I don’t remember, actually. I was a kid when it all happened, so I didn’t find out all the details until I was a teen, plus they lived out of state and we didn’t see them often. I do know that he ended up marrying the best friend and had 2 or 3 more kids with her. But though their romance had such a promising…

I feel like it’s really, really not too much to ask. Just some basic human decency.

This reminds me of the time my great-uncle’s first wife was babysitting her best friend’s new baby every day . . . only to find out great-uncle was the father. Way to go, great-uncle! Cheating on your wife with her best friend is bad enough, but then getting her to unknowingly provide daycare for the baby takes…

True. So, I can imagine that the writers mike make some plausible scenario where the emancipated slaves might end up with their own nation carved out of the south. It would be interesting to see how that nation might have developed. The economic dealings between them and the rest of the US alone would be interesting,…

Is there anything that more clearly sums up human nature? “Look! A thing of unearthly beauty! Let’s KILL IT.”

Yeah, that makes more sense historically, I think.

Excellent point about how the slave-holding Confederacy would need something like oil in order for the rest of the world to overlook the fact that they’re a slave state. Just one more reason why Confederate is a bad idea. I mean, I guess they could go with the idea that the CSA is the North Korea of the Americas. I…

I think that imagining “What would have happened if the emancipated slaves had actually been given their reparations?” is an excellent alternative history and could make an excellent story (and a peek at an America that would be substantially different than the one we have now). I wish there was more explanation about…

Oh yeah. It’s one of those situations where I know enough to know that things were (and still are, actually) bad for First Nations, but I’m not well-informed enough to know specifics. It was annoying to see someone claim that alternative history America would just look like Canada, because though I sometimes…

Remember, I’m talking about “all men are created equal” so that includes Native Americans. Canada wasn’t particularly respectful of First Nations, so I’m standing by my assertion that things would be considerably different. Hell, just giving the emancipated slaves their 40 acres and a mule would have made America an…

You’re probably right. I’m sure that there were plenty of other people who knew it was wrong, but were too greedy to do anything about it. It really should tarnish his reputation A LOT more than it has.

You’re right, I haven’t seen this before! It’s so good, and so true. Generational poverty is no joke. America deliberately perpetuated a system that would keep black people poor while whites were able to build wealth, and today white people bitch about welfare. (And I say that as a descendant of immigrants who got…

Yeah, definitely. That America would probably be significantly smaller. Would we have some kind of EU-type organization comprised of America as the eastern seaboard, and the rest of the territory being a bunch of separate nations ruled by the different tribes? Or would some other European power have colonized the…

You know, there’s an alternate American history that I think about sometimes. Thomas Jefferson said that slavery was like holding a wolf by the ears—you don’t dare hold on, but you don’t dare let go. I think about, what if the founding fathers had “let go”? What if they actually had believed that all men are created…

I know! I have some friends and family on the right wing, and one of them actually posted on Facebook that “It’s nice to have class back in the White House” when the Trumps moved in. Excuse me? There is no other reason for thinking that the Trumps are classier than the Obamas unless “classy” is a secret code word…

I was starting to wonder if I’m the only American woman who hasn’t been to a Night of Total Debauchery Bachelorette Party!!!!!!! All the ones I’ve been to were pretty tame, but were fun (except for the one I didn’t really want to go to because I don’t actually feel very close to the bride, but we have mutual friends…

Looks like it’s the second time today for me to ask if there’s a German word for a situation that isn’t at all surprising, yet should be completely shocking.

Is there a long German word that describes a situation that is not at all surprising, yet should be shocking?

I’m not generally a fan of policing what other women wear, but, yeah . . . that picture gave me some SERIOUS second-hand embarrassment.

I once worked at a middle school. Even wearing my professional clothing, I was mistaken for a student. That isn’t flattering, it’s just depressing.