We went hiking yesterday in a swampy preserve. There were signs posted at the gate warning visitors that it’s black bear mating season. We didn’t see any bears but did see suspected bear poop:
Yeah, they shit in the woods.
We came upon a wooden bridge, and while I was leaning on it and sighting an alligator for a photo, something stung the ever-loving crap out of my right thumb.
I didn’t see what bit me, but my thumb immediately swelled up. Over the past 24 hours, I’ve taken antihistamines, put ice on it, etc., but when I got up this morning, it was even worse. I can’t bend it at all now, and it’s so swollen it feels like my skin will split.
I may have to break down and go see a doctor, which will cost a lot of money because my insurance sucks donkey balls. Fucking venomous creepy crawlies!
Hope you’re having a better day. Open thread!
rikyrah
Just a reminder: The latest from Shonda Rhimes: Still Star Crossed on ABC at 10 pm EST. Check it out!!
Period drama…costumes…wonderful sets and scenery….
rikyrah
Feel better, B.C. :)
jeffreyw
Naw, bear poop has little bells in it.
cain
and no rabbit to wipe their arse with huh?
That Shonda is brilliant. :)
Fun times yesterday at the Portland Protest. Only 14 people got arrested, and bunch of anti-fascists antifa folks showed wanting to push alt-right people.
Also, my Google Nexus 5x conked out on me. Very disappointed in the quality of this phone. I got a moto z now, but shitty to spend money on stuff like this. Right before going to Mexico too!
rikyrah
A Potential Nightmare Scenario This Summer
by Nancy LeTourneau
June 5, 2017 2:25 PM
The Associated Press opened their fact-check on recent statements from Donald Trump with a dire statement that just so happens to be true.
But as many have been asking for months now, what happens when the topic du jour turns from “violent acts abroad” to crises here at home?
Beyond terrorism, the weather outside (even up here in what I call the “tundra”) is also reminding us that, while summer doesn’t officially start for a couple of weeks, most of us are already there temperature-wise. That means that it is time to be aware of some things, including this prediction:
What happens when we have to start relying on this administration for information about hurricanes and/or other dangerous weather-related events? Here are some numbers to keep in mind from the Obama years:
rikyrah
Why the Republicans Can’t Legislate
by Martin Longman
June 5, 2017 12:02 PM
What I like about the following is how it lacks any moral judgment. It simply puts the facts out there and let’s you decide what you think about it. The context is the shocking lack of legislative achievement we’ve seen so far from the Trump administration. The idea is that after a legislative burst in its first two years, the Obama administration accomplished much of its agenda through executive orders and regulations, so we should expect much of Trump’s initial efforts to be non-legislative as well as he makes efforts to undo Obama’s legacy. We’re told that Trump has been more active and successful than we might imagine.
…………………………………….
On the legislative front, though, he finds that policies this deeply offensive aren’t easy to move. Ronald Reagan understood that if he wanted tax reform he needed a Democrat to champion it. That’s why New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley, who wasn’t even the ranking member of the Finance Committee, was tapped to author the reforms and push them through the Senate. And Reagan accepted that the tax reform was going to have to be based on ideas that were popular in Democratic circles. Bill Bradley wasn’t going to write the conservatives’ dream bill.
If Trump wants tax reforms or a big infrastructure bill, he’s going to have to make the same kind of concessions. He should be talking to the big Democratic hitters on finance and transportation in the Senate. That means we should be reading about negotiations with folks like Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden and Florida Sen. Bill Nelson. But that’s not what we’re seeing, at all. This week, the president is pushing infrastructure in a way that is assured to get absolutely no support from Sen. Nelson.
Major Major Major Major
I’ve been trying to make an online data dashboard internet explorer-friendly so I think I’ll call it a draw.
Elizabelle
And …. we have a workplace shooting in Orlando, gunman/disgruntled former employee, kills 4 current employees, including the nice lady at the front desk, then himself. I believe that hits the standard for an FBI counted mass murder.
And yet, it’s not even a headline on the FTF NY Times. It’s a link to a story under “more news.” I can’t even…. Cuz it happens so much. Shooter is former army guy.
And I hate this kind of sentiment: Orlando Sentinel:
What? God did not give a fuck about the other four employees? But we’re all to pray.
Yeah. Pray it away.
trollhattan
@rikyrah:
Killer money-making scheme: let’s pre-make 100k “Heckova job, Orangy” tshirts. I find tshirt sales skew to XL for some reason.
bystander
Is it just me or is it not a mystery why our air traffic control system is out of date?
I hate repubs.
PaulWartenberg
About that mosquito bite: I’ve heard a report that there’s a new kind of bite that does create that kind of swelling going around Florida. DO go get that checked with your doctor ASAP.
rikyrah
Why Steve Bannon is Winning the Game of Thrones
by Nancy LeTourneau
June 5, 2017 11:01 AM
Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve watched Trump alienate our NATO and G7 allies, pull out of the Paris Climate Accord and re-instate his call for a travel ban. These are all moves that come from the white nativist Bannonites in the administration.
It wasn’t that long ago that a lot of people were consoling themselves with the idea that, while this administration seemed intent on following through with many of Trump’s nativist domestic policies, the so-called “adults” were still in charge of foreign policy. As Susan Glasser notes, that group is known as MM&T: Mattis, McMaster and Tillerson. But she writes today that, while they were consulted on his speech to NATO leaders, they were left out of the decision to alter it at the last minute to exclude language reaffirming a commitment to Article 5.
………………………………
For months we read accounts of the arguments going on in the White House about whether or not to fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to pull the United States out of the Paris Climate agreement. On one side were the “adults” mentioned above, along with Ivanka and Jared Kushner. On the other side were the nativists led by Steve Bannon. Once again, the latter prevailed.
In the wake of the London terror attack, Trump basically attacked the Mayor of London and on Twitter this morning dissed his own Justice Department.
Obviously, the “original Travel Ban” was the brainchild of the Bannonites.
In other words, the faction in the White House that appeared to be losing the factional battles sometimes referred to as the “Game of Thrones,” is once again on the rise. It is worth noting why that happened.
I would suggest that all of this has more to do with what I wrote about last week than it does with the persuasive powers of Steve Bannon. Donald Trump is feeling threatened and that has created a downward spiral in which he will become increasingly dangerous.
trollhattan
@bystander:
St. Ronny’s first big FY to unions resonates still.
Major Major Major Major
@bystander: because it’s a massive, landmine-littered process to replace? Not sure what you’re getting at.
Immanentize
@trollhattan: This
Jeffro
Betty, there was an article in the WaPo today about a black bear being spotted in suburban Fairfax County (yes, I know that’s redundant)…
…I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that our local elementary schools were besieged with parent calls asking about outdoor recess procedures, or flat-out demanding that the kids be kept inside. Because that’s just how Fairfax parents roll…
DocSardonic
Betty that sounds like you got popped by a scorpion, so I would suggest that a trip to a doctor might be in order. While our local Florida scorpions are not venomous enough to be fatal, the stings are painful and can do some lasting damage.
Mnemosyne
Definitely get your thumb looked at ASAP. You don’t want to end up with a nasty infection because you didn’t want to spend the money on a doctor.
JPL
@Elizabelle: Well I just checked this site, https://twitter.com/RealPressSecBot, and there are no new tweets, so no biggie.
It won’t be mentioned on the news, tomorrow.
pat
this was being discussed on the last thread. I found this summary at realitychex.com
SatanicPanic
oh sorry that was me
delk
Today is National HIV Longterm Survivors Day
This year will be 32 years for me.
Mnemosyne
It turns out that having to give your cat a pill every night is no fun for anyone involved. Ugh. The chase was so involved that it aggravated G’s bronchitis and he barely slept all night.
But if she really does have pemphigus, she’s going to be on one medication or another for the rest of her life, so we need to get her used to it now.
JPL
Finch rolled in some type of poop while hiking in north GA, and the dil swore it smelled like bear poop. hmmmm
call me ishmael
@rikyrah: Its only a matter of time before someone in the gaggle (I’m betting Acosta) asks Spicer “Are you guys tired of the President’s twitter account making you look like idiots up there, yet?”
JCJ
Hi Betty
What antihistamine did you take? I have much better luck with Zyrtec than with Claritin (loratidine). Both are better than diphenhydramine. Also, if it does not get better you could take an H-2 receptor blocker like Pepcid (famotidine)
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: You should record it for posterity and send a link to AL. Much more entertaining that T’s stupid tweets. Bosscat once had an upper respiratory infection, I only pilled him once, it was an ordeal. Thankfully, the infection resolved itself. It was a traumatic experience for all concerned.
Keith P.
So, blue jays….what the fuck? I started putting bird seed out last week (along with feeding the goldfish living in my pond), and damn if those aren’t the meanest birds I’ve ever seen. They bully the dove, they bully the cardinal, they bully my cat, they bully the *feral* cats, they bully each other.
I’m currently trying to set out 3-4 different spots of bird seed in hopes they have enough to get their fill before leaving some regular seed for the doves (everyone inhales the black oil sunflower, but the other seeds are left for the truly hungry…and now a squirrel) Yeah, my yard is pretty damn alive right now (I’ve also got 2-3 raccoons and 2-6 possums living under my deck)
zhena gogolia
@Mnemosyne:
Is it at all possible to get it compounded as a liquid? We cannot give our cats pills, and their thyroid medicine is put into a tuna-flavored liquid that we put in their food.
daverave
Yup, Florida is a dangerous place per the local newspaper
Gravenstone
@Mnemosyne: Can you use a pill crusher then mix the powder with some wet food she’ll eat? Might be easier for all concerned.
pat
@Gravenstone:
Did that for Susy for years.
trollhattan
@Jeffro:
They should send DeVoss out with her griz rifle to protect those kiddies, or at least the charter school kiddies.
The Moar You Know
@rikyrah: I’m taking it as a given that he in no way actually wants an infrastructure bill. He and his minions, and his party, do not care about that at all. Why spend money on shit that poor people use?
As to tax “reform”, I frankly expected them to have something moving on that front by now. Like others, I find McConnell’s silencing of the Senate downright menacing. This should be a time when the place is a beehive of activity. Instead…nothing.
trollhattan
@Keith P.:
To some that would be called “the pantry.” Why hunt when dinner comes to you?
Gravenstone
@schrodingers_cat: Had to give my tomcat a course of antibiotics for an intestinal issue. Knew he wouldn’t take pills, so had it compounded as a liquid. Still got rewarded with piss AND shit on my bed when I got home from work following the first day’s dosing. Spiteful little fucker.
JPL
Betty, You’ll be more comfortable if you have it checked out. imo
gene108
Betty, maybe the stinger is still in your thumb. If you can get it out, it might reduce the swelling.
rikyrah
@delk:
Congratulations!
Has it been a combination of diet and drugs?
rikyrah
@DocSardonic:
Just reading this terrified me.
The Moar You Know
@rikyrah: This one was weird enough that it has me thinking something that I would have dismissed as CT a few weeks ago: I am not sure that Trump is writing any of the Tweets ascribed to him.
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
The best part was trying to pull her out from under a dresser. And I have short arms, so G ends up having to do all of the pulling.
@zhena gogolia:
It’s a teeny-tiny pill, so right now we’re just toughing it out. A liquid wouldn’t be any better because we would still have to chase her down and hold her still, which is the part she hates.
@Gravenstone:
Can’t put it in the wet food because she won’t eat it, and the other cats might eat it instead. We’d rather just drop it down her throat.
FWIW, we’re talking about a pill that’s about half the size of a baby aspirin, so it’s really, really tiny. There apparently is a way to get it compounded into a cat treat, but other people who do that say their cats eventually get tired of the treats.
We’d rather just make it a routine that we’re all stuck with where she gets pets and treats afterwards since we’re going to have to do this for years to come in the best case scenario.
Jeffro
Does this count as yet another shoe dropping? Russian hacking efforts of actual voting software just days before the election?!?
Weird that it would come via the same organization that employs Greenwald…
TenguPhule
@SatanicPanic:
You’re Mr.Hanky?!
TenguPhule
@The Moar You Know:
Its when you lose sight of them that they are at their most dangerous.
jharp
Is that in fact bear poop?
Cause I saw the same feces on a trail in Michigan last Saturday where there are not supposed to be bears.
SatanicPanic
@TenguPhule: No I just had too much coffee before my morning hike
JPL
@Jeffro: I didn’t read it, because I assume that it’s a plant to say see we didn’t change the votes.
Wyatt Derp
I also have it on good authority the Pope is Catholic.
Gravenstone
@Mnemosyne: Maybe try a pet piller? Basically a syringe designed to force a pill down the throat when held in the mouth. Still involves holding her head an inserting the syringe, but more reliable than “down the hatch”.
bystander
@Major Major Major Major: I’m getting at our not having kept up with technology because it’s far too expensive for little old us.
Brachiator
@delk:
Very cool. Hope things continue well for you.
Lapassionara
@delk: Wow! Congratulations!
Betty, we used to put a poultice of wet baking soda on stings. Not sure why, but it seemed to work.
Please take care of yourself!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Some of my right wing relations, especially the over-80s, are still withholding judgment.
One of my dad’s cousins, I’m not even sure if she’s still with us, found a church back in the nineties that still did the Latin mass
bystander
@delk: Congrats! Just read an article about Larry Kramer and his inspiration for one of the characters in Faggots. Which made me think back to the times…
NotMax
Senior moment #14,811 (collect them all).
Could not for the life of me find the checkbook.
Not in the customary spot where I keep it.
Not in the secondary place where it sometimes is put.
Turns out it had made a cozy nest for itself underneath the (mercifully) small stack of bills awaiting monthly payment atop the cabinet near the desk.
Brachiator
BC, you really need to see a doctor for that bite.
HeleninEire
I still haven’t quite gotten used to the time diff vis-à-vis Balloon Juice. I read most of the threads at 9am my time but I have missed the evening threads and the overnighters. Love to read but commenting is over.
And I know how much y’all miss my comments!
delk
@rikyrah: Who knows? There have been multiple times throughout the years where I went without medication and plenty of times I went to bed hungry.
My mom used to tell me that I will outlive her because she was not going to have to bury one of her kids. :-)
Major Major Major Major
@bystander: it’s my understanding that this situation is more akin to how we still use 8-inch floppy disks in some nuclear systems. It works fine, it’s absolutely critical that it works fine, but we really need to get around to fixing this glaring issue one of these days.
ETA: obviously we shouldn’t do it Trump’s way because it will invariably not work and just serve to rob the treasury.
Elizabelle
@HeleninEire: We do! Any more cool dates?
The Raval in Barcelona is hopping tonight. Today was Pentecost holiday. We’ve just had the fourth drum and trumpet band of the evening parade beneath our 3rd floor (really, 5th) balcony. Colored lights on their hats. So fun.
Swannie
If you want to keep that thumb you should see a doctor most ricky-tick.
Major Major Major Major
Those dang-blasted millennials are obsessively not neglecting personal health to ‘get ahead’ in life.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
AFAIK the Census Bureau still has to keep at least one punch card and punch tape reader in working condition in order to retrieve some years’ data.
Quinerly
Jonathan Turley on Trump’s tweets: http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/336363-opinion-trump-torpedoes-supreme-court-case-with-travel
trollhattan
@jharp:
And just how did it travel two-thousand miles in just two days? FAKE BEAR NEWS, SAD!
I’ll allow as to it resembling California black bear poo.
TenguPhule
@bystander:
Government is required to go through a bidding process to ensure lowest price and fairness in who gets selected for the contract. This results in things happening very slowly. This is one of the reasons why school teachers buy their own supplies.
Air traffic radar and nuclear missile silos are a bit more expensive then some pens and paper (and a bunch of other stuff, I’m not dissing any teachers here, I am familiar with the shit they have to deal with).
So factor in a bid cycle of years or decades. Then factor in the rate of improvement of technology. Add to that the ever changing requirements of the procuring dept as new things become possible.
Result, you pay for shit already outdated and obsolete by the time you sign the contract.
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: There’s an (alas apocryphal) (Alas Apocryphal would be a good name for a band) story about losing all the telemetry from one of the early Apollo missions because NASA forgot how to read the obsolete storage medium.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
Fast, Reliable, Under budget.
Pick one. And pray.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@delk: That’s really great.
Quinerly
I’ve been agreeing more and more with Jennifer Rubin (Frum, too, for that matter): http://thehill.com/homenews/media/336336-washington-post-writer-serious-concerns-about-this-presidents-mental-stability
Quinerly
@delk:
Congrats! Wonderful news!
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
Betty, here are some herons in Amsterdam to help you feel better.
rikyrah
The Democrats Should Not Concede on the Debt Ceiling
by Martin Longman June 5, 2017 3:32 PM
I can understand this sentiment and I might have agreed with it ten years ago. I can’t agree with it today.
It’s the job of the majority party in Congress to pass appropriations and it’s their job to pass any hike in the debt ceiling. Period. End of story. If the government shuts down, it’s 100 percent the majority’s fault. If we default on our loans and damage our credit rating and cause a global recession, that’s 100 percent the majority’s fault, too.
This is always true, but it’s especially true when the majority in Congress is controlled by the same party that is sitting in the Oval Office. Strictly speaking, the minority party is not responsible for anything and should never be asked to provide votes for anything unless they are going to get something out of it.
During the Obama years, the minority Democrats provided most of the votes for lifting the debt ceiling and they did it despite asking in vain for clean votes that didn’t advance Republican priorities. They did this because they wanted to protect the president who they knew would take most of the blame if the global economy blew up. But they don’t have a president to protect anymore and it’s up to the Republicans to do the responsible thing.
If they can ram home a debt ceiling hike with 100 percent their own votes, then they can cram whatever they want into the bill. If they need Democratic votes, then this time it’s the Democrats who need to see their priorities addressed.
trollhattan
@Major Major Major Major: .
Worst NASA blunder I know of is overwriting the 1st generation Apollo 11 videotapes because that’s what they did back then. Giant reels that were expen$ive and thus, were reused.
I can’t count how many IT folks I’ve watched building a tape drive system from spare bits in order to recover data from old archive tapes in obsolete formats. What one then does with the WordStar and Lotus 1,2,3 files is something I avoid entirely.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
That an app which tells someone “Buy a new candle” not only exists but is deemed a vital necessity speaks volumes.
LongHairedWeirdo
You should have been making this post from the doctor’s office, or from urgent care. Please get this checked out *quickly*. It can be very dangerous.
HeleninEire
@Elizabelle: Cool dates? Um I think I may have a fella. Shhhh. Don’t ask. I don’t wanna jinx it. But I feel, at 54, like I’m 16. Also, too?? His name is Patrick. Because of course it is!!!
JPL
@delk: Congrats. There are so many people to blame for ignoring the crisis, starting with the St. Ronny. So many died because of his bigotry. Keep on, keeping on.
Morzer
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/the-myth-of-the-kindly-general-lee/529038/
TenguPhule
@rikyrah:
Given how unprepared the Republicans are, there might not even be a vote in time.
bystander
@TenguPhule: That’s why we need a brilliant mind like Jared Kushner’s focused like a laser on how to bring the ATC system into the 21st century. What if it turned out Kushner was consulting with the Russian outlaw bank to find out the best way to modernize our ATC? How embarrassed the libtards will be!
gene108
@Major Major Major Major:
Advances in air traffic control are actually tangible. There really are significant improvements, with regards to be able to tell how far apart airplanes are, for example.
There isn’t a huge leap better software can have in launching a nuclear missile.
Sure, with Wi-Fi enabled launch codes, you could launch your ICBM from your smartphone, while on vacation at the beach, but is that really the direction we want to go?
Somethings are better off staying off the grid, and being old but reliable.
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: What it tells me is that simple apps are very easy to write and some people don’t know what ‘necessity’ means.
@gene108: I meant in terms of …well, what I said. Works fine (which is different from best possible world), and since you can’t have it ever fucking up during a replacement period, the cost of doing it is so high that we have so far just decided not to do anything.
And there aren’t really software advances in missile launching, no, but there are sure as hell hardware advances.
HeleninEire
The most fun thing about being in a tourist pub in Ireland is that of course the singers sing about Molly Malone. She sold cockles and mussels A Live a live Oh. Yeah that’s not the only thing Molly sold. BUT IN A GOOD WAY!!
TenguPhule
@gene108:
Obviously you’ve never used floppy disks.
catclub
@Mnemosyne:
only need a time machine to back when the cat was a kitten. Start then.
TriassicSands
@Mnemosyne:
Pill Pockets.
Oh, no, your cat has pemphigus — foliaceus I hope and not vulgaris?
I had a female cat who was diagnosed with pemphigus foliaceus when she was only 3 years old. I or rather we were really lucky because she was diagnosed by a veterinary dermatologist in Seattle. Instead of the usual treatment — prednisone or dexamethasone — he had acquired what may have been the country’s or even the world’s remaining supply of a gold salt once used to treat rheumatoid arthritis in humans. (Apparently, it is no longer produced.) She started out getting an injection every 2 weeks, but over time we gradually spaced out the injections until she was only getting 4 a year. She never had a second flare up of the disease. Unfortunately, the vet ran out of the gold salt in December 2015 and I had to give her dexamethasone thereafter. During the more that eleven years she took the gold salts, the vet mailed me a pre-filled syringe and I gave her the injections. She never showed any side effects of any kind to her treatment. From January 2016, until May 5, 2017, I had to give her a tablet of dexamethasone every three days. (Dexamethasone is more potent than prednisone, which is more commonly used by vets. However, this vet preferred dexamethasone.) She put on a lot of weight once she was taking the steroid. The gold salt injections were a vastly better treatment than steroids, whose long term side effects are grim. I always knew the supply was finite, but I was terribly disappointed when the supply ran out.
Sadly, she had failing kidneys and I had to have her euthanized last month. (Her life-long companion with whom she had spent every day and night of her life from 2001 until 2017 died six weeks earlier in March. Very sad times around here.)
I had to pill both cats and one, the male, loved Pill Pockets, which are sold in pet stores and at vets. They’re soft pockets into which you slip a pill; then you squish the pocket, sealing the pill inside. They come in different flavors for both cats and dogs. They were affordable, but actually more expensive than his medication. If your cat likes them, it makes pilling a snap.
catclub
@HeleninEire:
When our daughter was into American Girls dolls, we decided they (American Girls) needed to make a Molly Maguire doll – preparing to throw an old-fashioned bomb. I don’t think they ever made that, sad.
jl
A while back I recommended that ‘animal poop’ be added as a tag for posts on this blog.
This important post by Lady Cracker shows that innovation is sorely needed.
Thanks for post, hope Cracker’s thumb gets better.
NotMax
@trollhattan
True story.
Junior high building on the public school campus had a TV studio. Time came when they got their very first video tape machine (those large reels you mentioned). Unit was about the size of a steamer trunk. Along with it had come the hiring of a special technician to run it (measly students weren’t allowed to so much as touch it).
Anyhoo, came the big day for the first use. I was dragooned from the high school side of the campus by the teacher in charge of the TV studio to come back to man the switcher console (don’t ask, that ‘s another tale). Much fretting and finger crossing ensued about the inaugural taping session.
Cut to the end of the program. Tape reel rewound and the Big Moment arrived to watch the recording of what had just occurred.
Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Bupkis.
Special hire hadn’t realized the videotape needed to be run through the machine first in order to lay down a control track before it would record.
Iowa Old Lady
When I listen to the news these days, I find myself saying over and over, “What an idiot,” varied only by the occasions when I say, “What an asshole.” I think I’m getting tired.
Major Major Major Major
@Iowa Old Lady: I have a feeling this is going to be a good year for my writing output.
Ian G.
BTW, I think we need a John Cole profanity-laced post/rant about newly unemployed racist shitstain Katie McHugh begging for money to pay her medical bills on the internet.
Iowa Old Lady
@Major Major Major Major: That sounds great!
SiubhanDuinne
Just saw a news alert (CNN) that the acting Ambassador to China has resigned in protest of Trump’s withdrawing from the Paris Accord on Climate Change.
Good for the Ambassador. And moar of this, please.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
“D’oh!”
You had one job, one job!. Live teevee was fraught with opportunities for the fvckup fairy, who visits regularly. Delivering a blank tape to your client is failure on a whole other level.
MisterForkbeard
@Jeffro: As noted by others, it shows that Russia tried to influence the election… and that they have a section of the GRU with the explicit mandate of hacking foreign elections and that they tried to do the same to us.
It does not, however, say that Russian succeeded (I think), and deliberately refrains from stating whether or not this hacking had an effect on the election. All it establishes in absolute terms is that the Russians were definitely trying to fuck our elections over.
Mnemosyne
@delk:
Congratulations! Scientists at the time said they could turn HIV/AIDS into a manageable chronic disease, and thank god they were right.
quakerinabasement
Ya gotta like a woman who can swear competently and colorfully. Well, I do, anyways.
Major Major Major Major
@Iowa Old Lady: On account of getting tired of the news. So, not so great. On the other hand, one must retain one’s energy and pick one’s battles.
The Golux
@Wyatt Derp:
Ah, but does the Pope shit in the woods?
Mnemosyne
@TriassicSands:
Symptoms seem to indicate foliaceus — fortunately. The vet did mention that long-term steroid use will shorten her lifespan, but we’re going to have to take that risk because she was already drastically losing weight and totally miserable, so we’ll still end up with more and better years even if there will be fewer on average.
TriassicSands
@Mnemosyne:
If it is foliaceus, as you are already aware, that is much better than vulgaris. People get pemphigus, too. Photos of people with untreated vulgaris are horrifying. There was an article recently about a woman who was recently diagnosed with pemphigus.
Has your vet done a biopsy, which is (or was in 2004) the only definitive way to diagnose pemphigus? The difficulty is that the blisters are so fragile they collapse when they’re removed. When that happens the information is lost.
My cat’s main symptoms showed up on her ears and dew claws. The dew claws were a special problem since, like most cats, she spent some part of each day in a litter box. Without treatment she would have had constant infections — eventually, untreated it would have gone systemic and been fatal.
It’s really too bad there is no source for the gold salts. I guess when people stopped using it as a treatment for RA there was no incentive to continue producing it — not enough dogs and cats with pemphigus. It was a much better alternative than steroids. The vet charged me $35 for an injection and with only 4 a year that was a much better alternative than corticosteroids.
Sadly, the steroids will probably shorter your cat’s lifespan, but that’s still a lot better than the alternative. As you may already know, gaining weight is also a common side effect.
If you have trouble pilling your cat, do think about Pill Pockets. If your cat likes them — mine thought they were treats — pilling becomes effortless.
Good luck.
Betsy
@HeleninEire: Gee! How are guys, and meeting them, in Eire? Deets please!!
J R in WV
@HeleninEire:
At only 54, you are a sweet young thing to me and those of my generation. So feel young… you are young!!
Aren’t all the boys in Ireland named Patrick? Or maybe Kevin… one of MRs J’s Irish union buddies is Kevin. Black 47 (a pro-worker rock band) for the WIN!
Another Scott
@Morzer: It’s a good piece that should get much, much more visibility. Thanks for the linky.
Cheers,
Scott.
reality-based (the original, not the troll)
@Mnemosyne: Mnem, have you tried “piillPockets” – squishy blobs of solid tuna or chicken gel, that you hide the pill in and they scarf it right down.
well, it worked AMAZINGLY well for my late beloved Edith – she would come meeowing when she heard me get out the bag, eagerly gulp down the pill
On Archie, they didint work at all – I would hide the teensy, tiny pill in the pocket, and he’d look at me in a superior, aggravating “I see what you did there” way and stubbornly refuse to eat it. So your odds are 50%, in my sample size – but they onloy cost $5, so worth a gamble – !
reality-based (the original, not the troll)
BETTY!
So last year, i got a brown recluse bite on my left hand. Being rather fond of my left index finger – local GP said, well, we;ll wait, see how bad it gets, no sense starting cutting away already – I found a miracle spider bite cure on the web. ITs from an ER Doc in Missouri, where Brown Recluse are rampant – he got it from an old widder woman in some hollow, who gave him her granny’s snakebite recipe, and he cleaned it up and made it sterile. Can’t hurt, might help till you can GO SEE A DOCTOR
First, soak in STRONG room-temp (not warm) epsom salt solution. Next. make a poultice of bentonite clay and colloidal silver solution. ( any health food or whole foods will have it, but clay is also used in facial masks – check the beauty aisle of Walgreens, if it’s the only thing open. ) Squeeze in a couple drops of extract of plantain, if you can find it (if not, there’s probably some growing in your yard – has anti-venm properties )
Smear a thick layer on injury and cover with bandaid. replace poultice every 3 hours at least the first couple of days.
sounds like voodoo, I know – but my whole hand was swollen and an appalling shade of blue-black – after one day’s treatment, it was MUCH better – kept it up for about 8 days (changing twice a day after the first 3 days) – wound healed amazingly well, only have a microscopic scar.
even my skeptic local GP was amazed, has since used same protocol twice on other patients with great success –
Hope this helps – I’ m voodoo skeptic, but this really worked – for logical scientific reasons, actually, as the clay both draws out venom and draws fresh blood to affected area.
workworkwork
@NotMax: Funny you should say that — I just set up daily reminders to take my insulin since recently I’ve been either taking it late or not remembering whether I’d taken it or not. (This is not a question you want to get wrong.)
Now every device I own will remind me to take my meds and I’ll know I took them because I will check that off of the reminder list.
Barry
@Mnemosyne: “It turns out that having to give your cat a pill every night is no fun for anyone involved. Ugh. The chase was so involved that it aggravated G’s bronchitis and he barely slept all night.”
A local pharmacist told me that they can mix up cat/dog medicine in liquid form, and flavor it. They had liver flavor. Try that.
Denali
@Mnemosyne,
I’m sure you know about the wrapping the cat in a towel strategy for the pill insertion- at least before you can get to the Pet Store for the pill pockets.
@Betty Cracker, Just get to the doctor ASAP