ChicagoCita

I had to laugh at Meghan saying she thought maybe part of her ancestry was Irish or Scottish. I don't know where she thinks the name McCain came from! It's so silly; it's comparable to Arnold Schwarzenegger thinking that perhaps he had some Germanic ancestry. As for ancient African DNA, it's gone in most people. I read something over the weekend that said white people having traces of African DNA most likely inherited it within the past 100 to 300 years. Her insistence that all of her genes are American, bolstered by the fact that her McCain ancestors were all in the military, is just crazy. I'm really proud of knowing my German ancestors came here with nothing and made something of themselves in this country. Ditto for my UK ancestors. I feel it makes me quintessentially American!

I love that The View has continued the tradition of having Darlene Love on at Christmas time. I love those shows. This will be two weeks and a half weeks off... I need it! I bet they show the rerun from last Thursday that was preempted in half the country. I also wonder if Abby will make a pregnancy announcement when they return.

Sherri looks good. I'm happy for her.

Oh, man, if that's the case, then my mind is totally blown. I can see it. But New Jersey or India, who gets left with murder medicine to inject into an older relative?

Well, neither of them are my type, but I think his influence is making her more obnoxious. She's definitely guilty of drinking the Kool-Aid, but he's serving it up in a barrel. There's a Biblical phrase about being "unequally yolked" that comes to mind.

Looking at the photo of Mr. and Mrs. Domenach from Instagram, I am reminded of my aunt, who married someone totally unsuitable for her about two months after her mother, who was her rock, died of cancer. It took me a long time to realize that she was afraid of being alone without her mom, and she was charming enough that she could marry anytime she wanted to. The marriage last about five minutes (no shock). I guess what I'm saying is that I can't see a single attractive thing about Meghan's husband: looks, character, or personality. Meghan makes me nuts, but she's very attractive and will inherit millions of dollars. He lucked out. I think Meghan did what my aunt did -- marry someone so she wouldn't be alone when the most important person in her life died. An unattractive, alt-right-learning plagiarizer is lucky to have stumbled into her at that point in her life.

They didn't. Their nurse brought it to them. I phrased that badly. If it was "time" for Grandma, why was there murder medicine involved at all? Is that a standard thing in India?

I actually very much liked the resolution to the houseguest story in this one. Memories of one grandma helping a grandson to memorialize another grandson across the globe. (Parenthetically, the grandma described in the song at the end was exactly my grandma - from the booze to the cigs to the crying over tv shows to the "got the grandkid's back" thing. I loved it.) Why did they have "murder medicine" at home? Did anyone notice that the sausage seller was the woman singer and the lifeguard was the male part of the band?

We got the funeral again today. Last night I watched the DVR'd show with Steve Scalise, and Meghan was so breathless and deferential towards him. All I could think of was the way she treated Sen. Dick Durbin less than a year ago: huffing, turning her back, rude beyond excuse. And that was before John McCain died. I don't agree that grief changes someone's core personality. (This is from someone who completely fell apart and still isn't completely over my mom's death nearly two years ago.) If you are a kind person, you will still be kind. If you are a jerk, you will still be a jerk. Grief may bring lots of overlying emotions, like anger, self-pity, ultra-sensitivity, increased or decreased spirituality. But at your core, you are still the person you are. Meghan has always been who she is. She owes Joy and the audience a huge apology, and she needs to just stop in her tracks the next time she feels like abusing her co-hosts on the air. But she won't. Because that's who she is: an entitled, angry, irrational, immature person. Whether or not her father got sick, that's who she is.

I'm sure they're sick of me... I've been writing to ABC every time Meghan annoys me.

Daniel Krauthammer is the son of the recently deceased journalist Charles Krauthammer, so I'm mildly interested in seeing what he and Ana have to say on the same panel. I've been watching old reruns of Deal or No Deal (honestly, just to see if I can glimpse Duchess Briefcase Model Meghan Markle), so I'm curious to see what changes are in store, if any. Seeing Howie will be fun.

@17WheatThins, are you me? My exact high school experience. What I found out was that the truly great girls were the ones who were super-rich, with their last names on buildings on Fifth Avenue. They didn't have anything to prove, didn't drop "my father" references, and were my friends because they liked me. The ones whose fathers were gynecologists and dentists, they were the bitches who always reminded me that I was there on scholarship. My fantasy is to do one of those Freaky Friday switches, and go back and say, "You're here because your dad pops zits; I'm here because I'm smart. Which one of us should be making fun of the other?" My high school experience always explained Trump to me, his meanness, his aspirations, coming from Queens instead of Park Avenue, and trying to prove he's "made it" by living in a bad copy of Versailles and plastering his name on everything. In other words, trying to run with the real elites, and failing miserably. ;-) Ditto for Meghan trying to run with real pundits like Ana -- who can think on their feet instead of relying on blue cards, and who are snappy and funny and smart. Meghan will never be one of the elite pundits. And so she goes right into the "my daddy" thing. Um, topic! I couldn't believe Meghan was shrieking and interrupting and being insufferable during the first segment, and then pouted during a "nice" segment, stuck her nose in the air, informed the world she had no interest in talking about anything nice, and said (my jaw dropped) that she wanted to go back to the previous (shrieking, interrupting, insufferable) segment. No, no, no, a thousand times no!

So Meghan said -- "My father was solely responsible for the Magitsky Act, and Obama wasn't, and don't you forget that. Daddydaddydaddy." And Abby said -- "My father knows more about Russia than anyone else on earth, and he tells me all about it. Daddydaddydaddy." And all I could hear was (in the immortal words of The Angels) -- "My boyfriend's back, he's gonna save my reputation. If I were you, I'd take a permanent vacation. You're gonna be sorry you were ever born. Cause he's kinda big and he's awful strong."

I think it's about support systems. There are always one, or two, or even three people in your life who have you, no matter what. And when they leave, it's like a ship being on a rough sea without an anchor. It doesn't matter how old they are or how long you've had them, when they leave, so does a big part of what makes you, you. I was grief-stricken when my father died. When my mother died, five years later, I literally felt like I had lost part of my heart and a good part of my soul. It was, I found out later, the same feeling as being widowed. John was apparently Meghan's anchor person. It doesn't mean that there aren't others who love her or who are there for her, but he was her anchor.

My friend is an older lady, a traditional print journalist, and she now writes for an online news source. In training, they told everyone to write in much shorter paragraphs than they are used to in print media. I contribute to a blog and I've started incorporating that in my posts and other online forums. Apparently there are proven reasons why it's more successful, not sure what they are, but it's changed how I write.

A couple things come to mind about Meghan's behavior lately: I think her grief has exacerbated her petulance, but is not the cause of it. Any time you have a job where you walk in pissed off and have to take breaks to cry probably isn't a good fit. I think the thing that makes Meghan most difficult for me to watch is that she has zero sense of humor. Abby seems to have a little bit of one, and Ana was blessed with a ton of humor. People with senses of humor can laugh at themselves and find absurd situations funny. Meghan takes everything so damn seriously. I cannot imagine being around her in real life. She sucks the joy out of everything on the show, and I can't imagine how "exhausting" it must be to be around her. Please let us have a guest appearance from Jimmy McCain, "the fun one." I'd love to see them interact.

Candace said it was hard for her to talk about politics every day. I understand that. Girlfriend had opinions and loyalties that were NOT going to shift, and it's really hard to be in a political discussion when you can't or won't justify why you feel that way you do. "I just like him" doesn't cut it on a show that discusses a lot of politics. She wasn't a good fit. Kind of sad to see that photo in the article. Joy with four no-longer-there's: Paula, Michelle, Raven, and Candace.

Somewhere during my lifetime, the standard for candidates shifted from "Who will do the best stuff for me as a citizen and the community/city/state/country in which I live?" to "Who has skeletons in his/her closet and how can we exploit and embarrass him/her?" Forget voting for saints, vote for someone who will bring Mississippi up from the dregs in nearly every measurable category! I remember when David Dukes, KKK Grand Wizard, ran against Edwin Edwards,* a well-known scoundrel, for governorship of Louisiana. Pres. George H.W. Bush, a Republican, endorsed Edwards, a Democrat, and said Duke was "an insincere charlatan." THAT's what patriots do, Meghan! * Edwards was absolutely unrepentant about everything. One of his campaign lines was: "What's the only thing David Dukes and I have in common? We're both wizards under the sheets!"

Wait, didn't Meghan say she never even considered changing her name, personally or professionally? (I may be mis-remembering.) Her Twitter bio says this:

The best argument I've ever heard for a woman keeping her own name was, "Well, I have the medical degree and he doesn't." ;-) Mine is the second best: My husband's last name was 13 letters and five syllables. I always told people I was going to keep my own name after marriage, and I fully intended to in any case, but his last name was an extra added incentive. I hadn't realized that Hostin was Sunny's married name. I also thought it was cute and "homey" that they kept talking to relatives of the guests/panelists in the audience. It made it feel comfy to watch.

Here's my theory on Sunny's reaction: I think most/many people are for LGBT+ equality. Sunny is a compassionate woman and a smart one. I believe she is fully supportive of gay rights, and comfortable around gay people. But sometimes, seeing something go from theory to reality for the first few times can be jarring and uncomfortable. I think Sunny, who tends to live a conservative life, has not seen gay people express physical affection much. I think she was shocked. I tend to give her a pass on her reaction, as long as she's still seeing the bigger picture. And with exposure will come greater comfort. A personal anecdote: My parents were absolutely homophobic when I was growing up, which made life real interesting when my stepbrother came out in college. They eventually accepted him, but referred to him as "The Deviant" (supposedly as a joke, haha) when he wasn't around. As societal acceptance grew, and he got into a long-term relationship, they got more comfortable with him and his partner. They kept in touch with his partner when the break-up came. My brother got into another long-term relationship and eventually married. One of my proudest moments was at our last Thanksgiving together, when my mom insisted my brother and his husband have their formal picture taken together, as all the other couples in the family were doing. People do evolve, as both Hillary Clinton and Pres. Obama have expressed in their own views toward gay rights. I see "the kiss" at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade as one small nudge toward America's path to acceptance. And Sunny's, too.

The first holiday after you lose someone is hard. And I do appreciate her saying that it's okay for holidays not to be perfect and cheerful. I think it's an important reminder to everyone, not just those who have suffered losses. BUT - She's a freaking newlywed! I don't like her husband, but I can't imagine how he must feel, hearing her say how miserable she is all the time. And Meghan has an excellent support base, with a mother, many siblings, nieces, nephews, and a husband. Enjoy and appreciate those, because many people go through their losses alone. As for the same-sex kiss, even if you don't approve of it, enjoy that there is love in the world. There's so much hate in the headlines... so much misery in the world... be on the side of love. Enjoy that there are sweet and public kisses.

I love that they are honoring Joy and her longevity with the show. I wonder if Meghan will call her a "bitch" in her unique passive/aggressive threatened way.

I feel so ripped off! We just got the gift of Friday Ana, and they're taking a Friday off! Boo, hiss.

What is WW? I went to a shooting of the Oprah show and they had an inspection that made TSA look like amateurs. I was sitting with my bestie post-inspection/pre-entering the studio, and took some paper out of my purse to draw a diagram for her of something. Bad move! Ten PAs came running up to me, panic-stricken, because PAPER was on the forbidden list. I felt like a second-grader who'd peed in my pants. But the chairs were comfy, we got to sit where and with whom we wanted, and we could hear everything.