. For the record, I thought her dress was basic, but I liked the tiara very much; all redheads should have the opportunity to wear giant emeralds, and this one actually has access to some. And boy, does Randy Andy look old now.

Remember how Mitt Romney mourned the 47 percent of Americans who paid no income taxes? Yeah, me too. Crickets from Mitt on this story, natch.

With that, let’s get out of here and let the weekend wind down to a close. Happy week ahead, all.

Posted at 2:58 pm in Current events |
 

38 responses to “Crazytown.”

  1. Mark P said on October 14, 2018 at 3:47 pm

    Jared is not part of the 47 percent Mittens was talking about. He was referring to the blacks, the browns, and the poors. Those are the ones it’s such a shame don’t pay taxes.

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  2. David C. said on October 14, 2018 at 4:28 pm

    I was going to say Andy looks old because he is old. Then I looked it up. He’s a year younger than I am. Shit.

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  3. Suzanne said on October 14, 2018 at 4:46 pm

    Rich people don’t need to pay taxes because they are the Makers! That’s why the “elites” don’t care that Kushner paid no taxes. He’s a Maker! The rest of us, not so much.

    I loved Princess Eugenie’s Dress but I have always thought of her and her sister as the frumpy royals. The clothes they are usually wearing don’t really work for their body types and they always seem to show the resting b*tch face. Gotta love Prince Phillip and the Queen. They keep plugging away!

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  4. Deborah said on October 14, 2018 at 5:17 pm

    That selfie of Sarah Suckabee and Kanye has been making the rounds on the internet with hilarious captions. My favorite so far is “Ebony and Lievory”

    It turns out that we may be going back to London in December. Uncle Jake is doing much better and his Dr thinks it’s OK for him to travel abroad now. It’s always iffy so who knows. His assistant is making all of the travel arrangements and reservations, they can always be canceled. The royal wedding reminded me of the possible trip. I’m not holding my breath though. I will be extremely grateful if it happens again, and at least this time I don’t have to scramble to get my passport up to date like I did last year.

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  5. Julie Robinson said on October 14, 2018 at 5:18 pm

    Hubby said I could watch the rest of The Romanoffs by myself, didn’t think it was very funny for a comedy. Who said it was supposed to be a comedy? He really only wants funny stuff these days, and a narrow range at that, so after Colbert and Gaffigan it’s slim pickings.

    Anyway, if the other episodes have settings like that apartment in Paris, I’d watch just for that. And if they have any emerald tiaras, so much the better. Wasn’t it nice that Eugenie’s new hubby got the word to give her matching earrings? She has to give the tiara back, but the earrings are for keepsies.

    Okay, David, you made me look it up too; Prince Andrew was born in 1960, so he really isn’t old at all. He does look bad. Let’s just skip that generation of the royals and go straight to Diana’s boys.

    I did a lot of spluttering when I read the story about Jarod Kusnher yesterday. And it’s all legal, unlike papa-in-law. No wonder we have so many empty shopping centers, they are just tax dodges.

    Can’t feel as outraged today because I flew down to Orlando this morning and am contemplating a swim or a nap right now. Daughter will be at a conference for a few days so I’ll be on animal duty, and we need to get a toilet replaced, but that’s the extent of it for the next 10 days.

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  6. Sherri said on October 14, 2018 at 7:00 pm

    Jessica from the last thread, my friend who worked on PLATO is Maureen Stone. She’s a CS person, so she would have been working on the underlying tech.

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  7. Bill said on October 14, 2018 at 7:04 pm

    Anyone seen “A Star Is Born?” Comments?

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  8. Jolene said on October 14, 2018 at 8:27 pm

    A TV treat for tonight: Itzhak Perlman on the PBS American Masters series.

    http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/

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  9. Suzanne said on October 14, 2018 at 8:31 pm

    I saw A Star Is Born last week and was decidedly underwhelmed. Gaga was very good, but Bradley Cooper didn’t excite me at all. I thought the writing poor with far too many moments when showing anger meant a stream of F-bombs spewing forth instead of any real depth. It was like the writers didn’t know any other way for people to show anger besides curse with that same word over and over.
    I got bored and tired of seeing Cooper acting drunk. I knew the story having seen all the previous versions so maybe that was part of it but overall, was very unimpressed with this one.

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  10. BigHank53 said on October 14, 2018 at 8:57 pm

    Whenever someone brings up that moronic 47% figure, I know it’s someone who hasn’t filled out a tax form in decades. There’s two things on there–the personal exemption and the standard deduction–that everyone gets to take. The last time I filled one of the things out the two added up to about twelve grand. Earn less than twelve grand, and you’re not paying any income tax.

    That’s not a whole lot of money, but it covers a lot of part-time fast food youngsters and mostly-retired Wal-Mart greeters and the folks who deliver newspapers…if you can still find one to subscribe to.

    And then there’s everyone under the age of 14 who can’t legally work anyway! There’s 20% of the population that never pays any taxes, the effing moochers!

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  11. A.Riley said on October 14, 2018 at 11:39 pm

    I *loved* Eugenie’s emerald tiara, but her very best accessory was that radiant smile.

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  12. Deborah said on October 14, 2018 at 11:57 pm

    Not a political rant: I am so disgusted with Comcast/Xfinity. We’re going through a situation where the cable isn’t working properly had a guy come out to fix it, half fixed it, now have to get somebody out to really fix it. All of this in Santa Fe. Whenever I’m on the phone I want to scream at them. It’s the single highest utility cost we have in our Santa Fe place, way higher than the water bill which is soaring due to the scarcity of water in the desert and global warming. I wish we had an alternative but we don’t. In Chicago our building trust has worked out a deal with RCN instead of Comcast and everything is fine. Rant over.

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  13. beb said on October 15, 2018 at 12:09 am

    David Cay Johnson, the economics reporter whose book on the making of Trump (And I believe that is the title) is a must read, first came my attentions maybe 15 years back with Perfectly Legal. It was about how the very rich had tilted taxes so favor them. So Kushner could deduct 9 million dollars in depreciation of his building holdings against his person income, leaving him with a $7 million “loss” — at least on paper. AND IT’S ALL PERFECTLY LEGAL

    I could only read a couple chapters into the book because the injustice of it all made me sick.

    As for “Makers” and Takers” the 1% have it all wrong. Milt Romney has never made anything in his life. He has used his inherited wealth to take and take and take from the people who do make the things he enjoys. Milt Romney is the Taker and the people of the UAW are the makers.

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  14. Julie Robinson said on October 15, 2018 at 4:36 am

    Forget the wedding dress, stop the presses: Megan is preggers!

    And oh, Sears filed for bankruptcy too.

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  15. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 15, 2018 at 7:13 am

    The last few years, the couple times we go to the local mall theater, I’ve been surprised to see Sears is still open. And there are generally more people inside the Spencer’s Gifts, one-tenth the size of the store, than I see in Sears if you don’t count the wan shadows hovering around the cash registers waiting for customers. Their auto center is all of the activity; I’d think you could spin those off and have a functioning business.

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  16. Peter said on October 15, 2018 at 9:15 am

    Suzanne, I and the lovely bride saw A Star Is Born over the weekend in a small, cramped theater (the main one is out of service while they upgrade the sound system) and I think it was meh +.
    But it was a great experience – we were sitting next to some real whack-a-doodles. One lady had a bag of Skittles, and was eating them one by one – she would pull one out of the bag, hold it up to the screen so she can see what color it was, and then announce the flavor – and this went on for the first quarter of the film. Then, (SPOILER ALERT)when Bradley Cooper was walking to the garage carrying a belt, her friend said “Oh my God he’s going to hang himself!” and my wife said “HEY RICHARD ROEPER THANKS FOR THE SPOILER ALERT!!!!”

    Why yes, I do miss those Rocky Horror Picture Show screenings – why do you ask?

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  17. john (not mccain) said on October 15, 2018 at 9:31 am

    We saw A Star Is Born for the 3rd time yesterday and remain huge fans. The one thing that was disappointing was Bradley Cooper’s fault. Mr. Methody Mumblemouth managed to render the line right before Sam Elliot turns his Oscar face to the camera incomprehensible. It must have had something to do with their relationship but I’ll have to wait for the blu ray to find out exactly what. Other than that it was pure heaven. We’ve been listening to the soundtrack non-stop, too.

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  18. Mark P said on October 15, 2018 at 10:12 am

    Sears filed for bankruptcy, and in other news, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

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  19. Jeff Borden said on October 15, 2018 at 10:40 am

    We participated in the women’s march in downtown Chicago on Saturday. After enormous turnouts in January 2017 and 2018, which were estimated at up to 400,000, the crowd size was underwhelming, described by the newspapers as “several thousand.” Still, it was a beautiful, sunny day and people were energized and engaged. Lots of great signs, too. At the end of the march in Federal Plaza, marchers had the option to vote early, so it wasn’t merely a symbolic exercise.

    One observation we all had was how many girls and young women were in the march. Grade schoolers, junior and senior high schoolers, etc. were with their moms (and often dads) with homemade signs and outfits. Maybe the parents of these young women are preparing them for a future where they’ll be expected to fight for their rights. I certainly hope so.

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  20. Jeff Borden said on October 15, 2018 at 10:45 am

    An interesting take on the Orange King from The Atlantic:

    https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/10/trump-doesnt-comfort-or-celebrate-nation-very-well/572914/

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  21. Deborah said on October 15, 2018 at 11:29 am

    An inch of snow on the ground in Santa Fe this morning.

    I didn’t watch the interview but from what I’ve read on line Trump’s “it doesn’t matter, we won”, response to a question about his mocking of Dr. Ford was despicable as usual. When will it end?

    I’m sorry I missed the march in Chicago since I’m out of town, sorry to hear it wasn’t well attended. I do think there wasn’t enough advance publicity about it, I didn’t know about it until about a week ago, in an email I might have dismissed before reading, something made me click on it. I hope the low turnout wasn’t a harbinger of voting turnout.

    LB voted Friday, early voting is open in Santa Fe only at the County Clerk’s office, it will be open at other locations in town a little later.

    I’ll vote early when I get back to Chicago.

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  22. Heather said on October 15, 2018 at 12:36 pm

    Wish I could have made it to the march in Chicago on Saturday, but I just got back from Rome the day before and I wasn’t really feeling up to it. I was there in spirit!

    Had a wonderful and very chill trip–mostly just walked around (a LOT, my calves are still feeling it), drank wine, and ate. I did visit this giant park of aqueduct ruins that’s kind of off the beaten path–it was especially cool because there was no real park infrastructure. No guardrails, no entrance fee, no signs, no cafes, etc. I imagine it was what visiting the Forum must have been like 150 years ago.

    Then I got back home and winter apparently has set in in Chicago.

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  23. beb said on October 15, 2018 at 1:56 pm

    My wife and I were driving home from Indiana when we saw a “store closing” sign on a Sears store (probably in Jackson) and were surprised to see under it “Sears Auto to remain open.” So I guess JTMMO @14 is on to something about Sears Auto being able to spin-off into a separate company. I often thought Sears hardware would be a viable company — until the owner sold off the rights to Craftman tools and Diehard. Sears is an textbook example of Vulture Capitalism in this country. Borrow a lot of money to buy up some company, saddle the company with all that debt, extract huge “management fees” then complain that the company can’t make money anymore. And it hasn’t helped that sites like Yahoo News has been forecasting the demise of Sears for the last 2-3 years.

    I read an interesting review of Trumps interview with Leslie Stahl. I think it was from the Washington Post. Bottom line is that Stalh kept coming back to questions Trump wasn’t asking and he got cranky (“I’m the President, you’re not”). No wonder he mostly goes on Fox News where he can get his ego fluffed to no end.

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  24. Dexter Friend said on October 15, 2018 at 4:58 pm

    Jolene, yes, Carla Lee had two knee replacements and a corrective surgery to one knee after all that, and due to CMT,” What is CMT? | Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease | MDA.org‎”. she gets around with a cane and a rollator-walker but ya can’t keep her grounded. Last night , it appeared Sandi’s (daughter) acute stomach lining inflammation condition had improved, as she posted she and my wife were “drinking, eating, and listening to guitar music” at a bar-restaurant in Islamorada, so what the hell.
    Trump and the Saudis, with Trump acting as cover-up agent for the king and crown-prince, declaring the murderous Saudi government hit squad , clearly identified as such, along with one forensics expert, were the gang that allegedly tortured, killed, and dismembered the WAPO journo, and apparently, in a scene reminiscent of “The Conversation” (starring Gene Hackman), left not a speck of murder evidence in the torture/murder room at the embassy. “Rogue agents”, said the Orange Dictator, not to ruffle any Saudis’ feathers. It’s the same old shit…were not 16 of 19 9-11 hijackers Saudis? So the USA bombed Iraqi civilians.
    Sometimes, this country makes me sick…and if November Comes, as we are promised, please make it more fruitful than 2006 when the Democrats reclaimed the House and then funded request upon request to escalate the 2 wars.

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  25. Deborah said on October 15, 2018 at 5:05 pm

    LB and I are ecstatic, I got a new vacuum cleaner. Funny how exciting that can be for us. We’ve gone through 3 vacuums in the 6 years we’ve had the apartment here. This one is a Miele, costs way more than the other crappy ones we got at Target. I can’t wait to try it out.

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  26. Julie Robinson said on October 15, 2018 at 5:06 pm

    Our experiences at Sears Auto weren’t so great, but the local store was already slated to close anyway, so no loss. No doubt it depends a lot on the individual employees.

    Sears is the second of two anchors at our local mall to close, after Carson’s earlier this summer. They already have boarded up quite a few store sites inside the mall. Apparently the owners can lower their property taxes by taking the footage out of rentable usage. Elsewhere in town, strip malls have razed buildings for the same reason. And yet, they keep on building more. It’s crazy.

    I keep hearing how Sears was once the biggest retailer in the country, that even 10 years ago the stock was $140/share, and I wonder if business schools will be studying them.

    Today I lounged in and around the pool. Fort Wayne is cold and nasty, and I am very grateful to be here.

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  27. Heather said on October 15, 2018 at 5:38 pm

    Deborah, I remember a friend going on and on about her Dyson vacuum cleaner years ago and rolling my eyes. I got one not long ago and it is a life-changer. Also it is truly disgusting how much dust and cat hair is in a rug after only a week.

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  28. Suzanne said on October 15, 2018 at 5:45 pm

    I bought a Dyson about 10 years ago (at Sears!!). I love it! I couldn’t believe I was paying that much for a vacuum cleaner but it has been totally worth it.

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  29. Sherri said on October 15, 2018 at 7:04 pm

    The Sears CEO was a hedge fund guy who was a total Ayn Rand disciple who treated everyone like crap and didn’t invest in the physical stores, so they were increasingly run down. This may have actually been a strategy.

    Sears used to own a number of stores. The CEO, who is also the majority shareholder, moved those real estate holdings to a separate company, Seritage Growth Properties, and leased them back to Sears Holding, the company that ran Sears and Kmart. Many of those properties are more valuable as redevelopment opportunities than as retail stores.

    The Sears in Redmond has been run down and not a pleasant place to shop for years. It is very close to Microsoft and the coming light rail line. It is now closing, and is going to be redeveloped into quite a large mixed use development. Who owns and is developing it? Seritage Growth Properties.

    Now, Redmond desperately needs more housing, and housing that close to transit and Microsoft is a definite win, but damn, there are some perverse incentives that need to be discouraged.

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  30. basset said on October 15, 2018 at 8:03 pm

    More Sinclair: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/22/the-growth-of-sinclairs-conservative-media-empire

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  31. Bitter Scribe said on October 15, 2018 at 8:04 pm

    I need a new vacuum, but will wait until I get the new carpeting I need even more.

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  32. Deborah said on October 15, 2018 at 10:11 pm

    We have a Dyson vacuum in Chicago that’s a monster. We’ve had it well over a dozen years but we’re ready for something else. We got it through American Express points many years ago. It’s enormous, we have to keep it in the storage unit for our unit, which means we have to go out of our way to access it, therefore use it less than we should. The filters for it are virtually unavailable anymore, it’s a relic. We’re looking for a new compact unit there that’s powerful but will fit in a small closet. Any suggestions?

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  33. Andrea said on October 15, 2018 at 11:46 pm

    My husband is bipolar. I have previously disclosed here that a manic episode of his included an affair. Due to the mania, he wasn’t really working hard to conceal it, so I figured out what was going on pretty quickly. Aside from that, he was fairly unpleasant to deal with during the mania, because logic did not factor into any kind of discussion. He was operating totally on gut and id — totally unpredictable. Absent any kind of diagnosis, it was baffling to experience and beyond frustrating to live with.

    When everything came crashing down, I asked him why he did not let me know that he was feeling off before it came to a crisis. He told me then that he did not want to be medicated. The idea that being on medication was worse than destroying your family, your finances, and your social circle was a complete anathema to me.

    It was two full years from the moment of crisis to when I would say he was stabilized on the right prescription. (To be fair, his psychiatrist did not put him on medication for many months, but even still, once he made the decision to try meds, it was close to a year before we had the right prescription in the right dosage.)

    A couple of years ago, he told me that he did not think he needed the medication any more. I said, of course the decision to take medication is up to you. Your body, your choice. BTW, my choice is to not be married to a person who has willfully decided to live with an untreated mental illness, so I will be calling my attorney. He is still on meds and we just had our 25th wedding anniversary earlier this month. I don’t assume there will be 25 more. One day at a time.

    I really have struggled with this. For better or worse, in sickness and in health… I would not leave a husband who had cancer or diabetes, for example, unless perhaps that person willfully chose to engage in behaviors that made his illness worse, like continuing to smoke or refusing to monitor blood sugar. But honestly, I simply cannot endure another manic episode. I don’t have it in me. Been there, done that, won’t do it again.

    However, if he were my kid instead of my husband, I would probably sing a different tune. Go figure.

    All this is to say that I never thought I would have anything in common with Kim Kardashian, but apparently I do.

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  34. Sherri said on October 16, 2018 at 1:25 am

    I’m not bipolar, just a depressive. It’s still true, after being on meds for around 15 years, that whenever I’m doing really well, I think, maybe I don’t need these meds anymore. Then I take a deep breath, ask myself why would I want to risk that, remind myself that when it’s bad, it’s awful, and keep taking the damn meds.

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  35. Deborah said on October 16, 2018 at 9:16 am

    My husband’s ex is bipolar but wasn’t diagnosed as such until after they divorced. He says life with her was unbearable. His two daughters have been diagnosed as bipolar as well and take meds for it. I have no idea if his ex takes meds, I hope so.

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  36. Julie Robinson said on October 16, 2018 at 10:49 am

    Andrea, that is heartbreaking. My thanks to you and Sherri for sharing something so vulnerable.

    Our family has both depression and bipolar on both sides, and I fight winter depression every year, which is why we are retiring to a sunny clime.

    Our son is bipolar II and has struggled more with the depressive aspect, as well as winter depression. That was cured by his move to Orlando. He took meds for a year or so, then decided he could manage it with diet and exercise. We don’t see that being completely effective, but he’s an adult so he controls his life.

    In the depths of depression he couldn’t get out of bed or roust himself to make any positive changes. We intervened to the extent of paying for him to see a psychiatrist, calling around for the best meds price, and filling the precription.

    He hasn’t had an episode now for a couple of years. He has a physically active job, has had lots of creative opportunities in music and theatre, and has been mentally energized by political involvement. But we watch him very closely.

    Meds often work well for years, then all of a sudden they don’t. I’ve seen that happen with a couple of friends/family. It can be like starting over in treatment.

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  37. Sherri said on October 16, 2018 at 3:27 pm

    Ben Sasse has written a pearl-clutching what about civility book called Them: Why We Hate Each Other and How To Heal. The media will probably eat it up, much like they do Jeff Flake’s bleats of concern and Susan Collins’ moderate pose. This Twitter thread by Sherrilyn Ifill demonstrates just how absurd it is for Ben Sasse to be lecturing us on how to heal the partisan divide.

    https://twitter.com/Sifill_LDF/status/1052177587525562368

    Looking forward to the books by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Honesty: Why We Lie and How to Tell The Truth; Kris Kobach, Voting: Why People Don’t Vote and How to Spread the Franchise; and Steve Bannon, Immigration: Why It’s Good for America.

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  38. Deborah said on October 16, 2018 at 4:32 pm

    We used our new vacuum today and it’s a miracle. Couldn’t be happier.

    Here’s another Netflix recommendation, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. We had an Xfinity session today, trying to get everything back in working order, which it seems to be now. I fired up Netflix to check it out and I got hooked on this show. I’m not that crazy about cooking shows but this one has grabbed me.

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