Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

White supremacy is terrorism.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

The revolution will be supervised.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Consistently wrong since 2002

This really is a full service blog.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

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

Usually wrong but never in doubt

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Monday Morning Open Thread: Legendary Survivor

Monday Morning Open Thread: Legendary Survivor

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danielx eric solar collector

From commentor DanielX:

Attached photos are of our boy Eric, who we found as a kitten and is now (approximately?) sixteen years old. Semi-famous among BJ commenters for his resemblance to a long haired version of the late, great TUNCH in both looks and demeanor, and semi-legendary amongst the local veterinary community for being the only cat they’ve ever seen to have survived an encounter with a hostile pit bull. An encounter, be it noted, which happened in the door of HIS garage with the pit bull coming at him like a guided missile after the dog slipped out the door of his owners’ house when one of said owners was careless, mind you. The pit bill is no longer with us, and good riddance to the sonofabitch. Anyway, one of him performing one of his natural functions as a solar energy receptor, one of him in deranged mode after a particularly brutal catnip orgy and one of him in recovery mode after his encounter with the pit bull…

danielx eric catnip hangover

I actually had set an appointment to get him put down at one point after the encounter with the pit bull he hadn’t eaten for three days and was getting pretty lethargic. We couldn’t get him to eat anything at all even after trying a whole selection of kitty treats which usually send him over the moon. However, I decided to give him one more try at 4:00 pm with the appointment at 4:30 – c’mon pal, you gotta eat or you’re off to kitty heaven in a half hour and I really, really don’t want to do that. Lo and behold, he started lapping up water, then tuna juice, then tuna. That was a week ago today and he is much more himself, although still residing on his favorite couch (on top of old towels on top of plastic sheeting) next to his litter box. He’s allowed, since he’s still healing from about a dozen deep puncture wounds. He has resumed his usual routine of howling for breakfast as soon as he hears someone at the top of the stairs at five am….

***********
What’s on the agenda for the start of another week?

danielx eric survivor

Reader Interactions

100Comments

  3. 3.

    BlueDWarrior

    I was just thinking about the riots in St. Louis and it has just reinforced my conclusion that we as Americans, through our actions, don’t care if the houses of our poorest are figuratively, or even literally, burning to the ground.

    Just so long as we can sit in our assuredly much nicer houses and smugly look down upon the poors as victims of their own malfesance, instead of victims mostly of a system that is designed to screw them every which way to Sunday.

    It pisses me right off, it does…

  4. 4.

    raven

    @BlueDWarrior:

    While some people prayed, others spilled onto West Florissant Avenue, choking off traffic. Looting was reported at a QuikTrip at 9420 West Florissant Avenue about 9 p.m. and soon spread from there. Most of the businesses being targeted were mainly along West Florissant.

    Around 11 p.m., looters smashed into a Wal-Mart in the area near Interstate 270, as well as cell phone, clothing and dollar stores. A large fire was burning at West Florissant and Northwinds Estates Drive. A civilian was reported beaten near West Florissant and Chambers.

    Jimmy Muhammad, 32, said he and his colleagues had just fended off a gang of masked young men with guns who tried to break into his uncle’s store, United Mart, in the 10300 block of West Florissant. The front door was shattered.

  5. 5.

    JPL

    Thanks for posting the picture of Eric and I’m pleased that he’s on the mend.
    @BlueDWarrior: The local news carried the riots but spend little time on the cause. It pisses me right off, it does… Me too.

  6. 6.

    BlueDWarrior

    @raven: It’s just like the LA Riots, criminal elements piggy-back on a legitimate protest and start stealing stuff.

    This has the knock-on effect of making the general public hateful toward poor black communities who are clearly just a bunch of savage proto-humans just waiting to burn everything down to the ground and steal everything not nailed to the floor.

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @BlueDWarrior:

    if the houses of our poorest are figuratively, or even literally, burning to the ground.

    Lived next door in Jennings for 3-4 years and spent a lot of time in Ferguson. Ferguson isn’t poor, it is middle class (on the lower working side, but very much middle). It is also of mixed race. When I lived there (’99-’02?)I would say it was app 30-40% black, 40-50% white, with the remainder mostly Hispanic. It is a really nice place to live with a sort of small town atmosphere.

    Makes it doubly sad that this is happening.

  8. 8.

    Botsplainer

    @BlueDWarrior:

    The riot prepared cops with dogs and helmets did a great job of keeping the crowd hemmed into their own neighborhood, thereby precipitating the riot.

    [et remove inflammatory rage]

  9. 9.

    Botsplainer

    One other observation – the perp cop needs naming, consequences be damned.

    Hopefully, not every hacktivist is a glibertarian dudebro.

  11. 11.

    BlueDWarrior

    @OzarkHillbilly: Well that was more of a general statement extrapolating from this current scene of animus.

    I don’t mean to imply that every time there is a riot its strictly because the rioters or poor or whatever have you.

    But we do have a severe problem in how we deal with the fact that black people simply don’t trust the police at an almost genetic level (at least deeply ingrained level).

  12. 12.

    Botsplainer

    @raven:

    You’re right – I took it out, but am pissed at the solid blue line. There is no excuse for the line, or me feeling this way about it.

  15. 15.

    Botsplainer

    @BlueDWarrior:

    It’s just like the LA Riots, criminal elements piggy-back on a legitimate protest and start stealing stuff.

    I’m not sure it works so much that way. In crowd settings where emotions of fear or anger come into play, a really destructive impulse can enter the picture.

  16. 16.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    Watching Morning Shmoe, “OH MY GOD, ISIL(ISIS) IS COMING AFTER US IN THE US”.

  19. 19.

    Schlemizel

    @BillinGlendaleCA:
    So are they moving past the ebola hysteria or did they just jump right over it?

    Have to keep the rubes panicked so they don’t think too hard but do keep the 7/24 news on to stay on top of this extremely deadly threat

  20. 20.

    PurpleGirl

    Eric is a handsome kitty. I’m glad he survived his encounter with the pit bull and that he is now healing and feeling better. It would have been a shame to lose him. Thanks for the multiple pictures of him.

  22. 22.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Botsplainer: @Schlemizel: Their theory was that since some yahoos from the US have gone over there, we have to be afraid, VERY AFRAID. Oh, it’s all due to the near sheriff whose foreign policy is a failure per HRC. Sam Stein did try correct them on that last point.

  24. 24.

    Botsplainer

    @JPL:

    Oh, I agree. Stupid white people are always looking for an excuse to feel the way they do about, you know, them.

    And the PD will manage to slow walk this further.

    My vote, while this is hot, is to file the suit naming a John Doe today. Force the name of the perp cop before his entire file of excessive force complaints can be shredded.

  25. 25.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @BlueDWarrior: I understand, I’m just trying to fill in the blank spaces. This situation, in a lot of ways does not fit the usual narrative of poor angry blacks, which is what everyone “sees” on the news or in the papers. Ferguson is one of the suburbs that blacks from N STL moved to during the 60’s(?), 70’s, 80s. Unlike Pine Lawn or Wellston, you didn’t have white flight on a massive scale and it transitioned quite successfully. It really is a nice place to live. Like I said, doubly sad.

    I just think black people are tired of getting shot while unarmed, while armed white people walk around with impunity. We always hear the same statement from authorities after one of these incidents:

    “The officer did everything right and by the book.” It never seems to occur to them to ask, “If he did everything right, how is it that it all turned out so wrong?” Gee guys, here’s a hint: Your blessed “book” is WRONG, and you need to rewrite it.

  28. 28.

    Schlemizel

    @BillinGlendaleCA:
    It really does not matter what the reason is, they will make one up if necessary. The key is to keep the rubes scared!

    Did everyone see the Colbert takedown of “Doctor” Ben Carson and his fear that someone would buy ebola tainted urine for a million dollars? He did a great job but to me the important bit was how stupid Carson’s scenario was. Someone with his education should be able to come up with something better. BUt still the rubes ate it up I am sure.

  31. 31.

    satby

    Pretty kitty Danielx. Glad he’s recovering, I remember the thread where you talked about how he wasn’t eating and how close he came to not being here.

  32. 32.

    debbie

    @JPL:

    Unfortunately it changes the focus from the person who was shot, to looters.

    Not to mention from the issue of how this has been happening more and more often.

  33. 33.

    Botsplainer

    Interesting. For our hypermilitarized police, the were 64 line of duty deaths nationwide so far this year. Of those, 15 were car wrecks, 2 were motorcycle wrecks, 2 on vehicular pursuits and one by fire and one by accidental shooting. Of the rest, only 27 were by intentional gunfire, leaving a dog’s breakfast of other causes.

    http://www.odmp.org/search/year

    The “Us vs. Them”, “as long as the boy in blue gets home alive” ethos that leads to “empty the clip into the body, manufacture the story later” culture seems overblown.

  35. 35.

    Josie

    Thanks for the update on Eric and the pictures. He is a sweet looking kitty, and I know you are happy to have him recuperating.

  37. 37.

    kc

    I said this earlier but WP apparently ate it: That is a handsome cat, & a tough one. Hope he recovers completely.

  38. 38.

    Baud

    @debbie:

    Not to mention from the issue of how this has been happening more and more often.

    Is that true or are we paying more attention? I often wonder about things like this. (I guess you could call it the shark attack effect.)

  39. 39.

    Chris

    OT: the only thing more annoying than that fucking music when you’re on hold is when the music is interspersed with public service announcements. If you’re not right next to the phone, all you hear is a sudden interruption in the music and a human voice, and you need to run back in just to make sure that it wasn’t, in fact, a real human being.

    This concludes the day’s exercise in First World Problems.

  41. 41.

    Schlemizel

    @Chris:
    One company I have to deal with has this down to a science. They play 7 seconds of music & then tell me how important my call is and they will be right with me then they play 12 seconds of music & tell me not to hang up because my call is important to them, rinse and repeat. 2 minutes on hold with them is like a year.

  42. 42.

    Baud

    The Reddit libertarians are appalled about yet another example of unaccountable police behavior.

    Ha! Actually, they’re focused on the looting. (But you knew that.)

  43. 43.

    Suffern ACE

    @BillinGlendaleCA: it’s only a failure if measured by the unattainable metric of “everybody loves us and does what we say”. By the other metric of “countries we don’t like end up failed states embroiled in perpetual civil war” I think we’ve done quite well. I think we should give ourselves a gold star.

  44. 44.

    WereBear

    @OzarkHillbilly: I just think black people are tired of getting shot while unarmed, while armed white people walk around with impunity.

    A LOT of us are very tired of it, certainly.

    I noticed, as a child, that every person of color was considered “representative of their race” but a reprehensible white person was not. Which I decided was stupid.

    I was a difficult child because I tried to reason out a lot of these things myself when they struck me as stupid. Sadly, they are still out there, and they are still stupid.

  46. 46.

    Chris

    @Schlemizel:

    Bonus points if they drop you after fifteen minutes and force you to go through the whole process again.

    I always feel like an asshole when I bitch like this, because once I get to the actual human beings in the system, they’re usually perfectly friendly, helpful and knowledgable. It’s the entire process between “press the call button” and “talk to the human” that sets me off on one of Joe Pesci’s rants from Lethal Weapon.

    @Baud:

    When the news came out that George Zimmerman had been acquited, one of my wingnut friends on Facebook posted it along with the comment “my heart goes out to all those poor people who will be murdered tonight by thugs looking for revenge.”

    (That was my cue to hit the “unfriend” button, which is increasingly where all my conservative Facebook friends end up).

  47. 47.

    Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)

    @BlueDWarrior:

    @raven: It’s just like the LA Riots, criminal elements piggy-back on a legitimate protest and start stealing stuff.

    It’s just like Seattle WTO or Oakland Occupy with the “black bloc” criminals.

    I’m sure the looters yesterday also had a hazy self-serving ideological justification as well.

  48. 48.

    Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)

    @OzarkHillbilly: About frigging time, they need to hammer the media ADL style until only the wingnut screamers use this kind of language.

    This sort of racially charged rhetoric was like mother’s milk to me, growing up on network TV in the 80s and it’s all lies. It has to stop or the violence will never end.

  49. 49.

    Chris

    @WereBear:

    I noticed, as a child, that every person of color was considered “representative of their race” but a reprehensible white person was not. Which I decided was stupid.

    Which continues on into our politics when white voters get broken down into sub-categories but nonwhite voters are usually treated as a monolith. “The black vote.” “The Asian vote.” At most, more specific categorizations like “the Cuban vote” instead of “the Latino vote.”

    I mean, it’s one way to measure voter groups.

    But it becomes really blatant when, for example, the media keeps telling you that Obama has “a problem with blue collar workers…” when, in fact, a huge part of the blue collar vote was thrilled with Obama’s election; but, of course, what they actually meant was “a problem with white blue collar workers.”

    Or all this talk about “the liberal base” being disillusioned and angry at Obama because X, Y and Z… and what they actually mean by “the liberal base” is “the mostly white college students we associate with antiwar rallies and stuff,” and not, say, community organizers and civil society in black neighborhoods (the background Obama himself got started in).

  50. 50.

    Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)

    @Baud:

    Is that true or are we paying more attention? I often wonder about things like this.

    It’s been going on for YEARS but the mainstreaming of smartphones has given young people of color access to microblogging platforms and they are using the fuck out of them.

  52. 52.

    Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)

    @Chris:

    But it becomes really blatant when, for example, the media keeps telling you that Obama has “a problem with blue collar workers…” when, in fact, a huge part of the blue collar vote was thrilled with Obama’s election; but, of course, what they actually meant was “a problem with white blue collar workers.”

    And even that is an exaggeration of the truth–Democrats and Obama did well with white blue collar workers with only a high school education. The GOP “base” (voters, not donors) are middle class white households with college degrees (but NOT post graduate degrees, these folks are overwhelmingly Democrats). White households with college degrees are also a big portion of the churched in the US–demographic research shows that poorer whites have quit church and this is fueling the drain of bodies in the pews especially for mainline denoms–they’ve shrunk with the middle class over the last 30 years.

    It may be that Democrats can still reach the poor whites who still vote because they’re not going to church and being propagandized (making voting against gay marriage a proof of Christiantude and so on, rah rah abortion rah rah, and so on) as well as the fact that many of them (just ask!) perceive voting for the GOP as voting against their interests. Though the fact remains that there are a significant number of downmarket white men who are hooked on hate radio and they do vote against their interests. That phenomenon is not seen among African-American men. My experience is the ones who talk about voting GOP (like 5%) show would be social dominator traits. These are voters that Obama (and I would say generally any black male candidate) picked up but maybe other Dems wouldn’t but a tiny minority of a minority is not a voting bloc to lose sleep over (kinda like libertarians).

  54. 54.

    Steeplejack

    @kc:

    No, he lives in a small town at the other end of the county from East St. Louis, which is across the river from St. Louis.

  55. 55.

    Botsplainer

    @Baud:

    If there were just somebody who was just and true and pure of heart with an independently funded journalistic platform and a deep connection to a worldwide hacktivist network of people devoted to exposing the truth, the identity of the police perpetrator, his disciplinary file and all the internal correspondence would be divulged. The sunlight would be disinfecting.

    It’s a shame something like that fails to exist.

  56. 56.

    FlipYrWhig

    @BlueDWarrior:

    It’s just like the LA Riots, criminal elements piggy-back on a legitimate protest and start stealing stuff.

    As Susan Rice tried to explain about a certain outpost in Libya.

  58. 58.

    Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)

    Why did I read RawStory comments? Neonazis at play. Discus sucks so hard it actually facilitates trolling. Nuke their comments from orbit, I say.

  60. 60.

    Chris

    @Another Holocene Human (now with new computer):

    And even that is an exaggeration of the truth–Democrats and Obama did well with white blue collar workers with only a high school education. The GOP “base” (voters, not donors) are middle class white households with college degrees (but NOT post graduate degrees, these folks are overwhelmingly Democrats).

    Yes, this is also true. Even in the South, I think (which according to the stereotypes is supposed to be ground zero for “those dumb rednecks voting against their interests”), Democrats continue to do better among working class whites than their richer counterparts. It just gets even more blatant when you introduce the white/nonwhite differences.

    Actually, my entire exposure to the labor side of the Democratic Party came from friends who were from white, working class Rust Belt backgrounds (what used to be and often still are the backbone of American unions). Even today, there’s still an entire demographic of among white people that’s pro-labor, pro-government-services and hates the libertarian turn the country’s taken since Reagan. The MSM is careful to talk about them as little as possible (except in “they’re abandoning Obama!”) terms: they detract from the preferred narrative of “honest, hardworking conservative whites versus lazy young bucks on welfare.”

  61. 61.

    TaMara (BHF)

    That story of his survival just made my morning. So glad he decided to stay with us. I look forward to seeing more pix of him when he’s fully healed.

  67. 67.

    Mrs. Skink

    @Chris: rather then unfriend, I just clicked the little button that says ” stop showing this person’s posts”. I sleep much better at night.

  68. 68.

    Chris

    @Mrs. Skink:

    I reserve that for conservatives that I actually care enough about to maintain a relationship with, like close family et al.

    My standards on Facebook vary. On the one end are people that I probably wouldn’t unfriend even if they were convicted of murder (family or, more rarely, close friends). At the other end are people that I’ve unfriended for as little as seeing them come up in the Minifeed and going “who are you again?” In between are plenty of people like this one, that I could just block from my minifeed, but figure I’d be better off without altogether.

  69. 69.

    BubbaDave

    Congrats to Eric!

    I’m not having quite as good a day. My cat Rajah, she of the diabetes and kidney issues, took a turn for the worse Friday. Diagnosis: lung cancer.

    We spent a weekend of snuggles and painkillers (for her) and the vet is making a house call to put her to sleep this afternoon. 17 years. 15 of them with me, isn’t a short life for a cat– but I’m greedy, and was hoping for more.

  71. 71.

    Alex S.

    Apparently it’s over for Iraqi prime minister Maliki. Is that good or bad news for John McCain?

  72. 72.

    CaseyL

    I am incredibly happy to hear Eric is alive and doing better.

    semi-legendary amongst the local veterinary community for being the only cat they’ve ever seen to have survived an encounter with a hostile pit bull

    Considering his age as an additional factor, strike “semi.” Eric is a Superhero Cat, and his story should be told by mama cats to their kittens in hushed, awed voices.

    On my agenda? Job-hunting. The job I had, as a paralegal for a two-attorney law firm, was perfect (great attorneys, great clients, great salary, work that I loved) and a great relief after the hellhole I worked at previously. Unfortunately there just wasn’t enough of a caseload to keep me.

  73. 73.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @BubbaDave:

    I’m so sorry. That’s always tough. You’re doing the right thing for Rajah, but it hurts like hell. Sending hugs and light.

  74. 74.

    RaflW

    @jayboat: Chuck Todd hosting Meet the McCain. Well. That’s so refreshing. I’m sure I’ll start watching it again.
    Right after I drink this here double bleach skinny latte with whip.

  75. 75.

    Amir Khalid

    The New York Times reports it is shifting Maureen Dowd from op-ed columnist to NYT Mag staff writer. Sounds rather like a demotion to me, but could I be wrong?

  76. 76.

    Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)

    @Chris: Upper middle class whites have a long history of feigning authenticity by imitating white working class accents and inventing stories of hard knock blue collar upbringing and claiming they earned everything they had.

    The Kennedys aped the accent but exhibit A and poster child ought to be “Howie” Carr. But there are many others. It’s practically a branch of sociology as it’s tied into notions of masculinity… even Veblen touched on this a bit, but I think it came into its own post WWII GI bill and the mainstreaming of poor whites into the polity which meant that richer whites had to make apologies or camo themselves. Probably on the wane now.

  79. 79.

    gogol's wife

    @Amir Khalid:

    I think that’s definitely a demotion. I wonder what horror they’ll get in her place. She’s been played out for about ten years now, so this isn’t happening any too soon.

  81. 81.

    Amir Khalid

    @gogol’s wife:
    A partial demotion, at any rate; MoDo will only have her Sunday column a week now, which still leaves her weekday slot to be given away. I guess that being a senior member of staff made her too expensive to fire outright. Bill Kristol’s columns were full of factual errors and nonsensical logic from the outset, and it took NYT a whole year to dump him as a contributor.
    ETA: And they replaced him with Douthat — just as wrong and stupid, but at least less glaringly so.

  82. 82.

    Hal

    A conservative Facebook friend is currently flipping out over ISIS and Iraq. Mainly cares about Christian refugees, so now suddenly it’s a crisis and all Obama’s fault. This is the same person who thinks everything Israel does is justified, but of course, all Palestinians are terrorists.

  83. 83.

    srv

    @Hal: Tell him Obama is looking for volunteers for a new Contras movement. Ask if he intends to sign himself or his children up for duty.

  85. 85.

    Pogonip

    Some-College and College Graduate whites see what happened to blue-collar whites. Now it’s happening to them and they’re terrified. On the state and national level, the Republican party addresses fear and fear alone.

    Also, re your-call-is-very-important-to-us-so-please-hold-for-another-two-hours: very often, talking in Spanish will immediately get you transferred to a bilingual human. And it doesn’t matter what you say. Count to twenty if you like.

  86. 86.

    Suffern ACE

    @Hal: I read somewhere that the always loathesome Bryan Fischer was all up in arms that Obama was sending airstrikes to help people who both muslims and christians in Iraq think of as devil worshipers. And apparently he believes them to be satanists, too.

    Remember the big deal the christian right made that Clinton wasn’t doing enough to help the Christians in Sudan. It became a big bi-partisan cause to save those Christians from genocide. But the right couldn’t have enough Christians are being genocided while the Clintons laughed away. Now that South Sudan is created, it is complete chaos, but there aren’t any Christians to be found. I guess they found out that they were the wrong kind of Christians.

  87. 87.

    Hal

    @Chris:

    When the news came out that George Zimmerman had been acquited, one of my wingnut friends on Facebook posted it along with the comment “my heart goes out to all those poor people who will be murdered tonight by thugs looking for revenge.”

    Same. I saw one post saying there were hundreds of thugs waiting to riot outside the courthouse. I’m watching simultaneously and seeing men, women, kids. But too many black folks in one area makes some people nervous.

  88. 88.

    Suffern ACE

    @Hal: Yeah. I was warned by my FB posters not to go into brooklyn after Sandy – whites weren’t making it out alive after dark. Funny, it appears that the great black riots of brooklyn never materialized.

  89. 89.

    Chet

    @Another Holocene Human (now with new computer):

    It may be that Democrats can still reach the poor whites who still vote because they’re not going to church and being propagandized (making voting against gay marriage a proof of Christiantude and so on, rah rah abortion rah rah, and so on)

    Or maybe, you know, churchgoing whites aren’t the monolithic block of incapable-of-thinking-for-themselves rubes that too many elite whites (including soi-disant “progressives”) like to believe they are.

    I mean, a lot of African-American churches have similarly anti-gay and anti-abortion messages being preached from the pulpits, and it doesn’t keep the (largely poor and working-class) people in the pews from voting Dem. Nor does it keep educated, secular, and mostly white SWPL “progressives” from allying with them, or at the very least chasing their votes.

    Maybe the whole “the white working class is hopelessly in the tank for the Repubs” meme is worth examining more critically than a lot of educated, secular, mostly-white “progressives” (who too often are status-insecure, being in many cases a generation or two removed from working on the assembly line themselves, and consequently obsessed with reassuring themselves that they’re Not Like Those People) seem to be willing to do.

  91. 91.

    Ruckus

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I just think black people are tired of getting shot while unarmed, while armed white people walk around with impunity.

    I’d bet they have been way more than tired for ever.

    We always hear the same statement from authorities after one of these incidents:

    “The officer did everything right and by the book.” It never seems to occur to them to ask, “If he did everything right, how is it that it all turned out so wrong?” Gee guys, here’s a hint: Your blessed “book” is WRONG, and you need to rewrite it.

    Some people have no idea that they are wrong so have no inkling to rethink things. I think the police in general are like this. These acts generally go unpunished or are actually approved so the book can’t possibly be wrong. This is the mind set that has to be changed. But we as a country can’t even see that shooting each other (accidentally of course!) is not OK how can we change that the police attitude?

  93. 93.

    Betty Cracker

    @the Conster: That is a good column. Walsh was very often an HRC apologist during the tiresome PUMA wars, so it’s good to see she’s clear-eyed on the issue. Her point about the HRC people knowing how Goldberg would frame the interview was a good one.

  94. 94.

    rikyrah

    The Brazilian Bus Magnate Who’s Buying Up All the World’s Vinyl Records

    By MONTE REEL
    AUG. 8, 2014

    Paul Mawhinney, a former music-store owner in Pittsburgh, spent more than 40 years amassing a collection of some three million LPs and 45s, many of them bargain-bin rejects that had been thoroughly forgotten. The world’s indifference, he believed, made even the most neglected records precious: music that hadn’t been transferred to digital files would vanish forever unless someone bought his collection and preserved it.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/magazine/the-brazilian-bus-magnate-whos-buying-up-all-the-worlds-vinyl-records.html?src=me&module=Ribbon&version=context&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Most%20Emailed&pgtype=article

  95. 95.

    rikyrah

    Midterms Give Parties Chance for Sweeping Control of States

    By ADAM NAGOURNEY
    AUG. 10, 2014

    ………………….

    It is not only Nevada. Republicans, who had appeared to hit a high-water mark in control of statehouses in recent years, are seeking to pick off another half-dozen chambers this year, taking advantage of President Obama’s persistent unpopularity, anxiety about the economy, and a history of anemic turnout among Democrats in nonpresidential election years. In addition, the party that controls the White House almost always loses seats in statehouses in those years.

    At a time when Democrats and Republicans in control of statehouses are using their authority to push through ambitious policies that by contrast highlight the paralysis in Washington, the potential for further Republican gains has raised the possibility of deepening the policy divide between red and blue states. Republicans now control 59 of the 99 partisan legislative chambers, and have complete political control — both legislative houses and the governor’s mansion — in 23 states, while Democrats control 13. The total number of states ruled by a single political party, 36, is the highest in six decades.

    Officials from both parties say there are two states that the Republicans might be able to add to the list of places where they enjoy complete control — Iowa and Arkansas. (There are no similar opportunities for Democrats.) Given that, Republicans this year are also looking to pick off individual chambers as a way of increasing their negotiating ability with Democratic governors and statehouses, or to block Democrats from passing legislation.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/11/us/politics/midterms-give-parties-chance-for-sweeping-control-of-states.html?_r=1

  96. 96.

    gbear

    Excuse me for saying this, but this posting about the cat is going to make JC feel like crap. I don’t know how rough it is for him to stay at +0, but this post isn’t the kind of reminder that he needs about why he was in such a shitty place. I’m pulling for JC to stay strong and on-path.

  99. 99.

    Jebediah, RBG

    @BubbaDave:
    So sorry – fifteen years may sound long, but it sure doesn’t feel that way when you are at the end of it. And she does have you doing everything possible to make her passage as easy for her as it can be. I’m sure she knows she was lucky to have had those fifteen years with you.

  100. 100.

    BubbaDave

    Thanks for the kind wishes, everybody. The vet was as kind as she could be, and I know it was the right decision, but still– painful for me. But Rajah is free of pain, and that’s the point.

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