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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

by Betty Cracker|  March 31, 20155:11 am| 186 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Gay Rights are Human Rights, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Assholes, General Stupidity

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Here’s the front page of today’s Indianapolis Star:

It's this important. Tuesday's front page. #rfra pic.twitter.com/gVPf82J2iu

— Mark Alesia (@markalesia) March 31, 2015

I love how this is blowing up in Pence’s stupid face. He deserves it, the beady-eyed fuck-nugget.

[H/T: Valued commenter lamh36]

Via Buzzfeed, looks like new “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah has a Twitter problem. Don’t these giant media corporations have vetting minions to address this kind of shit? Do they not have Google, FFS?

Andrew Sullivan says he nearly died of blogging. Boo-fucking-hoo.

My kiddo is flying cross country today for a school thing, so I’ll be a bundle of nerves for the next several hours.

What’s on your agenda for this fine Tuesday, the last day of March 2015?

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Previous Post: « Open Thread: Playacting ‘Ferguson’ – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Next Post: Dr. King Was Seeking Creative Accommodation, You Know »

Reader Interactions

186Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    March 31, 2015 at 5:14 am

    Andrew Sullivan says he nearly died of blogging. Boo-fucking-hoo.

    Damn, girl.

  2. 2.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    March 31, 2015 at 5:16 am

    I’m thinking about walking to Amir’s garden tomorrow afternoon.

    ETA: Either that or Walt’s barn.

  3. 3.

    Boudica

    March 31, 2015 at 5:21 am

    Movers come today to load up our stuff. Big move from Texas to Virginia! Not looking forward to 2.5 day drive with our car-phobic cat, though.

  4. 4.

    Joey Maloney

    March 31, 2015 at 5:23 am

    Like I said downstairs: The Indianapolis Star endorsed Pence for Governor; now they’re crying because they got exactly what they wanted. Fuck them.

  5. 5.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 31, 2015 at 5:28 am

    @Baud: The life of a narcissist is so very beset with tribulations at every turn.

  6. 6.

    Baud

    March 31, 2015 at 5:28 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    You’re in Malaysia?

  7. 7.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 31, 2015 at 5:30 am

    Zoloft: kill it with fire

    Apparently it’s a great drug but I had a paradoxical reaction to it (doctor’s term, not mine) and now I’m going off of it and getting anxious because I’m afraid I’m going to get more depressed again.

    Get to take an EKG before they put me on Lithium. Woooo! Possible side effect: renal failure. Fuck yeah!

    Oh, and I quit my shitty job I hated last week. 4 days to go. Taking a pay cut but well worth it. Goodbye horrible soul killing night shift from hell!

  8. 8.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 31, 2015 at 5:32 am

    @Joey Maloney: These papers always endorse “bidness friendly” Republicans with tough talk and square jaws and then cry when they turn out to be exactly the asshat they dogwhistled to their shitty constituents that they would be.

  9. 9.

    napoleon

    March 31, 2015 at 5:32 am

    Good Morning Betty. This is a pretty early morning post from you, isn’t it?

  10. 10.

    napoleon

    March 31, 2015 at 5:33 am

    PS, prediction, the Reps in IN will make a cosmetic change to the law and the Media will proclaim that they have been reasonable and are not bigots.

  11. 11.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    March 31, 2015 at 5:34 am

    @Baud: I did date a girl from Malaysia in grad school. But, no; still in Glendale, but Amir gets around.

    ETA: Both Amir’s garden and Walt’s(Disney) barn are in Griffith Park.

  12. 12.

    Baud

    March 31, 2015 at 5:34 am

    @Another Holocene Human:

    Congrats. It’s a good feeling. I don’t know they do it in Japan where they stay at one job their whole career.

  13. 13.

    Tommy

    March 31, 2015 at 5:37 am

    @Boudica: If you don’t mind me asking where you moving to in VA.

  14. 14.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    March 31, 2015 at 5:38 am

    @Baud: My dad had one employer for his entire career, Dept of the Navy(military and civilian).

  15. 15.

    Baud

    March 31, 2015 at 5:39 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    I picture him as “The Most Interesting Man in the World” guy.

  16. 16.

    Baud

    March 31, 2015 at 5:42 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    That seems different.

    Maybe if I had been more successful at the places I’ve worked, I’d feel differently about the prospect of staying at one place.

  17. 17.

    Joey Maloney

    March 31, 2015 at 5:48 am

    @napoleon: The Indiana House (?) minority leader was on Rachel Maddow saying that the “fix” for the bill was to add sexual orientation/expression language to the state’s civil rights code so that LGBTQ would be on the same footing with racial and religious minorities.

    That wouldn’t actually be a complete fix for the bill, but if it were to end up backfiring so spectacularly as to achieve something Pence would otherwise never agree to in a million years of racist Sundays, I might never stop laughing.

  18. 18.

    Tommy

    March 31, 2015 at 5:50 am

    @Baud: Dad had one job. Air Force. I am sure he could have made a lot more money doing other things. But it was a stable job. There was never a day in my life where he didn’t give me everything I needed. A good childhood.

  19. 19.

    Baud

    March 31, 2015 at 5:53 am

    @Tommy:

    Only one job or only one employer?

    Military seems different because it’s so big, I guess.

  20. 20.

    Baud

    March 31, 2015 at 5:53 am

    @Joey Maloney:

    Ha! Me too.

  21. 21.

    Tommy

    March 31, 2015 at 5:58 am

    @Baud: That is accurate. One employer. The Air Force. But many places within said Department.

  22. 22.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 31, 2015 at 6:03 am

    Ok, I am getting cruised hard in Taipei, my poor husband lol.

    What’s the deal with the tap water here, anybody know? Staying at a hotel.

  23. 23.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 31, 2015 at 6:04 am

    @Tommy: When you get to the point where you’re so bored, restless, and demotivated you start catching yourself not caring if you do a good job or not, it’s time to go.

  24. 24.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 31, 2015 at 6:05 am

    I’m going back to working with customers directly. They give me motivation my bosses never could.

  25. 25.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    March 31, 2015 at 6:08 am

    @Another Holocene Human: You mean talking to… people? Ewww.

  26. 26.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 31, 2015 at 6:08 am

    @Another Holocene Human: good luck, lithium is great if it works but careful with the calibration.

    And good on you for quitting! As the old saying goes, before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, simply surrounded by assholes.

  27. 27.

    Boudica

    March 31, 2015 at 6:09 am

    @Tommy: Alexandria

  28. 28.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 31, 2015 at 6:11 am

    @Major Major Major Major: Ha! A lot of truth to that!

  29. 29.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 31, 2015 at 6:12 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Lol, it’s weird, I have to psych myself up for it, but I do get satisfaction from improving someone’s life in some small way.

  30. 30.

    NotMax

    March 31, 2015 at 6:14 am

    @Boudica

    Leave the boots and the Stetsons behind.

    (kidding)

  31. 31.

    Schlemazel

    March 31, 2015 at 6:16 am

    It isn’t blogging per se that nearly killed L’il Andy, He nearly died from whiplash receive from the multiple times his bullshit hit a wall of facts presented to him by readers of his shit stained scribbling.

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    March 31, 2015 at 6:17 am

    @Another Holocene Human

    Extreme dry mouth and back acne sometimes associated with long-term lithium intake.

  33. 33.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    March 31, 2015 at 6:18 am

    @Schlemazel: Whiplash can be quite painful. On the other hand, some folk enjoy pain.

  34. 34.

    napoleon

    March 31, 2015 at 6:22 am

    @Joey Maloney:

    I won’t hold my breath, but if that ends up being what they do at least it would not be purely cosmetic (assuming they do not explicitly carve out the right for someone to be a bigot so long as they invoke God).

  35. 35.

    Tommy

    March 31, 2015 at 6:23 am

    @Boudica: Wonderful. I’ve spent a ton of time in TX and VA. I worked for many years in Falls Church/Route 7/Tyson Corner. Lived for a year in Alexandria, VA. It is a wonderful state. Think you will enjoy it.

  36. 36.

    raven

    March 31, 2015 at 6:24 am

    Joe and Nicolle are splainig that the law in Indiana is just the same as everywhere.

  37. 37.

    Zinsky

    March 31, 2015 at 6:26 am

    Why is the Indianapolis Star only demanding a “fix” instead of a “repeal” of a piece of legislation that has no point to begin with? How many Christians in the U.S. have had their religious freedom impinged upon? Huh? Give me one name. Just. One. Christians are a freaking majority and control all the levers of power FFS!

    Andrew Sullivan is a self-pitying turd burglar who had a lousy blog. Good riddance. Get a real job.

  38. 38.

    Betty Cracker

    March 31, 2015 at 6:29 am

    @napoleon: I’ve been known to sneak in a pre-dawn post every now and then.

  39. 39.

    NotMax

    March 31, 2015 at 6:31 am

    @raven

    To: Joe
    cc: Nicole

    In a pig’s eye. What Makes Indiana’s Religious-Freedom Law Different?

  40. 40.

    PurpleGirl

    March 31, 2015 at 6:36 am

    Betty — Hope your daughter’s flight experiences no problems. When does she return home? Same day or later in the week?

  41. 41.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    March 31, 2015 at 6:38 am

    @raven: To be fair, everything Nicole knows about the law she learned from Megyn Kelly.

  42. 42.

    raven

    March 31, 2015 at 6:39 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Oh noze I misspelled her name!

  43. 43.

    Mustang Bobby

    March 31, 2015 at 6:39 am

    Andrew Sullivan says he nearly died of blogging. Boo-fucking-hoo.

    Really. He had a staff, he didn’t allow comments, and he charged for the privilege of reading his fappings.

    Whereas there are bloggers who do it all by themselves, no staff, no fees, and still manage to survive for a while (it’ll be twelve years in November for me) without going all Aunt Pittypat on the world.

    Set it to music, Mary.

  44. 44.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 31, 2015 at 6:40 am

    @Zinsky: I fail to see what Sullivan’s sexual orientation has to do with anything.

  45. 45.

    delk

    March 31, 2015 at 6:46 am

    Today I learned:

    March 31st is National Clams on the Half Shell Day and they are mentioned on Chic’s seminal, “Good Times”.

    Let’s cut the rug, little jive and jitterbug
    We want the best, we won’t settle for less
    Don’t be a drag, participate
    Clams on the half shell and roller skates, roller skates

    Good times, these are the good times
    Leave your cares behind, these are the good times
    Good times, these are the good times
    Our new state of mind, these are the good times.

  46. 46.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 31, 2015 at 6:47 am

    My kiddo is flying cross country today for a school thing, so I’ll be a bundle of nerves for the next several hours.

    My youngest is driving a car that hasn’t run in 2 years from here to Baton Rouge today. At least if it stops running they can just coast to a stop on the side of the highway.

  47. 47.

    raven

    March 31, 2015 at 6:47 am

    @Major Major Major Major: I was there on R&R and didn’t drink no water!

  48. 48.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    March 31, 2015 at 6:49 am

    @raven: Heh.

  49. 49.

    JPL

    March 31, 2015 at 6:56 am

    @Boudica: Might as practice now. Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow.

    The IndyStar front page is perfect. CBS morning news is going to discuss the cover.
    @raven: Idiots.

  50. 50.

    Baud

    March 31, 2015 at 6:57 am

    @raven:

    It’s just written differently.

  51. 51.

    ThresherK

    March 31, 2015 at 7:00 am

    Something called a “shifted belt” means a tire replacement is needed. We think. And, under warranty.

    Plus the corresponding other front tire (FWD rig) needs to be replaced, so I’ll now have two tires with some good life left in them, of different tire styles, for my superannuated Sentra.

    I really oughta get a steel rim and make one of them into a grown-up spare. Have used the spare that came with the car for 20 miles in 13+ years, but who knows?

  52. 52.

    Betty Cracker

    March 31, 2015 at 7:01 am

    @PurpleGirl: Saturday. To save money, the school booked flights that required us to get up in the middle of the night to shuttle the kid to the airport and pick her up very late Saturday night — and then travel to have Easter dinner with the family the next morning. Good times!

  53. 53.

    NotMax

    March 31, 2015 at 7:04 am

    @ThresherK

    There’s a room off the basement of Hades reserved for the person or persons responsible for the doughnut spare.

  54. 54.

    Betty Cracker

    March 31, 2015 at 7:06 am

    @Mustang Bobby: In the linked article, Sully seemed to think it was uniquely inhuman to have to spend seven hours a day (gasp!) in isolation cranking out content. Well, good morning, sunshine! Most jobs are a lot harder and pay a lot less.

  55. 55.

    max

    March 31, 2015 at 7:09 am

    @Boudica: Movers come today to load up our stuff. Big move from Texas to Virginia! Not looking forward to 2.5 day drive with our car-phobic cat, though.

    I’m sorry.

    max
    [‘My condolences.’]

  56. 56.

    Punchy

    March 31, 2015 at 7:10 am

    If the fix for this crap is LBGT coverage as a protected class, let me be the first of 2,581 commentors to point out that their bigot law accomplishes nada (in their minds). Bakers still gay-baking, florists still homo-decorating, no?

  57. 57.

    ThresherK

    March 31, 2015 at 7:12 am

    @NotMax: We didn’t revolt against that in numbers enough, and now there are run-flat tires which feel like crap (I hear) and also cars without a spare, but a can of Fix-A-Flat and an electric compressor!

    My car’s tirewell is big enough for the grownup tire.

    Hey, who played the third part of the love triangle in On The Twentieth Century and did they hold the stage like Peter Gallagher and Kristin Chenoweth?

  58. 58.

    PaulW

    March 31, 2015 at 7:12 am

    What am I doing this day?

    Blogging about Indiana meself.

    Banging the keyboards to get maybe… MAYBE… a short story done for an anthology project.

    Oh, and we have ponies at the library (well, outside the library) today. This afternoon at Bartow Public. Kids can ride, I believe. I hope they bring a llama, so we can have another escape attempt to livetweet.

  59. 59.

    satby

    March 31, 2015 at 7:13 am

    @Betty Cracker: That’s why we can’t have nice things: because the privileged have no freakin clue how easy they actually have it.

  60. 60.

    PaulW

    March 31, 2015 at 7:14 am

    @Boudica:

    Movers come today to load up our stuff. Big move from Texas to Virginia! Not looking forward to 2.5 day drive with our car-phobic cat, though.

    Ach. Safe travels with the kitteh, and yourselves. Good luck with the move! What part of Virginia, coastal or mountain?

  61. 61.

    PaulW

    March 31, 2015 at 7:15 am

    @Mustang Bobby:

    Set it to music, Mary.

    (Begins playing “Uptown Funk”)

  62. 62.

    Mustang Bobby

    March 31, 2015 at 7:21 am

    @PaulW: Okay, that settles it. The next time I’m on the way to Lakeland for the car show, I’m definitely gonna stop in Bartow for more than just breakfast. Llamas are cool.

  63. 63.

    NotMax

    March 31, 2015 at 7:22 am

    @ThresherK

    Haven’t seen the new production, only the original (Cullum, Kahn, Kline, Coca).

    However, a quick check shows it is Andy Karl.

    (Enjoyed Kristin Chenoweth as Olive Snook in TV’s Pushing Daisies.)

  64. 64.

    ThresherK

    March 31, 2015 at 7:25 am

    @NotMax: Oops, sorry. Upon further thought it was original you said you saw? If so I’m jealous. Plenty of great songs on that recording, I’ve almost worn the CD out.

  65. 65.

    martha

    March 31, 2015 at 7:26 am

    @Boudica: Must be the week for moves! They’re here packing and the truck shows up tomorrow. We’re headed West. Leaving Scott Walker’s paradise (my poor husband’s native state) and moving to the Denver area. Doggie will be confused after 2 hours, her longest road trip! It was time for an adventure…

  66. 66.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    March 31, 2015 at 7:26 am

    @PaulW: Great blog post. Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  67. 67.

    Keith G

    March 31, 2015 at 7:27 am

    Don’t these giant media corporations have vetting minions to address this kind of shit? Do they not have Google, FFS?

    FFS Betty, why are you assuming that they, Comedy Central – let me repeat, Comedy Central, did not do their due diligence and just were comfortable** with what they found. Trevor Noah’s comedy work is pretty good (watch him on Netflix), but that is a bit beside the point that now a new outrage orgasm is lurching forward from some parts of the left. I hope it is just an over-reported twitter spasm.

    **Examples of Comedy Central comfort level

  68. 68.

    Iowa Old Lady

    March 31, 2015 at 7:38 am

    I have to admit to being startled by the strength of the backlash against the Bigots’ Freedom law in Indiana. Apparently, the nation really has changed.

    I had a minor freak out the other day when I realized Stephen King has a book with the same title as mine coming out a month after mine, but my publisher laughed. There are already books with the same title (I knew that), and you can’t copyright a title (I knew that too), so relax and call it serendipity.

    When I told my aerobics teacher, she said, “Can he do that?” That made me laugh.

  69. 69.

    Botsplainer

    March 31, 2015 at 7:39 am

    Dog training question: he’s sweet and really bright with this dashing sense of play and a great sense of where he is.

    The problem is that if he gets out, he’s extremely hardheaded and refuses to come home until he’s damn good and ready. Outdoors, he sees “come” as a game, and wants to split for a neighbor’s house about 400 yards away through the back woods because there are kids who love him and feed him hot dogs. I wouldn’t mind so much except that he also happens to view cars as exciting toys wielded by playmates.

    This morning, I spent an hour getting him home because some dumbass who wasn’t me decided to open the door to look at raccoons on the roof at 5:30 AM, and she couldn’t figure that he’d try to dart. Watched him nearly get his dumb ass run over by a neighbor and chase out nearly to a really bad road while I shouted for him.

    Any tips would be helpful, particularly on the car thing.

  70. 70.

    Germy Shoemangler

    March 31, 2015 at 7:42 am

    INDIANAPOLIS—Addressing the controversy surrounding his state’s recently signed Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Indiana governor Mike Pence forcefully insisted to reporters Monday that the new law has nothing at all to do with what it was explicitly intended to do. “Let me state directly that in no way is this law designed to allow the kind of anti-gay discrimination that is the law’s single reason for existing,” said Pence, emphasizing that provisions authorizing businesses to refuse service to gay customers were nothing more than the only explanation for the law being drafted in the first place. “Regardless of the widespread misconceptions surrounding it, I want to reassure Hoosiers of all backgrounds that this law will never be interpreted in the way it was unambiguously designed to be from the very beginning.” Pence further clarified that the act’s sole purpose was in fact to safeguard the free exercise of religion it was in no way whatsoever created to protect.

    – The Onion

  71. 71.

    Nemo_N

    March 31, 2015 at 7:42 am

    Parade of wackos at CNN doing their best to defend Indiana’s fuck up. Interviewer is giving them a tough time but I fear it all might fall back into the good ol’ “would someone please think of the bigots?”.

  72. 72.

    Betty Cracker

    March 31, 2015 at 7:48 am

    @Keith G: Yeah, I’m assuming Comedy Central’s PR team fell down on the job. Noah’s tweets were offensive and unfunny, and a competent PR minion would have advised him to delete them. If you can’t tell the difference between the South Park clip and Noah’s tweets, there’s no point in discussing it further.

    @Botsplainer: Recall is one of the hardest things to teach a dog, IMO. You have to reinforce it over and over using treats and praise and always using the same word (“come” or whatever) until he gets it through his head that when you say that word, you expect him to immediately come to you.

  73. 73.

    Woodrowfan

    March 31, 2015 at 7:49 am

    @Tommy: I’m in the Falls Church/Arlington area and yeah, Alexandria is nice. It may taking getting used to the traffic but other than that…

  74. 74.

    Iowa Old Lady

    March 31, 2015 at 7:50 am

    @Botsplainer: One of our dogs did that too, and we were hopeless at figuring out how to fix it. He could keep you permanently 6 feet behind. I hope someone here has advice.

  75. 75.

    Phylllis

    March 31, 2015 at 7:50 am

    @Iowa Old Lady: When I worked in the bookstore, high school kids would come in regularly asking for The Invisible Man and when they couldn’t be arsed to know which one they were supposed to get, would amuse myself by leading about half of them to the Wells book and the other half to Ellison’s. Good times.

  76. 76.

    JPL

    March 31, 2015 at 7:50 am

    @Germy Shoemangler: lol In the WSJ while denying that the bill discriminates, he said he would walk out of restaurants that discriminates.

  77. 77.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 31, 2015 at 7:51 am

    @Botsplainer: Engage a professional. You need the training.

  78. 78.

    Germy Shoemangler

    March 31, 2015 at 7:51 am

    From what I understand, every single one of the GOP presidential hopefuls, from Cruz to Bush and everyone in between, endorses Pence and his bill.

    [Montgomery Burns voice] “Excellent”

  79. 79.

    Baud

    March 31, 2015 at 7:51 am

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    That’s more coherent that Pence’s actual response.

  80. 80.

    Germy Shoemangler

    March 31, 2015 at 7:52 am

    @JPL: I saw that! He will refuse to do business with anyone who follows his law…

  81. 81.

    JPL

    March 31, 2015 at 7:54 am

    @Botsplainer: I’m on my second terrier mix and if the choice is between squirrel or come, the squirrel wins. What I have managed to do with Finch was teach him, a strong sit. At least he will stay until I can catch up.

  82. 82.

    Iowa Old Lady

    March 31, 2015 at 7:54 am

    @Germy Shoemangler: This will be trouble for them during the debates. I can’t believe how stupid they are. They were on the verge of having this issue off the table so they could court LGBT voters.

  83. 83.

    JPL

    March 31, 2015 at 7:56 am

    @Germy Shoemangler: Businesses that discriminate, need to post their convictions on the door.
    The oped piece that Pence signed sounds like it came from the Onion. The Onion article could appear in the Indy Star.

  84. 84.

    Iowa Old Lady

    March 31, 2015 at 7:56 am

    @Phylllis: LOL. A librarian friend of mine says she goes crazy when people come in with only a title because there are always several possible books.

  85. 85.

    Baud

    March 31, 2015 at 7:59 am

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    I can’t believe how stupid they are.

    Liar.

  86. 86.

    Germy Shoemangler

    March 31, 2015 at 8:00 am

    I imagine businesses will be putting little “fish” symbols on their doors, to subtly ward off any same sex couples looking to be treated with fairness and respect.

  87. 87.

    MattF

    March 31, 2015 at 8:00 am

    Sullivan has now looked around and noticed that no one is paying attention to him. I’ll allow that he’s got various habits that could be dangerous to his own well-being. But I’m guessing that he doesn’t really want to give them up.

  88. 88.

    Cervantes

    March 31, 2015 at 8:01 am

    @Zinsky:

    Why is the Indianapolis Star only demanding a “fix” instead of a “repeal” of a piece of legislation that has no point to begin with?

    Their reasoning is given right there in the editorial: political impossibility.

    (I’m not commenting on the quality of their reasoning.)

  89. 89.

    Kathleen

    March 31, 2015 at 8:01 am

    @Another Holocene Human: Yes. Poor Andrew. More self absorption than a Bounty picker upper.

  90. 90.

    Botsplainer

    March 31, 2015 at 8:02 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Our old Belgian Groenendael used to ALWAYS come, and we could’ve left that dog outside all day every day without worrying about him ever leaving the yard. This one’s a Tervuren, practically the same exact breed, and is just thick headed. I guess I’ll go back to keeping treats in my pocket.

    He hasn’t been outside on his own since Christmas, when my oldest daughter thought he needed to pee, and let him out like we did our old dog.

    I walk him in a cycle that is a mile and a half, one in the morning, one at night, but he doesn’t have a lot of free play space except for the house.

  91. 91.

    MattF

    March 31, 2015 at 8:02 am

    Mr. Pierce has a nice rant on ‘both sides do it’:

    http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a34013/elizabeth-warren-ted-cruz/

  92. 92.

    Germy Shoemangler

    March 31, 2015 at 8:02 am

    @Iowa Old Lady: Maybe not? If the only debate moderators allowed by the GOP are fox news types who ask “So who is more wonderful? You or you?”

  93. 93.

    Cervantes

    March 31, 2015 at 8:04 am

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    I imagine businesses will be putting little “fish” symbols on their doors, to subtly ward off any same sex couples looking to be treated with fairness and respect.

    That would certainly help the people of Indiana decide (again) what kind of polity they want to be.

  94. 94.

    ET

    March 31, 2015 at 8:04 am

    I know there are some legal scholars who aren’t nuts that are saying this law doesn’t do what people fear and it isn’t legal cover to discriminate but I honestly don’t see how it doesn’t. Sure the law doesn’t stop people from suing business and doesn’t insure those who sue will win, but it does give them cover at the time the service is requested and many people won’t push it so in fact it is legal cover to discriminate.

    Personally I would almost rather those business owners that would use this law would be punished by being forced out of business but there are possibly enough like-minded people that it might not work.

  95. 95.

    Boudica

    March 31, 2015 at 8:06 am

    @Tommy: Looking forward to it. I went to high school in Springfield. 26 years in Texas is enough.

  96. 96.

    Botsplainer

    March 31, 2015 at 8:07 am

    @Cervantes:

    I’m also thinking that rural, village and exurban Talibornagain GOP voters simply don’t give a shit about multibillion dollar impacts to Indianapolis hotels, bars and restaurants.

    Nastiness seems to be genetically imbedded in Hoosier conservative souls, hence the previous popularity of the KKK.

    How else do you explain the previous popularity of Bobby Knight?

  97. 97.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 31, 2015 at 8:09 am

    @Iowa Old Lady: “and I think the cover was red!” Yes, we hate that. We do have magical powers though. Case in point:
    Friend: I learned a cool german word today!
    Me: is it Backpfeingesicht?
    Friend: …yes. How did you know?
    Me, shrugging: librarian.

    @MattF: like such as?

  98. 98.

    Botsplainer

    March 31, 2015 at 8:11 am

    @ET:

    Here’s my problem with it – it isn’t so much about Indiananapolis but about the smaller burgs locking people out of employment and trade. It’s the places where there are no other options and a dominant tribal leader where people are most at risk.

  99. 99.

    Anya

    March 31, 2015 at 8:11 am

    Trevor Noah tweets are disgusting. The first one is not problematic at all but the rest are just awful.

  100. 100.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 31, 2015 at 8:11 am

    *Backpfeifengesicht.

    This new autocorrect is murdering me.

  101. 101.

    Baud

    March 31, 2015 at 8:12 am

    @ET:

    It’s possible that this law, after much litigation, could be interpreted by the courts to do very little. But the law is written in an ambiguous way to allow conservative litigants to push the argument and, in the meantime, to allow anti-gay business owners to discriminate with greater assurance.

  102. 102.

    MattF

    March 31, 2015 at 8:13 am

    @Botsplainer: Indiana needs to tend its ‘salt of the earth’ image. Not like Illinois, God forbid. And not like those weird hilly places to the south-east or the red muck to the south.

  103. 103.

    debbie

    March 31, 2015 at 8:13 am

    I love how Pence et al. are insisting that the people asking for tolerance are really the intolerant ones. I think I woke up in the Twilight Zone.

  104. 104.

    Betty Cracker

    March 31, 2015 at 8:14 am

    @Botsplainer: My dogs aren’t all that well-behaved, so I’m really in no position to offer advice, but my guess is your old Belgian Groenendael understood what you wanted and your Tervuren doesn’t get it yet. Treats in the pocket are a good idea!

  105. 105.

    Keith G

    March 31, 2015 at 8:16 am

    @Betty Cracker: Some further discussion anyway: Of course the two are different and taken in isolation, self important fools can use them to be noticed in their outrage. I would imagine that Noah’s tweets are known and have been followed TDS production staff and CC suits for a while now.

    Your linked article cited a critical tweet by a chap named Ari David. Let me acquaint you with another tweet by Ari David

    What made Ronald Reagan so great was he reminded America who & what we are. Everything @BarackObama & democrats do makes us try to forget

    We must not carry water for these creeps.

    Another tweeter, Adriana Gic Perry, who is really outraged about Noah is mad about something else too.

    How long will West ignore that Russia, for all its weakness, is in the strong position & winning? The balance CAN be changed, just no will

    I imagine these folks are around the bend, but I hope others wait to judge Noah in the job he will be doing – not that I care about Noah as a person, but I care about comedians being able to push limits and in doing so say things that others will not like.

  106. 106.

    MattF

    March 31, 2015 at 8:18 am

    @debbie: Their confusion and hypocrisy is dismaying– yet another example of the social component of cognitive dissonance. But the real world is still there.

  107. 107.

    Germy Shoemangler

    March 31, 2015 at 8:22 am

    @Major Major Major Major: I disabled autocorrect on my macbook pro. Just went into keyboard functions and turned it off.

    The last straw was when I typed “shout out” and moved on, and then later looked back and saw “shoot out”

  108. 108.

    Baud

    March 31, 2015 at 8:23 am

    Warren says again on Today Show that she’s not running for president.
    So expect another three months of reporting about whether Warren should run.

  109. 109.

    MattF

    March 31, 2015 at 8:24 am

    @Germy Shoemangler: Autocorrect is useful when it changes ‘teh’ to ‘the’, but that’s about it.

  110. 110.

    Botsplainer

    March 31, 2015 at 8:24 am

    @MattF:

    So far, Kentucky’s General Assembly hasn’t had the guts to fuck around with the local ordinances on fairness passed by the cash cow that is the People’s Democratic Socialist Republic of Louisville (we only get back 50 cents on every dollar sent to Frankfort and support all those hardworking bootstrapping heartland conservatives), but that is only because the Governor and the House are still in Democratic hands. If the GOP gains total control, however, the chicken fucking activists will get their way.

    Happily, the guy I view as the likely strongest GOP contender has announced that his central plank is repealing Kentucky’s insurance exchange and opposing Obamacare. That exchange is genuinely popular, and he’s not going to have that thar colored boy on top of the ticket to run against.

  111. 111.

    danielx

    March 31, 2015 at 8:24 am

    Warning: extended post/rant.

    B’rer Pence has done put himself in a cleft stick of his own devising. If he doesn’t do something about RFRA he loses the support of the state’s corporate business community (insofar as he still has any of that support) and becomes a one term governor; if he (and the lege) do something about it he will be viewed as a political coward by and loses the support of the wingnut/yahoo community and…becomes a one term governor. Obviously I’d prefer door #2, but Pence is up to his lips in shit no matter hows it comes out. Way out on a limb and not a thing in sight except a saw…how delightful.

    As a measure of how pissed the corporate community is, bear in mind that the Star is, pretty much, a mouthpiece for the state’s corporate interests. Been reading the Star for a few decades, particularly since X père worked there for a few decades. It’s not exactly a bastion of liberalism, to put it mildly, although its editorial stance is somewhat less Neanderthal than it was under the Pulliam regime. I can’t think of a time when I’ve seen a Page One editorial from the Star – ever. I would imagine, further, that receiving a hand-delivered letter from the CEOs of nine of your state’s largest firms, with the letter saying fix this right the fuck now, has the effect of concentrating the mind wonderfully.

    Jon Mills, spokesman for Cummins Inc., whose CEO Tom Linebarger signed the letter, said changing the RFRA legislation likely will involve introducing a new amendment in the current session of the legislature or stripping part of an existing bill to insert language that would modify the RFRA….Pence said over the weekend he is open to “clarifying” the new law.

    Other executives signing the letter were Bill Oesterle, CEO of Angie’s List; Joseph Swedish, CEO of Anthem; Jeff Smulyan, CEO of Emmis Communications; Dan Evans, CEO of Indiana University Health; Jack Phillips, CEO of Roche Diagnostics; John Lechleiter, CEO of Eli Lilly and Co.; and Tim Hassinger, CEO of Dow AgroSciences.

    I will note that under Mitch Daniels, who the state’s wingnuts regarded as a RINO and hated with a passion, this entire episode would have never happened. Our (but not MY) man Mitch was/is your garden variety corporate Republican with all that implies, most particularly an acute sense of which side of his bread is buttered. Daniels would have quietly passed the word that he would veto any such legislation on the grounds of its negative impact on the state’s economy, and let’s not embarrass ourselves with a public intraparty fight here, boys, because I’ll win both legally and in the court of public opinion. Pence, on the other hand, is not a corporate Republican (except to the extent that they all are), but is instead a creature of that same wingnut/yahoo community, and not a very bright one at that. Pence knew – or should have known, anyway – what was going to happen since it’s not like there wasn’t plenty of vocal opposition to the passage of RFRA from business people, not to mention the LGBT community and others. But of course he signed the law, what else was he going to do? Tell his wingnut supporters he couldn’t get behind a cause near and dear to their shriveled black hearts and which mirrored his personal inclinations as well?

    Bear in mind that Indiana probably has as high or higher a percentage of wingnut legislators than any other similar body north of the Mason-Dixon line, except maybe Idaho. Indianapolis has a large and active LGBT community, but in the rest of the state the gay populace pretty much keeps its head down as a matter of health and economic necessity. The base politics (base in several senses) behind RFRA are at heart a large Fuck You from those very same wingnut legislators to the whole state’s LGBT community, liberals, liberal judges and the 21st century in general, with the most proximate motivation being repeated losses on the gay marriage issue: okay, antichrist faggot perverts, those fucking liberal judges say it’s okay for you to get ghey married and legally engage in your perverted filth? Let’s see how you like this! Or, somewhat more elegantly put by a professor of con law at IU Maurer School of Law –

    By contrast, RIFRAs like Indiana’s are being impelled by the politics of anti-gay backlash. Their most ardent supporters come from an increasingly angry, marginalized, and shrill subset of Christian conservative activists. These activists want to stick a symbolic thumb in the eye of judges who struck down anti-gay marriage laws, along with the elected officials, business and cultural leaders, and ordinary citizens who have produced breathtakingly rapid change on the questions of marriage rights and LGBT equality generally.

  112. 112.

    Cervantes

    March 31, 2015 at 8:28 am

    @Botsplainer:

    I’m also thinking that rural, village and exurban Talibornagain GOP voters simply don’t give a shit about multibillion dollar impacts to Indianapolis hotels, bars and restaurants.

    Is it possible they could be as ignorant or short-sighted as that?

    hence the previous popularity of the KKK.

    There is that to be explained, I agree.

    At least, I hope it’s “previous.”

    How else do you explain the previous popularity of Bobby Knight?

    Money had a lot to do with it, I think.

    Knight was an awful person and should never have been allowed anywhere near students. A convicted felon, he was protected for decades by institutions that were quite happy to keep using him.

  113. 113.

    NotMax

    March 31, 2015 at 8:31 am

    Dr. Jones the elder: “We named the dog Indiana.”

    And the dog hung its head in shame.

  114. 114.

    nancydarling

    March 31, 2015 at 8:31 am

    @Botsplainer: This will probably call down the wrath of BJers on my head, but consider a shock collar. I have one for my big dog and am considering one for my little guy who can’t be let off leash on walks around my 23 acres.

    Before you all scream bloody murder, At least 4 neighborhood dogs in the last few years have been hit and killed by cars. A shock collar properly used is not cruel. It’s certainly not as cruel as being run over and killed.

    My relationship with big dog has not been harmed. He is utterly devoted to me as I am to him

  115. 115.

    Betty Cracker

    March 31, 2015 at 8:34 am

    @Keith G: It’s not carrying water for right-wing idiots to note that some of the tweets highlighted in the article were sexist and anti-Semitic. They were. Period.

    I’m all for people — comedians and anyone else — having the right to “push limits” and “say things that others will not like.” But freedom of speech doesn’t equal freedom from (non-violent) consequences of said speech, as we so frequently note around here when right-wingers start blubbering about the PC police.

    Personally, I don’t think a few asshole tweets should destroy anyone’s career. I say give the guy a chance. But I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t say anything about him either. It’s a data point.

  116. 116.

    Cervantes

    March 31, 2015 at 8:34 am

    @danielx:

    Thanks for that. I particularly like the picture of these people shaking their fists at the 21st century. If only we could persuade them to use both fists, Indiana would be a better place.

  117. 117.

    rikyrah

    March 31, 2015 at 8:36 am

    I love how this is blowing up in Pence’s stupid face. He deserves it, the beady-eyed fuck-nugget.

    tell me how you really feel

  118. 118.

    Keith G

    March 31, 2015 at 8:36 am

    @danielx: Thank you for a very well-articulated and informative bit of writing.

  119. 119.

    liberal

    March 31, 2015 at 8:43 am

    @Betty Cracker: I thought, “Hmm…Noah…sounds like a Jewish name…so it would more properly be ‘self-hating Jew.'”

    Then I saw, “wait…black dude…South African black dude!”

    Then Wikipedia says his mom is half-Jewish. So maybe he really is self-hating rather than anti-Semitic.

  120. 120.

    kc

    March 31, 2015 at 8:44 am

    I hope Trevor Noah is funnier onstage than he is in those tweets.

  121. 121.

    Phylllis

    March 31, 2015 at 8:47 am

    @Major Major Major Major: Ah yes, the old “I was in here last week and you had a book on display up front. I think the cover was red/blue/green/white/black. Do you have any left?”

  122. 122.

    JMT

    March 31, 2015 at 8:52 am

    @Botsplainer:
    I would do a lot of long-line come training outdoors – use MEGA high value treats and play moments as rewards for the come. Work all over your yard. Enlist neighbor kids to be distractions, escalate the value of their interest (standing still, waving toys, waving dull treats, waving yummy treats, but always out of reach. Also practice just short of the road, waiting (or setting up) cars to drive by. Also practice recall work at your door, using leash for safety: open door, if he moves outward call him back and reward big time.

    Then repeat all the distraction work off lead. Start close to dog with low distractions.

    An excellent guide to training a come to a whistle is a DVD: Training The Whistle Recall by Pam Dennison

    Young tervs need jobs, so more training generally will be useful. Training lots of tricks or taking a rally or agility class might be good!

  123. 123.

    the Conster

    March 31, 2015 at 8:54 am

    “beady eyed fuck nugget” is my new favorite saying.

  124. 124.

    chopper

    March 31, 2015 at 8:54 am

    @liberal:

    depends on which side his mom is “half Jewish”, but I doubt that’s the term he would be using if her mother, rather than her father, was.

    “It’s okay, my grandparent was Jewish” won’t really fly very far in either case.

  125. 125.

    danielx

    March 31, 2015 at 8:55 am

    @Cervantes:

    Is it possible they could be as ignorant or short-sighted as that?

    Oh, yes.

  126. 126.

    Betty Cracker

    March 31, 2015 at 8:56 am

    @danielx: Well said. I hope to see the tussle between the so-cons and corporate repubs sandbag their prospects nationwide.

    @liberal: He’s a young guy who said a few remarkably stupid and offensive things on Twitter. That’s probably all there is to it. Hopefully he learns from it and moves on.

  127. 127.

    Tenar Darell

    March 31, 2015 at 9:02 am

    @Germy Shoemangler: What does it mean that the Onion summarizes the law and its issues so succinctly when the regular media cannot? /sigh

  128. 128.

    Cervantes

    March 31, 2015 at 9:04 am

    @liberal:

    So maybe he really is self-hating rather than anti-Semitic.

    I presume you’re not suggesting those are the only two possibilities.

  129. 129.

    msdc

    March 31, 2015 at 9:06 am

    @Keith G: I’m a little more concerned about all the tweets by this creep named “Trevor Noah” who just got the gig hosting the Daily Show.

    Based on his few appearances on TDS, I figured we’d be getting a dose of High Broderism with even more condescension, basically all of Stewart’s worst traits dialed up to 11. Looks like Comedy Central decided to bypass that stage and move straight to a misogynist asshole.

    Ah, well. Looks like I get to go to bed earlier.

  130. 130.

    Botsplainer

    March 31, 2015 at 9:09 am

    @JMT:

    Thank you! I’ll check that DVD out.

    What do you generally consider a “high value” treat (aside from live hamsters or baby squirrels, LOL)?

  131. 131.

    Botsplainer

    March 31, 2015 at 9:11 am

    @nancydarling:

    I’ve thought about it, but have qualms.

  132. 132.

    Hildebrand

    March 31, 2015 at 9:13 am

    @Boudica: Our movers are here today, as well. We are moving from Texas to Detroit.

  133. 133.

    TerryC

    March 31, 2015 at 9:13 am

    @Iowa Old Lady: Make sure that he knows that you always have a few treats in your pocket. Reward him once in a while but don’t make it an every time ritual, except to get his attention the first couple of days.

  134. 134.

    Tenar Darell

    March 31, 2015 at 9:17 am

    @Phylllis: LOL You are evil; I like you. I used to have to make the teenagers find out which version of The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay they were supposed to read.

    @Iowa Old Lady: Heh. It’s terrible, the only way to figure some out is to try to extract where or when the patron heard of the book or the possible plot or genre. It’s why librarians often make lists of current books that are films, or getting heavy media promotion.

  135. 135.

    nancydarling

    March 31, 2015 at 9:18 am

    @Botsplainer: Botsplainer, a quality collar starts out at a very low shock level. I almost never have to use the shock mode. Mine has a vibrating mode too and that is enough to make him come. We were walking on my neighbor’s place and he accidentally ran into the neighbor’s electric cattle fence. It was a really loud yelp he let out. When I do shock him (rarely), it elicits a shake of the head.

    I was not keen on the idea at first, but after seeing dogs get killed, it didn’t seem like a horrible idea. He is a perfect gentleman in the house, but very stubborn outside with all the glorious smells calling him.

  136. 136.

    Cervantes

    March 31, 2015 at 9:24 am

    @Boudica:

    Big move from Texas to Virginia!

    @Hildebrand:

    We are moving from Texas to Detroit.

    Thanks a lot, y’all!

    At this rate how are we ever going to turn Texas blue?

  137. 137.

    Fridaynext

    March 31, 2015 at 9:36 am

    @Cervantes:

    Is it possible they could be as ignorant or short-sighted as that?

    I have tons of family in rural south Indiana, and yes, yes they are. (It’s where I learned that there are racist nicknames for just about everything from Brazil nuts to geodes and I learned how to shoot guns by imagining that coffee cans were [fill in racist epithet here] running for their lives). Even more, they view much of Indianapolis as big city carpet baggers and would be fine with the whole city shutting down and moving to Chicago and Bloomington as filled with godless heathen feminist intellectuals and should be beaten or jailed.

  138. 138.

    Hawes

    March 31, 2015 at 9:44 am

    @Betty Cracker: Some of the Tweets, I could not understand why people thought they were offensive. The one where he wondered if he should get “his woman” to fear his penis so it would appear bigger…Isn’t that a joke about his own fear of having a small penis? The one where he responds to “a women who is loved becomes ten times the woman” and ponders, “so she gets fat?”… I mean THAT’S misogyny? Or grammar humor.

    Comedians press limits. Sometimes they walk right over them. We all defended some of the crap Colbert did, because he was Colbert. That Asian kerfuffle was one where we mostly came to his side.

    But Noah is some sort of reprobate?

  139. 139.

    cokane

    March 31, 2015 at 9:44 am

    i never understood sullivan saying the dish was a grueling pace. in that interview he squawks about 40 posts a day, but the overwhelming majority of those were basically a headline, link, and a blockquote. no actual original content. sure that would be grueling for just one guy to do and maybe it was in the early days of his blog. but he had a whole staff at the end. a staff of 3 guys could easily blockquote and link 40 things on the internet every day, that isn’t all that hard. :[

  140. 140.

    Tenar Darell

    March 31, 2015 at 9:45 am

    @Betty Cracker: I was thinking, just the other day that I didn’t miss reading Sully as much as I thought I would. That the world was a nicer, calmer, and prettier place without his vaporous and occasionally vile musings. Then he gets interviewed. Trying really hard to not read that bulls*t. Will probably succumb later. (Soonergrunt posted about quitting smoking; my third hardest thing to quit was hate reading Sully).

  141. 141.

    cokane

    March 31, 2015 at 9:46 am

    also the trevor noah witch hunt is bullshit. so sick of the overbearing moral preening by so many on social media nowadays. yes, the way to insure good comedy is to kill anyone’s career who has ever uttered an offensive phrase

  142. 142.

    Cervantes

    March 31, 2015 at 9:47 am

    @Keith G:

    Thanks. I don’t have the time to follow that link — and maybe you, understandably, don’t have the time to address this question — but are you saying that you have seen things on that channel that, to you, are precisely as (if not more) disturbing as (than) these “tweets”?

  143. 143.

    Keith G

    March 31, 2015 at 9:49 am

    @msdc:

    I’m a little more concerned about all the tweets by this creep named “Trevor Noah” who just got the gig hosting the Daily Show.

    All? Creep?

    Maybe he is a self-hating creep?

    His special is up on Nexflix (and Amazon) you can judge his creep level with a broader data set. I watched it last year and found a lot to laugh at, some things that were a bit hack, and a item or two that were full clunkers – a better ROI than most comic specials. For me, Patton Oswald is the gold standard at being very funny with edgy material without hackishness or misreading where the lines of unnecessary insult are (all very subjective, of course).

  144. 144.

    Cervantes

    March 31, 2015 at 9:51 am

    @Tenar Darell:

    I could be wrong here, but I suspect that if you set your mind to it, you will think of many things more beautiful and better for you than Andrew Sullivan’s verbiage.

  145. 145.

    Keith G

    March 31, 2015 at 9:52 am

    @Cervantes: Day off, cleaning the apt, you have my attention, but clarify: Which channel?

  146. 146.

    Jamey

    March 31, 2015 at 9:52 am

    Sully ALMOST died from blogging.

    I wish him better luck the next time.

  147. 147.

    Cervantes

    March 31, 2015 at 10:01 am

    @Fridaynext:
    @danielx:

    Thank you.

    And yet, in a surprise to most observers, Barack Hussein Obama won Indiana’s electoral votes in 2008, albeit narrowly — so perhaps there is a glimmer of hope.

    I would like to think so, anyway.

  148. 148.

    debbie

    March 31, 2015 at 10:02 am

    @Botsplainer:

    A couple of my friends have used them successfully. with their dogs. The dogs learned pretty quickly and just wearing the collar was enough to keep them from leaving the field.

  149. 149.

    Cervantes

    March 31, 2015 at 10:02 am

    @Keith G:

    Sorry, I thought you were making a comment about what the Comedy Channel generally sponsors or tolerates.

  150. 150.

    Amir Khalid

    March 31, 2015 at 10:03 am

    @Baud:
    Not even close.

  151. 151.

    Keith G

    March 31, 2015 at 10:15 am

    @Cervantes: Ok….I got it.

    The link leads to a montage of South Park referring to Jews in a variety of “interesting” ways. I know that the writers are using those interaction to poke fun at bigotry. I am a huge fan of the show and am aware of the greater context in which these bits were written. Taken as just individual clips, these segments of video are beyond inflammatory.

    South Park does the same thing with us gay folk. I find some of their attempts at this to fall short of being funny without unnecessary baggage, but when they are on, they are on. I take the overwhelming good with the occasional bad.

  152. 152.

    Aleta

    March 31, 2015 at 10:16 am

    @Botsplainer: The best I’ve come up with is to feed him something amazing from a can occasionally while tapping the can with a fork. Then in an emergency especially, just need to tap something metal against metal (fork against mailbox, or pocket sized can). The sound reverberates through the air. Mine comes like a shot bc he doesn’t get that wonderful food very often. BUT be sure he is not on the opposite side of the road when you do it. Cross any road to the side he’s on before using this to call him.

  153. 153.

    WaterGirl

    March 31, 2015 at 10:18 am

    @PaulW: Well done! (you guys should read it) My favorite part:

    The thing is: this law does not protect religious freedom at all. It has nothing to do with ensuring our churches stay open, it has nothing to do with protecting people who gather in public to pray, it has nothing to do with making sure that God remains in Heaven while the flock tend to their affairs within the world.

  154. 154.

    WaterGirl

    March 31, 2015 at 10:21 am

    @Iowa Old Lady: My advice is to start with the human who was careless. :-) That would reduce the danger to the dog while he does the tougher training of the dog.

  155. 155.

    Biscuits

    March 31, 2015 at 10:22 am

    Betty, I hate putting my kid on a plane by themselves too. It’s always a relief to hear from them once they touch ground.

  156. 156.

    KXB

    March 31, 2015 at 10:24 am

    Can we get the people outraged at Trevor Noah’s tweets together with the people who demanded an apology from Tracy Morgan?

  157. 157.

    yet another jeff

    March 31, 2015 at 10:24 am

    @Boudica:
    Did the drive from Denison to Annandale (Fairfax County) to bring up my sweetie and her three cats in July 2013.

    Two things:

    There is a new Chuy’s in Springfield…it is good.
    The cat will become resigned and quiet down around the Arkansas border.

    Where in TX are you moving from?

  158. 158.

    gvg

    March 31, 2015 at 10:33 am

    @Botsplainer: Invisible Fence. Gates. My sisters current hound turned out to be an escape artist. We found out the day we adopted her. 30 minutes after we brought her home she escaped under the fence and we almost didn’t get her back. First it turned out the rescue org hadn’t mentioned it was the 4th time she had been adopted out and each time she managed to be lost by the adoptee quickly, then would be found sometime later. Our whole extended pet loving family rallied to the search. We only got one vehicle stuck on a nearby sandy road requiring AAA towing. A day in July in Florida should be hot, but that day turned frigid due to rain and unusual weather. Hours later my stubborn dog loving aunt found her and we set about figuring out how to keep her safe. The main solution was an invisible fence which involves a wire around the property and a shock collar with a radio receiver. Then you have to train the dog not to go past the perimeter without you. Usually people bury the wire so they can keep a dog in a yard they can’t fence like the front yard so you have to put up little flags to teach the dog where the stop point is, We were lucky in that I lived in the country and had the front and back yards fenced. You take that collar off to leave for a walk or vet visit. She still kept trying to escape once she knew she was out so we mostly don’t take her anywhere except the vets. When we moved we refenced and until it was up, we used the garage door so that their were 2 doors between her and freedom. She is old and senile now but still keeps trying. We need to move again and its impacting our choices even though she may not live long at a new house. Senile is actually making the problem more of an issue then it was for several years. We want a new house that isn’t near a busy road, is fencable and that we can make the front door not an escape point such as maybe having a screen porch with a 2nd door or a small court yard entrance.
    Somebody has already mentioned that shock collars aren’t pleasing to softhearted pet owners however its better than dead. A lot better.
    You may also want to look over your outside lighting if you have a backyard you can allow the dog in or even of he still might get out sometimes. Being able to get turn on bright light everywhere is helpful, especially in the winter.

  159. 159.

    FridayNext

    March 31, 2015 at 10:34 am

    @Cervantes:

    The problem is, as everyone keeps saying ad nauseam in so many contexts and states, that those likely to vote sanely in presidential elections don’t show up in near as large a numbers in off-year elections, let alone local and state level elections. Until they do, those who show up at the polls will rule in state capitals.

  160. 160.

    Lee

    March 31, 2015 at 10:57 am

    If you are a comedian and you are not offending someone you are probably not doing your job well.

    Whether or not someone is funny is a matter of taste.

    I don’t give 2 shits about his tweets.

  161. 161.

    Betty Cracker

    March 31, 2015 at 11:01 am

    @Lee: Fine, no one requires your outrage, but there’s a theme in some of these comments (including yours, maybe) that seems to suggest that you have to be a tender blossom or outrage-monger to find the tweets offensive. I disagree. I don’t like Twitter witch hunts or social media pile-ons, but the tweets linked above (well, some of them, not all) WERE offensive as hell.

  162. 162.

    WaterGirl

    March 31, 2015 at 11:05 am

    Do people really want him to not get this gig because of a few tweets? Show me a comedian who is very careful, and I’ll show you a comedian who is not funny.

    If I watch him a few times and he comes off as a sexist pig or as a racist then I won’t be watching the show. But I don’t mind a few barbs, particularly if they are going in all possible directions.

  163. 163.

    Lee

    March 31, 2015 at 11:22 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    …WERE offensive as hell.

    You were offended. I was not. I did spend 6 years in the Marines. I cannot remember the last time I was offended.

    I always think of this Stephen Fry quote when someone gets offended:

    It’s now very common to hear people say, ‘I’m rather offended by that.’ As if that gives them certain rights. It’s actually nothing more… than a whine. ‘I find that offensive.’ It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. ‘I am offended by that.’ Well, so fucking what.”

  164. 164.

    Steve from Antioch

    March 31, 2015 at 11:45 am

    Andrew Sullivan says he nearly died of blogging. Boo-fucking-hoo.

    Class will tell.

  165. 165.

    Steve from Antioch

    March 31, 2015 at 11:48 am

    @Mustang Bobby:

    Instead of “Mary”, why don’t you just go ahead and call him a faggot.

    Don’t worry there will be no repercussions. It’s okay to be a homophobic asshole here, as long as the target is Andrew Sullivan.

  166. 166.

    skyweaver

    March 31, 2015 at 11:53 am

    Andrew Sullivan says he nearly died of blogging. Boo-fucking-hoo.

    Ha ha ha ha!! I read about that. And read parts of his interview. And all I could think was, “wull, yeah, then maybe you should have not done that.” And wondered why this was even an article. Because he pioneered blogging? Okay, I guess. So did a lot of people.

  167. 167.

    chopper

    March 31, 2015 at 12:01 pm

    @Steve from Antioch:

    I guess bobby must be one of those self-hating gay dudes. thanks for setting us straight. LOL, I made a pun.

  168. 168.

    Betty Cracker

    March 31, 2015 at 12:10 pm

    @Lee: I don’t think taking offense at bigoted comments confers special rights — I’m not asking for free speech to be abridged nor trigger warnings posted, and as I’ve already said, I don’t like Twitter witch hunts and social media pile-ons. But taking offense can be a perfectly normal human reaction to dehumanizing language, and people who fail to recognize that and conduct themselves accordingly do so at their (social) peril.

    It’s kinda how civilization works, and some of the squealing about this issue reminds me of the wingnut screeches about the terrible, awful PC police: No, you don’t get to say the n-word anymore without repercussions. Sorry. (Not.)

  169. 169.

    Marc McKenzie

    March 31, 2015 at 12:12 pm

    “Fix this”? No, don’t fix it. Blow up the f**king thing and put it in the dustbin of history where it belongs. Crap like this has no place in the US in 2015.

  170. 170.

    ruemara

    March 31, 2015 at 12:32 pm

    @Botsplainer: email me. Ruemara at gmail.com

  171. 171.

    blueskies

    March 31, 2015 at 12:34 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: I have found, invariably, that a businesses displaying the fish symbol SUCK. They are terrible, and then when they get called on sub-par performance, try to get you to see things their way because we’re all god’s chillen and brothers in Christ or some such bullshit.

  172. 172.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    March 31, 2015 at 12:47 pm

    @blueskies: And they’ll happily cheat you.

    I’m sorry, that’s gauche. They’ll happily liberate your money from your heathen hands to free it to do God’s work.

  173. 173.

    gogol's wife

    March 31, 2015 at 12:59 pm

    @raven:

    No you din’t. She spells it Nicolle. Another irritating thing about her.

  174. 174.

    Lee

    March 31, 2015 at 1:50 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    You can certainly be as outraged as you want. To quote S. Fry ‘So fucking what?’. That is your problem not anyone else’s. Don’t expect any sympathy because of something you inflected upon yourself.

    When you are outraged because of something a comedian said/tweeted probably says more about you than the comedian.

  175. 175.

    Heliopause

    March 31, 2015 at 2:06 pm

    Don’t these giant media corporations have vetting minions to address this kind of shit?

    They hired the guy after about ten total minutes of moderately humorous Daily Show face time. So I would say the answer to your question is, no.

  176. 176.

    chopper

    March 31, 2015 at 2:11 pm

    @Lee:

    the capacity to be outraged/offended by what other people say comes from having empathy. may be a foreign idea, but that’s what it is.

  177. 177.

    Aleta

    March 31, 2015 at 2:17 pm

    @gvg: When we were looking at houses, we had to turn a lot down because it wasn’t a good spot for the dogcats. Afterward I realized that because of them we ended up in a saner environment for me.

  178. 178.

    Aleta

    March 31, 2015 at 2:27 pm

    @JMT:
    Thanks for this. A question: during training, when the distraction does win out over the treat, is it better to keep calling until he does come, or to stop calling and pocket the treat? If the answer is to stop calling, how many times would you call before stopping ? Or, if he doesn’t come right away but eventually he does (but maybe too slowly for safety) do you reward him despite coming late ?

  179. 179.

    Betty Cracker

    March 31, 2015 at 2:40 pm

    @Lee: I’m not interested in your fucking sympathy. I’m just attempting to explain to an apparently willfully obtuse individual (you) why “hur hur Jews iz greedy” and “lol dumb chix, can’t control ’em, can’t kill ’em, amirite?” might rub some folks the wrong way and create blow-back. Jesus. You probably think Cliven Bundy got a raw deal from Fox News after he provided helpful advice on The Negro.

  180. 180.

    Arclite

    March 31, 2015 at 3:06 pm

    I didn’t really like Sully’s op-eds, but I miss his site. I loved the mix of political, social, and scientific stories. I, too, can’t really find another equivalent.

  181. 181.

    Matt McIrvin

    March 31, 2015 at 4:15 pm

    Via Brad Delong: David Dayen and Barney Frank blame the extended foreclosure crisis on Obama, for failing to demand foreclosure relief before he took office:

    http://www.salon.com/2015/03/31/barney_frank_drops_a_bombshell_how_a_shocking_anecdote_explains_the_financial_crisis/

    Dayen claims that this isn’t due to any reluctance on Obama’s part to prematurely assume power, because Obama’s transition team did urge TARP bailouts for auto companies.

  182. 182.

    henqiguai

    March 31, 2015 at 5:24 pm

    @Cervantes (#136):

    At this rate how are we ever going to turn Texas blue?

    Um, hold your collective breathes?

  183. 183.

    GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)

    March 31, 2015 at 7:46 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    S/HE DEALS WITH THE GODDAMNED CUSTOMERS SO THE ENGINEERS DON’T HAVE TO!

  184. 184.

    Felanius Kootea

    March 31, 2015 at 8:13 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Yes, some of Trevor Noah’s tweets from three years ago were sexist and anti-semitic. That is something he’s going to have to deal with and something he’s already trying to address. I think his stand up acts (lots of video online) say more about him and his evolution as a comedian than a handful of old tweets picked out from hundreds. But I guarantee he will piss people off because he will push buttons.

    I’ll put his tweets about Israel as a country in a different category; I guess it’s going to come as a shock to many Americans that there is no great love for Israel in South Africa, especially from those who bore the brunt of apartheid’s racist policies. Why? Israel was a firm supporter of the apartheid regime. Many people haven’t forgiven or forgotten that, and many ANC members backed the PLO as a result. It is one of the reasons Israel had to send lower level functionaries to Mandela’s memorial when other countries sent their presidents/prime ministers (the security risk to Netanyahu and Peres was seen as too great).

  185. 185.

    J R in WV

    April 1, 2015 at 5:14 am

    @Mustang Bobby:

    I like your blog, crazy as all get-out!

    Keep up the good work…

  186. 186.

    Shrill from Hudson

    April 1, 2015 at 10:12 am

    beady-eyed fuck-nugget.

    that made me laugh more than anything else I’ve read in the last month.

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