Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

This fight is for everything.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

After roe, women are no longer free.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

John Fetterman: Too Manly for Pennsylvania.  Paid for by the Oz for Senator campaign.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

This blog will pay for itself.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Don’t Try This At Home, Cole

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Don’t Try This At Home, Cole

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skijoring norwegian cat jesper

What Jesper and his person are doing is skijoring, a legit winter sport. If you click over to the Deadspin link, there is video — yes, the cat is doing this of his own free will (notice at the beginning how happily he climbs into the backpack). And, being a cat, his participation ends when he says it ends, thankyouverymuch…

More extremely cool Jesper adventure photos, courtesy Buzzfeed.

Apart from applauding the versatility of the cat tribe, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

Reader Interactions

145Comments

  1. 1.

    Betty Cracker

    Haha, that video at Deadspin is hilarious! When the cat has had enough of pulling the person, it’s just all NOPE and lays down until she picks it up and skis home with the cat in her coat!

  5. 5.

    Randy P

    Kids in our very-snowy neighborhood were always trying to talk their dogs into pulling sleds, but the dogs almost universally rebelled.

    But most dogs (at least big ones) at least love snow. Where do you find a cat who likes it?

  7. 7.

    Roger Moore

    Don’t Try This At Home, Cole

    Even better, do try this, and send us video. There hasn’t been enough of Steve recently, or of bizarre Cole injuries. We can kill two birds with one stone!

  11. 11.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Vermont’s Black Leaders: We Were ‘Invisible’ to Bernie Sanders

    Curtiss Reed Jr., the executive director of the group, it became something of a showdown. Sanders “was just really dismissive of anything that had to do with race and racism, saying that they didn’t have anything to do with the issues of income inequality,” Reed told The Daily Beast.

    “He just always kept coming back to income inequality as a response, as if talking about income inequality would somehow make issues of racism go away.

    And since winning that race, Sanders’s approach toward Reed and his organization has been one of “benign neglect,” the activist added. “We are a major statewide organization. It would stand to reason that you would check in with your major constituents, but voters of color are simply not on his radar.”

    I told you so.

    The funny thing is people say Sanders is pulling Clinton to the left. That is certainly true on economics. What people who should know better overlook is Clinton is pulling Sanders to the left on social issues.

    If it wasn’t for her, Sanders would still be humping the NRA, shouting down Black activists, denouncing immigration reform and Planned Parenthood, and attacking the President (oh, wait he’s still doing the latter).

  12. 12.

    Roger Moore

    @Randy P:

    But most dogs (at least big ones) at least love snow. Where do you find a cat who likes it?

    I think you find a cat that likes being outdoors and is willing to tolerate the snow as a part of the outdoors. We had a cat when I was growing up that was like that. It was funny to watch him the first snow of the year. He’d act surprised as if to say “what’s this stuff?”. Then he’d bat at it a couple of times, remember what the cold white stuff was, and go on outside.

  13. 13.

    bemused

    Jesper is a very cool cat and gorgeous. I am a sucker for the long hairs. I found his facebook page and I spent over a half an hour watching videos and didn’t see them all. Jesper is calm and collected on a plane trip. He seems to enjoy watching reindeer, goats, cows on the country roads while riding in a car. Jesper must live in the northern regions of Norway judging from the reindeer, type of trees and vegetation.

  14. 14.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    Over and over the articles from people who’ve worked with Bernie, like Barney Frank, and reporters who’ve covered him for years in Vermont (can’t find the article I read about this, or I’d link it), and from constituents who’ve had occasion over the years to meet with him, all mention his dismissiveness when he’s pressed on things outside his shouty wheelhouse. That hand waving away thing is his MO. Not feeling the Bern.

  18. 18.

    Baud

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    The funny thing is people say Sanders is pulling Clinton to the left. That is certainly true on economics. What people who should know better overlook is Clinton is pulling Sanders to the left on social issues.

    Whether or not I’m chosen the nominee, I’d like to think I’m pulling both candidates to the top on all the issues.

  28. 28.

    Arm The Homeless

    Just imagine what the Finns could have done during the Winter War if they had deadly snow cat units?

    What if they also had frickin’ lasers on their heads?

  31. 31.

    Mnemosyne

    @efgoldman:

    Again, condolences. I’m also “the baby” of my family who had to step up and take care of my older brother’s unfinished shit after he died (of cancer) last year, so you can let your SIL know there’s an invisible friend who knows what she’s dealing with. We at least had a chance to do a little planning since he had terminal cancer. You all owe her a nice spa weekend when this is wrapped up.

    You may want to ask if the city/county/state offers specialized counseling for families of murder victims — I think the prosecutor’s office would know?

  32. 32.

    bemused

    @Roger Moore:

    Jesper looks like a Norwegian Forest cat or a similar breed that has an undercoat. He rolls happily in the snow like all cats will roll on pavement or dirt on the ground so he is well insulated. He looks much sleeker and slimmer in the summertime videos.

  33. 33.

    Randy P

    @efgoldman: OMG, I can’t imagine what you’re going through. I missed whatever your initial reports were on this incident, but this sounds terrible. Your poor wife and her family.

    In my family as well, the baby sister somehow became a real rock for the rest of the family and perhaps my favorite sibling though I hardly knew her when she was 10 and I was 18. Funny how relationships evolve in families.

  35. 35.

    J R in WV

    @NotMax:

    Sorry to learn about that. Worse than regular mainland fires as Hawai’i is so unique. At least it isn’t lava and VOG.

  37. 37.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @geg6:

    My “favorite” part of the Berniebros (male and female) is how they’ve come late to the party (which Bernie was too pure to join over his 35 years in politics until it suited him), swarm into the caucuses etc. with that unself-aware arrogance that only young know-it-alls have and who don’t understand the delegate rules or much else about how these party primaries work, then scream how corrupt everything is when Bernie isn’t rewarded like they think he should be. Miss me with all that.

  41. 41.

    Linnaeus

    @magurakurin:

    No, that doesn’t look good for Sanders at all and I think he’ll be roundly thumped by the end of March. Which is too bad, IMHO, because I think a truly competitive primary has been a good thing so far.

  43. 43.

    JustRuss

    Meh, one measly cat. Now, if you can get a team of cats pulling in unison…that would be a sign the apocalypse is upon us. Never mind.

  44. 44.

    trollhattan

    @efgoldman:
    Again, very sorry both families are forced to suffer through this fresh horror. I can only add I hope this lout never takes another breath as a free man. I hope Vermont takes domestic violence as seriously as it warrants. Some states, not so much.

  46. 46.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Mnemosyne:

    Bro is a state of mind – shorthand for white entitlement and the lack of self-awareness of same. So, yeah, the shoe fits. Maybe Bernie could develop some self-awareness of his own white male privilege and of his followers, and use it as an object lesson on the way it intersects with his message? Hahahaha I crack myself up.

  47. 47.

    Disgruntled former Baud supporter

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: Here’s that link you were looking for, from a liberal former editor of the Burlington Free Press. It may help explain why Sanders does not have more support among the more liberal members of Congress with whom he has served over the years.

  50. 50.

    J R in WV

    We had a short haired orange alley cat rescue for years. He was very self-sufficient, having been abandoned on the west side of the “big city” here in WV. A co-worker was working to tame him, even though he had a collar he was quite feral. She tricked him onto her lap, and then dropped him into a cardboard cat carrier.

    When I let him out in our house, he disappeared for weeks. We knew he was there hiding in the basement, because the food and water was going away. Eventually one evening we saw this little orange face, peering from the basement steps.

    We named him Harvey after the invisible giant rabbit in the Jimmy Stewart movie, since he was an invisible cat for so long.

    He became very close to his people, and near the end of his long life, he would creep into bed with me, and wrap around the top of my head, to help an old cat keep warm. I loved that, and would sleep quite still for Harvey.

    He finally died of kidney disease, well, I took him for that last ride to the vet because of his kidney disease. Sadly it was while Mrs J was in the hospital.

    He loved the deep woods where we live. Even though he was small, he was fearless.

    So orange cats rule!! I don’t think Harvey would have gone swimming on purpose, but I’m sure he would have given it his best if he had to try.

    ETA: I really really miss our cats who are no longer with us. Writing this has made me quite teary. It’s a good teary, though.

  52. 52.

    Eric NNY

    Oh wow. I’ve skijoured with my dogs but cats? I think my cats would tear me apart as soon as one paw hit the snow.

  54. 54.

    Elmo

    Skijoring is definitely a thing – my old boss used to tether himself to a pair of English Cocker Spaniels and off they’d go. But DONT try it without the right harness and traces – there have to be quick-releases to prevent injury to yourself or the dogs if a bad situation comes up.

  59. 59.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Disgruntled former Baud supporter:

    That’s it! I spent a couple of hours googling “Bernie is dismissive” to find this article, and all of the hits were about the media being dismissive of his candidacy, which is also true. This article says it all as far as I’m concerned. BJ commenters are the fucking best.

  61. 61.

    NR

    @magurakurin: PPP showed Hillary ahead by 3 in New Hampshire when the other pollsters were showing double digit Sanders leads. I wouldn’t hang your hat on those guys.

  63. 63.

    magurakurin

    @NR: Their last poll in NH was on January 3 but, whatever, not interested in fighting over which pollster is the best. The voters will decide. I’m wiling to abide by that decision and vote for the nominee. I only hope the rest of the party does, too.

  65. 65.

    Poopyman

    @efgoldman: It doesn’t help to know it doesn’t get much worse than this. Hopefully it helps to know we care and are here for you while you support the women-in-laws and Mrs.efg.

  66. 66.

    Roger Moore

    @magurakurin:

    The whole thing is oddly turning into a white versus black thing, and that just can’t be good.

    I don’t think it’s just a white versus black thing. There’s also a bunch of younger versus older, and I think a fair amount of radical versus incrementalist- which is probably part of the younger versus older business. I’m definitely leaning toward Hillary, and I’m extremely white. For me, it’s a matter of not believing in Bernie’s promises of revolution. If we aren’t going to get that no matter who wins, I’d rather have somebody I’m more confident in as a capable administrator who is going to do a capable job of keeping all the other aspects of being president- making appointments, dealing with crises, etc.

  68. 68.

    Poopyman

    @bemused: I know one Norwegian Forest Cat (aka Poopyman!) who haaaaates snow and cold, but then he lives in Maryland where the winters are no doubt much worse than Northern Norway.

  71. 71.

    SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel

    @efgoldman:

    Have been thinking of you and Mrs efg all day. Dreadful for the entire family, unspeakably sad for her mother. I’m glad the three daughters are there for each other and for their mom. Any time a parent outlives a child, it flies in the face of the natural order; when it is a violent death like this, well, I can’t begin to imagine the pain. Lots of white light and virtual hugs to you, mrs, and the family.

  72. 72.

    WaterGirl

    @efgoldman: I missed your original post, so very sorry to hear what happened. Best to you, Mrs EF and the whole family. Just senseless, which makes the loss so much harder to deal with. Big hugs.

  73. 73.

    pamelabrown53

    @efgoldman:

    There just are no words.Condolences aren’t enough. I hope we, at Balloon Juice, can provide a modicum of solace for a revered family member.

  78. 78.

    rikyrah

    The scariest truth revealed during the 2016 Election Season:

    George W. Bush was indeed, ‘THE SMART ONE.’

    Everytime I think about it, I shiver.

  79. 79.

    jl

    @efgoldman: Not sure what happened from your comment except another tragic death occurred. My condolences to you and your family. Hope you can be there for them. Sounds like a tragic and tough situation.

  81. 81.

    Emma

    @efgoldman: Your poor MIL. It’s such a terrible thing when a parent outlives her children. I don’t think devastation is a strong enough word. But it sounds like the family is pulling together, which is the most important thing at times like these.

  84. 84.

    PurpleGirl

    @efgoldman: I haven’t been reading most of the threads lately, so I probably missed your first comment on what happened. So sorry for what you, mrs.efg and her family experiencing right now.

  89. 89.

    WaterGirl

    @PurpleGirl: I had not seen it, either. I just found efgoldman’s post on the (not very aptly named thread) named Well This Was Fun. Senseless loss.

  91. 91.

    Bokonon

    I own a cat that is some sort of Maine coon cat/Norwegian forest cat mutt, and looks a lot like Jesper. And I can totally see her behaving like this. This is the cat that takes us on walks around the neighborhood (leading the way, and bringing us along as company), and likes to tunnel and play in the snow.

    As Cole can tell you regarding Steve, this type of cat is big, strong, and very centered and laid back in personality, and they behave more like dogs than regular house cats.

  93. 93.

    rikyrah

    so now, they’re going to pretend that they’re not obstructing the nominee….

    they’re looking for some Frank Luntz-approved language to gloss it over.

    TheRittenbergReport
    ‏@TheRReport
    GOP Rethinks Plan to Obstruct Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee

  95. 95.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    Just got a call dispatching me to South Charleston WV tomorrow morning. Due to peculiarities of air routes I have to drive the whole way rather than flying.
    Headed over to the NOAA site for weather forecasts.
    I’ll probably be back in Detroit Friday night.

  97. 97.

    Icedfire

    It really is rather frustrating to have your own personal efforts to not only avoid stereotyping or demeaning Clinton supporters but to actively attempt to get the worst of the BernieBro offenders to knock their shit off rewarded with continual derision and universally applied insults from people who complain about the same damn things they do.

    Sigh.

    ETA: my fake ironic tags got eaten, so envision “run-on sentence,” “anecdata,” and “grouchy liberal” in html tags.

  100. 100.

    Felonius Monk

    @efgoldman: I saw your post the other night, but not until after you’d left. My sincere condolences to you, your wife and daughter, and family. May you all find the strength to get through your grief.

  102. 102.

    WaterGirl

    @Icedfire: You do what you can, but you can’t control other people. There’s been a whole lot of painting with a broad brush in these conversations about the election and I know it would be making me crazy if I were as engaged this time as I was in 2008.

  103. 103.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    Hmm. So what’s the conversion, how many catpower to one horsepower, anyone know?

    Beautiful plumage, Norwegian Orange.

  104. 104.

    Icedfire

    @WaterGirl: More anecdata here, but I personally don’t remember as many broad brushstrokes in 2008. There were (and are now) certainly bad actors in the primary debates, but I feel like many people better distinguished between them and those they reasonably disagreed with.

  106. 106.

    WaterGirl

    @Icedfire: That was true in my sphere, but in 2008 I was on the Obama blog and at Al Giordano’s place, and both of those were pretty sane places. I wasn’t on BJ until just after the election. Back then, even Dkos was kind of sane compared to now.

  107. 107.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @rikyrah: Troy Hayden ‏@ troyhaydenfox10 1h1 hour ago
    BREAKING: Sandra Day O’Connor: Obama should name next Supreme Court justice.

    This was predictable. I thin it was Jeffery Tobin who said she’s incapable of admitting a mistake, but she regrets Bush v Gore

  108. 108.

    SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel

    There’s a man at the next table who looks like a blend of a younger Sylvester Stallone and a thinner Chris Christie, with just a touch of a not-dead-quite-yet Antonin Scalia. Very disconcerting.

  112. 112.

    Mike J

    @Icedfire: There were certainly people talking about how horrible the pumas were, and rightly so, if you understand puma to be the subset of 2008 Clinton supporters who were horrible.

    Currently people think berniebros are idiots, which is true if you define berniebro to be the stupid obnoxious Bernie supporters, not everyone who supports Bernie.

  113. 113.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @JMG:

    i’m still waiting for a Sanders supporter to explain to me like I’m five years old, how Sanders’ supporters are so much different than Obama’s supporters were, who ended up sniping at him and staying home in 2010.

  118. 118.

    SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel

    @efgoldman:

    Absolutely agree, and I was privileged to be at one of those meet ups (as well as meeting you and mrs efg a few days earlier). Incidentally, hope you don’t mind, I took the liberty of sharing your sad news with our mutual (non-BJ) friend.

  119. 119.

    debbie

    @rikyrah:

    GOP Rethinks Plan to Obstruct Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee

    Even the GOP-loving Nina Tottenberg (NPR) opined that they were starting to look foolish.

    As a bonus, NPR interviewed Reince Priebus about the Trump-Cruz dustup. He said that things were much worse over at the DNC and that the Dems were in far greater disarray than the Republicans. Talk about delusional!

  121. 121.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @debbie:

    As a bonus, NPR interviewed Reince Priebus about the Trump-Cruz dustup. He said that things were much worse over at the DNC and that the Dems were in far greater disarray than the Republicans. Talk about delusional!

    I was surprised at how hard he was pressed on the Trump/Cruz conflict. He tried to dance around the issue but the poor man just isn’t that nimble. Almost felt sorry for him having to downplay the open warfare between those two psychos.
    Almost.

  123. 123.

    Mike J

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: If Trump and Cruz were sane people who believed in a horrible political philosophy, he could just say, “that’s what primaries are about, pointing up differences between candidates.” His problem is that it is obvious to the most casual observer that the majority of the Republican party is bat shit insane.

  124. 124.

    SFAW

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    So what’s the conversion, how many catpower to one horsepower, anyone know?

    That’s an interesting question. Since it can’t really be tested (in terms of yoking a bunch of cats together), you would need to multiply however many foot-pounds per minute a single cat could provide, and scale up. That also assumes you could actually get a cat to do something for more than a minute, other than take a nap or lick itself.

    Maybe we could ask Dr. Carson? He seems to be pretty sharp. Well, sharp as a balloon.

  125. 125.

    debbie

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    I was stuck in rush hour traffic and very cranky, and it cheered me immensely to hear him trying his moves and failing. I can’t imagine why they keep him around. Maybe his dad’s real connected.

  128. 128.

    SFAW

    @debbie:

    Talk about delusional!

    You’re assuming he believed what he said. I think it was just another case of him trying to deflect and distract from how fucked-up his candidates are. Kind of like Rubio’s “Bill Clinton didn’t kill Osama” BS, and so on.

  130. 130.

    trollhattan

    @rikyrah:
    I don’t credit GWB for much, but on two points he has my grudging admiration:
    -Freezing out Cheney et al in his second term. Not a fast learner, but he did learn.
    -Going full STFU re. commenting on the Obama administration. Lord knows, everyone else from his administration did the inverse and I appreciate Bush not falling to temptation.

    As to your point, yeah, I think we all figured the law of averages meant Jebbers was smarter. Hoo boy, was that ever wrong.

  131. 131.

    Roger Moore

    @SFAW:

    That also assumes you could actually get a cat to do something for more than a minute, other than take a nap or lick itself.

    I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a cat dash around chasing invisible prey for longer than that. And I’ve certainly seen them slowly stalk something for more than a minute- not that they’re expending a lot of energy in the process.

  133. 133.

    Roger Moore

    @debbie:

    Looking at his photo, “cool ammosexual” wasn’t what I was thinking.

    Isn’t “cool ammosexual” an oxymoron, kind of like “jumbo shrimp” or “sane Republican”?

  135. 135.

    Joel

    @Roger Moore: I definitely fit on the younger side of the voter spectrum and am extremely skeptical of revolutionary politics. A large part of this comes from making the unfortunate choice to pursue a career in government-funded science…

  138. 138.

    David Fud

    @efgoldman: I just read about what happened to your SIL. I am so sorry that she had to face her end that way, and so sorry for its aftermath on your family. Best wishes for your family’s recovery. I have little doubt it will be a long road.

  139. 139.

    Aleta

    @efgoldman: I’m so sorry for your family’s terrible loss. Words are not adequate.

    My sister lived with a violent abusive man for 20 years. I wish the grief of these stories would end, but it never seems to stop. I sent a small donation to the Rutland Co. Women’s Shelter local to Shrewsbury. I think they can help your family locate support services or people to talk to, if you need.

    Can’t tell you how sorry and sick I am. Deep sympathy to your family.

  140. 140.

    Mnemosyne

    @SFAW:

    You can buy a cat exercise wheel. No, really. I actually was kind of tempted to get one for our hyperactive cat, but G put his foot down.

    IIRC, though, cats are considered ambush predators for the most part, so they’re designed to lie in wait and do a short chase.

  145. 145.

    No One You Know

    What are the cat’s views on environmental issues? I’m guessing progressive, although not entirely against development, because Comfort matters. Paws need a warm up.

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