# Question about Doonesbury
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 2, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759 "2012-12-02T14:50:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/1 "2012-12-02T14:50:31Z")
The one son who was in the CIA and was rich via a book contract suddenly has no money. Somehow I missed how that happened. I am thinking it may have happened during the weeks I was without power or mail from the storm. Can anyone let me know the gist of what happened? How did he lose all his money? Thanks.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/2 "2012-12-02T15:23:45Z")
> [@Quimby](#):
>
> The one son who was in the CIA and was rich via a book contract suddenly has no money. Somehow I missed how that happened. I am thinking it may have happened during the weeks I was without power or mail from the storm. Can anyone let me know the gist of what happened? How did he lose all his money? Thanks.
He spent like a drunken sailor, blowing not only the money he made on the first book, but also the advance on the 2nd book he never wrote. Buying a multi-million dollar home on which he couldn’t make the tax payments, much less the mortgage payments was a big piece of it, IMHO.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/3 "2012-12-02T16:36:13Z")
I kept wondering during those Romney-style house strips how someone with one decent-selling book could possibly afford this. Everything he had couldn’t begin to match just the down payments involved.
I’m hoping that Trudeau planned this decline and fall from the beginning and was toying with us. If so, that’s sheer brilliance.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/4 "2012-12-02T16:39:40Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> I’m hoping that Trudeau planned this decline and fall from the beginning and was toying with us.
I’m sure he was. Strips during that phase had Jeff’s dad Rick trying to counsel his son on wise investments and not getting in over his head financially.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/5 "2012-12-02T17:17:02Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> I’m hoping that Trudeau planned this decline and fall from the beginning and was toying with us. If so, that’s sheer brilliance.
Jeff’s whole schtick is living in a fantasy world. I was surprised when Trudeau made him even as successful as he was. Like Uncle Duke, Jeff may have some temporary success but inevitably his schemes will end in disaster.
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### Author:  [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/6 "2012-12-03T23:01:33Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> Jeff’s whole schtick is living in a fantasy world. I was surprised when Trudeau made him even as successful as he was. Like Uncle Duke, Jeff may have some temporary success but inevitably his schemes will end in disaster.
Like the apricot farm in the California desert? 😃
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/7 "2012-12-04T00:22:52Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#):
>
> Like the apricot farm in the California desert? 😃
Isn’t that the one Duke bought from Tony Placebo?
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/8 "2012-12-04T01:36:55Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> Isn’t that the one Duke bought from Tony Placebo?
Damn, I was going to post this very thing…
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/9 "2012-12-04T02:15:22Z")
Great minds…
But that still doesn’t explain **us**.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/10 "2012-12-04T02:19:31Z")
I was a little concerned, a few months ago, during the strips depicting Mike’s daughter Alex’s honeymoon with the wounded Iraq war vet Toggle. Jeff and Zipper are looking at pictures of the honeymoon online, and Jeff makes a comment: [“you know, if I hadn’t been off serving my country, that could have been me standing next to her!”](http://doonesbury.slate.com/strip/archive/2012/7/18)
That’s really creepy in context – did Trudeau not remember that Jeff is actually Alex’s uncle? Jeff is half-brother to J.J., Alex’s mom! Or, is Jeff just that clueless? 🙂
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2012, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/11 "2012-12-04T03:13:24Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> I was a little concerned, a few months ago, during the strips depicting Mike’s daughter Alex’s honeymoon with the wounded Iraq war vet Toggle. Jeff and Zipper are looking at pictures of the honeymoon online, and Jeff makes a comment: [“you know, if I hadn’t been off serving my country, that could have been me standing next to her!”](http://doonesbury.slate.com/strip/archive/2012/7/18)
>
> That’s really creepy in context – did Trudeau not remember that Jeff is actually Alex’s uncle? Jeff is half-brother to J.J., Alex’s mom! Or, is Jeff just that clueless? 🙂
Trudeau blew it. Caused a huge ruckus on the Doonesbury comment page. And [we had a thread on it](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=659083).
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2012, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/12 "2012-12-04T04:30:13Z")
For whatever reason I think Jeff will end up very well off. Trudeau keeps playing around with occasionally swerving the red headed female Army officer in front of Jeff over the last few years at various points. It’s hard to imagine two more polar opposites. I think he has some long term plan in mind, but it’s hard to see these two coming together.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/13 "2012-12-04T15:41:28Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> Trudeau blew it. Caused a huge ruckus on the Doonesbury comment page. And [we had a thread on it](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=659083).
Oops. Well, at least I’m not the only one who noticed the squickiness.
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### Author:  [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/14 "2012-12-04T16:04:21Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> I was a little concerned, a few months ago, during the strips depicting Mike’s daughter Alex’s honeymoon with the wounded Iraq war vet Toggle. Jeff and Zipper are looking at pictures of the honeymoon online, and Jeff makes a comment: [“you know, if I hadn’t been off serving my country, that could have been me standing next to her!”](http://doonesbury.slate.com/strip/archive/2012/7/18)
>
> That’s really creepy in context – did Trudeau not remember that Jeff is actually Alex’s uncle? Jeff is half-brother to J.J., Alex’s mom! Or, is Jeff just that clueless? 🙂
To me, that was always a great example of how clueless Jeff is. It’s creepy, and if someone explained it to Jeff, he would agree it was creepy and be repulsed by what he had just said, but he could never in a million years connect the dots on his own to come to that realization.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/15 "2012-12-04T23:29:17Z")
I don’t remember a red-headed female Army officer… Are you thinking of the red-headed publisher’s agent?
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/16 "2012-12-04T23:32:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> I don’t remember a red-headed female Army officer… Are you thinking of the red-headed publisher’s agent?
No, he’s not.
The red-head is the gal who was a member of BD’s veterans support group, who got raped by a superior officer and still returned to duty. IIRC, she was enlisted, but recently got promoted to sergeant.
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### Author:  [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/17 "2012-12-05T00:01:11Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> Isn’t that the one Duke bought from Tony Placebo?
Yes. The farm was the pits. Or at least, that was Duke’s hope. 😃
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/18 "2012-12-05T02:03:16Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> I don’t remember a red-headed female Army officer… Are you thinking of the red-headed publisher’s agent?
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> No, he’s not.
>
> The red-head is the gal who was a member of BD’s veterans support group, who got raped by a superior officer and still returned to duty. IIRC, she was enlisted, but recently got promoted to sergeant.
[Corrrect.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doonesbury_characters#Other_characters) Follow the link and search the page for the name “Melissa Wheeler.”
And for the sake of clarity, with her promotion to Sergeant, she is _still_ enlisted. 😃
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-doonesbury/642759/19 "2012-12-05T04:03:09Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> I was a little concerned, a few months ago, during the strips depicting Mike’s daughter Alex’s honeymoon with the wounded Iraq war vet Toggle. Jeff and Zipper are looking at pictures of the honeymoon online, and Jeff makes a comment: [“you know, if I hadn’t been off serving my country, that could have been me standing next to her!”](http://doonesbury.slate.com/strip/archive/2012/7/18)
>
> That’s really creepy in context – did Trudeau not remember that Jeff is actually Alex’s uncle? Jeff is half-brother to J.J., Alex’s mom! Or, is Jeff just that clueless? 🙂
It was Zipper who had a single date with Alex and obsessed over her afterwards. But Trudeau screwed up and confused Zipper’s and Jeff’s back-stories.