Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Petty moves from a petty man.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

People are complicated. Love is not.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

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

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

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

A fool as well as an oath-breaker.

The willow is too close to the house.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

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129Comments

  2. 2.

    PurpleGirl

    Hope you do post some pictures later — of all the critters. Please, thank you in advance.

  4. 4.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @PurpleGirl:

    Agreed. We haven’t seen Steve in aaaaages. And updated photos of LilyRosieThurston would also be welcome.

    Thanks in advance, John.

  5. 5.

    Tim C.

    Gotta be honest here, and it may upset you, but I’m enjoying Star Wars: The Old Republic more than I did World of Warcraft.

  6. 6.

    Valdivia

    A picture of Thurston would be a treat.

    Had to put to sleep my 20 year old tabby Sisu this afternoon. We all are, including and especially the little kitties, pretty sad. But he had so many good years, and was such a happy boy, even to the end. Will miss him greatly.

  7. 7.

    Viva BrisVegas

    I’ve just found a TV show called Bluestone 42, don’t know where it’s been all my life but its on its 3rd season. Anyone else following it?

    It’s comedy about a British bomb disposal squad in Helmand province.

  11. 11.

    Howard Beale IV

    I’m getting royally pissed at my pharmacy benefits carrier with their stupid caps. My doc wrote me a script to bypass their caps, and then they stomped all over it. Thankfully, due to drugs.com come one come all plan I saved 75% on my refill.

    When a refill for 15 tablets of eszopclione goes from $145 to $35, we got an out of control healthcare system.

  13. 13.

    Valdivia

    @Baud: @raven: @skerry: Thank you all. We knew it was coming but it’s still hard though. The little guys are walking around looking for him, that totally kills me. We have spent the afternoon remembering all his best years of which there were many, so we can smile at that.

  17. 17.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Valdivia:

    Oh V, I am so sorry. RIP Sisu, and {{{hugs}}} to you and the little bereft kitties. I know it wasn’t a surprise. It still leaves a hole.

  19. 19.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @efgoldman:
    I will do that! Sorry we won’t have a chance to get together this time, but I hope you enjoy your time in Boston as much as I expect to enjoy mine.

  21. 21.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @Valdivia: Our hearts go out to you. My wife’s tabby is nine, and dare I say mellowing a bit in his adultness. I hope the cat is with us another 11 years like yours was; he’s really devoted to my wife.

  23. 23.

    MazeDancer

    @Valdivia:

    Enormous condolences. What a great, long time you had together. Still, it is never enough. How wonderful he was so loved he felt so happy about his life even until the end. All a kitty could ask. All a person can do.

    Beautiful picture!

  24. 24.

    cmorenc

    We’re spending the holiday weekend down at Sunset Beach, NC, my wife, dog, and I…we just finished a supper of shrimp grilled on the barbie, plus grilled slices of zucchini and squash and corn on the cob. This after a hard day out on the beach, watching, listening to, and wading in the ocean and sitting on my chair reading “The World After Us” by Alan Weisman.

    “The World After Us” is a fascinating science-based (without being at all tedious) exploration of how (and how fast) the products of civilization (buildings, roads, etc) will deteriorate and disappear if humans somehow went extinct and disappeared (surprisingly much within a few decades or especially few hundreds of years) – and what will be slow to disappear (plastics for one, especially tiny plastic pellets that have entered the food chain in the oceans). His presentation is well-written, and with enough convincing evidence to not be at all glib, and from many fascinating, even unexpected angles – such as what the puzzle of why most of the megafauna of every continent disappeared within a relatively short time of humans arriving in significant numbers, with the exception of Africa – and what the answer to this puzzle indicates about how animals will react to the disappearance of humans.

  26. 26.

    Keith P.

    I just finished a marathon of Twin Peaks, Season 2, watching the last 12 or so hours non-stop. What a trip. Now I move on to Fire Walk With Me. I originally saw Season 2 first, then FWWM, *then* Season 1, so this is the first time I’ve seen them in the original order (I am in the camp that FWWM should not be viewed first) Needless to say, I am antsy as hell for the extended season. “I’ll see you again in 25 years.”

  27. 27.

    NotMax

    A poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and the Mellman Group found the band has a 46 percent hard name ID (i.e. whether people can judge it favorably or unfavorably) among Republicans, compared with 37 percent among Democrats, and 35 percent among independents. Source

    Amazing thing is that if one looks at the .pdf fileof the poll results, it boils down to really revealing very little at all.

  32. 32.

    Elizabelle

    @efgoldman: Happy Retirement! Hope your best years are ahead.

    And look me up when you come to visit the supersmart daughter and granddaughter.

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    @Keith P.

    Remember at the time quite enjoying season one. Come season two, my reaction to the Mr. Lynch’s opus was to point out that anyone can be mysterious and obscure if he has no idea where the story is going.

  36. 36.

    Valdivia

    @efgoldman: Been meaning to say: congrats on the retirement! Sorry it’s late but it’s been a couple of hectic days.
    @raven: lol, that picture is hilarious.
    @Debbie: Thank you, yes they were inseparable. More like Quincy would not leave Sisu alone for one minute.

  37. 37.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Valdivia: Oh, what a lovely kitteh! (Both of them, actually.) Sisu looks as though he had a ton of personality. And poor Quincy — he must be feeling both confused and bereaved. Extra scritches for him.

  43. 43.

    Valdivia

    @SiubhanDuinne: He’s cuddled up at my feet right now, so it’s delivered.
    Sisu was very outgoing and funny, the last few years though with Quincy practically photobombing him any chance he got, he perfected the look of forbearance. :)

    @ruemara: We do feel very lucky we enjoyed him for so long.

    @efgoldman: Thanks, though I did have it mind yesterday. May this new stage bring only good and interesting things your way.

  48. 48.

    Keith P.

    @NotMax: Season 2 didn’t have as much involvement from Lynch and Frost. Instead of another 9 episodes, ABC ordered 20 more, which is why there’s so many fluff storylines (Billy Zane shows up. Lucy chooses a baby-daddy, etc). The show is much more geared towards today’s premium stations, with two new “seasons” of 9 episodes, all written by Lynch/Frost and (very importantly) directed by Lynch.
    This show is the signature work of his career, but it came early, and he’s had time to refine a lot of his concepts (particularly dreams and doppelgangers). Add to it that the show actually foreshadowed coming back in 25 years, and this is why I’m such a fan of David Lynch.

  49. 49.

    NotMax

    @raven

    Forgot to mention that the band in the poll referenced above at #27 was The Grateful Dead.

    (Not a direct reference to your comment, but felt it should be noted.)

  52. 52.

    Valdivia

    @Keith P.: I remember watching the first season on tv at the time and being utterly riveted. I think it was the first time I really couldn’t wait for the following week to see what would happen.

  53. 53.

    raven

    Some folks trust to reason
    Others trust to might
    I don’t trust to nothing
    But I know it come out right

  55. 55.

    NotMax

    @Keith P.

    If you’ve never seen the series, you might enjoy the British show Misfits

    Think X-men if written by David Lynch and culturally assisted by Patrick McGoohan.

    There was one very weak (all right, crappy) season in there among the five it ran, but then the original writers were brought back and the season afterwards redeemed what had been done.

  56. 56.

    Debbie(aussie)

    @Valdivia: my heart goes out to you. Not a day and often a night goes past that I don’t see my Fry out of the corner of my eye or feel the pressure as tho he just jumped on the bed. Miss him and our JRT of 17plus years so much at the moment. I need a new furever friend, hubby is saying no.. Also needed for warmth, very chilly here, around zero C, brrrrrrrrrrr. Days around 20C

    Happy 4th to you all.

  58. 58.

    raven

    @Valdivia: I don’t. No way you take two point blank 12 gauge shots like that and live. If he does. . . well just bullshit,

  59. 59.

    NotMax

    @NotMax

    Ought to add that some of the British accents and dialects in Misfits are thick enough to cut with a ‘acksaw.

    But eventually the American ear does get attuned. Helps that even some of the characters in the show admit having trouble understanding one particular girl at times.

  62. 62.

    Valdivia

    @raven: I read somewhere that his casting was announced with all the fanfare as a red herring because he may not end up being the lead at all. I like him and would have liked him to stick around but as you say it would ridiculous if he lived. I like McAdams a lot and can see her carrying the thing by herself.

    @Felonius Monk: yes, no matter how ready you think you are. Thank you.

  65. 65.

    NotMax

    @raven

    Back when first found free to watch sites for the show, the subtitles were in Japanese.

    Not a lot of help, that. :)

  67. 67.

    Amir Khalid

    @PaulW:
    Ahead of the second movie (which should never have been released in the summer blockbuster season, let alone one week before The Dark Knight) there were fan fears that Chris Carter had decided to break up Mulder and Scully, who are one of the iconic couples of recent popular fiction. As it turned out, he had not.

    Those same fears seem to be going around now. And as before, CC, GA and DD are being coy about the status of The Relationship. I tend to doubt he’s done it for this new short season, because then it would be a big detour to explain how they’re back as an investigative team.

    The supporting character I’d most like to see return is Scully’s mother. Margaret Scully knew Fox was the man for Dana as soon as she set eyes on him.

  68. 68.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    Some happy news from G’s side of the family: his cousin and her husband brought their new (adopted) baby home, and said baby is spending his time being cuddled by multiple extended family members, when they can drag him away from his new grandma. There was a bit of a scare that the parents of the father were going to throw a wrench in the works and insist on taking custody themselves, but reason prevailed.

    Turns out that if you’re an interracial couple who is happily married and securely employed, it’s actually quite easy to adopt an interracial child since state adoption agencies prefer to place children with parents that resemble their family of origin whenever possible. And since it’s 2015, it was an open adoption, which meant that the couple was able to interview the potential adoptive parents and decide who they were most comfortable having raise their baby. Win-win!

  70. 70.

    Joel

    Watched Gone Girl. It was okay. Really just a horror movie, replete with stupid characters.

  76. 76.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Amir Khalid: Since you mention it, albeit in passing, I had an opportunity to watch Dark Knight on a long airplane trip recently – my first time seeing that movie. I want those two hours of my life back.

  77. 77.

    Steeplejack

    Just went to IMDB to get a feel for whether I want to watch Shadow on the Wall (1950), beginning at 11:15 EDT on TCM, and did a spit-take when I found that it has former First Lady Nancy Davis (Reagan) in it! I don’t think I have ever seen her in a movie, not that there were that many. Not sure I want to start now. Anyway, FYI.

  82. 82.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Steeplejack: Sorry I didn’t respond earlier to your questions about Lightroom – I was making (and eating) dinner and having a cocktail. But I see that the subject was covered pretty well by others.

  83. 83.

    Valdivia

    @rikyrah: Yes, it’s the best consolation how long he was with us even if we will miss him terribly. @Aleta: Thanks so much.

    @schrodinger’s cat: The orange kitties are truly the sweetest. Quincy is so friendly it is kind of startling. He will just randomly jump onto people’s laps and ask for love. I believe it was all his cuddling that kept Sisu around a few extra months. :)

  86. 86.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Amir Khalid: And if the movie is awful…

    I’m all for willing suspension of disbelief, but this thing was just trash from beginning to end.

  87. 87.

    cmorenc

    @Elizabelle:

    @cmorenc: How deep were you wading?

    Summer of the Shark, 2015.

    No more than knee-deep so far. The two attacks (of seven so far in NC this summer) which resulted in limbs being chomped off were at Oak Island, NC – just twenty miles east as the crow flies. One of the other attacks that fortunately did not result in serious injury was at Ocean Isle, NC the next beach east from Sunset Beach, only three or four miles away.

  88. 88.

    Steeplejack

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Yeah, I didn’t mean for you to answer it personally. I just hung my question on your comment because it was topically related.

  89. 89.

    NotMax

    Just downloaded 2nd episode of Mr. Robot for delectation when insomnia stops by for its daily visit later on.

  90. 90.

    Pogonip

    The fireworks are over for another year; it was chilly and windy so the mosquitoes aren’t too bad; sorry Valdivia lost her good cat.

    When we got home there was a June bug on the back door. First one I’d seen in years. I was seriously beginning to wonder if they were going extinct in the U.S. midwest. As recently as 40 years ago all you had to do was turn on the porch light and hordes of them would come bumbling around.

  91. 91.

    Tommy

    @cmorenc: I don’t know what to make of the whole shark attack thing but you need to do what you feel safe doing. Clearly. Pretty sure I’d dive right into the water but then again I can do stupid shit.

  93. 93.

    Tommy

    @efgoldman: Bugs are still pretty active around me. All kinds expect butterflies. I know in the gardening thread many have talked about it here. They used to be so many and I can’t say I’ve seen a single one this summer.

  95. 95.

    Elizabelle

    @raven: I love it! Thank you, raven.

    Watched some neighborhood fireworks, very nice, through the raindrops.

  97. 97.

    Linnaeus

    So my apartment’s been heating up all day (in the Pacific Northwest, building dates from 1960, so no A/C of course) and now I’m just sitting here with a vodka & cranberry. Think I’m gonna need about two more.

  98. 98.

    ultraviolet thunder

    I’m having a cleansing sleep fast. You may think of it as insomnia but I like to pretend I’m paying good money to be awake all night and exhausted tomorrow.

  99. 99.

    Tommy

    @efgoldman: No there are not :). When I lived on the East coast I used to head to NC almost every year. As an avid golfer it was about the only place, short of flying across the pond, you could play Links style courses. The Outer Banks rocks.

    I tend to think all the doom and gloom about sharks is overstated but it can’t be good for tourist if people are scared to get into the water.

  101. 101.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @Valdivia:

    Sorry to hear about Sisu. When Boris’s kidneys were failing, Keaton appointed himself Boris’s best friend, whether Boris wanted him to be or not. Boris was perfectly groomed right up to the end because Keaton took care of it for him.

  102. 102.

    Linnaeus

    @Tommy:

    I tend to think all the doom and gloom about sharks is overstated but it can’t be good for tourist if people are scared to get into the water.

    Where I grew up, you can buy t-shirts that say: “Lake [Michigan or Huron]: No salt, no sharks, no problem”.

  103. 103.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @rikyrah:

    We’re really glad the baby’s parents were able to agree on adoption and that G’s cousins were the couple they liked best. Both of the parents are college-bound, so this frees up their future.

  104. 104.

    Felixmoronia

    @raven: Iowa State Fairgrounds in June 1974 is even better. Used to be able to listen/download at internetarchives but Dead pulled it and put it on a disc.
    YMMV

  107. 107.

    Felixmoronia

    @Tommy: The Dead and Allman Bros. played alternate years at U of I for 5 or 6 years in the early seventies. Saw(but don’t remember much)ABB in ’73.

  108. 108.

    JCT

    @Valdivia: Deepest condolences — we just went through this in May. And watching the other animals look for their buddy was brutal.

    He sure was handsome, looks like he had an awesome life with you.

  111. 111.

    Tommy

    @Felixmoronia: Gosh those would have been shows I’d had loved to see. I am Dead Head but I might like the Allman Brothers more.

    I went to grad school at LSU. My best friend was from Vermont. Two Yankees in the deep south. There were days we’d wake up and think I wonder what Luckenbach,TX is like so we got in my car and drove.

    The Allman Brothers were most often the soundtrack of the drive.

    Oh and Luckenbach is a bar, post office, and general store. It was not what we thought :)!

  114. 114.

    Linnaeus

    @Tommy:

    But I love me some ocean.

    Oceans are great. But in the end, I’m a lake/river guy. It’s in the blood.

  115. 115.

    Tommy

    @JCT: Seems people here are losing pets. But 20 years is a good, good life. When I lost a cat her sister seemed to walk around for days in circles confused where the other cat was. It was heartbreaking.

  116. 116.

    Mike J

    @efgoldman:

    Not too many sharks in downstate Illinois.

    Not many in Lake Washington either. Did my annual round Mercer Island sail the other day. Wind out of the north, We went clockwise.

    That sail was on a 17 foot centerboard boat. Afterward, I got checked out on a big[1] boat. The club owns four and I this was the only one I hadn’t been signed off on. 4.5 hours to round the island, wound up on the lake 11.5 hours. My legs were still responding to imaginary waves the next day.

    [1] relative term. 7.7 meter keel boat.

  118. 118.

    Tommy

    @Linnaeus: Yes same here. Rivers. Streams. Lakes. What I grew up around and swimming in. Fishing. You name it.

    I think I might like oceans so much because they are not something I am around all the time. Something I only experience rarely.

  120. 120.

    Tommy

    This new dude bought the house on the corner a few months ago. I got no idea where he is getting his fireworks from but they are like professional grade. I am all for live and let live and do what the heck you want in your house/yard. But if I lived next to him I’d be asking him to stop because I don’t want my house to burn down.

  121. 121.

    Mike J

    When the movie Jaws came out, the distance in time from the sinking of the Indianapolis was the same as today to 1985.

    When I was a kid I thought of WWII as being practically in the stone age.

  122. 122.

    opiejeanne

    @Amir Khalid: I was on a flight in March and decided to watch one of The a Hobbit movies, maybe the second one? I’ve seen it before and I knew that something was about to jump out but I still made a noise when it happened and it startled the people I front of me. So I switched to a comedy and laughed aloud and bothered them again. I gave up and read the rest of the flight.

  123. 123.

    Tommy

    @opiejeanne: LOL. I used to fly a ton for work. It seemed it was always the case I was sitting directly next to a person that had not flown before and was scared to death. So I tended to spend my time talking to them and not reading or watching anything. Trying to talk to them and take their mind off of the flight and so they were not freaking out.

  124. 124.

    J R in WV

    @Valdivia:

    My condolences. We had a great little orange cat we named Harvey ’cause he was invisible for the first month we had him. Hiding downstairs, he was an alley cat from the mean streets of the west side of town, and he knew how to lurk from hiding.

    Glad you have other cats to help you in your grief! One reason we get younger cats and dogs as our buddies get to be past middle age, to keep the elders in shape, and because they too need a home.

  126. 126.

    Valdivia

    @J R in WV: A vet told us when Sisu and his brother started getting older and sicker that it would be a good idea to get a young companion, because either old cat by himself would be lost. She was so right.

    @Poopyman: @PurpleGirl: Thank you both (and glad you liked the picture @PurpleGirl, this is how he spent most of his days!)

  128. 128.

    Robert Sneddon

    @raven: Once a year the US stay-at-homes get to experience a tiny TINY fraction of what many other nations have experienced at the hands of the US military in the process of “peacekeeping” or “liberation”, and today’s that day. Man up and bury the bodies tomorrow.

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