Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

People are complicated. Love is not.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

T R E 4 5 O N

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

After roe, women are no longer free.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

He really is that stupid.

Let’s finish the job.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

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75Comments

  3. 3.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Speaking of excessive, the hedge fund asswipes of Americans Elect are actually asking for donations.

    This is chutzpah not quite on the scale of the guy who murdered his parents pleading for leniency as he’s now an orphan, but it’s moving into range of that.

  8. 8.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    Totally agree – beyond knowing unless you’re actually there. I’m looking forward to four young grandkids and two dogs in a few days (really, I am!). But I also know I’ll be frantic (’cause we’re also going to have a total of fifteen guests for two days) … but it will be wonderful.

  9. 9.

    scav

    @Cain: Llamas. Gotta be llamas too. Extra points for spitting ones although I can’t quite decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Seems to be a herd thing.

  10. 10.

    Jebediah

    Just got an email update regarding Tiffany the little poodle with the messed up leg:

    Tiffany had her surgery yesterday (12/19) and is now resting at home with us. She is on very limited activity–actually no walking except for potty breaks, with pain meds, an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory. She will be in her splint (they chose a splint over a cast for a better fit to straighten the leg) for at least 6 weeks. We go back on Tuesday, Jan. 2nd for a recheck and then again one month later for x-rays and possible splint removal, depending on the healing process. The leg was completely broken, a wedge removed due to the previous growth pattern and reset. She was fortunate no damage had been done to her elbow due to the way the bones had grown.

  11. 11.

    suzanne

    Three dogs and three cats is really excessive

    To say nothing of some of the winners that hang out around this place…

  12. 12.

    Richard W. Crews

    If low taxes created jobs, we’d be awash in jobs. More jobs than people, but No! Look around at our economy; there are plenty of toasters of every kind in stores; what’s missing is not another foreign toaster factory, but someone with a job able to buy said toaster.

    Republicans always talk about the “job creators”. Well, how about them job creators? American corporations are making more money than they ever had, and are paying their CEOs a huge amount – beyond reason. Yes, beyond reason. Does $150 Million in one year sound like a fair earned amount?

    Corporations are sitting on over $2Trillion dollars, and not doing anything constructive with all that cash. Stock buy-backs don’t make jobs or GDP growth; same with cash hoarding. The country is sinking, over half of it going broke while the corporations and the upper 5% have never had it so good.

    To push corporations into being better citizens, and more involved, I propose a 100% corporate income tax. First, what is a corporation for? It’s an investment vehicle and a mechanism for delivering product/service ideally with a profit. The corporations operate unimpeded; deducting all costs including business taxes, expenses, and employee pay and ancillary costs. They can pay their CEO anything they want, and pay any dividend they want. Then allow a 5 year tax-free revolving unlimited cash ‘slush” fund that hopefully would be used for growth/infrastructure/investment. Whatever is left is taxed 100%.

    This pushes cash out into our economy. Money spread out by expense, pay, dividends, and taxes are the power that our economy needs. Give the businesses a 5 year strategic reservoir, then push the rest out into our economy. If they hate taxes, the companies could either pay out more in wages and/or dividends, or lower prices.

  13. 13.

    Richard W. Crews

    there’s a tipping point … …

    …
    … I’m talking about your home heard. At some point your leadership is diluted.
    just one of the pack.
    the only one that can reliably run the refrigerator.
    better keep that skill to yourself.

  16. 16.

    KG

    @Richard W. Crews: at this point, I don’t think tax policy is going to matter. I think if we are going to dig out of this, then the government is going to have to act as a market participant. Traditionally, it would be at all three levels – local, state, federal – would be involved, but so many states have balanced budget amendments that they can’t run deficits which means they can’t spend money when the economy is down (which is when they need to spend it the most).

    This is a demand driven recession. Businesses aren’t spending money because they are worried that no one will buy their products/services. Consumers are more concerned with paying down debt than they are with buying new things. Less demand means less investment up the chain, and likely means fewer jobs.

    I’ve kicked around the idea of the government changing over its fleet of cars to alternative source vehicles (solar, electric, natural gas, etc) within the next 5-10 years. If nothing else, it will kick start R&D within the private sector, which should create some jobs. I’m sure there are other things that can be done that could help.

    Unfortunately, the idea of government spending money would be an outrage rather than being something useful for too many people.

  18. 18.

    TheOtherWA

    I’d suggest vast quantities of alcohol, but the animals may actually take over the house, so don’t over do it.

    Is anyone coming over to help you with the herd?

  19. 19.

    Shinobi

    For some reason I feel like three is the number of cats at which things become unmanagable. I have two, they are fine. For a while we fostered a third and it was like a nightmare. I don’t know why the second marginal cat makes a bigger difference from the first, but it does.

  21. 21.

    Ms.B

    @Shinobi:

    I don’t know if you have a partner or not, but for us, 3 kids took it to the outnumbered situation. With 2, we had even teams.

    Now Cole has 3 dogs and 3 cats, which is what my mom of 6 had to deal with, and that could get ugly, woofing vs. purring and different strategies for mayhem wise.

  23. 23.

    burnspbesq

    @Richard W. Crews:

    Does $150 Million in one year sound like a fair earned amount?

    Depends. Simply put, the CEO’s job is to create shareholder value. If the company’s market cap went up by $15 billion, why would you not give the CEO a bonus equal to one percent of the increase?

  25. 25.

    El Cid

    Someone needs to turn up the volume on FoxNOOZ:

    Americans are growing increasingly frustrated with our country’s Byzantine federal tax system, but not because we feel overtaxed.
    __
    Most Americans believe the biggest problem with taxes is that wealthy people don’t pay their fair share, according to poll results published Tuesday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.
    __
    The feeling of outrage over the privileged classes is growing, according to the poll results, which only confirm the widespread anger that has helped fuel this fall’s Occupy protests on Wall Street and nationwide.
    __
    Only a minority of Americans seem at all outraged by the taxes they pay themselves.
    __
    Among those surveyed, only 38 percent said they pay more than their “fair share” in federal taxes, compared with 55 percent who answered affirmatively in a similar 2000 poll. By contrast 52 percent said they pay “about the right amount” in taxes, up from 41 percent in 2003.
    __
    When asked what bothers them most about the federal tax system, only 11 percent cited the amount they pay in taxes. An overwhelming 57 percent cited the perception that wealthy people don’t pay their fare share, while 28 percent chose the complexity of the tax system…
    __
    …Among Republicans, the complexity of the system was cited as the biggest problem, with only 38 percent saying wealthy people don’t pay their fair share. Among Democrats, 73 percent cited the fairness issue as the No. 1 problem.

    57. 57%.

    57% of Americans when polled and asked what bothers them about the federal tax system say that the wealthy don’t pay their fair share.

    I am the 57%.

    And you know what? 38% of Republicans ain’t a bad number, either.

  26. 26.

    El Cid

    @burnspbesq: It hasn’t always been seen in American business that the primary purpose of the executive is to increase shareholder value. Although that’s been a part of their task, this view is a more recent development, taking shape in the 1970s and now dominating both business schools and public business discourse.

  27. 27.

    feebog

    @Jeb:

    I also missed the earlier update, so no apology needed. Very happy to hear she had the surgery and it went well. Best $25 I spent all Christmas. Have yourself a very Merry Christmas, and thanks from all us rescue dog lovers.

  28. 28.

    ruemara

    Let’s be honest, Mr. Cole. You’re not opposed to things being a bit excessive. You do run a blog, after all.

  33. 33.

    MikeJ

    @scav:

    Llamas. Gotta be llamas too. Extra points for spitting ones although I can’t quite decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Seems to be a herd thing.

    Llamas are communal voiders. Which means they all shit in the place where the alpha llama shits.

    Dave Berry was the first person I recall to point out what a great name for a rock band “the communal voiders” would be.

  37. 37.

    Suffern ACE

    @MikeJ: OK now I need to learn more about the different strategies for voiding. Thanks. Another sleepless night surfing the web. :(

  38. 38.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    The ad at the top of the page is for me to help David Dewhurst stop Obama’s war on Texas. I need to figure out a way to stop David Dewhurst’s war on the people of Texas.

  39. 39.

    Jess

    @Shinobi: Probably b/c they start peeing all over the place to claim territory…

    I’m amazed at how demanding just one dog and one cat can be. Something about their being different species with such different needs, schedules, and bad habits makes it really hard for just one person to keep up with them. It feels like three critters instead of just two. The dog is well behaved but needs a lot of long walks and attention; the cat mostly takes care of herself but is a total pain in the butt. Loves those 4am search-and-destroy missions, which usually involve torturing and dismembering mice on my bed while I’m trying to sleep.

  41. 41.

    CaseyL

    It is Hellzapoppin at the Cole House tonight! For such a curmudgeon, John, you sure do have an active social life :)

    I saw “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” tonight at a special screening. The acting is amazing; the set design is miraculous, really takes you back to mid-70s UK and USSR… a very high-quality movie that everyone involved really brought their A game to.

    However, I think the reviews are correct when they say if you haven’t already read the book or seen the BBC mini-series, you won’t be able to follow the story. I did both, so I knew what was going on. But the people seated around me had not, and said afterwards they were lost.

    And I must say, as good as the movie is, the mini-series was better; simply because there was time to let the story develop and the characters become known.

    ETA: It was a delight to see Mark Strong play someone other than a villain, for once!

  43. 43.

    ruemara

    @Jess: Where are these solo, taking care of themselves cats hiding? Can you send a teaching squad over to my house, so my needy, clingy, can’t live without you, I MUST STARE AT YOU, where did you go, i did not see you for a 5 minutes, pair of felines.

  44. 44.

    Martin

    Three dogs and three cats is really excessive.

    For spooning? Indeed it is. That’s a lot to get in under the 4 hour limit.

  45. 45.

    KG

    @El Cid: the complexity and fairness issues are related. The way the wealthy get away with paying less is through the myriad of tax loopholes that they have got their congresscritter to insert into the tax code. Those two issues are 1 and 1A for me.

  47. 47.

    Jess

    @ruemara: My kitty has her clingy moments, but I’m her third owner and it took her over a year to bond. I’ve had her four years now, and she’s just starting to sit in my lap. She’s very active and prefers to be outside exploring and killing things when she’s not sleeping. Mostly she just demands a cuddle when a) I’m trying to drag myself out of bed for an early meeting, or b) when I’m all dressed up in something that I really don’t want cat fur on. As I said, a total pain in the butt… your cats don’t entertain each other? Are they friends?

  49. 49.

    Stooleo

    @sfinny:

    She is only ten weeks old and she is not potty trained yet. so we are dealing with the poop and the pee. But she is getting better thou we have only had her 4 days now. She seems to be smart as a whip, cause she will sit on command and she she seems to be showing an interest in fetching toys. The real training will come in January when we will start working on the leash with, heel, sit and stay. The fun is when we have our friends come over with their dogs and let them all get to know the new young one. She has a pack that she hasn’t met yet.

  51. 51.

    Phylllis

    @Shinobi: I always told the late hubby that two cats were enough to formulate the plan, but it takes the third cat to actually be able to reach the knife drawer.

  52. 52.

    KN_NJ

    @Stooleo: Small, but they blow coat twice a year like huskies and bark a ton. That said, downright adorable and definitely squee-able.

  56. 56.

    HE Pennypacker, Wealthy Industrialist

    So our three cats and two dogs is just excessive, but not really excessive.

  57. 57.

    opie jeanne

    @CaseyL: I read the book after I watched the first installment of the mini-series because there were things happening on-screen that neither myself or my husband understood. The book really helped.

  64. 64.

    R-Jud

    @CaseyL: I saw this in October– pretty rare that we get films in the UK before the US. Agree with you on the amazing quality of the production but I don’t agree with you about the story being difficult.

    I hadn’t read the book or seen the BBC series and it really wasn’t that hard to follow: which of these guys at the top is the spy? Let’s find out.

    I was pleased to see Mark Strong as a “good” guy, too. I also thought Benedict Cumberbatch was brilliant, especially in the scene where he’s trying to get his hands on the records.

    Prior to TTSS, he’d just been a young actor whose name I enjoyed using in place of swearing: “Benedict CUMBERBATCH, I burned myself on the stove again!”

  65. 65.

    Jerzy Russian

    I spend the morning at the Dealer’s service department having the car worked on. I was trying to do some work on my laptop, but the TV was turned onto the local ABC station. I don’t have a TV at home, so I don’t know what kinds of shows are on. “Judge Joe” (or something like that) was playing, and it was strangely compelling. People come on the show with petty disputes and Joe chews them out. After that was the Maury show. He had on a bunch of women with young children who did not know who the fathers were. All parties involved would submit to DNA testing, and the results were announced on the air. Everyone there was an asshole in some way, and I felt sorry for the children involved since they would be surrounded by assholes no matter what the outcome. At the same time, I was amused by the whole show, which in turn depressed me further.

    What has happened to us over the last 30+ years? I don’t think TV was this bad when I was a kid in the 1970s. If aliens came to Earth and told us “You are too stupid to live, and we are going to remove you from this planet and put it to good use.” I would have no counter argument.

  67. 67.

    satby

    Whiner. 5 dogs and 8 cats right now; to be fair some are fosters; so I won’t have them permanently. I hope.

  69. 69.

    Shinobi

    @Jess: I have 2 cats and they are exactly the same amount of work as 1 cat. But the dog is on a whole different scale neediness wise.

    @Phylllis: LOL

    @Paul in KY: Then I’m getting a border collie to keep them all in line.

  74. 74.

    CaseyL

    @R-Jud: Maybe; maybe not. The people around me found it confusing. Maybe it depends on how much one needs to have everything spelled out versus how much one is able to think outside of what the script offers. I actually do hope most people enjoy it, because I love LeCarre, and maybe more people will read his books if they like the movie enough.

    I watched the mini-series when it first aired because the people I was staying with watched it. Wasn’t expecting to like it much, since I knew nothing about the author or source material. Within 15 minutes I was glued to the TV; the next day I went out and bought the book and finished it before the next episode aired. I’ve read just about everything of LeCarre’s since, and he ranks as one of my favorite writers, though his work did lose a touch of sparkle after USSR collapsed.

    Re Cumberbatch: He’s been around for a while, doing marvelous work (notably, as Stephen Hawking in “Hawking”), but finally got the attention he deserves playing Sherlock Holmes in the new BBC series. If you haven’t seen that, you should really drop whatever you’re doing and run right out and rent it.

  75. 75.

    JR

    3 dogs and 4 kittehs… Big WV Brown dog, good for scaring sneak thieves away, medium WV Brown Dog with long black coat (WV Brown Dogs come in all colors) medium small Blonde part Lab/golden rescue dog, was in kennel at Vets for 9 months, adoption, no charge.

    We had to teach Blonde (named Happy after several weeks of debate, she turned happy after about a month of orientation by the other dogs) how to bark to go out, she was afraid she would be beaten, she was rescued from a chain late at night by a client of our vets who couldn’t watch the torture any more. In retrospect, a big mistake, she barks-a-lot now.

    One really old cat on 2 meds, 3 kittehs about the same age, procured because the two then-current cats were 15+. They take little maintenance. We live in rural forest, they all go in and out as they please. In the fall the dogs are vile, as they help take care of wounded deer not tracked down by the shooter. Bambi farts, vile.

    But they are lovable, try to cheer us up on cue. Always glad to see us when we’ve been gone. We’re luck to have friends who will pet sit for us. The critters always act like g’ma or g’pa is going to stay with them.

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