KittyQ

Sunny's jacket looks like it belongs to someone else. It seems like it is at least 1 size too big.

Ronan Farrow looks more like his mother than ever, I think.

School funding is a very contentious issue. I did a quick search and it seems that in some states, public schools get the majority of their funding from the state they are in, while in other states, a big portion of the funds come from local revenues, like property taxes. If you are unlucky enough to be in one of those states and you are in a town or city with low revenues, then your schools may be underfunded and have poorer outcomes. I wonder why states don't divide up the revenues and share them with all schools, so each school district gets the same amount. I suppose that if that happened, then some communities would decide to come up with extra money to fund extra things they want, throwing the balance off again. It is a hard problem to solve. As far as kids who get vouchers to go to private schools and then don't do well - I think this is because they don't have the foundation needed to keep up with courses that are probably more advanced than they are used to. I understand why parents want to give their kids this kind of education, but without the necessary basics, they can fail and that would also be detrimental to them.

I think that the problem is that everyone is expecting to find the singular reason that people voted for Trump and/or against Harris. Some people feel or are insecure economically and their response was to vote for Trump, while other people also feel or are insecure economically, and their response was to vote for Harris, because they met some standard about improving the economy. So, while Sunny's point about poor black people can be true, so can Alyssa's point about poor non-black (not everyone who isn't black is white) people can also be true. That's where other factors probably came in. Maybe some sexism, racism, agism, disappointment, fear, disillusionment (with one or both parties), concern about security (jobs, infrastructure, ideology, etc.), loyalty to other candidates (don't forget those people who got only slivers of the vote), dislike of the candidates' personalities, peer pressure, etc. I think that the purpose of examining why voters voted the way they did should be to learn what are the main concerns that influenced the votes. For the winning party, that can be used as a roadmap for the next 4 years, addressing these concerns so they can serve the citizens of the country. For the losing party, they should be used to identify the disconnect between their platform and the voters so they can adapt to the real-world needs of the country. It is an opportunity for both parties to see where they are succeeding and where they are falling short so they can make changes.

Sunny seems to think that people vote for a candidate due to only one thing: people who voted for Trump because they were a) racist, b) sexist, c) not college educated (aka dumb?) and not for other reasons or because they weren't convinced by Harris. Certainly, there are racist, sexist, dumb people in the country - I would say that most of us meet someone who is in one or more of those demographics every week, but we can't assume without asking why they voted the way they did. Maybe they had more nuanced reasons, or maybe they had even more superficial reasons for their votes.

I still think that Maroun is Serena 2.0. Every once in a while the writers give her a little more spunk, but it comes off as inconsistent rather than as a real part of her personality. I agree about the Venezuelan student. She knew that the university might expel her if she participated in the protests, and her student visa would get cancelled. However, like many students, she probably figured that the university was bluffing because they wouldn't expel all the protesters, and the sanctions would be something minor. You have to learn that sometimes the threats are not bluffs and you do things at your own peril. Learning that in college is as good a time as any, and this had the bonus of actually doing the right thing by testifying, so she can see herself as a martyr if that makes her feel better. I wondered if the mayor (or whoever) could make a deal with the judge to have to go to rehab in order to avoid testifying, because I can't believe that anyone thinks having a drug addicted judge on the bench is a good thing going forward.

Ha! I thought it was also to avoid her criminal associates, since they killed her "husband". She did have the poor manners to say that she figured her sister didn't have a life much worth living because she was straight and narrow.

He didn't mean for it to happen, or anticipate any particular outcome. A good example of how well equipped Michael is to be CEO of Aurora, Q Enterprises, or anything else. Haha - looks like Alexis and Ric have difficult clients. Neither Kristina nor Ava seem familiar with reality in this case.

Some places do a similar thing by arresting the people who solicit prostitutes and putting their names in the paper. It seems possible to identify larger companies that hire undocumented workers, but the people who hire individuals like gardeners or nannies, etc. would be harder to identify, because they probably pay in cash and don't file any tax forms for their employees. It would take a lot of effort to seek them out. However, maybe some peer pressure could be brought to bear on them to stop hiring this way.

The dessert has become an issue - Bakery denies Whoopi Goldberg's speculation it didn't make birthday order over political views - Owner says she didn't want to commit to making a big order due to equipment problems. She didn't want to tell then she would make them but then have to cancel, but she made desserts for the store which someone picked up for the show on Wednesday. Clearly, Whoopi felt it was a personal slight regardless, which is why she decided to share that with the audience. So, although she said she wouldn't name the business, she gave enough info that anyone could figure it out, and some people will choose not to buy things from them, so that will show the bakery owner who has the power, I guess.

I was a little confused by the Charlotte Russe story. Did the bakery refuse to make the Charlotte Russe or make excuses why they couldn't make them? And was it specifically because they were meant for Whoopi? If she didn't order them herself, how would the bakery know, unless whoever ordered them said who they were for? They aren't like a birthday cake where the name of the person might be on it. Based on Whoopi's story, it seemed that then someone else ordered them and they got made. Unless the bakery has very dim people working for it, it seems to me that just having someone else order a specialty item wouldn't fool anyone about who it is for, after the first attempt. So, if they have something against Whoopi personally, just having someone else order the Charlotte Russe wouldn't have worked. Maybe the bakery just wanted to screw with her. Or maybe they did have issues with their ovens. More to that story, I'm sure.

It also seemed strange that Jamie wouldn't have told Beth about this policy. They both wanted to keep her pregnancy a secret, so she was ok with going to the reservation clinic, but that's a big requirement for treatment, and you'd think Jamie or at least the clinic personnel would have informed Beth about it. If Beth knew, then part of her anger with Jamie is based on a falsehood.

I thought that too! It seemed a little esoteric, so I didn't mention it to my husband, though. :-) Glad someone else thought of that callback!

Apologies - I didn't mean to suggest that you said it was victimless; I think that some people might conclude that because the tax money gets to the IRS no matter what. Maybe not master criminals, for sure, but still law breakers. As with most illegal schemes, most of the people who suffer the consequences will be the "little fish" not the ringleaders, whoever they are.

I don't know if Trump ever addressed that problem, but it seems to me that fixing the border / immigration issues will require someone to review the whole thing and correct the problems while improving the process - that's what any sensible person would do, IMO. I suspect, for one thing, that if the legal process didn't take so long, people wouldn't become frustrated enough to "jump the line". Unfortunately, some of those people are probably not upstanding people and just take advantage of any opportunity to get into the country without anyone scrutinizing them.