Re Saturday's strip: This guy thinks Joanie must be a transvestite to fit in with Andy's other friends? Oh my. A straight female, married, with two children, couldn't possibly be friends with a gay male?! Hmmph. Joanie and Andy are friends from way back, partly because they don't pre-judge others.

Zonker is starting to break my heart. I'm not asking "What happened to him?" because I suspect that deep down Zonker was always a hard-headed businessman and his goofy and loveable personality was fake. I say this because in my experience there are two kinds of hippie: the cynic and the true believer. You can always tell which one is which as soon as material success of any kind comes their way. Someone who used to not get "hung up" about materialism suddenly turns into the most smug and selfish person you ever met. Some might say that Zonker has much in common with Walter White, and I agree with that except to say that Walter White was always Heisenberg. His SOB personality was the reason he couldn't work with his Grey Matter friends, it was why he ended up teaching chemistry instead of doing it. There was no journey, he was Heisenberg all along. I can't read the old strips the same way anymore and this almost feels like a bereavement.

Oh, Roland. Yes, the kids are all right. In fact Pew Research shows an unprecedented generation gap with the Millennials right now.

So many of the Russian "hacks" were actually just low-tech phishing trips, I have dimpled my forehead from the face-palming. I understand how good they can be. I also understand that when security matters, office staff should be trained and vigilant. They should not be shutting down their web site, they should be leveling up their tech savvy! Here is just one example.

Thank goodness Wheeler's IT guy is better than the DNC's 2016 IT guy.

Not hacked on your first day, Melissa, but within four frames or six sentences, less than sixty seconds, I guess. Did you let the Russians know you were coming, online? Are you sure it's the Russians? It could be Cambridge on a double loop.

The late singer-songwriter Mike Whittaker used to say, "the biggest word in English is if." As in "a republic -- if you can keep it." For a wake-up call we might salute as above and beyond, much thanks.

Doonesbury has always handled the death of characters in a gentle, humane way. Andy Lippincott's is no different. He died a peaceful death surrounded by his friends, his music, and his city. Who wouldn't want that?

The recent Classics series about Andy reminds me of my friend and nextdoor neighbor Stu, who died of AIDS in 1993. When Isaac Asimov died in 1992, Stu made note of the fact that he had outlived that famous scientist/writer. It wasn't until Janet Asimov edited and re-published his memoirs in 2002 that we knew that Asimov was also an AIDS sufferer.

I think the panel where Andy dies is the best in all of the many years I've enjoyed the strip. Andy's thinned-out hair, and his frail-looking shoulders in his pyjamas is a devastatingly sad image. The view out over the Bay, and the feeling of the fresh air coming into his room (and Joanie's visiting him) at least makes the viewer think he was as comfortable as he could be. The panel hits me as hard now as it did when I saw it when it was first published.

I remember the original posting of today’s strip like yesterday. It destroyed me then and again this morning. Simply stellar.

Thank you for running today’s strip. When it originally ran, I remember it being the first time I ever teared up at a comic strip. Joanie and Andy’s relationship was so well developed over the years that I was emotionally invested in both characters.

Poor Mark. Another existential crisis, as he had many years ago at the end of the first Sixties Revival Party. (Also known as Reverend Sloan's publication party.)

Don't overthink it, Mark. Just be happy there is finally a generation willing to speak up and show up and think about something beyond self-gratification. Go Generation Alpha, and all the best to you!

Today's strip, with Mark imagining himself 40 years ago as he interviews Ben on the radio, is poignant. Thank you.

Looks like Mark may have developed PTSD. As someone with significant levels of post combat stress I know that anyone who has been through any form of emotional trauma can be so affected. As far as the human brain is concerned, seeing your hopes and dreams for a better world crushed is the same as losing a friend in a firefight. The experiences are different but the mechanism is the same. People respond to PTSD in different ways. Some withdraw from society, and others, like Mark, withdraw in other ways. Once a decision is made people like to feel vindicated, so look for "proof" that they did the right thing; hence Mark's smugness that he has "learned" and "grown," when he has done the very opposite. So where did Mark go? Like almost everyone, he went through the demolition derby of life, picked up some knocks, and was forced to quit for the sake of his sanity.

For those who want to vote for Melissa, there are lots of women veterans running for Congress -- MJ Hegar in Texas, for one!

I'm so excited to see Melissa running for office! She's long been one of my favorite characters. Her storyline about command rape was one of the first I saw really address the problem head-on. She will be an amazing representative. I wish I could vote for her.

Doonesbury came a long way over the years and brought us along for the ride. I remember when Andy informed a disappointed Joanie that he was gay and she asked, "Are they sure?"

"And yet, there's no collusion." Roland's tweets are almost as good as having the daily strip back. Thank you, GBT, for staying the course and keeping us alive to the humour in the insanity always around us.