Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

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

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Good lord, these people are nuts.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

“Let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse.”

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

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Reader Interactions

181Comments

  2. 2.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Eddie Murphy was hilarious in the holiday classic, “The Distinguished Gentleman” (link)

  3. 3.

    это курам на смех

    Today, I am going to spend all of my money on booze, women, and movies.

  4. 4.

    ruemara

    I sent an update email to Anne, but just for the daywalkers here, meetup is Friday, the 8th, at the Owl n’ Thistle, mostly due to I want fries or something. Sorry, I had to make an executive decision since my attempt at a democratic time & place turned out like a commune meeting about who should turn the compost. This place seemed cozy, has booze and food options that can work for a diverse group and isn’t too close to Pike’s Place. Plus it has fried things. If you’re attending the Seattle meet-up, shoot either myself or CasyL an email. I will be the harried black woman in a booth asking for a decaf in Seattle.

  6. 6.

    Elie

    This just totally sucks. It is spreading down the chain and we have warring factions down in the State and county parties. How do we prevent fighting each other during this critical time? Its not just happening at the national level. This rot has been everywhere for a long time and the Democratic Party is not an exception. That said, how do we serve justice but not destroy our party and the many imperfect but good people we need as warriors???? What the fuck!!! This is not going to end well for us if it continues without some balancing perspectives on how to do this without self immolation.

  7. 7.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @LurkerNoLonger:

    Possibly the worst male SNL performer yet.

    But then again, I think Chase and Belushi were also so full of themselves and mean-spirited as to be unwatchable.

    So much for your safe thread, Cole!

  15. 15.

    Nicole

    The Walking Dead is terrible this season. I only watch for Carol and Cyborg.

    There, how’s that?

  23. 23.

    Raoul

    Can we talk about Rupert Murdoch’s home burning down in CA?

    I am deeply sorry for all the actually harmed people out there. A friend’s mom is impacted (the FB message this am from the adult daughter asking from here in MN if anyone can drive to her mom’s house to deliver a battery powered phone charger was oddly arresting for me today).

    But there is a karmic bitchiness about a prime climate-denial enabler having his mansion torch by a wildfire driven by out-of-season Santa Ana winds that at least makes up for a tiny fraction of the misery and loss.

  24. 24.

    cmorenc

    No mentions of you know who.

    Although I think I know which “who” you have in mind, there are quite a few “who”s whose mention can set off a pie fight or at least a torchlight & pitchfork parade in here. None of whom I shall mention either.

  27. 27.

    Mary G

    @ruemara: I love you to bits for this:

     my attempt at a democratic time & place turned out like a commune meeting about who should turn the compost. 

    If that isn’t the Democratic Party in a nutshell, I don’t know what is.

  29. 29.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Raoul: Can we talk about Rupert Murdoch’s home burning down in CA?

    let’s just hope that the orb or the fetal grindings or the contract with Beelzebub or whatever the hell’s keeping him alive was in there.

  30. 30.

    Nicole

    @FlipYrWhig: Hartman’s Clinton on a run (to McDonald’s) was my favorite, too. Props to him and to the writers of the sketch for perfectly capturing Bill Clinton’s combination of intelligence, charisma, personal touch, and gluttony.

  31. 31.

    Gelfling 545

    Just back from what is supposed to be my last root canal appointment. 3 hours of essentially standing on my head with my jaw propped open. Apparently the roots of this tooth run in a u shape instead of the usual gentle incline. I’m going to lie on the sofa with dog and cat and maybe even watch movies.
    Also it’s doing that thing it does this time of year here -with 30mph winds.

  32. 32.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Steven Dennis‏ @StevenTDennis

    NEW: Grassley is investigating reports of pro-Clinton and anti-Trump bias in the FBI and is demanding answers and docs from Wray re: Strzok
    .
    8:45 AM – 6 Dec 2017

    Obstruction of justice. And you know Drumpf is putting Grassley up to this.

  33. 33.

    kindness

    @Nicole: I never could really get in to The Walking Dead. This country where there aren’t any guns they can use to put down the Walkers….I don’t know where this country is. I understand as a fantasy adventure I’m supposed to give it the benefit of the doubt but this country is drowning in guns. More fantasy than I can give them.

  40. 40.

    chris

    Just in from a walk with Bert. The door is propped open for the animals and I’m wearing a t-shirt. It’s 62F here in Nova Scotia. I need to hear more about the Chinese hoax.

  43. 43.

    Gin & Tonic

    But, hey, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin will be running for President (of Russia) again next year.

    Do you think he’ll win?

  44. 44.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Raoul:

    I see that Iowans are now starting to deliver empty booze bottles to his district offices. Brilliant!

    Would be nice if they could have done something with actual electoral significance instead of returning the old bastard to office.

    Yeah, I know, the people who are bringing booze bottles most likely did everything they could to retire the man.

    I’ve been going to Iowa for work off and on for close to 20 years now. While it’s been easy to see how here in Misery the electorate turned sharply to the right over that period of time, Iowa did a good job of holding off that veering…until the last several years. It’s been sad to see.

  46. 46.

    burnspbesq

    Someday, we will look back on Monday night’s Steelers – Bengals game as the tipping point in the demise of football.

  48. 48.

    TenguPhule

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    let’s just hope that the orb or the fetal grindings or the contract with Beelzebub or whatever the hell’s keeping him alive was in there.

    No, that ugly painting is still in Great Britain, I believe.

  49. 49.

    TenguPhule

    @burnspbesq:

    Someday, we will look back on Monday night’s Steelers – Bengals game as the tipping point in the demise of football.

    A pox on both their houses.

  52. 52.

    The Moar You Know

    But there is a karmic bitchiness about a prime climate-denial enabler having his mansion torch by a wildfire driven by out-of-season Santa Ana winds that at least makes up for a tiny fraction of the misery and loss.

    @Raoul: Hate to rain on this part of your parade, but December Santa Ana winds are not in any way “out-of-season” here. February would be. But we always get Santa Anas during December, it’s why Christmas here is always 75 degrees and awesome.

    Just take the win, Rupert lost his fucking obscene house.

  56. 56.

    The Moar You Know

    Someday, we will look back on Monday night’s Steelers – Bengals game as the tipping point in the demise of football.

    @burnspbesq: I agree, but everyone’s tipping point with the game is different. For me, the day Vick got rehired was the last time I have ever watched an NFL game, and that has stuck. Everyone on the field chooses to be there. Vick’s dogs never got to choose anything. He should have been jailed for life.

  61. 61.

    El Caganer

    Sorry in advance if this has already been posted, but Season 4 of Black Mirror premieres on Netflix on 12/29.

  64. 64.

    ruemara

    @Mike J: I dunno Hank & John, but they are as invited as any lurkers and commentors of our hallowed Balloon Juice Community. time is 7pm.

    And I just got word that we are actually going to Pike Place Brewery, mea culpa.

  67. 67.

    The Moar You Know

    Dogs are man’s best friend.

    @TenguPhule: Yes they are. But it’s not an either/or proposition here. I love kittens/cats. Had ’em most of my life, until I got married. Can’t have ’em because the wife is deathly allergic. So we have the best dog ever.

  68. 68.

    Mike in DC

    The latest revelation on Flynn goes beyond building an obstruction case towards building the larger case for conspiracy. Lifting sanctions immediately strongly points towards a quid pro quo arrangement. If Manafort flips the only info he could provide would likely be evidence supporting conspiracy.

  69. 69.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Gelfling 545: ouch – take it easy – Godfather I and II on AMC starting at 4 (eastern – don’t know where you are) – some nice family fare to take you mind off your tooth

  70. 70.

    Steeplejack

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I was going to say that Piscopo’s Sinatra was his one redeeming bit. What made it equal to Hartman’s was the full Neal Hefti-style treatment of “Under My Thumb.” Exactly how Sinatra would have done that song. Hilarious.

    Sinatra medley here. Primo all the way through. “Under My Thumb” at 1:20. I had forgotten Foreigner’s “Cold as Ice” (at 0:50). And the tribute to Mr. Bruce Springstine is classic as well.

  71. 71.

    Raoul

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: I live just north in MN, and I admit I haven’t followed IA politics closely outside of the era of the freedom to marry movement a while back.
    That said, I don’t recall Grassley being such a winger a-hole 10 years ago. He’s been in office since 1981, and it wouldn’t seem like the poor-shaming nastiness he is serving up now would have been popular in, say, the farm crisis era. But then, Iowa has Rep. King, and he is about as awful a human as can be elected, given than another step to the right has visible horns and sulphur fumes.

  72. 72.

    rikyrah

    @Elie:

    This just totally sucks. It is spreading down the chain and we have warring factions down in the State and county parties. How do we prevent fighting each other during this critical time?

    1. Stop falling for the Banana in the Tailpipe.
    2. Grow a phucking SPINE.

  80. 80.

    Mnemosyne

    @ruemara:

    Sorry, I had to make an executive decision since my attempt at a democratic time & place turned out like a commune meeting about who should turn the compost.

    You have learned the true path to a meet up, grasshopper — dictate the time and place up front and only change if someone else comes up with a better idea.

  81. 81.

    germy

    A new Jimi Hendrix album is coming out soon, with a bunch of tracks never released before.

    NEW YORK (AP) — Unreleased songs recorded by Jimi Hendrix between 1968 and 1970 will be released next year.

    Experience Hendrix and Legacy Recordings announced Wednesday that they will release Hendrix’s “Both Sides of the Sky” on March 9, 2018. The 13-track album includes 10 songs that have never been released.

    Hendrix died in 1970 at age 27. The new album is the third volume in a trilogy from the guitar hero’s archive. “Valleys of Neptune” was released in 2010, followed by “People, Hell and Angels,” released in 2013.

    Eddie Kramer, who worked as recording engineer on every Hendrix album made during the artist’s life, said in an interview that 1969 was “a very experimental year” for Hendrix, and that he was blown away as he worked on the new album.

    “The first thing is you put the tape on and you listen to it and the hairs just stand up right on the back of your neck and you go, ‘Oh my God. This is too (expletive) incredible,” said Kramer. “It’s an incredible thing. Forty, 50 years later here we are and I’m listening to these tapes going, ‘Oh my God, that’s an amazing performance.'”

  82. 82.

    gene108

    @Gin & Tonic:

    But, hey, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin will be running for President (of Russia) again next year.

    Do you think he’ll win?

    He is extremely popular in Russia. I think he has an 80% approval rating or something like that. I think he has a good chance of winning.

  86. 86.

    Marcopolo

    Back from the GOP tax protest outside of Roy Blunt’s office in St. Louis. Sunny & 45 without much wind so it was almost pleasant. We got 30-40 folks out, sang some nicely reworded Xmas carols.

    If there’re any folks in StL who want to have a meet up to see what fellow BJers are like in meatspace, give a holler.

  93. 93.

    LurkerNoLonger

    @jl:

    It looks like the GOP senate, by writing a bill at the last moment, accidentally passed a massive (>$300b) corporate tax hike.

    I’ll say it again because I like saying it: Mitch McConnell is bad at his job. Is he ugly too? Oh yeah.

  94. 94.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Drumpf’s attorney says collusion isn’t a crime because there’s no statute against it.

    So they’ve moved the goal post from, “there’s no collusion”, to “collusion wouldn’t be bad”, to “collusion isn’t even illegal”.

    These are arguments people make when they’re innocent, amirite.

  95. 95.

    daverave

    @The Moar You Know:

    Not feeling the groundswell of schaden-f for his house burning down. Unfortunately, he’ll just de-camp to one of his many other residences while he has some poor architect draw up plans for an even more ostentatious monument to his ego and bank account(s). Then he’ll plant a veritable forest around it so he is not aware that there was a fire at all in his ‘hood. The mega-rich are not like us…

  96. 96.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Ringo: It’s the Circle Club.
    Paul: [reads aloud the invite] “The management of the Circle Club takes pleasure in requesting the company of Mr. Richard Starkey – that’s you – to their gaming rooms. Chemin de Fer, Baccarat, and Champagne buffet”.
    Ringo: They want me.
    John: It’s gotten around you’re a big spender.
    Norm: [snatches the card from Paul] Well, you’re not going.
    Ringo: Aww!
    Grandfather: [snatches the card from Norm] Quite right. Invites to gambling dens full of easy money and fast women. Chicken sandwiches and carts full of caviar. Disgusting!
    Ringo: That’s mine!

    and with that, I am heading for a much delayed work-out

  98. 98.

    Mike in DC

    @germy:
    Is this the legendary Black Gold material, or something else? Because they’ve been sitting on that stuff forever.

  99. 99.

    NotMax

    Hmmm.

    President Donald Trump is calling on Saudi Arabia to end its Yemen blockade immediately, citing humanitarian concerns. Source

  100. 100.

    Marcopolo

    @Raoul: Grassley did used to be a lot more moderate. I dunno if it is age, or seeing Tom Harken replaced by Joni Ernst, or maybe that Harkin’s presence has been replaced by Ernst (assume colleagues have some influence/affect on views), but Grassley might as well be a full on wingnut nowadays.

  101. 101.

    Mnemosyne

    @Gelfling 545:

    I have an awesome endodontist because my dentist discovered the same thing about my roots the first time I had a root canal. I suspect it has something to do with having worn braces for years.

    Also, I have now discovered the wonders of using a bite blocker during dental work (or, as my endodontist called it, a “tooth pillow”). It removes the necessity to concentrate on keeping your mouth open just the right amount, so I can relax and not think about what’s happening to my teeth.

  105. 105.

    Mike in DC

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
    Aiding and abetting/soliciting cybercrime/cyberespionage, accepting foreign campaign contributions, laundering foreign money, conspiracy to violate various election laws, plus the after the fact crimes of obstruction, witness tampering, perjury, suborning perjury, etc.

  106. 106.

    germy

    @Mike in DC:

    Is this the legendary Black Gold material, or something else? Because they’ve been sitting on that stuff forever.

    According to the article, it’s the last of the unreleased stuff.

    Many of the album’s tracks were recorded by Band of Gypsys, Hendrix’s trio with Buddy Miles and Billy Cox. Stephen Stills appears on two songs: “$20 Fine” and “Woodstock.”

    “It sounds like Crosby, Stills & Nash except it’s on acid, you know,” Kramer, laughing, said of “$20 Fine.”

    “Jimi is just rocking it,” he added. “It’s an amazing thing.”

    Johnny Winter appears on “Things I Used to Do”; original Jimi Hendrix Experience members Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding are featured on “Hear My Train A Comin”’; and Lonnie Youngblood is on “Georgia Blues.”

    Kramer produced the album alongside John McDermott and Janie Hendrix, the legend’s sister and president of Experience Hendrix. Kramer said though “Both Sides of the Sky” is the last of the trilogy, someone could find new Hendrix music in an attic or a basement, which could be re-worked.

    (associated press)

  108. 108.

    germy

    Here’s something I didn’t know. The great-grandson of Fats Waller (Darren Waller) plays tight end for the Baltimore Ravens.

  109. 109.

    TenguPhule

    @Major Major Major Major: The Feral cats tend to litter where ever they can find a warm spot. This includes but is not limited to open garages, libraries, schools, beaches, parks and cardboard boxes dumped in a vacant lot. People find them cute, raise them a little, then abandon them once they become too much to handle and the cycle repeats itself.

    So you see cute, I see pestilence.

  112. 112.

    germy

    @Amir Khalid:

    Disliking cats is a sure sign of a bad person. (Not snark.)

    I assume the Donald hates cats. As a matter of fact, he probably hates and fears all animals.

    Didn’t he get into a dustup with an eagle or something during a photo shoot? The thing flapped its wings and Donald flipped out.

  113. 113.

    TenguPhule

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    So they’ve moved the goal post from, “there’s no collusion”, to “collusion wouldn’t be bad”, to “collusion isn’t even illegal”.

    Next is, “Look, just accept that Russia rules you now.”

  115. 115.

    The Moar You Know

    A new Jimi Hendrix album is coming out soon, with a bunch of tracks never released before.

    @germy: There’s a reason Jimi didn’t release those tracks. It should be respected and it has not been. Not by his fans, and not by the vampires running his “estate”. The butchery inflicted by Jimi’s adopted half-sister (not his biological relative, despite what the presser would have you believe) on his legacy should have been nipped in the bud decades ago, and it’s really sad that nobody even really tried to.

    I used to play for a living. I’ve recorded a lot. My stuff, session guy on other people’s stuff. I haven’t released mine because it is not up to the level of quality that I want representing me, end of story. I expect that decision to be respected. Jimi did too.

  116. 116.

    TenguPhule

    @germy:

    As a matter of fact, he probably hates and fears all animals.

    He’s a germaphobe. Of course he hates all pets.

  119. 119.

    Yarrow

    Posted this last night, but in case any of the daytime crowd missed it:

    Robert Mueller may not be through with Rick Gates, a deputy Trump campaign aide and one of the four people who have been charged as part of the special counsel probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

    In a court appearance Monday in Manhattan, Gates’ attorney Walter Mack said that federal prosecutors have told him that more charges, called superseding indictments, may be coming.

    “We don’t know what the government is going to do,” Mack said in court, referring to both Gates’ case and a white-collar case in New York involving one of Gates’ business partners. “I mean, in both cases we’ve been told that there may be a superseder. We don’t know what’s happening.”

    More charges? Superseding indictments? You don’t say.

  121. 121.

    The Moar You Know

    Say that again after having dealt with a feral cat colony. We lack coyotes over here to keep them in check.

    @TenguPhule: Forgot you’re an HI resident. Feral cats are a real problem for you folks there, or to be precise, for your wildlife, what’s left of it. Well, can’t agree that they’re unmitigated evil, but definitely get where you’re coming from.

    we have too many humans, they’re very destructive to the environment, which is why I hate babies

    @Major Major Major Major: This is pretty much where I’m coming from.

  123. 123.

    TenguPhule

    @Amir Khalid: The cats then go and kill a bunch of our wildlife, its not a pretty sight. Their feces also can sicken our monk seals.

    Also ranging cats are what spread ticks and fleas here.

    And I really hate both of those.

  124. 124.

    germy

    @The Moar You Know: But surely if they were sub-par, the producer; the guy he worked with, wouldn’t be saying how great they are? Is it really a cynical money grab?

    I always assumed Jimi recorded a ton of stuff but didn’t live long enough to finish them off with overdubs etc. I don’t know enough of his story. I’ve never read a biography. Can you recommend a good one?

  126. 126.

    The Moar You Know

    I assume the Donald hates cats. As a matter of fact, he probably hates and fears all animals.

    @germy: No pets growing up. That’s confirmed. I’m certain he’d be a much different person if he had.

  127. 127.

    bystander

    Just to show you the Big Win ahead, Ruth Marcus just said that Gilibrand would never have called for the resignation of you-know-who if the Minnesota governor weren’t a Democrat.

    I smell victory!

  138. 138.

    PaulWartenberg

    We’re almost done with the new carpeting at Bartow Public Library!

    I hope you can all stop by to visit when we have our Teen Anime Club movie on Thursday December 21st!

  139. 139.

    The Moar You Know

    But surely if they were sub-par, the producer; the guy he worked with, wouldn’t be saying how great they are? Is it really a cynical money grab?

    @germy: Producers get paid a percentage of sales from every album they work on. Kramer will say it’s awesome even if it’s a recording of Hendrix taking a shit for 45 minutes. EVERYTHING in my former business is a cynical money grab. Sorry.

    I always assumed Jimi recorded a ton of stuff but didn’t live long enough to finish them off with overdubs etc. I don’t know enough of his story. I’ve never read a biography. Can you recommend a good one?

    Never read a one that wasn’t trying to sell something, so no. And he could not have recorded that much, he died at 27. He was on the road for three years straight prior to his death. That doesn’t leave you a lot of time for anything. That trilogy they’re talking about…it’s a fucking joke. They probably used every scrap of tape they could find, even dead air. It’s not anything he directed or wrote. Just noodling with other guys playing backing to it.

  140. 140.

    NotMax

    @germy

    Don’t know the technical specs. He was an avid home movie buff and had amassed an eclectic library of stuff he shot himself.

    Not from the same fellow, but some of the most memorable home movies I ever saw were from the 30s through the 50s, in color, with sound, made by a big time advertising exec (he was the force in the ad biz behind putting Edgar Bergen on radio) on his family farm/estate. Radio stars, many with family in tow, often came out there and frolicked about during large lawn parties.

  141. 141.

    ruemara

    @gene108: Great work! Don’t despair. I lost 110lbs. I’m still fat. But I’m healthier and so are you.

    @Mike J: Ah, the Greens! I don’t know them, but if they want to attend a BJ jackal pack & drinkaroonie, they can do so too.

  142. 142.

    randy khan

    @David Merry Christmas Koch:

    Drumpf’s attorney says collusion isn’t a crime because there’s no statute against it.

    So they’ve moved the goal post from, “there’s no collusion”, to “collusion wouldn’t be bad”, to “collusion isn’t even illegal”.

    These are arguments people make when they’re innocent, amirite.

    That’s a fine example of a true statement that nevertheless is wrong. “Collusion” in and of itself is not a crime, but if it’s in furtherance of something that’s against the law it becomes a conspiracy. I can collude with you to, oh, pie someone here, and that’s obviously not a crime. If I colluded with you murder that person, not so much.

  144. 144.

    Ian G.

    Can we wage internecine warfare over Israel? I got into that last night whereas I’ve pretty much said nothing about Franken because I’m not quite sure what the correct course of action is.

    The biggest problem is that we Dems are generally still electing/supporting people based on principles, whereas the GOP is pure tribal identity. When you’ve decided the Tutsi are cockroaches, then it doesn’t really matter if those advocating Hutu power are rapists or child molesters or swindlers or the like. Hutu power is the be all, end all.

  145. 145.

    germy

    @NotMax:

    Not from the same fellow, but some of the most memorable home movies I ever saw were from the 30s through the 50s

    I remember a few years back seeing a PBS documentary featuring color home movies someone took at the 1939 World’s Fair.

  148. 148.

    Mnemosyne

    @TenguPhule:

    And the reason that there are ranging cats is that your neighbors are assholes who abandon their pets.

    But, sure, blame the cats. I’m sure that will solve the problem that your neighbors caused with their irresponsibility.

  150. 150.

    randy khan

    @TenguPhule:

    Around us, the animal groups do two things with feral cats in colonies – first, they capture and neuter them; second, the ones that are suitable for adoption they hang on to and try to place with homes. Two of our cats came directly from one of those groups – they’re distinctive because they clip a bit off one ear when they neuter them, so that the group won’t take an already-neutered cat to the vet.

    (I’d add one thing that’s always bothered me about the cat-bird thing, which is that saying cats kill a lot of birds doesn’t actually tell you much about whether they cause meaningful excess mortality. Birds don’t actually live very long on average – that robin that seems to keep coming back to your yard probably is the great-grandchild of the one that was there six or seven years ago – so a lot of them die every year anyway, and more birds apparently die from hitting windows than anything else. In some cases, of course, such as cat colonies near nesting grounds for threatened bird species, the cats clearly are a problem that needs to be addressed, but I am wary of the overgeneralization. In any event, I think responsible cat people keep the cats inside, which is better for all concerned.)

  152. 152.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne: Worse. Lots of people here allow their cats to roam freely. We’re on an island after all, where could they possibly go to? And don’t spade them, because cats must do what cats must do. So I dislike the cats but absolutely hate the cat owners.

  154. 154.

    The Moar You Know

    Feral pigs responsible for a lot of damage and pollution here on the Valley Isle.

    @NotMax: I know they’ve basically wiped out the koa forests on the Big Island…but they were delicious. You guys at least are getting rid of them the right way.

  156. 156.

    NotMax

    @TenguPhule

    Driving through some neighborhoods at certain times one can’t help but get a pungent whiff of the smell of goat hair being burned off by blowtorch in yards or driveways in prep for a party, marathon paiute session, baby luau or such.

  157. 157.

    Fair Economist

    @The Moar You Know: December Santa Ana winds aren’t unusual, but the longest Santa Ana ever (it’s predicted to go an entire week) in a December when there’s been essentially no rain *is*. And both those effects are expected to worsen with global warming. As usual, climate change didn’t make it happen, but it probably made it worse.

  158. 158.

    ThresherK

    @NotMax: Do you have a name for that person?

    Excuse for my favorite (possibly apocryphal) Edgar Bergen story: During a radio rehearsal Charlie McCarthy was coming over near inaudible in the production booth. At long last they had to tell the new guy on the boom mic to not point it at the dummy!

    Says something for the power.of characterization.

  159. 159.

    Gin & Tonic

    @randy khan: Had the furnace serviced yesterday. Chimney wasn’t drawing well. Service guy took out five dead birds. I don’t think the cat put them there.

  163. 163.

    ThresherK

    @Gin & Tonic: Glad you noticed it early. My late MiL didn’t and got a bit of CO poisoning owing to a critter nest in her chimney. It may have been raccoons.

    I thence realized that about all chimney cleaners almost, as if by law, have a cute raccoon on their biz cards and trucks.

  165. 165.

    NotMax

    @ThresherK

    The ad exec? John U. Reber, head of radio marketing and later vice-president at J. Walter Thompson. He died around ’55 or so.

    Was friends with one of his children (now also deceased); lived at the Reber farm for a couple of years (post-college, pre-grad school). Also remember some films of Edgar along with a very young Candace.

  166. 166.

    gene108

    @ruemara:

    Great work! Don’t despair. I lost 110lbs. I’m still fat. But I’m healthier and so are you.

    That is AMAZING!!! Great job!!!

  168. 168.

    Fair Economist

    @ruemara:

    Great work! Don’t despair. I lost 110lbs. I’m still fat. But I’m healthier and so are you.

    Wow, that’s great!

  173. 173.

    gvg

    next week is finals week at UF. Students are stressed as usual. For the last few years the College of Business has brought therapy animals into their lobby for cuddling and soothing the nerves. Exceptional personality animals. They arrived for the semester today. Mostly older dogs, 1 cat and this year a kitten unintimidated by 50 people needing to hold him. Very popular perk

  175. 175.

    Roger Moore

    @Amir Khalid:

    Disliking cats is a sure sign of a bad person.

    Then what does it say about Trump that he doesn’t like any kind of pet? Seriously, does Trump have even one redeeming feature?

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