Dana, that sounds like heaven. I probably would have walked out of there with a dog or two. I love Great Pyrenees.

Unfortunately, the people who voted for him don't realize that Puerto Rico is part of the United States.

They way they talk about Puerto Rico makes it sound like it's some sort of remote primitive backwater which is crazy. There are multiple airports capable of handling large aircraft. Load C-5s and C-17s at multiple bases in the Southeast. Have them fly to Homestead and maybe another base in Florida to top off. Then fly into a Puerto Rico airport (they don't have to refuel there, they have the range) unload and head back to a base for reloading. You might need some KC-135s in the air to refuel the returning aircraft, but they will be flying light and won't have far to travel so you wouldn't need a massive fleet of tankers. They need a team in the White House that can just tell people to make it happen, like the Obama Administration did during Hurricane Sandy.

I went whale-watching today (delayed birthday event for my niece, whose father passed on her actual birthday), and was one of the few in our group who did not barf on the boat. Yay for lots of preventive dramamine, and staring fixedly at a mountaintop on the horizon for most of the ride. We also did see whales, and a shark, and sea lions, and sea otters! So that was nice.

Trying to decide holiday plans when most of the participants are still wracked with grief is kind of difficult. Argh.

Exactly, Gud. It could have been and still can be handled properly, but they really don't care. It is just heartbreaking.

That sounds wonderful, Consuela! Also, yay for dramamine.

I need to turn off the live coverage from Vegas. It is making me hate humans.

I'm so sorry for your niece, Consuela. Relatedly, my mother thinks my father is declining, and one of my first thoughts was, "He better not die over Christmas." So, um, if anyone has control over that kind of thing?

Gads, the news from Vegas is just horrible. Sounds like it was just the one guy that did all that.

What the hell, world? Fifty people dead? I'm sitting here speechless.

I just sit here and think of the countless loved ones whose lives are changed forever because of a lunatic with automatic weapons. So horrifying.

Exactly. Plus the fact that *this* is terrorism. And we're apparently not only breeding them but happily arming them.

I've seen people already (of course) saying "this isn't terrorism", and I assume that it's because the shooter is white.

What is a mass shooting, if not an act of terrorism? Why can't we call it what it is?