Khan

I'm feeling so exhausted by that man and his bitch fits. Is it 2021 yet? Which is why Putin, for one, cannot WAIT until J.R. Ewing is confirmed as Secretary of State.

Is THAT what Pizzagate was about? Well, I'm glad at least three people (you, slick and NBA) don't think I'm TOO off-the-rails on my theory about Russia/Putin and Trump's campaign. I'm not saying it's true. (I'm not Michael Flynn.) But I think if I were Putin, and I wanted to ensure that Hillary Clinton NOT be elected president, then as far as I'm concerned, pledging certain resources, financial and otherwise, to her opponent would not be off the table. Who knows? Putin might have even put Trump up to running in the first place. Because of Trump's role in the birther movement, Putin might have seen Trump as the perfect someone who could not only upset Hillary (and by extension, the rest of the Democratic party) in the general election through populist sentiment, but sow seeds of chaos within the GOP as well. Subsequently, with both political parties suffering identity crises of one kind or another, Americans divided against each other along lines of gender, race and class, and even the mainstream media coming to grips with their handling of Trump as well as their function within this new "post-fact/post-truth" society, where even the word of our own intelligence community is being doubted over proof of the Russians' hacking into DNC email servers, America as a whole is too busy freeing itself from the wreckage of the past year to pay attention to whatever Putin has up his sleeve next. And I STILL think there's something screwy about the fact that Hillary won the popular vote by such a relatively wide margin, and that the states that cost her the electoral vote and the presidency were also the states many pundits said she needed to win going into Super Tuesday. Again, though, this is only speculation.

It wasn't. No matter what anyone might say to the contrary. Erica's neuroses stemming from the fact that she felt abandoned by her father at such a young age was more than enough explanation or motivation for her chronic behavior. Megan McTavish's retcon was convoluted, illogical and unnecessary. If they really wanted to give Erica new sources of conflict in the form of a rebellious daughter, all they had to do was SORAS Bianca to teenage-hood. It wasn't as if AMC had never done THAT before. (Besides, given the amount of hell that Erica had put Mona through the years, it made sense to have her only child, raised most of her life away from Pine Valley, turn out to be as selfish and insecure as her mother.) Instead, we get Miss Continuity F**k-up, followed by the patron saint of lesbian rape victims.

Why do I think that Trump ran for office because he needed to pay some bills and it beat folding shirts at Macy's? Trump insisted he didn't need donors to keep going and that he was footing all the bills for his election campaign himself (more or less). Now, I realize this makes me sound like an even bigger nut...but what if it were really Russia that had been picking up part, or even most, of the tab?

Incredible...but not surprising.

If the rumors are true, and Putin is, indeed, blackmailing our next president, then whatever he's holding over Trump's head must be damn juicy.

Black Agnes hears all, sees all, KNOWS all.

And all because a bunch of folks in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin got fed up with the HNIC leading us from behind.

Would you rather I had brought it back to, say, Springfield? (The car, by the way, is America.)

And Adam Chandler...? Rex Tillerson. All I remember is Linda making such a big damn deal about Jangie being the Number One Greatest Black Supercouple of All Time. Right down to the stigmata on their hands.

Yep. But not even Black Agnes could save us from ourselves. Yeah, KAC :: Liza Colby :: Steve Bannon :: Tad Martin. Chew on THAT for awhile.

LMAO.

...until it all ends like this:

Just ask Ah-nold. Trump tweeted how great he'd be as his replacement on "The Celebrity Apprentice." But now that the new season has begun and the ratings have come in, Trump...well, let's just say, he appears to have changed his tune.

Trump doesn't look young and healthy to begin with. I suspect that in four (or eight) years, he'll be bald and weighing over 300 pounds. IOW, he'll look like Marlon Brando in "Apocalypse Now."

Same. But seriously: right now, it should dawn on the more sober-minded ones the mistake they've made in putting political affiliations over country. Chances are, however, there will always be a faction within the GOP who will be happy no matter what, because, as marceline and others have said, they're just looking to tear down our current government anyway. On the one hand, good for CBS and "CBS This Morning." But, on the OTHER hand, it's too damn little and too damn late. Too many people in the MSM kissed Trump's ass for ratings' sake, and frankly, I don't know whether viewers will ever trust the "Big Three" networks again. Of course, I don't speak for everyone, but I don't worry all that much, because even if there WERE a full-on nuclear attack, it'd be almost a blessing in disguise.

I didn't even know he was on it.

You know, I'm starting to think national health care is something that will remain forever out of our reach. Obamacare was our best shot at it (even if it wasn't perfect) and now, it's about to be history.

Pretty much. I mean, once you reach age 62, I think, you qualify for Medicare. (And of course, there's always Medicaid for low-income and unemployed citizens who meet certain criteria.) Even with Medicare, though, you still have no choice but to pay for supplemental insurance, because Medicare isn't going to cover everything. Earlier today, I asked Mama Khan, "Why is it that just about every other country can figure out how to provide healthcare to its citizens, and we can't?" I'm still waiting for her answer. Ruh. Roh.

You are in my thoughts and prayers as well, dragonflies (and marceline). Oh, and Trump knows nothing. As you were. By the way, what is the latest on the Senate hacking investigations? I would watch them on TV, except I think what John McCain and others are doing is an exercise in futility.

Oh, I agree. I'm sorry if I came across as someone who didn't.

And all because the GOP wanted to stick it to President Darkie. Again, many see them as mere "stepping stones." You're not supposed to make a career out of working at the Gap. It's only there to give teenagers spending money and teach them the values of hard work and self-discipline. Ah, but remember: Trump's "historic" and "landslide" victory gave Republicans on Capitol Hill a "mandate" to do that very thing. Sure, we're all about to suffer, but at least part of me will get a big(ly) kick out of seeing complainers who THOUGHT TrumpCo. and Congress would replace the ACA with "something really fantastic" realize that, in fact, they got nothing. Even the diehards who will stand by their man no matter what will twist themselves into yoga-like positions to justify why their own government has left them stranded like the Pharoah's slaves in the desert.

Maybe. I suspect Republicans believe poor people choose to stay poor. (As if poverty were a choice, right?) To them, it's unfathomable for someone who is born impoverished to remain that way so long as he "works hard." After all, isn't the history of this country filled with stories of men (which is to say, men who are Caucasian, heteronormal and God-fearing) who pulled themselves up by their proverbial boot straps, with absolutely no help from anyone but the Good Lord Above? (Actually, for many of those men, God was the LAST thing on their minds as they lied, cheated, stole and even killed in their quest for success. But that's of no importance to anyone still paying attention.) I'm not saying the quintessential rags-to-riches story can't happen anymore. It can...but not for everyone. In fact, it never could. For every man who is born into poverty, works hard and achieves that Gatsby-esque American Dream, there's another man who is born under similiar circumstances, makes the same sacrifices; yet when he dies, he's still poor. It isn't anything they did or didn't do that would explain why they "failed." It's just the hand the life dealt them. Yet, for some damn reason, congressional Republicans, and even many average people, can't (or won't) see that. No, poor people in this country stay poor, because they're lazy, and because the rest of us make their meager existence too comfortable for them. (As if living on stuff like food stamps and Medicaid is the epitome of "leisure class.") Which is how we end up with jackholes like Paul Ryan, who can't understand why many who work in fast food (like he did) don't have the luxury of seeing the job as a stepping stone toward something better (again, like he did); and who believe that the answer to all our problems would be to restrict and/or do away with entitlements and subsidies. And if taking away their social and economic safety nets means they fall even further behind...? Well, then, they just...hafta roll up their sleeves and work a little harder. Because, hard work never killed anyone, right? Except...it has. You can work hard all your life -- sometimes, around the clock -- just to make those ends meet, or at least move closer together; and in the end, all you have to show for it are a nice-looking corpse and a grave your loved ones visit on major holidays.

Actually, I'm with Whoopi Goldberg, who once said (and as always, I am paraphrasing), "If you don't want these women to have abortions, then let's them have those babies and we'll drop them off at YOUR house."

Because, again, that would mean diverting gov't funds away from their pet projects: really big guns.