I was probably generalizing a bit - it’s fair to say that for a lot of people, losing weight (if needed) and getting fitter improves their lives. I was specifically reacting to “There is no better way (emphasis mine) to improve body confidence than by improving your health and figure” because I honestly think “body…

I was suspicious from the start, but I find myself feeling sorry for Smollett. No one in his position would do this unless he was majorly fucked up in the head. I can’t say what the appropriate punishment is, because I know he did harm, but I wish him peace.

My elderly 10-lb. dog will gum you into submission.

“Who’s the first of her name!? Who’s the first of her name?!” (Skritches follow.)

OMG are you me? I never watched VPR, except, weirdly, I got sucked into the reunions a couple of times. I felt sort of smug about being above the VPR mess (though I’m a RH junkie). Part of it is that I’m a long time disliker (hater is too strong a word) of LVP.

This stuck out for me as patently untrue:

First Trump and now this. Bleh.

Well, maybe it’s just the dominant story for me. Because it’s pretty much what I think about when I think of her now.

This is not what any of these men are known for, though. I guarantee it.

That’s kind of the point, though - we don’t necessarily know which male politicians are horrible bosses because it would not be considered a noteworthy thing to report, even if they were running for president. There isn’t the same pressure on men to be nice, and when they’re “difficult” with underlings it’s often…

The fact that men get away with bad behavior that women get called on is sexism. But the solution is to hold both men and women accountable for that bad behavior, not hide behind “if it were a guy....” justifications.

I can’t even believe I had to type that last phrase.

Not really gross in the sense of some of the other stories comes to mind, but when I was 16 I was riding Muni home (in my Catholic school uniform!) and this creepy guy tried to show me pornographic Polaroids. I was super-grateful that two young women (I mean, not as young as me, but probably in their 20s) immediately…

Similarly I once gulped Galliano after the SF Giants failed to advance in the MLB playoffs in 1987* (stupid Cardinals) and I don’t even LIKE herb liqueur and it was gross and I had to take a film class final the next day with a massive hangover. (And even though the classroom was darkened somewhat because we were…

Ooh, wait - I’d missed that option. So Fairfax could resign, Northam could appoint a replacement, and then that replacement could become governor once Northam resigns? Could he pick a WoC, who hopefully wouldn’t have any rapey or racist history and maybe be competent too? That would be great.

I may be in the minority, but I’ve been thinking for the past few days, can we just stay with Northam? (I should stipulate that I’m not a Virginian and main interest is as a Democrat, American and general human being.)

Re Mallory, it’s amazing to me that people are so credulous. I don’t want to act like I’m incapable of being snookered, but whenever I read about someone who has supposedly experienced a pile-up of unlikely traumas, my bullshit meter immediately starts pinging.

Thank you! I was stuck on that point as well. Also, in my (perhaps faulty?) understanding, Stage IV cancer of any type means it has metastasized and is essentially terminal (though of course someone can live with terminal cancer for a while). So unless I’m missing something, she couldn’t have had stage IV  or “stage…

Do. it. Do. it. Do. it!

Taking the temperature of the boards? Basically it meant saying anything like, “well, everyone here obviously thinks xyz.” But it could be (and was) enforced for much less egregious responses. The unfortunate effect was that people interacted less; they just posted their opinions as if in a vacuum. Responding to…