Bad night, bad day.

Whenever Trump pulls some shit, I sleep badly the following night, and it was very true last night, when I awoke at 2:30 a.m. and never really got back to sleep. It’s going to be wine and a little cannabis edible for me tonight, and no water after…well, after now. No middle-of-the-night peeing! I’m going for seven hours, uninterrupted.

My mood today has been murderous. I drafted and trashed tweets and Facebook comments off and on all day. Just not the right day to do that, although god knows I was tempted. The display last night was almost literally stomach-turning. The only smile I got all day came from Tom & Lorenzo:

So I leave you today with…OK, two sick-making pieces, both from the WashPost, but both worth your time, plus another that’s less so. First, Gene Weingarten’s Sunday cover story, on what’s so awful about right now. After a long indictment of the president, he writes:

Mostly, I cannot forgive him for what he has taken from me, personally. It’s not money — with his mismanagement of the virus, eliminating my travel and restaurants, and with his tax policies that favor the economically comfortable at the expense of the poor, he probably has actually made me money. What he has taken from me are two things: First, my genuine lifelong feeling that the United States, for all its weaknesses and failures, deserves, and has always deserved, the benefit of the doubt. Second: I find myself profoundly disliking and disrespecting almost half of my countrymen and women — that is, the group of Americans that support Trump. I have never felt such antipathy before, even in other sharply polarizing times, and it feels absolutely terrible.

Also, it has a great kicker.

The other WP piece is another investigation of just how obviously, and blatantly, and shamelessly, the president has poured money into his own pockets for four years. Forgive the extended excerpt, but it has a rhythm to it I don’t want to disrupt:

President Trump welcomed the Japanese prime minister at Mar-a-Lago, in front of a towering arrangement of roses. The two could have met in Washington, but Trump said his private club was a more comfortable alternative.

“It is, indeed, the Southern White House,” Trump said, greeting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in front of the press in April 2018.

For Trump, there was another, hidden benefit. Money.

At Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s company would get paid to host his summit.

In the next two days, as Trump and Abe talked about trade and North Korea, Trump’s Palm Beach, Fla., club billed the U.S. government $13,700 for guest rooms, $16,500 for food and wine and $6,000 for the roses and other floral arrangements.

Trump’s club even charged for the smallest of services. When Trump and Abe met alone, with no food served, the government still got a bill for what they drank.

“Bilateral meeting,” the bill said. “Water.” $3 each.

Indeed. This chiseling bastard. No wonder he had to buy a club to get a toehold in Palm Beach.

Finally, a break from the misery, again via T&L, who like me have been watching “The Queen’s Gambit” on Netflix. (The novel was written by my college roommate’s father, who died years ago. I feel bad because I never read it, and I guess I should buy it, now that his children control his literary estate.) The production is gorgeous, all midcentury modern design and wardrobe, and everyone’s favorite gay uncles have picked out how many of the costumes have a chessboard theme to them. Reminded me of their Mad Men analyses.

OK, I’m going to order takeout and hope for a better night. Hope you have one, too.

Posted at 5:49 pm in Current events, Television |
 

86 responses to “Bad night, bad day.”

  1. Heather said on October 27, 2020 at 6:33 pm

    Been angry and terrified all day, which is not helpful for concentrating. Because I’ve got to be productive while an authoritarian coup is underway, my rights are taken away, and minimally affordable healthcare becomes a pipe dream. This middle-aged freelancer with preexisting conditions is frightened.

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  2. LAMary said on October 27, 2020 at 6:56 pm

    I agree. I didn’t need that BS with Barrett and Clarence Thomas and Trump and Barrett on the balcony last night. And Kavanagh is pissing me off a lot too.
    On a better note, an update on the getting a chunk of the ex’s SS. It’s a nice chunk. Heh Heh.

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  3. Julie Robinson said on October 27, 2020 at 7:28 pm

    Glad to hear that, Mary. What with the vet bills and the dental bills, that will come in handy.

    We listened to news all the way home yesterday, enough to avoid watching the Handmaiden’s swearing ins (swearings in?). I’m pretty terrified myself, since on January 1 both members of this family will go on ACA plans. Neither of us has anything big wrong, but no one gets to our age without having something that could be considered a preexisting condition.

    The early voting location near us had long wait times. We spoke with someone who waited and hour and a half, then drove by later and it was parked out to the road. Gonna try again tomorrow.

    The weather is crappy and there’s no sun. Dreaming of Orlando.

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  4. JodiP said on October 27, 2020 at 7:46 pm

    I am part of a zoom meeting sponsored by my NAACP and Alpha Delta Alpha fraternity on what’s at stake in this election. The amount of organizing and empowerment is amazing! Someone said that we fight till hell freezes over, and then we fight on the ice!

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  5. 4dbirds said on October 27, 2020 at 8:27 pm

    Totally with you on the Queen’s Gambit. Just a gorgeous wonderful story although there are some loose ends that bother me like why was her birth father never contacted after her mother died and you know race issues although somewhat spoken about aren’t really addressed but the main story about this girl who is chess wizard is wonderful. It reminds me of when I discovered poker and realized it was a strategy and math game you could actually make money on.

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  6. AnnieH said on October 27, 2020 at 9:12 pm

    The kicker in that Weingarten piece really hit hard. Ouch.

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  7. FDChief said on October 27, 2020 at 9:33 pm

    Test

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  8. FDChief said on October 27, 2020 at 10:08 pm

    “For some time I’ve been wondering what the first shot of the coming “next Fort Sumpter” will be. The event that turns our Cold Second Civil War hot.

    Oh, wait. I didn’t mention the whole “cold Civil War” thing? Damn. I am getting forgetful in my old age.

    So you see, there is no “We the People” anymore.

    C’mon. You know that. Just be willing to quit kidding yourself otherwise.

    Instead there’s a sort of vast inchoate mass of humans who call themselves “Americans” that takes in every damn one and every damn thing under the sky. All sorts of people, being and doing all sorts of things. Moderates, liberals, atheists, Quakers, whackos, undecideds, and the hopelessly lost.

    And there’s a hard, irreducible, intransigent knot of people who call themselves “Conservatives”.

    The latter – and they do have some internal divisions, too – don’t see the former as “Americans” at all…

    So after Donnie and Mitch seat their wingnut it won’t matter how many liberals or “centerists” get elected. Every piece of legislation they pass will be litigated to the Supremes, who will take their “conservative” axe to it.

    And the only real answer to prevent this “conservative” Day of Jubilee?

    Go full FDR. Elect a Democratic President and Democratic Senate and Democratic House, and…

    Pack the Court.

    And when that happens, the wingnuts will howl like rabid wolves, and the real red-meat nutbars, the Proud Boys and Nazis and wanna-be Freikorps will turn out with their rifles.

    And there we’ll be; waiting to see who fires the first cannon at the big brick fort in the harbor.

    That’s how I see it. I don’t like that, but I also don’t see any way around it. The Right is going to force the Everyone-Not-Right to bend the knee or they’ll shoot.

    And your and my and everyone else’s choice is simply whether we’re willing to bend the knee or shoot back.

    I don’t have to like that.

    But I don’t see any alternatives other than even worse ones; a corporatist “conservative” future where we all the “rest of us” end up as serfs in climate change Hell.

    And, goddamn it, I’ll go down fighting before I surrender to that.”

    From “The Fire Next Time, or, Jane Brown’s Body” at Graphic Firing Table, 9/19/20

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  9. LAMary said on October 28, 2020 at 12:54 am

    The Dodgers won. Justin Turner, a great player and very good guy got a positive test result right at the end of the game. Turner has done a lot for the homeless in LA. Not a glamorous charity, not cute kids (although he visits kids in childrens’ hospitals) but good work. He’s a journeyman player too. Be well and congratulations, JT.

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  10. Dexter Friend said on October 28, 2020 at 1:20 am

    That goddam Kavanaugh! Ruling that no postmarked-in-time votes could be counted after the polls closed. I am not stressed out about the election as I am confident more daily that Biden has this in the bag.
    As part of my V.A. check-up, pre phone appointment with my V.A. doctor, I was asked if I have been under stress lately, then asked if I wanted to schedule time with a therapist. Ha! I have posted since June about my family having problems that are worrisome, surgeries and long recovery times for my wife, still bedridden since June, hooked up to machines 190 miles away from home. Lori did get home yesterday and has recovery days ahead. But I am old and have been through crises before and life goes on, and no therapy for me.
    The World Series is over, and the long winter looms. Better days ahead. Everybody has problems.

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  11. David C said on October 28, 2020 at 5:54 am

    Joe is going to Texas and tRump is going to Nebraska. This is looking like a blowout that even the Supreme Court can’t overturn. I’m starting to breathe and sleep a little easier. I got a full 7.5 hours in last night.

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  12. Alan Stammn said on October 28, 2020 at 7:29 am

    Pow, right in the gut — that sure is a powerful kicker by Gene. Socked me by surprise.

    Thanks for the link.

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  13. Deborah said on October 28, 2020 at 7:30 am

    I wish I was sleeping better, maybe next week? Rachel’s opening last night was very moving, both scary and hopeful. I keep having headaches in the evening, I think it’s a combo of stress and eye strain from being online so much of the day.

    It snowed a bit in Chicago yesterday and the the day before that, not much or for very long. Meanwhile it snowed 5” in Santa Fe and more than that in Abiquiu. It’s good for the land.

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  14. alex said on October 28, 2020 at 7:39 am

    One bright spot in these bleak times…

    I’m not one to sing the praises of big pharma, but my ridiculously overpriced diabetic injection therapy has worked some incredible magic on my lab values!

    My A1C is back to normal and the best it has been in five years. Likewise with my triglycerides, and this was despite a weekend of birthday celebrating with alcohol and ice cream cake and candy and sumptuous high-carb meals in the days leading up to the lab draw. Shit, I could fall back into my old bad habits with this drug, lemme tell ya.

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  15. basset said on October 28, 2020 at 8:52 am

    We’re with you on that, Alex – hope it continues to go well.

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  16. Suzanne said on October 28, 2020 at 8:52 am

    I have been thinking, well, ruminating, on why the people surrounding me that I rub shoulders with every day, or did pre-COVID, are such ardent Trump supporters. Then it hit me. People in these rural parts are very transactional. What you are in your core isn’t that important. People here look at a relationship by what they get from it. One of the members of a woman’s group I am in is often rude to the other women but what do I consistently hear to excuse her? “Rude, yes, but she works hard for the group.” I know several men who are well known for their bad tempers and bigotry but what do I hear about them consistently? “But he will show up for you when you need help.” It’s the same with those who drink to much and too often. “Yes, but they work hard…” I went to a benefit several years ago for a local charity and the MC started the proceedings by telling some off color/racist jokes. I spoke to the organizer about it and “Yes, but he’s a good guy. That’s just how he is but if you need insurance, he will do right for you.”

    In other words, character doesn’t matter that much for the good church going family values rural voters as long as those with bad character provide something of value. For them, Trump is the embodiment of this. They know he’s a lout, a misogynist, a racist, a cheat, and whatever else, but as long as their perception is that they are gaining something from the deal, they won’t pivot from him. Being anti-abortion is huge here and as long as they believe he will stop abortion, they will stick by him. Appointing Barrett to SCOTUS was huge for him in regards to these voters.

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  17. Dorothy said on October 28, 2020 at 9:52 am

    Wow Suzanne, that is some powerful and dead-on armchair psychology. I think you’re on to something. I feel like I’m constantly trying to decipher the reasons why he has so much support and I really think you nailed it.

    Sleep deprivation must be impacting massive numbers of people these days. I don’t know how we are getting through all of this pandemic, political and personal turmoil. I too woke around 2:30 AM, but on Monday morning. I got up at 3:15, came downstairs, and when I thought I could have fallen back asleep, my husband was up and getting ready to leave for work. So I postponed. I emailed my boss. I said I’d come into the office later (Monday is the day I’m the person in the building). But sleep failed me at 8:45 AM. So I dragged my butt to the office and got there before 9:45 and worked until 1:00 or so. I did sleep like a rock from 3-4 that afternoon. Still stuck to my schedule of falling asleep around 9:30 but took a melatonin. Having two nights in a row of bad sleep is just killer. I am clinging to the hope that after the election millions will sleep much better.

    Sad and terrible family story to share. I’ve never met this man but he’s my daughter-in-law’s great uncle on her dad’s side. Apparently on Sunday the 83 year old man was on his porch. A much younger man came up to him and started to assault him. Man staggered inside, followed by the bad guy, and his wife screamed, and the assailant ran off. Police were called because the man had chest pains. He had a heart attack – and died early Monday morning. I have no idea if they have any leads on the assailant but I hope they arrest him for murder. Because he surely did kill that poor man.

    Alex I’m very happy for you about the meds. Good news comes in unusual forms these days and that is indeed good. Yesterday was our 41st wedding anniversary. We went to Palermo’s and if it was crowded we would have ordered take out. Instead the place was deserted and we had a delicious meal and felt so privileged to be all alone there. Kismet! We kept our masks on when we were not eating or drinking.

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  18. Jeff Borden said on October 28, 2020 at 11:43 am

    It’s time for the Democratic Party to start acting like what it is. . .the party of the majority. We’ve been lectured for decades that ‘Murica is a center-right nation and that is plain wrong. On issues ranging from health care to immigration to gun control to reproductive rights, Americans lean to the liberal side of things by substantial numbers. And yet because of the vagaries of our “representative government,” nothing is done. It’s time to go big and start drafting legislation that will pass muster with Moscow Mitch’s courts, taking these decisions away from Justice Handmaiden and Beer Bong Brett.

    BTW, did anyone else read how egregiously terrible the Nebraska rally went? After the Orange King left the rally, buses intended to ferry the largely older crowd to their cars in a remote lot failed to arrive. Some of the old codgers started walking in the freezing weather, but before long, the 911 calls began. More proof –as if any were needed– that tRump’s people couldn’t organize a two-car parade.

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  19. Sherri said on October 28, 2020 at 1:16 pm

    Here’s what I’d like to say to Gene Weingartan and all the other pundits and columnists out there: stop talking only to white men!

    While I know it’s not true of the men in this group, a majority of white men will vote for Donald Trump. They did before, and it’s not going to change. The change is, maybe this time, a majority of white women won’t.

    If we want to be nice about it, we can say they have status anxiety rather than calling them bigots, but sorry Gene, voting for Jill Stein doesn’t mean your son isn’t sexist. Not trusting any woman who might get power is a sign.

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  20. Sherri said on October 28, 2020 at 1:21 pm

    At least the publisher of the Spokane newspaper was honest about it. None of this “Trump is just trolling the libs” nonsense; Trump is a wretched human being but you should vote for him because my taxes.

    https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wretched-human-being-for-president-how-the-spokane-papers-bizarre-plug-for-trump-revealed-a-hard-truth/

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  21. Sherri said on October 28, 2020 at 1:27 pm

    I’m glad Justin Turner does good work with the homeless, but when he got a second confirmed positive test in the middle of the game (and was removed from the game), he had no business going out there and celebrating with his team after the win.

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  22. LAMary said on October 28, 2020 at 1:48 pm

    Yeah, not sure why they let that happen. He had been with the team all day already so not sure if he was any more infectious then than he was hours before at batting practice or while playing, but it was a weird move, for sure. The Dodgers had been in the bubble for quite a while.

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  23. beb said on October 28, 2020 at 2:03 pm

    I was wondering what crazy-mad thing Nancy was talking about. There are so many on any given day it’s hard to know. I see it must have been the appointment of the Handmaiden to the Supreme Court. I thought maybe it was Trump equivocating about the kidnapping plot against Witmer. Maybe they were bad people, maybe not… Or maybe it was the firing of the Chief Scientist at NOAA a day after he sent a message to the political appointees there asking them to adhere to the strict standards of science. One day later he’s gone.

    Someone was complaining the other day that there were no famous lines from President Obama. Nothing “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” Then last night I read a section of Pres. Obama’s campaign speech he gave. There are no famous words, no enduring sound bites just a solid commentary using ordinary words to create a strong and compelling argument in favor of Joe Biden and the rule of law. I can’t stand the sight or sound of Trump but I sometimes wonder if the media failed us by not playing more of Trump meandering speeches and half-finished sentences. To often the media seems to try to parse some meaning out of his incoherence. Maybe if we had heard how unintelligible he speaks people would have turned on him sooner.

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  24. ROGirl said on October 28, 2020 at 2:29 pm

    I’ve been sleeping like shit since March. Got some cbd oil to see if that would help. It didn’t.

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  25. Jakash said on October 28, 2020 at 2:39 pm

    Below is a strong thread. I’d like to believe the guy’s right, but who knows. I said with regard to Gorsuch that Roberts and the other Supremes just should have unilaterally refused to allow him on *their* court, if they had any regard for the integrity of the institution, based on the illegitimate way he was appointed. Now, Ms. Barrett should be required to recuse herself from any case involving Trump or the election in any way, as she has demonstrated that she’s proud to be a handmaiden in his criminal enterprise. And ponies for the children, too!

    “This will all be short lived. Be angry but not in despair. The move to rush through Coney Barrett is craven, corrupt and contemptible but it is not canny. It has only a thin veneer of the mercenary-but-effective politics McConnell has played for years. It isn’t shrewd.

    This is Mitch McConnell’s unsaid swan song. It will burnish only an irrelevant last few pages of a corrupt man’s hagiography. Meanwhile, the Congress that marches on without him as Majority Leader – and eventually, without him at all – will erase its impact.”

    https://twitter.com/TheRealHoarse/status/1320734764018601990

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  26. Deborah said on October 28, 2020 at 3:12 pm

    So is Anonymous really going to come forward publicly this afternoon?

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  27. Heather said on October 28, 2020 at 3:51 pm

    Deborah: yep. No kudos for him though–he helped architect the family separation policy. He better be donating those profits help find the parents of 545 kids and to pay for therapy for everyone who was traumatized by this horror show of a “policy.”

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/us/politics/miles-taylor-anonymous-trump.html

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  28. Deborah said on October 28, 2020 at 4:59 pm

    Well that was anticlimactic.

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  29. alex said on October 28, 2020 at 6:39 pm

    Suzanne, I hear ya about Hoosiers. I firmly believe, though, that when they defend the uncouth it’s because they get vicarious enjoyment from seeing/hearing others doing what they lack the balls to do themselves, not to mention that they don’t disagree at all with the bigoted sentiments being expressed.

    I do agree with you that these folks see the world as transactional. They’re going to church for their golden ticket and expect to earn extra points in the attendance and wardrobe categories. It doesn’t even occur to them that they might be accumulating an even larger balance of demerits when they stiff their server at Bob Evans after the Sunday service.

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  30. Suzanne said on October 28, 2020 at 7:05 pm

    Yes, Alex, that, too. They’d love to tell off their boss or their dentist or their doctor or their in-laws but don’t feel like they can. So they relish Trump doing it for them.

    Plus, they don’t really care about his lack of character since they think they are getting something from him.

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  31. Colleen said on October 28, 2020 at 7:34 pm

    Glad to hear you got good health news Alex! In an effort to better my own health I had bariatric surgery two weeks ago. Anyone who tells you this is “the easy way out” doesn’t know what they are talking about. Psych eval, supervised diets, nutritionist visits. Now I am in week 2 of three weeks of liquid diet. Then puree, then soft food. Not gonna get regular food until Thanksgiving. But…this should resolve my blood sugar, hypertension, and sleep apnea. So maybe evetually I can get away with not having a preexisting condition.

    I am cautiously optimistic about next week. But that feeling is periodically punctuated by absolute terror that Biden loses. I know my husband and I did our part to turn Florida blue.

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  32. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 28, 2020 at 10:16 pm

    Colleen, bless you; that’s not the easy way out at all. May your path ahead go smoothly and well.

    Gene is the King of the kickers.

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  33. Jakash said on October 28, 2020 at 11:23 pm

    I understand that journalists deserve and need to be paid. But the WaPo has now whittled it down to the point that for me to read that Gene Weingarten piece, it’ll cost $29 for a year’s subscription. I haven’t read a WaPo piece in weeks, because of that. I won’t be reading this one, based on that calculus. I subscribe to a local paper and if it’s not worth WaPo’s while, ad-wise and exposure-wise, for a person in Chicago to read one article a day (or week, for that matter) without subscribing — well, I don’t blame them, but I don’t have to like it.

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  34. Dexter Friend said on October 29, 2020 at 3:42 am

    And the worm turns…Lori’s ex was a bullshitter deluxe, always lying about great jobs he was about to start, ending up with crappy jobs for short times, even becoming an on-site dating hook-up broker and pairer of couples. He ended up doing six months in jail for preying on the females, no details revealed but the victim claimed force on his part. Their 3 kids are now 30, 27, and 26. After the divorce the ex dodged paying support by skipping around, never establishing an address. Then he settled down, re-married and had another family with 4 more kids. He had an address. Then he scoured the web and landed a government job that paid like 5 times what he had ever made. Lori finally took him to court for back support. After all these years, she is geting child support regularly. After Lori’s 2020, a ray of sunshine for her. I think the back child support is tens of thousands of dollars.

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  35. Dorothy said on October 29, 2020 at 6:18 am

    Jakash $29 a year for a subscription to a major news source is a bargain. We signed up recently for The NY Times at $1/week. We pay a LOT for our local newspaper subscription for online access and we only get the Sunday paper in our driveway.

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  36. alex said on October 29, 2020 at 7:02 am

    I’m already a WaPo subscriber and they keep dangling that $29 offer except never when it’s time to renew. I think I’m paying a hundred a year or so. Still less than I pay for the crappy Journal-Gazette, now thinner than a free shopper, which costs me $21 a month, or the KPC News (suburban/exurban Fort Wayne and right-wing as hell) which costs me $120 a year.

    I know quite a few people who’ve had bariatric surgery and benefited from it, and in particular a college friend who never suffered from obesity particularly but rather really bad familial cardiovascular disease on both sides (his parents both died young and his older siblings are all vexed with serious issues). He had a heart attack in his early forties. They recommended bariatric surgery because he had severe fatty liver disease and evidently this procedure helped reverse it.

    I’m not concerned that Biden won’t win this election so much as I’m concerned that the Trump cult, armed to the teeth, will go ballistic at its leader’s urging.

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  37. Suzanne said on October 29, 2020 at 8:07 am

    Well, in the whaddyaknow category, turns out the much discussed Anonymous has come forward and it’s Mikes Taylor, a good Hoosier!

    https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2020/10/28/anonymous-revealed-hoosier-says-he-wrote-trump-piece/6061633002/

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  38. Deborah said on October 29, 2020 at 8:12 am

    Alex, I agree with your last statement in comment #36. We have been thinking about what could happen and how calling the police will probably do no good. We’re talking about scaling back what we do for phase 2 in Abiquiu. Being remote is starting to seem scary, even though NM is a blue state.

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  39. JodiP said on October 29, 2020 at 8:19 am

    All of you know this, but the failure of Republicans to do relief spending is horrible for the recovery and the economy as a whole, They don’t care about the individual suffering (One-third of our citizens are concerned they won’t be able to make rent or mortgage payments in the coming months; childhood hunger is rising.) I heard on Marketplace last week that the recovery from the great Recession was slower than it needed to be because all the Tea Party people didn’t vote for additional economic stimulus. I truly does not make business sense to withhold relief.

    Congratulations to Alex for good lab values! And to Dexter’s daughter for getting back child support.

    Just checked my email–I am going to be an election judge on Tuesday and the election office sent out updated info to all 2100 of serving as judges in Minneapolis! 2100!

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  40. Jim said on October 29, 2020 at 9:18 am

    Jakash, the WaPo subscription if you have a Kindle is something like $3.99.

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  41. jcburns said on October 29, 2020 at 9:21 am

    Also (for us at least) $3.99 with Amazon Prime.

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  42. Dorothy said on October 29, 2020 at 9:52 am

    Happy birthday, Julie!

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  43. Deborah said on October 29, 2020 at 10:20 am

    Jodi P, I can guess, but what does an election judge do?

    There are two new phrases (words?) that have come into being recently, at least to me: lolsob and doom-scrolling. I had never heard of either of those until a few weeks ago, but they perfectly describe my life right now.

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  44. Julie Robinson said on October 29, 2020 at 10:23 am

    Thanks, Dorothy!

    My WaPo subscription went up to $100/year so I cancelled, but if they offered me $29 I’d be back in a heartbeat. I tried to negotiate with them, since it worked with NYT, but they weren’t having it.

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  45. alex said on October 29, 2020 at 11:25 am

    The WaPo bots must be stalking us. I just received an offer of three months for one dollar.

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  46. LAMary said on October 29, 2020 at 11:36 am

    Dexter, as much as I’d like to be able to collect something from my ex’s extremely healthy retirement fund, I know snagging something from his SS is all I’m going to get unless I hire a lawyer. So I feel your daughter’s pain. I had a somewhat contentious conversation with my younger son the other day. He’s stuck at home, a roadie with no bands on the road. We usually are ok but there are clashes occasionally. He was going on about how cool his dad is and how generous he is the other day, and how he (my son) is going to drive fifty miles in each direction for a week to feed his dad’s cat in Mailbu while his dad and girlfriend take advantage of their combined hospitality/travel industry connections for a week long stay at a posh mountain resort, gratis. My son is not allowed to stay in the house that week. Just drive back and forth. But isn’t dad cool? He needed a getaway and all that. I haven’t badmouthed his dad to him. His older brother was aware of a lot of the bad stuff so I’m guessing he may have shared some, but anyhow. I had to tell my son one of the decidedly uncool things his dad did. Younger son dropped out of high school. I dragged him kicking and screaming into a program where he could complete his high school education. It wasn’t easy. His dad had his lawyer send me a letter telling me that I was only insisting my son go back to school so I could collect child support and that he would fight any attempt I made to collect that. Dad thinks so highly of his son that he assumes there would be no other reason to get him back into school. Exes suck, Dexter.

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  47. Jakash said on October 29, 2020 at 11:39 am

    Dorothy, I know that it’s a swell value. Thanks for the tips, Jim and J. C., and your remarks, Alex and Julie.

    The thing is, I don’t *want* to subscribe to the Washington Post. Most days, I don’t even get around to reading the Tribune, which we pay for. It’s wonderful to have access to the national papers and I appreciate what they do, but I just want to read an article once in a while. It’s amazing to me that, at this very late date, they haven’t figured out some “pay a quarter (dollar, whatever) for one article” system for the many folks out there like me.

    If I were to spend the time required to read the WaPo or NYT religiously, how would I ever be able to continue wallowing in these nn.c comment threads, for crying out loud? 😉

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  48. LAMary said on October 29, 2020 at 11:51 am

    Apparently the emails and documents proving Hunter Biden was a mastermind of international shady business were lost in the mail. Or the dog ate them or something. Tucker Carlson suspects something shady. The person who sent the to Tucker is smacking themself in the forehead for not making copies.

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  49. alex said on October 29, 2020 at 11:53 am

    Agree, Jakash. There are times I want to read just one item in the NYT or WSJ or the Atlantic or the New Republic. Or Consumer Reports. Even Slate.com and Talking Points Memo are trying to make people subscribe these days and I just can’t blow that much moolah on subscriptions.

    I’d still be reading the Trib and the Sun-Times too if they weren’t so damned expensive. Recently I discovered Chicago Block Club online and I think it’s the natural heir to the Reader (the old Reader from 20 years ago) in terms of style and substance, but they want to start charging too.

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  50. Jim said on October 29, 2020 at 12:19 pm

    alex, I manage the just one article thing with many publications via the iPhone News app. I haven’t sprung for News+, so I only have limited access to the LA Times, but it provides a free link to the Atlantic.

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  51. Dorothy said on October 29, 2020 at 12:43 pm

    Agreed, Jakash. My daughter works at the WaPo so we are frequent readers. I do wonder what there will be to read about when Trump is out of office, but I wager I’ll find something interesting. I just hope to not be so caught up in the day-to-day mayhem like it’s been the last four years.

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  52. LAMary said on October 29, 2020 at 1:13 pm

    I have paid subscriptions to the LA Times online and on paper on Sundays, NYT limited access, The New Yorker (I got a deal for 5 bucks a month) The Atlantic because it’s worth it, WaPo somehow (I’ve never paid them anything) and NY Mag. I wish Slate would loosen up. I used to do the Friday quiz first thing Friday mornings, for years. I miss it and since I was a Slate fan from its inception I feel betrayed. A former neighbor of mine was one of the original editors and I read it faithfully to show solidarity.

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  53. Jakash said on October 29, 2020 at 1:14 pm

    I just wish the cultists would consider their hero’s “accomplishments” the way they’d think about a random guy sitting across a desk from them.

    Trump job interview:

    https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1321692442983366656

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  54. Sherri said on October 29, 2020 at 2:37 pm

    Glenn Greenwald claims he’s being censored at his own media outlet, leaves in a huff. The only surprise is he lasted this long…

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  55. LAMary said on October 29, 2020 at 2:57 pm

    I’m sitting here reading resumes by the hundreds. None as bad as that one. I doubt if trump would be interested in the public health worker job I’m recruiting for anyway. Going to homeless encampments? Nah.

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  56. bfields said on October 29, 2020 at 3:09 pm

    A google search took me to a Toledo Blade article recently and it popped up an offer for a $1 “day pass”, which sounds like the kind of thing people are asking for.

    Clicking on it took me to a screen where I needed to enter all my personal and payment information and create my umpteenth username and password, and that was what pushed it over the line to “nah, not worth it”.

    Someday they’ll all use some common account and payment situation and this will be easier. But because we can rarely agree on common infrastructure for this kind of thing, I guess it’ll end up a monopoly by some tech giant or other and we’ll get to worry about how they may be using it to further their other interests.

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  57. David C said on October 29, 2020 at 3:20 pm

    Thoughts and prayers for Greenwald. Maybe Taibi can go off in a huff to.

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  58. A. Riley said on October 29, 2020 at 4:22 pm

    That transactional thing — “yeah, he’s an asshole but he’ll do right by you if you need insurance” — sounds *so* familiar.

    As long as the creep hasn’t creeped on you, he’s a nice guy.
    As long as the horrible job isn’t horrible for you, it’s a good job.
    As long as the racist hasn’t called you a {*}, he’s a nice guy.

    My sister is (still) married to a first-class Hoosier asshole. Ages ago, I was marveling to our mother about what a jerk he was (and is), and mom said, “Well, she likes him.” Years later, he cheated on my sister and she caught him. And I was exclaiming about this to mom, who replied, “Well, he’s a good provider.”

    Dammit, I even heard my mostly enlightened husband do that — a guy at his work got shitcanned for getting creepy with the younger women on staff. And husband was all surprised — “but he’s a nice guy!” Yeah, nice to older white men like him, maybe.

    Grr.

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  59. Deborah said on October 29, 2020 at 4:39 pm

    I subscribe to the WaPo, NYT online. I get the Atlantic online and in the mail. I get the New Yorker in the mail and I try to get it online from time to time but I can never make that work which irks me. We actually get 2 New Yorkers in Chicago every issue because I messed up and got a second subscription thinking the first one had timed out because of something they sent me, then I tried to have the second one sent to our Santa Fe address but I never could make that work either.

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  60. beb said on October 29, 2020 at 6:55 pm

    I suspect Glenn Greenwald will end up at Breitbart News. Or maybe with Alex Jones. He seems to fit right in with them.

    I agree that the Militias will be the big problem post-Trump. Maybe even on Election Day.

    If ever there was a politician running on a platform of “Damn straight I’m coming after your guns” I’d vote them.

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  61. LAMary said on October 29, 2020 at 7:01 pm

    I think I just heard a story on NPR (I came in part of the way through) saying that people of both parties are buying guns in anticipation of craziness following the election.

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  62. Dorothy said on October 29, 2020 at 7:12 pm

    Just today I was thinking about this and hoping Biden would make this a priority if he wins the election. So relieved to read that he’s already making plans:

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2020/10/29/biden-promises-executive-order-to-help-reunite-migrant-families-separated-by-trump-administration/#3650e5777742

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  63. Jeff Borden said on October 29, 2020 at 7:41 pm

    I’m a second-generation newspaper guy–my dad didn’t use the word journalist– so I spend incredible amounts of time reading print versions if the NYT, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune and WaPo. We also get The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Esquire and Consumer Reports. And then I get Sports Illustrated and Car & Driver.

    But here’s the critical caveat. I’m retired (at least until the virus keeps Loyola University Chicago classrooms closed) so I have a commodity many people don’t have. I acknowledge my good fortune.

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  64. Heather said on October 29, 2020 at 9:02 pm

    It blows my mind how many “journalists” don’t understand what censorship is.

    I just realized that Slate changed its payment model, and yeah, while I agree that we should pay for journalism, I don’t have an extra $20-30 a month to pay for all the ones I’d like to read, especially since I’m paying another $220 in property taxes a month now, and God knows what my health insurance will cost next year. I already pay for the NY Times, the Post, and the New Yorker (in print). Oh and also for Block Club Chicago, a local online platform. I just couldn’t with the Trib anymore.

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  65. Dexter Friend said on October 30, 2020 at 4:29 am

    I paid for XM, then Sirius-XM, $25 per month for 13 1/2 years, which for all the music and entertainment, was a bargain for sure. Then, on a webpage, people said all ya had to do is call them and say you want a cheaper rate. And, voila…they cut my subscription down to $6 per month. Now here’s my question: I have a iPad and an iPhone and Alexa on the TV Firestick, and I can get all the programming from XM Satellite Radio from the app with no charge. Do any of you get sat-radio off the Sirius XM app without paying? Has it changed to free programming? I have a big loud-ass boombox which I would still pay for the service, because it sounds so much better for my Pearl Jam, Bruce, and Beatles tunes.

    LAMary, exes suck alright. I posted last summer about the shenanigans my first wife pulled. I take blame for rather foolishly marrying a 19 year old woman in the first place. The down and dirty outright filthy behavior was all on her. Your ex not letting your son stay a week in his Malibu digs indicates something alright, but I won’t choose a word; you know it.

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  66. Dexter Friend said on October 30, 2020 at 4:37 am

    Watching Chris Hayes on my phone as I was buttering a toaster waffle for a 3:00 AM snack, I was getting outraged as he and his guest targeted voter suppression through the courts. My eyes focussed on the screen, I grabbed the maple syrup squeeze bottle and let it rip. Wrong bottle. I had grabbed the Dawn dishwashing liquid. At least I realized it before I ate it. Damn shame. As you know, Trump cannot possibly win without massive voter suppression, and I also cringe thinking of another stolen election.

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  67. alex said on October 30, 2020 at 6:49 am

    Dex, I’m paying $19 a month for XM in my car because local radio is such a wasteland of dreck. But I’m only now hearing about Firesticks and Amazon Prime and all sorts of workarounds for those who’ve cut the cord. We cut the cord, but only because we have so little time for TV watching and can’t see paying for something we don’t really use. We even bought a Roku several years ago and barely used it; I suppose it’s considered a primitive device by now.

    I first heard of Firesticks just yesterday. A colleague says her husband somehow broke theirs and now they get certain programming for free.

    I want to see Schitt’s Creek and Subsequent Moviefilm, but haven’t a clue what’s the best way to do that these days. Any recommendations?

    The colleague with the Firestick tells me that you actually have to pay for the local broadcast stations if you use one of those. (But evidently not HBO when you’re using hers.)

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  68. Julie Robinson said on October 30, 2020 at 8:23 am

    Alex, Schitt’s Creek is on Netflix and the Borat movie on Amazon Prime. So you have to be paying for those, unless you are very clever as your colleague’s husband apparently is. We like using Chromecast and playing from a phone, tablet, or computer, then casting it to the TV. It’s easier than you might think–plug the Chromecast into a USB port and connecting to your internet and it walks you through the setup.

    Firestick is very similar, but of course since it comes from Amazon it’s more Amazon-centric. We also have a Roku but it’s pretty clunky to use because you have to access everything through a remote where you type in one letter at a time.

    We access the Colbert show on Youtube, then cast it to the TV. Like video calls, I have no clue how it all works but find it wonderful. We even cast our church services this way.

    Apple has its own set of all these so if you’re in that world you might prefer that.

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  69. Dorothy said on October 30, 2020 at 8:47 am

    Alex I think you’ll love Schitt’s Creek. If you want to buy it, I see it online available via Amazon, and also Target ($44.99 for the complete collection). I’d suggest trying your library to see if they have copies, but something tells me most libraries won’t want the title sitting on their shelves, offending all the morally upright folks who patronize the library. Never mind that they have the option to walk on by the box on the shelf – they just want to control EVERYTHING. I wonder if you could order the DVDs from Half Price Books online as well? Maybe someone who loves you could get it for you for Christmas.

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  70. Mark P said on October 30, 2020 at 9:09 am

    Tropical Storm Zeta made a quick tour of our area Wednesday night. It didn’t stay long but it left trees down everywhere and almost a million Ga Power customers without power. Including us. It went out at 5:30 am and is still off now, Friday morning. It also cut us off from town. We’ve had to take the 10-mile detour when the road down the mountain on the town side is blocked by a truck that couldn’t make the sharp curves, but this time the 10-mile detour was blocked by downed trees. We eventually found a 20-mile detour, although we did have to thread our way through hanging power lines. We had to make the trip for ice and water since we’re on a well. We have a generator. It could be several more days of TV and limited lights, but no refrigerator, water or HVAC. At least no one died in this area. Three were killed in Atlanta by falling trees.

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  71. Mark P said on October 30, 2020 at 9:33 am

    In Corona news, the 80-something-year-old mother in law of a friend of ours went to the hospital with Covid symptoms. She’s in Omaha. She went to a party at a small restaurant and sat across from some guy who doesn’t believe in masks. He was hospitalized the next day, and then soon after that her mother in law. The restaurant is run by no-maskers. Even the servers went maskless.

    Oh, and the mother in law has COPD.

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  72. LAMary said on October 30, 2020 at 10:12 am

    Schitts Creek is on Comedy Central on Friday nights.

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  73. Mark P said on October 30, 2020 at 10:14 am

    I just checked the Ga Power outage map. Their estimate of when we’ll get our power restored is 11 pm Sunday. Oh boy, none of those elite, liberal showers for us!

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  74. LAMary said on October 30, 2020 at 10:18 am

    Dex, my ex was is very good looking guy. We met in college. I was working afternoons in the NYT Rocky Mountain Bureau, and one day he went with me because he needed to run an errand in that part of town. My boss was Molly Ivins. She met him and he flirted with her, chatted in French with her and all that. He left and Molly said to me, “Watch out for that guy. He thinks he’s prettier than you.” Why didn’t I listen.

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  75. susan said on October 30, 2020 at 11:46 am

    LAMary….M-m-m-mmmmolly Ivins???!! Molly Ivins was your boss?? OMdog. She is/was my goddess. I am still in mourning. 2007. I can’t get over missing her in all these horrid political discussions. Dammit. And Dick Cheney lives on. With a young man’s heart where no heart used to be. Life sure as hell ain’t fair.

    Molly. And Ann Richards. And Barbara Jordan. All sublime Texan women.

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  76. Maria said on October 30, 2020 at 12:07 pm

    Molly Ivins was my idol, someone who made me proud to be from Texas. Susan, I too wish she could be here commenting on our current insanity.

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  77. beb said on October 30, 2020 at 12:12 pm

    susan’s reaction is the same as mine, that LAMary once worked for Molly Ivins. Such a great writer.

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  78. Sherri said on October 30, 2020 at 12:12 pm

    Always listen to Molly Ivins.

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  79. jcburns said on October 30, 2020 at 1:55 pm

    And by the transitive principle, always listen to LAMary.

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  80. LAMary said on October 30, 2020 at 2:41 pm

    The only other time I mentioned Molly Ivins in here was when she died. I’m running from my name dropper rep. She was the bureau chief and not a columnist and Abe Rosenthal had her on a short leash. Cool people used to call the office.Calvin Trillin for one. Her predecessor in that job was from Brooklyn. Molly had a very different understanding of the mountain west from Grace Lichtenstein, the previous bureau chief.
    And don’t always listen to me. I make a lot of mistakes.

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  81. ROGirl said on October 30, 2020 at 5:41 pm

    Someone came to my house to repair my garage door opener yesterday. He was late 50s/early 60s, caucasian. He commented about my Biden and Peters signs on the lawn and let me know that he liked them, he was keeping his fingers crossed for the election. I was surprised and pleased.

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  82. Dexter Friend said on October 30, 2020 at 9:00 pm

    I became a disciple of Molly Ivins when I subscribed to The Nation for years. My mentor and close friend, Bert Wolfe, a WW1 veteran ( he worked in France laying track and then as a fireman on the narrow-gauge engines that transported troops around in 1917), started me with a The Nation sub. Bert adored Molly’s work. And then, as I. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/remembering-molly-ivins/

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  83. beb said on October 31, 2020 at 1:47 am

    My wife got a collection of Molly Ivins’ article in The Nation for subscribing to the Magazine. Which seems a good reason to subscribe.

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  84. Julie Robinson said on October 31, 2020 at 9:51 am

    Molly Ivins’ nickname for George W. Bush was the perfect summation and putdown in one word: shrub.

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  85. Peter said on October 31, 2020 at 10:27 am

    Well, it took more than 55 years, but Gert Frobe finally got his wish – James Bond is dead.

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  86. LAMary said on October 31, 2020 at 12:36 pm

    Molly knew Bush. She went to school with him for a while in Houston. With all the brilliant things she wrote or said the one I quote the most was said by someone in the Texas legislature during a discussion of bilingual education, saying, “If English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me.”

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