140

Hash
Posted on December 14, 2016 by David M Willis

140 thoughts on “Hash”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “would some Cadbury Creme Egg™ cereal help?”

    1. Dana

      What wouldn’t it help?

    2. Architex

      Me thinks the Sadbury Creme Egg™ would be better for this situation.

      1. Deanatay

        Link for the uninitiated:
        https://www.pinterest.com/pin/142707881918933650/

        1. Pablo360

          That… should not exist.

        2. HeySo

          Pinterest is an absolutely terrible site.
          That aside, I know what my Easter plans are, now..

  2. Doctor_Who

    In fairness to Robin, that’s pretty long term planning for her.

    1. Jay Eff

      Maybe next time Robin will exert herself and plan something an entire day ahead.

    2. John

      Well, ten minutes of that was walking over to Leslie’s office, and the other ten was walking to the bar.

      1. Clif

        There, you see? Long term planning.

      2. John

        It occurs to me to wonder how Robin actually is getting around campus. She flew in; she hasn’t got her own car here. Taxis are for losers, and walking seems awfully pedestrian (sorry) for someone who won’t stoop to taxis. Is she making Frieda drive her around? Or one of her campaign slaves interns? Maybe Ryan? That couldn’t possibly end badly…

        1. Ana Chronistic

          she appears to have donned civvies, so walking sounds correct as a means of blending in

  3. Mr. Mendo

    Come on, Robin! You can turn this around!

  4. AnvilPro

    So what you’re saying is that they’re going to do unspeakable things tonight then sober up tomorrow and forget about this?

    1. Dana

      No, but in this case “sabotagin’ each other’s bills” might be something hotter.

      1. Woobie

        “Oooh, yeah, fuckin’ sabotage my bill, baby….”

        1. Shade

          “Place that rider all over it.”

        2. Reltzik

          Send it back to committee!

        3. Killer Klown

          I’m gonna filibuster you _all night long_.

        4. Pablo360

          “Now let’s get to the ground floor so we can send it to the Senate and hopefully the President before they get a chance to do a pocket veto ;)”

      2. Jason

        At first I read that line as “sabotage each other’s balls” …. which is kinda hot, though less in a lesbian way, and more in a gay BDSM way.

        1. Gamaran Sepudomyn

          Could still be lesbian.

      3. thomas wrobel

        I am sure they might attach something to it.

    2. BenRG

      Not ‘forget’, ‘regret’. At least I think it’s going to be ‘regret’ on Leslie’s part. On the other hand, Robin is going to become Leslie’s annoying and comedically ineffectual stalker.

  5. Architex

    Drinks usually end up better in theory than in practice.

  6. BBCC

    Oh, Robin.

    Also, I will not lie, when I saw the bar was back in the preview panels, I thought Sal would be coming back here, possibly to talk to Marcie or AG.

  7. spriteless

    Leslie, explain you are a lesbian, who had a lesbian crush. Robyn can’t figure out your subtle lesbian hair.

  8. Reltzik

    How quickly a young politician’s dreams die…

    1. Clif

      That does not die which eternally sleeps.

      1. Pablo360

        Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

        1. Nicolas

          Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.

        2. xKiv

          And time lords like a good puzzle.

  9. MatthewTheLucky

    Poor Leslie.

  10. Bluewind

    Panel two is enough to make you feel bad for her and the others in her line of work. It sounds terribly lonely.

    1. Scar Man!!!

      as with Mary, there are people who deserve your pity more than greedy, amoral politicians.

      1. timemonkey

        Robin is not Mary, Robin is generally oblivious to the harm she causes and once made aware tends to feel guilty about it. This Robin just doesn’t have people showing her the damage she’s doing.

        1. Scar Man!!!

          she has already shown she just doesn’t care.

        2. Fart Captor

          That’s not “better” so much as it is “less awful”. She might – unlike Mary – have enough good in her to change, but that good is currently encased in poopy garbage

        3. Coco Pommel

          That Icon + That name makes me think Becky has a fetish involving Dina’s hat. I’m a terrible person.

        4. Scar Man!!!

          i wasn’t saying that it makes her bettter. I was saying that even as someone who read Shortpacked, I’m not seeing a redemption arc here. way too self-absorbedd

        5. Fart Captor

          I was replying to timemonkey, though I’m not sure she’s now selfish. I think the consequences for that are just higher in DoA

        6. Scar Man!!!

          oh, ok. these comment chains get hard to decipher sometimes

      2. Dana

        I think I’d agree with you more if this weren’t fiction. It’s always fun to latch onto a flawed character and root for a redemption arc.

        1. Bluewind

          It’s less me rooting for her redemption and more acknowledging that I feel bad that she has to experience it. It’s like how a lot of people want to be famous until they’re famous. There is a lot of negative to it that people on the outside never get to see. It doesn’t excuse her actions even if she is currently in denial about their impact, but it does humanize her and give her more depth as a character.

        2. Dana

          I’m 100% on board with you. I was trying to respond to Scar Man!!!.

        3. Pablo360

          *shakes fist, hisses* “THREAAAAAADDDDDDSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””

        4. Bluewind

          Lol! Sometimes it’s hard to tell who is saying what to whom! XD

      3. Bluewind

        Empathy is not a resource I have ever given out sparingly. It’s in my nature. Besides, I have found that being kind and educated has the power to change minds even if it’s only a tiny bit.

      4. thyme

        Feeling bad for people isn’t a zero-sum game though.

  11. Makkabee

    That short attention span would be adorable if she weren’t helping to guide national policy.

    1. Clif

      There’s a moral there somewhere.

  12. TrueVCU

    Leslie was hoping for at least partial sideboob

  13. Stephen R. Bierce

    What a good place to be–
    Don’t believe them!
    ‘Cause they speak a different language and it’s never really happened to me!
    (Happy Hour Again!)

  14. Scar Man!!!

    hopefully, at least this encounter can end peacefuly

  15. Keulan

    Yeah, the next few strips with Robin and Leslie in them are gonna be really depressing, aren’t they?

    1. inqntrol

      It depends on what they are going to discuss, but I do hope Leslie will leave the bar with a smile

  16. Bagge

    Awwww, that hopeful fourth-panel smile. Sorry, Robin. Jillian and Holtzmann are not in the mood tonight.

  17. Idontcarenomore

    Yup, that pretty much nails it down. ‘…then we go back to sabotaging each others bills, but that’s new…”.
    Just exactly what’s been going on for the past 8 years. Lets not serve the public’s best interest, let’s play silly ass head games and keep on with the one-upmanship.
    Wonder if Leslie is not going to follow this path, here in DoA, as she did in SP?

    1. Dana

      I think it’s been more than eight years. It seems to have been getting worse with every successive President since Bill Clinton.

      1. Lailah

        Pft. Dubya got his policies, he just didn’t want many of them. The Democrats rolled over then. I’m hoping they don’t now, given that the policy includes concentration camps, mass deportations (and not just of illegal citizens, given that it’s populist-driven), and the firing of everyone who cares about AGW.

        1. Cerberus

          I’m hoping too, but I’m prepared to be massively disappointed.

    2. BenRG

      I’m thinking that Robin will be good enough at pressing Leslie’s buttons and come across just pitiful and lonely enough that there is a sweaty night of impulse sex that Leslie massively regrets in the morning. Robin, meanwhile, will tell herself that she’s in love and become Leslie’s own, personal embarrassment as Robin tries to convince her that they belong together.

  18. Ryek Hvek

    she has to get back to be ready to help confirm Chumps cabinet picks – Infrastructure Czar will be Joe the Plumber

    1. Needfuldoer

      Secretary of the Interior: whoever designed his penthouse
      Secretary of Agriculture: The Nuge
      Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs: Pence refuses to fill this position “because adultery is a sin”

      The cabinet will be a who’s-who of political celebrities who paid lip service to The Cheeto on the campaign trail. Policy and experience matter less than their ego-stroking skills.

      1. Historyman68

        An analyst at 538 said it best, that his picks all resemble him: rich CEOs with no policy experience or interest.

        1. Pablo360

          And also whose philosophies directly go against the very existence of the positions they oversee.

      2. thejeff

        More of businessmen who donated to the Cheeto on the campaign. Loyalty and support matter far more than policy and experience. Ego-stroking helps, of course.:)

        It also appears to help to have an ideological opposition to the very existence of the job you’re getting.

        1. Uncertainty Moth

          Reminds me of Nigel Farage, MEP

        2. thejeff

          Trump told the UK that they should appoint Farage ambassador to the US, so yeah.

          Trump really doesn’t have a clue how this whole government thing works, does he?

        3. Pablo360

          He didn’t know it was going to be this big of a job. (No, seriously.)

  19. Tom T.

    The depressing aspect of the strip is that bearded bald guy doesn’t get a tag. Nobody cares about bearded bald guy.

    1. Clif

      Bearded bald women would disagree.

      1. Tom T.

        You know, this guy might in fact be a bearded bald woman. I shouldn’t be too quick to classify.

        1. Pablo360

          Who says this bearded person identifies within the gender binary?

    2. trlkly

      Well, neither did blonde girl or androgynous red head. Nor the silhouette people, who I’m sure would like some representation.

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        Well everyone knows that all silhouettians are really very two-dimensional.

  20. Rukduk

    Well Robin, in response to panel 2, you must have met some really old congressfolk. It’s generally believed that the beginning of the increased partisanship and divide began in the late Johnson or early Nixon years. As long distance travel became much quicker and cheaper Congress began to spend more time in their home districts than their predecessors had in the capital. Before the late sixties early seventies, most politicians actually spent most of their time in the capital, meaning that they had to actually connect and acknowledge each other and develop relationships of grudging respect that made compromise possible. Afterwards, Senators and Representatives became increasingly localized. While this gave people a greater sense of connection to their local congress member, it also slowly made congressional politics less about national interest and more about local interests, aka the interests that would keep them in elected office. For more information, I advise reading the book “How Washington Works” written more than three and a half decades ago just as Jimmy Carter was beginning his campaign for reelection, and we all know how that turned out. He got replaced by a B-rate actor who dodged serving in WW2 who made an alliance with the Christian Right following Nixon’s example of allying with the Dixiecrats to win.

    1. Ryek Hvek

      Is this going to be on the Blue Book Exam?

      1. Rukduk

        If you were one of my students I would say yes. Unfortunately, I didn’t get that teaching job I was interviewing for, so it’s back to working for my uncle in ADT sales. Or Starbucks. Or bartending. Probably bartending.

    2. Clif

      You mean the guy who singlehandedly won the cold war and tore down the Berlin Wall with his bare hands?

      1. Rukduk

        No. Gorbachev was a much better politician dealing with a much worse system who’s attempted reforms were ultimately to little to late.

      2. Chris Phoenix

        He didn’t win the cold war – at most he won that round of it. Putin won it on 11/9.

    3. thejeff

      As I understand it though, the trend has continued and gotten even worse.

      Of course, we haven’t yet gotten back to the pre-Civil War stage of canings on the Senate floor. Yet.

      1. Rukduk

        Oh most definitely. It’s quite scary how accurate a book that old can be about our current political and governmental situations. It was required reading for me when I was still a student all of four years ago and I found it scarily accurate. I wonder if that class still requires it…

  21. Cephalo the Pod

    I went back through Robin and Leslie’s appearances to remind myself of what was going on with this storyline.

    And, like, I was reminded that, Roz wanted to change Robin’s worldview by setting her up with one woman? Am I reading that right?

    1. Fart Captor

      Yes. That was the plan.

      Considering that the woman was Leslie, it wasn’t a terrible plan

      1. Tom T.

        Isn’t that basically what happened in the Shortpacked universe, after all?

        1. Fart Captor

          More or less, though in a realistic setting the whole tone of it becomes a lot darker.

    2. thejeff

      Well, if setting her up with one woman helps her realize she’s actually queer, that might well change her worldview.

      1. Pablo360

        Or just turn her into Milo Yiannopoulos.

        1. Commodore Jeep-Eep

          Which is the more probable option, given the past track record of white queer folks.

  22. MatsuoTanuki

    *starts strumming Rehab’s “Bartender Song” on acoustic*

    1. Architex

      Replace “her Daddy’s car” with “her Daddy’s copter” and you’re on to something.

  23. Anywhere

    I’d been worried we’d never get any good Robin & Leslie interaction in DOA since the comic’s focus is on students. So glad we’re finally here and it’s exactly as awkward as I hoped it could be.

    1. CoMa

      I just wanted to ask “You think this is good interaction?”
      but then I read on and saw “awkward” thrown in there, so: everything’s alright!
      I’m just wondering how much more awkward it will get – or rather in which way the awkwardness will continue and develop! (because: so MANY possibilities)

  24. BenRG

    Wait… Are you telling me that Robin thought this up twenty minutes ago? That’s a record of foresight for her!

    1. Pablo360

      If Robin had any more foresight, she could hit Ghost-type Pokemon with Normal-type moves!

  25. takashid

    aww that alt text basically confirms robin’s been nursing a crush on her since the first meeting. Hopefully this Robin can change into a better person.

  26. pl0x

    I want to hug Leslie

  27. Liokae

    I’ve always found that if you REALLY want somebody to stop hating you, one of the best first steps is to stop doing things that they hate.

    1. thejeff

      Hmmm, tricky. Might hurt my career. Do you have another suggestion?

    2. Chris Phoenix

      Trouble is when the career haters confuse doing something with being something – e.g. trans or gay… “Stop shoving your lifestyle in our faces!”

      I assume you were talking about how Robin should stop voting for bad laws. But I don’t think Robin is actually hated – that’s another mixed-up concept. She’s feared, and people are angry at her.

      Now, kicking your child out in the street because they’re gay – that takes hatred. At least I assume it does. I can’t really imagine what it would take to do it.

      1. Fart Captor

        No, she’s hated alright. Maybe not by Leslie, but the people targeted by those bad laws almost certainly do

  28. notlegato

    honestly, i like robin. sure, she might have really ignorant opinions and everything, but she seems like a real cool, heartfelt person to be around.

    that grin.

  29. Liliet

    AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

  30. altalemur

    i think now they can (legally) smoke pot together in D.C.

    1. Pablo360

      And now that it’s legal, watch as its popularity drops dramatically. Especially now that it can be taxed.

      1. begbert2

        I’m honestly confused about what argument you’re making. Do you really believe that most people smoke pot just to be rebels or for the thrill of breaking the law? Or do you just assume that when it becomes legal its price will suddenly shoot up SO much higher than it had been when it was a black market commodity?

        I honestly don’t see any plausible scenario where legalization would make all that much of a dent in pot usage – at least not in a downward direction.

        1. Historyman68

          It’ll make quite a dent in ILLEGAL pot usage!

  31. Cerberus

    Comic Reactions:

    Panels 1 and 2: Yeah, that has been the Republican methodology for awhile now, sabotage and obstruct out of power and pass every terrible idea there has ever been in power out of a belief that only Republicans have a right to rule. And it ties into the ideas of “Real America” and which type of voters should get to count or not that our country has yet to truly face.

    And I’d like to read a lot into her downcast face in Panel 2. Robin is venal, selfish, and unempathetic in her bills and campaigns and does real harm as she insists on viewing this all as a game, but maybe there’s part of her, some small shred of conscience that recognizes that this life is deeply unsatisfying and that if she wasn’t a tool for the bigots in her party, she’d likely be counted among those whose votes “don’t really count”.

    I dunno, I’m a sucker for a redemption arc in fiction because in my life it so rarely happens.

    Panel 5: And there seems to be a lot here, Robin clearly has crush feelings she isn’t yet knowing how to process for Leslie. Leslie feels important to her and her positive regard feels important to her and seeing her sulking at the bar is tickling her conscience in a way that students reporting that her policies have hurt them have yet failed to do.

    And we also see how Robin is choosing to interpret it to avoid the queer conclusion, thinking its noteworthy because this is the first academic person who hasn’t seemed to hate her on sight because of her anti-intellectual policies and positions and who has seemed to see something noteworthy or impressive about her…

    Which hell, that is a thing. Robin is viewed as a dangerous idiot by everyone… except Leslie. Leslie views her accomplishments and drive as noteworthy and that’s got to feel important to Robin who’s used to being viewed as a moron who needs to shut up and do what she is told by even her own campaign.

    Panel 6: Oh, Leslie. 🙁 And yeah, her former dreams are coming true, the congresswoman she has a crush on is flirting back and she’s in with a shout, but now her dignity is talking and she can’t ignore the casual cruelty Robin has inflicted on so many like her. It shadows and poisons the crush and makes it feel more like betraying queer homeless youth rather than being with a beautiful woman you greatly admire.

    Panel 7: Hmm, desperate lookaway on that statement… how long have you really been planning to take Leslie out for a beer, Robin?

    1. Schpoonman

      Panel 7: Probably as early as “Call me Leslie,” as a vague notion, and solidified earlier this afternoon when she was unceremoniously tossed out of the class.

    2. Commodore Jeep-Eep

      I’m personally running out of patience with redemption arcs; frankly, at some point, there has to be some deference to reality, and showing that shite people are just shite.

      1. chris73

        Hopefully Robin doesn’t “win” by getting the girl simply because she has an epiphany

        It’d be nice to see Leslie with someone that doesn’t need to be redeemed first

      2. BBCC

        Yeah. While I do love a good redemption arc because people CAN and DO change, it’s also important to show that sometimes they don’t. The same way not everyone has a tragic backstory making them an asshole or abuser.

        1. Ragnarok101

          This may be why we have Mike as the simultaneously ongoing story: we get the redemption arc with Robin, but Mike shows that some people stay assholes…
          Or maybe it goes the other way ’round.

        2. chris73

          How about Mike stays the asshole he is, Robin gets redemption and Leslie gets a girlfriend that doesn’t need to be redeemed?

        3. BBCC

          As much as I love Leslie/Robin, I’d love to see them just be friends in this universe! If only because Robin can’t be around much and if Leslie gets a girlfriend, I want to see them be cute all the time. You think she and Daisy would get along?

        4. chris73

          I’m not sure, like how many lesbians are there on staff at IU?

          Not that I’m saying because they’re both lesbians they should hook up but I’d have thought that they might have crossed paths at some point and Daisy looks like she’d be open to a date at least

          Maybe they’ve already dated and it didn’t work out…

        5. Cerberus

          Well, Daisy is a student at the university and Leslie being an actual ethical teacher has no intention of sleeping with students. This is also the main obstacle with her getting a gf in comic.

        6. BBCC

          Well, Daisy works on the Daily Student. She was probably a journalism major or something. It’s possible she’s never met Leslie period. So who knows? Maybe they have.

          My brain is mush from exams and too little sleep, so I may be misremembering, but Daisy and Leslie are the only two wlw I recall on Indiana U’s staff right now.

          Except Ruth, who was an RA, and we know how that worked out.

        7. Historyman68

          Yeah as we’ve discovered with Ethan/Danny, we can have characters who are into each other but are just friends!

        8. BBCC

          Also Mary, potentially.

      3. Cerberus

        Fair point.

    3. Bagge

      Panel 5 – that is a very good point. Very few people acknowledge just ho5w impressive Robin’s accomplishments are. And Leslie’s opinion clearly mean a lot to her.

      Panel 7. Hmmmm. I suppose we have to ask just what Roz told Robin to get her to class the first time around…

  32. djhash

    Hey Look! It’sa me in URL!!

  33. Nope

    LESLIE ASK HER FOR THE NAMES OF HER VOLUNTEERS

  34. yo.

    A lot of people are too busy being self-righteous to remember that there used to be a time when becoming a politician was considered a worthy ambition to have. There’ve always been jokes and jibes about politicians, but wanting to be a congressman was up there with wanting to be a surgeon. And then the corruption and “values” pandering started.

    Depending on how old she is, Robin might’ve grown up during the last rays of that period and is now faced with a very different landscape than what she imagined. But what’re you gonna do, take back several years of law school? And with a horde of ambitious underlings happy to stomp on your neck at any sign of weakness, people like Robin eventually just learn to keep their heads down and be happy with whatever small piece of wealth & power they got.

    1. Pablo360

      Sure, there are non-corrupt politicians (Elizabeth Warren comes to mind, and (I sincerely hope) Mike Dougan) but they’re inherently not as interesting as the corrupt ones and so don’t get as much of a popcultural engraving. Hence corrupt politician jokes.

      It’s a special case of “accentuate the negative” and the opposite of Hanlon’s Razor. It may not technically be a fair generalization, but it FEELS like it is, and there’s really no way to know for sure, so people err on the side of assuming the worst of those in power (especially when they feel bitter over having to pay those gosh-darned taxes) and thusly ridicule them.

      But you probably knew that already.

  35. Bicycle Bill

    Robin looks like she is a serious drinker.  I base this on the fact that she’s drinking straight from the bottle.  In my experience people who are there for the sociability and the conversation are more inclined to sip or nurse their drinks, and it’s easier to do that by pouring the beer into a glass.

    Not to mention that you don’t drink wine straight from the bottle, or coffee straight from the carafe, or milk straight out of the carton either.  Why then is it OK to guzzle beer right from the long-necked bottle?

    It also looks a little more lady-like to me, but that’s probably just my old, outdated upbringing and attitudes showing through again.

    1. Pablo360

      If she does this every night then unless she’s killed her liver she’s built up a tolerance to it. Especially if digestive capacity is consistent across universes the way sexuality is.

    2. BBCC

      ????

      Could this be a regional thing? Where I am, it’s normal to drink from the bottle or can or whatever. You can easily sip or nurse your drink in a bottle as you can a glass.

      Beer comes in packs, each bottle containing one drink, unlike wine bottles or carafes or cartons, all of which contain multiple drinks you couldn’t possible down all at once.

    3. notlegato

      that is your old, outdated upbringing, showing, yes. jeez.

    4. Rowen Morland

      Drinking from the bottle gives a different taste and feel from drinking form a can or any particularly shaped glass.

  36. Teddae

    oh geez this actually gave me feels

    robin from DOA giving me feels who woulda thought that

  37. Jhon

    I note that Robin is showing more cleavage than Leslie right now.

    So what would their names be, if Robin decided to name her boobs?
    Advice and Consent? Aid and Comfort? Misfeasance and Malfeasance?

    1. Fart Captor

      Limbaugh and O’Reilly

    2. Ana Chronistic

      Team Robin

    3. Bagge

      #desantohugehonkers

    4. Tomas

      God and Country.

    5. Historyman68

      Observe & Report.

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