Now I wish I had unleashed all the power of verbiage right back. At the time I was still hoping to have cordial relations with that part of the family. My self restraint did me no good.

I guess moving to another city without providing a forwarding address means they want me out of their picture. Their Family Values are so not inclusive. I like to think our grandma and grandpa would be appalled.

Isn't that exactly what they're doing? Nancy Pelosi proposed this strategy in December and these bills will be passed this week.

Then I stand corrected.

The problem is that McConnell refuses to allow a vote on any budget that doesn't meet Trump's demands -- even though just before Christmas, the Senate UNANIMOUSLY passed a budget that didn't have a wall in it.

But McConnell is suddenly afraid of the tea party? I don't even know.

At the moment the Senate Dems are refusing to pass anything else, which since the filibuster still applies (for non-confirmation stuff), they can do. I don't know if it'll be enough for McConnell, who honestly doesn't seem to think about harm to ANYONE as being worthy of his attention.

When they write the histories of this time, McConnell is going to be so dragged by history that nobody will ever name their child Mitch again.

Ha - so, because of the shutdown, the White House hasn't paid their $5 million water bill, and DC is wondering if they can actually shut off the White House's water. (Answer seems to be, legally, yes, but they probably won't.)

Maybe just shut it off to specific rooms? I have some suggestions.

I like the idea in theory, but I'm against anything that encourages him to move back to NYC.

I had a ride all the way down to RI! Which is actually a pretty easy drive (open highways) and got to listen to some of my favorite radio programs on the way there and back.

I probably heard way too much about the shutdown, but at least they weren't playing excerpts from the "speech." Which never mentioned the shutdown, if I understand correctly.

Theo, is it worth a long ride like that if you have to deadhead back?

Oh man, you guys -- there is a team I work with closely. For a long time, it was basically one person + boss. Then it was two people + boss. Boss position was vacant for a good while, but they've finally hired. But they were still basically understaffed. Now it's three people + boss, and one is on maternity leave. The other one just gave notice (for a very cool opportunity), leaving only the newest, most junior person + boss! And boss has a much larger department to run. Yikes. Yikes!!

Even a little turnover in a small unit makes such a huge difference.

ION, John Lasseter just got hired to run Skydance Animation (which is Larry Ellison's toy). David Ellison hired him with a total bullshit memo about "taking very seriously" the charges against Lasseter's gropey, sexist ways and how Lasseter has learned his lesson.

There's a lot of blowback but I don't think they will give a shit when you've got a guy who can make you a billion dollars. So...sexual assault once again means nothing in the face of profit.

I am subbing this week at an Adult Autism Center and really enjoying it. Today was a trip to a local yoga center to take a class, which they do once a month or so. Some of the students have verbal outbursts. One of them has some outbursts but he also has a total announcer's voice and perfect diction, which I assume he absorbed from TV. So, in the middle of the hushed yoga class in a candlelit room, we suddenly hear "Doctor, this chart can't be correct" in sonorous tones.