ChicagoCita

"I must say" that I'm enjoying the non-screaming, non-hyperventilating, non-flushing version of Meghan. I don't think there's a chance in hell she'll last, but it's been three days in a row, and I'm enjoying the show a lot more than I usually do.

I'll be shallow right along side ya! I don't know why they keep trying new things with Meghan's hair. No one else comes out with radically different, and weird, styles daily. They have a few "stock looks" for Sarah and Sunny so they don't look the same each day, but with Meghan, it's like they are outdoing themselves to see what oddness they can create. It reminds me of my 7-year-self with my Tressy doll. I was surprised, and gratified, to hear Meghan say that she is so angry with the Trump administration that it's difficult for her to give them credit for any wins right now.

This is what Sunny was referring to about Tomi Lahren and her hateful comments on today's show. (BTW, my great-grandparents came to this county from Germany in 1891 with low skills and low education. They never did learn English because Chicago was so segregated they never had to. They had nine children and there are approximately 400 descendants. We have served in the military, gone to college, and love our country. How dare "Xenophobic Rage Barbie" talk that way about immigrants? Her ancestors would be mortified.) #resistancegenealogy FTW!

Hah! Since she thinks Paul Ryan is hot, she must be nuts about Avenatti's looks. He's the poster boy for half my liberal friends!

I loved Sunny's slapdown of Matt Schlapp(sp?) trying to spin it to make the execrable Kelly Sadler "the victim." What kind of country are we living in where a talk show host has a better moral compass than the people running the government? I pray this nightmare ends soon.

Between the Bernie/chickens contest and the Republican guests, I'm underwhelmed, but I watch for hot topics, so there's hope. ;-)

So many news and commentary sites linked to Meghan's response to Kelly Sadler's vileness. Whoever decided to have her formally address the remarks on the show was a genius. The ratings must have been through the roof. Of course she was on best behavior. Even smoky eyes! I agree with her feelings on this, because I have a great deal of respect for her dad's service (she's not the only one who comes from a military family). But EvilMe wants every site that linked to calm, rational Meghan to have to give equal time to the screaming meltdown that happened because Joy simply said, "Happy Birthday, Melania." Too bad the Good Behavior Meghan doesn't show up much on The View.

I resent Whoopi's inferred opinion that hers is the only "POC" experience that matters. Sunny brings different experiences and opinions to the table, and Whoopi hates that when it comes to racial issues. It's not like Sunny was Whitley from A Different World - she was also raised in the projects, but other than that, she comes from a different kind of background than Whoopi. They can each have their own perspectives on living while black, and just because they're different doesn't mean that either is invalid. In the early 1980s, I lived in the one crappy little apartment complex on a very wealthy part of Wilshire Boulevard in West LA, between UCLA and Beverly Hills. One of my roommates was an African-American male who taught at a Montessori School.* I don't think a week went by that he wasn't stopped by the police who questioned his presence on that block. He always made sure to have current ID with his address on it. The weird thing was that we all just accepted it, even him. I would be going ballistic now... * Fun fact: Among his pupils were Angelina Jolie and Roosevelt Grier Jr.

It was out of character, but I don't like Meghan's usual character, so I liked it. She would loathe hearing this, but she was the epitome of "When they go low, we go high." Thank you on Meghan's behalf, Michelle Obama. It had echoes of her father saying that Obama was a decent family man when someone attacked him at a campaign rally. Everyone on both sides of the aisle -- hell, anyone with any human decency -- is responding harshly to Kelly Sadler's insensitive statement. Meghan has the advantage of most people being on her side already (a rare thing for Meghan). She doesn't have to rage about this, she already has the room. She can afford to be magnanimous in her official and much-watched response.

She was on CNN or some other network on election night ... man, maybe a decade ago? And she was snippy and unprofessional then. I think she snapped at someone who was off-camera while she was on-camera. Later she said she was sleep-deprived, but I've never forgotten it. I had a bad feeling about her when she joined the show, because of that, and she hasn't prove that feeling to be unfounded. OTOH, I have great respect for her father's service, and I can't imagine the harridan from hell I'd be if someone had said what is being said about John while my father was dying. I would be in prison, seriously. I admire her restraint, and I hope every single person who is taking this opportunity to slam John McCain is fired from his or her job.

Thanks for the heads up. My DVR doesn't recognize this as the same show as "UB" -- so I would have missed it.

It pains me to do this, but I liked Meghan for a brief moment today. Aside from the shocked laugh when Whoopi suggested that since Trump is so in favor of torture and waterboarding that he give it a try, she was passionate -- and not shrill -- when she was talking about how we have to be better than that as a country. Obviously this is something that has affected her life greatly, seeing her father live with the results of being tortured while he was a POW. But I actually liked seeing her in that brief moment. She was genuinely engaged, she didn't use her blue cards, and she didn't try to be more clever than she is. She was talking from the heart, not arguing, and I wish that Meghan showed up more often than just the few minutes she did today.

The Far Right hates Joy with the fiery heat of a thousand suns. I can't tell you how many bogus petitions my right-leaning relatives have sent me to get Joy removed from the panel, or how many articles they've posted that start out "Joy Behar gets DESTROYED on The View." She is the Big Bad to the Far Right, the same way the Koch Bros. are to much of the left. So of course Meghan tries to set up adversarial opportunities between herself and Joy. It's what her audience wants. Fortunately, Meghan is pretty lame every time she tries a "gotcha moment" with just about anyone. I look at it the same way I look at abortion, and most things: Your body, your choices. It's not my job to tell anyone else what to eat. The calorie counts are there if they want to know. I personally don't eat mammals, although I don't talk about it unless someone asks. I like calorie counts on menus. It beats studying nutritional information online before I leave the house and trying to remember what I decided to order.

Whoopi went on and on about how menus having calorie counts would lead to people peering into other people's tables and taking pictures. And shaming! Well, maybe if you're an EGOT and a Stah! For normal folks, it's a way to make informed choices. Once I learned a freaking Bloomin' Onion at Outback has 1950 calories, I started ordering onion soup instead (420 calories). My stand-by Alice Springs Chicken Quesadilla has 1620 calories, so I switched over to Coconut Shrimp (720 calories). No one shamed and no one stared, it just made me a little savvier about what I'm eating. That's really all there is to it. My guy, who loves Outback, doesn't care about calories and orders exactly what will make him happy, damn the calorie counts. It's really not a big deal. They're there if you want them, and ignorable if you don't. The passion about the subject on today's show puzzled me.

This labeling thing was actually part of the ACA passed in 2010. Some places (in Chicago) complied in 2014. I don't understand why everyone is blinking in surprise in 2018. Shakes at most fast food places are 2000 calories. I would have NEVER known this without labeling. I had my last large shake in 2014. ;-) I've probably had about three since then. I am far (far, far, far) from fit, but the labeling helps a lot.

I'm not sure how calorie counts are required on menus, but they are all over the Chicago area. Seriously, it totally changed the way I eat. Seeing something on the menu with a healthy name used to make me order it. Seeing that same healthy-named item as one of the highest in calories and fat made me reconsider. If you don't care about nutritional information, ignore it. But if it makes a difference in what you're ordering, it's a godsend. I visited somewhere recently that didn't have the calorie counts on the menu, and I felt like I was having unsafe sex.

I've written to ABC's feedback board so much in the past few weeks about Meghan that the address auto-completes in the browser bar. It's like she thinks she's on a totally different show than everyone else. The Shrill-Ignoramus Hour, maybe? I don't care if Ana makes me disagree with every word out of her mouth, I would so welcome a smart, humorous, respectful, informed Republican at the table. Basically, everything Meghan is not.

I do see a concerted effort to make Meghan "loveable." Her teacher, her mother, her father, her "bastard uncle" Lindsay Graham, someone else who surprised her - an older lady - can't remember who. We've seen maybe one special visitor/visit for each of the other hosts. Hey, showrunners, here's how to make Meghan palatable: Teach her to stop taking everything personally. Not every slam against a Republican is against Meghan personally. Voice lessons. 'Nuff said. Teach her to debate. Her rattling statistics off blue cards isn't a convincing way to argue. We have Google if we want that. Teach her respect for others. I am still beyond appalled at the way she verbally attacked, disrespected, and then turned her back away from Dick Durbin. Don't make her be "the Republican." Let us get to know the other aspects of her life. Even if she tries to tell you all she is about is being a Republican. Have her do the entertainment spots. Maybe let her be the person who does the horrendous "View Your Deal" spots. Please help her feel comfortable with her appearance. Don't Spanx her so tight she can't breath. She's a pretty woman, no matter what her weight is. Let her be confident in whatever weight she is. Anger management. If someone disagrees with her, she needs to learn from Joy. "So what, who cares."

TO YOU, they are the same thing. TO ME, they are not. That's why abortion, and laws about abortion, are so controversial. At what point an embryo becomes a person is based on opinion. Science has not been able to pinpoint at what point it happens. To some, it happens the minute the sperm meets the egg. To others, it happens at birth. To others, it happens when the fetus is viable. Legislating something so undefinable is why it is so controversial. Laws should not be based on ephemeral data. I stand with Whoopi. Until there is some definitive proof of what constitutes life, let each person follow her conscience.

I don't mind hearing about people's religious beliefs, especially on a show like The View. For people who are believers in a deity or religion, it is often a cornerstone of their life. What I do have problems with is people proselytizing to me that I should live my life according to their beliefs. No bueno, as Sunny would say. I think she is fine with people holding different beliefs than she has, and doesn't try to convert anyone. As far as religion trumping law, we are in total agreement there. I'm a big believer in that separation. One thing that terrifies me about the government (in effect) saying, "You MUST have babies" is that it's a short step to the government saying, "You must NOT have babies." Look at Romania and China to see how well the government regulating childbirth worked out for them.

Meghan will not be there Monday - I wonder who/if will be guest hosting? My Xfinity DVR did not pick up the show automatically for this entire week. You might want to check if you Comcast/Xfinity and have it set up to record daily.

Okay. Gotta chime in. I was a Girl Scout for ten years. In my mind, it is far superior as an organization. Unlike the Boy Scouts, the organization has never had a discrimination policy - by race, by stated gender, or by sexual orientation. They value diversity. I recently went to a Girl Scout camp that I attended as a kid and talked to some of the directors. They said that there was great societal pressure in the 1940s, when the camp opened, to have separate weeks for black and white Girl Scouts so they didn't "mix." The Girl Scouts said, hell, no. Growing up in my segregated white part of Chicago, I literally only saw black people at Wrigley Field and at Girl Scout camp. That was really important to me, rooming with girls of different races and becoming friends with them, and sometimes continuing to be pen pals. As for activities, it's up to each troop to decide what to do. If you're only doing crafts, join another (better) troop. I went to camp for eight years, and you could choose how rustic an experience you wanted. One summer I chose wilderness camping, and that was enough for me. I will happily live out the rest of my life without having to dig a hole to use as a latrine, but at least I had that experience. When you get to be a senior scout, you "choose a major." In other words, you decide what area you want to concentrate on. I was a Mariner Girl Scout, so we did a lot of cleaning canoes, learning to save lives, and going out into Long Island Sound a few times a year and crewing on boats. It was fun. Girl Scouts choose what badges to pursue. When I was a kid, it was a lot of home-oriented stuff, but now there's a lot of STEM training. I wish I could be a Girl Scout now! Sorry for the long post, but Scouting was a wonderful time in my life. I am not exaggerating when I say the experience really helped form who I am today. Boy Scouting has a long way to go to reach the non-discriminatory practices that Girl Scouting has always had. I would love to see The View talk to one of the many strong women in the world who advocates for GSUSA. Equal time!

Meghan infuriates me more often than she doesn't, but I truly think, as someone said, that she's in the wrong field for her. She was absolutely radiant and comfortable when interviewing the Jersey Shore group. I think she feels pressure (or pressured) to be a "political commentator" because she's been around politics (not "in politics," as she likes to say) her entire life. But it's not her passion, and she's not good at being analytical, particularly about her own views. Girlfriend should be an entertainment or lifestyle reporter. She's good at it. She enjoys it. She didn't walk out with a bitch face when it came to talking to Snooki and J-Woww. Come to the Dark Side, Meghan! You'll have more fun.

I'm the only Democrat in a family of Republicans. Trust me, Ana is pretty typical of people who believe in the traditional values of the GOP. With the party's sharp turn towards the Far Right and extremism, many mainstream traditional Republicans are feeling left out. My sister and niece startled me when they started talking up Hillary and Michelle Obama during the 2016 campaign, and they both attended marches on Inauguration Day 2017 and the Women's March in 2018. I asked her about it, and she said, "We're Republicans, we're not crazy!" Like Ana, they had always voted a straight Republican ticket until November 2016. To your statement, Trump doesn't really seem like a Republican to them.

Anyone who says "people" when addressing their work colleagues is at heart a tween. So is saying "I won't say anything then!" in response to constructive criticism. Does Meghan even understand that her actual job description -- on a talk show, no less -- is to TALK. Not quote statistics from blue cards, not to "explain" one segment of the population's viewpoint. It is to TALK, to state her own views, and to listen to other people who might feel different. (For all her saying how exhausting it is for her to "explain" Trump voters, and how no one ever listens to her, has she ever really tried to hear or understand people who are NOT Trump voters?) You know, I have Google. I can write down statistics on blue cards and read them aloud if that's what I want. She really needs to look at Ana for guidance. Ana is a Republican who disagrees with the current administration. She speaks passionately, from the heart. She can explain why she feels the way she does, both why she is a Republican and why she cannot support the policies of this administration. And Meghan's reaction to this genuine, passionate, conflicted, erudite woman is to call her a RINO. I'm really starting to think there is no "there there" inside of Meghan.