
Yesterday’s DOT was a little heavy, but worth a view if you have a (few) moments.
As usual, I try to keep the doom-mongering (is that a word?) to a minimum.
At least the good news is that it is Friday!
This is my favorite song:
Umm, do they know how Romeo and Juliet ends?
Italian couple ‘Romeo and Juliet’ met from their balconies during lockdown. Now they’re engaged.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/09/24/italian-couple-romeo-juliet-met-their-balconies-during-lockdown-now-theyre-engaged/
Sprots!
Pac-12 announces return of fall football season for first week in November
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/09/24/pac-12-football-resumes/
Stonks!
Dow futures rise more than 100 points as market tries to avoid losses for the week
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/24/futures-rise-slightly-as-market-tries-to-avoid-loss-for-the-week.html
Some Good Tweets:
Have a great weekend!
…so…I went looking for something arguing against the scenarios outlined in that Atlantic piece from the other day & I found this
…I think perhaps it overstates some stuff but it raises a number of sound points (as does her broader thesis about how a would be “strongman” who is in fact all kinds of weak relies upon this kind of approach to dictate absurd parameters for the Overton window in an effort to shore up the inherent weakness of his position)
…this is arguably in a similar vein
…sadly I don’t seem to be able to find them now but I also saw a couple of replies to one of them somewhere that cited some reasons why the GOP cherry-picking slates of pro-trump electors after timing out the recount & shifting to electoral college goalposts would be specifically unlawful in at least three major battleground states
…none of it truthfully has me feeling at ease in the face of the spectrum of tactics on display to intimidate, dismiss, discount, distort or otherwise supress votes as part of a campaign seemingly predicated on the implicit understanding that the election must be stolen if the GOP wish to retain power…but I think I agree that we may be framing a good bit of this stuff in ways that do the wrong side of the argument more favors than it deserves?
This thing has come around 180 degrees. Last election they were asking whether electors had to vote for Trump, or whether they could vote for a different Republican if they thought he was unfit.
I thought the courts had issued some opinions on that, but I may be mistaken.
…you’re not wrong…I definitely remember thinking that if ever there had been an election that could have vindicated the electoral college as being a thing worth having it was 2016
…not allowing someone like trump to hijack an election was broadly the point of the thing as it was explained to me once upon a time
…but it didn’t…so I dunno where exactly that leaves things but I could stand to be less disturbed than I currently feel about the outlook?
if you click https://twitter.com/i/status/1308929151789924354 you can see parts 1-17
…no…I mean replies specifically about the need for governors to either sign off or not-veto any GOP slate of electors they might propose in some of the battleground states
…not the thread itself but a different account that replied to a tweet in one of those threads
Did the baby come as a surprise to Billie Lourd? Surely she must have gotten hints over the last few months? Although you do sometimes read tabloid stories about women going to a doctor or a hospital with a complaint and the doctor says something like, “You’re pregnant and it looks like you’re not far from your delivery date…”
I actually know a woman this happened to. She was seven months pregnant when she went in to the doctor for an unrelated issue and found out. She had no other symptoms( don’t know if that’s the right word to describe pregnancy issues)and had even been having a period. I was fascinated by the whole scenario so I asked her a lot of incredibly nosy questions. As long as I’d known her, she’d always had a little bit of a pot belly. She knew it had gotten a little bigger, but just thought she was getting fat. Ended up with a healthy baby boy.
One of my younger cousins was 5 months, when SHE learned she was pregnant! (17-18 at the time, she’d been taking medication that had stopped her period before, so when it stopped the second time she was on the medication, she thought nothing of it… went in thinking she had a UTI, because she had to pee all.the.time, annnnd discovered that it was most definitely NOT a UTI!😉😆😂🤣🤣)
The kiddo turned out great, and is now in senior high, and she’s turned out to be the EXCELLENT, hard working, and VERY loving parent i knew she was going to be🤗💖
When she asked me, back then, what I thought, I told her, “This IS gonna be hard–and my ONE wish for you, was that it had been a MUCH easier possible path. But I KNOW you’re going to be great at it, because I KNOW you. You have all of us around you, who love you, we just wish you could have an easier go of things, because raising kids is expensive, and that’s the part that’s gonna make this tough. When you see opportunities come by, GRAB THEM, with both hands, and HOLD ON. They’ll happen, and they can make things easier.”
She’s busted her ASS, but she’s got a great, well-paying job, her own house (which she got, by applying for Habitat for Humanity–one of those opportunities!😉), and she and her (now**) husband have been through hell & back, but have a stronger marriage than ever, and two GREAT kids–hers from that previous marriage, who has been adopted by his second dad, and a second kiddo, who’s biological to both of them😉💗)
**she got engaged, years ago, to kiddo #1’s dad, and moved in with him, planning to marry. But when she realized that he just wanted more kids, and planned to allow HER to be the breadwinner & carry all the weight of being “the adult in the relationship”–instead of *both* of them being the adults *together,* she kicked his ass to the curb & decided to go it alone.
Her explanation to me later was, “It’s easier with ONE kid, than Two!”😉😈
She got engaged another time a few years later, and had a multi-year relationship with that guy, in-between that first engagement and her marriage.
But it fizzled out, when she realized that one expected her to “settle down” and simply be a housewife, instead of being out there, acting as an equal partner.
With her now husband, there were a LOT of struggles, as he came to terms with the fact that he’s got PTSD from both his time as a Marine, then later on, after being deployed with the National Guard. And also,, as her husband realized that the feisty chick he married was gonna STAY feisty, AFTER they marriage–it wasn’t an act😉.
But they got through it *together,* rather than letting it rip them apart (caused some difficulty with his family–who thought she was “being a bitch,” but HE saw what she did for him, and knows & appreciates all of it–and sided with her over the hurt feelings on his side of the family–which brought those folks who were pestering her back into line), and they’re headed for year 10 pretty soon now😁.
They’re a couple of hot-headed doofuses, sometimes😉🤣, but they’ve got each other’s backs, and have the love & respect for each other that is required to make a marriage work well.🤗💖
I love a happy ending story, happy 10th anniversary to your cousin! (Also, ‘hot-headed doofuses” made me smile… I am a no-drama mama.)
I’m guessing it’s only a surprise to us, not Billie.
Also, damn, I miss Carrie Fisher.
That was my favorite song too, Meg! We have great taste in music!!
Favorite recent tweet:
TGIFurFaceFriday!
https://groupthink.kinja.com/fur-face-friday-1845175076
…should that be TFIFFF?
Yes, yes it should.