Also, in the family often sucks category, the MAGA wing of the family has gone so far as to post stuff on FB that he should have gotten more time.

Oh god.

Several members of my staff could benefit from this (those that deal directly with the faculty could rally support if they had an offer to leave, and every other local campus pays more, I think). Some could not. What the heck do I do with this information?

You could say off-hand that it never hurts to try, despite the stated policy? But I do think if someone wants to leave for non-money reasons and has another offer in-hand, they are probably going to leave.

Yeah, I think at a certain point even if it IS just money reasons, if you've gone through all the work to get a new job offer, getting that matched might still not be worth it.

Hugs to you all, Laura (though I might aim a kick or two in the direction of the MAGAites).

So Trump and Pelosi are playing chicken with the State of the Union. I think Trump's expecting Pelosi to blink, but she just sent him another letter basically saying, not gonna happen.

I feel like this probably won't lead to nuclear war or something equally horrible, so I'm trying to enjoy it.

I'd like him to show up to make his speech and have only the Reps show up, and no network except Fox carries it.

It is such a delight to watch him try and best Pelosi. You are so ill equipped, Dude.

Twitter is telling me that he can enter the House chambers, but he has to have permission to speak from the podium/dais of the House.

If it comes down to those rules of order, what side to the Republicans fall on? As repulsive as they are, they tend to stick to most procedural rules, I think.

Friends, I have ordered a pillow of my dog, because there is a Groupon that made it $10: [link]

It's my understanding that Pelosi can keep C-SPAN from broadcasting, so not even FOX would be able to show it. My guess is the Senate will invite him because they have the votes there.

That's a good question. They really like to weasel their way around procedural rules when they can, though.

That is not my first thought of what "pillow of my dog" would mean. I hope it's cute!

News bulletin: THE ROOMMATE HAS LEFT THE HOUSE TO GO DO FINANCIAL-TYPE STUFF.

Whether it actually gets done is another matter. I mean, there have been times she sailed forth and had a panic attack (which I only found out about by careful questioning), and there's also the question of how complicated the financial tangle she is in will take to get uncomplicated, which could mean waiting for checks to clear for her.

(For those playing the home game, the date she was originally supposed to give me a check for two months was January 2nd.)