Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

We will not go back.

You cannot shame the shameless.

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

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Open Thread: G.O.P. – Gutless On Principle

Open Thread: G.O.P. – Gutless On Principle

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The Washington Post‘s Alexandra Petri is a very funny, and wise, woman:

… I can say it in no uncertain terms: Everything this administration does makes me sick.

I am absolutely disgusted with everything going on the White House right now. Several times daily, I must run out of a meeting of the National Economic Council to vomit into a wastepaper basket. (Sometimes, weeks later, I am chagrined to discover one of these papers being presented as a policy proposal.) This cannot go on any longer.

Everyone has told me that I should resign. Random members of the media. My wife. People whom I did not even realize knew my name.

I am under tremendous pressure. I have done everything I can. I have privately described myself off the record as sickened and appalled. What more do you want from me? An actual letter of resignation? Well, I have certainly drafted one. I can draft another. Really I can do anything with a letter of resignation other than send one…

How can anyone weigh these things? On the one hand, the president continually equates the KKK, white supremacists and neo-Nazis with those who protest against them. This is harmful and outrageous, and I have already denounced it in no uncertain terms, on background, to members of the media, through third parties!

But then, on the other hand, there is the theoretical possibility of passing tax reforms that might lower the base tax rate for corporations. They say, you can’t stand by while they attack your people and President Trump defends them. I say: Corporations are my people, too…

There is a reason I have let every media outlet know — secondhand — that I am “disgusted” and “frantically unhappy” and, at this moment, drafting a stern and strongly worded letter of resignation. Because I intend to do nothing. Also, I love drafting letters and never sending them. It is very cathartic. You get to feel as though you’ve made a beautifully worded statement of moral principle, but then in actual reality you haven’t…

At least Cohn can take solace in knowing he’s far from alone:

Reader Interactions

134Comments

  3. 3.

    trollhattan

    Seven of 146, I can practically smell the pivot from here.

    Republicans always fall in line.

  4. 4.

    JGabriel

    McKay Coppins via Anne Laurie @ Top:

    We asked 146 GOP officials about Trump’s Charlottesville response. Just 7 were critical.

    Republicans are who we thought they are – at least 139 of them, anyway.

  11. 11.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @trollhattan:
    Until they don’t, and the ACA fails to be repealed. It is far from impossible that they flip, because while the base will stick to Trump, the base won’t stop voting Republican and they may see Trump making everyone else turn out to vote against Republicans in greater numbers. They also really, really fucking hate him. I think what is currently keeping Trump in power is that elected Republicans are desperate to maintain the pretense of legitimacy.

  14. 14.

    Jeffro

    @trollhattan: they may not like it but the GOP is the party of trump now… if they had any principles they would join the Democrats or start their own party

    There are worse things, Republicans. Like that one tweeter said: she may be wearing a $10 dress but at least she doesn’t have to fuck Steve Mnunchin. Toadying up to Trumpov is the same thing

  17. 17.

    ? Martin

    While the elected officials deserve all the condemnation they get, let’s not overlook that fact that they’re just making a political calculation here. There are just enough GOP voters that support Trumps statements to primary them out. Their problem is that Trump created a massive, bright line wedge issue against his own party. He’s forcing his own party to make a clear declaration for or against institutional racism, which should be a no-brainer, except that 27% of the electorate is enough to knock you out of office – and they know that.

    If we want less racist elected officials, we need to get less racist voters.

  19. 19.

    lamh36

    @abc13houston
    20-25 residents of La Vita Bella nursing home were safely evacuated from the rising water in Dickinson, according to @GalvestonOEM.
    1:17 PM – Aug 27, 2017
    https://twitter.com/abc13houston/status/901871286661644288

    Thank goodness they were able to get help. It was interesting folks rather believe it was fake than realization that yes alot of time the elderly are the last to get help. There was almost as many responses calling the pic photoshopped or trying to prove it was fake…as folk retweeting for someone to help

    Many of these nursing homes are no more than storage warehouse for the elderly.

    Before my mom had her heart attack, she working in a number of nursing homes and some of those places were doozies..

  23. 23.

    Smiling Mortician

    OT, just dropping in to say my first round of chemo (or, as my hip Seattle doctors call it, “infusion,” probably because it sounds like coffee) went well yesterday. I’m home and feeling fine so far. Not trying to threadjack — just wanted to update all of you who have been so kind in asking how I’m doing and sending me positive thoughts.

  25. 25.

    Kay

    In shocking news, Ivanka Trump’s business partner is a crook:

    Trump’s relationship with Lax and the mountain of legal and financial troubles—reported here for the first time based on dozens of interviews and public records—raise serious questions about the first daughter’s judgment, even as she continues to serve as a powerful White House adviser. In response to detailed questions sent to the White House and the Trump Organization, White House spokesman Josh Raffel requested more information about this article but did not provide comment.

    Apparently no one bothered to vet the President’s daughter when they gave her the job in the administration. Imagine if we started looking at Trump’s business partners! That would be amazing.

  28. 28.

    Kay

    Imagine if Michelle Obama had had a crook for a business partner. We would hear about nothing else.

  29. 29.

    trollhattan

    @Kay:
    Good thing I’m sitting while reading that. Whew, that was close!

    For everything the Russians have on the Trump mob, I wonder what the Chinese have on Ivanka?

  33. 33.

    SFAW

    @Kay:

    Imagine if we started looking at Trump’s business partners!

    Well, if the Malevolent KKKeebler Elf is “leading” the investigation, it will be “Nothing to see here! Move along, folks!”

  34. 34.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Imagine if Malia and Sasha rolled their eyes at the traditional pardoning of a turkey.

    I would be able to hear the screams of the RWNJs from my window (in the heart of Blue Massachusetts).

  36. 36.

    Gin & Tonic

    @germy: Imagine if this Paul Ryan guy were in charge of a co-equal branch of government. Then he could actually do something other than disagree.

  37. 37.

    Amir Khalid

    @Smiling Mortician:
    It’s good to hear that you have a positive feeling about your chemotherapy. Yes, do let us know how it’s going. We’re a caring bunch of jackals.

  38. 38.

    germy

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Imagine if this Paul Ryan guy were in charge of a co-equal branch of government. Then he could actually do something other than disagree.

    Sadly, there’s nothing he can do.

  39. 39.

    Brachiator

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    That is correct and why they generally hunt at night when temps are cooler.

    Lions are nocturnal, bordering on crepuscular. They pretty much do everything at night.

  40. 40.

    Mnemosyne

    I would get so much more done on the weekend if our cat Charlotte didn’t think I was the world’s most comfortable pillow. There are few things more difficult than dragging oneself out from under a purring cat. ?

  44. 44.

    JGabriel

    After years of TV, cable, and newspaper pundits asking “Will (insert pseudo-scandal made up by Republicans) be Obama’s Katrina?” I can’t help but wonder why I’m not seeing anyone ask, “Will Harvey be Trump’s Katrina?”

    Is it happening and I just missed it?

  45. 45.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Brachiator: And their hearts are not strong enough to withstand the rigors and heat of daytime hunting because of it.

    ETA

    They pretty much do everything at night.

    Except sleep. They save the daytime hours for that.

  48. 48.

    Chet Murthy

    @JGabriel: PBHO having a “Katrina” would have been a dog-bites-man moment. Newsworthy. Putinfluffer is his *own* Katrina. dog-bites-man. Nothing newsworthy about it, uh, unless you care about the fate of our nation, humanity, etc. In which case, Debbie Downer!

  49. 49.

    Amir Khalid

    @JGabriel:
    Does a Katrina-level event really need to happen to expose Trump’s administration as remote, uncaring, and inept? People already know that, surely.

  50. 50.

    MattF

    See, Trump believes that he can do evil and has no doubt that he will get away with it. After all, he thinks, who could successfully punish the Donald? Republicans? Ha ha. Democrats? Ha ha. It’s inconceiveable. He believes he’s invulnerable.

    I’ll add, for the record, and so I won’t be misunderstood, that in the real world, the world is what it is, and no one is invulnerable. And Trump’s ‘competence’ is a mirage that takes very special breakfast cereal super-glasses to perceive. And I believe that DJT will eventually encounter that truth. And I suspect that when that happens, the outcome won’t be pretty.

  51. 51.

    Brachiator

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    And their hearts are not strong enough to withstand the rigors and heat of daytime hunting because of it.

    Why would anyone, except maybe dumbass humans, hunt in the daytime if they didn’t have to?

  52. 52.

    efgoldman

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    their hearts are not strong enough to withstand the rigors and heat of daytime hunting because of it.

    So the cliche phrase “heart of a lion” is not only bad, lazy writing but totally 180 degrees wrong.
    And the king yclept “Richard Lionheart” probably would have preferred another nickname

  54. 54.

    JGabriel

    Amir Khalid:

    Does a Katrina-level event really need to happen to expose Trump’s administration as remote, uncaring, and inept? People already know that, surely.

    Obviously, we know that. I just want to make sure Trump is treated by the media with the same level of malevolence and second-guessing that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama experienced.

    Of course, it’s possible that even if Trump were treated that way, we wouldn’t notice because it would be deserved and accurate in his case, rather than seeming to be grotesquely unfair.

  55. 55.

    donnah

    Who coulda knowed that the Republicans would knowingly embrace the KKK and celebrate the gleeful devotion of their base? Trump has forced their hand, and they can no longer hide their racism. If Charlottesville wasn’t enough, then the pardon of Arpaio seals it.

    personally, it makes me want to throw up.

  57. 57.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Brachiator: Cheetahs and leopards do, but me? Under the African savanna sun? I’ll lie down with the lions in the shade of an acacia tree thank you very much.

  58. 58.

    mai naem mobile

    Gary Cohn is a POS Goldman Sachs pig who wants his tax cuts, reversing the volcker rule and loosening the Frank Dodd rules. If I were the Democrats I would be running away from cohn because whatever disaster happens after will be blamed on Democrats because coh is a Democrat.

  61. 61.

    Schlemazel

    @JGabriel:
    Dolt45 doesn’t need a Katrina in order to show himself as an incompetent uncaring boob. But, no, nobody is mentioning that

  62. 62.

    Major Major Major Major

    Vancouver update: they’re filming Deadpool downtown, so random comic book things keep popping up. A huge militaryesque vehicle just took a police-led trip down the street. I’m off to the museum of anthropology, with a couple friends in tow so a cab is feasible, which will save many hours (1.2 of them). And really that’s what money is for. Reminds me of the Vonnegut quote, about the government: why should we throw money at problems? Because that is what money is for.

    picture of Deadpool vehicle

  63. 63.

    Suzanne

    @Smiling Mortician: Good to hear! Thanks for the update. Hang in there—and please don’t hesitate to come here to take a mental load off.

    In other news, Belen Sisa was just on MSNBC discussing the possible end of DACA. My fair city was in the background. The end of DACA would be devastating to Phoenix. Sigh.

  65. 65.

    Brachiator

    @Major Major Major Major:

    .Vancouver update: they’re filming Deadpool downtown, so random comic book things keep popping up. A huge militaryesque vehicle just took a police-led trip down the street.

    Very cool. A while back, on my commute, I realized that vehicles from the in production Dark Knight Rises were tucked away in a downtown LA parking lot. Got a couple of nice photos.

  68. 68.

    Kathleen

    @JGabriel: On the contrary, I’m sure some of our favorite pundits are poised to proclaim “Pivot” at the slightest provocation.

  69. 69.

    Brachiator

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Cheetahs are diurnal, hunting in early morning and late afternoon. They still try to avoid max heat.

    I’ll lie down with the lions in the shade of an acacia tree thank you very much.

    Agreed!!

  70. 70.

    d58826

    Will Der Fuhrer thank Mexico if this is true

    Mexican Marines ARE helping rescue people in Texas right now
    Nasty in California added,
    Jesse BerneyVerified account @jesseberney
    Mexico sent people to help after Katrina.

    I remember Mexico helping after Katrina, along with a number of other countries. I think Cuba even offered to send medical teams

    https://twitter.com/CarlsbadDreamin/status/901895228021280768

  71. 71.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Omnes Omnibus: Baaaaahhhh.

    You here the one about the Vet who could understand animal speak?

    Farmer John called the vet to his farm to help with a few minor issues with his animals. The vet heads out to the field where the dairy cow is. He leans over the cows head and says, “How are things with you.” Appearing to listen intently he nods his head a few times and then turns to the farmer.

    “Bessie says that the hay is moldy and she would really appreciate it if you’d warm your hands before milking her on these cold winter mornings.”

    “She said that?”

    The vet nods his head and heads for the chickens scratching in the yard. Getting on his knees he goes thru the same process. After a bit he stands up and says, “They are all fairly happy but they would appreciate it if you freshened their water a little more often and would allow them to lay their eggs in privacy.”

    “They said all that?” the farmer asked incredulously.

    The vet nods and looking around he spots some sheep behind the barn and says, “Ah, let’s go see what they have to say…”

    Farmer John says, “Now hold on a minute, dem sheep lie!”

  74. 74.

    trollhattan

    Meanwhile in Moscow, Vlad shows yet again why Donny {hearts} him so very much and wants to be just like him when he grows up to be a real president.

    Several people have reportedly been detained in Moscow at a sanctioned demonstration in support of internet freedom. One demonstrator was detained on Saturday while wearing a T-shirt reading, “Putin is worse than Hitler,” referring to President Vladimir Putin.

    Several other demonstrators were detained while wearing symbols supporting equal rights for the LGBT community. Some at the rally, which had been approved by local officials, shouted, “Russia will be free,” and “Russia without censorship.”

  76. 76.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Brachiator: Yeah, and after I posted that I got to thinking, leopards will hunt at night too. They’re really pretty opportunistic and not so easily categorized.

  77. 77.

    sukabi

    @Kay: birds of a feather, grifters gonna grift, I’m shocked, ECT, ECT, ECT.

    Why is this surprising to anyone?

    Pretty(ish) blonde women can’t be evil?

  78. 78.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Brachiator: some years back after a particularly excellent party in Potrero Hill, I crashed in the host’s spare bedroom. When I woke up the streets were trashed and people were walking around in biohazard gear. Turned out they were filming Contagion, but that was quite the thing to see with a hangover and before my coffee.

  81. 81.

    SFAW

    @germy:

    Sadly, there’s nothing he can do.

    Oh, bullshit.

    If he were sincere, for starters, he could call either Lindsey Graham or John McCain, and ask them for tip and techniques on furrowing his brow ever-so-deeply. And don’t get me going on him learning how to write a strongly-worded letter!

  84. 84.

    SFBayAreaGal

    @lamh36: One of many jobs my mom worked throughout her life was in a senior care facility. She stated she did not want to end up in one. We promised it wouldn’t happen and we were able to keep our promise.

  85. 85.

    WaterGirl

    @SFAW: Why, oh why, do these majority leaders of the House and Senate spend so much time telling us how helpless and impotent they are??? Do they not listen even to themselves?

  86. 86.

    Fair Economist

    @WaterGirl:

    Why, oh why, do these majority leaders of the House and Senate spend so much time telling us how helpless and impotent they are??? Do they not listen even to themselves?

    Does anybody else listen to them either?

  87. 87.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @d58826:

    But, but I thought Mexico wasn’t sending their best people?!? However is a Trump supporter supposed to assimilate such news?

  88. 88.

    MisterForkbeard

    @trollhattan: That stuff exists out here. In Santa Rosa there’s a tex-mex sushi joint. Which is… honestly a pretty good place to take out of towners that don’t like sushi.

    But it’s weird. Very weird.

  89. 89.

    Brachiator

    @Major Major Major Major:

    .Turned out they were filming Contagion, but that was quite the thing to see with a hangover and before my coffee.

    Great story. I’ve bumped into film shoots, but nothing so initially disorienting.

  91. 91.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @trollhattan:

    Kind of maudlin, but in younger years I would regard the horrible people of the world and take comfort in knowing I’d likely live to see their deaths: Reagan, Limbaugh, Gingrich, the Ayatollah…

    I hope I see Putin croak.

  93. 93.

    Mnemosyne

    @Smiling Mortician:

    Hooray! I’ve been told that chemo gets tougher as time goes on, but at least you live in a state where you can use marijuana to mitigate some of the side effects and not worry about being arrested. ?

  94. 94.

    Smiling Mortician

    @TriassicSands: I’m at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, which is affiliated with the University of Washington Medical Center. They are the best.

    And all y’all jackals are a huge part of why I’m feeling happy right now. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

  95. 95.

    Insane Clown POTUS

    @Brachiator:
    I recently woke up to scattered gunshots, which turned to sustained automatic gunfire. Then there was a loud explosion. I was a little alarmed until I remembered seeing a notice announcing a Lethal Weapon (TV) shoot at the church across the street. That’s life in LA.

  99. 99.

    d58826

    FFS the WH has announced Der Fuhrer is going to visit TX on Tuesday to review recovery efforts. It’s still supposed to be raining cats and dogs on Tuesday. Where is he going to land (fill in joke here)? The two airports in Houston are underwater, which means once the water subsides all of the underground electrical work has to be replaced. The last thing people need is the pomp and congestion of a presidential visit. Let things dry out for a few days.

    But Der Fuhrer can’t stand playing second fiddle to anything including a rain storm.

  100. 100.

    rikyrah

    Peter Daou
    ✔
    @peterdaou

    PURE GUILT: No coincidence the worse Trump’s presidency gets, the more indignantly Sanders/Stein diehards lash out. They know what they did.
    11:01 AM – Aug 27, 2017

  101. 101.

    d58826

    @Geeno: And the king of the Jungle lets the ladies do all of the hunting. They just show up for dinner and sex.

    Will leave that hanging curve for (in)appropriate comments :-)

  103. 103.

    Geeno

    @d58826: On the other hand, the male lion isn’t there to hunt, he’s there to keep other lions from intruding on his pride’s hunting grounds. He doesn’t attack prey; he attacks predator.
    But that, of course, is not really applicable to primate behavior.
    Also, lions are savanna creatures, not jungle creatures. Solitary males will try to hunt from the cover of the brush, but lions don’t live in the jungle proper. Tigers do —- in Asia.

  104. 104.

    d58826

    Scale Response Katrina 40,000 NG/20,000 Fed Troops,HQ @FirstArmy HQ @82ABN 245 Helicopters 20Ships @FEMA_Brock @TomBossert45 @cnn @FoxNews

    Russel L. Honore’

    @ltgrusselhonore
    https://twitter.com/ltgrusselhonore

    Not sure what the Harvey response has been. Any federal troops involved?

  105. 105.

    d58826

    @Geeno: true but as long as no other male tries to poach in his territory it’s a pretty good life. sayith the male chauvinist pig :-)

  106. 106.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @d58826:

    FFS the WH has announced Der Fuhrer is going to visit TX on Tuesday to review recovery efforts hand out Play-Doh.

    Fixed for likely accuracy

  107. 107.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Smiling Mortician:

    Late to comment on this thread, but I’m very glad your first infusion went well and especially that you’re in good spirits. Have been thinking about you. Thank you for keeping us updated.

  109. 109.

    SFAW

    @WaterGirl:

    Do they not listen even to themselves?

    You’re assuming they care, or have any sense of shame. As the TV lawyers say, “Assumes facts not in evidence.”

  114. 114.

    trollhattan

    @Quinerly:
    [Eyeroll] When Gorka brayed “The alpha males are in charge” was he including the little lady in that cohort? These people, I swear….

  116. 116.

    Millard Filmore

    @West of the Rockies (been a while):

    Kind of maudlin, but in younger years I would regard the horrible people of the world and take comfort in knowing I’d likely live to see their deaths: Reagan, Limbaugh, Gingrich, the Ayatollah…

    I hope I see Putin croak.

    One of the items on my bucket list is to get arrested for pissing on Dolt45’s grave.

  117. 117.

    J R in WV

    @lamh36:

    Wow, that’s bad news. Anytime they need to empty a major urban hospital, way bad news.

    That’s down where M D Anderson, the Children’s Hospital, U Texas medical center, all the major TX medical centers of Houston are. Bad news. They need to do something about being able to start evacuation and get folks out with 2 days warning. There’s an elevated interstate running NW from downtown.

    Seems to be a cluster-fq to not be able get people out before the Noah Flood starts. I hope those guys coming in with bass boats are able to do some good before it gets too high where they put in. Five feet of rain, on a flat piece of real estate… hard to imagine. I guess we won’t need to imagine it pretty soon.

  118. 118.

    Brachiator

    @Millard Filmore:

    One of the items on my bucket list is to get arrested for pissing on Dolt45’s grave.

    The crowd may be so large and continuos that it might be a long time before you get there.

    Besides the orange shitgibbon will probably be buried in a gold plated crypt.

    ..

  120. 120.

    Brachiator

    @Geeno:

    I had read that they were mainly dawn/dusk active and otherwise getting their 20 hours of sleep per day.

    Great story about how science works here. I suppose some scientists knew the truth, but the conventional wisdom was that lady lions would hunt all day while lazy males slept and cat napped.

    This was in part because stupid humans would observe lions in the daytime, when it was safe and convenient for them.

    A husband and wife team, the Jouberts, devised some cameras that could be used to observe lions at night.

    Because lions are nocturnal.

    Different freaking world. Some great National Geographic specials highlight this work.

    Males protect against other predators, including hyenas. Males also protect the youngest Cubs from rough housing adolescents. Rough play could break a young lions back.

    Lots of activity at night. Imagine early humans at night listening to lions making noise at night. The roars, the rustle through the savanna. The sounds of kills. And not being able to see the lions.

    And lions sleep in the day, often in the open except for shade, because there are few things they need to fear.

    ..

  121. 121.

    Brachiator

    @J R in WV: A response to an earlier note in an old thread about the source of US Navy problems and the connection with accidents….

    thanks much.

    I also appreciate the bit about your brother, who has opinions without having actual military experience.

    There is, I think, a brilliant book about British naval history, Command of the Ocean, which deals not just with battles, but with issues of operations, staffing, training, etc. Similar issues in the Age of Sail as you note now.

  122. 122.

    Brachiator

    @sukabi:

    Mass resignations on Friday among top state department officials.

    Conservatives and libertarians are seeing their deepest dreams come true. They insist that the government is too big, and that you need to run the government like a business. We will see what happens when you gut agencies and lose knowledgeable staff..

    Lean and mean, or weakened and ineffectual?

  123. 123.

    Smiling Mortician

    @Baud: Baud 2020: He’s never too late!

    ETA: although, looking at time stamps, looks like maybe I am :-)

  126. 126.

    NorthLeft12

    My son-in-law works for GE, and he was telling me that the GE CEO on the council was getting a lot of questions from employees asking WTF GE was doing on this council and how GE squared that with their stated policy of inclusion, co-operation, and diversity.
    After Deadbeat Donald dissolved the council, the GE CEO claimed that he had resigned from the council before the dissolution.

    “YOU CAN”T FIRE ME!! I QUIT!!1!” Hokay.

  129. 129.

    Mnemosyne

    @Insane Clown POTUS:

    My favorite was when a TV commercial filming in our old neighborhood was required to post a notice letting us know that they would be using a (trained) mountain lion on their location. Sadly, we were out of town for that weekend and missing seeing the ginormous kitty.

  131. 131.

    J R in WV

    I’m always the last person posting on a thread that died 2 hours ago. LGM has a post on Houston drowning with several good pictures, and a link to a great set of NOAA products showing training bands of heavy rain passing lengthwise over downtown Houston.

    The Boatus.com site has a hurricane tracker page for Harvey, and shows the “spaghetti” model, a map with all the different model paths for a storm. All but one path goes back out over the Gulf to pick up more energy and water before passing directly over Houston.

    The actual storm has never reached Houston yet. So much worse to come. Damm.

  133. 133.

    No One You Know

    @Geeno: I took my son, then 17, to see the Big Cats Preservation “ranch” in southern Oregon. We went on the tour with some other parents, and mostly younger kids.

    My son’s hair is a natural “semi-afro.” When the lion keeper explained that the male lion lying against the fence slept 20 hours a day and lived to defend cubs, kill hyenas, and grow out his mane, one eight-year-old glanced at the silent teenager, moved closer to his mom, and took her hand.

    I smothered a smile.

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