Here’s a little break from the madness in the form of what appears to be some sanity:
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have said in a statement they “intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the royal family and work to become financially independent”.
The official statement from Prince Harry and Meghan said: “After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution.
“We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty the Queen.
“It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment.
“We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.
In case you don’t follow the royals at all, Harry is Princess Di’s son from an affair with somebody whose name I forgot*, who married an actress. He’s like 5th or 6th in line for the crown depending on the current count of kids his older brother and his wife, the Duke and Duchess of Who the Fuck Cares, crank out. I think I have that right. correct me if I’m wrong. After watching The Crown, all I can think is that these two have their heads screwed on straight, by some miracle, because who would want that life?
I wish them the best and want to thank them for at least a dozen anguished cries and rending of garments from old Tories that will cross my news feed, providing me some amusement in our shared time of need.
Open thread.
* Apparently, this is just a rumor that has been refuted. I thought it was a well-accepted fact.
sdhays
By the time his brother becomes king, there’s a good chance he’ll just be the King of England and Wales and nominal head of state for a few Commonwealth countries.
Baud
Rexit.
satby
What a dick statement. And he’s 7th in line, so unlikely ever to be king.
James E Powell
If it weren’t for all the free money, being a royal would be ridiculous.
Patricia Kayden
It’s funny because a work colleague and I were just talking today about Meghan leaving the UK and living in the U.S. to escape the racists in England. And here we are!! I hope they decide to mostly live in Canada which has quite a few multicultural cities where they would be welcomed.
West of the Rockies
I’m amazed that this announcement is considered of any serious consequence. I must be missing something. They seem much nicer and more talented that Jarvanka, but otherwise, meh.
dnfree
Off-topic, but I am getting emails from Joe Biden’s campaign that have my name reversed. So, if my name were Jane John (a last name that can be a male first name), Joe is affectionately calling me John. As in “John, can you send money right away?” Sometimes he calls me John Jane if the situation calls for a full name. I can only wonder what mailing list he’s using, since I have never donated or communicated with him.
CarolDuhart2
@sdhays: Wales also has an independence movement as well. Not as far along as Scotland’s but it does exist. Plaid Cymru is a party in Wales
Not surprised though. Unless some horrible tragedy occurs, he’s never going to be King.
As for the financially independent part, my guess is that a lot of royal properties are held in a trust of some kind, and a lot of the money Harry gets is from a trust of some sort and must be accounted for by the trustees.
15 flush mistermix
@satby:
OK, she’s had 4 kids now? So, Dad, Bro, Kid 1, Kid 2, Kid 3, Kid 4, Harry?
I thought it was pretty much accepted that Charles isn’t his father, btw. Dick statement or not.
Roger Moore
@Patricia Kayden:
I think their strongest ties to North America are to the LA area, which is where Megan Markle lived before she met Prince Harry.
Marcopolo
More power to them. Living at ground zero of British tabloid life must be a particularly awful kind of hell on earth. Harry, through his mom & now his wife, has a special knowledge of this. I hope they can find a place to live where, for the most part, the only spotlight shining on them is the one they use to highlight what they want people to know about their lives.
This is definitely one of the saner things I will read about happening this week.
15 flush mistermix
@Roger Moore:
Baud
@dnfree:
Dems sell or transfer lists to each other.
satby
@15 flush mistermix: ok 6th, his kid is 7th.
And yeah, assholish to the nth degree to cite unsubstantiated (and cruel) gossip as if it’s fact. But by all means, you do you.
Wag
James Hewitt, her riding instructor
jl
@Baud: I think the Baud 2020! campaign method of noting down nicknames on the back of convenience store receipts is more efficient.
ET
I think it is smart for them to carve out a role for themselves because it feels like a next step to modernize the monarchy – an already behind the times institution. He and his children are never going to inherit and why fritter time on that life when there are clearly other things they want to do.
I know Prince Charles has made moves to reduced the group of “senior” royals (Andrew’s kids were on the outside of that decision) so this feels like an extension of that, and what would happen in any case eventually.
Jeffro
@sdhays: and maybe not even Wales…
Baud
@jl:
I purchase my lists from PornHub. I know my base.
Roger Moore
@Wag:
Who she didn’t meet until after Harry was born.
Mnemosyne
@15 flush mistermix:
Not really. It’s been a persistent rumor, but the older Harry gets, the more he looks like Charles and the rest of the Windsors.
Mandalay
@15 flush mistermix:
Not really. I think it is accepted in Britain in the same way that it is “pretty much accepted” that Obama was born in Kenya over here.
Those who want it to be true, like me, will believe it regardless of the (lack of) evidence.
jl
@West of the Rockies: ” I’m amazed that this announcement is considered of any serious consequence. ”
I think there is some resentment in the UK over how much the royals cost the country to maintain. So, it could be beginnings of effort to reduce the cost by getting some people way down on the succession line off the royal dole.
Or, could be their own personal decision for whatever reason. I’m interested enough to read a paragraph or two if I stumble across it in the news.
But since this is a full service blog, probably will be a series of detailed posts about it from the “Royals Around the World” frontpager.
satby
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hewitt
Edited to add, that even if was true it’s a shit thing to say and didn’t have anything to do with the announcement today. He isn’t responsible for his mother’s troubles and he’s also struggled as a result of her depression and death.
Omnes Omnibus
@Wag: It is my understanding that the dates are wrong for Harry to be Hewitt’s son. That is, he was born before Diana met Hewitt.
VOR
@Roger Moore: She was living in Toronto when they met as the TV show she was on, Suits, films in Canada. It would make a lot of sense for them to be in Canada – still a Commonwealth country and a whole ocean between them and the British tabloid press.
BroD
And I, in my capacity of nobody in particular, wish them well inasmuch as that is my default position with regard to people who haven’t pissed me off, royally or otherwise.
15 flush mistermix
@Mnemosyne:
My God, and people say I’m dickish. Saying somebody looks like Charles and the rest of the Windsors is pretty fucking harsh, dude. (I’m joking of course.)
sukabi
Thought we were about 20+ years beyond “the bastard son of” … non-issue, irrelevant to anyone except possibly Charles and his bio dad.
Barbara
@dnfree: I have made this mistake, and I am told by people who have first names as last names that it happens all the time. Part of the problem is that our email syntax is “John, Jane” which means “Jane John” but the brain reads right over that comma. So, e.g., “Jolie, Angelina” would get an email reading, “Dear Jolie.”
I am getting three different sets of the latest DNC correspondence — one with Ms., one without, and one with my first name misspelled. I think they have finally removed my deceased mother from the list, so at least I am no longer getting four.
zhena gogolia
@satby:
Diana’s brother has pretty much the same coloring as Harry.
Mnemosyne
@satby:
A lot of Brits and Americans have a really hard time looking past coloration. Barack Obama looks a LOT like his maternal grandfather (especially his ears and chin) but some people online got mad at me for saying that because their coloring was different so clearly they didn’t look anything alike. ?
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@15 flush mistermix:
Maybe save the fact-free dick statements for the Comments, then.
Reading front pagers at Balloon Juice should not make me dumber or less informed. (I know, that’s a lot to ask…)
jl
@15 flush mistermix: “(I’m joking of course.)”
Looking like the Windsors (most of them at least) is not a joking matter.
zhena gogolia
@sukabi: I suppose it’s still relevant if you’re talking about royal dynasties and/or care about that sort of thing.
15 flush mistermix
@Barbara:
Back when I worked on campaigns the lists were really, really bad. Horrible in fact. We were constantly cleaning up dups like this. It comes with the territory.
sdhays
@satby: I had never heard this (probably because I can’t imagine being an American and giving half a shit about the British Royal Family), so thanks for clarifying that it’s gossip and not an actual fact. I was rather shocked.
Mnemosyne
@15 flush mistermix:
You can’t escape … your … destiny! (/ominous music)
I’ve seen photos of my father-in-law when he was young and he and my husband could have been twins, so at least I know what I’m in for. ?♀️
Barbara
@Marcopolo: I think the hardest thing for them is that a lot of the attention that his wife receives is not so subtly racist in origin. Thinking about what would happen if the attention gets shifted to their son must be really concerning.
satby
@Mnemosyne: I’m a clone of my dark haired, dark eyed black Irish mother except in coloring. I have her mother’s red hair and my father’s fair skin, and no one sees my resemblance to her but my sisters. Coloring does throw people off.
Tenar Arha
@15 flush mistermix:
No.
Harry is Charles’ & Diana’s 2nd son. Anything else you’ve heard is rumors, especially since he was still in the official line of succession. Plus if you look back ~10-15 years ago, when they were both in the military, and before Edward had kids, Harry was his brother’s heir. Period. That’s a big tell that it’s a rumor.
It’s not just that the affair is confirmed to have taken place after Harry was born. It’s important to understand that the Queen really wouldn’t have tolerated any shenanigans in the succession, since her father was his brother’s heir.
15 flush mistermix
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:
Christ, I’m thinking most of the stuff I write lowers everyone’s IQ, if not my own, by a couple of points. It’s a wonder that I can still type or form a sentence.
That said, I think we’ve all learned a valuable lesson about the Duke of Who Gives a Shit today, one that we’ll carry with us in our hearts for at least a few hours, if not a week.
John Revolta
I suspect Meghan would like to go back to work. Also she hasn’t had the best reception from certain segments of the population IYKWIMAITYD.
Mnemosyne
@Tenar Arha:
There’s also the old British aristocratic tradition that the wife needs to provide “an heir and a spare” before she starts any adventuring. That’s the unspoken deal in any aristocratic or royal marriage.
Barbara
@jl: My understanding is that reducing the size of the royal family has been underway for a while, but as you might expect, there are a lot of people who really, really like the idea of being able to claim a salary and lots of other benefits for very little commitment.
Baud
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:
That’s what the comment section is for.
:-D
Aleta
I was hoping they would redistribute that royal money into education and opportunities for people outside the upper class, while auctioning off the jewels and paintings and chalices and bones and medieval axes and things and forming food farming coops on the lands — but I guess the other titles got wind of such treasonous intent and were about to lock them in the Tower for Christmas, so they have fled.
jl
@Mnemosyne: “their coloring was different so clearly they didn’t look anything alike.”
I remember reading research that says if you take color away (not just a BW pic, but making everyone’s skin tone the same), and slightly smear hair texture, people have a hard time determining another person’s race from photographs.
Also, probably for the worse, the ‘one drop’ rule is still influential in the US. Which brings to mind that some of my Trumpster relatives are very concerned about Census Bureau adopting mixed race category. They babble that it’s some Deep State plot.
satby
@15 flush mistermix: normally a factually incorrect statement, easily Googled for verification before posting, would call for at least a retraction, not another snotty “who cares anyway” comment. You did, you wrote the post.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’m all for talking about things besides Iran taking this conflict down to a low simmer while they decide their next move.
One important aspect of the Harry and Meghan story is that John James– charismatic young African-American West Point graduate and Republican candidate for Senate from Michigan this year– outraised the uninspiring but quite reliable Gary Peters last quarter.
Mary G
The older Harry gets, the more he looks like his grandfather Prince Philip.
jl
@satby: I agree. There should be a correction. It was stated in a front post as an established fact. Apparently it is not.
laura
If my darling spouse was shit on daily by the same press that hounded my mother to her death, I’d be looking to remove my family from its reach as well.
To make a funnyNOTfunny about who Harry’s father is really unkind and offends me deeply. You should apologize and try and do better because it clouds my opinion of whatever you plan to post in the future. Not all of us have been in the position to casually cast a stone. Many of us have been on the receiving end of thrown stones.
So put that in your fucking pipe and smoke it.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
That’s unfortunate.
Mnemosyne
@jl:
I’m guessing that mostly applied to Americans and Europeans. I’ve been told that people in other areas of the world, like the Middle East and Asia, use different cues like face shape and can more easily tell the differences between people who “look alike” to Americans and Europeans.
I met someone who said that most Americans he met assumed that his family must be from Northern Europe because of his blue eyes and blond hair, but people from the Middle East take one look at him and call him “habibi” (brother) because his face shape and features are very typically Lebanese (his mother was a Lebanese immigrant).
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@sdhays:
All of the American supermarket tabloids are full of British Royal Family gossip, so apparently Americans do give a shit. Why I don’t know. I wonder if this is a modern phenomenon or does it go back earlier (pre-20th century) for Americans to be fascinated with British royalty?
Kent
Geez…in this day of 23&Me it is trivially easy to genetically test someone’s lineage. Any enterprising reporter could pick up a coke can or water glass used by Harry and run his completely genetic profile. If he wasn’t the biological son of Prince Charles then one thinks that would be documented by now.
Anyway, judging from the Crown (of which I’ve only finished the 1st season) it seems the real way that the institutional monarchy controls all the minor royals is through the purse strings. Severing these ties will obviously free Harry and Meghan from having to deal with endless pinheaded royal bureaucrats governing their every action. And if they can’t support themselves with whatever combined inheritance and earnings they both have then they must be doing something very very wrong.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: No pants please we are baudy.
Gin & Tonic
Since, if I recall my US history correctly, the US ceased to be a British colony some years ago, I can’t help wondering why people in the US (as most of this commentariat is) are getting worked up about paternity or succession or any of that, whether fanciful or factual. I’d bet nobody can even name the royal family of Sweden or the Netherlands, or any of their issue, regardless of paternity.
Citizen Alan
@satby: Is it really cruel if it means he dodged those horrible Mountbatten genes? He’s the only member of the entire extended family who doesn’t look like a contestant on Upperclass Twit Of The Year.
Amir Khalid
@satby:
I agree. It’s a dick move by mistermix to bring up the never-corroborated whispers that Harry is a bastard. And Meghan’s background. None of that has disqualified them as royals, and it is utterly irrelevant to the thinking behind their decision.
Citizen Alan
@Mnemosyne: I don’t think he remotely resembles anyone in the House of Windsor.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@satby:
Is it just me, or is MM prone to do this stuff?
15 flush mistermix
@Gin & Tonic:
By letters patent and the powers granted me as a front-pager, I declare you Lord Gin & Tonic, Duke of Tanqueray and ruler of the Isle of Gordon, for the perspicacity of your insight.
For the rest of you, I updated the post.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Gin & Tonic:
Probably because of America’s Special Relationship with the UK, if I had to guess. We share a lot of cultural history with them as well and a language. Plus native celebrity culture.
But honestly, it was douchy thing of MM to say regardless
Annie
@15 flush mistermix:
As best I can recall, Diana had not even met James Hewitt when Harry was born.
Also: Harry inherited quite a lot of money from Diana (from her divorce settlement) so he may not even need money from the Civil List.
And as for redistributing artworks, chalices, etc — many of those are not owned personally by the royal family but are public British property. Chalices would be the property of the Church of England and Harry is not the head of the Church. Is he supposed to give orders to his grandmother?
Tenar Arha
@Mnemosyne: Yeah. There’s a whole kettle of fish there.
Weirdly, I thought the Spencers had royal ancestors, but after a quick Wikipedia check it doesn’t sound like they ever even intermarried with the crown. In effect, they were still commoners in the 15th c., & then knighted & entitled starting with Henry VIII.
great anecdote:
glory b
@VOR: As a big fan of Suits, I know that it was filmed in Canada. Markle once said that she’d considered moving there if Trump was elected.
Kay
The Trump Effect. Gets worse every day. There is no longer anything that is considered corrupt.
satby
@Gin & Tonic: I don’t actually care about the Sussexes, other than to wish them well as a young family under a microscope. I care about casually gratuitous cruelty toward a young man and his late mother, both of whom publicly struggled with depression. As well as an easily debunked falsehood repeated as a fact. No one deserves either treatment.
Edit, and I see my work here is done.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I hope they’re happy.
ETA: I listened to a recorded Obama bros show this morning at the gym, and they speculated my primary choice would come down to Biden or Sanders. Either would be better than what we have, but the idea still depresses me.
Baud
@Kay:
Not true. For example, as a Democrat, Biden is vicariously corrupt whenever his children make a questionable decision.
Possibly grandchildren and first cousins too.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
An easy choice for me, but not a happy one.
Jim Parish
@15 flush mistermix: I consider myself a San Diegan, though I haven’t lived there since the early ’70s, and I’ve always thought that L.A. is a great place to be from. As from as possible.
Juju
@Mnemosyne: I think Harry looks more like Diana’s brother.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
Especially if one has melanin, like that spineless tyrant, Obummer!
/s
15 flush mistermix
@Annie:
Also, his wife is probably independently wealthy from her prior career, being an actress, even though the fact that I pointed out that she’s an actress is apparently an insult according to one of the nascent royalists who populate the comments.
Ksmiami
@Roger Moore: LA is particularly welcoming to British ex-pats (and Persians) even Morissey lives in my hometown.
glory b
@Mnemosyne: I thought that too, Obama has a strong resemblance to his maternal grandfather, more than anyone else in the family.
I’m kind of like that too, my mother’s side are originally Creole, could (and sometimes did) pass for white. My father was very dark. My features are my mother’s my skin color is between the two of them (same color as a brown paper bag).
Mnemosyne
@Citizen Alan:
I disagree. Take a look at this photo of a much younger Prince Philip. Comparing older and younger relatives at different ages is not very reliable.
ETA: Argh. Trying to link again.
https://m.eonline.com/photos/22929/queen-elizabeth-ii-and-prince-philip-s-70-year-marriage-in-pics/807035
sdhays
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I know. It’s one of those realities that I acknowledge exist while being completely unable to fathom.
Of course, I don’t bother following the American aristocracy either, so I’m an outlier.
Mandalay
@Gin & Tonic:
I suspect that for some it is merely a flimsy pretext for going after mistermix. The poutrage is absurd.
Amir Khalid
@15 flush mistermix:
William and Kate are the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. This fact is very easily looked up on, say, Google.
This is your post, and it’s your decision what to do about it; but if it were mine I’d feel that I had screwed up, and think about taking it down.
glory b
@Ksmiami: Yes, crazy reality show my daughter loved, The Shahs of Sunset, followed a bunch of young, wealthy Iranians who lived in the LA area.
JMG
The important question is “What roles does Disney see for Harry and Meg in the Marvel Comics Universe?”
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
Same. Who was your preferred candidate? For me, it was always either Harris or Warren. Harris never took off with voters, at least for long. Not to sound stereotypical, did Harris ever catch on with African-American primary voters? I can’t help but think that with Biden being in the race, her flip flops with healthcare, and the “Kamala the Cop” BS really hurt her.
Mnemosyne
@Juju:
That’s the coloring thing messing with you again — they’re both redheads, so they “look alike.”
Don’t get me wrong, he definitely has some Spencer features (which is only natural) but he has Windsor ones as well, especially in the forehead.
JAFD
Well, being half Celt and half Slav, I’ve occasionally thought of checking the ‘mixed race’ category for myself…
WQXR just played “Johan Helmich Roman’s _Royal Wedding Music_” as lead in to mention of this news…
There is speculation that Queen Victoria’s parentage was not that ‘officially stated’, which is how the genes for hemophilia got into the Saxe-Coberg-Gotha descendants…
As Mark Twain said, “Great returns of conjecture for such small investments of fact”.
Kay
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Last night:
15 flush mistermix
@Mandalay:
I used to work with a very intelligent woman who read Majesty Magazine, a chronicle of all things royal. She was smart, funny and tough, yet she had this huge blind spot about the royals. I could never understand it. This was around Princess Di time, btw, so my God the discussions she would have with some of her colleagues about those bunch of inbreeds lowered the collective intelligence of the whole building. I pissed her off to a point where we agreed not to discuss it, though we were otherwise good friends.
WaterGirl
@15 flush mistermix: I think this may be more of a proxy war.
Origuy
@Tenar Arha: Diana had ancestors in the Stuart dynasty but her link to the Stuart kings were all through illegitimate children. (The Stuarts tended to have a lot of them.)
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@sdhays:
To be honest, I have a lot more respect for talented actors, athletes, and entertainers because they often had to work to get where they are and are closer to us than billionaires like the Kochs in that they have to work demanding hours/conditions at times
On top of that, their lives, like the royals, are under a microscope and people are waiting for them to slip up. Fame is like a blessing and a curse at the same time. I don’t know why anybody would want it in the first place. I suspect that actors and the such just enjoy their craft for the most part, like anybody else would their talent, and the money is compensation for losing their private lives
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Dorothy A. Winsor: they seemed to be slipping back into their Bernie-curious mode. I hope they’re going to do more swing-state polling.
I didn’t listen to the first season of Favreau’s “Wilderness”, cause it was just too fuckign soon. But I’m looking forward to the new season, digging into actual voters and the electoral map.
Mnemosyne
@JAFD:
Given how much trouble the descendants of George III had reproducing within marriage, I wouldn’t be surprised. Especially since Victoria’s mother seemed to be a pretty extreme “stage mother.”
JustRuss
@15 flush mistermix: Duke of Tanqueray should totally be a thing.
Barbara
@laura: It’s fine to ignore the royals, but this post is a way of showing that he is actually paying attention but he doesn’t want to admit it. “Let me prove how cool I am by posting about entitled people but getting all their factual details wrong.”
Baud
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I would have liked to see Harris’s campaign develop further. With her out, I’ll probably go with Warren unless I get antsy about electability or if I feel the need to support Biden to stop Bernie.
I don’t have the same negative reaction as others here to Pete, but he also doesn’t do much for me. Klobuchar and Booker are interesting in their own ways, but they don’t seem to be able to inspire people to support them.
To sum up, the whole situation is shitty.
Kay
@15 flush mistermix:
I like her just for admitting that. She’s great.
Amir Khalid
@Mandalay:
Mistermix repeated a common but already-debunked slander against Harry, in a post to which he clearly gave little thought. The criticism he has got in this thread seems to me justified and not excessive.
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I was discouraged when I listened to that podcast, too, but I tried to remind myself that they lean pretty Bernie-friendly.
If it makes you feel any better, Al Giordano puts it at 3 in 10 for both Biden and Warren, 1 in 10 for both Bernie and Pete, and I got the feeling that he thinks there’s a tiny window for Amy, but if she doesn’t do great in Iowa, she’s toast.
I am sure someone will correct me if I had a reading comprehension failure. After being sick with strep at Christmas, I’m over that but now have the crud virus that is going around. I don’t know about you guys, but I am not my sharpest when I don’t feel well.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: Swedish Royal family? Bernadotte. One of Napoleon’s marshals got the gig and his family has held on to it ever since.
trollhattan
@JustRuss:
The Disney version would have him meeting cute with the Duchess of Schweppes. Limies would be involved.
James E Powell
@Baud:
It is well-established that every Clinton is corrupt and that the investigations that failed to produce any evidence of it prove just how deep their corruption is.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Barbara: Heh. Reminds me of the people who loudly announce they don’t watch TeeVee, but can tell you in detail all the things they hate about Friends and that’s why they never watch TeeVee.
WaterGirl
@Baud:
I just nominated that as a rotating tag.
nyrobbin
@Mnemosyne: Barack Obama looks a LOT like his maternal grandfather (especially his ears and chin)
Oh it’s obvious. Especially a pic I saw at TNC old blog before the ’08 election of Baby Barack and his grandfather rolling in the surf.
Betty Cracker
@Dorothy A. Winsor: God, please, no.
15 flush mistermix
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
They go out of their way to treat every Democrat fairly because they know any of them could be nominated. Also, they are political realists, and the polls and fundraising numbers at the moment show a Biden/Sanders race. If you don’t like that, and I sure don’t, let’s check back in a month or so, because there are a ton of Democrats who haven’t really made up their minds yet and are changing allegiance as they make their judgments about which candidates can win.
jl
@WaterGirl: That should go straight in. No review necessary.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WaterGirl:
It’s time for the primaries/caucuses to start. We need to get on with things. If I’m going to have to vote for an old white guy who’s been around forever, so be it.
Kay
@James E Powell:
That’s why I’m hopeful it won’t stick to Biden. That’s not been part of his story for Democrats. It’s not how they think of him, either as unfairly attacked or fairly attacked. His story was actually the opposite- that he did not get wealthy while in DC. Political media don’t put the work into understanding Democrats like they do into understanding Republicans. They’re just not as interested in our voters and they completely dismiss our activists in a way they never dismiss even the most grifty GOP activist. It’s a weird thing. They’re the absolute worst on black people in the Ohio Democratic Party. That’s a real thing. They’re party leaders and have been for decades. There’s this treatment of them that they are somehow only voters and that simply isn’t true. Obama understood it really well. They’re like conventional, established party people. They’re not in any way an “interest group”. They’re inside, not outside.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Petty but someone should tell Jon Lovett that he overuses the word “incredible.”
jl
@Mnemosyne: Everybody. The research I remember specifically included African-Americans and Asians. Though may have been limited to residents of the US, which would make a difference. Apparently we use several clues to stereotype a person’s face. Take away those clues and commonalities of head shape and facial features across races dominate.
tomtofa
I think they made a great decision. Lots of people see the royals as parasites; they’re saying they don’t want to be parasites. They’re saying a lot more than that by this decision, of course, but I’m not interested enough in British stuff to parse it out.
Amir Khalid
@Kay:
Also too, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a fan of the House of Windsor, any more than there is with being a fan, as I am, of Liverpool FC and Gillian Anderson and Dr Becky. (You may substitute the sportsball team/showbiz person/YouTuber of your choice.)
Roger Moore
@JAFD:
Which makes very little sense, IMO. Hemophilia is an X-linked trait, so if she inherited it from her father, he would have been a Hemophiliac. Given the lifespan of hemophiliacs back then, that seems unlikely. It seems far more likely that she inherited it from her mother, who could have been a silent carrier, or that either she or her mother got unlucky mutations. Apparently it is fairly common for hemophilia to show up as a spontaneous mutation.
Kay
@Amir Khalid:
Agree. I get less high and mighty about the American meritocracy since the Trump Family took over, too.
Gotta look at what actually happens, like it or not. Not clear what happened there but something wasn’t working right.
WaterGirl
@jl: I completely agree, but I am not the decider. That John Cole guy is. :-) There aren’t a lot of places that John claims as his jurisdiction, his and his alone, and rotating tags rattle around in that category, with just a couple of other things.
Gotta respect that. As far as I’m concerned, though, that phrase was born to be a rotating tag.
James E Powell
@Baud:
You summed up my own feelings except for the last line. I am concerned that the possibility of a divisive primary season is still large, but I don’t think where we are is shitty.
I’m thinking back to 2003-2004. I was for Dean and had friends who were all in for Wesley Clark. We talked about Kerry pretty much like a lot of people talk about Biden. Every single one of us ended up all in for Kerry. I spent a week as a volunteer in Nevada with about 20 others and we were all laughing about the fact that when it started we were anti-Kerry and anyone who voted for the war!!!
We almost beat Bush/Cheney. Bush had positive factors that Trump does not have; Trump has negatives Bush did not have. We can do this. We just have to stay focused on the job, state by state, of making sure our people can vote and do vote.
15 flush mistermix
@Amir Khalid:
And there’s nothing wrong about mocking the targets of other people’s fandom. Happens all the time on this here Internet. I try to have a sense of humor about it when I get mocked for mine, which tend towards whiny alt pop and weird cocktails.
Sincerely,
The Duke of I Give No Shits About People Elevated Due to an Imagined Birthright, HRH mistermix
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yep. Nothing’s gonna get better from here. The *candidates I really wanted are out, and nobody new that could jazz things up is gonna jump in.
So let’s get this over with so we can stop the short-sighted squabbling between candidates and supporters, and get on to the business of fighting for our lives in the general.
*Except Baud, of course!
Mnemosyne
@jl:
Residents of the US who are non-white would look for pretty similar markers as white Americans since it’s culturally-based. They might have slightly more sensitivity to face shape and other cues within their own group, but they wouldn’t necessarily have that for other groups.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Lovett and Tommy are my favorites, so don’t make me fight you about Lovett. :-)
I had not noticed that Lovett says incredible a lot, but I fear those days are over now that I have heard you say it.
I, too, skipped The Wilderness the first time around, but I’m looking forward to this next round.
I tried to listen to Tommy’s series (4 so far) about the Iowa caucuses, but that one didn’t grab me. I thought for sure it would since I spent time there in 2007/2008, but it seemed lame.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
You, too? I’m not sure if I have the crud virus or the flu strain that wasn’t in this year’s shot, but it sure ain’t fun. At least my temperature is back down around 100 degrees — the spike up to 102.9 yesterday was making me very nervous. ?
Amir Khalid
@15 flush mistermix:
Yeah; but when that’s all you got, does it really merit a post?
Sincerely,
Plain old Amir Khalid bin Hussain.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: My first thought was “fuck you, Dianne!”.
Is that wrong? I mean, really. Why can’t she call Nancy Pelosi up on the f-ing telephone and say it to her face? And then keep the disagreement the hell out of the press.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Holy crap, I just saw the stage-management of trump’s entrance into today’s speech. I’m guessing Linda McMahon was part of the planning.
Betty Cracker
I guess this is for real:
Hmmm. “Just when I think I’m OUT, they pull me back IN!”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@15 flush mistermix:
Though it also might be unsurprising that folk have a negative reaction when you do it.
Feathers
@15 flush mistermix: My issue is that you wrote a post claiming to wish them well for jumping off the royal payroll and setting off on their own, in large part because of the horrible way the press treated Harry, his mother, and now his wife. In that context, you casually dropped one of the ugliest slanders against his mother, made when she divorced his father.
Either lose the slander or the well wishes, can’t have both.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: Yeah, 102.9 would make me nervous, too. Glad it’s back down.
Don’t you generally run a little lower than 98.6? I don’t know why, but somewhere in this tiny little brain I have tucked away that your normal temp usually isn’t exactly 98.6, but I could be off about the direction. Or I could be wrong entirely! Wouldn’t be the first time.
Feathers
@15 flush mistermix: these are real fucking people, no matter that some treat them like a fandom.
Gin & Tonic, Duke of Tanqueray
@JustRuss:
Sorry, apparently now taken.
James E Powell
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I have never liked Feinstein. I voted for her, of course, but she is pretty much useless for us and too often a voice against us. She is the archetype of the Village Democrat who is completely out of touch with her constituents.
JPL
@WaterGirl: What’s the point in waiting for her to retire..
trollhattan
@James E Powell:
Like my Soros bucks and Obamaphone, that Clinton cash has never shown up. I demand justice!
WaterGirl
My Dad died 25 years ago today. I don’t think that’s why I am feeling sort of crabby, probably more likely because I don’t feel good. But it could be. I am the worst at remembering anniversaries and dates like that, but I must keep track of that somewhere/somehow because my mood changes if we get a really long stretch of rainy/cloudy days in the fall.
That’s the weather we had for almost a month the year my mom was dying (she died on Halloween) and when we get a long stretch of those days now it all comes roaring back. Weather and music, they seem to tickle our memories and emotions in a way that nothing else does.
Apologies for the stream of consciousness rambling.
trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
“Not my brain, baby!” [said in Austin Powers voice]
rikyrah
@Kay:
Joe Biden didn’t make any money until AFTER he was Vice President. He was always the brokest Senator.
Remember the story of him contemplating selling his house in order to pay for Beau’s medical bills and 44 talked him out of it.
JPL
@Betty Cracker: Maybe they didn’t sign the original statement.
just sayin
Shana
@Wag: Yeah, I remember seeing pictures of Hewitt and the resemblance is very clear.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic, Duke of Tanqueray: Try again with that nym. The first one always gets moderated, but the second will tell us whether WordPress will allow the comma.
I know it can’t handle the apostrophe, but I can’t recall what the second punctuation mark is that it also finds unacceptable. So it could be the comma.
rikyrah
Good for Meghan and Harry :)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WaterGirl:
I thought The Wilderness was smartly done. I’m looking forward to the new one.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@rikyrah:
By offering to pay those bills out of his own pocket
?BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl: My dad died 38 years ago today.
WaterGirl
@JPL:
So many ways I can take that comment… Why not say “fuck you” now, rather than waiting to say it once she retires? Hopefully you are not talking about Nancy Pelosi’s retirement?!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
in re Dianne Feinstein: I’ve had my “fuck her” moments over the last twenty years, and she’s done some impressive things, too. I have a fantasy that at some point she’s going to look over the political landscape, say “Fuck it, I’m older and richer than Mr Burns. Whatta they gonna do?” and spills every classified bit of info she’s ever seen on trump. Assuming she’s seen some shit.
trollhattan
@James E Powell:
Once in awhile DiFi does something truly useful but of our two longterm senators, I far preferred Boxer. Was frankly pissed when she ran for yet another term. Senator Schiff? Yes, please.
Elizabelle
@Feathers:
@Amir Khalid: Appreciate what you both had to say about mistermix’s repeating a false story and not taking much responsibility for it. I think that hurts the blog’s credibility.
@mistermix: Can understand that you took the “Hewitt as father” story for truth, but since it’s not, maybe it would be good to score through the lie in your post?
That * is not even fig-leaf quality. It would seem more generous to make it very clear you erred with your original statement in a front page blogpost. Scoring through it would leave no confusion.
Don’t go all FTF NY Times MoDo on us.
I know this is a snarky blog, but personally appreciate when people strive for accuracy along with snark.
Barbara
Or Senator Liu. Lots of great potential candidates. I find Ted Liu to be a real hoot, who is also wickedly smart. Schiff is incredibly impressive, but a bit drier.
RobNYNY
@JAFD:
Hemophilia is not passed by the father, so if some secret about her parentage is the cause, the secret would have to be about her real mother. That is harder to conceal.
Gin & Tonic, Duke of Tanqueray
@WaterGirl: Test
Kent
@rikyrah:
Oh FFS….
Biden has been a full-time Senator since 1972. That probably puts him in the top 2% or so all Americans in terms of income for over 3 decades and with perks and fringe benefits that most can only dream of:
https://www.senate.gov/senators/SenateSalariesSince1789.htm
Of course he isn’t wealthy like the Senate oligarchs who have generational wealth. But he hasn’t been poor at any point in his adult life.
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
They just have to re-assert their roles as senators. Pelosi was sucking up all the power in the room :)
Because she’s the queen, so rightfully, but still.
trollhattan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I’ll shinny out on a thin limb and guess this is coordinated kabuki and that she and Nancy are on the same page.
If I’m wrong, then grrrr.
JPL
@WaterGirl: lol It was in response to Feinstein’s statement, what’s the point.. Nancy can stay forever.
jl
@Betty Cracker: Some of the tweets in that thread suggest that an important factor is their desire to do charity work they way they want to without whatever strings come with being financially tied to the UK Royal institution. I have no clue what difference it makes. Maybe a lot of bureaucracy and restrictions? My hunch is that it is a F-ing nightmare.
MJS
@WaterGirl: It is not wrong. It is the exactly correct sentiment, and applies to any and all Democratic Senators who believe that moving the Articles of Impeachment out of the Democratic controlled House to the Republican controlled Senate immediately is the correct thing to do. I believe Nancy, Adam, et al have earned the benefit of the doubt that they know what they’re doing. Dianne, Murphy, etc., need to STFU.
HRH mistermix, Lord Bombay Sapphire, Duke of Schweppes
@Gin & Tonic, Duke of Tanqueray:
I have updated my name, too, by letters patent and my inherent powers as front pager.
/s/MM
Elizabelle
Now, WRT the subject: good for Harry and Meghan. And they definitely mentioned rolling out a significant new charity:
I would love if they did something major on behalf of combatting climate change. What is happening in Australia is horrifying, and very likely the shape of things to come. Stepping back would allow them to be more candid, and the environment seems to be a cause of importance to them.
Also, the British press has been vicious, especially re Meghan. They don’t have to take that, and I am glad they are fighting back for decency’s sake.
I think both Harry and Meghan are a breath of fresh air.
Aleta
Duke of Earl on the street
The Velvet Candles
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
Christ, I must be an even worse oversharer than I realized because, yeah, I’m usually at 97.9, which makes a big spike even more impressive and nerve-wracking.
I can take another dose of Tylenol in about 30 minutes (every 6 hours) and see how the fever goes.
Note to self: found first chapter of Oversharers Anonymous as soon as I’m better. ?
Litlebritdifrnt
Toure really pissed me off on twitter when he said that “Harry has never had a job.” Obviously serving in the Army in Afghanistan is not a “job” to Toure. He can fuck right off. The Royals have always served in the military (even the Queen), Charles commanded his own ship (and was notorious for shaking his security detail so he could go out drinking with his crew) Andrew was a helicopter pilot and served in the Falklands to great admiration and the Queen’s annoyance. William is also a helicopter pilot, Harry an artillery officer who served in Afghanistan until some twat reporter outed his position. These are not ceremonial roles, these are hands on, booted and suited jobs. The only one who didn’t follow the trend was Edward (“You can turn a frog into a prince but you can’t turn a prince into a Royal Marine) and Anne, she was Commandant in Chief of the WRNS but it was largely a ceremonial position and she never served in real time (although having met her on dozens of occasions in that position I would disagree, she was a great leader). I would challenge any other family to put up that kind of record.
Elizabelle
@HRH mistermix, Lord Bombay Sapphire, Duke of Schweppes: I like your new names. Schweppervescent. Bracing. Juniperesque.
15 flushes is so … last week. (Or the week before?? Anyway, it’s bad enough to think of Trump without sticking a toilet in there too …)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Gin & Tonic, Duke of Tanqueray:
@HRH mistermix, Lord Bombay Sapphire, Duke of Schweppes: You’d better hope the Balloon Juice Constitution doesn’t have an emoluments clause.
Mnemosyne
@Tenar Arha:
That’s a pretty good burn on the Howards since they were (are?) Catholics and had a habit of playing both ends against the middle whenever they could.
MJS
@Elizabelle: As of Christmas Day, I am now the proud owner of a toilet brush bearing Trump’s likeness.
jl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: thanks for donating all of those beautiful pix to the BJ art gallery. It’s a full service blog, so now you can say your work had it own exhibition at the classiest, top, best, venue.
Elizabelle
@MJS: Does not surprise me that is out there.
Um, use it in good health.
slightly_peeved
@tomtofa:
A likely subtext is that they want some respite from the constant, spiteful rumour-mongering of the British press that Harry has had to deal with almost his entire life. The rumour initially reported as fact in this post being one of the early examples of such.
Elizabelle
@Litlebritdifrnt: Yup.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Elizabelle: Did you see the pics of Maysie and Loki? Since you were one of the people who asked to be kept updated, I thought I’d check.
O. Felix Culpa
@Gin & Tonic:
Because casting aspersions on a person’s paternity is a shitty thing to do, especially if it’s a patently false statement and easily researched.
As others have pointed out, it’s like constantly casting aspersions on Obama’s citizenship. It’s nasty, dumb and wrong and our front pager should hold himself to a higher standard. And yes, MM corrected it, but only after significant pushback from the commentariat. Not a good look, IMO.
Kent
@Litlebritdifrnt: They have actually held more “real” jobs than most children of the American political aristocracy when you think about it.
JDM
@VOR: They also just spent a week or so on Vancouver Island, extremely low-key, no official confirmation. They seem to be very fond of the place.
Mnemosyne
@Litlebritdifrnt:
IIRC, until a few years ago, William was a certified search-and-rescue pilot who was out on duty on a regular basis. They don’t have you pulling people out of the North Sea because of who you’re related to.
Robert Sneddon
The Civil List payments of Government money to various Royals are for work done representing the UK, opening buildings and new motorways, visiting hospitals, travelling abroad as envoys and the like. A “senior” Royal will be carrying out these sorts of ceremonial duties for 200-plus days a year, taking the ceremonial and protocol load off working politicians and elected officials. It looks like Andrew and Meghan have decided to stop carrying out that sort of work but they lose access to Civil List payments to cover their living expenses and other matters hence the financial negotiations going on with the Royal household administrators.
The Royal family is rich but nearly everything, land, artworks, buildings etc. are entailed in trust and can’t be sold, only passed on to heirs — Charlie owns a large part of the West Country as Duke of Cornwall and for that reason and due to a loophole in the law, he is legally permitted to set off nuclear devices there if he so chooses.
Most of the Royal estate is owned by the State, not the family themselves — for example Buckingham Palace (it used to belong to the Dukes of Buckingham, a family that owns a lot of the land in London and who are seriously rich, not like the Windsors) doesn’t belong to the Queen but Windsor, Balmoral and Sandringham are family properties. State visitors like President Trump get wined and dined at Buck House, friends and guests like President Obama get invited to Windsor.
O. Felix Culpa
@15 flush mistermix: God, I didn’t realize what a nasty shit you can be. You were wrong and should simply own it, rather than posting passive-aggressive comments like this. No one is objecting to true statements, i.e., Ms. Markle is an actress, only to the shitty false one you initially posted and most reluctantly corrected. GFY.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: Thanks. Prints of all of my OTR posts are available at my store(which can be conveniently accessed by clicking on my nym).
trollhattan
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Well now, let’s begin with Donald Junior….
Betty Cracker
@Litlebritdifrnt: Princess Anne is my new fave on The Crown. Is she as sarcastic as portrayed (she asked, hopefully)?
Mnemosyne
@Shana:
The timelines don’t match up — she didn’t meet Hewitt until after Harry was born.
IOW, it’s confirmation bias.
Omnes Omnibus
@Litlebritdifrnt: My god, you navy people do not know the army at all. Harry was in the Household Cavalry and the Army Air Corps; he was never an artilleryman.
Roger Moore
@RobNYNY:
This is incorrect. If a man is a hemophiliac*, his daughters will be carriers of hemophilia. So the idea that Victoria might have inherited the gene for hemophilia from her father isn’t that farfetched from a genetics standpoint. The thing that makes it unlikely is that without modern medicine it would have been difficult for a hemophiliac to live long enough to father children. It would certainly be a more believable claim if there were some evidence besides the hemophilia to suggest Victoria was the result of an affair. AFAIK, nobody has even suggested a specific person as her true father, and without that I’m inclined to ignore the whole thing.
*At least if he suffers from type B hemophilia, which is what Victoria’s family had.
HRH mistermix, Lord Bombay Sapphire, Duke of Schweppes
@O. Felix Culpa: Please read comment 61 and then park your oversized outrage over this fairly trivial matter.
HRH mistermix, Lord Bombay Sapphire, Duke of Schweppes
@Litlebritdifrnt: Does Charles really dabble in Homeopathy? I read somewhere that he had some odd views about it, but that could have been a misinterpretation.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Roger Moore: Also, spontaneous mutations are more common with older fathers. IIRC, the Duke of Kent was in his fifties.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Kent: Exactly
Msb
Well, if they’re dumping the job, it’s only fair to dump the paycheck.
Let’s leave out the speculation on the ID of Harry’s biological father. That’s probably Charles, but Charles certainly is the father who raised and loves him. Speculating about “who’s your daddy” is the kind of thing the nasty little toffs who went to school with Harry would think was funny. Jeez.
Amir Khalid
@HRH mistermix, Lord Bombay Sapphire, Duke of Schweppes:
You should really quit doubling down. It’s not helping you.
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker:
There was a pretty funny video of her refusing to join the reception line with the Drumpfs a while back. I’ll see if I can find it.
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker:
They seem to have found some innocuous explanation for it, but it sure looks as if she’s hanging back so she doesn’t have to press the tiny hand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmLNvBxquiQ
Robert Sneddon
@Omnes Omnibus: Prince Harry spent part of his deployment in Afghanistan working as a forward air/artillery observer. During this he was referred to as Cornet Wales, not his actual name as the military didn’t want the local militias he was up close and personal with (as in receiving direct fire on the bunker he was operating from) to learn about him and treat his location as a high-value target. When the British press got to hear about this and the rumours started circulating he was pulled out of that posting.
I don’t know how it works in the US military but a soldier in the British Army, especially a junior officer will be expected to carry out a series of roles outside their official regimental affiliation to widen their experience and get them used to operating within mixed-mission teams.
Someone I used to share a flat with was a Fusilier, an actual artilleryman but he had spent time with the Royal Marines acquiring a Commando qualification as well as being a drill instructor and PT instructor. He also taught non-lethal riot control techniques for UN peacekeeping duties in Cyprus and elsewhere (he had some great stories about carrying out ordnance disposal work wearing a blue helmet in Bosnia). When we parted company he was working on gaining a parachute qualification with 3 Para.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Betty Cracker: Yup and in person she is stunningly beautiful. She has always been portrayed in the press as a horsy faced woman. In reality she has the most perfect skin and the bluest of blue eyes. I met her dozens of times and each time to my amazement she remembered me. The fact that she must meet thousands of people a year and yet she remembered me. The third time “Oh yes you were at Seafield Park with Andrew weren’t you?” Years later in London “Oh yes you were serving with Andrew at 707 yes?” (I supposed it helped that Andrew followed me around the fleet). Her acerbic wit is legendary, I think she gets it from her Dad.
Roger Moore
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
Reading up about it, it sounds as if about 30% of cases of hemophilia B are the result of spontaneous mutations. That’s a lot compared to other genetic diseases. Given that there’s basically no other evidence for Victoria being illegitimate, it seems more likely that she was an unlucky mutant than a secret love child of an unknown father.
Amir Khalid
@zhena gogolia:
As I remember it, it wasn’t actually a snub to Trump, which would have most displeased the Queen because there’s no screwing around with state protocol on her watch. Anne was standing aside from the official welcome line because she wasn’t part of it in the first place. I suppose it did look like a snub to people who didn’t know that.
Litlebritdifrnt
@HRH mistermix, Lord Bombay Sapphire, Duke of Schweppes: He believes in it and also is a big fan of talking to his plants :) He has always been a great “green” ambassador which is why William and Harry have followed in his footsteps.
Amir Khalid
@Robert Sneddon:
I take it that Cornet was Harry’s rank, and not a musical instrument that they issued to him?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
HRH mistermix, Lord Bombay Sapphire, Duke of Schweppes
@Amir Khalid: So you weren’t upset that I said that his wife was an actress? Because I thought that was what you meant.
Also, as a fan, do you subscribe to Majesty Magazine? Is it still around?
satby
@HRH mistermix, Lord Bombay Sapphire, Duke of Schweppes: wow, you just don’t know when to quit do you?
louc
@Litlebritdifrnt: The Trump clan leaping to mind since they obviously want to be treated like royals. At least the Bushes and the Kennedys had some sort of public service, unlike that bumptious crew.
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Omnes Omnibus
@Robert Sneddon: Yes, American officers have assignments outside of their original branch. That being said, an infantryman remains an infantryman even though he is doing an unrelated job. It is my understanding that the British army has an even stronger bond and one retains one’s association with a particular regiment even if not currently serving with it. Harry may have been a gunner/copilot on an Apache, but he wasn’t a Gunner.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic, Duke of Tanqueray: I did not approve this comment, so unless some other front pager did, I think the comma works.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: Okay, that made me laugh. Not about having such a high fever, obviously. Our brains are so funny, aren’t they?
O. Felix Culpa
@HRH mistermix, Lord Bombay Sapphire, Duke of Schweppes: Being truthful and decent is not a trivial matter. As a front pager and as a person who claims not to be a Republican, you have a particular obligation to uphold those standards and you have been neither. Amir’s comment had nothing to do with Ms. Markle being an actress. You were wrong and seem to have a peculiarly hard time admitting it and moving on. Might want to take a look at your tendency to double down on what is known to be false and unkind and taking potshots at people who call you out on it
ETA: Part of the outrage comes from the fact that we are not Trumps here and I, for one, do not like to see a front-pager engaging in Trumpian nastiness and innuendo. There’s enough of that crap out there and it isn’t improved when one of our own engages in it.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: You mean they aren’t all the same? I thought people in the service just got to pick the uniforms they liked the best. //
jl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks. Do I get the standard and handsome Balloon-Juice discount?
Elizabelle
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Yes! A few days ago, right? They are adorbs, and settling in well. I should go back and look for that post.
Roger Moore
@Amir Khalid:
Yes. An O1 in the Household Cavalry is called a Cornet rather than a 2nd Lieutenant. Their enlisted ranks are even weirder; there are no Sergeants in the Household Cavalry, since the term “sergeant” was another term for servant, which was considered too servile for a member of the royal household. So an NCO who would be called a Sergeant in another regiment is called a Corporal of Horse, a Staff Sergeant is a Staff Corporal, etc.
Sloane Ranger
Despite the sneering of some “progressives” the Royal Family are extremely popular here in Britain. All opinion polls show that the monarchy is supported by the vast majority of British people and, no matter how the figures are sliced and diced, remains at over 50% in every section of society.
Queen Elizabeth II has been a steady hand, demonstrating a sense of duty and responsibility while the US system of selecting a Head of State has led to Nixon, Reagan, Bush II and Donald Trump during the period of her reign.
Given this, it seems to this Brit, that our system of leaving the selection of our Head of State to the whim of fate is more effective than your method of selection.
Also, as a Brit, I’m sick to death of people who are citizens of nations whose HoS is not the Queen making insulting comments about the appearance and character of members of the Royal Family and passing judgement about how outdated Monarchy is and how it should be abolished. That is our choice, not yours!
Finally, the ruling House of the Netherlands is the House of Orange. Hence the Dutch football team playing in orange jerseys and their supporters waving orange flags.
tinare
@15 flush mistermix: I’ve learned that a lot of non-brits seem much more invested in the royal family than I ever thought possible. But then I found the comment funny.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Baud: Earning Lisa Ann’s endorsement was quite a coup. Hat tip. ?
debbie
I’m very glad they’re getting out of the spotlight. Every FB post even remotely related to the British royals at some point turns racist, and the Brits are as bad as the RWNJs here. I don’t blame Harry at all for wanting to protect Meghan from this ugliness.
Mnemosyne
@debbie:
I mean, the marriage was probably doomed since Charles was in love with someone else, but the constant and harsh press scrutiny didn’t help their relationship and she was ultimately killed by the paparazzi, so I can totally see that Harry’s first priority is going to be taking Meghan out of that spotlight.
The royal family has done everything they can to signal that they love and accept Meghan, but they can only do so much when they’re all under that microscope.
debbie
@Mnemosyne:
I believe Harry has been more vocal than his brother about who he holds to blame for his mother’s death.
slightly_peeved
@Sloane Ranger:
But it’s not about the American head of state’s family, so therefore it is a triviality that only fans would be interested in.
In my experience of British comedy, the jokes about Prince Harry’s parentage became passe years ago when it became clear that no edgy comedian could do anything nastier than the News of The World does as a matter of course. It’s all Prince Andrew jokes at the moment – and not about him being royal so much as the ridiculous things he said in that car crash of an interview.
VeniceRiley
Not a rumor. It’s right on the Sussex Royal Instagram.
2) I hope they are very happy, and raise a happy healthy, mentally balanced baby. I think that’s what a lot of this is about. What they want Archie to see and become.
Kattails
Just got in from work and finished reading through, so of course dead thread. Nevertheless I want to thank Satby, Amir Khalid, and the others who stood against the meanness on display here, and the Brits who defended their royals and enlightened us about their very real and dangerous military service.
To the author, perhaps you should change your nym to Cheapshotz or something. Remind the innocent reader of what they’re likely to be in for.
Jill
@Barbara: And if they had stayed, the British tabloid press would be slagging on Meghan forever for being a gold digger. They couldn’t win either way. So they said “Take this job and shove it.” Good for them.