Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

This really is a full service blog.

Petty moves from a petty man.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

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

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

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

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

We still have time to mess this up!

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Enthusiasm

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Enthusiasm

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max cicero

Note from commentor Max:

We need a cat picture so I’m offering up this one.

This is Cicero demonstrating his level of enthusiasm after I told him Jay Nixon was a considered a serious VP possibility in 2016.

I figure he’s that enthusiastic because he hasn’t been teargassed yet.

***********
Apart from being grateful for our animal companions, what’s on the agenda for the day?

Reader Interactions

84Comments

  2. 2.

    JPL

    Although I mentioned this below, the local news media is airing a segment about Know Your Rights if a police officer stops you. Just remember to not run, be polite and ask if you are free to go. It sounds more like a segment on how to stay alive. Last night several of the news media discovered what it was like to be tear gassed. They are not happy.

  4. 4.

    RPh

    Did you know that if “The Grapes of Wrath” were written today the antagonist would be Obama? And that guys who run orchards heroically defend their migrant workers from unions? According to the World Service the answers are “Yes!”

    Hear here: Grapes of Wrath Revisited

  11. 11.

    Comrade Jake

    @JPL: ever check out the “am I being detained?” Videos on YouTube? The stuff at the border is fascinating to me.

  12. 12.

    JPL

    Manziel seemed contrite after giving the finger to the opposing team.

    “I get words exchanged with me throughout the entirety of the game every game, week after week, and should have been smarter,” “It was [a] Monday Night Football game, and the cameras were probably solidly on me, so I just need to be, need to be smarter about that.”Manziel said. Manziel also noted he “felt like I did a good job of holding my composure throughout the night, and you have a lapse of judgment and slip up.”

    Cry me a river. I hope he starts against the Steelers.

  14. 14.

    Keith G

    @raven: Only mid 90s here, with a feels like at 105. That is why right now at 5:00 local time I’m putting on my shoes and shorts to go to the high school track and put my time in.

  20. 20.

    Shalimar

    Scarborough just referred to Capt. Ron Johnson as a “son of Ferguson.” I don’t ever recall hearing that phrase used to mean “black guy who lives in a nearby town.”

  21. 21.

    raven

    @tybee: Dang. I was doing section 4 of the Chattooga years back. I was on the back right side when we hit the first rapid and the butterfly ass guide got shot straight up in the air and came down with his knee in the middle of my thigh. I had a hematoma that turned my whole leg black for weeks.

  22. 22.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: Same here. I am supposed to go floating on the Meramec Sat. I think I will spend more time floating in it.

  24. 24.

    NickM

    Feeling very sad. We’re putting our 18y.o. cat to sleep today. She’s just not doing well. She was the sweetest cat – make that being – I think I’ve known. My 6 y.o. Daughter, who despite her own sweet nature has trouble making friends, was crying last night when we told her. She said, “Maggie is the only friend that never ditches me.” My heart is broken today.

  29. 29.

    Shalimar

    @raven: He clearly intended the “son of Ferguson” thing to be a compliment. Just noting that even in his reasonable moments, subconscious racism creeps through.

  31. 31.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NickM:

    She said, “Maggie is the only friend that never ditches me.” My heart is broken today.

    Thanx. A lot. Now my heart is broken. Give her an extra big hug for me.

  33. 33.

    JPL

    @NickM: It is so difficult to say goodbye but it seems that you are doing the right thing. Give tons of balloon juice hugs to your daughter.

  34. 34.

    Comrade Jake

    @JPL: I don’t think it’s generally a good idea to antagonize police, but it is interesting to know what’s required by law. I think we all have a tendency to listen to authority and just take it for granted that if police are asking for this or that, we have an obligation to answer them. Not so much, as it turns out.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Comrade Jake: @JPL: As a STL city cop once said to a white boy from west county who tried to “assert his rights” in the middle of a near riot, “You have the right to do what I tell you!”

    Situational awareness. Get some.

  40. 40.

    Comrade Jake

    @OzarkHillbilly: I think there may be conditions where that is legitimately true, and a riot might just be one, where public safety trumps almost everything.

  41. 41.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Comrade Jake: I almost got caught in a riot once at a Fat Tuesday parade. Things were getting hinky and I didn’t like the vibe and just started walking. Then the cops moved in. I looked over my shoulder and watched for about 30 secs or so. Ugly.

  42. 42.

    satby

    @NickM: oh, NickM, so sorry. You gave your old girl a good long life. It’s heartbreaking for kids though, when their lifelong companion goes. Condolences.

  43. 43.

    Betty Cracker

    @ Max / Anne Laurie: That is a good looking cat.

    @JPL: To Johnny, it’s always all about Johnny.

    @NickM: Damn. I am sorry. Sorry for your daughter too. Let her pick out a kitten?

  44. 44.

    NickM

    Thanks everyone for the kind words. We will get my daughter a cat, probably in a few months. I hope we can find one even half as sweet and happy to cuddle as Maggie. She really was a good friend.

  46. 46.

    Southern Beale

    @RPh:

    That’s …. that’s … sacrilege!!!! John Steinbeck is fucking ROLLING in his grave.

    I always thought if Grapes Of Wrath were published today there’d be a flotilla of phony-baloeny front groups funded by Del Monte, Cargill, Monsanto, etc. and disguised as “worker’s rights” groups (think “The Center For Consumer Freedom“), all set up to organize a massive national astroturf PR campaign. Their “experts” would be trotted out on Fox News and be quoted in NYT and WaPo columns by Ross Douthat and George Will. You know the drill. And then a magnificent piece of American Literature would suddenly be relegated to “lefty fringe” status, with school boards banning the book from English classes, etc. etc.

    I hate the way this country refuses to tackle the hard stuff, instead preferring to attach a political label to it so we can all divest ourselves of responsibility.

  47. 47.

    Keith G

    @Shalimar:

    He clearly intended the “son of Ferguson” thing to be a compliment. Just noting that even in his reasonable moments, subconscious racism creeps through.

    I would not miss that former Congressperson were he to disappear forever.

    In public comments yesterday at the Greater Grace Church, Capt. Ron Johnson said, “…This is my neighborhood. You are my family. You are my friends, and I am you….” So maybe the morning host was just riffing on that.

  48. 48.

    maurinsky

    That’s a beautiful cat. My cat Casimir died last year – cancer – and we buried him in the backyard. I had a moment of severe WTF! last week when I was doing dishes and out of the corner of my eye I saw a black & white cat (Cas was black and white) standing right on top of his grave. A closer look revealed it was not the ghost of Casimir, just a cat wandering around. Gave me a fright, though.

  49. 49.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @JPL: Post Game Interviews even had RGIII asked what he thought of Manziel. RGIII did give a gracious answer.

    @NickM: Don’t feel bad about sharing.

  50. 50.

    Keith G

    @Southern Beale:

    I hate the way this country refuses to tackle the hard stuff, instead preferring to attach a political label to it so we can all divest ourselves of responsibility.

    The political power of the shortsightedly comfortable.

    When they get to where they want to be, they are not a fan of the boat being rocked. Positions become entrenched and defenses built up. Contrary information is not allowed. More or less, it happens everywhere. That’s why our Founders designed the government that they did. Not fans of the rabble, them.

    Steinbeck was one of those folks (Guthrie was another) who believed in comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. Fewer of them around these days and the ones that are get easily drowned out in all the “noise” of our new media society.

  51. 51.

    JCT

    @NickM: Poor Maggie (and you) – we put our cat down right before my daughter left for college, had been her best friend since she was 2.

    Max cat absorbed many, many tears in his fur when she was in middle school. Sweet cat >>> mean middle school girls.

    Sounds like your puss had a good run though at 18.

    Hugs to all –

  54. 54.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    @Southern Beale:
    @Keith G:

    These days, we’re ruled by folks who want to label bravery for cowardice and cowardice for bravery. Standing up to the big bad economy destroying unions and lifting corporations on their shoulders like good serfs is ‘bravery’ now, fighting for worker rights in a collective is ‘cowardice’ because you’re supposedly destroying the economy because you, individually, aren’t good enough to succeed and thus are proven unworthy.

    Those who stock up guns and see enemies everywhere, and see the world as one full of nails needing a hammer, they’re ‘brave’, unlike the ‘cowards’ who refuse to see the real threat of hordes of ‘thugs’ threatening to destroy everything good about America.

  55. 55.

    Elizabelle

    @NickM:

    You’re making the right decision, and you’ve raised a darling, animal-loving daughter.

    My condolences; you never forget a beloved pet, and it’s hard to lose their company and little quirks.

    You must share a pic of the new kitty, once it’s in place.

  57. 57.

    Elizabelle

    @Southern Beale:

    I hate the way this country refuses to tackle the hard stuff, instead preferring to attach a political label to it so we can all divest ourselves of responsibility.

    So true. And I hate that the labeling often works. A lot of our society needs better critical thinking skills, and probably a better sense of (shared) history.

    You’re actually making a stab at that, with your very good blog.

  59. 59.

    Elizabelle

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:

    Top reader-rated comment on Chas. Blow’s Ferguson column yesterday, by “Ken H.” of Athens, AL:

    We are what we believe ourselves to be, sometimes tragically. When our perceptions veer from reality our actions can dig us ever deeper into a maladaptive pit. We are doing that in America.

    We cannot demilitarize the police because we believe we are surrounded by terrorists and dangerous illegal immigrants, and we ourselves are now armed with battlefield weapons. We cannot calm ourselves because politicians, television and radio commentators, and radical groups foment fear and fabricate conspiracies. We cannot discourage the media and politicians from fear mongering because it improves ratings and wins elections.

    Ferguson is more than an indictment of profiling and bad policing. It is a glimpse into our national character, and it is truly, genuinely frightening. It is a clear picture of a society so paralyzed by fear that it cannot address the real issues of race and poverty that are killing our dreams and our people.

    We need to keep sight of that clear picture, and avoid the blame-slinging and obfuscation.

  62. 62.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    PSA for those who are annoyed by (the apparently recent explosion) of autoplaying videos. Here is a good summary of how to make them “click-to-play” instead.

    (In the past, FlashBlock and the like was good enough for me, but that doesn’t seem to be the case on Chrome any more. sigh.)

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  63. 63.

    Elizabelle

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Simplistic, but I think you can trace a lot of the fear-mongering back to Fox News Channel, and those who profit by its offerings. Along with those who sit enthralled and empowered by its broadcasting.

    Which is not to say we did not have our problems pre-Fox: clearly no.

    But the polarization and misdirection has been raised to an art form.

    We’ve always had some ridiculous politicians, but what is sitting in this Congress is embarrassing.

  64. 64.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    @Elizabelle:

    The problem is, like I said in the previous thread: Politics has basically been hijacked by trolls. Those who purposefully foment the blame-slinging and obfuscation, and willfully subvert the ideas of bravery and cowardice, of cause and effect, even of smart and stupid, to suit their goals. And it works because it’s too large to ignore, it finds too large of an audience either from those who enjoy tearing things down or those who simply can’t see past their own perceptions and thus find comfort in those who ‘see the world they do’ and never look past that veil.

    We can try and look at the big picture all we can, but it feels like it does jack all when the larger political culture explicitly encourages exactly what that in bold says. Too many people with too much power want us to be afraid of what they want us to be afraid of, and tell us that we’re brave for being afraid and seeing enemies all around us, of seeing the ‘other’ as the enemy that needs to be vanquished or corralled.

    And it hurts so goddamn much, because it feels like we as a country are backsliding hard on this now, precisely because of how much this shit benefits certain groups. How much casting entire communities as ‘thugs’ and ‘inherently violent’ because it suits their goals, it furthers their progression while strangling a people’s in the crib over and over again. How much these groups preach ‘The American Dream, anyone can succeed’ while erecting roadblocks to ensure that, no, not anyone can succeed, that the door isn’t open to everyone, and if you try to get a foot in the door, they’ll slam it on you and lock it shut because it fits their narrative of ‘you, yes YOU are destroying OUR economy you leech!’

  66. 66.

    max

    @Betty Cracker: @ Max / Anne Laurie: That is a good looking cat.

    Thanks! He is a pretty cute. He’s also incredibly boring. This is probably because the dog beat the hell out of him when they were both little. So he just hangs out.

    @maurinsky: That’s a beautiful cat.

    Thank you!

    I had a moment of severe WTF! last week when I was doing dishes and out of the corner of my eye I saw a black & white cat (Cas was black and white) standing right on top of his grave. A closer look revealed it was not the ghost of Casimir, just a cat wandering around. Gave me a fright, though.

    I could totally see freaking out about that. When Socrates passed away at 18 I had him cremated. He sits in a box on the shelf above my desk.

    max
    [‘I miss the old guy.’]

  68. 68.

    Mandalay

    And the lamentable media reporting in Ferguson continues:

    U.S. police said early on Tuesday they came under heavy gunfire and arrested 31 people during another night of racially charged protests in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked by the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman 10 days ago…

    State Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson, briefing reporters on Monday’s night’s violence, said “our officers came under heavy gunfire” in one area.

    “Not a single bullet was fired by officers despite coming under heavy attack,” he told a news conference.

    The known facts regarding this article (as opposed to what actually may or may not have occurred) are as follows:
    [1] A cop alleges that the police came under “heavy gunfire”.
    [2] No clarification or details about that allegation are given, other than quoting the cop’s claims.
    [3] There were no police deaths, or even injuries, arising from that alleged “heavy gunfire”.
    [4] Reuters print the allegation without examining its credibility, or challenging it.
    [5] Since this article came from Reuters it will be published all over the world.
    That’s how it’s done folks. That’s how the authorities win the messaging. Expect more of the same.

    Captain Johnson was the bee’s knees for some a few days ago – an example of how the police could and should work with the community. Now…probably not so much.

  70. 70.

    Belafon

    @Mandalay: There are a number of papers and television stations with reporters in the area, including a number of non-US outlets. Their stories are contradicting Reuters, some in real-time.

  71. 71.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    Did you know that if “The Grapes of Wrath” were written today the antagonist would be Obama? And that guys who run orchards heroically defend their migrant workers from unions? According to the World Service the answers are “Yes!”

    @RPh: Well, the linked is pretty deranged, but Steinbeck turn a HARD right turn post-Korean war. His “Dear Alicia” dispatches from Vietnam are truly agonizing to read. Wrong about everything and pretty bellicose about it too.

    Doesn’t invalidate any of his early work, but it is good to realize that people who were right at one point in history (and boy was Grapes of Wrath as dead-on right as it gets) don’t necessarily stay that way. I was always a fan of his “classics” and the stunning “Sea of Cortez” (which I was appalled to find out later was more or less entirely written by Ed Ricketts who then got minimal credit and screwed on royalties to boot), and then was introduced to his later material just a couple of years ago by my younger brother.

    Sometimes it’s good to realize your idols are human and flawed. I always asked myself, “how can I write something that can measure up to Steinbeck?” Turns out post WWII Steinbeck couldn’t write something that could measure up to his early work either.

  72. 72.

    lamh36

    @JPL: as I said to someone elsewhere, The flip side though is i suspect if say Richard Sherman or the like had done this some might be calling them a “thug” or worse. Manziel has protection of privilege if you know what i mean

  73. 73.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Mandalay: I dunno about “heavy”, but they did arrest 12 members of the RCP last night. Two had pistols on them. That bunch has been in the middle of the protests for at least a couple of nights now and has a reputation for trying to spark violence.

    The Reuters story won’t be the only one going around the world. There’s also the Amnesty International people who were removed from the scene last night. Oh, and the two German reporters who were detained for three hours. And the Getty photographer. Jake Tapper and his cameraman were in the middle of the tear gas. And let’s not leave out the Breitbart reporter who has a pretty detailed account of being ordered to go somewhere and then blocked from following that order.

  74. 74.

    srv

    Patriarch Kirill popesplains reality to you Russia haters:

    “I find very dangerous this phenomenon, which is called feminism, because feminist organizations proclaim a pseudo-freedom of women that should in the first place be manifested outside marriage and outside the family,”
    …
    “Man turns his sight outward, he should work, make money. While a woman is always focused inwards towards her children, her home. If this exceptionally important role of a woman is destroyed, everything will be destroyed as a consequence – family and, if you wish, the homeland,”

  76. 76.

    Seanly

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:

    Grapes of Wrath was a wonderful book. It was the first thing I read that discussed much of how I felt about corporations and money.

    On a side note, I just got an email that Scalia will be in the building where I work on Monday afternoon to talk to law students. Telling us that there will be additional security but we shouldn’t notice. Yeah, right.

  80. 80.

    Mandalay

    @Belafon:

    There are a number of papers and television stations with reporters in the area, including a number of non-US outlets. Their stories are contradicting Reuters, some in real-time.

    That’s good to know, but my concern wasn’t really whether the claim of “heavy gunfire” was true or not. Maybe it is – I have no idea – but bold claims require bold evidence.

    Reuters was engaging in highly irresponsible reporting. They acted as a stenographer for the Police Chief, who provided no context, details or clarification for his volatile allegations.

    Reuters can claim that their report was factually accurate, but it was still a disgraceful example of propaganda from those in power.

  81. 81.

    Elizabelle

    @Mandalay:

    Another Reuters story, found via your link: in its entirety:

    (Reuters) – A 7-year-old Florida boy was in critical but stable condition on Tuesday after being shot by his grandmother, who mistakenly thought he was an intruder, sheriff’s officials said.

    Linda Maddox, 63, was asleep with her twin grandsons in Tampa after the boys’ father had gone to work, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said.

    Just before 1 a.m. EST, she heard a chair that she had put against the bedroom door handle for extra protection sliding on the wood floor. Thinking it was an intruder, she fired a shot in the dark from a .22-caliber revolver she kept by the bed, authorities said.

    “Seconds after firing, she heard the screams of her grandson, Tyler,” the sheriff’s office said in statement.

    The child was hit in the upper body and was taken to a hospital for treatment.

  84. 84.

    Citizen Alan

    @Southern Beale:

    Supposedly, while Dubya was at Harvard, he got shirty with an English professor for assigning Grapes of Wrath because it was “socialist propaganda” or something like that. Pretty much sums up the vile SOB in my book.

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