let me repeat my comment from last week's day off, "by the way, I am very aware of how lucky and privileged I am. most people do not have a hundred thousand or more people who care about them. that has to make a difference in the grieving process. so, once again, thank you. I love you all"
We'll be here. Where would we go without you? And the guys throwing back their heads and laughing. Cracks me up every time I see it. AND grandpa sun-downer befuddlepants. First time I wet my pants reading you. So, yeah, we'll be here. We love you, Jeff.
I know that writing is therapeutic for me, so I can see how it would be for others. But, loss of a longtime beloved spouse is still one of the biggest life stressors there is. So, give yourself the time and space to back off when you need to. We’ll be here when you’re ready.
It's great to be absorbed with a passion, especially during this time. Take it slow, be good to yourself and settle into the long road ahead. Memories will nurture you...
But when you are ready for your wife to proof read, she's not there, and it hits you hard that you really miss that part of the process. Things just aren't the same, and it really hurts.
Continuing to keep you in our hearts. Grief is a long, non-linear process fraught with pain, and self-care is essential. Take care of you, first and foremost! Much love ❤️
I hope you take as many days off as you want; we'll all be here.
My beautiful 55-year-old sister passed away eight years ago and it still feels like yesterday. I found her in her apartment and she was my only sister. She took care of me, etc. Unfortunately, it never goes away.
your labor of writing is recognized and appreciated by so many. Thank you for all you do. And may love and light fill the canyons in your soul. Take care.
I get that completely. There are things - and times when I simply don't WANT or need to dwell on my own life, so writing: songs, poetry, responses to posts here - is my distraction....or therapy. Sit around all day in your pajamas if you need to. Make yourself six cups of coffee if need be. SLEEP all day if that's your preference. Make a dozen phone calls to your closest and dearest if that's what helps, but above all, do whatever it is which helps you. I can't imagine how tough it is for you right now, but most of us have a damn good idea and are SO deeply sorry for what you're experiencing. I DO know the waves of grief just wash over when you least expect it and there's nothing TO do - other than cry. So cry and don't at all feel that it isn't manly. Crying is cathartic for every single one of us. We ALL love you and so wish we could help take away some of the pain.
Oh, thank you ccgal. I was just about to comment on your loss of your beloved sister which I just read. I can't imagine how awful that must have been. I hope you too can feel the huge hugs and arms around you from me and others here who empathize with that level of pain. I'm so sorry.
Jeff-Your writing is so refreshing. You're smart, hilarious, and you do the research. Thanks for keeping me from having to sift through a lot of corporate-controlled scribblings.
Always deeply grateful for your insights Jeff. You buffer the dystopian horror around us with an array of adjectives and present it in a manner that doesn't cause me to put my foot through a computer monitor. It's you, Heather Cox Richardson, Pro Publica, and The Guardian. Thank you for all you continue to do -even through tragedy and sadness of life.
Did you ever wonder what America would feel like if we had a perverted, corrupt, fascist dictator as our "leader". Well, check it out. We've arrived. The question we keep asking ourselves, "What are WE going to do about it?" becomes more pressing everyday. The world envisioned by Trump's brain and enabled by his cultist syncophants cannot be allowed to continue.
I love Heather Cox Richardson too. I listen to Jon Stewart’s weekly podcast too, but that’s all I can take. I trust these people & independent journalists now (Katie Couric for sure!) more than I do the corporate press though I do watch CNN (which I’m worried is about to seriously change for the worse) & NBC. I’m in England & we get CNN with our tv package, but I don’t always get NBC on Apple TV.
Thank you Tonya. I’m willing to bet July 4th is becoming a bigger holiday in England. Kind of an “Independence: Thank goodness!” celebration. HCR’s research and communication skills are incredibly important in connecting history with the horror show that’s been unfolding in the United States for multiple generations.
Even though Substack has some loose cannons on it, like any social media platform, I too have been heartened by the community I have found here. You continue to be in my heart, Jeff, and while I agree with you about Rand Paul being an overall dick, I still giggled watching him lay Marky Mark out to whale shit. So thanks for my morning giggle.
On the facts of the matter, Mullins actually has a point. Rand Paul had been abusive to his neighbor, using his neighbor's yard as a place to toss his trash and yard waste, for years and taking the attitude "I'm a Senator you can't touch me!" until his neighbor demonstrated how much he could be touched. Yeah, the neighbor was convicted of assault, correctly, but Rand had a beating coming to him.
Yeah, Paul was a dick. He had it coming, but unfortunately, assault is a crime. His neighbor had to serve jail time, pay Paul over $580k in damages, and had to sell his home. On the bright side, he didn't have to live next to Paul anymore.
Right, his neighbor had to face consequences and I would not disagree with the necessity of that, but at least Paul faced some consequences for once in his sheltered life. Maybe if Donny had gotten the crap beat out of him at some point in his life he wouldn't have the same sense of impunity.
'Getting the crap beaten out of him' shouldn't end up in the loss of a lung, no matter how horrid I consider Rand Paul. He talked about that (I believe his broken ribs punctured his lung). The THOUGHT of that makes my skin crawl. I certainly DO agree that frump needed the whale shit smacked out of him - at least by the boys he bullied in school (A friend I worked with was married to one of them). He was Jewish and singled out beCAUSE he was Jewish --the lying orange fuckwit has always been virulently antisemitic despite playing war games with Bibi.
Now, as someone with a functioning brain who dealt with a neighbour who thought it was 'fun' to toss another neighbour's cat's leavings onto MY driveway, his neighbour could have come up with a far better method of 'payback' than attacking him from behind, causing such physical damage. MY idea would have been to gather up all that trash into bag after bag and then, when Paul was away in DC, creatively deliver it back to him/his property. It's how I handled MY problem, while telling the crazy neighbour that 'I can keep this stupid game up far longer than you can' - loudly enough for all of our other neighbours to hear (she'd already made enemies of everyone). She thought better of trying to return the cat poop to my driveway.although she did try other stupidities...calling animal control claiming we had 'rats'. Now, I either had cats or rats (there were 2 feral moms who'd had litters I was frantically trying to wean and place for adoption at the time, none of whom went near her property...the few bits of poop she dug up came from a neighbour on the other side whose indoor cats preferred to poop on her property then meander home. THEIR owner thought it was hilarious. However, I still had to deal with an officer coming to 'look for the rats' while this fuckwit woman stood behind him making childish smirky faces she thought he wouldn't know about. After he'd inspected beneath my deck and all around my property finding nothing amiss, we went back to his vehicle to discuss the matter. She did the same thing - smirking behind his back as I TOLD him that I knew she was the one who'd called. He explained he couldn't confirm this - AS I explained that IF he turned around quickly, he'd catch her making faces at me - clear case of harassment. He did! Then walked over to her with me watching, to tell her that SHE'D be charged with harassment if she tried this again. Now it was my turn to laugh out loud at her furiously red face. There ARE ways to pay back a nasty neighbour without causing them serious physical damage. She kept it up for a while longer - having her children blast music out of their windows whenever we were gardening, but eventually moved away. WE blasted 'Joy to the World' out of our own CD player as they left. :)
The neighbor did try tossing all the trash back, but Rand called the cops on him and the police were of course subservient to a sitting Senator. There were no ways of getting back at him that did not involve accepting that the law would be against hi.
Aww - that’s too bad. I never read the entire story, given that I was SO disinterested in rand paul and his fuckery. I wonder if the police there would have been quite so subservient to a sitting Democratic Senator? I still would have loved if the neighbour could have come up with REAL payback to drive paul mad other than physically damaging him. However, it HAS seemed to have ‘softened’(?) his stance somewhat? Perhaps it woke him up to the damage done to so many others by him and others like him? Would be nice to think so.
Jeff, as you are coming to recognize, grief is a forever journey up the hill of fond memories and down into the valley of great love lost. I am in the third year of my wife’s passing and, while the intensity eases somewhat, the journey continues. Blessings and prayers from a fellow traveler on the road of grief.
Your weekly mental health breaks have actually been good for me. I had spinal decompression & fusion on C3 & 4 of my neck 2 ½ weeks ago, & it’s been a very painful & difficult recovery for me. I can’t go a day without reading your posts though, so the shorter ones are helpful for me. Take care of yourself because we need you!! X
Thank you. I sure hope so. This is the worst pain I’ve ever felt, & I’ve had children & 21 other surgical procedures. Anything to do with the neck I’ve discovered, is some of the worst pain one can feel. I have to have surgery on my back next once I’m fully recovered from this. I have the same problem with my lower spine that I do in the cervical spine, but my neck was worse off. I was repeating told to use walking aids because if I fell, I could have paralyzed myself. My surgeon said the whole left side of my neck was riddled with arthritis. I’m only 56!
That’s good to hear. Right now I feel like it wasn’t worth it, but then I have to remember that I was steadily getting worse & was going to keep going in that direction if I had not had the surgery. My husband reminds me several times a day that this is just temporary. I have to have surgery on my back next for pretty much the same problem. 😣
It will get better. My sister had to have 2 surgeries also. One was rough, the other not quite as bad. She’s in her early 70’s now and runs around like a nut!
I’m only 56, but I have the body of a 90 year old!! It’s unbelievable all I’ve been through. I have diabetes because I had to have my entire pancreas removed (pretty remarkable what they did though), high cholesterol, high blood pressure now, migraines, low thyroid, fibromyalgia, Elher’s Danlos & osteoarthritis!! My surgeon basically said the whole left side of my neck is riddled with arthritis! I had my right thumb joint replaced 7 years ago. That too was riddled with arthritis. Seems I got ALL the bad genes from both parents & their parents & grandparents. I have 3 siblings. One is my full blooded sibling. One is a half brother & we share our mom. The last one is a half sister, & we share our dad. Nothing is wrong with any of them. Just me. I remember being taught to SHARE!! They don’t want what I have to share though. 🤭 Thank you for the encouraging message because this has been extremely difficult for me, & I don’t know if I mentioned it, but this was my 22nd surgical procedure. I do have a few things to be grateful for though. 1. There was a surgery that could be done to help me because I’ve been told for so long that the ONLY thing they could do for me was perform radio frequency ablation which is literally burning your nerves. Nerves grow back though anywhere from 6 months to 2 years, so that has to be repeated over & over when they do, & theirs no guarantee that it will work. It didn’t for my neck. 2. I live in the UK now & not in America (which was where I was born), so I didn’t have to make the decision to do nothing & just continue to get worse because I couldn’t afford it. It also didn’t cost me a fortune! We can have long waiting times for seeing specialist & having surgery, & I did wait over 2 years to see my surgeon. When I saw him in early December, I asked how long the waiting time would be until I could have surgery. I think he said a year, but they put critical need above first come first serve. I must have been really bad off for them to have gotten me in for surgery just a day shy of 3 months. Once I told him my family & I had decided to go ahead with the surgery, they got me in for pre op, consultation with an anaesthesiologist, blood-work, X-rays , ct scans, & MRIs, then the surgery. I was quite impressed. Anyway, sorry for writing you a novel. I really appreciate your replies to me if for nothing else than replying to you gave me a distraction from the pain momentarily. You’ve given me hope when all I want to do on these difficult days is give up. I’m not suicidal, I’m just not coping well with this pain. So, thank you so much. X
Right? Suddenly his friend is his enemy? The same cameras that propelled him slap into the faces of ignorant, uneducated and unaware voters and made them think he was some messiah who was going to save them from themselves? Yeah, now suddenly they are revealing who he really is, so it's time to turn the damn things off. Interesting.
Yours is the one newsletter that I never skip. And it's probably one of the few that I will continue to subscribe to once our funds narrow to a huge extent (as a result of Donnie's idiocy). No matter how many 'mental health' days you need, I'll be here.
“We all want to do something to mitigate the pain of loss or to turn grief into something positive, to find a silver lining in the clouds. But I believe there is real value in just standing there, being still, being sad.”--- John Green Thinking of you Jeff.
Take care, Jeff. You are my hero as always. The fact that you think of those of us in this community and always give us something to keep us sane while we're living during this "worst possible timeline" is above and beyond.💙
This shit is fucked up. If it weren't for Jeff I'd be crying at the awfulness. I used to look at Twitter before the space Nazi and see Jeff and think this guy just cuts to the chase in a funny way. Then I discovered he has a Substack and never looked back. Thank you Jeff for making me laugh out loud. The MAGA assclowns want to take everything from us, but they can't take our sense of humor.
THIS. Everyday there is at least one comment that makes me do my donkey bray laugh out loud. I couldn't have made it since 2016 without Jeff, Wonkette, and the very funny and smart people here.
In the strange, hate-filled world of Donald J Trump, he has a special meaning for the world "WE". You might think that our fake POTUS means "my fellow Americans". Nope. You'd be wrong. When he says "WE" it's limited to his supporters or allies or corrupt collaborators. He NEVER means "We the People". His WE is referring to those who will become richer because of higher oil prices while 95% of Americans will become poorer. The "WE" of "SO MUCH WINNING" from tariffs are the Trump family and the upper 5% of taxpayers, NOT the People and so it goes into a war with Iran. WE the PEOPLE must do whatever it takes to save ourselves and the nation
Take plenty of time off, Jeff. We’re here for you whenever you get back. Perhaps the best thing about your enjoyable posts are how well they bring us all together. I feel I actually am part of a community here. That’s what you created! Thank you. We love you.
let me repeat my comment from last week's day off, "by the way, I am very aware of how lucky and privileged I am. most people do not have a hundred thousand or more people who care about them. that has to make a difference in the grieving process. so, once again, thank you. I love you all"
I really do love writing. it's three-plus hours a day when I don't have to think about anything else.
Your writing is very much appreciated - it represents "a light to [us] in dark places, when all other lights go out"
Well said Dr Brit!
Jeff, if not for you, TCinLA's Substack "That's Another Fine Mess", Joyce Vance and Heather Cox Richardson--I think I'd think that I was crazy.
Thanks for presenting the absurdity of this all with humor.
And PLEASE post the Hegseth skateboard to the nuts as much as you can! Even if you posted ONLY that on a mental health day, it would be plenty!
That’s right - Jeff deserves a restorative day off whenever he needs one, but Pete Kegstand’s testicles do not!
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1163744692219223
I always keep this handy for those who need their fix.
Set to Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite! Perfect schadenfreude! Thank you!
You're welcome!
😂
Nutcracker. Sweet!
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Thanks for keeping us posted, take whatever breaks you need- we're not going anywhere.
We'll be here. Where would we go without you? And the guys throwing back their heads and laughing. Cracks me up every time I see it. AND grandpa sun-downer befuddlepants. First time I wet my pants reading you. So, yeah, we'll be here. We love you, Jeff.
I feel that way about reading.
Preach.
I know that writing is therapeutic for me, so I can see how it would be for others. But, loss of a longtime beloved spouse is still one of the biggest life stressors there is. So, give yourself the time and space to back off when you need to. We’ll be here when you’re ready.
It's great to be absorbed with a passion, especially during this time. Take it slow, be good to yourself and settle into the long road ahead. Memories will nurture you...
But when you are ready for your wife to proof read, she's not there, and it hits you hard that you really miss that part of the process. Things just aren't the same, and it really hurts.
Continuing to keep you in our hearts. Grief is a long, non-linear process fraught with pain, and self-care is essential. Take care of you, first and foremost! Much love ❤️
I hope you take as many days off as you want; we'll all be here.
My beautiful 55-year-old sister passed away eight years ago and it still feels like yesterday. I found her in her apartment and she was my only sister. She took care of me, etc. Unfortunately, it never goes away.
your labor of writing is recognized and appreciated by so many. Thank you for all you do. And may love and light fill the canyons in your soul. Take care.
I get that completely. There are things - and times when I simply don't WANT or need to dwell on my own life, so writing: songs, poetry, responses to posts here - is my distraction....or therapy. Sit around all day in your pajamas if you need to. Make yourself six cups of coffee if need be. SLEEP all day if that's your preference. Make a dozen phone calls to your closest and dearest if that's what helps, but above all, do whatever it is which helps you. I can't imagine how tough it is for you right now, but most of us have a damn good idea and are SO deeply sorry for what you're experiencing. I DO know the waves of grief just wash over when you least expect it and there's nothing TO do - other than cry. So cry and don't at all feel that it isn't manly. Crying is cathartic for every single one of us. We ALL love you and so wish we could help take away some of the pain.
That was very helpful. Very well written, ES.
Oh, thank you ccgal. I was just about to comment on your loss of your beloved sister which I just read. I can't imagine how awful that must have been. I hope you too can feel the huge hugs and arms around you from me and others here who empathize with that level of pain. I'm so sorry.
Thank you so much Elizabeth.
Wishing you a healing self care day!
I hope you can have a chill day and do something fun! <3
Jeff-Your writing is so refreshing. You're smart, hilarious, and you do the research. Thanks for keeping me from having to sift through a lot of corporate-controlled scribblings.
Always deeply grateful for your insights Jeff. You buffer the dystopian horror around us with an array of adjectives and present it in a manner that doesn't cause me to put my foot through a computer monitor. It's you, Heather Cox Richardson, Pro Publica, and The Guardian. Thank you for all you continue to do -even through tragedy and sadness of life.
Did you ever wonder what America would feel like if we had a perverted, corrupt, fascist dictator as our "leader". Well, check it out. We've arrived. The question we keep asking ourselves, "What are WE going to do about it?" becomes more pressing everyday. The world envisioned by Trump's brain and enabled by his cultist syncophants cannot be allowed to continue.
How we rise up to stop it is urgent.
No Kings, March 28. If the GOP senses the criminal elect is more of a liability heading into midterms they will abandon him.
SHOW UP!
But they'll try to find another snake to lead the parade.
Sad but true Kathleen. The GOP has a deep bench of snakes.
Agreed. Well said.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I love Heather Cox Richardson too. I listen to Jon Stewart’s weekly podcast too, but that’s all I can take. I trust these people & independent journalists now (Katie Couric for sure!) more than I do the corporate press though I do watch CNN (which I’m worried is about to seriously change for the worse) & NBC. I’m in England & we get CNN with our tv package, but I don’t always get NBC on Apple TV.
Thank you Tonya. I’m willing to bet July 4th is becoming a bigger holiday in England. Kind of an “Independence: Thank goodness!” celebration. HCR’s research and communication skills are incredibly important in connecting history with the horror show that’s been unfolding in the United States for multiple generations.
Even though Substack has some loose cannons on it, like any social media platform, I too have been heartened by the community I have found here. You continue to be in my heart, Jeff, and while I agree with you about Rand Paul being an overall dick, I still giggled watching him lay Marky Mark out to whale shit. So thanks for my morning giggle.
It was fun to watch dipshit Markwayne
Be at a loss to try to explain
Why Rand Paul's assault
Was his own damn fault
I hope Mullins' nom gets the drain
On the facts of the matter, Mullins actually has a point. Rand Paul had been abusive to his neighbor, using his neighbor's yard as a place to toss his trash and yard waste, for years and taking the attitude "I'm a Senator you can't touch me!" until his neighbor demonstrated how much he could be touched. Yeah, the neighbor was convicted of assault, correctly, but Rand had a beating coming to him.
Yeah, Paul was a dick. He had it coming, but unfortunately, assault is a crime. His neighbor had to serve jail time, pay Paul over $580k in damages, and had to sell his home. On the bright side, he didn't have to live next to Paul anymore.
Right, his neighbor had to face consequences and I would not disagree with the necessity of that, but at least Paul faced some consequences for once in his sheltered life. Maybe if Donny had gotten the crap beat out of him at some point in his life he wouldn't have the same sense of impunity.
'Getting the crap beaten out of him' shouldn't end up in the loss of a lung, no matter how horrid I consider Rand Paul. He talked about that (I believe his broken ribs punctured his lung). The THOUGHT of that makes my skin crawl. I certainly DO agree that frump needed the whale shit smacked out of him - at least by the boys he bullied in school (A friend I worked with was married to one of them). He was Jewish and singled out beCAUSE he was Jewish --the lying orange fuckwit has always been virulently antisemitic despite playing war games with Bibi.
That’s a win
hahaha!!!!😅
Now, as someone with a functioning brain who dealt with a neighbour who thought it was 'fun' to toss another neighbour's cat's leavings onto MY driveway, his neighbour could have come up with a far better method of 'payback' than attacking him from behind, causing such physical damage. MY idea would have been to gather up all that trash into bag after bag and then, when Paul was away in DC, creatively deliver it back to him/his property. It's how I handled MY problem, while telling the crazy neighbour that 'I can keep this stupid game up far longer than you can' - loudly enough for all of our other neighbours to hear (she'd already made enemies of everyone). She thought better of trying to return the cat poop to my driveway.although she did try other stupidities...calling animal control claiming we had 'rats'. Now, I either had cats or rats (there were 2 feral moms who'd had litters I was frantically trying to wean and place for adoption at the time, none of whom went near her property...the few bits of poop she dug up came from a neighbour on the other side whose indoor cats preferred to poop on her property then meander home. THEIR owner thought it was hilarious. However, I still had to deal with an officer coming to 'look for the rats' while this fuckwit woman stood behind him making childish smirky faces she thought he wouldn't know about. After he'd inspected beneath my deck and all around my property finding nothing amiss, we went back to his vehicle to discuss the matter. She did the same thing - smirking behind his back as I TOLD him that I knew she was the one who'd called. He explained he couldn't confirm this - AS I explained that IF he turned around quickly, he'd catch her making faces at me - clear case of harassment. He did! Then walked over to her with me watching, to tell her that SHE'D be charged with harassment if she tried this again. Now it was my turn to laugh out loud at her furiously red face. There ARE ways to pay back a nasty neighbour without causing them serious physical damage. She kept it up for a while longer - having her children blast music out of their windows whenever we were gardening, but eventually moved away. WE blasted 'Joy to the World' out of our own CD player as they left. :)
The neighbor did try tossing all the trash back, but Rand called the cops on him and the police were of course subservient to a sitting Senator. There were no ways of getting back at him that did not involve accepting that the law would be against hi.
Aww - that’s too bad. I never read the entire story, given that I was SO disinterested in rand paul and his fuckery. I wonder if the police there would have been quite so subservient to a sitting Democratic Senator? I still would have loved if the neighbour could have come up with REAL payback to drive paul mad other than physically damaging him. However, it HAS seemed to have ‘softened’(?) his stance somewhat? Perhaps it woke him up to the damage done to so many others by him and others like him? Would be nice to think so.
*chef’s 😘
👏👏👏👏
Good one!!
Jeff, as you are coming to recognize, grief is a forever journey up the hill of fond memories and down into the valley of great love lost. I am in the third year of my wife’s passing and, while the intensity eases somewhat, the journey continues. Blessings and prayers from a fellow traveler on the road of grief.
Regards
Rob of Rob’s Substack
"Grief never ends. We just get better at living with it." (Five and a half years out from losing my husband.)
Truth. Thanks for sharing!
Your weekly mental health breaks have actually been good for me. I had spinal decompression & fusion on C3 & 4 of my neck 2 ½ weeks ago, & it’s been a very painful & difficult recovery for me. I can’t go a day without reading your posts though, so the shorter ones are helpful for me. Take care of yourself because we need you!! X
Ouch x 100!
Take care of yourself, too, Tonya. That's a tough road, but better is at the end of it!
🤗
Thank you. I sure hope so. This is the worst pain I’ve ever felt, & I’ve had children & 21 other surgical procedures. Anything to do with the neck I’ve discovered, is some of the worst pain one can feel. I have to have surgery on my back next once I’m fully recovered from this. I have the same problem with my lower spine that I do in the cervical spine, but my neck was worse off. I was repeating told to use walking aids because if I fell, I could have paralyzed myself. My surgeon said the whole left side of my neck was riddled with arthritis. I’m only 56!
Sending healing thoughts your way. My sister had spinal fusion several years ago. She’s much improved,
That’s good to hear. Right now I feel like it wasn’t worth it, but then I have to remember that I was steadily getting worse & was going to keep going in that direction if I had not had the surgery. My husband reminds me several times a day that this is just temporary. I have to have surgery on my back next for pretty much the same problem. 😣
It will get better. My sister had to have 2 surgeries also. One was rough, the other not quite as bad. She’s in her early 70’s now and runs around like a nut!
I’m only 56, but I have the body of a 90 year old!! It’s unbelievable all I’ve been through. I have diabetes because I had to have my entire pancreas removed (pretty remarkable what they did though), high cholesterol, high blood pressure now, migraines, low thyroid, fibromyalgia, Elher’s Danlos & osteoarthritis!! My surgeon basically said the whole left side of my neck is riddled with arthritis! I had my right thumb joint replaced 7 years ago. That too was riddled with arthritis. Seems I got ALL the bad genes from both parents & their parents & grandparents. I have 3 siblings. One is my full blooded sibling. One is a half brother & we share our mom. The last one is a half sister, & we share our dad. Nothing is wrong with any of them. Just me. I remember being taught to SHARE!! They don’t want what I have to share though. 🤭 Thank you for the encouraging message because this has been extremely difficult for me, & I don’t know if I mentioned it, but this was my 22nd surgical procedure. I do have a few things to be grateful for though. 1. There was a surgery that could be done to help me because I’ve been told for so long that the ONLY thing they could do for me was perform radio frequency ablation which is literally burning your nerves. Nerves grow back though anywhere from 6 months to 2 years, so that has to be repeated over & over when they do, & theirs no guarantee that it will work. It didn’t for my neck. 2. I live in the UK now & not in America (which was where I was born), so I didn’t have to make the decision to do nothing & just continue to get worse because I couldn’t afford it. It also didn’t cost me a fortune! We can have long waiting times for seeing specialist & having surgery, & I did wait over 2 years to see my surgeon. When I saw him in early December, I asked how long the waiting time would be until I could have surgery. I think he said a year, but they put critical need above first come first serve. I must have been really bad off for them to have gotten me in for surgery just a day shy of 3 months. Once I told him my family & I had decided to go ahead with the surgery, they got me in for pre op, consultation with an anaesthesiologist, blood-work, X-rays , ct scans, & MRIs, then the surgery. I was quite impressed. Anyway, sorry for writing you a novel. I really appreciate your replies to me if for nothing else than replying to you gave me a distraction from the pain momentarily. You’ve given me hope when all I want to do on these difficult days is give up. I’m not suicidal, I’m just not coping well with this pain. So, thank you so much. X
I’m here anytime you want to vent. I’m happy to listen because I know this is a real slog through the recovery process.
but… cameras and mics ARE his superpowers no?
Right? Suddenly his friend is his enemy? The same cameras that propelled him slap into the faces of ignorant, uneducated and unaware voters and made them think he was some messiah who was going to save them from themselves? Yeah, now suddenly they are revealing who he really is, so it's time to turn the damn things off. Interesting.
So the families didn’t want cameras, and Faux brought the cameras.
We all love you too, Jeff!! And I freaking love this community you’ve built.
You are *terrible* at "taking breaks"! Take care of yourself! ❤️
Yours is the one newsletter that I never skip. And it's probably one of the few that I will continue to subscribe to once our funds narrow to a huge extent (as a result of Donnie's idiocy). No matter how many 'mental health' days you need, I'll be here.
Hold the bastards feet to the fire and then enjoy your time to decompress. Keep doing what you do, Uncle Jeff.
Jeff we love Ye too, and are blessed to have Ye keeping us laughing,in these Awful times(and I live in Ireland!)
Take Care☘️
We are here and will continue to support you through this very difficult time. You just do what you need to do, Jeff!
“We all want to do something to mitigate the pain of loss or to turn grief into something positive, to find a silver lining in the clouds. But I believe there is real value in just standing there, being still, being sad.”--- John Green Thinking of you Jeff.
Take care, Jeff. You are my hero as always. The fact that you think of those of us in this community and always give us something to keep us sane while we're living during this "worst possible timeline" is above and beyond.💙
🤗
🙏🏽🙏🏽
The honor is all ours, Jeff. Rest easy.
Ditto!!❤️
Yes! Take care ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Take your time, we’ll be here!
Take a break, Jeff. We’ll be here tomorrow. And unfortunately, so will the rest of this fucked up shit.
This shit is fucked up. If it weren't for Jeff I'd be crying at the awfulness. I used to look at Twitter before the space Nazi and see Jeff and think this guy just cuts to the chase in a funny way. Then I discovered he has a Substack and never looked back. Thank you Jeff for making me laugh out loud. The MAGA assclowns want to take everything from us, but they can't take our sense of humor.
"they can't take our sense of humor." DAMN RIGHT.
👍👍
THIS. Everyday there is at least one comment that makes me do my donkey bray laugh out loud. I couldn't have made it since 2016 without Jeff, Wonkette, and the very funny and smart people here.
I honestly don’t know how someone gets through life without a sense of humor.
Exactly what I was thinking! Thank you!
classic
I hope you have a very good day secure in the knowledge that your writing on your day’s off are better than many in their days on.
In the strange, hate-filled world of Donald J Trump, he has a special meaning for the world "WE". You might think that our fake POTUS means "my fellow Americans". Nope. You'd be wrong. When he says "WE" it's limited to his supporters or allies or corrupt collaborators. He NEVER means "We the People". His WE is referring to those who will become richer because of higher oil prices while 95% of Americans will become poorer. The "WE" of "SO MUCH WINNING" from tariffs are the Trump family and the upper 5% of taxpayers, NOT the People and so it goes into a war with Iran. WE the PEOPLE must do whatever it takes to save ourselves and the nation
It's the royal we. The treason weasel believes he is a king.
Take as many mental health breaks as you need. You have given so much with your humor. Receive all the peace in return. 💔
Dear Jeff. Take whatever time your heart needs to continue healing. You are such a blessing to so many of us. Hang in there
We love you!🥰
A new "tell" for The Felon: "at the request of..." joins "Sir", "in two weeks" and "everybody knows".
Don't forget "I'm looking at that very strongly/closely"
and the "accordion hands" gestures. He's been trained to keep his hands gripping the desk.
Dear Jeff, grief isn’t for the faint-hearted. It goes where it wants to go.
5 weeks can feel like 5 minutes and also 5 years. Thanks for letting us share your pain as well as your anger and hunor.
Take care of yourself, Jeff, and take all the time you need. We are not going anywhere. ❤️
Take plenty of time off, Jeff. We’re here for you whenever you get back. Perhaps the best thing about your enjoyable posts are how well they bring us all together. I feel I actually am part of a community here. That’s what you created! Thank you. We love you.
godspeed jeff… it’s literally a process :/
Take good care Jeff.....so much political depressing news on top of the life we have to survive. I feel for your loss. thanks for all you do.
Jeff…rest up, recoup, enjoy family and friends..we are all here for ya👍
Don't you hate it when Rand Paul is the good guy? It's as bad as when Dick Cheney voted for Harris.
LOL... agreed. Cheney voting for Harris. Forgot about that. Pigs flew that day!
Hell froze over for a few minutes too!
Ha!!
Your mental and physical health should ALWAYS come first. For me, I will always be here when you return.