Harsh? I seem  to remember that Jeff rubbed his (ephemeral) success in his father's face. Isn't Rick entitled to just a smidgen of schadenfreude?

Facing reality is often "cold" and unpleasant. We get a bit older, physically if not yet mentally, every time we endure a terrible moment of what-is-up. With simple strokes, but masterfully, GBT shows that changing experience through Jeff R. in today's strip. By the last frame, Jeff's back is a bit more hunched over, and his face more sunk in and longer...

Thanks for today's 15 year Flashback about California's Proposition 209, and for furthering my Doonesbury education in US civics and public affairs. I knew that some people objected to "reverse discrimination," but until I saw this strip I had no idea opposition to affirmative action had taken such a definite form.

I have never liked Jeff Redfern as a character, and have long wished for him to be woken up to reality. I have no real hopes that that will ever happen, but that makes today's strip all the more joyous and utterly hilarious. Go, Joanie and Rick!

As I was reading today's strip, it occurred to me that Joanie and Rick had to toss a coin to see who would deliver the smackdown to Jeff and who would sit back and watch in smug satisfaction -- not because one was better than the other, but because they were both equally delicious and it was the only way to make an otherwise impossible choice.

"Your life as a reality intern is over." Priceless!

About today's strip, to quote professional wrestler Daniel Bryan: "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!"

I hate to be harsh towards people but I'm really turning against Rick as a character. As a parent I always support my kids emotionally as well as financially, because they are not living in the same world as I did. The smirk on Rick's face today said it all.

A cold dawn is shining on Jeff. Will the Red Rascal survive the light of day?

Finally Jeff is getting the dose of reality he has avoided so determinedly. The best part is that secret little smile Rick enjoys with the thought.

Pulling this series from the vaults is perfectly timed. We now watch as the New York Times once again cheer-leads for war, this time against Iran, and the AP publishes ridiculous "charts" they claim offer proof of a non-existent weapons program in Iran (according to both U.S. and Israeli security agencies). "Those who do not learn from history..."

GBT has done a terrific service with his portrayal of our Vets. I just want to pass along word about a device called the IDEO --  Intrepid Dynamic Exoskeletal Orthosis. Here's an article.

To go back five years and watch Toggle's story re-develop... it hurts.

I don't understand the BLOWBACK reticence about the word 'rape'? Would that be 'statutory rape', where the crime is defined by age? Or is it 'date rape', where people you thought you knew commit heinous violations of your person? How about 'legitimate felony rape', involving kidnapping, torture, various and repeated assault, crowned in the act of sexual violation? Point is; if we're squeamish about saying the bad word, "rape", how effective are we going to be handling the actual legitimate rapes that occur daily? Don't like talking about it? Fine. Leave it to the professionals; you know, real doctors, real police, real emergency services. They say Rome wasn't built in a day; neither was this issue. You go, GBT! You go!

I loved how, in the last frame of your November 19th strip, you made Mike D. resemble Bill Clinton. Dastet dard nakone! I also wanted to share with you that I have immensly enjoyed your work for the 34+ years that I have been in the U.S., and that it has been a major contributing factor in my ever-continuing education in American English, culture, and socio-political currents. May you and your loved ones live long, happy, and prosperous lives.

I will know the political landscape has really changed when the Straw Poll asks for political affiliation and the right-wing box is more than a barely-visible line. Doonesbury is too good to preach only to the choir.

Zipper as the voice of sanity! Who knew?

The Case of the Missing Donut. Today's strip. Frame five.

Poor Jeff Redfern. He's learning the hard way what so many other people have learned. You may say you want to be a writer, but you really want to be an author. You don't want to write; you have to have-written. Finally, a character I can relate to!

In today's 1992 Flashback strip, GBT has Pat Buchanan asking when the GOP is going to flush the moderates out once and for all. We didn't know it then, but the answer was "It'll take about 20 years, Pat!" I miss those moderates.