Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

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

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

No one could have predicted…

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

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Second rate reporter says what?

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

This fight is for everything.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

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Saturday Morning Open Thread

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Someone pissed in my Steelers slippers last night. I’ve ruled out Shawn, but I think it might have been one of these little piglets:

goodlittledoggies

They slept like that in my left arm for two hours while I watched a movie. They are so innocent for the few hours every day they sleep.

Just in case it wasn’t them, though, I want to get on the record that I think it was Hillary who pissed in my slippers.

Reader Interactions

199Comments

  1. 1.

    muddy

    I bet it was Hillary! She’s been known to do that in the past, I’ve gotten a number of emails about it. Finally some recognition of the problem from the lieberal media.

  4. 4.

    Elizabelle

    Those puppies are going to have to go to the most excellent home. Maybe together.

    Because you have spoiled them. The rest of their little lives might be less exciting and appealing. Possibly less blogged.

  5. 5.

    muddy

    Human pups also use the sweet innocent face of sleep so that you don’t strangle them in their beds after a trying day. Excellent evolutionary adaptation.

  11. 11.

    Mike J

    Even if it wasn’t Hillary, why did she allow herself to be put in a situation where you could accuse her of it?

  12. 12.

    Librarian

    Reading that first sentence, I thought you were using a metaphor. Then I realized that someone did actually pee in your Steelers slippers.

  19. 19.

    beth

    With all due respect, the fact is we’ve got wet slippers .Whether it was some puppies out for a walk who decided they needed to pee or whether it was HIllary, at this point, what difference does it make?

  25. 25.

    WaterGirl

    Cole, I don’t think I’ve heard what Shawn thinks of the fostering operation. Does he like having the extra piglets around? Or maybe it was Shawn who pissed in your slippers?

  26. 26.

    max

    Just in case it wasn’t them, though, I want to get on the record that I think it was Hillary who pissed in my slippers.

    Bullshit, Cole. It was Mark Penn that snuck over to your house and pissed in your slipper.

    max
    [‘He was trying to determine the best way to appeal to independent voters.’]

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    @JPL: My pup is most considerate. For the occasional accident, he pees only on the hardwood floor rather than on the carpeting.

  29. 29.

    Mike J

    @WaterGirl: Much better, now at home. Still undiagnosed, but all tests say he’s healthy. They’ve just taken him off bp meds with daily monitoring. Even cleared him to travel this week.

  31. 31.

    JPL

    @geg6: Crates and puppy pads. A friend actually bought a puppy apartment which is two crates and one side had pads. The dog was easily trained to go outside though. link

  32. 32.

    Corner Stone

    All across America people are waking up to the awful possibility that someone has peed in their slippers. Do you really want to wake up every morning for the next four to eight years dreading putting on your sloppy slippers? Because that’s what a Hillary WH is going to be like.

  33. 33.

    Mike J

    @max:

    It was Mark Penn that snuck over to your house and pissed in your slipper.

    Cole’s slippers have been worn by republicans in the past, therefore they don’t really count.

  35. 35.

    jeffreyw

    A dad buys a robot that slaps you when you lie and decides to try it out on his son. The dad says, “What did you do this afternoon?”
    The son goes, “Just some homework” and the robot slaps him. “Okay, okay. I was watching porn.”
    The dad says, “What? I didn’t even know what porn was at your age” and gets a slap.
    The man’s wife sighs and says, “He’s definitely your son.” The robot slaps her.

  37. 37.

    max

    @Mike J: Cole’s slippers have been worn by republicans in the past, therefore they don’t really count.

    So the slippers supported invading Iraq? Did they applaud Bibi’s speech?

    max
    [‘He donned his fuzzy bunny slippers and let loose the dogs of war.’]

  40. 40.

    Keith G

    @Amir Khalid:

    When did you get this other pet named Hilary? Have you been holding out on us?

    Well RWNJs have been testifying that Hillary’s a bitch for quite some time.

  41. 41.

    Corner Stone

    @Baud:

    beats shitting the bed.

    I believe that’s an all too common occurrence, both in the Cole household as well as the Cole blog.

  44. 44.

    lamh36

    @John Cole +0: Dude. Have you seen Empire?

    I know that everybody I know is watching it, but I’d like to actually know how much of it’s audience isn’t African American. I know the hip hop aspect of it doesn’t sit well with some people, but I’d really like to know if the show is able to cross color lines in older folks. I know alot of young people watch it (outside of Walking Dead, it’s the highest broadcast show inthe 18-39?), and I read somewhere 3/5 African American households watch the show LIVE (that’s like 65% I believe I read) but I wonder if it’s also translating for the above

  45. 45.

    bemused senior

    Reposting from the dead thread below:

    Here’s a comment bleg: I am going on a road trip from CA to VA with my dog. After reading last Sunday’s nytimes mag about the Whitney Plantation I changed my planned route so I could visit it. They don’t let dogs in, so I need a dogsitter while I take the tour (approx. 2 hours). Does anyone in the Baton Rouge to NOLA area have a recommendation for a pet sitter? My boy is a beagle sized rescue, loves adult people, is scared of kids (though is fine if they don’t rush at him to pet him) but really doesn’t like other dogs. He was rescued from a hoarding situation with 100 dogs. You can reach me by commenting on the blog where I am planning my trip.

  46. 46.

    lamh36

    Well went to local place to get my brake tag (NOLA slang for inspection sticker) for my car.. All I had to do was sit through a semi-rant over how Obama is soon to bankrupt the country cause of his spending (forget about all the spending before him ya know) and how Obama is letting people come in and get passports for free so that they can get health insurance, so they can vote and so they can go home to Mexico to get social security checks mailed to Mexico! Glad I don’t need another for 2 years, and even then, I’ll be somewhere else…geez

  49. 49.

    Cain

    @jgabriel – I was reading a couple of comments from you regarding Linux distributions and DE environments. I was going to respond to that, but got busy. :)

  50. 50.

    geg6

    @lamh36:

    Not watching, but it has nothing to do with the rap angle. It’s that it’s a nighttime soap opera. Not big on that genre. But American Crime is awesome. You should watch that. High quality tv there.

    Don’t watch Walking Dead either. Hate horror, too.

  51. 51.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @lamh36:

    All I had to do was sit through a semi-rant over how Obama is soon to bankrupt the country cause of his spending (forget about all the spending before him ya know) and how Obama is letting people come in and get passports for free so that they can get health insurance, so they can vote and so they can go home to Mexico to get social security checks mailed to Mexico!

    You should have reminded him about Obamaphones.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    @lamh36:

    Jesus Christ on a Cracker. Say what you will about liberals, I’ve never come across random people who feel that it’s OK to talk smack about Republicans with a stranger or customer.

  53. 53.

    bemused senior

    @lamh36: Are you still in the NOLA area, and not just a linguistic resident? If so, please consider answering my bleg in the comment above yours.

  54. 54.

    lamh36

    FYI, President Obama will be speaking at Edmund Pettis bridge today in Selma. After the speech, the entire First Family will participate in a march across the Edmund Pettis bridge to honor the 50th Anniversary of the Selma marches.

    I see that the GOP has 2 delegates, none of which is part of the leadership (I mean who gonna go Steve “david duke loves me” Scalise). Last minute addition is Tim Scott (of course) and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy

  55. 55.

    geg6

    @Baud:

    I’ve walked out of businesses when they do that. It always shocks me that they assume I’m totally in agreement with them. They find out real quick that is not the case.

  57. 57.

    lamh36

    @bemused senior: hey, I don’t actually have any pets,and actually none of my fam do either, but I can check around for you and I’ll try to get back to ya today if I can.

  58. 58.

    geg6

    Heading out to get some pork tenderloins for dinner. Gonna make them with apples, onions, Dijon and thyme with some sort of rice side. Asparagus is on sale. It’s actually going north of freezing today, so I may spray the road salt off the car today. Koda will love that. She gets a new adventure (never been to a car wash before) and she won’t get wet.

  59. 59.

    WaterGirl

    @JPL: Is it just my eyes playing tricks or does the photo at the link show a dog peeing in the big side of the “apartment” which is surely not where they are supposed to be peeing?

  60. 60.

    Baud

    @geg6:

    Right. If I have a choice, why should I spend my money supporting people who feel the need to be outspoken about views that are diametrically opposed to mine? It would be like donating money to a church I don’t belong to.

  61. 61.

    JPL

    @WaterGirl: Supposedly they even have another section for a play area that you can buy. Personally, I wouldn’t spend the money but they are suppose to work.
    Finch has a crate that he sleeps in and feels very comfortable there.

  62. 62.

    WaterGirl

    @lamh36: I have Tivo recording it but I have not watched it yet. I will let you know what I think of the show once I start watching.

    I know Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder have big audiences. Since money talks, I am hoping the success of those shows will bode well for future programming.

  65. 65.

    gogol's wife

    @lamh36:

    My Irish-American personal trainer in her 40s is absolutely addicted to it, and her children call her “Cookie.” I haven’t managed to catch it yet, but if it’s like Dynasty, I’m sure I’ll love it.

  67. 67.

    danielx

    I’ve been wanting to find out whoever or whatever has been pissing on the freshly painted trim in the house I’m working on at the moment.

    Wish granted.

  68. 68.

    Corner Stone

    I don’t understand this Audi commercial with the swarming drones chasing everyone ala The Birds.
    The tag line is something like, “Advanced technology doesn’t have to be intimidating.”

  69. 69.

    Elizabelle

    @lamh36:

    C-Span 3 is broadcasting live from Selma. Thanks for reminding me.

    Good lord. Just switched back, and seemed to be a woman berating the guest, Rev. Bernard LaFayette, about blacks being the real racists. Holding signs. And they don’t speak very well either.

    I could be wrong; caught the very end of the tirade and was switching around to see if other channels were carrying Selma — they were not — but seemed to be the caller’s gist ….

    Loved LaFayette’s response: “That’s what I mean about education…”

  70. 70.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @lamh36: My experience with businesses who either blast fox news or grumble fox news talking points to customers is that these are usually the most incompetent or dishonest. Twenty years ago I took an appliance to a repair guy. He kept it for a week, and then gave it back to me admitting he was “stumped” and couldn’t figure out the problem. He had a RUSH IS RIGHT bumper sticker on his truck. I’ve had bad experiences with businesses who were out and out crooks, and they were the biggest wingnuts.

    Wasn’t Darryl Issa a used-car dealer who torched his own business? I’m unclear on the ugly details.

  71. 71.

    lamh36

    @gogol’s wife: actually the creators, Lee Daniel and Danny Strong say it is basically a Black Dynasty crossed with the Lions in Winter.

    I never saw Lions in Winter, but it def has that Dynasty/Falcon Crest feel to me

  72. 72.

    muddy

    @Baud: When I was young I was a draftsman, there was always a lot of dismay in the office about the cleaning service. I said I’d just do it, give me the $. When I went to the men’s room and lift the seat of the toilet to clean, and the rim is perfectly clean. I was puzzled. Afterwards I ask the guys why that is, is it that guys pee more politely at work as opposed to when they were drinking beer at home? Or did one of you go in before me and fix it because you didn’t want to hear me bitch about it?

    Turned out it was neither, they asked what else was in there? Oh…..a urinal…derp. It just wasn’t part of my universe. We all got a big laugh out of that one. I must have been 30 too, not a kid.

  74. 74.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @WereBear: oh Definitely! I’ve heard about that for years and years, going back to the 1950s. If you see a bible on the desk of a businessman, you WILL be cheated.

  75. 75.

    lamh36

    @Elizabelle: ugh…I appreciate CSPAN, but I really do hate when they do LIVE callers. I get they don’t screen callers, but I’d like to think they could find better hosts and get them to be better when it comes to shutting those callers down

  76. 76.

    Elizabelle

    Paul Krugman, NYTimes column: Pepperoni turns Partisan

    Big Oil, Big Tobacco, Big Pizza? We know about Herman Cain, Papa John’s crusade against Obamacare, and Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan’s support of conservative causes. But did you know that Pizza Hut gives 99% of its political donations to Republicans?

    Worth using a click to read the whole thing.

    Why should pizza, of all things, be a divisive issue? The immediate answer is that it has been caught up in the nutrition wars. America’s body politic has gotten a lot heavier over the past half-century, and, while there is dispute about the causes, an unhealthy diet — fast food in particular — is surely a prime suspect. As [a linked Bloomberg News article] notes, some parts of the food industry have responded to pressure from government agencies and food activists by trying to offer healthier options, but the pizza sector has chosen instead to take a stand for the right to add extra cheese.

    The rhetoric of this fight is familiar. The pizza lobby portrays itself as the defender of personal choice and personal responsibility. It’s up to the consumer, so the argument goes, to decide what he or she wants to eat, and we don’t need a nanny state telling us what to do.

    … At one level, there is a clear correlation between lifestyles and partisan orientation: heavier states tend to vote Republican, and the G.O.P. lean is especially pronounced in what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention call the “diabetes belt” of counties, mostly in the South, that suffer most from that particular health problem. Not coincidentally, officials from that region have led the pushback against efforts to make school lunches healthier.

    At a still deeper level, health experts may say that we need to change how we eat, pointing to scientific evidence, but the Republican base doesn’t much like experts, science, or evidence. Debates about nutrition policy bring out a kind of venomous anger — much of it now directed at Michelle Obama, who has been championing school lunch reforms — that is all too familiar if you’ve been following the debate over climate change.

  77. 77.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @lamh36: Meanwhile Rush Limbaugh boasts that he’s got the toughest call screener in the business. Nobody gets through unless they’re prepared to kiss Rush’s bum.

    Speaking of Rush, did he just admit defeat? A recent comment: “Now that I’ve outgrown the 25-54 demographic, I’m no longer confident that the way I see the world is the way everybody else does.”

  78. 78.

    trollhattan

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    Wasn’t Darryl Issa a used-car dealer who torched his own business? I’m unclear on the ugly details.

    He’s a car thief who started a very lucrative car alarm bidnez, which today makes him among the richest congresscritters. There was also, too, some kind of unresolved arson but I forget the details of that. Perhaps the House could investigate?

  80. 80.

    WaterGirl

    @JPL: I have always avoided puppy pads. My friend who had my new pup Henry for 2 weeks (before she decided she couldn’t keep him) used puppy pads and I have never had a tougher time house training a dog than I had with Henry.

    I only had to catch Tucker (my 3 year old dog) in the act of peeing one time in the house, and that was it. Henry was a challenge, but they also say little dogs are the hardest to housebreak.

  82. 82.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @lamh36:

    From what I’ve seen, the ratings just keep increasing every week, so I think it’s already reached “crossover hit” status. Has it been renewed for next season yet? If it has, it may be safe for me to start watching (shows I start watching in their first season almost always get canceled, so now I try to stay away until they get renewed).

  83. 83.

    trollhattan

    @lamh36:
    Crap I definitely never have to put up with at my biennial smog check joint, which is run by an immigrant Chinese family. They’re not escaping the oppression to go back to Shanghai (or wherevs).

  84. 84.

    Pogonip

    John, I hate to have to scold you, but by allowing the poops–er, the pups–the run of the house, you are making life much more difficult for whoever ends up having to housebreak them.

    If you are accustomed to storing your slippers in their properly newspaper-lined living space, please disregard the above.

  86. 86.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @WereBear:

    None of our cats have ever peed in our shoes, but we have definitely noticed that they love to lay on top of our shoes and enjoy the aroma, especially if we went somewhere outdoors that had a lot of interesting scents.

  87. 87.

    trollhattan

    @Elizabelle:
    The Broccoli Mandate lives!

    Also, too, Big Soda is phenomenally successful at beating back nutrition warning label efforts. Going from memory, only Berkeley has successfully passed one in California while across the bay in SF it was defeated. In Nancy Freaking Pelosi’s backyard for pete’s sake!

  89. 89.

    ThresherK

    @Elizabelle: What passes for “pizza” in red states?

    I don’t pretend that my northeastern suburbanite self knows of real Mexican food; I look to the southwestern states for that.

    So, what does the word “pizza” connote to those who are far afield of gastronomical orbit of (take your pick) New York, New Haven or Chicago?

  92. 92.

    kc

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    “Excuse me, I need to call my baby daddy and remind him to use the EBT to pick up some t-bones for the dogs. Let me just get my Obamaphone out …”

  93. 93.

    lamh36

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone): It was renewed for a 2nd season after the 2nd episode. They just havent’ stated if it will get a full slate of 22 eps or continue with just 12 or fewer than 22.

    But yeah, it’s had 8 weeks of increased viewing since the pilot. It’s only got 2 eps left. Even if the last two eps don’t increase audience, it’s already looking to probably eclipsing NCIS as the most watched dramatic broadcast show.

    It already broke modern records…so it’ def on for season 2

  94. 94.

    lamh36

    @trollhattan: the registration is only for 2 years, but my current temp tags were expiring tomorrow, so I needed to get the brake tag, ASAP. So I had to go in my current neighborhood

  95. 95.

    trollhattan

    @lamh36:
    I get it–it’s exactly the kind of thing I put off until the last second. Actually picked my current joint because it’s walking distance from my favorite pizza joint and the fact they’re very good and fast was a happy coincidence. Customer for life and all that.

    Next time you can shop around, presuming you’re not a procrastinator like I am. :-)

  96. 96.

    Elizabelle

    @lamh36: Don’t watch much network TV, but will tune in. Assume they will rerun the episodes soon?

    Also: C-Span 3 will air three (?) hours of original ABC TV footage from Selma/Bloody Sunday after today’s program ends. Date with the DVR for that. Fascinating to see it.

  97. 97.

    kc

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone):

    I watched a bit of the last show, after seeing everyone on my Twitter TL talking about. Then i started reading recaps of the prior shows to catch up with the plot.

    It looked interesting enough that I’ll try to watch the remaining eps.

    I’m already hooked on The Walking Dead & Better Call Saul. I can’t remember the last time I was following more than one TV serial at a time. Prob not since I was in high school.

  98. 98.

    J R in WV

    @Germy Shoemangler: I believe he was found to be stealling a car(s) as a career move at one point in his life, but somehow managed to slide out of the prison sentence…

    OT: Did you know that a cat’s paw registers as a fingerprint on a touchpad on Acer laptops? Hard commenting with a cat’s hand on the touchpad!

  100. 100.

    Ruckus

    @trollhattan:
    It is fun living in an area where walking down the street you can hear multiple languages being spoken. But the best example of that was at a gym in Columbus OH where one evening at my locker I heard 4 conversations going at once and not one of them in english. Farsi, german, russian, and one other I didn’t recognize.

  103. 103.

    Pogonip

    @Omnes Omnibus: If only they knew–mail service in Mexico is spotty, per travel writer Fred Reed, who lives there. He posted a funny story a while back about opening a bank account where they wanted to mail him the password. He reluctantly consented but extracted an agreement from the bank employee that if he didn’t get the password they’d e-mail him one instead. The story ended 3 or 4 rounds of unreceived passwords and I’m-sorry-sir-it’s-not-our-policy later.

    I don’t know what part of Mexico Reed lives in; out in the sticks somewhere would be my guess as I’m told the cities are about like U.S. cities. He once lived in Ajijic but moved because Americans were pouring in, and so there went the neighborhood. Anyway, you can tell your Wingnut that, per somebody who lives there, no one in Mexico is likely to get rich off mailed checks.

  106. 106.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @J R in WV: I’d like to see a blog created, maintained, and commented on by cats.

    Arguments between commenters about dogs: “bad or good” some hissing and spitting, but some good humor and helpful tips on mouse control and da humanz.

  107. 107.

    lamh36

    @Elizabelle: I’m guessing they will during the summer, but Im not sure.

    I do know they have them online almost instantly once each ep airs and on Fox to go. The show is also #1 in DVR and online viewing…so the network has had to get the episodes on the net quicker than usual

  108. 108.

    Ruckus

    @WereBear:
    The one I live with doesn’t need thumbs. She just walks on it. So if I post something here that’s actually coherent, it wasn’t me, the cat is playing with my trackpad.

  109. 109.

    J R in WV

    @WereBear: We were in western MA to visit Tanglewood for the m usic one summer, and went to dinner one day in what was presented as a top-end pizza house with the oak-fired brick oven. They did have a good variety of pizzas, but when I asked for hot pepper flakes… you would have thought I asked for a dish of plutonium as a side.

    “What!? ” the waiter asked? What?

    “I would like some hot pepper flakes, please.” I repeated.

    “WHAT?!!” he said… evidently having never heard that humans can ingest hot peppers in any form whatsoever!!

    So eventually I settled for a bottle of not hot red sauce in a bottle, to use on a very bland pizza, because they have never heard of eating garlic, either.

    On the drive up to MA, we stopped at a local restaurant, which offered a turkey and dressing and all the fixin’s – so we both ordered that. Somehow they had removed all the flavor from all the different foods. The turkey didn’t taste like anything, the dressing didn’t taste like anything, etc. We asked for butter and salted it too, so it would have some kind of flavor, and left most of it.

    How do they remove flavor from dressing?

  111. 111.

    trollhattan

    @Ruckus:
    Agree, it’s fun. I pride myself in generally being able to at least narrow down, if not identify the language spoken but have to admit I get stumped anyway.

    If my folks hadn’t decamped Iowa for the left coast things would be a lot different!

  112. 112.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @WereBear: Clarence Day wrote an interesting book in 1920: “This Simian World”

    He imagines what humans would be like if they’d evolved from cats. Some really good writing, imagining cities (no street lights; none necessary) war (apes fight in groups, cats fight solo, so conflict would be one-on-one) etc.

    He imagines a cat-man walking through his cat city. His descriptions of the ladies are fascinating.

    He imagines us evolving from other species, but the cat chapter is the most entertaining, IMO:

    Here it is in google books:

    https://books.google.com/books?id=4_xKAAAAMAAJ&pg=PT8&dq=simian+world+clarence+day&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0UD7VKbiNNLtoAS46oGwDg&ved=0CCIQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=simian%20world%20clarence%20day&f=false

  114. 114.

    Ruckus

    @Pogonip:
    Gahanna. So northeast. In the campus area I never heard any foreign languages spoken. Accents yes, but never the spoken word.

  115. 115.

    El Caganer

    I don’t get it. Are you alleging that the urine in your slippers didn’t flow via State-Department-approved channels?

  118. 118.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @lamh36:

    A lot of the cable dramas are already at 12-episode seasons, so it’ll be interesting to see if Fox follows suit. It usually works out better for both the cast and the writing staff since coming up with 22 episodes of a one-hour show is quite a grind.

  120. 120.

    Ruckus

    @trollhattan:
    I’ve been fortunate to know many people from other nations and to have traveled a bit. I was thinking about the number of languages that I can generally recognize, even though I can’t speak them. Farsi, Russian, French, German, Norwegian, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish(and spanglish!), Portuguese(rusty on this), Filipino(also rusty).

  121. 121.

    shelley

    Speaking of OnDemand, don’t waste the dollars on ‘The Judge.’ The acting is great (Robert Duvall and Downey Jr.). But it basically comes across as a male version of a Life Time Channel movie.
    ***********

    The pups are beyond cute. Hope they get adopted together as well. Painful to think of them separated.

  123. 123.

    lamh36

    President Obama and the First Family have arrived in Alabama and are making their way to Selma.
    Live streaming has started on the White House feed ‪#‎Selma50‬

  125. 125.

    WaterGirl

    @Elizabelle: Now there’s a hand I would like to shake.

    I am still bummed that the photo taken of me with Barack Obama (while I was volunteering for him in Iowa before the primary) never made it back to me. After i came back home from Iowa, I made sure to buy a smart phone so I could get photos when I went to volunteer for him in Colorado.

  127. 127.

    catclub

    @J R in WV:

    The turkey didn’t taste like anything, the dressing didn’t taste like anything

    boneless, skinless chicken breast, turkey breast, and pork loin all taste like chalk nowadays, to me.

  128. 128.

    trollhattan

    @Ruckus:
    Job before my current one the office had about 150 folks and one day I counted continent of origin among the staff: six. We were only an Antarctica shy of collecting the entire set!

  131. 131.

    Ruckus

    @trollhattan:
    So no penguins?
    That is pretty, what is the word today, I get so confused when the word changes and I don’t get the message. Oh wait, maybe I’m not supposed to get the word, that’s why it changes. Cool.

  134. 134.

    Corner Stone

    @Ruckus:

    Italian. Smacks forehead, I should be ashamed, half my ancestry is Sicilian.

    My ex-in laws would sharply disagree with you there.

  135. 135.

    Corner Stone

    @WereBear:

    @J R in WV: It’s truly bizarre. The MidWest fears so many things, in my experience, but why would tasty food be one of those things?

    Sorry, I thought he was going to Massachusetts?

  136. 136.

    Ruckus

    @Germy Shoemangler:
    No, not much of a TV person, no cable, only internet. And I went and checked and PBS is online! Will wonders never cease? I’ll check it out. Thanks!

  138. 138.

    Elizabelle

    @WaterGirl: Yeah, I never got my copy of pic taken with PBO either. South Carolina; was there working on the 2008 primary. Should follow up on that … wonder what his campaign photographer does with his archives …

  139. 139.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @WereBear:

    Massachusetts isn’t the Midwest. ? In the actual Midwest, the good “ethnic” food is usually Italian or Greek, though Mexican food has started making inroads. It’s still not as good (or as spicy) as what you can get in the Southwest, but it’s better than it used to be.

  140. 140.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @Ruckus: Fascinating documentary. Covers Joe Dimaggio’s parents being listed as “enemies” during WWII, Gay Talese talks about growing up Italian, an interesting Italian activist poet I’d never heard of addressing strikers in 1918… it covers a lot of ground. Even Scalia offers a few words!
    I don’t have cable either. I watched it on my PBS station. If it’s online, that’s great.

  142. 142.

    trollhattan

    @Ruckus:
    Somewhere there has to be a kid born at McMurdo Station or aboard an anchored Antarctica tourist ship or somesuch. I so wanted to recruit that person.

    My current joint is missing a staffer from Australia/New Zealand, which seems much easier to recruit, if tricky.

  143. 143.

    MomSense

    @lamh36:

    My middle son and I watch it. My oldest who is a musician doesn’t watch it but I think it is because he doesn’t want to think about the music industry right now.

  144. 144.

    Corner Stone

    @Elizabelle:

    wonder what his campaign photographer does with his archives

    Keeps them stored on a homebrew server in his basement in Chi-Town.

  145. 145.

    bemused

    @lamh36:

    I love how they just launch into their anti-liberal/Obama rants without knowing or caring if the customer or any old bystander agrees or not. I don’t know how they get anything done when they can’t stop thinking about their wingnut obsessions all day long.

  148. 148.

    shelley

    Been trying to view the live feed at White House.gov but keep getting an error message. Maybe too many people trying to view?

  152. 152.

    Corner Stone

    @bemused: I was at my son’s pediatric dentist one day when her husband (who I knew through mutual friends) started telling me how he’d been out of work for two years due to Obama. As he was an architect, I was unsure how Obama had forced him out of receiving work, but I didn’t ask. Probably the only time I haven’t outright asked WTF they were talking about when some wingnut round these parts started blathering racist nonsense.
    But my son likes and is comfortable with his dentist and it’s 3 minutes from our house so I kept my mouth shut and started talking college football as soon as he stopped talking for 3 seconds.

  153. 153.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @bemused: I can’t imagine what it’s like to live with that going on in your head all the time. It’s horrifying.

  154. 154.

    Elizabelle

    C-Span has Arcade Fire music while we wait. Think it’s Arcade Fire… excellent song.

    ETA: C-Span 3. Any idea what song?

  155. 155.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @WereBear:

    I blame the Pilgrims, myself. Though I keep hearing that the non-New York East Coast places that have decent pizza are run by Portugeuse settlers. It doesn’t taste like Italian-American pizza, but it’s supposed to be good.

    There are some restaurants out in the So Cal deserts run by Basque families that are supposed to be good — they came out here because it was good sheepherding country and settled in.

  156. 156.

    yet another jeff

    I like how this sounds like a euphemism…maybe it should be an alternative tag for Assholes…but for people that aren’t always assholes.

    Besides, “who pissed in your slippers last night?” sounds somewhat better than “who pissed in your Cheerios?”

  157. 157.

    trollhattan

    @WereBear:
    Speaking of…when did mac & cheese become a required menu item at upper-end restaurants? I kind of got the ironic appeal at hipster eateries, but it’s broken loose and is spreading.

  159. 159.

    Elizabelle

    What I will love is if the Obama motorcade arrives, over the Edmund Pettis bridge. I think I will cry.

    Is that what we’re waiting for?

  161. 161.

    Ruckus

    @Mnemosyne (tablet):
    We found a great Mexican restaurant in Columbus, we called it good tacos. Much better than some of the stuff we get here in socal although it’s not that hard to find good Mexican here. Used to be a place across from the San Gabriel Mission, Ponchito’s. The Best but alas closed when the owners retired about 20 yrs ago.

  163. 163.

    Tenar Darell

    @lamh36: Empire is the greatest new show I’m watching. I’d watch Taraji in almost anything (I just couldn’t handle that film with her and Idris), and I’m just really loving the over the top drama of it. Scandal has gotten me used to that genre of WTF happens next television I guess.

  164. 164.

    bemused

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Exactly. I bet they wake up in a rage, doubt they have sweet dreams. Continually raging to the max like that has gotta be doing a lot of damage to their bodies. Some may say that’s the up side, cough.

  165. 165.

    WereBear

    @trollhattan: Speaking of…when did mac & cheese become a required menu item at upper-end restaurants?

    I guess when moms stopped making it. Once you eat the real, baked with bread crumbs on top, kind, there is no going back.

  166. 166.

    Elizabelle

    OK, it’s the Pettus Bridge.

    And President Obama and his family just crossed it. In the Presidential motorcade.

  168. 168.

    Ruckus

    @Mnemosyne (tablet):
    We used to eat at the La Villa Basque in, wait for it, Vernon, of all places. Once in a while dad and I would go for lunch but we also every so often go as a family for dinner. Still there, have no idea if it’s any good but might be worth a try, it was fantastic once upon a time.

  169. 169.

    PurpleGirl

    @Baud: Shortly after I moved into the Co-Op I was riding home on the bus when I saw I was standing in front of a neighbor. She began talking about how the residents were changing and so many of those people were moving in. She went on to say that she had to find a place to move to. I responded I didn’t know where she could move to, all neighborhoods were changing. (What she didn’t realize or know was that I’d moved in only about 3 months before.) Apparently did she move because I never saw her again.

    It still surprises me that she assumed I was a long-term resident. And that she felt she could say anything to me along those lines and that I’d agree with her.

    ETA: My Co-Op is a tax-abated non-profit. We can only sell our stock/unit back to the Co-Op when we move. I’m often surprised by the number of people who complain that they can’t sell to an outsider and make a profit. You know, that was explained when they bought in, when they applied, etc. I like that someone else could get the deal I got.

  170. 170.

    Iowa Old Lady

    I’m just in awe of these pictures from Selma. We’re seeing history here with living legends like John Lewis.

  171. 171.

    WereBear

    @bemused: Continually raging to the max like that has gotta be doing a lot of damage to their bodies.

    Welllllll:

    Most personality disordered people are prone to be angry. Their anger is always sudden, raging, frightening and without an apparent provocation by an outside agent. It would seem that people suffering from personality disorders are in a CONSTANT state of anger, which is effectively suppressed most of the time. It manifests itself only when the person’s defenses are down, incapacitated, or adversely affected by circumstances, inner or external. We have pointed at the psychodynamic source of this permanent, bottled-up anger, elsewhere in this book. In a nutshell, the patient was, usually, unable to express anger and direct it at “forbidden” targets in his early, formative years (his parents, in most cases). The anger, however, was a justified reaction to abuses and mistreatment. The patient was, therefore, left to nurture a sense of profound injustice and frustrated rage. Healthy people experience anger, but as a transitory state. This is what sets the personality disordered apart: their anger is always acute, permanently present, often suppressed or repressed. Healthy anger has an external inducing agent (a reason). It is directed at this agent (coherence).

    http://samvak.tripod.com/mask.html

  172. 172.

    beth

    Ok CSpan please don’t ruin this for me by opening your phone lines for every drunk racist out there. Just keep playing music.

  173. 173.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @lamh36:

    I remember reading about him — IIRC, he was a Unitarian Universalist minister. People who didn’t live through those times (like me) don’t realize how much vigilante violence surrounded the marches after hours — it wasn’t just the police violence in broad daylight. People were murdered just for helping marchers carpool.

  175. 175.

    Ruckus

    @bemused:
    The stress level of constant repressed anger is amazing. And yes that causes many, many problems that usually shorten their lives, let alone what it does to everyone around them.

  177. 177.

    bemused

    @Elizabelle:

    Damn, that bridge should be renamed after John Lewis or MLK instead of a confederate general, senator and white supremacist.

  179. 179.

    Elizabelle

    @bemused: Maybe they can use a few names.

    Much like Virginia’s wonderful Lee Jackson King Day. Celebrated from 1984-2000. There was a concept.

    Now Lee-Jackson get the Friday before the federal Monday MLK holiday.

    And state employees pretty much get a 4-day weekend.

  180. 180.

    WaterGirl

    @Elizabelle: It was disappointing. If you follow up, please ask about Iowa, too. :-)

    I kept the really nice letter I got from him after he won the primary in Iowa. Those days and times are etched into my heart.

  181. 181.

    bemused

    @Ruckus:

    Many people who have a raging boss or close family member may be more stressed especially if they can’t remove themselves from the situation easily or quickly.

  183. 183.

    Mike in NC

    @Elizabelle: Living in NoVA for 20 years, I always got a kick out of driving on I-95 and seeing the sign for the “Stonewall Jackson Shrine” (that being the farmhouse where he died). Thomas Jefferson should have been so lucky.

  184. 184.

    Mike J

    @J R in WV:

    Somehow they had removed all the flavor from all the different foods.

    Welcome to New England. Ever watch America’s Test Kitchen? Great for techniques, but everything needs the flavoring bumped up.

  187. 187.

    Tenar Darell

    @J R in WV: Oh man, you were over into the western Massachusetts divide. No but really, there’s a difference in cuisine based on long time settlement patterns. My local pizza shop to Bertucci’s all have red pepper flakes, but I’m in southeastern Mass. We also often have not just Cholula Hot Sauce, but also Tabasco available for our eggs.

  188. 188.

    Corner Stone

    @Kevin:

    This is how you create one of them there “narratives” that get the beltway press’s juices flowing. That article goes on to point out that one of the most masterful of all the Republican Black Ops soldiers has recently signed on with Jeb Bush. (This email scandal may be Jeb’s way of letting the party know he’s ready to rumble. If so, he hasn’t lost that Bush touch.)

    Ha ha ha. Imagine that. Cole falling for yet another winger oppo schmear job.
    Hoo, I ask you, hoo cooda node?

  189. 189.

    SWMBO

    A couple of people have mentioned they are having cataract surgery soon. I had it done in 2012 and there’s a few things they don’t tell you. I sleep with a cpap machine and was worried it would dry out the stitches/new lens after. The doc told me to keep the eye shield and tape the holes shut so air couldn’t get into my eyes while sleeping. I slept with that for 2 weeks after and had minimal problems. If you’re having any dry eye issues, ask for drops to use after you finish the antibiotic/steroid drops.
    Things I learned on my own: They tell you not to bend over and pick up stuff off the floor. It raises your ocular pressure. What they don’t tell you is that it hurts like hell. Don’t take anything out of the oven for at least a month. The heat hurts and the lifting up makes it worse. Also if you’re one of those people who “snert” when they try to suppress a sneeze, don’t do that. Ever. If you think bending over raises the ocular pressure, the sudden blast of suppressing a sneeze will knock your socks off. The last bit of advice is get the big dark wrap around cataract sunglasses and wear them. Even if it’s cloudy or overcast, you won’t have the “wash out” glare when you go inside and you’ll have less headaches from the eyes trying to protect themselves from too much light.

  190. 190.

    J R in WV

    @WereBear:

    The turkey dinner had its flavor removed in New York state, just an hour or two north of NYC, on our way to Mass to visit Tanglewood, and attend the East Coast Mneral Show – very surprised to get such flavorless food so close to the city, where most food is wonderful. This was 8 or 10 years ago… so strange.

  191. 191.

    samiam

    Griftwald says that Trump has some good ideas on how to prevent dogs from pissing in your shoes. Look into it. Griftwald is never wrong.

  192. 192.

    J R in WV

    @ThresherK: Too long ago, the name is lost in the mists of time in my head… but it was in a nice big 3-story house converted into the brick oven pizza place, on the road west towards Tanglewood from our litttle tiny cheap motel.

    Just before you order, ask if they have hot red pepper flakes…

  193. 193.

    rikyrah

    @lamh36:

    I’m interested too, lamh.

    I love Empire.

    Simply love it. One of the rare shows that I actually watch when it comes on.

    And for the poster who asked above, Empire was renewed for Season 2 after its third episode.

  194. 194.

    Josie

    @MomSense: I’m curious. Why does he not want to think about the music industry. I thought he was doing well with his music.

  195. 195.

    Ruckus

    @bemused:
    I worked for an alcoholic once. For years he was OK as long as you didn’t try to keep up with him. Especially if he thought you were trying to. Then the company screwed him. In front of everyone. He drank more and let his inner asshole shine through. The stress of trying to find a job while not letting anyone around you know and working in that kind of atmosphere is huge, especially as I had to work in the public light. Trying to find a balance without taking a bat to his head….. But I finally found something else and left. One of the best days in my life was telling the CEO, here’s my two week notice. Like lifting a thousand pound weight off my back. People who are stuck in stressful situations, like multiple tours of duty in a war zone(not comparing that job to that!) really have to deal with stress or it will shorten their lives.

  196. 196.

    Misterpuff

    This is no time to punish the mistakes of the past, but to move forward into the future.

  199. 199.

    Jebediah, RBG

    @Tenar Darell:

    Oh man, you were over into the western Massachusetts divide.

    Humph. I grew up in Western MA and plenty of places had pepper flakes at the tables. I will admit, though, that it was a nice surprise when I moved to California and found out that Mexican food isn’t just rice, beans, and melted cheese, and that horchata exists.

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