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You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Welcome, Finnick

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Welcome, Finnick

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News that doesn’t suck, from faithful commentor Tissue-Thin Pseudonym:

It has been requested that I provide information on the new feline overlord at Chez TTTP: Finncik Neal. I got him at the St Paul Humane Society last Friday. I went intending to get a feisty little girl, since Dirk still misses Monster bossing him around, but that only lasted until I met Finnick. He stayed under the chairs in the visiting room for the whole half hour I was there, but he didn’t shy away when I reached under to pet him, and by the end he was at the edge of the chair I was sitting on, letting me scritch his head.

I thought that was very brave for 10-month old cat only a couple of weeks out of surgery to remove his left hind leg. He was found as a stray, and had multiple torn ligaments and other damage in the knee and they decided that amputation was the best option. He’s still working to master running on three legs, and it can be entertaining to watch him try on the mix of hardwood and linoleum floors in my house.

The integration with the rest of the household is going well. Harry is still perturbed, which was unexpected given how laid back he is about everything else. We made it through the whole day with all of us sleeping on my bed. I left the door to Finnick’s room open while I’m at work tonight for the first time. Hopefully there’s no blood on the floor when I get home.

***********
Apart from cheering on feline overlords — and prepping for Drama King Comey’s latest all-networks appearance — what’s on the agenda for the day?

Reader Interactions

151Comments

  2. 2.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Good morning! Welcome Finnick – a beautiful kitty! May the household melding go well.

    I’m back in the US of A, recovering from jet lag. Crashed at a friend’s NYC apartment last night before continuing on to ABQ today. Enjoyed some wonderful dhosas for dinner at a restaurant on Lexington & 26th at my friend’s recommendation. Now I’m contemplating showering and venturing forth to find breakfast and COFFEE.

  3. 3.

    satby

    Double yay! Congratulations on the new family member and hooray for Finnick! He’s a handsome boy, and a happy life with you will make whatever bad time that resulted in such trauma fade away.

  8. 8.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    James Clapper: there is a “doubt cast on the legitimacy of [Trump’s] election

  12. 12.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Jason Miller‏ @longwall26

    Comey: He’s guilty
    Democrats: He’s guilty
    Trump: I’m guilty
    Republicans: We may never get to the bottom of this

    359 replies 22,305 retweets 55,641 likes

  14. 14.

    Elizabelle

    @O. Felix Culpa: Want to hear more about walking the Santiago de Compostela trail. Well done! Did you find it crowded in places? Photos, photos, photos, and commentary please, once you’re rested up.

    And welcome to Finnick. Beautiful tripod kitty. Some Maine Coon in there?

  16. 16.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @satby: I’m still supine, waiting for the coffee fairy to deliver. That strategy doesn’t seem to be working, but maybe I should wait and wish a bit longer.

  18. 18.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Tom McKay @thetomzone

    in Comey statement, Trump extraordinarily preoccupied w/ pee tape for a man supposedly not in a pee tape.

    That Trump repeatedly contacted Comey to tell him over and over that there’s no pee pee tape means there’s a pee pee tape.

  21. 21.

    p.a.

    @Baud: do you have a ‘first comment’ app? also too, how can you be president when you spend so much time online?

    ohhhhh… never mind…

  24. 24.

    JPL

    Good morning! Hopefully the cats adjust and become best friends
    The Ossoff/Handel debate starts at nine, and it should be interesting. Handle doesn’t believe in a livable wage, and she thinks the minimum wage is a federal mandate. She certainly doesn’t believe in government mandates. That actually might help her get out the vote.

  27. 27.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Lost in all the bombshells is today’s UK election.

    Latest polling average has Bernie Corbyn losing by double digits to race baiting Teresa Trump, who is openly campaigning on cutting social security and privatizing the national healthcare system.

    Well done, True Progressive. Well done.

  29. 29.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Elizabelle: Thanks for asking! I’ll try to put something together. There are actually many Camino trails. I walked the one most people are familiar with – the Camino Frances – two years ago. 500 miles from St. Jean Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela. This time I walked a section of the Camino del Norte, which goes along the northern coast of Spain. This route has a very different feel to it, was difficult in stretches (steep ascents and descents in unseasonably hot weather), and offered splendid views of the sea at various points. Living in landlocked New Mexico, I particularly soaked up the latter.

  30. 30.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @JPL: Has a great old-timey feel.

    my parents gave me a coffee table book on famous front pages. It’s just great art work.

    For example, 50 years ago today (photo)

  31. 31.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Baud: I checked the polling average 2 hours ago, it was a 8 points, but 538 says there’s a long history of tories over performing polling.

  33. 33.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: Vacay. That’s good. Was afraid it was another injury or more surgery ….

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: That LA Times front page is stunning. And ironic too: story about new FBI chief pick directly under story about fired FBI chief’s upcoming testimony. Way to go, Trump.

  34. 34.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Yashar Ali‏Verified account @yashar

    Who among us hasn’t repeatedly called the FBI Director to deny involvement with Russian hookers?

    267 replies 2,015 retweets 5,689 likes

  35. 35.

    Baud

    In stuff that doesn’t make the news anymore, the Supreme Court took a case to decide whether police need a warrant to access cell tower location data.

    But Obama isn’t president, so no one cares anymore, it seems.

  36. 36.

    Elizabelle

    @O. Felix Culpa: A Camino hike is going on my 2-year bucket list. Would have liked to do a bit this year, since arrived before it got beastly hot up there (allegedly), but more time in Barcelona is only to the good.

    Did you see many people riding or walking bikes? Would a bike just impede one on the difficult stretches? (I was kinda thinking of the bike as a metallic beast of burden …)

    Were you able to stay in the el cheapo traveler’s hostels?

    The whole concept fascinates me.

  38. 38.

    Betty Cracker

    Good-looking cat!

    Regarding UK election — I hope Labour pulls off a miracle. It’s unlikely, but a Conservative majority going down in flames would be a thing of beauty, IMO.

  39. 39.

    BlueDWarrior

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: I wouldn’t be surprised with anything between a sizable Tory Majority to a Hung Parliament, UK elections have a habit of being screwy versus the polling.

    In any case it goes back to a point I made late in a thread last night where the hard left has to get over itself (to some extent) in order to form legislative voting majorities. There seems to be this crazy strain among the internet left that we can have the Grand Revolution if only our legislators and pundits were sufficiently beating the leftist drums. I am quite incredulous that we’d have ‘permanent’ left majorities just by doing that; on the other hand, we can be better than what we are right now when it comes to making the public case. It’s gonna be a long slog to find the combination of rhetoric and public action to get and sustain such majorities, and fraught with backsliding as the right will not just let us reconstitute ourselves without major interference.

    [In fact, you can easily make the case that there has been a long, sustained ratfucking operation to ensure the Left can never coalesce…]

  42. 42.

    BlueDWarrior

    @Baud: You get the impression that some in the Left need their purity more than anything else, and anything that even hints of settling in order to increase their electoral pull smacks of of an intolerable impurity.

    For some, they’d apparently see everything disintegrate into real, “Mad Max”-style chaos than suffer the indignity of being impure.

  43. 43.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Elizabelle: There were many more bikers on the Camino Frances than the del Norte, perhaps because of the aforementioned hills. I prefer walking. I think you see and experience more that way. Yes, I often stayed in the albergues. Some of them are lovely and a great way to meet people from all over the world. That said, I also allowed myself the occasional (budget) hotel stay. The charm of sleeping in bunk beds in a room with 15 or 23 of your closest friends wears thin occasionally.

  44. 44.

    debbie

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    Colbert was so on fire last night, he had to do two monologues.

    In other news, Trump’s comments yesterday about healthcare were wildly inaccurate. For instance:

    TRUMP: “Just yesterday we learned that one of the largest insurers is pulling out of Ohio. That could mean another 20,000 counties and 19,000 people will have no plan available to them.”

    THE FACTS: Ohio has only 88 counties. What the president meant to say, according to a White House fact sheet, is 20 counties. And according to recently published government data, 13,246 people were enrolled in exchange coverage in those 20 counties.

    and

    TRUMP: Ohio resident Raya Whalen “liked her doctor, wanted to keep her doctor, but she could not keep her doctor. She’s not allowed under the rules and regulations unless she paid an additional $50,000 in out-of-pocket expenses for the birth of her precious little girl, just born.”

    THE FACTS: Another apparent reading error. The White House says it would have cost an additional $5,000, not $50,000.

  45. 45.

    Mike J

    @BlueDWarrior: The Corbynites wanted to make sure no Blairites became PM, and they’re getting their wish.

    Pity about the NHS and Brexit, but it’s the price some seem willing to pay.

  46. 46.

    Baud

    @BlueDWarrior: I’m not even sure I’d call it purity anymore. Purity implies ideological differences. I thinks it’s devolved to tribal identity.

  47. 47.

    Kay

    I can’t believe Chris Christie is now the go-to expert on ethics. Good God. It’s like it’s 2010 again. He’s been rehabilitated. As far as I’m concerned the Chris Christie endorsement means this is the end of the FBI investigation. Since now people are permitted to appear before Congress and not answer any questions because they don’t feel like answering questions (as we saw yesterday) I have my doubts on whether the congressional investigations will amount to much, so I’m not sure what that leaves.

    I like Angus King, though. He shows a welcome lack of deference, like he actually believes he’s in a co-equal branch. He’s a bright spot.

  48. 48.

    Baud

    @Mike J: To be fair, I’m not sure the Blairites could have won either. My impression is that the non-Tories are hopelessly fractured.

  51. 51.

    Patricia Kayden

    Finnick Neal is gorgeous. Reminds me of John’s cat.

    @Kay: The MSM seems to have no problem redeeming GOP punks. Wonder if they’d do the same for folks on our side who have fallen down. Sycophants went to prison because of Bridge Gate. Don’t know how Christie wormed his way out of charges but he has nothing to say to me about ethics or anything else for that matter.

  52. 52.

    Central Planning

    As some of you might remember, our last cat had heart disease. We got a new cat from one of the local humane societies last week. She is a polydactyl calico – kids are convinced she has 7 toes on each of her front paws. There are clearly six but I think they want to count a little nub on each paw as well. They definitely look like mittens.

    She is very talkative and curious. Her favorite toy is this feathery mouse thing that she picks up in her mouth and runs around the house, up and down the stairs with it. Hilarious.

    Here’s a picture of her.

    We also decided to get a second rescue cat as well, so we also have an orange tabby that was found at a fast food restaurant. The estimate is she is 2 years old, but she weighs just about 5 pounds. She’s very tiny but getting used to us (she’s been living/barricaded in the DoCP’s room for now). No pics of her yet, but she has a very pretty coat.

    I’ve started training them – “Sit” seems to be the one that they are taking to pretty easy. Lay Down will be next. Maybe shake. Cat treats work great :D

  54. 54.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    He was very good with DeVos, too. She used a single, word-for-word phrase 14 times as a response to various formulations of the same civil rights question and he was impatient with it- he made her look like a “politician” because he’s so direct. He wants her to use her own words because they believe (rightly) that she doesn’t know or understand the laws. They know she can’t do it.

  55. 55.

    SFAW

    @Central Planning:
    I notice she has her tail strategically placed, to prevent the kids from counting how poly her dactyls are. Self-conscious, I guess?

    Beautiful girl, by the way.

  56. 56.

    daveNYC

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: In a country where a majority of voters went for Brexit that was pretty explicitly focused on cutting off immigration.

    @Baud: The Labour and the Tories are closer in the polls, but Labour is still well behind. Polls are all over the place too, relatively speaking. Likely voter models seemingly are the tricky bit.

    Generally, Corbyn’s performance improved greatly over the last two weeks or so. He started to get in some zingers during PMQ, and actually started sounding good in the media and with the sound bites. Of course he’s been pretty craptacular for the previous year or two. No media game, flubbing PMQ, basically not being serious about the ‘opposing’ bit in opposing party. The whole crowded train video fiasco.

    The tricky question is what’s helped narrow the polls (at least as much as they have narrowed). May is an even shittier campaigner than Corbyn, she comes off as a robot designed by lizard people, the Conservative manifesto was horrible (basically seemed to have grabbed equal parts from 1984 and A Modest Proposal), and the Labour manifesto is actually chock full of pretty good proposals that are generally well liked (note: most of the stuff is Miliband era stuff); so it’s not like you can easily say, “Corbyn has totally turned this shit around!”

    Honestly, I can’t point to one single thing that I think is killing Labour in this election. It just looks like old people really like the Conservatives, and old people are the ones who always vote. The Dementia Tax fiasco was covered in the news, as were the other horrible parts of the Conservative manifesto. The impact of Tory cuts to security budgets done in the name of glorious austerity have been in the news recently, and been backed up by statements from various security type people. Heck, Corbyn managed to have a pretty nice and nuanced statement about the London Bridge incident while May decided it was a good opportunity to push for increased internet regulation. It really just seems like the people of the UK (with all the caveats that this is voting for individual MP seats and not some nationwide popular vote for PM) just want May as PM, or at least the Conservatives and all their horribleness in charge.

    I’m not entirely sure if a different Labour leader could have won this election. Potentially gotten closer, yes, but win? I’m not sure. Then there’s the Catch-22 problem that if Labour had been more popular, May simply wouldn’t have called this election. Although maybe she would have, she seems to be a bit of a moron.

    The one other thing I’d bring up is that the UK RW media is the shittiest thing in existence. The Sun and Daily Mail are horrible papers run by horrible people enabling horrible things.

  57. 57.

    HeleninEire

    @O. Felix Culpa: I have a friend here who did a 2 week Camino walk in May. Now she wants to go back and do the full 5 week course. Because the average weight loss is 23 pounds! I told her if I’m not working when/if she actually pulls the trigger I’ll definitely go with her.

  59. 59.

    Baud

    @daveNYC:

    she comes off as a robot designed by lizard people,

    So your saying May is better than Trump.

    Thanks for the explanation. Very informative.

  60. 60.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I’m down today because if their goal was to get rid of Comey and scuttle any investigation it looks like they succeeded. Trump is telling these people “loyalty” is a requirement for taking a job with him. The new FBI director had to meet that condition. They all did. They must have because he got rid of Comey for giving the wrong answer. They won’t even answer questions now, as we saw yesterday. He may succeed in killing this, which means we never find out the specifics of the Russian meddling, which means we go into another election without that information.

    Chris Hayes said (allegedly! I didn’t watch it) that we don’t know if there’s Russian pressure or influence on the health care law. They wanted Trump. It makes sense they need a successful Trump. We just don’t know, because we don’t know anything.

    Warner sometimes gives me hope but I’m not sure there are enough of them to push back against what seems like a powerful group of people who want this to go away. They want those fucking tax cuts. They’d (literally) kill grandma to get them :)

  61. 61.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @HeleninEire: Walking so much on a daily basis does allow you to eat (and drink) whatever you want… while you’re walking, that is. That benefit does not continue once the walking stops, alas.

  62. 62.

    Central Planning

    @SFAW: thanks. In that picture, she was fascinated by my wife using the sewing machine.

    It sure is nice having pets around

  64. 64.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Burr is limiting questions to Comey to only 1 round today.

    each senator gets 5 minutes and there are 16 members on the committer which means Comey will only be on the stand for a max of 90 minutes.

    Yet Clinton had to face 11 hours of questioning.

  65. 65.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Eric Boehlert‏ @EricBoehlert

    in her 11 hrs of Benghazi questions did Hillary ever say she didn’t “feel” like answering Q?

    98 replies 1,730 retweets 3,094 likes

  66. 66.

    Quinerly

    @debbie:
    I had that speech on yesterday…background noise. Honestly, have avoided his speeches for weeks (ODed on his pre election rallies).I thought he sounded more disjointed than ever before…repeating himself over and over, yet reading a prepared speech. The ad libs really bad. Did anyone notice? Or are we numb?

  67. 67.

    BlueDWarrior

    @Kay: Well it’s the Republican MO: do whatever the hell you can until they [the electorate] finally wise up and vote you out of office; because you know you’ve programmed them so well that eventually the programming reasserts itself and they will vote you back in (almost out of compulsion) and you can continue once you regain power.

    @Baud: I think that sums of a ton of the Internet commentariat on the left that refuses to get with it. If they don’t personally (as much as you could given it’s the Internet) approve of certain people and movements, then it is to be shunned, if not destroyed.

  71. 71.

    Another Scott

    @debbie: I guess Donnie missed watching Powers of 10 (9:00).

    Either that or his dementia is becoming increasingly hard to hide.

    Or maybe both/and…

    (sigh)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  72. 72.

    MJS

    @Baud: It is going to take some time. I’m encouraged by (some of) the press. They are not letting this go. Maybe it’s for the wrong reason, i.e., coverage of it is a ratings winner, especially anytime they get to say “hookers”, but if the new FBI Director attempts to shut the investigation down, that will be another huge story. I think there are a number of reporters (reporters, not pundits) who see this as their Woodward and Bernstein moment, and are fighting like hell to be the one to break the story that brings Trump down.

  74. 74.

    ThresherK

    @Central Planning: Polydactyl.Calico.

    Polydactyl calico!

    I guess my weaknesses are evident.

    —

    I’m also guessing some Maine coon for Finnick. He has the noblesse oblige bit down pat.

  75. 75.

    Patricia Kayden

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: I suppose the deal between the GOP and Trump is that the GOP gets its awful, soul-crushing legislation passed by a dimwitted President while Trump gets to run around yelling that he’s the Leader of the Free World and grift at a federal level (along with his obnoxious family). It’s a win win for both sides except that Trump is so incompetent that the GOP isn’t getting anything out of the bargain.,

  76. 76.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I bounce back. I cheerlead a lot for local Democrats (because I am the annoyingly chirpy person at work! ) so I come here to express doubts. A lot of them “poor mouth” which is kind of a local culture thing. They say the worst case because they want you to bring up the hopeful thing. It’s a way of talking- almost supersticion. Don’t temp the Gods by counting chickens. We all have our roles, Baud!

    * Also- I’ve been wrong about everything since Trump election night so this may go exactly the other way – I thought he would work with Democrats and be a good politician, if also an asshole. That sure didn’t happen.

  77. 77.

    Another Scott

    @daveNYC: I listen to an hour of the BBC NewsHour every morning. Their main political reporter – I don’t recall his name – can’t seem to keep from using the most negative slant possible whenever he talks about Corbyn. “Far left fringe” “grey-bearded socialist” “IRA supporter” “down by 20 points” etc., etc. The host on Monday (or so) seemed to overtly cut him off when (asked about how close the result might be and how accurate the polling was) he was going on and on about how doomed Cobyn was because he was just so horrible.

    I know every reporter has their biases (we all do), but it just seemed over-the-top.

    To be clear, Corbyn may be horrible and may have been an IRA-loving, Stalin-loving, Sandinista-loving, Saddam-loving guy who wanted to Collectivize the Means of Production. Maybe Vlad is secretly (or not so secretly) wanting him to win. That’s fine. But it’s not like the situation here. Even if by some miracle he became PM, he would not be able to implement such things (if he even wants to do such things now). He would have to work with his coalition. But the Tories have been a disaster. Austerity has been a disaster, and they’re continuing to double-down on it. Brexit is going to be a disaster. May and the Tories need to go, not be given yet another mandate.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (“Things would be so much better if voters just listened to me!”)

  79. 79.

    tobie

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    Burr is limiting questions to Comey to only 1 round today.

    The time for comity is over. I’m so tired of hearing Warner say that he’s working with his Republican colleagues on the committee to get to the bottom of this. At this point the Dems need to say loud and clear that Republican Senators and Representatives are doing everything in their power to scuttle this investigation. This has the benefit of being the true. What’s at stake is nothing less than our democracy. Besides Schiff, who is good at explaining the issues in front of the camera?

  80. 80.

    sherparick

    As Atrios says, “What A Country. So much of our policy is driven by the belief that the real problem is that the poor have it too easy (and, I would add, that the rich have it to hard). http://www.eschatonblog.com/2017/06/what-country.html

    We focus to much on Trump alone, Trump is the Republican Id come to power. He is the barking mad Fox News Celebrity, RW Talk Radio host, and Red State blogger come to power. So although Trump is the immediate threat to the survival of the United States as a Constitutional (small l) liberal Republic, as it was created 241 years ago, the proximate cause Conservative Movement and its ownership of the Republican Party. This movement, which now has the support of most of the business class in the United States is an authoritarian, illiberal movement that considers the modest redistribution of wealth and income accomplished by the New Deal and Great Society to be an moral outrage, an act of theft, and an offense to against the imaginary order established by their imaginary God. From its founding in the 1950s, the Conservative Movement model its tactics and strategies on the Leninist and Stalinist communist movements that it considered its arch enemy. What we are seeing in Trump’s election and the current administration is a slow motion coup.

    However, where they part ways with Erdogan of Turkey, Orban of Hungary, Putin of Russia, and the Social Justice Party in Poland, is that where those parties practice a “herrenvolk” welfare state, to go along with their authoritarian policies which boosts their popularity, the Republicans and the Business/Rentier Class who own them, in the far more racially and geographically diverse United States, are aiming to destroy the welfare state completely to create a “Galt Gulch” run by a small oligarchy. Hence the unpopularity of this agenda and the threat of coming elections. In response, the Movement will double down on the efforts to keep 60% of the white vote on board by reasserting the psychological and intangible benefits of white supremacy even as as the Pap Finns of hinterlands are left with just their precious whiteness, their booze, their Meth and Oxycontin pills.

  83. 83.

    Another Scott

    @Kay: I’ve been impressed with Warner on this investigation. For years he was (not a quote): “I’m king of the bi-partisan moderates”. He’s a very cautious pol (and that’s part of the reason why he barely won re-election – he is afraid to have too much support from Democrats). For him to be out front like this means that he sees it as something that the vast majority of Virginians support.

    Here’s hoping that the rest of the Senate and Congress has a similar epiphany…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  85. 85.

    Another Scott

    @tobie: PoliticsUSA:

    Sen. Warner asked the make or break question of the Russia hearing when he pointed out that the hearing is not about the intelligence officials’ “feelings,” but about facts regarding what was said to them by the President of the United States, who is “not above the law.”

    Senator Mark Warner (D-CT), [sic!] the top ranking Democrat on the Senate Intel Committee, grilled Intel Chiefs over their flimsy “feelings” dodge of direct questions about President Trump’s possible interference in the Trump Russia investigation.

    Warner charged, “What we don’t seem to have is the same commitment to find out whether the President of the United States tried to intervene directly with leaders of our intelligence community and ask them to back off or downplay.

    “You testified to your ‘feelings’ response; candidly, your feelings response is important, but the content of his communication with you is absolutely critical. The President is not above the law, if the President intervenes in a conversation and intervenes in an investigation like that, would that not be the subject of some concern?”

    This isn’t about “comity” and “getting along with Republicans”. He’s clearly laying a strong foundation for “moderates” to climb aboard the impeachment train.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  86. 86.

    low-tech cyclist

    Like Elizabelle and ThresherK, I’m seeing plenty of Maine Coon in Finnick. What a handsome cat!

  87. 87.

    JPL

    @Baud: If that were true, the repubs would not be in office. They are the ones who want to toss democracy out the window.

  88. 88.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Baud: that’s true. I’m just wondering what was the trauma. for our olds, they were freighted by the change in culture during the 60s and 70s (desegregation, women in the workforce, gays, baseball free agency) and it has stayed with them. That’s why they pine away for pre-equality era of the 50s.

  90. 90.

    Baud

    @JPL: Republicans don’t promise change per se. They promise a return to better days. It’s a lie, but old people are also easily scammed.

  91. 91.

    tobie

    @Another Scott: @Another Scott: Thanks for this. When I step back from the day-to-day outrages and look at both public sentiment and what the GOP has been able to accomplish, I see there is reason for hope. Trump’s in the toilet in the polls; the GOP is way down; and since assuming power they’ve managed to accomplish nothing, and their agenda is viewed as cruel, irresponsible, and beholden to a few rich families at the expense of the many. The most important thing the Democrats can do is make sure that every eligible voter has the documentation to vote and actually gets to the polls.

  92. 92.

    ThresherK

    @Another Scott: This is about PoliticsUSA, the source of the blockquote (i.e. not you):

    I’m a D from CT, and I must remind folks here that Mark Warner is from VA. My two Senators have been thorns in Trump’s fleshy side from the get-go.

  94. 94.

    daveNYC

    @Baud: Worse, actually. Say what you will about Trump, his ability to generate word salad and be animated on stage at least gives him some small amount of charisma. May isn’t able to deliver a speech in a remotely convincing way, and she borderline shuts down when forced to go off script. I can’t find the exact interview, but a smaller city reporter interviewed her and she gave the same non-answer to each of the four questions. And not a good word salad BSing sweet talking sort of thing, it was basically:

    Q: What about funding related to X?
    A: I know how important X is to LOCATION and the long tradition of X that LOCATION has.

    Not redirecting the question, not some reassurance about X, not anything. That’s not even getting into what happens with something more freewheeling. There’s a reason she skipped all the debates. Trump is a shit show, but at least his ability grab onto a question and then torture it to death with broken syntax and incomplete thoughts is something that is recognizably human. May can’t even manage that.

    She really is like a robot programmed by someone with a limited knowledge of human interactions and even less knowledge about switch statements.

  95. 95.

    SFAW

    @Another Scott:

    He’s clearly laying a strong foundation for “moderates” to climb aboard the impeachment train.

    Good luck with that. Outside of John McCain furrowing his brow even-more-deeply, and Lindsey Graham threatening to send an even-more-strongly-worded letter, when have Rethugs put “Country before Partei” since , oh, I don’t know, say November, 1992?

    Note: Brow-furrowing and letter-sending are not actually evidence of them putting “Country before Partei.” But I’m trying to be magnanimous.

  96. 96.

    Craig McMahon

    All these cat pictures are bumming me out–I like cats, but am very allergic.

    That, of course, didn’t stop my mother from keeping two cats while I was growing up.

    Looking forward to Comey’s testimony. Since the shitheel gave us Trump, there’d be some symmetric justice in his testimony helping to cripple Trump’s presidency.

  97. 97.

    SFAW

    @ThresherK:

    My two Senators have been thorns in Trump’s fleshy side from the get-go.

    Have to be pretty goddamned long thorns to get through the fat, to hit muscle non-fat with Shitgibbon.

  99. 99.

    Kay

    There’s a proposal to build a medical marijuana (growing) facility here. They grow a lot of bedding plants “under glass” in this area because while it’s cold and energy is expensive, water is cheap and they’re right on a E/W interstate.

    They’re exaggerating the wages, though. I’ve worked in greenhouses- I’ve been the second- to- top-paid person, and I didn’t make 50k. They’ve also only been in business two months :)

    They’re locating (or want to locate) it in the lowest income town in the county- funnily enough the only thing out there is a fresh-out-of-prison drug rehab facility so I think it’s likely council approves whatever the hell they propose. House. It’s a big ramshackle house. “Rehab Facility” gives it too much credit.

  100. 100.

    NotMax

    Came across this shot someplace in the hinterlands of the ‘net and thought it a cute idea and good for a morning smile for youse guys.

    (May repost this on next food thread.)

  103. 103.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Baud: wish I knew more. my knowledge of british history is limited to Kiera Knightly and Emma Watson (photo).

  104. 104.

    efgoldman

    @Kay:

    They won’t even answer questions now, as we saw yesterday. He may succeed in killing this, which means we never find out the specifics of the Russian meddling

    Relax, Kay and everybody else. This thing will not be settled in either the house or senate committees, they are, mostly dumb show, although who knows what lies down the road (remember John Dean and Alexander Butterfield, who nobody but relatives and friends ever heard of?)
    The big reveals, big actions, and major legal outcomes are going to come out of Mueller’s shop. That’s where the indictments will originate and where the prosecutions will be run (with a probable sideshow in AG Schneiderman’s office in NY).
    AND IT’S GOING TO TAKE A LONG TIME!

  106. 106.

    JPL

    @efgoldman: Senator Kamala Harris tried to get Rosenstein to commit to giving Mueller full independence, and he wouldn’t. That doesn’t bode well for the future of the investigation.

  107. 107.

    efgoldman

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    for our olds, they were freighted by the change in culture during the 60s and 70s (desegregation, women in the workforce, gays, baseball free agency) and it has stayed with them.

    Except WE WEREN’T OLD in the 60s and 70s, dipshit. The old farts from then are almost all dead now.

  109. 109.

    Spanky

    @HeleninEire: Are you working now? I don’t remember if you’re there on an American passport or have dual citizenship, but if American how difficult is it finding work?

    Asking for a few dozen friends who may be reading your answer.

  110. 110.

    NotMax

    @efgoldman

    What practically no one remembers is that Butterfield let drop about the taping system in private (during a break in the proceedings, IIRC). Reported later on that heated discussion ensued about

    1) whether he would be asked any questions that would elicit a response publicly revealing the information when the committee reconvened, and
    2) who would be the one to ask the key question.

    It’s conceivable the back room decision might have gone the other way and the existence of tapes would have remained secret.

  111. 111.

    Quinerly

    @JPL:
    SEN Coryn said yesterday that he fully intends to question Comey on Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton on the tarmac…..and HRC’s private email server!

  113. 113.

    La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes)

    Finnick is magnificent! That calico girl is pretty adorable. Nice to start the day with cat pics. Who’s live blogging the Comey testimony? I’ll be in court so I can’t watch but I might be able to check in here once or twice.

  114. 114.

    Peale

    @Quinerly: yep. They want this to be about Hillary. What they don’t want to mention is Flynn. Not much we can do about it. Eventually Hillary will be asked about it and then we’ll be told that she’s talking to much, again.

  115. 115.

    Jeffro

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    That Trump repeatedly contacted Comey to tell him over and over that there’s no pee pee tape means there’s a pee pee tape.

    Yup.

    And when it all finally comes out, Trumpov will still be clinging to the ‘fact’ that since the girls were given to him gratis, they weren’t technically “hookers” for him. Just, you know, ‘dates’ that Putin paid for…

  117. 117.

    NotMax

    @Qunierly

    “With the indulgence of the chair, I also have some important questions about D. B. Cooper and Judge Crater.”

  118. 118.

    Peale

    @Jeffro: the pee pee tapes could come out and Trump will just claim that he’s innocent because Comey agreed with him that there weren’t tapes.

  119. 119.

    rikyrah

    @MJS:

    It is going to take some time. I’m encouraged by (some of) the press. They are not letting this go.

    Add in…the IC isn’t letting this go, either. Who do you think is feeding the stories, drip by drip, to the press?

  120. 120.

    JPL

    @Jeffro: Because of Reality’s leak from the NSA, it will be more difficult for Trump to do away with sanctions. We’ll see how Putin responds. There might be showers in our future.

  121. 121.

    rikyrah

    @tobie:

    The time for comity is over. I’m so tired of hearing Warner say that he’s working with his Republican colleagues on the committee to get to the bottom of this. At this point the Dems need to say loud and clear that Republican Senators and Representatives are doing everything in their power to scuttle this investigation. This has the benefit of being the true. What’s at stake is nothing less than our democracy. Besides Schiff, who is good at explaining the issues in front of the camera?

    You ain’t lying.

  122. 122.

    rikyrah

    Top intel officials hide scandal info from congressional oversight
    06/08/17 08:40 AM
    By Steve Benen

    The timing was fortuitous. We’d already seen reports that Donald Trump asked the Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Adm. Michael Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, to publicly intervene in the pushback to the Russia scandal, and those reports were advanced yesterday morning with evidence that the president also encouraged Coats to intervene with the FBI – which is the crime that forced Richard Nixon’s resignation.

    We were fortunate, then, that Coats and Rogers were scheduled to appear yesterday in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, where they could answer oversight questions about this very issue.

    At least, that is, in theory. As Rachel noted on last night’s show, Coats and Rogers refused to provide senators with the information sought by the committee. It led to a striking exchange between Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) and two of the nation’s top intelligence officials.

    KING: Why are you not answering these questions? Is there an invocation by the president of the United States of executive privilege? Is there, or not?

    ROGERS: Not that I’m aware of.

    KING: Then why are you not answering?

    ROGERS: Because I feel it is inappropriate, senator.

    KING: What you feel isn’t relevant, admiral.

  124. 124.

    bemused

    I’m trying to decide which news channel to record Comey hearing from and how long to record because I have to be out and about during it.

    It’s a good bet the most miserable excuse for a human being is having the worst time of his life since he barged into WH and I’m enjoying thinking of him panicked and sweating like a pig.

  125. 125.

    rikyrah

    Key GOP senator shrugs off Trump’s scandalous demand for loyalty
    06/08/17 09:20 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Donald Trump sat down with Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro last month, and the host, responding to a New York Times account, asked the president if he pressed then-FBI Director James Comey for his loyalty. “No,” Trump replied. “No, I didn’t.”

    We now have reason to believe the president was lying. The Comey statement released yesterday provides the details of the conversation in which Trump reportedly told the head of the FBI, “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty” – and then seemed to connect his expectations to Comey’s continued employment.

    House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told MSNBC yesterday that it was “obviously” not appropriate for Trump to make such a request. Unfortunately, not every Republican leader agrees. The Washington Post reported:

    Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who is leading the Senate probe of possible Russian coordination with Trump associates, said he was not alarmed by Comey’s account.

    “I don’t think it’s wrong to ask for loyalty of anyone inside an administration,” Burr said. “I don’t think of what I’ve read there’s anything of wrongdoing.”

    Note, Burr isn’t rejecting Comey’s account as unreliable. Rather, the North Carolina Republican is saying that if the account is true, he just doesn’t care.

    I realize assorted partisans are going to take steps to defend their party’s leader, but Burr’s quote is unsettling, not just because he’s the chairman of the committee investigating the Russia scandal, but also because he’s completely wrong.

  126. 126.

    Quinerly

    @bemused:
    Well, MSNBC just cut to a shaky camera on a two car motorcade that could have been Comey’s arrival. Plus, they have had the countdown clock in the corner, I think, since yesterday.

  128. 128.

    TS

    @Baud:

    Old people everywhere are easily frightened by change.

    Guess I’m an old person – what I call a true boomer – born 9 months after father returned from WWII. Some change I don’t like – but as sure as I shall eventually be the person of interest at a funeral – I would NEVER vote for a RW politician.

    I’ve supported unions, women’s rights and public education all my life, liked the benefits of the taxation levels in the 1950s, 60s and hate how far the RW has taken us from those benefits.

  129. 129.

    rikyrah

    Comey’s statement points to alleged Trump lies about obstruction
    06/08/17 08:00 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Yesterday afternoon, former FBI Director James Comey’s opening statement to the Senate Intelligence Committee landed on the political world like a bombshell. The remarks, which Comey will deliver under oath this morning, raised the prospect of serious wrongdoing on the part of Donald Trump, with Ben Wittes describing the statement as “the most shocking single document compiled about the official conduct of the public duties of any President since the release of the Watergate tapes.”

    It’s against this backdrop that Marc Kasowitz, Trump’s outside counsel, tried to pretend that Comey’s written version of events is great news for his client.

    “The President is pleased that Mr. Comey has finally publicly confirmed his private reports that the President was not under investigation in any Russian probe. The President feels completely and totally vindicated. He is eager to continue to move forward with his agenda.”

    For the record, I don’t think he was kidding.

    Obviously, attorneys are obligated to represent their clients’ interests, but let’s be clear: Comey’s statement yesterday put Trump’s presidency in jeopardy and may help bring about its premature end. If the former FBI director’s account is accurate, the president demanded Comey’s loyalty, and suggested the demand was tied to Comey’s future career. Trump also personally urged the FBI director to back off an ongoing federal investigation, which looks an awful lot like obstruction of justice.

    The statement from Trump’s outside counsel doesn’t deny, refute, or contest any of these allegations.

    Just as importantly, though Comey’s statement didn’t highlight this, the information the former FBI director documented suggests the president didn’t just obstruct justice – he also brazenly lied about it to the American public.

  132. 132.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Sort of strikes me that the Republicans are so mesmerized by what ever demons are in their collective consciousness that Trumpcare going to pass no matter how damaging their rational side sees it as to the country and themselves. Part of all this Russian thing, these politicians must no just paling around with the Russians is going to look bad, yet they do it anyway because of arg burble.

    This is what happens when one professes Jesus was a dinosaur rancher as a matter of fact and not faith. At that point ones decisions start coming separate from rational choices.

  134. 134.

    hovercraft

    @BlueDWarrior:

    You get the impression that some in the Left need their purity more than anything else, and anything that even hints of settling in order to increase their electoral pull smacks of of an intolerable impurity

    Of course this is their attitude, their hero Saint Bernard has spent decades in congress and has accomplished virtually nothing, but he has remained PURE! All hail Saint Bernard!

  138. 138.

    hovercraft

    @rikyrah:

    Marc Kasowitz, Trump’s outside counsel, tried to pretend that Comey’s written version of events is great news for his client.

    “The President is pleased that Mr. Comey has finally publicly confirmed his private reports that the President was not under investigation in any Russian probe. The President feels completely and totally vindicated. He is eager to continue to move forward with his agenda.”

    For the record, I don’t think he was kidding.

    Aren’t we at the point where we can all acknowledge that our moron in chief lives in and surrounds himself with people who live in a fantasy world? Seriously is there any longtime friend, Stone, Lord, doctor, Dr. Strangelove, or lawyer, Kasowitz, Cohen, who is not insane? Not to mention his kids who way back when people looked to as the only people who could reign him in, they just as insane as he is. Twitler is a cautionary tale about how damaging a combination of narcissism and too much money can be, without the money he would have been confronted with reality long before he reached his 70 th year. His kids at least will have many years ahead of them to enjoy the aftermath of this misadventure, Eric may think he’s suffering now, just wait till his father has no power and his name is mud.

  141. 141.

    daveNYC

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: I’m not really sure. Past elections it was the usual peace and security line, plus a steady hand on the economy and all that jazz. Not that that’s an accurate representation of Tory policies, but that was the marketing pitch. More recently they’ve thrown in austerity as a thing, which fine, it’s horrible but people dig the austerity thing because for some reason they’re incapable of grasping the difference between a nation-state and a household.

    This time around though, they’re straight up saying they’re going to gut what’s left of the social safety net and they’re not even really paying lip service to keeping benefits for the olds in one piece. So I can’t really figure what’s going on. It’s not even IGMFY, because the Tories have been very clear that they’re cutting everything. It’s not like it’s all dog-whistles about t-bone steaks and shiz, they’re straight up promising home delivery of face eating leopards, and people are signing up.

    Like even within the normal bounds of people sucking, being short sighted, holding deep seated desires that the next family over not even have a sparrow kebab and whatnot, the number of people supporting the Tories is seriously weird.

  142. 142.

    Mel

    @ThresherK: That’s what I thought, as well. Finnick has the regal Maine Coon bearing, and the lovely tufted ears. Such a beautiful kitty!

  144. 144.

    SgrAstar

    @Kay: I hoped the same, Kay. Fact is, they have trump over a barrel. They can impeach him at any time, so he has to go along. Too bad about the country.

  146. 146.

    J R in WV

    @debit:

    You guys need to get real on the Maine Coon stuff. For starters, if they don’t weigh 15 pounds, they aren’t even close to looking a little bit Maine Coon. Even the female Maine Coons weigh nearly 20 pounds. At least the ones we had did. Plus ear tufts and snow pads with big tufts of fur between their toes.

    And unbelievable coats of thick fur. Seriously, you couldn’t see their skin without a tool to shave them with.

    That said, Finnick is a beautiful cat. Hope he does well in his rescue home.

    ETA: on third look, he does have some ear tufts, so maybe? A hard kittenhood could affect adult size… does he have tufts on his feet?

  147. 147.

    Dalai Rasta

    What a lovely little fellow Finnick is. Best wishes on everyone getting along!

  148. 148.

    debit

    @J R in WV: Obviously I wouldn’t expect a pure bred Maine Coon kitten to have been abandoned. This cat, much like my cat Julian, is was I would call a Maine Coon type, but for a quick off the cuff comment dashed off before I had to leave for work, “Maine Coon” should have sufficed.

  149. 149.

    J R in WV

    @debit: Sorry, no offense meant. Did you not see the ETA at the bottom? Again, Sorry.

    And yes, any kind of cat or dog can be abandoned….

  150. 150.

    Anne Laurie

    @J R in WV:

    You guys need to get real on the Maine Coon stuff. For starters, if they don’t weigh 15 pounds, they aren’t even close to looking a little bit Maine Coon. Even the female Maine Coons weigh nearly 20 pounds. At least the ones we had did. Plus ear tufts and snow pads with big tufts of fur between their toes.

    That’s the purebred Maine Coons who get super-big. The genes-responsible-for-Maine-Coon-looks are widely prevalent in northern feral cat populations all over the world — cf, Siberians and Norwegian Forest Cats. As you say, it takes a lot of surplus calories to grow a 20lb cat, but there are 5lb and 8lb ‘Maine Coons’ in every shelter around here.

    The old MC breeders’ “tells” for True ‘Coons: Ear tufts, hair between the pads, and a luxuriant ruff/squirrel tail. Also, frequently, ridiculously squeaky little voices — they’re Tom Selleck cats!

  151. 151.

    debit

    @J R in WV: No, I’m sorry, I came home cranky.

    Yes, it’s true any kind of pet can be abandoned but I assume that when you’re paying $300 (or more) per kitten you wouldn’t just let them wander off. And yet, I have a Maine Coon type that I captured as a feral, a Turkish Van mix and a Turkish Angora mix, both rescues. So yeah, you never can tell.

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