Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

We still have time to mess this up!

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

I really should read my own blog.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

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140Comments

  2. 2.

    General Stuck

    I think the crate and the fact that she isn’t going to be dumped or abused has finally sunk in, and her little brain is rewiring itself as a docile pup.

    I wonder if this would work on our trolls around here, a little virtual crating, as it were, to rewire their little troll branes.

  3. 3.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @General Stuck:

    I wonder if this would work on our trolls around here, a little virtual crating, as it were, to rewire their little troll branes.

    Doubtful.

  6. 6.

    JPL

    John, You are a lucky guy. Miss Moxie is now twelve or thirteen and maybe more a Rosie than a Lily but I wouldn’t trade the nine years I had with her. It took Miss Moxie two years before she realized that she didn’t have to eat seeds from outside for survival. Of course now she’s like what no steak..but whatever.

  8. 8.

    suzanne

    @General Stuck:

    I wonder if this would work on our trolls around here, a little virtual crating, as it were, to rewire their little troll branes.

    We’ll never know until we try.

    John, you’re a luck man. Lily is a beaut.

  9. 9.

    abo gato

    Lily is a GOOD girl! I am so happy to hear that Rosie is also learning how to be a good girl.

  10. 10.

    Roger Moore

    @General Stuck:

    I wonder if this would work on our trolls around here, a little virtual crating, as it were, to rewire their little troll branes.

    I’m not sure there’s enough there to rewire. I think trolls are mostly in the pure stimulus/response range, somewhere well below dogs in the mental capacity ratings. I’m fairly sure some of them could be replaced by quite short Perl scripts.

    Thread needs more bighorn.

  12. 12.

    Mino

    It took our pyr rescues about 6 months to settle down. If the new owner could keep them behind a fence for that long, they would attach. Sometimes it took a lot of dedication to manage that, though.

  13. 13.

    demkat620

    What a sweet pretty girl. You are a very lucky man John.

    I turned my Balloon-Juice Claendar today to the month with my Jack.

    Dogs are good things.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    Enjoy the good times. My little one has gotten so comfortable, she now bosses me around quite a bit.

  15. 15.

    Turgidson

    I think the crate and the fact that she isn’t going to be dumped or abused has finally sunk in, and her little brain is rewiring itself as a docile pup.

    Maybe. Or maybe she’s a Jack Russell Terrorist, lulling you into a false sense of security, and is quietly biding her time until her Machiavellian plan for world domination comes to fruition.

    Could go either way.

  20. 20.

    Roger Moore

    @Turgidson:

    Maybe. Or maybe she’s a Jack Russell Terrorist, lulling you into a false sense of security, and is quietly biding her time until her Machiavellian plan for world domination comes to fruition.

    Rosie: It’s time to retire to our crates and plan for tomorrow night.

    Lily: Why, what are we going to do tomorrow night, Rosie?

    Rosie: Same thing we do every night Lily, try to take over the world!

  21. 21.

    Formerly (formerly Formerly)

    @General Stuck:

    Hilarious. You’re as much of a troll as anyone else who comments here. Your lack of self-awareness makes me laugh.

  23. 23.

    daveX99

    You’ll notice I haven’t been ragging on Rosie lately

    Actually, I hadn’t until you mentioned it just now… But I’m glad. You seemed really pissed at her – not unreasonably, I think, but I was afraid for awhile that you’d give her the boot (but like some divorces, it might have been for the best).

    I’m glad you stuck it out, cuz I’m a sucker that way.

    Good Boy, Cole.

  33. 33.

    JPL

    @phoebes-in-santa fe: Well I call Mr. Alice (don’t ask, he’s my son’s cat that lives here)
    a big boy. Of course, I ask him not to sit on Miss Moxie. They actually are adapting since Mr. Alice now cleans Miss Moxie’s paws. It’s an odd relationship and who am I to question.

  34. 34.

    Punchy

    Mizzou gunna jump ship and completely re-fuck the entire B12……again. B12 looser than a Vegas hooker. Have fun as the SEC doormat, bitches

  40. 40.

    lamh34

    Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    No reason…just because my neighbors would probably call the police if I let out a primal scream like I want to…lol.

  41. 41.

    Anne Laurie

    @Mino: “Six months” to settle down is the magical number I’ve heard from a number of rescue operations, both canine & feline. And in my experience, if you can grit it out, there is indeed a point right around the half-year mark where the newest addition decides, “Okay, this is home, not just another hotel, time for me to stop reacting and start adapting!”

    It’s a beautiful thing, when it finally happens, and makes the hard work of getting there seem worth it. It’s not a cure-all, of course — some pets will hang on to crappy behaviors, especially ones with a high reward/low risk ratio (like stealing food off kitchen counters), or revert when there’s a change in the household. But at least you get a glimpse of the happy individual your pet was meant to be, not just the damaged victim you’ve been trying to acclimate.

  42. 42.

    Allen

    Kinda off topic, but does anyone have ant idea why a cat would stop using a litter box? I have two cats and three relatively clean litter boxes, but the youngest cat now just wants to use the great outdoors. I don’t really mind except for the three in the morning foot attacks. Does wake me up, but sadly a couple of hours early.

  43. 43.

    Yutsano

    @Roger Moore: My parents have a rule: the prettier the rooster, the less likely they are to get stewed. They very rarely kill their chickens for food anyway. The eggs are much better. :)

  53. 53.

    Roger Moore

    @Yutsano:
    I can get that. My sister really loves Cosmo, the bantam in the picture, who she thinks is the ideal rooster. She wound up getting rid of a replacement (one that hatched from an egg one of her hens managed to incubate in secret) because he wasn’t a perfect gentleman the way Cosmo is.

  59. 59.

    Marginalized for stating documented facts

    Hey, great news about Rosie! That is just so cool. Now you’ve got two mellow pups & the Great Feline. Good times.

  60. 60.

    Yutsano

    @Roger Moore: Ooh…Christmas!!! I got invited one year to Canada for a traditional Welsh Christmas. My car elected not to cooperate.

    @jeffreyw: One of these days I’m gonna do that. I’ll need Mom’s help though. No way I’m trying to pull off that bad boy alone.

  63. 63.

    daryljfontaine

    @Roger Moore: I’ve got a big black cat, Zorro, that looked a lot like your Jake when he was younger — now he’s more of a well-seasoned, aged tank of a twelve-year-old fellow.

    Jake’s got that lankiness and longness of limb that suggests he has some good growing left to do. My new cat, Mango, who is not so much a cat as he is a remorseless eating machine, has the same frame you find on the young’uns.

    D

  65. 65.

    Elie

    Hey John…

    Know you love that dog. Love like that is such a gift — for all of us who love a critter….

    Am packing up Buddy my cat for our trip to Wash DC (from WA state) in about 10 days. Starting a new job, which is great – and joining hubby — also great. Sad to leave but we will be going back and forth as much as we can. Love the Northwest… its wiggled into my heart and there it will stay…

  69. 69.

    Yutsano

    @Elie:

    Love the Northwest… its wiggled into my heart and there it will stay…

    I can’t imagine why…it rains all the time and there’s nothing to do and the food’s terrible and all the local sports teams suck and it’s expensive and the drivers suck…

    /official line

    @Raven (formerly stuckinred): Fuck you too ya old codger. How’s life and shit?

  70. 70.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @Texas Dem:

    WV got their returns in quick. I’m impressed. But then, WV doesn’t have a Kathy Nickolaus waiting around to see how many votes to fudge.

  71. 71.

    Roger Moore

    @daryljfontaine:
    I’m pretty sure the long body is because he’s got a lot of Siamese in him. He has the right shape and the right voice, and many black cats are part Siamese. He doesn’t seem to have grown much over the past few months, so I think he’s just about full sized now.

  72. 72.

    Texas Dem

    @lamh34: The headlines would have been much worse if the Dem had lost. Then again, the fact that a Dem in WV had a relatively close race (merely by linking him to Obama) speaks volumes about where we are right now. I guess we have to take our victories where we can find them.

  76. 76.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @General Stuck:

    Must be a problem at my end. I’ll check it from a different device in a little while.

    ‘Cause, you know, I loves me some Charlie.

  78. 78.

    RossInDetroit

    @lamh34:

    So Dem guv suspected to win in WV

    Maybe John can tell us what kind of vote fraud they pulled to get this done.

  80. 80.

    Svensker

    @daryljfontaine:

    I’ve got a big black cat, Zorro, that looked a lot like your Jake when he was younger—now he’s more of a well-seasoned, aged tank of a twelve-year-old fellow.

    You don’t happen to live in Toronto, do you?

  83. 83.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    @Yutsano: Thanks. Another Nam vet goes down. He’d been weaning himself all the meds that the VA had loaded him up on and seemed to be doing pretty well. Ya never know.

  88. 88.

    Roger Moore

    @piratedan:

    just think about all that money spent on attack ads that could have gone to paving a few roads evil earmark projects or even a few properly trained mine inspectors job killing regulators

    Edited for wingnut compliance.

  90. 90.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    Taking into account that I know how a Democratic governor of WV must govern, at least at least it can elect a Democratic governor. Here in Texas, not so much.

  91. 91.

    RossInDetroit

    @amk:

    AP just now called the WV gov race for Tomblin.

    45 minutes ago on the twitmachine Cole said Tomblin would lose. Low expectations as a defense mechanism?

  93. 93.

    NineJean

    @Allen: Insisting on the outdoors? well, that’s something…

    1-“relatively clean” doesn’t cut it for most cats. Clean more, and more thoroughly.

    2-cats can be picky about the type of litter in the box – if you have three boxes, experiment with three kinds of litter.

    3-visit your vet. Can’t hurt, may catch something more serious before it gets serious…

    I spent many, many years with at least 2, and often 3 indoor cats. If they didn’t like their boxes, behind the couch was choice #2. That did get old after a while!

  94. 94.

    CaseyL

    @Allen: Possibly because yours is a multi-cat household, and the youngest wants to pee somewhere that doesn’t smell like another cat has been there already?

  95. 95.

    David in NY

    Wonder if WV means that Obama doesn’t have the anti-coattails (or whatever) that the GOP thought. Nice they wasted all that money on their anti-Obama campaign.

  97. 97.

    msskwesq

    @General Stuck: And we need a picture of Rosie now that she is a great girl! How is her weight these days, John? A photo of the white feline would sure be fantastic as well!

  99. 99.

    Elie

    @Yutsano:

    Yeah — some of that is true but a lot is not…

    Our summers generally are perfect — no need for air conditioning — warm sunny days and cool nights..

    I love the Puget Sound (now Salish Sea), aquatic life from orca to salmon and the fantastic beauty along the shores. Did I mention great seafood?

    I love the farms — dairy and berry and points in between

    I love the people — mixture of wild and libertarian, liberal and conservative…sometimes in the same person. Have been involved with some interesting coalitions…

    My across the street neighbor has the most amazing fireworks show every 4th of July — you just have to see to believe and everyone turns out in this quasi rural/suburban part of Whatcom County..

    The Northwest was the early home of unions (wobblies) and of grunge and alternative arts…gentle people who like to break the rules also…

    I fit right in — for a black person from the midwest! Who would have thunk, but it works for me…

  100. 100.

    Violet

    Late to the party, but LILY! What a pretty girl! So sweet. I just love her. Glad Rosie has calmed down some too. You’re a good man, John.

    So, wait…a Dem won an election? I didn’t think that was possible in this economic climate.

  101. 101.

    Woodrowfan

    @Elie: Welcome to DC. Stand to the right on the escalators and add an hour to your expected travel time if you’re on the beltway, 395, 95 or I-66. 8-)

  102. 102.

    burnspbesq

    @Yevgraf:

    There is no sensible way out of the European debt crisis that doesn’t involve the insolvency of every major German and French bank. Sarkozy has to stand for re-election next year, and Merkel has to stand for re-election in 2013. Ergo, nagahappen.

  103. 103.

    Texas Dem

    @David in NY: I doubt if the WV Gov. race has any significance for 2012. Obama didn’t win WV in 2008 and he’s not going to win it in 2012. Nothing that happened tonight changed that fact. But it was very important that the Dems hold WV simply because a loss there would have caused other Dems to panic, and anyone who has read military history will tell you that in warfare, the side that panics usually gets slaughtered.

  106. 106.

    lol

    @Texas Dem:

    There were two narratives that were coming out of this race.

    If he lost, it just proves that Obama is a goner in 2012.

    Now that he’s won… the fact that it was this close just proves that Obama is a goner in 2012.

  107. 107.

    Texas Dem

    @Violet: It’s WV. The Dem is supposed to win there, at least at the state level. This shouldn’t have been a close race. That it was tells you everything you need to know about the steep hill we’ll have to climb if Obama is going to get a second term.

  108. 108.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    @jeffreyw: I hear ya. He was good friends with Rags. He was a mechanic, inventor and gunsmith. He just finished working over a 22 bolt action tube fed repeater that we bought in Cali when I was a kid.

    Why do I think it’s better when it’s WHAM, over?

  109. 109.

    Texas Dem

    @lol: True, but a loss would have been very, very bad for morale, especially among Red state Dems. In warfare the side that panics usually gets slaughtered.

  110. 110.

    MattR

    @Woodrowfan:

    Stand to the right on the escalators

    For the love of God, this ;)

    add an hour to your expected travel time if you’re on the beltway, 395, 95 or I-66. 8-)

    Was nice commuting the opposite direction (Arlington to Alexandria) and watching all the traffic as I zipped south down 395.

    I remember some DJ on the radio describing DC traffic like this.
    If it rains, people will drive real slow.
    If it flurries, people will drive real slow before skidding out and ending up in the shoulder.
    If it accumulates snow, people will drive real slow before skidding out, bouncing off a guard rail and tying up three lanes of traffic.

  111. 111.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    @MattR: We drove from LA to San Diego Saturday and no one bothered to find out it was the Mirimar Air Show. What a traffic nightmare.

  112. 112.

    MattR

    @Raven (formerly stuckinred): they

    EDIT: Well, now my comment makes no sense since you edited yours ;)

    My most memorable DC traffic mistake was forgetting to check that the Woodrow Wilson drawbridge was open before choosing to go around that side of the beltway while on the way to a concert in DC. Luckily we made it just in time to hear the opening notes as we got out of the car in the parking lot.

  113. 113.

    suzanne

    Man, I just had some delicious weeknight food. I made some fabulous spicy tomato-basil soup and a Greek salad with homemade dressing. I fucking rock.

  114. 114.

    burnspbesq

    @MattR:

    “If it accumulates snow, people will drive real slow before skidding out, bouncing off a guard rail and tying up three lanes of traffic.”

    ROFL. I actually made it into the District from Vienna on the morning of the big storm of 2000. Lee Highway was quite the obstacle course. I especially enjoyed watching the drivers of big-ass SUVs learn that it’s just as easy to spin four wheels as it is to spin two if you don’t know what you’re doing.

  116. 116.

    Woodrowfan

    @MattR:

    Love it! Very true. The problem with DC drivers in snow is that so many of us are from somewhere else. The people that learned to drive further south than DC all panic when there is the slightest snow and so go 5 miles an hour and stomp their brakes all the time. The people that learned to drive further north all sneer at the little snow we get and drive too fast. The problem is, they forget that the local road crews are not as practiced in clearing snow and sleet as the crews in Ohio or Wisconsin or Vermont or New York, and so the roads are not as clear as they could be. The result is fun to watch and a pain to drive in.
    I especially like the clowns that clear just enough space on their windshield to peer through and that’s it. And those that don’t clear off their vehicle’s roof, so sheets of ice and snow slide off and crash into the cars behind them.
    Ah DC in the winter…..

  117. 117.

    OzoneR

    Have any of you seen the video going around on Facebook showing the thugged out black dude whining that President Obama needs to “get his shit together” and balance the budget? I can’t get it off Facebook or I would post it here.

    Yeah, it’s a big hit on my friends’ Facebook walls

  119. 119.

    licensed to kill time

    Consider the Lily of the Sheets, how she grow: she neither toil nor spin; yet she maketh the Cole so berry berry happy.

    And we saw that it was Good.

  122. 122.

    Comrade Mary

    What a pretty puppeh! Admit it, John: you bought those sheets because it would set off her coat colour so well, didn’t you?

  123. 123.

    Roger Moore

    @Woodrowfan:
    I shudder to think how Angelinos would drive if we ever got visible snow on the major freeways. I guess it would be a big enough deal that most of the city would shut down and most of the people would stay home, but the carnage would still be very great.

  124. 124.

    burnspbesq

    @MikeJ:

    I was in SoCal in 96. Big El Nino winter. Biblical downpours every day for a week at a time. And nobody here has a clue about how to drive in the wet. Great year to own a body shop.

  125. 125.

    burnspbesq

    @Roger Moore:

    February of 87, when I was taking the bar in Pasadena, it snowed in Altadena and Sierra Madre. There was so much hail in OC, the Register got a picture of a guy cross-country skiing on PCH in HB.

    There was an accumulation of snow in Palmdale a couple of years ago. Same storm that shut down the Strip in Vegas.

  126. 126.

    Roger Moore

    @burnspbesq:

    And nobody here has a clue about how to drive in the wet.

    Which is strange, because we get torrential rain for at least a few days almost every year. You’d think people would remember from last year that you shouldn’t try driving through standing water deeper than your wheels, or that 70 mph is not a good speed when there’s an inch of rain on the freeway. It’s as if the summer heat cooks everyone’s brains so badly they forget the last time it rained.

  128. 128.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    I’m glad to hear that Rosie and you are in sync! That’s really great to hear. In our household, our former feral Manx rescue is finally warming up to the wife and daughter (not the son yet but at least she doesn’t run from him any more!). We’ve had her about two and a half years and until recently I’ve been the only one who could handle her. She likes consistency and no surprises, otherwise she will pull back, hiss and take a swing at you if she feels the need to. Hell, she broke a lower fang off in a welding glove (and in to the joint of my thumb!) while I was ‘getting to know her’ after we got her.

    Taming her was quite the experience even though she was about four months old when captured. I have a small idea of how bomb techs feel when defusing a bomb…lol! The fact that the wife can pet her and even pick her up on occasion is good to see. The daughter hasn’t tried picking her up yet but I think she could do so (carefully!). While our little Bobbi Cat loves to be held and petted any time by myself, right now it’s on her terms and when she wants it with the wife and kid. I’ve taught them how to approach her (low, not face on), get her to come to them (repeating the same things I say to her that gets her to come to me), how to pet her without getting ripped up (from either side, where she can watch you, and never from behind) and how to pick her up (left hand, under belly from the left side, immediately rest her on the left arm with her front paws through the fingers so you can support them).

    She quite the handful and yet only five pounds. Nasty little gal when she is surprised but a real sweetheart when she wants to be. I recently have been able to get her to hop up on my lap where before I had to pick her up and put her there. She still won’t lay down and make herself comfortable so I have to lay her down, same as when I put her on my lap. She just hops up and freezes, like she doesn’t know what to do. I’ve waited for 15 minutes and nope, no go. So I do it for her but am still trying. The wife and kid are not at the lap level yet but I’ve been having the wife sit next to me on the couch while she’s on my lap, with her reaching over to pet Bobbi. Soon…

    Wild kitties are not for everyone but if you are patient you can tame one to a good degree.

  129. 129.

    MattR

    @Raven (formerly stuckinred): Yeah. I figured. Yet couldn’t resist a wise ass coment. Have a nice relaxing night.

    @Woodrowfan: I have actually had the windshield of my car shattered by a giant chunk of ice/snow that came off the roof of an SUV in front of me on the highway.

    What you say about DC drivers is very true. My dad had a similar problem when he moved to suburban NYC from North Dakota. He had no problem driving through three or four inches of snow and my mom had to constantly remind him that the danger was that the local drivers were not as skilled.

    @burnspbesq: Lived on Lee Highway in Arlington, but that was Oct 96 to Oct 97 so I missed the real bad stuff

  130. 130.

    opal

    @OzoneR:

    Have any of you seen the video going around on Facebook showing the thugged out black dude whining that President Obama needs to “get his shit together” and balance the budget?

    Facebook is the AOL of the 21st century.

  131. 131.

    Donald G

    @Texas Dem:

    It’s WV. The Dem is supposed to win there, at least at the state level. This shouldn’t have been a close race. That it was tells you everything you need to know about the steep hill we’ll have to climb if Obama is going to get a second term.

    Explain Governors Cecil Underwood and Arch Moore. Republicans have been known to win the governorship in living memory in West Virginia, especially with coal money behind them or as a protest vote against perceived democratic corruption or other faults.

    In West Virginia, the Naderites’ line that there’s very little difference between the two parties is close to accurate. It’s serious Blue Dog territory and in 2000, the Democratic establishment in West Virginia ran screaming from the prospect of an Al Gore presidency.

    Bitter? Me? Naah!

  133. 133.

    Allen

    @NineJean: Litter boxes are cleaned daily. Use at least two different kinds of litter. Nothing seems to want to lure the young cat back into the box. Both cats are found cats, but the young cat was abandoned by lazy owners from what I have heard and I don’t know if that has much to do with matters,but I worry about him what with all the coyotes we have up here, a mile from downtown Portland, OR.

  137. 137.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Yutsano: You KNOW Her Eminence is going to haunt you now. And, my babies are very good boys.

    @Roger Moore: Squeeeeeee! Jake is adorable. I have two black boys, and he could be their little brother. Oh my. This ALMOST makes up for no Tunchie.

    @OzoneR: Yes. I watched a minute before turning it off. Stupid as hell.

    @General Stuck, Charlie is such a sweetie.

    @Cole, awwww, Lily is a sweetie. I’m glad Rosie is settling in, and TUNCH pics, plz. kthxbai.

  138. 138.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @General Stuck:

    Well, I don’t know why I can’t pull the photo up on the iPad tonight. I usually can with yours, and I’m not having issues with any of the photos other people are posting.

    Nevertheless, I loves me some Charlie SO MUCH that I checked it on the BB and that worked fine and what an adorable picture!

  139. 139.

    Mnemosyne

    @Allen:

    Are all of the boxes in the same location? If so, you may want to try and move one to a more private spot. It’s possible that the older cat is intimidating the younger one when he’s in the box.

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