Dawn of the Op

by | Jun 28, 2022 | Fiction | 143 comments

 

Dawn of the Opossum

Gut Check

Mustard Seed

 

“Imagine yourself as being all powerful.  You are the judge, the jury, the executioner,” the transmission goes on.  “The time will come when *you* will teach the world what is right and what is wrong.”

“I can’t believe this shit actually works,” I say.

You’d be surprised.

Himalia and Feuerborn had been ramping up their subsonic transmissions to me lately.  While vague at first – merely pumping me up to be the supreme arbiter of justice on Earth – they’d become more and more precise about just who my enemies are, and where and when I must bring them to justice.

“In time the murderers must pay the price for their bloodlust,” it continues.  “Picture yourself doing to them what they’ve done to millions of innocent souls.  Eye for an eye, tooth for tooth.  You alone are the wrath of God.”

We should make more journal entries before we go.

It’s time to pack.

*****

Agent Feuerborn moved from the relative peace of the northern reflecting pool, down the steps and toward the barricade.  He paced inside the arc of bollards, weaving among the various uniformed security personnel, eyeing the crowd.  It was difficult for him to tune out the rasping chants of, “My body, my choice,” the bullhorn commandos’ incomprehensible legato litanies, the undercurrent of rumbling voices.  There were inconsequential scuffles between protesters and counter-protesters that caught his attention, but he wasn’t interested in those things.

Jay Ledsinger was standing among the trees across 1st Street when Feuerborn spotted him.

“Jack Jack Blue, Jack Jack Actual,” Feuerborn called over his concealed comms.

“Go ahead.”

“Eyes on Tango.  Tree line west of my 20, over.”

“Seen.  I’m Oscar Mike.  Wait one.”

One of Feuerborn’s plain clothes operators moved toward Jay.  The operator stood next to him, placed a backpack on the spare grass between them, made the brief small talk, then walked away.

“Package delivered, over.”

“Copy.  Actual out.”

A roar went up from the crowd.  Feuerborn turned back to look up at the lectern with its cockfight of microphones, sitting atop the lower set of steps and centered between the reflecting pools.  The Supreme Court behind framed the scene as the usual suspects of Democrat Representatives and Senators did their best imitation of the Denzel Strut to take their place among the gathering gaggle there.

Last to join was the triumphantly smirking Madame Speaker herself.  She took her rightful place before the hungry mic’s.

Applause erupted.  And drowned out the crack of the first shot.

Feuerborn watched as Mrs Pelosi’s face disappeared, to be replaced by another covered bright red and mottled in Madame Speaker’s blood and brains.  It was Mr Adam Schiff’s puckered visage; and in that split second of recognition, Schiff’s own head emptied to its right upon Mr Shumer, in a sort of Hot Potato of gore.  Schiff slumped out of sight.  Shumer screamed as his face became the very essence of cowardice before it too disintegrated into fragments of brilliant bone amid murky fluid.

The Squad comically fled in a group, stumbling, falling, all clad in red dresses and impractical high heels, garb grasping at a contrarian fantasy of submission to the male’s visceral rage that they simultaneously coveted and despised.  Sadly, on this day, rather than getting at least the good grudge fuck, they were killed, mowed down, in a bad way, by that which they mocked, by bullets whose purchase they’d voted to approve.

Feuerborn turned to find Jay – this was not the plan!  But Jay was still standing in the shade of the trees, the backpack yet lay untouched by his feet.  Jay should be shooting at Pussyhats; he was doing nothing.

More gunfire.  Screams.  An Entire Fucking Crowd of Screams!  Feuerborn drew his own weapon while taking a knee, head on a swivel for the threat.

Congress Critters were getting ventilated and dropping in rapid fashion, some cowering, some running, blood spoiling the concrete.

Security had opened fire… but on whom?  Where was the threat?

Ho. Ly. Fuck!  Feuerborn realized in pants-shitting panic that it was the uniformed officers who were slaughtering Pelosi et al.

A quick glance to Jay.  Gone.  Backpack still there.

“All Jack Jacks, all Jack Jacks.  Secure the Tango and fall back.  Repeat:  Secure the Tango and fall back,” he took the briefest of moments to hope that his team couldn’t hear his voice trembling.  

“UNFUCK THIS.

“NOW.

“OUT.”

Then to himself, “Ledsinger, just what in the hell have you done?”

He was about to find out.

 

“You can hear happiness staggering on down the street,

Footprints dressed in red.”

—Jimi Hendrix

 

“What a day, what a day!” I joyfully think to myself.  I’d been part of some glorious victories in the war, but this… This!  I can’t get too cocky; I’ve still got Feurborn’s and others’ blood splattered on me from their failed interrogation.  I need to keep moving to the pickup.

Alice pulls up alongside me.  I hop in.  She’s ecstatic,

“Omigod, omigod, omigod!  We did it!  We can do anything, everything!!!  My God, Jay, you should see the news!”

She hands me her phone open to Google News.  It’s all about the pro-abortion / anti-Supreme Court rally gone horribly wrong.  The security personnel manipulated by my ventrem tractatori apparently kept up the carnage for a long while, before other unaffected G-Men figured it out and engaged them.

“Yeah, but,” she adds, “some were taken before they could off themselves.”

“Shit.”

“We can work on that; I’ve got some ideas.  So, what’s next?  Where should we go?  When do you think they’ll come looking for us?”

“There’ll be higher ups who know what I *should* have done.  I’m not sure how long it’ll be before they work out what really happened, what we really did.  Feuerborn’s soldiers were in the dark.  Our biggest loose end is Himalia.  However, you and I never spoke out loud about this, and we never wrote any of this shit down.  The journal entries are misdirection, as you know.  All that’s to say, I think we have some time.  I hope we have some time.  Bring the gun, just in case?”

“Glove compartment.  So where to?”

“Dealer’s choice.  I need a nap.  And I’m gonna need a shower and some new clothes before too long.”

I recline my seat, sink into the comfort, and close my eyes.

*****

I wake to some intense grogginess.  It’s dark now.  Alice is driving.

No, not grogginess.  This is something else, something dark, oppressive.  Whoa.  Guilt.  Massive guilt.  What have I done?  Images of the congressmen and -women murdered, essentially dead by my hand.  How many have I killed, in the war, with my candida?  …and reveled in it all?  I’m being pulled down deep inside my mind.  Into despair.  Bone crushing despair.  It’s overwhelming.  I’m drowning in sadness and sinking, sinking, sinking.  There’s only one way out.

One way out.

Earth’s gravity feels like its pull on me has increased tenfold as I raise an arm to reach for the glove compartment.  Pulling on the latch sends scorching pain from my fingertips to my head, pain that wells behind my eyes and wants to pop them from my skull.  It takes all my strength to remove the pistol.

I put the barrel in my mouth.  Teeth scrape and clack on thick metal.

Alice licks her lips.

I squeeze the trigger.

 

*****

 

“You wanna beer?” I ask Himalia as I get up and head to the kitchen.

“Nah, I’m good.  Thanks, love.  So, hey… I know you’ve been pushing Reston, and that’s closer for me – thank you – but I’m good with Alexandria, too.  Hell, you’d be able to walk to the NSF, and I’ll still be in the field mostly, so…?”

“Well, the goal is the West Wing.  So I say we plan around that.  God, I can’t wait.  You know what I really, really, wanna do, most of all?  Start a fucking war.  What a rush that would be.”

“I can only imagine!”

I finish heating up some left overs.

“Hey, Alice?” Himalia calls to me.  “On second thought, I will take that beer.”

“Comin’ right up!”

 

End

About The Author

Plisade

Plisade

Born in Cali. Served in the Marine Corps for Desert Storm. Now living around Nashville, TN. Honorary Degree in Darwinian Expediencies, MCRD Hollywood.

143 Comments

  1. Ownbestenemy

    I think this adds me to a list I’m not on yet. Fast paced exciting read! Thanks!

    • DEG

      Seconded.

  2. Tundra

    Excellent, Plisade!

    This reminded me of Vince Flynn’s first book, Term Limits.

    • Plisade

      Sounds good. Just ordered it!

  3. robodruid

    2nd about the list thing.

    Thanks for the writing, I don’t know how you guys can do it so well.

  4. Sean

    🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

  5. Lackadaisical

    Thanks?

    • Lackadaisical

      I feel like I do need to go reread the others, so the links are actually much appreciated.

      • MikeS

        Seconded.

  6. Fourscore

    Thanks Plisade, though I’m still a little confused. A re-read may/should be helpful. OTOH confusion is underrated.

    • juris imprudent

      Yeah I think confusion is the expected state. Good stuff, we’ll have lots of fun in the camps.

      • Plisade

        That was somewhat the intent, and partly to keep us off that list, haha!

    • R C Dean

      I was following until the last section, when the guy who just blew his own head off apparently heats up some leftovers and cracks a beer.

      • Plisade

        Would you believe me if I told you the answer is Cannibalism?

      • R C Dean

        In this story?

        Absolutely.

      • Not Adahn

        The “I” is not always the same narrator. I think. It could be if the intestine has taken over multiple bodies.

      • R C Dean

        That’s kind of where I was heading.

      • R C Dean

        On a closer read, the “I” in the last section is Alice.

      • Lackadaisical

        It’s a person others think is Alice….

      • Fourscore

        That was my conclusion after a second read, then Lack throws a curve. What?

      • UnCivilServant

        A multiple narrator first person structure is a pet peeve of mine.

      • db

        It’s the same guest, but not the same host.

      • Mojeaux

        *activate UCS pet peeve*

        How about throw in present tense for extra special peevery?

      • Gender Traitor

        I’ll see that and raise you “second person.”

        My sister gave me an entire trilogy of supposedly award-winning fantasy novels for Christmas last year or the year before. Multiple story lines, one in second person. Annoyed me so much I never finished the first book.

      • Mojeaux

        I read a really good short story in 2nd person once, a client I had.

      • Gender Traitor

        “Short” might be tolerable.

  7. Ozymandias

    Damn. I went back and read the whole series.
    Nice job, Plisade. Great writing.

  8. pistoffnick

    …the lectern with its cockfight of microphones…

    That’s poetry right there! Good write, Plisade.

    • Ownbestenemy

      I too enjoyed that line

  9. Grosspatzer

    Now THIS is how you do insurrection! *takes notes*

    • Rat on a train

      How else did they kill so many people?

    • CPRM

      That crazy Trump Nut did shoot Ashli Babbitt.

    • Rebel Scum

      Lying about the timeline of the breech, “Fight like hell” is bad except when it isn’t. The stalinistic nature of this horseshit is something to behold.

    • Rebel Scum

      Drumpfler went nuts in the presidential limo and attacked a staffer.

      Sure…

    • Rebel Scum

      Drumpfler throws dishes and food because he is easily upset and can’t control himself.

      This is cartoonishly stupid stuff.

      • CPRM

        can’t control himself

        Tis true, that’s what the hats and hair are for.

    • Raven Nation

      BBC headline: “‘Trump urged armed supporters to storm Capitol’ – aide”

    • Rebel Scum

      “Hang Mike Pence” chants are bad mkay.

      Leftists never use hyperbole. It is known.

      • juris imprudent

        Yeah, all that recent stuff about Supreme Court justices – that was just the left attempting some gentle persuasion.

    • Rebel Scum

      Someone must have threatened this Hutchinson chick.

      • juris imprudent

        “Honey do you want to spend the rest of your life cashiering at WalMart, or would you like us to set you up with something a little more comfortable?”

  10. Plisade

    Thanks for the kind words. I enjoyed writing it, especially riffing off your comments after the 1st one (which was originally planned to be a one-off).

    • ron73440

      Different, but I like it.

      Definitely on a new list now.

  11. Sensei

    You think so?

    (CNN)White House officials are losing confidence that Ukraine will ever be able to take back all of the land it has lost to Russia over the past four months of war, US officials told CNN, even with the heavier and more sophisticated weaponry the US and its allies plan to send.

    Advisers to President Joe Biden have begun debating internally how and whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should shift his definition of a Ukrainian “victory” — adjusting for the possibility that his country has shrunk irreversibly.

    https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/28/politics/white-house-ukraine-projection/index.html

    • Rebel Scum

      But by all means lets keep dumping money and weapons into an untenable situation rather than negotiate a peace in order to save lives.

      • Swiss Servator

        Last I saw, the Russian Putin peace conditions were 1) Ukraine ceases to exist, becomes part of Russia, 2) 25 years of “Denazification” – which I assume will mean Chechens and such being put in charge of purification?

        Maybe there were other conditions floated?

        BTW – Did Rand Paul ever get anything added about tracking that $60B? If not, I assume a good bunch will go for “consultants”, Hunter Biden paintings, etc.

      • ron73440

        Did Rand Paul ever get anything added about tracking that $60B?

        Schumer’s response to Rand’s list of concerns was to ask him why he didn’t care about defending democracy in Ukraine.

        As far as I know, there were no tracking provisions added.

        I know, I was shocked as well.

      • Swiss Servator

        Oh fer @#$%’s sake.

        So Hunter’s blow supply is assured, several connected firms are cashing in, and the Ukes may get 25% of the total (at retail prices, of course).

      • Bobarian LMD

        Fuckin’ optimist.

        25%? In their dreams.

      • juris imprudent

        Look we dumped a shit-ton more in Afghanistan; do you have any idea how long (and how expensive it would be) to set up an auditable tracking system NOW???

        In the words of a truly great Democrat: What difference, at this point, does it make?

      • Rebel Scum

        Ukraine ceases to exist, becomes part of Russia

        That’s not what I saw/heard. Unless Putin’s stated goals have changed since the outset of the conflict.

      • R C Dean

        Putin has previously said Ukraine should be annexed (or something very close). Even his initial conditions leave a rump Ukraine that is a vassal state – not full annexation, perhaps, but pretty close. I note that there are reports of the Russians doing what Russians do after they conquer an area – strip it of assets – which doesn’t sound like they are planning to simply “liberate” the Donbas from Ukrainian rule.

        And I don’t know why, if your goal is to “liberate” the Donbas, your initial schwerpunkt is directed toward Kiev. Unless you’re planning to take the whole enchilada.

        We’ll know where the Russian army stops when it stops, I guess. They are already way beyond the Donbas in the south. Maybe they’ll stop once they get the rest of the Donbas. Or maybe they’ll stop at the Polish border. I know what I’m betting on.

      • Pine_Tree

        IMO Kiev was the schwerpunkt because the plan was to pretty quickly control the whole country, officially “liberate” the Donbas and break it off, and then create a putatively independent puppet state of Ukraine. Holding Kiev was meant to let them do that – be the big boys in actual charge of the gov’t, and show how gracious they are in letting there be a Ukraine.

      • R C Dean

        I agree. The notion that the Russian plan the whole time hasn’t been control of all of Ukraine, with whatever pretext of independence/autonomy, strikes me as naive. The countries behind the Iron Curtain were nominally autonomous, after all. This has been a war of conquest from day one, with the only question now being whether the Russians will settle for Donbas and the coast, or finish the job now.

      • Rebel Scum

        Seems to me that Donbas and the land route to Crimea was/is the goal. The push on Kiev was a feint. I guess time will tell.

      • Rebel Scum

        Also, neutering Ukraine and removing western influence. I just don’t think they intend to or can conquer the whole country.

      • R C Dean

        The push on Kiev was a feint. I guess time will tell.

        If it was a feint, it was a damn convincing and well-resourced one. But this is definitely a possibility.

        I just don’t think they intend to or can conquer the whole country.

        They definitely can. The question is whether they plan to. Based on what Putin has said in the past, I think that’s the goal, with some kind of merkin of “autonomy” after. But who knows at this point?

    • db

      I guess the Lithuanian gambit isn’t panning out?

      • Swiss Servator

        Was that the one where Russia roared threats at them, just like Sweden and Finland? That worked the first time.

        If they act to cut power, Lithuania has spent a while setting up to hook into the Polish grid – where they do silly things like “use coal”, etc.

      • juris imprudent

        You know, I’m all for people that don’t want dirty power to not consume it. Why they can just do without.

    • R C Dean

      even with the heavier and more sophisticated weaponry the US and its allies plan to send

      As I suspected. The support for Ukraine by our government is no deeper than a press release. I’ve been wondering when all these weapons would actually show up there. Apparently, it hasn’t happened yet.

    • Tundra

      What’s in it for us? If Ukraine “wins”?

      More freedom? Money?

      • The Other Kevin

        We all get to sleep soundly at night knowing the world is safer for democracy. People in the defense industry get to do the same, only they do it on a big pile of cash.

    • Tres Cool

      And Im with GT….”Dontre Drexilius” has to be a made up name.

      • ron73440

        When they cut to him and he was checking his watch, he acted like they caught him scratching his balls or something.

      • Gender Traitor

        I think it must translate into “Don’t tread into Drexel*.”

        *Local po’ white trash turf next to the ghetto.

      • Tres Cool

        WE OUT HERE!

  12. Yusef drives a Kia

    Well if we weren’t on a list we sure are now, great story Plisade!

    • juris imprudent

      Have you ever wondered if asking about being on a list triggers you getting put on a list?

  13. kinnath

    fuck quordle

    Daily Quordle 155
    7️⃣3️⃣
    🟥5️⃣

    Got a 50/50 guess wrong; followed by two wrong guesses with three options.

    I consistently guess wrong when presented with options.

    • Tulip

      Yes, today had too many options for the clues I had. I was also guessing wrong.

    • robc

      Cool, I beat someone today.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      The easy part is eliminating the first 3000 words, the hard part is eliminating the last 10.

      • MikeS

        Ha! That’s a great way to put it.

    • The Other Kevin

      Daily Quordle 155
      7️⃣9️⃣
      4️⃣5️⃣
      quordle.com

    • Ted S.

      I specifically threw away a guess on the bottom left to figure it out in max 2 guesses.

      Thankfully I had gotten the other three words after five guesses.

  14. Sensei

    Good times!

    The president has made clear he wants a primary calendar that better reflects the party’s racial diversity, all but assuring the demise of first-in-the-nation status for the Iowa, which was hostile to Mr. Biden in his last two presidential bids. Senior Democrats are considering moving up Michigan, a critical general election state where the president has a number of allies in labor and elected office.

    Biden Irked by Democrats Who Won’t Take ‘Yes’ for an Answer on 2024
    The White House is trying to tamp down speculation about plans to seek re-election, while aides say President Biden is bristling at the persistent questions.
    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/27/us/politics/biden-2024-democrats-trump.html

    • Gustave Lytton

      Dementia Joe bristles at selecting an entree.

      • Sensei

        Assuming he can still read a teleprompter he’s running again.

        The internal Team Blue struggle with that will be epic.

    • Gustave Lytton

      And does he get cue cards for the bristling?

    • kinnath

      Iowa is so hostile to blacks that they made Obama the front-runner after the caucuses.

      • juris imprudent

        Misogynists!

      • kinnath

        Correct.

        That’s why we only have a governor, one senator, and a couple of representatives that were assigned female at birth.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      The president has made clear he wants a primary calendar that better reflects the party’s racial diversity,

      The thin facade in front of their anti-white (as a stand in for anti-western civilization) bigotry is starting to dissolve. They hate you and want you dead.

      • juris imprudent

        Whereas Biden was pushed to the front to make sure the (((annoying non-Democrat))) didn’t win.

  15. cyto

    The wife is wrapped up in the Jan 6 hearing. She has been all-in on TDS since grab em by the hoo-ha. As red meat for the suburban housewives, it works.

    Today they made the claim that Trump tried to strangle a secret service agent because he wouldn’t take him to the capital. They said he physically tried to wrest the steering wheel away.

    Which sounds pretty ludicrous and pretty implausible.

    • R C Dean

      SInce when is the President sitting anywhere in the limo where he can even get to the steering wheel? He doesn’t ride in the front passenger seat.

      • Tundra

        He isn’t.

        It’s all bullshit.

      • Rebel Scum

        The committee confirmed that Trump is a cartoon villain.

    • cyto

      Interesting how they are working it. The press is not just covering it.. they have their part of the script. They know what is being said and why, and they have their script ready after each segment. They don’t comment as much as continue the political commercial. Then they set up the next segment.

      By being an “independent voice” repeating and expanding on the content of the “hearing” they create a sense of a group consensus… A credibility born of repetition and lack of dissent.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Ignore the unstated assertion that the President is the prisoner of the secret service. Which unfortunately is closer to the truth.

    • Ted S.

      She has been all-in on TDS since grab em by the hoo-ha.

      I was shocked that I never heard anyone in the Trump camp talk about groupies.

    • Ownbestenemy

      So it’s an aide that said she was told this?

  16. trshmnstr the terrible

    Ugh, wife has been covering shifts for the rest of her gym while they were all at the gym’s national conference. Guess who all have covid now?

    Wife was already halfway out the door, but making her work +20 classes this week may just motivate her to quit without having the next job lined up.

    • Rebel Scum

      If only there was a solution to the energy problem.

    • The Other Kevin

      “Biden’s demanding Arab nations produce more oil at the same moment he is considering a total ban on new offshore oil & gas drilling, 6 days after delaying new on-shore O&G drilling, and 1 month after killing a 1M acre O&G lease sale in Alaska.”

      I don’t know why oil companies would be hesitant to start any new projects. Must be because they’re greedy.

    • Pine_Tree

      I’ve already decided that the next time some hipster waiter asks me “what protein?” when he clearly should say “meat”, I’m going to out-hipster him by saying something like crickets or mealworms.

      • Gender Traitor

        I live by the motto “Be careful what you ask for.”

      • R C Dean

        I’m trying to imagine what restaurant I would actually want to eat at where I would get a hipster waiter who would ask that.

        My speed is more waitresses who call me “hon”.

      • Animal

        Our favorite eating/drinking place up north of here, I always address the waitresses as “dear.” They know me and like it. And they are absolutely in love with Mrs. Animal.

        She does tend to provoke that response in people.

      • kinnath

        dear and darling are also common

      • Ownbestenemy

        Even the last fine dining restaurant we were at didn’t ask such a silly question.

      • UnCivilServant

        I thought in a fine dining establishment, the dish defined the meat, so you shouldn’t have to specify.

      • Pine_Tree

        Not “fine” in my cases – newish popular places in Decatur and Peachtree City. The first was a burrito place and they asked that. Who eats tofu in a burrito?

      • UnCivilServant

        Those aren’t fine dining.

      • Pine_Tree

        Both times I’ve been asked that was in places near ATL with admittedly good food. The first time, my brain froze because I didn’t get it. After he asked again, I just said “What?”, and my older (but proggie) cousin who was standing nearby said “he said that because tofu is an option, but he should have just looked at you and figured out that wasn’t going to be your answer”.

      • UnCivilServant

        “Something that had a name, vertibrate, and too cute for the vegans to kill.”

      • db

        “Placenta.”

      • Ownbestenemy

        Rather appropriate

  17. slumbrew

    Just confirmed I have the ‘vid, which is annoying.

    Only tested since I’m going away on Sunday (in theory) w/ my wife’s family, including her mom.

    • grrizzly

      Hope you feel better soon.

      • slumbrew

        Thx; just annoying, sore throat aside.

        Minor fever, maybe.

        Also, weirdly, I keep burping when I lay down. No idea what that is.

      • slumbrew

        My wife is surprisingly calm about it, so far.

        It may be a trap.

        I was really expecting some nonsense about how, see, I should have worn a mask on the plane, etc. etc.

      • DEG

        If you’re in the mood for some fun, these folks have pointers to places that ship ivermectin without a prescription.

      • db

        Got mine from a major farm supply chain

      • Ownbestenemy

        +1 *fingers-crossed* I really hope its horse “paste”

      • db

        nope. it’s for bovine and swine

      • slumbrew

        Symptoms are so minor I’m just going to proceed as normal, although I’m avoid coughing in my wife’s face.

      • Sensei

        +1

    • Tundra

      Sorry, dude. Feel better – it seems to go away pretty quickly.

    • DEG

      Get well soon.

  18. Ownbestenemy

    I’m up against a choice in my job. Drop back down a pay grade to open up more opportunity in a year (lateral move or another promotion) or stick it out I’m my current spot hoping a lateral will open up in an area I want to go.

    I’m in a temporary position now so no harm to my career and boss said she’d back my choice that it wasn’t performance related.

    • R C Dean

      I’m up against a choice in my job.

      Do what I did. Give them notice you are stepping down from your current position, and offer to keep working part-time in an ill-defined role with a 20% bump in pay.

      • Sean

        offer to keep working part-time in an ill-definedmannered role with a 20% bump in pay.

      • R C Dean

        Nah. I’m looking to make a change.

      • cyto

        I am looking to become a fluffer for lesbian porn.

        Dare to dream…

      • slumbrew

        That’s how you shit-lord.

    • DEG

      boss said she’d back my choice that it wasn’t performance related.

      If you do decide to drop down, make sure that it isn’t performance related is in writing.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Yes. We do exit performance management so I ain’t signing anything that hints otherwise

  19. UnCivilServant

    Walked to the polls. Too many bored poll workers.

    Lady, I don’t need help with the machine. Step back to a point where you can at least pretend it’s a secret ballot. Neither of us are delusional enough to think it’ll be counted.

    • cyto

      Here in Florida, my sister in law just retired as a school teacher.

      A NGO reached out, nothing her retirement and asking if she wanted to volunteer as a poll worker. I suspect the union is involved at some level.

  20. cyto

    Fox article pushed this story on the clickbait crap at the bottom of the page

    https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/chelsea-handler-claims-3-abortions-led-school-hall-fame-shun-her?dicbo=v2-59f98f31f39b5c352c090976fbcefabc

    Chelsea Handler appears on Kimmel, ridicules her high school for refusing to induct her into hall of Fame… Supposedly because she had 3 abortions while in high school.

    Did anyone watch this episode of Kimmel???

    Three abortions?

    What in the ever-loving hell??? Three? And the crowd cheers her on?

    Even if you are firmly pro choice, shouldn’t three abortions during a 4 year high school career give at least a moments reflection?